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Management and Marketing: A Position Paper

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 MANAGEMENT AND MARKETING:
a position paper

David Pickton, Leicester Business School,

De Montfort University
Leicester

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 MANAGEMENT AND MARKETING:
a position paper

David Pickton, Leicester Business School,

De Montfort University
Leicester

ABSTRACT
This paper addresses the nature of marketing management by considering the roles,
organisational relationships, backgrounds and profiles of marketing managers. The
question is raised, "What do we know about managers in general and marketing
managers in particular?"

Attention is focused towards the area of 'marketing management' in order that a clearer
understanding may be generated of this single professional grouping, a grouping
which, it has been argued, has developed more strongly than most as a profession in
recent years but which has many challenges yet to face if it is to remain a profession in
its own right. It is noted, however, that even this narrower focus is dogged by potential
problems of over-generalisation. Marketing management is not an homogeneous
grouping. It is signified by many very different management positions in terms of
hierarchy and job, each requiring different managerial aptitudes in the performance of
different managerial tasks.

Having considered issues pertaining to general management in the first part of the
paper, more detailed consideration is then given to marketing managers and their
management situation. Attention is directed towards not only marketing management
job positions but also towards an understanding of the marketing managers
themselves.

The paper reports and critically comments on a wide range of academic and industry
research in these areas ranging from issues of management effectiveness and success
to the skills and personal qualities of marketing managers.

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 Previous research work is criticised for often being too broad in its scope and over-
generalised in its implications or conclusions. It is argued that a realistic and acceptable
understanding of the nature of marketing management and its growth as a profession
can only be developed through detailed investigation of the marketing management
situation, marketing management tasks and the marketing managers themselves.
Marketing as a profession is too diverse to do otherwise.

Introduction

Increasing interest has been shown over the recent years in understanding and
developing effective managers. This interest has been fuelled significantly by the
studies completed by Constable and McCormack (1987) and Handy (1987) into
management education and training within the UK and internationally.

These studies and the general criticism of the performance of British industry have led
to renewed interest into the nature of management and management competencies.
While these issues are not new, they have, perhaps, never been fully questioned and
certainly not fully answered. Moreover, the issues are ones not just of what constitutes
management but, more especially, what constitutes good or effective management.

This paper seeks to illuminate the nature of marketing management as a sub-set of

generic management. If the aim is to develop a greater understanding of effective
managerial performance, it is argued that this is not possible if studies are solely
confined to mixed groups of managers although such studies do have their value. A
better understanding will only be achieved through disaggregating the study of
management. At one level this may be done through investigations of managers within
a given professional grouping. At a more detailed level, an understanding of the
different management tasks and the way managers undertake this work will only be
achieved by investigating specific management jobs within specific situations. The
personal qualities brought to the jobs by the individual managers themselves will also
affect the outcomes.

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 The early part of the paper presents an overview of management research but
criticises studies for over-generalisation or neglect of important areas of investigation. It
includes consideration of the need for a balance in knowledge and skills development
(and not the rhetoric which surrounds skills training) if effective managers are to be
developed but warns of the need to distinguish between management effectiveness
and management success. This brief overview then goes on to identify dimensions of
effective management performance, and the factors managers claim to influence it, and
concludes with the question, "what do managers do?".

Later parts of the paper present findings from studies of marketing managers
specifically and focuses attention around three broad groupings of variables; the
'marketing situation', 'marketing tasks' and the 'personal qualities of marketing
managers themselves'.

Simcock (1993) has argued that marketing as a profession has grown in stature over
recent years, indeed more rapidly than others, but this has been from a very low base
and its standing is debateable when compared with other management professions
such as personnel and, particularly, accounting (Mathews and Redman 1993). Studies
on the development of internal marketing within organisations (eg Piercy and Morgan
1991) can make for depressing reading for those who seek to further the growth of
marketing professionalism because of the potential for the subsumption of the
marketing management function into those of other professional groupings. This is
indeed a paradox for those who would see marketing as an overarching function of
management and the preserve of the marketing executive along side that of the chief
executive.

In reality marketing managers are often looked on with suspicion and do not hold the
status necessary to expedite their tasks. Piercy (1986) discovered in his research that
"while it seemed that many of the critical marketing success factors considered by the
respondents were frequently controlled by marketing, in the two most highly rated
areas - new product development and prices - as well as certain of the more minor
success factors .... other departments were more likely to control them; when they were
relatively unimportant, the marketing department was more likely to control
them" (Piercy 1986:p287). Doyle (1987) comments that despite the increasing
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 recognition of the role of marketing, British boards are still overwhelmingly financially-
orientated. They are dominated by accountants with twice as many boards likely to
have a finance director as a marketing one. He found that where CEOs and senior
managers had business training it was overwhelmingly in finance and accountancy and
they lacked an understanding of marketing.

There is an urgent need for the marketing profession to gain greater insight into the
nature of its management and the managers who perform it. Perhaps too much interest
and emphasis has been placed by marketing academics on marketing as a body of
knowledge and not enough energy focused towards understanding how it is practised
and how its management may be improved.

This paper attempts to collate evidence on what is known to date about the marketing
situation and the marketing managers themselves. It does not claim to be
comprehensive in its coverage and draws, as it inevitably must, on studies of managers
in general as well as marketing managers in particular.

Approaches to Management Investigation

Over the last two decades the study of management has seen distinct shifts in the
perspectives and focus of management research as well as research methodology.
The sociological paradigms which have been the underlying bases of research have
been questioned (Burrell and Morgan 1979) with moves away from positivist constructs
towards relativist approaches. A recent British Academy of Management conference,
"The Crafting of Management Research" (1993), lays testimony to the increasing
interest in postmodernist views representing a paradigm shift away from 'sight' to
'insight', away from research as 'mirror on reality' to research as social construct which
questions the nature of previously assumed objectivity. Despite the range of
frameworks adopted, it would be difficult to argue that any sense of balance has been
achieved. However, such a variety does help to illuminate the complexity of the subject.
Kavanagh (1993) has presented a summary of what he terms 'Metatheoretical
Frameworks' and this is reproduced in Exhibit 1. Kavanagh argues that while the
terminology and emphasis in each framework differs, they are all primarily based on a
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 subjective-objective continuum. According to Burrell and Morgan, this continuum is
based on opposing views of reality, "whether 'reality' is a given 'out there' in the world,
or the product of one's mind" (1979:1). Dependent upon the stance of the management
researcher it is easy to appreciate how both what is researched and how it is
researched will vary.

