If money is the root of all evil, is it also the root of all motivation? When talking about workplace performance and training, the experts' consensus is a resounding "No." This article discusses why cash doesn't motivate everyone all the time when it comes to workplace performance and training and takes a look at what does.

The national skill standards project may take 10 years to complete and will be expensive to set up and maintain. Getting consensus from industry, unions, and educators and ensuring checks for fairness and nondiscrimination pose challenges. (SK)

To give trainees a deeper level of experience, instructors often use role plays. In a role play, of course, learners enact the situation rather than merely talk about it. In a significant way, role plays let learners escape the environment of the classroom in order to behave as they would in real life. (SSH)

Summarizes five task analysis approaches to determining what people need to know and do to perform their jobs successfully. (EM)

Peer training in the workplace can be effective if it is structured; if trainers are carefully chosen, trained, and rewarded; and if transfer of training is supported. Peer training has the advantages of credibility, speed, and cost savings. (SK)

Describes a survey of "Training" readers that asked: (1) Does your organization conduct basic technical skills training? and (2) If you do provide technical skills training, what subjects are you covering? Results are reported and discussed. (CT)

States that revitalizing inner cities requires training and jobs. Illustrates how some companies are meeting the challenge of training inner-city long-term unemployed persons. (SK)

Takes a look at the first two and one-half years of the Job Training Partnership Act: its purpose, how it compares to past job training programs funded by the Federal Government, service delivery areas, private industry councils, intended audience of the project, and project success stories. (CT)

Reports on changes that will affect the labor force and the workplace. Trends include (1) the crumbling skill base, (2) the shifting skill focus, (3) the shift from physical to mental labor, (4) technology management, and (5) avoidance of obsolescence. (CH)

Why do employers go to the trouble and considerable expense of providing training for the people who work for them? Traditionally, the purpose of company-sponsored training has been to prepare specific people to do specific jobs or to do them better. (SSH)

The author presents nine typical situations where training failed to transfer and tips on how the problem could have been avoided. Situations include rocking the boat, mismatching courses and needs, supervisory slipups, losing track of what training employees need, and no help applying skills back on the job. (CT)