Manager in the Middle: A Case of Underdevelopment and Underutilization

Middle managers play a crucial role in ensuring that the activities inside an enterprise are well-coordinated, that employees act responsively and responsibly, and that the organization continuously generates creative alternatives to grapple with its problems. Further, it is at the middle level that the organization's policies and strategies get translated into decisions and actions. However, it is more than evident that the nature of middle management dynamics in organization has remained largely unexplored and there has not been enough understanding of the strategies appropriate for effective utilization of this critical resource.In this article, Nilakant and Ramnarayan draw on their study of four medium and large sized business organizations in the private and public sectors in India to examine aspects relating to the performance of middle level managers. They discuss the implications of the findings for organizational performance and change and offer suggestions for enhancing middle management potential in similar contexts.