Are Management Education Programmes Unmanageable?

Abstract

Management is what managers do, and managers do a multitude of different things, at a number of different levels and in a variety of different ways. It is not surprising, therefore, that there is no general consensus as to a definition of management, and that there exists no precise concept of what constitutes a good manager. A pessimist might see this as a problem; management education programmes presumably seek to produce “good managers” by teaching “management”, and if one does not know what either is, it is difficult even to start to devise an educational plan, let alone to assess whether that plan is effective or not. The managers of management education programmes are not, it seems, given to pessimism. In general terms, at least, it is possible to identify the areas in which a manager requires competence. In turn it is possible to specify the skills that are necessary, and the appropriate levels of competence, in those areas.

Citation

Hall, C. (1982), "Are Management Education Programmes Unmanageable?", Journal of Management Development, Vol. 1 No. 2, pp. 41-54. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb051521