EDUCATION, TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT (ETD)

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CHAPTER TWO EDUCATION, TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT (ETD)

INTRODUCTION

“A nation at work for a better life for all”
(Erasmus, Loedolff, Mda & Nel, 2007: 61).
This quotation represents the vision of the national human resource development (HRD) strategy and states that the South African government considers its people to be the most valuable economic resource. It stems from the strategic point of view that relevant legislation will create institutions to support this vision to realise maximised HR potential. By acquiring knowledge and skills, South Africans are supposed to compete productively in a global economy whilst enjoying a rising quality of life for all (Erasmus, et al., 2007: 61).
This chapter delves into the issues surrounding education, training and development (ETD) in the South African and global context. The chapter’s point of departure is that individual ETD adds to business learning and will ultimately impact collectively on business and supply chain (SC) practices. Erasmus, et al. (2007:3) believe education to be generally long term and that it should be provided by the government. Training is seen as short term and is provided to an individual employee according to business objectives. Development is seen as presenting opportunities collectively to enable an entire workforce to grow according to specific business strategies (Erasmus, et al., 2007: 3).
Functions of ETD are seen as the predominant responsibilities of the human resources (HR) practitioner who implements organisational strategies according to Botha and Coetzee (2007: 48). This HR responsibility applies to private, public, for profit and nonprofit organisations alike. Having the right talent, in the right place, at the right time is what the ETD and labour market should strive to implement. However, before “getting it right”, talented individual HR arrive at organisations with some basic educational background and negotiate with employers to receive further training. Over time, employed HR can develop into useful, effective and efficient resources in their organisation’s business practice. Ideally, all employees’ personal training needs will also be met. Each component of ETD will be discussed separately in the following sections, together with the South African ETD context. The ETD requirements for SC will be included later.

