Effectiveness of managerial capabilities at different hierarchical levels
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to provide insight into the relative importance of task, relations, and change capabilities of managers at low, middle, and top hierarchical levels.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were gathered from performance reviews and evaluations from human resources personnel for 2,307 managers in one large company in a high-tech industry. Separate regressions for each management level were performed with standardized regression coefficients allowing comparisons across the different regressions.
Findings
Significant differences were observed in the effectiveness of managers using task, relations, and change capabilities. At top management, change-oriented capabilities become 2 to 3 times more important than at the lowest level. Task-oriented capabilities become significantly less important at the top level. Relations-oriented capabilities are important at all levels.
Research limitations/implications
Studies with participants from multiple industries and longitudinal studies could benefit research by further validating the findings and offering new insights on other situational factors, which change over time.
Practical implications
Managers, who have been successful in lower and middle positions, may not necessarily be effective top managers.
Originality/value
Few studies have explored differences in managerial capabilities at different hierarchical levels in organizations. The study offers a clear rationale to consider when conducting any analysis of different levels of management by practitioners or researchers.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to acknowledge and thank Dr Daniel Bumblauskas from the University of Northern Iowa (USA) department of management for his contributions to this work. Dr Bumblauskas provided editorial recommendations, R&R revisions to the paper, aided in further development of the research, and offered advisory support to the authors for this paper.
Citation
Anzengruber, J., Goetz, M.A., Nold, H. and Woelfle, M. (2017), "Effectiveness of managerial capabilities at different hierarchical levels", Journal of Managerial Psychology, Vol. 32 No. 2, pp. 134-148. https://doi.org/10.1108/JMP-12-2015-0451
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2017, Emerald Publishing Limited