Evaluation middle management education program pilot activity; draft report

training to Egyptian middle managers in key economic sectors. Evaluation covers the period 1977-6/80 and is based on document review and interviews with personnel from USAID/E, concerned Egyptian institutions, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale (SIUC, the contractor), and nearly 40 project trainees. Implementation was hindered by the false assumption that Egypt's economy is progressing more rapidly than in fact it is; by the vagueness and hence unverifiability of training objectives (to "expose" trainees to U.S. business practices); and by the lack of participation by host institutions due to the inability to define their role in the program vis-a-vis SIUC. As a result, the project was carried out wholly at SIUC and key elements of the original plan, namely in-country basic management education and development of Egypt-specific case materials and of an indigenous institutional capacity for management, never materialized. A total of 96 managers (recruited ad hoc by SIU-C after the project planning council failed to establish a pool of potential trainees) eventually participated in the program. Most trainees felt that they had increased their knowledge of modern management techniques and of functional areas such as marketing, finance, accounting, and computer sciences; case studies and management simulation games were viewed as most beneficial. It is recommended that the internship program be made more uniform and that participating U.S. companies be required to have a business paralleling that of the participant; the amount of classroom material be reduced or more time be allotted to cover it; learning materials be provided in advance; and that prerequisite courses be offered to ensure all trainees are similarly equipped. Other recommendations are to allow host-country officials to participate in contractor selection (to obviate implementation problems encountered by SIUC due to its not wholly credible image); have U.S. contractors establish counterpart relations prior to the project; and ensure that trainees are proficient in English. Future programs (which should not be long-term) should combine efforts to improve individuals apart from their organizations and to help organizations become more effective within environmental constraints.