bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
THE ROLE OF TRAINER AND MANAGER IN SITUATIONAL MANAGEMENT TRAINING
Authors: DALEY PAT , McGIVERN CHRIS
Published: February 2008

Last month we looked at group discovery learning in action on trainers. We found that our trainers learned most, developed insight and skill most rapidly, made the most exciting leaps forward, when: • information input was restricted, provided only in response to expressed need • interference and imposition were at a minimum • work was based on real situations, or, failing this, detailed simulations of real situations • problems increased in difficulty and used the learning obtained in solving preceding problems. Our students were usually able to identify why our approach had worked for them, and were able to apply similar principles to management training problems they encountered. From a somewhat mechanistic system came the idea of using only those specific techniques appropriate to your need — instead of slavish duplication of the whole package — and of developing and using an approach which can be transferred to a wide variety of working situations. The importance of changing behaviour through developing attitudes became clear. The key to this is involvement: trainers have to involve management, managers have to involve staff if they want their ideas to lead to action. We want to look now at some of the interactions involved in the development process; at what is required from the trainer or manager in getting improved performance in group situations.
Dis
Authors: CARLISLE JOHN
Published: February 2008

background OVER THE LAST FIVE YEARS, SPENT IN EITHER INDUSTRIAL research or training, I have tried to find a low‐risk training method which relates the individual to his primary industrial group. The search inevitably led me to the various types of sensitivity training, all of which were distasteful (I can find no other word), because of the amount of deeply personal analysis that took place and its effects on certain people.
Can you afford to waste money on training?
Authors: RICHARDS DA
Published: February 2008

Even the wealthiest company does not like to throw money away. Yet, often, even the less affluent will waste their money on training. That may sound odd coming from someone whose business is training, but I do not mean to imply that training is a waste of money — far from it. Good training is more than just a good investment paying handsome dividends in greater efficiency, better morale and even in improved public relations; it is often essential to the continued existence of the company. No, what I mean is that, unless the company sets about training in a realistic way, preparing the way properly for that training, and taking the trouble to create the right climate for the tender seeds planted in the trainees' minds to grow and flourish after the course — then much of the cost of the training is wasted. But the cost of training can be pretty high. It's not so much the cost of the course itself, but the cost of the salaries of the trainees whilst they are away from their jobs, their overheads, the cost of the course room and so on. Of course, a good training officer will do his best to get some of these costs back from the training board — but this is only money that his company has already spent in the form of levy. Even if the training officer manages to get back all the levy, his company is only back to square one — the training costs just as much as it would do if there were no levy‐grant system.
OPERATION VULCAN 1
Authors: WELLENS JOHN
Published: February 2008

Recently I was addressing a meeting of workshop instructors. I drew them into a discussion of the behavioural sciences and their relevance to the trainer. Their view surprised me: it was that the behavioural sciences are relevant to the management trainer but not to the workshop instructor. Since that time I have come to accept the fact that this view is held on a wide scale in many countries. The purpose of this article is to establish the nature of the instructor's involvement in the behavioural field.
Job‐specific management training
Authors: DEEKS JOHN
Published: February 2008

For many years now there have been numerous articles in the personnel and training journals exhorting readers to evaluate their management training. But few such articles have given any useful guide as to how such an evaluation is to be carried out or any indication of the practical realities of doing the job. It is only relatively recently that case studies showing some methods of carrying out a management training evaluation have been written up and published. This article looks in some detail at one particular management activity run by the Furniture and Timber Industry Training Board. The Board was approached by representatives of the British Furniture Manufacturers Young Managers Group with a view to running a short week‐end management workshop for members of the group. The preparatory work undertaken in designing an appropriate programme, the content of that programme and some follow‐up information subsequently collected, are described. The article is primarily designed: • to present the kind of information needed to run a workshop that attempts to be highly specific to the job content and work problems of the managers taking part: • to illustrate some of the difficulties that have to be overcome in developing job‐specific management training activities.
Imposition or Evolution
Authors: DALEY PAT , McGIVERN CHRIS
Published: February 2008

In our writings so far, we've dealt in some detail with the development of managers, and the functioning of problem‐solving groups. We have paid close attention to the similar roles of manager and trainer, and to their relationship. In illustration we have given many practical examples. What we haven't done is put all this in the context of people at work today.
Training for the Future
Authors: Wellens John
Published: February 2008

