The author argues that the American labor market is in the midst of historic transition that will challenge human resource development professionals. Sweeping demographic changes will soon combine with a "Second Industrial Revolution" in technology and a quantum leap in the level and quality of foreign competition to raise sharply the importance…

A central issue in economics is explaining the persistent and growing inequalities between nations in income and wealth. Traditional western economic thought has emphasized the importance of free trade to economic development, but differential access to technical knowledge has left less developed nations at a disadvantage. (IS)

This document contains five case studies of plants within large enterprises in the automobile industry (Ford, Toyota, Volkswagen, Renault, and Volvo), plus reports of each company's views on human resource development, new technology, and changes in work organization and skill formation. The document is composed of five narrative sections,…

Our current transformation to a computer literate, high technology, information society has numerous implications for a new role for postsecondary education. To help define its own role, North Central Technical College (NCTC) has developed a strategic planning and human resource development model that specifies assumptions on which to base…

This group of articles studies the effects of microelectronics technologies on the world of work and on the social and economic life in general. These studies are related to several industrial nations and are also concerned with the international division of labor. (SSH)

This report presents a strategic plan for the South to extend its recent success in economic development to incorporate research, manufacturing technology, and new employment opportunities demanding highly skilled workers. The report first lists a set of goals and related objectives, and these are followed by two sections discussing (1) technology…

Explains the technology transfer strategy, "Transformations," developed by the Center for Occupational Research and Development to provide pretechnology, technology core, and specialized training to help students learn or relearn the skills needed by today's technological work force. Describes the implementation of the strategy at…

This discussion of the development of information technology in developing nations is based on case studies of seven Asian countries. The experiences of the countries are compared in terms of the infrastructure development, organizational processes, applications, human resources development, and public awareness. (CLB)

This report discusses the amount and kinds of Department of Defense (DoD) interactive courseware (ICW) programs that are candidates for transfer to the private sector. Candidates for transfer were identified through an analysis of the Defense Instructional Technology Information System (DITIS). Out of 4,644 ICW programs that have been reported to…

The new economic and industrial policies of the 1980s called for a major restructuring of the industrial profile of Singapore. The government decided to set up three new technical institutes to prepare and supply skilled workers to new investors: French-, German-, and Japan-Singapore Technical Institutes with the collaboration of the government…

In 1988, nine institutions operating advanced technology centers (ATC's) to provide workers with up-to-date technical skills formed the National Coalition of Advanced Technology Centers (NCATC). The center was established to increase awareness of ATC's, serve as a forum for the discussion and demonstration of new and underused technologies,…

New economic strategies used by states are described, and case studies of the recent innovations in economic development policies of Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Michigan are presented. A number of programs in other states are briefly reviewed, and various models of state intervention are evaluated, along with the principles that underlie…

A model of technological training has two dimensions: level of cultural stability and employee's level of cognitive ability. Each dimension has two variables. The variables of cultural stability are (1) technological adoption and organizational adaptation and (2) structure of work and work processes. For cognitive ability, the variables are…

Producing goods and services of high quality is not expensive, but correcting poor quality costs U.S. companies as much as 20 percent of sales revenues annually. One survey reported that only 1 out of 300 U.S. companies involved management and engineering staff in quality training. The tendency is to have a quality control department, separate…

This document examines competitiveness in the developing world. Chapters 1 through 3, which are largely conceptual, examine the following topics: the concept of competitiveness and why it is important; market-stimulating technology policies in developing countries, and the relationship between import liberalization and industrial performance.…