Management Education in Canada in 1960

Source: "To Develop Your Managers You Need a Four-Point Program," Eileen Goodman, in Canadian Business: The Magazine for Management, Vol.33, No.2, February 1960, p. 56. The complete article is available in the Business Library at the Richard Ivey School of Business, University of Western Ontario. Here is the chart that appears on pp 58-59. See also some of the remarks made by Goodman which are included at the bottom of the chart.

"Here's What the Universities Offer for Management Training"

Goodman argued that there were four components involved in management development - job evaluation; job rotation; participation in working committees and university training. Here is what she had to say about the last component:

Management Education

    "At one time companies regarded education as a responsibility of the individual. If a man lacked the benefit of higher education and chose to go to night school, it might be noted in his favor, but only as it was reflected in the daily performance of his job. This meant that the 'race was to the swift', but how one became swift was his own affair.
     If a man didn't bother to improve himself by outside instruction, the only means he had of developing his skills was the coaching he receives from his supervisor.  Now with industry becoming increasingly complex, companies are making themselves more responsible for the education of their future managers.  It's almost essential now for a young man to have a university degree to enter the ranks of management.  But before the degree-holder can do an efficient job, he needs extra training in his specific field.
    A number of universities in both the United States and Canada are now giving business administration and executive training courses (see table on pages 58, 59).  These courses offered in Canada are of  two types: four to six weeks full-time studies and evening courses (one or two nights a week) eight to 12 weeks duration.
    Full-time courses provide the opportunity for concentrated study without diversion, away from business responsibilities.  They are ideal for those who can devote a full time period of study.  On the other hand, evening courses supply training for men who can't interrupt their normal course of business.  Such courses are generally part of a university extension program with university lecturers and local business leaders taking part.  Often an evening course is a good first step for junior middle-level executives and technical personnel who have had no formal university or business administrative training.
     Each year since 1953, Canadian National Railways has conducted six or eight-week staff training courses.  Fifty students who rate highly in their own jobs are selected.  While by no means "crown princes", these men are nevertheless those showing promise for more senior positions.
    This course aims to broaden their knowledge of the transportation industry, acquaint them with the various areas of management and generally help them to think through problems in a logical analytical fashion.  Subjects covered are transportation, financial management, administrative practices, marketing and labor relations.
     In addition, CNR managers are encouraged to attend outside courses or seminars.  The university recruitment program has provided a source of management staff, particularly those with an engineering background, and these employees are usually put through an initial program of training according to the needs of their particular departments.
     Another company assists its employees by making available such courses as discussion-leading and public speaking.  In addition, it offers refresher courses in the individual's area of specialization.  and on occasion, an employee may be sponsored on short courses outside the company.  One Canadian company conducts training for people already in management level.  By this it hopes to raise the standards of the whole management group.
    For the past eight years management training courses have been sponsored by the Aluminum Company of Canada.  These comprise the Hermitage Training Program at Lake Memphramagog, Quebec, and are given both in English and French.  Aluminum Limited also sponsors Centre d'Etudes Industrielles in Switzerland, a program that lasts a year and is a post-graduate international management school for the development of young executives.  Selected employees have also been sent by Alcan to American Management  Asociation seminars and workshop, National industrial Conference Board courses as well as courses at McGill University and the University of Western Ontario.  Many other companies follow this practice.
     A note of caution to management about both in-company and university programs of study has been sounded by Melvin Anshem in Harvard Business Review, Sept.-Oct. 1954.  He suggests that management tends to make such errors as:
~sending some men to these programs without having any clear-cut objectives in mind;
~refusing to send some individuals until it is too late;
~sending the wrong person to the course, and being unaware of the back-home problems that they might create when the "retreads" return with new aspirations and expectations.  It is found that the ones who did not go tend to perceive them as "crown princes" who have been singled out for advancments in the company.
    Another criticism is the danger of taking a man from the university into business life, neglecting the intellectual side of his development for 20 years or more, and then sending him off for three months of intense academic work.  This is too little and too late.  If a man has abandoned the habit of study for a long period and suddenly returns to it, he will find the effort doesn't match the results.  He tries quickly and his interest often flags after a week or so."

Business Library Staff
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