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Hypotheses pertaining to relatedness satisfactions and desires were derived from ERG theory and tested in an experimental social psychology laboratory. Twenty-one adult male middle and upper middle managers participated in role playing activities based upon actual work experiences described by the men in interviews beforehand. Three degrees of mutuality and relatedness satisfaction were created in the role playing experiment. The managers' desires for relatedness varied as a function of the experimental conditions and supported the hypothesized curvilinear relationship between relatedness satisfaction and desires. These results proved to be consistent with previous results obtained by field correlational methods and thus provide a link between the two methodologies for the study of human needs in organizational settings. The study also presents a new behavior coding system for scoring mutuality in interpersonal behavior and demonstrates that high degrees of relatedness satisfaction can be produced in a laboratory settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Because of the reluctance of marketing men to publicize failures, there has been a tendency for managers to avoid the analysis of the possible effects of wrong decisions in the marketing process. Yet these wrong decisions can easily cause failure of the entire enterprise. This article sets forth a positive way to deal with the negative aspects of marketing decision making. The author presents a framework for the analysis of market risk in such a way that the reader can appreciate the dual nature of marketing decisions, the risk element as well as the profit element. In this way the possible effects of both good and bad decisions can be seen clearly before the initial action us taken. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article describes research determining the different perceptions of qualifications for the first-level, field sales manager's job from various points of view. Leadership, organization and administrative ability, and ability to get along with people are the key requirements for the first- level sales manager's position. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study presents data comparing managerial and supervisory orientations to bureaucratic procedures in nine bureaucratic organizations. A negative orientation to bureaucracy, called autonomy, was found to typify middle managers more than other positions. It was also found to characterize banks more than production organizations and unprofitable more than profitable production organizations. It is argued that the orientation to autonomy is a symbolic expression of frustrated mobility needs characteristic of those who perceive the unlikeliness of continued advancement within their organization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Questionnaire data from eighty-seven middle-management personnel in a bank planning a merger with a larger bank were analyzed. Attitudes toward the merger tended to be unfavorable, although they ranged from very favorable to very unfavorable. Favorable attitudes were related to older age, lack of previous success in the organization, high morale, and high F-scale scores (authoritarianism). Unfavorable attitudes toward the merger seemed to be principally associated with: younger age, a pattern of success in the organization, low current morale, and low authoritarianism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Seven levels of management from five electric utility companies rated eight cases involving infraction of rules by hourly workers on a disciplinary action scale. Higher level managers rated the cases more severely and cases involving safety violations were judged most severely by all managers. Among several demographic and structural variables examined, only number of managerial levels was associated with company differences in ratings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses a study that tested the generalizability of the relationship between birth order and achievement in a sample of middle managers. The measure of achievement in the study was determined by the average rate of earnings progression. One hundred and four middle managers were seperated into four categories, depending on their birth order. The results indicated that only children as well as the eldest sibling tended to be the most successful. The study has also found that the youngest of more than two children would be intermediate in earnings progression, while the other children tended to show the smallest earnings progression increases.

The article presents the result of a survey on the attitude of lower level managers toward the open line program of the U.S. Air Force in Wiesbaden, Germany. The open line program was established to enable anyone in the organization to dial a widely advertised telephone number any time or night and have his message recorded and personally heard or read by the wing commander or his staff. A total of 94 lower level managers, between operatives and wing headquarters, who were subject to bypass by the open line program, were interviewed. The vast majority of respondents expressed resentment towards the program, only six of the respondents expressed favorable attitudes toward the program.

The article analyzes the long-term effects of an organizational development program involving middle managers of a marketing organization in a national pharmaceutical house. The program was implemented at a time when the company was attempting to stabilize markets for some of its traditional product lines. The company recognized the need for organizational change brought on by increased competition, rising operating costs, the tightening of government controls, as well as other factors. An analysis of the program, which lasted 245 days, shows that regional managers increased in points on the Likert scale, while divisional managers somewhat decreased, However, in the following year divisional managers showed improvement.

