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The UNDP governing council established the Management Development Programme (MDP) in 1988 with a facility of $60 million. The objective of the MDP is to assist developing countries in improving their public sectors by enhancing their governments′ management capabilities. The programme is open to all countries wishing to participate and it is the role of the MDP to help governments to develop comprehensive programmes aimed at strengthening public sector management on a long‐term basis. By the beginning of June 1990, more than 70 countries had requested support from the MDP and the interest continues to be considerable. In the field of public sector management improvement, MDP activities promote the programme approach in development co‐operation recommended by the UN General Assembly in its now famous Resolution 44/211.

Can the worst time for an organisation provide the best circumstances for management learning? One UK local authority began a management development programme 18 months before a wholescale reorganisation. This was not regarded as a rational thing to do. Explores the messiness and the politics that had to be worked with by those believing that a programme was necessary. However, training anxious and cynical managers about rational strategic models of change would be wholly inappropriate. Instead, the programme addressed the often hidden struggles, messiness, anxiety, incertainty and politics which influence management learning in a complex and turbulent organisation. The article outline participants’ feelings about the learning processes, and explains how connections were made between personal learning and organisational change. Finally it assesses the programme’s outcomes, concluding that this “bad time” for the organisation resulted in the development of managers’ ability to handle a terrifying amount of change.

Management development programs are often regarded as essential for the preparation of managers who are presumed to be responsible for the future success of their organizations. At other times, such programs have been criticized as being irrelevant to the actual practice of management. This paper explores the effectiveness of one management development program from the perspective of its graduates, who reported that the program positively impacted them as well as their organizations. In particular, they perceived that the program had an enormous impact on their career advancement and professional development. Many of the graduates did not believe that the program helped their organizations with management succession planning and achieving gender equity in management. However, the majority perceived that it did increase their organizations’ capacity to remain relevant to their changing environment and to deal with future management challenges, including the management of change.

The pursuit of knowledge should be the objective of managers in the workplace, both for the purpose of empowerment and to achieve financial objectives. It is important that retail managers have a need to solidify their transformational leadership knowledge, which ultimately could increase their capacity to excel. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

A structured management development programme (MDP), consisting of a comprehensive spectrum of retail management and leadership theory and practices, was designed to develop transformational leadership by using transformational teaching and learning strategies. The sample for this study consisted of seven retail managers from a group of 20 managers, employed by Retek, the largest independent retail pharmacy group in South Africa. A focus group interview identified the dominant themes and produced a landscape to understand the retail managers’ environment, their preferred teaching methodology and benefits experienced from attending the MDP.

By transforming themselves, these managers have become more empathetic leaders, armed with self-awareness and a deeper awareness of team issues. The MDP created in a shift in their attitude towards attending training programmes and subsequently, has created a more accommodating philosophy towards workplace learning. The study added to the understanding of how transformational teaching and learning lead to more effective transformational leadership and the integration of theory into practice by retail managers. The conclusion was that by embracing and practising a transformational teaching and learning ideology, the managers would be better equipped with managerial and transformational leadership abilities.

This research provided a landscape for future management development training in terms of selection of managers to attend, relevant curriculum, teaching and learning methodology as well as benefits of this type of professional development. This initiative was the first project in which such a programme has been designed, developed and instructed in this particular organisation and encompassed a unique experience in terms of training, professional development and the change in the willingness to engage in training and acknowledgement of the value of learning.

This study aims to investigate the aspects that influence reflective practice during an action learning approach to management development programmes (MDPs).

A narrative inquiry approach was used to gather interview and pictorial data from 16 participants who had attended an action learning oriented MDP. Data were translated into interpretive stories using McCormack’s lenses, which were further analysed using thematic analysis.

Two key themes emerged: dealing with emotions and practising reflection. Participants initially found reflecting uncomfortable, but showed courage by persevering. Participants had to learn how to reflect and set aside time for it, while valuing support and guidance from their action learning facilitator.

The findings and recommendations may not be relevant to all types of action learning as action learning forms and contexts differ.

Reflective practice is the responsibility of both the participant and the action learning facilitator. Participants need to create the time and space to learn, be fully present during reflection, practice mindfulness and have the courage to be uncomfortable while reflecting. Action learning facilitators could encourage reflection by creating a safe learning environment, selecting a diverse action learning team, designing reflection time into the MDP and helping participants apply reflection tools.

Reflective practice enhances learning; yet there is a need to better understand reflective practice in an action learning context. This study provides empirical evidence of the aspects that influence the reflection process and outcomes as well as practical guidelines to participants and facilitators on how to promote reflection.

Details the results of an attempt to identify the impact of a comprehensive management development programme on organizational effectiveness within the health service public sector. Concludes that management development programmes must have a prespecified set of strategically‐linked outcomes, identifying the benefits to the organization, and a set of critical success factor measures to determine their achievement or otherwise. Programmes which do not result in managers feeling empowered will be criticized in not impacting positively on the organization.

Describes work currently being done by the Leeds Metropolitan University (LMU) in action‐based learning and its use in the development of graduates and regional industry. Examines a pilot scheme – the Company Associate Partnership Scheme (CAPS) – which aims to increase the employment of graduates within small businesses. This, it is hoped, will enable companies to introduce strategic change projects. Includes observations of LMU associates, companies involved, academic institutions and the Department of Trade and Industry. Concludes that the greatest challenge for associates is managing the integration of academia and industry to form a learning partnership.

Learning by doing is not the sole process of learning for managers. Experiential work on programmes can be improved if the opportunity is offered of going through all aspects of the learning cycle. Deliberate analysis of learning situations and managerial and learning preferences can be productive of extra learning. Use of instruments designed by Belbin, Saville and Holdsworth, Honey and Mumford, and Schein is described, with interesting case examples taken from a BAT Industries' management development programme.

Outlines the workings of Action Learning Sets, team‐building and cultural change, and explores the use of Action Learning methodology in the development of health‐care managers. Outlines the spin‐off benefits of the implementation of Action Learning at Ashworth Hospital, such as self‐discipline, commitment, improved morale, empowerment, etc. Concludes that it could be a powerful tool for future health‐care management.