bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Young enterprise
Authors: Gouriet Jack
Published: February 2008

This national organisation started in this country twelve years ago following a visit to America by the Chairman of a City Merchant Bank. He was so impressed with the objectives of Junior Achievement in America, which has now expanded to an annual total of 200,000 youngsters, that he decided to set up a similar project in Britain.
The case against the DipHE
Authors: Sapper Laurie
Published: February 2008

The AUT is not opposed to two‐year qualifications as such. It appreciates that in appropriate ways they serve a useful function in further and higher education institutions outside the universities. However, it does not regard the proposed Diploma in Higher Education as at all the equivalent of a degree or a proper substitute for a degree education. The AUT therefore opposes its introduction to the universities and, equally, rejects the implication that, inside or outside the universities, it is a suitable alternative for a proportion of those future school‐leavers who might otherwise be given the opportunity to study for a degree.
Telling them before they go
Authors: Catherwood Frederick
Published: February 2008

The founder of International Briefing was a missionary, and those who have any contact with the missionary work of the churches will understand why. The missionary, above all people, has to be absolutely acceptable to the people with whom he is trying to communicate. He is not bringing them wordly riches; and all he can do in the first place is to try to show that he is one of them and that he cares for them. He has not gone out to live in a foreign colony, in an enclosed compound, and he must not be cut off by an alien life‐style. I am sure that the discipline of briefing for a missionary movement has been of enormous value in briefing for more technical occupations. Missionaries understood about culture shock long before the term was invented. They understood that their personal privacy had ended, that their house was always open to all‐comers, not only from nine to five but in many countries around the clock. Even so, the missionary movement has had its drop‐outs: those who could not accept or assimilate to an alien culture.
Directed private study and the docks
Authors: Jones Lyndon , Aslett John
Published: February 2008

The port industry frequently receives a bad press as there is a tendency to concentrate on financial crises and industrial relations problems, poor productivity and the like. This tends to obscure two facts: first that the industry has gone through more technological change in the past ten years than in the previous hundred — changes in cargo handling equipment and changes in shipping — accompanied by changes in demand and, above all, changes in the organisation and requirements for labour; secondly that, despite its image, there have been several notable innovations in the training and education area. The article that follows is, however, largely concerned with the broader areas of education rather than training.
Central American visit … 2. Nicaragua
Authors: Peace A.G.
Published: February 2008

It is perhaps inevitable that the British people hear about distant places like Nicaragua only when something spectacular happens there. During the last three years the papers and news bulletins have carried accounts only of the disastrous earthquake of December, 1972, and the kidnapping of diplomats by terrorists in December, 1974. Probably only a minority paid much attention, a few more wondered where on earth Nicaragua was, and most people merely thanked heaven that the place was somewhere far enough away not to worry about.
The OND in Technology‐has it a future?
Authors: Rudling J.R.
Published: February 2008

Now that the Technician Education Council has published its Circular TEC 1/751, complete with impressive black bands, giving the projected timetable for the introduction of TEC certificate programmes, and the various curriculum development groups are having a temporary rest from their labours, it seems a good time to reflect on the OND in Technology and its relationship with TEC programmes.
Discrimination is an expensive luxury
Authors: Avent Catherine
Published: February 2008

Long before this year is over, we will probably be tired of hearing about International Women's Year! There is no doubt, however, that knowledgeable women can produce a good deal of evidence to show the need for some positive efforts, whether by legislation or otherwise, to overcome the discrimination which apparently prevents some able women from achieving their full career potential. The proposed legislation on equal opportunity has much in common with the legislation on racial equality, and in many ways the situation has parallels if one considers the two major groups of British subjects who are disproportionately represented amongst the lowest levels of occupation, with the worst pay and smallest chance of promotion.
The corporate animal in society
Authors: Walsh William
Published: February 2008

Despite being involved in the roughest economic climate since 1945 and despite the growing recession in trade, one of the growth points of business in Europe is the study of the social performance of firms.
Why shouldn't merit be paid for?
Authors: Sturt M.H.
Published: February 2008

These two statements summarise the debate about merit pay, insofar as there is one; unfortunately, to my mind the debate is so muted that the case for merit pay is going by default. It has become the conventional wisdom in the civil service, the nationalised industries, local government and academic life, and in most manual and many clerical jobs, that all on the same grade should be paid the same regardless of ability, effort, or potential. There is the possible variant that fixed increments may take the employee on a more‐or‐less unconditional progression from the minimum to the maximum of his own grade.
Hairdressing
Authors: Collin Michele
Published: February 2008

