To be effective, leadership and management development must be aligned Essay - 1

To be effective, leadership and management development must be aligned to organisational strategy - Essay Example Those that fail to adapt to the rapidly changing external environment must risk becoming obsolete and losing crucial market share. Learning and management development assures successful accomplishment of organizational goals. This essay aims at discussing the key definitions, objectives and purpose, the effectiveness of LMD, the relationship between talent management and management development cycle and the impact of training and development to improve LMD among others. The key aim of this report is to critically evaluate the concept of leadership and management development (LMD) and the relevance and impact of aligning LMD with organizational strategy to improve its effectiveness. It also seeks to answer the quote through an in-depth discussion on the topic. The concept of LMD entails various programs that help the managers to attain the type of leadership as well as managerial qualities required to achieve organizational goals. LMD is an inevitable and crucial aspect of talent management along with career planning and career management activities since it combines a range of learning activities including "planned experience, self-directed learning, coaching, mentoring, action-learning, outdoor learning, and formal education and training programs based on an analysis of learning needs" (Armstrong & Taylor, 2014: p. 322). Burgoyne (2010) defines leadership development as "the acquisition, development and utilization of leadership capability or the potential for it" (p.43). Leadership development includes planned or emergent learning. Planned development refers to an "intervention with the specific aim of enhancing learning by participants" while emergent learning on the other hand entails learning that "occurs through activities that not been undertaken with leadership development in mind" but instead are created through experiences that enable and enhances learning development in the managers. This includes on-the-job learning where the managers /employees