The Skills Shortage and the Payoff to Vocational Education

[Excerpt] Skill demands also appear to be rising within occupations. Increasing numbers of manufacturing workers are working in production cells in which every member of the team is expected to learn every job. Production workers are being given responsibilities--quality checking, statistical process control (SPC) record keeping, resetting machines shown by SPC to be straying from target dimensions, redesigning the layout of the machines in the production cell--that used to be the sole province of supervisors, specialized technicians and industrial engineers. What implications do these changes in skill demands have for the payoff to high school vocational education? Are workers who develop the technical skills taught in trade and technical programs, in fact, more productive when they get a job in the field? Are the skills taught in these programs still valued by the labor market? Has the payoff to high school vocational training increased along with the payoff to other skills? What changes in the way vocational education is delivered are implied by the tight labor markets for highly skilled workers? This paper attempts to answer these questions by examining four different kinds of evidence on the economic payoffs to occupationally specific training in high school

Educational Reform and Technical Education?

[Excerpt] Even though educational reform marches under a banner of economic renewal, the school subjects that appear to be most directly related to worker productivity-- business education, vocational education, economics, computers--have received little attention from reformers. The five core subjects proposed for periodic assessment are English, mathematics, science, history/civics and geography. Yet, if competitiveness is the objective, it is not clear why geography, a subject that is not taught in most American universities, has higher priority than subjects like computers, economics, management and technology? Some of the reform reports have expressed doubt about the economic benefits of vocational education (Committee on Economic Development 1986). Indeed, new graduation requirements introduced by reformers have contributed to an 8 percent reduction in vocational course taking between 1982and 1987

A case study of student projects for industry clients

Published versio

Daily activities and survival at older ages

This study tested the hypothesis that time spent on regenerative (e.g., resting), productive (e.g., housework), and consumptive activities (e.g., meeting friends) is associated with survival in persons aged 70 and older. An observational study with semi-annual mortality follow-ups was carried out in the former West Berlin, Germany. The sample was stratified by age and sex and consisted of 473 persons aged 70 to 103 years. Study participants lived in the community as well as in institutions. Activity measures were assessed in 1990-1993 by structured interviews in the participants´ homes. Cox regression was used to model survival from time of interview. The main outcome measure was survival on 3 February 2000. Consumptive activities were related to survival (relative risk = 0.76, 95% confidence interval 0.58 to 1.00) after several confounding factors were controlled for. There were indications that the greatest survival benefit is achieved with a medium amount of time devoted to consumptive activities. Our results support the idea that daily activities are linked to survival via a psychosocial pathway, which might involve perceived quality of life. Consumptive activities (e.g., meeting friends, reading a novel) may contribute considerably to maintaining health and achieving longevity, because they are performed on a daily basis and their effects may accumulate over the life course.

The World Bank’s Early Reflection on Development: a Development Institution or a Bank?

Until the late 1960s, the World Bank presented itself as an institution devoted to sound and directly productive project loans. Yet, during its very early years, some discussions developed inside the Bank regarding the possibility of issuing different types of loans, namely loans which – albeit sound – were aimed at tackling social issues («social loans»), or not directly project-related needs for foreign currencies («impact loans»). This paper analyzes the housing issue as a good case in point. The analysis reveals that the Bank was unwilling to lend for housing programs not because these were not sound – in fact, they were – but because they appeared to be too social-biased and not directly linked to productive investment projects, such as dams, power stations, and railroads. This early decision had a significant impact on the subsequent development of the Bank’s view of policy making. In fact, it locked the institution into a particular lending pattern, and deprived it of important intellectual resources. It was not until the late 1960s that the Bank began to take social issues into consideration, rather late as opposed to other multilateral institutions.

Sense and symbolic objects: Strategic sensemaking through design

This paper reports on an ongoing investigation into one aspect of the design thinking phenomenon, namely the use of designed artifacts — sketches, renderings, graphics, models and prototypes — as symbolic objects in strategy making and implementation. It examines the conceptual overlap between design and the strategic cognition perspective, which considers cognitive processes and structures involved in strategic decision making, particularly the phenomenon of sensemaking. It is primarily a theoretical exploration, but draws on two short testimonies from designers. The specific conceptual connection between design practice and strategic cognition theory is potentially valuable to business leaders and managers involved with innovation, design management and strategic decisions. Preliminary findings suggest sensemaking activities by designers generate innovative future concepts with far-reaching strategic implications; designed artifacts aid sensemaking and sensegiving by management in exploring new business opportunities and directions. This paper is an early draft of a fuller account to be published in 2013 (AIEDAM Special Issue, Spring 2013, Vol.27, No.2, Studying and Supporting Design Communication, Edited by: Maaike Kleinsmann & Anja Maier)

George Washington’s Attorneys: The Political Selection of United States Attorneys at the Founding

This Article examines the relationship between the Nation’s first President and the selection of United States Attorneys. It argues that politics played an important, if not primary, role in the President’s selections. George Washington sought those who would represent the government’s interests, adhere to the government’s policies, and advance Washington’s political goals. His selections also demonstrated Washington’s requirement of loyalty to America. In this respect, the politicization of United States Attorneys occurred at the outset. Part I of this Article defines politicization and identifies its four aspects. Part II describes the United States Attorney position as understood through the 1789 Judiciary Act and state experience. Part III examines how Washington’s selections and selection process included three of the four politicization categories. The concluding Section briefly explores the ramifications of politicization and its potential benefits in today’s prosecutorial environmen

Art Investment Collections: A New Model for Museum Finance?

This article examines the conflicting views about whether to consider artwork as a financial asset and suggests a modified museum finance strategy that would not raise stakeholder concerns about selling art in the permanent collection. By encouraging museums to begin a separate investment collection, artworks may ethically be sold to generate operating or other expenses. This strategy brings up issues of governance, accountability, and conflicts of interest, but if done correctly, it could leverage the art market access of museums to create a hedge for other types of endowment assets, while still upholding museum association guidance that works in a museum’s permanent collection are never to be sold in order to fund operating expenses.LBJ School of Public Affair

Do it Right or Not at All: A Longitudinal Evaluation of a Conflict Managment System Implementation

We analyzed an eight-year multi-source longitudinal data set that followed a healthcare system in the Eastern United States as it implemented a major conflict management initiative to encourage line managers to consistently perform Personal Management Interviews (or PMIs) with their employees. PMIs are interviews held between two individuals, designed to prevent or quickly resolve interpersonal problems before they escalate to formal grievances. This initiative provided us a unique opportunity to empirically test key predictions of Integrated Conflict Management System (or ICMS) theory. Analyzing survey and personnel file data from 5,449 individuals from 2003 to 2010, we found that employees whose managers provided high-quality interviews perceived significantly higher participative work climates and had lower turnover rates. However, retention was worse when managers provided poor-quality interviews than when they conducted no interviews at all. Together these findings highlight the critical role that line mangers play in the success of conflict management systems