Assessment center programs can be designed to measure specific skills with validity and reliability. The results of these assessments can be used to design both individual development programs and programs for developing the skills of groups of managers who have common weaknesses. (Author/IRT)

Discusses the Managerial Grid versus Situational Leadership approach to management development. Suggests that they need to be supplemented by new theoretical models, called "Living Systems." (JOW)

Critiques the literature on learning organizations, arguing that it does not indicate how organizational learning relates to business performance or strategic realignment. Asserts that the key characteristic of the learning organization is creation and use of personal and corporate competencies. (SK)

This article offers 14 practical guidelines that can help pave the way to credibility for the training department in an organization. (Author)

George Wilkinson, who has managed planning for United Way of America since 1980, observes that local planners using strategic planning raise more money and solve more community problems than those without such a process. Marketing is identical to strategic planning; both involve looking at an organization, doing and analysis, examining the future,…

A more dynamic conceptualization of managerial competence is derived from a contextually embedded framework that views organizational culture and the business environment as significant determinants of competence. (SK)

Because traditional leadership discourages creativity and initiative, an alternative model is needed for transforming organizational culture. Key elements are formulating an inspiring vision, determining crucial interventions, developing close friendships with managers, building a network, and seeking support. (SK)

As recently as the 1980s, most companies did not pay much attention to executive education. In the 1990s, many see executive education as a must for revamping competitive strategies, increasing productivity, improving quality, reducing cycle time, and revitalizing corporate culture. (Author/JOW)

This article analyzes the unique set of interacting factors that make burnout likely in social services and describes a management development strategy for addressing the problem through training and through the creation of a climate for learning and growth. (JOW)

This paper suggests an approach which combines ideas about coalitions of power in managerial organizations with a soundly based technology of management development intervention. (Author/SSH)

"High flyer" or "fast-track" approaches are mainly instrumental for individual career development. A management development approach that emphasizes the match between personal growth and organizational learning contributes more directly to organizational competence, learning, and change. (SK)

This brief guide to total quality management (TQM) includes definitions, a review of the history of the concept, profiles of five principle experts, and a discussion of TQM jargon. (SK)

Discusses how two-year colleges can concurrently formulate institutional development strategies and build strong executive teams through a process involving the selection of institutional development issues to be addressed and the formulation of specific institutional development strategies to address the issues. Outlines conditions for success.…

Presents an eight-step model for establishing a training and development program: (1) initiate consultative relationship with management; (2) develop written agreement; (3) diagnose needs; (4) formulate action plan; (5) design program proposal; (6) gain management approval; (7) conduct training; and (8) evaluate results. (SK)

Discusses approaches to management education and development, stating that organizational improvement is facilitated by working with managers rather than by teaching them in the traditional sense. The manager can develop only through his own experience and through the organizational processes of which he is a part. (MF)