EXHIBIT 1
Metatheoretical Frameworks Compared
FRAMEWORK FIRST DIMENSION

Burrell and
Morgan Subjective ------------------------------ Objective
(1979)

Pfeffer Purposive, Externally Emergent,

(1982) Intentional Constrained Random

Astely and
Van de Ven Voluntaristic --------------------------- Deterministic
(1983)

Hirschman
and Holbrook Mental ----------------------------- Material
(1992) Determinism Determinism

Hunt Dogmatic Humean Fallibilism Dogmatism

(1992) Skepticism Skepticism

Source: Kavanagh (1993)

-----------------------------------------------------------------

While Kavanagh's concern lies with the theoretical frameworks adopted by

researchers, Exhibit 2, in contrast, identifies a number of areas which have been the
focal points of interest in management investigation. It is suggested that areas 3, 5 and
6 shown in the Exhibit are worthy of far greater attention in future research to provide
greater insight and understanding of marketing managers and their management jobs.

EXHIBIT 2
Focal Points in Management Investigation

-1- The functions or elements of managerial work. There is emphasis here on what might be called the
formal aspects of management and may be considered to be the 'classical' approach.

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 -2- Responsibilities. Job descriptions, tasks and duties with emphasis on formal job content and
management outcomes. This area may be said to be receiving renewed interest in the context of the
management charter initiative.

-3- Managerial behaviour. The distribution of managers' time between different work elements and
activities. Interactions with others, both formal and informal. Management as a 'political' activity.
Roles.

-4- Themes which pervade managerial work. Consideration of such aspects as choice, variation,
contingency, juggling, pressure and conflict.

-5- Personal qualities and skills of managers. Manager attributes.

-6- Contrasts in management. Distinctions between managers in different professional groupings and
different jobs within those groupings against all the above dimensions.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Knowledge versus Skills - Content versus Process

Emphasis to date in marketing management education and training has been placed
on knowledge, and not skills, development, on educator and not on client centred
needs, even though many might contradict this contention by reference to a variety of
courses which may identify 'skills' within their programme outlines. The term 'skill' is
often used too liberally.

Broadly speaking, the preoccupation with 'content' rather than 'process' is consistent
with the development of marketing as a discipline as revealed by Sheth (1988).
Emphasis has been on the question, "What do marketing managers know or need to
know?" rather than with such questions as "What do marketing managers do?", "What
skills/abilities do they need to possess?", "Are certain personalities and problem solving
approaches particularly suited to them?".

Foxall and Driver maintain, "a relevant science of marketing should.... employ
techniques in both research and education which derive from and contribute to the real
sphere of managerial decision-making.... we are arguing for a radical reassessment of
the ends of marketing education" (1982:9). However, Cannon points out that "basic
research and development work over the last ten years has dramatically improved....
significant improvements in relevance have taken place but.... there is still a long way
to go if the potential inherent in the ideas of marketing is to be fully

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 exploited" (1982:25).

Yet today, the relevance of marketing education and research is still questioned.
Emphasis is still placed on the 'discipline' and not on its implementation. This is a
significant weakness and one which may be true of other professions. The implicit
assumption in the professions appears to be that if the manager 'knows' the subject,
then s/he will be able to manage it well. This assumption is invalid. There is a need for
a balance between knowledge and skills, between content and process if we are truly
to have high standards of management and business performance. However, this begs
the question of whether or not we know the answer to "What do managers do?". Hales
comments that even "some of the more celebrated writings on effective management
are singularly reticent about specifying what effective managers are effective
at" (1986:89).

Heterogeneity versus Homogeneity

Before trying to answer the question, "What do managers do?" it is worth pausing to
consider some of the problems which beset the task.

Problems exist as to the level of disaggregation which is sought when researching

management activity. To what extent may generalisations about management be
made? Is there a unifying range of competencies or skills which is common to all
managers?

The wisdom of making wide generalisations about managerial activity must be

questionable, yet the notion of such homogeneity has been the basis for a significant
amount of management research dating from the early work of Fayol (1949). The
notions that managers organise, coordinate, lead, delegate, plan, control, etc while
challenged by some, continue to persist as a foundation and basis common to all
managers. Mintzberg comments, "If you ask a manager what he does, he will most
likely tell you that he plans, organises, coordinates and controls. Then watch what he
does. Don't be surprised if you can't relate what you see to these four
words." (1975:49). However, the 'classical' management theories were concerned with
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 the issue of the management (or administration) function and not in the behaviour of
individual managers specifically and this may lie at the root of the problem. What is
needed now is not underlying general principals but a deeper understanding of how
managers operate effectively in their varying situations and circumstances. There is a
need for a "synthesis between managers' behaviour and the management function in
order to provide a more rounded picture of managerial work and how it is divided into
managerial jobs" (Hales 1986:112).

This requires not only a modified focus towards management behaviour rather than the
management function, but also a shift to more detailed, systematic studies of managers
within specific professions and jobs - a move away from attempts to generalise about
management and toward a recognition of its heterogeneity and variety. Such studies
which do exhibit this focus tend to be in the minority. An early notable example is
Hemphill (1959).

Job Titles

The more the study of management is disaggregated, new problems arise. When
researching specific job positions, assumptions may be made about managers with
similar titles performing similar work and that it is reasonable to expect a degree of
consistency between them. This is not necessarily the case and could lead to spurious
results and conclusions. This may be particularly true of marketing management.

In the 1970s and early 1980s marketing fell victim to its own popularity when it became
fashionable to 'dress-up' otherwise mundane job titles by adding 'Marketing' to them.
There was a degree of prestige associated with such titles at the time and, for example,
'sales mangers' became 'marketing managers'. A great deal of misunderstanding has
ensued with difficulty in identifying what actual marketing management elements are
involved and which appropriate skills should be deployed. In one notable example, a
junior proudly sported the title of 'Marketing Intelligence Officer' but whose primary task
was to collect press cuttings. The job title, thus, may not describe either the position or
the manager with any degree of accuracy.

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 Management Effectiveness and Success

A further issue compounding the study of managers and management is that of

identifying good managerial practice. Defining what constitutes effective and efficient
management is not an easy or straightforward task but it is important to do so if the
danger of measuring the wrong attributes is to be avoided.

