new technologies (including Intranets and the Internet) force HR to look at human assets in business terms; HR executives will be asked to quantify processes and present a business case for making changes to an organization and its staffing. The move will, it is anticipated, involve shifts from the vertical to the horizontal organizational structure; HR will have to ensure that managers have the skills needed to lead workers into the next millennium.
In this general context, training will take on added significance within HR. HR Focus (1997) recently reported that five of 10 companies in the U.S. are currently dissatisfied with their current training and development systems and want to improve them, positioning HR as the logical focus for such an effort. A critical aspect of training will be technology-driven and intensive, with Web-based resources a key element. While most companies (60 percent) tend to rely on externally developed training programs, these new technologies and IT in general are mandating that HR develop company and application-specific training and development modules for managers and workers.
One example of this paradigm shift was identified by Mateyaschuk (1999), who reported on an intranet HR software program called KnowledgePoint that helps personnel managers, including IT managers, track employee performance and write performance reviews and evaluations. Not only will HR have to take a lead role in training workers for IT; it will also have to "train the trainers" to capitalize upon emergent technologies. IT has affected literally all aspects of corporate life and work, and HR has its own internal challenge to meet in mastering this technology.
Other issues facing today's HR professionals are plans for educational reimbursement of workers, lifelong learning programs (a critical factor in worker retention and morale/motivation building), and new methods of motivating employees and offering meaningful a...