The Hudson Institute's WorkForce 2000 forecasts that the United States will have a mismatch between the job skill required and the ability of the workers. In the 50's and 60's mass production required workers to complete repetitive tasks in a manufacturing economy. Then in the 70's and 80's there was a change in the nature of manufacturing to a more technological focus. Today workers need to be problem solvers, need to be creative, and must be able to adapt to changing job demands. In a high performance work organization, employee basic skills are just one of many components (Jurmo, 1994). Workers need to take initiative, identify and solve problems, make decisions, and engage in a wide range of tasks (Imel, 1995). Certainly, not all industries are high performance organizations; however, many are moving in that direction and are seeking to develop a work force with a broader range of skills (Kerka, 1995).
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