**4. Results and discussion**

#### **4.1. Profile of human resource managers and their organizations**

Subsequently, in the semi-structured interviews we interviewed 377 human resource manag‐ ers of industries in order to expand the analysis performed in the group of twelve interviews to a larger number of respondents, thus allowing statistical inferences to the population. Consequently, the interviews allowed us to raise the profile of managers of industrial organ‐ izations from the state of Minas Gerais.

To assess the profile of the current human resource managers of industrial organizations is crucial to characterize the scenario of people management policies, so it is important to have a panel about the age of the current human resource managers as shown in Table 2. We may observe that 52% of the managers have undergraduation degree or post-graduation degree. It is worth to mention that 6.6% of them did not finish high school or intermediate level of education yet.


**Table 2.** Managers' educational level

Table 3 shows the time managers are on their positions. We may observe that 54.4% of the respondents have less than 5 years in function. Another relevant fact is that there is a very significant number of managers (32.6%) between 11 and 20 years in function, this shows stability in the company and job.


**Table 3.** Managers' time working in that industry

The second part of the study relied on quantitative method characterized by a "survey". Thus, this descriptive research seeks to know more about the reality under study, their characteristics and their problems. Survey helps to accurately describe the facts and given reality of a

The population for this research consists of 18.591 industries characterized according to the methodology of the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics – IBGE, as small, medium and large industries, in the state of Minas Gerais. Survey respondents were made of human resource managers of these industrial organizations with more than 10 employees. They were asked to inform if these companies employ undergraduate students. From this universe, we got a sum total of 377 questionnaires answered through Google Docs. Data were collected from October 2011 to January 2012. The answers of the quantitative research were submitted to

Subsequently, in the semi-structured interviews we interviewed 377 human resource manag‐ ers of industries in order to expand the analysis performed in the group of twelve interviews to a larger number of respondents, thus allowing statistical inferences to the population. Consequently, the interviews allowed us to raise the profile of managers of industrial organ‐

To assess the profile of the current human resource managers of industrial organizations is crucial to characterize the scenario of people management policies, so it is important to have a panel about the age of the current human resource managers as shown in Table 2. We may observe that 52% of the managers have undergraduation degree or post-graduation degree. It is worth to mention that 6.6% of them did not finish high school or intermediate level of

Table 3 shows the time managers are on their positions. We may observe that 54.4% of the respondents have less than 5 years in function. Another relevant fact is that there is a very

Incomplete high school 25 6.6 6.6 Complete high school 74 19.6 26.3 Incomplete college 82 21.8 48.0 Undergraduate 98 26.0 74.0 Postgraduate 98 26.0 100.0

**Frequency % % Total**

phenomena [52].

descriptive analysis.

education yet.

Source: Research data

**Table 2.** Managers' educational level

**4. Results and discussion**

izations from the state of Minas Gerais.

**4.1. Profile of human resource managers and their organizations**

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

The respondents are up to 40-years-old in 67.4% of the cases, but the largest group of respond‐ ents are between 31 and 40-years-old, as shown in Table 4. Only 6.6% of the managers are older than 51 years.


**Table 4.** Age of the human resource managers

It is important to notice that in the age group from 31 to 40, we found more managers (18%) still taking their undergradution, as shown in Table 5. However, among the managers from 21 to 30-years-old, we found out that 14.3% of them already have their undergraduation degree. We can infer that some of these managers are studying at distance courses and we may say that nowadays many professionals are having more access to formal education than people used to have in the past. It can be also supported by data in the same table showing that among managers over 51-years-old, only 2.2% of them are undergraduates or are still studying.

From the point of view of the size of the organizations, according to IBGE definition, we observe that 47.7% of the organizations are small industries, as they have 11–50 employees (Table 6). Following the same definition, we have 39.3% of medium-sized industries, of 51– 250 employees and 13% of large industries, over 251 employees.


**Table 5.** Age of the HR managers × educational level


**Table 6.** Size of the organizations

Within the division of the activities of the responding organizations, there is a predominance of industries related to food production, beverages and tobacco (30%), as shown in Table 7. The textile sector is the second sector represented by 24.9% of the companies surveyed. In sequence comes automotive industries and transport of materials, the mining industries, metallurgic and fuel industries.


**Table 7.** Economic sector of the industries from Minas Gerais

Regarding the regions of the state of Minas Gerais, it is observed that the central region of the state of Minas Gerais have the biggest number of industries in this sample (Table 8). In the sequence comes west region with 21.8% of the industries. Central region has also the highest scores of formal education with 11.9% of managers still carrying on their undergraduate courses and 11.1% already graduated. However, we can see that west region has the highest score of managers with post-graduation degree.


Source: Research data

**Age Incomplete**

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

**Table 5.** Age of the HR managers × educational level

Source: Research data

Source: Research data

Source: Research data

**Table 7.** Economic sector of the industries from Minas Gerais

**Table 6.** Size of the organizations

metallurgic and fuel industries.