To become a successful hairdresser you must primarily like people, and get on well with them. In addition, you must have a quick adaptable mind, a reasonable level of education, some artistic sense and creative flair — and be a refined, well‐groomed, neatly‐dressed sort of person keen on working with your hands, which ideally should have long fingers and easy manipulation. On top of all this, you must be prepared for very hard work, and a good deal of grinding training and learning. These are exacting requirements, it is true; but the profession can be a most rewarding and satisfying one, both financially and creatively, if you are prepared to stay the course and work your way upwards, either into exclusive top styling, or as a salon proprietor.
Yours to command
Authors: Bristow Adrian
Published: February 2008

At breakfast the other day, browsing through The Times, I came across a letter from a correspondent in Piddlehinton in darkest Dorset. I cannot remember what he was rabbiting on about, but I do recall an unexpected unflattering reference to ‘the increasing number of authoritative principals in technical colleges’. It came out — just like that — and brought me up short, choking on my egg.
Where have all the rebels gone?
Authors: Gitt Herr E.
Published: February 2008

What has happened to all the rebels who played havoc with our universities and colleges a few years ago?
The Sun Life sets in the west
Authors: King‐Taylor Lynda
Published: February 2008

Sun Life Assurance Society Ltd is one of the UK's leading assurance companies, with funds exceeding £500 million. It has a national network of offices and a Head Office in London, with over 2,000 staff round the country of which approximately one half are working in Head Office. Sun Life is at the forefront of an industry that is having to change fast to meet the demands of today — and the future.
The games that business men play
Authors: Sykes Mrs P.A.
Published: February 2008

The selection and development of promising executives for the top echelons of business has always presented a dilemma. How can such a candidate have the necessary judgement, decision‐making skills, and broad outlook if he has not previously held a top‐level job? The costs of an unsuccessful trial run could be so appallingly high as to render such a move out of the question. Business games at least offer a potential solution in that, if they could be developed to an acceptable level of relevance and accuracy, they would provide an opportunity for a would‐be business leader to gain experience in decision‐making (and prove it to his superiors) through the simulation of the operations of the business within its industry context.
Help! Student Services Officers at work
Authors: Adam‐Smith Derek
Published: February 2008

In May 1973 an article in this journal highlighted some of the problems faced by college welfare officers. In spite of being on call seven days a week and working, typically, a 70‐hour week, these indispensable members of staff are paid less than a lecturer.
Stop penalising the “distance” student
Authors: Jones Lyndon H.
Published: February 2008

There are numerous reasons why people study by correspondence, including:
Hot line to the DES
Authors: Oakes Gordon
Published: February 2008

A number of Authorities have established sixth‐form colleges in order to economise on provision at sixth‐form level, but these are still run under secondary regulations. This creates problems in effecting co‐operation and possibly eventual merger with adjacent further education colleges. Is there any reason why all institutions which admit students only when they are over the compulsory school‐leaving age should not be run under further education regulations? Although where would still be differences in treatment between 16–19 year olds in all‐through secondary schools and in post‐16 institutions, the anomalies would be much less than in the present system where sixth‐form colleges operate under secondary regulations.
Books
Authors: Avent Catherine
Published: February 2008

Career Change is a rare book: a do‐it‐yourself kit for people obliged to look for a new job and contemplating a possible change of career. This is quite distinct from the several books which have been produced recently to help people to cope with unemployment and the search for a job. The book is designed to help those who either wish to change their career for personal reasons, or find themselves obliged to because they are redundant. It is practical and down‐to‐each, is well‐illustrated by examples, and can be read with interest and profit by those engaged in education and training as well as those for whom it was primarily written.
In place of performance appraisal
Authors: Jones Lyndon
Published: February 2008

An effective organisation is likely to be one in which employees:
Pity the poor college administrator
Authors: Harman Ken
Published: February 2008

Where in Colleges of Further and Higher Education is there a member of staff who
The case for directed private study
Authors: Jones Lyndon , Wylie A.W.
Published: February 2008

Directed Private Study (DPS) is the term used to describe courses which link oral and postal tuition and provide continuous tutorial advice. To date, very few centres offer this form of tuition; but there is evidence to suppose that further expansion is likely. For instance, the Business Education Council is interested in making this an available route of study.
Books
Authors: MacDonald Eleanor
Published: February 2008

With many people being made redundant, many women wanting to come back to work after bringing up their families, many who have made a super‐human effort to change direction after years perhaps in an unsuitable and unsatisfying job, there could not be more a timely and informative book than The Second Time Around. I also happen to think that it has a great deal to offer those who might be called First Time Around, and would also include as beneficiaries the much larger body of people who are in jobs but are not making the best use of themselves or the opportunities which are coming their way.
Participative quality control — how General Motors adopted a Japanese idea
Authors: Jones Lyndon
Published: February 2008

