Productivity Education - A Proposal for a Framework

International Conference On Applied Economics – ICOAE 2010 523

THE LINK BETWEEN EDUCATION AND PRODUCTIVITY: THE EMPLOYERS’ PERSPECTIVE
MARIA ELIOPHOTOU MENON
Abstract
The paper investigates the views of employers in Cyprus regarding the effect of education on productivity in their organisation.
Information was collected through in-depth interviews with 26 individuals who represented different types of employers (public sector institutions, semi-government institutions, small and large private organisations, and key stakeholders). The majority of respondents did not perceive a strong link between education and productivity, nor did they consider the type of education received to have an impact on productivity, expressing views that are consistent with the screening model. Participants identified the problems which limit the positive effect of education on productivity at their organisations, and offered suggestions on overcoming these problems.

Does education raise productivity, or just reflect it?
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Arnaud Chevalier (University College Dublin & CEE), Colm Harmon (University College Dublin & CEPR) and Ian Walker (University of Warwick, IFS & CEE)
Version 1.01 14 November 2002

Abstract
This paper attempts to implement, using a variety of UK datasets, a number of suggestions from the existing literature for empirically discriminating between the human capital and signalling/screening explanations of the observed correlation between education and wages. Most of these tests are based on the idea that screening is more important in some sectors than others. Although we have
reservations about the power of the tests used we find little support for signalling/screening ideas in these tests. Finally, we exploit a little used distinction between the two theories, based on the response of individuals to a change in the education incentives for some people of the education distribution, to provide a more definitive test and find that the data in the UK appears to strongly support the human capital explanation.
http://cep.lse.ac.uk/events/conferences/cee/walker.pdf


My idea is to present a model having three components

Productivity knowledge

Productivity attitude (Favorable attitude towards productivity improvement process and productivity improvement)

Productivity behavior (actions that implement productivity improving practices, that develop productivity improvement processes, actions that analyse productivity of resources using current methods of analysis, actions that develop new methods of analysis, actions that conduct training in productivity management, actions that celebrate productivity improvements, etc)


Productivity education has to be productivity learning. The learning has to result in change of behavior. It has to result in new behavior that enhances productivity. But negative attitudes toward productivity will become barriers. Hence productivity education needs to focus on attitude development. So productivity knowledge must have a component that provides inputs that help in formation of favorable attitudes about  productivity improvement. I need to develop my thoughts further and publish it as a paper in an industrial engineering journal. I am posting it here to get some opinions and comments.

Updated 2 October 2016, 26 Feb 2015