Abstract

This survey was designed and developed to assess key issues related to management development practices in Malaysian corporations especially on needs assessment, programme selection, programme evaluation, and future directions and trends.  The survey research instrument is a questionnaire that was distributed to 189 selected Malaysian corporations listed on the Main Board of the Bursa Malaysia or formerly known as Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange (KLSE). These corporations represent a cross-section of local industries and was selected through stratified random sampling.  The 16-percent or 31 responses were collated and the data analyzed and interpreted using descriptive statistics. The major findings suggest that despite being aware of the importance of MD practices to achieve productivity and enhance corporate performance, most Malaysian corporations are unsure how to practise MD. They seldom implement value-added MD programmes to improve managerial productivity and enhance managerial performance achievements. The main reason given is cost-effective considerations vis-à-vis actual bottom-line results. Specifically, the majority of the respondents articulated their concern over several areas such as the lack of needs assessment, indiscriminate programme selection, non-standardized programme evaluation and vague ideas about future directions and trends in MD activities. On the whole, the survey research suggests that there is a need for Malaysian corporations to redress the prevailing weaknesses so that any concrete management development initiative undertaken can produce the desired results and productivity outcomes including bottom-line achievements.

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