Executive development in major corporations: A ten-year study

To update a 1987 survey and to track executive education and development trends across a 10-year interval, a survey instrument was mailed in mid-1992 to those individuals identified within 153 Fortune 500 companies as having responsibility for executive education development. A total of 66 companies responded. It was found that current corporate emphasis and activity in executive education and development, when compared with similar surveys conducted during a 10-year period, was increasing among the participating companies. Of interest was the degree of informality assigned to the budget process for executive development, despite its expressed role as a key element for enhancing the ongoing competitiveness of the corporations surveyed. An increased emphasis on the use of in-company executive education programs to facilitate organizational change and transformation was found, along with a corresponding willingness to invest in in-company executive education programs as a key lever for organizational development.