Management development is big business. Yet much of the
expenditure, corporate or individual, has tended to be an act of faith,
rather than an 'evidence-based' investment. The authors of the chapters in Management Development that Works all
have extensive involvement with the area, as well as having Business School
appointments. Here, their chapters provide a compelling description of what
actually works in management development.



Today, organisations and their leaders face complex,
interconnected challenges, often spanning national borders and having
significant global consequences. How they can be helped to tackle these
challenges is a significant responsibility. This important book therefore
should be essential reading for all those concerned with the making of
managers, both today and for the future.



The book's sections address in turn how managers learn,
where they learn, what they need to learn to tackle future challenges and how
to make management development work now and for the future. Management Development that Works discusses
the importance of emotional as well as intellectual stretch in the learning
process and reinforces the
fundamental idea that management learning is facilitated most effectively
through practical experiences and active reflection. This process places a
particularly challenging responsibility on facilitators and educators.



Off-the-shelf
solutions will no longer do. Learning is the only viable competitive
advantage for organisations, and 'sticky learning' - learning that transfers
effectively to the workplace - is vital. In future, effective management
development interventions will be a crucial driver of sustained success, and
must move beyond simply responding to traditional perceptions and outdated
ways of working. They must offer cutting-edge thinking and practice which feeds,
nurtures, develops, cajoles, challenges and stimulates managers to be the
best they can be.