Industrial Workforce Research Articles

The impact of socioeconomic status on self-determined learning motivation: A serial mediation analysis of the influence of Gaokao score on seniority in Chinese higher vocational college students

Vocational Education Training (VET)in China is considered the last resort for low academic achievers or economically desperate students who wish to join the job market after a short educational period. In addition, a large volume of evidence has claimed that China's government is putting a blindfold on VET outcomes, which results in incompetent graduates who do not fit in with the current industrial workforce need. Hence, a self-determination theory furnished this study to underpin the effectiveness of the training and derive plans or strategies which foster the training program. Thus, the present study administered a national survey of (N = 5083) to vocational students to examine their self-determined learning motivation by determining the specific times, places, and individuals who need a feasible intervention to engage in VET work and help make the country's industrial production competent at the world market level. Hence, our study findings shed light on vocational students in China who lose their learning motivation over time; those with other alternatives drop out of the program. Those who are desperate continue without an adequate practical skill level, given that they have to get a job to help their poor parents.

High Dependency on Foreign Workforce in Malaysian Construction Industry

Shortage of local involvement and high demand for labour in Malaysian construction industry led to the domination of foreign workers in the construction sector. However, Malaysia is now facing with numerous economic, socioeconomic, and political problems because of these foreign workers. The existence of foreign workers in this situation could result in social problems, an increase in crime, and a higher percentage of unemployment for locals. Considering these circumstances, the objective of the research is to identify the impacts of high dependency on foreign workforce in the Malaysian construction industry. The questionnaire survey was chosen as the research methodology to accomplish the research objective. The respondents for this research were G7 contractors within Petaling, Selangor. The data was analysed by using SPSS software and presented in tabulation form. Based on the data collected indicate that the existence of illegal workers has a significant impact on high dependency of foreign workforce in the Malaysian construction industry. The information gained from this research is expected to aid the country in its attempts to lessen the dependency on foreign labour in the construction industry and further support in raising the employment rate of local workers.

Learning Factories and Sustainable Engineering—Competencies for Students and Industrial Workforce

Sustainability and the circular economy are becoming increasingly important for industry and academia. Learning factories at higher education institutions around the globe attempt to educate students and industrial workers on these topics through specially developed training modules. To successfully implement measures to mitigate issues, such as climate change, product life cycle considerations—in which different phases may require different worker competencies—are indispensable. In this context, we provide some evaluation of learning factory use cases regarding sustainability. The use cases are evaluated on product life cycle phases and respective worker sustainability and circular economy competencies. The results show that the majority of the use cases focus on the production life cycle phase; product development, product use, and end-of-life have either not or very rarely been addressed. Our general conclusions and implications relate to these findings with a recommendation that learning factories expand their training capabilities.

Making Standards for Smart Mining Operations: Intelligent Vehicles for Autonomous Mining Transportation

In face of the safety risk and ageing workforce in traditional mining industry, smart mining is becoming the new trend, especially the autonomous mining, which could completely address the safety issue while boosting efficiency. However, the lack of specific standards for the smart mining has led to the various types of equipment and high development costs. Therefore, we present the effort by Chinese mining research organizations and industrial enterprises in creating standards for automation and autonomy. Besides, we introduce a few key intelligent technologies for the autonomous mining transportation, and several current applications of autonomous trucks in mines around the world. These key intelligent technologies are likely to be further improved with following standards and become more affordable for mines.

Exploration of the Training, Educational Experiences, and Technical Competencies of Entry-level Manufacturing Engineers in the Commercial Space Industry

The commercial space industry is facing a shortage of qualified workers due to the aging and retirements of the workforce and the inability to find qualified candidates. To explore the training, educational experiences, and technical competencies of entry-level manufacturing engineers, the researcher interviewed eight manufacturing engineers at entry- and expert-levels in the commercial space industry for their experiences and perspectives on the skills and competencies needed for entry-level manufacturing engineers. The major findings from this study are the need for communication skills application, the importance of using mentoring as a teaching tool outside of formal education and training experiences, and the ability to present data in order to tell a story. Educators can prepare manufacturing engineers for the workforce in the commercial space industry with the result of this study.

Industry Workforce Development: The Value of Internships

Key TakeawaysAs its current workforce ages and retires, the water industry needs to bring in ambitious, young employees to keep the water flowing.Classrooms provide students with technical knowledge, and internships provide them with hands‐on experience that will help them stand out in job applications.Internships allow employers to see how prospective applicants work under pressure to determine if they are a good fit for the team.Internship programs provide a potential pipeline for new employees who may have not otherwise known about water industry positions.

