Seven key issues for management development

Introduces the key issues in management development that this special issue aims to tackle. These include: what is management development? Why is management development worthy of our attention? What is to be learnt and when? What are the most effective techniques? Approaches the task from first principles looking at how work is changing, what managers actually do and how they can be most effective. Notes that classroom‐based learning is being abandoned in favour of on‐the‐job and project‐based learning but these approaches are not without difficulties either. The new approaches also make it imperative to tie the development program in with organizational strategy. In turn, this helps spread knowledge throughout the organization. Finally, considers the evaluation of development programs where learning becomes a two‐way process.