Chapter 4

                Ch. 4 Challenges and Changes

Agricultural Age: to gather seeds and plant them in cleared land.

Merchants: people that are involved in trades. Some merchants brought there good or service directly to their customer.

Industrial Age: A period when people began to build equipment they could use to produce standardized good in large quantities.

Laborer: someone who was hired by few people who could afford to be business owners.

Intangible asset: its and asset.

Goodwill: friendship, like allies

Command and control: the laborers were expected to follow the exact instructions of the manager.

Trade union: a group of workers in the late 18^th and early 19^th centuries bargaining with their employers for better working conditions.

Strike: when the workers refuse to work until they had achieved their objective.

New economy: new industries, such as biotechnology or the Internet, that are characterized by cutting-edge technology and high growth.

Information Age: is distinctly different from the agricultural and industrial age, because information and knowledge are explicitly valuable.

Trend: the general derision in which something is heading.

Labour market: is the supply of, and demand in the economy.

Attrition: the action or power of evoking interest, pleasure, or liking for someone or something.

War for talent: is emerging as the single faction most critical to organization growth and competitiveness in the information age.

Telecommuter: can work from home with computer access to files, collaborating with others via e-mail and software programs.

Teleconferencing: with colleagues, customers, and suppliers

Intellectual capital: someone that works for you that is really smart.

Competency: the ability to do something successfully or efficiently.

Hierarchy: a system or organization in which people or groups are ranked one above the other according to status or authority.

·           We are living in the information age, in which technology has a major impact on our lives. Thanks to technology and electricity we are able to have light during the night, laptops, phones, iPad and others to exchange information, and to entertainment our self’s. We even use technology for work. Without technology it would be hard for doctors to do their jobs and save lives. However, we rely too much on electricity which is generated with natural gas. Too much use of natural gas has a bad effect on the earth’s climate and the next generation might not find the earth as green as it once was.

We are so reliant on electricity that we have made a machine to the simplest task for us like a washing the dishes or exercising on a tread mill,

·         Telecommuting, or working from home, is increasingly popular among entrepreneurs and enterprising employers.

The GOOD parts in working at home

Ø  Freedom: the ability to start early or late and end when you won’t.  The freedom to use your time as you won’t, and work as much as you need to. The freedom to choose where you work. (Outside on the porch or inside…etc.)

Ø  Being close to loved ones: working from home means you can have a meal with the family without worrying about missed dinners with the family when you’re at work.

Ø  Work how you won’t, when you won’t: you can work on any project at any time. You have the flexibility to plan your day and in cloud you amends’. No one’s watching or judging.

The BAD parts to working at home.

Ø  Isolation: you can’t bounce ideas with others, talk creatively. There’s no one to review, collaborate etc. with.

Ø  The distractions: the internet, friends or neighbors thinking jest because you are at home you are free to get coffee or hang out.

Ø  Stagnation: Siting down for a long time and not getting up because you are so into your work.

1.      Agricultural Age: People used to more around trying to find food and water. Gradually, they learned to gather seeds and plant them in clear land. As the agricultural age developed, most people become merchants, craftspeople, farmers, or farm workers. 

Information Age: A period when people began to build equipment they could use to produce standardized goods in large quantities. The equipment was too big and heavy to carry around, and was so expensive that only a few people could afford to purchase it.

Industrial Age: is distinctly different from the Agricultural and Industrial Age, because, for the first time, information and knowledge are explicitly valuable. Information is not dependent on expensive equipment and large factories, but is readily available to anyone who wants it. The people who will succeed in the Information Age are those who seek out new information, or new ways of handling information, and turn it into practical knowledge that can be applied in new and different ways.

2.      How are jobs created in the new economy?

Jobs are created when there is more demand for things; the company’s will need more people to make the supply. New companies also create jobs for people.

3.      What questions should you ask as you decide how you will educate yourself to prepare for job in the new economy?

- What skills will I need for the future I won’t?

- What steps do I need to take to get there?

- What do I want my future to look like?

- Am I achieving my goals?

4.  What is the “war for talent” and how might it affect your life?

The war for talent refers to an increasingly competitive landscape for recruiting and training talented employees. Employees are aware of their value to an organization and will choose to work for organizations that meet their workplace expectation. To attract and hold enterprising employees, workplaces must be flexible in ways that will help their employees balance their wok other aspects of their lives. The ways it might affect my life is if I have to skills that company’s need and won’t I will now that I can chose to go to the company that is most flexible in ways that will help me.

5.      Describe some of the advantages and disadvantages of telecommuting.

Telecommuting can work from home with computer access to files, collaborating with others via e-mail and software programs, and teleconferencing with colleagues, customers, and supplies. Works at home employees are usually more predictive, having eliminated travel time and office distractions.  (I wrote about the Advantages and Disadvantages in the other question).