Cognitive Skills Required in Contemporary Workplaces

This paper discusses some of the changes occurring in contemporary workplace practices, and the implications these have for the types of knowledge and skills required to work in such environments. Increasingly, workers need to be multi‐skilled to function effectively in contemporary work environments. The nature of multi‐skilling is explained in terms of cross‐skilling, up‐skilling and higher‐order thinking skills, and the relevance of multi‐skilling in today's workplaces is examined. Finally, the paper explores some factors affecting the acquisition of these desired skills in light of current work practices.