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Intermediate Skills in the Workplace: Deployment, Standards and Supply in Britain, France and Germany∗

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 March 2020

Hilary Steedman ,
Geoff Mason  and
Karin Wagner
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Abstract

Previous international comparisons of workforce skills by the National Institute have focussed on the relative shortage of craft skills in Britain. The present study is concerned with the next higher level of supervisory and technician skills; on the basis of visits to factories and technical colleges in Britain, France and Germany, and analysis of labour force statistics, it compares and contrasts the provision and deployment of these intermediate skills in manufacturing industry in the three countries. At supervisory level only Germany undertakes a significant amount of training and to standards adequate to the increased complexity and technical demands of modern manufacturing. At technician (Higher National) level, the numbers acquiring comparable qualifications in Britain and France are substantially higher than in Germany: in part this reflects the allocation of a large proportion of technical support functions in German industry to craft-trained personnel. After examining the relative distribution of training costs between employers, individuals and the public authorities in the three countries, the paper makes proposals for a more cost-effective mix of craft- and technician-level skills in British manufacturing which might, in the process, reduce the need for over-qualified personnel to ‘plug the gaps’ in skills among shopfloor workers and supervisors.

Type
Articles
Information
National Institute Economic Review , Volume 136 , May 1991 , pp. 60 - 76
Copyright
Copyright © 1991 National Institute of Economic and Social Research

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Footnotes

∗

Financial support for this study was provided by the Economic and Social Research Council, the Employment Department (formerly the Training Agency) and the Scottish Council Development and Industry; they are not responsible in any way for the views expressed in this article.

References

Notes

(1) A Daly, DMWN Hitchens and K Wagner, ‘Productivity, machinery and skills in a sample of British and German manufacturing plants: results of a pilot enquiry’, National Institute Economic Review, no. 111 February 1985. H Steedman, K Wagner, ‘A second look at productivity, machinery and skills in Britain and Germany’, National Institute Economic Review, no. 122 November 1987. H Steedman, K Wagner, ‘Productivity, machinery and skills: clothing manufacture in Britain and Germany’, National Institute Economic Review, no. 128 May 1989.

(2) This report constitutes the third in a series of studies of intermediate skills in Britain, France and Germany. The first study dealt mainly with quantitative comparisons of flows of technically-qualified manpower and the international matching of qualifications. SJ Prais, ‘Qualified manpower in engineering: Britain and other industrially advanced countries’, National Institute Economic Review, February 1989. The second reported on special analyses of the French and British Labour Force Surveys in terms of the stocks of different categories of intermediate skill and different qualification levels—foremen, technicians and shop-floor workers. H. Steedman, ‘Improvements in workforce qualifi cations : Britain and France 1979-88’, National Institute Economic Review, August 1990.

(3) The field-work for this study was carried out between November 1988 and November 1990. Throughout this report ‘Germany’ should be taken as referring to the former ‘Federal Republic of Germany’.

(4) For survey evidence of the extent of use of microelectronics-based technology in British, German and French manufacturing industry in 1983, see J Northcott et. al., Microelectronics in Industry, Policy Studies Institute, London, 1985, pp 53, 67, 68. The German lead over both Britain and France appears to be greatest in the use of CNC machine tools and the implementation of advanced machine and process control systems. For a detailed appraisal of survey evidence relating to the age and technical sophistication of machinery in the metal-working industries of the leading industrial nations, see SJ Prais ‘Some international comparisons of the age of the machine-stock’, The Journal of Industrial Economics, Vol XXXIV, No. 3, March 1986. More recently the Amdahl Executive Institute claims that ‘West German companies have the advantage over their British, French and Italian competitors in using information technology (IT) for competitive advantage’, ‘Clues to success: Information Technology Strategies for Tomorrow’, 1990.

(5) In all the spinning plants we visited where CNC automated machinery had been installed, supervisors were required to make very quick decisions about orders of priority when several machines required attention or adjustment at once. Similarly, in many engineering shops the very different production speeds of CNC and conventional machines coupled with moves towards greater product variety and smaller batch sizes clearly made substantial demands upon the organisational capacities of shopfloor supervisors.

