Westminster Business School
Module Code: BHRM 401
COURSEWORK ONE
CAREER PATHS INTO MANAGEMENT
AND
THE FOUR REMEDIAL STRATEGIES
Seminar Leader name: __________________
Abstract
Rees and Porter model and concept of managerial escalator fits in the two mangers career path in becoming the managers. Both the mangers begun their careers as specialist. Overtime, they gain more experienced and received relevant training that prepared them to carry out their current roles. The trainings equipped them with vast managerial skills which satisfied Rees and Porter concept of hybrid managers. Furthermore, the trainings helped reduce managerial gaps as both the mangers showed great love and respect for their new roles spending over 80 percent in the managerial duties. Both the managers believe that they will need to gain more experience and spend more time in their current jobs before being promoted to a higher managerial position. This clearly satisfy managerial escalator concept by Rees and Porter that champion for progressive managerial career development.
Introduction
In this report, I will explore the concept of managerial escalator as put forth by Rees and porter (2015) by examining the career paths of the two managers I interviewed. This report consists of four main parts. In the first part, I start with a discussion of managerial escalator, hybrid manager, managerial gap and the four remedial strategies. The second part will outline the findings of both the managers. Following will be a discussion on how each manager climbed the ladder and some insightful managerial roles undertaken by each. The last part will be a report summary. Management role is the spotlight of an organization. It involves arranging all resources needed to accomplish a particular goal or objective and supervising the execution of various processes by a team of competent employees.
The Theory
Today, most management roles are executed by managers who carry our specialist work and have vast managerial skills build up over time. The concept of managerial escalator by Rees and porter point out to a gradual process of attaining managerial role in an organization. An employee is first hired to perform specialist task created by the organization. It is believed that during the process of executing their roles, the employee spontaneously masters some supervisory roles which gradually explodes to management role for a period of three or more years and in most cases, a specialist is considered for a senior management role after five years of experience in a competitive role which fuses both specialty work and managerial aspects. A specialist then attains managerial responsibility upon gradual promotion which can begin from managing a group of other specialist or team to full management of the organization.
The concept of hybrid managers came into light in the awake of managers who can perform both a specialist work and manage the whole organization. For instance, a current manger in an organization may have been a senior accountant before being promoted to the role of manager. The organization may require of him or her to continue performing a senior accountancy role of approving all transactions in the organization besides overseeing other activities. In the event the manager will concentrate more on the accountancy role thereby leaving little or no time to control other processes, managerial gap exists since other processes cannot be properly and timely aligned to achieve the overall goals of the business (Gallagher 2013).
Homegrown managers usually follow four important strategies otherwise known as four remedial of management. Every employment opportunity begins with a role identification. This role is later pursued through a selection process to get the right candidate for the job who then later undergoes training and development to acquire the much needed competencies to discharge their duties professionally and successfully. The last remedial strategy that even a trained specialist ready to take up management role must undergo is the managerial monitoring. According to Niewwenhuizen (2009), this is done to ensure a yet to be promoted employee can deliver in their new position. De Silva (2013) argues that it is a common practice for a specialist employee to be trained to take up managerial role in the organization. This concepts can lead to my findings of the two mangers interviewed on their journey to their current managerial roles and to rubberstamp the applicability or non-applicability to Rees and Porter concept of managerial escalator.
Findings
The interview I carried out on the two managers who work in the same organization but on different managerial capacity. I put forward questions that were directed to find out their progress from previous job positions to the current. I also asked them their current experience in their new roles and if they are comfortable or will like to advance to the next managerial level. Additionally, I asked them about the managerial strengths they believe have enabled them perform their duties and the challenges they have encounter as well as areas they feel need improvement going forward. These inquiries were made to help me relate their managerial journey to Rees and Porter model and the concept of managerial escalator.
Manager one
My first interview was with the store manager from a leading chain store. He was an assistant store manager before being promoted to his current position after what he term as four years of dedication to his role and meeting sales target. Prior to his appointment to his current position, he revealed that he had more than three trainings on employee management, team building and team cohesion and employee motivation. He found the new position interesting having undertaken some responsibilities as acting store manager in the past when his boss was on leave so he knew what was required of him although at a high level of management. Hastings (2011) highlights that delegation can enable a junior employee acquire relevant skills when closely supervised. His main responsibility is to meet periodic sales target and organize his team towards achieving set targets. He is also tasked to keep his team members up to date with management decisions regarding various sales decision and how to discharge their duties.
During the interview, he revealed that he spend close to 85 percent of the working hours ensuring everything goes as planned and that the employees are happy and feel valued by the organization by ensuring they have the right equipment and enough working breaks necessary to help them regain strength and think of other strategies on how the team can perform better. When asked about his greatest management strength, he smile and calmly said that he has the ability to maintain a highly motivated team of employees which has been instrumental in achieving various sales target an organization objectives. One area which he feels he should improve on regards improving the overall store performance through working closely with the communication department to get real time information on various suppliers and consumer behaviors on different goods for the purpose of stocking the most demanded products.
Before his current position, he enjoyed working with his team and said he does no miss such moments since his current job provides him with the challenge he need both to grow his managerial skills and meet targets and also involves working with the team though at a different level where he ensure all employee grievances are addressed on time and the store department embark on their quest to surpass set sales target. At the moment, he revealed that he still desire to work for more years as store manager before thinking of other challenging role though as manager in the same organization but at a high level of management. Further interview revealed that he will eye for an advanced executive role when the right time comes.
