WERC

A practice based journal in the area learning and training in the workplace. We especially encourage submissions from practitioners of adult and workplace education from all workplaces. The purpose of the journal is to provide a forum for exchange of ideas between workplace trainers within and across different industries.

2001 Edition:

Papers should be submitted to The Editor, Dr Margaret Somerville, Program Director for Adult and Workplace Education, School of Professional Development and Leadership, UNE, Armidale.

Articles should generally follow the format of those already appearing in the journal. They should be approximately 3000 words long, 1 and 1/2 spaced and 12 point font in Times or Times New Roman. They should contain an introduction that explains the topic and your approach to it and a conclusion that summarises your main points. They should contain standard author, date referencing and observe all requirements of appropriate academic standards. The papers will be reviewed by two referees and then returned for revision if they are accepted for publication.

Massages, money and meals for taking calls in the bush

If you've always wanted catered lunches, massages, an in house gym and time during work hours to exercise - not to mention above award wages - then go bush to Outbacktown to XYZ Call Centre, new customer care centre. (Newspaper article June 2000)

I first heard about XYZ Call Centre when a trainer I used to work with phoned me. He said he was working with XYZ and that XYZ were thinking of starting up a call centre in Outbacktown and he had mentioned my name to a friend of his who was involved in the setup and to expect a phone call.

I met Claudette in a rented office space in town and discussed my work history and skills. Claudette said they intended to create something special in Outbacktown and wanted to employ great staff to be part of an exciting team. The work conditions would include massages, time during work hours to use the company gym (on premises) and catered lunches each day. She said they were hoping to create a unique culture that was a blend of IT and the friendliness of the country.

I had another interview with the Assistant General Manager, Janine and Claudette in a local café and they got down to the details of the position they thought would suit me. This involved being a Product Trainer for the call centre, teaching staff about the products they would sell - technical training courses. Everything sounded fantastic, in fact almost too good to be true, opportunities like this just didn't exist in Outbacktown. I had never thought I would be able to work in the IT industry again and live in the country.

Then we discussed wages and Claudette said that obviously because the call centre was in the country wages would not be as high as you would expect for the same position in a city and that no-one in the call centre would be on high wages. I was offered $30,000 to work full-time, 50 hours a week but the wage of course would be offset by the excellent working conditions and environment and the fantastic job. I turned them down and wished them luck. The job itself sounded great but the financial incentives and the hours just didn't sit well with a house mortgage and two small children that I valued my time with.

"Our philosophy has always been very simple. Success starts with training, development, loyalty and commitment from your staff - the very team that provide the front line support to your customers. It isn't just about having a gym or giving massages, it's how you bring it all together to create a great environment your (staff and ultimately) customers will benefit from. (Newspaper article June 2000)

Outbacktown is a rural town in NSW. It has a population of approximately 8,500 people. Most of the employment in the region centres around farming; irrigated farming, Outbacktown is one of the largest rice growing regions in the Southern Hemisphere, and dryland farming such as cereal crops, sheep and cattle.

XYZ Call Centre is an Information Technology (IT) technical training provider. There are over 130 staff in seven locations, including all mainland capitals plus Outbacktown. The business focuses on providing technical computer training for the corporate sector.

In 1999 XYZ decided to re-locate their call centre from Sydney. Rental space in the Sydney was increasing in cost and the space occupied at that time by the call centre would raise more revenue for XYZ as training rooms. XYZ sought to take advantage of a recent federal government push towards the development of industries in rural areas and the funding available as a result. They gained thousands of dollars in funds from the Regional Development Board to help set up the call centre in Outbacktown. They sourced a building a couple of kilometers out of town for cheap rental. Virtually all of the staff were employed through the government traineeship scheme. This meant that government funding would cover most of the wages. Staff would develop valuable skills and gain Certificate III in Communications and other training. The other benefit that XYZ saw in setting up in Outbacktown was the prospect of a consistant, stable workforce. A common problem within the IT industry is staff turnover and this had been an issue in the call centre in Sydney, call centre staff would leave for better job opportunities and more money. Staff turnover meant higher costs with retraining and general costs associated with employing staff.

To the larger Outbacktown community the move of the call centre to Outbacktown was seen as an extremely positive thing literally bringing Information Technology to the country. It generated some hope that the local youth would not necessarily need to leave town to further themselves or their careers. XYZ were offering traineeships, job security, a great work environment and a future. People couldn't wait to get out there.

Prospective staff underwent an intensive selection process including; Psychometric testing, phone call simulations, written tests and other recruitment exercises. The idea was to employ staff that would be able to meet the specialised requirements of a call centre and fit the right profile for suitable personality type; sales oriented, team player, good verbal skills, quick learner and basic computer skills. At the interview each person was told that XYZ planned on being in Outbacktown for a long time and would be investing a lot of time and money in training their staff and wanted people who would be committed to remaining with XYZ for the long haul. The new, exciting workplace that XYZ would be creating including massages, gym and catered meals was offered to the prospective staff as an added incentive to join.

Initially a core of eight staff were employed and trained for two months. They developed a basic understanding of the IT industry and where XYZ fitted into the picture, gained some knowledge of the product they would be selling (training courses) and phone skills. Outbound calls began in January, inbound calls in March and the centre was fully operational by July. The Minister for Local Government, Regional Development and Rural Affairs officially opened the call centre in July.

Two of my students from TAFE, Jerry and Alan, were in the initial intake of staff at XYZ. It seemed the hype was true, they were extremely happy with their jobs. The other staff were in the 18-25 age group like them it was a cool place to work, they got fantastic lunches, a massage each fortnight, and they were looking fitter from working out in the gym, at least three times a week, and eating well.

I visited them. The building is a couple of kilometers out of town, it looks industrial and was actually purpose built for an electricity company. The call centre takes up the front portion of the building. There is security card access at the front door and you have to buzz to get in. The first thing you notice is a huge fish tank that takes up one wall on the left hand side of the foyer and then a display wall of course flyers. The whole office is painted beige, with occasional variations of darker or lighter beige.

As you walk through the foyer you come to the actual call centre. It too is beige. The area is open plan with a wall of windows and double doors looking out onto a small courtyard with a large fountain, white gravel and pot plants. The staff work in pods, groups of four desks joined together in an "X" shape. Despite the sterile nature of the environment some of the staff had individualised their desks, Jerry's was a shrine to Kylie Minogue complete with calendars, posters, screen savers. He also had a huge collection of McDonald's Snoopy characters arrayed along the top of the pod divider. Leah another staff member had buddha images, flowers and incense.

First week, exposure big time to Corporate side of XYZ. Flew to Sydney, stayed at posh hotel all expenses paid. Meet General Manager over coffee within first 20 minutes in building. Given overview of company and my position. Sydney.. a blur - thrown in the deep end - cool, marketing culture, Manager, Web master and Sam - drinks after work, busy happening, different coloured walls of section and controversy. Going to exhibition, marketing stand, dress in hawaiian shirts, Elvis Blue Hawaii. Important to wear suits and corporate clothing to work. Friday I turn up and everyone in casual clothing - I stood out.

First day at work all over again. I arrived in my corporate clothing to find everyone in casual clothes because "no-one sees us and our only contact with customers is via the telephone". My position was a little different so I still wasn't sure whether to match the others or not. Definite groups, everyone much younger than me..am I going to fit in? So much XYZ-speak flying around, so many acronyms. I have tons of experience in IT and still have no idea what some of the language means.

This place is very obviously run and controlled by one personality. I can't help but think of a Mother hen gathering her chickens under her wings. Given overview of my position and responsibilities to call centre. Beginning to think that it was going to be interesting balancing two politically opposing forces, Marketing and Claudette . Each of the parts of this job sound like a full-time position in itself.

Email is the predominant method of communicating…Kindest regards..the correct way to end a message. I begin to figure out that apart from the brief overviews no-one is going to give me any other guidance with anything. I ask for feedback..am told it's regarded as hand-holding. Claudette says XYZ works on the basis that you do your job however you think best and if you make a mistake then they will let you know…I'm a bit uncomfortable with this..I notice the way that people are let know is not very constructive.

Everyone else works as part of a team, the Inbound Team, the Outbound Team, Admin..I am officially part of the Marketing Team in Sydney but have no team as such in Outbacktown…I am used to working with people..in my previous job I had the comradeship of the other teachers in the staff room...letting off steam talking over issues..having fun together..I had the classroom and my students and the people interaction. Here I have my computer, email and the occasional phone call with Sydney. Once I am here for a while it will get better.

I take to wearing Corporate clothes when in Sydney or at meetings in Outbacktown and wearing jeans and T-shirt most days for work..it feels strange. In 15 years of teaching dressing a bit more formally has been part of my feeling of being professional and caring about my job.

Lunchtime..12.30 everyone queues at the island bench in the kitchen and fills their plates with cold meat and salad and grab bowls of fresh fruit salad before it is gone. The food is basically the same every day. Everyone sits in groups eats fast and goes back to their desks. I don't feel like this allows much social interaction...it's hard to find out much about anyone or to establish any kind of relationship…

Ann is great, 21 straight out of teachers college, vibrant, funny we share packets of Mentos over the divide of our pod. I am near the window looking out onto the fountain, white gravel and the occasional huge truck that parks on the other side of the wall. I can see the tops of the gum trees way in the distance, the trucks but mostly blue sky and clouds. I gaze out there sometimes to get away from up to 10 hours looking at the computer screen. My hands ache, and I just want to get up and walk around, move.

Claudette has bought a stack of CD's I am an 80's girl but after the 100th time of the Best of the 80's…Dixie Chicks…and Jimmy Barnes, Jimmy Barnes..silence would be good. In the background.."Welcome to XYZ Call Centre, this is".how may I help you", .."Welcome to XYZ Call Centre, this is….how may I help you".."Welcome to XYZ Call Centre, this is".how may I help you".

