Improving Workforce Development Systems: Beyond Legal and Administrative Changes

Developing effective workforce development-vocational education and training (VET) and labor market systems are critical to the social and economic progress of nations worldwide. This article conveys the importance of addressing system and organizational improvement needs as well as the formal dimensions of legal, program and administrative changes to increase effectiveness. Further, the marriage of the fields of social sciences, particularly organization development (OD) and performance improvement with VET system strategies, can be a winning combination in the arsenal for significant change. Both developing and developed countries alike are facing the challenges of rapid growth of technology, changing demographics and increasing globalization and competition. Nations are finding that one of the key responses can be building effective workforce developmentvocational education and training (VET) and labor market systems. However, this represents a gargantuan task and requires much new thinking, planning and an updated set of organizational and individual competencies. These systems have to be urgently developed or upgraded to create dynamic, self-improving, and self-governing participatory systems. A wide range of actors, including governments, international organizations, business, labour, and civil society have to be better trained and motivated to be effective in the new circumstances. These institutions and actors have to become client and partnership–oriented and unbureaucratic. The Need for Improving Workforce Development Systems There is a universal need for initiating and improving workforce development. Developing countries face severe poverty and widespread illiteracy while developed countries face increased technology-oriented business and skill shortages. Worldwide, millions of people live on $1 dollar a day or less. Within the next ten years, the population of the world’s youth will explode to over 1 billion. (International Labour Office, 2001). Consequently, in developing countries, the bulk of the population under 25 years faces a bleak future as few jobs or opportunities for productive livelihood will exist, except for self-employment, often marginal. In developing nations, the ability to achieve a sustainable and productive local economy and to build and maintain a competitive global marketplace niche is often severely constrained. Where developing nations have been greatly dependent on donor nations and intergovernmental organizations for financial resources, they are now expected to function with less external assistance. However, all nations require people to be skilled initially and re-skilled in frequently changing technologies. In the economically developed world, the situation differs from the developing countries, but is no less critical. Herewith, populations are aging and economies are shifting from manufacturingbased production to knowledge-based. Many countries have long recognized the need for productive skills development and deployment systems as integral parts of their efforts to achieve economic development and social stability. Therefore, historically, vocational and technical education efforts were initiated. However, many of these efforts failed because of inflexible bureaucracies, lack of strong linkages with business and industry to identify and meet demand, poor job placement systems, out of date instructional equipment and technology, narrow and irrelevant curricula, and lack of experiential learning.