Everything you need to know about the importance of management development.

Management development is a planned process of learning and growth designed to bring behavioural change among the executives. It is a continuous process of learning. It implies that there will be a change in knowledge and behaviour of the individuals undergoing development programme.

The individual will be able to perform his present assignment better and will increase his potential for future assignments.

Managers develop themselves by participating in formal training courses organised by the organisation. They also make use of actual job experience in learning new behaviours.

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The organisation must provide opportunities for development of its managers. But an equal, perhaps more important, counterpart to the efforts of the organisation are those of the individuals. Self-development is an important concept in the whole programme of management development.


Importance of Management Development

Importance of Management Development

Management development is a planned process of learning and growth designed to bring behavioural change among the executives. It is a continuous process of learning. It implies that there will be a change in knowledge and behaviour of the individuals undergoing development programme. The individual will be able to perform his present assignment better and will increase his potential for future assignments.

Managers develop themselves by participating in formal training courses organised by the organisation. They also make use of actual job experience in learning new behaviours. The organisation must provide opportunities for development of its managers. But an equal, perhaps more important, counterpart to the efforts of the organisation are those of the individuals. Self-development is an important concept in the whole programme of management development.

The objectives of executive development are as follows:

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(i) To increase the knowledge of managers.

(ii) To improve the performance of managers.

(iii) To develop managers for taking up new assignments in future.

(iv) To influence the behaviour of workers through the developed managers.

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Importance of Management Development:

There is a shortage of trained managers. This shortage is felt particularly during the large scale expansion of the volume of activities of the organisation. It is very difficult to appoint the persons to man various managerial jobs from the labour markets. The organisation has to develop the talented employees and maintain an inventory of executive skills to meet the future demands.

Obsolescence of managerial skills is another factor which calls for continuous management development. Management development is not a ‘one shot’ affair, it must continue throughout an executive’s career. Otherwise, an executive of yesterday will not be acceptable today and an executive of today will not be good enough for the future. Therefore, in order to be dynamic and to change himself according to the needs, a manager must continuously educate himself to successfully meet new challenges as they occur.

The performance of a company depends upon the quality of its managers. Companies with similar raw materials, equipments and technical know-how show different results because of the quality of their executives. Quality of management explains the difference in price policy, inventory policy, production policy, marketing policy and labour policy of the organisation. Management development, therefore, is of paramount importance to have an effective and desired managerial manpower to meet the organisation’s demands and to maintain and raise the level of managerial competence in the organisation.


Importance of Management Development

Management Development is a planned, systematic and continuous process of learning and growth designed to bring about behavioral changes in individuals by cultivating their mental abilities and inherent qualities through the acquisition, understanding and use of knowledge, insights and skills as they are needed for effective management. This learning process changes behavior of an individual to such an extent that he starts taking up more and more challenging jobs in the organi­zation.

Management development program is more concerned with the conceptual and human skills of the executives. An effective manage­ment development program uses various learning techniques/aids to improve the knowledge, decision making ability and maturity of the managers in the organization.

Today every organization wants to use management development pro­grams for its executives to improve their managerial skills.

Management development have become an indispensable part of organi­zational functioning for the following reasons:

1. Develops Management Skills – Executive Development is an invaluable investment for the orga­nization. It helps executives in acquiring knowledge, skills and abili­ties required to keep up with the ever changing environment. The executives can have better understanding of technological com­plexities and are capable of handling major challenges faced by the company.

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2. Broadens the outlook of executives – These learning programs change the attitudes of executives so much that they start appreciating their fellow workers perfor­mance. They examine the consequences of all the actions that they have taken and take responsibility of all their actions. They never take any hostile feelings towards their fellow employees.

3. Helps managers achieve career goals – Development efforts always helps executives to realize their own career goals and aspirations in an organized way. They become highly competent and thus want to utilize their competent skills optimally for the organization.

4. Trains professionals for Leadership – Executive development is required to train and develop profes­sional to be future leaders of the organizations. Such leaders will improve operational efficiency of business.

5. Helps executives to realize corporate social responsibilities – Industrial leaders are increasingly recognizing the importance of social responsibilities. They initiate these programs for their executives. Management development program or managers not only broadens their outlook towards organization and its mem­bers but also towards society and humanity at large.


Importance of Management Development

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An effective executive development program attempts to integrate a series of individual career planning and organisational career manage­ment activities that involve the employee, management, and the organisation. HR managers can help organisations determine if there firm has a culture that supports executive development.

Effective executive development programs result in decreasing employee turnover, prevent job burnout and obsolescence, and improve the quality of em­ployees work life.

Effective executive development programs benefit all the employees, managers, and the organisation. Managers can benefit from executive development programs by being better able to communicate with their staff. Employees also may benefit from a development programme by acquiring a deepest appreciation for their own skills and career possi­bilities and resuming a greater responsibility for managing their own careers.

