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Posted by Phil Scott on July 15, 2006, 3:11 pm
thanks, good points..
I'm copying it an email for one of my clients..who is wishing
to solve its problems in the face of declining cultural norms
.... and a severe shortage of talent, while producing low
rent work.
it seems that training a doper how to use a screw driver falls
a bit short...
Any company that is honest enough itself, in its own
management or ownership to see the value in what you have
written will do well... management that is not able to see
these issues themselves will not do well of course... these
think they can run such a program on staff, while at the same
time pushing to get work done sooner than it can be.... and
still maintain quality and the workmans life, health and
integrity.
The bind comes when they raise prices to do it right, in a
world that hires the low bidder most of the time .... then the
mess is covered by lying to management who wouldnt know a
good job from a bad job if it bit them in the ass... thats the
driver actually... or at least one of the primary drivers.
Will an apprenticeship approach as you describe fix that?
only if it is pervasive across all sectors of the trades...and
..management...including government. Corrupt special
interests, down to the small sole owner operation will
preclude that imo...yet, your advice remains as the only
viable way to live life and operate long term....unless one
can justify lying and destructive construction practices.
I have seen quality operations successful though.... but only
with reputations built in decades past... those still hang on
with a select client base... new companies generally must
compete into a market that doesnt know or value quality...and
in the trades to people that plan to flip the building, so
dont care about quality as long as it looks good.
I was successful in my engineering career for a time by means
of offering high end solutions.. those days are fading fast
with the advent of 2 dollar an hour engineering from India
that will produce at least a functional facility in most
cases... the others limp by. Management then goes broke
because of its buggy systems... they have no clue of the
cause...
Thats the bulk of the business these days unfortunately.
What I will do with my client is steer them into drop in/
modular construction...and a high end service business
charging absolute top rates available on their terms to
customers who want to pay to straighen their mess out ..
lacking that, good tradesmen are not anxious to work on hashed
up junk... thats a big part of the problem also...only the
dead heads will stay.
The high end business exists though.. but its not attainable
unless one is totally dedicated to operating at that level for
a decade or longer to build the reputation... thats a high
overhead deal... then any slows in the economy eat those
alive.
None the less, the best of the best can do well that way.. a
1% minority.;;that contingent is currently being taxed to
death by our government ...a government with much more
important things to fund, such as bombing for peace in the
middle east and training our press corp to lie...that all
takes money..
Phil Scott
> Man has been working wood since the genesis of time.
> Working wood is
> one of the inherent occupations of man, a living trade;
> whereby, a man
> may do well by applying common sense and manual dexterity to
> the basic
> materials found at hand.
> Working with wood, metal and soil are fundamental to living
> trade; yet,
> no two men have ever had the same set of tools or the same
> set of
> experiences; therefore, no two men will ever have the same
> knowledge or
> understanding of living trade; the material remains infinite
> as each
> man must find his own way; thus, we are apprentices all of
> our lives.
>
> Apprenticeship for our Future
>
> In the fourth century BC, Plato recognized that the majority
> of any
> population needed to be working class citizens contributing
> to the
> tangible product of their nation; and that the decay of that
> nation
> could be gauged by the percentage of people who are
> essentially
> contributing nothing. We are a nation in distress.
> Education has failed in its fundamental responsibility to
> provide the
> working class with marketable skills. Serving only the
> higher
> motivations, education has become an obtuse bureaucracy that
> many
> cannot and will not respond to. With higher education
> costing tens of
> thousands of dollars, the working class is excluded, left to
> the mercy
> of an ownership society. Apprenticeship is the missing
> ingredient, and
> only apprenticeship can fulfill the responsibility and our
> obligation
> to future generations.
> Apprenticeship must overcome the conventional wisdoms of
> academia,
> while becoming part of the academic woodwork. A program of
> apprenticeship must contain the same integrity systems of
> higher
> education, but requires much more participation than just
> listing tools
> available in a tool chest. Apprenticeship must involve each
> individual
> in practical, financially responsible activities.
> Conventional apprenticeships are negative and narrow,
> concentrated only
> upon the needs of a particular trade or industry. True
> apprenticeship
> is a lifelong, intellectual pursuit; that endows the
> 'journeyman'
> with an immutable purpose, and creates equanimity between
> the
> 'artisan' and his material. In discussing apprenticeship,
> we are
> talking about the individual and the entire concept of
> apprenticeship
> is oriented towards that thought.
> Apprenticeship is not geared exclusively to preparing the
> individual
> for paid employment but to contribute to a more enterprising
> work
> force. Apprenticeship encourages the development of skills
> and
> attributes that employers are looking for, such as teamwork,
> commitment
> and flexibility, but also develops a realistic knowledge and
> understanding of business and the working life.
> Apprenticeship sets
> the standard for quality.
> The survival and competitiveness of all companies, small and
> large,
> depend increasingly upon the quality of their workforces.
> Employees
> need to be able to work autonomously, to take responsibility
> and make
> decisions; to work in small teams and units, to be flexible
> and
> creative, and to update their skills continually. Employees
> need to be
> enterprising, and qualities like planning and decision
> making are ones
> that count.
> The labor market is changing. Apprenticeship takes the
> initiative to
> help the working class to deal proactively with an
> unpredictable world.
> Apprenticeship develops in the individual the necessary
> enterprise
> skills and an awareness of how their community, including
> business and
> industry in a global economy, works. The individual and the
> whole
> working class needs to be 'opportunity ready'.
> The need for apprenticeship in this scenario is clear.
> People need to
> be able to package skills and knowledge into working
> livelihoods;
> become contractors rather than employees; see opportunity in
> job
> change, override periods of unemployment; recognize the
> ongoing need
> for learning and training; be creative rather than passive;
> capable of
> self-initiated action rather than dependent; know how to
> learn rather
> than expect to be taught; and they need to be enterprising,
> not think
> or act like an 'employee' or a 'client'.
> This I sincerely believe; apprenticeship is the key to our
> future
> prosperity, and the only key available to unlock a new age
> of
> renaissance.
>
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