training and technological change: case evidence from the printing industry

VOLUME 9, NUMBER 4/1996 37

Performance Improvement Quarterly, 9(4) pp. 37-56

Training and Technological Change:Case Evidence from the Printing Industry

Theodore LewisUniversity of Minnesota

ABSTRACT

This article examines the connec-tion between training and technologi-cal change by looking at the printingindustry through the experiences ofsix companies. The study revealed thatthese companies hold training to bestrategic, not just peripheral. They in-vest heavily in the retraining of work-ers, using a multiplicity of strategies,

including training by equipmentmanufacturers, OJT, peer tutoring,teamwork, customized training at vo-cational colleges, and tuition reim-bursement. The study adds an empiri-cal dimension to what is largely a rhe-torical literature on the connectionbetween technological change, train-ing, and competitiveness.

Companies that wish to survive inthis era of global competition have anumber of strategies at their com-mand to which they can resort. Thereis the strategy known euphemisti-cally as “re-engineering,” which,when it means downsizing, often hasnegative consequences for workers,as many with varied talents andyears of experience find themselveslaid off. A second strategy is invest-ment in technology. When technol-ogy is introduced, human conse-quences can also be expected. Theremay be structural changes and otherdisruptions in the workplace, includ-ing technological unemployment;upgrading of skill, downgrading ofskill, or skill polarization (e.g., Form,1987; Milkman and Pullman, 1991;Rifkin, 1995; and Wallace, 1989).

With all its attendant challenges,the introduction of technology pro-vides opportunities for training.Training can be a strategic lever that

makes it possible for the new pro-cesses, concepts, and skills to belearned, and for companies to trans-form themselves. In his book Head toHead, Thurow (1992) points out thathuman resource development will bethe key to competitive edge in theglobal economy in the coming cen-tury. He believes that is where com-petitors such as Germany and Japanhave had an edge, since Americanfirms have not invested in people asmuch as they should.

That foreign countries, notablyGermany, resort to training as ameans of maximizing investment intechnology is evident in the litera-ture, (e.g., Benton & Noyelle, 1992;Littek & Heiseg, 1991; Organisationfor Economic Co-Operation and De-velopment, 1994). Observers of U.S.companies have been stressing theneed for much more effort to be de-voted to training (e.g., Carnevale,Gainer & Villet, 1990; Rosow, 1988;

38 PERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENT QUARTERLY

Gordon, Ponticell & Morgan, 1991;Benton, Bailey, Noyelle, & Stanback,1991). Often the issue is workplaceliteracy (or workplace basics) needs(e.g., Carnevale, Gainer & Meltzer,1988; Barton & Kirsch, 1990). It isfelt that the new technologies willrequire production workers to pos-sess higher levels of education thanthey previously needed.

From aggregated data, we knowthat indeed training is alive inAmerican companies. What isneeded is more case evidence por-traying actual instances in whichtraining has been employed in tech-nological transformation, and the is-sues and tensions that must be ad-dressed in the process. This articleprovides such a beginning, showingsome of the dynamics and tensions atplay as selected companies in theprinting industry of a mid-Westernstate sought to transform their pre-press operations from traditional orconventional stripping to electronicstripping. Stripping is the process ofcomposing images and text on filmprior to their production on paper.Color stripping has traditionallybeen a highly skilled craft process.But it has been substantially trans-formed from a hand process to anelectronic one, thereby radicallychanging the industry.

Problem and PurposeThe problem addressed by the

study was that while much has beenwritten about the cruciality of train-ing for competitive edge in the globaleconomy, evidence from the field ofcompanies resorting to training inspecific instances of technologicaltransformation is still relativelysparse. There is need for a body ofcase evidence that can provide the

empirical backdrop for claims thattraining is indeed a strategy to whichcompanies resort in the midst of theirtransformation.

The purpose was to address thisproblem by examining the experi-ences of selected companies in theprinting industry of a mid-Westernstate as they sought to transformpre-press work from an essentiallymanual craft to one utilizing elec-tronic technology. The intent wasnot necessarily to evaluate whethertraining was an effective transfor-mation strategy, although, on thecount of learning (Kirkpatrick,1959), there was some evidence thattraining was having effect. Rather,it was to document actual instancesof training being a tool for techno-logical transformation, and in theprocess, to reflect upon human as-pects of the transition.

BackgroundAs companies strive for competi-

tive edge, technology is transformingwork and jobs in a wide array ofindustries. Printing presents an in-structive example of an industry inthe midst of technological transfor-mation, and one in which the train-ing of experienced workers has beenintegral to that transformation. Thisis an industry with a rich craft tradi-tion. Earlier in this century it hadundergone waves of technologicalchange through the introduction ofhot, then cold type (e.g., Baron, 1992;Kalleberg, Wallace, Loscocco, Leicht,& Ehm, 1987). In the early 1980s, theintroduction of the drum scannertransformed color compositing. Onceprohibitively expensive, and out ofthe reach of many firms, scannersbecame cheaper, with desk-top ver-sions becoming available. Also


transforming the industry were im-age setters, which can output nega-tives. The Macintosh computercombined with the other technolo-gies to further revolutionize thefield. Software companies such asQuarkXpress and Photoshop put outproducts that allowed manipulationand transformation of images on thecomputer screen.

As the price of computer equip-ment came down, competition in-creased in the industry. Color print-ing became cheaper, and consumerdemand for it in-creased. Impor-tantly, membersof the public couldnow purchase themachines, andcould thereby per-form much oftheir own print-ing design work—work that previ-ously would havebeen business fortraditional firmsin the industry.To remain com-petitive in thecolor business,companies havefound that they must re-tool, notjust in terms of equipment, but interms of personnel.

