Managing in the Modern Corporation: The Intensification of Managerial Work in the USA, UK and Japan

by John Hassard , Leo McCann , Jonathan Morris

• ISBN13: 9780521845823
• ISBN10: 0521845823
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2009-11-30
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

In recent years, widespread organisational change in large corporations has almost invariably led to work intensification and increased stress for managers. Managing in the Modern Corporation explains how and why large companies have changed their organisational structures and philosophies, focusing in particular on how these changes affect the careers of middle managers. Based on in-depth interviews with over two hundred middle and senior managers working in large corporations in the USA, UK and Japan, it shows how the working lives of managers have been subjected to major disruption, involving work intensification and reduced opportunities for career progression. Furthermore, it argues that such widespread overwork and poor treatment of highly skilled and highly motivated staff has created a major international problem that must be addressed. The book presents a range of solutions to this important problem, suggesting that there are possibilities for saner, less brutal organisational environments.

Author Biography

Stewart Clegg, Professor of Organisational and Work Culture, University of Aston Business School

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements	p. ix
About the cover	p. x
Going under the knife: Downsizing and de-layering the modern corporation	p. 1
How much corporate change?	p. 8
Why restructure?	p. 15
Assessing the impacts of restructuring on middle managers	p. 21
Who are the middle managers? And why study them?	p. 24
Restructuring public administration: Different roots, similar outcomes	p. 34
Conclusions	p. 35
Exploring corporate life: A realist view on management restructuring	p. 39
Theorising the organisation and control of managerial labour	p. 43
Living in the house that Jack built: Management restructuring in America	p. 55
USRecruit:ÆYou had a job for life, even if you stunkÆ	p. 62
USElectronics:ÆCutting and caringÆ	p. 69
	p. 85
USAuto:ÆNot empowered, just more responsibleÆ	p. 95
US Engineering: ÆEvery day is a final examÆ	p. 110
Conclusions 121
Maximising shareholder value: Management restructuring in Britain	p. 124
UKAuto:ÆWhat is the rationale? The rationale is saving fucking money!Æ	p. 129
UKUtilities:ÆWe are here to make money for shareholdersÆ	p. 141
UKInsurance:ÆManaging in a öone per cent environmentöÆ	p. 151
UKBank:ÆThere is life beyond it, but you donÆt think that at the timeÆ	p. 165
Conclusions	p. 174
New world of the salaryman: Management restructuring in Japan	p. 175
JAutoComps and JAutoGroup:ÆManaging the cost-down strategyÆ	p. 187
JElectronics:ÆA difficult economic scenarioÆ	p. 203
JEngineering:Ælncreas(ing) the per capita activityÆ	p. 206
JSteel:ÆMany ranks and layers just flattenedÆ	p. 209
JUSBank:ÆIn Japanese companies theyÆve got boysÆ jobs and girlsÆjobsÆ	p. 215
Conclusions	p. 223
Fighting back? Addressing the human costs of management restructuring	p. 228
The human costs of change: Overwork, stress and anxiety	p. 229
The modern corporation: Increased pressure, heightened tension	p. 232
Resisting the new organisational ideology	p. 239
The limits of æresponsible restructuringÆ	p. 245
Restoring the dignity of managerial work	p. 250
Conclusions	p. 255
Appendix	p. 258
References	p. 260
Index	p. 274
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