Frontline Management Initiative (FMI)

The Frontline Management Initiative (FMI) already provides a framework for management development for almost 30 000 frontline managers in Australian enterprises. However, what is most interesting, is that it is the first national initiative designed to support workplace and organisational learning. Developed from the recommendations of the Enterprising nation report in 1995 (Karpin 1995), the Frontline Management Initiative is designed as a key lever to increase management capability and performance and, thereby, to improve business effectiveness.
The FMI is significant because it is a national program of competency-based management development with a flexible framework that can be adapted to diverse organisational environments. While nominally focussing on individual manager development, the initiative is based in the workplace and has a capacity to act as a catalyst for organisational learning and cultural change which can build business capability. The FMI is a move away from restricting training and learning to certain places and times, towards workplace learning and knowledge construction. The present study shows the potential of the FMI to be a high-leverage initiative capable of linking individual development to business performance improvement.