Any type of organization can be a learning organization (LO) if it possesses certain characteristics: provide continuous learning opportunities, use learning to reach its goals, link individual performance with organizational performance, foster inquiry and dialogue, embrace creative tension as a source of energy and renewal, and be continuously…

Training and development professionals play a unique role in helping people improve their performance by using all aspects of the work environment to make those improvements occur. These professions are currently debating the existence of an integrated theoretical framework and how it might support practice in their field. Human performance…

This guide to the burgeoning literature and resources on workplace literacy begins with an overview describing issues and trends in the development of the literature base. Hints for locating and selecting workplace literacy resources in Educational Resources Information Center--ERIC and other databases are provided. An annotated bibliography of 87…

Bilingual vocational education (BVE) offers a way to improve both the job and English skills of workers with limited English proficiency (LEP). Initially using both the native language and English to provide job training makes instruction immediately comprehensible to the students. Gradually, the use of the native language decreases while English…

Collaboration has become a pervasive strategy for systemic change in human services, education, government, and community agencies. Collaborative partnerships require a change in thinking and in operating. Such changes can be intimidating or threatening. In addition, other barriers must be overcome to make partnerships work. Examples of successful…

The numbers of women with low literacy levels, the increased labor force participation of women, and increasing literacy requirements on the job make the case for the inclusion of a literacy component in employment programs for women. Such programs should strive to be comprehensive, learner-centered, flexible, standards-based, and linked to…

Incidental learning is unintentional or unplanned learning that results from other activities. It occurs often in the workplace, during the use of computers, and in the process of completing tasks. Incidental learning occurs in many ways, including the following: through observation, repetition, social interaction, and problem solving; from…

The convergence of three trends makes service to minority students an imperative for continuing education: (1) increasing proportions of diverse groups in the U.S. population and work force; (2) continuing education and retraining as keys to survival in a workplace of change; and (3) declining college enrollments of diverse populations and…

Although evidence for the existence of multiple careers is limited, the literature of career development, training, and human resource development has predicted that individuals will have many careers as well as jobs across the lifespan, and small-scale studies and trend analysis suggest that individuals may need to plan and prepare for different…

Seven job-related basic skills identified as skills employers want are as follows: (1) learning to learn; (2) reading, writing, and computation; (3) oral communication and listening; (4) creative thinking and problem solving; (5) personal management, including self-esteem, goal setting, motivation, and personal and career development; (6) group…

Career development has taken on global significance as individuals prepare for work that increasingly crosses borders. Internationally, individuals and career practitioners helping them are grappling with such issues as development of cultural competencies for cross-cultural work. Issues vary in different sociopolitical contexts. As Eastern Europe…

The Perkins Act and the Workforce Development Act (WIA) brought major changes to the arena of nontraditional employment and training. Perkins eliminated set-asides for displaced homemakers, single parents, and single pregnant women but mandated increased enrollment in high-wage nontraditional training. With the WIA, the Nontraditional Employment…

Because of its focus on improving work performance at the individual, group, organizational, and interorganizational levels, the field of human resource development (HRD) is affected by and responds to trends in work, organizations, and the global economy. A literature review reveals that the following themes recur throughout the HRD literature:…