In 1989, a group of people met at a conference in Rio, where they suggested to Cambridge University Press that there was a need for an introductory book on management, aimed at people who were either becoming managers or were now in a management role. The result was Management in English Language Teaching, published in 1991, which provided a useful introduction to management for many people who are now in middle and senior management positions in what we are terming language teaching organizations (LTOs).

Since 1991, the global English Language Teaching (ELT) industry has expanded and evolved, with an incredibly wide range of enterprises, from tiny small-scale start-up operations to international chains with global reach. Whatever their size and scope, all these LTOs have to be managed; that is, people within the organization have to be led towards shared goals, activities and resources planned and organized, staff motivated and developed, and resources monitored and controlled. Ultimately, and perhaps most importantly, customers have to be satisfied. For one of the most significant changes that have taken place since 1991 is the reconfiguring, in both private and public sectors, of the traditional teacher–student relationship into a service provider–consumer relationship. LTOs have taken on an additional role to their educational one: they are service providers.

Meeting the demands of this additional role has involved a growing awareness of the importance of management, so anyone moving from a classroom to a supervisory or managerial role needs to extend existing skills relevant to their new job, as well as acquire new competencies and a new managerial perspective. This book is intended to be a contribution to such development.

The contents and approach of the book are built on the combined experience of the authors in a variety of management roles and a wide range of LTOs, either by direct experience, or by proxy through our involvement in training aspirant or existing LTO managers and directors. We owe a considerable debt to the scores of participants following courses leading to the International Diploma in Language Teaching Management (IDLTM), the management qualification designed and administered by the Universities of Cambridge and Queensland and the School for International Training.