Some organizations invest a great deal of time and effort in elaborate training programmes designed to improve the so‐called “soft” skills of managing. Yet assessing the effectiveness of such initiatives has been rare. Indeed, some trainers have argued that such assessments are misleading....

As a result of the many changes which have taken place in the field of management development since the 1960s, a scenario presenting the probable appearance of the discipline in the year 2000 is presented, with evidence from the past and present to support it.

The central concern of this paper is managers in the middle who are hierarchically suppressed by new systems from above and squeezed by new technologies from below. They represent one of the most disillusioned groups in work organisations. Mid‐career crises, redundancies and exhortations to...

More people are preferring advisory to executive roles, and organisations are beginning to suffer from a lack of candidates for what is increasingly seen as the thankless task of management. This trend is being encouraged by mistaken management development practices and views of the managerial...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to develop a model to examine factors influencing the inclination of MBA graduates to donate to their alma mater. Design/methodology/approach – The authors used a large data‐base of 3,677 MBA graduates to evaluate individual factors, and external...

The spectral management type inventory (SMTI) is an analytical instrument designed to enable people to identify their personal management style. All top‐level managers in one large UK corporation filled in a self‐perception questionnaire assessing their management style. Then, as a group,...

Curricula for MBA programmes are designed to meet business needs and are continuously monitored and reviewed as needs change with time. Examines the content of an MBA programme at a leading UK business school and its effects on its graduates. A survey of the alumni from this MBA programme...