UK managers frustrated by barriers to progress

What managers really want from their work was made clearer today as the Chartered Management Institute and Adecco revealed new findings from the 2005 ’Motivation Matters’ survey.

The research shows UK managers are eager for recognition, fed up with workplace cliques and in need of guidance as they try to realise career ambitions. Over 1,800 individuals were asked to identify the top barriers to progress at work and how to overcome these. The key issues they highlighted were:

1. Better prospects for promotion - with many employers creating a flat organisational structure it is no surprise that 48 per cent of junior and middle managers feel hampered by a lack of opportunity. Two-thirds of respondents also suggested they will have to leave to gain promotion.

2. Right of entry - I am not part of the ’inner circle’ of influential people was one comment recorded as 27 per cent of managers claimed that social pressure at work and old boys’ networks combined to create feelings of exclusion. However one-third of respondents (36 per cent) suggested that informal mentoring schemes could address the problem.

3. Access to advisors - a lack of career guidance (17 per cent) and minimal provision of training and education programmes for junior managers (23 per cent) highlighted gaps in some career development initiatives. However, demonstrating a resilient and determined approach, managers observed that Career progression is left up to me - I don’t expect my company to advise me

4. Recognition of talent - 18 per cent of managers said age has restricted career opportunities to date, with 1 in 5 senior managers claiming that their age hindered progression. Revealing that managers want promotion based on recognition of their abilities 33 per cent also said they want to be assessed by their peers.

5. Flexible approach to work - although managers are motivated to work long hours, one in 3 feel that leisure activities have been curtailed by work commitments. Many respondents suggested compressed working weeks (31 per cent), annualised hours (25 per cent) or sabbaticals (22 per cent) as ways of accommodating professional and personal lives.

The survey shows that managers are clearly determined to succeed, with 58 per cent citing the challenge of the job as a major reason for joining their current employer. Jo Causon, director, marketing and corporate affairs at the Chartered Management Institute, says: Managers are clearly motivated by their desire to perform and progress, but to retain highly committed managers, organisations need to invest more in providing opportunities to develop new skills, design more challenging roles and enable people to meet professional and personal commitments.

’Motivation Matters’ also revealed that managers want to be stretched and would welcome the challenge of special assignments. More than half of those experiencing secondments or project management believe that these are effective development tools.

Richard Macmillan, Managing Director of Adecco UK and Ireland commented, Individual managers need to review their career plans regularly, but employers must also play a part in developing staff. Talented people will move if they are no longer satisfied in their role and organisations need to listen if they are to foster environments which demonstrate a commitment to individual and organisational values.

Copies of the executive summary of ’Motivation Matters’ are available from: