{"id":343,"date":"2014-08-11T05:11:28","date_gmt":"2014-08-11T05:11:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.tojoeapen.com\/blog\/?p=343"},"modified":"2016-12-24T07:04:10","modified_gmt":"2016-12-24T07:04:10","slug":"feeling-stuck-in-the-middle-life-in-middle-management","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tojoeapen.com\/blog\/feeling-stuck-in-the-middle-life-in-middle-management\/","title":{"rendered":"Feeling Stuck In The “Middle”? Life In Middle Management…"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Middle managers are a very interesting group for study in any organization. \u00a0From various conversations and experiences, I’ve observed multiple\u00a0challenges\u00a0and frustrations\u00a0faced by this group. \u00a0They seem to hold\u00a0a lot of power, influence and operational responsibility in the organization but there are frustrations from different directions.<\/p>\n

Many experts in recent years have called for a radical rethink of how organizations are structured, doing away with traditional corporate hierarchies and suggest that middle management is not helping and holding organizations back. \u00a0Some have even advocated doing away with middle management. \u00a0During many reorganizations or restructuring programs in organizations, ‘delayering’ the organization is one of the top principles adopted.<\/p>\n

There have been discussions on\u00a0“Is It Time To Abolish Middle Management?”, “Are Middle Managers Becoming Obsolete?”, and “The End of Middle Managers”. \u00a0In India, there have been concerns about\u00a0creation of a mid-level that don’t possess the required competencies because of lack of experience, improper skill-building and almost negligible grooming by seniors. \u00a0A 2014 report by the Australian Institute of Management indicated that middle managers are underperforming\u00a0and\u00a0organizations have promoted technical specialists to middle management ranks without investing\u00a0sufficiently in developing the leadership and management skills. \u00a0An Accenture post earlier this year stated that If IT has displaced middle managers in the information flow, digital obliterates the hierarchy they call home. \u00a0According to them, there is a silent crisis in most organizations – too many administrators and not enough real managers. \u00a0In short, middle managers are in the limelight and their activities and value to organizations are under the microscope.<\/p>\n

A 2010 Boston Consulting Group & World Federation of People Management Associations\u00a0paper reported that middle managers are critical to improving overall employee engagement and corporate performance. \u00a0They act as a bridge between top managers and team members. \u00a0Though they see the vision at the top of the organization and the pain at the bottom, they frequently do not have the support of senior management or effective levers to do their jobs and provide assistance to their employees.<\/p>\n

Who are middle managers?<\/strong>
\nA\u00a0logical way of defining middle managers is to identify the group between senior and front-line managers in the organisational hierarchy. \u00a0Middleness can have several dimensions: middle of a command hierarchy; middle in terms of time-scale and scope of decision between strategic and routine supervision; middle in terms of organizational impact.<\/p>\n

How\u00a0could we address some of these issues, at the individual and organizational level?<\/p>\n

At the organizational level:<\/strong><\/p>\n

The BCG\/WFPM study advocated:<\/p>\n