In Australia, the employment destinations of new graduates are surveyed annually and descriptions of successful employment have become an indicator of quality within the higher education sector. The expectations that employers hold for graduate generic skills are of interest, therefore, to graduates and the institutions they attended. Communication and thinking are recognised widely as the most important generic skills, however the application of these skills will occur in the workplace where academic skills may not be totally appropriate. In addition, many graduates of Australian institutions; e.g., international students, are likely to be employed by foreign organisations. Therefore, not only is the workplace a very different environment to academia but graduates could be expected to satisfy the expectations of employers working in culturally different environments.This investigation describes the expectations participating Singaporean and Perth employers held for recently graduated business graduates with particular attention given to graduate communication and thinking. The exploratory research used interviews and surveys to assemble contextual descriptions of employer expectations. The interview data was used to construct a questionnaire that was administered across a larger sample of employers to see whether the surveys corroborated the interview findings. Contextual descriptions of the communication and thinking capabilities that the Singaporean and Perth employers expected recent business graduates to possess are provided by this study. Gaps between employer expectations and perceptions of graduate ability are discussed, together with useful graduate characteristics. During data analysis five themes were noted and they have been used to propose a model of employer expectations. Finally, seven recommendations for professional practitioners have been suggested ++ / and a list of employer concerns is provided.

Thesis (M.Ed.)--University of Hong Kong, 1991. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 92-113). Also available in print.

The global food industry continues to grow through mergers and acquisitions. The consolidation of grocery chains has necessarily led to increasingly large, heavily industrialized food processing firms. These manufacturers rely on large-scale, automated and mechanized production technologies to deliver controlled, consistent, and safe products to retailers. Using Bravermans (1974) deskilling thesis, and Standings (1992) three-part definition of skill as the basis for investigation, this research explores the effects of technological changes on the skills of food workers and focuses on the baking industry. The primary research site is the in-store bakery of a Co-op grocery store in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Observation took place over a two-week period, and semi-structured interviews were conducted with the bakers in the facility. Other research sites included two large-scale industrial bakeries in western Canada and a flour milling facility in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. The bread-making processes involved at the research sites are compared, and the impact of the technologies on the skills of workers at each site is discussed. The findings from the research support Bravermans deskilling thesis that bakers in the industrialized food system are experiencing deskilling. This erosion of skills is not only a result of the technological changes, but also, more importantly, the result of the social relations of production. The research also explores Human Resources and Social Development Canadas Essential Skills program. The findings of the research support the argument that the Essential Skills program is a classification scheme that is rooted in scientific management, and can serve to marginalize workers employed in non-knowledge-based occupations. Discussion of the findings also points toward the need to investigate different forms of ownership and their role in preserving the skills and knowledge of workers.

Training for interpersonal skills is used widely in organizations but few empirical studies have measured its effectiveness in creating behavioral change. Though the impact of individual differences on training for technical skills has been examined extensively, prior studies in interpersonal skills training have not investigated personal characteristics to determine antecedents of interpersonal knowledge and predictors of learning. The current investigation applies social learning theory to the development of interpersonal skills training for job interviewing and examines the role of personality on training outcomes. In Study 1, I analyzed the interpersonal skills relevant to interviewing for a job and developed a measure of interpersonal interview knowledge. In Study 2, I investigated two formats for training interpersonal skills for interviews. One format used general rules for behavior to teach interpersonal skills for interviews while the other format used a combination of rules and examples of real interview behaviors modeled by actors. The primary aim of Study 2 was to examine the relationships between personality, training format, training’s fit with self-concept, knowledge, and interview performance. Training format did not impact interpersonal interview knowledge but did influence satisfaction with the training. Surprisingly, cognitive ability was not related to interview knowledge before or after training. Agreeableness and conscientiousness were positively related interpersonal interview knowledge. Interpersonal interview knowledge and conscientiousness positively predicted interview performance. Agreeableness, however, was negatively related to interview performance. These findings begin to answer questions about how individual differences can impact the effectiveness of interpersonal skills training in terms of both knowledge development and transfer of skills to job-related contexts.

