Women's leadership development programs [Special issue of Journal of Management Education]

<p>The quest to develop talent across all workforce segments coupled with thepersistent underrepresentation of women in leadership positions in organizationsacross the globe has led to increasing demand for women’s leadershipdevelopment programs (WLDPs) over recent years. This specialissue, titled Women’s Leadership Development Programs: Lessons Learnedand New Frontiers, considers the use of these programs to foster transformationalchange (Anderson, Vinnicombe, & Singh, 2008; Debebe, 2011;Vinnicombe & Singh, 2002, 2003; Bilimoria, Joy, & Liang, 2008; Bilimoria& Liang, 2012; Ely & Meyerson, 2000; Fletcher, 2004). In this introduction,we begin with a discussion of transformational learning and changeat the individual and organizational levels and go on to highlight five keythemes in the literature on women’s leadership programs, identifying someof the questions and issues that motivated this special issue. We then providea description of each article included in the special issue before concludingwith some thoughts on fruitful directions for future research onwomen’s leadership programs.</p>