Leonardo da Vinci Thematic Group 2 Conference Institut für berufliche Bildung und EDV-Schulung Workshop Round 1: Involving SMEs Institut für berufliche

Leonardo da Vinci Thematic Group 2 ConferenceInstitut für berufliche Bildung und EDV-Schulung

Workshop Round 1: Involving SMEs

Institut für berufliche Bildung und EDV-Schulung GmbH

Cottbuser Str. 4

01979 Lauchhammer

Tel.: ++49 (0)3574 121212

Fax ++49 (0)3574 121266

http://www.bildung-ibs.de



Our lines of business1. Training in fulltime

2. Qualification of managers and employees in small

and medium-sized companies

3. World wide web module-application employment

4. European project “Leonardo da Vinci“

5. Involvement in different natioal projects of education

6. Project evaluation



1. Initial Situation

2. Trends in the economy

3. Consequences for the employees and their qualification

4. The special situation in SMEs

5. Qualification and SMEs Europe

6. Leonardo da Vinci and training in SMEs

7. Conclusions and recommendations

8. Practical example

Content:



Only about one third of the people work in the profession they actually learned.

When you work, you permanently learn new things and thus, you acquire new competences and knowledge.

Competences are usually acquired through non-formal, informal or formal learning.

Since you only receive certificates or documents for formal learning, most of the personal competences only have a limited influence on your professional career.

1. Initial situation



2. Trends in the economy

In a knowledge-based society, knowledge gains increasing importance as a factor of added value.

In a knowledge-based society, the customer-specific production of goods and services is growing significantly.

The classical cost-based competition loses importance. A new kind of competition, which is focused on innovative products and services gains importance. This puts companies under pressure because they have to come with innovations constantly.

Competition becomes a competition that is focused on innovative, knowledge-based products. These products are competitive advantages because they represent knowledge, which can hardly be copied or imitated.



The demographic change influences the development on the labour market but companies are reluctant to adjust to this new situation or do not adjust at all.

General trends:

Less young people enter the working life.

The percentage of older employees increases.

The percentage of women increaes .



3. Consequences for the employees and their qualification

In a knowledge- based society, the labour market is diveded in

„Employees of knowledge“ – individuals who solve problems, recognize problems; individuals who mediate strategically; highly qualified individuals

Highly qualified skilled workers – employees who are trained for a specific job and who are have good chances to be promoted or to obtain further qualifications

Low qualified workers



There is a deregulation in the basic conditions of waged work.

The percentage of traditional full-time decreases.

New forms of employment develop.

Limited job contracts

Part-time work

Odd jobs

Temporary work



Consequences for the employees:

There is an increasing demand on the employees because they have to organise training/learning themselves.

Employees acquire knowledge and new methods on the job and while they are working.

Knowledge is acquired and transferred constantly and also more dynamically.

Knowledge is acquired through formal, informal an non-formal learning. These three kinds of learning are of the same importance.



The employees have to develop skills in self-management.

This implies:

training and maintenance of one‘s own skills,

self-marketing on internal and external labour markets,

development through a focus on a specific career

and maintenance and development of one‘s own possibilities to find a job.



Consequences for the society:

Changes occur rather quickly. This is why the educational systems are no longer able to provide people with state-of-the art knowledge quickly enough. This knowledge, however, is necessary for the work process.

A lot of people change their profession. This is why CVs are no longer linear but rather unsteady.

There is an erosion of the professions, which is characterized by:

- an increasing blurredness concerning the competences that are required for a job,

- new professions due to specialisation or hybrid professions

- and loss of stability.



4. The special situation in SMEs

• In the last few years, competition has changed due to globalisation.

• SMEs have the same markets as big companies and have to keep up with the speed of innovations and with the focus on customers and service.

• Through internet, big companies can be almost as close to their customers as small companies. Big companies can therefore increase their market share on regional markets. This is a disadvantage for SMEs.

• SMEs consequently have to switch to national markets.



• Due to this direct competition and due to the high pressure concerning prices, SMEs have to lower their prices (and their costs).

• It is very difficult for SMEs, who life off their specialized knowledge, to keep of with the speed of technological development because the markets have become more and more dynamic.

• There is an increasing demand for highly qualified employees. It is especially difficult for SMEs to cover the demand.

• Big companies, where the hobs seem safe, are more attractive for experts and highly qualified workers.

• There is the trend that other companies „buy“ qualified workers and managers from SMEs.



When the employees are hired, they have certain core competences.

Their actual tasks, however, often require additional competences in other areas.

Often, they do not have the necessary qualifications. This can quickly lead to quality problems for the company.

5. Qualification and SMEs

Consequently, there is a permanent need for further education in SMEs, but only few recognize this need.

Often, a lack of financial resources make the necessary qualification of the employees in SMEs complicated because further education is a major expense factor.

Investments in the human potential of a company can, however, amortise much faster then investments in plants, equipment, and machinery.



Two strategies:

Employees in an SME are responsible for tasks for which they might not have the necessary qualification. Consequently, there is a need for qualification.

The employees have already acquired the necessary qualification through non-formal and informal learning, but this knowledge cannot be confirmed or officially recognized. Consequently, there is a need for certification.



Often, SMEs do not consider further education as necessary.

