After reading this article you will learn about Management Development:- 1. Meaning of Management Development 2. Importance of Management Development 3. Nature 4. Aims 5. Contents 6. Facilities.

Contents:

  1. Meaning of Management Development
  2. Importance of Management Development
  3. Nature of Management Development
  4. Aims of Management Development
  5. Contents of Management Development
  6. Facilities of Management Development


1. Meaning of Management Development:

Since 1950, Management or Executive Development has been the most prominent area of personnel or human resources management. It is also called management revolution.

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Management development is a systematic process of management training and growth by which individuals (aspiring to rise on the ladder of management) gain and apply knowledge, skills, insights, and attitudes to manage managers, workers and work organisations effectively.

Management development, therefore, means any planned, guided or directed activity undertaken by a manager to help himself become more competent in his present and/or to consciously prepare himself for assuming higher and more important managerial duties and responsibilities so that he can claim promotion by merit or competence.

There are two ways to develop as managers:

1. Active and intelligent participation in the formal courses of instructions and management training pro-grammes.

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2. Learning the techniques of management through actual job experiences in a work environment itself.

A company should provide the training programme and opportunities for development to its present as well as potential managers and offer ample scope for taints to conic forward. But it should be clearly noted that training programmes such as case studies, lectures, role playing, readings, job rotation and so on cannot automatically guarantee, the accelerated output of managers.

Please note that no man can develop another. More important and vital counterpart of planned training programme is the individual efforts of the person himself. In the final analysis, self-development is an important component of any management development programme.

The urge for advancement and development must come from within the individual and a manager has to develop himself. In other words, self-motivation is the pivot of management development programme. Top management must create an environment in which self-development is encouraged and facilitated.

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Management development programme must be based on three principles:

1. All development is self- development,

2. Development programme should recognise individual differences, and

3. Development programme is a long-range process and a manager cannot be produced overnight.


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2. Importance of Management Development:

Executive talent is the most important asset of an organisation. It is not shown on the corporate balance sheet, but it influences appreciably the growth, progress, profits and the share values, than any other corporate assets.

Managerial asset is not costly to acquire. It is a low-cost resource with a high-profit potential. In reality, top management should give more thought and care to the acquisition, maintenance and growth of men and women who possess managerial talent and calibre than the thought and care given to planning and development of a plant or a product.

In the life of a corporation, present success is largely a product of three types of top management actions taken in the past:

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1. Scientific selection of the right people in the management cadre;

2. Placement of properly selected people in the right job;

3. Assurance that these properly placed managers could grow as per expectations and could meet both the needs of the organisation as well as their own needs. In underdeveloped and developing countries, management is the single factor acting as the master-key for unlocking the forces of economic development.

No modern business can continue to be successful without planned attention to the growth and development of its managerial staff. It is due to the unbelievably rapid expansion of technology demanding numerous specialised and qualified employees to manage complex, sophisticated and dynamic business.

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“An institution that cannot produce its own managers will die. From an overall point of view the ability of an institution to produce managers is more important than its ability to produce goods efficiently and cheaply”—P. Drucker.

Drucker’s statement illustrates the importance of management (executive) development. Yet we find that industry on the whole has failed to recognise its importance, particularly in developing countries like India.


3. Nature of Management Development:

Management or executive development is an organised and planned process and programme of training and growth by which individual manager or executive at each level of management hierarchy gains and applies knowledge, skills, insights and attitudes to manage workers and the work organisations effectively.

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Of course, it is beyond the shadow of doubt that the company can only create the favourable climate for the development of managers. Ultimately, in any programme of management development, self-development will be the key-factor to determine the success of the programme of executive development.

In other words, the participants in this programme must have the capacity to learn and develop and they must be highly motivated to achieve the planned objectives. Executive development is the guided self-discovery and self-development.


4. Aims of Planned Management Development:

The primary aims and objectives are:

1. To ensure that the company is staffed both now and in the future with a sufficient number of managers with necessary skills, experience and ability to secure continued” growth and profitability the right man/woman at the right time in the right place. Thus, we will have a steady source of competent people at all levels to meet organisational needs at all lines.

2. To check that human resources of a company are being properly and fully used, and that potential and talent in human terms are neither wasted nor overlooked, and they are offered ample and timely scope to grow, so that both individuals as well as organisational needs are adequately met. This will ensure optimum utilisation of human capital.

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3. To provide an opportunity for staff within a company to prepare themselves for higher assignments and to reach their maximum capabilities. The staff should be enabled to fulfill their career expectations by training that will enable them to do a bigger and a richer job which they can get through a sound promotion policy, viz., promotion from within by merit.

In addition, there are many other objectives, such as prevention of managerial obsolescence (becoming out of date) preparation for new business and expansions, to replace old executives with younger talents, to Indianise management, to promote a high morale and good organisational climate, to promote productivity, profits and so on.

Management Development Programme (MDP):

The process of management development begins with top management’s recognition of the need for MDP. Development of suitable policy guidelines and assignment of special responsibility for executing the policy create a favourable climate of on-the-job growth, personal improvement and development of managers.

A special committee of senior executives will look after planning and guiding management development. The personnel manager and special training staff will administer the routine of MDP.


5. Contents of Management Development:

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There are three areas in which we can have management development training:

1. Knowledge,

2. Skills and

3. Attitudes, to become competent managers.

The Content of Executive Development Activities

Note:

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1. Lower level managers need considerable technical skills, whereas higher level executives need considerable administrative skills.

2. There are three skills:

(i) Technical skills

(ii) Human relations skills and

(iii) Conceptual skill, i.e., a combination of vision, imagination and intelligence. These skills can be learned,

(3) Attitudes are:

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(a) Thinking like an executive,

(b) Empathy, i.e., ability to put ourselves in the position of others and understand their minds,

(c) Team concept, and

(d) Recognition of human values.


6. Facilities of Management Development:

We can have the following methods of management or executives development:

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1. External:

(a) Management education at University and other institutions of higher learning offering specialised courses for interested executives, e.g., marketing management, export management, financial management, personnel management and so on.

(b) Management seminars, conferences and workshops at management associations or educational institutions.

2. Internal:

(a) Art of delegation,

(b) Job rotation,

(c) Promotions and transfers,

(d) Understudy method,

(e) Coaching by the superior or boss, and

(f) Multiple Management, i.e., membership of committees and junior boards.

Job rotation means the transferring of executives from job to job and from plant to plant on a co-ordinated and planned basis. It is a very popular method in many business concerns. An understudy is a person who is in training to assume, at a future time., the full duties and responsibilities of the position, currently held by his superior. The person under training acts as ‘Assistant to—’.

In multiple management we have senior and junior boards. The junior boards serve in an advisory capacity only. If the recommendation of the junior board is with unanimous consent, it is usually adopted by the senior board without modifications.


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