This study examines the gap between instructional development (ID) theory and practice, then proposes a conceptual framework to illuminate how expert ID practitioners work in the corporate world. Historically, the bulk of instructional development research has focused on model-building: identifying critical ID component tasks and organizing and following them in a logical, linear sequence. This strict step-by-step procedure does not reflect the ID process as practiced in the field. Only recently has formal research begun addressing the critical issue of weighing and prioritizing ID tasks, the crucial decision-making processes involved, making judgments concerning quality of decisions, as well as the social, political, and cultural influences in corporate education. The context-sensitive approach, as opposed to the classical, mechanistic mode, will accelerate the development of a coherent set of ID theories and practices. The conceptual framework describing how expert ID practitioners work in corporate reality consists of five major themes: (1) cultural context; (2) situation analysis and synthesis; (3) client and other stakeholders; (4) performance capacities (capacity analysis and professional ethics); and (5) competitive advantages (business strategy, professional conduct, and changing roles). (Contains 14 references.) (Author/SWC)