Vedantam, 2006), Americans Are More Socially Isolated
According to a recent study (Vedantam, 2006), Americans are more socially isolated than they were in 1985, with the number of people with whom they can confide dropping by one third, from three close confidents to two. American is viewed as a fragmented society with splinters of people growing ever more distant with regard to intimate social ties. Despite the benefits of close social connections, people report being alone, feeling alone, and suffering alone in bad times. The ability of digital social networks to support substantive civic engagement is more than a test of the media's capacity to convey and renew civic engagement—it is also a test of the transformative capacity of social networks with regard to sustained interest and action.
Human resource management concepts and practices
Human Resource Management
Introduction
"America's possibilities are limitless, for we possess all the qualities that this world without boundaries demands: youth and drive; diversity and openness; an endless capacity for risk and a gift for reinvention. My fellow Americans, we are made for this moment, and we will seize it – so long as we seize it together…"
(President Barack Obama, Inaugural Address, 1/21/2013).
The job of a human relations manager in the 21st century goes well beyond hiring and training staff. An important part of an HR manager's duties includes working towards the creation of a diversified employee workforce. This paper echoes part of what President Obama asserted: to achieve success the U.S. will depend on "diversity and openness." The diversity of America's workplace in part depends on the role of women, and this paper delves into that issue and references the available literature. In fact an article in USA Today (Petrecca, 2011) points to the fact that women are being recruited to provide executive leadership in some of America's biggest corporations – but they still lag far behind in executive opportunities.