LEARNING TO MANAGE THE FACTORY FLOOR IN ETHIOPIA: SKILLS, WORK CULTURES AND ORGANIZATIONAL CAPABILITIES IN ETHIOPIA'S LIGHT MANUFACTURING The initial 2015-2019 project focused primarily on the experiences and working conditions of unskilled and semi-skilled workers, i.e. the bulk of workers employed by companies in the construction and manufacturing sectors. However, our qualitative research and interviews with factory managers stressed the equal importance of skilled and management labour force for the success of these industries. These interviews corroborated the importance of and constraints in finding and retaining high-quality local managers for factory floor operations. This is consistent with similar findings from other studies of industrialization in developing countries and diagnostic research by ILO in Ethiopia.
We there propose to extend our current research to deepen the understanding of the current and past experiences of existing and especially new emerging industrial firms in finding, developing and retaining a skilled and managerial workforce, in order to improve the sustainability of the firm in the country and labour relations at the workplace. We will ask questions and do qualitative research about the constraints on hiring and retaining Ethiopian managers and the processes of skill transfer that have worked best to incorporate this labour force at the factory floor level. We will also compile relevant data from existing datasets emerging from other studies that have been conducted in the last 5 years in Ethiopia. Research and development activity contributing to the UK’s strategy to address key development challenges.