Building a Learning Culture — A Management Development Programme in the Antipodes

Concern over the shortage of managerial talent in New Zealand led a privately owned company in the capital goods market to establish its own management development programme in‐house, custom‐built on assessment centre principles. The programme recognises that training needs of supervisors and managers fall into three main categories: technical skills, people skills and conceptual and administrative skills. Experience with the programme shows that it is possible and worthwhile for small‐to‐medium sized companies to establish such programmes. The involvement of managers as counsellors is significant in their success. Such a programme must be easy to administer and should keep concurrent assessment to the minimum. Reasons for the failure of previous management training and specific features of the programme are outlined.