Richard Thomas - Management Development in Poland: Building Management Training Capacity with Foreign Partnerships

First published in 1998, this book tells the story, from various viewpoints, of the building of local capacity to carry forward the economic and social transition process which started in the late 1980s. The post-communist government and the Balcerowicz reform could not, by themselves, transform Poland. External know-how was needed to provide expertise and to help develop pathways and partnerships. Management and Organisation Development was a major theme in multilateral and bilateral assistance programmes for Poland throughout the 1990s. Scholarships and direct training were provided by some donors. Most of the help in this sector from the British Know How Fund went into developing regionally-based business schools and management training centres. Part I of this book gives the historical and technical background from both the Polish and donor points of view. Part II looks more closely at some of the technical issues in the process-the development of trainers and training methods and materials, of new and relevant courses, of international partnerships and of local markets. The final part of the book assesses the current context in which Polish management educators and trainers operate and outlines some of the issues (EU accession, the attitudes of managers, the impact of IT, and so on) which will have to be faced by both business schools and practising managers in the next decade.