Abstract
There are a number of factors why the use of IT is the best option among some companies. This is because many businesses in various countries – may it belong to the group developed countries or the developing ones – explained that the continued use of IT is necessary particularly for the targeted IT infrastructure activities such as disaster recovery, mainframe operations, network management, midrange operations, PC support, and help desk operations. Moreover, a great number of companies nowadays rely on IT because of its positive impacts both on the behavior of the company and the human resource itself. Needless to say, with the emergence and continued use of IT, more and more employment opportunities have arisen.
Introduction
In today’s time, the introduction of information technology has been widely used in many companies around the world. The use of IT in the business is already considered the same as business productivity and human resource. Nowadays, the economy changes rapidly and management teams in many industries rely on information technology to deal with the current situations.
Information technology is the branch of technology devoted to the study and application of data and the processing thereof. This may include automatic acquisition, storage, manipulation and/or transformation, management, movement, control, display, switching, interchange, transmission, or reception of data. Moreover, the development and use of the hardware, software, firmware, and procedures associated with this processing is also part of the use of information technology. With this use, it has become a very useful strategy for most to maximize the benefits of information technology.
With the coming of the new millennium, new and more challenging information technologies had been presented to us. Different forms of communications such as the Internet, mobile phones and SMS, Internet chat or MIRCs, and e-groups penetrated the majority of the countries around the world. Communication through computer-generated networks became very visible. This enables any individual to talk with someone you cannot see on a face-to-face basis, to buy something and have it delivered without having to go out of your home, to research for any information with just one click on the Internet, or to meet new friends. Moreover, technologies have also penetrated almost, if not, all sectors of society. Belonging to these areas is the medical field.
This paper is aimed at analyzing the various effects that information technology has brought to the employment field. Specifically, this aims to:
- Evaluate the various effects – negative and positive – that information technology offers to the people involved in the employment sector
- Identify whether or not IT has helped in the number of employment opportunities for all – regardless of gender, race, or culture
- Assess whether there have been problems encountered pertaining to employment when applied with information technology. If so, this paper will be evaluating the trend and the real roots of the said problems.
Backgrounder: Information Technology
Information Technology Defined
Technically speaking, information technology means the use of hardware, software, services, and supporting infrastructure to manage and deliver information using voice, data, and video. Information Technology may include:
- computers with a human interface;
- computer peripherals which will not operate unless connected to a computer or network;
- voice, video, and data networks and the corresponding equipment, staff, and purchased services necessary to operate them;
- technology services provided by vendors or contractors.
There are a lot of things, machineries, equipment nowadays that are run by information technology. Good examples for these are:
- Telephone and radio equipment and switches are used for voice communications.
- Traditional computer applications include data storage and programs to input, process, and output the data.
- Software and support for office automation systems such as word processing and spreadsheets, as well as the computer to run them.
- Users’ PCs and software.
- Server hardware and software are used to support applications such as electronic mail/groupware, file and print services, database, application/ web servers, storage systems, and other hosting services.
- Data, voice, and video networks and all associated communications equipment and software.
- Peripherals are directly connected to computer information systems used to collect or transmit audio, video, or graphic information, such as scanners and digitizers.
- Voice response systems that interact with a computer database or application.
- The state radio communications network.
- Computers and network systems used by teachers, trainers, and students for educational purposes
- “Open/integrated” computer systems that monitor or automate mechanical or chemical processes and also store information used by computer applications for analysis and decision-making, such as the Metasys building management system.
How do people perceive Information Technology?
There is one study done showing how people find the benefits that information technology offers. Some of the astounding responses are as follows:
- When we talk about business and/or income, information technology presents a better image to clients.
- It ensures Better quality product/service.
- It is a more effective means of external and internal communication.
- It Improves access to and sharing of information.
- It Increases the efficiency of task performance.
- It Improves analysis/design evaluation.
- A faster/easier exploration of alternatives.
- It offers better control of information.
- It offers an ability to impose order and implement standards.
- Faster/more efficient cycling of information.
- Better integration of information/tasks.
- Improves checking/Reduction in number of errors.
- Improves management control.
- It offers a more flexible distribution of work.
The Upsurge of Information Technology Networks
Computer-mediated and hyperlink networks are very much handy today specifically for schools or big business establishments. These networks are used to link and connect computers, within a single site (local area network, or LAN) or via telecommunications systems connecting geographically dispersed sites (wide area network, or WAN). Such networks may provide users with access to shared facilities (files, software, databases, printers, fax machines), and may also provide access to communications (email and conferencing). Networks can be linked through gateways to other networks. Where this uses the common protocol and addressing system tcp/ip, an internet is created (Sturges, 1998).
One example of this link is the one we commonly called Intranet. These are very common in big companies where they can easily connect and get files from one computer as long as that folder is being “shared”. It is also easier to transfer files and documents using this link because there is no need to save a certain file from floppy disks or CDs just to have a copy of that because you can directly view the folder you wanted to access from this computer-mediated network and hyperlink networks. Hackers, viruses, and gatecrashers can be prevented from accessing confidential files by using passwords or passkeys to access the file.
