News on 13 March 2001
Research by the Industrial Society shows that UK companies
will have to prioritise the development of senior managers in the next
few years.
A large number of organisations still do not monitor the involvement
of women and ethnic minorities in management development programmes
and according to the IS report, over half (55%) of participating companies
do not know what steps, if any, their organisations take to ensure under-represented
groups receive senior management development.
74% of organisations however either have or are working on a senior
management development strategy. Andrew Forrest, IS expert, said: "There
is a mismatch here. Of all the 29 attributes which are valued in senior
management, the ability to manage change is rated highest of all (78%).
One of the most challenging changes facing organisations is to take
action on their policies about valuing diversity. Companies that fail
to support diversity in their management development programmes may
find that people take their talents elsewhere."
Most companies see senior management development as increasingly important
in the next two to three years - 44% say it's a high priority and 31%
a very high priority. Investments for this are needed however and 93%
of organisations meet the full cost of conferences/seminars 92% of courses.
56% of organisations pay university fees for their managers and 21%
share the cost with the managers.
The most popular training methods are conferences/seminars (60%), tailor-made
internal training courses (42%) and monitoring (41%). Least popular
are community activity (9%) and jobs swaps (6%). Coaching and mentoring
come in at 34% and 33% respectively.