In seeking to measure effectiveness, Hales (1986) argues the case for a contingent
approach which may be based on peer or 'expert' assessment and makes this
statement, "The standard against which actual managerial practice may be compared
can either take the form of some absolute, objective, bench-mark - which, given the
variation of managerial jobs, would be difficult to sustain - or take a more contingent
form. One such contingent standard with which to compare actual managerial practice
might be what others expect or require managers to do. Good or bad practice may then
be conceived in terms of the extent to which managers' performance matches others'
expectations" (Hales 1986:108).

While such a contingent approach appears to offer a solution, it too is problematical.

Mant (1983:4) questions why "awful people rise, with such regularity to high office" and
describes two types of 'leader'. One is interested in interpersonal relationships and
personal power in which "the main thing is to control, dominate or seduce the Other in
the interests of personal survival". The second type adopts a more 'balanced' approach
in which greater concern is placed in the organisation, a purpose or an idea. The
question arises as to how far the first type may be associated with successful
managers and the second with effective managers.

The distinction between success and effectiveness has been noted by a number of
authors. Luthans (1988) in attempting to contrast 'successful' and 'effective' managers
found that managers defined as effective (in terms of quality and quantity of
performance, subordinate satisfaction and subordinate commitment to the
organisation) spent quite different amounts of time on activities from managers judged
to be successful (in terms of speed of promotion).

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 Langtry and Langtry (1991) identify these two types of managers as 'i' and 'o'
managers where 'i' is equated with image, I, me or myself and 'o' focuses on objectives
and others. They comment, "An i manager progresses swiftly through the organisation,
arriving at a senior position with comparative ease. The o manager works hard, is
efficient and effective but remains unnoticed. He or she is unlikely to rise above the role
of middle manager".

The significance of these issues lies in the fact that many studies purporting to
measure effective management may be more likely to measure the very different
aspect of 'success' or otherwise confuse the two and, given the distinctions made
above, our understanding of managerial performance may be seriously flawed.

Development Dimensions International (DDI), an American based company, has for

over 20 years specialised in job analysis. Their research and consultancy with more
than 7000 organisations worldwide, including 400 of the Fortune 500 companies, has
led them to identify a range of 'layered dimensions' which they consider to be the
cornerstone of effective manager performance. They describe dimensions as "clusters
of behaviors, motivations, specialized skills and knowledge" (Byham 1990:1) which
may be determined by detailed job analysis.

The original research which led to DDI's findings was conducted prior to 1982. They
undertook 300 job analyses of supervisory and managerial positions involving more
than 20,000 respondents. Since that time DDI have completed hundreds os additional
job analyses involving more than 100,000 people at all organisational levels in the
course of their work. This has reslted in a significant update of their original delineation
of dimensions in which a total of 9 'classes of dimensions' have now been identified
together with a further 49 associated dimensions.

Exhibit 3 lists these dimensions'. Importantly, DDI emphasise that their dimensions do
not provide a description of the perfect person for the job. A strength in one dimension
can make up for a weakness in another and the relative importance of the dimensions
do differ from one organisation to another, among departments and among levels. The
dimensions have to be applied. They represent features of good managers but need to
be organisation and job specific if they are to be used successfully. This re-emphasises
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 the point made earlier over the concern of the level of aggregation applied to the study
of managers.

It is interesting to speculate, however, over the wealth of information contained in the

databanks of organisations such as DDI and other various testing agencies which have
been accumulated over the years and which could be used for large scale analysis of
managers within specific job positions.

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 EXHIBIT 3
Dimensions of Effective Management Performance

LEADERSHIP/INFLUENCE PERSONAL
Visionary leadership Initiative
Strategic leadership Career ambition
Developing organisational talent Long-range goal
Individual leadership (influence) orientation
Meeting leadership (facilitation) Tolerance for stress
Meeting membership Impact
Team influence (influence) Rapport building
Teamwork (cooperation) Customer service
Sensitivity orientation
Collaboration Ability to learn
(applied learning)
PLANNING AND ORGANISING Sense of urgency
Planning and organising (responsiveness)
(work management) (customer
responsiveness)
DECISION MAKING Adaptability
Analysis (problem identification) Range of interests
Judgement (problem solution) Attention to detail
Integrity
PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT Energy
Delegation of authority and Production proficiency
responsibility Resilience
Follow-up Tenacity
Information monitoring Self-assessment
Maximising performance Self-confidence

COMMUNICATION MOTIVATION FIT

Oral communication Job fit
Oral presentation Organisational fit
Listening Location fit
Written communication - general Work standards
Written communication - formal
FITNESS FOR WORK
KNOWLEDGE/SKILL Physical health
Technical/professional knowledge Mental health
Technical/professional proficiency

Source: Byham (1990)

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The work of DDI can be compared with that of the more familiar Pedler et al (1986)
'Qualities of Effective Managers'. These are shown in Exhibit 4. Their list of 11 factors
can be matched with the fuller and more detailed DDI list and despite the differences in
terminology the two lists do correspond quite well. A criticism of the latter is that the
factors would be better described as dimensions along which to measure qualities
rather than qualities in their own right. There may, for example, be some managers and
management jobs in which creative skills would be of limited if not detrimental value.
Thus, low creativity, not high, may be the quality sought.

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 EXHIBIT 4
Qualities of Successful Managers

BASIC KNOWLEDGE AND INFORMATION

Command of basic facts
Relevant professional understanding

SKILLS AND ATTRIBUTES

Continuing sensitivity to events
Analytical, problem solving, decision/judgement-making skills
Social skills and abilities
Emotional resilience
Proactivity - inclination to respond purposefully to events

'META - QUALITIES'
Balanced learning habits and skills
Self-knowledge

Source: Pedler et al (1986)

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In considering further the issue of what factors influence managerial performance,

another piece of research is of interest. This time the research sought to identify the
characteristics of managerial success. A large survey of a mixed group of 2788 British
managers was completed by Peppercorn and Skoulding (1987) making use of a 21
item list previously used by Margerison and Kakabadse in their study of American Chief
Executives. Exhibit 5 shows the results of the British experience. There was no attempt
made to try to distinguish between successful and effective management implications.

All 21 items were identified as being of high importance by at least some of the
managers and the items in the top half of the list received high importance ratings by at
least half of the respondents. No single item received a high importance score by all
managers. While the results do indicate some interesting findings, it would be difficult to
be too categorical about them as they undoubtedly reflect the self-reported opinions of
managers in the absence of any evidence suggesting their validity (other than as
manager opinions) in measuring managerial success or, more usefully, effectiveness.
This, of course, is a criticism which may be levelled at other research work and is a
function of the research methodology. In this particular case, the original list of variables
used by Margerison and Kakabadse for Chief Excutives may be brought into question
when used with a range of mixed managers. The appropriateness may prove to be less
adequate and may not identify pertinent other factors which might be helpful.

