Change and Staff Development in Australian Manufacturing Enterprises

Australian manufacturing enterprises are seen to be facing enormous pressures in terms of international competition and turbulent external environments, and longer‐term investment in training and staff development (TSD) is seen to be essential to produce the highly skilled and flexible employees who will be needed. These issues were investigated in a survey completed by senior managers from 151 private sector Australian manufacturing enterprises. One group of organizations appeared to see needs for change and flexibility in employee knowledge,skills and abilities and used a longer‐term approach to TSD. A smaller group saw less need for changes and flexibility and tended to use TSD only when changes in staff, procedures or equipment made it necessary. Both groups, however, seemed to be facing similar amounts of environmental uncertainty and international competition. Discusses possible reasons for the apparent lack of relationship between perceived internal needs for change and the state of the external environment.