It was interesting to listen to Mica Wulff Kamm's lecture about her working experience as a middle manager in Telia Sonera. I can see how she enjoys her current position because she can involve in a lot of operations, strategies and decision making.
A company may face several times of re-organization and the new strategy will be implemented due to the tenure of new CEO. Middle mangers play an important role in the communication between the subordinates and top management teams. When there's a change of strategy within an organization, middle managers functions as the bridge to transmit the information correctly to their employees so that everyone is coherent to the same vision. It is inevitable that employees may have emotional problems with the change; for example, they may feel insecure or anxious about their positions and future career paths. However, middle managers may face the same problems as their subordinates do because they are not only the targets but also the agents of the change; they need to find the balance between the operation and leadership by using soft skills to help the employees through change and hard skills to let them recognize the direction of the organization, and implement the strategy effectively.
I agree with her view that middle managers are getting more and more important in a company. They are responsible to guide and coach the well-educated people to achieve the goals. However, the dilemma of their role exists and they need to find solutions for them. Take re-organization for example, she mentioned that it is better to get involved in it because you will be able to decide which job you really want. I think this also means that a middle manager needs to be very proactive in the organizational activities, especially in organizational strategies. While in real lives, I find it hard for middle managers to have authority to make major decisions. Although they enjoy the empowerment, they sometimes are put in an embarrassing position between the top managers and subordinates because the communication may fail and they do not own the actual power to make a decision. They need to execute what is decided by their higher level managers.
From my point of view, interpersonal skills is one of the management skills which a middle manager should possess. He or she should be able to handle the resistance of his/her staffs through transitions, coach them and direct them. He/She should be reliable, accountable, and proactive. His/Her social network is very cricial for him/her to build a strong connetion with the industry and people and gain more useful information. To make good use of the networking, he/she can perform better than he/she expects. In addition, the relationship in the company no matter the level of position is high or low is also essentail.
All in all, as an organization grows, the demand of capable middle managers increases. They are strategic assets and change intermediaries in a firm. Without them, there will be gaps between the top management and employees and it will be difficult to achieve the goals.
References:
Balogun, J. (2003) From Blaming the Middle to Harnessing its Potential: Creating Change Intermediaries, British Journal of Management, vol. 14, 69-83.
Huy, N. Q. (2002) Emotional Balancing of Organizational Continuity and Radical Change, Administrative Science Quarterly, 47(1), 31-69.