My counterproposals to the consultative document were first presented in our April issue, although they had formed the subject of several addresses I had given at public meetings from 1st February onwards. My proposals, in summary form, are set out below. They rest on the contention that, under the old system and also under the new system as proposed in the consultative document, there are no satisfactory means of determining the objectives of the training boards. This was argued in some detail in our April issue. The primary purpose of my proposals is to see that some system is created which can bring about objective‐setting for the ITBs and, in turn, can facilitate some form of performance‐appraisal and establish the principle of social accountability of the ITBs.
Management training and the smaller company
Authors: STAIT NH
Published: February 2008

Success in business depends generally on: ★ the commercial or entrepreneurial acumen of the man at the top; ★ a good product that people want; ★ an ability to choose, stretch and develop managers; ★ a knowledge of the management techniques appropriate to the needs of the particular company; and ★ a certain amount of good luck. Relative effectiveness in the first four areas will depend, in the medium and large companies, on a number of people and the size and complexity of the processes. In a smaller business, which i s usually less complex, the effectiveness is usually dependent on one or two people — the boss(es), the managing director(s).
The law discovers the manager
Authors: BROADHURST ALISON
Published: February 2008

The question will probably be more important in the future than in the past; for one thing, statutes as unlike as the Trade Descriptions Act and the Factories Act place a liability upon a manager if certain offences are committed by his organisation. In the training field from a practical rather than a narrowly legal point of view, ITBs have had to identify the ‘manager’ in relation to grants and training recommendations, for example.
Participative statistics
Authors: ELGOOD CHRIS
Published: February 2008

The training world is getting quite regulated. It has its law‐givers and disciplinarians and pupils. Some would say it has bureaucracy. I want to defy a few rules by describing something that started by accident, is as yet incomplete and cannot be proved to have met the conventional objective. This is the Do‐it‐yourself Statistics School. It involves participation by certain students in the preparation and conduct of a course. By including them in the partnership it drastically alters the emotional climate in which the event takes place. (People who feel themselves to be non‐numerate don't have to switch off here: I am dealing with method and process, touching only lightly on content.)
Tilting at windmills
Authors: Hughes Alec M
Published: February 2008

In October 1971 the Department of Employment released the first film in this series, made by the Rank Short Film Group. Between its release then and mid‐April 1972 1965 bookings of the film were made and 290 copies were sold — an all time record for the Central Film Library. In my review of this film, The Industrial Relations Act — An Introduction I commented that this was a subject which ill lent itself to film. But the enormous response to this film and the fact that some five and a half million copies of booklets on the Act issued by the Department of Employment have already been distributed testifies to the very wide interest (and indeed considerable bewilderment) about the most controversial piece of industrial relations legislation for many decades. For the sake of those who missed the review of this first film and in order to provide an overall survey, now I will comment on all the five films in this series. The following descriptions by the Central Film Library outline the content of each film, upon which I will then comment in more detail.
Executive skills in the sub‐culture of small firms
Authors: LEE DJ
Published: February 2008

Small firms and their training problems have been the subject of much writing and investigation lately. Increasingly, these problems are seen to centre around one basic problem: the improvement of the managerial training and executive skills of the independent businessman himself. This was especially implicit in those parts of the Bolton Report dealing with capitalisation and financial control. And in a recent article in this very journal Dr E Perrigo wrote, ‘The most important training need (of small firms) is at management level … if this is not met, any benefits which might be derived from operator, supervisor or technician training are likely to be nullified.’
Assorted thoughts of an internal consultant
Authors: BELLMAN GEOFFREY M
Published: February 2008

As the title indicates, what follows is a random collection of thoughts about internal consulting. Don't look for a logical ordering of ideas because there is none. For the sake of some structure, you will find comments on six general areas: • Authority comes from competence, not position • Management wants you to decide what you should do • Management confidence in you starts with small successes • Management must demonstrate change • Management deserves an out • What management does is more important than what they say. The emphasis is on practical ideas—ideas that have worked for me. I've tried to give the thoughts a broad internal consultant orientation, but you will probably be able to detect that my consulting has been in employee relations.
OPERATION VULCAN
Authors: WELLENS JOHN
Published: February 2008

In our study of job analysis used as a training instrument we started at the bottom of the spectrum, first treating the check‐list type of analysis and then, later, the procedural analysis which is presented by the training manual. This brings us now to the several forms of analysis which are collectively based on skills analysis and represent the most recent addition to the job analysis range
Will your language trainings programme do?
Authors: ATKINSON JOHN
Published: February 2008

In recent years some of the larger British companies have begun to provide training in foreign languages for their employees. Are these training schemes adequate? Should not smaller companies and individual executives be thinking about this? And are those companies who have already undertaken such schemes getting value for money?
HOW TO LEARN a language for Europe
Authors: ATKINSON JOHN
Published: February 2008

