An Integrated SS-VSA Analysis of Changing Job Roles

Abstract

This paper presents a first attempt at an integrated Service Science (SS) and Viable Systems Approach (VSA) analysis of the real-world phenomenon of changing jobs roles. Changing job roles is important to quality of life and yet understudied by systems scientists. Today, individuals changing jobs multiple times during their working life is the norm. The average person born in the later years of the US baby boom held 10.8 jobs from age 18 to age 42 (BLS [BLS 2008. Number of jobs held, labor market activity, and earnings growth among the youngest baby boomers: Results from a longitudinal survey. US Bureau of Labor Statistics. USDL 08-0860. URL: http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/nlsoy.pdf]). The viability of societal systems depends on both entities changing job roles offered and individuals changing job roles filled (Spohrer and Maglio, [Spohrer, J. C., Maglio, P. P. 2010b. Toward a Science of Service Systems: Value and Symbols. In The Handbook of Service Science, Maglio, P. P., Kieliszewski, C. A., Spohrer, J. C., Springer, New York, NY.]). Societal systems interact with their environment via individuals in job roles, and the behaviors and dynamics of these diverse types of viable systems are not easy to explain and predict (Beer, [Beer, S. 1972. Brain of the firm. The managerial cybernetics of organization. The Penguin Press.]). Both Service Science (SS) and Viable Systems Approach (VSA) can be seen as less well known specializations of General Systems Theory (von Bertalanffy, [von Bertalanffy, L. 1968. General System Theory: Foundations, Development, Applications. George Braziller, New York.], Spohrer and Kwan, [Spohrer, J., Kwan, S. K. 2009. Service Science, Management, Engineering, and Design (SSMED): An Emerging Discipline – Outline & References. Int. Journal of Information Systems in the Service Sector, 1(3).], Barile [Barile, S. 2009. Management sistemico vitale. Giappichelli, Torino.], Golinelli, [Golinelli, G. M. 2010. Viable Systems Approach (VSA). Governing Business dynamics. Kluwer, Cedam, Padova.]). Like General Systems Theory, these emerging analytic frameworks advocate a worldview and specialized vocabulary that provide a framework for analysis and decision making. Also, these nascent analytic frameworks aim to improve our understanding of complex systems and improve their design. By refining the concept of the identity of a system from SS and VSA perspectives, the contributions of this paper include providing an abstract framework for enumerating all job roles and transitions between job roles as well as a practical recommendation to prepare a next-generation of individuals to compete better in a world of accelerating job role change. Specifically, our analysis of changing job roles will result in a recommendation for increasing the ratio of T-Shaped Professionals (T-SP possess both broad communication skills and deep problem solving skills) to I-Shaped Professional (I-SP possess only deep problem solving skills) in the labor force of nations and businesses to improve their viability in a complex environment of accelerating change (Donofrio et al. [Donofrio, N., Sanchez, C., Spohrer, J. 2010. Collaborative Innovation and Service Systems: Implications for Institutions and Disciplines, in Holistic Engineering Education, Edited by Domenico Grasso.]). [Service Science, ISSN 2164-3962 (print), ISSN 2164-3970 (online), was published by Services Science Global (SSG) from 2009 to 2011 as issues under ISBN 978-1-4276-2090-3.]