The Nature of Executive Work: A Case Study

252 Pages·2010·2.149 MB·English

by  Emilio Matthaei (auth.)

Emilio Matthaei
The Nature of Executive Work
GABLER RESEARCH
Markt- und Unternehmensentwicklung /
Markets and Organisations
Edited by
Professor Dr. Dres. h. c. Arnold Picot
Professor Dr. Professor h. c. Dr. h. c. Ralf Reichwald
Professor Dr. Egon Franck
Professor Dr. Kathrin Möslein
Change of institutions, technology and competition drives the interplay of
markets and organisations. The scientific series ‘Markets and Organisations’
addresses a magnitude of related questions, presents theoretic and empirical
findings and discusses related concepts and models.
Emilio Matthaei

The Nature of
Executive Work
A Case Study
RESEARCH
Bibliographic information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie;
detailed bibliographic data are available in the Internet at http://dnb.d-nb.de.
Doctoral thesis, HHL – Leipzig Graduate School of Management, 2009
1st Edition 2010
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Foreword
More than 30 years ago, Henry Mintzberg reported on upper level management in
large US corporations. His resulting work, “The Nature of Managerial Work”, re-
ceived much attention. Expanding on earlier research, Mintzberg’s 1973 study was
able to show that the work situation at the topmost levels of leadership is character-
ized by extreme stress; critical factors include the accountability to others such as the
board and shareholders, time pressure, and permanent work overload, the latter rais-
ing particularly critical questions regarding the quality of decision making – a signif-
icant risk for the long-term survival of organizations. In today’s economic crisis –
which is at the same time a crisis of the management profession as a whole – the
research focus and results of Henry Mintzberg’s study are more relevant than ever.
Rigorous studies in the field, however, are still rare.
In the present research study, “The Nature of Executive Work”, Emilio Matthaei
builds on and reaches far beyond the earlier works of the so-called Work Activity
School of management research (e.g. Sune Carlson, Leonard Sayles, Rosemary
Stewart, Henry Mintzberg, Ralf Reichwald and John Kotter). His exploratory journey
from intensively studying twelve senior executives of large global corporations intro-
duces a fresh perspective on executive work. Emilio Matthaei’s data cover the work of
twelve executives of the uppermost level of large organizations, each for one month
using calendar transcripts and interview records. He studied a total of 336 days, or 48
weeks, which included 1,669 scheduled activities covering 2,395 hours of executive
work. Activities were categorized and collapsed into a rich and impressive research
contribution about the nature of executive work.
Emilio Matthaei contributes distinctively to the traditional Work Activity School.
While Carlson and Stewart explored managerial diaries and Mintzberg, Reichwald
and Kotter observed activities, studying executive calendars is an igniting approach
towards studying executive work. Thus, this book not only presents innovative results
from rigorous research, but also develops and showcases a powerful empirical re-
search method that gives a different view to what executives really do, how long they
work, where they work, what media they use and with whom they interact.
Emilio Matthaei’s work invites the reader to explore:
• a systematic and comprehensive literature review of the Work Activity School,
• a case study approach including the calendar analysis,
• activities, perceived influencing factors, as well as new directions and roles of ex-
ecutive work, and
• a thoughtful reflection, pointing out implications for research, teaching and prac-
tice.
VI Foreword
Apart from the core chapters, Emilio Matthaei presents a colorful annex that points
out carefully stripped analysis and methodology. In so doing, this book is readable for
students and executives in its core chapters, but also shows the author’s detailed and
rigorous approach for researchers.
The work appeals by its theoretical reach and empirical scope, the fresh method-
ological approach and the argumentative brilliance by which literature review and
empirical findings are presented. It has been accepted as doctoral dissertation in 2009
by the HHL – Leipzig Graduate School of Management. The book deserves broad
dissemination both in the research community and in management practice. It is es-
pecially recommended to those with a deep interest in managerial activities and the
true nature of executive work.
In short, I think executives should have this book under control. Executive stu-
dents of my lectures will.
Prof. Dr. Kathrin Möslein
Acknowledgement
Academics, Executives, and Families.
Thank You.
Dr. Emilio Matthaei
The author gratefully acknowledges the financial support of the German Academic Exchange Service
and the Peter Pribilla Foundation.
Contents
Foreword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0V0
Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . V0I0I
List of Figures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X.0V0
List ofTables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .XV0I0I
Chapter I – Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1 Studying “Executive Work” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2 How the Research and Thesis Are Guided . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2.1 Empirical Research Framework . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2.2 Structure of the Thesis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Chapter II – Literature Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
1 The Rise of a Research School . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
1.1 A Brief Sketch of the Classical Management School . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
1.2 Motivation of the Work Activity School . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
1.3 Scope of the Work Activity School . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
2 The Work Activity School . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
2.1 Research Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
2.2 Methods Applied . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
2.3 Empirical Fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
2.4 Towards a Map of Empirical Studies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
2.4.1 Job . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
2.4.1.1 Demands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
2.4.1.2 Constraints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
2.4.1.3 Choices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
2.4.2 Object . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
2.4.2.1 Characteristics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
2.4.2.2 Individual Perception . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
2.4.2.3 Preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
X Contents
2.4.3 Activity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
2.4.3.1 Activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
2.4.3.2 Time Distribution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
2.4.3.3 Behavior . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
2.4.3.4 Managerial Roles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
2.5 Literature Map of the Work Activity School . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
2.6 Major Contributions and Scholars of the Work Activity School . . . . . . . . 49
2.6.1 Foundational Contributions by Sune Carlson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
2.6.2 Lateral Relationships and Systematic Understanding
by Leonard Sayles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
2.6.3 Demands, Constraints, and Choices of Jobs
by Rosemary Stewart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
2.6.4 The Theory of Managerial Work by Henry Mintzberg . . . . . . . . . . 57
2.6.5 ICT and Managerial Work by Ralf Reichwald et al. . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
2.6.6 Jobs, Managers, and Activities by John Kotter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
2.6.7 New Directions in Managerial Work by Stefan Tengblad . . . . . . . . 69
3 Conclusion of Literature Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Chapter III – Case Study Methodology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
1 Case Study Framing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
1.1 Research Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
1.2 Research Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
1.3 Challenges in Studying the Executive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
1.3.1 Objectivity and Consistency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
1.3.2 Convenience for the Executive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
1.3.3 Comparability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
1.4 Existing Methods and Evaluation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
1.5 Arguments for the Method Selections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
1.6 Choice of Methods Applied . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
1.6.1 Choice of Executive Calendars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
1.6.2 Choice of Executive Interviews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
2 Data Gathering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
2.1 Data Gathering Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
2.2 Data Collection Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
2.3 Sample . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
2.3.1 Data Set of Executive Calendars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
2.3.2 Data Set of Executive Interviews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92