Leading scholars from the US, the UK, Australia and New Zealand question whether current policies relating to knowledge, learning and assessment are consistent with the kinds of workers and skills required for the knowledge economy?

Strategic Learning in a Knowledge Economy defines unique and powerful ways that organizations can foster learning at the individual, group and organizational levels, a capability critical to both strategic objectives and business performance. The book explains how individuals and organizations learn, clarifying cognitive and social aspects of the topic. Readers will understand how learning enables organizations and individuals to better create, assimilate, and transfer knowledge. Strategic Learning in a Knowledge Economy helps managers create individual and collective processes that maximize the quality of the knowledge created and learned and ensures this knowledge is effectively used. The book appropriately redefines the frequently narrow and technology-oriented view of learning and explains how an effective learning strategy ensures that a broad base of employees learn and implement vital organizational lessons. Strategic Learning in a Knowledge Economy features focused discussions of organizational core competencies, learning and innovation, communities of practice, assessing organizational learning capabilities, and other important learning topics. This authoritative compendium helps readers master organizational issues crucial in today's knowledge economy by:

Why is the United States so far behind other developed countries when it comes to continuing education in an ultra-competitive and constantly changing global economy?

Interest in collective skill formation systems has been high for a long time, but recent structural economic and societal developments have led commentators to question their viability. In particular, the shift towards a knowledge economy creates a number of challenges for these highly praised systems of vocational training. These challenges relate to the growing importance of knowledge intensive production in advanced economies and with the accelerated pace of change due to innovation and globalization. What is more, these issues are compounded by coinciding developments in growing inequality and the emergence of multicultural societies. Can collective skill formation systems adapt fast enough to the needs of the knowledge economy? Can they continue to be as successful as they have been in the past in integrating youth in the labour market? Will employers be willing to participate in the delivery of vocational training in this new context? In this book, a world class team of leading experts on collective skill formation systems provide a thorough discussion of these and other questions raised by the shift to a knowledge economy. The book argues that collective skill formation systems remain attractive for firms and governments. However, continuous and profound adjustments will be needed if they are to fulfil their objectives in terms of equity and efficiency.

This volume synthesizes thinking on knowledge management and intellectual capital from a broad range of sources and identifies how human resource management can make a value-added contribution.