E-Human Resource Management 20

Keeping Up with the Corporate University 157
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descriptive and analytical framework that is based upon knowledge manage-
ment, learning organizations, and organizational learning. Their “corporate
university wheel” focuses on two concepts. First, there are four key functions
a corporate university should perform:
• Knowledge Systems and Processes. This category recognizes the
rapidly growing number of computer-based tools that can help an
organization capture, organize, and disseminate knowledge — databases,
expert systems, and decision-making software. It also recognizes the
importance of finding ways to use these tools effectively.
• Networks and Partnerships. Partnerships that support learning include
connecting people or groups together within an organization, connecting
with experts in the broader community outside the organization, and
developing outsource relationships for training and development activities
where appropriate.
• Learning Processes. Most visibly, learning processes involve training
and education programs. However, the corporate university should also
be facilitating the creation of a culture of learning throughout the organi-
zation.
• People Processes. People processes include ways that people in the
organization have to learn and “build and reinforce shared meaning”
(Prince & Stewart, 2002, p. 807).
Secondly, the model emphasizes that the effectiveness of corporate universities
today is limited, not as much by the functioning of the four key functions, but on
the lack of sufficient integration, management, and nurturing of the four
functions as an interrelated system—a system that supports the organization’s
learning.
Barley’s (2002) corporate university design model clearly illustrates the
importance of strategic alignment between the corporate university and the

organization. She also highlights the need for evaluation at all levels —
organizational assessment, strategic alignment, curriculum development, and
program implementation — and the need to connect corporate university
activities to performance improvement.
Finally, for those wishing to focus research specifically on the technology
behind e-learning and how it relates to corporate universities, one can delve into
158 Sherer & Shea
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permission of Idea Group Inc. is prohibited.
specific technologies that support extensive e-learning initiatives — learning
management systems, portals for information and collaboration, synchronous
learning such as video and audio communication, and learning content manage-
ment systems for developing and delivering both distance learning and blended
learning.
These models provide researchers a means for exploring a number of interest-
ing topics related to corporate universities, including:
• how corporate universities can increasingly develop learning opportuni-
ties that connect explicitly to improved job and organizational perfor-
mance, including skills development, cultural changes, and development
of better and more meaningful metrics;
• how corporate universities, through the use of e-learning, can continue to
speed up the development and delivery of new training initiatives, making
a just-in-time philosophy possible;
• how e-HRM and e-learning administration tools (e.g., learning manage-
ment systems) can help manage and assess short- and long-term learning
initiatives by an organization’s corporate university;
• how knowledge management systems can be used by corporate univer-
sities to develop and share expertise on an organizational level, as well as
identify and manage gaps in their knowledge competencies;
• how HR and corporate university job roles and job titles change as e-

learning and e-HRM move from the experimental stage into becoming fully
integrated into the HR workplace and workplace learning activities (e.g.,
the evolution of the Chief Learning Officer); and
• how corporate universities develop and experience the expanding use of
outsource arrangements with suppliers of learning products and services.
In addition to research challenges, faculty who teach HRM and HRM practi-
tioners alike need a way to “keep up” with the speed with which corporate
universities are evolving. The next section provides a means to do just that,
largely through the extraordinary resources available on the Internet to dissemi-
nate information and connect people.
Keeping Up with the Corporate University 159
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permission of Idea Group Inc. is prohibited.
Keeping Up
One thing is certain: Most of what we have recounted above is changing. As we
pointed out, corporate universities differ; yet, in whatever form they take, their
role in shaping organizational strategies, impacting knowledge management,
and utilizing e-learning is increasingly necessary to organizations that wish to
retain their best employees and remain competitive. For faculty, the challenge
is in keeping up with a phenomenon that’s evolving as rapidly as corporate
universities are and, in addition to incorporating relevant information into
courses, alerting our students that ongoing learning will, in the foreseeable
future, be a critical part of their organizational job requirements. For human
resources practitioners — especially for those designing, implementing, or
managing a corporate university — the challenge is to keep abreast of the best
and most current experience by colleagues and researchers in order to bring
that experience and wisdom to their own particular organization.
At the end of this chapter, we have provided several resources for management
and human resource faculty, with which they can stay connected to the
important and pervasive changes being brought about by corporate universi-

