A curriculum guide model to the next normal in developing construction supervisory training programmes

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kesavan Manoharan ◽  
Pujitha B.G. Dissanayake ◽  
Chintha Pathirana ◽  
Dharsana Deegahawature ◽  
K.D. Renuka Ruchira Silva

PurposeThis study aims to develop a curriculum guide model to upgrade the construction supervision practices, considering evolving challenges and thereby the next normal of the industry.Design/methodology/approachBoth qualitative and quantitative research designs were adopted to identify productivity-related challenges that can be addressed through effective supervision in construction. Meetings, discussions, workshops and surveys were conducted among construction experts to systematically develop the competencies of construction supervision. The necessary mapping models were used to identify the level of outcomes for each competency element along with the learning domains and programme outcomes.FindingsA curriculum guide model consisting of 64 competency elements has been introduced with corresponding assessment weightages and mapping outcomes. Using this model, a new training programme has been designed and tested with weightage percentages on learning domains.Research limitations/implicationsAlthough the scope of the study is limited to Sri Lanka, the findings can be interpreted for critical learning in other developing countries too.Practical implicationsThe study outcomes are expected to make a high impact on improving the standards of vocational training education in the country, thereby upgrading the current industry practices.Originality/valueThe developed guide model is expected to be a valuable tool for training providers/organisations in upgrading their programmes/practices with the scope of productivity improvement. The obtained mapping outcomes are significant for the evolving next normal situations in teaching, learning and assessment methods with regard to construction supervision practices.

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Emma Rye ◽  
Joanna Anderson ◽  
Max Pickard

Purpose Many referrals to our mental health of learning disability service focus on concerns about behaviours that present risks to the referred person and to those around them, including support workers. If the referred person has good verbal ability, psychological therapy may be requested and offered, but the person may find it too difficult to engage for a number of reasons. Even when they do engage in therapy, the authors recognise the importance of helping staff better understand their attachment needs. This paper aims to demonstrate an innovative approach to helping staff provide Trauma-Informed Care (TIC). Design/methodology/approach The authors developed a training programme for support workers using psychodynamic concepts, such as splitting, transference and counter-transference, to help them develop insight into the processes that get enacted during their work. In this paper the authors have generally used the term “care staff”, recognising that an important aspect of the role of those staff is to provide care within an attachment framework; as well as support to maximise independence. Findings The feedback from staff who have attended has been very positive, both at the time and later. Staff who have attended have talked to multidisciplinary colleagues about the impact their learning has had on their ability to work with service users who present great challenges, in the context of their trauma histories. Originality/value The importance of providing TIC is gaining traction across varied settings. The authors are in the process of developing both qualitative and quantitative research programmes to evaluate this approach to increasing TIC for adults with learning disabilities, reducing staff burn out and placement breakdown.


2015 ◽  
Vol 57 (5) ◽  
pp. 492-511 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katariina Peltonen

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the role of collaborative learning in the development of teachers’ entrepreneurial competences in the school context at primary, secondary and vocational levels of education. Design/methodology/approach – The research is based on an interpretative and collaborative learning approach to teachers’ entrepreneurial competence development. The empirical work relies on teachers’ written learning reflections collected during the chosen training programme and applies an Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) method to analyze the data. Findings – The findings demonstrate that collaborative learning can help teachers to adopt a more entrepreneurial teaching approach. The findings highlight that social interaction and collegial support are important “drivers” for building self-confidence, further showing that conceptual and pedagogical renewal leads to an in-depth understanding of the work role and its meaning in society. Research limitations/implications – The study is of an explorative nature and bound to a specific contextual setting in Finland. Therefore further empirical research is needed to affirm the study’s suggestions on the effects of other collaborative learning interactions. Practical implications – The research findings provide new insights for teacher trainers and policy makers on how to enhance entrepreneurial teaching competences. The study concludes with new directions for designing and managing teacher training programmes. Originality/value – The paper enhances the understanding of teachers’ entrepreneurial competences, the role of collaborative peer learning in this process and thus bridges the gap between teacher research and entrepreneurial competence literature.


2015 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 185-199 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan Walsh ◽  
Nicholas Taylor ◽  
Donna Hough ◽  
Paul Brocklehurst

Purpose – The purpose of this paper was to evaluate a pilot training programme run by Health Education North West to promote clinical leadership amongst general dental practitioners (GDPs). New powers and responsibilities for clinicians have caused a fundamental shift in the way that local services are planned and delivered in England. GDPs are being appointed onto the boards of local professional networks (LPNs) to influence the way that services are delivered at a local level. Analogous to clinical commissioning groups in medicine, the role of LPNs is to ensure that GDPs lead change and drive up the quality of service provision. Clinical leadership has been argued to be fundamentally important in these new structures, but has received little attention in the dental literature. Design/methodology/approach – Semi-structured interviews and a focus group were held with participants of the pilot to explore their understanding and experience of clinical leadership. These were recorded, transcribed verbatim and underwent thematic analysis. Findings – Nineteen codes were identified and organized into four themes: nature of clinical leadership, challenges for clinical leaders in dentistry, Leadership Exploration and Discovery programme evaluation and future direction. Practical implications – The research provides an understanding of how GDPs conceptualise clinical leadership and provides recommendations for future leadership training programmes. Originality/value – This is the first evaluation of a leadership programme for GDPs and so helps address the paucity of evidence in the dental literature.


