In the world economic forum one of the key discussion this year was around how the fourth industrial revolution would change the way we do business and how companies and employees would need to adapt to meet the challenges of the future.
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The figure above gives out the details of the four industrial revolutions starting from the steam engine and the mechanical loom at the end of the 18th century. The second industrial revolution took place at the beginning of 20th century with the introduction of assembly line which combined with the use of electrical energy, introduced the process of mass production. The third industrial revolution took place in the 1970s with the advent of automation and IT driven processes and solutions which transformed the way we live and work.
The figure above also highlights a key fact- the time between these industrial revolutions is reducing with the speed of change becoming faster with every passing year.
The fourth industrial revolution is now on us and most of us are not even aware of it. As per the white paper presented in the conference we are already moving towards the fourth industrial revolution (UBS white paper presented at world economic forum in Jan 2016) with greater automation and connectivity with a wider implementation of artificial intelligence and robotics.
So what does it mean to us:
Greater automation will lead to a number of low skilled jobs being made redundant as automation and robots increasingly taking over these jobs.
Businesses will have to invest an increasing amount of time and money in up skilling their employees and ensuring that their leadership team is ready with the required competencies to meet the challenges due to the fourth industrial revolution.
Employees will also need to invest in developing themselves with skills which cannot be replaced by robots.
Behavioral competencies will become critical in effectively leading teams and businesses in an era of fast change and uncertainty.
Rajiv is the principal consultant at R Square Consulting. This is first in a series of blogs, which will discuss the effect of the fourth industrial revolution and the competencies required to be successful in the fourth industrial revolution. Rajiv can be reached me at rajiv@rquareconsult.in. for any query, discussion or any professional requirements.
About R Square consulting : R Square consulting provides end to end services in the field of building leadership and managerial capability to include leadership development interventions based on a holistic blend of exploration, reflection, action learning and coaching, assessment centers and various Organizational development interventions.
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