This book combines what were previously two separate volumes on management development and organizational change methods. In my review of the Methods book published in 1983, I said that it was a resource which should be tapped by any management development people serious about conscious choice of Methods. It was then a unique volume covering 303 different methods. I have not counted the number in this integrated and updated volume, but there are many more. He precedes the detailed review of methods by introductory chapters in which he attempts to define the field, suggesting that there has been little success in attempts to classify teaching and learning methods, and then providing his own classification framework. This consists of three elements: content, process, and setting. He precedes his own definition by looking at issues of classification such as Bloom’s Taxonomy, the issue of the number of learners involved, student autonomy, and finally learning theories. He lists ten learning theories and tries to relate each method to each theory. He emphasises the importance of tutor preferences in that tutors tend to choose methods with which they are personally comfortable. While emphasising the importance of the individuality of learners, he is convinced by Reynold’s critique of learning styles approaches, especially that of Kolb.
As has already been mentioned, the book includes organizational change interventions, listing, for example, those of Harrison and Blake and Mouton. I found this a rather strange element – there is no reference to the huge volume of material on the Learning Organization.
The main practical content of the book is of course contained within the description of each method. After a general description he identifies relevant literature, and lists possible associated activities.
I tested his work on three methods: action learning, the case method, and lecture. While his comments on action learning are generally good, a significant weakness is the absence of any material from the USA or indeed anywhere else in the world. His review of the case method, on which I have recently conducted research, helpfully covers different versions. On the lecture method he helpfully says that, although it can be effective in delivering knowledge, it has to be combined with other methods, if the aim is to try to produce change. The literary references he provides on the lecture are better than those in my own resource.
I sustain the view I offered 17 years ago that this is a resource which thoughtful trainers and developers ought to have. The fact that many more specific methods are reviewed in some detail, in comparison with the 16 generic methods reviewed in my own resource, means that the two could be seen as being complementary. Although the structure of my own resource might seem to make me biased on the issue, I do feel that it is odd that, having developed his own framework, he does not in fact apply this when he comes to review each of the methods. There are no comments about the objectives according to which the method might be chosen, nor any reference to the theories which he has reviewed in some detail.