Years ago in Britain language learning was an academic activity left chiefly to those who showed some special ability in it. The first thing to be said to the businessman who left school with that impression and now finds the need to learn a language is that it is not academic at all. Language learning is the acquisition of a set of practical skills. We have all mastered those skills in one language and there is really no reason why, given adequate motivation and the right conditions, we should not do so in another. The adult will want to rationalise his experience. He will look for short cuts in the form of a more organised approach. But he will have the help of books, tapes and perhaps even a language laboratory. There is, too, a special advantage the businessman or industrialist will have. Because his needs are practical and defined, the amount of language he requires is fairly limited. The more advanced grammatical patterns, the more complex sentences of written language, and areas of vocabulary not required for his work, need not concern him. How then should he set about this practical task?
Job situation training for supervisors
Authors: MISSELHORN HUGO J
Published: February 2008

I was attending a seminar run by John Wellens in South Africa in April 1972 when he said something which rang a loud bell — not only because it made good sense but because he gave impetus to something I had half‐heartedly been pursuing myself. What he said was that trainers should use the problems of the group to develop management and supervisory skill. Real life problems require real life decisions and place the learner in a situation where he must choose and act out his decision back on the job. In this way the learner knows whether or not his decision works out in practice.
The project mananagement group
Authors: KING TAYLOR LYNDA
Published: February 2008

It is almost one hundred years to the day that G W Hunt wrote these words. Apart from writing these words and the fact that Hunt was a close friend of Keats and Shelley, I can find no trace of anything else exceptional in this man's life. Yet, almost 100 years later, his words bear so much truth that they have been resurrected, not only for the purpose of my article, but as a slogan for the shipbuilding industry in the UK. For years in this country the shipbuilding industry has seldom had ships, always had men and never had money. Profits in the industry have declined more than in any other, and relationships within the industry deteriorated to such an extent that the business of building ships as far as the UK goes might just as well be buried — at sea. It has always proved to be a newsworthy industry, whether it be the birth of UCS or the survival of Harland & Wolff in Belfast despite the environmental trauma outside its gates. In the past few years we have seen dock sides become dormant and the employees, far from sleeping, have become militant to the point of defying the law. All through the furore of containerisation, when economic arguments were the main consideration, the saddest and most costly of these factors was played down: the greatest jackdaw industry in the land — pilferage.
Harmonising professional qualifications in EEC
Authors: GORE TOM
Published: February 2008

The entry of the UK into EEC creates a community of some 250 million people. In order that they can be welded together, freedom of movement for the professions is necessary and desirable. The Rome Treaty recognises this. There is, however, a difficulty. Member countries have yet to recognise the professional qualifications of each other's nationals. Movement or, as it is termed in the Treaty, freedom of establishment, is not possible without this recognition. Recognition depends on the professional qualifications being harmonised between several countries. For 12 years the Six have grappled with the problem, largely unsuccessfully. The entry of the UK requires a new look at the 40 draft Directives issued by the Commission for the mutual recognition of qualifications. The problems which must be faced, however, are several.
Improving the appraisal interview
Authors: SALAMAN GRAEME
Published: February 2008

On the whole appraisal schemes and interviews are not popular with those who are asked to implement them. This resistance, which has occasioned a great deal of debate and anguish in the management literature is usually held to result either from a lack of training and general sophistication on the part of the delinquent manager, or from his unwillingness to jeopardise his relationships with his subordinates, who are also his colleagues. However it can also be argued, as this article does, that such unpopularity, and consequent resistance stems from the fact that managers' work performances — which are appraised and discussed at the appraisal interview — are not simply the outcome of the managers' individual abilities, skills, attitudes and predispositions. They are also deeply influenced by his membership of, and location in, the organisation. The most relevant aspect of this organisational membership is that managers are constrained and limited by what is known as the structure of the organisation. This concept and its implications are discussed below.
Recent trends in the development of supervisors
Authors: MILLS BILL
Published: February 2008

One of the implications of Operation Vulcan, that training systems should be judged by whether they produce a satisfactory improvement in the performance of the trainees, appears obvious. This desirable end result can, however, be lost sight of in the challenge of developing a training system rather than people who can do their jobs better. The examples quoted highlighted some of the necessary features of potentially successful training systems, such as: • the relationship with the actual job should be apparent; • any adaption necessary should not require the user to carry out a detailed analysis; • implementation should be within the capacity of a skilled performer rather than needing a highly skilled trainer. It does look as though, in general, there would be advantages in training for most jobs in the job environment and using identical tools and methods — on the job training. If true of office or shop floor jobs, might it not apply equally in the sphere of supervisory management?
Employment and training meeting future needs
Authors: COOPER KEN
Published: February 2008

background to the changes THE EMPLOYMENT EXCHANGES WERE FIRST SET up by the then Board of Trade in 1910. These eventually covered every part of the country and the Department of Employment now operates some 1 000 local offices.
Community care for school leavers
Authors: MERTON BRYAN
Published: February 2008