This study attempts to determine whether differences exist in the perception of the first-level manager's authority as seen by the first-level manager and his immediate superior. It also attempts to relate the differences that are observed to some general factors which might suggest variables or obstacles that inhibit the communication process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A field experiment was conducted in a specialty steel plant that was attempting to improve human relations practices. The research design included the use of an experimental and a control group and pre training, post training, and post-post training measurements. The independent variables were 1) the effect of the 28-week training program, and 2) the longitudinal effect of training. Dependent variables were knowledge, attitudes, and behavior. The statistical results indicated that the training was ineffective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Concerning the impact of automation on managerial jobs, the following prediction is provocative. "By 1985, we will possess the technical capability required to handle most managerial jobs with machines." Leavitt and Whisler foresee as a consequence of automation an increasing gulf between the few middle managers that are left over and the top executives. These statements seem to foreshadow widespread technological unemployment for numerous managers. They also suggest that the content of managerial jobs will become simpler. On the other hand, MacNiece, speaking of "automatic computers" in connection with the production control manager's job, predicts a change toward greater difficulties and complexities. Such conflicting predictions call for empirical studies. More facts should be known about the extent and the characteristics of changes in managerial jobs due to the introduction and use of computers. This would help in recruitment, training, payment, and the establishment of performance standards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports the author's opinions regarding human relations training for middle managers. The author focuses on responding to the article "Human Relations Training for Middle Management: A Field Experiment," by Herbert H. Hand and John W. Slocum, published in the December 1970 issue. Topics of discussion include organizational behavior and the attitude scores of middle managers.

This article discusses a comparison between managers of large capitalist companies in France, Great Britain and United States. In the study of decisions made by the independent producing organizations of the economy (enterprises in capitalist countries), it has traditionally been assumed that all behavior will be consistent with what is considered to be best for the organization as a whole. The author states that increase of personal income, greater authority, expansion of the possibilities for exercising creativity in decision-making: all these are accompaniments of promotion. The manager with genuine possibilities of promotion may be assumed to behave in a fashion that will enhance these chances. When the manager advances to the peak of the company hierarchy, his behavior there will be shaped by his earlier experience. The lower or middle manager has little chance of either promotion or demotion, which is not only robbed of incentive, he is also freed of the need for concern with achieving the company's goals, as these are set forth by the company's board of directors.

