Management Development

Management Development is best described as the process from which managers learn and improve their skills not only to benefit themselves but also their employing organisations.

In organisational development (OD), the effectiveness of management is recognised as one of the determinant's of organisational success. Therefore, investment in management development can have a direct economic benefit to the organisation.

Managers are exposed to learning opportunities whilst doing their jobs, if this informal learning is used as a formal process then it is regarded as management development.

In 2004 the spend per annum per manager on management and leadership development was £1,035, an average of 6.3 days per manager.

What management development includes:
 * structured informal learning: work-based methods aimed at structuring the informal learning which will always take place
 * formal training courses of various kinds: from very specific courses on technical aspects of jobs to courses on wider management skills
 * education: which might range from courses for (perhaps prospective) junior managers or team leaders
 * Level 2 Teamleading (ILM)
 * NVQ Level 3
 * Certificate in Management /Studies
 * Diploma in Management /Studies
 * MSc/MA in management or Master of Business Administration (MBA) degrees.

The term 'leadership' is often used almost interchangeably with 'management' Leadership which deals with emotions is an important component of management which is about rational thinking..

The Management Charter Intiative (MCI) originally set out management competencies for management S/NVQ’s, these comptencies are now part of the National Qualification Framework (NQF), it is from these competencies that managers can be assessed and development needs determined.

Challenges

 * Administrative incompetence
 * Attitude problems

Approaches to Management Development

 * Dysfunction analysis
 * Mentoring
 * Coaching
 * Job rotation
 * Professional development
 * Business Workflow Analysis
 * Upward feedback
 * Executive education
 * Supervisory training

Action Learning
Many management qualifications now hoave an Action Learning element. Action Learning recognises that individuals learn best from experience, so that process is structured. Action Learning sets allow individuals to try out different approaches to solving issues and problems..

Coaching
Main article: business coaching see also :Main article: executive coaching
 * An effective learning tool
 * Impact on bottom line/productivity
 * Intangible benefits
 * Aids improvement of individual performance
 * Tackles underperformance
 * Aids identification of personal learning needs

Management education
One of the biggest growth areas in UK education since the early 1980’s has been the growth of university level management education. As well as weekly part time attendance at College/University many students are also undertaking disatnce learning. Whereas there were only two business schools in the early 1970’s there are now over a hundred providers offering undergraduate, postgraduate and professional courses