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learning by David Lowe
M InstTA,AM BIM
A week at Motec (2)
THE Costing and Accounts for Road Haulage Managers' course which I wrote about last week is only one of a number of courses organized by the Motecs for management and supervisory staffs.
Nine other courses of interest to road haulage managers are listed in the current issue of the RTITB's Transport Training plus a wide variety available for technical training in connection with road haulage and the retail motor trade, others for both goods and passe ger vehicle driving instructors, for sales nd service personnel in the retail motor trakle and for those engaged in the furniture removals and warehousing trades.
All the courses are run at a down-to-earth level, particularly those for management and supervisory staffs where there is always a temptation to conduct syllabi on a high theoretical level. The prime objective of the training at Motec is to provide the trainee with knowledge and techniques which he can implement on return to his company. These courses are not provided merely to stuff the trainee's head full of brilliant ideas which are cast to the wind as soon as he heads for home because he cannot relate them to his day-to-day job or company environment.
The practical nature of the instruction is emphasized throughout both in the exercises which are set and in the examples quoted by the instructors which are related to their previous experience in commerce and industry.
Trainees find also that discussions during the instructional periods and at other times which they spend together having meals or in the bar are valuable in highlighting the experiences of their opposite numbers from other firms. It is in this respect that the residential environment created by the weekly courses is most valuable. Trainees are not anxious to rush off home forgetting, till the next morning, the day's learning.
Most of the material gleaned from the courses is of inestimable value to the trainee and to his employer provided he is given the opportunity to put it into practice in his job. Some trainees, however, attend courses and go away knowing full well that what they have learned will not be put to use because of the prejudice or intolerance of their more senior colleagues to new methods or innovations.
In this respect the Board is most anxious to persuade employers to send the right people on the right courses. If this' is done the best return is obtained for the time spent by the trainee away from his job. The Board is also keen to encourage employers to make more use of the Motec courses. A spokesman for the RTITB said that the Motecs belong to the industry and the industry should use them.
Among the road haulage courses currently being offered at the Motecs, the Transport Managers' course, some of its past trainees have told me, is very worthwhile, and the new International Road Haulage Operation course is predicted to be both informative and popular. There are specialist courses concerned with management job descriptions, office supervision, operational efficiency, and the use of calculations in management decision making.
A week spent in the quiet surroundings of Motec away from the day-to-day pressures of his job and the opportunity to do some constructive thinking about his operations is a rewarding experience for the transport manager. Rewarding that is to him, his employer and the industry.