Communication is key: a study of the development of communication key skills in China

Different countries offer alternative curricula around what might be designated language, literacy and/or communication. This paper focuses on the latter which has typically been associated with vocational education and often labelled a ‘key’ or ‘core’ skill that forms part of a wider set of life and employability skills. In recent years, as China has emerged as a global economy, education has been significant in its policy and development. This research explores staff and student responses to the introduction of a key skills communication course in three Chinese further education vocational colleges. The initiative was prompted by research in China which had suggested that communication is important not just for education (Ye and Li 2007) but also for employability, and that the ability to communicate effectively could be instrumental in individuals’ success and development (Tong and Zhong 2008). It explores what communication key skills might mean in a Chinese context and questions notions of transferability and of competence and performance in communication. It analyses how motivation could affect learner success and the relationship of pedagogy to curriculum and, finally, it considers how communication might be an element in the longer-term social and political development of critical literacies

Gendering the careers of young professionals: some early findings from a longitudinal study. in Organizing/theorizing: developments in organization theory and practice

Wonders whether companies actually have employees best interests at heart across physical, mental and spiritual spheres. Posits that most organizations ignore their workforce – not even, in many cases, describing workers as assets! Describes many studies to back up this claim in theis work based on the 2002 Employment Research Unit Annual Conference, in Cardiff, Wales

Teamwork and collaborative learning: does team skills training enhance educational outcomes?

SIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre-DSC:DXN051497 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo

Enhancing trust through training

INTRODUCTIONThe past decade has seen a considerable expansion in research that has looked at team training, addressing a range of questions about how to design training; how to implement it; and its impact on both team processes and performance. Despite this expansion, to date there has been relatively little attention given to the relationship between team training and the development of trust within teams. This is surprising as training and development professionals working in organizations regard trust as one of the most important skills that should be developed within teams due to its positive effects on team performance, organizational productivity and competitive advantage (Davis et al., 2000; McEvily et al., 2003; Rosen et al., 2006). It would therefore seem advantageous within a human resource (HR) context to implement training programmes that promote trust between team members in order to benefit the organization. Furthermore, it may be particularly beneficial for certain types of teams; for example, in virtual teams where lack of face- to- face contact limits trust development, and in culturally diverse teams where differences in cultural norms may reduce trust in others. To extend understanding in this area, this chapter considers the research on both the use of training to develop trust among team members and its efficacy. We highlight research on two distinct approaches to training – team- and task- skills training – considering their effectiveness and applicability to different contexts, as well as issues for future research. We begin by defining trust within a training context and consider the processes through which trust may develop in training

The effect of location on teamwork

Designed for those who have an interest in peoples' interaction with their working and leisure environment, including designers, manufacturing and production engineers, health and safety specialists, occupation, applied and industrial psychologists, and applied physiologists