This is a chapter in the Principles of Management book of Koontz and O'Donnell, 4th Edition.
Manager development refers to the progress a manager makes in learning how to manage.
Managerial training refers to the program devised by the management of the organization to facilitate this process. The firm is seen as providing training and manager as developing himself by way of this training.
The Nature of Manager Development
A developed manager is a mature manager or a successful manager as he has grown in wisdom. A proposition that a firm cannot develop a manager; it can only provide the opportunity for a manager to develop. According to the proposition, a prime qualification for manager selection is his keen desire to manage. Only a person with such motivation, provided he has the essential intelligence, will take the full advantage of opportunities to acquire knowledge and skill from the various training opportunities provided. He must be ready to learn what he is taught; he must be able, and anxious to absorb learning.
The practice of management training encompasses formal schooling and on-the-job training. A man may also develop by learning from experience.
Current Approaches to Manager Training (1968)
Formal long term courses and short courses
Conference Programs
University Management Programs
American Management Association's Workshop Programs
Planned Progression
Job Rotation
Rotaton in nonsupervisory work
Rotation in observation assignments
Rotation among managerial training positions
Rotation in middle level assistant positions
Unspecified rotation in managerial positions
Creation of Assistant-to Positions
Psychological Approaches to Traning
Role playing
Unstructured discussion
Temporary Promotions
Committees and Junior Boards
Management Training: Suggested Program
Purpose: The major purpose of training should be the creation of opportunities to develop skills related to the execution of managerial functions. They are acquired through study and through the practice of management-the application of learning to experience in solving problems of planning, organizing, staffing, directing and controlling.
Premises: The effectiveness or usefulness of the training program rests on seven premises.
Top managers actively support the program.
Top managers must participate in training programs.
Learning is voluntary.
Training needs vary with manager levels.
Training needs determine methods.
Managers have to successfully learn at all levels. - Managers should develop through effective training at each successive level to become prime candidates for promotion.
Theory and Practice must go hand in hand
Training is a coin, one side of which the teaching of theory and the demonstration of techniques, the other, the actual practice of management technique.
Programs for Various Levels of Management
Front-line Supervisory Training
Objective: Men must be trained to develop and carry out approved programs within budget, to obtain and use service and staff help. Supervisors can in production departments, planning an scheduling, drawing, sales and service, accounting department, or in purchasing department. Supervisors have to train and motivate subordinates, provide adequate space and equipment, fix operating rates with the requirements of other departments, report progress, carry out the provisions of the labor contract and also deal with customers and other regulatory agency personnel when they visit their shop or work area.
They made need some formal course inputs. Many supervisory development programs are available in USA.
On-the-job training is also essential. Supervisors may be trained through the arrangement of assistant to the supervisor. But every supervisor may not be a good trainer. Therefore, if there are some supervisors with good training ability, they can be asked to take three or four assistants to be trained by him.
The practice of management starts when a trainee is assigned a supervisory position. The supervisor is expected to refine his techniques. His further career depends on his development of skills. An unsuccessful supervisor is demoted, an average person is kept in the job and an outstanding person is promoted the middle level.
Middle-management Training
Objective: These men stand most in need of a knowledge of management theory. Middle managers manage managers and not technicians. To manage managers they particularly need an understanding of the functions of managers because these are the means they utilize to accomplish their charters or jobs.
Technique: To teach the theory of management, it is best to borrow the effective technique employed for the same purpose in universities. It consists of lectures, discussions of theory, and case studies relating to management in business functions and general management.
It is obvious that successful instructor knows his material and teaches it with confidence, skill, and insight, and thereby attracts the attention of his students and inspires them to learn, apply what they learn, and become themselves creative.
Top-management Training
Objective: What additional knowledge should a successful division manager have in order to manage a whole enterprise? .Functional managers who are reach the divisional manager position or enterprise manager position need training in the management of functions which are strange to them. However, all potential and new top managers have some need for training, whether it be in labor relations, in relations with the financial community, trade association work, government relations or foreign relations. Moreover, the knowledge and technical aspects of managing are rapidly changing and the perceptive top manager will never assume that his education in management is complete. A top manager attending training programs and using the recently learned learned knowledge is a strong inducement to his subordinates to attend training programs and implement new techniques.
Techniques: The basic techniques recommended are seminars and guided reading. For on the job training in other functions, the manager may be sent as an assistant to an existing manager. In case the existing manager is retiring in short period of time, the trainee can be given the full position after completing training for an year or so.
Follow-Up Training
After formal training, follow-up training is achieved by coaching, refresher courses, and personal reflection upon the meaning practical experience,.
Coaching: Coaching is face to face counseling. It is given by the superior as well as outside coaches. Coaching by a superior involves the continuous analysis by both superior and subordinate, on a face-t-face basis, of the latter's performance. The coach makes certain that certain lessons are learned by his subordinate.
Accountability for Training
Superior managers are accountable for the training of their subordinates. Too often, training is assigned to some one else instead of the immediate superior. One way to bring training into focus is to let the accomplishment of a manager in the area of training be appraised as a part of the regular program of measurement. Men readily attend to goal achievement if they know it will be appraised. Middle and top managers are to be involved in the in-plant training programs. Managers may instruct through such devices as case histories, incidents, and illustrations of the applications they have made of management principles.
Measurement: The Training Payoff
The authors commented that at this stage, training is in somewhat the position of basic research. There are many instances where managers credit improvement in their skill to their training, but it is not possible to generalize these views and isolate the benefit formal training program from the benefits of personal aptitude, logic, imitation, and pressure of the environment.
MBA Core Management Knowledge - One Year Revision Schedule