Restructuring and Skill Needs: Will Firms Train?

Abstract

In this article, Harold Salzman presents an analysis of corporate restructuring and resulting organizational outcomes to provide a framework for analyzing the role of the firm in workforce skill development. Salzman bases his analysis on case studies of firms in two industries, insurance and medical imaging equipment, supplemented by case studies of other firms engaged in significant levels of workforce skill development. The study addresses the extent to which restructuring firms are unstable in terms of organizational form—losing the capacity to provide skill development for their workforces—and the extent to which job changes, restructuring, and/or technology increases skill levels and therefore the demand for upgrading the skills of incumbent and new workers. His findings show that, although demand for skills has increased, a number of countervailing factors within firms and in the market inhibit firms' active engagement in skill development.