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Middle Managers (middle + managers)
Selected AbstractsA model for evaluating the effectiveness of middle managers' training courses: evidence from a major banking organization in GreeceINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT, Issue 4 2009Ekaterini Galanou Contemporary management thinking embraces the organizational training theory that sustainable success rests, to a great extent, upon a systematic evaluation of training interventions. However, the evidence indicates that few organizations take adequate steps to assess and analyse the quality and outcomes of their training. The authors seek to develop the existing literature on training evaluation by proposing a new model, specific to management training, which might encourage more and better evaluation by practitioners. Their thesis is that training evaluation is best if it can be based on criteria derived from the objectives of the training and they draw on the management effectiveness literature to inform their proposed model. The study seeks to examine the effect of six evaluation levels , reactions, learning, job behaviour, job performance, organizational team performance and some wider, societal effects , in measuring training interventions with regard to the alterations to learning, transfer and organizational impact. The model was tested with data obtained from 190 middle managers employed by a large banking organization in Greece and the results suggest that there is considerable consistency in the evaluation framework specified. The paper discusses these results and draws conclusions about their practical implications. The study's limitations are considered and some future research needs identified. [source] Middle Manager Leadership and Frontline Employee Performance: Bypass, Cascading, and Moderating EffectsJOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES, Issue 4 2010Jixia Yang abstract We investigated the relationship between middle managers' transformational leadership and the performance of frontline employees who are two levels below the middle managers. We identified two pathways through which this cross-level influence occurs and tested two moderators operating on these two pathways. The first pathway is a direct effect from middle managers to employees, bypassing the influence of employees' immediate supervisor (the bypass effect). We further hypothesized that the bypass effect is moderated by the employees' collectivistic value. The second pathway is a cascading of leadership behaviours from middle managers to first-line supervisors, whose transformational leadership then enhances employees' performance (the cascading effect). We further hypothesized that this cascading effect is moderated by the supervisors' power distance value. These hypotheses were tested with a sample of 491 frontline employees, 98 frontline supervisors, and 30 middle managers in three organizations in China. The three-level hierarchical linear modelling results supported the four hypotheses. [source] The Antecedents of Middle Managers' Strategic Contribution: The Case of a Professional BureaucracyJOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES, Issue 7 2005Graeme Currie abstract Our study contributes towards a burgeoning literature that argues organizational performance is heavily influenced by what happens in the middle of the organization, rather than at the top. Examining the UK National Health Service, our study develops the work of Floyd and Wooldridge (1992, 1994, 1997, 2000). It utilizes role theory to conceptualize changing experiences of middle managers in organizations as a role transition. Associated with this are problems of role conflict and role ambiguity (Biddle, 1979, 1986; Biddle and Thomas, 1966; Kahn et al., 1964, 1966). Our study illustrates that there are limiting factors to a more strategic role for middle managers associated with the professional bureaucracy context. However, role conflict and ambiguity can be mediated by a socialization process, which values incoming identity and personal characteristics (Van Maanen and Schein, 1979). [source] Reluctant but resourceful middle managers: the case of nurses in the NHSJOURNAL OF NURSING MANAGEMENT, Issue 1 2006BSc (Hons), GRAEME CURRIE PhD This study counters the widely held view that middle managers have little to contribute to strategic change in health care organizations. In particular, it argues that middle managers with a nursing background that manage clinical activity should be involved in strategic change beyond mere implementation of decisions made by executive management. Constraints upon this are noted , the power of doctors and central government intervention , that means middle managers enact a semiautonomous strategic role. Antecedents for the semiautonomous role are investment in organization and management development, developing lateral organizational structures that allow middle managers to make a contribution to the development, as well as the implementation of strategy and allowing middle managers to interact with other stakeholders outside the confines of the organization. [source] The effect of structural empowerment and perceived organizational support on middle level nurse managers' role satisfactionJOURNAL OF NURSING MANAGEMENT, Issue 1 2006ALLISON PATRICK RN Background, The restructuring of Canadian health care organizations during the past decade has reduced the visibility of nursing leadership. This has resulted in job conditions that have disempowered nurse managers and influenced their ability to create positive work environments, mentor potential nurse leaders, and gain satisfaction in the leadership role. These conditions threaten the retention of a cadre of high quality nurse leaders in today's chaotic health care setting. Objective, The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between structural empowerment and perceived organizational support and the effect of these factors on the role satisfaction of middle level nurse managers. Method, A secondary analysis was conducted as part of a larger study of 126 middle level nurse managers working in Canadian acute care hospitals, randomly selected from the Ontario provincial registry. Eighty-four nurse managers responded to a questionnaire mailed to their home addresses. Results, Structural empowerment was positively associated with middle level nurse managers' perceived organizational support. The combination of empowerment and perceptions of organizational support were significant predictors of middle level nurse managers' role satisfaction. Conclusions, The findings support R.M. Kanter's (1977, 1993; Men and Women of the Corporation. Basic Books, New York) contention