middle management

Examples of middle management in the following topics:

• Middle-Level Management

  • Middle management is the intermediate management level accountable to top management and responsible for leading lower level managers.
  • Most organizations have three management levels: first-level, middle-level, and top-level managers.
  • Middle-level managers can include general managers, branch managers, and department managers.
  • Middle managers may also communicate upward by offering suggestions and feedback to top managers.
  • Because middle managers work with both top-level managers and first-level managers, middle managers tend to have excellent interpersonal skills relating to communication, motivation, and mentoring.

• Management Levels: A Hierarchical View

  • Examples of top-level managers include a company's board of directors, president, vice-president and CEO; examples of middle-level managers include general managers, branch managers, and department managers; examples of low-level managers include supervisors, section leads, and foremen.
  • General managers, branch managers, and department managers are all examples of middle-level managers.
  • Middle-level managers devote more time to organizational and directional functions than top-level managers.
  • Also referred to as first-level managers, low-level managers are role models for employees.
  • These managers provide:

• Frontline Management

  • Most organizations have three management levels: first-level, middle-level, and top-level managers.
  • Frontline managers are managers who are responsible for a work group to a higher level of management.
  • Differentiating frontline management from middle management can be difficult, as the lines in the hierarchy are not always as concrete in practice as they are in theory.
  • The essential distinguishing element is that frontline managers interact with customers or products directly, unlike middle managers, who do not typically deal with either production or customer relations.
  • Middle management may be located in the headquarters office, receiving reports from various frontline managers at different facilities across the globe.

• Intellectual Skills of Successful Managers

  • While each skill set is useful in different circumstances, conceptual skills tend to be most relevant in upper-level thinking and broad strategic situations (as opposed to lower-level and line management).
  • While all levels of management benefit from conceptual thinking, upper management spends the most time within this frame of mind (as opposed to thinking more technically—looking at and working with the detailed elements of a given operation or business process).
  • Upper management is largely tasked with identifying and drafting a strategy for the broader operational and competitive approach of an organization.
  • While upper management may use the conceptual skill set most, middle managers and lower managers must also both understand and participate in the generation of company objectives and values.
  • Recognize the inherent value of encouraging cooperation among teams as a management professional

• The Role of Management in an Organization

  • Different levels of management will participate in different components of this design process, with upper management creating the initial organizational architecture and structure.
  • All levels of management perform these functions.
  • However, the amount of time a manager spends on each function depends on the level of management and the needs of the organization—factors which play a role in organizational design.
  • Middle-level managers include general managers, branch managers, and department managers, all of whom are accountable to the top-level management for the functions of their departments.
  • Middle-management will generally focus on operations within functional or geographic areas.

• Conceptual Thought

  • Using their conceptual skills, manager are able to study a situation and figure out how to break it down into manageable pieces.
  • A scheme of management skills was suggested by Robert L.
  • Conceptual skills are probably some of the most important management skills.
  • Conceptual skills are not critical for lower-level supervisors but gain in importance at the middle-management level.
  • Conceptual skills are probably some of the most important management skills.

• Modern Management

  • Railroads gave rise to the development of modern management techniques, such as the use of clear chains of command, statistical reporting, and complex bureaucratic systems.
  • Railroad companies systematized the roles of middle managers and set up explicit career tracks.
  • Career tracks were offered to skilled blue collar jobs and white collar managers, starting in railroads and expanding into finance, manufacturing, and trade.
  • Together with rapid growth of small business, a new middle class was rapidly growing, especially in northern cities.
  • Frederick Winslow Taylor, a mechanical engineer by training, is often credited with inventing scientific management and improving industrial efficiency.

• Characteristics of Organizational Structures

  • It determines the number of levels of management an organization has as well as the number of employees a manager can efficiently and effectively manage.
  • In the past it was not uncommon to see average spans of one to four (one manager supervising four employees).
  • As this technology developed further and eased many middle-managerial tasks (such as collecting, manipulating, and presenting operational information), upper management found they could save money by hiring fewer middle managers.
  • With decentralized authority, important decisions are made by middle-level and supervisory-level managers.

• The Middle Class

  • The middle class consists of people in the middle of a societal hierarchy, which varies between cultures.
  • The middle class is a category of people in the middle of a societal hierarchy, though common measures of what constitutes middle class vary significantly between cultures.
  • Within the United States, the broader middle class is often described as divided into the upper-middle class (also called the "professional class") and the lower-middle class.
  • The lower-middle class consists mainly of people in technical and lower-level management positions who work for those in the upper middle class.
  • Identify the central features of the middle-class in the United States

• The Role of Women in the Household

  • Middle class women in 1950's America worked as homemakers, and as such, were responsible for childcare, meals and household maintenance.
  • Homemaking is a mainly American term for the management of a home, and is otherwise known as housework, housekeeping or household management; it entails the overseeing of the organizational, financial, day-to-day operations of a house or estate, and the managing of other domestic concerns.
  • The term "homemaker", however, may also refer to a social worker who manages a household when either the housewife or househusband is incapacitated.
  • Most of these courses have been abolished in recent years, and many youths high school and college youths are more likely to study child development and the management of children's behavior than the skills of homemaking.
  • The rise of suburbs helped create the role of housewife and homemaker for white, middle class women.