The issues concerned in the transition from school to work are infinitely more complex than they may at first appear and probably have their roots in the values that underpin society and the principles by which society is organised. Fundamental questions are raised concerning the value and nature of work, as well as the purposes and methods of education. Close analysis demonstrates that we need to identify and meet crucial training requirements both for the young people involved in this process and those adults (teachers, trainers, supervisors) who are responsible for their growth and development.
Worker participation the fundamental issues
Authors: BROOKS EDMUND
Published: February 2008

Industry today could be said to be characterised by increasing worker participation in the day‐to‐day running of companies. Opportunities are being provided for individuals and work groups to shape and influence organisational policies, plans and objectives. In this country British Steel allows for elected worker representatives to sit as worker directors. In Germany this phenomenon is fairly common and accepted practice. Norwegian Works Councils have clearly defined powers over all major changes in production plans, methods, quality, development of products and plans for expansion, contraction or reorganisation where they affect employees or their working conditions. In this country an increasing number of companies provide consultation on matters of methods of payment, effects of new technological methods, rate‐fixing levels and procedures, reasonableness of production schedules, quality of machinery and tooling, fairness of discipline, and in safety matters.
Developing human resources in POLAND
Authors: JONES DAVID
Published: February 2008

In many of the countries of Eastern Europe businessmen can detect a new mood of economic liberalism. Over the years they have become used to dealing with Yugoslavia's famous mixture of worker control and western enterprise. Romania has taken up the running, with the passing last year of a new law allowing western capital to take a share in the ownership of companies operating in the country. Now the Polish authorities are drafting a similar law, and at the same time stepping up their drive to attract western capital and management. In Britain this autumn, for instance, members of the Polish Chamber of Foreign Trade will be giving talks in London and in provincial centres on opportunities for industrial cooperation between British companies and state enterprises in Poland.
Talking to foreigners
Authors: SCHERMER J , MAUDE B
Published: February 2008

A German businessman is telling an English sales director about an international conference he attended. He says that if the Englishman had been there he could have made a valuable contribution — he even suggests some subjects he might have covered. The Englishman accepts the compliment then changes the subject and gets down to business. But something has gone wrong. The German behaves strangely — as if he's been affronted — and breaks off the interview soon after. Later it emerges that the communication breakdown was caused by a simple grammatical slip. The German had used the past tense thinking that this was the correct grammatical form for the future. The conference had not yet taken place and the German was extending an invitation not expressing a compliment.
The apprentice contract
Authors: DOBINSON CH
Published: February 2008

France, world leader in innovation in the organisation of craft and technical apprenticeship, has taken another bold step forward in this field. This new model needs to be carefully and seriously studied in Britain as a possible means of overcoming the weaknesses which have now become apparent in the present system.
North Sea Oil
Authors: JONES DAVID
Published: February 2008

By 1980 the North Sea oil fields so far discovered should be in full production. But there is a grave danger that their full development will be hindered by a shortage of skilled labour. Not because with this country's engineering and shipbuilding traditions there are not the skills available, but because the labour force is in the wrong place. So far the UK offshore oil industry is still moving into the development stage. Much of the exploration work has been carried out by roving teams working for the international oil groups around the world. But as the oil companies move through the development stage towards establishing regular production, so they are having to turn increasingly to British labour. And the strains are beginning to tell.
Management of change
Authors: KING TAYLOR LYNDA
Published: February 2008

Hellerman Deutsch make electronic parts for the aircraft and space industry — specialising in making cable connectors and relays and components on which lives depend. These components are used in aircraft like the controversial Concorde, on space shots, three miles underground on mining equipment and in life‐savers such as heart/lung machines. It can be appreciated that the failure of a connector or relay could cause an aircraft to crash, a multi‐million dollar space shot to be ruined, heart/lung and kidney machines to fail. The company is largely the creation of its present Chairman, Jack Bowthorpe, who began it in a garage in London in the 1930s. He began by cutting electrical wiring into standard lengths and selling these to the then growing aircraft industry. From this came the demand to supply connectors and to make specialised cables and switches until today this electrical group with a value of £20 million has eleven companies within the UK and an international network of companies and distributors.
Training for responsibility
Authors: BOLAND BILL
Published: February 2008

