http://www.amtrakoig.com/Reports/Training%...ort%20Final.pdf
Of the 12 General Superintendents and Master Mechanics who are collectively responsible for the efficient and effective employment of 12,379 field employees and subordinates, records indicate only one (8.3 percent) possesses a baccalaureate degree, and that is not a Bachelor of Science. In fact, a more detailed review of the senior field management (grades E-1, D-2 and D-1) of these two operating departments determined that of the 112 top non-agreement employees, only 22 (19.6 percent) possessed a degree, and only four of these were technical (Bachelor of Science) degrees. At lower management levels, the comparison is equally stark; in one operating department, of the approximately 125 field level line managers who collectively direct and supervise 3,000 employees, only seven (6 percent) possessed a degree, and six of the seven were in non-technical fields.
This situation has developed over many years, and will take many years to correct. Studies have shown that most managers tend to promote people who are like themselves. It is therefore understandable that this situation has evolved since, until recently, the heads of the two largest operating departments and the two top managers in the HR&DI Department did not have college degrees. If these individuals had experienced first hand the value of a college degree, they may have placed more emphasis on hiring managers with college educations.
A college education is not the only tool in an individual manager’s tool kit; there are some people whose natural leadership abilities substantially offset their lack of a baccalaureate education, and many of them are in senior leadership positions at Amtrak. On an individual basis, this is good, and arguably there should always be positions for a very small percentage of individuals who are truly gifted in these areas. However, on an aggregate basis, a senior leadership lacking formal technical and/or business education is not an ideal situation for the successful operation of a complex, 21st Century transportation company.