**5. Final considerations**

When comparing the models of in-class and distance courses for the development of skills related to leadership, we observed that the regular courses present a large advantage over distance courses. In this case, managers informed that the development of leadership in inclass courses is better in 54.9% of the cases (Table 19). On the other hand, 31.6% of the managers stated that graduates from distance courses are more skillful on leadership. In this case, closest

Slightly favorable to classroom courses 73 19.4 19.4 Favorable to classroom courses 134 35.5 54.9 Indifferent 51 13.5 65.4 Slightly favorable to distance courses 49 13.0 88.4 Favorable to distance courses 70 18.6 100.0

Contributions from superior education institutions (IESs) can still be materialized by the transfer of trained personnel to companies and research institutes through agreements of technical cooperation and use of laboratories and library collections [56]. Therefore, this set of relationships replaces IESs in the center of the competitive dynamics of industry while playing a key role in sustaining the flow of innovations. For this reason, we asked industrial managers their opinions about the services offered by regional IESs to meet industrial needs in the region

According to the results shown in Table 20, the majority of the respondents stated they attend their needs partly (41.6%). Only 23.6% of the managers said IESs from Minas Gerais attend their employees' needs. This is an important general overview about the quality of courses and kind of courses offered in the region. A total of 34.7% of the respondents pointed out that superior education institutions do not attend their needs. It means educational institutions should get closer to industrial managers to know their needs and make strategies to invest in

**Region No Partly yes Yes Total**

South 2.1% 7.7% 3.2% 13.0% East 2.9% 5.0% 5.0% 13.0% North 9.0% 3.2% 0.8% 13.0% Central 11.9% 20.2% 7.2% 39.3% West 8.8% 5.6% 7.4% 21.8% Total 34.7% 41.6% 23.6% 100.0%

**Frequency % % Total**

physical contact may enhance the development of leadership.

340 E-Learning - Instructional Design, Organizational Strategy and Management

**Table 19.** Comparison between in-classroom and distance courses regarding leadership

of the respondents, as in the main study, in reference [39].

new courses or new models of teaching.

**Table 20.** IESs from Minas Gerais meet industrial needs

Source: Research data

Source: Research data

This study aims to assess the perception of human resource managers regarding the quality of distance undergraduate courses. In search of a broader understanding of this phenomenon, we sought to characterize the managers from Minas Gerais industries and the industries of this state to map the most relevant attributes and the main differences between graduates attending in-classroom courses and distance courses. To achieve these purposes, we used a semi-structured interview with 12 managers and a survey with 377 managers from industries based in the state of Minas Gerais. The interviews allowed the researchers to construct the questionnaire and offered some relevant information to the whole research.

We observed that the development of a teaching and learning model does not necessarily exclude the other model, thus it is concluded that the challenge of human resource managers is to get the most of their graduates regarding the positive aspects of each modality. On the other hand, universities may use this information to improve the quality of their courses and even amplify their profile of courses, in both modalities of undergraduate courses.

According to the results, in-class and distance course lack practical application of learned knowledge, since many of the graduated students arrive, in the market, with few work experiences. However, this situation is more easily bypassed by graduated students from distance courses, because most of them belong to a older age group and many of them are already in the market when they attend undergraduate distance courses. This is an important feature regarding the quality of formal education.

In addition to this, we noticed that industrial managers pointed out responsibility as one of the most important characteristics of graduates from distance courses. According to these managers, graduates from distance courses are also better to associate theory and practice and to deal with modern technology. Although, they pointed out that graduates from in-classroom courses are better in terms of leadership. This conclusion proves that distance courses have to find a form of improving leadership skills on their students because leadership is an important issue regarding human resource managers and their organizations.

To sum up, we would like to suggest that new researches on this subject includes samples from other states. It is also important to consider analyzing the perception of managers from other economic sectors. The collection of more qualitative data is also relevant to have deeper perception about the good and bad sides of these two educational modalities. This research agenda can be seen as an attempt to deepen the knowledge about the use of distance education as an instrument of human resource managers. It is because industries can be directly benefi‐ ciated with qualification that their employees carry on through formal in-classroom and distance education.

We also suggest that new studies compare the performance of the same group of employees before and after attending undergraduate courses, since this study did not analyze quality education features in this perspective. Otherwise, it can be done in the first semester that some specific employees start in-classroom or distance undergraduate courses and in the first semester they graduate.

### **Author details**

Ana Alice Vilas Boas\* and Gustavo Henrique Nogueira de Andrade

\*Address all correspondence to: ana.alice2006@yahoo.com

The Federal University of Lavras, Brazil

#### **References**


**Author details**

Ana Alice Vilas Boas\*

**References**

and Gustavo Henrique Nogueira de Andrade

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