This paper uses recent survey data to undertake a comparative analysis of management development across six Western European countries. Unlike most studies that compare management development practices, we rely on an institutional labour market perspective to compare managerial skills development and training. We suggest that, while there are few differences in terms of the priority firms from different countries give to developing managers, the methods that are used and skill profiles can differ considerably. Furthermore, institutional change may also challenge some conventional views of how managers are being developed. We conclude by distinguishing four country systems that reflect a series of common characteristic strengths and weaknesses of national managerial training systems.
History
Publication status
Published
Journal
International Journal of Human Resource Management
This paper rejects conventional human resource management or culturalist approaches to management quality in favour of a labour market approach, putting the emphasis on national systems in terms of skill formation for management training. The approach is confirmed in a cross-country study. Dr Ramirez provided all the quantitative statistics etc., and overall some 80% of the published study.