Operational Decision-making in High-hazard Organizations by Jan Hayes

Author:Jan Hayes
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Ashgate Publishing Limited
Published: 2013-07-23T16:00:00+00:00

6.4 Experience

Since identity is based on interaction with others, another significant factor in developing occupational identity is in the length of time that the operational managers have been part of their professions and part of their employing organizations. It is clear that the operational managers as a group have very stable employment histories. Most of them have only ever worked for one employer, or at one facility.

The average level of experience across all interviewees is approximately 25 years. For most interviewees this is their entire working life, indicating a long and stable relationship between employer and employee, and often within the operating team. Ownership of two of the participating sites had changed several times during the working life of the operational managers. The tone of their descriptions was that senior managers come and go, but they, and the facilities, remain. As one interviewee at the nuclear power station explained: ‘I think one of my colleagues down the bottom [in the control room] talks about time scales in quarter centuries … that contrasts with a lot of people who seem to do three or four years here and then move on or three or four years there and move on.’ This sense of permanence as management comes and goes contributes to a professional sense of independence and autonomy from the mores of each new owner.

In contrast to modern employment practices where people are told to expect to have several different ‘careers’ over the length of their working life, professionalism has been historically associated with a sense of vocation, a long term, stable commitment to one field of endeavour. This is certainly the occupational path that the operational managers have chosen. In each case, they have reached the top of their profession. Further promotion within their employing organization would entail a significant change to the nature of the role – moving off shift and away from day-to-day operational responsibility to a role with a stronger management focus. This would be a major change in career focus from achievement to advancement as described previously.

The long-term perspective on operations gives a historical, almost archaeological, multi-layered view of the facilities and how they operate. Such a view is not available to people with less experience. A comment by one of the Shift Managers at the chemical plant (Interviewee 2) illustrates this. He was called at home by the on-duty Shift Manager for advice about a plant problem. He said,

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