NON-FORMAL MANAGEMENT EDUCATION: SOME EVIDENCE FROM MANAGEMENT TRAINING BUSINESSES WEBSITES IN ESTONIA

Abstract

Management education and MBA programs have been criticized for being rigor and having little effect on managerial performance, however little attention has been paid to management education provided by management training and development businesses often referred to as non-formal education providers. Since the studies on management training businesses are scarce, the exploratory study was conducted documenting the state of management training businesses’ activities in Estonia on the analysis of four focus issues: (1) the scope of training programs; (2) methods; (3) trainers and (4) organizational development. The data was collected from 26 management training businesses’ websites including 3 universities’ continuing education websites. The findings highlight the domination of soft skills, coaching as an increasingly used method, frequent use of contracted co-trainers and modest reflection of organizational development issues. The outcome contributes to the literature of management education, training and developing research providing preliminary insight on management training businesses activities. Additionally the results could be of practical use for HR managers in assessing overall capabilities of management training businesses. Key words: management training and development, non-formal management training, methods, programs, trainers.