(6) This change is confirmed by a recent British survey of supervisors in 16 industrial and commercial organisations. The level of skill required of supervisors was found to be increasing in (i) checking, assessing, discriminating (ii) complex procedures (iii) ordering, prioritising planning (iv) diagnosing, analysing, solving (v) adapting to new ideas, systems. R S Kandola, N A Banerji, M A Greene of Pearn Kandola Downs, ‘The Role of Supervisors in Human Resource Development’ Training Agency 1989.

(7) C Smith, Technical workers: Class, labour and trade unionism, Macmillan 1987 p.91. It is related there that in the decade 1963-73 the ‘typical occupations’ occupied by TASS (technicians union) members expanded from around 50 to some 400. However, Smith also documents the impact of technical change on engineering technicians, the decline of occupations such as tracers, rate-fixers and the rise of part-programmers and CAD/CAM designers.

(8) During our visits we observed this distinction between supervisory and technical roles everywhere except in a small number of French plants where some programming and first-line maintenance functions had been explicitly merged with shopfloor supervisory responsibilities. In some German plants Meister-qualified foremen worked closely with specialist programmers and work planners but did not themselves carry out these tasks; even this level of technical involvement depended on the more routine supervisory tasks being delegated to charge-hands (Vorarbeiter).

(9) The consequences of low levels of technical knowledge and skills for foremen's performance in a high-technology environment were highlighted in the French spinning plants we visited. Considerable efforts had been made to help the foremen acquire the level of technical expertise necessary to ‘speak the same language’ as the maintenance technician in charge of the ‘state of the art’ CNC machinery then being installed. Despite updating courses, some foremen in the French plants had been unable to cope and alternative (to shopfloor) recruitment to foreman posts from those with higher technician qualifications had been introduced by the management as a consequence. In the German spinning plants the very thorough training of the Meister-qualified foreman resulted in his having the technical background necessary to remedy machinery faults. However, it was considered inefficient to require him to carry out maintenance tasks which would have interfered with effective supervision; his training equipped him to localise faults correctly, to call the appropriate maintenance team, to estimate the time of repair and plan and change the production schedule accordingly.

(10) The apprenticeship training for maintenance workers in Germany in spinning (textile) starts with training as a machine operator (e.g. Textilmaschinenfuhrer-Spinnerei) for two years. They can then continue with a third year to become Textilmechaniker (eg. Spinnerei) so that all skilled mechanics have worked as skilled operators. Consequently, the Meister who have gone through the three year apprenticeship have a strong background in both maintenance and machine operation even before they undertake further technical training at Meisterschule.

(11) See SJ Prais, K Wagner, ‘Productivity and Management: the Training of Formen in Britain and Germany’, National Institute Economic Review, no. 123, February 1988.

(12) In H Steedman, 1990, op cit, it was pointed out that the proportion of workers and foremen qualified to craft level was higher in France than in Britain and that the supply of such skills was increasing faster in France than in Britain. However, both France and Britain can be seen to have lower levels of skill in the manufacturing labour-force relative to Germany.

(13) In Germany, it is important to distinguish further between those employed as foremen (Meister) and those holding Meister certificates ie. who have taken and passed Meister certificate examinations.

(14) In both Britain and France the age structure of foremen engaged in manufacturing is similar: only 23 per cent are under 35 (compared to 40 per cent under 35 for total over 15 population in France, and 36 per cent under 35 for total over 16 population in Great Britain). The corresponding figure for Germany is 20 per cent. The mean age of foremen as recorded in the censuses is 43 for France, 44 for Britain and 47 for Germany. Census 1981, Economic activity in Great Britain Table 13, 4A, OPCS 1984. Recensement general 1982, Formation, Table 07 INSEE, 1984. Statistisches Bundesamt, Fachserie 1, Reihe 4 1.2, 1987.

