Supporting improvement and learning using incentives : some lessons from Australian manufacturers

Manufacturing businesses are under continual pressure to improve their performance and to ensure that their employees learn in such a way that the firm benefits in the long term. However not all employees are committed to improvement and change programs and many employees see learning as accredited training that gives them a portable credential. In such an environment it is important that there is a culture that supports learning and change and there are incentive systems in place to ensure long term committment from employees. This paper examines a sample ofAustralian firm's surveyed in 2003 concerning their improvement and learning activities and reports on the use of incentives in supporting a learning environment.