Results of a survey into how people become managers and the management development implications

To establish how people become managers.

A survey of 50 managers carried out at the end of 2004 by students on the BA in Business and Management course at the University of Westminster. A total of 25 students chose two managers each to interview. Of the managers, 38 were from the UK.

Out of 50 managers surveyed, 47 were specialists before they acquired management responsibilities. Only 12 received management training before becoming managers and that training was not always felt to be effective. The transition from specialist to becoming a manager of specialists was often stressful. Only two people became managers as a direct result of undertaking business studies degree programmes.

Specialists often acquire managerial responsibilities, and often quite early in their career. Those aspiring to management have found that their entry route is via a specialist department. Consequently, it is appropriate to see that managers have the right blend of specialist and managerial skills and that they are given help in adjusting to managerial roles. The implications of the specialist route into management needs to be reflected in the structure of increasingly popular undergraduate programmes in business studies. There is a case for such courses having both specialist options and a managerial component.

There is little research about how people become managers. It is particularly important that the specialist route identified is understood by those wishing to become managers, by universities and colleges running both business and specialist courses and by employers.