Management development: hoax or hero?

Abstract

Management development programs are often regarded as essential for the preparation of managers who are presumed to be responsible for the future success of their organizations. At other times, such programs have been criticized as being irrelevant to the actual practice of management. This paper explores the effectiveness of one management development program from the perspective of its graduates, who reported that the program positively impacted them as well as their organizations. In particular, they perceived that the program had an enormous impact on their career advancement and professional development. Many of the graduates did not believe that the program helped their organizations with management succession planning and achieving gender equity in management. However, the majority perceived that it did increase their organizations’ capacity to remain relevant to their changing environment and to deal with future management challenges, including the management of change.