Citation
Pollitt, D. (2002), "Guest editorial", Education + Training, Vol. 44 No. 7. https://doi.org/10.1108/et.2002.00444gaa.001
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2002, MCB UP Limited
Guest editorial
About the Guest EditorDavid Pollitt edits Human Resource Management International Digest, Training and Management Development Methods and Emerald Management Reviews. He also edits the news sections of Education + Training, Career Development International, Industrial and Commercial Training and the Journal of European Industrial Training, and the Far East section of Strategic Direction. He works as information and research officer at the European Briefing Unit, University of Bradford, UK. He worked for more than ten years as a sub-editor on local, evening and national newspapers.
More employees are being trained and the amount spent on training as a proportion of the wage bill continues to rise, according to the American Society for Training and Development (ASTD) 2002 International Comparisons Report, which examines patterns in employer-provided training around the world. This special issue of Education + Training focuses on some of the issues confronting employers when they decide how to make the most of their "training dollar".
Almost a third of UK 18-21 year-olds now go on to higher education, and the Government is committed to raising this to 50 per cent. As the student population becomes more diverse, graduate recruiters striving to maximize their investment will need to adopt new approaches to induction.
In the opening article, "Graduate induction training techniques: a new model for fostering creativity", Binna Kandola describes research into the way graduates are inducted into an organization. He contends that, while there is much talk about fostering innovation, creativity and entrepreneurship, the approaches used tend to be counter-productive. He suggests ways of improving the situation.
Kandola, partner in occupational psychologists Pearn Kandola, states that stimulating work, being able to balance work and home life, and the availability of training and development opportunities are key motivators. Induction should aim to deepen understanding of the organization (not only policies and procedures), make clear unwritten rules and let graduates know how and where they can make a valuable contribution.
This last issue is very much to the forefront in a programme offered by the School of Information Studies at the University of Northumbria to employees from the document archives section of the BBC in London. "BBC pioneers a flexible approach to lifelong learning" shows how the 18-month programme helped the participants to shift from an operational to a strategic approach and make records management more focused on corporate requirements.
Steve Jupe, BBC Head of Records Management, said there had been a "marked change in attitude and confidence, and increasing professionalism" among employees who took part in the programme. There was also greater input from staff in generating ideas and project, and greater specialization by individual workers.
Most of the programme participants had no previous formal qualifications, and this was harming their career development. In similar vein, "Partnership and workplace learning at BT" explores how the telecom company teamed up with the Communication Workers' Union and London University's Queen Mary and Westfield College to develop a degree in computer science for non-management employees who missed out on higher education after leaving school.
The article includes interviews with BT managers, trade union representatives and academics responsible for designing and delivering the course. Apparently, some academics in the university's computer science department were initially hostile. They believed that, as the BT students were not qualified to the same level as those admitted through the usual channel, they would undermine the department's academic standing.
In fact, the BT course is almost identical to the "regular" BSc in Computer Science, with the small exception that it offers students more flexibility over when courses are completed. Moreover, the BT students consistently outperform comparable groups of undergraduate students.
The introduction of National Vocational Qualifications has helped to bring about a dramatic increase in the amount of vocational training in the UK. The NVQ system is helping employers to develop their employees' practical skills without necessarily having to disrupt their work by removing them from the workplace.
"Training puts Ravenscroft on target for growth" demonstrates how Gloucestershire College of Arts and Technology is working with Ravenscroft Plastics and the British Polymer Training Authority to establish an NVQ programme that will help the company to achieve its five-year target of trebling in size. The article describes how more than 40 of Ravenscroft's 130-strong workforce have achieved NVQs, and another 30 plan to start the course shortly. The course is helping employees to work smarter rather than harder, as well as providing official recognition for their skills.
"Training equals staff loyalty at Paramount" details a pilot customer-service training scheme at Paramount Hotels, which leads to a level 3 NVQ in customer services. The scheme is helping the hotel group to meet the higher standards UK guests now expect in hotels, partly as a result of their experiences of travel abroad.
