The deteriorating labor market for college graduates, qualitatively different from earlier situations, involves more people and represents a more permanent condition within the global labor market. Attempted solutions have been to reduce the supply of graduates or adjust supply through manpower/socioeconomic plans. A fundamental transformation of…

America's Career Kit, developed and maintained through a public/private partnership led by the Labor Department, is the nation's most heavily used career development system. Its four components: (1) America's Job Bank; (2) America's Career InfoNet; (3) America's Learning eXchange; and (4) America's Service Locator; are Web-based workforce…

Results of two studies illustrate how regional workforce development needs can differ significantly from national assessments of training needs. Regional needs assessments, conducted by community colleges in partnership with other community agencies, are essential to development of sound workforce development policies that address actual needs at…

Educational programs that teach agricultural practices, health care, or technology in developing nations can be complemented by adventure education. Adventure education can foster the social skills that enable people to cooperate, take initiative, and solve problems, and thereby contribute to their country's development. Arguments against the…

Compares current workforce demographics with those of the future where the "older worker" will emerge as primary target for human development effort. Examines common myths and current research about the "older worker." Describes strategies for modifying the workplace environment, reassessing workforce motivational strategies, and altering training…

Argues that community colleges give less attention to noncredit courses and programs, those that are designed to assist in some sort of job training or those that simply enrich a student's knowledge. Sees this credit-based value system as highlighting the discrepancy between what community colleges offer and what students, especially older ones,…

Accountability and reporting mechanisms go hand in hand with government programs that promote workforce development. This chapter describes current practice in the United States and suggests how institutional researchers can help improve the process of documenting outcomes. (Contains 1 table.)

The world is going through a rapid transformation process in all fields. Those countries, which cannot keep up with this process, face numerous problems in terms of maintaining the living standards of their citizens. With the priority of enhancing the lives of individuals, the field of education is greatly affected by this process. Therefore in…

The differences between continuing professional education (CPE) and training are examined by presenting a systems view of the factors that make CPE different from training. The authors analyze these differences by discussing scope, stakeholders, control, and occupational mobility. These factors provide a framework for examining differences between…

In light of the massive tsunami relief efforts that were still being carried out by humanitarian organizations around the world when this article went to press, this article points out a lack of human resources development research in international nongovernmental organizations (INGOs) and proposes a conceptual model for future empirical research.…

Even though HRD-related programs and activities carry risks that should be monitored and assessed, there is little literature on how auditing applies to the HRD function; the existing literature on the topic defines HRD auditing in widely different ways. The nature of risk for organizational process is discussed, followed by a review of the…

In the late 1990s the Phillips neighborhood in Minneapolis was dangerous and crumbling, prompting "The New York Times" to dub the city "Murderapolis." As Minneapolis' largest neighborhood in size and population, and Minnesota's most culturally diverse community, the Phillips neighborhood became a negative symbol of urban blight…

This scholarly paper describes and analyzes the role of career and technical education (CTE) in Iowa community colleges. Iowa's community colleges are doing a good job of responding to the changing workforce needs of the state and providing smooth career pathways. However, changes in the population and economy of the state will call for further…

Increasingly the different ways in which learning can be conceptualised alongside debates within the field of human resource development (HRD) regarding its nature and purpose, potentially lead to confusion regarding how learning is to be assessed in the workplace. This article identifies some of the complexities associated with assessing learning…

This article describes the outcomes of a needs assessment concerning current training needs and performance targets for non-degreed employees in the food industry. Focus groups were used to gather data from 5 food-processing companies: a fresh vegetable company, a canned vegetable company, 2 snack food companies, and a meat company. Focus group…