Hugh Gunz

Organizational Logics of Managerial Careers

A theoretical model of managerial careers is presented which links two organizational characteristics (structure and growth) to the pattern of managerial careers within an organization. Different combinations of these characteristics give rise to different organizational career logics (OCLs), which are the rationalities an observer imputes to the pattern of work role transitions within a firm. Each OCL is associated with its own distinctive pattern of work role transition, and a framework for classifying these transitions is described which allows the differences to be made manifest. Three ideal-type OCLs are described, and the perspective is illustrated by reference to work role transition patterns in four large British manufacturing firms. Additional sources of variance are discussed: some are predicted by the OCL perspective and some arise as the result of choices made by individual managers within the overall framework of their firms OCL. A simple two-dimensional model of individual choice is presented. Each OCL and its associated pattern of transitions is also likely to develop different skills and expertise in its managers; the paper concludes by discussing what these different forms of expertise might be.

Modelling Social Behaviour in Management Education

Managing is a social activity in which the tasks are highly interdependent, context-dependent and systemic (e.g. Hales, 1986; Whitley, 1987). The work is characterised by brevity, variety and fragmentation, and is about getting action by pursuing many different agendas through extensive networks of contacts. It involves balancing the interests of the many stakeholders in the organization, and being able to discern patterns in a mass of variety. Doing it successfully depends on non-rational elements such as vision, creativity, leadership and the ability to operate in a social and political environment (Luthans et al., 1985) as much as it does on so-called “rational” analytical skills.

Managers and Designers: Building Bridges by Accident

Everyone knows that the trouble with UK industry is that it doesn’t make any use of design everyone, that is, except those who know that the trouble with UK industry is that industrial designers are of no use to practical businessmen. The upshot is that we have all the makings of one of those institutions so beloved of the British: what someone once called the sound of vintage British whine, the essence of which is that everything would be fine if it weren’t for the other lot. If to this one adds a few more national stereotypes such as the glorification of the pure at the expense of the applied, short-term financial returns at the expense of long-run investment, career at the expense of involvement, and art at the expense of science, technology and production (not to mention the other way round) we get a pretty rich mix. This kind of discussion usually leads to some acid comments about business schools not teaching design management and/or design schools not teaching much about business, before everyone rushes to catch their train and forgets about the whole thing until next time. This paper is not meant as a contribution to one side of the debate or the other, nor is it intended to make fun of some rather more serious contributions, notably (but not exclusively) the CNAA’s recent design management initiative. It is simply an account of how we got drawn into the tumult more or less by accident and of our experience in trying to do something about it on a small-scale, local level. As much as anything it is a confession of failure: it is a galling thing to realise that one is involved in something of some national importance through no initiative of one’s own.

Managing and a Changing Environment

For some years a group of firms have been sending some of their brightest young managers to Manchester Business School on a programme designed to explore a world which hardly anyone might assume to be relevant to their jobs. They hear, for example, from political scientists talking about the history and stability of the UK political system, sociologists talking about the social structure of Britain, and economists on how Governments try to control economies and regulate business. If some of the contributions are less offbeat such as those from capital market specialists talking about how the City views industry others are experienced as being decidedly so: from those for whom Lord Rothschild’s notorious ’econut’ label was coined to others whose