The Unlearning of Managerial Skills: A Qualitative Study of Executive Officers

• Author: Makoto Matsuo
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/emre.12122
• Date: 01 June 2019
• Published date: 01 June 2019

The Unlearning of Managerial Skills: A

Qualitative Study of Executive Officers

MAKOTO MATSUO

Graduate School of Economics and Business Administration, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan

Although the abilities of executiveofficers to unlearn may have a significant impact onorganizational unlearning,

few studies have investigated the individual unlearning transition. The goal of this study was to examine the

managerial unlearning process upon promotion from senior manager to executive officer, based on the upper

echelons perspective and leadershippipeline model. Analyses of interviewdata with 46 executive officers at medium

and large-sized Japanese firms indicated that they unlearned and learned their managerial skills in relation to

‘decision making’,‘delegation and motivation’,and‘collecting information’, and that the unlearning process was

discontinuous. Specifically, decision making skills were switched from ‘short-term, analytic, and partial’to ‘long-

term, intuitive, and holistic’. Skills in delegation and mot ivation were transformed from ‘directive’to ‘dedicated

and entrusting’. Skills in collecting information were switched from‘direct collection’to ‘network-based collection’.

This study contributes to the literature on managerial skills by showing empirically the discontinuous nature of

management transitions with regard to an unlearning perspective.

Keywords: unlearning; managerial skills; executive officer; leadership pipeline model; upper echelons

Introduction

As successful experiences are accumulatedover the years,

organizations emphasize efficiency, grow complacent,

and learn too little (Nystrom and Starbuck, 1984). To

survive in an increasingly turbulent environment,

organizationsneed to ‘unle arn’, or discard oldknowledge

or routines to make wayfor new ones in certain industries

(Hedberg, 1981; Tsang, 2008). Thus, unlearning or

forgetting is an important step for enhancing generative

learning andinnovation (Fernandez et al., 2012).It should

be noted, however,that individual unlearning is necessary

for unlearning at the organizational level, because

organizations ultimately learn via their members (Kim,

1993). In particular, unlearning is imperative for top

executives because they influence organizational

performance through their values, personalities,

behaviors, and the strategic choices they make, as

suggested by the upper echelons perspective (Hambrick

and Mason, 1984; Hambrick, 2007). That is, the success

of organizational unlearning depends on the top

managementteam because enacting suchchanges requires

decision making authority (Hutzschenreuter et al., 2012).

Despite its importance, the individual unlearning

process, especially in the upper echelons, has been

neglected in previous studies (Klein, 1989; Hislop et al.,

2014). Past research on executive managers’capabilities

have identified necessary skills and capabilities for their

positions (e.g., Adner and Helfat, 2003; Kor and Mesko,

2013; Helfeat and Peteraf, 2015). However,little research

has investigated the transition in managerial skills from

senior managersto executive directors, duringwhich they

are required to transform their s kills substantially, becau se

executive directors typically need to handle multiple

businesses(Charan et al., 2001). Although several models

of managerial skills and capabilities have been proposed

(Katz, 1955; Mintzberg, 1973; Adner and Helfat, 2003),

differences in managerial skills between senior

managementand executive levels havenot been examined

sufficiently. The purpose of this study was to investigate

the unlearning process of managers by comparing their

managerial skills before and after their promotions to

executive positions, using interview data with male

managers at medium and large-sized Japanese firms.

This paper makes two contributions to the literature.

First, this study identified the types of managerial skills

that upper-echelon managers should unlearn when they

are promoted from senior management to executive

Correspondence: Makoto Matsuo, Graduate School of Economics and

Business Administration, Hokkaido University, Kita9 Nishi7,Kita-ku,

Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan, Tel/Fax: +81-11-706-4065. E-mail:

mmatsuo@econ.hokudai.ac.jp

European Management Review, Vol. 16, 303–315, (2019)

DOI: 10.1111/emre.12122

©2017 European Academy of Management