Rapid changes in manufacturing technology and procedures have created a need for additional training for workers. Traditional postsecondary school vocational training is generally perceived as not adequately meeting this need because vocational training programs quickly become obsolete. Customized labor training, typically implemented at the workplace, is a possible alternative to vocational training. Such training programs are frequently oriented toward specific organizational needs rather than general skill development. In-depth interviews with personnel directors, trainers, and worker-students in 20 organizations using customized labor training programs specified three different settings that entail different background conditions and outcomes for customized training: large, unionized monopoly sector firms that have developed intensive training programs; smaller, periphery sector firms that use state support for training largely as a subsidy to underwrite initial orientation costs for workers; and new starts, many of them Japanese owned, that substitute training in communication skills and group processes for training in specific job skills. The implications of these different settings for the future of customized labor training are discussed.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Adler, P.
(1984). Tools for resistance: Workers can make automation their ally. Dollars and Sense, 100, 7-8.
2.
AFL-CIO
. (1983). The future of work. Washington, DC: Author.
3.
Attewell, P.
(1990). What is skill?Work and Occupations, 17, 422-448.
4.
Bailey, T.
(1990). Jobs of the future and the skills they will require. American Educator, 14, 10-44.
5.
Blanchard, F.
(1984). Technology, work and society: Some pointers from ILO research. International Labor Review, 123, 267-276.
6.
Blauner, R.
(1964). Alienation and freedom. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
7.
Boddy, D.
, & Buchanan, D. A. (1981). Information technology and the experience of work. In L. Bannan, U. Barry, & O. Holst (Eds.), Information technology: Impact on the way of life (pp. 144-157). Dublin, Ireland: Tycooly.
8.
Carnevale, A. P.
, & Goldstein, H. (1990). Schooling and training for work in America. In L. A. Ferman, M. Hoyman, J. Cutcher-Gershenfeld, & E. J. Savoie (Eds.), New developments in worker training (pp. 25-54). Madison: University of Wisconsin, Industrial Relations Research Association.
9.
Chamot, D.
, & Baggett, J. M. (1979). Silicon, satellites and robots: The impacts of technological change on the workplace. Washington, DC: Department for Professional Employees, AFL-CIO.
10.
Cherns, A. B.
(1980). Speculations on the social effects of new microelectronics technology. International Labor Review, 119, 705-721.
11.
Cole, R. E.
(1989). Strategies for learning: Small-group activities in American, Japanese, and Swedish industry. Berkeley: University of California Press.
12.
Coleman, J. S.
(1988). Social capital in the creation of human capital. American Journal of Sociology, 94(Suppl.), 95-120.
13.
Congressional Research Service
. (1985). The computer revolution and the U.S. labor force. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.
14.
Cook, D. T.
(1983, September 9). High tech versus U.S. labor unions. Christian Science Monitor, p. 1.
15.
Cornfield, D. B.
(1987). Workers, managers, and technological change. New York: Plenum.
16.
Cross, M.
(1985). Towards the flexible craftsman. London: Technical Change Center.
17.
Danziger, J. N.
(1985). Social science and the social impacts of computer technology. Social Science Quarterly, 66, 3-21.
18.
Denison, E.
(1984). Trends in American economic growth, 1929-1982. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution.
19.
Dohse, K.
, Jurgens, U., & Malsch, T. (1985). From “Fordism” to “Toyotism”? The social organization of the labor process in the Japanese automobile industry. Politics & Society, 14, 115-146.
20.
Dougherty, K.
(1987). The effects of community colleges: Aid or hinderance to socioeconomic attainment. Sociology of Education, 60, 86-103.
21.
Duvall, M.
(1983). A report on quick-start economic development programs. Washington, DC: U.S. Office of Vocational and Adult Education.
22.
Ferman, L. A.
, Hoyman, M., & Cutcher-Gershenfeld, J. (1990). Joint union-management training programs. In L. A. Ferman, M. Hoyman, J. Cutcher-Gershenfeld, & E. J. Savoie (Eds.), New developments in worker training (pp. 157-189). Madison: University of Wisconsin, Industrial Relations Research Association.
23.
Ferman, L. A.
, Hoyman, M., Cutcher-Gershenfeld, J., & Savoie, E. J. (1990). Editors' introduction. In New developments in worker training (pp. 1-23). Madison: University of Wisconsin, Industrial Relations Research Association.
24.
Francis, A.
(1986). New technology at work. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
25.
Francis, A.
, Snell, M., Willman, P., & Winch, G. (1981). The impact of information technology at work: The case of CAD/CAM and MIS in engineering plants. In L. Bannan, U. Barry, & O. Holst (Eds.), Information technology: Impact on the way of life (pp. 182-194). Dublin, Ireland: Tycooly.
26.
Geber, B.
(1987, April). Supply side schooling. Training, pp. 24-30.
27.
Grenier, G. J.
