Regional management training pilot project

The University of the West Indies (UWI) at Cave Hill will implement the project. Pilot MT activities will include: (1) four experimental symposia for large business owners and professional managers of major corporations in the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States and Barbados (participants from other UWI member countries may also be permitted), and for representatives of parastatals, labor unions, and public agencies that support or regulate private entrepreneurs; and (2) five experimental seminars for middle managers of larger companies and the owners of small and medium-sized companies. The project will develop case and teaching materials on Caribbean business problems for use in the seminars and symposia -- which are expected to attract about 200 people in all and to test the interest in and the willingness to pay for such training -- and will promote them via print and radio. Efforts to strengthen existing MT programs will include: (1) two conferences for a total of 50 managers, management trainers, and others, on the role of MT in Third World development, with emphasis on the importance of the private sector; (2) assessments of regional MT institutions -- primarily UWI, the Barbados Institute of Management and Productivity, and the Caribbean Centre for Development Administration (CARICAD) -- and of their curricula, together with improvement of the latter; (3) UWI workshops in case development and writing and, for faculty of regional MT institutions, in pedagogy; and (4) publication of selected management cases and other MT materials. Assistance in implementation will be provided by the Council for Management Development in Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean, to be formed under this project and composed mostly of private sector representatives, and by the National Coordinating Committees to be created under the Small Enterprise Assistance Project (5380133). Amendment of 8/31/90 extends PACD to 12/95 and authorizes Phase II. The project will: (1) establish a Center for Management Development (CMD) as a semi-autonomous unit at UWI/Cave Hill, and (2) upgrade UWI"s Department of Management Studies (DOMS). Key activities of the CMD will be to develop a 2-year Executive M.B.A. (EMBA) program, conduct symposia and seminars, provide contracted research and consulting activities (including follow- ons to training), conduct studies on regional economic and business issues, develop educational materials, and support collaborating Eastern Caribbean MT institutions. CMD will be fully self-financing by project end. Upgrading of the DOMS will mainly entail (1) Ph.D. training of two faculty, M.S. training of four new faculty members, and short-term training for others; and (2) restructuring DOMS" B.S. program and adding seven new courses covering international business, tourism management, marketing, finance, and management science. The development of new course manuals will be critical to this curriculum reform. The project will also provide DOMS with audiovisual materials, computer equipment, and expanded library resources.