To‐day, Japan challenges the world as the front‐runner in quality manufactured goods — transistors, television sets, cameras, watches, and what‐have‐you. To the British man‐in‐the‐street, this may seem incredible; for many are still around who remember imported Japanese goods as being synonymous with cheap, inferior products. To what then is this transformation attributable?
Echoes of the ‘great debate’
Authors: Fowler Gerry
Published: February 2008

These famous lines were of course written by a Hellenistic poet centuries after the death of the philosopher Heraclitus. Strangely I am beginning to get the same nostalgic feeling about Robert Lowe, the nineteenth century protagonist of payment by results. For Lowe's educational philosophy had one great virtue: it recognised that the schools could be either cheap or efficient, but that cheapness and efficiency (and for that matter high cost and inefficiency) could not walk hand in hand.
16–19: The vital age group in FE
Authors: Roberts I.F.
Published: February 2008

1976 will be remembered as the year when the needs of the 16 – 19 age group were recognised as demanding priority in future policy decisions; but apart from the Government's recognition in its statement on Unified Vocational Preparation1 of the need to develop a working relationship between the Department of Education & Science and the Department of Employment, the approach adopted has been predominantly partisan and the outcome fragmentary. There is now a need to “create the badly needed framework within which the needs of the 16 – 19 age group can be considered as a whole” (Times Educational Supplement, 31 Dec. 1976).
Action planning through force field analysis
Authors: Page Denys
Published: February 2008

An individual, group or organisation can often feel blocked (ie prevented from effective action) by apparently immovable forces which are obstructing the way forward towards a desired goal. According to Kurt Lewin's force field theory, the assumed blockage is not so much a static, immovable object but rather a state of dynamic tension which has arisen between whole sets of countervailing forces, some of which (the helping forces) are tending to assist progress whilst others (the hindering forces) are tending to oppose it. The fact that these forces are at any point in time exactly equal and opposite to each other produces the apparently static state, and the consequent feelings of being blocked.
Taylor‐made democracy for school government
Authors: Fowler Gerry
Published: February 2008

The latest extension to British democracy is that proposed in the Taylor Report on the Government of Schools. Most of the commentators seem to have missed a simple point: that a system not dissimilar to that recommended by Taylor has operated in further education for some years past.
Action learning and the nature of knowledge
Authors: Revans Reginald
Published: February 2008

It was in 1952 that the first experiments were made in this country with an ancient idea. The Apostle James, in his Epistle (chap 1 v 22), says:
Where the school/industry dichotomy goes for a burton
Authors: Kendrick A.P.
Published: February 2008

For some time now, employers all over the country have had reservations about the educational standards of school leavers. In reply, the schools have pointed out that many of their pupils are achieving much more than their counterparts of some twenty years ago and, what is more, they have the evidence of public examination results to prove their point. Obviously there is a lack of understanding somewhere between employers in industry and commerce on the one hand, and those involved in education on the other. It was because of this that the Prime Minister initiated the Great Debate in October 1976, and this has since been followed by the Green Paper Education in Schools, the effects of which are at present being felt in local education authorities throughout England and Wales.
Drama teaching
Authors: Crofts Andrew
Published: February 2008

Anyone can start a drama school. All they have to have is a room in which to hold their classes — it could be their own sitting room — and some way of tempting students in to part with their money. All through history one‐man schools have proliferated. The old adage If you can't do it, teach it is sadly true of a great many of these retired and resting actors. There is never any shortage of young, stage‐struck people anxious to learn the tricks of the trade. Vast numbers are turned away by the top drama schools and form an equally vast market for the others to capitalise on.
Golden oldies
Authors: Page Denys
Published: February 2008

When I arrived in Kenya some three years ago, I was disappointed to find that the seemingly large stock of training films there were in most cases:
Silence is a gold brick
Authors: Jones Lyndon
Published: February 2008

Often the person most knowledgeable about a particular job is the individual actually performing it. But all too frequently he is not offered the opportunity to say whether the job could be performed more effectively, or he hesitates to bring matters of concern or opinion to the attention of management because of fear of being misunderstood. As a result many problems go unsolved. To encourage upward communication a number of approaches may be employed; and where such schemes operate effectively, as with IBM's Speak Up, there can be a handsome pay‐off.
Effective management of the joining‐up process
Authors: Jones Lyndon
Published: February 2008

Initial Training — Introduction to the Store Objective: To introduce the new Sales Assistant to the store and give her an outline of the training programme which she will follow.
Getting down to business by behaving yourself
Authors: Brown Paul , Caseley Marlene
Published: February 2008

