I actually agree with you, but this organization is quite different from others considering that this is a Japanese Industry (no offense, but its the reality), where in they consider "salary increase, benefit/compensation study" as thier last resort in boosting the employee morale, sad to say
so the effect in in training. Aside from the fact that Values training is not the ONLY answer, i still believe that it can somehow adress the issue. AS long as the content and delivery of training is effective, I am confident that I can change thier mindset, of course in support for other programs (benefits and compensation administration, job security, etc..) So please if someone out there has a good material to share, please do so.
Thanks for the replies!
Based on my experience working for, with, and against hundreds of organizations over the years, it is my opinion the situation is one of
"self fulfilling prophecy!"
Some managers and owners, particularly absentee ones, have a pre-conceived notion they're smarter and more motivated than the employees they hire. With this bias coloring their actions, these managers and owners lose respect for the employees and show it by exploiting the workers in pay and working conditions and substandard tools and materials (think of the Old Testament story about Pharaoh withholding straw from the slaves and yet requiring them to make bricks by finding straw on their own time and at their own expense.)
The bias makes the owners suspicious of motives and paranoid about employees willfully committing "work slowdowns" or even sabotage. The self-fulfilling part is the exploited workers, dissatisfied with pay and working conditions DO become restive and unhappy and DO work more slowly
(either because the tools and materials and management-imposed work instructions dictate [think Deming's RED BEADS here]) or because they ARE consciously or unconsciously slowing the pace in an attempt to create
parity ("work worthy of the pay.")
If the managers resort to harsh punishment of employees perceived to be slacking off, actual sabotage sometimes follows, resulting in an ever-escalating war between workers and managers as each mistakenly tries to force the other side into submission.
Sadly, the situation is NEVER completely resolved by "training" only one side of the equation. Much more success can be expected when both managers and rank and file employees are involved in something like Deming's System of Profound Knowledge (SoPK), where each participant becomes aware of the value provided by ALL members of the organization. With a good SoPK, employees get fair pay and good working conditions because the managers realize it increases the net value each "enlightened" employee brings to the organization.
Bottom line:
Training ONLY the employees without collaterally improving pay and working conditions probably will not deliver the desired result. Probably, the most efficacious course of action is to find a sympathetic manager as a prospective "champion" to sponsor a radical change in training BOTH managers and employees, with a lot of emphasis on meeting or exceeding pay and working conditions of similar organizations (takes away a lot of the "grass is greener" dissent so prevalent among organizations where the workforce is exploited in pay and/or working conditions.)