Employee development programmes: The US auto approach

Personnel Review

Volumn 25, Issue 2, 1996, Pages 35-49

  James, Philip ^a  

^a MIDDLESEX UNIVERSITY BUSINESS SCHOOL   (United Kingdom)

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[No Author keywords available]

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EID: 0030550206     PISSN: 00483486     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1108/00483489610110078     Document Type: Article

References (43)

1. The UK Ford scheme was, however, in terms of structure very much a domestic creation. In particular, unlike that in the USA, the EDAP scheme is much more decentralized, has not involved the establishment of a national training centre, and does not provide educational and training opportunities to the families of employees (see [2]).
2. Hougham, J., Thomas, J. and Sisson, K., "Ford's EDAP scheme: a roundtable discussion", Human Resource Management Journal, Vol. 1 No. 3, 1991, pp. 77-91.
3. Metcalf, H., Releasing Potential: Company Initiatives to Develop People at Work The Case Studies, Employment Department, Sheffield, 1992.
4. Corney, M., Employee Development Programmes: Current Practices and New Directions, National Commission on Education, London, 1995.
5. Industrial Relations Services, "New approaches to employee development", Employee Development Bulletin, No. 60, 1994, pp. 5-10.
6. The details provided on British schemes are drawn from several sources[4,5,7,8].
7. Incomes Data Services, New Approaches to Employee Development, Employment Development Initiatives IDS Study 546, London, January 1994.
8. Mangat, K., "Employee development initiatives", unpublished MA dissertation, Middlesex University Business School, London, 1995.
9. The Ford EDAP programme also encompasses health and fitness programmes.
10. Non-union based schemes though may provide for considerable employee input into them. For example, at Rolls-Royce an ex trade union convenor has been appointed as the full-time leader of its scheme.
11. Savoie, E. and Cutcher-Gershenfeld, J., "The governance of joint training programs", in Ferman, L., Hoyman, M., Cutcher-Gershenfeld, J. and Savoie, E. (Eds), Joint Training Programs: A Union-management Approach for Preparing Workers for the Future, ILR Press, Ithaca, NY, 1991.
12. Mintzberg, H., "Crafting strategy", Harvard Business Review, July-August, 1987, pp. 66-77.
13. The article draws on information gathered from three main sources: published materials and internal company documentation; semi-structured interviews with 14 management and union representatives at the three national training centres responsible for administering the schemes; and visits to three plants, a Ford plant in Buffalo, a " Chrysler/GM joint venture in Syracuse and a GM plant, also based in Buffalo. During each of these visits interviews were conducted with union representatives involved in the operation of joint union-management activities. The research was conducted while the author was a Visiting Fellow in the School of Industrial and Labor Relations at Cornell University. The financial support provided for the research by the Nuffield Foundation is gratefully acknowledged.
14. Sherer, P., Industrial Restructuring and Industrial Relations in Three United States Firms, International Labour Office, Geneva, 1991.
15. Kate, H. and Macduffie, J., "Collective bargaining in the US auto assembly sector", in Voos, P. (Ed.), Contemporary Collective Bargaining in the Private Sector, Industrial Relations Research Association, Madison, WI, 1994.
16. Turner, L., Democracy at Work: Changing Markets and the Future of Labor Unions, ILR Press, Ithaca, NY, 1991.
17. Altshuler, A., Anderson, M., Jones, D., Roos, D. and Womack, J., The Future of the Automobile, MIT Eress, Cambridge, MA, 1985.
18. Kate, H., Shifting Gears: Changing Labor Relations in the US Automobile Industry, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 1985.
19. Because of its financial difficulties the Chrysler negotiations at this time were not, as usual, synchronized with those in the other two companies. It was not until 1985 that provisions on the creation of a training fund and the establishment of a national training centre were included in its collective agreement.
