It has often been pointed out that American schools are not preparing individuals to staff the production organizations of the future (Clancy, 1989). Unfortunately, the schools have not even been successful in the preparation of individuals to function effectively in contemporary production organizations (Gerstner, 1989). Recognition that either the schools were not doing the job required, or that drop outs were not permitting the schools to do the necessary job, or some combination of the two led the federal and state governments into the area of adult job training. Many of these efforts have also proved to be of only marginal worth (Bovard, 1989).
In response to this situation, employing organizations have resorted to both the overseas recruitment of workers (Suro, 1989), and to borrowing workers from competitors (Oram, 1989). As neither of these tactics, either alone or together, offer a solution to the problem, and, as educational reform always seems to be just a little way off, many employers have developed in house training programs to qualify the unqualified (Sa, 1989; Rohan, 1988). Unfortunately, many of these in house training and education programs have been less than successful in meeting their objectives (Schoultz, 1986).
A part of the problem facing organizational trainers lies in the level of illiteracy in the American labor pool (Torrence and Torerence, 1987). A major part of the problem, however, lies in the diference in approaches to education which are required for adults, as opposed to children the approaches employed in the nation's schools, which are often emulated by employing organizations (Carnevale, 1989; Cooney, 1988). This study posited that effective training programs conducted within employing organizations will be those which minimize the typical pedagogical approaches to instruction, relying instead on instructional techniques more appropriate for adult learners. Relevant Learning Theory...