Measuring corporate readinessto implement distance education

Abstract

C orporations are merging and becoming larger, and they have a need to communicate with and train thousands of employees in different locations.Companies are eager to implement computer-based training and other types of distance-learning programs because such training methods can provide cost savings. Distance education can eliminate travel expenses and increase corporate productivity because employees are away from their normal work responsibilities for shorter periods. Corporations are finding that distance education can be very effective, but an organization must be ready to support the design and implementation of distanceeducation programs. Corporate readiness should be evaluated before distance education programs are developed. Historical BackgroundLess than 100 years ago, about 95% of all people made their living by working with their hands and doing unskilled, untrained, repetitive work. Today, in developed countries, this portion of the work force is down to one-fifth (Galagan, 1998, p. 26). Currently the majority of people in developed countries live in cities and have jobs that require ongoing training and education.Distance education was originally designed to bring educational opportunities to people in rural areas and was limited to correspondence courses. Technology now offers many distance learning alternatives, and corporate use of distance learning is increasing rapidly. A survey published by Training magazine showed that more than half of the respondents used computer-based training (CBT), one-third used the Web, and onequarter used the company intranet for training ("Training by computer," p. 73).Management expert Peter Drucker feels that global management is emerging because "the task, the tools, and the problems are becoming the same everywhere, so you have to organize yourself for doing the same task, but with different conventions" (Galagan, 1998, p. 25). Culture from country to country makes the meaning different and the training must be reviewed to allow for cultural differences, but the tasks remain the same.