IT was a sight to be believed when come examination time, our                                                                                         
managers scurried around looking for past-year examination                                                                                            
questions and to get tips!                                                                                                                            
                                                                                                                                                      
What exactly are our fine young managers after when they enrol                                                                                        
in a Business Administration degree programme or even an MBA                                                                                          
course? Their answers would not surprise anyone.                                                                                                      
                                                                                                                                                      
We would like to have a second qualification in order to be                                                                                           
more competitive in the job market. We would like to pass the                                                                                         
exam at any cost as it would be good for our future.                                                                                                  
                                                                                                                                                      
All these go to show that the paper chase is still on. One                                                                                            
wonders whether this is the sort of managers we would like to                                                                                         
have by 2020.                                                                                                                                         
                                                                                                                                                      
The same single-mindedness can be seen even in those managers                                                                                         
who have climbed the ladder to success. Their attitude towards                                                                                        
learning outside their area of work has never been positive.                                                                                          
                                                                                                                                                      
Senior management is hard put to try and get their managers to                                                                                        
attend training courses that are not job-related, responses                                                                                           
have been lukewarm. Even to get them to attend a part-time                                                                                            
diploma in a management programme has been very difficult.                                                                                            
                                                                                                                                                      
According to a chief executive of a huge infrastructure                                                                                               
corporation, a major problem in his organisation was how to                                                                                           
manage intellect in his company. Most of his managers are in                                                                                          
the technical line and their smartness lies in their                                                                                                  
logico-mathematical skills-and nothing else.                                                                                                          
                                                                                                                                                      
He considers it a principal task to get his managers to look                                                                                          
at other things and think beyond their immediate work                                                                                                 
concerns. He is interested in training programmes that can                                                                                            
expose his managers to a wider area of skills different from                                                                                          
what they could normally get from their academic disciplines.                                                                                         
                                                                                                                                                      
                                                                                                                                                      
Commenting on other qualities lacking among our, managers, a                                                                                          
general manager of business development in an established hank                                                                                        
mentioned deficiencies in department and good manners, manner                                                                                         
of speech and holding up to people.                                                                                                                   
                                                                                                                                                      
Faults have also been seen in unprofessional conduct at                                                                                               
meetings, social events and at formal gatherings. Another                                                                                             
shortcoming is the inability to dress correctly for the                                                                                               
occasion.                                                                                                                                             
                                                                                                                                                      
A very worrying problem is the weakness in language, either in                                                                                        
writing or speaking.                                                                                                                                  
                                                                                                                                                      
This softer side Management has become the subject of columns                                                                                         
and various section in in business journals and magazines. One                                                                                        
is familiar, of course with Executive Health Executive Travel                                                                                         
and Executive Dressing up.                                                                                                                            
                                                                                                                                                      
Recently two businesswomen teamed up to write a book on the                                                                                           
do's and don'ts for excutives. Entitled Get It Right Corporate                                                                                        
Conduct, the book promises to guide the manager through                                                                                               
highways and byways of corporate grooming and etiquette.                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                                      
This has become a hot subject and management has just come to                                                                                         
realise how much training in these areas can contribute to the                                                                                        
employees' self-esteem.                                                                                                                               
                                                                                                                                                      
After completing a course of study or upon attending a                                                                                                
seminar, some time should be set aside for course integration                                                                                         
and self-criticism.  This is a good opportunity to stress                                                                                             
quality of performance and standards of excellence. In                                                                                                
addition, it would allow for closer rapport between the                                                                                               
managers and their facilitators.                                                                                                                      
                                                                                                                                                      
The need for schooling our managers in the seven smart                                                                                                
skills-of word, music, picture, logic, body, people self-has                                                                                          
been long felt-by the management community. has become more                                                                                           
urgent as the country embarks on an exercise to globalise our                                                                                         
trade and investments.                                                                                                                                
                                                                                                                                                      
A new breed of managers is required among the qualities cited,                                                                                        
one must include managing multicultural work teams, developing                                                                                        
a global mind-set based on the integration of the Asian values                                                                                        
of harmony and the emphasis on group interests rather than                                                                                            
self-interest.                                                                                                                                        
                                                                                                                                                      
The core competencies identified to deliver the above are                                                                                             
creativity and innovation, communication skills, leadership                                                                                           
and entrepreneurship.                                                                                                                                 
                                                                                                                                                      
As emphasised by Dr David K.P. Li, deputy chairman and chief                                                                                          
executive of the bank of East Asia Ltd Hong Kong, and quoted                                                                                          
by Today's Manager, a quarterly publication of the Singapore                                                                                          
Institute of Management, to achieve a multinational,                                                                                                  
international and transnational capability, our managers will                                                                                         
have to cultivate a "yin and yang" style of management:                                                                                     
harmony between individual internal values (the beliefs that                                                                                          
make us who we are) and the external values of the culture in                                                                                         
which we operate.                                                                                                                                     
                                                                                                                                                      
Yet another modern-day requirement for our managers is the                                                                                            
ability to reflect on the underlying values of contemporary                                                                                           
society and how these can influence and be influenced by the                                                                                          
concerns for economic growth and development. Implicit in the                                                                                         
exercise is this need to develop skills of practical                                                                                                  
reasoning, respectful debate, careful and considered reading                                                                                          
and informed reflection.                                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                                      
This form of training and development is suitable for senior                                                                                          
executives.It is modelled after the seminar for business and                                                                                          
public sector leaders of the Aspen Institute in the United                                                                                            
States, the RSA in the United Kingdom and the Cranlana                                                                                                
Programme in Australia.                                                                                                                               
                                                                                                                                                      
Much more insightful have been the views expressed by a                                                                                               
Malaysian minister who, in referring to the sort of leadership                                                                                        
needed by managers, said that the two pillars of leadership                                                                                           
are a strong attachment to Asian cultural and religious values                                                                                        
and a performance based model. The Asian aspect includes                                                                                              
humility, firm moral and ethical principles, and a strong                                                                                             
sense of community.                                                                                                                                   
                                                                                                                                                      
So, what kind of training can we devise to prepare these                                                                                              
managers for what is to come?                                                                                                                         
                                                                                                                                                      
We can put them through several endurance and survival                                                                                                
exercises. We can pace them on the academic side. We can also                                                                                         
make them dance, sing and write poetry.                                                                                                               
                                                                                                                                                      
Still, many believe these will not be sufficient. Elements of                                                                                         
dealing especially with the self and the various aspects of                                                                                           
the "I" are also important .                                                                                                                
                                                                                                                                                      
The above represent some initial thoughts on what should                                                                                              
constitute a curriculum for a finishing school for managers.                                                                                          
An additional idea is to try and use the Japanese approach                                                                                            
which is based on the 4H method involving the Head, Health,                                                                                           
Hand and an Honest self and attitude.                                                                                                                 
                                                                                                                                                      
The final aim is to get our managers to manoeuvre themselves                                                                                          
on the catwalk of corporate life, survive the vicissitudes of                                                                                         
the corporate jungle and come out very much alive at the end                                                                                          
of it.                                                                                                                                                
                                                                                                                                                      
The job of setting up such a school need not just lie in one                                                                                          
particular institution but should be a co-operative and                                                                                               
collaborative effort among the training institutions in                                                                                               
Malaysia. At the end of it all, our managers can be made to                                                                                           
live by a code of conduct befitting business in the 21st                                                                                              
century.