ABSTRACT
It is now conventional wisdom that, barring any insurmountable difficulties, the globalization trend which achieved much prominence towards the end of the last century is set to gather pace, to transform the workplace, to change employment relations and, indeed, our way of life. With the recent advances and innovations in technology, we seem to be racing down an unpaved road towards a globalized world. The unpaved nature of the road implies that the journey will not always be smooth and comfortable and there are bound to be some rough rides along the way. These rough rides signify the unforeseen problems, challenges, or opportunities ahead in the management of people but for now these do not seem to deter businesses in their quest for global reach. If these unforeseen problems become insurmountable, they will halt the race towards globalization but as yet this has not happened and there seems to be no shortage of organizations willing to travel down the road to the ‘global village’. Hence, the impression we get from the mass media and from fund managers is: ‘at the dawn of our new millennium the globalization of business is set to continue at breakneck pace with rapid integration of the world economy’ (Peel, 1999).