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 It remains to be seen whether or not a clearer focus on particular management
groupings would have resulted in a divergence of response and, in many respects, a
more valuable set of results. Such variances as may then be revealed may well be
more illuminating than the overall picture painted and lead to a fuller understanding of
managerial performance.

EXHIBIT 5
Key Influences on Managerial Success

Over 50% of respondents Less than 50% of

rated as of high importance respondents rated as of
high importance
--------------------------- ---------------------------

Ability to work with wide Desire to self-determine

variety of people strategy

Need to achieve results Sound technical training

A challenge Early leadership experience

Desire to seek new Visibility before 30 years

opportunities
Determination to get to the
Early overall task top ahead of others
responsibility
Family support
Breadth of experience
before 35 years Special off-the-job
management training
Situational management
skills Regular job changes

Willingness to take risks Political skills

Able to develop ideas Early manager role model

Negotiating ability Armed forces experience

Source: Peppercorn and Skoulding (1987)

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What Do Managers Do?

Hales (1986) posed the question of "what do managers do?" in a review of research
findings to that date. Despite raising a number of criticisms concerning the
impracticality and inappropriateness of synthesizing the work of management
researchers due to their different foci and approaches, he was able to suggest that

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 "amid the diversity of evidence, some common findings recur" (Hales 1986:95).
Unimpressed by his general conclusions Hales comments, "This list is unremarkable
and represents common core findings on managerial work which are sufficiently
general as to be uninteresting. Beyond these core findings lies diversity..... which (is
reflected in) the wide variation in jobs designated as 'managerial'" (Hales 1986:104).

Exhibit 6 below presents his summary of the features of managerial work gleaned from
his review of literature.

EXHIBIT 6
Features of Managerial Work

-1- It combines a specialist/professional element and a general, 'managerial' element.

-2- The substantive elements involve, essentially, liaison, man-management and responsibility for a work
process, beneath which are subsumed more detailed work elements.

-3- The character of work elements varies by duration, time span, recurrence, unexpectedness and
source.

-4- Much time is spent in day-to-day trouble shooting and ad hoc problems of organisation and
regulation

-5- Much managerial activity consists of asking or persuading others to do things, involving the manager
in face-to-face verbal communication of limited duration.

-6- Patterns of communication vary in terms of what the communication is about and with whom the
communication is made.

-7- Little time is spent on any one activity and, in particular, on the conscious, systematic formulation of
plans. Planning and decision making tend to take place in the course of other activity.

-8- Managers spend a lot of time accounting for and explaining what they do, in informal relationships
and in 'politicking'.

-9- Managerial activities are riven by contradictions, cross-pressures and conflicts. Much managerial
work involves coping with and reconciling social and technical conflict.

-10- There is considerable choice in terms of what is done and how: part of managerial work is setting the
boundaries of and negotiating that work itself.

Source: Hales (1986)

-----------------------------------------------------------------

While the work of some researchers does offer new perspectives on managerial
practice, for example Stewart (1967a,b) who has always concentrated more of her
studies on the 'process' or 'form' of managerial work, Sayles (1964), Mintzberg (1973)
and Kotter (1892), the problem with much management research lies in a "general
reluctance on the part of many studies to locate managerial work practices within the
! 16 | Page
 broader context of the function of management" (Hales 1986:104).

What Hales summary does achieve, however, is to highlight that not only does
managerial work combine both professional and managerial elements which
emphasises that investigations into the management activities within the professions is
paramount to an understanding of their work, but also that there are likely to be a range
of personal qualities or skills peculiar to managers operating in particular professions.
Again, these are not profound statements but do serve to stress the unacceptability of
the lack of attention paid to date in focusing management research towards specific
professional areas and job positions and in developing a deeper understanding of
underlying manager skills.

MARKETING MANAGEMENT

The Situation, the Task and the Manager

In an enormously large scale review of management literature, Cambell et al (1970)

surveyed much of the research work to date on the topic of management performance.
They summarised the range of variables impacting upon managerial effectiveness
under three broad headings and these are used to structure the remaining presentation
of this paper:

a) Situation - marketing manager interfaces, organisational relationships and roles

b) Tasks - the jobs carried out by Marketing Managers

c) Manager - who are marketing managers - what are their backgrounds? Personal
qualities and skills.

The Marketing Situation

It is difficult to answer how much the management situation of marketing managers

! 17 | Page
 differs from that of other managers. The fact that it does differ is unquestionable in
terms of roles and organisational relationships. The problem if any is that it may be
argued that every individual manager's situation is unique. However, there may be
some way forward. Stewart's work in contrasting managers (1976), does give some
insight into different job types as measured by organisational relationships, and job
demands as measured by the work patterns of different managers. Although the
sample was small, her work identified the way in which marketing managers'
relationships differed from those of other management groupings. Manager contact
with others accounted for over 50% of the marketing manager's time, 20% of which
was with external contacts and this conforms to the typical view that marketing
management requires social skills and is an outward focused function. Contacts with
peers or superiors was high with correspondingly less time spent with subordinates.
The need for negotiating and influencing skills is consequently high.

Stewart also found that (as with some other managers) marketing managers
experience a high level of exposure, that is the extent to which s/he may be directly
identified and responsible for particular management decisions. In the case of the
marketing manager though, this exposure may be higher than most if recognition is
also given to the marketing manager's lack of authority over others who directly
influence the outcome. These sort of role demands place particular constraints, choices
and pressures on marketing managers in the performance of their duties.

Lawrence and Lorsch (1967) identified the role of integrator as a key management role.
It may be argued that the nature of the marketing function places the marketing
manager squarely into this role setting, requiring as it does, the ability to 'span
organisational boundaries'. Thus, the heavy emphasis Stewart (1976) found on
manager contacts. The role is far from unique to marketing managers (and may not be
true of all marketing management job categories) but for those who are placed in such
positions, they are likely to experience the stresses of 'marginality'.

Management marginality may be described as the situation of a manager who works

between two or more groups with different goals, values and norms. The marketing
manager may have to move between departments and work with managers with
conflicting and sometimes antagonistic value systems. The degree to which such
! 18 | Page
 marginality exists may be higher and more critical for marketing managers than for
many others.

