Forces Which Undermine Management Development

by Edgar Schein


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Abstract

One of the consistently puzzling phenomena collected with "human relations training" and "management development" in industry is the failure on the part of the trainee to hold on to insights or attitude changes that may have occurred during the training period. The manager who has sent a subordinate off to a training program also often complains that his man has not received any substantial benefits, a condition he blames on the people responsible for the training. The basic purpose of this article is to examine what role the home organization plays in undermining training and management development. It is possible that an organization, which is sincerely interested in the growth of its members, nevertheless creates organizational conditions and forces, which decrease the likelihood of growth and thus undermines its own efforts. There is little doubt that much of the confusion about the effectiveness of various management development schemes results from lack of clarity about its goals and the process by which they are to be achieved.

California Management Review

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