MANAGERS' OCCUPATIONAL HISTORIES, ORGANIZATIONAL ENVIRONMENTS, AND CLIMATES FOR MANAGEMENT DEVELOPMENT

Abstract Seventeen intact collegiate groups of managers from eight companies and two publicly owned organizations described the organizational climates in which they worked. Their perceptions ranged from highly favourable to highly unfavourable. Did the occupational histories of the 134 managers influence their perceptions? Could the differences in their evaluations have arisen from other features of the environment, for which unobtrusive measures were available? Or was the level of each group in the hierarchy the prime determinant? All of these explanations have some plausibility in relation to the data presented. It is probably impossible to create‘the right climate’for management development by piecemeal strategies which ignore the significance of market success and deal only with the immediate experience of managers. On the other hand, a global strategy which concentrates on external factors and minimizes the importance of the individual's contribution in his particular location is likely to be equally defective. The major moderating variable in this study between the perceived developmental climate of the organization and the manager's occupational history was the salary he was paid.     

THE INTERDEPARTMENTAL INFLUENCE OF MANAGERS: INDIVIDUAL AND SUB-UNIT PERSPECTIVES

This paper examines the extent to which managerial influence over group-interdepartmental decisions is derived from sub-unit contingencies or is due to more individualistic characteristics of the manager. Both individual and sub-unit perspectives are presented in a framework composed of seven power factors each of which is investigated empirically. The major finding from a survey of 142 departmental managers is that individual managerial expertise is more important than sub-unit-based power with access to and control of information being of equal importance. We suggest that the investigation of managerial influence from a sub-unit perspective alone may be insufficient and that, in certain circumstances, both individualistic and sub-unit perspectives should be taken into account.     

THE REMUNERATION OF NON-OWNER MANAGERS IN SMALL AND MEDIUM-SIZED UK ENTERPRISES

Virtually all prior research on small and medium sized enterprise (SME) management has focused on owner managers. This article, however, empirically examines the determinants of managerial remuneration for a sample of 97 UK SME non-owning managerial employees. the empirical analysis, based upon data obtained from interviews with middle (i.e. non-director level) managers and the published financial records of their employing firms lodged at Companies House, first examines the influence of firm size and performance and then augments the empirical model to include pay composition, industrial sector, external labour market and human capital variables. The empirical results indicate that the average profitability of the employing firms is not a significant determinant of managerial remuneration. However, composition of pay appears to have a significant effect upon total remuneration since, even after controlling for other influences, managers in receipt of annual bonuses and/or profit-sharing bonuses are estimated to earn an additional £6,600. the managers’age and qualifications, and the asset size, industry and location of their employing firms are also significant factors and collectively are able to explain a large proportion of the cross-sectional variance in remuneration. Though there is a lack of previous empirical research on SME managerial pay.     

SELF-ESTEEM, INTERNAL-CONTROL AND EXPECTANCY BELIEFS OF WHITE AND BLACK MANAGERS IN SOUTH AFRICA

The relationship between internal-control, self-esteem and self-respect measures of the effort-performance and performance-outcome beliefs – the two major beliefs of the expectancy model of work motivation – were examined in a sample of forty-two white and thirty-eight black managers in South Africa. The correlations between self-esteem and the effort-performance belief and between internal-control and the performance-outcome belief were both significant in the white group but not in the black group. The white managers were significantly more internally oriented and had significantly higher levels of self-esteem than the black mangers. The white-black differences are explained in terms of features of the current socio-political systems in South Africa. The fact that in both groups the two beliefs correlated significantly together and equally with the self-esteem and internal-control suggests that the two beliefs may not be as independent as is implied by expectancy theory.     

AN EXAMINATION OF THE INFLUENCE OF MIDDLE-LEVEL MANAGERS IN FORMULATING AND IMPLEMENTING STRATEGIC DECISIONS

The upward influence of middle-level managers (MLMs) on strategic planning and decision-making is examined. It was found that: (1) upward influence activity was more prevalent in low risk/return types of strategic decisions than in high risk/return decisions; (2) upward influence activity was more prevalent during the implementation of strategic decisions than during the formulation of such decisions; (3) managers most often used rational arguments in their influence attempts; (4) managers were more likely to be successful than unsuccessful in influencing their superiors in strategic decisions; (5) managers most often attributed their success in influencing their superiors to internal causes and their failures to external causes; (6) managers from private sector organizations exerted influence in both high risk and low risk strategic decisions more frequently than did managers from public sector organizations; and (7) the number of years working with the superior was the best predictor of successful interactions and of risky decisions. Some insight into the development of widespread strategic thinking in an organization is provided.     

管理者的五种警示

管理者往往将失败归于战略错误、不充分的营销、竞争的威胁和技术失误等.然而,这些仅仅是问题的表象.所有的管理者都犯过同样的根本性错误:屈服于某种诱惑.如果管理者们不愿面对和战胜诱惑,他们的所作所为将置企业于危险之中.     

