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1 – 10 of over 11000David J. Good and Robert W. Stone
The variables impacting marketers’ motivation to work smarter are examined. These influencing variables are the manager’s venturesomeness, job challenge, effort and skill results…
Abstract
The variables impacting marketers’ motivation to work smarter are examined. These influencing variables are the manager’s venturesomeness, job challenge, effort and skill results, as well as self‐esteem. The model is empirically tested using 273 responses to a questionnaire distributed to marketers using a purchased, national mailing list. The empirical tests were done using a structural equations approach and maximum likelihood estimation. The results indicate that the motivation to work smarter is directly and positively impacted by the manager’s job challenge, effort and skill results, and venturesomeness. The manager’s self‐esteem has positive, indirect impacts on the motivation to work smarter through each of the manager’s venturesomeness, effort and skill results, and job challenge. Based on these results, recommendations on how marketers can be encouraged to work smarter are made.
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A striking feature of Jaques' work is his “no nonsense” attitude to the “manager‐subordinate” relationship. His blunt account of the origins of this relationship seems at first…
Abstract
A striking feature of Jaques' work is his “no nonsense” attitude to the “manager‐subordinate” relationship. His blunt account of the origins of this relationship seems at first sight to place him in the legalistic “principles of management” camp rather than in the ranks of the subtler “people centred” schools. We shall see before long how misleading such first impressions can be, for Jaques is not making simplistic assumptions about the human psyche. But he certainly sees no point in agonising over the mechanism of association which brings organisations and work‐groups into being when the facts of life are perfectly straightforward and there is no need to be squeamish about them.
The evolution of an increasingly systematic approach to management training, recruitment, appraisal and development has spawned an increasing interest in the nature of managerial…
Abstract
The evolution of an increasingly systematic approach to management training, recruitment, appraisal and development has spawned an increasing interest in the nature of managerial jobs as both a reference point towards which training and development may be pertinently oriented and a yardstick against which managers' performance and potential may be appraised. Any discussion of managers' training needs, potential, performance strengths and weaknesses, incentives and rewards or development needs is predicated on some idea, perhaps implicit, of what managers should be doing and, hence, some assessment of the extent to which managers are doing or could do it. But whilst managerial performance and potential have been variously investigated and measured, the question of what managers should be doing in their respective jobs has not been so systematically addressed. Certainly, there has been increasing use of managerial job descriptions as formal statements of managers' responsibilities, tasks and, perhaps, detailed activities. However, these “descriptions” often contain a heavy dose of prescription, not to say exhortation, and tend to be non‐behavioural, abstract and open to considerable interpretation. In particular, it is often difficult to deduce unambiguously from them which observable behaviours or performance indicators would be consistent with “doing the job” or, indeed, doing it well. Moreover, the content of managerial job descriptions tends to derive from limited sources — either the manager's immediate boss's beliefs about what the manager should be doing, or a process of negotiation between manager and immediate boss. Both of these approaches are at odds with the general recognition that managers' jobs are neither static nor neatly circumscribed, but lie at the intersections between shifting networks of organisational relationships. In short, there has not, hitherto, been a serious attempt to evolve, through a process akin to triangulation, accurate descriptions of managerial jobs as they are constituted by the expectations, demands and requirements of the managers' network, and then to use those descriptions as a yardstick for training, development, recruitment, appraisal and reward.
Guorong Zhu, Steve B. Wolff, Douglas T. (Tim) Hall, Mireia Las Heras, Betzaluz Gutierrez and Kathy Kram
In today's turbulent business environment leaders must be able to adapt to rapidly changing circumstances. For this research the authors aim to focus on the issue of adaptability…
Abstract
Purpose
In today's turbulent business environment leaders must be able to adapt to rapidly changing circumstances. For this research the authors aim to focus on the issue of adaptability defined as the ability to work effectively within a variety of changing situations, and with various individuals or groups. They also aimed to examine how variables of career complexity affect development of adaptability.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors draw on a unique database containing the career histories of 52 senior executives in a major global corporation. They use the term career complexity to represent the degree of variety in these individuals' career experiences, and they test the degree to which career complexity contributes to the development of adaptability later in their careers.
Findings
Findings from this study shed light on the relationship between specific career experiences and executive adaptability. Executives who had the experience to serve in an executive assistant role developed higher levels of adaptability. For executives without the executive assistant opportunity, job rotations through different types of roles provided a boost to their adaptability. Three role type changes (e.g. line, staff, or matrix) is optimal; 100 months is an optimal time to spend in each role type.
Originality/value
While the field of leadership development has generated substantial insight into the competencies required by executives, there are few models and empirical studies that describe the process of how specific competencies are developed. The authors' study highlighted the utility of the career complexity construct for both prospective understanding of career actions and processes and retrospective understanding of paths, patterns, and outcomes. The authors demonstrated the predictive value of the career complexity construct by presenting results of the statistical analyses of the hypothesized relationships between career complexity and career outcomes.