IN THE SAME WAY THAT AN INVALID DOES NOT BUY EVERY medicine in the chemist's shop, it is not necessary to include every item in a syllabus in a course of training. It isn't even necessary for the chemist to stock every kind of medicine, seeing that demand is very largely determined by a pattern of common ailments, many of which are passed from person to person, or are typical of a given social climate.
Training for personnel management in local government
Authors: LAWSON BRIAN , BENNETT ROSEMARY
Published: February 2008

The personnel function in local government has tended to develop more slowly than in private industry and commerce. It has, however, received a new impetus over the last year or so with the advent of the reorganisation of local government and the publication of an influential report ‘The New Local Authorities: management and structure’. This report, which is commonly known as the Bains' Report, explicitly encourages a corporate approach to management, a concept at variance with the traditional departmentalism of many local authorities. More significantly in this context, the report also devotes a whole chapter to recommendations about the development of the personnel function in the new authorities, the only function to be discussed in this depth.
Management of change
Authors: KING TAYLOR LYNDA
Published: February 2008

Traffic came to a halt recently in Shoreham, near Brighton, when a printing press arrived at the works of Design and Print. Imported from Germany, the £21,000 Koenig and Bauer Rapida two‐colour offset‐litho rotary press weighed five and a half tons. The machine was acquired to meet the growing demand for high quality full colour sales brochures and other printing requirements from both industry and commerce. The company hope that the new machine will boost its turnover to £250,000 a year. The Design and Print (DAP) company is a wholly‐owned subsidiary of Evershed & Son Ltd, a food distribution group centred in Shoreham. There are 35 employees, 25 engaged in production and ten in management and administration. DAP was acquired by the Evershed Group in 1940, mainly to satisfy its own printing requirements, eg simple letterpress, point‐of‐sale leaflets, posters and price lists. Today, apart from the two‐colour Koenig and Bauer, they have a number of Heidelberg presses and, with artist facilities in‐house, DAP can offer a wide range of high‐class colour work,mainly in the small booklet, brochure and house magazine market.
DIS three years on
Authors: MORGAN TERRY , RACKHAM NEIL , HUDSON HOWARD
Published: February 2008

Having introduced the model on which the ATT/ITB design is based, we can now say something about the content of the course. Firstly, we will describe how we decided which specific skill modules to develop for the middle phase of the course; secondly, we will outline the way the various modules are played, and explain the nature of the learning opportunities; thirdly, we will present some data on reactions of trainees to the courses we have run so far.
Participation through information disclosure
Authors: SMITH GEOFF
Published: February 2008

Whilst industry and business await the revised legislation on industrial relations, employee protection, industrial democracy or the new Companies Act, they could well spend time reviewing one essential feature that will result—the need to disclose information to their employees. The need for there to be an information base for administering any law or for meaningful discussion or as a negotiation base does not appear to be disputed. However, there are many viewpoints on this subject. One factor is certain, there will be an enormous need for training in understanding and the use of any information that is either required by law or provided by enlightened employers ahead of the legal requirements, in order to secure their employees' participation and involvement in understanding their business.
Management of change in a hospital group
Authors: KING TAYLOR LYNDA
Published: February 2008

As a conclusion to this series I want to include a mention on some of the work PA have been undertaking with hospital groups, particularly with the Sydney Hospital in Australia. With the soaring costs of the National Health Services worldwide, in spite of many gaps in the service even in the developed countries, this study indicates the considerable potential for improving the value obtained for money spent by hospitals. The study also indicates that reduction in cost and improvements in efficiency came as by‐products to improving hospital management for the benefit of patients. To obtain these benefits there had to be considerable emphasis on training, education, encouragement and involvement. With these components, attitudes were slowly changed at all levels within the hospital.
Generic skills
Authors: De W SMITH ARTHUR , KAWULA WALTER J , TIPPETT GLEN , CURTISS PAUL , DEPEW JIM
Published: February 2008

The original concepts and methodology for this study were invented and developed in January, 1973, with the assistance and guidance of D Stuart Conger, Vernon Mullen, Glen Tippett and James Williams.
More about commercial system analysis
Authors: WELLENS JOHN , PUTNAM RICHARD
Published: February 2008

