Management Development Methods Shakhzod Yusupov Group 3300 Management Development Methods

Role Playing: Role-playing is an effective technique, which is primarily used to develop skills of human relations and provide leadership training. This technique also helps an individual to gain knowledge about their own behaviour and its impact on others. To understand it in a simple tone roleplaying focuses on enhancing and developing the incumbent’s interpersonal skills. This method is an imminent part of communication training and sales training. In the role playing method a proto type situation is created and people are assigned different roles and the person has to act the assigned role. Usually no specific dialogues are given to the individuals, on the contrary they are provided with the description of the situation and the role they ought to play. The role players are given time to prepare and plan for the activity and subsequently play their part in the group. A classic example of a role-playing situation is the conversation between the salesmen making a presentation to a potential buyer. Role- playing has many benefits, for instance it provides an opportunity for enhancing interpersonal skills and also gives an opportunity to put theory into practice. Sometimes the whole exercise is recorded also so that the participants can watch their performance and perform a self-check on their strengths and weaknesses.


Programmed Instruction/ Learning: It refers to a self teaching method in which the learner uses self –instruction and moves in an established step by step logical method to gain knowledge about complex principles and theories at his own speed. The instructions are taken through a booklet instead of an instructor and now-a-days automated teaching equipment’s or machines are also used for programmed instruction. In this method concepts and constructs to be learnt are presented in a brief manner with one step at a time. The main approaches of programmed instruction are linear programming and intrinsic or branch programming.

Linear programming is more commonly used in comparison to branching programming. The father of linear programming is B.F. Skinner and the idea of linear programming is based on the theory of operant conditioning which states that it is possible to provide a certain direction to the human behaviour and to achieve the same activities need to be divided into smaller steps and each step needs to be studied and analysed. The primary assumption behind linear programming is that the learner is motivated to learn because the content is presented in smaller units and immediate confirmation of the responses also motivates the candidates and promotes better learning. The information is presented in the form of frames, which only include one element at a time. It is important to mention that each frame can be taught and tested in an independent manner. These frames can also be categorised into four parts namely introductory frame, teaching frame, practice frames and testing frames. Another positive attribute is that this technique is self-pacing, thus more the learner is keen, and chances are more he will work on it. But long sessions through such methods can prove to be ineffective; thus it can be used for remedial instruction or as enrichment material.

On the contrary in branching programming, which was proposed by Norman L. Crowder, the learner is provided with specific written text material. Once the instruction is provided, a multiple-choice question is generated and the alternative answers are listed with specific page numbers. The learner chooses one of the answers and moves to the mentioned page number; if the answer is correct the student learns from the new material and if the answer is incorrect the mentioned page provides more explanation and the student is provided with material to develop a better background. In practical terms this system can become very complex and cumbersome.

Though programmed instruction provides the learner with the opportunity to learn at his own pace and also provides constant feedback , this method is very costly and time consuming and in many cases there are chances that monotony or boredom may creep in destroying the very purpose of the technique.