Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences: Individual Coursework Coversheet
Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences: Individual Coursework Coversheet
Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences: Individual Coursework Coversheet
Coursework Details
Module Name INTERNATIONAL TRADE
and Code (MANM013)
Student Details
Student URN Student
6393876 Aina Fatiha binti Abdul Manas
(7 digit number on Uni card)
Name
Student Declaration
To be agreed by Student
Please refer to the University of Surrey Regulations for the Conduct of Examinations and Other Forms of
Assessments and your departmental Student Programme Handbook for more information on Academic
Misconduct and Plagiarism.
Declaration:
I confirm that the submitted work is my own work and that I have clearly identified and fully acknowledged
all material that is entitled to be attributed to others (whether published or unpublished) using the
referencing system set out in the programme handbook. I agree that the University may submit my work
to means of checking this, such as the plagiarism detection service Turnitin® UK. I confirm that I
understand that assessed work that has been shown to have been plagiarised will be penalised.
I have read and fully understand the University’s Regulations and guidance on Academic
Misconduct and Plagiarism
This submission is my own work
All quotes and sources have been fully and properly attributed and referenced
This work has not been previously submitted, in full or in part, for the purpose of assessment at
this or any other institution
No effort has been made to subvert plagiarism detection processes of the University
This submission may be transferred to and stored in the Turnitin Plagiarism Detection database
for the purpose of plagiarism detection now and in the future
I understand that all required work must be received within the published deadline
I understand that work received after the published deadline will be penalised in line with
University Regulations
I understand that any request for mitigating circumstances must be made formally via the
Student Liaison Officer, using the appropriate form and including evidence; the application and
associated evidence must be received by the stipulated date
1
“Futurists do not predict the future for the simple reason that the most exciting things
likely to happen in the coming years will be driven by developments that have yet to be
discovered”
(Thornburg, 1997)
Technology is changing the way we work and do business both within and between
countries. As late as the mid 1980’s, technology was still seen as a trend that would flow with
the transient of time (Hutinger, 2001). According to Mason (2015), without us noticing, we
are entering the post capitalist era. At the heart of further change to come is information
technology, is the new ways of working and the sharing of economy. The previous ways will
take a while to fade, but it is time to be utopia. The economy is experiencing jobs recovery
and companies are making more money by hiring less people. Many junior level jobs are now
done by Algorithms, not human. For example, the banks do not need junior analyst, like fresh
graduate to analyse data because Algorithms can do it a million times faster. Decade ago,
there were no social networks and another decade before that, we do not even have the web.
If someone works in the web programming sector, online marketing sector, or mobile phone
industries, that kind of job does not exist twenty years ago. Technology has automated blue
collar jobs in the past and now it is starting on skill white collar job too. The economy is still
in a good shape. When we look back in time to the industrial revolution, we can see that
technology replaced many farming jobs. However, in the long-term period, technology
created more jobs in factories. Furthermore, if we fast forward to the future technology
advancement, it is going to replace white collar jobs but will create new jobs in a long-term
period of time.
2
The key to this question is long-term. Our career is like climbing a ladder leading up
to our dreams. Algorithms are not going to replace all jobs. They are cutting jobs at the
bottom rank of the job ladder and instead, they reinforce the really high skill jobs at the top
rank. The people out of work today will soon find jobs again but the work would not be the
same. The mantra of the future world is education and advanced manufacturing along with all
the technology that fuels it. Earning a college education will absolutely make a difference to
our future and the facts are striking. On average, those who have a college degree earn almost
twice as much as those who do not. Completing college is gigantic and over a life-time, a
college degree is commonly worth almost a million dollars. The financial benefits of a
college education are significant, and they are very real. The U.S. Census Bureau (2016) state
in their portal that adults with advanced degrees earn four times more than those with less
than a high school diploma. Workforces with a master’s, professional or doctoral degree
earned an average of $82,320 in 2006, while those with less than a high school diploma
earned $20,873. Obtaining a college degree is not just about making more money. According
to Hansen (2015), a college education is associated with other benefits, such as:
1) Longer life-spans
7) More self-confidence
3
A broad base of knowledge can be gained from college education on which to shape
and give better grounding at us to more of life’s problems (Roth, 2016). Although a college
education statistically offers a well shot at attainment wealth, it does not promise success. In
real life, there are distinction degrees holders who end up with convenience store careers
while the one who high school drop-outs are currently run multi-million dollar corporations.