John Wellens writes: In INDUSTRIAL AND COMMERCIAL TRAINING, August 1974, Vol 6 No 8, Mike Jones and Peter Drake, both of the Engineering ITB, wrote jointly about the importance of improving the performance of systems within organisations. Earlier, in October 1970, Vol 2 No 10, another member of EITB staff, Margaret Walker, had written an important mile‐stone article on clerical training, drawing a sharp distinction between two aspects of competence in clerical work: one, competence in the sensori‐motor skills of typing, shorthand and operating office equipment; two, the proper and accurate use of the current office procedures and systems. The point was made that, whereas effort had been put into training for the former aspect, the latter was more critical to efficient performance and had been an area of training which had been grossly neglected, not only in Britain, but almost universally.
Evaluation of training at the Hospital Engineering Centre Falfield
Authors: WOOLLISCROFT MICHAEL
Published: February 2008

Many engineering staff in the Health Service, from craftsmen to professional engineers, enter from outside the service at varying stages in their careers and from a variety of previous employments. Whilst more is now being done in the way of basic training via a substantial craft apprenticeship scheme and an honours degree studentship scheme, it is likely that substantial outside recruitment will continue for the foreseeable future. The Health Service is not primarily an engineering organisation, engineering staff total only 10 000 out of a total of 800 000 employees and the main training effort is of course in the medical, para medical, and nursing fields. Thus the engineering side of the Health Service contains numbers of staff trained in their basic trade or profession, but lacking knowledge of areas specialised to the Health Service. Because of their diversity of backgrounds and the breadth of knowledge required in the Health Service there are also gaps in more basic knowledge. Also, given the pace of change in some technologies, updating is necessary for all staff.
Case study development in the UK
Authors: HAYWARD GEORGE
Published: February 2008

A case study may be defined as a description of a situation that has arisen within an organisation. The case may concern one specific problem or cover a wide range of problems. Preferably the case should be based on a real life situation although there are some who advocate the use of armchair cases, ie cases written without being based on a specific company although they may be an amalgam of the case writer's own personal experiences.
Life skills and life styles
Authors: STUART CONGER D
Published: February 2008

The geographic, economic and social mobility of people today requires that many must be able to adapt or adopt various life styles in accordance with their surroundings and integrity. Today, many people need to be multi‐cultural so they can succeed and survive in ethnic, commercial and other milieux in rapid sequence, often each day. A Canadian Life Skills programme has been designed to help such people adopt a problem solving approach to managing their lives.
Video cassettes in professional development
Authors: GREGORY JOHN
Published: February 2008

A RECENT REPORT BY PROFESSOR DAVID SOLOMONS has shown that there are over 72 000 active members of the recognised United Kingdom accountancy bodies. As in other professions, notably medicine, there is concern amongst accountants about ongoing professional competence. There was a time, now behind us, when the achievement of a pass in the final examination at the age of 24 was regarded as the final step in the formal professional development of accountants. Now, it is widely recognised that, in addition to the considerable benefit obtained from practical experience, it is essential for accountants to maintain their professional competence by some more formal off‐the‐job activity.
The anatomy of a problem
Authors: O'NEILL HUGH , LOEW HAROLD
Published: February 2008

Research has shown that there are two prime causes for the ineffectiveness of so much training. One within the course itself, and the other in the post course area. Particularly at management and supervisory level a great many courses are theoretical and do not give skills or usable tools. Others are still less effective than they should be because although skill based, they rely for application of the techniques taught solely upon case study exercises. What is required is an initial introduction through case exercise and this to be followed by real application to live job issues.
Attitudes and behaviour
Authors: WELLENS JOHN
Published: February 2008

This article is presented as training material for an introductory session on the management of change in organisations One of the most stubborn concepts to get across to a group of managers or supervisors is the relationship between attitude and behaviour and to define the distinction between the two. I believe that a working understanding of this relationship is critical to the business of improving human performance in the situation in which most of today's managers and supervisors work. It might seem a bit remote to stand up in front of a group of tough managers and tell them that you are going to help them to clarify the difference between attitude and behaviour in the belief that this will help them in their daily work of managing people. You can actually see the look of incredulity on their faces.
Trainers' attitudes to research
Authors: MORGAN TERRY , AMOS ROSEMARY
Published: February 2008

The survey described in this report was an investigation of a number of questions concerning trainers and research: what practising trainers think about research; the extent to which they are involved in or with research; the sources from which they get information about research findings and new developments; whether board‐sponsored research is getting through to them; their familiarity with a range of research tools and methods; their knowledge and assessment of a number of books, pamphlets and articles relevant to trainers and their work; and what problems trainers have with which they believe research could help them. The survey was conducted during the six months between April to September 1973.
Levels of participation
Authors: WELLENS JOHN
Published: February 2008

