Experiential Management Development : From Learning to Practice

In this unique work, Hoberman and Mailick analyze the effectiveness of different educational approaches in management development for the transfer of learning to the workplace, placing particular emphasis on the crucial importance of experiential education. In the course of the presentation, they introduce a number of new analytic and integrative concepts including life-bank, synthetic, and natural experiential education. They also provide examples from the literature and the work experience of the authors in teaching and management. Research relating to management development is among the topics discussed, which also include consideration of environmental influences and an analysis of the relevance of educational and use venues for the transfer of learning.

Beginning with the concept of management development, the discussion articulates the role of the manager in management development, the application of learning theory to management development and then details the concept of experiential learning and the authors' LIFE (Learning Inducted From Experience) approach to learning. The authors conclude their study with a statement on the importance of experiential education to the practical development of management expertise. This work will be of interest to those practitioners and scholars involved in management training, human resource development, and management education.

SOLOMON HOBERMAN is a management consultant in New York City. He has conducted research in personnel management, management training and development, and the design and implementation of programs to help disadvantaged young people become competitive in the open labor market. He has served as personnel director and chairman of the Civil Service Commission for New York City and is the co-editor (with Sidney Mailick) of The Practice of Management Development (Praeger, 1988).

SIDNEY MAILICK is professor of Public Administration in the Wagner Graduate School of Public Service at New York University. He has directed executive development programs at both the University of Chicago and New York University and has served as a consultant to the United Nations Institute for Training and Development and the United Nations Public Administration Division. He is the co-author (with Henri Reymond) of International Personnel Policies (Praeger, 1985).