The work is great I get to use lots of different software packages, update the Corporate website, rework the Certification charts and Course Outlines, Help Desk any questions the call centre staff can't answer…"when will this exam expire..is this course available yet…do we run this..why not?", work on Marketing projects, busy varied. The day goes so fast. My brain is so tired and my body is blobbing.

Head to the gym..Ann helps me to work out a routine and Helen, Ann and I work out a time that we can go in together a couple of times a week…doesn't always work out depending on how busy things are..at least in the gym we get to have some fun and talk to each other.

I am moving desks for the third time..Ann and I can't quite figure it out..there appears to be no reason why..Claudette later says it keeps everyone on their toes. I later notice that Claudette doesn't seem to like anyone to form friendships..I've never worked anywhere quite like this before.

"Basically, organizational culture is the personality of the organization. Culture is comprised of the assumptions, values, norms and tangible signs (artifacts) of organization members and their behaviours. Members of an organization soon come to sense the particular culture of an organization. Culture is one of those terms that's difficult to express distinctly, but everyone knows it when they sense it." (McNamara 1999).

I am beginning to sense the culture of the call centre…and am increasingly more uncomfortable..the staff are great it's not that..

I move desks 16 times in 9 months. My second last place is in the fishbowl, at least I can't hear the phones...I play my own music..I work flat out on the website, conduct Product training, customising marketing documentation and researching new courses. Claudette is strange, very hot and cold. One day she comes into my office, and after a brief conversation…"what is up with you?"…sits on my desk and leans over me so that I am physically cornered, her back is to the fishtank. She leans over me and puts her face up near mine.."you're competing with me, you're competing with me aren't you, you're trying to compete with me". What is she talking about, why is she doing this? She is angry. No, I'm not competing with you I just want to do my job, do it well and go home to my family, I have no interest in competing with you.. why are you doing this?

I am given instructions on what to do, the next day when I am half way through the work…things change…I work on the new changes…I finish the work… Claudette says I've decided to do this differently…this happens a lot.

I attend a meeting to discuss a project with the Assistant General Manager and Claudette …she attacks me…later she meets me in my office and tells me she set me up on purpose…she says this is her job and no-one will get past her...if they do she will leave but for now she wants to be clear this is her company. It eventually dawns on me…it should have sooner…she perceives me as a threat..

I have increasingly more run ins with Claudette ...I don't want to go to work anymore...I try hard to keep working on my projects…I find myself rocking in my chair crying, the screen blurs… I go home. I don't feel like myself anymore.

"I have come up with a solution, I don't think you'll like it…you will work 3 days a week from now on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. I work Saturdays and I will sit with you on Saturdays and help you plan your work and supervise you."

I go on leave at Christmas, I don't want to go back, I have never felt like this before in my life…I talk to my previous employer, they would love to have me back…if I don't have work we might lose our house, my husband tries to find work…it's scarce in Outbacktown…I hang in..

I go on a course at the XYZ training centre in Melbourne…" what are you doing here I heard you had left XYZ.." this is repeated by three other people…what is going on?

I return to Outbacktown…I get an email..I am only working 2 days a week now…"on Fridays you will meet with me and I will go through what you have done and what you will do and when"….fuck this…I am not a child…I realise I am being pushed to leave but am beyond caring anymore...my sanity is worth more than this…

Claudette can I see you for a moment…"yes of course"….I would like to resign…"ok" I start to talk…"no need to make excuses, the resignation is enough [smile]" No I want to say this it's not an excuse…..

…I begin to cry…she pats my hand…"it's ok to get a bit upset, it's quite common when you feel you have been undermined and setup, you'll get over it once you're gone" I shake my head in disbelief…I have never met anyone like this before in my life. I leave and am so relieved but upset and feel like I've been emotionally punched out.

"In reality, what management pays attention to and rewards is often the strongest indicator of the organization's culture. This is often quite different than the values it verbalizes or the ideals it strives for." (Hagberg/Heifetz 2000)

I still remember going to the XYZ Orientation for two days in Sydney, I was so impressed by the company, the corporate ideals, we met the Managing Director, he seemed like a great guy, he spoke of "us" as his family. The XYZ Corporate brochure we received had a blurb in the front…

"What is important to me is that our staff want to come to work in the morning, our customers want to do business with us and we continue to attract industry standard, market leading suppliers to XYZ." Managing Director XYZ

I definitely didn't want to come to work in the morning and I felt betrayed by the Corporate spiel, the official line of the corporation said one thing and the day to day reality was something totally different.

The workplace culture of McDonald’s Swan Hill

Workplace culture may be described as: ‘The collection of unwritten rules, codes of behaviour and norms by which people operate; ‘how we do things around here’.’ (Cole 2001:791). In a similar manner, Sergiovanni defined ‘school culture’ in the following way:

School culture includes values, symbols, beliefs, and shared meanings of parents, students, teachers and others … the "stuff" of culture included a school’s customs and traditions; historical accounts; stated and unstated understandings; habits, norms, and expectations; common meanings and shared assumptions. (Sergiovanni 1984:9)

Jack M. Greenberg who is the Chairman and CEO of the United States McDonald’s Corporation wrote the following:

The culture and heritage of our business – our brand, our behaviours, and our values – are the foundation for achieving vision. Together, they define who we are and we act at McDonald’s. And because of the strength of our culture, we have the confidence to make dramatic changes within our strategies of people, operational excellence, and growth for all those who invest in McDonald’s. (Greenberg 2000:6)

It is this type of workplace culture described by Cole, Sergiovanni and Greenberg above that I will describe and analyse herein.

The workplace I have chosen to complete this assignment on is McDonald’s restaurant in Swan Hill. Swan Hill is a horticultural based town approximately three hundred and fifty kilometres from Melbourne. I was involved in the development of Swan Hill McDonald’s Restaurant since its opening in September 1995. As an assistant manager and then restaurant manager, I have always been amazed by the culture change that we strived so hard to achieve. Before I analyse the culture of McDonald’s Swan Hill, I will provide a little background about McDonald’s culture.

McDonald’s as a company has had a colourful history that has developed the culture associated with the Fast Food chain today. In 1937 the McDonald’s brothers Richard and Maurice opened the first McDonald’s restaurant in America. It was a freestanding business that offered until then an unthought of concept. Quick, Cheap food that is mass-produced and customers could be served in their cars. The main items they then sold were beef or pork burgers, fries and drinks. The restaurants were set up differently to the restaurants of the time, with open kitchens the customers could see right through, and counters with many operational cash registers. The McDonald’s brothers were amazed with the success of their business and they kept trying to create ways to expand and increase their business at this store.

McDonald’s began selling milk shakes and soon found they could not keep up to the demand, they began looking at equipment to make milk shakes with. Eventually they found an interstate company owned by Ray Kroc, that sold multi mixers. These machines mixed eight milk shakes at once, the brothers ordered six. Ray Kroc was in awe of the fact that one fast food outlet could possible need six of his milti mixers, he decided to take a trip to meet the McDonald’s brothers. His comments to the brothers were: ‘My God, I’ve been standing over there looking at it but I can’t believe it, … Some way, I’ve got to be involved in this." (Love 1988:29) Ray Kroc was a man of extraordinary vision, once he saw this restaurant he imagined a chain of these restaurants and convinced the two brothers to sell them the licence to run the company. Ray Kroc began with McDonald’s on the 2nd of March 1955, now ‘McDonald’s is the largest owner of retail property in the world’ (Love 1988:01)

In the early days of McDonald’s, the company was totally run by men. The first women began working in a restaurant in the mid 1960’s in the town of Elkhart.

Females were only allowed to work on the front counter, traditionally seen as a position suitable for a female. The first female to enter management was in 1974. ‘Today, McDonald’s crews are 57 percent female, and fully 40 percent of all stores are managed by women’ (Love 1988:294)

McDonald’s now has over twenty eight thousand restaurants worldwide, 756 in Australia, and employees approximately 56,000 people in Australia alone. The first restaurant was opened in Sydney in 1971. McDonald’s Swan Hill currently employees 65 crew members, approximately seventy-five precent of these people are females, and this has been an ongoing factor since the restaurants opening. Swan Hill McDonald’s aims at having between 4 or 6 fully trained managers with the restaurant manager supervising their actions and training. Until recently all the managers in the restaurant have been female although they currently have one male working as a manager in the restaurant. This percentage of females is higher than most McDonald’s restaurants.

As the company develops the original benchmark standards are continually lifted and stretched. Currently Australia is known as the country with the best McDonald’s restaurants. In McDonald’s home country America, morale among workers is currently very low. As a direct result of this they have a lot of trouble attracting quality employees. This American decline in morale is due to factors that have developed overtime, including low pay rates, lack of training, poor management and high employee turnover. McDonald’s Australia has had the advantage of watching and learning from this decline in restaurant workplace culture and is attempting to ensure they don’t make the same mistakes. McDonald’s believe that customer satisfaction is a direct reflection of the workplace culture of the restaurant.

McDonald’s Australia’s core values are Quality, Service, Cleanliness and Value. These core values are the heart of McDonald’s culture and recruiting, training, staffing levels, performance standards and recognition is based around delivering and reinforcing these values to the customers. Every month an operations consultant from McDonald’s head office grades each restaurant by it cleanliness, service, quality of food and value for money. Six of these visits are announced and six of the visits are unannounced to ensure that each restaurant strives to maintain the best standards possible. In addition to this most McDonald’s restaurants participate in an independent company that completes unannounced ‘Secret Shopper’ visits to each store three times per month. These visits can be conducted at any stage in the month and the results are published on a monthly Australia wide. They are judged in three categories - cleanliness, service and quality of product sold. Workplace culture and pride is often based around the results each individual restaurant and employee in that restaurant receives. However this does depends on how management recognise their staff’s positive performances and handle those which require corrective feedback. McDonald’s vision as defined by Jack Greenberg the current McDonald’s Chairman and CEO is ‘our vision is to be the world’s best quick service restaurant experience’. (Greenberg 2000:1)

McDonald’s Swan Hill has recently been judged by McDonald’s Australia’s independent auditors, as the best restaurant in Australia for cleanliness, service and quality of product sold. It also has an extremely different workplace culture and training program to most McDonald’s restaurants. ‘Workplace culture and work environment are directly effected by the quality of training in the workplace.’ (Docker 1988:136) This has been clearly established in McDonald’s Swan Hill by the licensee and management team.