The scene is a classroom. Students are seated in several small groups, five or six to a table. They are discussing a problem. As the instructor walks from table to table, fragments of the different conversations can be heard.
The art of craftsmanship
Authors: Makepeace John
Published: February 2008

The shifts of values and structure within our society indicate a change in the fortunes of artist‐craftsmen. The search for identity in the artifacts we use, and in the forms of employment we find acceptable, has prompted some important changes in the choice of a public disenchanted with the products of industry and of those who are seeking an alternative to working in the traditional areas of the professions, commerce, industry, or education and research.
Games that managements play
Authors: Sykes Philip
Published: February 2008

This introduction to simulation games and other participative techniques is not intended to be fully comprehensive, but it is designed to give a background knowledge of major aspects which would be useful for training officers, tutors, and lecturers.
The Communications Industry
Authors: Kriefman Vivienne
Published: February 2008

The umbrella heading of this feature is used broadly to cover careers in Marketing, Advertising, and Public Relations. Marketing itself could be seen as an umbrella term inseparable from and indeed drawing upon the other two disciplines. The subject Marketing is attracting increasing attention from companies and institutions where it was formerly not practised or even known. Banks have recently discovered this discipline, and we have seen a new attitude evolve towards their customers and services. Politicians have recently discovered it and, partly because of it, their candidates are now being handled like new product launches, with careful attention being paid to market research and communications and promotion media. Marketing is also rapidly spreading as an idea of importance to national economy.
Books
Authors: Holdsworth Ruth
Published: February 2008

The books I'm reviewing this month are around the more controversial areas of human development to be increasingly included in education and training — life management, experiential group learning, and counselling.
Games that managements play
Authors: Sykes Philip
Published: February 2008

Participants should be provided with scrap paper, graph paper (where the game requires it) and pencils. Each team should be required to bring at least one electronic calculator to the session, preferably battery‐operated for ease of siting the tables away from power points.
Behaviour modification
Authors: Jones Lyndon
Published: February 2008

Pairing involves using two rewards at once: eg, a physical and a verbal. Eventually the less desirable becomes acceptable enough to reward behaviour by itself. For example, conditioned reinforcers are not automatically reinforcing. Stimuli or events which were once neutral in value may acquire reinforcing properties as a result of being paired with events which are already reinforcing — either primary or other conditioned reinforcers. By repeatedly presenting a neutral stimulus prior to or along with a reinforcing stimulus, the neutral stimulus becomes a reinforcer. For example, praise may not be reinforcing for some people: therefore to establish it as a reinforcer it must be paired with an event that is reinforcing, such as food or money. Then when a behaviour is performed, the individual is praised and reinforced with money. After several pairings of the praise with money, the praise alone will serve as a reinforcer.
Cranfield School of Management
Authors: Allen OBE Bill
Published: February 2008

An airfield must seem a strange location for a school of management. The present school arose from the activities of the Cranfield College of Aeronautics which, like the school, was set up to fulfil a need for Britain's industrial development. Alongside the aeronautical work there evolved a growing interest in looking at different work functions in the context of their industries, leading to the formation within the College of a Department of Aircraft Economics & Production. The post‐war concern about productivity led to the establishment in 1953 of the Work Study School. Early courses at the School concentrated largely on method study and involved routine factory visits. It was not long before courses were introduced to teach maintenance and design engineers to adapt work study techniques to their own purposes. Work study officers were trained in statistical methods; O & M courses were introduced and proved spectacularly successful. In short, work study started to prove itself to be a many‐headed creature.
School and industry — the essential partnership
Authors: Malcolm Thornton Chairman
Published: February 2008

To improve links between school and industry has become a commonly‐voiced objective of educators, industrialists and politicians, though naturally views differ about not only how the objective should be achieved but the longer‐term aims and the nature of the links. Is the main aim concerned with vocational guidance and the supply of well‐informed and well‐motivated entrants into industrial jobs, or should it be one of social education, inculcating an appreciation of economics and the balance between manufacturing and service industries within the whole community?
BEC is on course
Authors: Elliott Janet
Published: February 2008

The past year has seen a major change in business education courses in more than 350 colleges and polytechnics throughout the country, with the introduction of new BEC courses. Regular readers of Education & Training are already likely to have at least some knowledge of BEC development from articles and references in many issues over the past four and half years since the Council was set up in May 1974 by the then Secretary of State for Education & Science. BEC's remit from the Government was to plan, administer and keep under review a unified national system of non‐degree courses for those whose occupations fall within the broad area of business (including distributive trades) and public administration. September 1979, one year after the introduction of the first new BEC courses, seems a reasonable time to attempt to assess the Council's achievements to date and point the way to continued future development.
Business education campaign
Authors: Fisher Bernard C.
Published: February 2008

