Educational interests and needs of owner-managers of small building firms

This thesis discusses a critical investigation into the educational needs and interests of owner-managers of small firms. The investigation attempted to determine, from the viewpoint of the small business owner-managers, those critical factors which affected and influenced their interest in and appreciation of education and training, as well as identifying areas of interest for future training. A survey was taken of a small sectoral sample of 58 building firms within the Central Belt of Scotland, 20 of whose owner-managers were assessed in detail using the Repertory Grid and Personal Project techniques. The results of the study indicated a general lack of interests in education and training among the small business owner-managers sampled. These lack of interests were influenced by seven major factors; owner-managers evaluation of education and training, their attitudes towards education and educational establishments, personality characteristics, limitation of resources, lack of formal education, lack of awareness of educational provisions and the characteristics of training proOvider. Other important factors influencing training were the timing of courses, the identity and reputation of training personnel and the course format. In terms of areas for future training, the ten most important areas were identified by the owner-managers. These were, in ranked order of interest; Production Planning and Control, Site Organisation, Employee Supervision, Cost Control, Business Planning, Working Capital Management, Health and Safety, Quality Control, Estimating and Costing and Financial Planning.