Content area
Full text
Keywords
Management development, Learning, Case studies
Abstract
Focuses on the MSc in management development at Edge Hill. Describes the environment in which the programme was developed and takes particular account of some of the different strands of management learning discussed in the literature and how these issues have informed the development of the programme. Provides a sample of course members' views of the programme matched against their personal objectives for their participation in the programme and the impact on their careers as a consequence of their participation. Evidence from both the literature and from the empirical study will contribute to a view as to whether the MSc in Management Development at Edge Hill is merely a programme in management or whether indeed it is a management development process.
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Introduction
This paper sets out to explore the experience and the reaction of course members and graduates of the Edge Hill MSc in management development through the application of both empirical evidence and critical reflection. It goes on to examine the programme philosophy, the learning and teaching approach and the effectiveness of the programme in terms of the participants' personal advancement and their career development.
It is important, however, to establish some common understanding as to the nature and meaning of management development. This is a term that has been used to cover a wide range of learning activity both in an organisational context and through interventions by both the academic management education world and the world of trainers and consultants. The problem for this study perhaps, is that this term has almost become a generic term that covers a whole range of diverse learning, training and developmental activities. Indeed, Thompson et al. (2001) make this point emphatically in their attempt to operationalise the term "management development". They argue that management development is a holistic process that not only embraces those aspects identified above but also requires what the authors describe as a:
... wider process than the formal learning of knowledge and skills, which includes informal and experiential modes of human capital formation...