Assesses Cooperative Extension Service's role in advancing manufacturing modernization in rural areas. Considers whether the complementary interests of extension and the National Institute of Standards and Technology's Manufacturing Extension Partnership warrants increased collaboration. (SK)

Addresses the following myths: manufacturers are all large businesses; services are the wave of the future; all manufacturers use new technologies; manufacturing jobs are low skill; manufacturing is unionized; manufacturers are resistant to change and care only about production. Suggests that advisors can help small businesses by serving as a…

A meeting of more than 200 representatives of manufacturing and service companies, leaders of associations, labor officials, education and human resource personnel was convened to discuss the proposed framework for developing national, voluntary, industry skill standards. Consensus on this issue is far from being achieved. (JOW)

Case studies of three Finnish companies (involved in manufacturing, Internet catalogs, and municipal government services) were used to investigate the nature of organizational change. Significant differences among organizational types were apparent in team formation, pay systems, recruitment, and forms of control. Organization differences reflect…

Case studies of South African companies (mining, manufacturing, and telephone call centers) reveal a mix of management strategies that converge with and diverge from past practices. South Africa is attempting to balance the demands of efficiency, employee rights, and racial equity, a challenge that requires overcoming the legacy of the apartheid…

A proposed new model for augmentative and alternative communication evaluation and system selection has the clinical team identifying the client's functional needs, skills, and environmental factors from which a specification for an ideal device is generated. This generic device is then presented to manufacturers who respond by proposing a system…

Review of statistical data confirms worldwide trends: growth in services, decline in agriculture, and, in manufacturing, decline in industrialized economies but growth in developing ones. Although services are characterized by low productivity growth, certain types (such as research and development) exert positive influence on economic growth. (SK)

Employment declined and unemployment rose in the second half of 1990; job losses were particularly acute in construction and manufacturing. (Author)

Data on 48 Japanese manufacturing plants suggest that participative decision making has not led to workplace democracy. Although workers are allowed to present ideas and suggestions, they do not have authority to make decisions, particularly in strategic, organizationwide situations. (SK)

In five industries, controlling for other forms of segregation, occupational segregation produces a gap of 11 percent (manufacturing) to 26 percent (services) in male/female wages. The wage gaps from employer and job cell segregation are about 6 percent. Policies such as comparable worth act on occupational and job cell components. (SK)

High-technology employment, 14% of total employment, is projected to grow much faster than in the past due to employment gains in high-tech services and among suppliers to computer and electronic components manufacturers. (Author/JOW)

In a survey of 54 personnel/human resource directors, 8 trainers, and 16 managers in Texas manufacturing firms, 34% forecast a decrease in hiring of high school graduates. Most-desired skill categories were group interaction, employability, and personal development, not communication and computation. (SK)

Because average wages are higher in manufacturing than in services, some observers view employment shifts to services as shifts from "good" to "bad" jobs. However, a deeper assessment reveals that within each industry, especially in services, a range of job quality exists. (Author)

Shows how a first-grade class explored the activities that are completed by people who design products, develop production systems, use materials and machines to make goods, and market the output from manufacturing plants. (JOW)

Case studies of seven Australian manufacturers found the following: (1) relationship between training and deliberate business strategy; (2) more training in more-automated firms; (3) relationship between work form (autonomy/control) and training type (behavioral/technical); (4) more training associated with less-formal labor relations; and (5)…