World Trade Organization expansion between China and Taiwan: The impact of human resource development on workforce development

The purpose of this study was to determine what categories of training programs provided by companies to improve employee job performance (e.g. product quality improvement, increased productivity and services, and increased satisfaction in employees) since Taiwan and China joined the WTO. Additionally, this study sought to determine how the training programs to improve employee job performance at certain companies were implemented. This research examined the relationship between training expenditure (time and fiscal) and HRD managers' perceptions of the effect of training on employee job performance. This study also focused on whether there was significant training time and fiscal expenditure differences between Taiwanese businesses in Taipei and Chinese businesses in Shanghai. Lastly, this research examined whether HRD managers believed that employees with a two- to five-year technology based college or university degree required less training than did employees without such education.; The review of literature was divided into three sections: (a) human resource training and development, (b) WTO and Taiwan and China, and (c) colleges or universities of technological education in Taiwan and China. The method of study was divided into six sections: (a) research design, (b) participants and sampling, (c) instrumentation, (d) procedures and data collection, (e) research question description, and (f) review of methodology summary. This study involved 250 HRD managers of Taiwanese and Chinese businesses. This study used descriptive statistical methods to report the frequencies for quantitative variables. Correlational research was used to discover whether there was a relationship between different variables.; In chapter four, the results were divided into four sections: (a) demographic analysis, (b) reliability analysis, (c) research questions analysis, and (d) review of results and summary. Chapter five was divided into four sections: (a) summary and discussion, (b) conclusions, (c) recommendations, and (d) recommendations for further study. Based on the analysis and the findings of this study, the training programs of total quality management, customer service skills, and business English were most important to improve employee job performance. Industries should increase the use of outside HRD companies for training programs on-site. In addition, Kendall's tau-c analysis showed that time and fiscal expenditure on employee training and the HRD managers' perceptions that employee training had a positive effect on employee job performance after Taiwan and China joined the WTO was significant, but a negative correlation existed. Moreover, Chi-square analysis demonstrated that there was no significant difference in time and expenditure allocation for employee training between Taiwanese and Chinese businesses. Lastly, both Taiwanese and Chinese HRD managers strongly believed that employees with a two- to five-year technology college or university degree required less training than employees without such education. In conclusion, recommendations were offered for industries and government policy-makers: namely, human resource training and development should be implemented, because it was very important to cultivate E-generation manpower with good information technology, English, and creative skills.