The management development programme for the State can be achieved only through the initiative of the government and the collective efforts of government, the joint, private and public sector undertakings and universities. A co-ordinating agency to bring all these forces together will have to be autonomous body of some stature. This is the proposed Centre for Management Development.

At present, courses in business management are offered in the School of Management, University of Cochin, Department of Commerce, University of Calicut, and by some private bodies. Such training imparted by these agencies play a useful academic role. The role of the proposed Management Development Centre will be oriented more towards planned practical training. Its bias will be more towards actual management problems in the State. It is necessary that universities are closely associated with the working of the Centre in the same way as professional bodies like the National Productivity Council and the Management Associations are also associated with the working of the Centre. Such close association is necessary, especially in view of the fact that there is a severe dearth of trained people in the field all over India.

The various tasks that could be undertaken by the Centre are the following:-

                    Organising training programmes.
                    Assisting companies in the selection of personne.
                    Studying organisational and managerial problems of the companies.
                   Providing management consultancy services.

The Management Development Centre may start with a six to nine months training programme for fresh management trainees selected from the universities and professional institutions and also short term programmes, extending from one to twelve weeks for managers at other levels.

They should run a few basic courses in areas such as finance, production, marketing, personnel and materials management, frequently. There should also be a regular mechanism for communication between the several business organisations in the State and the Management Development Centre.

The faculty members should be recruited very carefully. They need not all be full time to begin with. There should be a good mixture of academicians and practising managers. An intermingling of the two types will add to the efficiency of the Centre. The Centre could be formed as an independent trust and could be registered under Act XXI of 1860 for the registration of Literary, Scientific and Charitable Societies. The constitution and bye-laws of the Administrative Staff College of India, Hyderabad will be a good model for this purpose. The Governing Body may be constituted as follows:

There should be a Chairman who will be a person of eminence and reputation in the field. The Staff College had eminent persons like Dr. John Mathai, Dr. C.D. Deshmukh, etc. There should be two industrialists of standing, three representatives of the three universities in Kerala, five chief executives of public sector undertakings and three senior Secretaries to Government. The Director of the Institute shall also be a member. This will take the number to 15.

The initial funds required for organising the Centre may have to come in as grant from the Government. There will also be institutional members from among the public and private undertakings in the State. For running the various courses fees could be collected from the organisations sponsoring the candidates.

We envisage the Centre not only as a training school which will run a few short term courses in business management. We also envisage it as an active agency for undertaking regular consultancy work for existing and new ventures. Neither in the public nor in the private sector do we have at present a full-fledged agency to undertake this job for the government. It could, in other words, be an active participant in the industrialising process of the State and be an effective agency for bringing about the much needed transformation in our thinking about and practice of management.