The McDonald’s culture encourages the licensees (owner operators) to do many things the company’s way. This is how over the years McDonald’s has developed a culture for consistency with their customers, employees and suppliers. All licensees must order all supplies from the same supply companies, they must install the company-specified equipment, and use the specified cleaning chemicals. Licensees must attend all training sessions, marketing meetings and conferences, they must also supply complete sales data each week to the McDonald’s corporation. Employees and managers must wear the company-specified uniforms, sign the company-specified contracts and comply with the company’s policies and procedures, and job descriptions. (Failure for a licensee to comply with these specifications may result in them having their franchise licence revoked by the company.) By following the encouraged guidelines licensees will begin to develop their restaurants workplace culture to the company’s standard ways of operation and restaurant culture.

McDonald’s Swan Hill is separated geographically from other restaurants. Due to this geographical separation a subculture has formed from the normal McDonald’s culture, whilst this culture is probably not noticeable to the average customer, the restaurant believes it is what has allowed them to achieve recognition as the best McDonald’s restaurant in Australia. The employees and managers have taken the best points from the already excellent McDonald’s culture and improved others, especially employee innovation and ownership, training, and all aspects of communication. All of the core values unique to the McDonald’s culture have been kept.

Particular attention is paid to crew needs and comfort within McDonald’s Swan Hill. Change rooms are clean and attractive. The crew room has a television, microwave and ironing board in case a uniform needs touching up prior to work. A separate area for smokers is provided. Maximums of twenty employees are able to roster time off prior to rosters being completed per day. If once the roster is completed they need to change their shift they can complete this through a shift swap system. All staff are provided with a discount card which is able to be used at any McDonald’s restaurant in Australia. This card also enables staff to access discounts and special offers at many other motels, music shops, clothing shops and even insurance companies. All of these basic points above ensure the employees are comfortable and happy in their work environment and therefore the culture remains positive.

McDonald’s Swan Hill has a very strong policy on continuous improvement and innovation. They ensure that all employees feel they can make suggestions to improve their conditions, sales performance, cost effectiveness and customer satisfaction at any time. Some examples of employee creativity are shown by staff who designed customer loyalty cards where regular customers present a card on every visit, every five visits they receive a special food item for free to complement their meal. Staff also decided that there was a lack of ambience in drive thru and organised artists to paint murals of McDonald’s characters throughout the drive thru section of the restaurant. Management ensures the ownership of special projects or new initiatives always remains with the employee who suggested the idea. This person is then recognised by their peers as the idea is implemented. By the ownership of the idea remaining with the employee, staff morale is improved and ideas are more freely provided as they are taken seriously.

Numerous field trips are also planned per year to benchmark other excellent McDonald’s restaurants and also competition restaurant chains. Two car loads of employees normally attend these day long trips with management support, as a result of these trips action plans are written up by the employees and presented to management for implementation. Employees feel very involved in the decision making in the restaurant and are supported by their managers. There is a creative, innovative feel to the restaurant intermixed with good stable working procedures and control. The employees work hard as they are working in their restaurant and they are very productive as measured in sales dollars per crew hour.

The licensee, Dr John Docker places a huge emphasis on training in the workplace. This is probably due to him completing a Phd. in Staff Development and understanding the enormous benefits of outstanding training and its positive effect on workplace culture. Most McDonald’s restaurants only conduct in store training. If Nationally Accredited training is run in conjunction with McDonald’s training department acting as the registered training organisation, the restaurants will send their employees to the McDonald’s training centre located in a capital city. As the Swan Hill Restaurant is in a regional centre, four hours from the nearest capital city, the parents and students didn’t feel secure if travelling is involved. Also the majority of employees are under eighteen so transportation to the training is also difficult if the venue is outside the town. Therefore the training program that is currently in-place at McDonald’s Swan Hill is a self-dependent module. It does not rely on outside providers or registered training organisations completing any of the employees training, as managers are empowered to study and teach the subject modules to the students, who are enrolled with an registered training organisation. The training program offered has a structured off floor training program of three hours per month, supplemented by on floor training.

Most McDonald’s stores will have their full time employees fully crossed trained in all areas of the restaurant and their casual employees trained in one area for example the kitchen or front counter. McDonald’s Australia offers very little Nationally recognised training except for management staff in the restaurants. McDonald’s Swan Hill offers training programs of Certificate II and III in retail Operations, Certificate IV and Diploma in Frontline Management. Currently twenty two crew are doing Certificate II in Retail Operations, twenty eight have completed Certificate II and are currently doing Certificate III in Retail Operations, twelve are completing the Diploma in Frontline Management. Due to this training and the imbalance of male and female staff there is not the usual segregation according to gender. Many McDonald’s restaurants and other fast food outlets will have the majority of their counter staff female and kitchen staff male. This follows the unwritten corporate pattern formed in 1968, when it was stated that when rostering crew to ‘Bear in mind that certain jobs, such as the grill, requires far more stamina than most women possess’ (Love 1988:294). In McDonald’s Swan Hill gender are mixed in all areas of the restaurant.

When an employee gains employment at McDonald’s Swan Hill they are usually already aware of the training offered. There are two forms of training that is undertaken, on the job and off the job and the restaurant managers teach these classes. We find that the males working in the restaurant have a lower attendance rate at the off the job training sessions than the female employees, as a result they take longer to gain the qualifications in general than the females. This may be due to an underlying culture in the town, where males are expected to complete physical occupations rather than an academic field. As a result even the smallest amount of non-compulsory training is seen as a drawback or weakness of character. Particular management attention is paid to this issue.

Swan Hill has two main secondary schools, one is a catholic school and the other a state school. When the restaurant first opened in 1995, seventy percent of the employees, still at school, were attending the state school. Since they introduced the Nationally Recognised Qualifications, over time this balance has changed to eighty percent of our employees attending the catholic school. This simple change has drastically effected the restaurants’ workplace culture and the type of people who they receive job applications from. Prior to the restaurant offering Certificate II and III in Retail Operations, working whilst at school was discouraged by both teachers and parents at the Catholic school. Now that all of the employees have a chance to complete national workplace training qualifications, parents, students and teachers at the Catholic school all see McDonald’s as the preferred workplace in Swan Hill. McDonald’s is now seen as the preferred option in the casual labour market when compared to Safeway, KFC or BiLo, because of higher casual salaries paid and their training program. In addition McDonald’s Swan Hill listens to their employees and rosters them at a suitable time.

McDonald’s Swan Hill capitalises on the above issues in the community with media releases and a Gala Dinner Presentation with parents, friends and employees attending. So much emphasis is placed on attendance and recognition at this evening, the restaurant imports employees to run the store from other McDonald’s restaurants over two hours away. Distinguished community leaders present all certificates. Everything is done to enhance the public image of the restaurant operations within the community. Employees organise the dinner and form a committee on a voluntary basis. These employees place a huge amount of work into the dinner being a success and are always proud of their achievements. Management ensures that each and every employee is recognised for at least one positive achievement during the award night. The awards range from completion of their Certificates in Retail Operations to team awards and work-related personal achievements. Management and restaurant achievements are also recognised on this evening. The McGala Dinner is an annual social event which has a large impact on workplace culture, recognition and pride of employees at McDonald’s Swan Hill.

As Swan Hill is a country town without a local university most young people leave after completing their year 12. Due to this eighty- percent of the restaurants staff are between the ages of fifteen to eighteen years old. The restaurant has found since introducing the Certificates II and III in Retail Operations the retention rate of employees, who would usually continue to tertiary study and leave Swan Hill, has increased by twenty percent. Employees now see a career path within McDonald’s Swan Hill, and regard it as more than a casual job. Some see it as a far better career path in business and staff can have saved $100 000 and have an Advanced Diploma within three to four years. This compares very favourably in doing degree study in a city area where students will pay approximately $15,000 per year on travel, accommodation and living away from home costs and still have money owing as a result of HECS at the end of the degree. All work is taken very seriously on shift with regular assessments and performance reviews completed every six months, as a minimum, on all employees. Employees who fail to comply with stringent standards will be provided with three chances to improve their job compliance. On the other hand employees who achieve the performance outcomes are recognised for their efforts regularly. Excellent performance is recognised in a variety of ways depending on the task. An employee who performs at an outstanding standard constantly will be promoted, financial incentives are also offered for a one hundred percent score on a secret shopper report and people who break individual records such as the amount of money taken over counter in an hour will win a television. Verbal positive feedback is always provided in front of other employees for excellent performance.

In McDonald’s Swan Hill the managers much prefer to work in harmony than conflict and clearly spell out all expectations of employees shortly after their employment.

All employees who work at McDonald’s have very high expectations placed on them. Initial training is very detailed. After the initial training usually of three shifts the employee is assessed in their competence on the station. If they are assessed as competent they will them be rostered to work on the station during non-rush periods until they are fully confident. The employees will then be regularly tested on their job performance unannounced. This is to ensure standards remain high and the training has been completed correctly by the trainer. If an employee’s work standards drop it is taken as an extremely serious issue, as it effects the whole team of employees in the restaurant. An example of this is if a person working on cooking meat on the grill is feeling tired and working slowly. All kitchen staff will be waiting on this person, the person holds up the production line, and food will get cold whilst waiting for the meat to cook. The employees working on the counter and drive thru will be unable to serve their customers efficiently due to the product not being ready for the customers. Routine non-compliance to the systems procedures may result in dismissal.

