Middle Manager Research Paper

Middle Level Managers and their role in Corporate Entrepreneurship

Definition of Middle Managers

Definitions on Middle Manager mainly focus on two aspects: ‘position’ in the hierarchy and ‘function’ rendered by them. Dutton (1993) and Wooldridge et. al, (2008) propose that middle management, ranges from the level below top management to the first level of supervision. Examples of middle managers include general line managers (divisional heads), functional line managers (marketing head, deputy heads) and team or project based executives or project leaders.

From the perspective of ‘function’, middle management is defined as the coordination of a firm’s daily routine activities with the activities of vertically related groups (Floyd,

The literature also highlights several factors that can limit middle managers’ willingness or ability to facilitate corporate entrepreneurship. Some managers have demanding work schedules that leave little time for innovation and experimentation. These are formidable challenges that can stifle middle managers’ efforts aimed at encouraging and promoting corporate entrepreneurship (Burglemann, 1983; Hornsby, 2002; Zahra, 2002; Dess and Lumpkin, 2003; Kuratko, 2005).

In examining the role of middle-level managers, research highlights the importance of middle-level managers’ entrepreneurial behavior to the firm’s attempt to create new businesses or reconfigure existing ones (Ginsberg and Hay, 1994; Kanter, 1985; Floyd and Wooldridge, 1992; Pearce, Kramer and Robbins, 1997). This importance manifests itself both in terms of the need for middle-level managers to behave entrepreneurially themselves and to support and nurture others’ attempts to do the same.

Apart from the points mentioned above, majority of the research Corporate Entrepreneurship are conducted using middle managers. (Floyd and Wooldridge, 1990; 1992; 1994; 2000; 2004; Ireland and Hitt, 2002).

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High Performance Work System and Middle

Research emphasizes the vital role of middle managers in creating an organizational climate encouraging innovation and entrepreneurship (Floyd and Woolridge, 1994; Ginsberg and Hay, 1994; Hornsby et al., 2002). According to Howell and Higgins (1990), middle managers may actively promote ideas, build support and ensure that innovative ideas are well implemented. Furthermore, Wooldridge and Floyd (1990) found a greater effect upon company performance where middle managers were involved in setting objectives and generating alternatives than when they were involved purely in the implementation side of the strategy making process. Organizational Performance, to a large extent, depends on middle managers as they involve in strategy formulation along with top management and interact with front-line supervisors to