Business (industry and commerce) creates our real national wealth. The more wealth it creates, the stronger it becomes. As we have seen, when too many people reject this principle then the harsh realities of unemployment, falling — or at best static — living standards, and lower standards in our essential and social services result.
BEC General Diploma course
Authors: Owen R.E.
Published: February 2008

The Department of Business and Management Studies at Dewsbury and Batley Technical and Art College is perhaps an average‐sized department in an averaged‐sized college. It has a history of recruiting between 20 and 25 students a year on the former Certificate in Office Studies (COS) full‐time course, with a slightly less number on the day release and evening course. With the appointment of a new Head of Department in January 1978, and the prospect of Business Education Council General level courses replacing COS courses from September 1978, the opportunity was taken to investigate the needs of local industry and to examine the structure and content of future courses to be offered at that level. This article describes how it was carried out, with particular regard to the full‐time Diploma course for the Business Studies Board, and how it has progressed. The case‐study can conveniently be divided into five stages:
Books
Authors: Holdsworth Ruth
Published: February 2008

A major complaint by those offering carrers guidance to adults is the lack of suitable carrer literature. Compromising adults obviously can make considerable use of literature meant for school and college leavers, but often there is translation to be done and questions left unanswered. It was this gap that led me to produce a modest attempt at guidance for adults in Carrer Change published by CRAC. Now we have a partly complementary volume offering information for adults seeking self‐development mainly via education.
A new approach to training computer staff
Authors: Penny George
Published: February 2008

The NCC Threshold Scheme, a unique experiment in communal apprenticeship, with entry standards which fly in the face of the conventional wisdom, has now, towards the end of its third year, become an established and important source of new entrants to data processing.
Assessment policies in higher education
Authors: Moss Charles
Published: February 2008

The problem of assessment is the subject of an enormous amount of work in higher education institutions. However, because of the current development and revision of courses under the aegis of BEC and the CNAA, institutions have unique opportunities for re‐appraising their attitudes to assessment. This article is designed to encourage a new look at assessment methods by providing:
The benefits of charting
Authors: Taylor Max
Published: February 2008

Charting is a method of improving the effectiveness of meetings, by continuously recording the progress of discussion in a form that everyone can read. Typically this means writing with a broad felt‐tipped pen on a large pad of white paper fixed to a wall or blackboard. Some benefits of charting are:
Modern languages — a BEC soft option?
Authors: Ferney Derrick
Published: February 2008

The publication of major reports by the British Overseas Trade Board and the Royal Society of Arts last year represents a flurry of official activity at the long dormant interface between teachers of modern languages and industrialists. Furthermore, nobody who was present at the joint RSA/BOTB/CBI conference on 31 October was left in any doubt that British industry needs trained linguists in order to export more successfully, or that teachers of languages in this country are increasingly gearing themselves up to produce the right kind of linguist to satisfy this demand.
Positive reinforcement
Authors: Jones Lyndon
Published: February 2008

There are two ways in which a behaviour can be changed — its frequency can be increased or decreased. The manner in which undesirable behaviour can be decreased was considered in previous articles. Attention will now be focused on increasing the desired behaviour.
Wise counsels shall prevail
Authors: Proctor Brigid , Milner Pat
Published: February 2008

The core of the work of the Counselling section of the Management Services and Industrial Relations Department of South West London College has been to help those people who are already doing some counselling as part of their work to improve these particular skills. This service is offered to professionals and volunteers in educational, medical, social, youth and community work fields. In looking for ways to be more effective in training a wide range of people, we chose the model of self‐directed learning.
DES News Releases
Authors: Boyson Rhodes , Macfarlane Neil
Published: February 2008

The greatest deprivations are permanent ill‐health, illiteracy and innumeracy, not the ones regularly mouthed by the trendy lobbies of our age. The Government is determined to do all it can to cut down illiteracy and innumeracy. Men and women who cannot read, write and number suffer continued isolation. They cannot read the papers, apply for jobs, hold down employment, or take a full part in society. It is estimated that we have some two million adult illiterates and semi‐literates in our midst. Much has already been done by the BBC, local authorities, voluntary bodies, and the former Adult Literacy Resource Agency and Adult Literacy Unit. Some 70,000 adult illiterates a year have received tuition over the last five years. But many dropped in and out of classes, so we can only claim to have touched the tip of the iceberg. As we melted the tip, the ice‐berg was being added to by those school‐leavers who needed help.
ABEnews
Authors: Coffin Tom
Published: February 2008