Before the new technologicalrevolution, pre-press color work wasdone on a light table, on which strip-pers composed images and did four-color separations by layering filmnegatives. Now the light table hasbecome a relic. Companies areswitching to the Macintosh computerand other “high-end” equipment. Indoing so, they must weigh the trans-formation alternatives. Should they

hire new people already skilled in thenew technologies, or should they con-vert traditional strippers to the newworld of computerized stripping?While both strategies are evident inthe industry, the dominant tendencyseems to be to do the latter. The focusof this article is on how six companiesin the industry have utilized trainingin their changeover strategy.

MethodThis examination of the role of

training in technological change ispart of a largerstudy, conductedin the spring of1995, on the im-pact of technologyon work and jobsin the printingindustry. Forthat study, tapedinterviews wereheld with a cross-section of 46 keyinformants fromsix printing com-panies (Balsa,Pine, Cedar, Wil-low, Spruce, andPoplar) in a mid-Western state.

Interviewees included managers,supervisors, manual strippers, elec-tronic strippers, and union stewards.Interviews were also conducted witha consultant from the industry, anofficer from a local graphic communi-cations union, and two instructorsfrom a technical/vocational college.

Having six companies in the studyinstead of one helped to control forcompany-specific effects. These com-panies were of varying sizes, tradi-tions, and cultures. For example, onewas almost 150 years old while an-

There was no goingback to the

traditional way ofdoing things. Eitherthe workers learnedthe new electronicway of doing work,or they would haveto be replaced if the

company were tosurvive.


other was just five years old. Twowere unionized, while the otherswere not. The experiences and con-textual details are presented foreach company.

As themes recurred across compa-nies, it appeared that an industry-wide phenomenon was at work. Togain an overall grasp of the industry,and what might be the importantquestions and issues to which oneneeded to pay attention, the authorspent time prior to the fieldwork con-sulting with printing instructors atthree technical/vocational colleges.Consultations were also held withthe leadership of the major printingindustry organization in the state.

The author was able to attendthree printing program advisorycommittee meetings at one of thecolleges, during the winter just priorto the study. Advisory committeesare the primary way in which techni-cal/vocational colleges get feedbackand direction from industry regard-ing the direction of their curriculaand courses. The focus of the meetingsattended was on technological changeand its implications for the collegecurriculum in printing. Throughthese meetings I gained initial under-standing of industry concerns, andmade contact with the companies thateventually participated.

Hour-long interviews were heldwith subjects, who were chosen col-laboratively with the managementat each site. Since training was inte-gral to the transformation of pre-press workers, it was a central topicof the interviews. In analyzing theinterview data, themes reflective oftraining were extracted. Of particu-lar interest were themes relating tothe importance of training, trainingstrategies, and the reaction of work-

ers to training and technologicaltransformation.

Company ExperiencesIn this section of the manuscript,

sketches of each of the six companies’experience will be presented. The ba-sic circumstances of the companyand how it approached training willbe described. Managers and workerswill be given voice to enrich thesketches.

Balsa CompanyBalsa is a subsidiary of a printing

conglomerate. It specializes in four-color catalog and commercial print-ing. It was listed in a state industrycatalog of 1994 as having a workforceof 700 employees. Having been estab-lished in 1848, the company has a longhistory. That history includes a tradi-tion of unionization. At the time of thestudy, four unions were operating atthe plant, one of them representingphoto-lithographers (or strippers),the class of workers that are in focushere. Balsa has supported the uniontradition of training through appren-ticeship. In accordance with industrystandards, apprenticeships were for aperiod of five years. At entry level, onebecame a “general worker” and thenwaited in turn to become an appren-tice. As an apprentice, one workedunder the supervision of journeymanworkers until one was able to jointheir ranks.

At the time of the study, the com-pany had a large traditional strippingstaff which stood at about 50 workers.That number was expected to level offwith the technology change to about30 to 35. As in the rest of the printingindustry, Balsa’s customers had in ashort period drastically increased(from 3% to 90%) the extent to which


they were submitting work in theform of files on computer diskettes.The company had to adjust quickly.By agreement with the lithographyunion, it was going to move the staffover to electronics on a seniority basis,and train them in the new methods. Itmust be said here that training wasnot the only optionavailable to thecompany. It could,over objection ofthe union, havelaid off tradi-tional workers,on the groundsthat they lackedthe necessary ex-pertise, and couldhave hired acadre of electron-ics workers to re-place them.

In opting fortraining, Balsaemployed severalstrategies. To getan electronicstripping depart-ment started, ithired a supervisorfrom the outside.Two senior tradi-tional strippersjoined this super-visor as thenucleus of theunit. All threewere then sent for equipment-spe-cific training, provided by vendors,for a two-week period. Beyond this,the company encouraged workers totake Macintosh courses whereverthey could. Through a 100% tuitionreimbursement policy, workerscould recover their training costs.Many workers used this opportunity

to take a computer course at thenearby union training school. Theworkers were resigned to the factthat major change in their work andjobs was at hand. As one put it: “Youcan’t resist change because it’scoming…you better grab on to itstail.” One supervisor spoke of keep-

ing up—of read-ing trade jour-nals. There wasno going back tothe traditionalway of doingthings. Either theworkers learnedthe new elec-tronic way of do-ing work, or theywould have to bereplaced if thecompany were tosurvive.

