Practical Management Instruction (PMI)
Welcome to Practical Management Instruction (PMI) — America’s Premiere Management Training Company
Since 1963, Practical Management Instruction (PMI) has provided expert, in-depth, real-world training to over 1 million professionals and over 17,000 companies and organizations worldwide. PMI is one of the USA’s oldest management training businesses, specializing in management and supervisory training, plus training needs analysis, instructor development, and course design. Today, PMI is an operating division of Procept USA LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Procept Associates Ltd. PMI’s reputation is founded on the delivery of practical concepts and techniques with a level of quality and consistency unparalleled in the training industry.
Please click on “Training” in the upper navigation bar to move on to our training web site to see the broad range of existing courses that PMI has to offer as part of the Procept group of companies. In addition, PMI is known for its ability to prepare and deliver custom training programs for our corporate clients.
Click on the “Consulting” option in the upper navigation bar to get further details on consulting offerings available through PMI and the Procept companies.
History of Practical Management Instruction
PMI was founded in 1963 by Frank Owen Hoffman, PhD a pioneer in the field of adult learning theory. Dr. Hoffman was a retired WWII navy commander, public television personality, and oil company manager. Later in life, he became actively involved in the early days of the American Society for Training and Development (ASTD) and was on the prestigious advisory board of the Advanced Management Journal.
The Hoffman Years (1963 to 1982)
Originally founded in California in 1963 as Practical Management Associates, the company incorporated in 1965 and achieved marked success in both classroom courses and both audio and video cassette self-study courses. During the late 1960s and 1970s, the company maintained tight relationships with key associations including the American Society for Training and Development (ASTD), National Society for Programmed Instruction (NSPI) and the Society for the Advancement of Management; in fact, one PMI board member, Bart Lee Ludeman was simultaneously president of ASTD while on the PMI board. The company expanded internationally and opened up a Canadian division in 1980. Dr. Hoffman hired Jalal B. (Jack) Asgar, PhD as President in 1982 and retired a few years later, leaving Dr. Asgar in charge.
The Asgar Years (1982 to 2009)
Dr. Asgar greatly expanded the company, changing its name to Practical Management Inc. in 1984.
The company eventually relocated to Las Vegas in 1994 where it continued to grow for seven more years. After the terror attacks of September 11, 2001, the company experienced a significant decline in sales due to a lowering attendance in public courses, which were a significant portion of PMI’s business at the time. This trend continued through 2005 when Charles Keefer, PhD was appointed as Vice President and eventually took over the presidency (and ownership) of PMI in 2009, when Dr. Asgar retired.
The Keefer Years (2009 to 2016)
Dr. Keefer moved the company to Arizona, renaming it Practical Management Instruction Inc. where it focused on corporate training. During this time, Dr. Keefer pushed for international expansion, opening overseas partnerships. The business continued under his direction until 2016 when it was purchased by an intermediary who, in turn, resold it to Procept USA LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Procept Associates Ltd.. Dr. Keefer remained with the company, aiding in the transition to the new owners with a position on Procept's Management Advisory Board.
The Procept Years (2016 to present)
After its acquisition as a Procept operating division, PMI continued operations under Procept’s governance structure. Procept dismissed Dr. Charles Keefer from its Management Advisory Board at the end of July 2017 and continues to promote and deliver training under the PMI brand thorugh Procept USA LLC.