that empowering work conditions have an impact on employees' feelings of support and sense of accomplishment at work. Positive perceptions of organizational support may play an important role in retaining current middle managers, and possibly attracting future leaders to management positions. [source] How middle managers integrate knowledge within projectsKNOWLEDGE AND PROCESS MANAGEMENT: THE JOURNAL OF CORPORATE TRANSFORMATION, Issue 3 2004Sergio Janczak This qualitative study explores the interwoven strategic and tactical processes that middle management uses to integrate knowledge in multidivisional organizations. I add to the management literature by not only examining the new roles of middle managers but also by explaining the dynamics of these middle managers' roles when pursuing projects. In summary, my research contributes to the process literature by focusing on middle management. These findings indicate that middle managers used three processes (analytic, intuitive and pragmatic) to create and integrate dispersed knowledge into organizational knowledge delivered to their clients. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Building community knowledge systems: an empirical study of IT-support for sharing best practices among managersKNOWLEDGE AND PROCESS MANAGEMENT: THE JOURNAL OF CORPORATE TRANSFORMATION, Issue 3 2003Jørgen P. Bansler The paper reports a field study of knowledge sharing in a large and complex organization. The objective of the study was to gain an in-depth understanding of the implementation and use of a web-based knowledge sharing system designed to facilitate the circulation of best practices among middle managers. We followed the system from its introduction in early 1997 until it was abandoned in the beginning of 2000. We focused on the way the system was introduced in the organization, how it changed, and how the intended group of users received (and eventually rejected) the system. Based on our interviews and observations we identify five reasons for the systems failure. We close the paper by some reflections on the use of the concept of ,shared practice' in the development of IT-supported knowledge sharing systems. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Impact of MIS/IT upon middle managers: some evidence from the NHSNEW TECHNOLOGY, WORK AND EMPLOYMENT, Issue 2 2002Graeme Currie The paper meets a need for more context specific empirical research in this area. Subject to medical group power, the three cases studied suggest that MIS/IT enhances the role of middle managers since it is they who are best placed to ,synthesise' information from MIS/IT for executive management. [source] DEVELOPMENT ENGAGEMENT WITHIN AND FOLLOWING DEVELOPMENTAL ASSESSMENT CENTERS: CONSIDERING FEEDBACK FAVORABILITY AND SELF,ASSESSOR AGREEMENTPERSONNEL PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 4 2008SANG E. WOO This study sought to understand employees' level of behavioral engagement in response to feedback received in developmental assessment center (DAC) programs. Hypotheses were drawn from theories of self-enhancement and self-consistency and from findings in the multisource feedback and assessment center literatures regarding recipients' perceptions of feedback. Data were gathered from 172 U.S. middle managers participating in a DAC program. Results suggested that more favorable feedback was related to higher behavioral engagement. When discrepancies between self- and assessor ratings were examined, overraters (participants whose overall self-ratings were higher than their assessor ratings) tended to show less engagement in the program compared to underraters. However, pattern agreement on the participant's dimension profile did not significantly correlate with behavioral engagement. Based on these findings, avenues for future research are presented and practical implications are discussed. [source] Managers' Active Support when Implementing Teams: The Impact on Employee Well-BeingAPPLIED PSYCHOLOGY: HEALTH AND WELL-BEING, Issue 3 2009Karina Nielsen Research has shown that a variety of organisational change interventions can be effective but the powerful positive results of an intervention do not always generalise to other similar settings. Problems with implementation and a difficult intervention context have been shown to undermine the effectiveness of promising interventions. The impact that middle managers have on the change process and intervention outcomes has not been widely researched. This longitudinal intervention study was carried out in the elderly care sector in a large Danish local government organisation (N = 188), where poor social support, and lack of role clarity and meaningful work had been identified as significant problems. To tackle these problems, teamwork was implemented, with teams having some degree of self-management. It examined whether middle managers' active support for the intervention mediated its impact on working conditions, well-being and job satisfaction. Structural equation modelling showed that middle managers' active involvement in implementing the change partially mediated the relationship between working conditions at time 1 and time 2. Working conditions at time 2 were in turn related to time 2 job satisfaction and well-being. These results suggest that the degree to which employees perceive their middle managers to play an active role in implementing change is related to intervention outcomes. [source] Ethical leadership across cultures: a comparative analysis of German and US perspectivesBUSINESS ETHICS: A EUROPEAN REVIEW, Issue 2 2009Gillian S. Martin This paper examines beliefs about four aspects of ethical leadership ,Character/Integrity, Altruism, Collective Motivation and Encouragement, in Germany and the United States using data from Project GLOBE (Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness) and a supplemental analysis. Within the context of a push toward convergence driven by the demands of globalization and the pull toward divergence underpinned by different cultural values and philosophies in the two countries, we focus on two questions: Do middle managers from the United States and Germany differ in their beliefs about ethical leadership? And, do individuals from these two countries attribute different characteristics to ethical leaders? Results provide evidence that while German and US middle managers, on average, differed in the degree of endorsement for each aspect, they each endorsed Character/Integrity, Collective Motivation and Encouragement as important for effective leadership and had a more neutral view of the importance of Altruism. The findings are reviewed within the social-cultural context of each country. [source] | |||||||||||||