An official atBalsa pointedout that theywere on a 12-hour shift, andthat the planthad excess ca-pacity. Withwork being spo-radic due toplant efficien-cies, the slacktime could be de-voted to in-planttraining, par-

ticularly peer teaching. Whenworkers chose to work on real jobsas part of their training, their ef-forts would count as “non-charge-able time,” that is, time that wouldnot be included in the productioncost. One supervisor indicated thatnon-chargeable time made the costs oftraining high—and difficult to track.

Was trainingworking? There

were clearindications that it

was, the mostcompelling

evidence being thatthe company wasable to accept all

electronic jobs thatcame its way,

relying on a pre-press staff

comprised almosttotally of workers

who, two shortyears before, hadhad virtually no

capability.


Workers were coping with thechangeover, but one senior stripperfelt that this was now a “youngman’s trade.” And indeed, for somethe changeover was traumatic, atleast initially. The problem herewas partly psychological, in therealm of self-esteem. Expert tradi-tional strippers were having to giveup that status to become novices in anew realm. One worker summarizedthe initial difficulties:

Okay, I could see the handwrit-ing on the walls, so to speak, that itwas going to change. And I also wasbasically ready for a changemyself…And I wanted to take andtry this electronic (mode). But I hadapprehensions about it, because itwas something that I hadn’t donebefore…also someone at my age—Iwas a little bit concerned aboutthat. It was just an unknownarea…It was like jumping off a cliffinto a fog and not knowing how faryou are dropping…But I had tomake the choice and so I did and Igot in there and started training. Ialmost gave it up. Because thestress and anxiety of trying to learnso much information just burnedmy brain…I would get headaches, Icouldn’t sleep at night…I wouldwake up dreaming about the actualjobs…it was pretty bad in there fora good six months.

Clearly change was not without painfor this and other traditional workers.But he had been given a chance by thecompany to work in the new medium,and training was going to be his pass-port. Overcoming the initial pain, thisworker was now an electronics pre-press operator, in a world markedlydifferent from the manual one in whichhe had been expert.

As can be seen here then, this com-pany had resorted to a multiplicity of

training strategies in retraining itstraditional strippers. These strate-gies included training by equipmentmanufacturers, tuition reimburse-ment, on-the-job training on actualjobs, and peer teaching.

Was training working? Therewere clear indications that it was,the most compelling evidence beingthat the company was able to acceptall electronic jobs that came its way,relying on a pre-press staff com-prised almost totally of workers who,two short years before, had had vir-tually no capability. Some workersclearly were slower than others, andmore apprehensive. Older workers,with less at stake than younger ones,were biding their time to retirement.But for the younger workers, thiswas the future. If they wished to bepre-press workers, they had to getused to electronics.

Though the change was discom-forting, morale was high because thecompany was committed to provid-ing all pre-press workers the oppor-tunity to make the transition. It hadinvested in training and many work-ers had responded positively. Soonall workers would have been gradu-ally trained into their new roles, and,allowing for retirements, the tradi-tional stripping department wouldcease to exist, and the new electron-ics one would be peopled almost to-tally by retrained workers.

Pine CompanyPine was established in 1949. Its

workforce in 1994 was 105 employ-ees. The company offers a range ofprinting services, including pre-press and desk-top publishing. Likeother companies in the industry andin this study, it was in the process ofrapid conversion to electronic pre-


press. In a two-year period, this com-pany had gone from 40% electronicinput to 80%. It too was unionized,though the union relationship withmanagement was not as collabora-tive as at Balsa. While the commit-ment to converting traditional work-ers was not as strong as at Balsa,some veteran workers did get theopportunity to become electronicworkers, and training was a key as-pect of their (and the company’s)transformation.

A manager explained that it wasnecessary to lay off some traditionalstrippers to make way for new, com-puter-trained ones, but that somewere going to be retrained to operatein the new medium. The hope wasthat there would be some synthesis.Training would take effect in twodirections: traditional workerswould pass on printing knowledge tonew electronic hires, while they inturn would pass on computer knowl-edge to traditional workers. Thismanager explained further that inthe new medium there was nowmuch more data to manage than be-fore. The pre-press unit had gonefrom 10 to 30 computers. While train-ing was going to be crucial, tradi-tional ways of training in the indus-try (governed by union rules) werenot going to work. He noted:

…the traditional way of doingapprenticeships and craftsmantraining is not usable in today’stechnology…Before, the craft usedto take six years to train someoneand they had low wage rates. Todaypeople come in with a high wageexpectation…

This manager spoke of the mili-tary approach to training. He wanted“performance oriented” training.

What that meant was:

…we give them pre-tests to iden-tify what they know and what theydon’t know. We have modules withhands-on exercises and we actuallyhave tests and we score thepeople…we have constructed a veryformal training program that’sdone in a way that brings along theadult learner with dignity, but it’sdemanding.

In addition to its in-house pro-gram, the company contracted with avocational/technical college for cus-tomized training for some workers.There was pressure on Pine to keepup. Equipment and software werecontinually changing. As the man-ager cited above noted:

The reality is you have to be inthis technology to survive longterm. And you have to continue toinvest. I mean these computers areonly good two years at the most withany economic life. And you have tocontinually go out and plow moneyinto them.

Each change in equipment andsoftware presented training oppor-tunities. Training was the way inwhich to make capital of the invest-ments in technology. Like Balsa ,Pine was using a multiplicity oftraining strategies, including formalin-house training, teaming and peerteaching, and customized trainingthrough a vocational/technical col-lege. Training was clearly crucial tothe transformation from craft totechnology.