The author (who has had thirty years' experience as a working mechanic) here discusses the functions of foremanship, disputing the common view that a foreman must be something of a martinet if he is to preserve discipline. He outlines the qualifications of the ideal foreman, chief among these being knowledge of the job, tact, and an even temper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A decision model of the Wallach and Kogan choice dilemma question is defined and used to identify a model relating the impact of status differentials upon group risk taking. The model was tested on groups of mature, middle management level, U. S. Government employees working at the same installation. One set of groups consisted of one high status conservative and two lower status nonconservatives. Another set of groups consisted of one low status conservative and two higher status nonconservatives. A third set of groups was composed of members at about the same level of status and conservatism. The high status conservative and the low status conservative shifted in a risky fashion and there was a significant overt conservative shift on the postdiscussion questionnaire. The low status risky subjects shifted conservatively with a risky overt shift on the postdiscussion questionnaire. The high status risky members evidenced a risky shift with no overt conservative shift. The low status differential groups all tended to shift in a risky fashion with no subsequent conservative overt shift. The results are not consistent with either the Brown value of risk hypothesis or the Wallach, Kogan, and Bern diffusion of responsibility hypothesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes how the items in G. G. Stern's Organizational Climate Index were reconceptualized according to the concepts appropriate to the business organization—the instrument has been. called the Business Organization Climate Index, or BOCI. The resulting 24 scales were submitted to item analysis and tested for split-half reliability on a sample of 120 junior managers from more than 100 different companies. Factor analysis of the scales revealed two main factors. Organizational Progressiveness and formative Control. The reconceptualization is compared with Stern's conceptualization of the items. The construct validity of BOCI is tested by comparing the "Climate" in three organizations contrasted in terms of their organization structure. The conclusion presents 12 possible types of data that can be collected about persons and their environments and indicates how the BOCI and Stern's measures fit into such a scheme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Herzberg two-factor theory of job satisfaction was studied in relation to Labour turnover. Ratings of satisfaction for intrinsic and extrinsic job factors, together with reasons for remaining with or leaving organisations were obtained from a group of middle managers who had recently resigned from their jobs, and a contrasting group who had been in their jobs for at least twelve months. There were no significant differences between the two groups in job satisfaction scores. Reasons given for remaining with organisations involved the same job factors as the reasons for leaving them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main conclusion to be derived from this research on 146-164 managers, half of them English and half American, is that their response to five questionnaires administered while they were attending management courses was surprisingly similar. There was some small difference between the English and American groups in their evaluation of work satisfactions which were flow available to them, with the American group feeling slightly less satisfied. Both groups indicated relatively high satisfaction in the "Social" and "Security" needs areas. There was considerable agreement on the importance of these satisfactions in absolute terms with Self-realisation needs very much in the lead. The American-English agreement on incentives was also high, with "Prospects of Promotion," "Efficiency" and "Pay" receiving top scores. The managers ranking of what they believed to be the incentives of their subordinates, showed (as one would expect), less consistency and agreement, but in both national samples a picture emerges of the subordinate being thought of as a man with less dynamism and less unselfish dedication to work than his superior. This considerable similarity in attitudes and judgements of a sample of English and American managers will require further careful analysis.' Although both groups attended courses on management, these similarities cannot be attributed to any effect of "teaching" since the course subjects were different and a major part of the enquiry was carried out very early in the courses. Nor can it be said, with any measure of conviction, that the similarities in response are due to the Subjects giving the kind of answers which they felt that the researchers wanted to get. Most of the results are not at all obvious in the sense that they fit in with stereotyped expectations. On the contrary, some answers go against what can be called the popular view. It is often assumed for instance that a successful manager should be `sociable', should be able to `mix well' with different groups and have a `sense of humour' though he must not `lose respect by excessive familiarity'. Many people would add that he should be `capable of doing the jobs which he expects his subordinates to perform'. Such a manager would be a `pleasant working companion' and would thereby be able to obtain good group results. However, in the present research, every one of the qualities mentioned in the previous paragraph obtained very low priorities by both the British and the American sample (see Tables 3 and 5). Both groups in this research are middle managers who come, on the whole, from progressive firms, but they are separated geographically by 8,000 miles and noticeably different socio-economic circumstances (the American group coming mainly from the western parts of the U.S.A. centering on California). One group is the inheritor of an industrial tradition that goes back to the 18th century and achieved "maturity" in terms of Rostows analysis of the stages of growth' in the 1850s, while the other group draws on experiences that started more than a hundred years later and whose "maturity" was delayed until the end of the first world war. Nor can there be much doubt that the pattern of life, consumption habits and business practices of the two managerial groups are very different. One group comes from an area in which industrial development has been rapid and spectacular during the last thirty years (California), while the other operates in a much more sedate economic climate. In these circumstances, the similarity of expressed attitudes is particularly noteworthy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The progress of management science is dependent on our understanding of the manager's working processes. A review of the literature indicates that this understanding is superficial at best. Empirical study of the work of five managers (supported by those research findings that are available) led to the following description: Managers perform ten basic roles which fall into three groupings. The interpersonal roles describe the manager as figurehead, external liaison, and leader; the information processing roles describe the manager as the nerve center of his organization's information system; and the decision-making roles suggest that the manager is at the heart of the system by which organizational resource allocation, improvement, and disturbance decisions are made. Because of the huge burden of responsibility for the operation of these systems, the manager is called upon to perform his work at an unrelenting pace, work that is characterized by variety, discontinuity and brevity. Managers come to prefer issues that are current, specific, and ad hoc, and that are presented in verbal form. As a result, there is virtually no science in managerial work. The management scientist has done little to change this. He has been unable to understand work which has never been adequately described, and he has poor access to the manager's information, most of which is never documented. We must describe managerial work more precisely, and we must model the manager as a programmed system. Only then shall we be able to make a science of management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article cites a study conducted by the Industrial Relations Center of the University of Chicago, Illinois, which focuses on drawing a comparison between the management styles of two steel companies: Indiana Harbor Works, located in East Chicago, Indiana, and Dortmund-Hörde Huttenunion (DHHU), located in Dortmund, Germany. The companies are nearly the same size, in that they retain a similar number of employees, but the production standards experienced by DHHU are far greater than those of Inland. It is suggested that the reason for this divergence has to do with the use of different machinery and different manufacturing processes. A chart comparing top and middle management employees working at both companies is provided. The formal educational training of executives is discussed.

