David Lowe’s Weblog

The Truth about Middle Managers by Paul Osterman

July 7th, 2009

Over the holiday weekend, I finished reading The Truth about Middle Managers by Mr. Paul Osterman. I will share some of the ideas presented in the book, in direct quote or paraphrasing. I also included some of my own thoughts.

Overall, I was glad that someone wrote a book on this topic. I had often wondered just how relevant the middle management work is to today’s “flat” organizations. To my surprise, the middle management profession is still very much alive; however, the old advancement rules no longer apply. Companies are also less accommodating when it comes to nurturing and managing one’s career. In any case, feel free to derive your own conclusion on the middle management work. If you happen to pick up the book later, enjoy the reading. I did.

By the Numbers

• The number of managers in the economy is steadily increasing, not decreasing.
• The numbers do not tell how life inside organizations has changed for managers.

The Changing Role

• In today’s team and matrix environment, two major job activities emerge:

1. Managing internal processes of the team. Trying to place the best people on the team. Setting priorities, etc.
2. Acting as an ambassador to other teams. Managing boundary between teams, both an opportunity and challenge. Opportunity because of the visibility presented in the work. Challenge due to the significant and subtle relationship skills are required to be successful boundary work.

• Stress is up because the environment we manage is much more complex, which leads to increased hours and uncertainty that managers face regarding their own fate.
• Autonomy vs. Breadth: Because firms have reduced organization layers and with diffusion of IT, managers face more monitoring and control, which means less autonomy. For the same reasons, jobs are broader and more complex, which means more breadth.

Personal thoughts: These points match up with my experience pretty well – a lot of coordination and path-paving work we do on the daily basis.

Changing Rules for Success

• Opportunities and rules for advancement have changed. Under the best circumstances, managerial assessment is a difficult business for two reasons.

1. Managerial work is relatively invisible and hard to capture in clean measures.
2. When performance metrics are used, they are unreliable.

Personal thoughts: I was hoping the book can shed some insights, unfortunately, not much help here. How to advance within the organization via the middle management route also depends a lot on the individual’s values and philosophies. It also depends on how one defines success and planning out the goals for achieving it.

Shifting Commitments

• Managers maybe under increased pressure and may feel greater stress, they have strong commitment to the work itself. Middle managers are committed to their tasks, to their immediate jobs, and to their close colleagues.
• Many managers have lost their commitment to the firm as an enterprise and they are suspicious of the motivations and actions of top management.

Personal thoughts: These points also match up my sentiment pretty well. Everyone’s mileage will differ obviously. At the end of day, it would still appear that the people I work for and with have a sizeable influence on how I feel about my work. I continue to like what I do and will do my best especially for the people I care about. That is my own definition of commitment and loyalty.

Entry Filed under: Business, Career