The Nature of Managerial Work: A Comparison of Public- and Private-Sector Managers

Abstract

Little empirical information is available on the nature of managerial work. Such information is needed, not only for training and development programs but also for managerial selection, appraisal, and utilization. The purpose of this study was to compare high level managerial jobs in public and private sectors by examining job content, job characteristics, and required skills, knowledge, and abilities. Mintzberg's (1973Mintzberg's ( , 1975 roles were used for the comparisons. Data were gathered from 210 public-sector and 220 privatesector managers and executives. Results indicate that managers in the public sector perform the same kind of activities as managers in the private sector in terms of complexity of job content and roles and in terms of job characteristics. The study has action implications for the selection, development, and appraisal systems of both public-and private-sector executives.Most of the literature on what constitutes management and how to select and develop effective managers is related to the private-sector manager. Consequently, little empirical information is available concerning similarities or differences between management functions in the private and public sectors. Much of the management literature since Fayol (1916) introduced POSDCORB (planning, organizing, staffing, etc.) has consisted of speculation regarding what managers or their subordinates say they do, could do, or should do. Relatively little of this information is based on what managers or executives actually do, and little pertains to top-level executives. The majority is directed at middleor first-level supervisors, or it treats management as a function that is the same across all hierarchical levels and functional areas.

What do small business owner-managers do? A managerial work perspective

“…The factor analysis technique was chosen for processing the data after analyzing the results of a survey on statistic techniques applied by the main researchers working on the subject, such as: Lau and Pavett (1980), Pavett and Lau (1983), Lubatkin and Powell (1998), Lubatkin et al (1999), Konrad et al (2001), Gottschalk (2002), Anderson et al (2002), Pearson and Chatterjee (2003), Khandwalla (2004), Mellahi and Guermat (2004), Mahoney et al (1965), Lau and Lim (2002) and Lamond (2004). The purpose of this technique is for an exploratory and not confirmatory analysis, we did not focus on generating inferences to the population, but rather on contributing to the proposition of a managerial style model, therefore, an Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) was used.…”

Linking Organizational Structure, Job Characteristics, and Job Performance Constructs: a Proposed Framework

“…In fact, competence and need for achievement do not moderate the relationship between job characteristics and absenteeism. According to Lau and Pavett (1980), job characteristics, especially for the management positions, are very much alike. Hence, the contradictory findings reported by Rensch and Steel (1998) are perhaps attributed to the different nature of the organization in which the study has been carried out.…”

Führung im öffentlichen Sektor

“…Sie neigten zur Vertiefung in knifflige Einzelfälle und bevorzugten routinehafte Kontrollaufgaben (Reichard 1987: 147). Klages (1998: 61) Pavett & Lau 1983;Lau & Pavett 1980). Lau & Pavett (1980) Ban (1995) und den Ausführungen von Reichard (1987) und Klages (1998) (Hammerschmid et al 2013: 30).…”

“…Klages (1998: 61) Pavett & Lau 1983;Lau & Pavett 1980). Lau & Pavett (1980) Ban (1995) und den Ausführungen von Reichard (1987) und Klages (1998) (Hammerschmid et al 2013: 30). Lindner et al (2001: 51) folgend die erste Hälfte mit der zweiten Hälfte verglichen (Welch & Barlau 2013).…”