ties, without the necessity of investing weeks in research. Faculty and HR
practitioners may have the best of intentions, yet become discouraged because
of the time needed to filter through the massive amount of resources on the
Internet to identify a few useful, quality sites. We have attempted to provide that
filter in order to make possible a less painful journey. In addition to key books,
articles, and reports, an annotated list of relevant Web sites is included so that
faculty and practitioners can easily update their knowledge of the latest changes
in this field. The online resources, in particular, offer the most up-to-date
knowledge and information for management and human resource faculty. Many
of the sites listed contain extensive treatments of current news in the field, as
well as convenient links to related periodicals, white papers, case studies,
books, consulting companies, vendors, upcoming conference and event infor-
mation, research centers, and online communities.
Conclusions
As corporate universities continue to emerge and redefine themselves, the three
major trends — involving strategy, knowledge management, and e-learning —
160 Sherer & Shea
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will influence those institutions, shaping and expanding their impact on human
resource development and workplace learning. Meister (1998) discusses a
new model for workplace learning: “one that is offered ‘just-in-time’ and
focused on the skills, knowledge, and competencies needed for success in a
fast changing global marketplace” (p. 216). Corporate universities are playing
a key role in creating and sustaining this new model for workplace learning.
Corporate University Enterprise, a consulting firm in McLean, Virginia, states:
“The most progressive organizations will make a corporate university the
centerpiece of their organizational culture — a university that will
facilitate the kind of lifelong learning employees will need to make
themselves and the organization more successful.” (Prochaska, 2001)

Further, human resource academic faculty and organizational practitioners will
play a critical role in introducing today’s — and tomorrow’s — corporate
university concepts to our business students and in applying these concepts in
organizations. Understanding the changing world of corporate universities will
keep our faculty, students, and practitioners correctly focused on the essential
ingredients for succeeding on the job, improving short- and long-term learning
initiatives in their organizations, tightening connections between human re-
source practices and organizational goals, and increasing the ability of an
organization to assess its learning initiatives.
Resources for Faculty
Corporate Universities
Books
Allen, M. (Ed.). (2002). The corporate university handbook: Designing,
managing and growing a successful program. New York: Amacom.
Jarvis, P. (2001). Universities and corporate universities: The higher
learning industry in global society. London: Kogan Page Limited.
Meister, J. (1998). Corporate universities: Lessons in building a world-
class work force (2
nd
ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.
Keeping Up with the Corporate University 161
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permission of Idea Group Inc. is prohibited.
Reports
Corporate University Xchange Fifth Annual Benchmarking Report. (2002).
Available from Corporate University Exchange ()
for $595. Looking at year-to-year trends, the report examines how
organizations shape their corporate universities based on building blocks
such as funding, organization, products/services, learning partners, and
technology.

The Corporate University: Measuring the Impact of Learning. (2000). Avail-
able from American Productivity and Quality Center (APQC) (http://
www.apqc.org) $495. This report details how corporate universities in
leading-edge organizations are measured, monitored, and reported. This
APQC Best-Practice Report provides training measurement and evalu-
ation (M&E) examples, with a focus on the alignment of employee training
with corporate strategy, and the identification and reporting of learning
measurements.
Web Sites
Chief Learning Officer (): Access to Chief Learning
Officer Magazine (premier issue September 2002). The magazine fea-
tures top experts in the corporate training industry writing to executives
and officers about the importance, benefits, and advancements of a
properly trained workforce.
Corporate University Xchange, Inc. (CUX) (): CUX
is a comprehensive Web site that offers research on learning best
practices, consulting services, events listings, publications, and an e-
newsletter on current trends and CU activities.
The New Corporate University Review ( />tu_map.php): Includes a listing of corporate university human resource
events, national and international conferences, and offers a free subscrip-
tion to the Corporate University and Training E-Newsletter.
Strategy and Human Resources
Books
Aldelsberg, D., & Trolley, E. (1999). Running training like a business:
Delivering unmistakable value. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler.