Human Resource Management in the Knowledge Economy

Chapter 1A New Imperative for Human Resource Management

“The secret of business is to know something that nobody else knows.”—Aristotle Onassis

“In a time of drastic change it is the learners who inherit the future. The learned usually find themselves equipped to live in a world that no longer exists.”—Eric Hoffer

Pick up almost any business book or magazine and one is sure to see claims that a firm’s people are its most important resource. Unfortunately for most organizations, the ability to capitalize on this resource is limited by human resource management (HRM) programs, practices, and policies that have a simple operational focus on attracting, selecting, developing, retaining, and utilizing employees to accomplish specified tasks and jobs. ...