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Management development: a new role in social change?

Martin Clarke Cranfield School of Management, Cranfield, UK

Keywords The received wisdom for tackling organiza- Management development has often been Subversion, tion change issues among many practitioners presented as a desirable, and sometimes even Organizational change, has generally been one of top-down, com- value-free activity for the individual and Management development, Cynicism, pany-wide transformation, involving de- organization (Hopfl and Dawes, 1995); but Pockets of good practice layering, re-engineering, empowering, etc. such activities are also increasingly seen as (Argyris, 1998; Hamel and Prahalad, 1994), opportunities for normative control (Coopey, Abstract attempting to move the organization from 1995). Management development, sanctioned Traditional approaches to organi- zational change are of little use in one monological state to another (De Cock by senior management, will in its execution the bid for increased innovation as and Rickards, 1996). Yet these approaches to construct impressions of behaviours and they reinforce top-down predict- change management are coming under in- attributes that are needed if those managers ability. An alternative approach is creasing scrutiny and there is mounting are to be perceived as successful by that through the creation of pockets of good practice which act as role evidence that one of the greatest obstacles to senior management (Hopfl and Dawes, 1995). models of change. These pockets effecting real change is the idea that it comes Management development professionals need to be subversive of existing about through company-wide change pro- themselves, are similarly under increasing practices but simultaneously deli- grammes (Beer et al., 1996). ``Despite all the scrutiny. Recent research from Atkinson and ver organizational success criter- ia. The success of this approach is rhetoric surrounding transformation and Meldrum (1998) into the quality of manage- dependent upon managers devel- major change programmes, the reality is that ment development professionals, as per- oping a critical perspective about today's managers have not yet encountered ceived by line management, revealed an organizational control systems. unflattering description. Line management Contrary to received wisdom the change programs that work'' (Argyris, 1998, foundation for this critical per- p. 104). were largely ambivalent or negative about spective may be most usefully In the management of change, managers this group's ability to take a strategic view or developed from the manager's can find themselves faced with innumerable to act as good role models. This image of own cynical experience of organi- contradictions and double-binds (Dopson and management development professionals, zational life. In building this criti- cal perspective management Neumann, 1994) as they attempt to cope with combined with the perception of manage- development may begin to fulfil a increased accountability and empowerment, ment development as an agent of control, has wider educational role in society. the need for creativity and efficiency, the helped to contribute to a description of need to act locally and think globally and so management development ``as a game of on. In an effort to resolve these difficulties, meaningless outcomes'' (Clarke, 1999). company sponsored management training Nor is the impact of management develop- and development has increasingly been seen ment confined to issues of organization as a central platform of ``programmatic efficiency. The role of organizations in our change'' (Beer et al., 1990). For example, society is pre-eminent. Therefore, the man- management development is seen as critical agerialism (the core values and beliefs) to the cascading of culture change pro- which underpin the control of organizations grammes that seek to embed new organiza- has significant impact on our lives (Bowles, tional attitudes and values (Willmott, 1993). 1997). Management development, when seen But far from ensuring alignment between as a process of normative control, becomes employee and employer aspirations, many the guardian of such managerialism. It managers have often ``mimicked'' the re- therefore has an impact well beyond the quired behaviours (Denham et al., 1996; Hope classroom or action learning set. and Hendry, 1995) in an attempt to ``ring Against this backdrop of dysfunctional fence'' the degree of self which they are approaches to change management, the in- prepared to put into their work. creasing impact of organizations on society, Management Decision and the potential perception of management 37/10 [1999] 767±777 development as the ``spin doctor'' of senior The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at # MCB University Press management, we need to be asking critical http://www.emerald-library.com [ISSN 0025-1747] questions about the future role of [ 767 ] Martin Clarke management development. This paper will decision making is slowed down and dissi- Management development: a examine an emerging approach to change pated in the favour of those different com- new role in social change? management in which the role of the indivi- peting interest groups. Accordingly, a Management Decision dual is central to the starting point for such template for more emergent and organic, 37/10 [1999] 767±777 change. This approach potentially provides a even apparently chaotic structures, is com- platform for management development to ing to be seen as more appropriate in the enhance greater individual autonomy, facil- future if organizations are to be able to itate better organizational adaptation to respond to the demand for almost continuous changing environments, and encourage a innovation ((Tetenbaum, 1998; Miles et al., more healthy society through questioning 1997). Therefore, there will be an increasing the institutionalised