Management Development - Strategies for Action (4th edition)

Citation

Mumford, A. (2006), "Management Development - Strategies for Action (4th edition)", Development and Learning in Organizations, Vol. 20 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/dlo.2006.08120bae.002

Management Development - Strategies for Action (4th edition)

Management Development - Strategies for Action (4th edition)

Alan Mumford, Jeff Gold,CIPD, London, 2004

In Management Development - Strategies for Action, Alan Mumford and Jeff Gold open a gateway to a world of management practice and take the reader on a journey which begins with considering the purpose of managers, their development, and how learning can be achieved.

This fourth edition builds on previous editions and is aimed at a wide audience, not only established and emerging managers but also students who are studying management development as either a single subject or as part of a wider human resources (HR) syllabus. Mumford and Gold have utilised their considerable combined experience as management development researchers in academia and industry to prompt the reader to consider appropriate developmental strategies, analyse the emerging actions, and evaluate the results.

The book is structured into 12 clearly defined chapters, each of which examines a specific element of management development. Each chapter sets out its intended learning outcomes and there are frequent invitations for the reader to reflect on what they have read through end of chapter discussion questions and summaries. Chapter 1 considers what managers “do” and asks what the benefits and dilemmas of management development are in organisations.

The authors move on to discuss the relevance of management development in organisations, examine the range of processes available to measure the competency and performance of managers, and look at how managers can generate and adopt opportunities for learning through work.

Of particular importance is the fact that the authors tackle the often thorny subject of evaluating management development. In doing so they offer some different options including the use of action research which is claimed to be a valuable method of continuous improvement by the evaluation of outcomes against pre-determined goals. The chapter looks closely at all aspects of evaluation ranging from meaning and purpose to studying models, paradigms and tools for evaluation. Importantly Mumford and Gold move beyond the results of evaluation by offering suggestions for implementing and reviewing outcomes and transferring learning.

The future recruitment and grooming of managers is considered and looks at their selection and support during the course of their careers. Later on in the book a study of diversity in management is examined including looking at women managers, ethnicity and cultures. There is also an interesting element in this chapter which identifies the dilemmas that some organisations can face when managing professional grades and the difficulties in trying to get some professionals to recognise themselves as managers. The final chapter forecasts future trends in management development with an examination of knowledge management and its use in an increasingly competitive economy.

This book could be described as a compendium to management development. Each chapter is packed with a range of activities for learning and questions for the reader to consider. There are also useful web links which signpost access to further material about the chapter topic, and substantial reference and bibliography lists. There are many ideas for group activities within the book that could be taken in isolation and applied in a range of situations in a learning environment. At first glance the book could appear to be over busy and distracting with its prolific use of information boxes and diagrams set amongst the text. Nonetheless a systematic approach to reading the book will reward the reader with an engaging study into contemporary management development theory and practice.

This review, by Martyn Kerswell, was published in Industrial & Commercial Training, Volume 37 Number 7, 2005.