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This brief article explains why experiential learning is a natural way to create a knowledge culture and emphasises the importance of the trainer's involvement. Knowledge productivity is a dynamic process that involves the generation, spread and application of ideas. To nurture a knowledge culture means to place a considerable value on communication, in terms of both content and process. The author looks at how to avoid information overload and explains how to identify what knowledge is critical to organisational development. The article discusses learning from experiences at work, valuing different contributions to the process of knowledge creation and the importance of the trainer's role in exploiting experiential learning to develop a knowledge culture. In the final section, the author points out that knowledge productivity is not a new role for trainers, but a reframing of the very essence of their job. Show less

This paper is one of a collection of national and international perspectives on the role of further education (FE) in economic development as a service provider, stakeholder and strategic partner in leadership and coordination at local, regional and national levels. FE has the community location and connections to encourage the development of the skills needed for self-employment and entrepreneurship within their communities. It can provide vocational courses that may offer opportunities for establishing small business or undertaking contract employment. This paper discusses the potential for entrepreneurship in the United Kingdom (UK), skill development in this area as part of compulsory and sixth form education, and the role of FE in raising awareness of entrepreneurship and developing entrepreneurial skill within the community. The author recommends that FE aims to work in partnership with other economic development agencies towards the creation of a coherent infrastructure to support appropriate skill development.

The volume of collected papers is indexed at TD/TNC 63.135. Show less

The Entrepreneurial Innovation research initiated by the G20 Young Entrepreneurs' Alliance (G20 YEA) and carried out by Accenture was designed to research the current state of technology-driven innovation by young entrepreneurs, gain entrepreneurs' insights on potential solutions to unleash a key source of growth and job creation in the G20 countries, and contribute to the formulation of G20 policy recommendations by the G20 YEA. It is based on the hypothesis that technology innovation by entrepreneurs is critical to innovation's ecosystems and to G20 countries' competitiveness and job creation.

The results of the research are presented in this report that was prepared for the G20 Young Entrepreneurs' Alliance 2013 Summit in Moscow. Five key findings emerged from the research: every entrepreneur is a digital entrepreneur; entrepreneurs are the catalyst for innovation and economic growth; emerging markets are challenging developed economies as the leading source of entrepreneurial innovation; entrepreneurs are ready to shift attitude toward more collaboration with large companies; and technology clusters, inspired by Silicon Valley, can provide a vital ecosystem for entrepreneurial success.

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The program for this conference was structured around sub-sessions focusing on particular themes. This paper was part of the fifth theme: ‘Partnership for vocational education and training’. Small and medium enterprise (SME) business forms the major part of the Hong Kong economy. Over 90 per cent of business establishments in Hong Kong are in this category, i.e. employing fewer than 100 people. These enterprises in total account for the employment of 60 per cent of the local labour force. SMEs, as the economic engine, are major creators of jobs in all industries. In January 1999, the Management Development Centre of Hong Kong formally set up the Business Start-up Centre to help small business beginners develop their ideas and business plans. This paper gives an account of the support groups and the setting up of the Centre in Hong Kong. The promotional and operational issues encountered during the initial stage are highlighted and an update of the Centre’s latest results and new initiatives for the future are presented.

Published abstract with additional information.

The volume of collected papers is indexed at TD/TNC 62.1017. Show less

The theme for this conference was ‘effective vocational education and training for Southern and Central Africa in line with international standards, to take us into the next millennium’. This paper begins with a short introduction to the Ugandan education system, which the author describes as being mainly designed to prepare students as job seekers, mostly in government employment, without any exposure to ideas of self-employment. As the government employment market is shrinking, so unemployment is increasing. To help combat this, the Ministry of Education is now developing training for entrepreneurship, which should both help the immediate unemployment situation and generate new areas of economic activity. Latigo-Olal identifies both the large scale and more specific objectives of entrepreneurship training and explains how these fit into the various levels of learning: upper primary, senior secondary, vocational training institutions, engineering colleges and institutions, and management education. He describes the process of introduction of entrepreneurship and gives a list of the characteristics and prerequisites of entrepreneurial behaviour.

The volume of collected papers is indexed at TD/IRD 88.46. Show less

This research project focused on communication training for the workplace and the role of the enterprise-based teacher (EBT) in the delivery of training. Show less

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to provide leaders with a clear understanding of some key issues they face when leading remote workers and to provide practical suggestions on how to deal with those issues. Design/methodology/approach - The main method of research for this paper is data from participants in workshops over a ten-year period. Participants included all levels of management, as well as non-managers in a variety of large organizations across industries. Industries include high-tech, food, consumer products, energy, entertainment and manufacturing. Participants included those with global teams, teams within a country and teams with work-at-home members. Findings - The key finding is that remote leadership requires the same good management and leadership skills that co-located leadership requires. However, in the remote environment, leaders must be more deliberate and planful about building relationships and trust and in communicating. Practical implications - Leaders can implement specific techniques, several of which are presented in the paper, to increase their effectiveness of leading remote employees and teams. Originality/value - While remote leaders often struggle as they try to work effectively with their employees, they do not often identify that it is specifically the remote factor that is causing much of the challenge. This paper provides practical techniques for anyone trying to get work accomplished with remote employees.

Published abstract reprinted by permission of the copyright owner. Show less

Collective bargaining is an important component of the French vocational training system. This paper looks at collective bargaining trends in France with respect to vocational training and compares them to trends in the Netherlands, Denmark and Norway. Issues discussed include the role of the State, employers and trade unions and the different bargaining levels and the various orientations in these countries.

This paper is part of a collection of papers produced under the research program 'Strategic training partnerships between state and enterprises'. This research program, undertaken between 1995-97 by the Training Policies and Systems Branch (POLFORM) of the ILO, includes case studies from: Australia, Chile, Denmark, France, Germany, India, Ireland, Ivory Coast, Japan, Malaysia, South Africa, Spain, United Kingdom and the United States. Individual papers are indexed from TD/APSDIN 45.13 to TD/APSDIN 45.19, at TD/APSDIN 49.03, TD/TNC 55.195, TD/TNC 57.62, and from TD/TNC 65.279 to TD/TNC 65.287. Show less

The demand for international training derives from global market forces and the pressures such forces exert on labour markets. The paper analyses competitive market forces within the global economy, multinational firms, and the United States (US) labour market to provide a framework for a projective model of international training demand in the US until the year 2005. The demand for internationally trained employees is estimated to be 1.65 million by 2005 - or an average annual increase of 75 000. Fifty-seven per cent of the training will be for employees who traditionally are trained in institutions of higher education. This implies a 17 per cent annual increase in training supply for all training at all levels through the year 2005.

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The paper argues that the emergence of a new mode of production - co-configuration is generating new modes of expertise that EU policies for lifelong learning (LLL) are not designed to support professionals to develop. It maintains that this change can be seen most clearly when we analyse Small and Medium Size (SMEs) enterprises in the creative industries. Drawing on concepts from Political Economy - ‘Moebius strip enterprise/expertise’ and Cultural Historical Activity Theory - ‘project-object’ and the ‘space of reasons’, the paper highlights conceptually and through a case study of an SME in the creative industries what is distinctive about the new modes of expertise, before moving on to reconceptualise expertise and learning and to consider the implications of this reconceptualisation for EU policies for lifelong learning. The paper concludes that the new challenge for LLL is to support the development of new forms of expertise that are difficult to credentialise, yet, are central to the wider European goal of realising a knowledge economy.

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