status quo. The identi- need for senior managers to move their focus fication of these outcomes for management from one of control to one where their role is development is not new. What is different, to foster entrepreneurial initiative and sup- however, is that this paper will describe how port radically decentralized operations (Bar- these goals may be best achieved by man- tlett and Ghoshal, 1997) where people are agement development becoming an agent of capable of acting creatively and autono- subversion and critical questioning rather mously toward their specific markets oppor- than ``trust, truth, love and collaboration'' tunities. (Buchanan and Boddy, 1993). The paper will But how far away is this future template first set the context for this by examining for senior management from current prac- some of the drawbacks to traditional change tice? If hierarchical organizations breed management and its wider impact in exacer- hierarchical behaviours, then a culture of bating organizational cynicism. New ap- command and control which enabled those proaches to change will be explored as a senior managers to reach their senior posi- backdrop for considering the value of critical tions in the first place is likely to prevail and reflection which a cynical perspective can this can place a number of blockers on stimulate. The paper will conclude by con- organizational and individual effectiveness. sidering how this critical and potentially For example, contemporary managerial cul- subversive approach could form the basis for ture in Western capitalist society has been a future role for management development in described as a combination of ``social Dar- stimulating not just organizational but ulti- winism'' and ``functional rationality'' which mately, wider social change. The intention can produce a competitive paradigm in here is not to provide a detailed manifesto for which employees come to be manipulated, change, but to widen the debate about the codified and catalogued, rather than freed to potential role of management development as assume greater autonomy (Bowles, 1997). a key feature on the education agenda of the Furthermore, within this paradigm, the need next century. for managers to be seen as successful and worthy of promotion, sometimes places them under pressure to bend to existing norms OD at the organization level rather than innovate (Coopey, 1995, p. 66). It is also doubtful that these institutionalized The rate of change currently experienced by power relations within organizations can organizations is forcing a substantial shift in easily be changed through traditional pro- organizational form and must, therefore, cesses of corporate transformation. The point force a change in the way we manage these is clearly demonstrated in a recent survey by organizations. In traditional hierarchical Worrall and Cooper (1997). Their findings forms senior managers set direction through gathered from members of the Institute of strategy and the control of resources etc. Management called into question ``whether (Bartlett and Ghoshal, 1997). But such ap- the objectives of change management pro- proaches are so full of inner contradictions grammes . . . have actually been convincingly that they kill the innovation and motivation achieved'' (1997, p. 30). But, more impor- those organizations require to remain com- tantly, the survey revealed that junior man- petitive (Argyris, 1998). Hierarchical organi- agers were likely to view senior management zations breed hierarchical behaviours style as being authoritative, bureaucratic, (Bartlett and Ghoshal, 1997). It has almost cautious, reactive, secretive, traditional and become almost an established organizational vacillating. principle that such hierarchies are unlikely In many ways, a programme of change set to be able to respond quickly or effectively at the organizational level, is predicated on enough to rapid change. A hierarchical the degree of certainty and control it appears organizational form is seen to be so riddled to provide but is often unlikely to create with conflicting layers of self-interest and autonomy and innovation precisely because differing agendas that issues are blurred and of that degree of control and certainty. [ 768 ] Martin Clarke ``When employees actions are defined almost would suggest that a great many character- Management development: a exclusively from the outside, the resulting istics of jobs and roles are likely to continue new role in social change? behaviour cannot be empowering and liber- to become ambiguous and generate conflict Management Decision ating'' (Argyris, 1998, p. 101). Far from in the future (Worrall and Cooper, 1997; 37/10 [1999] 767±777 empowering individuals, OD managed at the Holbeche and Glynn, 1998). Similarly, if the organizational level implicitly reinforces in- prevailing approach to change management stitutional control and often, through a is continuing to fail, if managers have yet to process of ``cultural doping'' (Alvesson and experience change programmes that really Willmott, 1996), encourages dependency on work, we must also consider the extent to existing organizational values rather than which Andersson's (1996) second category is challenge them. Ironically therefore many also likely to continue for the foreseeable change initiatives undermine the employee future. Lack of adequate information about autonomy they purport to create. This cre- change and experience of unsuccessful ates considerable cynicism and demotivation change programmes were also identified as as employees experience these inherent con- determinants of cynicism by Reichers et al. tradictions and paradoxes of organizational (1997). Dean et al. (1998) are careful about life. Such is the extent of this cynicism that it determining whether organizational cyni- has attracted considerable academic concern cism is justifiable in any given situation. in recent years (Andersson, 1996; Reichers