Management development may be defined as any attempt to improve managerial performance by imparting knowledge, changing attitudes or increasing skills.
The ultimate aim for doing so is to enhance the future performance of an organisation. The general management development process consists of assessing the organisation’s strategic needs (for instance, to fill future executive openings), appraising the managers’ performance and then developing managers (and future managers).
In this article, I am going to look at some of the management development programme methods that you could consider using.
Job rotation: This method involves moving management trainees from department to department to broaden their understanding of various areas of the organisation while testing their abilities.
In most cases the trainee would be a recent college graduate, who will spend several months in each department. He or she may be observing what will be going around in the department and at times getting fully involved in its operations.
The trainee generally gets to know the department by actually doing specific tasks while discovering what job they prefer.
In order for the rotation programme to be successful, it should be tailored to the needs, interests and capabilities of the trainee and not just a standard sequence that all trainees should follow.
The length of time a trainee spends on a job should be determined by how fast they learn. There is also need for the manager to whom the trainee reports to be trained on how to assess and mentor the person in a competent manner.
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Coaching or understudy approach: In this method, the trainee works directly with the senior manager or the person he or she is to replace. The latter is responsible for the trainee’s coaching. Normally, the understudy relieves the executive of certain responsibilities, giving the trainee a chance to learn the job.
Action learning: Action learning programmes give managers realised time to work full time on projects, analysing and solving problems in departments other than their own. Trainee managers meet periodically in small groups to discuss their findings.
Case study method: This is where a trainee is presented with a written description of an organisational problem. He/she will analyse the case, diagnose the problem and present his/her findings and solutions in a discussion with other trainees. This enables the trainee to sharpen their problem-solving abilities, which will make them good managers.
Management games: With computerised or CD-ROM-based management games, trainee managers are divided into five or six groups, each of which competes with the others in a simulated market place. Each group may be asked to decide for example, how much to spend on advertising; how much to produce; how much inventory to maintain and how many items of each product to produce.
Management games can be be useful tools. People can learn best by getting involved and the games can useful for gaining such involvement. They help trainees develop problem-solving skills, as well as focus attention on planning rather than putting out fires. The results of the games will highlight the kinds of manager respective trainees are.
Acknowledgements: www.penhall.co/dessler
.Paul Nyausaru is human resources practitioner. Views contained in this article are personal. You can contact him on email [email protected] or [email protected]
