Increasing the impact of management development programs

Purpose Reflective practice makes an important contribution to the ultimate success of any management development program. Greater emphasis on reflection demands that both program participants and action learning facilitators take appropriate responsibility needed to increase the overall effectiveness of the process. Design/methodology/approach This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context. Findings Reflective practice makes an important contribution to the ultimate success of any management development program. Greater emphasis on reflection demands that both program participants and action learning facilitators take appropriate responsibility needed to increase the overall effectiveness of the process. Originality/value The briefing saves busy executives and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.

Planning for mental wellbeing in an old age home during the Covid-19 pandemic by homoeopathic institution: Structuring the intervention

Objectives: During the on-going COVID-19 pandemic, the risk to the mental well-being of the elderly living in an old age home (OAH) has increased considerably. Dealing with this issue requires special measures. The current literature has very few examples of such programmes. We aimed to promote emotional balance and an independent living with positive outlook on life among the residents of the OAH facility during the pandemic based on action learning principles. This programme was conducted in an OAH that our institute has been associated with for several years. HelpAge India, a non-governmental organisation working in India to assist disadvantaged senior citizens, provided a programme that covered 12 themes. This article deals with the structuring process of the programme. Materials and Methods: The team comprised homoeopathic consultants and the faculty and students of a postgraduate homoeopathic institute. An extensive literature search and consultation with experts from various fields enabled the team to plan and build the final programme were evolved. Results: Broad themes gave rise to distinct modules and objectives were derived for each of these. Detailed action plans were worked out and a plan of evaluation for each of these modules was worked out. Conclusion: Planning a programme to ensure well-being needs a close and accurate identification of the needs of the residents of a particular OAH. A multidisciplinary approach can help in evolving effective strategies to formulate models for geriatric mental well-being.

Public Administration Curriculum-Based Big Data Policy-Analytic Epistemology

The equilibration that underscores the internet of things (IoT) and big data analytics (BDA) cannot be underestimated at the behest of real-life social challenges and significant policy data generated to redress the concerns of epistemic communities, such as political policy actors, stakeholders, and the citizenry. The cognitive balancing of new information gathered by BDA and assimilated across the IoT is at the crossroads of ascertaining how the growing increases of such BDA can be better managed to transition from the big data state of disequilibration to reach a more stable equilibrium of policy data usefulness. In the quest for explicating the equilibration of policy data usefulness, an account of the curriculum-based MPA policy analysis and analytics concentration program at Norwich University is described as a case example of big data policy-analytic epistemology. The case study offers a symbolic ideology of an IoT action-learning solution model as a recommendation for fostering the stable equilibration of policy data usefulness.