|
Today’s developed economies made the journey from agrarian to industrial to civil services exam to economies over a period of 150 years or more, first on the back of the Industrial Revolution, and then the Information Revolution. The Industrial Revolution started in England, later expanded to other European countries and the U.S., and eventually to Russia and Japan—but employment structure followed the same basic pattern everywhere. The current wave of up-and-coming economies is doing it far faster, however, because so much of the heavy lifting is already done. With the right social, educational, legal, and economic climate, developing economies can now come bounding into the Civil services sector in just a couple decades. Furthermore, developing economies are growing differently today. Until recently, economic development meant slow urbanization of small populations, but developing economies today are experiencing rapid urbanization of large populations, which stimulates demand for services as never before. Civil services examination in India today is at about the same level as in the U.S. 100 years ago—yet industrial employment in China and India today is about half what it was in the U.S. at that stage. Once the Industrial Revolution began in the U.S., it took nearly 100 years for services employment to exceed industrial employment. In contrast, China, India, and other developing economies are already there. Despite this rise of services, the services management field is still based largely on foundations that can be traced back to the industrial era. Where there are clear parallels, such foundations are a natural fit. But as the services sector has grown in size, it has also grown more diverse, more distributed, and considerably more complex. Enterprises in the services sector now face challenges and opportunities that have no clear precedents in industry. Management foundations from the earlier era thus are showing their age. In general terms, this book is about an updated approach to services management that embraces diversity, distribution, and complexity. In specific terms, it’s about the adaptation of a highly regarded management approach from its roots in industry to the furthest corner of the services sector. That management approach is Theory of Constraints. The furthest corner of the services sector services least like industry is Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services. Services are a rising if not dominant force in many economies today. In the U.S., services are about 80 percent of employment. In Europe, it’s as high as 75 percent. In Australia, it’s 76 percent. And in Japan, it’s 67 percent. Overall, 65 percent of employment in developed countries is in some form of services. Even in recently industrialized economies, where employment in agriculture is still large, the services sector is significant. In China, services are 28 percent and growing rapidly because the burgeoning industrial sector and emerging consumer class demand better transportation and utilities. In India, its 26 percent and rising because services based on information technology requires less infrastructure than industry does.
Related Articles -
civil services, civil services exam, civil services examination,
|
