This chapter offers a broad summary of current trends affecting HPI practitioners. The trends are classified into three categories. The first category consists of corporate trends, and this section of the chapter describes how corporations are changing. The second category consists of workforce trends, and this section reviews how the U.S. workforce is changing. The third category consists of Human Resource trends, and this section describes how the Human Resource function is changing. Taken together, the three parts of this chapter summarize key drivers of change that affect performance in organizational settings and the roles of HPI practitioners.

Corporate Trends

While each industry has its unique characteristics and unique responses to the global economy, there are several trends that appear to be true for most corporations no matter the industry. This section will discuss these corporate trends and their implications for HPI practioners.

In the early 1990s, companies responded to increased competition by taking decisive action to reduce costs. That touched off a wave of business reengineering efforts. These efforts resulted in more efficient business processes but also triggered rampant corporate downsizing. Some 1.4 million white-collar and professional management positions were eliminated. U.S. corporations in the early 1990s became leaner and meaner. L.S. Richman, writing in Fortune (1993), seemed to capture the essence of what was happening early in the decade: "The chiefs of America's biggest companies seem...