Managing Human Resources
Case 6.1 Global
Retraining! Great Concept, but You Have
to Execute
Retraining is a compelling avenue for making labor useful again. Workers who may have lost their jobs can improve or change their skill set so that they are more relevant and marketable in the changing workplace. How well does retraining work in practice?
Examination of retraining efforts question whether the approach is an effective employment tool. Retraining efforts in China have been criticized for lack of effectiveness. A study of retraining in Russia found the effort to have no effect on finding a job. The approach has also been questioned in the United States. There are many possible reasons why retraining may not lead to a new job for a displaced worker. For example, retraining in the same or similar industry may set someone up to fail because that industry may be losing, not gaining, jobs. Retraining that means a major change for a worker’s previous experience and training may also be problematic. How often do people really reinvent themselves?
Critical Thinking Questions
- Do you think people can be retrained? Why or why not?
- Retraining can’t be expected to solve an attitude problem. When would retraining be expected to make a difference in
someone’s employability? That is, what kind of deficit or
problem can retraining be expected to fix?
3. Do you think the ineffectiveness of the retraining could be
solved? How?





