In today’s world of ever-changing career options, one has to be weary of mid level management’s motivation for the implementation of processes and rules meant to move an organization forward. Are these processes meant for the betterment of departments within organizations or are they meant to appease senior managers? Is the implementation of new ways of doing things just a stepping stone to working ones way up the corporate ladder or do these leaders actually think they are affecting positive change?
2016 labor statistics show that younger people are not staying in the same job very long in fact; “Median employee tenure was generally higher among older workers than younger ones. For example, the median tenure of workers ages 55 to 64 (10.1 years) was more than three times that of workers ages 25 to 34 years (2.8 years). Also, a larger proportion of older workers than younger workers had 10 years or more of tenure. Among workers ages 60 to 64, 55 percent were employed for at least 10 years with their current employer in January 2016, compared with only 13 percent of those ages 30 to 34 (BLS 2016). The point of these statistics is to show how people are taking power step by step. Pfeffer (2011) referred to this phenomenon in his interview with Gary Hummel, by telling us that power is not granted, it is taken and in my opinion young people will take the experience they get and translate that into power in the next position.
In my department at Verizon, I have seen three executive directors come and go, I am in my fourth director in six years. This is a way for these directors to gain expert power and move on. “Expert power is the power of knowledge” (Hughes et al., P113). The directors come in take the knowledge they need and move on. These directors are in a sense taking power as Pfeffer states, Power is 80 percent taken and only 20 percent given, and the more knowledge the directors have the more useful they can be to senior managers. Prior to my delving into this martial, I could not understand why our mid level managers moved around so much, having researched this, I see now that moving up the ladders and gaining power in a corporation sometimes requires lateral moves that result in expertise.
References:
Bureau of Labor statistics 2016: Retrieved on 02-26-2017 from https://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/tenure.pdf
Hughes, R. L., Ginnett, R. C., & Curphy, G. J. (1993). Leadership: Enhancing the Lessons of Experience. Ch. 5. Homewood , IL: Irwin. https://reserve-libraries-psu-edu.ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/psych/485/48501.pdf
Pfeffer, J. (2011, February 18). Power and Influence in the Collaborative Age. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXGQqwVb018&feature=youtu.be
rkw5148 says
Hi Sebastian,
I have a few thoughts regarding your post. Your questioning of mid-management’s motivation for implementing processes definitely resonates with me. I have spent most of my career questioning motives. I think it is important, though, to frame this questioning properly. Mid level managers, just like most employees, want to advance their careers. To do this, they have to ensure productivity and with new managers and technology, the processes have to follow. New managers bring new perspectives and ideas, which usually results in changes. I do this every time I assume control of a new Rescue Swimmer Shop. I look for ways to improve efficiency. This usually means my guys are going to have to adapt to my style and institute my changes, which requires extra work. If I have properly demonstrated my power base, eg. expert knowledge, legitimate power and hopefully some referent power (Penn State University World Campus, 2017), usually I will have the ability to influence my guys to implement these changes with a good attitude. My motivation is to make my shop function well, but also to advance my career. I guess that is the point; mid level managers are trying to advance using you guys to do it, but it only works if they can influence you to follow them and their changes are valuable.
Additionally, I want to share a discussion I watched by a man named Simon Sinek. He talked about shorter tenures in the workplace among millennials (Sinek, 2016). He pointed out they remain in a given job for less than five years due to their desire to cause valuable changes immediately and their frustration when they see it is not possible to quickly become a change maker (Sinek, 2016). You pointed out how older workers have longer tenures in their positions and that is a result of a different professional attitude. There used to be a pension system, which rewarded employees for spending a career with the same company. Those are disappearing in favor of 401K’s that an employee can take with them. People leaving their jobs early is not just to glean information and experience and move on. One can only move on and up if they can provide value, which takes time to develop. Upper level managers are experts in their fields and can add a lot of value more quickly than an inexperienced employee. They would be more likely to work for a company for a few years, make an impact and then market themselves based on their impactful actions.
I am not saying you are wrong by any means. I think your opinion and experience are interesting. I just think there are different ways of interpreting what we see.
Works Cited
Penn State University World Campus. (2017, Jan 9). PSYCH 485: Lesson 7. State College, PA.
Sinek, S. (2016, October 29). Simon Sinek on Millennials in the Workplace. Retrieved 02 27, 2017
axt5233 says
Hello Sebastian!
The statistics you mentioned are very interesting! I was just talking to my sister the other day about this topic. She actually wants to move to another city but she is planning on staying at her current job for the next year or two so that she can continue to build on her experiences in order to move up the ladder of power. Do you think it is a bad thing that young people nowadays are willing to use any experience or situation in order to get a more powerful position in their next or current job? You mentioned that your company went through four directors in 6 years. Do you think this has anything to do with the conflicts that might have been aroused due to the power struggle?
Thank you for your post!
-Aruba Tariq