Currently all of the managers in McDonald’s Swan Hill have a close relationship with the employees. The restaurant has an open-door policy, this means that if any employee has a difficulty in the restaurant they are able to speak with any manager they feel comfortable with. All managers as a result are trained in handling counselling sessions and resolving employee grievances. Employees in need are supported wherever possible by management and their fellow employees. At all times a ‘them versus us’ work culture between employees and managers is avoided. Whilst managers in McDonald’s attend many formal training courses their role in the restaurant is very hands on. Managers are expected to work alongside the employees during all rush periods and be easily assessable to their employees. These expectations create an open atmosphere and culture within the staff.

What I have attempted to outline here is that the McDonald’s Corporation has a rich history that has developed a strong workplace culture. While this has set a pattern for McDonald’s Swan Hill, this restaurant has further developed a unique culture. It has developed its codes of behaviours and norms by which people operate. The restaurant has a clear mandate of how to do things in their workplace. It is a special workplace and is currently reaping the rewards of staff and management’s hard work. The achievements of the restaurant in the independent GAP buster secret shopper judging speak for themselves, number one in Victoria in 1999, and number 1 in Australia 2000. These achievements are unlikely in a workplace where employee ownership, empowerment and training are not encouraged and workplace culture is not positive, open and happy. All of the ideas that I have described and analysed above relate and reinforce the three quotes on workplace culture by Cole, Sergiovanni and Greenberg.

A description and analysis of workplace culture at the Southern Mines Rescue Station, New South Wales.

This paper will describe and analyse the work place cultures of the Mines Rescue Service New South Wales (hereafter ‘the service’) and specifically the Southern Mines Rescue Station (hereafter ‘SMRS’), located in the Illawarra region of NSW. Workplace culture within the Service has developed from long established practices, procedures, policies, systems, beliefs and values. This Service is strongly linked to the coalmining industry and also to the many underground mining disasters that have occurred over the last 100 years. Before the current workplace cultures and customs are described and analysed the historical aspects of underground mining disasters will be examined.

From 1882 to 1996 there have been 28 major mining disasters in Australian coalmines, resulting in a total of 438 fatalities and many more injured (Pitzer 2000). Public opinion coupled with political, industrial and union pressure resulted in the NSW Mines Rescue Act 1925 and subsequently the establishment in 1926 of four Mines Rescue Stations to cover the four coal producing districts in NSW.

WHAT IS THE MINES RESCUE SERVICE NSW?

The Mines Rescue Service of New South Wales (NSW) has a primary function of emergency response for the NSW coalmining industry. In this capacity we provide resources to assist with rescue, control or recovery operations at a mine following an incident. The secondary functions are that of training providers of industrial and OH&S training programs. We can assist our customers with training needs analysis and design, develop and deliver training programs to suit their needs.

CULTURES OF THE SERVICE

GLOBAL HISTORY

It is not possible to determine the total number of mineworkers killed in mining disasters worldwide. In the USA it is estimated that 13,000 miners have been killed during the last 200 years. Worldwide, the figures could be in excess of 100,000 people. In Australia it is estimated that 6,000 people have lost their lives in mining accidents (Sydney 2000 safety conference participant’s notes). As a result, numerous countries have established a Mine Rescue Service with the culture of training experienced mine workers to respond to an underground mine emergency with the aim of saving life and restoring safe conditions in the mines. These countries include Australia, USA, Canada, South Africa, China and many European countries. In order to exchange information regarding mines rescue procedures, technology and equipment a number of conferences have been conducted both within Australia and overseas. The Service supports these events and we have a culture of sending delegates to these conferences. Mines Rescue Service NSW are highly regarded as leaders in this field and our personnel are often requested to present research and technical papers.

ANALYSIS

It was recognised many years ago that creating networking and maintaining best practices is very important because of our remote location when compared to the rest of the world. The benefits are an opportunity to develop research and exchange initiatives with these countries, in order to improve rescue and escape capabilities and best training practices.

REGIONAL RESCUE STATIONS

The four Mines Rescue Stations located in NSW have similar core cultures. These similarities include standardised uniforms, logos, management teams, equipment, procedures, systems, guidelines, industrial awards and working conditions.

The standardisation of our core cultures reflect that we work for the same organisation and this consistency allows for exchange of personnel between the four stations as required.

SOUTHERN MINES RESCUE STATION (SMRS)

The SMRS is located in the northern suburbs of Wollongong on 1.5 hectares of land and was established in 1926. The buildings and ground has a historical atmosphere and project an established organisation entrenched in tradition. A large sign erected in the front lawn advertises the station and promotes our role of providers of quality industrial training (refer to photo number 20 in portfolio).

There is also a coal skip (wagon) located near the main entrance, which signifies our association with the local coalmining industry. The station consists of administration offices, 5 lecture rooms, a simulated mine training gallery, both indoor and outdoor fire fighting facilities and other training equipment and facilities around the property. The hallway within the main building is lined with old photo of past managers, personnel, vehicles and equipment. Photos of winning rescue teams who competed in local mines rescue competition are also displayed in one of the main training rooms. The rescue station has a four vehicle garage which houses 2 emergency vehicle with first response emergency equipment and two mini buses

This site has been a training facility for 75 years. It is a landmark that is well recognised in the Illawarra and thousands of people have pass though our doors. The grounds are well maintained, the equipment is regularly serviced ready for use and the training facilities enhances learning. The organisation has an emergency response capability and maintains a culture of readiness for active service.

RECRUITMENT AND SELECTION

Over the past three years three managers have left the service after a short time. Their reasons have been that they are furthering their careers in main steam mining. One manger made the comment that ‘he felt he was a round peg in a square hole’. This reflects their inability to change and fit into the current cultures.

The last two training officers employed at the SMRS had to satisfy a set criteria with respect to past work history, experience and qualifications. Unknown to them, they were also assessed on their suitability to fit into the cultures already established at this site. The applicants were assessed by their knowledge and understanding of current workplace practices, values and beliefs of the Service.

Matching the new employee with current work practices, attitudes and cultures were considered important by the interviewing panel to ensure smooth transition by the perspective applicant and the efficient running of the business.

STANDBY CULTURE

A culture that is unique to the Service is the standby function, where personnel have responsibilities outside of normal working hours. Those on standby initiate the emergency response to a mine following an incident or disaster. Two officers are rostered for standby duties from 3. 00 pm to 7.30 am on weekdays and from 3.00 pm Friday to 7.30 am Monday on weekends and public holidays. Those rostered for standby duty must remain within 20 km of the Rescue Station.

The standby function of the Service is one that is viewed as essential by the Station employees and the local mining industry. However, personnel rostered onto standby have restrictions on what they can do and where they can go. For example, officers must remain under 0.05 alcohol limit as they may be required to drive an emergency vehicle and assist in the management of an incident. Often, the standby function can create stress and pressure on personnel and their families with the thought that an incident could occur anytime day or night. The standby arrangements are an important cultural aspect of the Service.

LEARNING THE CULTURE OF OUR COURSE PARTICIPANTS

At the beginning of a training session our trainers are trained to use icebreaker techniques to relax participants and set the scene for effective learning. One important aspect of this activity is to learn the work cultures of the participants and use this information during the session to relate and motivate the group.

By learning these cultures our trainers are better equipped to understand any concerns of the individuals, care for any learning difficulties and relate the training material back to their workplaces.

THE WORK GROUP

This work group consists of 6 full time employees, 1 part time gardener/maintenance person and 1 part time female office clerk who works every Friday. The full time members have all worked in the local mines. The work group is predominately male, a culture that has been maintained since the inception of the Mines Rescue Service.

The staff classifications were originally superintendent, instructor and full time corps. The re-structuring of the mines rescue service, which occurred in 1990 changed the titles to manager, training co-ordinator and training officer. This better suits the type of work that we do and also generates a more professional image. The culture of using trained personnel from the local mines has also been generated from the past. To date we maintain 85 brigadesmen which will provides 12 rescue teams in the event of an emergency. The under-representation of female employees in the work group has also influences the culture of the organisation.

NICKNAMES OF THE INDIVIDUALS

A culture of the mining industry and the Service is the practice of giving nicknames. Some nicknames of the individuals at the SMRS are:

Boof head or boof	he is big, loud and wild
Master Bate (Masturbate)	rhymes with his last name
Deak	short for his last name
Bindy	an annoying little weed that gets under your feet
Mirrors or vomit	when dealing with an issue he will look into it or he will bring it up at the next meeting
Smudge	a little black mark
Grass killer	Bill the gardener
Sash	short for her first name

It is our culture to use both first names and nicknames to each other. This creates a more informal and friendly atmosphere. When the proper name is used (eg Phillip instead of Phil) this may reflect that a more serious issue is about to be raised or because we have a visitor on site. The language used is often framed in a humorous manner and also reflects a highly masculine culture.

HISTORY AND EXPERIENCE OF THE WORK GROUP

A pre-requisite for employment at the SMRS is that employees must have underground coalmining experience, have mines rescue training and can demonstrate experience and an interest in workplace training. This criteria for employment has been in place for 75 years. The six full-time employees have combined mining experience in excess of 140 years and mines rescue experience in excess of 120 years. Their mining experience includes production, maintenance, engineering and supervision. Their qualifications cover machine operator, trades, mining engineering and statutory qualifications to be a mine official. The full-time employees also have extensive experience in workplace training and assessment.

Mining experience is critical when our Service is called out to assist at a mine incident and local knowledge of particular underground coal mines is advantageous. There is not time to explain to an inexperienced person how a coal mine operates. Because of our employees direct knowledge of the local mines, including their layout, safety systems and personnel, we are equipped with the knowledge needed to successfully conduct emergency procedures. Without such knowledge and experience the effectiveness of our emergency operations would be compromised. Workplace training experience is also essential to the functions of the Service. That is, our employees conduct training courses and practical exercises for mine workers and for external clients. Our staff are required to design, deliver and assess training modules and a certain level of expertise in adult education and training is needed.