THERE ARE TWO USEFUL WAYS OF PRESENTING THE IDEA OF different levels of participation. One of these involves the adoption of a spectrum which stretches from no participation at one end to full joint decision‐making at the other, with intermediate stages between. The other is the concept of positive and negative participation. The two ways of looking at it are complementary.
Organisation behaviour
Authors: KEITH IAN , WILSON BRIAN
Published: February 2008

In the first article in this series Pat Terry showed that current organisation theory is very much concerned with the organisation within its changing environment. The successful organisation is the one which is able to predict, sense and analyse the implications of changes in the environment and adapt its products, structures, systems and relationships to cope with these changes. Change and coping with it is then a theme of organisation theory and it is also an increasingly dominant thread in the field of training itself. Training can roughly be divided into two areas: • training people to do their current jobs better, including preparing people for their next jobs; • equipping people to manage/cope with change. Enough has already been written on the former and we propose in this article to concentrate on the latter. Before doing so, however, we wish to explore the dynamics of organisational change and the key importance of diagnosis in determining what kinds of change interventions, training and other, are necessary in order to create and maintain a healthy, adaptive and effective organisation.
Organisation behaviour
Authors: TUFFIELD DAVID
Published: February 2008

FOR SOME TIME NOW IT SEEMS TO ME THAT TRAINING HAS BEEN caught in a number of vicious circles whereby the increased internal efficiency of training events (be they courses, seminars, or workshops) has not increased their external effectiveness; for example, on the criteria of improved performance back on the job. This phenomenon can be explained in terms of organisational theory, by showing that training has not taken adequate account of the environment or, in a more limited sense, if related to a specific job, the context in which a job is done. Training works best in a stable environment where most factors are predictable. A stable environment is one where the critical factors are not changing and with regard to training it means that the skill acquisition is related directly to a known situation. In the development and use of a technology for organisational analysis, which in the CAP/ITB context means that it is based on the Contingency Theory of Organisations, the environment is considered to be a major factor in any situation. Later a case study will elaborate on how the environment sector of our model can be used at company, department and individual levels. This enables an analysis of individual jobs to take place which takes account of both the internal (department) environment and the external (company and outside company) environment.
Effective practical information systems
Authors: SMITH GEOFF
Published: February 2008

In any organisation different groups of people have different information needs. The ‘power’ effect of information lies at the root of some people's needs; some believe that by restricting information they can retain control; others believe that by acquiring information they can gain control. Both of these views are related to the psychological belief in protection — but against what? In these days of rapid change, economic uncertainty and inflation is there any wonder that people seek to get into the know.
Assessment centres
Authors: VAN OUDTSHOORN MIKE
Published: February 2008

In preparing my thoughts on this subject I have purposely fought shy of presenting a highly technical review of assessment centre validity studies. Such a paper has already been presented by my colleagues in the USA. Their report is substantial and covers the major research in this area. Much of what is included in this article has roots in their paper. My intention here is to highlight some of the problems related to validating in‐company assessment centre programmes, the most significant studies, weaknesses found in the method and care to be taken in judging the results achieved.
Two person skills training
Authors: BECKETT ROGER T , JONES ROGER A , HOLMES KING SUE
Published: February 2008

FROM THE GROWING NEED, AS IDENTIFIED BY OUR COMPANY'S managers and specialists for more skills training in interviewing, a small team (the authors of this article) set out to examine what Central Training Services were now offering in this area and how it could be improved. Existing at the time were two modules concerned with specific types of interview, selection and appraisal. Each module discussed their processes in relation to the company and both included role‐playing interviewing with feedback using CCTV and behaviour analysis. Related sessions were also included on management, supervisory and sales courses under such titles as ‘interpersonal skills and communications’.
MANAGEMENT OF HUMAN RESOURCES
Authors: MOTTRAM ROGER
Published: February 2008

Following the Hayes Report, the TSA commissioned a survey to be carried out by ITRU on the current problems in the management of human resources in this country. Opinions, feelings, attitudes, perceptions, and proposals on the subject have been collected by five ITRU research staff from about 100 people closely concerned with the subject. Three main groups were involved: Line managers, general managers, and personnel specialists from all sizes of company — ‘industrial’ respondents. Directors, training officers, and advisers from industrial training boards — ‘training board’ respondents. Principals, heads of departments, and lecturers from universities, polytechnics, technical colleges, and other institutions concerned with management studies — ‘management education’ respondents.
The flying bedstead — or objectives without tears
Authors: MORRIS MICHAEL , FIELDS RAY
Published: February 2008