The Internet Phenomenon
Come to think of it, can you see a single country nowadays, who doesn’t have any access to Internet? The Internet has indeed gone from near-invisibility to near-ubiquity in little more than a year (Cerf, 1997). Most of the higher income earners business establishments today are those pertaining to computer, telecommunications, and Internet industries. Even almost all of the schools, universities, or colleges are offering online courses. There is almost no student – may it be a primary grader to a university or even a Master’s degree earner – who can admit that they are not dependent on computers and the Internet and its functions.
As I quote what Sturges has cited:
“… The global, public access network, or the Internet, is the sum of all such networks that are in communication with one another. The significant thing about the Internet as a carrier of information is that it has no center and has no controlling authority. It grows in an organic way as more networks are added. The early Internet had a primarily military function in the USA, and its distributed structure, both in terms of communication routes and information input, make it resistant to military attack or control…” (Sturges, 1998).
The Internet has indeed become a global part of our everyday lives. From merely buying the basic necessities in life to having to get airplane flights. It has been widely useful to the students through their continuous access to faster, easier and reliable sources of different information. It has been very significant to business-oriented individuals because of its wide range of marketing and sales strategies being offered by different web owners. It has been very useful even to the simplest member of the society for you can even sell and buy things from the Internet or get credible information regarding a certain product. Yes, the Internet is very much useful to everybody, and we can safely say that one is losing such a big opportunity if he or she has not been accessing to Internet.
The System Theorists Employment Opportunities
“Technology doesn’t get adopted in society unless and until it does something more. The first thing it does is open up access to more resources; it uses more resources, not only information but physical resources like oil and water. And then this leads in turn to an expansion of the population. Historically, every time you have a new technology–from agriculture onward to steam, to the machine–more people can live because people could do more things. You have more people, you use more resources, you have to get better organized. So how come the soft technologies. You have to organize your educational system, your society, political system, economic system, the communication system in ways in which more people relate and do more things” – Ervin Laszlo.
Through Laszlo’s theories (as stated above) it is very clear he views technology and/or information technology as something that is very useful to man’s everyday living. It does not only help us have a better way of life, it does not only offer various sources of neither entertainment nor a venue for further information and learning but [he says] that information technology also assures for a safer and reliable living.
“How easy is it for people to create new soft technologies? Here is where you get to the softest point–to the point where you have to forget to some extent the old and develop the new. To do this you have to develop what you might call a new mindset. You don’t solve old problems with the same mindset that created the problems as Einstein said and it is true in society in general” – Ervin Laszlo.
But the problem, according to Laszlo lies in how people adapt to such inventions or development in information technology. He even implies that people can always create something new, that there are a number of researchers and scientists who could always come up with something extraordinary and with which he would think would benefit the majority of the population. But, as Laszlo says, not all people will be on the same line of thinking.
There will always be people who would oppose changes… who would be declining the use of such new inventions. And that goes the same with information technology. Even if there will be proofs – studies and researches- showing that information technology is indeed helpful, surely, there will also be numbers of papers and that will be printed opposing that idea.
These thoughts are aligned with Boulding’s theories. According to him, exchanges are invitations to trade beneficial actions or goods. The economic system is the primary example of an exchange system. Exchange systems are responsible for creating classes and the division of labor. Well-organized exchange systems facilitate productivity. However, increased production does not always result in improved well-being for all (Boulding, 1978).
It may be perceived from these two theorists that information technology has sprouted out of the love for man’s safety and longer living. This is the very reason why it should be adopted by more and more, especially in the employment field and even to the other sectors of society.
Conclusion
Life has been changing so fast since the start of the 21st century. The technologies are becoming more prominent and vastly renovating themselves; economic situation in almost all countries in the world was shifting good/high and bad/low from time; and the health situation were all affected by this, specifically the healthcare cost.
Meanwhile, there are also significant issues raised in the employment field, problems that have been existing for the longest time possible, and it is about time to remedy this problem. And what more can we offer but maximize the use of information technology. It is very credible, as studies have proven, and it is very accessible. Why do we need to continuously suffer if there is an alternative given to us? Make use of information technology is, and will surely be the right choice.
Because of the continued use of IT, more and more university courses are now offered in relation to IT. Because of the advancement that IT can provide in terms of business productivity, more and more companies are relying on IT-related personnel to do the most important works within the company. This only means a boost in the employment opportunities for IT-related or interested people.
References
Social Networks Connecting People with Information and Each Other. 2004. Web.
Social Networks in the World of Abundant Connectivity. 2002. Web.
Kollock, Peter and Smith, Marc. Communities in Cyberspace. London: Routledge, 1998.
Papadakis, Maria C. People Can Create a Sense of Community in Cyberspace. 2003. Web.
Sturges, Paul. Freedom of Expression and the Communication Networks. 1998. Web.
“Informaition technology”. 2005. Web.
Boulding, Kenneth. (1978) “Ecodynamics: A New Theory of Societal Evolution”. Beverly Hills, California: Sage Publications.
“Ervin Laszlo”. 2005. Web.