The Development of Management and Leadership Capability and its ...

• Research on the effectiveness of management and leadership development can only
be as good as the ability to define and measure the performance that it is expected to
enhance. More work is needed on the nature of performance and its measurement
itself in both the private and public sector, in terms of both social and economic
goals. In addition practical and economic methods of performance measurement are
needed, and given the amount of effort that goes into organisation performance
measurement in general it should be possible to take advantage of these existing
measures for research on management and leadership development effectiveness.
• As an extension of 7.5.4, it is noted that many studies in practice rely on the
reliability and validity of self-report measures of performance and process. It would
be useful to research how reliable these methods are, or under what circumstances
they can be taken to be reliable.
• There is considerable speculation and some evidence that natural, informal, work
based and context sensitive development processes for management and leadership
development are particularly effective in some contexts, and a growing movement for
their use. Research on the effectiveness of these methods would have considerable
practical use, and also a theoretical one since the indication of this review is that
management and leadership, and the development of the capability for them, are
situational and contingent. This kind of research would help us understand how.
• The CEML investigation (see Perren L. and Grant P. 2001), suggests that effective
ways of developing management and leadership capability in small business are yet to
be found. A recent approach based on the concept of ‘incubator units’ appears to be a
new approach that is felt to be promising (see Hirsh W, Burgoyne J and Williams S
2002). An evaluation of this combined with an investigation of the processes by
which leadership and management capability is developed and used in small business
is suggested.
• Education does appear to be associated with management and leadership career
progression, and by implication effectiveness, but it is not clear whether the effect is
through learning or the use by employers of qualification to signal and screen people
with greater potential. To the extent that there is a learning effect it is also not clear
whether the effect is one from general education or the learning of specific vocational
capabilities. The different effects of education via general ability development,
specific ability development, signalling and screening of talent is capable of
investigation, largely using existing data sets and newer statistical techniques. The
question has considerable policy implications in terms of understanding how the
educational system can best support the economy through management and
leadership.
• The new Management Standards appear to have been established with extensive and
thorough consultation with experts and the synthesising of consensus amongst them.
An opportunity will arise to research them further by tracking their launch and use,
and the performance effects of their use. This would further validate the standards
and inform their further modification and use.
• Investors in People have launched a guide to good practice for organisational
leadership and management development. As an organisation level initiative a follow
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