MULTIPLE REGRESSION ANALYSIS OF THE OCCUPATIONAL STATUS OF TWINS: A COMPARISON OF ECONOMIC AND BEHAVIOURAL GENETICS MODELS

ABSTRACT The purpose of this note is to compare the performance of the model of DeFries and Fulker [hereafter ‘the DFF model’] with the conventional fixed effects model in the analysis of data on twins in the study of economic well-being. Unlike the fixed-effects model that has traditionally been estimated in the economics literature, the DFF model provides explicit controls for genetic and shared environmental factors. The weight of the evidence from estimation of the two models considered is that the impact of education in Australia, holding constant genetic and shared environmental factors, is of the same order of magnitude as that estimated in studies that do not take account of these factors: at most ability and shared environmental factors contribute 1 to 2 percentage points to the gross return to education. The similarity of the results computed for the different models employed is reassuring, and suggests that reliable controls for the omitted genetic and shared environment variables are obtained through these indirect methods.     

ACTIVITIES OF MIDDLE MANAGERS — A TRAINING GUIDE

Abstract T his article argues that the teaching of practical management skills could, with advantage, be given more prominence in post-graduate and post-experience courses. If transference of learning is to take place, then the context in which the skills are practised on the job has to be discovered. Six items, selected from a previous research study of what managers do, were given to students enrolled for management courses. The results suggest that trouble shooting, forward planning, and briefing subordinates are important aspects of many managers'jobs. Teachers could ask their own students these questions, (or others of a similar nature) and formulate their practical skills objectives in response to the answers received. Suggestions on how this might be done are provided. If followed, the customer appeal of courses would be considerably enhanced.     

DIFFERENCES IN BELIEFS ABOUT WORK BETWEEN MANAGERS AND BLUE-COLLAR WORKERS

The beliefs about work of managers and blue-collar workers in the U.S.A. and Scotland were determined through a questionnaire. Both managers and blue-collar workers strongly endorsed humanistic beliefs and were indifferent to the work ethic. Blue-collar workers endorsed more strongly than managers beliefs about worker exploitation and the value of participation. In Scotland, there was a wide difference in the perceived value of leisure between managers and workers. It appears that the Scottish respondents hold fewer independent beliefs than their U. S. counterparts.     

THE IMPACT OF SPOUSE'S CAREER-ORIENTATION ON MANAGERS DURING INTERNATIONAL TRANSFERS

The increasing internationalization of business and the rise of dual-earner couples in the labour force combine to make the area of international human resource management and career development complex and important. This article examines results obtained from 67 American expatriate managers (EXM) in Japan of whom 47 per cent were part of a dual-earner couple in America. the study found that career-oriented spouses were almost seven times as likely to find employment after an international transfer as non-career-oriented spouses. It is argued that because career-oriented spouses in general were able to find employment and avoid major job interruptions, there was no significant difference between the adjustment of expatriate managers whose spouses worked in the US before the transfer but not after and EXMs whose spouses worked before and after the transfer.     

FROM APATHY TO ALACRITY: MANAGERS AND NEW TECHNOLOGY IN PROVINCIAL NEWSPAPERS

The article explores why provincial newspaper managers have shifted from a position of reluctance and uncertainty about new technology to enthusiasm and zeal for the process and product development opportunities it offers. the transformation is assessed in terms of changes in the industrial relations context, market conditions and technological developments between the late 1970s and early 1990s. This can be characterized as moving from reactive management to proactive management, and the article examines how the latter reflects the development of new business opportunities through application of new technology to the information-gathering process, the pre-press production process and the product. Data are drawn from case study interviews and trade/professional publications. The analysis suggests that there is evidence of three prime managerial objectives/motives for introducing new technology: cost, control and market. Each of these were of varying importance for managers at different times, and were affected by technological uncertainty and ignorance. Attitudes transformed because of the changing context and the pursuit of functional interest, with the result that newspaper managers are now in a better position to exploit new technology for competitive advantage.     

STRATEGIC DECISIONS MADE BY TOP EXECUTIVES AND MIDDLE MANAGERS WITH DATA AND PROCESS DOMINANT STYLES

The influence of a manager's decision style in strategic decision-making is explored using simulations. The Jungian style classification is extended to identify ‘data and process dominant’ styles of decision-making. Managers with process dominant styles can use several types of data and managers with data dominant styles can apply various modes of data processing. Both the expanded and the traditional definitions of style are used as factors to explain how 79 top executives and 89 middle managers rated project simulations. Decision style is found to be a key factor in explaining the likelihood of taking strategic action and the risk seen in this action. Decisions made by top executives are more style dependent than those of middle managers. The extended definition of style reveals more about the preferences of top executives than traditional style categories.