**High school High school % Undergraduate Post Graduate**

**Frequency % % Total**

**Frequency % % Total**

Up to 20-years-old 0.0% 0.0% 0.0 0.0% 0.0% 21 to 30-years-old 0.0% 0.0% 2.7 14.3% 11.4% 31 to 40-years-old 0.0% 4.2% 18.0 6.6% 10.1% 41 to 50-years-old 4.2% 14.9% 0.8 3.2% 2.9% More than 51-years-old 2.4% 0.5% 0.3 1.9% 1.6%

Between 11 and 30 employees 25 6.6 6.6 Between 31 and 50 employees 155 41.1 47.7 Between 51 and 99 employees 123 32.7 80.4 Between 100 and 250 employees 25 6.6 87.0 More than 251 employees 49 13.0 100.0

Within the division of the activities of the responding organizations, there is a predominance of industries related to food production, beverages and tobacco (30%), as shown in Table 7. The textile sector is the second sector represented by 24.9% of the companies surveyed. In sequence comes automotive industries and transport of materials, the mining industries,

Mining 23 6.1 6.1 Food, beverage and tobacco 113 30.0 36.1 Textile 94 24.9 61.0 Fuels 19 5.0 66.0 Metallurgy 34 9.0 75.0 Automotive and transport 41 10.9 85.9 Other Industries 53 14.1 100.0 **Table 8.** Region of the organizational industries × managers' educational level

The human resource managers interviewed indicate that higher education institutions located in the region where the industries operate meet partially the company's needs for 39% of respondents, as shown in Table 9. Another 34.7% stated that regional educational institutions do not meet their professional needs. Only 26.3% of the respondents said regional institutions meet well their professional needs. This shows that regional universities should look better for their courses in order to meet industries' requirements. It is probably related to the quality and kind of courses offered.


**Table 9.** Superior educational institutions from Minas Gerais meet industrial needs

#### **4.2. Mapping the graduates' skill and characteristics**

According to the respondents, one of the skills observed in undergraduate employees is integration in the market. Table 10 shows that 44.8% of the managers stated that the level of integration of the graduate employees is suitable. However, 22.3% mentioned that their forms of integration in the company is very good. According to Vilas Boas, the qualification provides conditions to ensure productivity and competitiveness of workers, and therefore for their organizations, since qualification strength their own autonomy and self-worth, as in reference [10]. For companies, this practice is associated with their productivity and own survival.


**Table 10.** Graduates' integration on the job

When questioned about the productivity of undergraduates, it appears that there is a preva‐ lence of 64.5% of positive points of view; however, 13.3% of managers pointed out that productivity of undergraduates is not good, as shown in Table 11. This information about the productivity is supported by the information collected in semi-structured interviews where some respondents have mentioned the issues of low productivity of the new professionals.


**Table 11.** Graduates' productivity

Productivity refers to the greater or lesser use of resources in the production process where raw materials are combined to provide an output, that is, how much one company can produce with limited resources. According to Megginson, Mosley and Pietri Jr. "Productivity is the amount of goods or services produced by an employee in a given period of time, taking quality into account." [53, p.534] Thus, an increase in productivity leads to a better use of employees, machinery, energy, fuels, raw materials, among others.

Given the above, it can be seen in Table 12 that motivation has the same characteristics as the understanding of the tasks where there is a high prevalence of positive assessment (65.8%) in this sample. Only 5.3% of the respondents pointed out that the level of motivation of the new employees is bad.


**Table 12.** Graduates' motivation

of integration in the company is very good. According to Vilas Boas, the qualification provides conditions to ensure productivity and competitiveness of workers, and therefore for their organizations, since qualification strength their own autonomy and self-worth, as in reference [10]. For companies, this practice is associated with their productivity and own survival.

When questioned about the productivity of undergraduates, it appears that there is a preva‐ lence of 64.5% of positive points of view; however, 13.3% of managers pointed out that productivity of undergraduates is not good, as shown in Table 11. This information about the productivity is supported by the information collected in semi-structured interviews where some respondents have mentioned the issues of low productivity of the new professionals.

Productivity refers to the greater or lesser use of resources in the production process where raw materials are combined to provide an output, that is, how much one company can produce with limited resources. According to Megginson, Mosley and Pietri Jr. "Productivity is the amount of goods or services produced by an employee in a given period of time, taking quality into account." [53, p.534] Thus, an increase in productivity leads to a better use of employees,

Too bad 0 0.0 0 Bad 50 13.3 13.3 Indifferent 84 22.3 35.5 Good 193 51.2 86.7 Very good 50 13.3 100.0

Too bad 0 0.0 0.0 Bad 25 6.6 6.6 Indifferent 99 26.3 32.9 Good 169 44.8 77.7 Very good 84 22.3 100.0

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

Source: Research data

Source: Research data

**Table 11.** Graduates' productivity

machinery, energy, fuels, raw materials, among others.

