The Making of Managers

Abstract

British business is beginning to realise that for too long managers have been an underdeveloped resource. This recognition, occuring against the background of accelerating economic, social and technological change and increasingly fierce competition in Europe, has led to demands for a new professionalism among managers. Employing organisations are placing new emphasis on management education and development since, in such a highly competitive marketplace, it is no longer sufficient for managers to have “learned it the hard way”. The depth and complexity of knowledge required is too great to continue to rely on management by instinct; and it is not enough for managers to take a short crash course, which may suit them merely because it does not take them away from the “real job” for long. Given the rapid rate of environmental change, management education and development must be a career-long process.