Adult learning and industrial training
In theory at least, the sine qua non of adult learning in industry is the contribution it can make towards increasing the efficiency of the workforce. In practice, the situation is not so clear. One of the complicating factors is that training is only one of a whole variety of interchangeable ways of achieving this objective of increasing the efficiency and range of a workforce. Industrial trainers are some - times apt to forget that improved selection, improved equipment design and even judicious poaching of the more able employee of a competitor may be solutions which are more cost-effective than increased training. In a nutshell, the point is that training must be kept in its context as one management tool. Another complicating factor is the complexity of organizational goals. These goals will have a crucial bearing on the amount of adult learning which is planned and carried out. Traditionally, the only goal of industry is considered to be the maximization of shareholders’ profit. In today’s conditions this view may be naive: in certain situations social and political objectives can be more important. Training may, for example, be politically expedient in times of unemployment because it is one easy action which politicians can be seen to be taking. In other situations, perhaps in a small family firm, or in certain departments of larger firms, the overriding organizational goal may not be efficiency but to provide a pleasant and congenial pastime for the proprietor and long-serving employees during their declining years. In such situations, the quantity and quality of adult learning required may be somewhat circumscribed.
