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The purpose of this paper is to examine whether the training and development (T & D) of middle-level managers in the financial institutions of a sub-Saharan African country make any difference in the performances of the managers and the institutions in general.

An empirical analysis of managers’ opinions based on a quantitative survey of 140 middle-level managers from four banking institutions in Ghana is conducted.

Findings showed that there is a significant relationship between T & D of middle-level managers and their performance and, consequently, performance of the banks. The findings also showed that managers become savvier in personal initiatives and responsive to customer care leading to enhanced service delivery. The paper proposes that T & D should focus on the significant relationship between the outcomes and programme objectives of organisations in emerging economies if these organisations want to be counted in this competitive global world.

The paper provides valuable information on the important role of middle-level managers as custodians of “tacit knowledge” that can turn around organisations, particularly in developing economies, if the needed T & D are given to them.

Empirical literature on T & D and on middle-level managers’ development in developing countries is limited. The contribution of this paper identifies the roles that middle management can play in the performances of organisations and especially in emerging economies.

Leadership development is a significant issue in public libraries and library administrators debate, among other topics, how to achieve it for the middle-level manager. At the present time, library organizations use leadership and management workshops, seminars, and institutes to assist with managers’ organizational learning processes. Current literature indicates that additional strategies such as career planning, mentoring, networking, acquiring adequate qualifications and experience, professional involvement, and continuing education are used not only to facilitate middle-level managers’ career development, but also to help organizations fill the leadership gaps within their ranks.

Amidst calls for more research that combines the concepts of identity and strategy, particularly in a public sector context, this study explored the identity dynamics between two groups of managers within a multi-level perspective in a government department. The aim of this study is to provide a dynamic and holistic view of how middle manager identity is experienced and how best to utilise middle managers and their abilities.

Through a practice-based perspective, the study used a case study design, and 26 in-depth interviews were conducted with 2 groups, namely directors and middle managers.

Findings revealed that, whilst participating middle managers were viewed as critical strategists, there was a misalignment of expectations between directors and middle managers, and this reflected an ambiguous and complex environment where middle managers were situated. The findings also reflected tensions and power dynamics evident between middle managers and their direct supervisors, and these shaped the way in which middle managers responded to or were influenced by such tensions. Our research confirms the dynamic nature of identity at a multi-level perspective.

The findings of the current study may be useful in providing insight into how middle managers can be utilised to the best of their ability within a public sector department.

The study contributes to strategy-identity studies using a practice-oriented lens in an under-explored government context. We present a better understanding of the reciprocal tensions and inter-relationships between identity and strategy from the perspective of two levels and explore how this affects strategy practices and processes.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the role of middle managers in the corporate entrepreneurship process that drives new capability development. Middle managers are highlighted as key entrepreneurial agents because of their special position in an organization.

The paper draws on existing capability development and corporate entrepreneurship literature and develops a conceptual model and research propositions that are illustrated through three examples from a Chinese private firm.

This paper contends the dual role of middle managers, both as change implementers to follow pre-set rules of an existing corporate entrepreneurship system and as change initiators to bring new rules to improve the existing system.

The paper is conceptual in nature, advancing the understanding of middle managers’ role in corporate entrepreneurship. The paper provides directions for future empirical research.

The interactions between middle managers and other organizational agents are discussed in the propositions. This paper suggests the importance of empowering middle managers to facilitate changes in complex internal environments.

The paper provides a unique theoretical contribution by introducing the interface-based, multi-level conceptual model of corporate entrepreneurship toward new capability development.

Voluntary employee turnover can be a challenge for all industries but high employee turnover has been a special concern in the hospitality industry, which is the context of this paper. The purpose of this paper is to incorporate a “trickle-down” perspective into the conventional research on turnover intention and satisfaction with supervision. The authors assess whether mid-level managers’ satisfaction with senior managers’ supervision is related positively to line employees’ satisfaction with mid-level managers’ supervision and, in turn, line employees’ turnover intentions. Further, the authors examine whether the strength of this “trickle-down” effect is affected by the middle managers’ gender.

The authors tested our theoretical argument using a sample of 1,527 full-time employees in 267 different departments at 94 hotels in the USA and Canada. Hierarchical linear modeling was employed to analyze the data.

The authors found a trickle-down effect of satisfaction with supervision, as predicted, and the effect was stronger for female than male middle managers. These findings open new avenues for addressing turnover issues for organizations and managers.

This study extends the line of research on leadership and turnover in three ways. First, it shows how senior managers, who have no direct contact with line employees, can affect turnover intentions of line employees. Second, this research helps the authors know where to target efforts at intervention; by connecting middle managers’ satisfaction with supervision with employees’ turnover intentions, the authors know to target interventions to reduce turnover not just at line employees and supervisors but also at senior-level managers as well. Third, this study sheds light on the ongoing debate over “female advantage” in leadership (Eagly and Carli, 2003a, b; Vecchio, 2002, 2003) by examining not just how women are treated, but how their experience may reshape managerial dynamics.

