Article Summary

Motorola U: When Training Becomes an Education

Motorola, earlier needed their workers to be literate in basic math and to be punctual for shifts.
But, with the changed rules of corporate training and education, Motorola’s requirements for
their workers also changed accordingly. The workers needed to be educated to conduct
frequent production runs, quality checks, checking defects etc. So a five-part curriculum is
designed by MTEC. But a few wrong assumptions are made by the top management.

 First is to consider that the top management would have no trouble following the
new strategy since right people would take the courses. The top management were
not clear about the strategy and the mission of the company. Also, workers were not
motivated to get additional education as Motorola was known to offer stable jobs.
The management had to reconsider its parental impression and had to focus on
merit. To improve the quality from the roots, the top management had to show that
they were concerned about quality, and not so much about speedy deliveries. This
helped Motorola in manufacturing, product design and marketing to be coordinated
and in increasing the quality of service.

 Concerns about global competition for Motorola were raised during an annual
training program for the senior management. Though Motorola was confident about
its technology and employees, it was found that around 60% of the plant employees
were illiterate in English. The top management wrongly assumed that the
organizational system (run in English) was suitable for the workers, and that there is
no need for middle managers to act as translators. The consequence was the
hesitancy of this workforce to come forward and admit to this lack of skill. Then
Motorola assured them a quick retraining. For this, it took the help of community
colleges and later schools in exchange for infrastructural support.
In this way, the education given to Motorola’s workforce is suited for its needs by considering
educational providers as suppliers in the value chain. Community colleges and senior executives
can provide infrastructural support which will help school children join the workforce- without
blaming anyone for the lack of skills or the lack of initiatives taken by companies. Thus,
Motorola’s training has become more integrated by focusing on improving an individual’s job
productivity and by bridging the gap between colleges and Motorola leading to the progress of
an individual both in terms of certifications and technical skills.