Managers, work and ideology

This thesis is concerned with developing and contributing to the sociological study of managers and management. More specifically, it considers the relationships between processes conferring occupational identity, with managerial ideology and the social organisation of managerial work. It asks how people come to see themselves as managers in the context of social and organisational change. Central to this process of developing a managerial identity are the sets of ideas managers draw upon to legitimise their own position in organisations and the division of labour generally. This process is explored through the examination of a management training and development course designed for middle managers. It is argued that this course is essentially concerned with the confirmation of managerial identity. In this sense it approximates to a rite of passage. This process of creating an occupational identity as a manager takes place against a background of social, technical and organisational change which threatens important elements of the employment relation of middle managers. These changes are examined, as are the range of response managers may make to them. Finally, it is suggested that on the basis of the empirical material presented we may need to reconsider the location of managers in recent reformulations of service class theory