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Intra-organizational opportunities and career paths for managers: case studies in the UK automotive industry
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Cook, Isabel Christine (2001) Intra-organizational opportunities and career paths for managers: case studies in the UK automotive industry. PhD thesis, University of Warwick.
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Official URL: http://webcat.warwick.ac.uk/record=b1375708~S1
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.
Item Type: | Thesis (PhD) | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Subjects: | H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor > HD28 Management. Industrial Management |
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Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): | Organizational change, Downsizing of organizations, Industrial management, Occupations, Career development, Automobile industry and trade, Automobile industry executives | ||||
Official Date: | July 2001 | ||||
Dates: |
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Institution: | University of Warwick | ||||
Theses Department: | Warwick Business School | ||||
Thesis Type: | PhD | ||||
Publication Status: | Unpublished | ||||
Supervisor(s)/Advisor: | Edwards, Paul K. | ||||
Extent: | [346] leaves | ||||
Language: | eng |
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