Summary

Where do middle managers fit in modern organizations? We reignite the debate on the merits of middle management. We advance a framework to structure theory and thinking on middle managers along their roles, processes, and behaviors. We argue that middle managers matter more than ever. Yet, their roles, processes, and behaviors need to evolve. We introduce an exciting collection of state-of-the-art articles that enrich this debate and chart a path ahead.

The vilification of the middle

 “Stunned, I saw my father crying on the couch. I arrived from school a bit earlier than usual that day. There he was, leaning slightly forward, head buried in his hands— sobbing. This was the first time I ever found my father at home before me, the first time I found my father crying.

This was how a Finnish student Johanna (not her real name) described their experience to one of us in private after a teaching session.

Johanna’s father was a middle manager at Nokia—once Finland’s national pride comprising four percent of GDP and 70 percent of the Helsinki Stock Exchange market cap in 2000. As it turned out, Johanna´s father’s role had been slashed as part of restructuring efforts during Nokia’s fall.  

Culling middle managers has become a sort of corporate ritual.

Recent layoffs across technology firms have reignited doubt on the future of middle managers. Technological advances, cost saving imperatives, and new ways of organizing are all used to justify the culling of middle management ranks. Mark Zuckerberg, for instance, justified their firm’s act to slash ‘managers managing managers, managing managers, managing managers, managing the people who are doing the work’.

Yet, middle managers matter – perhaps more than ever.

The enduring value of middle managers

Studies have consistently shown that middle managers are vital for organizational performance, contributing up to 30% of productivity gains across video game developers, public administration, automobile assembly plants, and even in startups. An accurate appreciation of what middle management contributes, thus remains essential amidst debates on its merits.

The long-standing underappreciation for middle management ranks,is thus surprising.

To sooth this heated debate, our study, published in the Journal of Management Studies, offers a fresh reference point for consolidating and paving the way for middle management research and practice. Our analysis concludes that middle managers remain crucial for organizations, but their roles, processes, and behaviors are changing along with novel forms of organizing, technology advances, and shifting middle manager needs.

First, we advance a useful framework for organizing the literature on middle management along three main traditions:

1. Roles – Focuses on formal expectations like implementing strategy or championing new strategic initiatives.
2. Processes – Views middle managers as a nexus for informational and social processes like issue selling and sensemaking. They connect strategy and operations via vertical and horizontal flows.
3. Behaviors – Examines how middle managers’ individual behaviors and motivations shape their support for, modification of, or resistance to strategic initiatives.

New organizational pressures on the middle

We observe several key changes affecting middle managers’ roles, processes, and behaviors:

• New organizational forms like holacracy and Agile management that favor flat structures potentially limit middle management downward roles related to implementation. However, middle managers remain relevant for navigating and instigating change.
• Technological advancements like artificial intelligence threaten tasks like reporting and budgeting and enables more open strategy making without the need for middle managers. This affects the balance of traditional and more strategic roles, but may increase the need for oversight of automated processes.
• Middle managers face intensified demands requiring greater autonomy and self-directed careers. Middle managers will increasingly need to craft bespoke solutions to balance their own wellbeing and career progression amidst competing demands.

Given these changes, middle management roles are likely shifting from traditional roles like implementing strategy to more autonomous roles like cultivating and championing new strategic and innovative initiatives. Processes are becoming more elaborate as middle managers navigate flexible structures and act as “connecting leaders”. Behaviors require more discretion and emotional regulation as structures become decentralized and complex.

The road ahead for middle management research and practice

We particularly advocate moving away from simply viewing middle managers as ‘costs’, remembering the disproportionate toll that middle managers bear: middle managers work more extra hours, and experience more stress, anxiety, depression, hypertension, heart disease, and disrupted cognitive performance and focus than lower and top-level managers.

 In light of these trends, we suggest several future research directions:

• Examine middle managers’ purpose-driven roles related to social and environmental challenges, not just strategy.
• Recognize middle managers as individuals with emotions and motivations affecting their leadership style, social processes, and reactions to crises.
• Develop behavioral theories specific to middle managers in contemporary contexts like agile management.
• Study identity struggles as technology and open strategy undermine traditional middle manager roles.
• Analyze effects on middle manager career patterns and “kiss up, kick down” behaviors as organizations delayer.

Conclusion

Our study introduces a set of excellent articles that pioneer the way along these directions.

Our organizing framework, provides a reference point for the state of middle management research and charts an agenda for reexamining middle managers in contemporary organizations. The suggested research directions offer exciting opportunities for advancing knowledge on this vital organizational cadre.  

Middle management remains essential, but their roles, processes, and behaviors must co-evolve as organizations change. Middle managers themselves need to be proactive in navigating these changing expectations. However, senior leaders must also ensure this cadre is nurtured to preserve the wellbeing of middle managers, while also benefitting from the exceptional value they still contribute.

Contemporary organizations stand to benefit from enabling the full potential of middle managers.