It has been argued that marginality, although bringing positive consequences for the
organisation and for the profession, might produce costs for the individual such as
loneliness, role ambiguity, lack of technical support and budgetary vulnerability. Ziller
(1973) has argued that there are certain personality characteristics that fit a person
better to the marginal role. For example, on Rockeach's Dogmatism Scale, the more
open-minded the managers, the better able they are to play a marginal role.

Printers Ink (1966:15) graphically displayed some of the inter-relationships of product

managers (a common marketing manager position) which underlines the nature of the
problem. Of the myriad contacts with internal managers and external agencies and
suppliers, from sales, market research and promotion to production, distribution and
accounts, not a single one represented a subordinate relationship over whom the
product managers has authority yet they have responsibility for product sales and
profitability. Luck (1969:4,5) offers the following comments, "the interfaces which are
important to a product manager's work are perhaps the most numerous and varied of
any in middle management.... (product managers) are seriously hampered by
ambiguity of authority in the execution of their plans and decisions.... undefined
authority precludes clear cut enforceable responsibility".

Other authors draw our attention to relationships at a departmental level (eg Kotler
1991; Ruekert and Walker (1987); Montgomery and Hausman (1985); Spillard (1985);
Weinrauch and Anderson (1982)). It is recognised that each department maintains
different perspectives, value systems and objectives despite working towards one
corporate end. The conflict which ensues presents its own management problems and
re-emphasises the point made by Kotler that the size of the task of marketing
management within an organisation is often oversimplified and the resistance from
other departments underestimated.

Marketing Tasks

! 19 | Page
 Heidrick and Struggles International, an organisation which describes itself as 'one of
the largest and most experienced management consultants in executive search',
conducted a self- completion questionnaire survey of 700 major organisations, all with
annual turnovers in excess of £50 million, and comprising 660 of the largest industrial
organisations in the UK. Their aim was to specifically survey UK Chief Marketing
Executives (CMEs) and their 36% response rate came from the 260 senior marketing
executives who responded (1985). Discussions were held subsequently with a number
of respondents.

Their findings with regard to marketing manager responsibilities is presented in Exhibit

7.

It should be noted that their research is biased towards the experiences of large
organisations and CMEs to the exclusion of other smaller companies and marketing
officers.

EXHIBIT 7
Responsibilities of Chief Marketing Executives (Self-reported)

Allocation of time
by activity

15% People management

14% Corporate and strategic responsibilities
13% Market development, existing products, etc
12% Market development, new products, etc
9% Advertising/promotion
9% Selling/negotiating
8% Sales management and pricing
7% Sales forecasting
7% Market research
6% Press and public relations

Source: Heidrick and Struggles (1985)

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Piercy's findings (1986) from his investigation of CMEs in medium-sized manufacturing

companies in the UK suggest that CMEs function very differently in different
companies, an issue not addressed by Heidrick and Struggles. After factor analysis of
21 different marketing management responsibilities he isolated 5 clusters: selling (eg
sales force operations, prices), product policy (eg product planning, design and
launch), marketing services (eg marketing research, marketing planning), corporate
! 20 | Page
 strategy (eg corporate planning, diversification studies), and physical distribution. He
concluded that the emphasis placed on these responsibilities varied on the degree to
which the organisation could be described as an 'integrated/full service marketing
organisation', a 'strategy/services marketing organisation', a 'sales-orientated marketing
organisation', or a 'limited/staff role marketing organisation'.

In studying the tasks of marketing managers, complications arise not only due to the
size and nature of the organisation, but also due to the level of job within the
organisational hierarchy and the specific marketing management position held. PA
Sales Selection in association with the Institute of Marketing (1984) identified 12
marketing job titles together with corresponding job specifications. Investigation of
recruitment advertisements leads to at least another 4 discrete jobs to add to this list
and numerous others which may be considered as alternative titles to those shown or
are else more specialised jobs within a particular marketing area such as Creative or
Account Director in the area of advertising. The list is given in Exhibit 8.

EXHIBIT 8
Marketing Manager Positions

Advertising Manager Marketing Services Manager

Export Director Merchandising Manager
Export Manager New Product Development Manager
Market Development Manager Product Manager
Market Research Manager Public Relations Manager
Marketing Director Sales Director
Marketing Manager Sales Manager
Marketing Planning Manager Sales Promotion Manager

Source: adapted from PA Sales Selection (1984)

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Although a degree of overlap can be seen between the jobs as practised by managers,
identification of such an array does emphasise the inadequacy of using the generic title
of 'Marketing Manager' to represent them all and to encompass such a spectrum of
activity. The knowledge and skills needed to perform the various jobs will vary
considerably. Questions, therefore, about "what do marketing managers do?" would be
better answered by specifying the question more precisely. To put it mildly, there is a
paucity of research seeking to investigate these various areas directly and any writing
on the subject is bereft of a major component without reference to this matter.
! 21 | Page
 Probably the most comprehensive attempt to identify marketing tasks is that currently
ongoing on behalf of the Marketing Standards Board. The fact that their task has
proved to be so immense (as it has for other similar Boards) is testimony to how little is
really known about management practice. Their work is a direct consequence of the
management competence imperative.

Marketing Competence

In 1986 the Government established the National Council for Vocational Qualifications
(NCVQ) to take forward the reform of the system of vocational qualifications to meet
national skill needs. In Scotland this role is carried out by the Scottish Vocational
Education Council (SCOTVEC). Their aim was to review current education and training
practices and seek to modify these to ensure that the perceived needs of industry for
skilled staff were met to nationally recognised standards. This has resulted in the
development of 'Lead Bodies' in a variety of key areas to identify the range of abilities
or competence (which is the preferred term) which are needed to be performed in
specified occupations to satisfactory standards. 'Competence' has been defined as the
ability to carry out the activities of an occupation to a prescribed national standard and
competencies basically attempt to describe expected outcomes or purpose of activity
rather than describe the process by which it is done.

In January 1993, a significant step forward was taken by the Marketing Standards
Board (MSB), the Lead Body established for the Marketing area ,in producing their
'Draft Standards of Competence' for comment by the marketing community. (Exhibit 9
shows their identification of occupational areas to be covered by their standards).
Focused as these standards are towards outcomes, in essence they represent the
received wisdom of what constitutes the 'marketing job'. MSB's draft, however, was
substantially incomplete in that it covered their work to date and still required many
standards for elements which were either to be drawn from other Lead Bodies or yet to
be developed by MSB themselves. While the overall framework was in place and
detailed standards were being proposed for some elements, many sections were still in
! 22 | Page
 need of identification and specification. Exhibit 10 presents an outline of the actual
competence areas they have so far identified in their 'Draft Standards of Competence'
document (Marketing Standards Board 1993).

