oa Opleidingsfondsen als lerende organisaties

From equalization to development: sectoral training funds as learning organizations

In a market economy, individual employers are confronted with several dilemmas, when they have to make long-term investments in (re)training and HRD. Especially in small and medium enterprises (SME’s), these dilemmas often lead to under-investments in education and (re)training, unless institutional arrangements reduce these dilemmas. Since the mid 1980s, sectoral training funds, which operate on the basis of the principle of equalization, provide such an institutional arrangement in The Netherlands. They are jointly administered by representatives of the trade unions and employers’ associations. In this article, we investigate on the basis of empirical data from the training fund for the installation branche, whether the desired effects of the sectoral training funds (i.e, the prevention of training under-investment, the prevention of free rider behavior, and the production and dissemination of strategic knowledge) are actually being achieved. We conclude that these effect are not achieved, mainly because the fund is primarily providing banking services (i.e. pumping money around), and is more of an training- than a development fund, mainly because schooling is seen as more as an ends than as a means.