11-THELEADERSHIPROLEOFTODAYSMIDDLEMANAGER

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The Leadership Role of Today's Middle Manager
ArticleinJournal of Leadership & Organizational Studies · July 1996
DOI: 10.1177/107179199600300303
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Jay Klagge
Arizona State University
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Studies
Journal of Leadership & Organizational
DOI: 10.1177/107179199700300303 1997; 3; 11 Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies
Jay Klagge The Leadership Role of Today's Middle Manager
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The
Leadership
Role
of
Today’s
Middle
Manager
Jay Klagge
University
of Phoenix
About the Author: As an
academician,
Jay
has been
an
adjunct faculty
member for the
University
of
Phoenix’s
College
of Business
in
Phoenix
since 1988. In
1989,
Jay
was
given
the
&dquo;Outstanding
Faculty
Member Award&dquo;
by
the
students
of the
University.
He
currently
carries an
average
teaching
load
of two
classes. As a
practitioner, Jay
has
twenty-five
years
of
experience
as a
public
manager.
He
currently
serves as the Director
of
Planning
for
The State
Department
of
Transportation
in
Phoenix, Arizona,
USA.
In
this
position
he oversees the activities of the
nine
operating
sections
which
comprise
the Division.
Jay’s
experience
has
given
him a broad
background
in
strategic planning, management,
leadership, public
policy,
and
public
administration. As a
student,
Jay,
whose
undergraduate
degree
is in liberal
arts,
received
his Masters of
Business
Administration in 1984 and his Doctorate
in Public
Administration
in 1995
at Arizona State
University.
’
Executive
Summary
In a
previous
article
this
author identified
a
leadership
role for
top
management.
In
this article he
sets
his
sights
on
identifying
the
unique
leadership
role
of
today’s
middle
manager.
This
author links
the
role of
middle
management
with that
of
today’s organizational
leaders in
response
to the simultaneous calls for
unity
and
diversity.
Is there a
legitimate
need for middle
managers
in
today’s
flattened
organizations?
What
role
might
be
left for the
middle
manager
in
light
of trends toward
team-based
operations?
Can middle
managers
supplement
the
work of
teams?
How
can
middle
management complement
the role
of
organizational
leaders?
How should middle
managers
respond
to
today’s
simultaneous calls for
unity
and
diversity?
After
briefly reviewing
the role
of
organizational
leaders
in
response
to
simultaneous
calls for
unity
and
diversity,
the
author
explores
the
leadership
role of middle
management today.
In
preparation
for
identifying
the tasks of the middle
manager
in
today’s organizational
environment,
he covers some of the
costs
associated with
the loss
of middle
managers.
The
author
concludes
that
middle
managers
in
today’s
flattened and team-based
organization bring leadership
as:
integrators creating
organizational unity;
facilitators
releasing
human
diversity
into
group processes;
and
implementers
of
necessary
supporting
systems
for
recognizing
and
rewarding
actions
that foster
unity
and
unlock
diversity.
Key
Words:
Leadership
Role;
Middle
Management;
Middle
Manager
Role;
Organizational Unity;
Human
Diversity;
Middle
Manager
Tasks
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12 ’
Introduction
Downsizing,
rightsizing,
and
re-engineering
in the 1990’s have
taken
a
heavy
toll
on the ranks of middle
management.
Middle
managers
themselves
have
become
an
endangered
species
as entire
layers disappear
in
organizational
flattenings.
Obsolescence
drips
from
former definitions of middle
management
focusing
on
problem-solving, doing things through
others,
and
controlling
work
processes. Organizations
in both the
public
and
private
sectors teach all
employees
the tools
and
techniques
formerly
reserved for middle
managers.
Gone is the old role as teams of trained workers take on the tasks
previously
handled
by
the middle
manager.
.
In addition to these
pressures
on middle
management, organizations
are also
feeling
the
pressure
of two
countervailing
calls. One is the call to establish a
solid base of
organizational unity.
The
other
is the call to
recognize
and
support
human
diversity
in
the
workplace.
The simultaneous calls for
unity
and
diversity,
and
organizational downsizings
and
flattenings
set turbulent
background
for the
identification of
leadership
roles in the 1990’s.