The organisation may gain from a career development system by increased employee loyalty, improved communication throughout the organisation, lower turnover rates, and strengthened human re­source systems.

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There are various importance of management development:

1. An effective management development program helps an organisation to attract and keep qualified employees.

2. These programs provide employees with the tools and opportuni­ties to enhance their skills resulting in a career resilient workforce, one that is capable of reinventing themselves to keep up with the fast pace of organisational changes.

3. These programs help in creating an environment for continuous learning by supporting and rewarding employee development and learning.

4. To provide opportunities for self assessment by providing the help from career counsellors and career resource centres.

5. An effective executive development program helps employees ac­quire necessary organisational career information and enhance their personal growth and development.

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6. To have managers trained as coaches and mentors to assist em­ployees.

7. To assist employees with striking balances between their work and non-work lives examples include, childcare, elder care, fle­xible work arrangements etc.

8. Use reward systems that support the organisation’s career deve­lopment strategy.

9. Make sure that the career development programs are integrated with other human resource programs of performance appraisal, selection and placement etc.

10. It helps the management to utilise the internal resource effec­tively by teaching newer skills to the current workforce, rather than hiring people from outside for higher-level positions.

11. It helps organisations by improving the communication between employees and supervisors.

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12. It enhances organisation’s image and results in improved employee morale, low employee absenteeism and reduced turnover rates.

13. Organisations are able to identify poll of management talent from within resulting in increased promotional opportunities to exist­ing employees.

14. The changing workforce requirements, such as, greater propor­tion of working mothers, generation X employees looking for more well-balanced jobs are making it compulsory for the organisations to have management development programs preparing them for their jobs better.


Importance of Management Development

Management development programme has become a very important area of modern management. The success of any business organisation depends, in large part, on the quality and efficiency of managerial personnel. It has come to involve not only the organisation’s personnel and resources, but also outside consultants, professional bodies and academic institutions.

Management development is essentially the process of enriching learning experiences of managerial personnel at various levels and improving their knowledge, skills and capabilities keeping in view the present and future needs of the organisation. It also lays emphasis on behavioural improvement in interpersonal relationships, team-work and capacity to lead.

Management development programme must be designed with due consideration of the organisation’s strategic needs and the managers’ current level of knowledge and potentials.

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Management development programme has acquired a particular significance in the modern era of business activities. Increasing global competition, expanding international interactions in business activities and advent of multinationals have all the more necessitated the acquisition of additional skills and capabilities by managers and executives.

The academic background of newly appointed managers may not be adequate in the discharge of their responsibilities on the positions for which they have been appointed. It is only through suitable training and development programme that they will be able to meet the requirements of their jobs and those of the organisation.

Besides, as the tasks before organisations have continued to be complex, the knowledge and skills of current employees may become obsolete and inadequate in meeting the changing requirements of their jobs and the organisation.

As a matter of fact, the real responsibility of achieving a company’s strategic goals lies on the managers. If they fail to deliver goods, the company may have to face various sorts of problems such as losses and diminishing of reputation. On the contrary, capable managers can substantially contribute to the growth and prosperity of the company even with moderate resources.

Moreover, a major task of managers is to get things done through the other people at work. Their composition, as well as complexion, has materially changed. More and more educated people with specialised knowledge have increasingly been replacing the moderately educated and traditionally trained hands.

It has been rightly said, “… it is imperative that managers keep up with the latest development in their respective fields and, at the same time, manage an ever-changing workforce operating in a dynamic environment.”


Importance of Management Development – 6 Factors

Management is a life-giving and dynamic element of business. No business can run without efficient managers. Although experience is also a way of achieving efficiency and success, it is a slow and expen­sive process. In this context, management training and development become very important.

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Henry Fayol, the staunch supporter of management education, developed the idea of management training and started the first school of management in Paris. Management is recognised as a social science today, and it has its organised body of knowledge, principles and techniques.

This knowledge can be communicated to the young people who want to opt business management as a career. It is not only important for new people but equally important for lower-, middle- and supervisory-level managers to equip them with the new developments in the managerial skills.

Management training and development are especially significant in the context of industrial and organisational management. Among the live factors of production, management is the most important. It acts as a leader, and it takes out work from the other factors.

Management establishes effective coordination among different factors of production. Today, spe­cialisation, automation and scientific management are given much emphasis. This has enhanced the importance of management because all these things can be made more effective through efficient man­agement, and efficient management is possible through proper training and development. A large number of CEOs desire coaching from outside sources too.

India is new to industrial field. Industrial development on modern lines has commenced in India after independence. India is a fast developing country. For the development of new industries, more trained and developed managers are needed.

As the management specialisation is developing, new branches such as HRM, financial management, marketing management, materials management, production management and inventory management are coming into prominence, and new techniques and specialties are coming into existence.

