Managerial and Professional Learning and Development

Managerial and Professional Learning and Development seeks to provide readers with an understanding of the role and importance of learning and development at both individual and organizational levels. These represent essential individual skills and organizational capabilities that act to support competitive advantage and ensure that people and organizations can cope with the changing world and pressures created by the transformational working and business environments they face.

The focus in the book therefore is on developing an understanding of a future-oriented perspective on learning that sees learning as interactive and not one-dimensional, in which learners take personal responsibility but also recognize the need for co-creation and collaboration in effective learning. Fundamentally, understanding the contribution our learning makes to personal and organizational success and the effective processes for undertaking and supporting our own and others learning and development are therefore essential requirements in the current and future workplace that this book will seek to explore.

Managerial and Professional Learning and Development is organized in three sections:

Part 1 will discuss the business case for learning and development and discuss the role, importance and contribution of learning and development at the organizational level.

Part 2 will focus on the individual learner and the processes of personal and professional development at the individual level.

Part 3 will look at the application of these principles to a number of key contexts and environments. Consideration will be given to the roles of community, ethics and culture as well as individual characteristics (values, beliefs, personality, and behaviors) and their relationships with the context explored.

The authors' experience which combines academic and professional expertise in learning and development lends itself to such an approach, and the book is intended to support these practices through the inclusion of cases and examples from organizations. Managerial and Professional Learning and Development is focused at the postgraduate market and will appeal to both MBA and MSc students who are studying on programmes which include a focus on considering their learning and development and the role and contribution of these to the organization.