Several
questions
remain unanswered. &dquo;Is there a
legitimate
need for middle
managers
in
today’s
flattened
organizations?&dquo;
&dquo;What role
might
be
left
for the
middle
manager
in
light
of trends toward team-based
operations?&dquo;
&dquo;Can middle
managers supplement
the work of teams?&dquo; &dquo;How can middle
management
complement
the role
of
organizational
leaders?&dquo; &dquo;How should middle
managers
respond
to
today’s
simultaneous calls for
unity
and
diversity?&dquo;
This
article
attempts
to answer these
lingering
questions
about the
leadership
role of
today’s
middle
manager.
Unity, Diversity,
and the Role
of
Top Management
In a
previous
article,
Unity
and
Diversity.,
A Two-Headed
Oppottunity
for
Today’s
Organizational
Leaders,
this author identified a role for those in the
position
of
organizational
leader
(Klagge, 1995b). Organizational
leaders,
as
&dquo;top
management,&dquo;
are called
upon
to
create
unity
out
of inherent
diversity,
and to
coax
diversity
within the created
unity.
The three tasks associated
with the
accomplishment
of these ends
comprise
the
unique
territory
of
top management.
These tasks are:
(1)
lead the
organization
into
unity
through
vision-developing,
goal-setting,
and
direction-giving
activities;
(2)
unlock the
leadership potential
of
the
organizations’s
members
by tapping
the
diversity
among
them;
and
(3)
ensure that both
diversity
and
unity
are nurtured
by
the
organization
and
rewarded within its culture.
The
unity
which
top managers
seek
is
the
institutional,
practical,
and emotional
condition of oneness
that results from
the
presence
of shared
focus,
purpose,
visions, values,
and actions within
an
organization.
This
type
of
unity
is
key
to
organizational
success. The
notion of success
coming through
organizational
unity
is
expressed
in
many colloquialisms: &dquo;Many
logs
burn
brightly
together;&dquo;
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13
&dquo;United
we
stand,
divided we
fall;&dquo;
&dquo;A house
divided
against
itself
cannot
stand;&dquo;
and &dquo;We
must all
hang
together
or we
shall all
certainly hang
separately.&dquo;
Each
of
these
proverbs
seeks to
communicate the same
truth:
unity
is a
major
precursor
to
organizational
success. This
unity
should
not arise
from
organizational
integration,
but from
the social contract
(Rousseau,
1960),
the
shared
purposes
(Follett,
1987),
the
shared
respect
for
procedural
justice
(Hampshire,
1989),
and
the shared life
within the social unit
(Perrow,
1986).
It
is
the first task of
top management
to lead the
organization
into this
type
of
unity
through
vision-developing, goal
setting,
and
direction-giving
activities.
The
diversity
which
top
managers
seek
arises from the individual differences in
history, experience,
knowledge, imagination,
personality, intelligence,
talent,
ability, perspective, insight,
gender,
class,
community, society,
and culture
of
the
members in an
organization.
Human
diversity
is also
key
to
organizational
success. Success can be
achieved
through
the
deployment
of human
diversity
when
organizational
unity
has
been realized and
important
distinctions
among
human
beings
have been
identified.
Therefore,
diversity
in
organizations
should
not arise
merely
from structural differentiation
(Bedian, 1980),
but from the
personal uniquenesses
and
individual distinctives inherent in the diversities
among
people (Flores, 1994).
It is the second task of
top management
to
unlock the
potential
of
individuals within the
organization by tapping
into their
inherent
diversity.
The final task of
top
management
is to ensure
that both
diversity
and
unity
are
nurtured
by
the
organization
and
rewarded within
its
culture. The mandate
to
create
systems
and
processes
to achieve these
objectives clearly
resides with
top management.
The
mandate to
implement
these
systems
and
processes
’
among
a
unified
group
of diverse
individuals, however,
is the
unique territory
of
the middle
manager.
Before
discussing
the tasks of
today’s
middle
managers,
focus is
placed
on the
costs incurred from the elimination of middle
management
positions.
-
Cost of
Eliminating
Middle
Management
While
organizations
have
experienced savings
from
eliminating
middle
managers, they
have also
experienced
costs. Both the benefits
and costs are
significant
because
about
twenty percent
of the
layoffs
since
1988 came from
the ranks of middle
management
(Floyd
and
Wooldridge, 1994).
Real
and
direct
savings
are realized
by
eliminating
middle
management
positions.
The
bottom
line
is increased as the
price
of
administration is cut.
Less
bureaucratic
layering
and
siloing
also benefits the
organization
by
facilitating
the dissemination of information and decision
making.
Less
paternalism
and lower
organizational
conformity
are
reported
to
benefit
organizational
creativity
and innovation
(Skagen, 1992).
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