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Managers in the Making
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Managers in the Making
Careers, Development and Control in Corporate Britain and Japan



May 1997 | 272 pages | SAGE Publications Ltd
Using original data, Managers in the Making presents a thorough analysis of the processes by which managers are made in Britain and Japan. It provides a detailed comparative study of the careers, training, developmental experience and job demands of managers in eight named companies, matching British firms with Japanese counterparts. Using qualitative and quantitative data the authors offer an understanding of these processes within organizational, sectoral and national contexts. Managers' perceptions, reactions and concerns are recorded and analysed throughout.
 
Introduction
 
Contexts
Britain and Japan

 
 
Management Development Systems in British and Japanese Companies
 
Managerial Labour Markets and Management Careers
 
Training and Education
 
Management Development
Processes and Systems

 
 
The Evaluation, Reward and Control of Managers
 
Conclusions
Comparative Lessons

 
 
Appendix A
Sample and Methods

 
 
Appendix B
Questionnaire

 

`This is a very well structured piece of research on potential differences in how managers are "made" in the UK compared with Japan....This is an excellent and much needed piece of work, particularly because it is comparative in nature as well as simply looking at Japanese processes without relating them to the wider world - a significant extension of the comments made in the original Charles Handly led study on the making of managers' - Industrial and Commercial Training

`It is refreshing to read a book on Britain and Japan that does not rest its analysis solely on comparisons at the national level....a welcome addition to the literature that explores the attitudes of managers in organizational contexts, and considers the variation between sectors instead of just stereotyping the Japanese' - Human Resource Management Journal

`This book, written mostly by academics at Warick University, provides a detailed comparative study of the careers, training, developmental experience and job demands of managers in eight named companies, matching a British firm with a japanese counterpart. Using qualitative and quantitative data, it offers an understanding of management development within organizational, sectoral and national contexts. Managers' perceptions, reactions and concerns are recorded and analysed throughtout' - IDS Study Personnel Publications 1997

`Managers in the Making goes below the surface to provide an in-depth study of four pairs of matched companies from Britain and Japan.... For me, the key lessons of Managers in the Making are: management development must be long term, not subject to fads and fashions; people need to be developed before they become managers; broad experience and challenging assignments are needed early in a person's career; senior managers should be given responsibility for developing junior managers and then assessed on their performance.... The authors, in cutting through all the management development pseudo-psychological mumbo jumbo,have performed a great service' - People Management

'This is easily the best book of its kind since Dore... it comes from a well-structured piece of collaborative research, carried out by a strong team. Inevitably, they find that the reality is more complex than the stereotypes, but the stereotype is not totally misplaced. Japanese management development is more systematic and continuous' - Professor Andrew Thomson, President of the British Academy of Management

'This should be a must-read for the corporate leaders of Britain. The authors hold up a mirror of Japanese policy and culture to draw comparisons and contrasts with British lack of long-term thinking and integration. Many British managers evidently do not have a clear idea of what is important for their career, or even who "owns" it.'- Roger Young, Director General of the Institute of Management, UK

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