Was training an effective strat-egy? The answer here must be in theaffirmative. Here was a companybent on transforming its pre-pressoperations to the point where it wastotally electronic. There was to be no


turning back. Through a combina-tion of hiring and training, it was ata point where it could accommodate80% of jobs in electronic form. Thecompany was achieving its objective.It now had the human capability torespond to its customers when theypresented their work in electronicform. The fate ofthe transforma-tion to technologydepended on thecapacity of work-ers old and new tolearn. Under thetough rules of thecompany, thoseworkers whocould not keep up,who could not re-spond to trainingand adapt tochange, would belaid off. Changeand trainingwould go hand inhand. Those tra-ditional workerswho were fortu-nate enough to bekeep their jobshad to call upontheir capacity tolearn and adaptquickly, to con-tinue to hold aplace in this high-pressure, high-tech environment. Many were doingjust that.

Cedar CompanyCedar was the newest of the six in

the study, having been established in1990. In that year it was split awayfrom a larger parent company to be-come a pre-press cost center. Its

workforce as listed in 1994 was 80people. The industry catalog for thatyear lists the company as still offer-ing conventional stripping services,but being “vigorously involved in de-veloping the very latest in pre-presstechnology.” Cedar appeared to bethe most high-tech of the six compa-

nies, perhaps be-cause it was ex-clusively focusedon pre-presswork. Its mainproduct was“high-end” colorfilm (ready for theprinting press).

The companyhad indeed vigor-ously transformedits operationsfrom manual toelectronic. Occa-sionally, somemanual pre-presswork was still per-formed by the fewremaining tradi-tional workers.But, by their ownadmission, thiswas work per-formed at the mar-gins of the elec-tronics opera-tions. It was clean-up work, not re-quiring much cre-

ativity. For creative pre-press worknow, one had to possess electronicskills.

A high percentage of the workersat Cedar are college trained. Thecompany actively recruits such tal-ent from colleges with strong print-ing programs/degrees, offering thempaid internships. Successful interns

The conversion toelectronics had itsjoys—some workers

revelled in theopportunity. It also

had its sorrows.The decline of

traditional pre-press meant thatworkers expert inthat mode had torelinquish their

shop-floor status.This trade-off of

power for the rightto work comes with

the territory oftechnological

change.


are offered jobs. Internships are animportant medium of corporatetraining. They socialize prospectivehires into the corporate culture. Ce-dar made use of this combinedmethod of recruiting and training toimprove its prospects of hiring topperformers.

Like Balsa and Pine , Cedar hadmade the decision to offer traditionalstrippers the opportunity to be re-trained for positions in electronicpre-press. The retrained workers, to-gether with new hires, would formthe new department. At the time ofthe study, this process of worker re-training was in full gear. Many of thetraditional pre-press workers wereat some stage between their old roles,and their new ones.

The conversion to electronics hadits joys. Some workers clearly rev-elled in their new roles, welcomingthe opportunity to extend theirrange. But it also had its sorrows.The decline of traditional pre-pressmeant that expert workers in thatmode had to relinquish their shopfloor status. This trade-off of powerfor the right to work comes with theterritory of technological change,and was observable at all of the com-panies. To continue with the com-pany, once-expert workers had tobecome novices once more. Whilethese workers were happy for theopportunity to keep their jobs, thecost to them was a loss of their senseof expertise and power. Thecomputer’s ability to perform work ofhigher and more consistent qualitythan even expert traditional workerswas a source of private lament. Oneworker at Cedar dwelled memorablyupon this point, promising to resistthe technology for as long as he could,mainly because electronic pre-press

work seemed to take away much ofthe human dimension of the work.

But change was inevitable, andthe company was offering training asa compromise. One worker explainedthat he was among a group of 12traditional strippers who had re-cently been in training over a two-month span. But the net amount oftraining received was too short, andhad induced some frustration. Moretime was needed to assimilate allthat there was to know in the newelectronic realm.

The company wanted now to ra-tionalize its approach to training.Thus the post of trainer was created,and a college-trained person washired to the job, bringing good experi-ence in computerized printing. Aninterview with this trainer revealedthat she was in the process of puttingtogether a program of training inelectronic stripping on theMacintosh. She had created modulesof training on major software (e.g.,QuarkXpress, Photoshop). She wasalso in the process of establishing acenter for training on the Macintoshcomputer. The company had setaside a budget for investing in four ofthese computers to be dedicatedsolely to training. The trainer re-vealed that her plan was to utilize in-house expert electronic workers asmuch as possible to conduct thetraining. In her view, the biggest ob-stacle to training was fitting it intothe production activities of the com-pany. This seemed to be a surmount-able problem, given the high level oftangible commitment to trainingshown by the company.

Cedar was operating at the cut-ting edge of its industry. Its equip-ment was as modern as could befound in such companies. It was pro-


ducing around the clock to meet or-ders. In place was a workforce thatwas a blend of college-trained skilland the kind of expertise that comesonly with hands-on experience. Nowthe company had come to the viewthat it must consolidate its trainingactivities.

That a company such as Cedarwould be of the view that trainingholds keys to its viability, and that itwould thereby seek to expand its in-vestment in it, is astory to note. Ithelps give sub-stance to claimsthat training is akey to the techno-logical transforma-tion of companies.

Did invest-ment in trainingyield benefits forCedar? The an-swer is that in-deed it did. In thefirst instance,training led to theconversion ofsome traditionalworkers frommanual to elec-tronic processes.This was a majorinstrumental purpose of thecompany’s training efforts. Secondly,it provided avenues for learning thatotherwise might not have been there.Having specially dedicated trainingcomputers available for learning newprocedures or for solving recurringproduction problems is clearly benefi-cial.

