A research report submitted to the Faculty of Humanities
University of the Witwatersrand
In partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of
Masters of Arts in Organisational PsychologyStratified Systems Theory classifies roles within organisations according to varying
discontinuous levels or layers of work (Stamp, 1981). These levels are differentiated
according to the time frames within which employees typically see results, the level
of responsibility they are expected to take on, as well as the complexity of the work
they are engaged in (Jaques, 2007a). The aim of the current study was to contribute
towards existing literature on managerial derailment by investigating whether there is
an association between the level of work and the risk of derailing behaviour, and if
the degree of fit between an individual’s level of work and their current and future
cognitive capability is associated with the risk of derailing behaviour. Derailing
behaviour is conceptualised as destructive actions that have a detrimental effect on the
career progression or success of an individual (Freedman, 2005). Archival data was
made available to the researcher from a single large, international telecommunications
organisation based in South Africa. Participants who had been assessed using the
Modified Career Path Appreciation (MCPA) as well as the Hogan Development
Survey (HDS) were included in the study. The final sample (n=252) consisted of
managers working at various levels of the organisation who had been assessed for the
purposes of either selection or development during 2015.
Overall, the research hypotheses were not supported. Contrary to what was expected,
a higher level of work was not associated with a greater risk of derailing behaviour. In
fact, a greater number of derailers were evident at a lower level of work when
compared to a slightly higher level of work. Furthermore, contrary to what was
hypothesised, those whose level of work exceeded their current or future capabilities
did not display a greater risk of derailing behaviour than those who achieved fit with
their environment. On the contrary, a greater risk of derailing behaviour was found for
those whose current or future capabilities exceeded that required by their level of
work. No differences in the types of derailing behaviour reported were found to be
associated with the level of work an individual is operating at, the degree of fit they
experience between their current capability and their work environment, or the degree
of fit they experience between their future capability and their work environment. All
the analyses conducted reinforced the same finding that participants in the sample
were more likely to report a high risk of displaying derailers falling into the ‘moving
against’ category, regardless of these factors.GR201
