Describes six key work force and workplace trends facing human resource managers and implications for training and development: technology, globalization, cost containment, speed of market change, importance of knowledge capital, and change itself. (SK)

A range of work-related training and education opportunities is being offered by employers and federal sources to meet the demand for continuous learning. They include one-stop career centers, Hope scholarships, lifetime learning credit, Pell grants, student loans, exclusion for employer-provided educational assistance, and America's Learning…

Action learning is the primary influence on British human resource development (HRD). However, action learning does not readily acknowledge that individual identity is shaped by events outside the organization as much as within it. Thus it does not view human beings as human "becomings," a view that supports HRD as a strategic process…

A study of 14 manufacturing firms found significantly better financial performance among those that strongly emphasized recruitment, compensation, and training and development (a human resource orientation). Human resource development that helped sustain competence combined with that orientation to form a valuable competitive advantage. (SK)

Discusses the role of human resource development (HRD) professionals in employee development and suggests instead that managers should be responsible for employee learning. Topics include understanding the learning process; learning partnerships; identifying and managing employee weaknesses; knowledge acquisition, management, and transfer plans;…

Stories of 20 experienced Finnish human resource developers illustrate how expertise is constructed through the experience of problem-solving situations. Communication, interaction, collaboration, and management involvement are sources of problem situations. Expertise is a flexible and inclusive state of mind, not the application of routine…

Thurow describes major forces that will radically change the shape of capitalism and global competition: fall of communism, shift to knowledge industries, demographic changes, communications and transportation technologies, and lack of a dominant world power. He suggests that, as the United States loses political and economic dominance, the nation…

Discusses worker training and education programs negotiated by the Communications Workers of America (CWA) with three major communications industry corporations. Describes features of the Alliance for Employee Growth and Development, providing training and assistance to AT&T employees; Pathways, offering courses to employees of US West…

Describes how Docent, Hewlett-Packard, and Saba began country-wide training initiatives that targeted work force development; continuing education, and elementary education. Suggests that the challenges faced multiplied exponentially when dealing with Norway, the Philippines, and the Netherlands. (JOW)

Postmodern organizations are driven by a new set of expectations. Organizational development increasingly involves interventions based on human resource development and learning organizations. Line managers are expected to be change agents who are aware of the external environment and know how to realign internal characteristics to adjust to…

Describes four Milwaukee adult literacy programs that have responded to welfare reform. Explores challenges for community-based organizations: teaching for learning vs. training for work, coordinating education and support services, and securing resources. (SK)

Discusses the Michigan Technical Education Center (M-TEC) at Bay de Noc Community College (Michigan), which was created to alleviate a local skilled worker shortage. Employers have responded well to the M-TEC program, which offers customized, technical training at times convenient to students. An 89% increase in number of workers trained was seen…

Questionnaires were completed by 37 participants in a South African life skills program before, directly after, and 3 months after completion. Factor analysis revealed a shift in empowerment as participants moved from micro-level focus on self to macro-level focus on external issues. Growth in critical thinking, confidence, and control also…

This paper discusses the present scenario of automation activities of university libraries in Kerala. The survey findings mainly cover various aspects of library automation such as information technology infrastructure, in-house activities, information services and their usage, manpower development, and budget. The paper briefly describes the role…

This article addresses the tension between the need to prepare students for functional activity in organizations on the one hand, and the need to instill dispositions and competencies that transcend these determinate roles on the other. I take for granted that schools must fulfill both tasks, and I suggest that they are failing at the latter in…