University of Warwick institutional repository: http://go.warwick.ac.uk/wrap A Thesis Submitted for the Degree of PhD at the University of Warwick http://go.warwick.ac.uk/wrap/55487 This thesis is made available online and is protected by original copyright. Please scroll down to view the document itself. Please refer to the repository record for this item for information to help you to cite it. Our policy information is available from the repository home page. INTRA-ORGANIZATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES AND CAREER PATHS FOR MANAGERS Case studies in the UK automotive industry by Isabel Christine Cook A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Industrial and Business Studies 4+ýp'-bMüs. Jr QT Warwick Business School University of Warwick July 2001 Table of Contents Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 1 DECLARATION 2 ABSTRACT 3 PART I CHAPTER 1- INTRODUCTION 5 I- Nature and scopeof the presentresearch study 6 11 II - Methods of investigation III Contribution madeto knowledge 12 - 15 IV - Preview of chapter contents CHAPTER 2- WHAT WE KNOW ALREADY OR DON'T - RESEARCH THEMES 18 I- The research question 20 22 II - Organizationsand approachesto managementcareers 1- The bureaucraticmodel 22 2- Post-bureaucracy 24 3- The organization of organizations 27 4- Two contrasting scenarios 32 35 III - Management careers and organizational changes 1- To what extent is current and future organization designlikely to reproducetraditional managementcareer paths or instead bring innovative alternatives? 35 2- Can a substantiveevolution be identified in the relationship between the manager and the organization in respect of employee-employer dynamics? 44 3- Can a correlation be detectedbetween corporate culture and the understandingof careerby different membersof the organization? 52 58 IV - Recentresearch and empirical evidence CHAPTER 3- RESEARCH ISSUES AND METHODS 67 I- Questions waiting for an answer 67 1- The gap 68 2- Filling the gap 70 72 II - Researchdesign 73 1- Methodology - The case-study 74 1.1 - Philosophicalposition and epistemologicalstance behind 1.1.1 - Philosophical position and rationale the chosen data collection and analysis methods 74 1.1.2 - Epistemological stance 75 1.2 - Data collection and analysismethods and tools 75 1.2.1 - The sample 78 1.2.2 - The questionnaire 81 1.2.3 - The interview 83 1.2.4 - The analytical process 84 85 1.2.5 - Validity, generalizabilityand reliability 2- The companies 87 88 2.1 - About the organizations 98 2.2 - Advantages of this choice of organizations PART H CHAPTER 4- THE COMPANY CONTEXT 104 I- The case-study organizations 105 1- Rover 105 105 1.1 - The overall picture 107 1.2 - The main career tools 2- LucasVarity 110 110 2.1 - The overall picture 112 2.2 - The main careertools 3-G. K. N. 114 114 3.1 - The overall picture 116 3.2 - The main careertools 4- Valeo 118 118 4.1 - The overall picture 119 4.2 - The main careertools 121 II - The extra organizations 1- Mayflower 121 2- Peugeot 122 Conclusions 124 CHAPTER 5- RANKS & ROUTES 129 I- The organization's viewpoint 131 1- Corporate understanding of manager 131 2- Understandingsof the firm's career model 134 139 II - The organization's career paths 1- Career planning systems 139 139 1.1 - Corporate career management profile 146 1.2 - Tools and policy in corporate career management 152 1.3 - Corporate provision for technical and professional careers 2- Changes in corporate career pattern 157 Conclusions 160 CHAPTER 6- CHANCES & CHOICES 166 I- How managerssee their careerprospects 168 1- Main views 168 2- Across and through the companies 172 3- Different issues 179 179 3.1 - Upwards, sideways and dead end 184 3.2 - Background, area and age driven 187 II - Driving one's own management career or being 1- Being proactive 187 1.1 - The career's `shape' 189 1.2 - One's career `shaping' ability 191 1- Working for promotion, not frustration 194 Conclusions 200 CHAPTER 7- PULLS & PUSHES 206 I- Managers stretchedto the limit 207 1- Stretchedto deliver 208 2- Stretched in time 214 3- Stretched... in space 219 225 II - Managers' reactions... and outcomes 1- Pressure and stress 225 2- Moving out? Where to? 229 3- The right place at the right time and other `rights' 232 Conclusions 235 CHAPTER 8- AHEAD & AWAY 239 I- Predictions and trends 240 1- Pathways and moves 243 243 1.1 - Structured paths 245 1.2 - Intra-organizational movement 2- The foreign influence 248 3- The technical expert 250 253 4- Worries - the anticipatedpressure 256 5- Employer-employeedynamics - stressfulor harmonious? 261 II - Culture-bound pointers 261 1- Career - notions and values 2- Career, for whom? 264 3- Breadth and depth as ideology 266 4- Deep inside... 269 Conclusions 271 PART HI CHAPTER 9- DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS 279 I- Key results 280 1- Career chances in a changing organizational context 280 2- Managers:reluctant or loyal? 289 3- `Developing': in what direction? 295 300 II - The emerging scenario 1- How tall is flat? 300 2- Grounds for pessimismor optimism? 