et This, being a matter of opinion, is no basis al., 1997; Dean et al., 1998). The pervasive for theory (1998, p. 347). However, given the nature of cynicism will now be briefly view that the determinants of organizational explored as an alternative starting point for cynicism are likely to increase, perhaps a management development. more relevant observation is whether cyni- cism is an inevitable condition of contem- Organizational cynicism porary organizational life. Is it an aberration to be controlled, or a precondition for sur- Most of the work in this area defines cyni- viving in organizational life? cism in negative terms, as an ``attitude of While for some this analysis to date may contempt, frustration, and distrust toward an present a bleak picture of organizations, it object or multiple objects, susceptible to can also actually provide a real point of change by exposure to factors in the envir- departure for reframing approaches to orga- onment'' (Andersson, 1996, p. 1397). Therefore, nization development and the role of man- as an attitude, cynicism comprises a combi- agement development in facilitating this nation of: beliefs that organizations betray a change. Rather than pursuing a naõÈvely lack of fairness, honesty, and sincerity; affect, optimistic approach to management devel- an emotional response toward their organi- opment let us accept the manager's own zation; and behaviour which may comprise starting point. The rationale for this is clear critical observation, presenting pessimistic when you consider that ``if motivation, con- views etc. (Dean et al., 1998). trol and leadership are problem areas in an Many of the antecedents of cynicism can be organisation then the political reality un- found in the shortcomings of top-down derlying these issues must necessarily be one change management. Andersson (1996) has of struggle, conflict and lack of consensus'' identified the roots of such cynicism in the (Bacharach and Lawler, 1980). So rather than increasing number of organizational ``con- trying to stimulate change through open, tract violations''. These may include psycho- collaborative relationships which only pro- logical, implied or formal contractual duce limited success (Buchanan and Boddy, violations between individuals and their 1993), it may be more practical to start with a employer. Based on this analysis, Andersson manager's own cynically informed view of identifies three potential predictors of work- place cynicism: organizations. In order to appreciate the real 1 Environmental ± higher executive pay, value of this starting point, the next section harsh layoffs, unjustified corporate prof- will deal with some of the emerging trends in its, corporate irresponsibility. OD. These trends will be then related to how 2 Organizational ± infrequent or inadequate cynicism may form a useful starting place for communication, limited voice expression, management development to foster greater discourteous interpersonal treatment, managerial autonomy and social responsi- management incompetence, use of man- bility. agement techniques. 3 Job/role characteristics ± role ambiguity, role conflict, work overload. OD at the individual level The changing nature of organizational forms In response to this need for ever-increasing toward more fluid and ambiguous structures change and innovation and the growing [ 769 ] Martin Clarke disillusionment with traditional approaches cynicism, which on first sight, is contrary to Management development: a to organization change, alternative ap- much of the received wisdom in management new role in social change? proaches have been emerging with indivi- development. Another part of the answer Management Decision duals and groups as the starting point for rests with the inescapable truism that new 37/10 [1999] 767±777 organization development interventions theories may be convincing because they (Beer, 1990; Butcher et al., 1997; Clarke and work (Berger and Luckman, 1996, p. 137). Meldrum, 1999; Frohman, 1997; Hendry, 1996). Change initiated by pockets of good practice In this approach, change is seen as a ``jointly, are essentially both real, and realistic for analytical, educational/learning, and politi- practising managers because it accords with cal process'' (Pettigrew and Whipp, 1991), in their everyday experience of managerial life. which organization contexts are open to Both of these potential answers will now be redefinition by powerful individual actors. explored in more detail followed by an These actors create pockets of good practice, assessment of the impact of these ideas on the groups of people and activities who ``share future role of management development. tacit knowledge and through dialogue bring this to the surface; they exchange ideas about work practice and experiment with new The positive value of cynicism methods and ideas; they engage in discus- sions which affirm or modify theories in use; As we have seen there is plenty of evidence to they innovate new problem-solving routines support the view that organizational life is and simultaneously manage and repair the increasingly experienced in a cynical way by social context'' (Hendry, 1996, p. 628). actors (Dopson and Nuemann, 1994; Denham Through linked pockets of good practice et al., 1996; Hope and Hendry, 1995; Reichers ``knowledge, rules for action, and culture are et al., 1997). But this cynical perspective does spread'' (Hendry, 1996, p. 628). have other possibilities too. Cynicism can In this way organization change is an help make sense of puzzling events in the emergent, organic process created by indivi- environment (Reichers et al., 1997). It can dual action, somewhat akin to Morgan's prevent being taken advantage of and put a (1993) ``strategic termites''. The role of senior check on expediency over principle, should management then becomes one of detecting those seeking expediency believe that self- and supporting these emergent pockets of