Are the Rewards Worth the Effort? Changing Managerial Values in the 1980s

Abstract

The manager was once depicted as the “organisation man”. Managers, it was claimed, regarded their work and careers as central life interests around which other activities and relationships were structured. If families and friends were not entirely neglected, they were nonetheless, regarded as secondary to career progress. Within organisations, managers were seen as the creators, custodians and, in career terms, the prime beneficiaries of hierarchical authority structures. If corporate expansion and economic growth during the 1950s and 60s underpinned this view, contraction and recession in the 70s and 80s have begun to undermine it.