Showing papers in "Journal of European Industrial Training in 1983"

The Small Business Challenge to Management Education.

Abstract: One result of the recent upsurge of national, and indeed international, political interest in the small firm sector of the economy has been a focus on the role of management training and development in the small firm and on the wider, but related, issue of education and training for entrepreneurship. The basis for this renewed government attention seems to lie in recognition of the employment potential of small firms rather than in the contribution that training and education might make to productivity and efficiency. Added to the weight of official concern is pressure from individuals who, without the early possibility of becoming an employee, are being forced to look to their own resources and initiative. It is, therefore, scarcely surprising that much of the recent stimulus to small firms training has come from government training schemes and, in the UK, from local community‐based ventures aimed at improving local job prospects. The accent in the UK has been on encouraging the new small business start up.

Learning through Work Experience in Britain

Abstract: Work experience has traditionally been a part of industrial training, either informally through on‐the‐job learning or, more formally, as a component of occupational training programmes. However, work experience as a mode of training has not been systematically researched. Apart from Watts, there is little advice available on how work experience can be designed as an effective vehicle for learning.

Training for the Metaindustrial Work Culture

Abstract: Introduction to the Metaindustrial Work Culture, Are human professionals in the forefront of the profound global transition now underway from the industrial to the Information Society? Are they cognisant of the driving forces of new technologies, especially microelectronics and genetic engineering? Are they exercising leadership in the creation of the work environments characterised by information processing and performed by knowledge workers? For these questions to be answered in the positive, the respondent must be aware of the emerging metaindustrial work culture. The term “metaindustrial” comes from an AT and T report on the New Industrial Revolution. It describes the ongoing social or second industrial shift away from the traditional manufacturing industries, organisational models and roles and managerial styles. That industrial way of life not only produced its unique approaches to training, development and education, it was a way of life that enacted social legislation and systems of support. It is rapidly disappearing, and the evidence is present in economic downturns, huge unemployment and bankruptcies. It is evident in the occupational trends toward information/ knowledge/education enterprises — 50 per cent of the US work force is already in the information industries, and this is projected to rise to 66 per cent by the year 2000.

Training Designs for Organisational Change

Abstract: Whatever diverse aims and objectives company training policy may have, there tends to be a general agreement on the need to ensure that any new ideas, skills, knowledge or attitudes which are presented to trainees on training courses are actually transferred back into their work situations. As a result of the author's research, we now know more about the key factors which influence the transfer of training. A great deal of this research has focused on variables in the trainee's own work situation which appear to influence training transfer. The research has stressed the need for the returning course member to have developed interpersonal transfer skills, so as to enable him to act as an individual change agent. The results have also emphasised the important role played by the trainee's immediate boss with respect to the application of the learning within the organisation.

An Evaluation of Management Training: Part I: Training Needs

Abstract: This study was conducted as the first stage of a project to evaluate a management training course designed especially for a group of research scientists and senior technical staff employed by several government and quasi‐government organisations engaged in scientific and industrial research. The training courses had been instituted two years previously for the purpose of preparing these senior scientists and technicians for the administrative and managerial duties associated with their positions as section, group or project leaders of research teams.

Research Report: Training, Part II —: Changes in Understanding

Abstract: Management training ranks among some of the most common approaches used to bring about organisational change and development. The goals of such training include improving organisational effectiveness and improving the lot of employees so that they become more satisfied, more productive and more affluent. Given its importance to both individual employees and the organisation, it is asserted that the impact of management training programmes should be assessed to determine whether the large expenditure of time and money invested in them is justified and to provide the basis for well‐informed decisions concerning their future improvement. According to writers like Hamblin, evaluation should be thought of as an integral part of the total training system and should include the measurement of outcomes at a number of levels, including trainees' reactions, immediate changes in knowledge, skills and attitudes, intermediate effects on job behaviour and ultimate level of organisational effectiveness outcomes. It may not be possible to measure all levels of training within a single study, but an attempt should be made to measure effects at least up to the intermediate job performance stage, and for this to occur, it is necessary to employ a longitudinal design with measurements taken before, and at several points after, training. In the report which follows, changes in knowledge or understanding following a management training course are assessed.

The Approach to Retirement:: A Study of the Perceptions and Expectations of a Sample of Men from Three Occupational Levels

Abstract: With the development over recent years of Preparation for Retirement (PFR) courses, it has become a matter of concern to evaluate the relevance of their content and method to those who participate. Beveridge and Rives and Siegel suggest that programmes have tended to concentrate too much on information giving, largely on environmental issues like health, finance and housing, to the neglect of problems of psychological adjustment. Gilmore has pointed out that there is no evidence that teaching styles and methodologies appropriate to older people have been given sufficient consideration by course planners.

Students, Courses and Colleges:: The Situation, Consequences and Actions Needed

Abstract: Higher education is the main source of executive manpower and professional technology for businesses, yet it is only in the last few months of the education system that firms make contact with the education elite. When a graduate is recruited, a firm obtains two things — the individual and the training. Many firms concentrate on the individual when selecting potential executives, although if a company is seeking technologists, a student's course is more important. Businesses dedicate much effort to obtaining the best of the output of the education system and spend generously on management training, but pay little attention to the mechanism that brings together the two raw materials — sixth formers and courses in higher education. In the long‐run, a business is only as good as the people it employs and the failure to manage the process that ensures a flow of the right people into business is reflected in the failure of British businesses to be competitive.

