Executive coaching is a booming, but understudied, HRD-related practice. Given the limited number of available studies that have been deployed with rigor and systematic methods, the study by Nieminen et al. adds to our understanding of the impact of executive coaching and multisource feedback on leadership development. Explored in the context of a…

Robinson and Stern describe the Management Training Program introduced by the U.S. Air Force in postwar Japan and its effect on Japanese industry. Roberts compares it with U.S. Training within Industries. Umetani comments that the discussion would have been more convincing had its relationship with other Japanese training programs been addressed.…

Compares differences in market approach, risk perception, and personnel selection between large companies and small firms with family of origin ties to other countries. Uses these differences to develop a substantially altered model for cross-cultural training in expatriate firms. (SK)

Raises concerns about Hanover and Cellar's study : gender and racial composition of the sample, effects of organizational status, questionable variables in the work environment measure, other organizational demographics, and the degree of participants' familiarity with each other. (SK)

Human resource development professionals have two challenges in total quality management (TQM): showing management what customer focus and leadership mean and declining responsibilities that are not theirs. TQM's systems view of training involves value-adding processes that take place before, during, and after the learning transaction. (SK)