During the past two decades, productivity levels in the U.S. have fallen and performance of workers has been affected by changing expectations toward work. The quality circle process has been used successfully to address problems of decreased productivity and worker dissatisfaction. An examination of the quality circle process revealed the decision making skills of participatory management. This study was designed to determine if those skills are included in Florida's vocational education curriculum and what skills industry would like to see added to the public school curricula. / Specifically, the study was designed to seek answers to the following questions concerning the decision making skills and techniques of participative management: (1) What skills are included in Florida's vocational curriculum? (2) What skills is industry requiring of workers? (3) What training is industry providing its workers in these skills? and (4) What skills would industry want public sector vocational education to provide in its curriculum? / Vocational Education Program Courses Standards and Industrial Education Career MAPs were reviewed to determine the skills of participatory management presently included in the curricula of Florida's vocational programs. The review revealed tasks supportive of participatory management skill development but specific reference to quality circle training was found in only two vocational program MAPs. / The population of the study included 38 organizations in Florida which had been identified as having implemented Quality-of-Work-Life programs following the quality circle philosophy. A questionnaire was mailed to "training directors" in these organizations to determine answers to Questions 2, 3, and 4 concerning a list of 25 skills which had been compiled through the literature review. / An analysis of data based on a return of 58% revealed consensus as follows: (a) more than 50% agreed that 16 of the 25 skills were required of employees; (b) more than 50% agreed that 21 of the skills are included in their employee training; (c) 60% or more agreed overwhelmingly on provision of training in these skills by public sector vocational education in Florida. / Recommendations were made to include participatory management training in the vocational education programs in Florida. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 47-12, Section: A, page: 4278. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1986.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_75975 |
| Contributors | LITTLE, JOYCELIN BLYTH., Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text |
| Format | 183 p. |
| Rights | On campus use only. |
| Relation | Dissertation Abstracts International |
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