TRANSPORTATION-RELATED TRAINING NEEDS OF COUNTY ROAD MANAGERS AND ELECTED OFFICIALS

Training is a necessary and integral part of life, which has become more necessary in the past two decades as our economy and society have moved toward a knowledge-based system where information, ideas, procedures, and data have become the common currency of success. The information age is quickly replacing the industrial age and is driving this phenomenon. Training is integral to our lives then, because both formal and informal training increases our awareness of important issues and aids in better decision making. Without training we are left only with our formal education, which falls far short of the required knowledge to succeed in our jobs. The field of transportation is not immune from the effects of the information age. In fact, it probably is more prone to the need for training than the average field of endeavor or vocation. Transportation-related decision making grows increasingly important as resources allocated to counties and townships become more scarce. Counties and townships are forced to do more or maintain the status quo with shrinking dollars. This study was designed to determine the transportation-related training needs of county road managers and elected officials. The training needs were identified through a mail questionnaire. Results indicate that there is an overwhelming desire for some or significant amounts of training by elected county officials and county road engineers and supervisors. All of the 13 categories, e.g., gravel roads, and 46 subcategories, e.g., sealants/chemical, rated by county road managers contained responses which indicated "Some Training Needed" or "Significant Training Needed." Likewise, for the 11 categories and 19 subcategories rated by elected officials, more than 50% of the respondents believed there was "Some Training Needed" or "Significant Training Needed."

• Record URL:
  https://www.ugpti.org/resources/reports/details.php?id=272
• Corporate Authors:

  Upper Great Plains Transportation Institute

  North Dakota State University
  1320 Albrecht Boulevard
  Fargo, ND  United States  581052

  North Dakota Department of Transportation

  608 East Boulevard Avenue
  Bismarck, ND  United States  58505-0700
• Authors:
  • Hough, J
  • Griffin, G
• Publication Date: 1998-7

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: Appendices; Tables;
• Pagination: 45 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: County government; Decision making; Highway engineers; Local government; Managerial personnel; Needs assessment; Supervisors; Training; Transportation
• Uncontrolled Terms: Elected officials
• Subject Areas: Administration and Management; Transportation (General); I10: Economics and Administration;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00962839
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: UGPTI Publication No. 124
• Files: TRIS, STATEDOT
• Created Date: Sep 11 2003 12:00AM