MRF and RDD: Which Career Structure is Most Relevant Today?

Our chosen profession will likely involve a series of interconnected jobs. Therefore, it’s essential to approach our career path with intentionality. Your career, profession, or chosen line of work will consist of various related jobs. Pursuing or transitioning into a field with intentionality and where you can progress is the key. Previously, people looked at career structures through these two lenses: MRF and RDD. MRF stands for “Memorize, Repeat, and Follow” instructions, and RDD stands for “Research, Design, and Development.”

The 20th century saw a boom in manufacturing, leading to a rise in factory jobs. These jobs often involved repetitive tasks, focusing on efficiency and assembly lines. These jobs possess a higher component towards MRFs. Throughout the century, the skills for these jobs remained consistent with specific knowledge and repetitive tasks. Similar skill sets remained the same with the rise of The Limited-Service Sector, encompassing jobs like retail and clerical work, which was smaller than today.

The 20th century saw a rise in technological advancements and innovation, changing career structures today towards the RDD career structure, which emphasizes problem-solving, creativity, and connecting, arose. The 20th century saw a rise in the Service Sector. While the 20th century saw a manufacturing boom, the 20th century has witnessed a significant shift towards a service-based economy. Healthcare, finance, tech, IT, business, and entertainment jobs now dominate the landscape. As we continue reading, let’s explore which career structures are relevant today.

In the 21st century, regardless of the industry and level of contribution, employers’ expectations have shifted toward:

1. Developing a career framework with a specific job role means understanding how your organization works and how your role contributes to achieving overall goals and objectives.
2. Enabling career development and encouraging the use of technology: Almost every role now has an element of digital. Therefore, it is important to embrace what digital has to offer to improve efficiency and productivity. Also, organizations need to plan how to improve employees’ capacities using technology.
3. Aligning careers with competencies: Competencies are measurable, so it is essential for employees to demonstrate value by using their skills to the utmost. On the other hand, employers provide ways for employees to gain the skills needed to grow or pivot within the organization.
4. Career path or levels based on changing personal or professional priorities: When pursuing a specific career, it is vital to understand your personality, life goals, and priorities. These help to provide clarity on overall goals. Money, while significant and a serious motivator, not everyone can be in an area making six figures. Society needs people in various jobs to function.

Today, jobs require growth, progressive proficiency, and complexity, making future workers master learning and unlearning. Career structures for job frameworks in a skills-based economy look at careers as Individual Contributors, Exempt-Individual Contributors, and Exempt-People leaders. This structure categorizes all roles based on the nature of their primary duties and responsibilities. Progression in your career is based on observable competencies and measurable abilities that can be improved and developed over time. Individuals who thrive provide value to their organizations.

Each career structure has different levels. These levels consist of varying job functions and abilities. Progression in these levels comes with experience or education levels to accelerate growth. These two structures clearly articulate the primary purpose and skills required to complete a given position’s responsibilities successfully. Therefore, regardless of where you are in your career when looking for your next role, it should consist of the following: role description, development opportunities, understanding expectations from your supervisor, and more so, salaries.

In the book “The Rise of the Creative Class,” Richard Florida discusses the importance of creativity and innovation in the knowledge economy. We are now living in the Knowledge Economy: The emphasis has shifted towards skills like innovation, critical thinking, and problem-solving, marking the emergence of the “knowledge economy.” The jobs of the future will focus on the problems of the future. Therefore, in anticipating what careers make the future, we should ask:

1. What is my personality type?
2. What am I passionate about?
3. Who will use what I am studying?
4. Where will it be used?
5. When will it be used?
6. How relevant is its function in the future?

Once we can answer these questions, we can determine whether we are solving the problems of the future.