Management Development Practice in Australia

The release of Enterprising Nation - Report of the Industry Task Force on Leadership and Management Skills (the Karpin Report) by the Federal government in 1995 placed the spotlight firmly on management development practice in Australia.

The Karpin Report was instrumental in raising the general level of business and community awareness of the relationship between management capability at all levels of the organisation and company performance. It highlighted the critical importance of education, training and ongoing professional development to ensure managers had the knowledge and skills they needed to perform effectively in the workplace. Emphasis was placed on the important non-technical domains of management: leading and managing people, communicating, negotiating, resolving conflict, fostering creativity and innovation, managing change.

Seven years on, many public and private sector organisations have embraced the underpinning philosophy and directional recommendations of the Karpin Report. Consistent with often heard statements by organisations about the intrinsic value of employees as a source of business advantage, there is anecdotal evidence of greatly increased management development activity in Australia since the Report's release.

It is in this context that the Australian Institute of Management commissioned the Management Development Practice study. The objective of the research was to establish an empirical basis for understanding what is actually being done in organisations in Australia to develop the country's management talent and improve business performance.

The project was initiated to investigate a number of specific questions about organisational practice:

• What constitutes management development in organisations?
• Is management development strategy linked to business performance?
• What is the scope of management development activity?
• Who are the key influencers and implementers of management development?
• How is management development funded and how are outcomes measured?
• What are the emerging trends in management development practice?

To provide the sample population for the study, the Institute approached its broad national base of Corporate Members. Many of these companies gave their willing support to the research and for this contribution, the Institute expresses its sincere appreciation.

Key Findings

Download the Management Development Practice in Australia Key Findings [PDF; 137KB]