Industrial Practices and Perceptions of Management Toward Training/Education with Implications for a Regional University

The problem of this study was to determine the difference between industrial practices and perceptions of management toward training and education programs in selected manufacturing industries. The survey was conducted within a 50-mile radius of a regional university to determine how academic institutions could better assist industries with training and education programs. Data were collected through the use of a two-part instrument sent to 426 industries in North Carolina, Virginia, and Tennessee. Part I collected data on the perceptions of industrial management. The perceptions were grouped into five categories: (1) employee assistance, (2) employee participation, (3) responsibility assignment, (4) employee benefits, and (5) program planning. Five null hypotheses for these categories were formulated to be tested at .05 level of significance. Part II identified the practices of industrial management toward training and education. Ten research questions were formulated to report the practices. The analysis of variance was used to determine significant differences between manufacturing industries by SIC classification and size in each perception. If a significant difference was revealed, the Newman-Keuls Multiple Range Test was conducted to determine which industry groups were significantly different. The testing of the null hypotheses revealed that no significant differences existed in the perceptions under employee participation; eight significant differences existed in the perceptions under the other four categories. Thus, null hypotheses 2, 3, 4, and 5 were rejected and the research hypotheses were accepted for employee assistance, responsibility assignment, employee benefits, and program planning. Major conclusions from the study revealed that manufacturing industries were strongly involved in training and education in 1980. The most utilized methods were in-house activities and outside conferences. The principal needs indicated by manufacturing industries were supervisory, management, technical, and skills training. There was little or no agreement between the perceptions of management toward training and education and the actual practices in the firms. Recommendations included suggestions for university and industry collaboration and future research in training and education