2016 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 95-102 ◽  
Author(s):  
Greg Stocks ◽  
Sean Slater

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of a six-and-a-half day, Positive Behaviour Support (PBS) informed training course on staff’s self-efficacy and outcome expectations of managing challenging behaviour (CB). Training programmes for other non-psychology staff were deemed necessary due to the high demand for services and the specialist knowledge held by other professionals or carers. Design/methodology/approach – A repeated measures design was used to capture changes in specific self-efficacy and outcome expectations before and after the training programme. A questionnaire methodology was employed. Findings – Staff self-efficacy and positive outcome expectations increased on all four measured variables following training: understanding of CB, working out the functions of CB, developing and implementing a PBS plan, and managing CB for the benefit of the service user. Research limitations/implications – These findings are considered in light of previous research suggesting an impact on staff practice and burnout. Practical implications – The findings suggest that the training model delivers changes in staff cognition and may be useful in other locations where demand for services is likely to increase in the future. Originality/value – This research considers the impact of a medium length PBS training on staff cognition, evidencing the model’s utility in the current service context.


2019 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 321-340 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sparsh Johari ◽  
Kumar Neeraj Jha

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the factors that discourage construction workers from undergoing skill development training, and to suggest steps for making the training programmes more attractive to them. Design/methodology/approach The research used an exploratory approach of unstructured interviews with construction workers (bottom-up approach), and the guided group brainstorming technique with the help of experienced industry professionals (top-down approach). Findings From the unstructured interviews, five inhibiting factors were identified which discourage construction workers from undergoing training. Furthermore, to recognise the causes of the inhibiting factors, 13 possible causal attributes (PCAs) were identified from the brainstorming approach. Subsequently, these PCAs were classified into five possible causal factors (PCFs) on the basis of those concerned stakeholder(s) that are most closely involved and most responsible for fixing them. Research limitations/implications The research provides recommendations to practitioners for pragmatic and permanent resolution of each of the PCFs, which serves as a framework for the construction industry to reduce the scarcity of trained workers in the industry. Also, the results may serve as a model for the planning and successful implementation of any new skill-training programme for the construction workers in any developing economy, such as India. Originality/value This research contributes to the literature by highlighting the views of construction workers on the training establishments, which very few studies have considered in the past. Also, the research provides a detailed process of brainstorming approach, which will help the research community to appreciate its use in studies related to the construction industry.


2017 ◽  
Vol 118 (7/8) ◽  
pp. 393-405 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patience Emefa Dzandza

Purpose This paper aims to describe an information and communication technology (ICT) training programme in the central library in Ghana, to discuss the benefits of the programme and the challenges faced by those delivering it and to relate this work to the broader development goals of the UN and the Africa Union (AU), offering some recommendations on how the programme can be made more effective. Design/methodology/approach The study adopted a qualitative approach to help determine the modality of the programme to two junior high schools (JHSs) in the area that benefit weekly from the training programmes offered at the ICT corner. Interviews were conducted with two staff of the ICT corner to help gather information on the services that the ICT corner offers and the challenges with the programme; ICT teachers and a library coordinator of the two JHSs were also interviewed to find out about their opinion on the programme and the impact they think the programme can make to help achieve the agenda of equipping the youth with ICT skills. Focus group discussions were held with two classes from the JHSs for them to indicate the ICT skills they have acquired from the training and what they can use the skills to achieve. The researcher also witnessed two training sessions and observed daily activities of the ICT corner and the method of instruction. Findings The study brought to fore the contribution GhLA is making to help Ghana achieve Agenda 2063 and 2030 by helping students acquire basic ICT skills that are motivating them to use computers in their daily activities. Originality/value The study highlighted the importance of libraries in the twenty-first century and recommendations were made, among others, that, the facility should be replicated in all public libraries to be used by schools that do not have their own ICT lab in Ghana and the library should employ more staff to help with the training.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Carla Curado ◽  
Inês Sousa

Purpose The purpose of this study is to describe the evaluation of a training programme in a Portuguese family’s small and medium enterprise (SME) in the cosmetics industry. This study addresses the four levels of the Kirkpatrick Model and estimates the return on investment (ROI) of a training programme in sales. Design/methodology/approach The study follows a case design to address the analysis of the training outcomes. This study uses data from 53 employees and explore the programme’s results. Findings This study provides evidence on the reactions of the trainees to the programme; the learning which results from it; and on the changes in trainees’ behaviours and the consequent results. This study also estimates the ROI of the programme; it is 5.55. Research limitations/implications The limitations to this study may be the use of data from a single training programme. Practical implications The research results offer managers some critical information in terms of future options in resource allocation. Training managers become more informed in making future choices on where to invest in training programmes. Originality/value The originality of the study regards the ROI estimation for an SME’s sales training programme. SMEs are not often addressed in the training evaluation literature. Because SMEs have limited organisational resources, and they do not invest much in training. Further, this estimation requires data gathering and reporting that is not commonly done, even for large firms.


