TEAM LEADERS AND TEAM MEMBERS:
The role of the middle manager changes when relating as a
peer, or employees. Decisions must be replaced by suggestions
which may not be endorsed or accepted. The team leader is
now a team member. The job of the middle manager is more complex
than one who has never done it might expect. Changing from
boss to employee while moving from a work team meeting to
a full depart- mental one is one of the most difficult parts
of being a middle manager. The middle manager must cope simultaneously
with the demands of two important, and sometimes agnostic
groups within the company.
THE TEAM LEADER:
As a team leader, middle managers must perform two main functions which place
them at a focal point within the company. First, they must organize and develop
a working team of employees so that they function as a harmonious unit. Workers
must be trained and placed so that their various skills and functions supplement
the efforts of others. Team-leading middle managers must consider themselves responsible
for making their workers feel as satisfied with their jobs as possible. This usually
includes valuing their ideas and opinions in an outward manner, listening to complaints
and commending a good performance while evenhandedly reprimanding a poor one. In addition,
a leaders, middle managers must recognize the very different natures of people in order to
balance group personalities. Skills and work ability are only half of what comprises a
good worker. Emotions play a large role in every facet of an employee’s life.
TEAM BUILDING -- MIDDLE MANAGEMENT:
In discussing the middle management role, a simple analogy serves to illustrate
the position’s importance. Middle management is akin to the ignition key which
harnesses the power of the car for the driver. They serve as the link between
the controlling part of the system and that part of the system that provides
the force for action. To convert this analogy into business terms, we see the
middle manager as a team leader as well as one who reports as an integral part
of a larger team. The middle manager fills the gap between upper-level management
and the working class.
Copyright A.E. Schwartz & Associates, all rights reserved. For reprint
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