ABSTRACT
This chapter suggests that profiling will become more effective when there are more widely agreed structures, principles and common terms. As the corporate strategy took shape, it became clear that existing management resources would be insufficient to take on the ambitious growth and expansion envisaged for the airline. Three management echelons were designated: the top executive level, senior management, and middle managers. These programmes were collectively branded as the Topflight Academies to distinguish them from other newly launched initiatives offered to future managers and supervisors such as open learning programmes. The chapter focuses on the start-up period of the Topflight Programme from the spring of 1987 to the early summer of 1988. British Airways (BA) designed a multiple assessment process to evaluate and select candidates who had been nominated for the programme. The candidate’s senior manager assessor was selected as a credible model of sound management practice and an upholder of BA’s espoused values and standards.