interest might go undetected (Dean et al., good practice (Beer et al., 1990). But as we 1998). But, above all, cynicism can help have seen, this is unlikely within existing managers see the institutionalized power organizational power relations. Therefore, a relationships at work in organizations. It necessary pre-condition for the successful recognises that choices of organizational creation of pockets of good practice, lies in direction are influenced by self-interest the need for such strategic termites to be (Dean et al., 1998) and that there are often critical, to challenge and even subvert the hidden motives for actions.. status quo. In this context being critical At one level, therefore, cynicism can pro- focuses on ``asking questions of purpose vide value because it explicitly surfaces the and of confronting the taken-for-granted, influence of management self-interest and of concealed interests and ideologies which the repeated failure of management to intro- inform managerial thought and action'' duce effective top-down organizational (Reynolds, 1998, p. 184). The capacity to change. In other words it encourages a engage in critical reflection requires consid- critical perspective which challenges the erable self-awareness, cognitive capabilities, assumptions that foster the inevitability of emotional resilience, political skill etc. such authoritarianism in organizations The need for these high order capabilities (Reynolds, 1998). Cynicism provides a good poses two important issues for the develop- starting point for developing managers be- ment of managers. First, why should man- cause it is so much part of their everyday agers wish to engage in such subversive reality and lived experience of organizations. activity in the first place and why would they However, the idea of using cynicism as a then see this approach as more likely to be starting point for management development effective? Second, how can individuals be clearly faces many difficulties as it is so subversive and credible? How can managers embedded as a negative attitude. What makes learn to read organization context, power cynicism so dysfunctional is the affective relations and political activity? Some of the dimension recognised by Dean et al. (1998) answers to these questions can be found in and its tendency to promote entirely self- the way we develop managers. The assertion serving behaviour. The affective domain is here is that one way of developing a critical revealed in the emotion, anger, shame, dis- perspective may be most usefully found and tress etc., caused by contract violations, nurtured within the domain of organizational when expectations are not met and [ 770 ] Martin Clarke disillusionment prevails (Andersson, 1996). on the individual's perceptions of the need to Management development: a In an effort to protect the self from further comply with referent group expectations new role in social change? harm the individual will pursue an entirely about the enactment of those rules (Fishbein Management Decision self-serving agenda. It therefore follows that and Ajzen, 1975). So decision-by-decision, 37/10 [1999] 767±777 if managers are able to rise above the meeting-by-meeting, managers are engaged emotional consequences of contract viola- in a process of negotiating the rules of the tions they will need to acquire greater game. Not only will actors accept or bend the emotional resilience. This resilience will rules but can also subvert them in ways enable them to see events without persona- which can have a powerful impact on the lising them (Butcher et al., 1997), and main- formal and informal rules of organizational tain a balanced view of events and motives life. Research by Johnson et al. (1997) into without the temptation to blame or be judg- institutional change demonstrates that initi- mental. This balanced view should provide a ating subversive behaviour from within starting point from which managers could established organizational power relations is engage in a more critical analysis, to develop common and achievable. perceptual acuity in interpersonal relation- Change initiated from below, therefore, has ships and to see failures in communication much more resonance with managers' real etc., as an inevitable outcome of competing experiences of organizational life; of daily interest groups rather than attributing it to conflicts, resistance, competitive positioning an unfair system. If the system is not seen as of causes, local needs versus organizational unfair, it provides an opportunity for man- mandates etc. It is this type of experience agers to consider ways in which self-interest which feeds managerial cynicism. Therefore, might become congruent with organizational change which starts with individuals' own interest. Accepting managerial cynicism as a critical perceptions of self-interest, ambition, basis for developing a critical perspective and reward and interpretations of organizational as inevitable rather than an aberration, power bases etc., is much more likely to be provides some challenges for management enacted because it is real and immediate for development but also potentially re-frames those involved. Managers working in this its role in organizations and society. These way can see that they can make a difference ideas will be discussed shortly. But why to their own circumstances and to the should starting with a cynical approach be organization (however small). The key ques- any more valuable than traditional ap- tion is the extent to which those actors are proaches to stimulating change? This brings able or willing to engage in behaviour which us to the second part of our answer and may may be construed as subversive and how can be most usefully explored by examining the this be closely aligned with organizational ways individual actors perceive their change needs. This brings us to the role of manage- context. ment development in stimulating such change.

