Abstract:

E-business has brought in its wake a basic and dramatic transformation in the workplace characterized by legal, technological, socio-cultural, political, and organizational upheaval of the old order.  The workplace of the new millennium has been the subject of study by futurists, academics, scholars, and practitioners alike.  Two of the major, inter-related, and defining trends of the new millennium in the context of Human Resource Management are E-business and Global Employee Markets.  Among the many fundamental changes predicted for the workplace of the future on account of these trends are:  (a) Flexibility (b) Virtual Reality (c) Multi-dimensional diversity (d) Strategization of HR (e) Internationalization (f) Declining role of work in People's emotional lives and (g) Continuous Learning.  This paper attempts to examine: (a) how these changes have brought forth new challenges, directions, and changes of course to the field of Human Resource Management, (b) how certain conflicts need to be recognized, and (c) how changes in direction and definitions need to be implemented in order to make HRM more relevant to the new workplace. Issues of Core Competencies in HR are addressed.