Assessment title:

Examine the extent to which the career paths of two managers conform, or do not conform, to the pattern of the Managerial Escalator.  Reflect on the potential implications of the Managerial Escalator model and the findings of your interviews for your own career.

Abstract

The main objective of this report is to observe how we can apply the managerial escalator theory to different career paths of two different managers. We will discuss in a first part about the managerial escalator concept from Rees and Porter’s point of view. In a second step, there will be highlights and analysis of the two interviews.

First of all, the interview focuses on the background of both of the managers and their path. In a second part, the interview will be reoriented on the advantages and disadvantages of being a manager and the problems that they faced to become what they are. Finally, this interview smoothly moved to the choice between their specialized job or the actual one. After reflection, It has been found that the two managers interviewed may be subjects to the concept of managerial escalator.

Table of content

1° Introduction…………………………………………4

2° The theory of the managerial escalator………………….. 6

3° findings and Analysis of both interviews…………………8

4° Personal reflection………………………………………..11

5° Conclusion………………………………………………..13

6° References…………………………………………………14

7° Appendices………………………………………………..14

Introduction

‘’The first rule of management is delegation. Don’t try and do everything yourself because you can’t. ‘’     

                                                                                                                                        -Anthea Turner

Effectively, the key to a successful internal organization in a small or either a large company is the structured delegation of power, how different employees are hierarchized according to their level of knowledge and skills in order to ensure the proper functioning of this company. It is finally all about management. But what is management ? 

‘’Management is the art of getting things done through people’’ (Mary Parker Follet). In other academic words, management is the process of planning, organising, directing and controlling activities of and using resources of an organisation for accomplishing the organisational goals efficiently. 

This report will therefore analyse the interviews of both of the manager and then highlight the correlated points between those last and the theory of the managerial escalator that will be of course explained.

In a first part, there will be an explanation of the concept of the managerial escalator as said before with the help of Rees and Porter’s book ‘’ Skills of management and leadership: managing people in organisation ‘’.

In a second part, there will be an exposure of the findings from both interviews and then an analysis of these last.

In a third section, a personal reflection about my own desired future career path will be exposed.

To conclude, a conclusion will be made to highlight the main arguments that will help us to answers to the main general question suggested for this report.

The managerial escalator theory

According to (Rees and Porter, 2008 p4), “The concept of managerial escalator seeks to explain how specialists become managers”. In other words, this concept explains and analyses how a specialist working in a company can acquires knowledge and skills to be shifted as a manager and therefore have responsibilities to honor. There is many methods for a specialized worker to become a manager. Most of the time, companies provide trainings for employees so they can acquire managerial skills and then become more performant. One of the most used technique is that companies ask for the help of a high skilled trainer that will assist the specialized employees. They will , thanks to trainings session develop leadership, communication, collaboration, critical thinking and self-improvement skills that will help them becoming effective managers.

But actually not all the specialized workers will have the chance to  benefit from this trainings. First of all, you need to at least to be working for the company in question for a long period of time so you can proof your loyalty because the trainings costs money to the company so they will not invest on the first one coming. Also, a person with a specialized job that work efficiently can be promoted by 2 different techniques. He can benefit from a job empowerment. Job empowerment is when a company decides to delegate more ‘’power’’ to his employee. That implies an increase of their decision making and authority. It is therefore giving them more authority and decision-making freedom so they can be more ready to become managers. It is a big step forward who brings you closer of the job of manager.

Companies can also organise trips with employees to help them developpe a group cohesion and strong communicating and exchanging skills. It helps build solid and durable links between employees and at the end make them work better in groups.

findings and Analysis of both interviews

Both of the persons interviewed are two managers who are occupying an important place in the company they work in. 

Interview A:

The first person questioned occupies the place of the CEO in the company. Scapir S.A.R.L (the name of the company) is an organisation that have as the main activity the import and resale of car parts all around Morocco. The job of Mr Noureddine is to mainly place orders with suppliers, control the sales, regulate the stocks and decide the retail prices. The interview mainly went around questions about his path, and how he became nowadays the CEO of his proper company. He created the company in 1987, which means 32 years ago. He is therefore very old in this car part environment and knows very well how the market works and operate. At the age of 20 years old, he started working as a mechanic for a company that had fast repair garages and was selling spare car parts at the same time. After 5 years, the company decided to enlarge his job: he became a representative of the company. His mission was to travel Morocco and to sell the car parts for the company. He therefore saw his responsibilities going up as he have a car to travel now, a wallet provided by the company to pay the oil, hotel nights and food and he is now a major actor of the sales of the company. He did not received any training to become a representative but he acquired the knowledge by staying a 100% focused. So the company saw that he was enough mature and engaged to be upgraded. After 4 years of being a representative, he became the manager of all the representatives for the same company. He had to coordinate the various salesmen and assign to each one his respective geographical area of work. after Noureddine felt to have acquired enough knowledge in the field, he decided to quit this company at the age of 32 years old and to start his own.