The managers' experience of organizational life A future role for management We have examined traditional approaches to development? organizational change as being contradic- If organizations need new approaches to tory, paradoxical and often seen as de-huma- change and these approaches will need to be nizing by organizational actors because the inherently critical of the status quo, man- underlying paradigm reflects rational, top- agement development might have a new role down control. Expecting planned outcomes in developing managers to be subversive by from organization-wide change in a context building pockets of good practice. In this open to multiple interpretations by those way, individual and organizational agendas involved, seems remote. Using a critical can become congruent. If pockets of good perspective of organizations immediately practice are to flourish as a viable approach surfaces issues of managerial power and to organizational change then they will control. Accepting the socially constructed implicitly challenge the assumptions behind realities of power, the manager then has existing power relations because they ques- choices whether to accept, bend or subvert tion the primacy of corporate, top down the rules that are perceived as concomitant control. In this respect they run the risk of with that power. Whether the manager sees being interpreted as evidence of organiza- these choices as real will be dependent on a tional misbehaviour in that they will run function of the individual's beliefs concern- counter to shared organizational norms and ing the personal consequences of reinter- expectations (Vardi and Weiner, 1996). The preting those rules. It will also be dependent ability of managers to undertake this type of [ 771 ] Martin Clarke subversion requires considerable interper- affectivity, work ethic, machiavellianism and Management development: a sonal, political and cognitive skills. Clarke demographic characteristics. With the ex- new role in social change? and Meldrum (1999) have identified five key ception of the last item, the list provides a Management Decision personal attributes needed for the develop- good indicator of those factors which directly 37/10 [1999] 767±777 ment of such pockets in ways which reduce influence the dysfunctional affective domain this possibility: of cynicism discussed earlier. The develop- 1 political astuteness, the ability to read ment of managers so that they are able to organizational contexts; increase or decrease the impact of these 2 ability to ``position'' intentions, the way traits can enhance the emotional resilience individuals and departments represent needed to help move from cynicism to criti- themselves in order to gain credibility and cism. Many existing personal development act as a role model for change; activities attempt to influence the attitudes 3 envisioning, creating a vision that is and behaviours which underpin these per- differentiated, yet meets key organiza- sonality traits, but many are developed tional success criteria; irrespective of the organizational context of 4 subversive, being able to stand outside the manager (Atkinson, forthcoming). In organizational rhetoric, questioning or- addition, much existing organizationally- ganizational norms whilst still meeting motivated management development is based organizational success criteria; and on a competency approach which reflects a 5 taking personal risk, understanding the reductionist template for development (Will- personal and developmental implications mott, 1994). A process which helps to develop for oneself in taking these actions. a critical perspective must take account of the manager as a whole complex being acting Each of these attributes reflects a critical in a dynamic environment with other com- perspective. For example, in order to ``posi- plex people (Burgoyne, 1998). tion'' a pocket to deliver its differentiated This can be achieved through the develop- vision, a manager must be able to read the ment of underlying ``meta-abilities'', those formal and informal organizational success personal, acquired abilities which underpin criteria, in order to be credible to the and determine how, and when, knowledge dominant majority. In other words, man- and skills will be used (Brown, 1993). These agers must be able to read the unwritten include capabilities such as self-understand- rules of the game (Scott-Morgan, 1994) about ing, cognitive skills, personal drive and ``what it takes to get on around here''. If a emotional resilience. These are most effec- minority is to be seen as credible it may need tively surfaced through a development pro- to be flexible in its positioning depending cess which creates a disconnect or disjoint in whether it is on the inside or outside of the previously held mindsets forcing a signifi- majority which provides the dominant defi- cant personal transition which allows man- nition of reality (Mugny, 1984). Political agers to step aside from previous frames of astuteness is, therefore, necessary in order to reference and to see the world ``afresh''. In be able to determine the existing power turn this facilitates an increase in the relations within different organizational managers' cognitive complexity and thus groups which may interpret the action of their capacity for critical reflection. The such pockets in different ways. A critical exact detail of this approach is beyond our perspective is, therefore, a prerequisite for discussion here but the major building the execution of these attributes. All of this blocks for these ideas can be found in has considerable implications for the devel- Butcher et al. (1997), Conger and Xin (1996), opment of managers. While the need for such and Clarke (1998). Most importantly, this type a critical perspective has been widely dis- of process can enable managers to glimpse cussed in academic journals, so far little moments of ``micro-emancipation'' (Alvesson attention has been given to formulating an and Willmott, 1996). Micro emancipation educational