management development‐establishing a policy

A progressive organisation, particularly if it is expanding, finds itself utterly obliged to spend time and money on management development. Among other reasons, if it does not do so, it is unlikely either to retain its most able people or to attract men of high potential. In today's increasingly competitive conditions, management development is no longer a luxury, the plaything of a few indulgent industrial titans. It is a necessity for survival and a pre‐requisite for growth. But what is management development and what are its rightful concerns? How can a company establish a soundly‐based development programme which embodies business‐like philosophies and attitudes? Is it merely a question of providing a conveyor belt of training courses, both internal and external — the so‐called factory farming approach? Or is it an altogether more subtle and complex process in which courses and seminars form only the tip of the development iceberg, while the real action, as always, takes place in the gruelling arena of the job, with all its built‐in challenges and opportunities? These are the questions which this article seeks to answer.