ILO Tripartite Asian and Pacific Meeting on Training

for High Performance in Enterprises

Bangkok, 12-14 December 2000

Information Note

1. Introduction

There is increased emphasis on learning and training in the workplace as a result of several forces in the international economy. Globalisation exposes the enterprise to competitive pressures to raise productivity, profitability and the quality of its products and services. Intensified competition encourages enterprises to introduce new information and communication technologies, adopt new business strategies and new forms of organising and managing work, including Total Quality Management (TQM), self-managed work teams, multi-skilling and job rotation. These trends apply also to the Asian region as enterprises here must meet international quality standards in order to be able to compete in global markets.

Underlying these developments is the enterprise=s growing reliance on the knowledge and skills of its workforce for meeting its strategic and organizational objectives. The production of goods and services is becoming more and more knowledge and skill intensive. Those enterprises that are able to harness the skills of their workforce, by means of workplace learning and training combined with innovative organisational and work practices, are most likely to take full advantage of the new opportunities brought about by globalisation.

It appears that relatively few enterprises in the region make full use of in-house learning and training for high performance. This applies in particular to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) that often lack the resources and know-how to increase their training investments and become true learning organisations. The present meeting offers an opportunity to bring together expertise from governments and the social partners, and also researchers and practitioners, and exchange national and international experiences in promoting greater investment in learning and training for the workplace.

2. Objectives

The Meeting will review, analyse and disseminate national and international experiences of promoting learning and training for the workplace, which, in combination with other organisational and work practices, lead to increased enterprise performance and contribute to national economic and social development. The Meeting will focus on: i) high performance practices that maximise learning and training outcomes in enterprises; ii) the special problems of learning and training in small and medium enterprises; and iii) public policies that promote greater investment in training in enterprises. The meeting will also consider the policies and programmes that address some of the equity concerns arising from increased reliance on workplace-based learning and training.

The meeting will address a number of issues for learning and training in the workplace. Participants are expected to examine these issues in the context of the Asian-Pacific situation and formulate a common understanding on the issues, policies and practices of greatest importance in the region. The common understanding should take into account the diversity between countries in terms of levels of economic and social development, size of population and cultural characteristics.

Some key questions related to the major issues are:

• What are the main characteristics of high performance work organizations (HPWOs), including their learning and training practices? What drives the introduction of these practices?

• To what extent are high performance work practices used in the region?

• What are the salient features of learning and training in the enterprise and how are they integrated into business and organisational strategies of HPWOs?

• What are the major issues and problems facing enterprises, including SMEs, when introducing workplace learning and training for high performance?

• What public policies are most conducive to promote investments in training and workplace learning for high performance working, with particular reference to SMEs.

• How can public policy address the training needs of those groups of society likely to be excluded by the increasing spread of workplace-based learning and training, e.g. the unemployed, people undertaking non-standard forms of work, and the self-employed.

Each country is invited to prepare a brief paper for the meeting, organized in two sections, in collaboration with the social partners. The first section should briefly review:

• Government policies, programmes and support mechanisms for training in enterprises

• Special policies, programmes and support mechanisms for training in SMEs

• Incentives, funding mechanisms and partnerships that support and encourage investments in training by enterprises

• Quantitative figures of investments in training by enterprises and the public sector

The second section should include some Agood practice@ examples of training in enterprises. Ideally, the examples should cover small and medium enterprises, with a balance between the manufacturing and service sectors. The length of the paper should be no more than 12-15 pages, A4 and single-spaced.

Please send the country paper by e-mail to Mr. Thatree, ILO ROAP, Bangkok (e-mail: Thatree@ilo.org) not later than one week prior to the meeting.