A varied group of participants attended the focus group. Business Process Development Professor Lindley commenced the focus group by outlining the goals of the Business Process Resource Centre s activities relating to professional development and training. Here the concern was achieving an understanding between research and business communities of the means of establishing a joint research agenda with a view to creating research capacity. Turning to Youth versus Experience , the concern here was with the changing patterns of entry to, progression through, and exit from companies. Early exit of older workers from companies often creates problems of knowledge management where corporate knowledge is often rapidly lost, especially during a period of employment contraction.
Attention also needs to be drawn to young people entering the company.
The end of the life-long employment relationship suggests that employers may increasingly question the returns to their investment in professional development and training with the result that younger cohorts are following a different career path compared to older cohorts. The comparative route of younger and older cohorts through companies forms part of Professor Lindley s on-going programme of research into demographic change in the European Union Link to IER Web Page. Looking specifically at the role of new graduates, Terence Hogarth considered their role in the business process given the massive expansion in higher education. The evidence suggests that such judgements need to be made in the context of changing occupational structures in selected sectors. The banking and finance industry demonstrates how product market change results in the disappearance of what may be termed traditional jobs .