To succeed, organizations must adapt to environmental changes. Executives play a critical leadership role in this process of change. They must be aware of organizational nuances as well as external influences that may impair their interpersonal decision‐making ability. Organizations often...

The aim of this paper is to look beyond the application of quality management controls, assurances and standards which have already been widely addressed in the quality literature. Instead, the focus is on quality in management performance, particularly in relation to effective decision making...

A pioneer of the “videocase” describes the contents, development and impact of his module on the space shuttle Challenger disaster, highlighting key dimensions which have contributed to its effectiveness as a tool for managerial education and development. Critical lessons from the...

The plight of the middle manager has received considerable attention recently as this endangered species has been delayered, rationalised and subjected to many organisational change programmes. These changes have pushed the middle manager into an increasing number of apparently contradictory and...

This paper discusses the need for and possible resistance to interdiscplinary education and development in the US business schools today. In‐depth structured interviews were conducted with executives from 12 companies located in the Mid‐Atlantic states of the USA, each of which is included...

This paper uses an organizational science framework to evaluate the present status of the public accounting profession and make recommendations for a systematic process to influence long‐term effective change. Historically, the profession has implemented short‐term responses to environmental...

Growing competition and globalisation have led to massive changes in the approaches of traditional management systems and techniques. Often this needs a radically different way of organising activities, recruiting and developing people, and measuring performances and results. In this article,...

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...

The processes of management development within a change management context have mostly been informed by models which assume that individuals can be developed by planned and purposive intervention to perform effectively within a new, forecast, but essentially stable environment. Alongside such...

Given the right combination of people and pressures, change can happen, and quickly too. How a company, faced with a legal order to implement an affirmative action programme, implemented change in every unit of the company is described. With strong support from the CEO and a capable and...