Management Association of Pakistan (formerly West Pakistan Management Association) was formed in 1964 by a small group of dedicated entrepreneurs and senior professional managers, who were keenly aware of the demands that were likely to be made on managerial talent within the country, as a result of the rapid increase in the tempo of industrial activity.
The need for such an Association had become pressing because of the important role assigned to the private sector in Pakistan’s plan for development and the declared policy of the Government to encourage the professional managerial class in the country. Since its inception the Association has established itself as a major forum for training and communication of ideas in the field of management in Pakistan. Its status and contribution are widely recognised.
MANAGEMENT
The Executive Committee
MAP is headed by an elected President. Other members of the Executive Committee are the Vice President, Honorary Secretary, Honorary Treasurer and maximum of 10 Committee Members of whom six are elected and four are co-opted. Elections are held each year during the Association’s AGM.
The four office-bearers and two elected ordinary members of the committee retire every year, but are eligible for re-election. The Executive Committee is responsible for the planning and execution of the objectives of the Association.
Activities
To achieve the objectives of the Association various activities as seminars and conferences are organized.
PROGRAMMES
Training Programmes
Training is the major activity of the Association which remains under constant review. The endeavour is to implement, the most important objective of dissemination of knowledge on modern management practices and techniques, according to the contemporary environment.
Programme Policy
The programme policy is based on the premise that dissemination of knowledge over the entire range of management would promote awareness of the importance of good management. The Association therefore, realises on the concept of continuing education in management sciences and training. In order to achieve this objective, the Association has incorporated the following basic features in its training policies:
- It will not duplicate efforts of similar institutions but will simply supplement them.
- The emphasis will be on programmes for senior management and in specialised technical fields for middle management and lower levels.
- In all the programmes, the emphasis should be on experimental instruction with the assistance of local or foreign experts rather than on theoretical generalisation or classroom lecturing. The programmes will be arranged at the local, regional and national levels to extend the area of service to all parts of the country.
- The local faculty for the seminars should be drawn from amongst eminent scholars, practitioners of management and senior executives of public and private sector organisations and multinational corporations.
Types of Programmes
The Association organizes programmes covering a wide range of management principles and practices. The programmes are in the form of:
- Lectures, seminars, courses of short and long duration, film conferences, panel discussions etc. on various aspects of management. In view of vocational pre-occupations of top and senior levels of management, the programmes are mostly of half-day duration.
- In-house programmes on a wide range of management topics are organised for individual companies.
- Programmes on current economic situation and economic development, having a direct bearing on prevailing trends and conditions.
- Programmes dealing with various sectors of public life.
Participation
The Association since its inception, has organised more than 1000 seminars and training programmes, 10 management conventions on national and international issues and one international seminar on the occasion of its Silver Jubilee Celeberations in 1989. More than fifty thousand participants benefited by these programmes.
Survey of Professional Management Problems
In 1973 the Association, with the assistance of the Ford Foundation, launched a survey to identify the primary managerial problems facing management in all sectors of the economy. This was done to assess the training and developing needs of the managers of industry so as to make the future development activity more effective. With this primary objective in view, the survey was aimed at achieving the following benefits:
- To improve the professional growth of managers attitudes, thereby enabling industry in Pakistan to function more effectively;
- To develop and exchange information between members of MAP and other organisations on the basis of problems common to all;
- To provide more effective training in the field of management by tailoring lectures, seminars, programmes and courses to current managerial problems and needs;
- To indicate some areas of management problems which need further research and study.
The report on the survey is available with the Association. Based on data, views and assessments offered by 97 Chief Executives and functional managers from 48 companies, the report represents an indepth analysis of managerial practices and calls attention to areas in which the need exist for training.
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