The global food industry continues to grow through mergers and acquisitions. The consolidation of grocery chains has necessarily led to increasingly large, heavily industrialized food processing firms. These manufacturers rely on large-scale, automated and mechanized production technologies to deliver controlled, consistent, and safe products to retailers. Using Bravermans (1974) deskilling thesis, and Standings (1992) three-part definition of skill as the basis for investigation, this research explores the effects of technological changes on the skills of food workers and focuses on the baking industry. The primary research site is the in-store bakery of a Co-op grocery store in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Observation took place over a two-week period, and semi-structured interviews were conducted with the bakers in the facility. Other research sites included two large-scale industrial bakeries in western Canada and a flour milling facility in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. The bread-making processes involved at the research sites are compared, and the impact of the technologies on the skills of workers at each site is discussed. The findings from the research support Bravermans deskilling thesis that bakers in the industrialized food system are experiencing deskilling. This erosion of skills is not only a result of the technological changes, but also, more importantly, the result of the social relations of production. The research also explores Human Resources and Social Development Canadas Essential Skills program. The findings of the research support the argument that the Essential Skills program is a classification scheme that is rooted in scientific management, and can serve to marginalize workers employed in non-knowledge-based occupations. Discussion of the findings also points toward the need to investigate different forms of ownership and their role in preserving the skills and knowledge of workers.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2001. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 89-98).

Thesis (M.S.W.)--University of Hong Kong, 1988.

Thesis (M. Soc. Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 1988.

South Africa currently finds itself in a constrained environment. In order to alleviate this constraint, Eskom, the dominant (and state-owned) electricity supplier in South Africa has embarked on an electricity capacity expansion programme. One of the constraints on the capacity expansion programme, as identified by Eskom, is the shortage of skills including that of engineering skills. Firstly, an understanding of the background to the shortage of engineering skills in South Africa and Eskom was gained through literature review. Thereafter, a list of contributors was identified in terms of the skills shortage in South Africa and Eskom. In addition to this local view of the engineering skills shortage issue, the author of this dissertation supplemented this with a review of international literature. The issue was then documented using systems thinking diagramming techniques which eventually culminated in the development of a draft systems dynamics model of the shortage of engineering skills in Eskom for the capacity expansion effort. Once the draft system dynamics model was developed, the author of this dissertation conducted one-on-one interviews with staff members who represented the stakeholders in the engineering skills shortage issue for Eskom's capacity expansion programme. This enabled the author of this dissertation to share his understanding of the problem with the interviewees and to gain an improved understanding of the issue by listening to the interviewees. Thereafter, this improved understanding was utilised to update the systems dynamics model. Finally, this updated model was utilised to perform an analysis to determine the leverage points to alleviate the engineering skills shortage problem in Eskom's capacity expansion programme. The literature survey suggested that mentorship, retention of current engineering skills and improving the image of engineering (in general) should be pursued to alleviate the shortage of engineering skills in the electricity industry. Furthermore, the use of interviews and systems dynamics modelling suggested that there needs to be a core focus on mentorship. In addition, effort should be allocated to attracting more of the under-represented groups into engineering i.e. women and black males. Furthermore, effort needs to be placed on specifying the capacity expansion resource requirements adequately i.e. plans in terms of numbers of people, qualifications and skill level are required. Finally, the interview process highlighted the view (not supported by systems dynamics modelling) that outsourcing of engineering work and importing of engineering skills should be pursued as a last resort. KEYWORDS Eskom, Engineering Skills Shortage, Capacity Expansion Programme. / Thesis (M.Com.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2008.

I studien har undersökts vilka kunskaper och färdigheter som elever i årskurs 9 värdesätter och anser som mest väsentliga att bedöma inom sång och ensemblespel och relatera dessa bedömningar till de nationella mål och kriterier som har fastställts för ämnet musik. Jag har använt mig av kvalitativ samtalsintervju som undersökningsmetod och begränsat mig till att undersöka sexton elever, 8 pojkar och 8 flickor, som jag undervisar i musik på en högstadieskola i Mellansverige. Undersökningen utgår från ett fragmatiskt- och sociokulturellt perspektiv på lärande. Resultatet belyses också utifrån formativ bedömning i undervisning och betydelsen av att använda bedömningsmatriser för att tydliggöra för eleverna vad som de förväntas lära sig. Resultatet visar att en gemensam syn på bedömning är viktig för att eleverna ska veta på vilken kunskapsnivå de befinner sig på men även för att de ska veta vad de behöver förbättra. Bedömning är en förutsättning för betygsättning och det finns en stor enighet om vad eleverna anser som väsentligt att bedöma inom musikämnet. Vissa olikheter existerar mellan vad respondenterna anser om att bli bedömda i sång. Andra anser att det är alltför personligt och svårt för en del elever att lära sig sjunga.