Generalists Or Specialists?

When Thomas L. Friedman in his earlier attempt to put forces of globalization into perspectives, he talked about the increasing complexity of dimensions within his journalistic work in the arena of international finance and politics. The main challenge he confronted was interconnecting culture, environment, finance, politics, technology and possibly more future dimensions arisen out of subsequent globalization progress. He suggested that we need more ‘globalists’ or generalists in a world where issues are increasingly complex, can only be understood through multiple perspectives and interpreted in new ways.¹

It brought me into thinking more of the implication within corporate context where the emphasis is still creating more specialists. Will the impact of globalization toward business also imply we will soon move toward a new breed of knowledge workforce?

Even before globalization process was visibly felt within corporate context, classic management literature had already stressed the need of outward-looking leadership. It said strategic decision-making should not be confined within internal knowledge alone, an outward-looking leader should always consider industrial competition and even benchmarks outside practiced industry in a wider context. I believe this is already a strong hint that specialist knowledge is needed but so is general knowledge about the external forces shaping the business. When globalization eventually slid into business world in full force, the integration of financial market, corporate business, political and social system has become greater and current trend signals it will continue to grow.

Consider a recent chain of events as followed: Excess demands on oil for economic growth and potential strike on Iran – a major oil producer in the world send oil prices soaring for fear of supply restriction. Developing countries urgently revise oil subsidy and social safety net in order to assist the poor and meanwhile ensure adequate development funding for sustainable economic growth. Volatile oil prices send automakers scramble to shift machinery and production line to fuel efficient vehicles for their failures to timely anticipate the grave impact. Finally consumers re-assess lifestyle and turn toward energy saving measures.

The chain of events above is not a description of direct causal relationships as a result of oil crisis, for the actual situation is far more complex and involved more driving factors than what I had described. My intention is to point out the fundamental change in the chain of relationships that involves international financial community, nation policy makers, producers and consumers. This is reflective of today’s business context in which it is governed by more complex and rapidly changing external forces, and that specialists alone will not be able to sustain current business operations. Even if they are experts of their practiced industries is no longer sufficient, they need to be experts of economic, environmental, political, social and technological forces that are shaping their business operations. To answer the question I asked earlier: Will we need a new breed of knowledge workforce? Yes, I think we need more workers with selective specialist expertise of their industries, synergized by broad expertise of external forces shaping corporate business.

But I really think the more urgent question is: Are we prepared for this rapid transformation with enough workers to succeed in current and future corporate environment? Our current school curriculum and business model still stress on specialization and may be incompatible with the pace of change, when will we see a major revamp? It will be a trend to watch.

Notes:
¹ See chapter 2: Information Arbitrage, the Lexus and the Olive Tree by Thomas L. Friedman