The next generation in management learning
This is an account of an attempt to create a new approach to management learning which combines formal education with practical development.

It has been developed by a team of faculty drawn from Business and Management Schools round the world.

It starts from dissatisfaction with the MBA as a model for middle manager development.
The MBA ‘brand’
Has become the gold standard in management education
Originally designed for junior managers with some experience
Now often used as ‘all purpose’ credential award
Used as introduction to business for inexperienced graduates
But its brand prestige means it is also used for post-experience managers
Attractive to Schools and faculty as a ‘standardised’ model
Problems with MBA model
Focused on business organisation and techniques, not management processes
Textbook not experience based
Programs structured by academic management disciplines, not typical complex, cross discipline problems
Emphasises teaching, not learning
Perhaps relevant for the very inexperienced, who need to learn the basic vocabulary of business
But provides little introduction to the real complexity of business
Unsuitable model for mid-career development

Should prepare managers for move to general and strategic management positions
Core competences already or easily acquired
Experience of the complexity of management
Textbook learning only a starting point
Need to customise personal management style and not fit a standard model