But the benefits of training do notall have to materialize in the shortrun (e.g., Lewis, 1996). We mustadopt the long view as well. And

while it is speculative to predict justwhat benefits training would yieldfor the company in the long run, onemight at least also consider what theconsequences might be had therebeen no training. Quite simply, com-panies that do not invest in trainingwill have to contend with those whodo. Technology has quickened thepace of the industry, requiring orga-nizations that are agile, with workerswho are not afraid to venture into new

and unknownworlds. Compa-nies such as Cedarbelieve traininghas become an in-evitability.

PoplarCompany

Poplar com-pany was estab-lished in 1907,and has a longand well-knowntradition as an ac-knowledged in-dustry leader inthe state. Itsworkforce waslisted as 385 em-ployees in 1994.The company of-

fers a range of services includingdesk-top publishing, typesetting,electronic design, and electronic filmassembly. At the time of the study, itwas in the midst of converting itsstripping department from tradi-tional to electronic processes. Likeother companies discussed here, itwas doing so by giving its traditionalpre-press employees first preferencefor jobs in the new department, andmaking training opportunities avail-able to them. That this strategy bore

“If I feel the timewas productive, I

charge all my timeto that job. But if I

feel I made amistake or the filmcomes out wrong or

the proofs arewrong and I have to

go back, then Icharge all that time

to training andre-do.”


place that worker, who trained him“one on one,” on-the-job, for a two-week period. Subsequently, helearned as he worked on real jobs. Asthe company bought “high-end” sys-tems, he and other workers would besent to the equipment manufacturersfor training, for periods ranging fromone to two weeks. There had beenseveral such training trips in recentyears. The company policy on trainingwas “If it takes you eight hours to do atwo-hour job when you’re learning,(then) that’s what it takes.”

This supervisor now also hadtraining responsibilities, helpingtraditional workers to make thetransition he himself had made. Hisapproach was to assign the traineeworker to a machine, and to take thismachine out of the regular produc-tion loop initially. He explained theapproach as follows:

The first week we try to routejobs around it, so we don’t have toget production out of themachine…I like to start out goingthrough all the applications, themenus and explaining everythingthat every menu does.

Being able to work on real jobs attheir own pace was a company strat-egy one heard articulated by anotherworker. He indicated that he was intraining at the time. It was up to himin his role as trainee to decide whataspect of his work should be chargedto production and what to training.He noted:

If I feel the time was produc-tive, I charge all my time to thatjob. But if I feel I made a mistakeor the film comes out wrong or theproofs are wrong and I have to goback, then I charge all that time totraining and re-do.

promise was evident by the fact thatone of the traditional strippers was,at the time of the study, holding thejob of pre-flight supervisor (one of themore technical electronic jobs in theindustry) and lead electronic worker.

Pre-flighting is an airline termused in the printing industry to de-scribe the process of evaluating elec-tronic files as they come in from cus-tomers, and determining strategiesfor decoding them. This is a positionthat requires expertise of the highestorder, notably, problem solving capa-bility. This pre-flight supervisor ex-plained the job thus:

For any incoming electronic jobfor desk-top publishing, I look at thejob, I make sure all the files arethere—fonts are there. I basicallycheck it all…for information, filesize, everything…(I) make sure thejob is intact and ready to go.

He explained further:

What’s killing the industry—what is killing us now is (that) ev-erybody has a Mac now it seemslike—anyone who’s into desk-toppublishing—and they send files notreally knowing what we have to gothrough to output them. So I have toorganize it, get all the elements weneed to get an output film. And myother duties are basically a leadman back there. If anybody has aquestion, they have to come to me.

As to how he, once a traditionalstripper, was able to convert to elec-tronics, this supervisor indicatedthat it was hard work and putting inovertime trying to learn. He had noformal vocational school training inelectronic pre-press. His opportu-nity came when one of the electron-ics operators decided to leave thecompany. He was designated to re-


Beyond the strategies discussedabove, the company also sponsoredMacintosh training through an exter-nal vendor for all workers being con-verted to the new electronic realm.Workers were put through fivecourses in the basic software—Free-hand, Illustrator, PhotoShop,QuarkXPress, and Pagemaker. About20 hours of training were available.

Once one had received this train-ing, there would be about 10 weeks ofsupervised, on-the-job follow-uptraining, then the worker was on his/her own, working on real jobs. Whenthere were complicated problems,workers would pool together as ateam to solve them.

Transitioning into the new elec-tronic world of pre-press had itsdrawbacks. One of these was theprospect of a veteran manual workernow being trained by a newcomersteeped in computers. One workerexplained his travails as follows:

And it’s hard for me to sit backand have this person who hadworked here for a year at thatpoint—it was hard for her to trainme because I had been training solong. I had been on the other end ofthe train telling everyone what todo for a long time. And I think thatwas the hardest transition for me. Itmight have been a mental thing.

With technological change hadcome a reordering of shop floor sta-tus. An expert yesterday was a novicetoday. Unlike the apprenticeshipdays in the industry when the new-comers waited their turn to learnfrom the old-timers, now there was acomplete reversal. It was the new-comers who were the teachers.

The company had signalled that itlooked favorably upon those who

sought out technical/vocational col-lege training. It rewarded the atti-tude of continuous learning. Manyworkers were taking such classes,with the hope of being called upon tojoin the electronic pre-press depart-ment. A desire to learn was a goodway to signal to the company that onewas going to fit into the new scheme.