SPECIALISED UNIFORM AND LANGUAGE

The uniform worn by the employees of SMRS generates a very professional image. We are usually conscious of our appearance and we follow the service’s dress code.

However, there are a number of dress styles adopted depending on the nature of the day’s work. These dress styles include a formal business shirt and trousers, a less formal collared shirt with long trousers, overalls or shorts and T shirts. Each style includes the Service logo embroided on the top left hand side of shirts and T shirts.

By observing the clothes worn by SMRS personnel one can quickly reveal what they will be doing on that day:

If our customers are from the mining sector it is our culture to converse with them using coal mining jargon. This reinforces our link with the local mines. If however our customers are outside the mining industry we tend to use non-coal mining terms. Example: mine employees have an understanding of the term " crib and crib room"out side of the coal industry we are conscious of using the term "lunch and lunch room".

Using mining terminology to mine employees results in better communications because we are speaking their language. Using this same terminology to other groups tends to create communication barriers. We have found from experience that using customers language and relating to their work place culture results in better relationships and motivation of the group.

SOCIAL CULTURES

During the shift the majority of the employees have morning tea and crib breaks together in a central crib room. During these breaks very heated debates and an expression of ones point of view can occur. Topics of conversation can include (but are not limited to) politics, sex, drugs, drinking bouts, music, industrial relations, personal revelations and past work experiences. Located in the crib room is one large table and 8 chairs. It is customary that each person has their own chair and position at the table. This is unwritten, however, if that chair is used by someone else, they will quickly be told to vacate the chair or else.

These informal communications and social interaction is a culture that has continued for many decades at the Rescue Station. It is here that past cultures, customs, practices, stories and humour are relayed to new member and visitors. Working and social relationships are formed, modified or strengthened. Any personal or work related issues can be discussed and often friction can be resolved.

To encourage and promote mines rescue skills we conduct an annual mines rescue competition. At the completion of this event there is a presentation dinner, which involves the brigadesmen and their families or partners. This event has been conducted for the past 41 years.

This annual social event is important to the participants and their families as it acts as an un-winder following the day of competitive activities. It also helps to diffuse the concerns of families as they can see first hand that their husband or partner, if ever involved at a mine emergency, will be surrounded by competent and well trained people. The event also strengthens the bond between the various teams of brigadesmen and helps creates comradeship.

TRAINING CULTURES

The Service has a culture of providing internal training for our officers and usually occurs four times during the year. This internal training covers equipment maintenance, instructional and assessing skills, management and supervision.

The concept of internal training was introduced in 1990 in order to develop our employees onto training levels ranging from level 1 (new employee) to level 5 (training co-ordinator). This internal training has achieved a more professional and well-trained workforce who now have the confidence to stand in front of a training group and deliver effective training.

INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS

It is interesting to note that of the six employees, the manager is not a member of a trade union, the two training co-ordinators are members of the Colliery Staff Association and the three training officers are members of the United Mineworkers of Australia. That is, we have two unions on our site. This situation causes interesting outcomes when industrial issues are raised. Discussions can develop into the ‘us and them’ attitude and these issues can be difficult to resolve.

UNION LODGE

Another traditional culture of the coalmining industry is the formation of a union lodge. The union lodge otherwise known as a union branch is established at each mine site to deal with industrial issues affecting its members. The lodge has an elected president and secretary and represents the members on site.

Following on with this culture, the SMRS also has a lodge, total number of three and they conduct union business in their bathroom (locker room). It is a culture that no other rescue station staff enters the bathroom while these sessions are in progress.

The culture of the union lodge also has historical beginnings and the three members feel that this is important to maintain because it links them with the main mining union.

CONCLUSION

This paper has described and analysed the workplace culture of the Southern Mines Rescue Station and has suggested that the culture is based on historical underpinnings of the coalmining industry. The four regional Stations have similar core cultures and this is reflected in the language used, uniforms worn, and management systems employed.

It was identified that the standby function impacts considerably on the workplace culture because employees are expected to maintain a state of readiness for active service in the event of mine emergency.

In conclusion, it is the opinion of the author that the recent development of a program of internal training has established a foundation or framework for continual improvement. The workplace culture of the Station now values expertise in adult education and training and this will influence the quality of the training programs provided to customers in the future.

REFERENCES

Working at Coastal Community House

This essay attempts to describe and offer likely explanations for the current culture of my present workplace. The essay is written in the first person, offering the reader a glimpse of what working within the framework of a smaller community education provider might be like.

In describing the culture of Coastal Community House (CCC), I have elaborated on the physical setting and the people. It is the blend of both these that influence the culture. Mixed amongst the heritage listed and holiday houses are a combination of lifelong residents and newer arrivals seeking a "sea change". The long-term residents are feeling like their values and town is being overtaken by city dwellers with more money and modern ideas. In many ways, this is also demonstrative of what my workplace culture is experiencing.

For more than ten years CCC has been set back with minimal signage from the main shopping precinct, behind a local kindergarten. The lack of signage has been testimony to the ideals of the original working group that founded it some eleven years ago. Signage was not a priority then, as the group of women who used it knew where it was located. This collective of women shared common stresses of living in a small coastal town with no family or childcare available. They petitioned successfully to persuade the local council to let them renovate the small stationmasters house which was then, derelict.

CCC began as a small childcare operation, run by volunteers and unpaid professional staff. Founded and run by women it had the stigma of being known around town as the women’s refuge. Many aspects of the original culture of this workplace remain. It caters mainly for women, has a large childcare support focus, and has operated largely without structure or strict guidelines within day to day operations.

The present operational dynamics are a mix of committee and staff who work as cohesively as possible under an outdated organizational framework. The framework is outdated by current workplace standards, as it is run by a professionally unskilled voluntary committee of management (COM). The committee is replaced with newly elected faces every twelve months. The COM is still following a mission statement set eleven years ago. The original handwritten ideals became a mission statement five years ago in order to meet requirements to obtaining government funding. Until recently, the executive of the committee need not have had any formal skills to bring to these positions. It is on these foundations all programs running from CCC operate.

The culture of the current COM is to operate on a very soft line of management. The committee members are not required to be involved in any day to day operation of the building, need not regularly attend meetings and do not get involved in any staff or user issues. They remain wholly a working group of caretakers for their term. There are no staff reviews, minimal staff monitoring processes and the culture of the original working group still governs on the belief that everyone involved is doing their very best for the local community. Predominately the COM has a strong female contingent. Over the past couple of years, unemployed men have been persuaded by the current house co-ordinator to serve on the committee. Sometimes months can go by without managing to get a quorum for the monthly meetings to run. There are numerous excuses for not coming to the meetings: common ones include feeling tired, being on holidays, being at home with kids or forgot the meeting. Two years ago the committee made a change to its constitution to change the numbers for the committee positions. It felt that by increasing the working group from a maximum of eight to thirteen it would ensure each monthly meeting was attended by at least five to make its quorum. This did not change the existing culture of the committee holders to regularly make meetings, if anything even less committee members are showing up because it is assumed someone else will. It is common for the elected COM to be reduced in active members by half at the end of its twelve-month term.

New residents of Port Fairy have become involved at CCC to help improve their own networks (Dawson.G 2001 pg 4). Statistically the current committee is made up of 75% women and 25% men. Interestingly, it is also a very similar mix to those participating in the adult education programs run by this provider as well as the usual statistic found in gender and participation statistics, provided by the Adult and Community Education Board. (Adult and Community Education Board report 1999 Sec 2,3,4).

The governing culture is affected and influenced greatly by the people that fill those positions during that term. It is influenced even more so by the current staff who attend to day to day workings of CCC. The employed staff direct operations and obtain funding. The staff supports the COM, rather than the reverse. This is common amongst all smaller community house cultures (Dawson G 2001 Pg 6).

The current workplace culture is representative in the greeting message that the public get upon ringing the telephone number. A garbled message of no less than five minutes of contact phone numbers, outdated information and background noise of children running around in the child care room. Things get lost often in this office. A wall of piles of papers and messages, unfilled and forgotten, are covered daily in new messages and incoming mail. Regular users say the place has a ‘nice homely feel’. Rooms at the community house all have names, but this is by no means a description of what courses or activities might run in them. The rooms are still referred to names given to them on the original plan from eleven years ago. The process of change is slow in physical aspects of the building and signage because it takes manpower hours, money and time to implement changes. These three aspects are always in short supply in this workplace.

The small administration office (7m2) accommodates two part time co-ordinators, two computers, two printers, photocopier, numerous policy manuals, all stationary and storage supplies. The office is cluttered and disorganized.

There are three permanent part time staff that report to the governing committee: one managing childcare, one managing day to day operations and myself involved in Adult Education provision. The childcare co-ordinator was one of the women on the original working party that set up CCC. She is primary teacher and kindergarten trained, but is committed to working in the area of childcare. Her original commitment to this workplace is still as enthusiastic as it was eleven years ago. The hours are very long, the income always less than the expenditure and the workplace benefits are minimal. This is an inherent part of all community house cultures, but especially this one. It is one of the few community run childcare centres remaining in Victoria. It continues despite struggling with yearly losses and families that need the service. The childcare co-ordinator worked voluntary for the first two years, and then progressed to work a thirty-hour week for ten hours pay. Now the hours are full time and the pay equivalent to working a twenty-hour week. It is the dedication of the staff community houses’ attract that ultimately underpins funding shortfalls. Staff employed in other industries would not work fifty percent or more unpaid hours every week, or through unpaid holiday periods to keep the workplace financially afloat. (per. obsv.)

