Overcoming Amnesia about the “Middle Manager’s Dilemma:” A Call for Stories and Ideas
“The Middle Manager’s Dilemma,” as described by Tony Simons’ book, The Integrity Dividend, occurs when mid-level managers are expected to fully support and implement policy directives with which they, and often their subordinates as well, disagree. Chapter Seven, “Easing the Middle Manager’s Dilemma,” goes as far toward providing solutions as was feasible at the time the book was written, but Simons is clear that he wishes that more help could be available. Perhaps responses to this blog entry may provide new insights.
In subsequent conversations about this dilemma, Dr. Simons confesses his puzzlement about the fact that in the interviews he did for the book, virtually all middle managers strongly agreed that this is a major problem in business, and were quick to provide very recent stories of their own. Top-level managers and executives, on the other hand, tended to minimize this “dilemma” as a problem, stressing instead the intransigence often shown by lower level managers when asked to execute difficult assignments.
This finding brings up an interesting question. Since most upper level managers were once lower level managers, how do we account for the fact that upper level managers have lost sight of “the middle manager’s dilemma” that they were presumably very aware of and concerned about at an earlier stage of their career? What could be done to help rectify this amnesia-like phenomenon that appears to be a blind spot, even among top level executives who are on the behavioral integrity bandwagon?
Any ideas and/or “war stories” out there? Please share any that you think would help; and use fictitious names as appropriate.
Oliver Markley, Ph.D.
Professor Emeritus, Studies of the Future
University of Houston-Clear Lake
