To qualify for the program, an executive is first chosen from the ranks of his own firm. Some companies use the AMP sessions as training periods for men they desire to promote to higher jobs. For the executive, company sponsorship can be the touch of the sword-promotion--and it is not lightly regarded. Over half the class is earmarked for a specific promotion before they take the course. They fall into the amalgam of controllers, assistant treasurers, sales managers, and production engineers labeled "middle management" and the course prepares them for "top management."

"Doe is a rather quiet individual at times," reads a typical recommendation, "but we feel that through contact with other men in the same class he will gain more self-confidence. . .ultimately he may end up in charge of the entire manufacturing end of the business."

'Middle brass' to 'Top brass'

At the home office, there is an awareness that the man seleced to participate is the man "on his way up." William Whyte, in The Organization Man, remarked on the jealousy among a chosen executive's contemporarys. "At General Foods, we know that something is in line for a man when he comes here," said one AMP, "In my case, I was promoted before the course. This happens to be the best time for me to come."

"Of course, if you don't keep moving, you're dead,' a dropforge developing engineer remarked. "I won't speculate on what's on their mind for me--but a company doesn't spend all this money on a man if they don't intend to do something with him."

For other companies, it is an attempt at broadening a man's ability to handle his present situation. Company presidents, "top brass,' fall into this category of men who "have arrived," but who want to go places nonetheless.

"We have this sort of program right within our own setup," an English technical officer for the world-wide Uni-Lever Corporation said, "but being so damn big, we tend to look in a bit. This way we can find out what's going on in the world outside."

"Best Class Possible"

But being chosen by one's company is not enough. The executive must then pass a screening committee of senior faculty members who must weed out a few applications in order to reach a class size of one hundred and fifty. Working on a concept of "the best class possible," the committee divides applicants according to their function within a corporation, the size of the comany and geographical location. This fall's AMP class has 130 Companies represented (43 of them participating for the first time), 30 states, and 18 foreign countries. The average age of participating executives is 43.9 years old.

Before an executive comes, the company involved agrees to pay his expenses and salary for the time elapsed. With tuition $1750, room $285-300, board $700, and travel, entertainment and salary added to that; sending a man to the AMP program costs a firm about $5000. It must also pay a replacement during the executive's absence. "But it is a double training program in a sense," says William P. Gormbly, Director of the AMP program, "because a company is training the replacement for a responsible position at the same time its man is participating in the AMP program."

The AMPs' educational back-grounds vary tremendously. About twenty-five or thirty in each class have had engineering training. Others have bachelor degrees and some business education. For a few, it has been a matter of high school and night school courses afterwards. "But it's hard to judge which ones haven't been to college," one AMP declared.

Seven Course Program

In his courses, the AMP is expected to have enough factual knowledge to be able to begin working on actual cases right from the start. Each AMP studies Business Policy, Administrative Practices, Business and the World Society, Cost and Financial Administration, Marketing Administration, and Problems in Labor Relations.

Usually, the AMP knows a great deal about one area and little about the others, and in order to be promoted he must be familiar with all. "I lean toward production," said a