The fundamental role of managers has not changed much over the course of the twentieth century--managers plan, direct and control subordinates, while serving as liaison between lower and upper levels of an organization (MacLennan 20). Managers must often be able to perform at least some of the tasks of their subordinates, and are often promoted from within the workgroup to the managerial position. However, the role of manager goes beyond supervisor.

As part of the directing and planning functions, managers must be able to understand budgets and work within certain parameters to ensure that their group's goals and objectives are achieved. Managers often are project managers, as well, making sure that subordinates have the right tools and resources to perform their tasks, and removing obstacles to achieving goals before they become problematic. Managers must also be able to understand the vision of the organization as a whole and translate that broad vision into the specific work that a particular area performs (Rogers, Pace and Wilson 3).

Organizations are willing to spend a considerable amount of their resources in an effort to train their managers to become leaders. In 2000, it is estimated that more than $50 billion was spend on corporate leadership development programs (Ready & Conger 84). If organizations did not believe that they were receiving an appropriate return on this investment, they would not be committing these levels of resources. However, it is difficult to measure the effectiveness of leadership training since leadership itself is believed to be a "soft" skill. Nonetheless, there are some leadership techniques that have gained particular popularity in recent years, and ways to gauge their effectiveness is the extent to which they are practiced in organizations that have implemented them.

Kanji, Gopal K. and Patricia Moura. "Measuring Leadership Excellence." Total Quality Management 12(Sep 2001): 701-718.

One of the most common forms of leadership training is that of the seminar. These one-time forums are typically conducted by professional trainers, and often by the authors of bestselling leadership books. Stephen Covey, who wrote The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, Peter Senge, who wrote The Fifth Discipline, and Daniel Goleman, who wrote Emotional Intelligence are just a few of the authors who command thousands of dollars to share their insights with managers. However, it is not clear that one-time seminars actually produce long-term results, or that the results could not be achieved by just reading their books or having a less expensive trainer lead the instruction (Ready & Conger 85).

Increasingly, colleges and universities are adopting leadership studies with the goal of educating students in the role of leader. This is likely to bring about a shift in the way that leadership is taught, with less of an emphasis on charismatic authors leading one-time seminars, and increased rigor in the study of leadership.