Preparing for Change — An Individual Responsibility

Although he is right about the shortage of IT engineers and deficiencies of math education in the US, given the degree of animosity and passion that surrounds the immigration/outsourcing debate, it would be foolhardy of me to quote this interview with Wipro Chairman as exclusive support for my position. However, he does raise an interesting point that I missed in my other posts on the topic (1,2) — with the phenomenal growth over the past few years, both China and India have corresponding shortages in experienced managers. Additionally, both of these countries are starting to have significant issues in employee retention which, unless addressed, will ultimately slow the rate of outsourcing growth. Development of skilled and experienced managers is not something that can be solved through education and training — it is is an issue of experience that can only be developed over time.

In the global economy, companies need to look beyond the traditional centralized organizational models and design for maximum competitive advantage on a global scale. The reality is that only some jobs can be effectively outsourced and some can be reasonably outsourced only to specific regions, others (such as customer facing roles) cannot be moved at all. Only 71 of the original Fortune 500 companies remained on the list 50 years later (1955 to 2005) — companies come and go; industries come and go;technologies come and go. Globalization and outsourcing are a manifestation of the natural ebb and flow of change. US employees shouldn’t fear a mass exodus of “good jobs”; however, to remain competitive, an employee is going to need to reinvent themselves several times over the course of an average 40 year career. A strong education in engineering and mathematics gives employees the analytical tools and the basis for reinvention — understanding the catalysts of change and preparing for it will always be an individual responsibility.