The house co-ordinator is male. He succeeded another male in the post but before then only women managed this role. The majority of users believe it is more a female position because of the traditional childcare and women’s health focus. The current co-ordinator was appointed to this position from being a member of the COM to successfully be appointed to the role. The job requires high organisational and time management skills. The existing house co-ordinator has low levels of both skills. It is now part of the culture than the office is chaotic and has no systems. It is only in very recent times that the current COM has seen the importance to employ any future staff with appropriate skills, rather than appoint a familiar face. This position is totally funded by government funds but requires no measurable output or job specific tasks. The general house co-ordination program is funded for fifteen hours a week but it is typical to see the current co-ordinator work seven days a week for up to ten hours in a day. This is not required or expected by the COM. People connected with CCC from when it commenced operation comment women co-ordinators had more of a handle on the balance. However, many unpaid hours have always been worked by staff across all areas of operation.

The third co-ordinator is myself. I have worked here for almost four years. It is my first experience working for a community based education provider. My background is in training and management in private enterprise. Before I was appointed to the role as Adult Education Co-ordinator, the previous female staff person used multi-coloured pencils to jot her thoughts, pictures and doodles, onto paper as ideas for courses. Letters generated at this time were also handwritten in coloured pens. There is virtually no paper or computer generated education records from before my time. On taking over this position, I had four months to deliver twelve months of courses to meet funding requirements. I have changed the educational focus of courses on offer and subsequently altered the previous culture surrounding the courses and students. My position is fully funded and reliant on securing on-going yearly funding, my paid hours are determined by the grant amount, less program operating costs.

Five years ago, a COM member successfully sourced government funding to get some subsidized courses running. Without any planning on what courses would run, funding was obtained by Adult Community and Further Education Board. At this time, the workplace ran totally hand written records. The serving COM at this time saw the income as a way of assisting the small cash flow with regular government payments to keep the all courses afloat. Forward planning is not, and never has been, part of the culture here. Often cited is being able to immediately respond to an area of unmet community need, a defence of no forward planning.

Historically, most of the programs or interest groups have been started by women for women. There is a change occurring. The attraction of men into community education a priority in recent times. (Office of Training and Further Education 1999 pg 47.) Men have become a target group, subsequently new courses are being offered here to this group. Most of the change in gender participating in education at CCC is coming from grant directed target groups.

The types and quality of the courses have increased and changed to cater for changes in community needs and age population changes. Word of mouth and publicity has created a 500% increase in usage of educational programs over the past two years (Dawson G 2001 concl). CCC is now seen equally as not only a child care provider but a community based education provider. The residing population prefers to get their educational needs met here as opposed to driving sixty kilometres to the nearest town to undertake other courses. A nearby tertiary college has created an access point to on line and distance education at CCC, which has changed the type of student previously using this location. Previously, alternative courses and programs without any educational focus did not interest older people in the township. Courses catering in technology as well as mainstream and accredited educational courses now cater for most members in the community.

Grant funding has allowed a designated phone/answering machine to be installed in the part of the office responsible for education. The result is a more professional image to potential students that contact CCC purely for education related matters. Pursuit and contracting of highly trained tutors with good people skills has been a change to the previous teacher who was someone who lived close and wanted to run a course. Prior to my employment, the tutor usually had no qualifications or teaching skills. Tutors now have professional development plans and are having their skills aligned with recognised education providers. Learners are a combination of people wanting a particular skill and those who want to socialise or network at courses. In the past, the latter was more the reason for doing courses here (Dawson 2001 pg 6).

Course programming has been influenced by requirements in curriculum guidelines and the need to provide pathways to the students (Bradshaw 1999 Pg 31). Not all students want pathways to further learning. Despite this, government policy is directing this aspect into program management to retain the funding required to offer programs. (Bradshaw 1999 pg 44/ Office of Further Education 2000 pg 6).

Volunteers have been an important factor in the culture. In the past anyone with time and request to do voluntary work, has been accommodated. Slowly, over time, volunteer labour has been replaced with paid professionals. Changes in people’s situation have made giving tasks and training to unpaid workers unreliable. Volunteers are moving on, as they find employment, return to study or become involved in other areas in the community. The COM has recognised the need to pay staff to get the critical day to day operational tasks completed. Due to recent changes to the composition of members serving on the committee, introduction of new workplace conditions are in place. Most of these have been common place for most other workplaces for a decade. Given the beginnings of this workplace were founded totally on volunteers, this is a big shift in historical versus present culture. Government policy and accountability have been the most significant factor in this area. In previous years the volunteer numbers of administrative staff have peaked at thirteen at one time, it is now down to one volunteer. In examining this trend, the present chaotic look of the office has put many people off helping out. Volunteers used to feel valued by being able to come in and extend the working hours outside those hours that the paid co-ordinator worked. The last two co-ordinators have spent extra time in the office; enthusiasm and validation for coming in to open CCC have diminished, with it so have the volunteers.

The costs involved in security checking all unpaid staff have been another factor that has reduced volunteer numbers. Department of Human Services policies determine what sort of people can be involved at CCC when childcare is operational. This accounts for ninety percent of opening times. This compromises the original line of all inclusive and access to all philosophy.

Grant money has been the most significant influence on historical versus current culture (Pro-Team Management P/L 1998 page v). Increased reporting monitoring, administrative skills and program management have altered the original culture permanently. Alteration has occurred because it has compromised ideals and habits set early. Grant income and subsequent conditions have increased accountability and recording of information. Particularly in areas of childcare and education, there has been a shift to bring the programs into line with mainstream business practise. The COM recognises the need to keep securing and increasing the grant money and are beginning to understand their role in managing or monitoring processes. The introduction of grant income from many sources and more recently the introduction of the goods and services tax have created the need to actively recruit trained people to better manage future financial systems.

The last four years have seen dramatic and steady movement in workplace culture across all areas of operation. Technology has been influential in the way information is recorded, what sort of courses are run, who attends the courses, public access to the Internet versus needs to monitor who is in the building when childcare is operational. There has been a rapid uptake of technology by the community, "particularly in the over sixty-five year olds (A.C.E.Issue 4, 2000 page13)".

Computer system maintenance, virus attacks, moves to on-line grant submissions and paper reduced accounting systems have been instrumental in creating a change to the culture.

Keeping ahead of the computer age, with no staff professional development plans has been awkward and painful. As 95% of the governing COM are completely computer illiterate, they are not able to contribute as much as they used to pre-technology.

CCC is now located on a prime real estate site. Changes in town planning now attract additional foot traffic, as it is located opposite the newly relocated Tourist Information site and V/line bus terminal. This improvement of passing traffic has increased the amount and type of user. Typically, community houses were founded in low socio-economic areas such as commission house areas that were cheaper to buy and establish. The building is now located centrally, it is considered to be more an information and access point for many people. Groups involved at the centre are growing annually, to become auspiced by an incorporated non profit community organization. Again, funding requirements have directed many local smaller groups here to be able to qualify for funding. Meetings relating to day to day aspects of CCC now occur in local cafes as the space at the workplace diminishes with increasing numbers of users and students using CCC.

Recognition by the COM to source highly trained staff, as a priority will be another modification to the original model of staffing that ran the building on community spirit for no wages. Modification to previous cultural characteristics this workplace has meant being able to remain afloat and operational, despite governance hardships and management challenges.

The symptoms of what the town is experiencing are in line to what the workplace is experiencing. A once quiet coastal village is now a popular tourist destination and family residing town. The services available locally, increasing population, new businesses and physical buildings are all growing in numbers rapidly. Change is coming fast and with it, is growth and new energy. The workplace culture is the combination of the people in the community, the many unpaid hours worked by all staff, the café meetings, the ever evolving committee, the many groups of people it supports, the children, the co-ordinators and the town that it services. These components are the glue for the small-renovated stationmaster’s house that has become what the long-term residents and new comers refer to as their community house.

In examination of the culture of my workplace, it appears to be progressing away from the original charter as government funded support for programs established a decade ago are diminishing. There is growing government influence of the programs that are offered (Hansen 1990)

Restructures and changes in government policy are continually shaping the culture as it can not operate without government funding assistance. It is the current government policy of the day that determines where, how and on whom the money is spent (Adult and Community and Further Education 1999 funding guidelines). Within all workplaces that I have been employed in, it is the surrounding community, the geographical setting, the current staff and the governance of that workplace that ultimately become the reigning culture of the workplace.

Keeping the light burning: An adult learner

in the post-modern global village

Stephen Brookfield summarized the thinking of other adult educators with a series of statements about adult education. He decided that:

In talking about my own experiences as a life-long learner it immediately becomes of importance to define learning. For my purposes here: it is the deliberated understanding, memorizing and interpreting of information and contexts which inform activity, knowledge, and abstraction.

Learning is all encompassing. I suspect that Brookfield was not talking about the big picture, rather, he was focussed on the more formal kind of learning which is the concern of adult educators: courses. Moving to a new house, or staying overnight in an unknown room, we have to learn where the light switch is located. This is important knowledge, informing contextual activity. We might stay a number of nights in the same unknown room and this learning takes on an automatic kind of practice, having been committed to memory. Moving on from that room, we may remember the experience of staying there, depending on other events and the affective experiences we associate with it but it's unlikely that we will remember where the light switch was located. All people will experience learning of this calibre throughout their lives. In our society we are confronted with new knowledge daily. My point is that there is an underlying learning always occurring beneath the level of our conscious deliberated learning. At some point, and I suspect it occurs differently for each of us, this becomes elevated to the level of a self-conscious task. It is this deliberated leaning that I shall examine here.

I am aware of having undertaken learning all of my life. As I looked forward to adulthood from my schooldays I thought that education would be the most important informative experience I would ever meet. I worked and saved for a few years to allow this to take place. My time at university was in fact quite difficult: it was a long time before I had the confidence to write well and I found it difficult to articulate points of view. As an undergraduate I did not have a career in mind.

I simply wanted to learn. I wanted to know about people, our society and the environment. Not until I was a post graduate student did I learn about discourses. Only then was able to adapt my learning to the discourse and culture of academia. It gave me ways of looking at the world and ways of structuring my thought. No teacher had ever shown me how to learn.

