Professional development of women and the executive MBA
Abstract
This study demonstrated that women EMBA graduates experience broadened perspectives. They “think more broadly”, “understand more comprehensively” and report the “life changing” outcomes expected by their sponsoring organizations. The focus was on the development of women managers from specialist perspectives to a more integrated generalist perspective. Personal development, and career development literatures provided the theoretical basis for this study. Data were collected using invited essays, and semi‐structured interviews. Evidence of change appeared in the essays and the interviews. The essays indicated graduates experienced increased confidence, cognitive flexibility, and broadened perspectives. The interviews indicated: greater self‐determination, more flexible approaches to roles, greater value of self and time, more process‐oriented, increased understanding of self and others, the meaning of success was competence, and that competence was valued over political gamesmanship.
Keywords
Citation
Hilgert, A. (1998), "Professional development of women and the executive MBA", Journal of Management Development, Vol. 17 No. 9, pp. 629-643. https://doi.org/10.1108/02621719810244454
Publisher
:MCB UP Ltd
Copyright © 1998, MCB UP Limited