We not only agree, but would argue also that if the management development program is to have any effect on organizational, departmental, or individual performance, the needs assessment must be prescriptive and must identify specific areas of performance that are in need of improvement. Once needs are identified, most trainers attempt to develop a list of topics that fit the training needs. For example, the program may start with motivation and then move on to leadership and communication, with each session being a self-contained module including a discussion of models, theories, tools, and techniques related to the topic. Here lies one of the major problems with management development and, for that matter, management education in general. This perspective presents models of motivation and leadership that show the relationship between independent variables such as job design, rewards systems, and leadership style, and dependent variables such as employee performance, satisfaction, and attachment.
Problems lie in the dependent variables.
A manager may have to deal with low productivity, poor product quality, or high turnover. For example, let's assume that a manager is faced with the problem that his or her department is continually late in meeting deadlines. The point is that forward theory does not directly address this issue, nor help the manager to diagnose the causes of a problem. In addition, when topics are taught sequentially, it becomes difficult to see the interrelationships among processes. Reverse theory starts with dependent variables and examines the potential causes of problems in these areas, providing guidelines for determining where the roots of the problems lie.