EDUCATION

“ … in the developing world, education is widely viewed as being the key to individual and collective success” (Smith & Yolisa Ngoma-Maema, 2003: 345).
South Africa and many nations in Africa are still considered as ‘developing’, and not “developed” worlds. In contrast to the quote above, the developed United Kingdom (UK), consisting of England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland; do not perceive themselves to be above other ETD requirements. The UK saw a need for “something more” in their 2010 education research report. The UK government is calling for a pervasive culture of learning. This means that all sections of the UK society should see ongoing learning as part of their lives, not just something that has to end with compulsory education (McQuaid, Lindsay & Johnson, 2010: 9). Needless to say, the views about education will differ from one country to the next, depending on the broader economic scenarios existing everywhere. The ETD literature review that constitutes this chapter, includes findings from both developing and developed countries’ perspectives in order to remain objective.
Education is seen as the process of acquiring the skills, knowledge and attitudes that humans need in order to function in their normal way of life, according to Erasmus, et al., (2007: 2-3). The Oxford University Press defined education as an intellectual and moral training act (Hornby, Cowen & Gimson, 1986: 276). Further back in time, in 1952, there was a debate on the issue of “what education is?” between Harold Benjamin and Robert Hutchins, renowned scholars of that time. According to Benjamin, education is an organised and conscious effort to change human behaviour (Benjamin & Hutchins, 1952: 28). However, Hutchins was convinced that education has the distinct objective to teach people or help them to learn, to think for themselves (Benjamin & Hutchins, 1952: 31).
While Hutchins perceives the entire educational system as being there to help people learn to think, Benjamin sees educational concerns as searching for instruments, activities and tasks to establish the required behaviour change in learners (Benjamin & Hutchins, 1952: 28). Although each learner in education is unique, the teacher has to fit the activities and tasks to each learner as well as matching it with the relevant societal requirements. This complicates the decision since people have to decide what changes they want to see in society and how much freedom they can allow individuals to have in furthering their own personal goals (Benjamin & Hutchins, 1952: 29). The next question to be answered by Benjamin and Hutchins (1952: 29) was how best to encourage education. Benjamin thought all education should be self-operated in order to be effective. The role of the teacher was therefore to arrange experiences in which individual learners could learn to be or do something different from what they were – or had been doing. The teacher must clearly understand then, why the change is required and what changes they wish to effect (Benjamin & Hutchins, 1952: 23). However, Hutchins was convinced that change in learners should also be in the direction of their own ideals. If however, the learner could not reach the point of making that decision, that person will not be envisaged as receiving any education of any kind (Benjamin & Hutchins, 1952: 30). In this way, Hutchins concluded the debate by noting that the teacher should not take on any obligations other than to teach the learners to think for themselves (Benjamin & Hutchins, 1952:32).
The question of whether education decisions lie with the learner/employee or with someone else remains. On this note, the Canadians pondered whether previous education played a part in the decision to attend further training. The adult education and training survey in Canada showed that on average more than 52% of the Canadian respondent staff took part in formal, job-related training around 2004. The Canadian survey found that if staff members already had a higher level of education (primary, secondary and postsecondary school levels), they were more likely to participate in training courses and training programs in the workplace (Peters, 2004: 9, McQuaid, Lindsay & Johnson, 2010: 4). This view is supported by another UK survey in hich McCracken and Winterton called the phenomenon the Matthias Principle. This focused principle on education states that “to those that hath shall be given” and therefore in contrast, those without education will receive
less (McCracken & Winterton, 2006: 56). The two authors were concerned that the UK human resource development (HRD) policy contradicted its own goals. The UK planned lifelong learning to be widely practiced but, to the contrary, their skills development targeted specific occupations in which to address skills gaps and shortages in (McCracken & Winterton, 2006: 56). The UK research investigated barriers faced by mid-career managers that prevented them from pursuing further education and training opportunities. The scrutinised variables included age, gender, qualifications, career history and family circumstances (McCracken & Winterton, 2006: 60). These variables were compared to emotional, cognitive, motivational and perceptual factors in order to determine whether intrinsic or extrinsic factors prevented managers from continuously seeking out management development. McCracken and Winterton found that the female respondents blamed corporate culture as the extrinsic barrier to their learning (2006: 63). The Pearson Chi-square test yielded significant differences in means at the 5% level (the means were 2.39 and 1.88 respectively). The authors found this to underline the sentiment that females were more aware of the need for continuous learning in a male dominated corporate environment (McCracken & Winterton, 2006:63). This UK study also concluded that mid-career managers, who stayed at the same company for their entire careers, were less likely to seek opportunities for formal training programs (McCracken & Winterton, 2006:63).
McCracken and Winterton strongly suggest that the experienced manager knew best that personal development would not, by default, be a means to rewards at their respective workplaces. Instead the job-based or task-based achievements could be perceived as being more worthy of reward than personal achievements (McCracken & Winterton, 2006:63). Although both intrinsic and extrinsic barriers to learning were identified, the extrinsic factors such as poor corporate culture and reward structures as well as time pressures proved more likely to be managers’ barriers. McCracken and Winterton advise organisations to improve their learning environments, make reward structures fair and introduce secondment and mentoring to eliminate barriers to managers’ learning (McCracken & Winterton, 2006: 64). Since the McCracken and Winterton study involved only 61 managers within the UK life insurance industry, subsequent research should be conducted amongst a larger, more diverse group of companies.
After questioning a total of 397 Turkish hotel service employees, it was thought that differences in education levels alone could explain gender wage differences. Yet it appears that the traditional societal role of women can also undermine their education and wage levels. In Turkey, society (and females themselves) perceives women in a traditional role of child caregivers. Females themselves therefore anticipate lower wages. It is likely that the reason for this expectation is acceptance of lower wages in exchange for receiving hotel accommodation and even for having the employment (Kara & Murrmann, 2011: 4). The Turkish investigation also enquired about respondent experience levels, age and marital status. All these variables together influence the wage differences. An additional conclusion drawn was that female (lesser educated) employees are also less job satisfied than their male colleagues (Kara & Murrmann, 2011: 4). It appears that not only less developed countries can be influenced by educational qualifications. The importance of education cannot be underestimated since the Swedish study showed the real consequences of having less education than one’s fellow employees. A longitudinal study conducted between 1986 and 2002 in Sweden demonstrated the effects of being educated or not, during the period when Sweden experienced an economic downturn at the start of the 1990s. Analysis of secondary data obtained from the Swedish Labour Market Policy Evaluation, Statistics Sweden and the Employment Register, was used to monitor job flows or worker transfers. The respondent establishments needed to have at least five employees (on average) consistently over the 17-year-long research period (Gartell, Jans & Persson, 2010: 207). The data of 3 million employees could be derived from the 110 000 Swedish establishments combined. For the period 1986 to 1989, the employee ages ranged between 16 and 64. Between 1990 and 2002, the ages ranged between 16 and 65 years (Gartell, et al., 2010: 208). The authors found that not only were fewer jobs created for those with the least education but more jobs at the lower level were also destroyed during the period 1986 to 2002. This meant that, during recessions, fewer jobs were destroyed at more highly educated staff levels than at lower levels of education (Gartell, et al., 2010: 212). This finding must be understood within the employment protection legislation context that makes it costly for a Swedish firm to randomly fire employees (Gartell, et al., 2010: 206). It appears that higher educational qualifications prevented job losses for the employees during the Swedish recession. This obviously places employees with less education at risk of being laid off first during recessions. The influence of education on employment brings government’s role in monitoring education and training under the spotlight. A 2003 study in the People’s Republic of China showed that businesses with enough financial resources select highly educated new staff and continue to develop them further. Chinese businesses who cannot select the same type of candidates are usually also unable to provide the employees they do select with high quality training thereafter (Venter, 2003: 186). This means that those employees are in need of their government structures to educate them even after they gained employment.
The role of the government in education was challenged when the World Bank report of 1993 designated governments as the sole source of skills formation. The role of the government as the exclusive provider of ETD, was challenged by Ashton, Green, Sung & James (2002: 5). Ashton et al., emphasized that a range of strategies they used linked up with the government focus. Their strategic research study shows that eight Asian countries accelerated their skills development in one generation of their population whereas industrialised countries usually took three generations (Ashton, et al., 2002: 5). Amongst the eight countries, those rich in natural resources included Indonesia and Malaysia. The commercially dominant, free port service countries are Hong Kong and Singapore. The countries renowned for interventionist export-led economies include Japan, South Korea and Taiwan (Ashton, et al., 2002: 7). The authors neglected to place Thailand in a specific category. Consequently the seven countries are divided into three types, according to their key characteristics.

CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION
1.1. INTRODUCTION
1.2. PROBLEM STATEMENT
1.3. RESEARCH QUESTIONS
1.4. RESEARCH OBJECTIVES
1.5. RESEARCH HYPOTHESES
1.6. IMPORTANCE AND BENEFITS OF THE STUDY
1.7. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY
1.8. DATA ANALYSIS
1.9. ASSESSING VALIDITY AND RELIABILITY
1.10. DELIMITATIONS AND ASSUMPTIONS
1.11. RESEARCH ETHICS
1.12. CHAPTER OUTLINE
1.13. CONCLUSION
CHAPTER TWO EDUCATION, TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT (ETD)
2.1. INTRODUCTION
2.2. EDUCATION
2.3. HISTORY OF SOUTH AFRICAN EDUCATION
2.4. TRAINING
2.5. DEVELOPMENT
2.6. REASONS TO FOCUS ON TRAINING
2.7. CONCLUSION
CHAPTER THREE TRAINING NEEDS ANALYSIS
3.1. INTRODUCTION
3.2. TRAINING NEEDS ANALYSIS
3.3. MODELS OF TRAINING NEEDS ANALYSIS
3.4. REASONS TO FOCUS ON TRAINING NEEDS ANALYSIS
3.5. CONCLUSION
CHAPTER FOUR SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT AND TRAINING
4.1. INTRODUCTION
4.2. SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT (SCM)
4.3. DEMAND FOR SCM TALENT IN CHANGING MARKETS
4.4. SOUTH AFRICAN SCM TRAINING NEEDS
4.5. FUTURE SCM RESEARCH TRENDS
4.6. CONCLUSION
CHAPTER FIVE RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
5.1. INTRODUCTION
5.2. RESEARCH PROBLEM
5.3. RESEARCH OBJECTIVES AND HYPOTHESES
5.4. RESEARCH DESIGN
5.5. THE SAMPLING PROCESS
5.5.1. Sample population definition
5.5.2. Sampling frame
5.5.3. Sample size
5.5.4. Sampling method
5.6. THE DATA COLLECTION PROCESS
5.6.1. Questionnaire design
5.6.2. Data collection
5.6.3. Pre-testing of the questionnaire
5.6.4. Data collection and questionnaire reliability and validity
5.7. DATA ANALYSIS PROCEDURE
5.7.1. Data capture and data editing
5.7.2. Data analysis focus
5.7.3. Shortcomings and sources of error
5.8. CONCLUSION
CHAPTER SIX RESEARCH FINDINGS
6.1. INTRODUCTION
6.2. DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICAL FINDINGS
6.3. HYPOTHESES AND INFERENTIAL STATISTICAL FINDINGS
6.4. SUMMARY OF FINDINGS IN TRAINING NEEDS
6.5. CONCLUSION
CHAPTER SEVEN CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
7.1. INTRODUCTION
7.2. THEORY VERSUS FINDINGS
7.3. RESEARCH CONTRIBUTION
7.4. LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY
7.5. RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH
7.6. CONCLUSION
REFERENCES
ANNEXURES
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