Customer‐focused management development: a case study

Many industrial companies have expressed a growing concern over the quality of managers in manufacturing industry and their ability to adapt to rapid environmental and technological changes. In addition, it has been felt that in the UK, the traditional postgraduate management teaching mechanism tended to be out of date and excessively academic. To address these shortcomings, what seems to be needed is the development of postgraduate courses which place more weight on the industrial experience of the participants. At the same time, it is necessary to give postgraduate teaching a stronger orientation towards the actual needs of industry rather than the perceived needs as seen by the contemporary academic. As a result, companies are now beginning to investigate alternative approaches to developing the business and technical skills of their managers. One such approach has been adopted by a Northern Ireland subsidiary of a multinational corporation in the aerospace industry. As part of this process, the firm asked the University of Ulster, in conjunction with the Irish Management Institute, to provide a programme of developmental support in a comprehensive range of general management concepts, skills and techniques.