Manager Two
The second interview I conducted was with an assistant store manager who has performed various roles in the organization before getting to the position twice. The interview was quite interesting owing to the fact that the assistant store manager had for the same organization in two different capacities both as asset protection manager for one year and was promoted to assistant store manager for four years before he went to another organization as a Fresh manager before coming back to be assistant store manager. He has worked for the current organization for eight years and has undergone several trainings that helped him learn about managing a team, conflict resolution and employee reward and motivation. According to him, his greatest success as an assistant store manager is meeting sales target. He pointed out different business trading quarters where his team surpassed the management target and got rewarded. He said that his current job description is something he is well conversant with and has made him love the position. He further revealed that he love his work and being part of a leading chain store is more than enough motivation and provide enough challenge for his assistant store manager’s role to get things done on time. One thing that he believe that has enabled him carry his duty with much ease is his ability to relate well with the team members and help them from time to time so as to ensure things are done as required. However, he has strong desires to get promoted to the next level of management as he feels he has accumulated enough skills that will enable his assume a more challenging task in the organization.
Discussions
This section will involve dissecting the findings of the report of the two managers interviewed. Most importantly, the discussion will explore how the above findings fits in Rees and Porter model and concept of managerial escalator.
Secondly, the findings agree to Rees and Porter concept of managerial hybrid. The organization offered training to both the managers on how to motivate employees, conflict resolution, performance and reward and team building among others. This equipped them with managerial skills which prepared them to take responsibilities in their current job positions. They can both perform their specialist task and manage other employees and control various work processes under their docket.
Thirdly, the findings reveled that both the managers understood their roles and responsibilities. For instance, the first mangers recognize his responsibility as meeting sales target while the second manager highlighted some of his responsibilities as motivating his team towards meeting sales target and solving conflicts that arises among the team members. Griffin (2013) argues that one successful trait of any man manager is to understand their roles and responsibilities to enable them delegate and control the outcome. Additionally, they acknowledge some of the areas in which they are not performing to expectation which Mahmood (2008) argues that a good manager must be identify their weaknesses and start working on them for the success of the organization.
Lastly, the findings of the report revealed that both the managers understood and loved their new roles. Both indicated that they spend at least 80 percent of their working hours performing managerial duties. This has minimized managerial gap in that the mangers dedicate most of their time to ensure things are on the right track and there is no over concentration on specialist task which could lead to existence of a big managerial gap (Watson 2014). Both the mangers also expressed strong desire to further assume more demanding managerial positions in the future with the second manger desiring for a full managerial role in the coming years while the first manager has his eyes set on a more executive position in the years to come. There desires fits Rees and Porters model and concept of managerial escalator recognizing the fact that for them to get to the next level, they need more experience and polish on their skills and at the same time make their current managerial weaknesses to strengths as that will be a good move for a more challenging role in the future. Lussier (2011) posits that turning weaknesses to strengths is a bold step towards attaining exemplary managerial skills at any level in an organization.
Conclusion
In summary, my report findings reveal that Rees and Porter concept of managerial escalator fits the two managers’ career path. They both begun their careers as specialist and later acquire relevant trainings and experienced that enabled them to get promoted to managerial position. Furthermore, the findings revealed that the training both the mangers underwent helped in eliminating managerial gap. It helped them become hybrid managers something that makes them attractive employees to the organization. Lastly they both have future aspirations to be promoted to higher managerial positions.
Bibliography
Cecile Niewwenhuizen, 2009. Business Management for Entrepreneurs (Entrepreneurship series). 3rd edition Edition. Double Storey Publishers.
Gillian Watson, 2014. Developing Skills for Business Leadership. 2nd Revised edition Edition. Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development.
Kevin Gallagher, 2013. Skills Development for Business and Management Students: Study and Employability. 2 Edition. Oxford University Press.
Mahmood A. Khan, 2008. Developing management skills: reading between lines: Games and Exercises. Edition. AuthorHouse.
Rees, W.D & Porter, C, 2015. Skills of Management (6th Edition) London, Cengage.
Ricky Griffin, 2013. Management Skills: Assessment and Development (Explore Our New Management 1st Editions). 1 Edition. South-Western College Pub.
Robert N. Lussier, 2011. Management Fundamentals: Concepts, Applications, Skill Development. 5 Edition. Cengage Learning
Robert D Hastings, 2011. Managing a Small Business: A guide to successful small business management. Edition. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform.
Titus De Silva, 2013. Essential Management Skills for Pharmacy and Business Managers. 1 Edition. Productivity Press
Appendix 1
Interview Schedule
Could you please describe your career path to date?
How did you make it to your current managerial role?
In your journey to the current position, did you receive any professional trainings? If yes, how did the training shape you to your current job position?
How long do you spend in normal working hours managing your staff?
In your past job position how did you manage to supervise staff under you?
What motivated you to management role?
What are some of the areas of management you would wish to improve on going forward?
What are some of the duties and responsibilities that consume most of your working hours?
On a normal working day, what percentage do you spend executing your managerial duties?
Do you enjoy being a manager and would what managerial position are you looking forward for in the future?
Appendix 2
Interviewees
Aaron Pew
Store Manager at Walmart
Jeremiah Caro
Assistant Store Manager at Walmart