303 308 CHAPTER 10 - THE SHAPE OF THINGS TO COME I- The spiral career in the cylinder-cone organization 309 316 II - New knowledge, and final considerations 324 BIBLIOGRAPHY - REFERENCES APPENDICES Appendix 1- Questionnaire Appendix 2- Semi-structuredinterview guide-lines I Acknowledgements I would like to express my appreciation to everyone at Rover Group Ltd., LucasVarity Aerospace Ltd., GKN Automotive Driveline Division UK Operations Plc., Valeo (UK) Wipers Systems Ltd., Mayflower Vehicle Systems Plc. and Peugeot Motor Company Pic. for their time and for the interest that they took in this study. I hope that my findings and recommendations may be helpful to both organizations and their members. My gratitude is extendedto my supervisors,in particular to Professor Paul Edwards whose guidance provided many constructive suggestions throughout the life of this researchand whose detailed comments on the manuscript were invaluable in sharpening the final draft. I would also like to thank my parentsand close friends for their trust in my commitment and for their encouragementand support during the fulfilment of my Ph.D. project. Thank you. 2 Declaration The presentresearch study and thesis: - is entirely the author's own original work; - does not contain any material that the author has had published; and - has not been submitted for a degree at another university. 3 Abstract This thesis examines intra-organizational opportunities and career paths for managers in the context of a general trend of downsizing. The thesis presents new evidence on the impact of the trend on the traditional career and aims to produce an analysis that moves beyond the optimistic and pessimistic accounts. The strength of an in-depth investigation was sought in companies within the same industrial environment and labour market. All the research sites are in the automotive sector and geographically located in the Midlands, England. Field work was carried out at Rover Group Ltd., LucasVarity Aerospace Ltd., GKN Automotive Driveline Division UK Operations Plc., and Valeo (UK) Wipers Systems Ltd., and covered also Mayflower Vehicle Systems Plc. and Peugeot Motor Company Plc. as ancillary sources of information. This is a long-established sector of the economy where change may have a more dramatic impact. The case-study was the format chosen as the best suited for my predominantly exploratory endeavour. The main tools of data collection were a questionnaire and semi- structured interviews directed at managers. The former concentrated on core matters such as the managers' education and past career paths. The latter enabled deep-probing so as to explore detail and perceptions. Primarily with a qualitative orientation, collected data were sorted and analysed within categories that emerged from inside this same material. A quantitative element was incorporated with a complementary controlling function. This joint approach elicited findings which answered some important questions. In face of a pessimistic literature on managers in the downsized organization, Dopson and Stewart (1990) suggested that there might still be some hope. Other optimistic authors came to emphasize managerial empowerment to an extreme, notably Heckscher (1995) with the vision of a `professional' manager in a post-corporate era. My results can be linked, instead, to existing studies that adopt a middle ground between optimism and pessimism, such as Watson's (1994) and, more recently, Gratton et al. 's (1999). My own distinctive contribution is two-fold. The boundaries of current knowledge are expanded at an empirical level with fresh evidence on the management career, revealing how managers are making sense of, and living with, a situation of career uncertainty and pressure. At an analytical level, the thesis develops a theoretical model which condenses the key conclusions of the present research study and depicts the emerging structure of a spiral career, with limited upward movement for many and further spiralling upwards for the minority. The former is for `the majority of us'; the latter is for the `high flyers' and the `shining stars'. Optimism applies to this group while for the rest there is not uniform reluctance but realistic acceptance of the situation by many combined with cynicism expressed by some. PART I 5 Introduction .1- `I believe that he will be successful who directs his actions according to the spirit of the times' Machiavelli (1513) The Prince p. 2 The downsizing exercises and resultant job cuts which marked the corporate scene of the 1980s offered fertile ground for a pessimistic literature on managers and their careers, to which Dopson and Stewart (1990) reacted, suggesting that a ray of hope could be sustained. Today there is an optimistic literature on the managerial career which tends to be associated with the concept of empowerment (e. g., Dopson and Stewart, 1990; Kessler and Bayliss, 1992; Heckscher, 1995) and that of employability (e.g., Handy, 1994; Herriot and Pemberton, 1995; Heckscher, 1995).