An external analysis of the situation can often not be afforded (lack of financial resources) or is impossible due to the tight schedule of the human resources manager.

An analysis of the qualification need should be company-specific. Consequently, an analysis which is only online-based, is not sufficient.



Analysis of the need for qualification in SMEs

Online questionnaire Interview in an SME

Advantage Well-structured, consumes little time, can easily be evaluated, low cost

Individual, the interviewer can ask back and adjust

DisadvantageQuite rigid, has been drawn up in advance, IT-competence necessary, the interviewer does not have any influence

Time-consuming for the SME, the evaluation consumes much time , higher costs

Combination of online questionnaires and interviews in SMEs



• The personal characteristics of an SME influence the company• The management is often in contact with the employees. This

contact is a personal one.• The form of organisation offers few possibilities for a promotion.• The internal processes are only formalized to a certain extent.• The dual training system offers the possibility to cover the demand

for qualification by trainings in the companies• Lack of time and pressure of the daily business and seasonal

business• Few financial resources for further education, at the same time few

knowledge about possible financial aid

The development of competences in SMEs – important factors



• Resource problems, if some employees are released for a longer period of time because the other employees have do cover for them; if an employee falls ill, this makes a huge difference and it also more difficult to find replacements

• Low degree of professionalism in the field of human resource development and organisational development

• Few contacts to training organisations and no knowledge about possible financial aid; intransparency of the market for further education makes managers rather sceptical concerning (external) further education:

• They are unsure about the quality and about the relation between expenses and success



• Sometimes, there is a demand for very special further education courses; the training course should be tailored to the individual needs of the company

• There is the danger that qualified employees are enticed by competitors or that they could decide to work as freelancers

• The range and the level of internal competences• Further education in the sense of an internal restructuring/training

(e.g. jobs that are tailored to the age of a person) are only possible to a certain extent.

• Training courses that are orgaized especially for one company, are only feasable and possible if there are enough employees.



The main point of the further education activities in SMEs are the areas of non formal and informal learning, such as

„Learning by doing“ or „Train on the job“

Dialogue with customers and suppliers

Job rotation

Events for human resource development

Advantages are:

Low costs

Simple integration into the daily business

Better focus on job requirements



6. Leonardo da Vinci and training in SMEs

Since the beginning, the Leonardo da Vinci programme focuses on SMEs.

Many good educational products for employees in SMEs have been developed in various projects, such as

Educational concepts and curricula

Certificates for certain areas of professional training

Products that support mobility

Learning software, e-learning method´s ect.

Only few products have actually been applied in SMEs.



Reasons for this might be:

The partnership does not have the necessary potential that is required for a successful distribution.

There is do actual demand for the product in the economy.

The partnership did not have the material and financial resources for an introduction.

The product is not very well known

The economy and the society do not accept the product. This is due to the status of the product itself or due to the status of the inventor.

The project partnership is financially not interested in a sustainable distribution on an economic basis



Possibilities to support a transfer into practice

Creation of a European solution in order to increase the acceptance and the recognition of educational/training products.

Creation of a European Quality Seal (no award) by the European Union for products that especially recommendable, such as

certificates and curricula.

Establishment of a website in order to promote the products and to inform about the products.

Development of an application and evaluation procedure according to common and transparent European rules.

These possibilities should also be available to other educational products, no matter whether they are financially supported or not.



These products should meet the following requirements:

Guaranteeing the European dimension, such as multilingualism, a minimum number of involved countries and transparency

Complying with rules, such as the norm EN ISO/IEC 17024:2003 for the certification of human resources

Proof of a recognized quality assurance system

The conditions that have been stipulated for the application procedure must be fulfilled

A detailed description of the product

Rights that are set down in a contract



ESO - CSA

Project-No.: D/04/B/F/PP-116 207

CERTIFICATION OF COMPETENCES IN SELECTED SPECIALIST AREAS IN SMALL AND

MEDIUM-SIZED ENTERPRISES



Advantages

confirmation of the candidate‘s potential and competences by a high-quality certificate

the first certificate in Europe for which the competences and not the attendance of courses are crucial

confirmation of professional experience with the help of a neutral and centralized European procedure

instrument that can help to choose an appropriate candidate for management positions

career instrument for candidates that apply for a management position

drawing up of competence profiles for an individual training plan and the individual development of competences





Target groups and target values

SME managers

Lower and middle executives in all companies

Executive newcomer

Corporate successor / absorbing employer

Managers who are interested in career



Average profile of an interviewed manager

• Age of the manager 41 years

• Professional experience 11,5 years

• Qualification degree

• Position director

• Branch service

• Collaborators in SME 25

• Clerk/ people reporting to him 3

Interest in a certificate for management competences YES 75%



The „new idea“ of ESO-CSA shall be described comprehensively by the marketing concept. The marketing concept contains the following elements:

1. Analysis of the situation, initial position

2. Marketing aims

3. Presentation of the marketing concept

4. Marketing conception and marketing measures

Elaboration of a marketing concept

The main focus is the implementation by way of concrete projects with different partners and companies.



Thank you for your attention

Documents

Leonardo da Vinci Thematic Group 2 Conference Institut für berufliche Bildung und EDV-Schulung Workshop Round 1: Involving SMEs Institut für berufliche