Management development covers a wide spectrum of activities ranging from self-development through improving communication and presentation skills or specific skills such as managing information in the office, performance appraisals, financial management, managing other people, managing in different cultures and aligning the capabilities of managers with changes in the strategies and structures of the organization.

Global flows of currency and information impact directly on management development, which was originally defined during earlier periods of relative stability when it was possible to screen out uncertainty rather than engage with it. Management is in transition from the command and control structures appropriate to relative stability to the distributed decision- making structures necessary in rapidly changing conditions. Managers now require new approaches to decision making in uncertainty, and they must also do much more to create an atmosphere where people can cope with uncertainty not only in making decisions but also in the patterns of their working lives. Best practice in management development integrates the development of individuals within the design of the organization.

Gillian Stamp