In 明天的地标 in 1959, Peter Drucker first described the rise of “knowledge work.三十年后, he had become convinced that knowledge was a more crucial economic resource than land, 劳动力或金融资产, 导致了他所谓的“后资本主义社会”.此后不久(2005年他去世前不久), Drucker declared that increasing the productivity of knowledge workers was “the most important contribution management needs to make in the 21st century.”
“If knowledge isn’t challenged to grow, it disappears fast,” Drucker cautioned. “It’s infinitely more perishable than any other resource we have ever had.”
Therefore, organizations need to increase the flow of information and the learning inside and outside the organizational perimeter in order to enable more and more “knowledge workers,也被称为熟练和训练有素的员工.
前进的道路:需要认证的工作
In an Penny Hoelscher的文章 exploring companies that pay for IT certifications and why asking employers to pay for professional development is worthwhile, 强调了下列因素:
- In a Forbes 文章的标题是为什么少数公司会把其他公司甩在身后,马尔科·阿农齐亚塔, while commenting on the widening gap between the best performing companies and the also-rans, 强调了教育的重要性, 培训和技能提升.
- A study by the American Society for Training and Development (ASTD) found that companies that offered comprehensive training garnered 218 percent higher income per employee than those with less-comprehensive training, and they enjoyed a 24 percent higher profit margin than those who spent less on training.
- An IBM Smarter Workforce study found that 84 percent of employees in best-performing organizations received the training they needed, 比表现最差的组织好68%.
In addition, John Hagel, 他是德勤边缘中心的联合主席, says that the traditional organizing principle for businesses was to achieve efficiencies of scale. 沿着类似的路线, organizations should pursue “scalable learning” to foster new knowledge creation, 这将有助于应对性能挑战.
从上面的讨论来看, 很明显，组织要想生存和发展, they need to invest in professional development programs for their knowledge workers and to take measures to improve their productivity by increasing the opportunities to acquire more knowledge.
Since it may not be always possible to have in-house training resources to cope with scalable learning needs, 公司应该大力鼓励员工 追求业界认可的IT认证 and other associated credentials in alignment with their technological and business needs, 并相应地赞助他们.
For practitioners looking to convince their employer to pay for IT certifications, 需要提到的一些关键因素包括:
- 增加熟练和积极的员工. Organizations that sponsor exam fees for obtaining certifications in emerging technologies such as cloud computing/AI/big data analytics/operating systems or emerging enterprise frameworks such as COBIT/agile methodology/ITIL, etc., will have a more skilled workforce that will bring more value to the work they perform, 从而提高工作满意度，提高士气.
- 提高组织的声誉. Certified employees gain trust and a positive image from the stakeholders of the organization, such as partners, clients, 金融机构, 规管及政府机构, 如何提高组织的专业声誉.
- 管理良好的风险. Certified employees are well trained in managing job-related risk, 他们可以是“优秀的去中心化决策者”,，这是德鲁克创造的术语. The thorough exposure to the body of knowledge and the rigors of the examination administered by the professional institutions equips practitioners to do a competent job and become a trusted advisor to the organizations they serve.
- 支持创新和最佳实践. Knowledge attained through professional certifications enable a person to become more innovative and a pioneer for best practices. The reason is that knowledge was originally derived from industry-proven practices, which are constantly updated by real-life experiences in the workplace. Also, certifying bodies makes it mandatory to submit yearly CPE (Continuing Professional Education) hours, which forces the certified professionals to continuously educate themselves, resulting in better professional services to the organizations they serve.
- 供应商折扣. Often big vendors for databases or networks offer lucrative discounts to their servicing organizations when those databases or networks supplied are handled by certified professionals in their respective specialization area. The reason is that when those complex infrastructures are handled by certified professionals, less troubleshooting work will arise to the serviced organization, 导致双赢的局面.
- 提高员工积极性. 当组织赞助IT认证时, it will motivate employees to pursue certification examinations, 否则他们可能不会想到这一点. The cost to the organization is minimal, while the resulting benefit is huge. This could also be a cost-saving option compared to a comprehensive, 在某些情况下有内部培训项目. Additionally, 通过保持员工的积极性和快乐, 公司不太可能在竞争中失去他们, 从而节省了寻找替代品的费用.
支援专业发展
It is clear that, in order to thrive in this highly uncertain and dynamic environment, organizations need to have trained and skilled employees and to encourage and motivate them to keep their knowledge continuously updated, ideally both by having comprehensive in-house training programs and by sponsoring professional IT certifications and related examinations.
Author’s note: The opinions expressed are the author’s own views and do not necessarily represent that of the organization or any of the certification bodies he is affiliated with.