20. A number of regional centres have also been established at Chrysler and GM.
21. Cutcher-Gershenfeld, J. and Verma, A., "Joint governance in North American workplaces: a glimpse of the future or the end of an era?", International Journal of Human Resource Management, Vol. 5 No. 3, 1994, pp. 547-80.
22. For details of the UAW-GM Paid Educational Leave (EEL) programme see [23].
23. Schurman, S., Hugentobler, M. and Stack, H., "Lessons from the UAW-GM Faid Educational Leave Program", in Ferman, L., Hbyman, M., Cuther-Gershenfeld, J. and Savoie, E. (Eds), Joint Training Programs: A Union-management Approach for Preparing Workers for the Future, ILR Press, Ithaca, NY, 1991.
24. Tomasko, E. and Dickenson, K., "The UAW-Ford education, development and training program", in Ferman, L., Hoyman, M., Luther-Gershenfeld, J. and Savoie, E. (Eds), Joint Training Programs: A Union-management Approach for Preparing Workers for the Future, ILR Eress, Ithaca, NY, 1991.
25. These programmes are also made available to laid-off workers.
26. A difficulty which would confront any attempt to compare expenditure over time is that activity aimed at assisting dislocated workers has often been supported by federal and state grants.
27. On this point see [28].
28. Macduffie, J. and Kochan, T., "Do US firms invest less in human resources? Training in the world auto industry", Industrial Relations, Vol. 34 No. 2, 1995, pp. 147-68.
29. Berg, P., "Strategic adjustments in training: a comparative analysis of the US and German automobile industries", in Lynch, L. (Ed.), Training and the Private Sector: International Comparisons, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL, 1994.
30. Claydon, T. and Green, F., "Can trade unions improve training in Britain?", Personnel Review, Vol. 23 No. 1, 1994, pp. 37-51.
31. Heyes, J., "Training provision and workplace institutions: an investigation", Industrial Relations Journal, Vol. 24 No. 4, 1993, pp. 296-307.
32. Streeck, W., "Skills and the limits of neo-liberalism: the enterprise of the future as a place of learning", Work, Employment and Society, Vol. 3 No. 1, 1989, pp. 131-54.
33. Stuart, M., "Training in the printing industry: an investigation into the recruitment, training and retraining agreement", Human Resource Management Journal, Vol. 4 No. 3, 1993, pp. 62-78.
34. General Accounting Office, Dislocated Workers: Local Programs and Outcomes under the Job Training Partnership Act, General Accounting Office, Washington, DC, 1987.
35. Marchington, M., Goodman, J., Wilkinson, A. and Ackers, P., New Developments in Employee Involvement, Employment Department, London, 1992.
36. The Unipart university, however, is an exception to the standard British practice in that it has been established to enable employees to undertake a range of internally developed and geared courses. It should also be noted that other programmes have, to a certain degree, gone down this route insofar as they enable employees to make use of their open learning centres.
37. The development of the auto schemes, as well as others in the USA, suggests that employees do frequently have, or at least develop, a desire to undertake courses more directly relevant to their jobs. See James, P., "Joint training and development - the US experience: 2", Employee Development Bulletin, No. 70, October 1995, pp. 12-15.
38. Another potential drawback of EDPs moving into the area of more specific vocational training is that it will lead to a shift of expenditure from the general training budget. On this point see Corney[4].
39. In the UK both Ford and Lucas report that the number of employees obtaining degrees is sufficient to meet their current graduate requirements (see [8]).
40. Ramsey, H., "Reinventing the wheel? A review of the development and performance of employee involvement", Human Resource Management, Vol. 1 No. 4, 1990, pp. 1-22.
41. Kelly, J. and Kelly, C., "Them and us: social psychology and the 'new industrial relations'", British Journal of Industrial Relations, Vol. 29 No. 1, 1991, pp. 25-48.
42. Kochan, T., Katz, H. and McKersie, R., The Transformation of American Industrial Relations, ILR Press, Ithaca, NY, 1994.
43. Evidence on Ford's EDAP scheme suggests that it has contributed to better management-union relationships (see [8]).