The Learning Goals and Outcomes of Management Development Programmes
| Published date | 01 January 1977 |
| Pages | 5-16 |
| Date | 01 January 1977 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/eb055322 |
| Author | Roger Stuart,John Burgoyne |
| Subject Matter | HR & organizational behaviour |
The Learning Goals and
Outcomes of Management
Development Programmes
Roger Stuart
Research Fellow, The Management
Teacher
Development
Unit,
University
of
Lancaster
John Burgoyne
Research Director, The Management
Teacher
Development Unit,
University
of
Lancaster
Introduction
In our previous paper1 we developed a taxonomy of manager-
ial skills and qualities; reported a modest research study
giving some evidence for the validity of the taxonomy; and
presented some further empirical evidence about the sources
from which the managers we have investigated acquired these
skills and qualities.
Our aim in this paper is to present and interpret some evi-
dence about the part that management development prog-
rammes - that is, teaching/learning events expressly for man-
agers-are playing in the total picture of managerial skills and
their acquisition. We hope that we can put in some perspec-
tive the questions 'how much?' and 'what?' is management
development contributing. We anticipate that this will be of
interest to those who 'do' management development, to those
who
'use'
it, and to those who make policy decisions about it.
In this paper our primary focus is on the intended and actual
overall effect of management development programmes,
based on our research in studying and following up the par-
ticipants from a sample of 15 different programmes. In the
next paper the focus will be on the
differences
between the
programmes in our sample, and the
differences
in their effects
in terms of
learning,
with the aim of seeing what it is about the
different programmes that leads them to have different out-
comes. This we hope will have particular relevance to those
who are concerned with
designing
management development
programmes, or choosing programmes to meet particular
learning goals.
Data were presented in the previous paper2 which pointed
towards some of the sources from which managers developed
the diversity of qualities and skills which contribute to suc-
cessful managerial performance. Though the greater part of
the learning of managerial skills came from 'natural',
experiential sources - actually doing the job - nevertheless,
two important sources of learning were seen to be the in-
company and the out-of-company education and training
activities.
In this paper, we shall focus our attention on these deliberate
educational and training interventions. Specifically, we prop-
ose to separate out the management-oriented programmes
from the other, more broadly oriented, educational experi-
ences.
In so doing, it is our hope not only to further the
debate concerning the role of management education in
developing effective managers, but also to contribute to the
continuing evolution of a taxonomy of management educa-
tion.
After briefly describing the data collected in this study, and
how they were acquired, this paper goes on to present and
interpret the evidence we have about:
1 The role of deliberate educational interventions in
developing managerial skills and qualities.
2 Within the class of 'all educational interventions', the
part played by those which were specifically
'management-oriented' programmes.
3 The overall effect, in terms of learning of various types,
of our sample of management development programmes.
4 The overall
intention
in terms of the organizers' goals for
the learning that the programmes would bring about.
5 How overall outcome compares with overall intention.
The Data
The data on which the conclusions presented are based have
been collected from the organizers and participants in a sam-
ple of 15 varied management development programmes.
Two-
to three-hour unstructured interviews were carried out
with the organizers of each of the 15 programmes. The inter-
views were channelled to ensured that information was col-
lected in at least three areas: firstly, the strategy and design of
the programmes, including the assumptions that were being
made about the nature of the managerial role, the people who
filled the role, and the kinds of activities which were most
conducive to managers' learning; secondly, the detailed day-
by-day events which made up the actual programme; and
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