I have been receiving recently quite a number of enquiries from members regarding the Advanced Diploma, examinations for which will be held for the first time in June 1981. Our new handbook describes the Advanced Diploma as a qualification in its own right, which will provide holders of the Diploma with an opportunity to undertake specialist studies in those disciplines which will further their prospects of advancement in their chosen careers. This implies, of course, that the Advanced Diploma will be looked upon as a prestige qualification, entry to which will be restricted to members of ABE, and an opportunity for such members to prove that the ABE examination structure is designed not simply to produce certificates to hang on walls but to bring into the management scene a body of dedicated managers who can display through their on‐the‐job performance that they have a blend of educational knowledge and practical expertise of which they can be justly proud.
Nobody owes us a living
Authors: Butler Adam
Published: February 2008

Management today is both an art and a science, and, also a highly professional business. The only prescription for a successful Britain, as with a successful company, is for industry to make and sell what the customer wants. To satisfy the needs of the customer, at a profit, is the nearest to a guarantee of employment. There is no escaping that eternal truth, and there is no escape from reality itself; no escape by refusing to face facts; no escape by refusing to accept responsibility.
Education for the eighties — so far, no further
Authors: Fowler Gerry
Published: February 2008

I wrote last month that, in respect of the provision of post‐secondary education, Britain is in the relegation zone of the league table of developed nations. This month I wish to explore some of the mechanisms and controls built into the system, which ensure that escape from this unenviable position becomes ever more difficult
Women out of bondage
Authors: Johnston Rita
Published: February 2008

The typical re‐entrant is in her late 20s or early 30s, and is married with two children — the youngest under six. She left school at 16 with no qualifications and went to work as an unskilled non‐manual worker, typically in a shop. During the seven years she worked prior to having a family she changed her job two or three times, generally to very similar work. And she left at first pregnancy, happily, intending to be away from employment for at least 10 to 12 years.
Starkly unrelieved dilemmas
Authors: Fowler Gerry
Published: February 2008

Professor Don Morgan of the University of Minnesota has written, it seems, an account of the American education system which:
The City's financial future
Authors: Allen OBE Bill
Published: February 2008

The working party represented more than the heights of respectability. Eight members under the chairmanship of R. R. St. J. Barkshire of Mercantile House Holdings Ltd. represented such diverse interests as S. G. Warburg & Co., Barclays Bank International, Guinness Peat Group, and Gerrard & National Discount Co.
Breaking through the sound barrier
Authors: Hills P.J.
Published: February 2008

The Primary Communications Research Centre (PCRC) was established at the University of Leicester on 1 July, 1976 by a grant from the British Library Research and Development Department; full scale operation began in October, 1976. Project Head is Professor A. J. Meadows, and the Centre has both a Project Advisory Committee and a Management Committee.
ABEnews
Authors: Gold Donald
Published: February 2008

We are sorry to have to report that Brigadier Nigel Strickland, the Director of Administration, who normally writes this feature, is very unwell at the present time and on sick leave. In his absence business will go on as usual at Headquarters, although if some delay does occur in dealing with correspondence you are asked to bear with us.
Come the Revolution
Authors: Pratt Stephen
Published: February 2008

The familiar phrase the office of the eighties is already becoming hackneyed, even though we have only just entered the new decade. There has been unprecedented attention in the media which has focused on the effects of the introduction of high technology in modern offices, with particular reference to serious reductions in employment prospects for today's eight million office workers. Perhaps everyone has heard of silicon chips without fully appreciating what kind of new technology is involved, and why this poses a threat to employment. In this article I will briefly survey the nature of the new technology, and concentrate on word processors which are the machines most likely to be behind significant job losses in the office. I propose to anticipate areas in which problems will occur, and place in perspective the quite reasonable concern being voiced about employment wastage.
Conspicuous by their absence
Authors: Walsh Bill
Published: February 2008

There are about as many definitions of absenteeism as there are suggested causes. What attracts interest is the sort of non‐attendance which tends to be associated with malpractice or anti‐social behaviour of some kind — that which derives from the absence of a work ethic. This includes malingering, laziness, and couldn't care less attitudes — what we might define as unjustified absence.
Getting the message across — loud and clear
Authors: Elliott Janet , Fricker Sue
Published: February 2008

The question of effective curriculum dissemination has been in the news in recent months, following the publication in December 1980 by the Further Education Curriculum Development Unit of their report Loud and Clear. The report highlights the shortcomings of current (ie, 1979) curriculum dissemination in further and higher education and recommends that central curriculum bodies — BEC, TEC, CGLI, CNAA and the GCE Boards — should work towards a strategy for improved communication, while acknowledging that this would have financial and personnel implications. The message from the researchers, a team from Blackpool & Fylde College of Further & Higher Education, is that such bodies should recognise and respond to the many obstacles to effective dissemination and use facilitating techniques in their distribution networks; they should actively seek information on local arrangements for support and guidance of lecturers concerned with their courses and prompt realistic answers, rather than passively waiting for comments to be made. Since its establishment in 1974, the Business Education Council has always been conscious of the need both to inform would‐be students, parents and employers about what the Council was planning and the courses to be introduced, and of the equally important parallel need to ensure that the lecturers who would be involved in the planning and teaching of those courses received all the information published by BEC at the time when they needed it.
ABEnews
Authors: Price Norman
Published: February 2008

