Team leaders’ development: findings from a case study

Reports on the experience of production team leaders and their line managers on the quality of training and development of the former. The setting was the UK plant of a US‐based global organization competing in the telecommunications technology sector. Team leaders’ and line managers’ views were complemented with data from personnel records. The findings suggested that team leaders’ development was perceived to be inadequate in both the technical and leadership domains. Team leaders perceived deficiencies in their technical training and competence; and line managers viewed that team leaders lacked managerial and leadership skills. The analysis of personnel records corroborated those views as it suggested that existing training and development structures were not being properly implemented or designed. This situation can impact unit performance. Suggestions regarding rectification of such situations are made.