Abstract
This survey was designed and developed to assess key issues related to management development practices in Malaysian corporations especially on needs assessment, programme selection, programme evaluation, and future directions and trends. The survey research instrument is a questionnaire that was distributed to 189 selected Malaysian corporations listed on the Main Board of the Bursa Malaysia or formerly known as Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange (KLSE). These corporations represent a cross-section of local industries and was selected through stratified random sampling. The 16-percent or 31 responses were collated and the data analyzed and interpreted using descriptive statistics. The major findings suggest that despite being aware of the importance of MD practices to achieve productivity and enhance corporate performance, most Malaysian corporations are unsure how to practise MD. They seldom implement value-added MD programmes to improve managerial productivity and enhance managerial performance achievements. The main reason given is cost-effective considerations vis-à-vis actual bottom-line results. Specifically, the majority of the respondents articulated their concern over several areas such as the lack of needs assessment, indiscriminate programme selection, non-standardized programme evaluation and vague ideas about future directions and trends in MD activities. On the whole, the survey research suggests that there is a need for Malaysian corporations to redress the prevailing weaknesses so that any concrete management development initiative undertaken can produce the desired results and productivity outcomes including bottom-line achievements.
Highlights
Asian nations are aware of the critical impact of management development (MD) on organizational effectiveness and competitiveness (Jain, 1987) and as a result, MD is seen as an integral component of the corporate strategy and overall development of organizations (Heng, 1987)
It appears that Malaysian companies are conducting some aspects of MD, these efforts are still remained weak and deficient in terms of needs assessment, programme selection and programme evaluation
Even though the findings suggest that M and S&T firms do have some awareness of the importance of MD practices, there is still much can be done to upgrade the knowledge of the entire MD process
Summary
Asian nations are aware of the critical impact of management development (MD) on organizational effectiveness and competitiveness (Jain, 1987) and as a result, MD is seen as an integral component of the corporate strategy and overall development of organizations (Heng, 1987). Despite recognising the importance of MD to corporate effectiveness, very little research about MD has been conducted (Abdullah, 1994; Hamid, 1985). Throughout the 1970’s, the economy grew at an average annual rate of 7.8 per cent (Malaysian Second Outline Perspective Plan, 1990). Strong growth in both public and private investment during this period stimulated domestic demand and contributed to a consistent rise in income and employment. The effect of global economic recession in the early 1980’s and the severe worsening of Malaysia’s external trade performance led to a general slow-down in growth. The second half of the 1980’s saw the economy coming out of the recession and recording GDP growth rates of 6.7 per cent per annum
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