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Cross-national comparisons of new career pathways for industrial supervisors in France, Germany and the United Kingdom
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Drexel, I., Möbus, M., Gérardin, M., Grasser , B., Lhotel, H., Brown, Alan, Maguire, M. and Baldauf, B. (2003) Cross-national comparisons of new career pathways for industrial supervisors in France, Germany and the United Kingdom. Skope monograph (Number 6). Coventry, UK : London : ESRC Centre on Skills, Knowledge and Organisational Performance (SKOPE).
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Abstract
There is some quantitative evidence on the volume of substitution of traditionally qualified supervisors in industry by more highly qualified staff, but very little is known about which forms substitution takes, the basic conditions facilitating substitution policies and the company goals associated with it as well as the consequences of this policy. This study has tried to address this gap, drawing on case study research in the UK, France and Germany. Substitution in this context is defined as the policy of recruiting higher qualified younger employees without substantial work experience into supervisory and management positions in production and maintenance (in short: industrial supervisor positions), that would previously have been filled with semi-skilled or skilled workers, promoted after many years of service. Three case studies in two industries (mechanical engineering and the chemical industry) were conducted in each of the three countries covered. A comparison of the case study features with the national contexts revealed that the German case studies are more of an exception to national development than the UK and French ones. In the UK, qualitative evidence and other indicators suggest that substitution in the UK is much more advanced than in France and Germany. Substitution policies seem to have a certain tradition in France. However, in Germany there are a number of features restricting the extent of substitution. The effect of substitution policies on the employees concerned and the resultant problems for companies are examined. The consequences of the substitution policy seem ambivalent for the highly qualified industrial supervisors, fairly irrespective of the country and the company investigated. If substitution processes are going to increase significantly, the overall loss of promotion opportunities would make vocational education and training (VET) less attractive in countries like Germany where the VET system has traditionally been very strong, causing far-reaching consequences also for higher education.
| Item Type: | Book | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Divisions: | Faculty of Social Sciences > Institute for Employment Research | ||||
| Series Name: | Skope monograph | ||||
| Publisher: | ESRC Centre on Skills, Knowledge and Organisational Performance (SKOPE) | ||||
| Place of Publication: | Coventry, UK : London | ||||
| Official Date: | 2003 | ||||
| Dates: |
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| Number: | Number 6 | ||||
| Number of Pages: | 95 | ||||
| Status: | Peer Reviewed | ||||
| Publication Status: | Published | ||||
| Access rights to Published version: | Open Access (Creative Commons) | ||||
| Funder: | Economic and Social Research Council (Great Britain) (ESRC) | ||||
| Related URLs: |
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