For this first manager, we can see that he did not received any training to become a manager. What helped him is the experience that he acquired with the time. He learned through his past jobs discipline, forward planning, communication and people managing, in other words, the main points of a successful manager.

Interview B:

The second manager interviewed is a person named Larbi Tagnaouti. He

Now the CEO of a company that trade iron and steel all around Africa. He count today 12 employees to his credit in an office located in Casablanca, Morocco. He is a ambitious and active CEO and manager that is always close to his employees and receptive to them.

Larbi graduated in a first step in London. He obtained a degree in finance  and then got the chance to do an internship in a company named ‘’Stemcor’’ based in the UK that deals iron and steel materials. At the end of the internship, he got an offer from them to work as a trader. He work for the company for 5 years and then, they decided to give him the big responsibility of the whole north African market. Before starting the transfer operations, he received trainings in London. He was attending coaching sessions and has been subject to long formative conversations with high-placed people in the company. So he moved back to his home country and opened an office with 3 people working in with him. After 6 years, he decided to open his proper trading office named ‘’IJ trading ‘’ but didn’t quit his past job: He was working for his own company and at the other one at the same time: he upgraded the number of employees to 12. In 2015, he decided to quit his first job to keep going only with his proper company.

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As highlighted from the interview, Larbi stayed very motivated all long of his journey. He also received the necessaries formations and trainings to become a manager. He learned  managerial techniques in theory before applying them directly into real life. He is the only manager in his company and he tries to supervise practically most of the operations. He is also very close to his employees to motivate them and make them feel encouraged most of the time so they can work more effectively.

Personal reflection

This study made me realise that after my graduation, firstly I would like to stay in London and get an internship to directly apply what I have learned during my years of study and more specifically develop my managerial skills. This experience can help me improve my abilities to manage one or more people. I know that I won’t probably have a managerial job directly after I graduate but one can easily learn just by watching his pairs doing a job they intend to do. That’s my objective : accumulate as much experience as I can during my postgraduate period. As I said, my main objective would be to firstly work in London but also in different countries of the world in order to understand and learn different way of managing people before going back home in Morocco. Indeed, I intend to go back to Casablanca, Morocco to take over the family business but also to bring knowledge to my economy and my country. My absolute goal would be to develop my family’s business and open fast repair garages in different cities with my father’s help who is already in the car’s spare part business. I think it’s also important for me to firstly walk behind my father’s step because he has more than thirty years of experience in this area and knows perfectly how to manage and handle the Moroccan workforce. Indeed in every countries, people work differently and what I aim to do is to add all the knowledge acquired during my postgraduate years to my father’s knowledge to be even stronger and help him develop even more the business and eventually make it even bigger. In fact, in my opinion, a good manager is someone who is able to adjust himself to different situations and understand what is the best way to handle and manage people and for me you can only get that thanks to experience.

Conclusion

To put a final point to the report, both of the interviews ended up by being related in one way or another to the theory of managerial escalator. One case being formally trained to become a manager and another with other ways. 

The first manager, Mr Noureddine was working at the beginning as a mechanic which is a specialized job and was promoted to the job of manager thanks to experience and skills that he gained on the field.

The second manager, Mr Larbi was from the beginning a high skilled employee and climbed the steps until becoming the representative of the brand in north Africa. But in comparison with Mr Noureddine, he received professional and formal trainings. After a quick explanation of the managerial theory to both of the managers during the interview, they assumed that they have found themselves in this concept.

References

Rees, W. and Porter, C. (2008). Skills of management. London: Cengage Learning

Appendix 2:

As a CEO, what is the main activity of your company?

What is your background?

Do you think you are paid enough for what you are doing in this company?

What are the problems you are facing being a manager?

) If you had the choice to come back to your specialized job, would you?

Did you receive a lot of training to become a manager?

Is there any advantages being a manager? If Yes, what are they?

What problems have you faced during your journey?

What kind or style of manager are you?

Any future perspectives? If yes, what are they?