During structural adjustment, training/retraining for unemployed persons is often poorly conceived. One reason is the lack of reliable ways to predict future skill requirements. Retraining should be kept fairly general to enable a wide range of potential jobs. (SK)

Training, education, and personnel development (T/E/D) are on the rise as corporate functions. The T/E/D field is undergoing change, and the article discusses the findings of a current study regarding costs, training needs, executive involvement, and effective use of T/E/D. (Author/BP)

A working party of the Engineering Employees' Federation in the Lancashire and Cheshire region in England met to consider management training and development, to examine the arrangements for management training and development in large companies, and to make recommendations to small and medium sized ones. Data collected from companies through a…

A general overview of basic and applied research relating to field machinery and livestock production equipment was obtained from a recent industrial survey. Intended to aid those change agents in farm equipment manufacturing and agricultural education, two summaries of the data point out four important trends in farm equipment: (1) enhancing the…

The workers' cooperative movement has grown in many countries of Europe, where it is often state-sanctioned and supported. In Australia, however, the movement is just beginning. The government organization of what are called cooperative development programs is the dominant new feature on the Australian worker cooperative scene. However, funding is…

Between 1992 and 1995, 2,117 nonmanagerial employers in 31 public and private sector organizations throughout the United Kingdom were interviewed for the following purposes: analyzing the need for training and development (T&D); obtaining feedback on existing training provision; identifying barriers to T&D that might affect individuals'…

Participation in industrial change is a hot issue in countries experiencing rapid social change. Major problems include the number of large, highly centralized organizations; people's changing values; work-education and industrial-welfare gaps; the absence of forms to replace unacceptable authoritarian control; the effects of electronic…

This study examines the significant role of computers in the transformation of the Canadian employment structure. An executive summary appears in English and French. Following an introduction, Section 2 discusses how the role of computerization of the employment structure is viewed in the literature. Section 3 presents an overview of past…

Requirements for vocational skills in the engineering industry in Modena, Italy, and Vienna, Austria, were studied. In Modena, employees of a representative sample of 90 small, medium, and large firms in the mechanical processing, agricultural machinery, and sports car manufacturing sectors were interviewed. In Vienna, data were collected through…

Because of increasing competition resulting from globalization of the economy, Oregonians have, in the past 8 years, experienced declines in income and standard of living despite the creation of 300,000 new jobs in the state. Many experts have stated that work organization and management style are the key to gaining the competitive edge in an…

A human resource strategy to enable the effective integration of new technologies in the workplace must be comprehensive, flexible, and sensitive to the dynamics of technological and organizational change. However, information from macro-level studies provides little guidance for anticipating and planning for the adoption of new technologies,…

At a UNESCO meeting of representatives of international nongovernmental workers and cooperative organizations, the delegates laid particular emphasis on the correlation between political, economic, and social problems on the one hand, and educational, cultural, and training activities on the other. The participants especially stressed the need for…

Wisconsin is the country's leading manufacturer of small engines, and the network of companies and suppliers constituting the small engine industry accounts for more than 5% of the state's entire manufacturing base. For the past 15 years, the industry has been rocked by intensified international competition and rapid technological advancement. A…

This literature survey analyzes the process of industrial restructuring as it is occurring in the Republic of Korea, Japan, Singapore, and the United States. It looks in particular at how various agents of education and training in these countries--the school system, public and private education and training institutions and firms--are responding…

A survey of 501 Wisconsin firms (260 responses) assessed the impact of changes in demand, productivity, and technology on the employment needs and training requirements of Wisconsin employers in 10 selected economic sectors. Major findings included the following: (1) Wisconsin's services sector has recently experienced major employment growth and…