! 23 | Page
 EXHIBIT 9
Occupational Areas of Marketing

Marketing Strategy
and Business Development

Planning and Implementing Marketing

ie Product and Brand Management
New Product Development
Pricing

Marketing Research
Quantitative
Qualitative

Marketing Communications
Advertising
Public Relations
Sales Promotion
Direct Marketing

Sales Home and Export

Sales is being addressed by the Sales Lead Body
and International Trade by the International
Trade and Services Lead Body

Distribution and After Sales Service

Packaging
Customer Service
These and other areas of distribution are also
being addressed by other lead bodies

Source: Marketing Standards Board (1993)

-----------------------------------------------------------------

! 24 | Page
 EXHIBIT 10
Outline of Marketing Competence
(Incomplete list representing work to date of MSB in identifying principal areas of
competence)

! 25 | Page
 A Establish strategies and policies Obtain proposals for the provision of
A1 Analyse and determine business and marketing communications
marketing objectives Provide proposals to supply marketing
A2 Formulate policies and strategies communications
A3 Implement policies and strategies Construct campaign plan
A4 Determine future action plans for policies Determine sales plan
and strategies Determine distribution channels
Develop an export strategy
B Establish and maintain marketing resources Produce marketing plan
and systems C4 Implement marketing plan
B1 Identify requirements Set up distribution channel
B2 Provide resources to meet requirements Install and monitor pricing plan
B3 Monitor and co-ordinate the deployment of Commission the provision of marketing
resources communications
B4 Maintain effectiveness of resources Fulfil marketing communication plan
Provide customer service
C Anticipate, stimulate and satisfy customer C5 Evaluate marketing plan
needs Obtain, monitor and evaluate data
C1 Identify business opportunities Identify deviations from planned activities
Commission the provision of information Evaluate achievement against business
Produce proposals for marketing research objectives
Contract for the provision of marketing Identify and recommend action
research
Provide information through desk research D Organise, control and monitor marketing
Set up quantitative research resources
Provide quantitative information D1 Manage operations
Set up qualitative research Maintain operations to meet quality
Provide qualitative information standards
Analyse and interpret quantitative Create and maintain the necessary
information conditions for productive work
Analyse and interpret qualitative Lead meetings and group discussions to
information solve problems and make decisions
Present findings Contribute to discussions to solve problems
C2 Produce business case and make decisions
Develop new and existing products and D2 Manage resources
services Manage people
Develop markets Manage finance
Determine fit to organisational requirements Manage information
Evaluate opportunity Co-ordinate and integrate resources and
Propose recommendations strategies
C3 Develop marketing plan D3 Manage change
Determine product and service specification Contribute to the evaluation of proposed
Determine pricing structure changes to services, products and
systems
Implement and evaluate changes to
services, products and systems

! 26 | Page
Source: Marketing Standards Board (1993)
--------------------------------------------------------------

The draft document has been sent to selected academics and managers for comment.
The result of this further deliberation has yet to be seen. The cynic may express
concern over the 'blind leading the blind' no matter how well intentioned. While the
hope may be that the final list will be reasonably comprehensive in its coverage, the
issue still remains as to which balance of these competencies should be achieved by
which marketing managers?

Marketing Manager Backgrounds

Plymouth Polytechnic Business School reported on an industry survey which was

sponsored by the Institute of Marketing into the background and training of marketing
executives in the UK (1987). Their results are based on analysis of over 2000 replies to
a questionnaire inserted into a journal distributed by the Institute of Marketing. The
previously mentioned Heidrick and Struggles survey (1985) also included analysis of
Chief Marketing Executive backgrounds. The findings from both of these surveys are
shown below in Exhibits 11 and 12.

EXHIBIT 11
Summary of Findings on the Backgrounds of Marketing Executives in the UK

-1- Marketing practice in the UK appears to be still a largely male preserve.

-2- In company terms and in job terms, mobility appears to be a characteristic. Around 66% of
respondents had held their present jobs for less than 3 years and 45% with their present company
for less than 3 years. Nearly 50% were appointed externally to their present jobs.

-3- 50% of respondents were educated to at least degree level. In less than half of these cases had
marketing been included in their studies. Marketing was included in some sub-graduate and
postgraduate qualifications but the amount was undisclosed.

-4- Sales is the most likely area for UK marketing executives to come into the marketing profession.

-5- Over one third of respondents felt they had not had enough training to do their present job.

Source: Plymouth Polytechnic Business School (1987)

-----------------------------------------------------------------

What is notable from both exhibits is the general lack of training and qualifications

! 27 | Page
achieved both generally and specifically in marketing. The Plymouth report may well
attempt to put a brave face on it, but it would have to be accepted that managers in the
marketing profession are basically unqualified. They do not possess formal marketing
qualifications - professional, degree or postgraduate - to any appreciable extent.

EXHIBIT 12
Background of UK Chief Marketing Executives

First degree subjects held by CMEs %

Science, maths or engineering 24

Classics, arts or modern languages 14
Economics, politics or social sciences 12
Marketing, commerce or business studies 5
Law 2
Other 1
Total 58%

Professional Qualifications held by CMEs %

Engineering 12
Accountancy 2
Law less than 1
Other 14
Total 29%

Source: Heidrick and Struggles (1985)

-----------------------------------------------------------------

The Chartered Institute of Marketing who gained its chartered status in 1989 would
point out that its student registrations and those taking their professional qualifications
have risen significantly over the last 5 years. What impact this may have has yet to be
seen. It may also be inferred from the data that even if the area of sales is a common
starting point for marketing professionals (Plymouth Polytechnic Business School
1987), the profession is not necessarily their first with managers coming from other
areas such as engineering (Heidrick and Struggles 1985).

Mathews and Redman (1993) recently completed a study of marketing jobs through
content analysis of over 1000 recruitment advertisements. Their analysis provides no
healthier view. Industry does not require their marketing managers to be qualified,
professionally or otherwise. The authors state, "The inescapable inference is that
marketing is the sort of job that formal knowledge of the subject is largely irrelevant to
the prospective employer" (1993:190). This is also reflected in the Marketing Week/
Taylor and Partners survey (1986) reported below in which most of the marketing
!28 | P a g e
managers stated that they, themselves, considered professional qualifications
unimportant.