This highlights the fact that, in a global economy, where a firm's competitors are as likely to be in Frejus as Falmouth or Melbourne as Manchester, education and training can no longer be seen in uniquely national terms. Indeed, the Council for Excellence in Management and Leadership is drawing up a strategy for management and leadership development in the UK which will help to ensure that the country's managers and leaders match the best in the world.
A council spokesman commented: "Much has been done to improve management development in the UK in the last ten years, but a shortage of skills and abilities is still identified at the top and throughout organizations. Predictions about the future give every indication that the demand for more and better managers is not likely to diminish – hence the importance of developing a strategy to meet current and future management and leadership needs."
The next four articles examine innovative developments in management training in the UK and abroad.
"Meat Training Council aims to make willing workers into professional managers" describes the UK Meat Training Council's management development programme, which aims to increase the levels of professionalism in the meat and poultry industry and make it more attractive to young people as a long-term career. The article details the course contents and assessment methods, and contains interviews with course participants.
In the financial services sector, "Co-opetition provides the Halifax with tailor-made training" and "Management training gives new momentum at Lloyds TSB" explore the ways in which two leading UK banks are collaborating with higher education institutions to improve their management training.
The former article describes the co-operation between Cranfield University, Trans4mation management consultancy and ProActive outdoor activities provider, in a leadership programme for Halifax plc. The programme deals with management theory and its practical applications, and includes outdoor team activities that make the programme unequivocally real.
The article shows that the three organizations, which might normally have been competing against each other, had to devise ways of tearing down barriers, communicating openly, learning from each other and adapting their practices accordingly. This new way of working, termed "co-opetition", involves a mixture of co-operation and competition. The authors believe it is likely to be the way of the future, since if new ideas are not shared they are unlikely to develop at the pace required to become commercial realities.
The latter article describes how the Open University Business School Professional Certificate in Management has been combined with activities to enrich the curriculum for independent financial advisers at Lloyds TSB. The programme has helped to boost enthusiasm among line managers, improve communication between departments and create a new momentum within the organization. Moreover, staff turnover among the independent financial advisers has fallen dramatically, from 22 per cent to 6 per cent.
The final article in the management development section, "Alcatel Telecom transforms technicians into managers", focuses on the ways in which Antwerp University, Belgium, attempts to smooth the transition of Alcatel employees from technical to business manager. The training is in entrepreneurship, leadership, teamwork, corporate culture and strategy, the dynamics of the telecommunications market, project management and marketing, plus a range of made-to-measure programmes at the request of specific divisions or units. The programmes are part of Alcatel's attempts to integrate learning and working more closely.
According to the ASTD report, training delivered through new information technology rose from 8.8 per cent of all training time in 1997 to 9.7 per cent in 2000. Although more recent figures are not available, the percentage is likely to be much higher today. Anecdotal evidence presented at the Online Learning 2002 Europe conference, held at the ExCel conference centre in London's Docklands, suggested a steady growth in the use of electronic learning over the last couple of years. The final two articles in this special edition examine the application of new information and communication technologies to training.
"Pod transforms learning at K. Stevens" details how a high technology "pod" is being used to bring online learning into small and medium size firms in the UK's East Midlands, for employees to use when it suits them. The article describes how the so-called "Learning Works" project has been made possible through the partnership and support of organizations ranging from Loughborough College and Loughborough University, to the adult learners' organization, NIACE.
Keith Stevens, managing director, is refreshingly upfront about his company's participation in the scheme. "As a small operation, it has always been vital to the business to have a well trained and versatile staff and I believe that Learning Works can help to develop my staff even further in this direction", he says. "I have always had an open mind where learning is concerned and, as this project is at the cutting edge, I want my company and employees to be the first to benefit from it."
"Executives 'plug in' to electronic commerce" describes a programme, developed by FT Knowledge and the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, USA, to guide managers through the opportunities and threats presented by electronic commerce.
The five-week programme uses the Internet to link participants from almost 20 countries. By judiciously timing "live" sessions to take account of different time zones, the programme fosters teamwork and competition between students across the world. There can be few more vivid examples of how education and training have become a truly global experience.