The changing nature of managerial skills, mindsets and roles: Advancing

theory and relevancy for contemporary managers

AUTHOR R OBERT LAUD *, J ORGE AREVALO * AND M ATTHEW J OHNSON **

ABSTACT

Abstract
Management research has been challenged by the altering realities of organization life, job roles,
and individual motivations that have long guided traditional theoretical thinking. The classical
frameworks regarding managerial performance requirements have been largely based upon
organizationally driven underpinnings. We propose a cognitive shift suggesting that individually
driven roles and desires are impacting the relevancy of conventional job requirements. Our study
analyzes the utilization of managerial skills, mindsets, and roles as perceived by 259 executives
representing nine industries and ~200 organizations. The results reveal that the interpretation and
application of managerial roles are primarily influenced by the individual’s intentions rather than
adherence to the current organizationally based theoretical taxonomy as taught by many business
schools. These findings illuminate the gap between the vast amount of effort researchers and
educators have expended on taxonomic precision and its questionable relationship to organizational
and individual learning and effectiveness. The theoretical and practical implications of these
findings are discussed along with recommendations to extend the current research.
Keywords: management education, management effectiveness, managerial competencies

clarity of background

searchers have provided abundant evidence that content knowledge alone is not sufficient for
hierarchical success, that is, job advancement or upward promotion, but rather some unique
combination of various capabilities and personality factors (Boudreau, Boswell, & Judge, 2001;
Tharenou, 2001; Ng, Eby, Sorensen, & Feldman, 2005; Yukl, 2012). However, other researchers have
lamented the deficiency of empirical and applied research that clearly defines the relationship
between
managerial roles and context (Tett, Guterman, Bleier, & Murphy, 2000; Dierdorff, Rubin, &
Morgeson, 2009). This reinforces the argument for relevancy as opposed to esoteric scholarship and
research in the debate within the business school community, which has raged for some 60 years
(Porter & McKibben, 1988; Bennis & O’Toole, 2005; Navarro, 2008; Rubin & Dierdorff, 2009;
Benjamin & O’Reilly, 2011; Paton, Chia, & Burt, 2014). Although the interplay between roles,
capabilities, and context has been highly beneficial from a broad theoretical perspective, these studies
have largely ignored the application of findings for management learning in meeting the needs of

today’s practising managers or MBA’s who are soon-to-be world real practitioners. A central question
remains in how to view the relevance of known work role requirements that are taught in business
schools so as to expand our practical and theoretical understanding of how they may impact individual
performance requirements and are requisite to managerial success (Fells, 2000; Dierdorff, Rubin, &
Morgeson, 2009; Perriton & Hodgson, 2012; Yukl, 2012).