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The purpose of this paper is to introduce the special issue of the Journal of European Industrial Training. A brief commentary on each of the articles is provided and the whole issue is set in the context of national policy and research methodology from which the Programme for University Industry Interface derives its impetus. The paper highlights the potential and the problems of active engagement of government, industry and education in addressing issues of sustaining national economic competitiveness in a global economy.

The discussion in this paper is predominantly desk‐based, using a combination of primary and secondary sources to generate an analysis of policy discourse and its realisation in practice.

In addition to commenting on the findings from each of the papers in the special issue, this paper draws positive attention to the partnership model used by the government of Ireland in policy formation. It also indicates that the partnership model in general, and the methodology for enhancing it in particular, are well‐regarded in industry but that their full acceptance in higher education has not yet been fully tested.

The paper allows the reader of the special issue to set each of the other papers in a context and to interpret them against a national agenda for sustainability in graduate employment.

This paper aims to describe a research project that is addressing the employability of individuals in the higher‐cost Irish economy.

The Programme for University‐Industry Interface (PUII) uses a community‐of‐practice methodology combined with academic research.

A number of emerging enterprise models have been identified, competencies for next generation employability have been articulated and potential responses to these new opportunities for the further and higher education sectors have been discussed.

The implications of this work and the follow‐on may influence the way the education sector responds to the needs of learners in industry.

The paper contributes insights into the nature of enterprise models and competencies that may be required to sustain future employability of individuals in industry.

The purpose of this paper is to deliver empirical results on the effects of (out‐of‐band) short message service (SMS) confirmation messages after transactions have been completed in an automated interactive voice response (IVR) telephone banking service. The research seeks to discover if SMS confirmations have a positive effect on customer relationship to furnish evidence for a proposed business case for a multi‐channel banking service. The paper aims to offer results on customer attitude on the role of SMS with IVR as a multi‐channel customer relationship management (CRM) strategy in digital banking.

The methodology is an empirical study based on a controlled laboratory experiment using bank customers as participants. Questionnaires and user observation techniques were employed to collect quantitative and qualitative data, which were analysed using repeated measures ANOVAs.

Transaction confirmation is shown to be important to customers – whether by an SMS message or within the IVR telephone call itself. Customers judged the role of SMS for CRM as highly desirable after monetary transactions; they prefer the version of the IVR banking service that provides (out‐of‐band) SMS confirmation compared to one that does not – and they judged it significantly higher for quality. However, there were no significant differences detected between customer attitude scores for usability of IVR calls involving funds transfers with, or without, an SMS confirmation. As a consequence, the business case was only developed as far as inclusion of transaction confirmation within the IVR call itself, and not extended to use of SMS.

Implications from the results are offered as management insights for the financial services sector in seeking integrated mobile CRM strategies, or “next call avoidance” strategies.

The paper reports findings from a controlled experiment with 116 participants that was based on extension of an existing IVR telephone banking service with which they were all familiar as users.

In the current knowledge‐based economic climate, the success of an organisation is inextricably linked to the individual. This article seeks to consider the key relationships between the individual, lifelong learning, the workplace and employability in the context of the knowledge society. The aim is to extend understanding of these relationships and their impact on future employability.

The paper examines the key relationships between the individual, lifelong learning, the workplace and employability from the perspective of the Programme for University Industry Interface (PUII).

The discussions focus on the implications of the current situation for the future and suggest ecology as a metaphor for the way in which learning is intertwined in a complex environment that incorporates the learner, the workplace, the external company environment and the knowledge repositories.

The paper sheds light on these particular issues through the findings of the PUII. The authors also explore potential avenues for advancement or resolution of some issues, e.g. strategies for developing self‐directed learners and approaches to workplace learning based on these findings.

This paper aims to explore the quality profession's fascination with various models to depict complex interactive systems. Building on these and the outcome of a four‐year action research programme, it provides a model which has potential for use by other professions. It has been tailored here to suit training and learning systems.

The action research was carried out over a four‐year period. It used ethnographic principles and involved immersion in the community and engagement and participation at various levels and sectors. The objective was to discover the applicability of quality principles at community level.

