A tool from work—
employee involvement policy

During the WNA in a corporate setting, a teacher was given Employee Involvement, a pamphlet that explained the company's policy on quality management. Although the company offered management training to other companies, its own house was not in order. Departments differed in management styles, in decision- making structures, and in employee participation in change. Many of the problems that employees brought up in class for discussion stemmed from these differences.

The teacher used the company's policy pamphlet as the tool for reading and discussion. For a pre-reading task participants first described the management style in their own departments. Then they read the policy to understand the company's management theory. They assessed their own departments based on the criteria in the policy. Finally, they were invited to record their findings in their confidential journals as a follow-up writing task.

These tasks were crucial in giving the participants the knowledge and confidence to participate more actively in department meetings, to ask questions, and suggest change.

A tool from work —
computer bar coding system

In the bar coding case study in Chapters 3 (See "bar codes study") and 4 (See reference to "computer bar coding") the participants were preparing for a new system of manufacturing.

Their basic skills needs were identified in relation to the new demands in their jobs and to using the computer programs that would be installed. Their learning was performance based in a highly specialized environment.

The trainer used the authentic computer codes, labels, reports, and procedures to introduce employees to the system. Their own familiarity with number and letter sequences and with computers provided a base for the new scanner and computer information.

During simulations the employees got hands-on practice and were able to learn from mistakes. Finally, they applied their new skills on the shop floor.