Management development: A principles framework and critical skills approach

Abstract

Management development absorbs vast amounts of investment each year, however, its effectiveness has not been verified rigorously. This paper explores the aim and method of management development from a management principles framework and critical skills perspective. Management theory is essentially principles, that is, guidelines for management practice; it must be highly abstract, and cannot represent practice approximately as common-type knowledge-by-representation does, hence it cannot solve real problems directly as medical knowledge does. Therefore, critical management skills – conceptual skill, human skill and technical skill – are of great importance. Among these three skills, conceptual skill is the most important. When it reaches the level of designing complex systems, supplemented with proper human and technical skills, it enables management staff, under the guidance of management principles, to solve real management problems rationally. Enhancement of three critical skills is determined by the strength of management staff's personal willpower and organization motivation policy. Therefore, management development should firstly aim at forming a framework of management principles, then, building suitable motivation mechanism, facilitating management staff learning in action, transforming their mind-sets, and enhancing their critical management skills.