Thus, Poplar too had resorted to amultiplicity of training strategies asit sought to transform its pre-pressoperations and to be assured of aworkforce that could perform compe-tently under the new mode of work.As described above, many traditionalworkers had accepted the challengeof learning to become electronicworkers.

Training was central to thecompany’s transformation, evi-denced by its many investmentstherein. These investments hadyielded a cadre of workers who couldperform competently in the new elec-tronic mode. Poplar, with its longhistory, had ventured into the mod-ern world of technology, and is able tocontinue being an industry leader.

Spruce CompanySpruce company was established

in 1977. Its workforce in 1994 was238 employees. The company pro-duces loose-deck card packs and in-sert cards, a niche in the printingindustry where the influence of elec-tronics has not been as great. Butthat was going to change, and inanticipation the company was takingsteps to get ready, to safeguardagainst advancements by their fewcompetitors. It was about to replacetraditional pre-press with electron-ics, and its approach was to be theretraining of existing traditionalstrippers.


Training had been integral to thecompany’s operations even before ithad grown interested in technologicaltransformation. Conversations withthe company’s training officer re-vealed many training initiatives intheir recent past, having to do withquality, teamwork, and processanalysis. The vice-president of opera-tions in the company explained theirhuman resource philosophy thus:

The decision about do we retrainour own people or do we go outsideand buy new people, is more of aphilosophical decision. I think thatyou can argue and not be far off thatin the short term, the skills that youbuy on the outside can get you up andrunning faster with less trouble. ButI feel that in the long run you arebetter off training your own peoplewhat it is that you do. The primemotivation for me in that was I feellike you have to treat people thatwork in an organization as a part ofthe family and you can’t just look atthem and say, well technology ischanging so goodbye. And wewanted to do every thing we could toavoid doing that. And we think thereturn that comes from the invest-ment that we make in that will morethan outweigh (the cost).

This quote constitutes a strongrefutation of the bottom-line ap-proach to training evaluation. Whatthis vice-president was saying wasthat morale and loyalty have muchvalue, which must be added on thebenefits side.

The sentiments expressed herealso help explain why all of the com-panies examined had in common awillingness to retrain some, if not all,of their traditional strippers. To re-place traditional workers completelywith new hires is to destroy memoryand to cause cultural disruption.

Traditional workers understandprinting, and that knowledge is stilla valued asset in the industry. Theyalso understand production. Theyknow how to communicate withworkers at the press if there is aproblem there. Veteran workers areknown quantities. They have inmany respects become family. Thus,if their jobs could be protected byoffering them the chance to learn thenew skills at company expense, thecompany can expect that their mo-rale and loyalty would thereby beenhanced.

Spruce began its conversion toelectronics by starting a small desk-top publishing section of threepeople. That unit became importantas a place to job shadow, and for on-the-job training (OJT). The com-pany idea was to derive synthesis byteaming the desk-top people withtraditional workers. The stripperscould teach printing knowledgewhile they learned electronics fromthe newcomers.

With a new mission to enter theelectronic era, the company pushedmore aggressively to expand its capa-bility by featuring training promi-nently. One dramatic decision takenwas to contract with a nearby techni-cal/vocational college to train tradi-tional workers in electronic pre-press, on a phased plan. A pioneeringgroup of 10 would be trained. Thisgroup was in training during the pe-riod of the study.

To decide on who would be in thisgroup, consultants were brought toadminister a computer literacy test toall members of the stripping depart-ment. Test scores determined whowould be chosen. Workers not in theten, but who chose to pursue trainingon their own, would be reimbursed at


least one-half of their tuition costs.Some workers took up this offer.

As can be expected, the use of atest in computer literacy and notstripping was a source of some con-troversy, as was the fact that senior-ity was not protected. There was a bitof tension here, drawn along lines ofthose chosen versus those not. Part ofthe tension had to do with the uncer-tainty of those not chosen as towhether they would fit into thecompany’s plans once the technologywas fully installed. Company offi-cials were unsure as to how large theelectronics department would be-come. The phased approach allowedthem the time to understand theirneeds better. But the company didhave in place its tuition reimburse-ment policy, and even without guar-antees, the smart thing seemed to beto try to acquire training, so that inthe worse case one could be employ-able elsewhere.

Beyond customized training andtuition reimbursement, the companydedicated a computer specifically forself-training. Workers could sched-ule time to use this computer to learnto use the new software.

As in other companies discussedhere, change was traumatic for some.As it was explained to this author,“They (traditional strippers) feelthey have no choice but to just goforward.” There is no guarantee thatan expert traditional stripper willlearn the new medium well. A fewworkers were apprehensive becausethey could not type.

Chosen workers were of coursehappy that the company was willingto invest in them. One worker saw itas a way to help secure a future in theindustry as it moved to electronics. Ingeneral, there was apprehension, but

resolve to survive. The reaction of oneworker helps capture some of thetrauma of change. It is not unlike areaction discussed above, at a differentcompany. According to this worker:

I knew this would be coming twoor three years ago and nothing wassaid and pretty soon you’re hearingrumors that the company is lookingat this. At first I got a pit in mystomach and a lump in my throatbecause every day coming (to) workI feel completely at ease. I know allareas of printing. I’ve done this fortwenty years. I’m comfortableteaching somebody else. I’m reallyat ease. Now I have to go to schooland I’m learning something thatsomeone half my age is training mein. It’s an uncomfortable situationat first, it was, it took a couple ofmonths let’s say. To think here I amat (age given) and I’m completelyturning around, I’ve got to start overat scratch with ABCs that took allthese years to accomplish and nowI’m right back over. After a whilenow I’ve lost that lump in my throat.I’m feeling it isn’t really (so far) thathard. It’s something I think I cantackle and accomplish. It’s some-thing that’s challenging now. It’sgoing to be a challenge.

