Page 58 - Business Studies 11-12 (2006)

ENTREPRENEURSHIP: THE ENTERPRISING PERSON, GRADE 11, OPEN (BDP3O) 57
The Changing Nature of the Workplace
Overall Expectations
By the end of this course, students will:
• describe the major factors affecting the labour market;
• analyse the changing nature of work and the workplace;
• analyse the characteristics of work environments that promote enterprising behaviour and identify the factors that influence the creation of such an environment;
• demonstrate an understanding of the range of employability skills and how these are affected by the changing nature of work.
Specific Expectations
Factors Affecting the Labour Market
By the end of this course, students will:
– identify, through research, the factors that can influence the demand for various types of labour and labour skills (e.g., level of sales, production methods, use of techno- logy, cost of labour substitutes, type of product produced);
– identify the factors that determine the supply of labour (e.g., the size, age, and education of the population; the type of work available; immigration; the accessibil- ity of appropriate training programs;
the mobility of workers);
– describe the characteristics of the Canadian labour force (e.g., education, training, productivity, technological expertise, wage rates, unionization).
Changes in the Workplace
By the end of this course, students will:
– describe the factors that are changing the Canadian workplace (e.g., new technology, competition, globalization, e-commerce) and explain how these factors may affect
a person’s career path;
– identify and describe the different types of labour required in the changing work- place (e.g., skilled, semi-skilled, unskilled, professional);
– analyse and interpret local labour-market statistics to determine the number and types of jobs available;
– assess current trends in the labour market (e.g., working at home, contract work, part-time work, self-employment);
– describe ways in which the changing nature of work has affected business (e.g., savings associated with using part-time and contract labour; increasing investments in information and communication technology).
The Enterprising Work Environment
By the end of this course, students will:
– identify the factors within the control of an employer or manager that encourage an enterprising spirit among employees (e.g., method of planning and organizing work, management style, leadership qua- lities, emphasis on the team approach, decentralized control, delegation of power);
– describe job features that would attract enterprising employees (e.g., opportunities for promotion, profit sharing, stock pur- chase plans, rewards for individual initia- tive, productivity bonuses, an innovative and exciting environment);