Workplace basics in the 1990s: Critical issues and promising practices

Abstract

As we move into the next millennium, there is a pressing need to enhance skills such as reading, writing, math, and oral communication to deal with changing workplace needs. Changing technology, increased employee decision making, quality initiatives, and new government regulations have made workplace education a priority. A well-conceived training and development strategy attends to the basic skills needs of workers to ensure the successful attainment of short-term and long-term company goals. In the workplace, opportunities for basic skills development can provide the foundation for other learning.Basic skills programs, like other workplace programs, tend to have a greater impact in workplaces that value employee input, encourage decision making, and promote ongoing learning. This type of workplace may provide an opportunity to plan and develop collaborative, holistic, integrated basic skills initiatives that will benefit both the individual and the organization.The focus in this chapter is on collaborative workplace education, with the recognition that not all workplace environments are conducive to this kind of approach. In places that are not open to collaboration, other effective strategies for basic skills education can be used. For example, there are many successful union-based and union-led programs that provide basic skills education for their members with minimal or no company involvement.Collaborative initiatives involve workers in program planning and decision making at every stage of development and work hard to marry individual and organizational needs. They respect and value the knowledge and experience that people individually and collectively bring, and are designed to assist people in developing new skills and self-confidence. These initiatives recognize that NEW DIRECTIONS FOR ADULT AND CONTINUING EDUCATION. no. 68. Wintcr 1995 0 Jossey-Bass Publishen 63 64 WORKPLACE LEARNING

Listening Competency in the Workplace: A Model for Training

“…As we approach the next millennium, we must enhance oral communication skills to deal with the changing needs of the workplace (Folinsbee, 1995). Flattened managerial hierarchies, the domination of teams and work groups, and new patterns of work (such as homebased work sites, job-sharing, and variable work hours) will become the norm rather than the exception.…”

Group learning in the workplace

“…Chief among them is that buy-in and ownership by workers in the process is increased by collaboration and inclusion. Tlvs becomes especially important when diversity exists within the workplace, including not only cultural, racial, and socioeconomic diversity but also diversity of thought (Folinsbee, 1995). Traditional methods of coordination within organizations attempt to minimize diversity of thought and increase uniformity or conformity, but learning results from experimentation that crosses boundaries, and it may disrupt tried and true methods of the past.…”