Top management commitment is considered a significant factor in improvement programmes, and many papers have been written about the role of top management commitment in implementing a quality management system. However, not considering other management levels’ commitment, such as middle management, may lead to issues in achieving organisational development. Public organisations that work through vertical structures may face a lack of middle management commitment, which might have a negative impact on lower and non-management staff commitment to improvement programmes. In this regard, the purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of middle management’s commitment towards improvement initiatives in public organisations.

Empirical research with a mixed-method design used semi-structured interviews and a questionnaire to explore the current practices of continuous improvement (CI) and examine employees’ views from different management levels of the implications of current improvements in a Saudi public service organisation.

The analysis indicated that the lower managers and non-management staff agree that, after the implementation of the quality management system, the organisation’s middle management showed a lack of commitment to that system. Moreover, this lack of commitment is recognised in the analysis of participants’ views of CI practices recorded in the questionnaire and interviews. This lack of commitment has caused poor employee commitment and thus a lack of problem solving in organisational departments. It is also responsible for a lack of employee involvement, the centralisation of decisions, deficiencies in terms of determining and applying training, inequality between employees and a lack of trust between employees and their managers. These issues could be managed and resolved through middle management and their commitment.

Increasing middle managers’ awareness of the importance of their commitment to improvement initiatives can have an impact on employees’ commitment towards improvement initiatives, especially in those public organisations that have vertical/hierarchical structures. The level of commitment towards the implementation of improvement programmes needs further in-depth analyses to identify which factors influence public organisation leaders’ commitment to improvement programmes.

The results of this study could motivate middle managers in public organisations to review their policies and to facilitate CI initiatives.

Managerial motivation depends, in part, on the perceived value or attractiveness of the rewards offered to the manager. This perception‐based study provides empirical evidence of the associations between motivation and performance, and valued rewards. Generally, for this sample of 225 middle‐level managers, intrinsic rewards are more highly valued than extrinsic but higher motivation and performance is positively associated with a preference for a combination of rewards. Preference patterns by stage of career, position in the hierarchy or functional area are not detected. Whilst valued rewards appear to have an influence on motivation and performance, particularly when applied in combination, the determinants of preferences appear to be diverse.

This chapter examines how structural factors related to gender, managerial level, and economic sector could impact the level of experienced person/role conflict in management based on a representative survey conducted among managers in Norway. Person/role conflict appears relevant for understanding emotions in organizations and is linked with emotional dissonance and emotional labor through theoretical and empirical considerations. Our findings reveal that the effect of gender remains significant when controlled for economic sector and managerial level. This indicates that experienced person/role conflict can be partially caused by perceived incongruity between internalized and gender role-related expectations as well as managerial role-related expectations.

This paper examines the ways in which Chinese university middle managers evaluate subordinate performance in response to the Chinese Double First-Class University Plan, a national project that ranks the performance of universities. In exploring compromise arrangements, the hybridised valuing activity of middle managers is found to be shaped by emergent and extant macro-foundations.

The qualitative data from 49 semi-structured interviews at five Chinese public universities were conducted. Drawing on macro-foundational studies and the sociology of worth (SW) theory, the analysis helps to identify socially shared patterns of actions and outcomes.

The findings elucidate the interplay between diverse economic, social, political and institutional values and the compromise-making by middle managers. The authors find that contextual factors restrict Chinese academic middle managers' autonomy, preventing workable compromise. Through the selective adoption of international and local management practices, compromise has evolved into a private differential treaty at the operational level.

A nuanced explanation reveals how the macro-foundations of Chinese society influence middle managers who engage with accounting when facilitating compromise. This study helps outsiders better understand the complex convergence and divergence of performance evaluative practices in Chinese universities against the backdrop of global market-based forces and the moral dimensions of organisational life. The findings have wider implications for the Chinese government in navigating institutional steps and developing supportive policies to enable middle managers to advance productive but also sustainable compromise.

The purpose of this paper is to empirically investigate hierarchical impacts on specific transformational leadership (TFL) behaviors (i.e. idealized influence, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation, and individualized consideration).

Survey data on TFL, job satisfaction, and hierarchy were collected from 448 managers from a multinational corporation in Sweden.

Idealized influence and inspirational motivation occurred more frequently among upper rather than middle managers, while there were no differences for intellectual stimulation and individualized consideration. Also, idealized influence, inspirational motivation, and intellectual stimulation were more effective in strengthening subordinates' job satisfaction among upper rather than middle managers, while individualized consideration was similarly effective in both groups.

The cross‐sectional research design precludes causal conclusions and potentially allows for common method bias. With the main research interest pertaining to hierarchical differences in TFL, however, method bias seems unlikely to fully account for the results.

Study results emphasize the necessity to strengthen TFL on lower managerial levels. Organizations might achieve this by cutting administrative constraints and empowering lower level leaders.

The study addresses repeated calls for a consideration of contextual factors in TFL research. It points to the role of hierarchy as a boundary condition of TFL.