RESTRUCTURING AND SKILL NEEDS - WILL FIRMS TRAIN

In this article, Harold Salzman presents an analysis of corporate rest ructuring and resulting organizational outcomes to provide a framework for analyzing the role of the firm in workforce skill development. Sa lzman bases his analysis on case studies of firms in two industries, i nsurance and medical imaging equipment, supplemented by case studies o f other firms engaged in significant levels of workforce skill develop ment. The study addresses the extent to which restructuring firms are unstable in terms of organizational form-losing the capacity to provid e skill development for their workforces-and the extent to which job c hanges, restructuring, and/or technology increases skill levels and th erefore the demand for upgrading the skills of incumbent and new worke rs. His findings show that, although demand for skills has increased, a number of countervailing factors within firms and in the market inhi bit firms' active engagement in skill development.