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)

Management theory often ignores cultural differences. Trainers should design learning strategies that encourage discussion of differences and establish a classroom climate in which one set of values is not automatically given precedence. (SK)

Discussion of summative evaluation focuses on eight steps involved in the planning process. Topics discussed include client commitment to evaluation; evaluating the training organization; evaluating management training, including appropriate evaluation strategy; institutionalizing the evaluation process so it becomes normal operating procedure;…

Networking as a goal of training can increase communication, problem solving, and flexibility. Necessary steps are selecting participants to support the network, including provisions for trust and relationship building, ensuring the transfer of training, and encouraging followup and accountability for transfer. (SK)

The Master's of Business Administration model includes skills, functions, and strategy and focus on traditional "management"; formal knowledge acquired may be unrelated to practical experience. The certificate in management model focuses on competencies, disaggregation, managers, and experiential, work-based learning but may ignore a…

The Federal Express Leadership Institute helps managers improve skills through a model emphasizing experiential and self-directed learning. The institute takes place within the context of Fed Ex as a learning organization. (SK)

Illustrates the technique of mind mapping as applied in executive education and management development. Indicates that most of the 70 students surveyed appreciated its use for recall and creative thinking, although some prefer a top-to-bottom, linear outline approach. (SK)

Outlines the content, process, and implementation issues of a critical pedagogy for management education. Discusses the usefulness of critical reflection for less hierarchical management. (SK)

Shows that 22 managers indicated a clear preference for obtaining information about popular management ideas through seminar attendance rather than through reading books. Identifies the semiotic code shaping this preference, charts its regularities and inconsistencies, and uncovers several ironies on how this code is used and understood. (SR)

The Professional Fellows Program is a nondegree, self-designed management-development program for midcareer professionals. Outcomes after one to three years for 53 participants included greater self-confidence, increased sense of control, and legitimation of life/career transitions. (SK)

Human-resource-development needs that arise from different business strategies will depend on the purpose and structure of the strategies. A strategic approach to training and development necessitates increased theoretical rigor, more rigorous evaluation of effectiveness, and determination of responsibility for training. (Author/SK)

A study of Sears managers in accelerated management development shows that managers who progress quickly develop problems that often lead to failure: no personal network, alienation of others, no resilience, and no metacompetencies such as adaptability and self-understanding. (SK)

Interviews with 40 female managers in Europe suggest that mentoring may be even more important to the career success of female international managers than to female managers working in their home countries. However, there is a smaller supply of mentors available to women, and women are less likely than men to seek mentors. (SK)

Two case studies involving story telling show how management competence is affected by subjective interpretation and by the context of management behavior. Management and organizational development should thus consider how contexts and relationships operate to prevent development of situation-specific competence. (SK)

Discusses experts' views on changes in managerial careers and management development; evidence of organizational changes that support the rhetoric about changes; and implications for management education. Concludes that rhetoric outstrips reality; however, there is evidence of changes in organizational forms and career resilience and boundaryless…