Middle-Aged Managers, the Forgotten Digital Divide
The digital divide is defined by the role computers play within widening social gaps in our society, as the condition of one group having an advantage over another group in regard to computers, technology skills and Internet access. This is usually thought of as being a divide between the white middle class and minority communities; but there is another often overlooked class of nonusers, the middle-aged corporate manager. As computer skills play an increasingly important role in building careers, many have not acquired the necessary technological skills needed to keep up. Being computer illiterate in today's high-tech business world is almost indistinguishable from being functionally illiterate. And it's difficult to believe there are successful people in the business world who do not know how to use a computer. Unfortunately, these corporate managers are mistaken in the belief that they can avoid computers and remain successful in the workplace. In the late 1990's, I was hired by a successful direct sales catalog company to design their sales catalogs. The Director of Advertising was in his mid 50's and had, over the years, had a successful career. He was in his late 40's when desktop computers first came into the workplace and he had no interest in learning a new technology. He assumed, that because he had never needed computer technology to succeed in the past that he didn't need it now. At first he escaped learning computers by joking about the new technology, and later he relied on his employees to write his emails, schedules, spreadsheets etc. Eventually, he became the only company executive who didn't have a computer on his desk. In his stubbornness not to learn the new technology, he had become a dinosaur. He resisted and resented learning how to use a computer. At the beginning of every year he made a resolution to get a computer and learn all about it; but he never followed through. When he attempted to modify a computer file himself, he would hold the mouse backwards. When he didn't get the response he wanted, he'd slam the mouse down hard on the desk in frustration. Unfortunately he couldn't keep up with the technological changes that computers had made in the printing industry either, or how design software meshed with those changes. He would give long lectures on antiquated printing techniques without understanding that his concerns about old-fashioned methods could be alleviated with a push of a menu button. One day the company was sold, and when the new management came in guess what happened? He was forced into early retirement because he lacked the computer skills and the technical knowledge of his industry. Although he had over 25 years with the company, his skill set was inadequate for someone in his position. Today, middle-aged managers who have never had to use computer technology before are being required to learn by their employers. Luckily, today there are many resources available specifically to help mature executives learn the computer skills they need to remain productive in the workplace until their retirement. There are countless Internet resources including "help" forums and computer software learning sites. Continuing education programs at local colleges and universities offer everything from how to use an operating system to advanced spreadsheets and presentations. For those who want to learn at their own pace, in the privacy of their own homes, there are companies that offer self-paced software learning tutorials ranging from learning computers, sending email, using the internet and learning business software programs. As it's impossible to have a successful career without embracing computers and technology today, the most important thing is to get started. Many successful people, when they come into contact with a new technology for the first time, consider themselves too stupid to deal with it and fear failure. Don't become discouraged; there is nothing to fear . . . your computer won't self-destruct if you make a mistake, and soon you'll become a computer geek like the rest of us. Copyright 2005, Video Professor Inc. All Rights Reserved. Mary Carroll is a customer advocate for Video Professor, the leader in self-paced software learning tutorials, helping our customers to better understand Video Professor and how our tutorials can provide tools to learn various software programs to your desired level.
Related News
|
 |
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
The Role of the Machine Metaphor in Mixed-initiative Organizational Leadership
"Can This Marriage be Saved?" So reads the title of the cover story in the August 15, 2005 issue of BusinessWeek (www.businessweek.com). The article describes the seven-year (1998-2005) story of the merger of Daimler and Chrysler Corporation. As of this writing, the board of the merged companies decided to terminate the reign of the current chairman, Jürgen Schrempp. At the end of this year he will be replaced with Dieter Zetsche, the current head of the company's operations in North America. The article identifies the following five critical challenges facing the new chairman:
Juggling Demands in an Organization
JUGGLING DEMANDS: All leaders constantly juggle a multifarious array of demands from those of their organization, employees, and themselves. Good leaders, never drop one demand at the expense of another equally important requirement. They give each demand its fair share, while balancing the organizational goals with their employees' needs, while still fulfilling their own personal/professional purposes. Successful leaders meet both these business and personal needs through their staff. They learn about their staff's aspirations, their strengths and potential contributions to the organization. From this knowledge, they mesh together a successful working team. Sounds easy, doesn't it? For starters, it becomes much easier if you know your organization.
Five Steps to Increase the People Power in Your Business
Take some bold steps and help your employees and business partners open up to real change and help them start thinking again to the longer term. Send a message that you are ready to commit to new ways of thinking and that that includes a commitment to the success of your employees in the changing workplace.
Sarbanes-Oxley and Section 404: Old Dog, New Teeth
The failures we have seen in the quality and integrity of financial reporting in corporate America are clear evidence that something was awry. It is the responsibility of corporate boards, managements, public accounting firms and regulatory agencies to put confidence back into the financial statements issued by our society's most significant entities. Although some would argue that Sarbanes Oxley went too far, it is also now evident that government action and the use of enforcement muscle was required, if for no other reason than to move toward rebuilding public trust. There is no doubt that Sarbanes Oxley, and in particular, Section 404, has increased the expense of doing business for public corporations; however, this is neither a new mandate, nor a superfluous one. All parties engaged in this process have previously ignored the mandate, and must now accept reality, and get past the complaining.
