Almost three-quarters of Irish companies in the manufacturing, services, distribution and utilities sectors have no formal plan or budget for management development, according to a joint report published by the Open University Business School, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) and Forfas.

The report concludes that the majority of Irish companies have no formal commitment to management development and have not put in place the structures necessary to develop continuously and systematically the capabilities of their managers.

The survey is the first of its kind since the Galvin report in 1988, which called for the professionalisation of Irish management. The Galvin report sought a national commitment to improve the effectiveness of corporate training, with a particular emphasis on management development.

The evidence presented in this year's report suggests that, while improvements have been made, the need for more and better management development remains a major concern.

Management development is defined by the authors of this report as any activity which could contribute to "the personal and career development of an individual manager, be that by formal training, seminars, conferences, job rotation and/or by informal learning, coaching and/or on-the-job learning".

The results of the survey indicate that Irish companies appear to appreciate the importance of management development but have been unable or unwilling to transform this into a systematic commitment. The research shows that the Republic is well below its European neighbours on several key indicators.

The average annual duration of training courses here is 25 hours compared to 45 hours in other European countries. The percentage of labour costs invested in training by Irish companies is currently around 1.5 per cent, against the acknowledged best practice rate of 35 per cent. From a policy perspective, the report stresses that Irish companies should act upon the increased awareness of the importance of management development and introduce appropriate budget-supported training plans linked to their business needs and objectives.

Of the large companies surveyed, 47 per cent undertake considerably more informal rather than formal training. The informal training was characterised by respondents as one-off and ad-hoc, while just one-third described their training as a suite of permanent training programmes.

The study developed from discussions which took place in 1998 between the business school, PwC and Forfas.

The objective was to review the main current trends and patterns in the development and training of managers in Ireland.

The field work was carried out last year and 356 companies participated in the survey.