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A Sheffield Hallam University Thesis Business, training and education: Sheffield circa 1880-1940 EASON, Mark Available from the Sheffield Hallam University Research Archive (SHURA) at: http://shura.shu.ac.uk/3097/ A Sheffield Hallam University thesis This thesis is protected by copyright which belongs to the author. The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the author. When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given. Please visit http://shura.shu.ac.uk/3097/ and http://shura.shu.ac.uk/information.html for further details about copyright and re-use permissions. 100369555 8 Sheffield Hallam University REFERENCE ONLY SHEFFIELD HALLAM » s r r y i £ A R N W 0 CENTO COLLEGIATE CRESCENT SHEFFIELD SIO 2BP ProQuest Number: 10700839 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a com plete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. uest ProQuest 10700839 Published by ProQuest LLC(2017). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States C ode Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106- 1346 Business, Training and Education: Sheffield circa 1880-1940 Mark Eason BA (Historical Studies) A Thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of Sheffield Hallam University for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy September 1997 Sponsoring Organisation: The Economic and Social Research Council Abstract Business, Training and Education: Sheffield circa 1880-1940 by Mark Eason This thesis contributes to two important debates: the historical debate on the role of education and training in Britain’s relative economic decline; and the debate on the relationship between education, training and business performance. Much of the research on education, training and economic growth has focused at the macro-level and been heavily informed by neo-classical assumptions which fail to take account of the dynamism and uncertainty inherent in the business environment. The relationship between education, training and business performance is therefore explored by developing a historical case-study approach based upon the Sheffield metal and engineering trades, cl880-1940. These were industries that were of strategic importance to the British economy and such a study allows for an exploration at the micro-level of the firm. The historical analysis is informed by the theory of business strategy. Unlike the neo-classical synthesis, this theory locates the firm in a specific historical context, defining it as a collection of related productive resources: physical and human. Thus the theory may be used as an analytical tool to examine the impact of product, process and organisational innovations upon human resource requirements. The thesis is founded on a strong empirical base and a major empirical building block is formed by developing a database which charts the career profiles of applied science graduates from the Sheffield University and its antecedent, the Sheffield Technical School. A key finding is that the relationship between education, training and business performance is a highly complex and contingent one and that simply more education and training is not the necessary medication for the nation’s economic ills. Indeed, the education and training system must be carefully monitored in order to ensure that it provides the skills and knowledge that are appropriate to changing business needs. Another significant discovery is that education and training provision, prior to World War One, was generally adequate to Sheffield’s business requirements; technical education became crucial to the manufacture of specialist steels, and in this key industry of the ‘second industrial revolution’, Sheffield firms recruited metallurgy and engineering graduates and acquired a commanding technological lead over their German and American competitors. This sectoral analysis stands in stark contrast with the received wisdom which claims that Britain’s relative economic decline was causally related to an under-investment in technical education and a failure to recruit scientific personnel. However, economic depression in the 1920s and consequent spending cuts led to a general weakening of the education and training system, not only in Sheffield but throughout the nation. Business demands for graduate metallurgists began to exceed the supply and, as the economy recovered in the 1930s, Sheffield firms experienced acute shortages of skilled labour. Shortages of technologists, technicians and craftsmen persisted into the 1950s and it appears that Sheffield entered the second half of the twentieth century with insufficient skilled human resources and without the necessary educational infrastructure to rapidly remedy this problem. In consequence, firms were unable to meet orders and product quality began to fail, creating a window of opportunity for foreign competitors to exploit. Two points follow from this finding: firstly, too much emphasis has been placed upon alleged educational inadequacies prior to World War One, whilst insufficient attention has been paid to the inter-war years and, secondly, the relationship between education, training and business performance appears to have a high degree of reciprocity, at least over the long-run. Contents Preface 1. Education, Training and Economic Growth p .l. 2. Business Needs and Business Demands: Technical and Commercial Education, c. 1860-1918 p.26. 3. Technical and Commercial Education in Sheffield, c. 1880-1918 p.51. 4. Education, Training and Business Performance: A Case-study o f Thomas Firth & Sons, c. 1880-1918 p.80. 5. Businessman, Education and Training: Sheffield in the Inter-War Years p .l 10. 6. Education and Training in Depression and Recovery: Sheffield in the Inter-War Years p.128. 7. Education, Training and Business Performance: Sheffield Steel and Engineering Firms in the Inter-War Years p.148. 8. Education, Training and Re-skilling in the Inter-War Cutlery Industryp. 181. 9. Education, Training and Business Performance: a Conclusion p.207. Appendices Bibliography Preface There now appears to be a general consensus that investment in human resources, through programmes of education and training, will make a significant contribution to macro-economic growth, and that Britain has been characterised by a long-term under-investment in human capital which has underpinned her deteriorating performance in world markets. Indeed, such arguments have become something of an orthodoxy. However, the links between education, training and economic growth are far from conclusive. The aim of this thesis therefore is to contribute to this debate by focusing upon a case-study of education and training in a key industrial sector, namely the Sheffield metal and engineering trades during the period 1880 to 1940. This thesis has been a long time in the making and would not have been possible without the financial support provided by the Economic and Social Research Council, and the Paul Nunn memorial fund, to both of which I am deeply grateful. Similarly the advice of my supervisors, Roger Lloyd-Jones & Myrrdin Lewis, who first stimulated my interest in the British economic decline, should be commended here, as should the diligence of my proof-reader Mark Harrison, the technical support of Paul and the assistance of numerous archivists. I also wish to acknowledge the love and encouragement of my fiancee Nicola and of my family who have supported me throughout the trials and tribulations of the research process. A final mention should be made of the studies that were undertaken in connection with the programme of research. I followed several units on Sheffield Hallam University’s MA in Twentieth Century British History: Research Methods (1994), The Political Economy of Decline (1994), and Theoretical Issues for Historians (1995). In addition I took a BSc Computer Studies unit on Databases, which enabled me to design and interrogate my database which charts the career profiles of applied science graduates from the Sheffield University. Chapter 1: Education, Training and Economic Growth. Education and training reform have acquired a central role in the debate over Britain's long-run economic growth. It has been argued that inadequacies in the education and training (ET) system are causally related to Britain's poor performance, vis-a-vis, her major competitors. In particular, it is alleged that economic change has been constrained by a lack of skilled personnel. Nevertheless, as Ewart Keep and Ken Mayhew point out, despite the growing conviction that inadequacies in education and training have hampered the U.K.'s long-run economic performance, there is scant evidence of any precise linkage between education, training and economic growth.1 This thesis contributes to this debate and critically examines the role of education and training in Britain's alleged economic decline, c l880 to 1940. It adopts an industrial case-study approach which focuses at the micro-level of the firm, and which is based upon the Sheffield metal and engineering trades. This chapter consists of a critical review of the literature on
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