Lesson 5

'Change means that what was before wasn't perfect. People want things to be better.'

Esther Dyson

The world has been change in many aspects. The converging new technologies brought about great changes into our live, many process have became more efficient as a result of new innovations. From the first reading, I realized that technological advancement make people richer. However, wealth does not equate to having unlimited resource. Scarcity is what drives people to innovate and improve on current technology, making them sustainable. An important aspect of making technology sustainable will be to look for alternative sources of energy. Our current high usage and reliance on fossil fuel will only lead to depletion. Therefore intensive research on solar power, bio-fuels are done in hope to reduce our reliance on fossil fuel. However, I feel that in order for us to shift towards usage of alternative sources of fuel, we have to change our attitude. We have to fact the face that these alternative energy sources will not be as cheap as fossil fuel, however if we give researches the support and funds to improve, someday we will be able to get sustainable energy sources at an affordable price. Things that are more commonly used will provide more incentive for people to improve on them.

Because we are adapted and specialized in using fossil fuel, it makes it hard for us to change. Similarly, companies that are conservative and having a closed mindset will just be on the road to being a falling star. As consumers’ attitude and value change, the way people do things change as well, hence it is important for companies to be responsive and reactive to the market in order to succeed. Consumers taste and preference can be a major driver of change as companies seek to meet their expectations.

However, there are other companies with better foresight and ability to set a new trend. An example will be the iphone, which greatly influence both consumers and the mobile phone industry on their expectations of a mobile phone. It brought about a revolutionary change. Initially, mobile phones were simply used for making calls and short messages. After the iphone was invented, people changed their perception of how a mobile phone should be. Now, mobile phone are also able to serve the net, download many useful application, taking photos and playing games. It has become an all in one tool for business purposes as well as for entertainment. Such revolutionary change lead to many other companies adopting similar strategy and evolutionary changes in the smart phone industry progressed exponentially. Smart phones these days have sharp quality imaging and are able to multi task without lagging.

Changes require management at well. Firstly, if a company wants so standout among others, they have to be daring to take the risk and make necessary changes. The leader of the company will take on the visionary role while its managers will work towards achieving their aim. However, this distinction is getting blurred, nowadays, the roles of leaders and managers have a significant overlap. They are required to set goals, work towards them and at the same time motivating their employees. We can also see a change in culture of most companies, managers are less dominant and authoritative while employees are questioning more and providing valuable suggestions. However, is it important for managers to realized and acknowledge employees hard work and ideas provided so as to fully them to gain knowledge from employees.  Individuals definitely take pride in their work and will want their efforts to be recognized. Therefore, if managers simply steal their ideas and take credit for it, employees will see no incentive to add value to their company.

With the change in society and technology, it urges us to constantly seek for self-improvement so as not to be left out and stay competitive especially in the labour market. Knowledge is ever growing, all it takes is for us to put in effort to learn and change ourselves for the better.