Distance education in the twenty-first century

Most health care professionals and managers feel the need to finish their undergraduate or graduate degree to maintain their present position or to advance to a higher position. Distance education is a convenient alternative where students complete their studies from home using the postal service or computer.     

Keynesian economics in the twenty-first century1

The Keynesian theory as set out by Keynes embodied an Achilles heel which he himself half understood but chose to ignore. It is also ignored by “post-Keynesians” and “New Keynesians”. The trouble is not in the labour market but in the goods market, where The General Theory, at least up to Chapter 19, definitely assumes perfect competition. But on that assumption the possibility of a Keynesian recession requires that employers behave with highly inconsistent expectations. Once, however, the assumption of perfect competition in the goods market is replaced by imperfect competition or oligopoly, the Keynesian theory re-emerges not only as robust, but also totally relevant to the 21st century.     

Into the twenty-first century with British households

"This paper takes [U.K.] General Household Survey (GHS) data at the micro level and ages these households by simulation to the year 2001. Differing scenarios are considered in order to accommodate high and low variants of each household type in the British household distribution."     

Training for the twenty-first century in a state psychiatric facility

This article analyzes some of the major factors affecting the content and process of training paraprofessionals in state-run psychiatric hospitals. It reflects on the challenge of providing the relevant knowledge and skills for staff members with limited or no clinical experience yet who are expected to provide the highest quality of care in a rapidly changing field. The author uses her own experience at the only state-run psychiatric hospital in Delaware to present ideas of how to create a learning environment for paraprofessionals that could be transferred to similar facilities.     

Recruiting and retaining staff in the twenty-first century

There is a shortage of health care professionals across the country, as well as a shortage of registered nurses that is compromising patient care. This shortage will reach crisis proportions in the twenty-first century. Hospitals will have to upgrade their recruitment efforts and retain the employees that they have.     

Leading in the chaos of the 21st century

In the transition from a Newtonian paradigm of control and equilibrium to one of chaos and disequilibrium, organizations have substantially changed their structures (e.g., moving to diverse project‐based teams, advancing knowledge management, and building innovative cultures), but they have only minimally changed their leadership styles and practices. This paper describes a model of leadership proposed by Ron Heifetz that optimizes the characteristics of the 21st century in which the leader's role is to disturb equilibrium, differentiate between technical and adaptive challenges, and engage the followers in solving the organization's problems. This model is contrasted with other leadership models to validate its usefulness in the face of chaos, ambiguity, and rapid change. The commitment of the leader to holding steady in the face of predictably strong resistance and the dangers to the leader in using this model are discussed.     

Strategic global human resource management research in the twenty-first century: an endorsement of the mixed-method research methodology

Global competition is rapidly becoming the norm in which nearly all business organizations must compete in one fashion or another. The complexity and value of strategic global human resource management (SGHRM) will continue to compound in significance as globalization becomes the predominate form of business. Both practitioners and researchers maintain the grapple with understanding the global phenomena and the resulting impact on the entire human resource management system.

Previously, researchers' maintained research programmes utilizing Western-style theories and methods, which were predominantly quantitative, to explore phenomena that may now be inappropriate. These methods and theories frequently do not capture the ‘fabric’ of global phenomena that include complex interactions of culture, institutions, societal norms and government regulations, among a few concerns.

The mixed methods approach is proposed to add the ‘fabric’ required, illustrating the depth and flexibility needed to explore the SGHRM issues. Mixed methods are a combination of qualitative and quantitative approaches that maintain methodological rigour as well as measures for reliability and validity. This paper explores the current methods, the reasons for their lack of success in portraying the depth of the phenomena and why the mixed methods approach appears to be a superior method for research for the SGHRM field.     

The changing role of the corporate HR function in global organizations of the twenty-first century

The primary focus of this paper is to examine how the increased demand for global corporate strategic consistency and flexibility redefines the roles of the corporate human resource function and its venues of influence. In particular, we analyse possible causal linkages among strategic international HR management, strategic leadership of corporate top management team (i.e. TMT), and alternative global assignment options. As globalization significantly changes not only the operating boundaries but also the symbolic context of the global organization, we argue that corporate HR function can play more influential roles in global organizations than it has in the past.     

Leading change, overcoming chaos--making change succeed in your organization

The recent emphasis on reengineering has brought a lot of attention to the need to create a compelling vision. It has also forced management to face the realities of making a grand vision a concrete reality. This article focuses on the pragmatic elements--strategic tools and practical solutions--of implementing the change necessary to make your organization succeed.     

The twenty‐first‐century HR organization

Like any value‐creating staff function, HR departments should operate as a business within a business. Others have focused on the strategy and direction of HR departments. This article examines the next evolution for how HR department organization structure can deliver value based on two premises: (1) HR organization should be structurally aligned with the organization structure of the business and (2) because diversified/allied business models prevail, it is important to lay out the five roles and responsibilities of HR that respond to this organization model: service centers, corporate, centers of expertise, embedded HR, and operational HR. The article lays out the duties of each role, the relationship among these roles, and suggestions for implementing this new HR structure. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Microworlds and Simuworlds: Practice fields for the learning organization

Management is one of the few professions, the authors note, in which members have no formal “rehearsal space” for honing their skills. In response to this need, organizations such as The Center for Creative Leadership, MIT's Learning Center, and The Stern School of Business at New York University have created a brave new world of management simulations—“practice fields” for the learning organization. Some of these new games (“simuworlds”) use computer programs to replicate an entire industry and give participants an opportunity to play out one company's strategy in that setting. Other simulations (“microworlds”) engage participants in complex behavioral role playing, based on scenarios that typically develop within a company. Still other simulations combine both approaches. The authors take their point of departure from Peter Senge's definition of the “learning barriers” that develop in any organization: solving fragmented “problems” rather than dealing with systemic issues; overemphasis on competition at the expense of cooperation; and a failure to innovate until forced to do so. The new simulations, the authors argue, are particularly useful in helping managers learn how to overcome these barriers.     

Challenges for the boundaryless career odyssey

The boundaryless career, which challenges the assumptions of the traditional hierarchical career, has proved to be a remarkably popular and influential concept. However, we argue that it remains theoretically and empirically undeveloped, which limits its explanatory potential. We draw on some New Zealand empirical research highlighting the issue of who gets studied. Focusing on women's career experience, local ethnic groups and collective cultures we argue that these experiences represent a challenge to boundaryless career theory. Some of the theoretical assumptions on which boundaryless careers have been built are also interrogated: freedom from boundaries, individual volition and minimal influences from societal structures. We conclude that the boundaryless career story/odyssey is in danger of becoming a narrow career theory applicable only to the minority, if there is no engagement with theoretical and empirical critiques.