We are going to publish as a regular feature of ABE News a series of Questions & Answers to enable students to see the type of questions set in Parts I, II and III of the examinations. In each issue there will be two questions, together with model answers, so that students will see the manner in which the examiner expects that the question should be answered. In this issue we are dealing with Law. The questions and model answers are reproduced with the permission of B. S. Grewal, a council member of ABE, and are taken from his book General Principles of Business Law — Questions & Answers written in conjunction with J. D. de Freitas and published by Castlevale Printers Limited price £3.95 plus 35p. postage (£1.05 airmail).
Inside the Tower of Babel
Authors: Butcher Ian
Published: February 2008

Since January 1981 the four miles of corridors in the cruciform Berlaymont building, which houses nearly 6,500 officials of the Commission of the European Communities in Brussels, have been echoing to a seventh official language — Greek. Although the linguistic invasion until now has been only a gradual one, the problems such enlargement presents are formidable. In a few years Spain and Portugal are to become members; there then will be nine official languages.
Company law — a change of emphasis
Authors: Tuffnell BA Susan
Published: February 2008

This new Companies Act received the Royal Assent in May 1980, with the proviso that it would be brought into force in stages by statutory instrument. Since last December virtually all of its provisions have been brought into effect by this means. The main purpose of the Act is to implement the requirements of the EEC Second Directive which concern:
Can democracy survive technology?
Authors: Parslow R.D.
Published: February 2008

In this article I will show that Technology has not only provided the Establishment with the means of controlling the populace, but has also exacerbated a trend in unemployment which will have reached such a high level by the end of 1983 that the subsequent collapse of law and order will give the government no choice but to use these methods to suppress democratic freedom.
Behaviour — its chaining and shaping
Authors: Jones Lyndon
Published: February 2008

A manager tells one of his maintenance engineers: Pete, you missed three calls last week. Pete interprets this as a reprimand because his manager made a pass‐fail judgement. Yet on further analysis one finds that Pete:
Universities and industry — a mutual need
Authors: Jenkin Patrick
Published: February 2008

The universities need industry and industry needs the universities, said Patrick Jenkin MP, Secretary of State for Industry.
Personal organisation for effective time management
Authors: Jones Lyndon
Published: February 2008

Managers tend to be victims of their own habit patterns. But with improved personal organisation more effective time management readily ensues. However breaking a bad habit pattern can be difficult, and requires the exercise of self discipline. Therefore once new and better patterns have been developed, ways of reinforcing these have to be devised.
Student section
Authors: Jones Lyndon
Published: February 2008

The theory and its implications Behaviour modification is based on the principle that people learn how to behave, or to apply on the job what they already know, because of the consequences that result from their behaviour.
You've gotta accentuate the positive!
Authors: Jones Lyndon
Published: February 2008

A sales manager complains that his salesmen fail to submit regularly weekly reports detailing the number of calls made, time spent, enquiries received, and so on. This information is important as, when analysed, it is used to determine the market strategy. The sales manager reacts to this by sending out a blistering memo, and for a week or two an improvement ensues. Then things drift back to their old norm.
Training in the accountancy profession
Authors: Holden FCA Jo
Published: February 2008

A quarter of a century ago there was a financial barrier to becoming a chartered accountant. In those days the articled clerk received little, if any, salary for his opportunity to do client work, and had to pay for his own correspondence course to get him through his examinations. Now the latter themselves are the barrier, and the student accountant expects a fair salary with training provided to enable him to meet the demands made on the public practice accountant.
Exit interviewing
Authors: Jones Lyndon
Published: February 2008

There is no simple relationship between attrition and organisational effectiveness. Witness how employee turnover may decline rapidly during a prolonged period of recession, yet there may be no improvement in productivity. Conversely, some turnover may be advantageous. Examples of this include:
It's all a question of degree
Authors: Naudi Louis
Published: February 2008

In previous issues, Education & Training has been very informative to its readers about bogus American degrees and diplomas, awarded by what those in the United States call diploma mills.
Interaction Management — a case study
Authors: Roberts D.G.
Published: February 2008

