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Middle Management and Continuous Improvement
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Middle Management and
Continuous Improvement
Freek Hermkens
November 2014
1
Objective and Preliminary question
Objective:
Understanding the relationship between the role of the middle manager and continuous Improvement (Lean)
• Insight increases the likelihood of successfully implementing continuous improvement (Lean)
How and to what extent does middle management influence
continuous improvement of organizations in the financial service
industry?
First Findings
• Middle managers can be considered to be key agents (leaders) in
facilitating change.
• However, they encounter the triangle of leading change,
implementing change and changing their own behaviour, which gives
rise to tension and possibly the tendency to actively block change and
create resistance.
• To deal with this triangle of roles and challenges, top management needs
to actively support middle management and lead by example, which is a
major challenge in many corporations, in view of the volatility at top
management positions, shareholder pressure, and so forth.
• Where the initial focus of CI was on cutting costs, CI methods have
evolved towards a focus on changing the organizational culture.
Middle Management in the Bermuda triangle
Middle Management
• Downsizing
• Feeling increased work pressure
• Reduced job security
• Getting more responsibilities and autonomy
• Empowerment
• Management feeling less important
• More beneficial to organisation the to themselves
• Not stimulate change but created resistance
• Change
• MM important facilitating change
• Big informal network
• Help strike a balance between continuity and change
Middle Management
• Their unique position between operational and upper
management and knowledge about what motivates
employees in their unit/department allows middle managers to
enhance the chances of realizing change.
• Drawing on an analogy with baseball, middle managers are
typically expected to be able to hit, field and pitch at the same
time.
Continuous Improvement
• Lean leadership
• Necessary change in mindset and behaviour
• Top and Middle management have to show commitment
• Active implementing and communicating the change
• Leadership is the missing link (leading by example)
• Sustainability
• Long term vision throughout the entire organisation
• Sustainable infrastructure
• Active involvement of the entire organisation
• Start in an early stage with focus on the gains
Continuous Improvement
• CSF en potential pitfalls for implementation
• Supporting and setting up the ideal management team
• Appropriate leadership and planning
• Cultural change to support the lean principles throughout
the entire organisation
• (Missing) Communication
• Being to lean and develop an aversion
• Not explaining the bigger picture
• People become afraid of losing their job
• Organisation see it as another downsizing method
• Management doesn’t understand how the organisation will
look like after the transformation
• Focus on the short term tools than the deeper change
The demanding playingfield of middle
management
Demanding Playingfield
Middle management and continuous improvement
• One key reason for the failure of CI methods has been said to be poor leadership,
and particularly the role of middle managers in facilitating sustaining change.
Middle management and parallel hierarchy
• Middle managers (are expected to) move away from the role of supervisor to the role
of coach. As a result, they experience insecurity, which is reinforced by what is
perceived to be a parallel hierarchy.
Middle management and top management
• As culture and values are to a large extent top management driven, the role of top
management in the implementation of sustainable CI is critical here.
Middle management and the work floor
• Middle managers thus find themselves in a struggle to survive, particularly when they
perceive the empowering of their subordinates as beneficial to the organization but
not beneficial to themselves.
Middle management and peer pressure
• Moreover, the workforce may demoralize because of the pressure from downsizing
and potentially losing one’s job, which led to reduced job security for middle
managers and increased work pressure and peer pressure.