After graduating, I trained as a psychiatric nurse. This was a different kind of learning and I found it difficult to make the connections between theory and practice. Part of this was my own learning style, part of this was my viewing the activity of hospitals with the gaze of a sociologist, but most of it was about the actual discrepancies between the ideals espoused in nursing school and the workings of the institutions themselves. I went on the become a special educator, which required a post-graduate diploma. To be a special educator in schools required yet another post-graduate diploma. I started a Master of Education degree, but dropped this back to another Bachelor degree.

When I went to work in Indonesia I undertook a period of language training. On returning from Indonesia I commenced training for a School Counselling, but did not last very long with this. I am now undertaking a program for a graduate diploma in TESOL. I have also learned touch-typing at TAFE and have a TAFE certificate in Apiculture. I have learned to play the recorder and baroque flute. I have learned to sew, to spin, to knit, to grow organic vegetables, to cook Indian thalis, to bathe babies, to bathe myself with two broken arms, to orientate my way through any city in the world, to live without electricity and the location of thousands of light switches.

I find that none of the life span theories illuminate my life experiences. The main stage theorists are for me too much driven by flawed views of human nature. They may idealistically describe the pattern for white men middle class men in America in the twentieth century. This is but a small sample of humankind. The most satisfactory life course explanation for me comes from Bandura: behaviour, self, and the environment operate interactively. This view acknowledges the simplicity and the complexity of a person in history. (Santrock, 1992: 40-70) This theory also fits well with the idea of life changes acting as a major trigger to adult learning, with most learning taking place in response to life transitions. (Merriam and Brockett, 1997: 143)

I, like increasing numbers of women in Australia, came late to tertiary education, and to the parenting cycle. In keeping with Bandura is a view of adult learning which sees the demands of various roles throughout life as the trigger to seeking deliberated learning. (Rogers, 1996: 59)

My first university learning was a thirst for knowledge. The later training, in nursing, special education and in education itself were vocational preparation, or more specifically, co-preparation as I was a practitioner while all this learning occurred. There was a lot of turmoil when I started a masters degree at the same time as starting a family, and compromised with another undergraduate qualification. Strangely this is the time when I enjoyed learning the most, and was at my most confident. Family life for me ended with an abruptness that is not expected in post-modern society. Her distraught parent sought the rewards of another life in another country.

I found my time in Indonesia to be a time of intense learning. Intense learning comes with exhilarating highs and profound lows. There was the formal learning of the language, the informal learning of many dialects, the learning about the enduring qualities of relationships, the endless gaff-driven cultural learning, and the learning of procedure in a strange land. This is the adaptive reckoning of living with poverty in the third world: providing education about birth control while knowing there are limited means; providing HIV education while knowing that in the end, the only means is honesty; diagnosing breast cancer, and knowing there is nothing that can be done. It is also the adaptive reckoning of living with wealth in the third world. It is the gloss of statistics disseminated by the Ministry of information about the HIV health of enlightened Islam. It is the five star hotels, hospitals and schools. It is knowing that everything can be done for a woman with breast cancer. It is learning about learning who deserves and who does not deserve. It is about learning, in the end, the political folly that is Australia's aid program. It is learning how, in the end, we accept violence and in doing so we shape further violence. It is learning to be a widow before it is time. It is learning the maps of a million streets and alleys, where the light switches are, and are not.

Returning to the wide brown land to find it grey and dull was not a challenge I particularly enjoyed. Australia that had been rationalised and outsourced and I had to relearn. I responded to the conflict brought about by change by seeking education. I needed to provide for myself. I was a teacher. I would become useful, care for others.

The reality was I couldn't even care for myself. I was not able to learn. I had live in four different cities in four years. I could never remember where the light switches were. I had not the energy to carry a psychology text. I certainly couldn't open the cover.

Only after time have I been able to face learning again. I have chosen something not too remote from my past learning: TESOL. I hope that assisting adults to learn will be less challenging than special education. This is a choice ranging from countless non-normal events.

So, left with my own experiences I find that the theories which seek to inform life stages in terms of non-normative life events are attractive to me. It is not a simple linear progression, for that implies that there is a goal. (Tennant and Pogson, 1995: 97) I am aware that we each have a unique history that spans a glimpse of human history, and we touch, or fail to touch, diverse cultures.

I respond to different learning tasks in different ways. I learned to plant pansies, how to spin, and how to use a computer through practice. There was deliberate engagement with actual materials some abstracted goals, but some physical rewards. Learning about Kolb's Learning Styles (Mackeracher, 1996) requires deliberate engagement with a variety of sources, some of which are already abstract. It requires a formal learning. The rewards remain abstract: maybe a grade, maybe a diploma, maybe a job. In order to nourish the task, there has to be intrinsic rewards.

I think I have responded to Kolb's Active Experimentation - Reflective Observation continuum (Kolb, 1984) in a fairly consistent way over my life's course. Although I regard myself as a risk taker, I don't take risks on other people's behalf. The different way I approach tasks, over time and purpose, is my variability on the Concrete Experience - Abstract Conceptualization continuum. I could say that I was very much a Diverger in childhood, and again when the experience of trauma was still raw for me. I enjoy Converger tasks when creativity is involved, I am an Accommodator when red wines are involved, but most of the time

I am an Assimilator. I have become more of an Assimilator in recent years. (Kolb, 1984: 42) Speaking from an Assimilator's point of view, now that I know about this thought structure, I can attempt to accommodate other styles into all of my learning. Efficiency is one of the legacies of having done a lot of formal learning as an adult.

I think I am good at systematically structuring thought and processing information in ways that are suited to the task in hand.

Quite apart form the cognitive style of learning there are structures used in learning which impinge on the efficiency and quality of learning. Chosen, or implicit affective styles can bring learning to

a task, a well as detracting from its usefulness. Several affective styles of learning related to attention and to motive for learning have been identified. (Keefe, 1987) I have a high level of perseverance. Sometimes it is counterproductive. I am motivated by an inner locus of control and a high need to achieve, but there has usually been an external utilitarian motivator as well. I tend to take more risks when I am feeling confident as a learner. The higher the order of cognitive challenge, or the immediacy of the need for completion of a learning task, the greater the range of emotions I bring to its presentation. The most enduring learning for me is that which has been shared with others, has not been pressured by time or need, and has been practiced in some tangible way.

I am aware of the impact of a range of physiological styles on my learning. Wherever possible, I manipulate the environment in ways that will enhance the task. For example, I am typing writing now in the late afternoon, my best time for thinking. There is Bach playing and the room is artificially warmed and illuminated.

After a period of extreme trauma I experienced an initial period of euphoria and denial which was eventually followed by exhaustion. It is helpful that I can now read that this is a stereotypic response. The behavioural responses which accompany initial distress are initial alertness and increases in organized and productive mental and physical action. If this continues for an extended time this initial competence is followed by confusion, disorientation, distortion of reality, then fatigue, withdrawal and apathy. (MacKeracher, 1996: 66)

Adults like their learning activities to be meaningful to their life situation and to have some immediacy of application.

Although I think that the same is actually true for children, I suspect that this utilitarian aspect is especially true for adults. Looking back at my adult learning, I think that most of it has been relevant to context, or the projected next context. When I struggled with my first degree, the enjoyable parts were the other aspects of the culture of university life. The learning informed some of my curiosity about the world but it probably posed more questions than were actually answered. I can and do enjoy learning for learning's sake, but it helps to know that the learning can be applied in some way. It is and in successful problem solving that learning comes into its own. So the agency and discourses of 'living' enhance learning. (Quinnan, 1997:92)

I think my efficiency as a learner is related to my past learning and also to my experiences as an educator. I am able to make the link between a learning task and a learning strategy. I have taken on the identity of a learner. (Rogers, 1996:67) It may be difficult for me to modify some aspects of my gaze or some of the gazes of context.

There are other ways that past experiences can impinge. One of the new roles I have had to learn this year was for my position as an assistant in a newsagency. I found it quite complex. I had to memorise many new things, often just codes with no referents. It was quite difficult for me. One such difficulty for me was to learn to give the amount of change shown on the cash register. When I last used a cash register the reverse was true. The new cash register has taken the hard work out of the additions, but I was still doing it, twenty years later. It took a number of weeks of deliberate activity before I was able to do it the 'new' way automatically. I had to unlearn something small that was almost indelibly printed in my memory. It was much easier for me to relearn how to be a student: I have done it more often, more frequently, and the role has not changed significantly. I think this is why I chose TESOL over other careers. It is not so different from the language component of special educator.

Effective learning is linked to the adult's subscription to herself as a learner.

Having just stated that I see myself as an efficient learner, I have set a stage for myself to succeed. In terms of cognitive efficiency it is not difficult for me to write this essay. But because I have experienced the entire possible range of emotions in its completion makes it seriously challenging. There is a physiological domino effect related to this emotional reaction. I think the danger is to equate learning success with cognitive aspects only. I have not allowed for sufficient time, for example, because it is, on that level, a straightforward task. It is important I, as a learner, am able to be analytical about this. I need to be able to expect conflict and disconnection from the intrusion of past events into the here and now. (Mackeracher, 1996, 77-80)

Post-modern thought celebrates adults: we have, apparently, a clearer, better defined self concept. We prize educational activity over less worthwhile pursuits. Our desire to transcend personal and social limitations is so insistent that we need to be able to channel our personal energies. (Quinnan, 1997: 104) I would like to be truly celebratory about my own learning in this way.

Perhaps it is a self-evident truth. Perhaps adults who are not self-directing are weeded out of education. I am certainly a self-directed leaner. I suspect there is a discipline that adults bring to learning and it is unusual for our whole future to depend on success in courses. External study also requires self-direction. Full-time external adult education, such as I am undertaking, even more. Consistent with the Bandura theories that I have already described, one model of self-direction assists me in my understanding. In this view, residual knowledge and acquired knowledge interact with directed, exploratory and/or fortuitous action within an environment which may in turn be consistent or fortuitous. (Spear: 1988, 213) In this view I have power over the processes of learning, filtering knowledge for its relevance and importance.

