The globalization of the world’s capital markets that has occurred in the past 10 years will be replicated right across the economy in the next decade. An international perspective has become central to management. Without it managers are operating in ignorance and cannot understand what is happening to them and their firms. Partly because of globalization and partly because of demography, the work forces of the next century are going to be very different from those of the last century. Most firms will be employing more foreign nationals. More likely than not, you and your boss will not be of the same nationality. Demography and changing social mores mean that white males will become a smaller fraction of the work force as women and minorities grow in importance. All of these factors will require changes in the traditional methods of managing the work force. In addition, the need to produce goods and services at quality levels previously thought impossible to obtain in mass production and the spreading use of participatory management techniques will require a work force with much higher levels of education and skills. Production workers must be able to do statistical quality control; production workers must be able to do just- in-time inventories. Managers are increasingly shifting from a "don’t think do what you are told" to a "think, I am not going to tell you what to do" style of management.