This paper deals with what has been done at Hong Kong Telephone with Interaction Management (IM), and how this compares with what was done in the Bell System with Supervisory Relationships Training (SRT), its predecessor.
Communication skills in adult education
Authors: Battleday Suzanne , Buss Sue , Pemberton Wendy
Published: February 2008

We have offered City & Guilds courses in Communication Skills(Levels I and II) and Numeracy (Level I) since 1980 in Birmingham. It may be of interest to note the reactions and experiences of students and tutors who have followed these courses and to highlight some of the advantages and disadvantages we have found in undertaking this type of work. Many long‐term students see a widening of horizons and an increasing awareness of potential as their skills develop; they want to test their skills in a more formal way. The courses have great advantages in that they offer a flexible structure, allowing individual development. They encourage initiative, with project work and ‘real‐life’ teaching materials and situations being central to the course. Students can gain tremendous satisfaction from tackling an exam course, with a definite sense of purpose and commitment to their learning.
Can we change other people's behaviour?
Authors: Jones Lyndon , Page Denys
Published: February 2008

Having established, by means of pinpointing, the exact behaviour which is to be changed, the next step is tracking — or counting — the pinpointed behaviour in order to establish its pattern or frequency.
An integrated approach to management development
Authors: Howard Keith , Pettman Barrie O.
Published: February 2008

Although there is a tendency to view an organisation as a corporate entity with holistic capacity to function within a sympathetic or hostile environment, the reality is that its performance is determined by the individual managers working within it. Clearly the influence of managers will mainly be related directly to their level in the organisation, but even the most junior managers — given that they really are managers with discretion over the use of resources — will have the opportunity to make some impact. And, as today's junior managers are tomorrow's senior managers, it is essential that their own potential is developed progressively to equip them for the responsibilities to come.
The case for international business
Authors: Meeson Sue
Published: February 2008

Over recent years many church groups, charities and other interest groups based, on the whole, in the industrialised world have espoused the “development” cause, attracting a great deal of public support and press coverage for their campaign. Their central aim — to bring about a dramatic improvement in living standards and conditions for the world's poor and hungry — is one which all of us must surely endorse.
A better way to report writing
Authors: Muir John
Published: February 2008

We are constantly making reports, though we do not always see them in that light. For instance, if we tell friends about a play recently seen at the theatre then that is a report. The same thing happens if we tell the family about happenings at work. These are spoken reports. They are highly important and quick. They can be very informative but, unless recorded, they do not constitute permanent records. We are also involved as part of our day‐to‐day experience in written reports. Again we do not always see them that way; but if we write a letter to a friend and explain what we have been doing recently, that is a report. So in considering how we write up a formal report at work we are not developing something entirely new, but are developing skills common to everyday experience. What might be new is tackling the job by way of a system. What has to be aimed for is a structured document, where the facts are set out clearly so that arguments flow naturally to the conclusions reached.
Arguing from the General to the particular — 2
Authors: Sellars John
Published: February 2008

Just a year ago, the Business & Technician Education Council (BTEC) took over from its predecessors, BEC and TEC. One of the many assets inherited by the new Council was the BEC ‘General’. In the last session (1983/84), over 35,000 young people in over 500 secondary schools and nearly 400 further education colleges were studying part‐time or full‐time for BTEC General Certificates and Diplomas in Business Studies. This is no mean achievement for a scheme only in its seventh year of operation.
The manager as a people‐problem solver
Authors: Brown Paul L.
Published: February 2008

One reason that some managers and executives out‐perform others in their organisations is their problem solving skill. I refer here not just to their ability to solve technical and financial problems, but to the very specific skill of people problem solving. People problems abound in the world of business. People don't do what they said they would do; they arrive late to work or they don't come at all. People make mistakes; they don't do things right the first time, or the second time, and what's worse they don't seem to care about it. People providing service to customers or internal users are rude, abusive and slow; the outputs of their work do not conform to requirements, and are not fit for use by anyone.
Information Technology skills shortage
Authors: Rogers Parry
Published: February 2008

The focal point of the Information Technology Skills shortage problem has been the Butcher committee, which first met in June of 1984. This Department of Trade & Industry committee, chaired by John Butcher MP, arose from several sources. First NEDO and its electronics committee has been saying for some time that there is an acute problem which was not being tackled. Secondly the Alvey committee, organising important research activities, became alarmed that its plans were at risk because it could not see where the human resources necessary to carry out the additional work were to be found. Thirdly the CBI took up the problem and, led by Sir Austin Bide, made representations to Kenneth Baker MP who was then the Minister of Information Technology in the DTI.
Teaching Standards
Authors: Joseph Keith
Published: February 2008

Speaking about the changing provision in this area, Sir Keith said that it was far more diverse than that of the schools: