A model program for project manager training suited to Japanese conditions

An engineering company's future depends on both its engineering staff's skills and knowledge and its capacity to develop its staff's talents. This article outlines a career development program (CDP) for developing engineering professionals, a program developed by the Human-Resource Development Committee of Japan's Engineering Advancement Association (ENAA). It explains the CDP's objectives and approaches and its basic philosophy in relation to Japanese business culture. It then outlines the CDP's basic format, listing its five features and detailing its four stages of human development, stages that include specialty acquisition, acquisition of multidisciplinary orientation, specialty practice, and low-level management. It also explains the relationship between CDP and the management culture in Japanese industries.