In India, there is a shortage of efficient managers, especially in the public sector. This is the main reason for the loss in the public sector where general administrators work as managers and, therefore, are not efficient managers. Government has realised this fact, and now it is paying attention on the rec­ommendations of the Administrative Reforms Commission. Now trained managers are being appointed in the public sector undertakings.

Thus, it can be said that the following are the main factors that emphasise the importance for management development programmes:

1. Technological and Social Changes:

The rapid rate of technological and social changes in our society has made it imperative to have managers who are trained to cope with these develop­ments. Among the manifestations of these changes are automation, the fruits of accelerated research, electronic computers, intense market competition from foreign nations, new mar­kets in emerging underdeveloped countries, enlarged voice and elevated role of labour in industry, government interference, greater interest by the public and government in the actions of business houses and exercising control over them, and so on.

2. Professionally Managed Enterprises:

There has been a pronounced shift from owner- managers to employee-managers. Management has been recognised as a distinct kind of occupation consisting of teachable skills and a unified body of knowledge. Management is required to have updated knowledge and managerial skills to cope with the complexity of modern organisations.

3. Research Orientation:

Within the past few decades, there has been an ever-increasing amount of research-generated knowledge of the principles and techniques of administration. This applies to both general management and its various functional fields such as HR and indus­trial relations, production, finance, marketing and accounting.

This newly acquired informa­tion has been favourably received by the industrial community, which has often sought to apply certain portions soon after it has been made available. Hence, to communicate and make use of this knowledge by the executives, it is necessary to groom them.

4. Recognition of Social and Public Responsibilities:

Today, managers are supposed to be aware about their social and public responsibilities requiring close ties with the community and the government. This has demanded new awareness, sensitivity and skills on the part of managers.

5. Frequent Labour Management Strifes:

In order to overcome or at least to minimise labour management strifes, it is necessary to have trained and developed management personnel.

6. Increased Size and Complexity of Organisations:

The increased size and complexity of most organisations—commercial, industrial, governmental or non-profit public services—require trained and developed managerial personnel.


Importance of Management Development – In Today’s Organisations

Executives and managers perform the function of planning, organizing, directing and controlling the resources and activities in every organization. Managers are responsible for effectively driving the organization towards growth and success. Hence it is essential to arrange development programme to ensure continuous update of knowledge and to make them capable of handling more challenging task and higher responsibilities in future.

Management or executive development process involves designing and conducting suitable executive development programmes so as to develop the managerial and human relations skill of employees and improve knowledge, personality, attitude, performance of an executive.

According to Flippo, “executive/management development includes the process by which managers and executives acquire not only skills and competency in their present jobs but also capabilities for future managerial tasks of increasing difficulty and scope”.

Need and Importance of Management Development:

The need and importance for management development in today’s organisations arises because of the following factors:

(i) There is a rapid pace of technological development. Many automatic machines and equipments have been introduced. The managers must have working knowledge of the uses of the new technology.

(ii) Change in the socio-cultural environment is taking at a fast speed. The managers must have up-to-date knowledge of these changes to understand the behaviour of people in a proper perspective.

(iii) There is tough competition in the market and the consumers have become conscious of their rights. It is no longer easy to misguide the consumers. To understand the needs of the consumers properly, executive development can be of great help.

(iv) Recognition of social responsibility of business managers has increased the need of executive development.

(v) Today’s workforce is educated and socially aware. They ask for their participation in management, better pay and better working conditions. In order to satisfy them and to motivate them to contribute to the achievement of organisational objectives, development of executives is necessary.

(vi) Frequent labour-management conflicts need trained managers to maintain industrial peace in the enterprise.

(vii) Management development can be used to impart knowledge to the managerial personnel in the latest management concepts, principles, techniques and practices.


Importance of Management Development  – Views of J.R.D Tata, John Marsh, Michael Hider

The importance of management development programme is clear from the following views:

Trained managers are vital to the economic development of the country. This business of executive management has been one of the crucial essential and, at the same time one of the most difficult elements in providing continuity and efficient management – J.R.D Tata

An increase in productivity depends, inter alia upon the vitality of the managements initiative drive sustained enthusiasm, competence and technical know-how – John Marsh

In the life of a corporation today’s success is largely a production of three types of executive actions taken by selecting the right people, placing them in right job; and seeing to it that they are able to grow to meet both their own needs and those of the organisation, This activity is not a programme in a usual sense, any more than selling or making profits are programmes. It has no fixed dimensions, no time table, and no cut of points as said by Michael Hider.

On the basis of above views, the opinion of author are:

1. It is necessary to provide proper opportunities to all levels of managers to take an active part in his own development.

2. It is relevant to develop appropriate development programme which helps in meeting organisations objectives.

3. These programmes are not a one shot affair but continuous throughout manager’s whole professional career.

4. These programmes help managers to appreciate how others would react to a particular solution and discharge their responsibility.

5. These programmes help managers to eliminate gap between actual performance and standard performance of the job.

6. The continuous appraisal of how successful mangers are developing their own subordinates is regular feature of this programme.