Back from the Mountain: Outdoor Management Development Programs and How to Ensure the Transfer of Skills to the Workplace

As the popularity of outdoor management development (OMD) grows, review articles have begun to appear in management journals. Most of these, however, are descriptive in character and contain little or no critical comment. In general they leave underdeveloped the crucial elements of OMD which centre around the transfer of learning from the outdoors back to the workplace. This paper examines the issues and problems that can arise in relation to the transfer process. A six‐element model of effective management development is outlined The problems that can arise with OMD programs are reviewed in relation to this model and suggestions are made as to how these may be overcome. The paper concludes that for OMD to have a lasting impact on organizations, as well as individuals, a thorough process of consultation between the provider and the client organization must be undertaken. In addition, aspects of consulting practice from the organization development field could usefully be employed in OMD work. 1994 Australian Human Resources Institute (AHRI)