Adult educators working in workplace literacy & workforce preparation programs need to be aware of the many efforts to define standards for the knowledge, skills, & abilities needed for successful performance in the workplace. This report describes the various efforts related to skill standards & other policy initiatives for those who may not be directly involved in these ongoing efforts. Includes skill descriptions as the framework for workplace literacy skill standards. Contents: background to the occupational skill standards efforts; occupational skill standards; framework for skill standards; discussion & conclusions.

Skill Wars shows how to increase productivity and profits by making investments in human capital development. It addresses the disparity between the available jobs and available workers. By education and training only 20% of all American workers can fit well into our demanding high-tech workplace. How do we train the 80%? Skill Wars defines the race between advanced technology investment and human resources investment and shows managers how to measure that investment. It introduces a Human Capital Scoreboard of seven new business management/measurement tools including a more accurate calculation of ROI (Return on Investment) for employee performance improvement programs. It also provides case studies of how quality training can deliver on more problem-solving/thinking skills. It has a foreword by Joseph Boyett, author of The Guru Guide and Workplace 2000. Skill Wars is a "basic workplace performance primer" that presents complex issues in a simple language and format that will move both business leaders and the American public to give their popular support. There are few viable alternatives. Gordon believes that, "Only at great peril can Americans continue to largely ignore the workplace as an important arena that helps structure learning for life."

Reading and Writing in the Global Workplace: Gender, Literacy, and Outsourcing in Ghana by Beatrice Quarshie Smithexplores the conditions that underlie the outsourcing of US data-processing work in Ghana. Here Beatrice Quarshie Smith describes the convergence and interplay of at least four different socio-economic forces: (1) the digital and satellite technology enabling virtual environments for global outsourced data-processing; (2) the historical development of Ghana as a politically-stable Anglophone society with a relatively strong tradition of public education; (3) the neoliberal economic restructuring policies advanced by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund; and (4) the ready availability of women seeking to enter the formal wage economy either to seek independence from their roles within traditional families, or in order to support their families. The author’s comparative study of two distinctly different workplaces reveals significant insights about problems of organizational hierarchy and management-employee relations in the cross-cultural environments of out-sourced business and IT process work. Through extensive interviews, the book sheds light on the educational backgrounds, day-to-day struggles, fears, and aspirations of the workers. Quarshie Smith develops this multi-faceted analysis with keen insights into the representational limitations and ethical responsibilities of the researcher. This pioneering study about outsourced data-processing work in West Africa opens up a new area for research and offers a fresh perspective from which to consider outsourcing in other regions of the globe.

Addresses important topics of DFM, including how it relates to concurrent engineering, management issues, getting started in DFM, how to justify using DFM, applying quality tools and how DFM is affecting computer technology (and vice versa). Covers topics starting with the creative thinking process, to combining DFM with geometric dimensioning and tolerancing. Also includes product design information that designers should know when committing pen to paper or mouse to mat.