Predicting turnover intention of indonesian millennials workforce in the manufacturing industry: a PLS-SEM approach

PurposeThis study aims to assess the factors that can affect the turnover intention of millennial talents working in the Indonesian manufacturing industry.Design/methodology/approachThis work analyzes 115 responses from millennial talents working in the Indonesian manufacturing industry on the issue of turnover intention. Data were collected through an online questionnaire. The collected data were then tested using partial least square-structural equation modeling.FindingsThe findings suggest that competency development, work–life balance and meaningful work have a direct impact on the employee satisfaction of millennials in the Indonesian manufacturing industry. However, compensation and benefits have no significant effect on job satisfaction.Research limitations/implicationsThis study has limitations in data collection, concentrated merely in the Jakarta Greater Area. Hence, it would potentially influence the generalization of the results.Originality/valueThis study reveals the potential lack of awareness within Indonesian manufacturing companies in providing a valuable compensation and benefits program for millennials.

Correction to: Reskilling and Upskilling the Future‑ready Workforce for Industry 4.0 and Beyond

Correction to: Reskilling and Upskilling the Future‑ready Workforce for Industry 4.0 and Beyond

Materials used in industrial workwear for hot workplace environments: Thermal and moisture management attributes

Materials used in personal protective clothing (PPC) are important from both protection and thermal management perspectives, particularly as PPC frequently covers more than 90% of the wearer’s body. There is extensive literature on the risk factors that contribute to thermal load and the related functional characteristics of the PPC, especially in high-risk categories such as fire fighting and the military. In contrast, research on PPC materials in low-risk categories such as mining and construction and their thermal management attributes is scarce. Nevertheless, workers who wear this type of PPC represent a significant proportion of the industrial workforce, and are commonly required to work in hot and/or humid thermal environments. This study provides new knowledge of the thermal management attributes of materials used in low-level risk PPC by evaluating a selection of 19 workwear materials that are used in low-risk PPC worldwide. In addition, four civilian/corporate wear summer materials were tested to compare against the PPC materials. This study identifies relationships between the structure, physical parameters and functional attributes of materials, providing direction for development of new and improved PPC materials. The results show that there are opportunities to substantially reduce PPC material mass and thickness, whilst still maintaining protective compliance requirements. Further, thermal and moisture management attributes of PPC materials can also be significantly improved to reduce thermal burden.

Making place in a place that doesn't recognise you: Racialised labour and intergenerational belonging in an Australian horticultural region

This paper examines the labour experiences of Pacific Islander people living in the Greater Shepparton Region in south-eastern Australia, and the forms of both intergenerational belonging and exclusion that are produced at the intersection of racialised labour and place-making in the settler-colonial state. Shepparton's Pacific Islander community, which has been resident in the area for over thirty years, is heavily involved in seasonal horticultural labour, forming part of an industry workforce that also includes workers from other settled migrant-background communities, refugees and asylum seekers, as well as large number of temporary migrant workers. Nevertheless, Pacific Islanders in the region often feel themselves, and their labour, unrecognised within the context of established narratives that discursively construct localness as white. Here, we pay particular attention to the experiences of Pasifika youth who, in reflecting on the labour of their parents, offer potent perspectives on the kinds of precarious belonging this labour produces. These contrast sharply with the celebrated forms of intergenerational belonging and claims to place that adhere to the labour of white farmers, and that have their origins in the colonial dispossessions on which the region's industry is founded. Still, Pasifika people in the region do make place for themselves and for their youth, both through the waged labour they perform as well as through diverse forms of community labour that also situate them in relation to, and with, Indigenous community. Attention to these diverse forms of labour expands the terms through which the work and labour experiences of migrant and other non-white people are usually figured, and highlights the complex, intergenerational entwining of colonialism and racialisation in white-majority rural places.

Employee Engagement and Innovative Work Behavior Among Chinese Millennials: Mediating and Moderating Role of Work-Life Balance and Psychological Empowerment.