methodology which can foster concerns those situations in which man- such a critical perspective among practising agers, through a process of critical reflection, managers (Reynolds, 1998). So, how might are able to make partial, or even just this critical perspective and its contingent temporary movements, in developing greater cynical viewpoint be developed in managers autonomy and responsibility for others (Al- to enable the deployment of these attributes? vesson and Willmott, 1996). In essence these In discussing cynicism, Andersson (1996) moments of micro emancipation enable identifies a number of ``dispositional mod- managers to see the political realities of erators'' which can predispose individuals to organizational life. Enabling such glimpses act negatively in situations which are seen to helps identify the socially constructed nature be unjust. These moderators are: self-esteem, of reality and, therefore, the opportunity for locus of control, equity sensitivity, negative its re-definition. This results in managers [ 772 ] Martin Clarke being able to see choices in what they do and therefore, necessary to ask some serious Management development: a this choice is central to the managers' questions about whether this is remotely new role in social change? motivation and ability to engage in subver- achievable or not. How might this new role Management Decision sive action. for management development emerge? What 37/10 [1999] 767±777 This possibility of encouraging moments of are the forces which might encourage a micro-emancipation for individuals provides change in the prevailing institutional tem- for a new and more impactful role for plate? What will happen if management management development. In essence, in development is unable to respond to these raising micro issues of control and autonomy challenges? It is not the intention here to for individuals, management development create a manifesto which is able to answer all would be fulfilling a broader educative role, these questions precisely, but to create a not merely providing skills training. Educa- ``glimpse'' into the future of what might be tion cannot exist independently of its social and to encourage further debate and pockets context, and is rightly open to the influence of good practice. It is, therefore, useful to look of government, community and interest forward to the emerging social, technological groups. However, despite this influence, one and economic conditions which might influ- of the core values of education remains that ence the role of management development in of enabling people to explore alternative the next century to highlight some of the points of view, as free from bias as possible. choices open to us. This core value remains dominant in Wes- tern education despite the ongoing conflict with community control that this can create Fortune telling (see Worsley, 1970, p. 178 for example). The process of enabling critical reflection is a key A brief examination of the considerable ingredient in management development ful- academic and popular literature available filling a wider educative role as it provides a about the world of work and business in the basis for exploring alternative views, chal- ``new millennium'' reveals a time of potential lenging assumptions and identifying bias and upheaval. In a global marketplace, there can covert interests. By enabling managers to be no long-term competitive advantage critically explore issues of power and poli- (Drucker, 1997). The trend towards overca- tics, managers will inevitably raise funda- pacity will encourage the need for constant mental questions about themselves and their innovation in order to stay ahead. The own role in organizations. By managers continuing impact of technology will further reflecting critically about careers, the divi- reduce the size of both peripheral and core sion between work and non-work, and their labour markets and increase the size of the responsibility to consider the wider social disenfranchised underclass. The manager's impact of managerial decisions, management job will become ever more complex and, as development begins to assume a more sub- managers themselves will become a rarer stantial role in society. species, the best managers will be in big If organizations are the dominant influence demand. In turn, this cadre of ``super man- in society, then management development's agers'' will be ever more demanding of the educative role of challenge and critique is of companies for whom they work. The power of paramount importance. This is especially so these managers will, therefore, become even if one considers how secondary and higher greater, not just within their organizations, education activities are necessarily focused but also in terms of their impact on society. on developing people who will enter their In this context, what might happen to man- careers with little organizational influence. agement development? The power of managerial ideology that we These market conditions could encourage have explored is too great for an employee's two very different scenarios for the role of critical facilities to survive the early years of management development. On the one hand organizational life. Therefore, the greatest they could foster the destabilization of the impact on the status quo may be best made forces that influence the current role of (initially at least) from within organizations management development. Some organiza- by management development. The role of tions will simply be unable to respond to management development, therefore, be- future market conditions if they continue to comes one of challenging normative control pursue a model of organizational change rather than reinforcing it. which is predicated on senior management All this represents a sophisticated man- control. In effect, the market will begin to agement development process, which is far create a crisis that will leave some organiza- removed from the competency approach tions with no alternative if they are to