This worker had gotten an oppor-tunity to move forward with the com-pany. But the cost of moving forwardwas an ability to learn and adapt.Learning is tough, but not as toughas being among the ranks of the un-employed, which is a way many com-panies in the economy have chosen todeal with technological change.

Were there benefits for the com-pany from this investment? The an-swer here again is clearly in the affir-mative. Through training, the com-pany was adding a new electronicrepertoire. It was gearing for the fu-


competitive it had to acquire its ownelectronic capability. Indeed, thecompany’s primary customer, withwhom it had a long and loyal relation-ship, gave the management an ulti-matum with respect to electronics.Either it acquired electronic capabil-ity or it risked losing their business.

The companyhired an electron-ics specialist tolead its transfor-mation. It neededa complete up-grading of equip-ment. Workersalso needed to bere-skilled. To be-gin the transfor-mation of pre-press, a desk-toppublishing unitwas established.The companyhired in a desk-top specialist tostart the unit. Italso hired a con-sultant to traintwo veteran work-ers. The consult-ant came on-siteand trained themtwo days per week

for a six month-period. One workerreflected on this training:

…first he taught us computerknowledge. He taught us networksand disk drive and basically com-puters for the first two months. Af-ter that it was hands-on jobs. Wealso did our stripping. I mean if a jobcame in and we needed some strip-ping, we had to stop what we weredoing and go over and do thestripping…finish that job, thencome back to the training part of it.

ture, which, in the realm of technol-ogy, is never far away. The companywas adopting a proactive approach toinvestment in training (see Lewis,1996). It had reasoned that the cost ofnot training was too great to contem-plate or risk. It had to invest in train-ing to retain its market niche, and toremain viable.

WillowCompany

Willow com-pany was estab-lished in 1967. Itsworkforce in 1994was comprised of125 employees.The company of-fered a variety ofservices includingelectronic and con-ventional pre-press, printing andpackaging, andbox-making. Thiscompany too haddecided to convertits traditionalstrippers to elec-tronics. The CEOmade clear thattraining was a keyto moving forward.He was willing to keep the almost fam-ily-type loyalty that existed in the com-pany intact, but in return, workers hadto change. They had to be willing tolearn, and to give up their nostalgicleanings toward traditional stripping.

Like other companies discussedhere, Willow had in a short periodwitnessed a dramatic increase in thepercentage of customer jobs that camein as computer files. At first the com-pany simply sub-contracted such jobs,but it became clear that to remain

The CEO made itclear that printinghad changed. Only

those whounderstood the newrules would survive.While he wished to

maintaintraditional loyalty

to workers—thetone of family—only

those who werewilling to learn and

change couldanticipate a futurewith the company.


their new roles. Technology hadtransformed an historically staticindustry into a dynamic one in whichchange had become commonplace. Tocope with constant change requiredworkers who were agile and venture-some. The need for training was thenew cultural reality—the way tokeep up with incessant upgrades.Long apprenticeships had to giveway to a variety of other, more re-sponsive training modes dependingon the situation at hand.

The companies examined here re-sorted to a variety of training modes.Options included training providedby equipment manufacturers; train-ing by hired training specialists, on-site or off; customized training pro-vided by vocational/technical col-leges; tuition reimbursed training;structured on-the-job training; self-instruction on dedicated computers;internships; teaming; peer teaching,and job shadowing. The choice oftraining depended on the situation,and on the culture of the company.

Training extended to customers.These companies were operating in anon-standardized environment.There was variation in the approachby customers to the creation of files,making “pre-flighting” necessary. Tominimize the need for preflighting,they all had systems in place (or weredeveloping systems) to help theircustomers create files in more stan-dardized and compatible ways. Tech-niques ranged from telephoneconsultancies, to actual training infile creation at the customer’s site.

It is striking that in all six compa-nies, the training was of a ratherextended nature, far exceeding pub-lished annual averages. There weresituations in which workers were in atraining mode for several months.

This worker spoke of puttingknowledge to work on real jobs, goingto other classes, taking manualshome, trying to figure out all of thesoftware upgrades…learning frommistakes.

The company plan was to phasetraditional workers into the new elec-tronic department at six-month inter-vals. Workers in the core unit haveassumed the role of peer trainers,initiating their colleagues into thenew electronics world. While someworkers are being trained, on-the-job,others must await their turn. At thetime of the study, the company wasmaking steady progress toward achiev-ing complete transformation to elec-tronics.

Was the training yielding ben-efits? Again the answer here is in theaffirmative. This company had ini-tially been caught off-guard by thevigor of the electronics revolution inprinting. It had to transform rapidlyor go out of business. That was thestark reality. The company had re-sponded quickly, through re-toolingand through training. The CEOmade it clear that the game of print-ing had changed. Only those whounderstood the new rules would sur-vive. While he wished to maintaintraditional loyalty to workers—tomaintain the tone of family—onlythose who were willing to learn andto change could anticipate a futurewith the company.

