Employee Training And U.s. Competitiveness

This is a study of how firms in four sectors of the US economy - textiles, banking, retailing and business services - are using, or failing to use, technological, organizational and training changes to respond to the new economic world. The authors have found that firms that view training as part of a broad process of organizational change not simply as a necessary requirement for the introduction of new machinery, seem best positioned to succeed in meeting the demands of the new marketplace. Integrating a company-wide training effort as part of a broader process of organizational transformation is shown to be far from a simple accomplishment. Rather, it necessitates a fundamental reassessment of the traditional lines of authority and the existing divisions of labour within the firm. By showing how leading companies in some sectors are making the necessary analysis and retooling effectively, the book seeks to provide lessons for others trying to adapt for business in the 1990s.