Higher Power, Lower Cost to Extend Pagers’ Appeal

Radio pagers--commonly called beepers--won’t be just for golf-playing doctors in the future. Many businesses will find new uses for radio paging devices in the 1990s.

As radio pagers become smaller, less expensive and more powerful, more individuals as well as companies will have beepers. Applications will vary from auto repair shops’ notifying customers when their cars are ready to stores’ sending product information messages to individual shoppers.

Alphanumeric, or display, pagers--some so sophisticated that they can display thousands of characters--will be especially popular. And the cost of radio pagers will fall dramatically, further increasing demand.

Although some experts expected cellular telephones or voice messaging to replace beepers, a report by the market-research firm Frost & Sullivan says these technologies will most likely complement radio paging, rather than directly compete with it, in the future. The reason: The cost of cellular telephones and voice messaging will not fall enough to make them more attractive than beepers.

Numbers Can Yield Quicker Decision Making, Experts Say

Businesses may make more decisions “by the numbers” in the future to speed the decision-making process. Research has shown that complex decisions can be made more than 20% faster when information is expressed in numbers rather than words.

A recent study showed that individuals who make decisions based on numbers rather than words are likely to consider a larger number of options as well as a greater variety of factors. And greater amounts of information can be considered more quickly using numbers; words were found to add to the strain of decision making.

The speed of decision making and the ways that information are displayed will be of great importance for businesses in the future. “Millions of decisions are made each day--by everyone from corporate executives to travel agents--based on material displayed on computer terminals,” says Dan Stone, a professor of accountancy at the University of Illinois. “If the way information is displayed can influence judgments in even a small percentage of instances, then there can be serious implications for business performance.”

Shortage of Younger Workers May Benefit Handicapped

As the pool of younger workers entering the labor force declines during the next decade, employers may hire more handicapped workers to cope with widespread employee shortages.

The annual growth of the labor force in the United States recently has averaged 1.6%, down from over 3% just a decade earlier. Forecasts call for the growth rate to slow again during the 1990s. Worker shortages are already affecting service industries such as data processing, banking, law, and recreation and amusement, and competition for the dwindling supply of employable 17- to 25-year-old workers will heighten.

The handicapped will “represent a largely untapped resource for employers,” notes employment consultant Louis LeHane. “Among all handicapped, including those unwilling or unable to look for work, the unemployment rate is an astronomic 65% to 85%.”

Taking a Closer Look at Effects of ‘Computer Phobia’

Employers increasingly will face a new technological problem in the future: workers with “computer phobia.”

Fear of computers could keep a substantial number of employees from learning about, working with or fully utilizing computers. Furthermore, as jobs that require workers to use computers grow rapidly and as computer competence becomes essential for many workers, computer phobia could reduce productivity and cause significant problems for many businesses in the 1990s.

Larry Rosen, a computer phobia researcher, found that many students in courses that require the use of computers have trouble using the machines even with detailed instructions. They become anxious or even panic-stricken when faced with computers, no matter how well they are trained, he found. He estimated that at least half of the students were uncomfortable with using computers to some degree, and a fourth of them actually felt panic about having to use computers.

The U.S. Department of Education takes computer phobia seriously enough that it recently funded a three-year program to develop a treatment for it. Already, a computer phobia reduction program has been established at California State University, Dominguez Hills, and more such programs are expected for both schools and businesses in the near future.