“To change the way we do things is more important than the certificate on the wall”: does Investors in People represent an effective intervention strategy for organisational learning?

This paper seeks to investigate the extent to which IiP is a useful method for managing change in local government. In order to do this considers the relative merits and limitations of IiP by examining its ability to encourage learning transfer, learning capability and strategic human resource development. By examining data from a postal survey of all 120 UK local authorities that had achieved the award by August 2001 questions the extent to which IiP can be viewed as a change management tool, as many advocates of IiP claim. Concludes with suggestions for future development.