Samuel Morse telegraphed what hath God wrought\ from Washington to Baltimore on the first U.S. patented telegraph on May 24, 1844, significantly increasing the speed of information exchange. One hundred and twenty-five years later, Neil Armstrong made his famous stride across the face of the moon July 20, 1969. Apollo 11 had conquered the span of 250,000 miles that separate the moon and the earth in nearly four days.
Physical distance was no longer an insurmountable barrier but a feasible accommodation. As barriers of distance are continually abolished, the applicant pool for employment is no longer confined to individual countries but extended to the world at large.
""Technologies are allowing people in different countries to connect, communicate and work together in ways that were never possible,"" said James Rappold, assistant professor of operations and information management in the School of Business. ""If your work is knowledge-based, then it can be digitized and transmitted around the world atreasonable cost.""
Aside from technology, other factors contribute to the enlarged job applicant pool.
""Previously sheltered economies, such as China, have lowered their trade barriers and opened their economies,"" said Rappold. ""This shift has thrusted upon the globe a tremendous pool of talented individuals. It is up to future business leaders to determine how to tap the best available talent–wherever the people are–and build the best possible business team to compete.""
The irrelevancy of distance, better technology and lowered trade barriers potentially increase job competition, unemployment and job insecurity. Individual laborers worry that they cannot compete globally for the jobs they once only competed for domestically. ""Those without enough education and skills are probably at greatest risk,"" said Mike Knetter, dean of the School of Business, ""If we care about them, we should all be concerned.""
Domestic job loss threatens these laborers the most because businesses are enabled to relocate themselves outside of their respective economies, often referred to as ""offshoring,"" to ones that offer cheaper labor or more favorable economic legislation. This practice extends employment opportunities to individuals outside of the United States that would normally be offered to U.S. citizens.
According to Daniel Altman of the International Herald Tribune, the debate regarding globalization consists of one side that ""argued that [globalization] allowed big, multinational corporations to exploit workers in poor countries to pad their profit margins."" The white-collar workers of the United States, often the beneficiaries of globalization, also shoulder its repercussions, although in different forms. While technology has abolished barriers of physical distance, differing time zones still impose other inconveniences upon the orthodox North American work schedule.
According to Rachel Konrad of the Associated Press, ""Silicon Valley workers grumble that communicating with colleagues overseas requires midnight teleconferences, 6 a.m. video meetings and the annoying ""pling"" of instant messages and twittering cell phones all night."" Globalization has led to a never ending work day; as one time zone surrenders to bed, another is just waking up and getting ready for work. Someone is always on the clock.
Differences in the work week also create minor problems. Sunday is a common work day in Israel and U.S. laborers collaborating with Israel must also accommodate accordingly, even if it means working on the weekend.
Economic isolation, an increase in self-sufficiency and a lessening of trade and international collaboration may also be used as an alternative to impede the loss of jobs to globalization. However, it comes with its own unique difficulties.
""After all, the U.S. economy is not an island unto itself,"" Rappold said. ""It has strong dependencies on other nations as suppliers, as customers and as investors.""
Isolation would likely eliminate the jobs that have been created as a result of globalization and the business that other nations contribute to the U.S. economy.
""While self-sufficiency might save certain blue-collar jobs in the short run, it would eliminate a major source of productivity growth for the entire economy. It's probably not feasible and certainly not desirable,"" said Knetter.
Although globalization may initially appear to generate only negative consequences, it also generates positive outcomes. Altman wrote that those in favor of globalization argue that ""the expansion of these corporations into the developing world offered the best hope for raising living standards.""
The ongoing debate regarding the merits of globalization will continue. Depending upon the priorities used to critique and evaluate the consequences of globalization, it may be perceived as beneficial or detrimental.
""Now it's pretty clear that globalization, be it good or bad, is an unavoidable thing. Rather than dealing with the problems of globalization head-on, it can be tempting to try to slow the process,"" Altman said. ""Yet that's likely to postpone the problems, not solve them. Unless every country simultaneously decides to close its borders to commerce, migration and financial transactions, globalization will continue.""
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