It is important that research on plateaued managers differentiate psychological and tenure plateauing. A study was conducted which employed the combination of a psychological variable and tenure on the job to define plateaued and nonplateaued managers. It was proposed that being plateaued implies not only being in a job for a long time, but also perceiving that few opportunities exist in the organization. This two-component definition of plateaued was used to identify four groups of managers: (1) those psychologically and organizationally plateaued; (2) those psychologically plateaued but not organizationally identified as plateaued; (3) those organizationally identified as plateaued but not psychologically plateaued; and (4) those neither psychologically nor organizationally plateaued. Managers from 109 mental health agencies provided data on psychological climate, personality, work history, work and nonwork satisfaction, and career decision making. The results indicated that being psychologically plateaued had a greater effect on several variables. Psychologically plateaued managers were alienated from both work and the community and were found to be more sensitive than their non-plateaued counterparts to role variables. (Author/NRB)