PMI Clients
Since 1963, PMI has trained over 1 Million people and has delivered in-house training to over 17,000 organizations worldwide. The following is only a partial list of PMI clients, some of whom have taken PMI-provided training for more than 35 years:
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PMI Publications
Over the years, PMI has published a number of books and audiobooks. Below is just a sampling:
Books
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Managing Without the CEO The title of this book is not meant to diminish the importance of CEOs but rather to direct the accountability for managing the internal operations to their managers, supervisors and employees. In this book, you will find a unique and multidimensional view of managing that has been missing in the popular but often one-dimensional management books. Our work, our concepts and our observations are not academic. They come from our experienes with real organizaitons, real people and real issues. |
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The Trainer as Internal Consultant This book presents a comprehensive and realistic view of the internal consulting function. All the areas in which training consulting should take place are discussed. The book is unique in improving corporate training knowledge as well as increasing consulting skills. |
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Supervision: The Organizational Role of Supervisors This book should be read by managers as well as supervisors. Managers: read the book to learn how to be instrumental in developing supervisors. Supervisors: read this book to learn how to contribute to your organization's effectiveness. No other book explains as vividly as this one the true contirbution of supervisors in terms of their organizational role:
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Contribution Analysis This book presents an effective resource allocation technique. Uncover activities in your organization which appear necessary and important, but which might be contributing NOTHING. |
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Duties of First-Line Supervisors: A Practical Approach to Supervisory Performance by Frank O. Hoffman, PhD and Jack Asgar, PhD |
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Learning Objectives… And Beyond: Closing the "Gap" Between the Classroom and the Job This book shows how to develop learning objectives that are performance based. The process teaches effective transition of job tasks to learning objectives. This book is MUST reading for every trainer who wants to produce on-the-job results. There are training programs in which the connection between the classroom and the job is foggy at best. How can a course be well-designed and impractical? Easy! Just follow good instructional design principles - learner-based, criterion-referenced, behavior-modeled, student-iteractive - and you're just as likely to produce a well-designed nonsense course as you are one that has practical application in the workplace. Since we are in the performance business, not the training or learning business, logic and the need to get the best return from our training resources would indicate that performance, not content, should drive the design of training. And that's what this book is all about. 3rd Rev. ed. ©1987 Practical Management Inc. Updated 1991. |
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How to Keep from Talking to Yourself: Rules of Effective Presentation 55 pages. 3rd Rev. ed. ©1985 Practical Management Inc. |
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Make it Happen: A Practical Book for Team Leaders, Project Leaders and Facilitators to Build, Facilitate and Repair High-Performance Teams This book is for you if:
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Management Fads |
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Managers' Apparent Interest Index |
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Organization Diagnosis |
Audiobooks
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Training vs. Education In education, the focus is on acquiring skills; in training, the focus is on utilizing skills. This significant difference is discussed in this recording. |
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Tips on Training Techniques PMI's senior consultants present a variety of practical ideas for improving your classroom skills. |
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Managing Training Resources: A Strategic Plan In this recording, the authors discuss an approach to make the most of your training resources and survive under budgetary pressures. |
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Do it Yourself Organization Diagnosis Audio cassette and 40 page workbook. |
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The Job of Supervision ©1979 Practical Management Associates Inc. |
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Leadership in the Decision-Making Process ©1979 Practical Management Associates Inc. |
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How to Teach Grown Ups This 8-workbook/audio-cassette course is designed to provide the techniques necessary to make adult learning active and productive in an economically sensitive self-study format. Whether you are a professional trainer, instructor, technical expert, manager, supervisor or any teacher of adult groups, this course is for you. Great emphasis has been placed on those teaching techniques which will keep your learners involved and interested in the learning process. You will learn down-to-earth, practical approaches for making adult classes stimulating and productive. Each module offers an interactive learn-by-doing approach which asks you to apply concepts and techniques to actual or simulated real-world teaching situations. Topics covered include:
12 audio cassettes + 8 workbooks + 1 administrator's guide in 2 containers. Original ©1969 Practical Management Associates Inc. Revisions 1979, 1980. |
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Fundamentals of Supervision Curriculum 28 audio cassettes plus workbook. ©1979 Practical Management Associates Inc. |
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Motivation and Discipline ©1969 Practical management Associates Inc. |
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Winning Edge in Leadership ©1969. Practical management Associates Inc. |
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Common Fallacies of Leadership |
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Effective Team Building |
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Supervision - The Organizational Role of Supervisors |
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Why TQM and Other Programs Fail |
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How to Handle Disruptive Participants |
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ROI: The Elusive Goal of Training |
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Supervisory Skills Course |
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The Organizational Role of Supervisors |
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Face-to-Face Human Relations & Communications |
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Communicating Through Objectives |