EFMD Excellence in Practice Award
London Business School and Lufthansa’s School of Business scoop top prize
At the EFMD Annual Conference this month, London Business School's Centre of Management Development (CMD) and Lufthansa's School of Business beat 24 other entries to win the Excellence in Practice Award for their innovative executive programme.
EFMD is an international, 700-member organisation serving academia, business, public service and consultancy. EFMD members selected the winner after Allyson Stewart-Allen, CMD programme director, and Dr Michael Christ, Lufthansa School of Management, presented the programme.
Commenting on their success, Allyson said: "Every aspect of our work with Lufthansa has been about mutual trust, communication, being pushed to always do that little bit more for the participants and the programmes' design."
Dr Michael Christ said: "We are proud to see that the strategic alignment of our Management Programmes and the fruitful partnership with London Business School is awarded with such an honourable prize. The continuous improvement of Lufthansa School of Business' Management Trainings is one of the keys that enable us to cope successfully with future challenges. This award is a solid international benchmark and shows that we are on track."
The five-year-old programme is one of the most widely respected training initiatives for senior Lufthansa managers. A number of faculty from the School's Organisational Behaviour, Strategy and Marketing departments are involved in the teaching of the airline's top managers. The 26 participants on the last module in February 2009 rated the programme 5.0 - the top mark.
The programme's impact on the German airline has been clear: maintaining market leadership, and aligning the organisation to manage innovation and change whilst driving profitability. CMD's Lufthansa Account Director, John Wills, added: "Being recognised by EFMD and receiving this award confirms what is best about CMD: our commitment to developing programmes that make a difference to our clients."