Purgatory or Place of Safety? The Managerial Plateau and Organizational Agegrading

Abstract

The managerial plateau is generally assumed to be problematic for organizations, generated by motives for advancement outstripping opportunities for upward mobility. However, previous research has used unitary criteria for plateauing of untested validity, and failed to examine the phenomenon contextually by taking account of internal labor market characteristics. Measurement of agegrading was used to address these problems. Drawing upon a sample of 4000 managers at various levels of a large corporation the present study had three objectives. First, in setting out to evaluate the characteristics of the internal labor market, results showed patterns consistent with a partial "tournament" career system, but also that different career systems may coexist within the single organization, through advancement criteria differing across company levels. Second, in aiming to assess the relationships between conventional plateau criteria and agegrading, agegrading was found to covary with the more widely used criteria, while avoiding some of their difficulties. Third, looking at the consequences for managers' career attitudes and adjustment, it was found that off-line slow (i.e., plateaued) managers did not exhibit lowered career satisfaction, adjustment, or mobility aspirations, despite the fact that they have lower expectations of promotional and non-promotional job moves. At the same time some off-line fast (i.e., high fliers) managers did have higher satisfactions and expectations. Results are interpreted in terms of countervailing satisfactions, exit costs, and loyalty. It is also noted that these features can conceal from companies the shortcomings of their career development systems, and lead to the neglect of constructive alternatives to promotion for plateaued staff.