which occupies much of the current re- continue create wealth for their share- sources in management development. It is, holders. Some senior managers will have to [ 773 ] Martin Clarke stop managing control processes and start knowledge resources will become of critical Management development: a leading by creating conditions in which importance. For Drucker, education will new role in social change? pockets of change may occur. In these become society's key resource for developing Management Decision organizations there could, therefore, be a new concepts, methods and practices. While 37/10 [1999] 767±777 strong pull for management development to some of these ideas are maybe, merely, adopt more educative values of critique and unwittingly recasting existing organizational challenge. But this in turn will create a control mechanisms, these ideas line the tension, as the criticism challenges the airport bookstands that are targeted at primacy of those shareholders' demands. The executives. Some could have a positive only way to reform the existing power impact on the logic of the institutional relations will be to implicitly question forces that determine the current role of the assumptions upon which they are management development by at least raising founded. valuable questions in the mind of the execu- Alternatively, future market forces may tive. work to reduce the potential influence of More important influences, however, could management development. We have dis- lie in the supply side of the equation. But cussed the dominance of existing power through what processes might a more edu- relations within organizations at some length cative management development be deliv- already, but it is still pertinent to ask why, if ered? If management development the top-down approach still prevails, there is professionals within organizations have likely to be change now. Even given the been largely unable to break out of the context described above, it is not hard to existing organizational control mechanisms, predict an alternative viewpoint in which a who will build subversive capabilities in smaller and influential group of managers management? While there are many becomes ever more focused on the relentless restrictions in which much publicly pursuit of profit, rationalized through the funded management education is confined existing priorities of technical and instru- (Twomey and Twomey, 1998; Willmott, 1994), mental reason. These managers would be there are opportunities for those employed increasingly seen as heroes who provide the within business schools who also engage in key to a good society (Alvesson and Willmott, company sponsored management develop- 1996). In this scenario of increasing techno- ment to be influential too. By pursuing logical sophistication there would be an even management development approaches like bigger rift between core and peripheral those described by Clarke (1998), and Butcher workers in which the periphery would be et al. (1997) and to a certain extent Reynolds treated as an ever more instrumental source (1998), ``micro emancipation'' may be en- of temporary labour. Core employees would couraged. These forms of management inter- be entrapped through more sophisticated vention can form their own pockets of good processes of ``cultural doping'', providing the practice in creating organizational pockets of illusion of autonomy and independence. good practice. As in an organizational set- Company-sponsored management develop- ting, these exemplar approaches to manage- ment would continue as a process of norma- ment development will need to be subversive, tive control with little chance of breaking out undermining the status quo whilst meeting of its own self-serving need for organizational the formal success criteria required by credibility (Clarke, 1999). companies for such interventions. In other From a critical theory standpoint, this words organizations may get more than scenario would produce even greater levels of they bargained for from such development consumerism, waste, alienation and social activities. control. Whether the fabric of our present In the medium term, these subversive social values would be able to bear the approaches to company-sponsored develop- tensions that this bleak scenario describes ment may act as role models for other is, for the moment, unknown. So what activities and link with other pockets of like- factors might influence the realization of minded academics and practitioners through the first scenario at the expense of the writing, listening and critical action learning second? approaches (Alvesson and Willmott, 1996). First, the work of social commentators and And, as with organization change, these organizational ``gurus'' may play some part micro processes of change may also influence in encouraging the necessary destabilization the prevailing institutional template. As with by raising the profile of the value of educa- organizational pockets of good practice these tion for organizational survival. For exam- attempts to initiate change from below, ple, Handy (1997), Senge (1997) and Drucker against the dominant majority may be suc- (1997) all point to a different business para- cessful because they work (Berger and digm in which the management of society's Luckman, 1996, p. 137). While the academic [ 774 ] Martin Clarke community is far from being perceived as Management development: a homogeneous and consistent, individual Conclusion new role in social change? pockets of activity may be seen as credible What is clear is that management develop- Management Decision because they work within the existing ment does have an impact well beyond the 37/10 [1999] 767±777 institutional template. This will be achieved classroom. As the guardian of managerialism by exploiting loopholes and contradictions and technical rationality, management de- within existing power relations to create velopment currently impacts all of our lives, some degree of increased autonomy and inside and outside of organizations. Given