2018 ◽  
Vol 50 (7/8) ◽  
pp. 409-419
Author(s):  
Anusuiya Subramaniam ◽  
Murali Sambasivan

Purpose Demographically similar individuals often believe they are similar, in spite of the differences in values, beliefs and expectations. However, dissimilar dyads experience will encounter more interpersonal difficulties due to misunderstandings, misperceptions and conflicts of interest. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of leadership expectation gap on LMX quality and the moderating role of ethnic and nationality dissimilarity between manager and their superior on the relationship between leadership expectation gap and LMX quality. Design/methodology/approach This study adopted a quantitative research design. A purposive sampling survey of 137 lower-to middle-level managers working under the supervision of Malaysian and Japanese superiors in Japanese multi-national corporations was conducted to test the hypotheses of this study. Findings The study found the following: leadership expectation gap has a significant and negative effect on LMX quality; and ethnic dissimilarity and nationality dissimilarity moderates the relationship between leadership expectation gap and LMX quality. Practical implications There is a need for a comprehensive training programme for both leaders and followers, towards developing their interpersonal skills on how to work better and more effectively in the workplace. Furthermore, prior to the start of the expatriate assignment, organisations can help expatriate superiors to adapt themselves by providing pre-departure and cross-cultural training. Originality/value This paper addresses an important and not so well researched issue. It analyses the moderation effect of ethnic and nationality dissimilarity between manager and their superior on the relationship between leadership expectation gap on LMX quality in the Malaysian context.


2019 ◽  
Vol 61 (6) ◽  
pp. 666-683
Author(s):  
Naomi Birdthistle

Purpose Because entrepreneurs operate in a world of uncertainty, the ability to analyse a situation, extract the important and ignore the superfluous, compare potential outcomes, and extrapolate from other experiences to the current one is vital. Researchers have identified several skills an entrepreneur requires to operate their business and the purpose of this paper is to examine if the training and support necessary for entrepreneurship to occur within ethnic communities exists in Ireland. Design/methodology/approach This study was carried out among established ethnic entrepreneurs and representatives from support agencies in Ireland. A quantitative research methods approach was adopted using online surveys. Responses from 36 ethnic entrepreneurs and eight support organisations were received. Findings Targeted programmes offered by service providers included programmes in foreign languages; providing literature in foreign languages; and specially designed seminars for ethnic entrepreneurs. Of the established ethnic entrepreneurs, the majority indicated that, although they have deficiencies in their skillset they did not avail of programmes because they were unaware of them. Originality/value Irish service providers need to provide additional services to ethnic entrepreneurs to be on par with their EU counterparts. Irish service providers need to provide general and targeted training programmes through minority languages. If Ireland wants to continue being known as the “land of a hundred thousand welcomes” and be able to support the much-anticipated asylum seekers who may choose entrepreneurship as a career option, it needs to consider the adoption of the recommendations of this study and provide better tailored services for the ethnic entrepreneur.


2019 ◽  
Vol 61 (2) ◽  
pp. 136-152 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anderson Galvão ◽  
Carla Susana Marques ◽  
João Ferreira

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to evaluate an entrepreneurship training and education programme, which has already had five editions in the Sabor region of Portugal’s northern interior. This evaluation was conducted in order to propose new guidelines to improve the Sabor Entrepreneurship Programme (SEP). Design/methodology/approach The research included primary data collection using mixed methods (i.e. quantitative and qualitative). Questionnaires were distributed to 103 entrepreneurs who participated in the SEP, and interviews were conducted with entities involved in developing this programme. The data were processed using cross-sectional content analysis of the interviews and descriptive analysis of the completed questionnaires in order to ascertain the opinions of all the parties involved in the SEP. Findings The results show that the SEP has been modified throughout the five editions, which has contributed to better performance. Based on the findings, new guidelines were proposed for the programme, such as the implementation of new phases and improvement of various methods used. The proposed phases include the validation and full development of business ideas, management decision training for entrepreneurs, help with financing solutions and support during new companies’ first three years. The results also indicate that the SEP needs to create an entrepreneurial ecosystem that includes public policies and the involvement of other local entities that are active in the region and that have the skills entrepreneurs need. Originality/value This study’s findings have theoretical and practical implications, which provide empirical evidence of how evaluating entrepreneurship education and training programmes can make them more effective and efficient. In addition, the results contribute to the evolution of the existing knowledge about entrepreneurial ecosystems.


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