This article evaluates the British system of NVQs, focusing on their capacity to increase skill levels. It reviews the way NVQs were designed and argues that they are ill-equipped to encourage knowledge and skills, partly because they simply replicate the weaknesses which currently exist in the...

In 1997 the Management Charter Initiative (MCI) officially launched the new management NVQs (National Vocational Qualifications), benchmarks which attempted to describe the work performed by British managers. This article is a review of those qualifications. It remembers some of the main...

Presents a critical account of the implementation of the Management NVQ in three case study companies. Deals with two main themes: first, the way in which the candidates reacted to the management standards, reinterpreting their own roles and adopting the concept of a “real” manager, and...