Given the ever-changing business environment, organizations are forced to consider innovation as an essential prerequisite to enhance their efficiency, productivity, and sustainability. In this regard, organizations pay increased attention to enhancing employees' engagement (EE) and stimulating their innovative work behaviors (IWBs). Research emphasizes the importance of employees' IWBs in achieving competitive advantages and organizational sustainability. In this research, we address the question of whether employee engagement leads to stimulating IWBs of the Chinese millennial workforce in service industries. In addition, we explore the potential mediating effect of work-life balance (WLB) and the moderating influence of psychological empowerment (PE) on the relationship between EE and IWBs. Self-administered questionnaires were used to collect data from 372 Chinese senior employees working in the IT, trade, real estate, financial, and telecommunication industries. Our empirical findings showed that highly engaged employees are most likely to exhibit IWBs and maintain a WLB. In addition, the relationship between EE and IWB was partially mediated by WLB. Moreover, the interaction between EE and PE was found to strengthen employees' IWBs. Our study contributes to understanding the importance of EE as an essential prerequisite for millennials' IWBs and provides new insights for service organizations to encourage employees' IWBs. This study contributes to the human resource management field by offering valuable implications vis-à-vis how service organizations operating in a turbulent business environment stimulate the IWBs of their millennial workforce.

Reskilling and Upskilling the Future-ready Workforce for Industry 4.0 and Beyond.

Industry 4.0 is revolutionizing manufacturing processes and has a powerful impact on globalization by changing the workforce and increasing access to new skills and knowledge. World Economic Forum estimates that, by 2025, 50% of all employees will need reskilling due to adopting new technology. Five years from now, over two-thirds of skills considered important in today’s job requirements will change. A third of the essential skills in 2025 will consist of technology competencies not yet regarded as crucial to today's job requirements. In this study, we focus our discussion on the reskilling and upskilling of the future-ready workforce in the era of Industry 4.0 and beyond. We have delineated top skills sought by the industry to realize Industry 4.0 and presented a blueprint as a reference for people to learn and acquire new skills and knowledge. The findings of the study suggest that life-long learning should be part of an organization’s strategic goals. Both individuals and companies need to commit to reskilling and upskilling and make career development an essential phase of the future workforce. Great efforts should be taken to make these learning opportunities, such as reskilling and upskilling, accessible, available, and affordable to the workforce. This paper provides a unique perspective regarding a future-ready learning society as an essential integral of the vision of Industry 4.0.

Human development for the fourth industrial revolution: Which way for Sub-Saharan Africa?

ABSTRACT In both developed and developing countries, the fourth industrial revolution has brought serious concerns about human development. Although the fourth industrial revolution has the propensity to enhance human well-being in sustainable and innovative ways, nearly half of Africa's work is vulnerable to innovations of the digital wave. The study examined the impact of human development on fourth industrial revolution in sub-Saharan African countries, using time series data spanning from 2003 to 2019. Data was analysed using fully modified ordinary least (FMOLS) technique. The findings of the study revealed that human development has a positive but insignificant influence on the fourth industrial revolution. The article promotes awareness of the steps necessary to speed up the development of a relevant, requisite and competitive workforce for industry 4.0.

‘You are Hired’: Technical and Vocational Education and Training Graduate Employability and Experts’ Views

It is theoretically acknowledged that strategically organised talent management organisational mission, vision, and mission. It was reported that only 70% of universities in Malaysia declared workforce-ready graduates. As a result of the graduate employability investigation, the Ministry of Higher Education (MoHE), parents, and graduates were alerted. However, a recent employers’ investigation revealed that recruiting skilled graduates remained to be seen. An investigation emphasising talent management attributes was launched to address the gap by employing the Differentiated Model of Giftedness and Talent (DMGT). Drawn from DMGT, interpersonal measurement was the main construct to identify the talent management attributes. First, a qualitative method and semi-structured interview were chosen for the data collection process. Second, a seven-expert panel comprising academics and industry executives were gathered to describe the ideal university graduate’s attributes. The finding revealed seven main university graduate attributes: 1) communication, 2) leadership, 3) critical thinking and problem-solving, 4) teamwork, 5) lifelong learning and information management, 6) ethics, morals, and professionalism, and 7) entrepreneurship skills. The selected academics and industry executives recommended paying attention to career adaptability and digital technology. Higher Education Institutions (HEI) might better consider meeting the demands of the workforce and industry in the context of globalisation and digitalisation by focusing on the seven graduate attributes as evident in the investigation. As such, the seven graduate attributes are instrumental in the industry workforce. Employability, graduates, HEI, soft skills, talent management

Impact of COVID-19 on mental health and career anxiety of hospitality and tourism students in the UK

