New directions in management development

The desire for a more "transformational" management style has put particular emphasis on the people skills needed by managers to lead others through change.

Formal management courses have become more modular, with a shift towards more personal forms of learning support, such as coaching and mentoring, but these are expensive, labour intensive and harder to evaluate.

The most innovative forms of management development are often reserved for senior managers or those identified as "high potential".

There is widespread acceptance of the importance of management development, but still much uncertainty about how it can be most effectively delivered to the diverse management population.

The temptation to cut management development in bad times is still there, and busy managers find it hard to spend time on their own learning.

This IES analysis shows that there is still a need to set clear corporate and operating unit priorities for management development.

Individual managers need better information and advice to help them manage their own learning.

They also need to be given the skills to act as informal coaches and mentors to others in the workplace