Harvard Business Review

AUGUST 9, 2018

As one of my clients was going through a series of organizational changes, a valued middle manager reacted negatively in each town hall, asking inappropriately detailed questions as if it was a game of “gotcha,” to show that the ramifications hadn’t been fully considered.

Team 14

Team How To Planning Follow-up 14

Michael Lee Stallard

JUNE 23, 2010

Navy One example of a leader who intentionally developed a Connection Culture using all three bridges is Admiral Vern Clark, the Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) from 2000 until his retirement in 2005. Knowing that their input has been factored into a leader’s decision is motivating and it positively impacts their future participation.

Long-term 207

Long-term Consensus Class Follow-up 207

Harvard Business Review

JULY 6, 2011

Provide management processes for implementing ideas. For many years the Latin American operations of breakfast cereal maker Kellogg's relied on functional managers and consultants to drive improvements that would reduce costs and optimize manufacturing capacity. Introduce software tools for sharing process improvement ideas.

Process 14

Process Software How To Tools 14

Harvard Business Review

JUNE 13, 2014

That buy-in has to come from very senior leadership—middle management typically can’t pull off such an unusual partnership. At the same time, economic pressures mean companies need to be efficient and operating at scale. Goliaths can bring efficiency and scale to the table for the smaller organizations.

Health Care 8

Health Care Innovation Airlines Retail 8

Harvard Business Review

MAY 21, 2018

The interviewees, who were in the process of an M&A deal or who had recently been through one, included C-suite executives, private equity dealmakers, business owners, entrepreneurs, and middle managers. When a new direction was chosen, it would reflect the best elements of both cultures and operating approaches.”

Company 9

Company Direct Marketing Execution Taylorism 9

Harvard Business Review

JANUARY 5, 2018

Connectors in the middle. Although long ignored, these middle management positions have become increasingly recognized as critical to executing a company’s strategy. These are jobs in R&D, technology, and other areas vital to a firm’s strategic direction, product development, and process efficiency.

McKinsey 8

McKinsey Human Resources Reputation Brand 8

Harvard Business Review

MAY 2, 2016

For the sake of efficiency, we tend to make new decisions based upon old frames, memories, or associations. Steve Jobs, a regular meditator, made use of mindfulness practice to challenge operating assumptions at Apple and to enhance creative insight in planning. It can’t hurt.

Strategy 8

Strategy Goleman Strategic Planning Parcell 8

Harvard Business Review

SEPTEMBER 27, 2012

Its new management team took over an organization that was bureaucratic, overstaffed, and bleeding cash. Middle managers were confused about what to do, and many pushed their local agendas at the expense of the company's overall best interests. The team decided to adopt a simple-rules approach to the work ahead.

Strategy 8

Strategy Proposal Guidelines Net Present Value 8

Harvard Business Review

FEBRUARY 8, 2016

” Middle management wasn’t free from trouble, either. She notes that key-punch operation — one of the main areas of job growth — is “universally regarded as a dead-end occupation, with no promotional opportunities.”

Technology 8

Technology Decentralization Short-term Middle Management 8

Harvard Business Review

MAY 6, 2016

“You mean like middle managers?” But at some point in my reporting, as I learned more and more about the qualities shared by effective middlemen from all industries, it dawned on me that middle managers — indeed, managers and professionals at every level — obviously are middlemen.

Middle Management 8

Middle Management Management Venture Capitalist Travel 8

Harvard Business Review

NOVEMBER 30, 2017

A middle manager at a global technology organization — let’s call her “Denise” — had a problem. She’d come up with the idea of revamping the company’s inventory management approach by networking together “sleeping” resources. juanluisgx/Getty Images.

Politics 8

Politics Innovation Project How To 8

Harvard Business Review

MARCH 22, 2016

Bureaucracy is the managerial operating system of virtually every medium- and large-scale organization on the planet. Imagine what would happen, for example, if an organization decimated the ranks of middle management without equipping front-line employees with the skills, incentives, and information they need to manage themselves.

Bureaucracy 8

Bureaucracy Proposal Middle Management Incentives 8

Harvard Business Review

SEPTEMBER 10, 2015

The key idea of both is that management should be viewed as a mechanism — an “operating system” in holacracy — for distributing power and leadership throughout the organization. Each staff member has a powerful voice, and employees are organized into self-managed circles.

Proposal 8

Proposal Self-aware Engineering CEO 8

Harvard Business Review

JANUARY 7, 2011

Air Products, for example, tripled corporate productivity (hard profit-and-loss benefits) from 2003 to 2006, and boosted operating return on net assets from 9.5% They also believe that companies without them are forced to settle for lower customer satisfaction no matter how well they improve efficiency within functions or departments.

Process 15

Process Champy Competitive Advantage Hammer 15