The competitive factor: training and development as a strategic management task

Abstract

The political and economic changes in eastern European countries and the increasing attraction of cheap labour countries as production locations for western European companies give rise to the notion that western European employment can only be secured by a constant increase in production coupled with better quality in goods and services. This requires a highly skilled workforce; indeed the human potential within an organization is a major competitive factor. In global competitiveness, where shorter life cycles, benchmarking and faster information transfer are the keys to success, human resources provide a mid-to long-term advantage for companies. They play a strategic role: today's investment in the workforce secures the innovation and competitiveness of tomorrow. Therefore, company training and development should be viewed as an important management task. Discusses the management tasks for company training: analysing training requirements, preparation and implementation, knowhow transfer within a company and controlling training and development, while highlighting the importance of training and development within the overall strategic planning process. 3 Problem directed Analysis of skill structure and potential Planning for new technology and analysis of training needs Investment in technology plus training from supplier/manufacturer

A bibliometric overview of the Journal of Workplace Learning

“…It centers on training and education, learning organizations and organizational learning. The articles with training and education as keywords mainly focus on the trainer (Mathis, 2020;Harris et al, 2014), trainee management (Mühlemeyer and Clarke, 1997;Jeffrey et al, 2010), characteristics of training programs (Lu and Betts, 2011;Cole, 2008) and training transfer (Park and Wentling, 2007;Lancaster et al, 2013). Articles with learning organizations as keywords focus more on reflections (Høyrup, 2004;Johnston and Watson, 2004) as a method for collective learning (Hegarty et al, 2011).…”

Greek manufacturing firms: low skills, low wages and low profitability

“…The challenges posed by the rise of low-cost producers in other parts of the world can be met only if labour in the advanced countries has high skill levels to differentiate it from the capacities of workers in the newly industrializing countries. Muhlemeyer and Clarke (1997) argue that productivity improvements and innovation can be achieved only if firms employ high-skilled workers.…”

The challenges of human resource management towards organizational effectiveness

“…These challenges exist not only because of globalization, but also due to technology and telecommunication advances, deregulation, diversity and other workforce trends, as well as trends in the nature of work and legal issues (Dessler, 2000). In the literature, among the major challenges reported involve issues of training and development, efficiency and flexibility, and employee relations (Mühlemayer and Clarke, 1997; Skinner, 1999; Gomez‐Mejia et al , 2001). Therefore, the main aim of this study is to analyze these challenges and examine their relation to organizational effectiveness.…”

“…This investment also has been underscored by the rise of human resource management with its emphasis on the importance of people and the skills they possess in enhancing organizational efficiency. Such human resource management concepts as “commitment” to the company and the growth in the “quality” movement have led senior management teams to realize the increased importance of training and development (Mühlemayer and Clarke, 1997).…”

“…In the current economic climate, the process of training and developing knowledge and its management can be left no longer to fate and luck (Mühlemeyer and Clarke, 1997). It must be recognized that knowledge and therefore training is a potential competitive factor, which is often company‐specific and which can be achieved only on a long‐term basis.…”