TRAINING AND MANAGEMENT DEVELOPMENT PRACTICES OF SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGERS IN SELECTED SRI LANKAN LOGISTICS INDUSTRY ORGANIZATIONS

Supply chain management is an evolving field in today‘s dynamic and competitive business world, which can be considered as one effective tool to deal with economic downturn in today‘s world. In this context supply chain managers act as a driving figure in the success of the supply chain performance. Training and management development has been and will continue to be a valuable tool for managing many current as well as future challenges and enhancing the intellectual aspects of the supply chain managers in any organization. This exploratory research tries to explore the existing training and management development practices of supply chain managers in Sri Lankan logistics industry and issues there in, while fulfilling the gap in knowledge. Five organizations in the logistics industry were selected for the study. In this qualitative study data was collected through primary and secondary data collection methods. A descriptive analysis is used to present the findings of the study. Validity of this qualitative research was ensured through triangulation. It was found out that selected organizations appeared to be weaker in use of proper training evaluation methods, identification of the exact training needs required due to the newness of the field, non availability of systematic long term focused management development plans and career paths for supply chain managers. Recommendations based on the findings for the enhancement were discussed. Key Words: Supply chain manager, Supply chain, supply chain management, Training and management development practices, Sri Lankan Logistics industryFor full paper: fmscresearch@sjp.ac.l