ReflectionThese sketches illustrate that

training can indeed have a strategicrole in the technological transforma-tion of companies. The companiesdiscussed here all had a vision oftheir future, and saw training as theway to prepare their workers for


tise, long earned, and asking them tostart over, with no guarantee of suc-cess. For many mature workers, thebiggest hindrance to their adaptingis the loss of technical and socialstatus on the shop floor. They mustbecome novices again, having tolearn from newcomers, in a completereversal of the apprenticeship tradi-tion. Such a reversal of roles can bepsychologically damaging, severelyeroding self esteem. Some workers

may be able toovercome thechanges in time,but for others, itcould be a seriousimpediment totheir learning. Tobe sure, part ofthis has to do withthe psychology ofadult learning, butcompanies canhelp by being asforthright as theycan regardingtheir plans for theworker. If uncer-tainty about thefuture can be mini-mized, then teach-ing and learningstrategies have abetter chance of

leading to acquired competence.Was the training of benefit to the

companies? Indeed. In all six compa-nies, there were traditional workerswho were now comfortably operatingin the new computerized realm. Theyhad adapted to a new routine, onethat had relentless demands forkeeping up. All of the companieswere operating comfortably in thenew electronic realm, whatever theirstage of adoption. There could be no

This raises the question as to the costof this training. While figuring suchcosts was not a part of this study,insight was gained into categories ofcosts not ordinarily discussed in thetraining literature, and which couldbe prohibitive. One such would bedeferred costs, incurred when aworker trains by working on an ac-tual job, and is allowed to spend asmuch time as he/she requires to com-plete the job. These are costs that thecompany chargesas training ratherthan production,and therefore willnot pass on to thecustomer.

C o m p a n i e smust incur tre-mendous costs interms of foregoneproductivity dur-ing the period oft e c h n o l o g i c a ltransformation.One hidden costhere will comefrom the inabilityto maximize theproductive capac-ity of the technol-ogy during the pe-riod of training. Itis conceivablethat for some workers, one year ormore might be needed to get to thepoint where they are producing moreof the time than they are learning.But on the benefits side, the technol-ogy can in the long run yield produc-tivity far greater than the traditionalmode ever could.

Technological transformation istraumatic to workers, mainly bywrenching them away from knownroutines, taking away their exper-

Companies mustincur tremendouscosts in foregone

productivity duringthe period oftechnological

transformation.One hidden cost is

the inability tomaximize the

productive capacityof the technology

during the period oftraining.


turning back from electronic produc-tion. But just as there were workersin each company who had made thetransition successfully, there nodoubt were others for whom the chal-lenges were overwhelming. Someworkers of course were slower tocatch on than others; others wereperhaps too close to retirement tobother trying.

If the training was not working,the companies had alternativestrategies. There is no shortage ofMacintosh users in the popula-tion—no shortage of people withcomputing skills and knowledge ofthe software. There were no signsin any of the companies of retreatfrom the basic training philosophy.What one heard as an underlyingmessage for workers was that theyhad to get on board the train if theywanted to move along with the com-pany. The old mode was on its wayout, and the new mode requirednew dispositions.

ConclusionWhile rhetorical claims about the

importance of training in technologi-cal transformation abound, there hasbeen a dearth of illustrative case evi-dence. This study attempted to pro-vide glimpses of how such claimsmaterialize in the corporate world.In the six cases discussed, trainingfeatured prominently—not at themargins, but strategically—in theefforts of the respective manage-ments to transform their companiesto reflect new technological realities.In all cases, the companies were wellon their way to conversion frommanual to electronic pre-press, andin all cases, traditional workers hadrisen to the challenge to learn a newmode of work.

These cases suggest that trainingis a natural concomitant of techno-logical change. They suggest thatcompanies considering such changeshould view training strategically,that is, as an integral part of plan-ning for change. They should have aplan for helping employees bridgethe divide between the known worldof their old jobs and the new world oftechnology.

The cases also help to illuminatethe difficult issue of the impact oftechnology change on skill (e.g.,Form, 1987; Spenner, 1985). Theymake clear that indeed the introduc-tion of technology can lead to thedecline of craft. As indicated in thesecases, the new technologies have ledto the decline of the craft of stripping(e.g., Kalleberg et al., 1987). Tradi-tional stripping as an occupation is inthe throes of death. But the cases alsosuggest that some former traditionalstrippers can find creative and re-warding work as electronic strippers.

Whether, on average, work in thenew electronic realm providesequivalent amounts of complexityas traditional stripping, or equiva-lent opportunities for the exercise ofdiscretion or autonomy, remains tobe determined. While some con-verted workers claim to be extendedand challenged by the computer,others lament the loss of artistry,and their subservience to the ma-chine. Clearly, a lot of teaching andlearning take place under the condi-tions of technological change. It isteaching and learning under pres-sure conditions. There is need forbetter understanding of learningunder these conditions, to enablethe design of more effective instruc-tional strategies. The sense ob-tained from these cases was that


training was accompanied by muchtrauma. This is an unhealthy educa-tion situation. What works best hereremains to be seen. Companies needhelp in taking their workersthrough change—help in minimiz-ing psychological trauma. Workerswill learn better if the incentive tolearn is different from the threat oflayoff. This is a challenge for HumanResource Development.

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THEODORE LEWIS is AssociateProfessor in the Department ofWork Community and FamilyEducation at the University ofMinnesota. He spent five years as atrainer in the sugar industry ofTrinidad and Tobago. His researchinterests include the education oftrainers and the impact of technol-ogy on work and jobs. Mailing ad-dress: University of Minnesota De-partment of Work Community andFamily Education, 1954 Buford Av-enue, St. Paul, MN 55108. E-mail:[email protected]

training and technological change: case evidence from the printing industry

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