The Asian Human Resource Approach in Global Perspective

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Abstract
This paper challenges the prevailing Westernisation proposition by asserting that several Asian nations, radiating from Japan through East Asia and Southeast Asia, have and are developing a distinctive approach to human resource development and utilisation that contrasts in important respects with the Western model. The core components of the Asian approach are identified: (1) the state coordinates education and research with a firm emphasis both on indigenous value transmission and the mastery of foreign technology; (2) high priority is placed on universal primary education while state investment at the secondary and tertiary level is limited primarily to critical areas such as engineering and the sciences; (3) individual students, their families, and the private sector are expected to provide critical backup for the education provided by the state; (4) the Asian state in seeking to coordinate not only the development but also the utilisation of human resources involves itself in manpower planning and job placement and increasingly in the coordination of science and technology. The paper outlines the sources and nature of the Asian approach and reflects on several global implications of the Asian approach. Among these, it is suggested that perceptions of the Asian model as a challenge or threat to the Western model may account for highly normatively laden critiques by certain Western observers.

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