The outcomes of the research are twofold. First, the Grange excellence model (GEM) provides a framework for all human activity systems. Second, a definition of excellence provides a generic code of practice for all human engagement. Both are applicable to all human activity in pursuit of any goal or objective.

Research outcomes are fractal and generic in nature, allowing them to be applied without limitation to all human activity at individual, interest group, industry or institution level. This paper describes how it might be used in training and learning systems.

The introduction of the term “cystem” provides a new unique concept for profiling human activity. The GEM provides a realistic model of real world human engagement not found in either the European Foundation's Quality Management (EFQM) or Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award (MBNQA) models.

The focus of this paper is to highlight the issues impacting technology‐enhanced learning (TEL) in an industrial setting in Ireland. The paper uses the output from a community of practice (CoP) set up to identify and discuss these issues. Seven companies participated in the CoP. Their experiences represented the full spectrum of industrial experience of TEL in Ireland. The aim of the paper was to highlight the key areas where Irish companies experience issues with regard to the implementation of TEL programmes. The results of the study show that many of the issues highlighted by past literature still remain.

The research presented in this paper is output from a CoP set up to discuss TEL within industry. Within the CoP discussion groups were created to highlight the relevant issues.

The main issues highlighted by the CoP members ranged from strategic, content, learner and technology‐related issues. One key finding of the CoP is that holistic approaches to implementing technology‐enhanced initiatives are more successful in terms of learner acceptance, relevance to the job and effectiveness of the training. The holistic approach takes into account the business need for the training, benefits to the learner and all aspects impacted by TEL.

This paper highlights the issues experienced by industry in Ireland in relation to implementation programmes. It was felt by community members that if the many issues outlined are not addressed the true benefits of TEL to the organisation would fail to materialise. It is hoped that in highlighting and sharing these issues other companies implementing TEL will benefit from the shared experiences of others.

Identifies that best practices for TEL are slow to be implemented in Ireland and that the issues arising are often those previously experienced in the past.

This article sets out to look at how employees who have survived an organisational downsizing and restructuring process adjust to meet the dynamics of the organisation, develop new skills and competencies, and the extent to which they take on new roles in the organisation.

Collects accounts from managers, focusing on exploring the skills and competencies that survivors had to develop, and the attitudes they had to embrace in respect of learning and employment. Explores issues relating to the employability of professional employees and their motivation to learning and willingness to participate in learning that was more tacit and non‐formal in nature.

Provides information in respect of learning processes and responsibilities. Highlights the onus on individuals to take responsibility for their own learning needs and initiate training and development needs. Suggests that self‐development skills were of particular importance in making the transition.

Generalisabilty of the findings is rendered difficult due to the small sample size and lack of access to archival organisational material.

Addresses a gap in the extant literature on the skill and competency issues that arise from strategic and structural transformation and change, in particular from the perspective of managerial and professional employees. Identifies the risks involved in making individuals responsible for their own learning.

The motivation for this investigation is to apply social networking features to a semantic network portal, which supports the efforts in enterprise training units to up‐skill the employee in the company, and facilitates the creation and reuse of knowledge in online communities.

The paper provides an overview of an emerging area for work‐related research in the field of knowledge management and collaborative online communities.

The growing number of social network online communities requires a systematic assessment of the application and design of social network technologies, which makes this study relevant and timely.

This paper gives guidance in an emerging research area with major implications for online communities and human resources management.

Fulfils a need, since a lack of literature in the field is apparent.

Reviews Leadhills Library, Britain’s first subscription library and also the first subscription library in Britain to have a working‐class base. It originated the ideology of mutual improvement as applied to libraries in Scotland, which has clear links with the social philosophy of the period and formed an organizational model for others to follow. Its book selection policy was both progressive and independent and much of its early stock still survives in situ in a building which has probably been occupied since the late eighteenth century. It functioned actively as a library from 1741 until the mid‐1960s and is still available for use today. The surviving stock, catalogued in 1985, totals about 2,500 volumes.