(15) In the two British case-study firms analysed by Thurley and Wirdenius, all foremen had been internally promoted from the shop-floor. K Thurley, H Wirdenius, Supervision: A Reappraisal, Heinemann 1973. Similar patterns for the recruitment of foremen in manufacturing industries have been reported for France. A study carried out in 1986-7 of 26 plants drawn from engineering, chemical, pharmaceutical and construction industries noted that an average of 70 per cent of all foremen in the plants investigated had been promoted from the shopfloor. F Eyraud, A Jobert, P Rozenblatt, M Tallard, Les classifications dans l'Entreprise, Centre d'Etudes de l'Emploi/IRIS-Travail et Société/LEST, October 1988. p.94. In a study of French, British and German foremen carried out between 1977 and 1979 in 9 plants in the three countries, ‘In all countries, practically all the personnel in supervision have come up through the works’. M Maurice, A Sorge, M Warner, ‘Societal Differences in Organising Manufacturing Units: A comparison of France, West Germany and Great Britain’ in Organization Studies 1980 p.76.

(16) This finding for France and Germany is confirmed by the contrast identified by König and Müller ‘It is also characteristic of the category of foreman that in France it can be reached not only from the skilled worker category as in Germany, but also from that of semi-skilled workers’. W König and W Müller ‘Educational systems and labour markets as determinants of worklife mobility in France and West Germany: a comparison of men's career mobility, 1965-1970’, European Sociological Review Vol. 2, No. 2. September 1986 p.87.

(17) In France, all those undertaking higher technician (BTS, DUT) training spend a three-month period in a work placement, but are unlikely to acquire craft skills. A very small number follow BTS or DUT courses on day release. In Britain, most of those obtaining an HNC qualification study on day release while in employment as technician trainees. However, their training route is differentiated from that of craft trainees and most practical work is likely to be in technical support departments rather than in direct production.

(18) This finding is consistent with Sorge et. al. who found a greater tendency in large German plants to promote craft operators to staff status as programming technicians to avoid machine downtime because of lengthy programming. A Sorge, G Hartmann, M Warner, I Nicholas Microelectronics and manpower in manufacturing, Gower 1983 chs.5 and 8.

(19) For a detailed analysis see S J Prais and K Wagner, 1988, op cit.

(20) T Clauss, ‘Zur beruflichen Situation von Meister und Technikern’, Berichte zur beruflichen Bildung, Heft 113, 1990.

(21) The contrast between France and Germany with respect to access to technician posts in the two countries has been analysed by Drexel in terms of a pattern of vertical access in Germany (from the shop-floor) and horizontal access in France (from full-time education). The analysis sought to determine whether access to German technician positions was moving towards the French model thus restricting the career prospects of craft workers in Germany. Drexel concludes that there is very little evidence that this change is taking place in Germany. I Drexel, Der Schwierige Weg zu einem neuen gesellschaftlichen Qualifikationstyp, in Journal fur Sozialforschung, Heft 3, Campus Verlag 1989.

(22) Recent government initiatives have modified this situation in some limited respects. The Youth Training Scheme (YTS) subsidy was allowed to offset first and second year apprentice wages in industries such as engineering until its abolition in 1991. Reduced amounts are now available to TECs (Training and Enterprise Councils) to subsidise employer training of young people and vouchers made available to young people to cover off-the-job training costs are being piloted.

(23) See I Jones, ‘Skill Formation and Pay Relativities’ in GDN Worswick, Education and Economic Performance, Gower, 1985.

(24) Estimates of average technician training costs derived from I Jones, ‘Apprentice Training Costs in British Manufacturing Establishments: Some New Evidence’, British Journal of Industrial Relations Vol. xxiv, No. 3 1986, pp. 349-350. The finding of a large differential in net costs between technician and craft training programmes is broadly in line with surveys of training costs carried out by the Engineering Industry Training Board in the 1970s (Jones, 1986, pp. 354-5). More extensive and up-to-date work in this field is urgently needed.

(25) For earlier analyses see L Needleman. ‘The Structure of industrial earnings in seven Western European countries’, in Controlling Industrial Economies: Essays in Honour of C T Saunders (ed. S F Frowen, Macmillan), 1983; C Saunders and D Marsden, Pay inequalities in the European Communities (Butterworth), 1981; and S J Prais, K Wagner, op. cit.

(26) S J Prais, K Wagner (1988), op, cit. p.40.

(27) H Steedman (1990) op. cit.

(a) For a detailed comparison of formal qualifications at this level in five European countries see G. Rothe, Berufsbildingsstufen in mittleren Bereich, Materialen der Berufs-und Arbeitspädagogik, Band 9, Villingen, 1989.