Purpose: This study aims to explore the impact of management training on organizational performance in the small business context to evaluate whether formal management learning interventions bring organizational benefits to small enterprises. Design/methodology/approach: A qualitative approach was adopted consisting of 100 interviews with small…

Technical efficiency is the ability of a firm to produce its maximum output using a set of inputs or to minimise the use of its inputs to produce a certain level of output. When a firm is operating at its most efficient, operating costs can be minimised, profits maximised and competitiveness improved. This study investigates the role of a firm's…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the HRD practices of multinational enterprises (MNEs) operating in Australia to understand the value that MNEs place on investment in their human capital, particularly managerial talent. Design/methodology/approach: Drawing on a representative sample of 211 MNEs operating in Australia, this paper…

Purpose: With rapid industrialization and population growth in the urban and rural areas in India, the demand for public transport has risen sharply. In the fast changing scenario in the public transit sector, the role of a bus depot manager (DM) has also undergone substantial transformation. This paper aims to identify and gauge the…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to argue that action learning (AL) may provide a means of successfully developing small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Design/methodology/approach: The literature around SME learning suggests a number of processes are important for SME learning which similarity, it is argued, are encompassed in AL. AL may…

Line managers in empowering (n=58) and nonempowering (n=37) British companies were compared. Although "empowered" managers felt better equipped to supervise, they appeared undertrained and unmotivated to develop staff. "Empowerment" was often indistinguishable from work intensification. (SK)

This paper focuses on the relationship between trainees' attitudes and learning performance in computer courses. Based on the assumption that university graduates must be computer literate before entering the workforce, a study was conducted to examine how attitudes held before attending a computer course differed on the basis of gender, intention…

No law or regulation exists at the present time specifying minimum time periods of training for executives, managers, or supervisors employed by federal agencies, although such a regulation did exist until June 1981. For fiscal years 1984 through 1986, 54 executive agencies or organizations that employ at least 95 percent of the nonpostal civilian…

Goodwill Industries of America (GIA), like many organizations that are national or global in scope, uses distance education to deliver management training. GIA uses distance education to train staff identified as future GIA directors, pending the successful conclusion of training. One of the most serious drawbacks to this and all distance…

A sample of 97 directors of public school standardized testing programs received mail surveys for the purpose of identifying the nature and extent of their training in educational measurement and evaluation, the number and types of State certifications held, the nature of their primary job assignment, and their job responsibilities associated with…

An advisory group's study of the training needs of people working in countryside conservation and recreation in Great Britain recommends that: (1) employers and training providers make available training that balances the three strands of management (resources, people, and the system), ensure that staff acquire the full range of key skills and…

This document reports on two projects jointly sponsored by the National Academy of Science (NAS) (USA) and the Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientificas y Tecnicas (CONICET) (ARGENTINA). The first is the creation of a telex network for scientific libraries and documentation centers in Argentina, designed to improve access to, and delivery…

The author documents the design and development of an employment-related training program for local government administrators in Saskatchewan. (CH)

Describes a study of 200 employers in which the key questions were: How many people do you train each year? How many person hours of training occur? What subjects are studied? How much money is spent? Results are reported and analyzed. (CT)

A study ascertained training, retraining, consulting, and technical support needs of small manufacturing companies in Ohio. Data were obtained from nine service areas of Ohio's two-year educational institutions to determine what human, technical, and physical assets campuses should make available. A survey instrument was designed to provide…