Framework for the Analysis of Management Learning Methods, Part I: Description of the Elements

Abstract

In these two articles, an analytical framework is presented which can be used by management teachers, trainers and educators both to evaluate the effectiveness of the training sessions which they have run and to help them increase the effectiveness of their future sessions. The model can be seen as a refinement and development of one proposed by Binsted and Burgoyne. However, it differs from it in two significant ways. Firstly, it is more detailed and elaborate in that it considers more aspects of teacher style. Secondly, it is relevant to both classroom interactions between students and teachers and also to learning situations which are part of a manager's everyday life and experience. In such situations, there may be no intervention from a teacher or anyone else whose job it is to encourage learning. In the first of these articles, the author discusses the problem of comparing and contrasting different management development methods and practices. He comments on the lack of any satisfactory system for the classification of different teaching and learning methods, and suggests some reasons which can account for its absence. The remainder of the article is devoted to the presentation of the elements, not of a methods classification system, but of a framework for the analysis of management development methods‐in‐use. The second article will focus on the application of this framework by the management trainer.