Several years ago I began an intellectual adventure that has paid high dividends in terms of understanding the role of leadership and in selecting more effective leadership strategies. The adventure consisted of seeing what would happen if one conceptualised a social system (family, group,...

Consider the following companies in terms of the leadership adopted by the top manager. They have very different approaches to their job. These differences are not accidental and can be explained in relation to a major study of Managerial Work Preferences conducted during the last five years....

Introduction What do the following people each have in common:

The increasing complexity of knowledge and skills relating to health and disease, together with the development of a variety of professions and disciplines contributing to health care, has encouraged the development of multidisciplinary teams in the health care field. This natural tendency...

This article describes a range of management development methods that tutors, trainers or lecturers can use in their work with managers. In this context the term method is used very loosely to refer to a wide range of very different techniques and approaches. It has been argued that there are no...

“Team skills management” grew out of research into management selection methods. Applied research in industry, ranging from creativity in food processing to trainability in systems analysis, led us to some obvious truths: individuals are seldom good at everything; their effectiveness is...

A crisis looms, problem rolls in on top of problem, “if I do this then this, then that, then … but what if?”. At this point we often cast around for outside help, if only there was someone to “bounce ideas off” and talk through the problem. There seems to be too much to think of, all...

Influencing the work behaviour of subordinates is an essential part of a manager's job. It requires skill, and can be seen as a basic leadership activity. However, appropriate influence depends on more than interacting skilfully with subordinates. As Schein states, to deal with the complexities...

We are all familiar with the fable of the blind man's perception of the shape of an elephant. Management development, in its short 20 year history, has had at least as many different perceptions of its shape. From these different perceptions have emerged very different programmes, activities,...

In some cultures marriages are arranged by proxy, without the couple having met, but it is extremely rare in Western society for a job position to be filled without there having been some form of interview or meeting between the parties concerned. Once people physically come into each others'...