Institute of Factory Management
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/eb057141 |
| Date | 01 October 1980 |
| Published date | 01 October 1980 |
| Pages | 34-35 |
| Subject Matter | Economics,Information & knowledge management,Management science & operations |
Institute
News
Institute of Factory Management
REDUNDANT managers and execu-
tives can up-date their existing skills
or train for a new occupation on
courses run by the Manpower Ser-
vices Commission under their Train-
ing Opportunities Scheme.
The scheme is intended to supple-
ment normal training in industry, par-
ticularly the training which an emp-
loyee would normally provide for his
staff.
There are therefore some basic
rules which include the following:
A course must not last longer than a
year and it must be vocational and
complete in
itself,
qualifying the per-
son for appropriate employment
without further training.
A person must be over 19 years old
and have been away from full-time
education for at least two years.
The candidate must also be unemp-
loyed or prepared to leave his or her
employment to take up training.
He or she must have the intention
of seeking new employment after the
course and should not have been on a
TOPS course during the previous
three years.
There are some 600 courses cover-
ing a wide range of skills available
under the scheme and management
training falls into three main
categories.
The Transfer of Employment
Courses lasting two or three weeks
help unemployed managers to make a
realistic assessment of what they have
to offer and to help them to prepare to
job-hunt effectively. In 1979-80
about 2,000 people completed these
courses, which are sometimes known
as Career Review and Development
Courses or Career Development
Conferences.
Short Management Development
Courses vary in length from four to
twelve weeks and are for unemployed
managers who require an updating of
some aspects of general management
or a broader appreciation of different
aspects of management. In 1979-80
about 600 trainees attended these
courses.
Finally, there are the
qualification-based courses in
Specialised Areas of Management.
These vary in length from 16 weeks to
a year and lead to qualifications in, for
example, Industrial and Personnel
Management, Marketing and
Finance. They are intended for peo-
ple who wish either to develop exist-
ing specialist management skills or to
add new skills to their existing mana-
gerial experience. In 1979-80 about
570 trainees attended this type of
course.
Provision of management training
under TOPS has had to be reduced as
part of the Government's need for
cuts in public sector spending. At the
same time, the MSC is implementing
the findings of an internal review of
management training under TOPS,
which concluded that future provision
should be geared more closely to the
needs of industry. The emphasis will
therefore be on specific short courses
aimed particularly at the resettlement
of unemployed managers and execu-
tives into jobs as quickly as possible.
Redundant managers are of course
not obliged to remain within man-
agement and may choose to make a
more radical career
change.
There are
hundreds of TOPS courses to choose
from.
The MSC also runs a few special
courses for people who aspire to use
their managerial experience in setting
up and running their own businesses.
New Enterprise Programmes (NEP)
are for potential entrepreneurs who
would set up enterprises which would,
hopefully, expand and in the future
employ a reasonable number of peo-
ple.
Small Business Courses (SBC)
are run for people who aspire to run-
ning a small business which might
employ one or two people only.
New Enterprise Programmes,
which last about 16 weeks, are run at
the Scottish, Manchester, London
and Durham Universities Business
Schools, and Small Business Courses
which are of up to 12 weeks duration,
at eight or nine Management Centres
throughout the country. There are
usually two courses (NEP and SEC)
at each centre each year. Courses are
advertised in the press, nationally for
NEPs and locally for SBCs.
A potential entrepreneur
is
not eas-
ily recognised, nor definable, and a
desire to run his own business is no
guarantee that a person is qualified or
suitable to do so. There is therefore, a
very searching selection process for
both courses. Prima facie suitable
applicants, who must satisfy the nor-
mal TOPS rules, appear before a
Management Committee. The indi-
vidual must have sound ideas and
suf-
ficient capital, or access to it, to set up
the business and keep it running in the
initial stages. The number of places on
any particular course is limited, 12-16
on NEPs and a maximum of 20 on
SBCs.
There is usually quite keen
competition for places.
The MSC pays the course fees for
those selected for all TOPS courses,
and a maintenance allowance, within
certain limits, for the duration of the
course. However, the MSC cannot
offer any assistance, financial or
otherwise, in the actual setting up of a
business.
Anyone who is interested in TOPS
training should enquire at PEO (if he
or she is registered with the Profes-
sional and Executive Recruitment),
or the local office (Jobcentre or Emp-
loyment Office) or the MSC's Emp-
loyment Service Division (ESD), or
the District Office or Regional Office
of the Training Service Division
(TSD).
The Forty Plus Career
Development Centre
Another way in which the TSD has
helped in the retraining of redundant
executives is through its sponsorship
of setting-up costs of the Forty Plus
Career Development Centre. The
Centre provides training to redundant
executives over the age of forty on
how to market themselves. It gives
them a base of operation and the help
and companionship of other execu-
tives for the length of time needed to
land another job.
There is prejudice against unemp-
34 INDUSTRIAL MANAGEMENT + DATA SYSTEMS
To continue reading
Request your trial