The Formation of Top Managers: a Discourse Analysis of Five Managerial Autobiographies
| Author | David B. P. Sims |
| Published date | 01 March 1993 |
| Date | 01 March 1993 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8551.1993.tb00162.x |
British
Journal
of
Management,
Vol.
4,5748
(1993)
The Formation
of
Top Managers: a Discourse
Analysis
of
Five Managerial Autobiographies
David
B. P.
Sims
Senior Lecturer School
of
Management, University
of
Bath
SUMMARY
What do top managers see as the root of their success? This paper reports on a discourse
analysis of five autobiographies from major industrial figures. Those chosen all had
some disruption (war, being a refugee,
or
immigrant status) between the culture of
their childhood and the culture in which they undertook their careers. This makes
them more aware than most of their upbringing. Their accounts
of
their first
20
years
are examined, and themes are drawn out
for
each of them. These themes are tabulated
and some of the differences between them are discussed. Common themes are conspicuous
by their absence. The paper discusses why this should not surprise us; top management
is not one activity in one culture, and an upbringing that might have led one of these
managers to success might have been disadvantageous to another. The paper concludes
that the common factor between the accounts of the managers
is
that they
all
regard
their upbringing as having fitted them particularly well
for
the company, industry and
culture in which they were eventually successful.
Where do managers’ theories on how to manage
come from? There is
a
growing literature of mana-
gerial autobiography containing many accounts
of
how managers believe they came to be as they are.
This paper examines five accounts by high-profile
managers. Their views are analysed to see what
they think contributed to the kind of manager that
they became.
First, we look at the nature of managerial dis-
course about development; what are managers lik-
ely to know or
say
about their own formation? The
paper describes
a
discourse analysis method and
presents an analysis of five managers’ accounts of
their own development. The themes are then con-
sidered together to see whether a coherent picture
can be produced, and in conclusion the main disco-
veries from the work are highlighted.
Discourse About Development
People have reasons for what they say. If managers
write about their early lives, or their families, or
what their country was like before it was devastated
by war, this has some significance for them. The
production of discourse often arises from a mixture
of motives, none of which is more or less ‘real’
then the others. One of the motivations for writing
an autobiography can be to clear the mind. Equally,
an author may be trying to set the record straight.
We cannot assume that authors are clear about
their reasons for what they say, any more than I
can be completely sure about my motivation for
writing this paper, or yours for reading it. This
means that we need to be cautious in our interpre-
tations.
Several features must be born in mind with
regard to the autobiographers that we are reading
here. They are
all
powerful people who know that
their books will be read by other powerful people,
including employees, competitors, friends and
family. There are things that one might wish to
keep from any one of those audiences, and some
things that one might not wish to say to all of them.
Thus, instances of being mean and selfish, or totally
confused, or dishonest, are remarkably scarce in
1045-3172/93/010057-12$11
.OO
@
1993 by John Wiley
&
Sons,
Ltd.
Received
I5
March 1991
Revised 19 March 1992
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