Recently, Korea has come across various economic and social challenges:
the emergence of the BRICs accelerates the reshuffling of the order of the world economy; economic integration among countries promotes the opening of a country’s market to other countries; Korea will soon turn into an aged society; and developing countries including China are expected to outperform Korea soon and make inroads into the global market in the fields of middle- and high-end technology industries. These developments imply that Korea needs to constantly analyze changes in internal and external economic and social environments and to keep renewing objectives and strategies for developing and managing human resources.
This chapter intends to provide a broad overview of Korea’s human resources development strategies. First, the concepts of human resources and human resources development at the national level are discussed.
Secondly, the main contents of Korea’s HRD policies are explained based on ‘The National Human Resources Development Strategies for Korea’, which was promulgated in December 2001. Furthermore, recommendations for improving organizational scheme for the successful implementation of HRD policies are suggested. In addition, human resources development strategies at the regional level will be briefly discussed.
of human resources, they were not treated as an asset in organizations because of the difficulty of accurately measuring their economic value in monetary terms. Recently the OECD has tried to introduce human resources accounting, which is an indication that human resources have grown in importance.
From a national point of view, human resources refer to the manpower available for a nation’s economic and social development. It was the sufficient supply of manpower in each economic developmental stage that made it possible for Korea to achieve unprecedented rapid economic growth over three decades since the 1960s. Now, it is necessary to develop human resources in Korea’s strategic industries like IT, BT, and NT as there is increasing demand for highly educated manpower in these areas.
The concept of human resources is similar to that of human capital.
Human capital means knowledge, information, skills, attitudes, characteristics, values and health that are internalized in an individual. These are acquired and developed through family, school, formal or informal education and training.
Since education and training enhance the productivity of an individual, investment in human capital is an input variable that contributes to production.
What distinguishes investment in human capital from other types of investment is that human capital is embedded within an individual.
Human capital could diminish over time. For example, even the most up-to-date skills that one acquires now would become obsolete in only 1 or 2 years time. The diminishing value of human capital over time creates very serious problems in maintaining an individual’s employability, an organization’s productivity and a nation’s competitiveness. Thus, there is now a focus on efforts to maintain the quality and quantity of human capital through systematic planning and constant investment. Not every form of human capital loses its utility however. Interaction or convergence of key knowledge, information and skills can actually create new knowledge, information and skills. This makes human capital different from other physical resources.
Concept of Human Resources in National HRD Policies
Human resources in national HRD policy go beyond the concept of manpower, which emphasizes only the economic aspects. The concept of human resources, which includes not only knowledge and skills but also
values like integrity, has a more comprehensive meaning. From this point of view, human resources can be discussed with respect to individuals, and social and cultural aspects. From the individual’s perspective, human resources mean knowledge, skills, information and health that are embedded in each individuals and they are indispensable elements for enhancing the employability of an individual, the productivity of an organization and the competitiveness of a nation. Human resources from a social aspect mean norms and trust that promote productive connections among individuals, between individuals and organizations, among organizations, and between the government and private sector. The constructive links and cooperation formed among various actors in society bring about synergy that increases the productivity of elements of human resources or their combinations. From a cultural point of view, human resources encompass cultural, ethical, and spiritual maturity that enables understanding and development of various cultures in the world. This will contribute to the broadening an individual’s perspective on life, creating a constructive atmosphere in an organization and improving the cultural competitiveness of a nation.
Concept of National HRD
The concept of HRD and HRM in corporate management can be applied to a country. HRD at the national level refers to the government’s policy efforts to enhance national competitiveness and thereby contribute to the economic and social development by improving work competencies of all citizens. HRM at the national level means policy efforts to efficiently utilize available human resources through strengthening of the linkage between the education/training market and the labor market, providing career guidance and employment counseling services, disseminating information on education/training and labor market, or institutionalizing each individual citizen’s career management system. These kinds of HRD and HRM concepts have already been applied to the HRD policies in many countries. Korea is no exception.
The rapid progress towards of a knowledge-based economy and globalization, changes in industry and job structures and in employment patterns in the labor market, together with changes in demographic structure, has given a rise to the need to re-examine the existing policies related to HRD, to define a new concept of HRD policies and to pursue new implementation strategies. Acknowledging this demand for fundamental change, the Korean
government transformed the Ministry of Education into the Ministry of Education and Human Resources Development and upgraded its head to deputy prime minister.
The MOE & HRD has defined human resources as ‘skills and information competencies and moral integrity needed to improve the life quality of individual citizens and for developing a nation and a society’, and human resources development as ‘activities to enhance the utility and value of human resources in each stage of education and training, allocation and utilization of human resources’. HRD at the national level includes three elements: manpower development, formation of social capital, and improvement of human resources utilization.