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Self and Work: Changing Landscapes and Opportunities in the Digital Era

K. Peter Kuchinke, Ph.D., Professor EmeritusDepartment of Education Policy, Organization and Leadership

The Need for a Shift in Paradigms• Moving from a surplus to a shortage

economy• Mismatch of labor/talent supply and

demand

• Recognizing need for integration of societal systems

• Need for public-private partnerships of support

• Need for international/global solutions• Lack of systems of learning life-wide

and life-long

• Opportunities and challenges for individual success

WFEd.HRD

Value

Innovation

Improvement/Transformation

Excellence

Challenging

Deeply Engaged in Practice

Wholistic

Cutting Edge

Workforce Education and HRD Work: Exciting and Rewarding

Kuchinke, EPOL 2021 2

Human Flourishing as Ethical Foundation of Workforce Education and HRD

• “Technical excellence and political commitment have no value unless they have an ethically sound purpose” (Dr. Lee Jong-wook, 2003)

• Human Flourishing: “Well-being and living well in matters public and private, economic and social, political and spiritual” (John Finnis, 1980)

• Human Flourishing as a fundamental human right (United Nations).

• Education and Learning as Expansion of Capabilities

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Human Flourishing (John Finnis)

• Dimensions:• Life, health, safety• Knowledge and aesthetic

experience• Excellence in work and play• Friendship• Self-integration• Self-expression or practical

reasonableness• Religion

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Ecosystems:• Organizations• Communities• Families• Networks• Nations• Global

Responsibility for human flourishing for self and others

Human Flourishing through Workforce Education in the the Public Sphere

• Examples:• Regional development in Busan/Korea • Turkish Immigrant Integration in Berlin• Performance Management for UN Tree

Reforestation Program• Entrepreneurship Development in Kenya• National Human Resource Development

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Human Flourishing and HRD at the Organizational Level

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Not-for Profit• Leadership development of bishops in a

Baptist Church• Social skill development of surgery residents• English-as-second language training in

Urbana

For Profit• “Women at Abbott”• 3M health screening and language clubs • Diversity initiatives

School-based Vocational Education

Secretary’s Commisson on Achieving Necessary Skills (SCANS)

The Five Competencies1. Resource Management

2. Interpersonal

3. Information acquisition and use

4. Systems Thinking

5. Technology Proficiency

The Three-Part Foundation1. Basic Skills

2. Thinking Skills

3. Personal Qualities

What will it take?

Promoting dialogue, exploring options,

experimenting with solutions (Senge et.

al., 2017)

E.g.: diversity, inclusion, equity, fairnessLeadership, participation, information sharing

Cooperation and collaboration (Sachs, 2017)

A “Smart, fair, and sustainable” economic system

Realignment of human values and economic system

(Henderson, 2020)

Shared value stakeholder approachPurpose-driven organizationValuation based on ESG (environment, social, green)

References

• Finnis, J. (1980). Natural law and natural rights. Oxford, UK: Oxford University.• Henderson, R. 2020. Reimagining capitalism in a world on fire. New York: Public Affairs. • Hill, R., Kuchinke, K. P., & Zinser, R. (2013). (Re-)Connecting workforce education and human resource development.

Human Resource Development Review 12(1), 3 – 10.• Kuchinke, K. P. (2011). Human flourishing as a core value for HRD in an age of global mobility. In M. Lee (Ed.), HRD as

we know it: Speeches that have shaped and developed the field of HRD. (pp. 292-305). London, Routlege.• Ratatori, D., Lee, E. J., & Sleeva, S. (2021). The evolution of the workforce during the fourth industrial revolution. Human

Resource Development International 24(1), 92 – 103• Reich, R. 2020. The system: Who rigged it, how we fix it. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. • Sachs, J. 2017. Building the new American economy: Smart, fair, and sustainable. New York: Columbia University

Press. • Senge, P., O. Scharmer, J. Jaworski, J. and B. S. Flowers. 2004. Presence: Human purpose and the field of the

future. New York: Crown Business. • World Economic Forum (2021). The post-pandemic future of work – according to 3,000 CEO’s from around the world.

Oceber 27. https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2021/02/the-post-pandemic-future-of-work-according-to-3-000-ceos-from-around-the-world-685436524a/

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“…we can see a long way in all directions…”

Thank you very much!Ich bedanke mich!

For more information: Kuchinke@uiuc.edu

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