PurposeThe current study investigates the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the mental health and career perspectives of the future workforce of the tourism and hospitality industry in the UK. The paper is based on theories of emotion and focuses on the interplay role of three factors of fear of COVID-19, depression, and future career anxiety.Design/methodology/approachThe current research uses a mixed-method approach in two studies to answer the research questions. First, an online questionnaire was distributed among 197 current tourism and hospitality students in the UK. In the second phase through a qualitative approach and 17 semi-structured interviews, a more in-depth approach was taken to understand the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the future career perspectives of the respondents.FindingsFindings reveal a high level of mental health disorders among respondents. The majority of respondents suffer from some sort of mental health conditions/disorders that affect their moods, thinking, and behaviors. The results further show that the fear of COVID-19 causes depression which results in career anxiety.Practical implicationsThe findings suggest that the future tourism workforce in the UK is likely to suffer from some sort of mental health disorder that can influence their performances in the workplace. Companies are advised to make adjustments that help to protect the well-being and psychological health of their staff.Originality/valuePrevious studies used a snapshot in time only with a focus on the immediate and short-term effects of the pandemic. In the current study, by taking a long-term impact approach, the authors attempted to understand the psychological impact of the COVID-19 on the future workforce of the tourism industry in the UK and offered practical implications for stakeholders.

Addressing Organizational Change in the Evolving Energy Marketplace

In the last few years, energy and utility companies have needed to manage a substantial amount of change to meet the need for a low‐carbon and clean energy economy. These changes have required significant levels of investment in new business models, managing the electric grid and system operations, and increased renewable energy and smart technologies. A transition of significant proportion for an industry which touches every aspect of our daily lives. Utilities that successfully manage the transition to a clean energy economy will likely flourish, while others will likely lose market shares to retail energy providers and competitors offering self‐generation alternatives. Retail energy and technology providers will also need to adapt as the pace of this clean energy transition quickens to meet global, national, and state climate mitigation goals. This transition curve is intensified due to several factors, including the ongoing impacts of the COVID pandemic, hybrid work models, digital transformation, industry talent shifts and workforce shortages, supply‐chain constraints, and increasing regulatory demands. How an organization views and prepares for this transition can present both opportunities and challenges for the industry.

Work Values across a Multigenerational Workforce in Thailand's Hospitality Industry

Work Values across a Multigenerational Workforce in Thailand's Hospitality Industry

Multiskilled Workforce Planning: A Case from the Construction Industry

The objective of this research was to present a platform to identify the optimal staffing of a multiskilled workforce in the construction industry. The novelty of our model is its capability in developing a customized and context specific multiskilled workforce staffing strategy that identifies the best compromise between multiskilling costs and benefits with consideration of unique features of different production environments. Another novelty of our multiskilled workforce staffing is its capacity to explore every possible schedule associate with every possible staffing strategy. Our model chooses the multiskilling staffing strategy corresponding to the schedule that leads to the best results in terms of cost and time. The paper examined optimal multiskilling staffing and scheduling and compared it with well-regarded existing multiskilling strategies in the construction industry, such as chaining and direct capacity balancing, using an optimization technique. The parameters of the optimization model were informed by a small hypothetical case and a real case off-site construction factory producing bathroom pods in Australia. Developed an optimal multiskilling staffing strategy continuously and in some cases significantly outweighed the existing well-regarded multiskilling strategies. The optimal multiskilling staffing strategy is highly context-specific and can be very complex because achieving it needs having an appropriate staffing platform. Subjective decision making on a multi skilling staffing strategy that does not deploy the workforce to the most appropriate workstations can lead to a significant productivity loss.

Jimmy Reid: A Clyde-Built Man

Jimmy Reid: A Clyde-Built Man

Diversity, Profit, Control: An Empirical Study of Industry Employees’ Views on Ethics in Private Sector Genomics

Background Large amounts of capital are currently being invested in genomics companies across the “bench to clinic pipeline” – companies which are now shaping the future of biomedicine globally. Understanding the perspectives of people who work in such companies can contribute to shaping this industry in service of just and equitable futures of medicine. Methods Using in-depth interviews as the primary method, this paper analyzes perspectives on ethical and social issues in private sector genomics expressed by members of the commercial genomics industry in the US. Results Interviewees described a wide range of issues as pressing ethical concerns in commercial genomics. Key themes included concerns about diversity in genetic datasets, data governance and control, and pricing and profits in the industry. However, concern about diversity of datasets was not accompanied by expressions of concern about diversity in the industry workforce. Conclusions Most interviewees described concerns in the industry that are rather removed from their own work. But along with this “ethical distancing,” moral concerns appeared to be the basis for competition amongst companies – to attract both employees and customers. Research in business ethics suggests that expanding moral analysis of one’s own work helps improve day to day decision-making in the interest of justice. Opening space for people to examine ethics in their own subsector may provide a means for the private sector genomics industry to become a leader in ethics in the biosciences and a model for equity in our current moment of late capitalism.