(Written by the owner of this blog)
The 21st Century, which is known as Knowledge Age brought complexity in the world of workforce. The environment is constantly changing that is attributed to the transmission, consumption and interpretation of information, which introduces a new paradigm in the workplace (New Zealand Council for Education Research [NZCER], n.d. Husley, 2010). Institutions and companies are always in search of an individual who is capable of adapting to change. This phenomenon leads to the notion that the basic skills of reading, writing and arithmetic (identified as 3Rs) are not enough to secure a place in an increasingly competitive marketplace (Hulsey, 2010).
According to Dwyer (1998 is cited Reich) in today’s generation “the new coin of realm is learning.” Continuous learning is fundamental in the development of knowledge and skills beyond the basic 3R elements. The source of lasting competitiveness depends on the quality of knowledge (Hussain & Lucas, 2004). The ability to use the knowledge is the determinant of one’s success, which only indicates that staying on the game in the Knowledge Era depends on knowledge management.
The knowledge management discourse is important in moving up from 3Rs to 4Cs, which constitute of critical thinking, communication, collaboration and creativity (Bellinger, 2004; Hulsey, 2010). It is highly desirable for an individual to possess the 4Cs because anyone who has it will lead to the company’s advancement. This implies that any practitioner must engage in a career development activity that will nourish 4Cs of knowledge. One of the career development methods that can be used is the reflective practice. Reflective practice, defined in literature as the process of career exploration can assist any employee in cultivating the 4Cs, and that is the focus of this paper. To be able to explore this, it is important that the first part of this paper will be discussing the significance of developing the 4Cs in the 21st Century.
THE IMPORTANCE OF 4Cs IN THE 21ST CENTURY
According to Kreitzberg and Kreitzberg (2009), recent research shows that all companies are in urgent need to develop critical thinking in their workplace. In the study conducted by the Conference Board, Corporate Voices for Working Families, the Partnership for 21st Century, Skills and the Society for Human Resource Management reveal that 78 percent of companies in the world are favouring critical thinking as the major knowledge an individual should have in the new millennium because it is vital on the company’s success (Kreitzberg, Reilly & Kay, 2010; Kreitzberg & Kreitberg, 2009).
One good example is Dell Computer, after conducting mixture of skills test (that includes critical thinking) to approximately 500 prospective employees; their productivity rate skyrocketed to 40 percent growth (Kreitzberg, Reilly & Kay, 2010; Petrik 2010). This only implies that critical thinking ability is crucial to remain marketable and prosper in the today’s tough business environment.
Another issue that flourishes in the Knowledge Age is the capacity of an individual to collaborate within the team. The real world problems in the present generation become too complex to solve by a single person, the trend in the workplace shifts from competition to collaboration. Domik and Fischer (2011) explains that to respond to the challenges it is important to build a socio-technical environment wherein people with different background and opposing views gather together to form a uniform idea in one discipline.
Meanwhile, communication becomes more important than ever because of skill mobilisation and migration. It is a requirement in the workplace that an employee must have good interpersonal skills coupled with sympathetic listening. These skills are essential in dealing with people from different background. Often times there are communication barriers because of multicultural differences (accent, beliefs, point of view). Aside from this, it is also expected that all employees know how to use the technology with etiquette.
Another buzzword in the Knowledge Era according to Carson