The bedstead framework, as presented in this article was created as a result of helping a fellow trainer. He was running an appraisal training course and had a problem in helping the delegates clarify standards of performance. One of us was using a flipchart to show him how standards can be seen to surround a task in a time relationship, when the other appeared on the scene and put some structure into the idea by separating the various standards with lines. Haying done this, we re‐drew the lines by themselves and this in turn prompted the comparison to a bedstead. Regardless of the fact that neither of us can now see anything much like a bedstead in the shape, it has remained, and always will be, the bedstead to us.
The diploma in management studies
Authors: Mottram Roger
Published: February 2008

Quite a significant proportion of young and not‐so‐young managers today feel that spending a year in full‐time management education is a worthwhile investment. One of the most popular courses is that leading to the Diploma in Management Studies (DMS). The research study reported here was concerned with finding out something about the usefulness of such a course and its relevance for different types of people. One year's full‐time DMS course at a London polytechnic was involved. The general aims of the research were to investigate the benefits of the course as perceived by the students, and to see if any student pattern emerged amongst those who seemed to profit from their year.
Organisation behaviour
Authors: HANDY CHARLES
Published: February 2008

So far in this series the emphasis has been on organisation theory and how it may he used to examine the organisation. With this article the emphasis changes and we start to examine specific aspects of organisation behaviour and how these are influenced by the organisation itself. In this article Charles Handy examines appraisal and identifies the dilemmas inherent in designing appraisal systems. He then discusses the appropriateness of differing approaches in appraisal to two organisational styles.
Training for the small business
Authors: Lowndes Richard
Published: February 2008

For some years now, Management Studies Departments in polytechnics and technical colleges in Britain have encountered pressures to provide specific courses for the small business. Such pressures emanate from major national studies, such as the Bolton Report, ad hoc inquiries from particular enterprises, occasional contacts from Employers' Associations, and the aspirations of individual members of staff to develop work in that particular field. Moreover regular harangues from Her Majesty's Inspectorate of the Department of Education and Science are levelled at heads of departments through conferences and personal contacts to pay due attention to the needs of small businesses. Within course planning and development, the point is justifiably made that the resources obtained from public money financing the further and higher education sector should flow to small concerns as much as to large public corporations.
Improving pensions communications
Authors: STUART IRVINE J
Published: February 2008

Although a recent survey carried out by the Institute of Manpower Studies for Noble Lowndes into employees' knowledge of their pension schemes emphasised the need to improve the communication of pensions benefits to employees, it also produced some encouragement to increase efforts in the communications area. For example, there was a keen and serious interest in the survey. Very few firms did not co‐operate, a remarkably high percentage of people responded to the questionnaire, of which very few were spoilt, and 91 people admitted after reading it how little they knew and how much they needed information.
Experiential learning
Authors: ALLNER DAVID , TEIRE JOHN
Published: February 2008

The first article in this series described the events of an In‐Company Training Course from Sunday evening to late Tuesday afternoon. John Teire and David Allner of Simulon find that conventional descriptions of the experiential programmes they are running for organisations do little to inform the reader. For this reason, these articles are written from the point of view of Ray, who is a course member, and the story continues from the Tuesday evening of his course.
Where are the young technologists?
Authors: Hughes Alec M
Published: February 2008

PETT is the new acronym for what has formerly been known to those involved as the Interdepartmental Committee for Publicity on Engineering and Technology. This committee, initiated by what was then the Ministry of Technology and is now the Department of Industry includes representatives from the appropriate Government departments, from educational organisations, professional bodies, voluntary associations, and industry—all concerned with some aspect of the problem of encouraging more young people to consider a technological or engineering career by promoting a wider understanding of the role of professional engineers and technologists in our society. This is particularly important in our current economic situation which coincides with (and some might say partly results from) the emphasis our educational system places on the academic pursuit of science and a lack of sympathy with the direction of talented (and other) students into industry. The three films reviewed below are recent productions in a series which PETT has sponsored over the years. They are obtainable on free loan from the Central Film Library, Government Building, Bromyard Avenue, Acton, London W3 7JB.
Experiential learning
Authors: Allner David , Teire John
Published: February 2008

Course delegate, Ray, is in a difficult situation on his company training course. He has fallen out with a number of people and is learning one or two things he hadn't faced up to before from the experience. This last article in the series is written from the point of view of the trainee; the authors David Allner and John Teire of Simulon find that conventional reporting of Experiential Training programmes does more for the writer than for the reader. It is based on work they have been doing with Leyland Cars.