Case studies: Group

Executive development – meeting the challenges of operating successfully in diverse environments

In response to a need to enhance the skills of executives and senior management to enable them to function effectively, efficiently and profitably in the global business environment, AngloGold Ashanti has commissioned an executive development programme which is being developed jointly by Prof Tom Ryan from the University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business in South Africa, and Prof Carlos Arruda from the Funda??o Dom Cabral in Nova Lima, Brazil.

This programme, which has diversity as its overall theme, comprises three phases spread over nine months. The primary objectives and aims of this programme are to:

• improve the capacity of senior executives to understand the increasingly complex environment in which their industries and companies operate;
• develop the ability of executives to think and act strategically in ways that will benefit their companies in the future;
• facilitate the establishment of a network of senior executives operating in diverse global locations.

To perform optimally, executive managers must be able to observe, analyse and interpret global and local trends so as to anticipate and meet the challenges of operating in a global environment. These challenges include global competition, rapid technological advances, increased levels of mergers and acquisitions, the pressures to reduce and limit costs, and the growing phenomenon of alliances and partnerships.

Operating globally requires managers to interact successfully within diverse cultures which are encountered at the employee, community and country level. Furthermore, operational excellence requires consideration not just of economic performance but also of the social and environmental impacts of an operation. There is consequently a need for executive development to be more innovative, more learner-centred, and more relevant to both the internal and external demands of a business.

AngloGold Ashanti’s executive development programme will be used to develop key competencies so as to facilitate strategic transitions within the organisation.

This programme will be offered to executives and senior management for the first time in 2008. The first phase of the programme will be conducted towards the end of February, the second at the end of May and the third at the beginning of September.