Stakeholders at FAS were led by the manager of the training centre at Cabra, the project leader and trainers who had traditionally provided instruction in the subjects of their expertise (all at Cabra), and senior managers at FAS's headquarters. Although, in the early stages of the initiative, this was seen as an experiment by one of the organisation's early adopters of e-learning (and viewed somewhat sceptically by many), it later became evident that the experiment had three very significant strategic implications. Firstly, the experience of developing and piloting MoFIT threw a very bright spotlight on future (and short-term) trainer skills and development; it offered an opportunity to assess the functionality requirements of technology investment by FAS; and, most importantly, in capturing senior management attention, it held out the potential to build significant new business opportunities in serving industry needs.
In HP, the key initial stakeholder was the manufacturing department. However, the MoFIT project leader moved to take up a position in the Workforce Development Department not long after the project started. The Department Manager saw the potential opportunities that the project offered in terms of new and more efficient workforce development solutions. MoFIT was therefore championed at an early stage and had dedicated time given to it by a department that was taking a lead in innovating and improving workforce development. Meanwhile, the Manufacturing Manager remained a loyal supporter of the project. During the life of the project, all manufacturing training became the responsibility of the Workforce Development Department. These critical stakeholders recognised that they needed to find ways to give existing maintenance technicians new skills and to ensure they had hands on skills development and practice.
Later in the project, supervisors and line managers, who in general did not see themselves as critical stakeholders, began to recognise the benefits they were gaining and saw the MoFIT project as offering potential solutions to their need to run machines as efficiently as possible with the least number of operators. This has resulted in a demand for cross-skilled employees, with deeply embedded core skills so that they can move within HP. So, from being a project with the aim of provided re-skilling and 'top up' skills, the approach is also now seen as a way to provide high-level, cost-efficient core skilling.
Of course, a key stakeholder group were the employees, of which there were two distinct groups with different profiles and different motivational drivers. The first were the already skilled technicians. They had been through apprenticeships, were generally aged 30 plus, had many years' work experience and usually had families. The second group were operatives, generally younger (often recent school leavers) and without any formal apprenticeship training. Most were single. In both groups, all pilot learners were male, typical for this occupation.
The motivation for participating in the pilot, which was voluntary but required formal application and recruitment following a standard set of company rules, differed quite distinctly among those who were interviewed during the evaluation of the pilot. Technicians generally expected to learn to improve their performance. They wanted to be able to do their jobs better, and to continue improving their skills as the processes developed (many had seen and participated in significant changes in processes in previous years). Comments from the evaluation showed that learning with MoFIT made an important difference to many of them; 'it allows me to approach any problem with confidence' and 'I really know what I am doing' were typical comments. In general, their experience and their formal education and training stood them well with the e-learning modules, although some faced hard challenges with the course's mathematical requirements.
The operatives tended to approach the opportunity to participate with a different set of motivational drivers. MoFIT offered them an opportunity to learn during work time (and online in their own time), be given coaching encouragement and support, have access to workshop laboratories and instruction, and gain a qualification. It allowed these young men to work full-time in a global company with 21st century manufacturing processes, and to start on the pathway towards a skilled occupational qualification - in effect, a new form of apprenticeship that secured the interests of both employee and employer. For this group, prior educational levels were of significance, particularly their knowledge of mathematics, and many struggled to overcome limited knowledge of maths and science.
Both groups encountered ICT problems. These are discussed below.
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