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This article has been withdrawn as it was published elsewhere and accidentally duplicated. The original article can be seen here: 10.1108/EUM0000000001135. When citing the article, please cite: Coy A. Jones, J. Bernard Keys, Thomas R. Miller, (1989), “Focused Labour Force: An Organisational Development Strategy”, Leadership & Organization Development Journal, Vol. 10 Iss: 3, pp. 10 - 1.

Reviews briefly the history of management games and outlines the main parts of a game. Lists the best known international management games being utilized in the United States. Provides a complete description of the Multinational Management Game (MMG) along with case histories of management development experiences with MMG in Korea, the Pacific Asian Management Programme, The University of Hawaii, The Japan American Institute of Management Science, a programme in Hungary, and an Executive MBA Programme in the United States. Includes excerpts from student experiences within game play and a short review of research validating games as learning environments.

The author′s three‐part model for the design of effective management development programmes is updated and used to introduce the other contributions appearing in this special issue of the Journal of Management Development

In recent years the concept of the “focused factory” has emerged in the field of operations management, and the “contingency approach to job design” has evolved in the area of organisational development. Utilising these two concepts in combination, the creation of a contingency continuum of job enrichment, the “focused labour force”, for improved utilisation of human resources is proposed.

The ability to make quantum leaps in changing organizations is becoming a survival need for both managers and their organizations. Managers are needed who can build networks to funnel diverse views upward from the lower levels where the need for change is often first detected. Describes how a multipart “Influence Development Programme” was devised and attended by 53 deans of business schools – it being recognized that to be effective, deans, as much as managers in business, need to be able to influence others both within and outside their work environment.

The major reason for the success of Japanese decision making is the understanding, acceptance and support of techniques by managers and employees, the various stages of the decision‐making process being utilised, alongside the unofficial politics, in direction, subtlety and patience which are intrinsic to the consensual decision process. By contrast US managers register scepticism and suspicion towards participative decision processes; when such a process is used it is primarily for the purpose of improving decision quality, as against the Japanese aim to achieve unanimous consent (not approval). The Japanese process allows decision implementation with little conflict; however the prerequisites for this form of participation may be largely unfilled in other cultures' work places.

Many organizations now utilize action learning, and it is applied increasingly throughout the world. Action learning appears in numerous variants, but generically it is a form of learning through experience, “by doing”, where the task environment is the classroom, and the task the vehicle. Two previous reviews of the action learning literature by Alan Mumford respectively covered the field prior to 1985 and the period 1985‐1994. Both reviews included books as well as journal articles. This current review covers the period 1994‐2000 and is limited to publicly available journal articles. Part 1 of the Review was published in an earlier issue of the Journal of Workplace Learning (Vol. 15 No. 2) and included a bibliography and comments. Part 2 extends that introduction with a schema for categorizing action learning articles and with comments on representative articles from the bibliography.

Identifies seven major errors found frequently in teambuilding programmes. Each of the errors, all management failures, are illustrated by real life episodes. Guidelines are presented for overcoming each of these deadly sins: malselection, impatience, deception, aimlessness, powerlessness, inhibited communications, and competitive mania.

Simuworlds include a management game and business case competition. The Multinational Management Game Simuworld (MMG) is based on the Compaq Computer Corporation. The MMG Simuworld is designed so that participants view and feel the operations from a general management level and make decisions. The emphasis of game play is on combinations of strategies similar to those utilized by the microcomputer companies. Participants work in teams and make seven or eight rounds of simulated yearly budgeting decisions. A five‐year strategic plan is completed early in the programme and a five‐year plan for the future is completed and presented at the end of game play. The last five‐year plan also includes the analysis of an up‐to‐date case study about the microcomputer industry and Compaq Computer Corporation. Managerial and organizational learning are prompted through learning diaries, and a de‐briefing period. Participants learn from team activities and from computerized feedback results. Inter‐cultural learning can be enhanced by organizing teams with diverse cultural backgrounds. A major learning experience provided is that of preparing and entering a foreign country as an exporter or with a manufacturing plant. The Simuworld has been used in many countries of the world and has proven especially useful as a laboratory for teaching privatization in countries moving towards a free enterprise system.

Presents and examines the “live case method” as an increasingly influential means of broadening the thinking of middle managers, prompting them to adopt senior managerial perspectives on problems currently besetting their organizations. Claims that it is the live‐case orientation of the mid‐management seminar programme involved that provides effective linkage between managerial and organizational learning. Considers the value of the method first in relation to its application with middle managers of the ARCO Oil and Gas Company, highlighting the importance also of senior managerial involvement throughout the seminar programme; and then proceeds to illustrate the method′s use at corporate executive level, citing the extension of the approach in 1993 by ARCO′s Atlantic Richfield operation to their corporate executive seminar. Contends that the method exemplifies and encourages effective organizational learning in action at both middle and senior management levels.