Academics discuss pros and cons of automation
The key to employment success in a future job market disrupted by automation is a commitment to lifelong learning, professors from top Asia-Pacific business schools said Monday at the Flagship Summit for the Future hosted by Chulalongkorn Business School.
The most prominent solution mentioned was for governments to invest in lifelong education plans to keep workers coming back to school for training as technology makes their current careers obsolete. Hong Kong and Singapore already offer cash credits for all their citizens to use for this purpose.
Kar Yan Tam, dean of the business school at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, said automation is not something to be feared, but embraced.
“If you asked me whether I would trust an auto-pilot steering a plane, or a human holding the steering wheel for a 13-hour flight, I would trust the automation,” Prof Tam said.
However, this automation could significantly disrupt the job market, leading to large portions of the workforce unemployed.
According to a 2016 McKinsey study, 5% of occupations could be fully automated simply by adopting current technologies.
“The younger generations will have to prepare to change industries and even countries if they want to keep working,” Prof Tam said. “We need to encourage an entrepreneur mindset of taking risks and developing new skills.”
Hum Sin Hoon, deputy dean of the business school at National University of Singapore, detailed how the city-state is already preparing citizens for an automated future.
“Our country is too small,” Prof Hum said. “We cannot afford to have a large portion of our country out of work, so there is no country as proactive as us in solving this problem.”
According to a 2018 report by the World Employment Confederation, 65% of students starting in elementary school today will one day be working in jobs that do not exist yet.
Prof Hum said the most important skills for the automated age will be data, tech and human literacy. Understanding how to read data, knowing how computers work (i.e. coding, engineering) and fostering strong social skills will help workers in the future.
Finding ways to work with machines, but also do things they cannot, like leading and communicating with other people, makes up the best skill set for the coming decades.
Every Singaporean is provided S$500 to invest in further education, while Singapore Institute of Technology gives all its alumni S$2000 worth of credits to come back and take more courses later.
As far as solutions for Thailand, Pasu Decharin, dean of Chulalongkorn Business School, said the three most important skills for future leaders are change management, inspiring actions and thinking.
“Every organisation is talking about transformation, but if you look back and look at the success rate of transformation, most of it is just digital upgrades,” Assoc Prof Pasu said. “The toughest part of transformation comes from changing people.”
Leaders must keep learning and coming up with new ways to look at the big picture and motivate those around them, he said. The biggest factor for promoting lifelong learning is self-discipline to continue and stay up-to-date with new trends and skills.