Management Development
Management Development
The main trends in MD and how will it evolve in the future? Will leadership development and management development will continue to co-exist or will one supplant the other?
Introduction
The concept of management development (MD) refers to the structured procedure by which managers learn and improve their skills, competences and knowledge through formal and informal learning techniques, with the aim of benefiting both individual and organizational performance (CIPD, 2004). It is a practitioner focused concept which has the objective of developing individual knowledge and various other managerial skills possessed by the manager, and the various techniques applied may include classroom tuition, seminars and on-the-job training. The concept has taken on the centre stage in importance due mainly to the convergence of historical practice, emerging discussions and current trends in business, and it has continued to evolve especially in the last thirty years. This is mainly because of the critical nature of the need to sustain the performance of managers at the highest levels in order to enhance organizational sustainability.
The fact that organizations continue to face in challenges in the business world is responsible for the growing emphasis on management development (MD), according to Vicere (1998), these challenges include trends such as globalization, technology revolutions, downsizing, and re-engineering. This has resulted in flatter, flexible, more efficient, more customer oriented organisations that are focussed on shorter periods in managing performance (Suutari and Viitala, 2008). Perhaps the concept of stringent cost management can be added to these developments which have all combined together to re-define today’s business processes and practices around the world.
The constant changes and the unpredictable nature of global business has led to the need for managers with more complex and adaptive thinking abilities, hence MD methods need
The main trends in MD and how will it evolve in the future? Will leadership development and management development will continue to co-exist or will one supplant the other?
Introduction
The concept of management development (MD) refers to the structured procedure by which managers learn and improve their skills, competences and knowledge through formal and informal learning techniques, with the aim of benefiting both individual and organizational performance (CIPD, 2004). It is a practitioner focused concept which has the objective of developing individual knowledge and various other managerial skills possessed by the manager, and the various techniques applied may include classroom tuition, seminars and on-the-job training. The concept has taken on the centre stage in importance due mainly to the convergence of historical practice, emerging discussions and current trends in business, and it has continued to evolve especially in the last thirty years. This is mainly because of the critical nature of the need to sustain the performance of managers at the highest levels in order to enhance organizational sustainability.
The fact that organizations continue to face in challenges in the business world is responsible for the growing emphasis on management development (MD), according to Vicere (1998), these challenges include trends such as globalization, technology revolutions, downsizing, and re-engineering. This has resulted in flatter, flexible, more efficient, more customer oriented organisations that are focussed on shorter periods in managing performance (Suutari and Viitala, 2008). Perhaps the concept of stringent cost management can be added to these developments which have all combined together to re-define today’s business processes and practices around the world.
The constant changes and the unpredictable nature of global business has led to the need for managers with more complex and adaptive thinking abilities, hence MD methods need
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