A participatory action research (PAR) project used elements of the levels of use (LoU) of the innovation model to monitor the effects of on-the-job training in a telephone repair service. LoU interviews demonstrated validity, but the PAR method did not fulfill its emancipatory potential for change. Although participants critiqued the instruments…

The terms on which funds are allocated to Britain's Training and Enterprise Councils (TECs) offer little financial incentive to support high-cost, high-quality training. As it stands, TECs' performance ratings improve only if they support the cheapest, easiest, and quickest means that match government output measures. (SK)

Describes workplace literacy pilot programs carried out by the National Automotive Language and Literacy Coordination Unit in the Australian automotive industry. Discusses their systematic and integrated approach to language and literacy issues within the context of accredited mainstream training rather than via separate bridging or remedial…

Reports the results of a survey of 23 business organizations regarding the current effectiveness of performance technologists and current preparation of people for the role. Highlights include the desired performance, including designing interventions, and a three-stage model for preparing performance technologists based on the organizations'…

Drawing on interviews with Japanese company managers and workers, describes the basis for the education-work relationship in Japan and the policy implications for employers' role in work-force development. In Japan, work-force development emphasizes employers' active role in promoting internal skill development through extensive within-company…

A synthesis of research findings demonstrates the positive effects of vocational-technical education on skills, abilities, work habits, and employment outcomes such as salaries and employment rate. (SK)

As a result of the "risk society" (in which career and adult transitions are less orderly and predictable), young people have adopted various transition behaviors--strategic, step-by-step, taking chances, and wait-and-see--as they follow different paths: higher education, training for skilled or semiskilled occupations, unskilled…

Norwegian data on employer-sponsored training revealed no public-sector support of the neo-Marxist theory of skill degrading; private-sector support for upgrading lower-level jobs and the emergence of flexible organizations; and limited support for bipolarization--increasing skills gap between full- and part-time workers. Bipolarization affected a…

U.S. business has spent very little on educating workers and pay a far smaller proportion of local taxes than formerly. Corporations are increasingly finding skilled, less expensive workers abroad or through immigration. Global capital cannot create high-wage jobs in the United States without skilled workers and a first-class infrastructure. (SK)

In three task settings differing in difficulty and turnover rate in a truck assembly plant, structured on-the-job training (OJT) provided twice the financial benefits as unstructured OJT and required one-fifth the mastery time. Turnover rate had a greater effect on benefit size than did task difficulty. (SK)

Businesses can utilize the concepts of multidimensionality and multipotentiality of gifted and talented young people in apprenticeship and vocational training programs. By considering dimensions of self-concept, abilities, work preferences, and personality, and by matching these with business trends and future needs, increased productivity can be…

The four books on job training essentials critiqued in this review essay belong in every academic library and should prove particularly useful to business education faculty. "Workplace Basics" (1990), by Anthony Carnevale and co-workers, is noteworthy for detailing "higher-order" capabilities, such as collaboration,…

Describes the growth and maturation of public relations education in the United Kingdom up to 1987. Discusses the first academic programs, certificate and diploma programs, and in-house public relations training. (SR)

Discusses differences between academic and industry training in technical communication. Argues that each needs to learn from the other and cooperate in developing truly beneficial curricula which would prepare students to function effectively in the organization, streamline the organization's information processes, and adapt quickly to change.…

Technicians are taking a bigger role and commanding greater respect as the core employees of the digital information age. Employers must take the same care in hiring them as they would hiring managers. (SK)