Internet review

Citation

McCourt-Mooney, M. (1999), "Internet review", Journal of Management Development, Vol. 18 No. 8. https://doi.org/10.1108/jmd.1999.02618hag.001

Internet review

In a search for Web sites which could either provide resources or management development or useful further links, some good, high quality information was found.

Management http://www.lib.polyu.edu.hk/subject/manage.html

A functional, basic site which provides a series of pages including a Directory of Scholarly E-Conferences, Discussion and Information Lists.

Each of these can be searched for further information on management development and other related topics; the Directory, for example, provided 40 matches. There is also a Management Education and Development Discussion Group to which one can subscribe and join a discussion on-line with colleagues from organisations throughout the world. Although this is basic in design, it is worth a visit.

The BookWire Index http://www.bookwise.com/index/publishers.html

The BookWire Index is essentially a series of links to several major publishers' Web sites, including Blackwells, International Thomson Publishing, Open University Press, Sage, Simon and Schuster. This is useful if you want to access a variety of publishers from one site. All of the above publish books on management.

The Management Web Resources Database http://www.keele.ac.uk/depts/mn/teach/mgtlinks.htm

Hosted by Keele University, this provides links which are worth following through, thus providing a useful starting point.

The Human Resource Professional's Gateway to the Internet http://www.hrisolutions.com/index2.html

This is exactly as described - a gateway to more sites, some of which are really interesting.

The Learning Exchange http://www.learnativity.com

"Learnativity" is a catchy word to use and raises an expectation that this will be an up-to-date, forward-looking site on all aspects of learning. It starts off with a promising page of learning and training FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions) which provides links to an apparently exhaustive list of related Web sites, which are in fact mega-lists themselves. The FAQs about training and development are useful for a person who needs introduction to the subject. By clicking on "Training 101" a very useful summary of key terms, concepts, resources and organisations is made available. Books, articles and relevant links to specific issues in training and development (e.g. evaluation, trends) are recommended. This is a good starting point but the links need to be followed selectively.

Training Supersite http://www.trainingsuperstore.com/

Hosted by Lakewood Publications, this proves to be more interesting. The site is divided into a training mall, a publications corner, a learning center, job bank, trade center and community center.

The training mall in particular is worth visiting as it not only provides 250 further links to sites on the subject but also recommends resources and offers opportunities to view and borrow videos. A visit to the community center will also provide much food for thought.

Following links from this site, the training registry hosted by the American Management Association International, provides information on courses, books, speakers and products (http://www.tregistry.com/) This is an easy-to-use site, well worth a visit if you are seeking recommendations.

Team Builder Plushttp://www.teambuildersplus.com

This is a site recommended on several mega-lists. If you are interested in finding out what is on-line in terms of publications, surveys, lists, news, newsletters and articles, it is well worth a visit.

Listservs

Turning now to listservs to which you can subscribe either for free or for a trial period before incurring a fee, a whole new world opens up in the area of management development. This is partly because such lists are often either too narrow in focus and/or are a mixture of news and views making it difficult to identify what is really going to be helpful. For a useful introduction to how to use listservs, an outline of their advantages and disadvantages plus some suggestions, go to: http://www.hrisolutions.com/listserv.html

This will also link you to Lizt, the mailing list directory at: http://www.lizt.com

Being selective and trying out one at a time first for a few issues seems to work well and avoids an overload of e-mails which are indistinguishable as listservs.

Some resources on the Internet are specifically aimed at a niche market and the management development field is no exception. Gender differences in leadership and management style is one such market which has appeared in several links whether entitled as such, or being part of a broader consideration of the subject of diversity in the workplace.

Two sites are reviewed here which have different offerings. Hcg onLine (Hagberg Consulting Group) host a Web site which presents their research-based consulting services on leadership, development, executive development and succession planning: http://www.hcgnet.com/index.html The page which presents their research findings on differences between men and women in terms of leadership is: http://www.leadership-development.com/f-excel.html Their research findings are presented simply and clearly, identifying how and why women excel in management and the barriers they face of risk, rescue and righteousness.

The research methodology needs to be explored in more detail to evaluate their conclusions, but anyone interested in developing managers, male or female, might like to see what they have to say.

Gender differences at work: are men and women really that different? http://www.ateamware.com/study.html

This is a research report produced in 1996 by Perrault and Irwin of Advanced Teamware. What is interesting is that since then they have developed a measurement tool to "assess the full scope of individual behaviour in a team or work-group setting" (TeamView/360²), a peer-assessment system based on 31 behaviours under the following categories; problem-solving, planning, controlling, managing self, managing relationships, leading and communicating. All relevant instrument design details are included with data on reliability and validity.

Overall findings from their extensive database show that women have the edge in terms of their effectiveness at work and the authors emphasise that people’s performance should be judged as individuals not based on their gender.

So, two different approaches to the same question offering some tools to help developing managers. Comments and suggestions for other Web sites to review will be helpful. Please e-mail them to Maggie McCourt-Mooney: m@mccourtt.co.uk or send to the address on the front cover of the journal.