Creating the Human Capital for the Fourth Industrial Revolution Epoch and Beyond: Perspectives for the Manufacturing Companies

The advent of the Fourth Industrial Revolution phenomenon has triggered changes in various organisational systems and has created new forms of interactions and linkages amongst various value chains and systems, while core businesses remain the same. Radical technological innovations concomitant with Fourth Industrial Revolution technological innovations, have become an unmistakable challenge for organisations as it renders existing human capital skills and capabilities limitation and misaligned usefulness. This paper brings to the fore the argument that human capital remains indispensable for all organisations adopting and implementing Fourth Industrial Revolution technological transformation. The study was conducted using a hybrid of integrative literature and exploratory research methodologies. The findings of the study outline the context of human capital under Fourth Industrial Revolution epoch and strategic issues pertaining to human capital for adoption and implementation of Fourth Industrial Revolution technological innovations. The study further proposes a four-quadrant model for human capital planning, development and management under Fourth Industrial Revolution technological epoch for manufacturing companies.