Skills and Personal Qualities

Thomas identified a range of skills held by marketing managers "who are very good at
their jobs" on the basis of "contact with practising Marketing Managers" (1986:1).
Exhibit 13 lists the 16 skills he identified and attempts to reflect accurately the
descriptions he provided for each one. A 17th skill is also identified as one to which
Thomas made reference on numerous occasions yet chose not to list as a separate
item.

He describes his list as not being definitive and an examination shows some areas are
overlapping. There may exist more basic and underlying skills from which he has
extrapolated. However, the value of the list lies, in part, in the way it embraces what
some may term more general management skills as well as those more specially, and
peculiarly, related to the marketing management job. Stewart's work (1976) referred to
earlier provides more evidence of the need for marketing managers to develop their
own peculiar balance of skills. It is clear from such work that particular job roles do
bring with them the need to display different, heightened (or even reduced)
management skills if the job is to be undertaken successfully. Due to the nature of the
marketing task within the organisation structures imposed, it is not uncommon for
increased skills in dealing with peers and superiors in sections outside the control of
marketing to be needed. The opportunity for delegation to subordinates is reduced.

! 29 | Page
EXHIBIT 13
Skills of the Professional Marketing Manager

-1- Planning Skills - a continuous process of analysis and decision making resulting in plans which are
used.

-2- Environmental Awareness - a process of monitoring and anticipating change resulting in proactive,
not reactive management.

-3- Organisational Ability - dynamic organising of available resources. The skill to change the
organisation to meet changing environments.

-4- Segmentation and Product Development Skills - the ability to make segmentation and product
development decisions (and to use the information needed to develop them) to meet the defined
needs of the market segments selected.

-5- Behaviour Analysis Skills - skills in identifying consumer perceptions and understanding buyer
behaviour.

-6- Market Research Commissioning Skills - marketing research and the information it generates is
important to marketing decision making. Much of the relevant information is derived from an ability to
commission such research from others in cost efficient ways.

-7- Information Analysis Skills - the skill to be able to specify what types of information, and what types of
analysis, are required and to be at ease with the use of information technology.

-8- Innovation Management Skills - skills of managing product and service development and launch
within the company and in the market place.

-9- Strategic Thinking Skills - skills to think beyond the immediate and the tactical. Abilities to use
concepts and tools of strategic analysis and decision making with longer term implications.

-10- Sales and Advertising Management and Productivity Management Skills - abilities which ensure
efficiency and effectiveness particularly in the context of two large marketing investment areas, sales
and advertising.

-11- Marketing Mix Optimisation Skills - the ability to skilfully blend all the elements of the marketing mix.

-12- Interdepartmental Cooperation and Conflict Resolution Skills - management skill in working with
others to increase cooperation and prevent or reduce conflict.

-13- Financial Management Skills - "the financial illiterate has no place in the ranks of the marketing
department of the marketing company" Thomas (1986:5 ).

-14- Systems Thinking and Skills - the ability to analyse and understand complex systems in order to
make them work more effectively.

-15- The Ability to Comprehend the Long Term Interests of the Company - the ability to go beyond short
term and personal engrandisement as 'guardian of the company's future'.

-16- The Ability to 'Market' Marketing Enthusiastically - to communicate to others what it is that marketing
managers do and the role marketing should have within an organisation.

-17- Proactivity - the ability to look to the future, to anticipate, to make things happen and get things done.

Source: Thomas (1986)

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Marketing Week in partnership with recruitment consultants, Taylor and Partners

(1986), mailed a questionnaire to 1,200 senior marketing personnel and received a

! 30 | Page
total of 207 usable replies from a broad base of respondents. 37% were Marketing or
Sales and Marketing Directors. 40% were Marketing Managers.

Respondents were asked to score a range of important skills for marketing managers.
Planning/organising, entrepreneurial flair, man management, financial control, creative
flair, time management, risk taking, staff recruitment and sales negotiation all received
average scores of greater than 4 out of 5. The survey also revealed that although
marketing managers were able to identify a range of relevant skills pertinent to their
profession, they were critical of the level to which these skills were achieved. The bulk
of respondents were said to rate their contemporaries with only 'average' capabilities,
with more than 10% believing them to be 'fairly poor' or worse. Lack of general
company experience and financial skills were common and comments frequently
included claims reflected in such statements as, "Insufficiently rounded to consider total
business implications", "Reduction in the commitment to training by large companies
has led to poor calibre of marketers", "Most marketing people are glorified salesmen
with little creative flair" and "Marketers have not kept pace with changes in the industrial
environment". Marketers considered their fellows as lacking in judgement, experience
and 'real world' awareness, as well as being arrogant.

The personnel recruitment policy of one large pharmaceuticals company recognises

the following attributes in Exhibit 14 in its selection of marketing staff.

EXHIBIT 14
Attributes Sought in Recruitment of Marketers

Creativity Initiative
Aesthetic Sense Achievement Drive
Calculated Influence Problem Solving
Direct Persuasion Analytical Mind
Managing Others Practical, Logical Focus
Efficiency Orientation

Source: large pharmaceuticals company

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Using the Pedler et al list of management qualities (1986) as a basis, Mathews and
Redman (1993) concluded from content analysis of recruitment advertisements that
social skills, creativity, mental agility, proactivity and problem solving skills all received

! 31 | Page
frequent mentions (ie in 10% or more advertisements) as job requirements for
marketing positions with social skills clearly being emphasised as a specific area (67%
mentions). Their analysis was further broken down into a range of marketing job areas.
From these findings, it suggests that the weighting on each relevant skill area varies
from marketing job to job. Whilst one would have to agree with the researchers that
"perhaps the recruitment advertisement is an imperfect lens through which to view the
capabilities of a profession" (1993:189), their work does shed light on this important
area of study.

A number of quotes received during the Marketing Week/Taylor and Partners survey
(1986) shown in Exhibit 15 reflect the general tenor of the points raised above.

EXHIBIT 15
Quotes from Managers about the Marketing Management Job

"Those in marketing have to want to make things happen" David Sowter, Nabisco Group.

"The greatest challenge to marketers today is the management of change. I have the feeling that most senior
marketing people are singularly ill-equipped to rise to this challenge" Paul Sartor, British Olivetti.

"Marketing.... is less about expertise, more about general all round management strength - marketers must be
sound in the selling environment as well as in the production/development area. Expertise can be bought in -
it is the management of all these various activities of product management that is the key to being the best
marketers" Ian Trottman, Mattessons Walls.

