Management development strategies at Fujitsu Services: Creating a management training academy for higher‐impact employees
| Published date | 01 November 2006 |
| Date | 01 November 2006 |
| Pages | 32-35 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/14754390680000940 |
| Author | Ian Williams |
| Subject Matter | HR & organizational behaviour |
32 Volume 6 Issue 1 November/December 2006
N 2005, FUJITSU SERVICES, a professional IT
services organization, launched an ambitious
management development program: the Fujitsu
Management Academy. Involving 2,200 managers
based in 13 different countries, participants were able
to follow the same, three-stage program delivered in 11
different languages.
The aim of the Management Academy was to
develop the company’s existing employees into more
effective people managers.
Seeking a multi-dimensional, global approach
Fujitsu Services made this major investment to develop
our people managers, many of whom are primarily
“technical experts,” rather than specifically trained line
managers. The aim of this venture was to improve
individuals’ capacity and capability to ensure an
increase in their contribution, and help maintain the
performance and growth of the business.
Fujitsu Services worked in partnership with a range
of organizations to assist in the construction and
delivery of this extensive people-development program,
including leadership specialists, the Danish Leadership
Institute (DIEU).
Local impact on a European scale
As a professional IT services organization, we sell the
quality, expertise and excellence of our people. In a
market where we sell our integrity, professionalism and
reputation, we needed to invest in our people
development in order to achieve and improve on our
business goals. We recognized that enhancing our
people manager capability was key to enhancing the
business – results from our employee-opinion survey
and feedback from external assessments indicated that
this was a key area for us to address. Many of our
managers are technical experts by nature and in some
cases require people-management training to ensure
they’re effective in these key roles.
In 2003, we ran a management-development
program for our people managers because we
recognized a business need to support this group of
employees. Feedback from this program showed us we
needed to continue developing this key group of
people. This program was very much a “one-size-fits-
all” approach and while it was successful in delivering
knowledge and understanding, it was clear that a
greater definition of leadership and management
capability was required and that the organization
would benefit from further and continued investment
in its managers.
Introducing new management initiatives
As a result, I spent some time talking with key
stakeholders including senior management, and
consulting a number of external reference points via
The Corporate Leadership Council1(a membership of
By Ian Williams, Fujitsu Services
Management
development
strategies at
Fujitsu Services
Creating a management training
academy for higher-impact employees
I
In 2005, developing technically minded employees into
productive people managers was top of the agenda for
IT services organization, Fujitsu.The company wanted to
extend its employees’ expertise beyond just
technological advancements, but also focus on their
internal managerial skills. Here, Ian Williams, Fujitsu’s
head of organization and people development, explains
how a modular management development program has
enabled the organization to get more from its people.
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