Sending managers offshore for advanced career development programmes might provide an opportunity to rub shoulders with senior managers from other countries, but there is little evidence that the experience lifts the quality of management in New Zealand, according to NZIM national chairman Tony Hassed in his 2003 annual report.
“The application of better management and leadership skills is critical to an innovative and growing economy, and to improved social well being,” says Hassed. “A core component in improving New Zealand’s economic performance is the management and leadership essential for businesses to be led more effectively and innovatively.
“Management skills are therefore critical, and whether they are learned and developed locally or offshore they must be given greater priority in secondary and tertiary education, and in ways that provide practical workplace benefits.”
World Class 2008
The Institute’s vision is “New Zealand management is world class by 2008”, says Hassed. The vision is now measured by an international management capability index, developed and published for the first time last year by NZIM, which shows the capability of New Zealand management on an international comparative basis.
“NZIM’s role and vision are well articulated and long respected in the tertiary environment. We continue to be the leading-edge provider of courses and processes that lead to improvement in management learning, and to set and maintain high standards that act as benchmarks for other organisations. We better equip first-line, middle and senior managers to meet their current and future challenges, and to develop skills for tomorrow’s managers,” says Hassed.
NZIM’s educational and training programmes use approaches that ensure there is real improvement in management practice. “Our qualifications are designed to provide supporting structure for adaptable, student-centred, facilitated, work-based programmes. NZIM has moved away from the provision of theory-based approaches to education towards range of pro-cesses and services tied to clear planning and evaluation of their effects. This is leading to the design of radically new models of qualifications and learning frameworks.”
As part of its strategy to build and retain strong international links, NZIM is hosting major International Leadership Summit in New Zealand in October this year in association with the Asian Association of Management Organisations (AAMO). New Zealand, through NZIM immediate past chairman Doug Matheson, currently chairs AAMO. The summit will, says Hassed, focus on world-class leaders and thinkers. The themes are: the leadership challenge, chief executives for the leadership challenge, leadership – knowledge and learning organisations and emerging trends on the international landscape. NZIM also continues to have close relationship with the Australian Institute of Management, Chartered Institute of Management (UK) and the American Management Association.
NZIM Foundation
The New Zealand Institute of Management Foundation was also officially launched in Wellington last year by the Minister for Small Business, the Hon John Tamihere. “The Foundation has been set up with capital fund target of $1 million over the next five years. Interest from the fund will provide scholarships, internments, secondments, international leader programmes, an annual lecture series, overseas or New Zealand study tour and also fund management and leadership projects and research,” says Hassed.
Opportunities to apply for an NZIM Foundation scholarship are open to all practising New Zealand managers covering all business sectors including public and private companies, the public sector and not-for-profits. The Foundation’s vision is to “facilitate the development of tomorrow’s leaders”. The aim is to focus on management and leadership.
Future leaders need the opportunity to apply, develop and broaden their capabilities and the scope of their experience beyond their current work or academic environment, says Hassed. “The challenge is to find new ways for New Zealand managers to develop their leadership competencies.”
The Foundation will be funded largely by donations and bequests and the original founding members include Graeme Marsh, IBM, The Open Polytechnic of New Zealand, Fisher Print, Air New Zealand, Profile Publishing, The National Bank and Fulton Hogan.
After his first year as NZIM’s national chairman, Tony Hassed is “left with the feeling that the next 12 months are going to be awfully busy. I’m really delighted with the success of Doug Matheson’s Management Capability Index and its value for our future. But there are two areas I would like to have seen more traction in.
“Our plans for 2004 include addressing one of those areas, namely the relevance of membership of NZIM to our emerging leaders and managers. The other area of enterprise learning remains unaddressed. With the inestimable value that comes from the skills within the National Board, the Regional Chairs, our CEO, and the Regional CEOs I’m sure we will be able to report very favourable progress on this topic in 12 months’ time.
Learning pioneer
In his annual report, NZIM national chief executive David Chapman said that NZIM had come of age particularly in the areas of education, learning and research. “In many ways NZIM has been pioneer. It was one of the initial partners in the development of the NZ Diploma in Business, and participated in the first Business and Management Advisory Group set up by NZQA in 1992. It initiated training in occupational safety and health, and has led the development of project management courses, including New Zealand’s first Diploma in Project Management,” he said.
“NZIM programmes have strong focus on learning and we have moved, somewhat reluctantly, to formalise our programmes into qualifications, because of the danger that the qualification, rather than the learning, becomes the aim,” he said. “However the popularity of our programmes, we hope, lies more with their effectiveness than with their currency value. All national NZIM qualifications are now NZQA approved.”
Chapman chairs the New Zealand Diploma in Business Studies Advisory Committee which guides what is the biggest business qualification in New Zealand. “But,” he added, “it faces challenges around the large number of foreign language students who study the programme for immigration points and access to business degree programmes.
NZIM is, according to Chapman, working towards putting in place an education strategy that will “deliver learning that is effective in terms of developing and changing management practice. Much of New Zealand’s management education struggles to keep up with best practice. If we want dynamic and innovative economy, then we need to have dynamic and innovative approach to management education.
“We have also developed Small Business Entrepreneurs Programme which addresses the needs of micro and small businesses,” said Chapman. New Zealand had more than 200,000 businesses that employ less than five people and there is real need to find ways of addressing their management and business training needs, he added. “The Entrepreneurs Programme does that by providing framework to address the specific and immediate needs of the business owner or manager through mentoring, peer support process. It is not about qualifications but about identifying the need of an individual or small business and addressing that need through action research projects.”
