Preparing Business Students for Success in the 4th Industrial Revolution

Abstract

The fast-changing, technology-dominate Fourth Industrial Revolution is upon us. Unfortunately, our current education system is based on training compliant workers to perform repetitive tasks required for the industrial revolution of the early 1900’s. Today, employers are looking for skills such as complex problem solving, critical thinking, creativity, people management, emotional intelligence, divergent thinking, and cognitive flexibility. It is our responsibility as educators to make sure our students are taught in a manner that supports their success and helps them benefit from the exponential changes occurring in our world, one that fosters complex problem solving, critical thinking, creativity, and cognitive flexibility. We develop these skills in students by creating an environment where they are called to use their imagination, experiences, and unique perspective while applying the taught concepts. Asking open-ended questions such as “How are you going to do it?” results in unique and infinite answers that are not right or wrong, encouraging students to take risks and be creative. In this paper, the authors present several ways to activate this creative, divergent thinking process.