Finding Socrates' Justice in Classic I-Shaped People

98121314 Hannah Ho

As time changes, the requirements of the workforce change from the classic I-shaped person into the modern T-shaped person. It reflects the changes of human life style and the way people interact with each other.  Nonetheless, no matter what kind the workforce people are, the goal is to have personal fulfillment and a flourishing society so that the justice can be realized. 

In ancient Athens, Socrates finds justice to be each person performing the task at which he excels. This idea is much the same like that of the twenty century I-shaped people. I-shaped people are those who have a "can do" and "have done" competence in their expertise. That is, they are firmly grounded in reality, not in abstract knowledge. I-shaped people have been fundamental pillars for human societies for centuries.

On the other hand, T-shaped people are those who have a deep understanding of their discipline and a broad understanding of the other disciplines so that he can collaborate with experts in other areas and to apply knowledge in areas of expertise other than his own. This concept of T-shaped people was first referred in 1991 by the CEO of the IDEO design consultancy for building interdisciplinary work teams for creative processes. Now it has been widely adopted by various institutions and establishments to advance their development. It sounds good to have the workforce full of T-shaped instead of I-shape. However, questions exist. T-shaped is highly desired, but not sufficient. Besides, T-shaped must have empathy, otherwise, he cannot figure out the real problem of his teammates. Moreover, If he had bad social skills, the result might be a disaster, and one can perform no task.

As T-shaped must be I-shaped, and the function of the cross bar of T-shaped can be compensated by more I-shaped in the field of communication and negotiation, I-shaped people remain the main characters in workforce. Apparently, Socrates’s argument of justice to be each person performing the task at which he excels stands firm in modern twenty-first century.  

References

Buxton, Bill. “Innovation Calls For I-Shaped People” Bloomberg Businessweek. July 13, 2009. web, March 28, 2012.