responsibility for those senior managers who this pivotal role it could also become an agent can make an impact on competitive advan- of social change and, therefore, warrants tage and organizational democracy (Alvesson much closer attention by practitioners and and Willmott, 1996). academics. If organizations are to respond However, such supply side, micro pro- differently to the challenges of capitalism, cesses of change are unlikely to move in- then where will the impetus for innovation stitutional templates on their own without come from, if not from activities such as regulatory or governmental support/demand management development? Management de- (Johnson et al., 1997). There is a need for velopment must be potentially the most other, significant, institutional processes to effective form of intervention for influencing facilitate the embedding of core educational organizational norms because it can take values in management development. Univer- place within the lived reality of those man- sity business schools clearly have a role but agers who need to acquire a wider education so do industry and other government pres- about the social impact of their actions. sure groups. If subversive action can influ- If organizations continue to act as the ence some senior manager role models, then dominant influence on society then it is vital perhaps this may in turn stimulate ``think that this influence is informed by a critical tanks'' and industry pressure groups etc. to and reflective educational process which is widen the debate. For example, environmen- as far as possible free of the influence of a tal, gender and racial interest groups who disproportionate distribution of power in society. Conventional wisdom has cast man- already lobby for regulation in their area of agement development in a role which has an interest may also see the need for lobbying emphasis on trust and collaboration. Yet this for regulatory changes in the educational wisdom has often neutered management content of management development. This development's influence as this approach is would allow their interests to be surfaced and not always seen as credible by hard bitten explored at the point at which they are line managers. A more subversive approach relevant for the managers who either impli- which encourages pockets of good practice to citly or explicitly collude to maintain the challenge the status quo may be more status quo. appropriate. A cynical perspective may be a As the influence of pockets of micro vital starting point in raising the necessary emancipation grow, there will be a raised critical facilities for this because it is part of consciousness about wider issues of corpo- the managers' everyday reality of organiza- rate social responsibility that moves beyond tional life. Without the challenge that this the role of public relations because it takes critical view brings we risk the danger of into account the true nature of the game in totalitarianism. By encouraging moments of which managers find themselves. In turn this micro emancipation, management develop- consciousness may force a renewed ques- ment can begin to fulfil a wider educative tioning about the fundamental assumptions role of promoting challenge and alternative behind the capitalist philosophy; profit for organizational viewpoints. whom? competition to what end? growth for All of this is, of course, fraught with what purpose? As organizations become ever substantial dilemmas, barriers and assump- dominant there will be an increasing push to tions. It is not my intention here to paint a align primary and secondary education with picture of management development as some business needs. If management development sort of white knight coming to the rescue of can assume a broader educative role in the alienated and downtrodden. Micro pro- society then perhaps these questions may cesses of change are not capable of over- encourage business leaders to influence turning institutional templates on their own wider national curricula etc. However, all of (Johnson et al., 1997), they will need to be this remains speculation. Whether this germ augmented by larger scale regulatory frame- of change can be really built into such wider works. But they can initiate a wind of change educational frameworks and thus effect a precisely because they ``can have more direct long term change in social values, remains to relevance to the lived experience of people be seen. who are continually engaged in local [ 775 ] Martin Clarke struggles'' (Alvesson and Willmott, 1997, p. Burgoyne, J. (1988), Competency Approaches to Management development: a 176). The object here has been to provide a Management Development, Paper given at the new role in social change? view of how management development might Institute of Personnel Management Confer- Management Decision be able to play a very different role in ence, Harrogate. 37/10 [1999] 767±777 organizational change by adopting more Butcher, D., Harvey, P. and Atkinson, S. (1997), subversive and critical values, but in doing Developing Businesses through Developing so it will implicitly raise difficult issues of Individuals Published Report, Cranfield power and control to the surface. This could School of Management. provide an opportunity for management Clarke, M. (1998), ``Can specialists be general development to fulfil a more substantial managers? Developing paradoxical thinking educative role in social as well as organiza- in middle managers'', Journal of Management tional change. Whether this role is one which Development, Vol. 17 No. 3. Clarke, M. 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Application questions 1 What is the purpose of management 2 Is management development more effec- development? Does it have a wider sig- tive in the workplace or off-site in a nificance than simply increasing the effi- university, or a combination of the two? ciency or effectiveness of the people or organization directly involved in it?

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