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Bennett J. Tepper and Lauren S. Simon
For work organizations and their members, establishing and maintaining mutually satisfying employment relationships is a fundamental concern. The importance that scholars attach…
Abstract
For work organizations and their members, establishing and maintaining mutually satisfying employment relationships is a fundamental concern. The importance that scholars attach to employment relationships is reflected in research streams that explore the optimal design of strategic human resource management systems, the nature of psychological contract fulfillment and violation, and the factors associated with achieving person-environment fit, among others. Generally missing from theory and research pertaining to employment relationships is the perspective of individuals who reside at the employee-employer interface – managerial leaders. We argue that, for managerial leaders, a pervasive concern involves the tangible and intangible resource requirements of specific employees. We then provide the groundwork for study of the leader’s perspective on employment relationships by proposing a model that identifies how employees come to be perceived as low versus high maintenance and how these perceptions, in turn, influence leader cognition, affect, and behavior.
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Change is occurring at a dizzying rate for enterprises andmanagers. Partly owing to technology, competition, and changingdemographics, adjusting to change is becoming an essential…
Abstract
Change is occurring at a dizzying rate for enterprises and managers. Partly owing to technology, competition, and changing demographics, adjusting to change is becoming an essential part of a manager′s life. Without the ability to grow, meet the demands of a changing job market, overcome negative attitudes, and procure the resources needed to perform their jobs, executives may fall short of attaining personal and career success. Explores the major obstacles to career success and offers practical advice to managers facing traumatic change. Through creative and positive thinking, an ability to expect, prepare for, and manage change, a clear vision of what really counts at work and at home, and a strategic career plan to set meaningful, progressive goals in life, executives can overcome whatever obstacles they face on the “road of life”.
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Manuel London and Douglas W. Bray
This paper outlines a programme of concept development, research and application on the career motivation of young managers. An assessment centre was used to evaluate dimensions…
Abstract
This paper outlines a programme of concept development, research and application on the career motivation of young managers. An assessment centre was used to evaluate dimensions of career motivation. The results were corroborated by other research data and suggested the need for considering situational conditions affecting career motivation. This led to a set of guidelines for early career development and a consideration of company policies and supervisory strategies for applying them. The impact of the results on the companies involved is described. Finally, the paper addresses the value of this research approach for generating useful knowledge.
The reborn Diploma in Management Studies is still very new, and courses for it started only last year. These courses are breaking new ground and, although they are limited in…
Abstract
The reborn Diploma in Management Studies is still very new, and courses for it started only last year. These courses are breaking new ground and, although they are limited in number, they have given rise to considerable argument. The following account of the experience of one College in breaking into the new ground is offered as a contribution to the discussion which is taking place in many other Colleges. The work here described was a team job
Many of the situational factors affecting career motivation are under the boss's control. The perception of several bosses of their role in management development in two companies…
Abstract
Many of the situational factors affecting career motivation are under the boss's control. The perception of several bosses of their role in management development in two companies is examined. The cases are derived from interviews with bosses of young first‐line managers. Interviews were also conducted with one subordinate of each boss. Company A did not have a management development programme, company B did. The boss's role in a subordinate's management development should be viewed in relation to the career development policies and programmes of the organisation. He or she can have a positive effect on career motivation even in an environment which is not conducive to career development. Boss training should focus on how to enhance subordinates' career motivation by encouraging individual contribution and personal growth. Bosses should be evaluated on the attention they give to subordinate career development.
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Gbolahan Gbadamosi and Carl Evans
The purpose of this research is to establish whether employers specify the requirement of CPD when recruiting managers and, in doing so, to open up the debate on the importance…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this research is to establish whether employers specify the requirement of CPD when recruiting managers and, in doing so, to open up the debate on the importance attached to CPD by employers.
Design/methodology/approach
An observational analysis was undertaken of job advertisements placed in four regional newspapers and a national online job web site over a two‐month period (August and September 2006).
Findings
From the newspaper job advertisements scrutinized none indicated CPD either directly or indirectly as a requirement for managerial jobs. Job experience (84 per cent) and personal attributes (82 per cent) were the most important requirements indicated for managerial jobs. An online national jobs web site, however, implied or specifically mentioned CPD for only five managerial posts.
Research limitations/implications
Some of the job advertisements provided very scant details. The study has only taken a surface view of the posts, as opposed to a detailed reviewing of the person specification for jobs. Targeting “Managers” focused on only middle level positions and even this could have excluded some posts.
Practical implications
The lack of CPD evidence now challenges employers to consider the importance of CPD when preparing managerial job advertisements.
Originality/value
The paper highlights the gap between the value of CPD and its absence in job advertisements and discusses the impact of the findings on relevant stakeholder groups. It argues the need for employers to detail CPD implicitly or explicitly in job advertisements to enhance the quality of job applicants.
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