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Texaco in the UK introduced self‐development using 360° feedback as part of the company’s quest to move away from hierarchical management. Describes the firm’s Mpower initiative.

A programme of self‐development for women managers was introduced by a major retail multiple aware of low morale among its few women executives. None of the selected group understood the concept of “development” and were taken aback by the commitment and input expected of them. Their progression from resistance and dependency to learning to take responsibility is described, and the more positive attitude they develop proves helpful in tackling difficulties in the work situation.

The purpose of this paper is to clarify the concept of self as applied to leadership and propose an understanding of how a leader should form conceptions of self, and use these in his or her own development.

Based on self‐, personality‐ and developmental psychology, the paper examines a variety of theoretical foundations, and ties these into the context of leadership and self‐development.

The paper concludes that the self is core, consciousness, and action. The particular characteristics and qualities of the self determine the leader's comprehension of him or herself as a human entity, and is a leader's gateway to self‐confidence and self‐esteem. Leaders therefore need to cultivate an understanding of self by engaging in formative processes which are related to their ability to learn from defining situations, thus raising awareness of points of convergence in a leader's career.

The paper is limited to a conceptual discussion, and further research is needed to verify the proposed hypothesis. Future research should concentrate on empirical work.

The practical outcome is concrete advice, that leaders must engage in processes where their own willpower, beliefs, assumptions, values, principles, needs, relational patterns and social strategies are subject to feedback and testing if their aim is to develop themselves. Self‐development is not the training of skills, nor solely dependent on cognitive strategies.

Most leaders face pressure to develop themselves. The recommendations herein clarify what is a self concept applicable for leaders, and assist in identifying domains, processes and schemata applicable for leadership self‐development.

About three years ago we (Peter Honey as the outside consultant and Nigel Povah as ICL's inside skills trainer) were commissioned to design a self development workshop for ICL's sales force. Since then we have run ten workshops for about 100 participants and the amount of learning has been impressive and reactions very favourable.

Reports some findings from the Developing the Developers report, in particular the high proportion of developers who differentiate training from development, and their reasons for so doing. Identify from the research the top ten approaches that developers see as important for the future. The authors summarize the issues addressed in their recent book, Self‐development: A Facilitator′s Guide, which include team building (first in frequency of being seen as important for the future in the AMED report), mentoring (second), coaching (third), self‐development (fourth), learning company (seventh), action learning (tenth). They suggest key issues related to each approach.

This paper aims to investigate capitalization support, an alternative perspective for theorizing social support in-service settings. In the service setting of the student-athlete experience, the relationships between capitalization support service dimensions (i.e. the academic, athletic, self-development and place dimensions), well-being and sports performance are examined through a transformative sport service research (TSSR) lens, a newly introduced form of transformative service research (TSR).

Data from an online survey of Australian student-athletes (n = 867) is examined using partial least squares structural equation modeling.

The results support the theorized service dimensions of capitalization support, indicating their validity and relevance to the student-athlete experience. Further, the results demonstrate that all capitalization support dimensions except athletic support (i.e. academic support, place support and self-development support), have a direct effect on well-being and an indirect effect on sports performance.

This research is unique for several reasons. First, it introduces a new perspective, capitalization support, to theorizing about social support in services. Second, it is one of the first studies in both TSR and TSSR to empirically test and demonstrate a relationship between support services, well-being and performance in a single study. Insight into how to design services to optimize well-being in relation to other service objectives like performance thus emerges.

My series of articles on Self‐Development, and the philosophy behind it, ought to raise questions on the role and staffing of the training function. A different training approach is called for, often a different organisational slot; the function needs to be seen differently and it needs to see itself differently.

Three consultants in ICL′s corporate HRD unit speak from their experience of self‐managed learning. They ask “Can self‐development provide people with sufficient confidence in their own future to engender a positive attitude to corporate change?” Three key points are illustrated with examples taken from their own experience in ICL: develop yourself to develop others; help others learn the values of self‐managed learning – don′t tell them; be flexible at all times, including the design of solutions. Concludes that self development has a lot to offer – real, relevant, individual development dovetailed into the business needs of the developing organization. There is still much to learn, but their experience in ICL is positive and encouraging. They believe it is right for these “empowering” times, and can indeed help people develop sufficient confidence in their own future to engender a positive attitude towards the inevitable and essential corporate change.

It has been suggested that social impacts on young people are stronger in collectivistic societies than in individualistic societies due to stronger social norms. Therefore, the satisfaction of psychological needs might be more challenging for students in collectivistic societies. As Azerbaijani society is collectivistic, the purpose of this study was to explore the ways in which the need for the self-determination of Azerbaijani master's students is met in relation to their social circles.

Forty-four Azerbaijani master's students were interviewed for this study, and their answers were analyzed from the perspective of basic psychological needs for autonomy, competence and relatedness within self-determination theory (SDT).

The findings of the current study suggest that Azerbaijani students' social environment is not supportive of furthering higher education through achieving a master's degree, and in some cases, this negatively affects students' well-being. Families in Azerbaijan mainly view higher education as being employment focused due to experiences of employment insecurity in the country.

The participants of the current study were from middle- and low-income families in Azerbaijan, as the interviewer obtained basic information on the educational and occupational situations of participants' families in addition to the interviewees' own states. Perhaps due to financial needs, it was mainly found that families valued making money over long-term self-development aspirations in their children. Reaching larger numbers of participants, future studies may purposefully sample individuals from higher-income families to reveal whether families with fewer financial concerns were more autonomy-supportive in the aspirations by young people to further their education or how the pattern of their support varied due to socioeconomic status.

It is hoped that the presented results may guide the relevant authorities in the regulation of the employment strategies of youth in Azerbaijan, as high levels of youth unemployment and massive shifts to self-employment and low-skilled occupations create few opportunities to realize self-development aspirations in Azerbaijan. More efficient policies should be implemented to improve recruitment to good-quality jobs and increase the value of skills and knowledge in employment.

Interconnected cultural factors determine families' views of furthering education and affect how they satisfy the psychological needs of students in their education lives. It is anticipated that the present study will be useful for students mainly from developing countries in coping with their social environments in pursuing their self-development aspirations.

Unlike previous studies, the authors suggest that through “gained autonomy”, Azerbaijani youth who comply with their elders when less experienced tend to gain control over their personal decisions by providing positive information about overseas experiences. The concept of “gained autonomy” also contributes to SDT in illustrating how members of collectivistic societies can attempt to satisfy their basic psychological needs.

The first article sought to establish that there is a role for a “catalyst” type of tutor under the self‐development philosophy. This second article will look at the important steps, at both organisational and individual level, which the tutor must take to get self‐development started. The opening article talked of the need to have the right organisational climate (e.g. establishing that coaching by the boss was the norm, establishing that mistakes are allowable, proving that people matter) and of getting the various types of individual (e.g. the high flyer, the top manager, the switched off) to pick up the ball and run with it. This article will continue those metaphors.