Jean-Louis Barsoux

The Diversity of Management

Would the reader agree after reading the accounts by people in twelve different jobs? The title of the book shows that the authors do not agree. Clearly, there are some basic similarities. These explain why it was possible for Barbara Young to move successfully from being chief executive of a London teaching hospital to heading up such a very different kind of organization, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. But both were chief executive jobs, and it is easier to move at that level than where more detailed knowledge of operations may be needed.

Management and Organizational Structure

The roles and behaviours of the middle managers studied in Britain and Germany differed considerably, as shown in the previous chapters. To recapitulate on a few of these differences: Formal qualifications are more important for a career in middle management in Germany than in Britain. German middle managers exhibit a more technical orientation towards their jobs while their British colleagues stress the general management tasks of their jobs. Communication of German middle managers with their subordinates is predominantly task-oriented while that of their British counterparts concentrates on motivation, reaching agreement on targets, and getting general policies implemented. German middle managers spend significantly more time alone than British ones. For British middle managers meetings are the preferred method for achieving coordination, while German middle managers rely very much on establishing routines or programs. Consequently, British middle managers spend considerably more time in scheduled and unscheduled meetings than their German colleagues. German middle managers make more telephone calls than the British ones but the average length of their phone calls is shorter. German middle managers have more ad hoc contacts but, again, the average duration of their face-to-face contacts is shorter. In order to enlist support British middle managers rely first of all on persuasion and networking. Their German colleagues trust that they can convince others, primarily by the content of their arguments, not the presentation. German middle managers apply predominantly process control in order to check the work of their subordinates, while their British colleagues prefer output (progress) control.

Demands, Constraints and Choices of Middle Managers’ Jobs

This chapter sets out to explore how the British and German managers see their jobs. This will be done using Stewart’s model, described fully in Chapter 1. The spotlight will be placed, in turn, on the demands, the constraints and the choices perceived by our two sets of managers.

What Middle Managers Do

This chapter has two aims: first, to establish those tasks and functions which characterize middle-management work (as distinct from top-management work); and second, to highlight differences between British and German middle managers in how that work is done.

Comparing the Jobs: the Managers’ Views

The twelve jobs were selected to include different functions and types of organization as well as to represent a range of chief executive, senior and middle management jobs. ‘Senior’ is used for those reporting to a board director or the managing director. ‘Middle’ is used for managers who have other managers reporting to them but who report to someone below board level. The breakdown by management level is given in 1. Open image in new window Table 1 Management levels of jobs

Management and Value Systems

Starting from descriptions of observed behaviour, we have offered a variety of explanations for the differences between British and German managers. These explanations have ranged from individual differences in function, career and educational background, to contextual differences in technology, management systems, organizational structure, and institutions. Having considered these, it makes it easier to explore the possible cultural explanations for the differences we found in managers’ views and behaviour.

Management and Institutions

National institutions set certain constraints on the available choices for organizations and their incumbents. But the nature of the institutions are themselves the products of cultural choices, preferences and biases: Germany is an ordered and orderly society, one in which there are laws and systems for most aspects of economic life. The preparation and development of people for management is no exception.1

Designing the Study

Management research is conventionally presented as an orderly, coherent and logical process. The research design follows on neatly from the aims, rationale and theoretical perspective of the investigation. The reality is somewhat different, particularly when the subject is complex. Limits on time, available manpower and the goodwill of informants means that some of the noble research objectives are inevitably compromised. This is especially true of cross-cultural research where the practical problems of comparison are manifold — and rendered all the more ‘challenging’ in the present study by the lack of indigenous German research on management work.

Different Roads to Managerial Competence

Before looking in detail at the background, training and careers of the two populations of managers studied, some scene-setting may be helpful. What follows is a brief description of the provision of education, training and development in the two countries.

Comparing Managerial Jobs and Behaviour

A comparative study of German and British managers must start by deciding how they are to be compared. While there have been studies of managerial behaviour over a period of forty years1 there was no single model that we could adopt for making such a comparison. This made our task harder. We wanted to compare what our sample managers in the two countries were doing and how they were doing it. Unlike nearly all previous studies,2 we also wanted to try to understand why they were doing it.