reflections About middle managers Lecture

In the lecture Mica Wulff Kamm tell us about the roles of middle managers in an organization, dilemmas, tools and her personal approach about the middle managers. She gave us too much information about the middle managers in organization. She discuss middle managers in different prospective and provide us effective information.
“…middle managers as we have known them are cooked geese.”
Tom Peters, Liberation Management (1992)
“…in knowledge intensive industries middle managers are definitely needed”
- My theory (Mica Wulff Kamm)
I agree with the statement that middle managers are definitely needed for an organization. Middle managers play a key role in the organizational development.
Almost every company has them. They may number six or 6,000 and they all share the same job category -- middle managers. They are often referred to as the "glue" that holds companies together, bridging the gap between the top management team and lower level workers. They implement strategy and organizational changes, keeping workers engaged during both good and bad economic cycles.
Most of the organizations didn’t give importance to the middle management they mainly focus on the top management or lower management. They ignore the middle managers to many extent. Due to which middle managers become disappointed from the job and they start thinking to switch from the job.
According to a 2007 Accenture survey of middle managers around the world, 20% reported dissatisfaction with their current organization and that same percentage reported that they were looking for another job. One of the top reasons cited was lack of prospects for advancement.
"Many companies are seeing significant turnover in middle management ranks, and with significant turnover, they don't have the ability to execute strategy," says vice dean of Wharton Executive Education Thomas Colligan. "Top management can spend all their time creating strategy, but without someone there to implement it, where are you at the end of the day?"
Colligan noted that one large partnership facing a 20% turnover rate did a calculation in which it concluded that for each 1% it could reduce turnover, it would increase partner earnings by $80,000. "Middle managers are very important to attract, develop and retain, and some companies are becoming painfully aware of that."
David Sirota, co-author of The Enthusiastic Employee: How Companies Profit by Giving Workers What They Want, predicts that middle managers will "again bear a significant part of the pain that the current economic conditions will bring."
Joe Ryan, who teaches in Wharton Executive Education, agrees. As companies go through economic cycles like the current one, middle managers get hit with the elimination of rewards and incentives and, in some cases, layoffs. This is particularly true now in the financial services industry, he says. "In cost-cutting times, knee-jerk reactions happen. There is a paradox where
middle managers are essential, but end up sacked when restructuring occurs. It's a rough situation because the people needed to run the most important projects are in the middle."
If companies don't manage change well, they will confront a "frozen" middle management and "vicious cycles of low morale and low engagement," Ryan says. "Regardless of the economic climate, companies need to build a resilient workforce and engage the middle to go forward, because this is where change occurs."
Middle managers are essential for an organization because they make a link between the top management and rest of the organization. Sirota describes them as "the glue across upper and lower levels as well
as horizontally with other departments."
According to Jane Farran, a senior fellow in Wharton Executive Education and managing partner of the consulting firm C4, with the economy under siege these days, "a lot of belt tightening is occurring. Many companies are nipping and tucking to make their numbers." That's not a good strategy, she suggests. Indeed, when companies have tried flattening their hierarchies in the past
-- thinking that middle managers are extraneous and a few layers of them could be eliminated -- the result was not what they expected.
"These intermediaries have a very important role," she says. "The middle managers translate strategy and the big picture so that it makes sense and is applicable for the day-to-day workers."
“…the death of the middle manager is an overstated rumor…they are big contributors to strategy development and execution”
(ABC för mellanchefer, Härje Fransén 2004)
The question is If middle managers are so valuable, why would they report dissatisfaction and leave their companies? A primary reason is lack of advancement opportunity, says Sirota. "When companies downsize, they will often cut middle management ranks. But even if companies just stagnate,
advancement opportunities are limited. This hits people very hard, particularly people in their late 30s and 40s."
It is analyzes the plight of middle managers--they have a boss's responsibility without a boss's authority; they function as specialists and generalists at the same time; and they must meet the conflicting demands of superiors, subordinates, and peers. Although middle management positions are increasingly common in divisionalized corporations, they are often misunderstood.( Hugo E.R. Uyterhoeven, Harvard Business, General Managers in the Middle)
Middle managers as innovators:
Entrepreneurial middle managers are the key to innovative growth in organizations and are a source of hope for a slowed economy. In fact, strategic directives from senior executives mean nothing without efficient middle managers just below officer level who are able to design the systems and carry out the plans. Rosabeth Moss Kanter's article, first published in 1982, reports on a study of effective middle managers working in large corporations. It distinguishes between managers who fostered basic accomplishments (those that occurred within existing frameworks) and managers who achieved innovative accomplishments (those that increased long-term capacity). Basic accomplishments differ from innovative ones not only in scope and long-run impact but also in what it takes to achieve them. Innovative accomplishments tend to involve highly problematic situations that require creative solutions, power, and influence. Innovative middle managers are not necessarily extraordinary individuals. They do, however, share several characteristics, including comfort with change, clarity of direction, thoroughness, and a participative management style. Such managers also understand that achieving their goals takes time--and tact. Achieving goals also takes the support of a collaborative organization. Entrepreneurial managers require access to abundant information, support, and resources, and they need the power to go beyond the limits of their formal positions.
The important roles middle managers play in organizations, including balancing continuity and change, enhancing organizational resilience, and identifying potential innovations
Stereotypes about middle managers abound--including "they're boring, bureaucratic, rigid." But middle managers play critical roles in your company. Unlike ambitious, volatile stars, these "best supporting actors" care more about their company's well-being than their own. Prizing stability, they often step off the fast track to balance career with family.
Findings:
A middle manager is good leader if he have following:
Loyal: He must be loyal to employees and customers. He must be loyal to organization. All are loyal with themselves.
Centralization: A middle manager can become good leader if he have power. He must be in a agree to delegate power to lower management. Some middle managers are not willing to delegate power to lower management.
Operations vs Leadership: An effective manager must have operational and leadership abilities. Managers having both abilities can handle all situations in an effective way.
Information: They should have all the information about the organization in much detail. He should be in a position to accept and give information to others.
Long term vs short term goals: They should have some goals which may short term or long term goals. But the effective short term goals are those which leads to long term goals. Which are very helpful in achieving organizational goals.
Downsizing: in downsizing process most of the companies influence much on the middle management. They tries to eliminate the size of middle managers in the organization which is not good for middle managers.
There are three main things which a middle manager should have:
· Be there, when the ground shakes
· I’m good when my co-workers are visible
· If I do a good job I’m not needed in the end.
Conclusion:
From all the above discussion we came to know that middle managers are much needed for an organization. Organizations should give much importance to the middle managers. They should give them some power to make decisions. Because they are bond to top management for decisions and implementation of changes in the organization. They only work as a gate keeper who only see the things coming in and out of the organization but don’t have power stop any activity which is mot good for organization.

References:
Lecture by Mica Wulff Kamm
Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Quy Nguyen Huy, Thomas J. Delong, Don't Underrate Your Middle Managers, Harvard Business articles.
.( Hugo E.R. Uyterhoeven, Harvard Business, General Managers in the Middle, Harvard Business articles
Karen Golden-Biddle, Trish Reay and Denise Thomson, Implementing Change: The Crucial Role of Middle Managers
Caught in the Middle: Why Developing and Retaining Middle Managers Can Be So Challenging
Published : May 28, 2008