Abstract
This paper attempts to unravel the potential social effects of the fourth industrial revolution (4IR) on Botswana employees. The authors investigated employees’ level of awareness and preparedness for an era of full blown 4IR adoption. Utilizing purposive sampling, a self-administered questionnaire was distributed to a sample of 52 employees in Gaborone. This work employed the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology model (UTAUT). The major findings of the study are: 50% of respondents confirmed their preparedness for the adoption of 4IR technologies; 48% believed that the rest of employees in their organization were prepared for 4IR; 65% said they were prepared to embrace and take advantage of the efficiencies brought about by 4IR; job roles are likely to change significantly with some roles disappearing and new roles emerging; and critical thinking, complex problem solving, innovation and digital related skills are bound to be more in demand. The outcomes of this research will serve as a wakeup call to Botswana employees, to equip themselves and future generations with requisite skills, for the changing roles. Furthermore, organizations will also use the outcomes to consider reskilling their employees accordingly. For educators, the study will encourage consideration and alignment of the curricular while in terms of and for policy formulation, it will engender reflecting on the regulatory frameworks to align them to the demands of the new era. Keywords : Fourth Industrial Revolution, industry 4.0, jobs4.0, future of jobs DOI: 10.7176/DCS/11-2-05 Publication date: February 28 th 2021
Highlights
The past three industrial revolutions, which were driven by the advent of steam engines, the discovery of electricity and the possibilities around the transistor and electronics respectively, led to phenomenal booms in industrial production
Based on findings, organisations ought to ensure that adequate long-term resources are available for upskilling of their employees as well as acquisition of the necessary fourth industrial revolution technologies
The research presented in this paper shows the attitude and self-awareness of employees to the concept of 4IR, indicates readiness for the implementation of 4IR in organisations, as well as the barriers which may threaten its achievement
Summary
The past three industrial revolutions, which were driven by the advent of steam engines, the discovery of electricity and the possibilities around the transistor and electronics respectively, led to phenomenal booms in industrial production. Machines substituted manual labor, with the living standards of people improving over time because value added jobs were created (Simic, et al, 2019). The first industrial revolution (1IR) disrupted jobs in agriculture and processing industries, with the inventions of new machinery. Workers could still find jobs in industries with strong physical components (blue collar jobs). The second industrial revolution (2IR) saw a surge in the number of both physical (blue collar) jobs and office (white collar) jobs. There was a significant reduction of blue-collar jobs during the third industrial revolution (3IR) and an explosion in the white-collar jobs sectors. With the shift and turns in the IR’s workers continued to adapt to the changing work environments with more and more warming up to more intellectual jobs, in the 3IR
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