Faculty of Education - Theses
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ItemAdvancement for women in organizations: a training perspective( 1980)This thesis will attempt to add a practical case history to the growing body of literature on special 'In-house' training programs for women. A special training program for women was designed and implemented in the South Australian Public Service as part of that organizations' overall Affirmative Action Plan to effect Equal Opportunity. The literature review (Chapter I) determines and explores the nature of the barriers women experience at work today and considers the alternatives in overcoming them from an 'In-house' training perspective. A complex interplay of internal barriers within the woman herself and external barriers created by the organization is offered as an explanation of the real problem women are facing at work today. 'In-house' training, amidst other 'Equal Opportunity' strategies which are designed to take account of the whole organization system, is offered as a partial solution to the problem under consideration. An exploration of the nature of the 'In-house' training which should be offered by the organization is then undertaken. In this regard the case 'for' and 'against' special training programs for women is presented; the former position being advocated by this writer. As this 'Women in Organizations Workshop' program was one of the first of its kind developed in Australia an attempt has been made to detail the history of the development of the program and consider the question 'why' it was developed and implemented in the South Australian Public Service in 1977. A modern Administrative Theory, known as 'Systems Theory' has been used as the conceptual framework for this historical analysis which is contained in Chapter II. Chapter III also uses the conceptual framework of 'Systems Theory' to detail the actual 'Women in Organizations Workshop' program content, design and its management by the two women lecturers of the Training and Development Branch of the Department of Further Education in South Australia. The 'Women in Organizations Workshop' program, being a pilot program, was evaluated by various groups throughout 1977 and 1978 (Chapter IV). The Occupational Psychology Branch of the Public Service Board of the South Australian Public Service undertook a rigorous, formal evaluation of the program. This Branch represented the major client of the workshop program. They interviewed a substantial proportion of the workshop participants, two months after the completion of the program. A 'significant incident' method was employed which required interviewers to state whether they had employed skills, knowledge and attitudes gained in the workshop, at their workplace by recalling a specific situation. The two women lecturers' evaluations of the program are then detailed, these being both formal and informal. A final evaluation is given, that-of the Review Committee established in 1978 to evaluate the overall Training and Development activities of the Training and Development Branch of the Department of Further Education. All evaluations conducted of: the program considered it as a great success. Finally, a conclusion (Chapter V) is given which offers recommendations as to the value of this experiment conducted in the South Australian Public Service. Congruent with the research it is argued that currently, special 'In-house' training programs for women are viable and necessary given their current status in the workforce. However these programs are of an essentially short-run duration (approximately 5 to 10 years). An 'Androgynous Management Style' is offered as the future management model to be utilized in all management training programs. The total organization is then considered from a 'Systems Theory' perspective; strategies to implement Equal Opportunity, apart from (or in addition to) 'In-house training' are mentioned.