It is for me to remain aware of the confining and restrictive nature of the personal history that I bring to my learning. But, as I engage in deliberate tasks toward understanding, memorizing and interpreting information, I need to be clear about my own contexts and the way these inform activity, knowledge, and abstraction. I need to be careful not to consider these as pathology. Rather the gaze must be one which has awareness of the confining and restrictive culture of history, culture and education itself.

Brookfield, Stephen. 1991, 'Understanding and Facilitating Adult Learning,' in Adult Education and Training: Adult Learning Study Guide 2001, UNE, Armidale.

Caffarella, R. 1993, 'Self-Directed Learning', in Merriam, S (Ed), An Update on Adult Learning Theory, Jossey-Boss, San Francisco, USA

Keefe, JW. 1987, 'Learning Styles Theory and Practice'', National Association of School Principals, Reston, VA, USA

Kolb, DA. 1984, Experiential learning: Experience as the Source of Learning and Development, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, Prentice Hall

Rogers, Alan. 1996, 'Adult students: Who are they?' Teaching Adults, Open University Press, Buckingham, UK

Macheracher, Dorothy. 1996, Making Sense of Adult Learning, Culture Concepts Inc, Toronto, Canada.

Merriam, S and Brockett, R. 1997, The Profession and Practice of Adult Education, Jossey-Boss, San Francisco, USA

Merriam, SB. and Caffarella, RS, 1999, Learning in Adulthood a Comprehensive Guide, second edition, Jossey Boss, San Francisco, USA

Quinnen, Timothy. 1997, Adult Students at Risk: Culture Bias in Higher Education, Bergin and Garvey, Westport, Connecticut, USA

Rogers, Alan. 1996, Teaching Adults, second edition, Open University Press, Buckingham, UK

Santrock, John. 1992, Life-Span Development, fourth edition, William Brown Publishers, Dubuque, IA, USA.

Spear, GE 1988, "Beyond the Organizing Circumstance", in Merriam S.B. and Cafferella, RS. 1999, cited above.

Tennant, M. and Pogson, P 1995, 'Theories of the Life Course', Learning and Change in the Adult Years, Jossey Boss, San Francisco, USA.

Lifelong Learning - A Challenge for Universities?

Developed from a seminar presented at the University of New England, Armidale, New South Wales 12 October 2001

Dr Darryl Dymock,
Deputy Director
Centre for Lifelong Learning & Development
Adelaide: Australia

The concept of lifelong learning has been much discussed in the last decade or so. The purpose of this paper is to explore the concept for its relevance to universities in particular, under four main headings:

The paper concludes with a brief discussion of the place of a university in learning society.

In September 2001 the Centre for Lifelong Learning and Development coordinated a Learning Festival at Westfield Shoppingtown, a major retail centre in the south west of Adelaide. This comprised displays by major educational institutions and a range of commercial and community providers, as well as stage performances, a 'learning brokerage' and other activities. For one of the learning activities, shoppers and their families were asked to write on the back of a postcard what 'learning' meant to them. It was optional to indicate how old they were. Below is a small selection of those responses:

Those are just a few examples of how people conceive of learning. Is it possible for a university to encompass the sorts of characteristics of learning identified in the final postcard? Before we consider that question, here are two more formal definitions. The first is one used by the Centre for Lifelong Learning and Development in Adelaide:

A key word in Longworth and Davies' definition is 'supportive'. To what extent can informal and incidental learning be 'supported', or is the term more appropriate for formal education such as that provided through universities?

The OECD (1996, quoted in ANTA, 1999) suggested that lifelong learning means 'the continuation of conscious learning throughout the life-span as opposed to the idea that education stops at 16, 18 or 21'.

In order to better understand the relevance of lifelong learning for universities, it is useful to review the evolution of the term.

In the 1960s, UNESCO and the OECD introduced the concepts of recurrent education and lifelong education (Duke, 1976, Dave, 1973). 1972 saw the publication of the Faure Report, Learning to be (UNESCO), which advocated lifelong education as the 'master concept for educational policies', and the final part of the report was entitled, 'Towards a learning society'. 'Continuing education' emerged as the preferred term to adult education or extension in several Australian universities, including the Australian National University and the University of New England. Vocational training became increasingly important in the 1908s, particularly in the latter part, as skills development for increased business and industry productivity and efficiency went to the top of governments' agendas. This emphasis continued into the 90s, but by the middle of the decade the term 'lifelong learning' had emerged as a significant concept.

The first global conference on lifelong learning was held in 1994 (Brown, 2000, 13), followed by a flurry of activity in 1996 with the declaration of the European Year of Lifelong Learning and the publication of two influential reports. The first of these, Lifelong Learning for All, from the OECD Ministers of Education, proposed to:

The other 1996 report, from UNESCO, Learning: The Treasure Within (Delors), proposed four 'pillars' of learning:

Since then there has been considerable development of the concept of lifelong learning, particularly in the UK and other parts of Europe. In Britain, the Blair Government appointed a Minister for Lifelong Learning. At a meeting in Köln in 1999, the G8 group of major industrialised countries identified a number of 'Aims and ambitions for lifelong learning':

Table 1 provides a comparison of the emphases in the period from the 1906s to the 1980s with that of the 1990s and the new century (adapted from Harris, 2000):

The movement from 'education' to 'learning' (Harris, 2000) and from 'training' to 'learning' (Field, 1998) was also partly the result of renewed interest in learning itself, in the past 30 years or so, and the increasing acceptance that the most effective learning took place when it is directly related to people's interests, including its relevance to their workplace needs. Overall, lifelong learning challenges the belief that most learning takes place in formal settings, a notion questioned 30 years ago by Tough's research on intentional everyday learning 'projects' (1971). Related emerging concepts include the learning organisation, learning communities, and the learning society.

The proliferation of the term has seen 'lifelong learning' utilised or appropriated in Australia by schools, adult and community education, vocational education and training, universities and in government policy.

Rowley et al (1998) suggested that the 'demand for lifelong learning will 're-create' higher education, a view shared by Duke (1999). Certainly there are a number of external factors that will impact on universities, including:

Writing in a special issue of BHERT News (1999), the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Canberra, Don Aitken, (1999) suggested another: 'the discovery that human beings are all intelligent'. Whilst presumably presented tongue-in-cheek, the statement epitomises the point of view of those who believe that universities are no longer for the elite of society. In the same publication (BHERT, 1999) Duke went further:

In reality, in Australia overall the cohorts of school leavers are not rising, as the birth rate falls (Phillips Curran, 2001)

The significance of the external changes on the fortunes of universities is of course a major issue for them, and some have seen lifelong learning as a catalyst or overarching concept which might help them meet such challenges, as the following quotes from the BHERT publication (1999) illustrate:

On a similar theme, Dunkin, Deputy Vice-Chancellor at RMIT University, contrasted the characteristics of 'traditional' university students with those of lifelong learners:

The picture that emerges of a lifelong learning university is one that is more holistic or integrated in its approaches. Duke suggested that:

UNESCO (1998) saw the emerging mission of higher education in the 21^st century as:

A conference at Cape Town in early 2001 (Cape Town Statement) tried to pin down this vision by identifying the characteristic elements of a lifelong university and then how these might be represented in policy and practice. They identified six characteristic elements:

It is at this point that the characteristics and contexts of individual universities come into consideration. The Cape Town Statement itself states that it is presented as 'an organisational tool to be developed in local contexts'. In order to establish the extent to which any particular educational institution is addressing the goals of each element, the present practice of the institution can be ranked against each of the 'benchmarks' that accompany those goals in the Cape Town Statement. An effective way to ground these criteria would be to assess against individual practice. The elements and the criteria for the last three elements listed are attached at Appendix 1 for that purpose. Only the last three elements of the 'Cape Town list' are included, on the basis that they are elements that can be most directly influenced (or controlled) by university administrators and academics. Clearly, however, alignment of the other three elements is essential for the evolution of lifelong learning universities.

The need for universities to recreate themselves to meet the changing demands of lifelong learners will not, I believe, diminish their place in society because they have a particular role that is not met by any other educational provider. My predictions are:

It could be argued that the place of universities will be reinforced, and even enhanced, as learning becomes more central to society:

The idea that learning is a 'responsibility' across the lifespan is contentious, but what is not debatable is that universities have a strong 'critical' role in any serious learning society. Duke (1999, 29), described universities as the 'cathedrals' of the learning society, with a distinctive sense of place. The challenge for universities is not to imagine that their distinctive sense of place will in itself give them a sufficiently competitive edge. 'Nowadays', said Knapper and Cropley (2000, xi), 'nearly all universities claim to espouse lifelong learning goals, but their educational programs, teaching methods and organisational structures often discourage lifelong learning'. If an institution is serious about becoming a lifelong learning university, it needs the involvement of all members of the university community - academics, administrators, professional staff and students - in reviewing its policies, processes and structures, and a commitment to making the necessary changes.

1960s - 1980s	1990s
'education' main term	'learning' is main term
Social benefits of lifelong education	Economic benefits of learning
Equity of educational opportunity	Gradual introduction of social goals
Emphasis on formal education	Recognition of other forms of learning esp. in workplace
	Tension between training culture and learning culture

Characteristics of 'traditional' university students	Characteristics of those who pursue lifelong learning
the target audience are school leavers with minimal life experience and a high need for structure and guided learning	are working adults who are often accustomed to managing themselves in work or life
this group need an initial post-secondary qualification to begin a career	they juggle competing demands for their time and their resources
the students are full-time and/or available to attend campus-based instruction	they increasingly seek updated or further formal education to support their career and the frequent and lateral moves that now characterise them
programs should reflect professional/vocational or disciplinary specialisations	the problems they face in their work are often multi-faceted and require systemic or team-based solutions/approaches
academic staff represent the gateway to knowledge expertise and their role is to disseminate this knowledge	they can access knowledge/information through several different avenues