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Argues that for competence management to be a valuable tool in leveraging individual competencies to dynamic organisational core competencies, more stress should be laid on competence development. More specifically, focuses on the effectiveness of development centres (DC), in terms of personal development and pursuit of the development plan. In this way, attempts to meet the need for more studies on the whole DC process and, more specifically, on its effectiveness. Furthermore, looks to take a first step in integrating fields of coaching, self‐development and line management human resources involvement in DC studies.

States that there is a need for a practical instrument to measure the present situation of work‐life balance. Describes the development process of the Family and Business Audit within the Flemish context. Details the setting up and aims of the system before outlining its application in some detail and other existing instruments also emploiyed. Provides a number of short case studies to demonstrate its effectiveness.

Eight European Union organizations are examined to assess cross cultural patterns of internationalization and human resource management practices and issues impacting organizational effectiveness and competitiveness. A framework is developed, and linkages explored among and between the characteristics of the sample set.

To investigate different aspects of the development policies of high potentials and their relationships with organizational characteristics in a set of Belgian companies.

A set of research questions has been used to conceive a structured questionnaire to empirically investigate the different aspects of high‐potential development policies using a survey among 86 Belgian companies.

The results indicate that very often the development policies are of an ad hoc nature, but that individuals may get some say in the process. Job rotation and mentoring/coaching are quite popular activities and formal external training has the most diversified application. As expected, high‐potential development takes up more time and offers a wider scope of activities than is the case for other managerial development initiatives. Especially, organization size may bring some variation in these patterns.

The target group in this research is limited to the HR managers from the profit sector in Belgium. This is a “restricted diverse organization survey” and makes use of a non‐representative sample.

The link has been made with the “new psychological contract”. Implications for changing career planning are presented (from traditionalistic to a more “self‐directed” tendency). Also, the larger scope of development activities in an international environment and the role of management development as a “glue technology” has been elaborated on.

Most of the studies on high potentials are normative and prescriptive; very few articles have presented empirical findings on high potentials and placed them in an organizational context. Also, the specific role of development techniques in a planned international high‐potential environment has been highlighted.

Focuses on competence assessment, and its development in the context of self‐management. Detailed case histories are included. Concludes that competence assessment will be an approach adopted by an increasing number of companies.

Describes the approach concerning management development in a fast‐growing international telecommunication company trying to survive the multimedia revolution, namely Alcatel Telecom. Calling itself the hi‐speed company, Alcatel tries to profile the organisation externally, simultaneously evoking a new culture internally as well. Efforts from management and all employees are required to meet the hi‐speed objectives. To make people aware of the new drive and work values, several hi‐speed projects have been set up since 1997, such as the change program, the hi‐speed café and awards, and SIE (small interactive enterprises). Furthermore, the role of managerial values, the development of international managers and the implementation of MD programs by the Alcatel university, Antwerp, will be highlighted.

This paper describes elements of the policies employed for identifying high potentials in their organizational context. A set of systematic research questions has been used to conceive a structured questionnaire to empirically investigate the kind of high potential competencies that companies expect when identifying high potentials and how this identification takes place. These elements of a high potential policy have been related to a number of organizational variables in 86 Belgian companies. Our empirical results indicate that the extent to which attention is paid to high potentials is linked to certain organizational characteristics (size and degree of internationalization). Moreover, the use of well‐defined competencies is not widely spread. We found ample confirmation for the identification of high potentials being a rather hierarchical process. Performance appraisals and a specific potential assessment procedure are the most popular sources of information during the identification process.

Growing competition and globalisation have led to massive changes in the approaches of traditional management systems and techniques. Often this needs a radically different way of organising activities, recruiting and developing people, and measuring performances and results. In this article, the focus is on the specific challenges of organising management development in a situation of turbulence and drastic change. After a short sketch of the historical context, some current trends and challenges are explored; the role of strategic re‐orientations, the emphasis on the individual, the role of competencies and the significance of demographic changes. In order to see how management development is organised in companies that have seen drastic organisational change, we investigated the most recent approaches of management development in two large Belgian companies. In our conclusion, we stress the importance of fine‐tuning the objectives between individual and organisation in a creative and long‐term‐oriented perspective.

This article provides an overview of the recent changes and subsequent new challenges for South African organizations in an ongoing rapidly changing environment. In this context we consider the election period of 1994 as a rupture with the past in the history of the SA nation, and a new start of the so‐called “New South Africa”. Based on personal experiences and literature describes the application of and crucial role played by eight important managerial concepts and methods during the transition period for South African organisations. Finally the impact of this radical change and evolution on new challenges for the leadership and the processes of managing transformation is highlighted.

The conditions and implications for the use of multi‐rater feedback or “360‐degree” methods are studied from both a psychological and an organizational perspective. Psychological research indicates that multi‐ratings cannot be put on the same footing as ratings obtained from more “objective” sources as for instance the assessment center. Multi‐rater feedback can be interpreted either as standing in the tradition of assessment centers, or originating from “total quality management”, but it seems more congenial to the TQM method of organizing “customer feedback”. Since multi‐rater feedback presupposes social interaction and consequently a work organization, the communicative conditions for such a feedback system are subsequently investigated from the perspective of organization science. It is investigated how various structural and cultural changes offer a fertile soil for the introduction of such kinds of feedback. However, the authors warn of the terror of “total feedback”.