Middle managers

Middle managers are the people in an organization whose authority and LEADERSHIP lie below top MANAGEMENT and above first-level supervisors. In traditional settings, the middle manager is responsible for developing operational plans and procedures to implement the broader goals, objectives, and strategies of top management. After World War II, middle managers were considered to be one of the driving forces behind the economic success of the major industries in the United States. Companies like US Steel and Ford Motor Company had hierarchical management structures. Middle managers were often promoted from the ranks of the workers, had operational experience, and could translate the directives of top management into activities to be carried out by front-line workers. A good analogy used to describe the middle manager was “the neck” that connects “the body” (the line worker) to “the head” (the policy-making top manager). With industrial GLOBALIZATION in the 1970s, experts brought the “team approach” from Japan to the management circles of the United States. Instead of middle managers, there were “team leaders,” usually technically skilled but inexperienced managers who were promoted from the ranks. The middle manager thus became the first person to be downsized in the flatter, leaner organizations of the 1980s. Considered obsolete, middle managers were labeled as saboteurs of change in many organizations. In the 1980s and 1990s, heavy industry was replaced by hightech industry as the foundation of the U.S. economy. These high-tech companies favored “flat” organizational structures, which have in fact proven to be less efficient. In the late 1990s, top-level managers were often heard saying, “There’s nobody around here who knows how to get things done!” There is now a new respect for the middle manager. Many organizations are structured around teams, and the middle manager’s leadership skills have become increasingly important. Many middle managers have new titles like “business leader,” and their value in the leaner, flatter organizations of today comes from a unique knowledge base and ability to integrate strategic and operating-level information. With high turnover in the upper levels of management, middle managers tend to be keepers of “institutional memory.” Leading from the middle, these managers are closest to the front lines as well as the customers. With their understanding of the problems and challenges of change, they can communicate objectively with the upper levels of management and offer insight into how to solve problems. This ability to communicate across the organization is a major strength of the middle manager’s role, especially in times of change and economic stress.