Preparing for the knowledge economy requires major change in the workplace, writes Lucy Fallon.Byrne
The publication of the OECD review of higher education has promoted a useful debate on the challenge we face in making the transition to a knowledge-based economy and society.
Inevitably, the initial debate will focus on the need for increased funding and, in particular, the recommendation to increase investment in research and development.
It is important, however, that other fundamental challenges identified in this report are addressed. These challenges relate to the key role that third-level institutions have to play in developing our national capacity for innovation, increasing levels of participation in education, and developing a highly skilled labour force. While these issues are broadly covered within the 52 recommendations of the report, the latter do not go far enough and the implications are not sufficiently spelled out in the analysis.
Take one example: the report acknowledges the need to invest in life-long learning to respond to rapid technological change. The implications of this deserve serious consideration. Some 80 per cent of the current workforce will still be participating in the knowledge economy in 2015, and FÁS and other agencies have pointed to a persistent gap in the skills and education of many, most particularly mature, workers.
However, the role of the universities and institutes of technology in upskilling the current workforce, and the strategic and organisational implications of this new direction, are not sufficiently spelt out.
More fundamentally, there is insufficient acknowledgment in the report of the organisational and workplace implications for Ireland in pursuing its strategy of "moving up the value chain" and the responsibilities of third-level in facilitating this.
This new strategy is extremely ambitious and places us in what Dr Hugh Brady has referred to as "the premier league" of international competition. If Ireland is to succeed there, we need a comprehensive innovation system that goes well beyond funding for research and increasing levels of participation in tertiary education. This system must encompass all aspects of the organisation and the workplace that can provide a competitive edge: customer-focused business processes, new technology in the workplace, management and human resource practices, training and development, organisational restructuring, financial and business models, process re-engineering and work design.
Unfortunately, the contribution of the tertiary level in building such a system of innovation, and in providing the research and intelligence to promote high levels of organisational innovation, is not adequately addressed in the OECD review.
To compete, companies and public service organisations in Ireland will need to move rapidly to higher value-added activities that depend critically on knowledge and on a capacity for innovation. Other countries are putting in place major national initiatives and programmes to promote the kinds of workplace practices that will generate and sustain the levels of innovation required in the knowledge economy.
Universities and third-level institutes are key partners in such programmes as they provide the research and analytical frameworks required to make these programmes successful.
Investment in scientific and technological innovation needs to be complemented by a concerted effort to improve organisational practices that will improve the capacity for innovation, including:
- Changes in work practices that improve organisational learning;
- Improving information flows and building strong systems of communication;
- Implementing new management and human resource practices that enable organisations to tap into the capabilities of their employees;
- Structures and practices that enable organisations to respond quickly to environmental changes and improve the interface with customers.
Workplace change needs to be part of Ireland's national innovation strategy. As well as contributing to organisational innovation across the economy, major organisational change will be required in the third-level institutions themselves as they embrace the opportunities and challenges of the knowledge society.
Lucy Fallon Byrne is director of the National Centre for Partnership and Performance