Managerial uncertainty as a feature of organizational form: a sociological perspective

Abstract

Purpose

This paper sets out to review the sociological perspective on the changing role of managers in US corporations following the demise of Fordist hierarchies.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper reviews literature on how changing managerial prerogatives altered the control of the workplace, and provides a theoretically informed assessment of the current impasse.

Findings

The post‐Second World War decades saw sustained economic growth that was predicated on an employment relationship in which managers and workers had relatively secure career ladders within firms and were provided with regular pay increases. The changing competitive environment in the 1980s altered this relationship: traditional hierarchical structures were increasingly subject to internal market forces, and organizations supplanted and supplemented their operations with network forms.

Originality/value

The paper shows how workplace changes increased insecurity for managers by questioning the traditional operation of that role within organizations; though simultaneously, these changes served to enhance features of overall organizational efficiency and equalize opportunity for career advancement.

Citation

Saylor Breckenridge, R. and Taplin, I.M. (2009), "Managerial uncertainty as a feature of organizational form: a sociological perspective", Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, Vol. 24 No. 7, pp. 487-495. https://doi.org/10.1108/08858620910986721