Training Personnel Professionals

Abstract: The Institute of Personnel Management, founded in 1913, is the professional personnel management organisation in the British Isles. The IPM's expanding membership of over 22,000 includes qualified practising personnel, industrial relations, training and salary administration managers. Membership of the IPM is available through a blend of qualification by examination and practical experience. The role of the Institute's education programme leading to its qualification therefore has a key role in providing appropriate professional training for personnel managers.

Training through Consultancy to Improve Maintenance Management

Abstract: In 1981, the International Labour Office in Geneva began receiving exciting news from the National Productivity Cente (NPC) of Ethiopia about its results‐oriented maintenance management programmes. NPC was achieving measurable success in helping almost 50 firms solve maintenance problems. Over 360 people from supervisors to plant managers and ministry officials had been trained to identify maintenance problems, find and carry out solutions. Hundreds of recommendations for improved maintenance were being tested and implemented, and many of these solutions were achieving measurable results in the form of increased output, reduced down‐time, improved quality, fewer rejected products, fewer imported spare parts and longer machine life. Several of the factories had estimated savings of over $1.2 million in the first year of the programme. The costs of the training, consulting and implementation were much less than the first year's estimated savings. The cost/benefit ratio, even by rough estimates, appeared to be at least 8 to 1.

Is Training Really the Answer? —: A Diagnostic Approach to Improving Operational Effectiveness

Abstract: A common approach towards enhancing managerial effectiveness is to focus attention on improving the knowledge and skill of the manager, i.e. training. This approach assumes that the main barrier to effectiveness is some deficiency in the individual. It is possible, however, that the problem lies not with the manager, but with the structure within which he operates and/or the role he is expected to perform.

Personnel Appraisal: The System Approach

Abstract: Staff appraisal is an aspect of personnel management with which it is unlikely to find companies expressing their satisfaction. If they already have a method, they are in search of a better one; if not, they are on the look‐out for one which is new and effective.

Youth Unemployment and Vocational Training in the EEC

Abstract: Growing Awareness of the Problem, Since 1976, the Management Board of the European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training (CEDEFOP) has given top priority to the problem of youth unemployment when adopting CEDEFOP work programmes.

The Youth Training Scheme (UK): A Review of Plans and Validation.

Abstract: This year, the Manpower Services Commission (MSC, UK) is introducing their new Youth Training Scheme. Some 41 pilot schemes have already been validated. This scheme, which is supported by both sides of industry, will give all young people under the age of 18 the opportunity to acquire a job‐related skill. To achieve this, employers will be subsidised to a total of a £1 billion. This investment will allow both the present Youth Opportunities Scheme and time‐serving apprenticeships to be replaced. By 1985, training to a certificate standard of performance will be available to employed and unemployed young people alike. This will emphasise the importance of the transition by the individual from school to work, and will move the last years of school life, as well as tertiary education, to a more vocationally oriented base. By developing a greater flexibility in those completing the training, it is anticipated that British practice will be brought into line with that found in Europe.

Case Studies in Personnel Management Training

Abstract: This article arises from the use of case studies on several business studies courses at The Hatfield Polytechnic between 1974 and 1981. It gives an account of how case studies were used, gives examples of case material used (Appendices), and describes some of the problems encountered by the staff and students concerned.

Training Marketing Professionals in the 1980s

Abstract: This article explains how effective training and education in sales and marketing has been developed by the Institute of Marketing in the UK. This is primarily offered as a service to British industry to improve competitiveness and performance. It also explains how the Institute helps to develop personal professionalism and career planning by offering an internationally recognised qualification — the Diploma in Marketing. Reference is made to current economic and trading prospects and the implications for designing and delivering education and training programmes, and the contribution that the marketing “professional” can make to the profitable development of a business. The article emphasises that “professionalism” must be based first on successful experience and second on gaining an approved marketing qualification.

Industrial Training in the American University System

Abstract: The American University system with its emphasis on a flexible, elective course approach dates back to the 1870s when the educator, Charles W. Eliot, reformed the then traditonal Oxbridge‐type curriculum at Harvard. This disjunction from the “locked‐in” approach of British universities was further accelerated by the need for high quality engineering courses to replace the Classics and Arts as the levels of American technology and industry were raised. In fulfilment of the American dream that higher education should be open to all irrespective of class or wealth, the flexible curriculum of Eliot allowed a young man to work his way through college in accordance with his circumstances. Consequently, Harvard became the model for a plethora of universities founded in the 1890s and thereafter. Bradley, a private university, is one of that number.

The Harvard AMP after 40 years

Abstract: The Harvard Advanced Management Programme (AMP) is the oldest, largest and most elite of the university executive development programmes. It grew out of the need to re‐train large numbers of executives as the economy shifted from a peace‐ to a war‐time footing in the early 1940s. The programme became so popular that it spawned over 30 other executive development courses at other top business schools, as well as countless specialised short university courses for executives. After the war, the AMP helped executives regain a peace‐time perspective. The AMP has been going strong since then and at present counts thousands among its alumni. The current fee is above $17,000 for the 13‐week session, space is limited and admission is competitive.

Boundaries and Boundary Management in Interpersonal Skills Training

Abstract: This article examines the nature and impact of boundaries and boundary management in interpersonal skills training (IST) The definition of IST used is:

An Action Learning Programme for Between‐Jobs Managers

Abstract: Origins and Objectives, A little over six years ago a programme for unemployed managers registered with Professional & Executive Recruitment (the UK Government's job agency —PER) was started at Sundridge Park Management Centre under the auspices of the Training Services Division of the Manpower Services Commission. Called the Management Application Programme, it was designed to assist managers back into useful work who, for one reason or another, needed more help than the shorter courses, with their emphasis on interview skills, CV and letter writing, could provide.