However, earning a college education will expand our chances because the value of college
education is not just in the endpoint, but in the journey. This can be proved by the
clear, knowing means growing. While many workers will continue to be in occupations that
do not require a college education, the best jobs will be those requiring education and
training. In fact, the twenty occupations and careers with the highest earnings all require at
least a bachelor’s degree. Throughout the economy, occupations and careers that require a
The future of work is competitive. No one is going to pay us just for having a college
degree. The percentage of people around the world with a college degree is growing. College
is the new high school and informal education is more accessible than ever. For example,
AcademicEarth.org posts courses online for free from top universities like Stanford and MIT.
There is no longer an excuse not to know how. Education can help in strengthen the shift to
mastery which I have confidence that in the future the means by which individual value is
created will shift from having generalist ability to having specialist ability and achieving
serial mastery. This is really crucial because if we remain a generalist, there are thousands,
perhaps even millions, of people who can do the same work as we do and yet faster, cheaper
and perhaps even better. Seniority will no longer promise us a job and office politics will
deliberately be thrown out the window. Competition for a jobs is no longer limited and we
4
will have to differentiate ourselves from the crowd, build depth and yet be prepared to shift
Not only that, the future of work is also transparent. No one is going to just take our
word for it. In the past, productivity was difficult to measure. Business wasted millions of
dollars every year paying for employee downtime. Now, time and task tracking tools are
revolutionizing productivity measurement. Each employee work can be directly tied to the
bottom line. Not to mention, the future of work is also flat. No one is going to complain about
their commute. In real estate, the mantra is location while at work, the mantra is
communication. Work used to be considered a place and the only option for communication
were landline phones or snail mail. Today, project teams use amazing web tools to work
together from anywhere in the world which tools like Skype have made long-distance calling
virtually free. Generally speaking, the organization is now flat. Call centres used to be
massive offices built in rural areas or countries like India. In the future, location will not
matter and work is on demand. No one is going to guarantee us a lifetime career. Many
businesses are choosing contact relationships over hiring new employees. In fact, the word
future will need the following basic skills: comfort with uncertainty, an obligation to lifelong
learning, and the ability to be mobile. These basic skills do not focus on technology itself, but
more on life skills that societies will need if they are going to be successful in the next era.
According to Gandia (2012), by 2020, more than 40% of the workforce will be freelancers,
contractors and temporary workers. However, Thornburg (2002), have no idea what the jobs
of the future will be, or even what industries will be the strongest and no one has an accurate
image for the following centuries, in part because our economic system is not direct enough
In a nut shell, technology has extremely changed the world we live in and the shift has
changed business. The blend of technology and globalisation will have an insightful effect on
act we work in the future. Businesses will continue to see the impact of technology for years
to come, which means it will impact employees and society as a whole just the same.
Education will continue to play an important role in our ability to face the world of work and
References
Adler, P. S. 1992. Technology and the Future of Work. Cary, US: Oxford University Press.
Blinder, A.S. 2006. Offshoring: the next industrial revolution? .Foreign Affairs,
http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/61514/alan-s-blinder/offshoring-the-next-industrial-
Gandia, E. 2012. Data and analysis of freelancer demographics, earnings, habits and attitudes.
Hansen, K. 2015. Making a successful transition from college to career: time for a reality
Herman, M.A .2015.Trends and challenges for work in the 21st century. U.S. Department of
Labor, http://www.dol.gov/dol/aboutdol/history/herman/reports/futurework/report.htm ;
Hutinger, P. L. 2001. Technology and education: what will the future bring?.
Mason, P. 2015. Postcapitalism : The end of capitalism has begun. United Kingdom: Allen
Lane Press.
Sanchez, J. I., & Levine, E. D. 2012. The rise and fall of job analysis and the future of work
Simmonds, R. (2016). The future of work – what it will look like in 20 years.
Thornburg, D. 1997. The future isn't what it used to be. The Thornburg Center.
Thornburg, D. 2002. The New Basics: Education and the Future of Work in the Telematics