The article reports on key issues relevant to the use of statistical techniques by middle management. A group of student economists taking the statistics course of the Executive Program of the University of Chicago during 1952, 1953, and 1954 were required by their professor, W. Allen Wallace, to turn in a term paper analyzing the effect communication patterns have upon the operation of groups. The author focuses on examining the information compiled from the term papers, including general problems that the students observed as well as inefficiencies generated in eight specific categories including business forecasting, predictive techniques, and scheduling and inventory control. Marketing techniques are called into question. Common mistakes made in the interpretation of data are also discussed.

The Civil Service Commission created Executive Seminar Centers in Kings Point, New York, in 1963, and in Berkeley, California, in 1966, and a Federal Executive Institute in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 1968. These first two aim at middle managers, while the Institute is designed for the top cadre of civil servants (GS 16-18, the "supergrades"). This article concerns the seminar centers, for they will, is suspected, serve as a model for future middle-management training both in and outside the federal government. They are the showcase for federal management training, and it is fair to say that some of the Commission's prestige and leadership in the training field rides on their success. This article proceeds as follows: the first part will outline briefly just what the centers aim to do and how they go about it, while the second part will evaluate the matters of the lecture method and the broadening of specialists. There is the need to underline the emphasis on the outside lecture method as a development and teaching process, noting its strengths and weaknesses in the center context, and thus suggesting that alternate strategies in future seminars might also prove fruitful.

The article presents comments on the report "Higher Education for Public Service," by John C. Honey, chairman of the Council on Graduate Education for Public Administration (CGEPA). Several facets of the problems of strengthening the public service relatively quickly and of developing adequate support for future well-prepared top administrators are discussed. According to the author, in order to enhance the practical aspects of training and to gain acceptance by the full-fledged professional, training programs will have to reflect, at least generally, the work categories represented by the professions or other principal occupational specialties present or emerging on the American scene. The current practices of position classification and other features of public personnel administration also underline the need for such a specialized approach. The author recognizes that the ambitious goals that the report outlines will have to be subjected to some order of priorities. In establishing that order, it should be remembered that the needs of the public service exist not only for the long term but for the immediate present.

The article focuses on the role of biographical information on the performance of middle managers. Managerial selection decisions are usually based on past performance of the prospective managers, in the form of production records and/or performance ratings. However, biographical information does not usually play any role in the decision. But the identification of biographical correlates of performance does not necessarily mean the particular items will be automatically useful for selection. The present study has three purposes, investigation of the relationship of personal history information to middle manager performance, the examination of the various rating dimensions or traits in reference to specific biographical items and the comparison of the relationships of biographical items and performance ratings made by superiors to those biographical items related to subordinate ratings. The three types of managers involved in this study were plant managers, department heads and foremen. The "key level" of the study was the department heads, operationally defined as a manager who supervises at least two foremen. The biographical information was contained in a 41-item inventory using a multiple-choice format.

As compared with the employed population as a whole, persons in middle management positions appear to have a substantially lower desire for security and for financial reward, and a higher desire for self-actualization. They do not differ from the employed population in the desire for power over others. Those middle managers who are successful are likely to have less desire for security and high financial reward than those who are unsuccessful, and the successful ones are more likely to value self-actualization. The desire for power over others appears to be unrelated to success in positions at the middle-management levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]