Sexual Harassment Policy Guidelines Part I
Sexual Harassment Policy Guidelines ? Part I
Budgets that Damage - The Downsides of Making the Numbers
In my organisational career, I had budgets from the age of 22 to 47. I lived and breathed them and many times, budgets, the gospel that they were, caused havoc, albeit within the corporate retailer framework that I worked.Here are two examples of the damage caused.
How to Manage Your People Well: Tips for Managers of Training
As a training manager, there are two important aspects to managing your people well: hiring, supervising, and motivating (managing with your people) and building up corporate support for your department (managing for your people). Unfortunately, training is not well understood by some executives, and its benefits can be hard to assess. Even a good training manager's department risks cuts by cost-conscious administrators convinced that training is an unnecessary expense. In The Secret of My Success, a cinematic fairy tale about life in corporate America, Michael J. Fox gets scolded his first day on the job for speaking to a senior executive: "Never consort with a suit unless the suit consorts with you first." As a training manager, however, you had better be prepared to consort with "the suits" from Day One. Managing for your people is a pro-active strategy that constantly demands selling your department's services and widening the base of organizational support for the training function.
Beyond Management Coaching: When Things Are Getting Out of Control
Leaders and Managers often ask us, 'What do you do when you have tried to coach and counsel an employee about a performance concern, and the employee has not responded?
When Being A Facilitator DOESNT Help
I talked with a group of internal consultants last week - they felt they had to wear too many hats in their work. They had to be consultants, facilitators, coaches and trainers - sometimes in the same one-hour session. They weren't always sure what role to be in and they felt that all this role-switching was draining them and was decreasing their credibility and effectiveness.
5 Ways of Increasing Business Profits
The economy may finally be turning around and showing signs of a rebound. Interest rates have begun to rise and the stock market is recovering from the lows it experienced in the last couple of years. Is your business ready to take advantage of these improving times? Can you translate these improvements into increased profits? You can. Read on?
Conflict at 36,000 ft
This was supposed to be one of those sleepy flights that leaves late, crosses two
time zones, and arrives at 11:00 p.m. But it wasn't.
5 Steps to Identify Core Processes
Part Two of Creating Well-Defined Processes Series
Why You Should Hold One More Meeting
If you are completely happy with where you and your business currently are then you can stop here. If growth and change aren't something you have any interest in, there is no need for you to read any further.
Talent Recruitment Challenges of High Technology Companies
As a result of the dot com meltdown and the decline of the NASDAQ in 2001, many organizations had no alternatives but to lay off many talented IT professionals. Currently, the pool of available talent in the labour market is large. Over the long haul, the impact of shifting population demographics on the labour pool will be staggering. As the baby boom generation continues to age, we can expect acute labour shortages similar to the ones we experienced in the high technology sector during the dot com boom. While there is still a surplus of talent in the market, it is important for organizations to take proactive steps to attract the brightest and the best and thereby fuel their organization's growth. The days of placing ads in the newspaper and receiving a flood of resumes from qualified applications are drawing to a close. Companies that want to ensure that they have a steady stream of applicants will have to think outside the box to broaden their repertoire of talent recruitment strategies.
Communicating When A Crisis Strikes
How would you handle communication if your business or practice got into a crisis situation?
Knowledge Management - Creating a Sustainable Yellow Pages System
How can I "know who knows" None of us can personally know more than around 250 people, yet we want our companies to be smart, learning organisations where it's easy to find the right person to talk to. This is why many organisations create "yellow pages" applications, which enable employees to find and contact other staff with particular expertise and skills. However, these systems can be fraught with difficulty in their implementation, and often end up as out-of-date, glorified intranet telephone directories. This article, drawn from a best-selling knowledge management fieldbook by its author, identifies ten key steps involved in creating and sustaining a successful, employee-owned yellow pages system.
The Comfort Zone
The Comfort Zone
I have a friend named Gene, a serial entrepreneur who currently runs a software business. Like many people, last year was a tough one for his company. They survived largely by providing add-on services to existing customers - a decent response to difficult circumstances. They even grew revenues a bit. But here's something else that happened: They got comfortable. They decided they could exist on their base of customers, and then they "realized" there would be no new ones.
I Am Not A Number - Why Too Many Change Projects Fail
Many of you will recognise this quote from the 1960s TV show, "The Prisoner". Patrick McGoohan used the phrase to describe his frustration at not being treated as an individual, and being kept in the dark about what his superiors were up to in a very confusing environment. This experience is not dissimilar to what employees face in most change projects.
Train Me -- But Follow Through
My mechanic has me trained. When I take my car in for an oil change, he places a sticker in the upper left hand corner of my windshield to remind me what date and mileage I should have my next maintenance completed. But every once in a while, he forgets to put the sticker on the window. Then I have to remember the date and mileage details.
Process and Procedures Investments - How to Get Money Back
In September 2004, President Bush signed the $146 billion tax cut bill restoring the recently expired business Research & Experimentation Tax Credit. The 18-month renewal of the research and experimentation tax credit, which expired June 30 2004, was the most expensive item with an expected $7.6 billion cost through 2014.
|