**Table 10.** Graduates' integration on the job

**Frequency % % Total**

**Frequency % % Total**

According to Table 13, the skills of understanding tasks was appointed as indifferent by almost half of the interviewed managers (48.8%). It meets the speeches of the managers interviewed in the first phase of this research. Work activity synthesizes and integrates different factors structuring work process [54]. Thus, in real work situation, the activities give visibility to the determinants that affect their interaction with the environment and motivate people.


**Table 13.** Graduates' task comprehension

#### **4.3. Comparison between classroom and EAD graduates**

In order to compare the perception of human resource managers regarding quality features of students' in-classroom courses and distance courses, we asked them to choose the options in a specific scale about quality features of undergraduate students as shown on tables 14, 15, 16, 17, 18 and 19. More information on these results can be seen in reference [39]. It can also be related to information in previous literature about distance education and e-Learning as in [3, 8, 10, 11, 17, 21, 22, 25, 30, 34, 48, 50, 55]. When it comes to the ability to deal with information technology, 75.3% of respondents pointed out predominance of the distance courses in relation to classroom courses, as shown in Table 14. This result is justified by the intense interaction with the technological tools used in distance courses.


**Table 14.** Comparison between ability to deal with information technology

Managers were asked to compare the quality of job performed by graduates from in-class courses and distance courses. Table 15 shows that 36.1% of the managers stated that graduates from in-class courses perform better their job. On the other hand, 34.7% of them said graduates from distance education courses perform better their job. The difference between the two groups is very short and not significant statistically. In addition, almost one third of the respondents are indifferent to this issue.


**Table 15.** Comparison regarding the quality of the job performed by graduates

Association between theory and practice by graduates is extremely important for industrial organizations. Regarding this attribute, the respondents stated they are favorable (46.4%) to graduates from distance education courses, as shown in Table 16. Thus, this is a useful indicator of the quality for distance education courses. Consequently, when industries invest in adoption of new equipment and mechanisms that require application of theory in practice, they may relay well on graduates of distance education programs. On the other hand, 41.2% are favorable to in-classroom courses for the association between theory and practice.


**Table 16.** Comparison between association of theory and practice

technology, 75.3% of respondents pointed out predominance of the distance courses in relation to classroom courses, as shown in Table 14. This result is justified by the intense interaction

Managers were asked to compare the quality of job performed by graduates from in-class courses and distance courses. Table 15 shows that 36.1% of the managers stated that graduates from in-class courses perform better their job. On the other hand, 34.7% of them said graduates from distance education courses perform better their job. The difference between the two groups is very short and not significant statistically. In addition, almost one third of the

Slightly favorable to classroom courses 81 21.5 21.5 Favorable to classroom courses 55 14.6 36.1 Indifferent 110 29.2 65.3 Slightly favorable to distance courses 69 18.3 83.6 Favorable to distance courses 62 16.4 100.0

Association between theory and practice by graduates is extremely important for industrial organizations. Regarding this attribute, the respondents stated they are favorable (46.4%) to graduates from distance education courses, as shown in Table 16. Thus, this is a useful indicator of the quality for distance education courses. Consequently, when industries invest in adoption of new equipment and mechanisms that require application of theory in practice, they may relay well on graduates of distance education programs. On the other hand, 41.2% are favorable

Slightly favorable to classroom courses 0 0.0 0.0 Favorable to classroom courses 23 6.1 6.1 Indifferent 70 18.6 24.7 Slightly favorable to distance courses 215 57.0 81.7 Favorable to distance courses 69 18.3 100.0

**Frequency % % Total**

**Frequency % % Total**

with the technological tools used in distance courses.

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

**Table 14.** Comparison between ability to deal with information technology

**Table 15.** Comparison regarding the quality of the job performed by graduates

to in-classroom courses for the association between theory and practice.

respondents are indifferent to this issue.

Source: Research data

Source: Research data

Table 17 presents the comparison regarding the actuality of learned content. According to this table, both in-class courses and distance courses are both updated in terms of the content they offer to their students. However, there is 24.4% of managers who did not know well to inform, it is because they marked indifferent to this question.


**Table 17.** Comparison regarding update of learned content

Regarding responsibility of the graduates of distance education courses and in-class courses, 67.4% of managers are favorable to distance courses (Table 18). This result indicates that by requiring a straight discipline to the conclusion of the courses, distance education provides further development of the issues related to individual responsibility. It is relevant to mention that discipline and responsibility to follow the activities and study to achieve suitable results are essential to this kind of course, but it also brings this quality feature regarding the degree of responsibility of the graduates from this kind of education.


**Table 18.** Comparison in terms of graduates' responsiblity

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 physical contact may enhance the development of leadership.


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

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

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 new courses or new models of teaching.


Source: Research data

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