(1988). Inhuman relations: Quality circles and anti-unionism in American industry. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
28.
Harper, D.
(1987). Working knowledge: Skill and community in a small shop. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
29.
Hrebiniak, L. G.
(1974). Job technology, supervision, and work-group structure. Administrative Science Quarterly, 19, 395-410.
30.
Human capital: The decline of America's work force. (1988, September 19). Business Week, pp. 100-145.
31.
Johnston, W. B.
, & Packer, A. E. (1987). Workforce 2000: Work and workers for the 21st cnetury. Indianapolis, IN: Hudson Institute.
32.
Jones, B.
(1982). Sleepers awake! Technology and the future of work. London: Oxford University Press.
33.
Kelley, M. R.
(1989). An assessment of the skill upgrading and training opportunities for blue-collar workers under programmable automation. In Industrial Relations Research Association: Proceedings of the Thirty-Ninth Annual Meeting (pp. 301-308).
34.
Kusterer, K. C.
(1978). Know-how on the job: The important working knowledge of unskilled workers. Boulder, CO: Westview.
35.
Levitan, S. A.
, & Gallo, F. (1990). Uncle Sam's helping hand: Education, training, and employment for the disadvantaged. In L. A. Ferman, M. Hoyman, J. Cutcher-Gershenfeld, & E. J. Savoie (Eds.), New developments in worker training (pp. 225-256). Madison: University of Wisconsin, Industrial Relations Research Association.
36.
Lillrank, P.
, & Kano, N. (1989). Continuous improvement: Quality control circles in Japanese industry. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan, Center for Japanese Studies.
37.
Malecki, E. J.
(1984). High technology and local economic development. Journal of the American Planning Association, 50, 262-269.
38.
Manwaring, T.
, & Wood, S. (1985). The ghost in the labour process. In D. Knights, H. Wilmott, & D. Collinsonet al. (Eds.), Job redesign (pp. 171-196). Aldershot: Gower.
39.
Marsden, D.
, & Ryan, P. (1990). Intermediate level vocational training and the structure of labour markets in Western Europe in the 1980s. In L. A. Ferman, M. Hoyman, J. Cutcher-Gershenfeld, & E. J. Savoie (Eds.), New developments in worker training (pp. 309-338). Madison: University of Wisconsin, Industrial Relations Research Association.
40.
Mishel, L.
, & Teixeira, R. A. (1990). The myth of the coming labor shortage: Jobs, skills, and incomes of America's workforce 2000. Washington, DC: Economic Policy Institute.
41.
National Center for Educational Statistics
. (1985). Fall enrollment in colleges and universities. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.
42.
Noble, D.
(1984). Forces of production: A social history of industrial automation. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
43.
Oakes, J.
(1985). Keeping track: How schools structure inequality. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
44.
Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development
. (1986). Flexibility in the labor market: The current debate. Paris: Author.
45.
Osterman, P.
(1990). Elements of a national training policy. In L. A. Ferman, M. Hoyman, J. Cutcher-Gershenfeld, & E. J. Savoie (Eds.), New developments in worker training (pp. 257-281). Madison: University of Wisconsin, Industrial Relations Research Association.
46.
Rumberger, R. W.
(1981). The changing skill requirements of jobs in the U.S. economy. Industrial and Labor Relations Review, 34, 578-589.
47.
Senker, P.
(1984a). Engineering skills in the robot age. In P. Marstrand (Ed.), New technology and the future of work and skills (pp. 133-145). London: Frances Pinter.
48.
Senker, P.
(1984b). Training for automation. In M. Warner (Ed.), Microprocessors, manpower and society (pp. 134-146). New York: St. Martin's.
49.
Senker, P.
, & Beesley, M. (1986). Computerized production and inventory control systems: Some skill and employment implications. Industrial Relations Journal, 16, 52-57.
50.
Smith, V.
(1990). Managing in the corporate interest: Control and resistance in an American bank. Berkeley: University of California Press.
51.
Spenner, K. I.
(1983). Deciphering prometheus: Temporal change in the skill level of work. American Sociological Review, 48, 824-837.
52.
Spenner, K. I.
(1990). Skill: Meaning, methods, and measures. Work and Occupations, 17, 399-421.
53.
Thomas, R. J.
(1988). Quality and quantity: Worker participation in the U.S. and Japanese automobile industries. In M. Dubofsky (Ed.), Technological change and workers' movements (pp. 162-188). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
54.
Thomas, R. J.
(1989). Blue-collar careers. In M. B. Arthur, D. T. Hall, & B. S. Lawrence (Eds.), Handbook of career theory (pp. 354-379). New York: Cambridge University Press.
55.
Treece, J. B.
, & Hoerr, J. (1989, August 14). Shaking up Detroit. Business Week, pp. 74-80.
56.
Vallas, S. P.
(1990). The concept of skill: A critical review. Work and Occupations, 17, 379-398.