"My major concern is that to do this properly requires an understanding in detail of so many aspects of a
company's operations that very few marketers are in a position to do it. Most managers are now marketing
technicians rather than true marketers" Nigel Hunter, Eden Vale.

"The good marketer must have vision, unlimited energy, the ability to communicate and put plans into action
while remaining realistic, practical and down-to-earth" Ralph Wright, Peter Dominic.

Source: Marketing Week/Taylor and Partners (1986)

-----------------------------------------------------------------

The question arises whether these skills are static over time or do their relative
importance change as circumstances change? Heidrick and Struggles (1985) do
identify that the Chief Marketing Executive has taken on a dramatically more important
role as a strategic driving force over the last 5 years (at least in those companies who
have adopted a much more marketing orientation to their business). This would tend to
suggest, for senior marketing executives if not for others, that skills related to planning,
environmental awareness, organisational ability, strategic and systems thinking, and
the ability to comprehend the long term are skills which may now need greater

! 32 | Page
emphasis but, then, this may be equally true of other managers too.

Along with the particular skills which may need to be developed by marketing
managers, it is interesting to postulate that such managers may display a range of
personal qualities: personality traits, problem solving styles, etc which might also
differentiate them from other managers who might not need to have such qualities or
who may need to possess them to differing degrees. It may be inferred from Exhibit 14
that this is the case at least in the eyes of that particular company. The same may be
inferred from a number of the other sources quoted above.

Work on the learning and problem solving styles of managers reinforces the view that
managers in different professions possess different qualities and preferred styles of
operating. In the case of marketing managers emphasis is placed (using Kolb's terms
(1979)) on concrete experience and active experimentation leading to an
accommodative learning style. Kolb's research has led him to conclude that the styles
of managers within different functional groups has impact upon the way in which these
groups are able to integrate. "The integrative conflict between units is a function of
managers' learning styles rather than merely a matter of conflicting job and role
demands.... learning styles are an important factor to consider in achieving integration
among functional units" (Kolb et al 1979:51). The profession of marketing, which relies
so heavily upon integration and placement into marginal positions, must require its
managers to develop particular skills to cope with the difficulties of such integration.
Upon this, the success of the marketing manager's job depends.

The Marketing Week/Taylor & Partners survey (1986) suggested that marketing
managers do not have a strong need for job security, that many look for job moves, see
their time in marketing as transitory, are optimistic and have high levels of personal
confidence, enjoy involvement and challenge, and seek power in control over projects
and their implementation. They join the profession because they see it as 'infinitely
more challenging, satisfying and interesting than others'. They live in a world in which
success is based on results (three quarters of all respondents had part of their
remuneration linked to personal and/or company performance) and failures are
punished. Mike Sommers, Woolworth, believes that marketing is "The most challenging
and all-embracing role in the business environment. The only real job for anyone with
! 33 | Page
high achievement needs who enjoys risk and commensurate rewards".

CONCLUDING COMMENTS

The question was posed, "What do we know about marketing managers?" Some
insight is gained by reference to studies of both marketing and non-marketing
managers alike but questions and lack of understanding still persist despite a history of
many years of research. The picture is far from complete, only some pieces of the
jigsaw puzzle are in place.

Studies of management in a generic sense fail to disaggregate the situations, tasks

and personal qualities of managers performing specific job roles within specific
professional groupings. In this failure, recognition is not given to the richness and
variety of differences and distinguishing features which might reasonably be expected
between managers operating within different functional areas. It is through 'micro'
rather than 'macro' studies in which the promise of progress is held. The Management
Charter Initiative and the competence imperative holds some hope but its focus is
limited even if its task is immense. In looking for more detail, new problems arise and
concern has to be expressed of researchers ability to differentiate between successful,
effective, non-effective management. Moreover, there is a need to reconsider the
theoretical framework which underpins any management research. Questions can
reasonably be raised as to the appropriateness of the hitherto positivist approaches
typically adopted in the past and whether more postmodernist perspectives would lead
to greater insight.

Marketing as a profession is threatened. It has travelled through its popular heyday and
although the value of the discipline is accepted, academics and researchers have not
shed sufficient light upon how it should be managed and implemented - emphasis has
been on theory and not on marketing manager skills development and practice. What is
known by some does not cascade down to have sufficient impact on education and
training provision, on the recruiters and on the developers of marketing managers. The
study of marketing management should not be an academic exercise, but should
enable us to 'grow' better managers. It should facilitate better recruitment, training and
! 34 | Page
education. Education and training programmes as may exist, have not been valued by
industry or the marketing managers themselves. Marketing is largely a profession of
non-qualified managers. What qualifications are held are more likely to be in other
disciplines.

Marketing is threatened by absorbtion into other management areas which have

gained greater status in the management professions hierarchy. Although it would be
unlikely for such subsumption to be complete, marketing managers are running the risk
of becoming 'technicians' and service providers to management. In many respects
marketers are their own architects of such change. They have long espoused the need
for organisation-wide marketing, that the role of marketing is too amorphous and
pervasive for it to be left to a single department to manage and control, and they have
too infrequently risen to the heights of the boardroom to be the overseers of this role.
Other managers have filled their shoes. There has been disillusionment in their
performance, perhaps unfairly so. New interests have arisen in the value of internal
marketing. There has been growth in the acceptance of total quality management and
the importance of customer satisfaction, aspects which in many respects have been
preached by marketers for many years even if the preferred terminology is now a little
different.

The challenge is to research marketing managers as a discrete management grouping

and, more so, for that research to distinguish between the different marketing manager
job positions. Greater understanding needs to be generated about the different tasks,
roles and situations pertaining to the variety of marketing jobs and the different
aptitudes, abilities and personalities displayed by the managers in different situational
and organisational settings. Emphasis should be on comparison and contrast, not on
the search for generalisation, if truly competent marketing managers are to be
developed in the future.

Looked at from a number of perspectives, the jobs of marketing managers involve

conflict. The role of integrator, which many are required to play, creates pressures.
Marketing managers are 'marginalised'. Their learning and problem solving styles differ
from those in other departments and professions. Their responsibilities and skills are
diverse but are not sufficiently well understood. They do not control critical factors
! 35 | Page
which influence their performance. They are 'exposed'. Such issues surely have
implications for improving management performance and justify closer scrutiny through
more research effort?

! 36 | Page
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