Global Preparedness and Human Resources: College and Corporate Perspectives.

A research study explored the human resource implications of the emerging economic globalism, including the following questions: How is globalism understood by corporations and colleges in the United States? What are the perceived human resource implications of globalism? and What are corporations and colleges doing today to meet these human resource needs and how successful are their efforts? A case-study approach was employed, with site research through individual interviews and group discussions conducted at 16 universities and 16 corporation sites including manufacturing, construction, and business and technical service firms throughout the United States. The study found that the corporate respondents viewed globalism conceptually and operationally. Organizational and operational changes appear to succeed best when they are guided by an institutional understanding of globalism in the conceptual sense. In addition, corporate respondents placed less emphasis on prior foreign language and cross-cultural experience than did the academic respondents. Four categories of human resource needs were suggested by the results of the research: domain knowledge; cognitive, social, and personal skills; prior work experience and on-the-job training; and cross-cultural competence. Corporate respondents are looking beyond the U.S. job market for candidates, sending new signals to schools, conducting more in-house training, updating models for international careers, and strengthening ties with academic institutions. Colleges are making curricular and extracurricular changes, encouraging faculty development but not hiring faculty with international expertise since many are not hiring at all, and developing many cooperative ventures with colleges in other countries and with businesses. Further changes in these directions are needed to meet the demands of globalism. (Contains 118 references.) (KC)