Open enrolment management education programs: this is the ‘plain vanilla’ option. These courses are open to everyone and the course programme is predetermined by the business school both in terms of content, duration and venue.
Custom or tailored executive development programs: these programs are designed specifically for a single organization to fulfil criteria that it sets out in partnership with the provider. Typically faculty members spend considerable time with the organization understanding their culture and requirements. Delivery can take place at the business school or at the organization.
Consortia: these courses are a mixture of the two types above. Essentially they are custom programs designed for a self-selecting group of businesses. The advantage here is that participants get exposure to views and experiences of executives from other organizations, so broadening their outlooks and knowledge – and the costs are shared.
Distance: distance learning courses allow participants to study and interact without having to travel to the university campus through use of the internet and other communications technology. Distance provision can also be part of the mix with the three types above.
Working with business schools and executive education providers (EDCs)
The leading business schools and EDCs have world-class teaching and research facilities and many have long-term relationships with multi-national corporations. The accumulated knowledge and expertise they can bring allied to flexible and diverse approaches to learning and development can greatly improve organizational and individual performance.
However, it is not necessarily the case that the largest and most prestigious business schools are inevitably the ‘perfect choice’ for every management development need. For businesses and company departments that do not have the international exposure or financial muscle of the world’s leading corporations the advantages of less well-known, but still excellent, training institutions may be more attractive.
How IEDP can help
We offer advice and information on all types of management education institution from the most prestigious business schools to top draw local ones and also the top tier of commercial providers. Use our search facilities to narrow down your choices and help you find the perfect fit for your management development needs – or lets us help you directly through our expert advisory service.
The problem – too many choices!
There are countless ways to improve your leadership skills. The range of subjects stretch from simple presentation skills to sophisticated courses in advanced financial, marketing or organizational techniques, by way of motivational training and many other disciplines.
The range of training subjects is very broad and the type of executive education providers is also huge and variable. From independent consultants offering individual mentoring and coaching services, through activity-based learning providers to top-end academic instruction from the world’s leading business schools the choice is almost endless.
Even if you can narrow down what level of executive education and what type of provider you require you can still be left with a wide array of delivery methods. Such as full-time courses, modular courses, short-courses and increasingly e-learning.
Companies also have the added dimension of choosing between open enrolment courses, custom courses and consortia programmes. Having established where your wants and needs are in this matrix you may also find that you are constrained by the three unavoidable elements of time, cost and location.
Information overload makes it very time-consuming to discover all the available options that might fit your criteria – not to mention the wasted time discovering courses that do not fit your criteria.
The IEDP solution
Using the IEDP database you can quickly sift through a large number of courses provided across the world, covering all aspects of management development.
The simple to use search facilities can pinpoint individual course specializations giving locations, dates and costs and contact information direct to the provider. Providers of custom programs are also profiled giving clear descriptions of their specific specializations and expertise. The database also highlights relevant business research provided by business schools and consultancies.
IEDP advisory service is also available for busy executives who would like our expert impartial and fully independent advice on how to get the best exec-ed solution for their or their organizations’ needs.
