Importance of middle-level managers in performing organizational change

Moreover, change is discussed and perceived by many scholars to be a factor that occurs continuously in the organization which opens ways and opportunities to development and expansion of the organizations themselves. Today, there are new roles of the middle managers who are targeted to initiate and support organizational change. Employees and the middle managers are also expected to do more with the extensive technology and organizational designs in their roles to create and implement changes within the organization. This discussion, therefore, will address some of the critical roles of the middle managers in performing organizational changes. It will thus base most on its arguments on reviewed literature that builds a lot of concepts used to explain this phenomenon. Middle-level managers Middle-class managers are personnel who lie under the middle management level of an organization which is also the intermediate level of a hierarchical organization.

Moreover, middle-class management is subordinate to the executive management and accounts for at least two lower staff levels. Middle-class managers are considered to be superiors in the organization unlike the line managers in terms of benefits and salaries. This corresponds to their roles and significance in the organization. It is therefore evident to say that middle-class managers are the intermediaries of the senior management and the lower levels of the organization. Middle-class managers are also personnel who must have various competencies to achieve their success in their roles as middle-class managers. The competencies add up to their advantages and their significance in the organization. Some of the competencies of the middle-class managers include the following: • Leadership: middle-class managers should have a lot of leadership and persuasive skills.

They should, therefore, be able to motivate, become a role model and influence their subordinates in the organization. • Creativity and Visioning: Mille class managers should have a clear vision of formation and implementation of strategies and also be creative in dealing with dilemmas in the organization. Roles of the middle-level managers in performing organizational change There are various practices and functions which the middle-level managers conduct to ensure organizational change in multiple organizations and departments. Moreover, there are some specific roles which they play in making sure there is an organizational change within their organization. An organization can also have more than one middle-level manager who must be spread in all departments to allow for efficiency in the implementation of strategies and change in the entire organization.

Managing change The middle-level managers in an organization play a very significant role in maintaining the organizational changes necessarily. The management of change in an organization is also a vital process which involves various models implemented by the managers. Another example of successful change management was the case of amazon undergoing a series of innovative and technology changes. Being led by the same person, the company still managed to experience changes such as expanding their operations in selling CDs to become more competitive than other emerging companies. Today, Amazon has increased its product range as it majors on more than 200 million products and also has customers all over the world. (Son, 2019) Leading change John Kroter initiates and explains a practical approach which targets leading change.

His approach is composed of eight steps and suggestions for leading change within an organization. Sustain acceleration- it involves contributors’ implementation of changes which also consists in pressing harder after success. Institute change- this involves articulation between organizational success and new behaviors. The managers also should make sure that they strengthen the connections to substitute old habits. This approach has been used by numerous organizations such as Coca-Cola and Amazon which have focused a lot on change leadership. Their degree of leadership in change has contributed significantly to the successful implementation of changes in their organizations respectively (Benn, Edwards, & Williams, 2014). Most of the view of the employees will imply positive teamwork. The employees also need to be part of the change because they have a high need to understand the changes as they are the ones who will implement and facilitate the change process in the organization.

Moreover, the managers are also expected to manage the other employees and guide them through change effectively. Management of other employees also implies ensuring that they work towards change in the organization. Since middle managers are always in contact with the other subordinates directly, they are expected to lead them to adopt change and implement in it all the organizational activities. Additionally, the employees could not be in a position to understand change. The middle managers, therefore, will take the responsibility to communicate the change to them and make them understand change better (Rahim, 2017). Another example of an organization which had an issue and dealt with it to create changes is the direct line company which had been disrupted. However, the disruption brought more opportunities to the company which promoted change.

The company had to deal with its current situations in 2008 during the financial crisis. Listing the steps to be taken The manager always sits and list some of the actions that will ensure the longest in the organization. Moreover, the actions are meant to address some of the issues which might prevent the changes from happening in the organization. Set and clarify project goals The managers are expected to consider the outcomes and set goals which will be met by the change in the company. Set targets The targets are set to imply what the organization will achieve the change in a given period. Establish management objectives There are objectives which should be created to offer the employees a good environment to implement change Identify the critical milestones The stages of the change process are redefined, and the managers should be able to set goals on completing the steps to implement the changes successfully.

They, therefore, promote a lot of teamwork initiatives to implement the changes collectively in the organization. Another vital practice which the managers do to implement change by participation. They participate actively and take part in the change alongside the other employees (Hatchuel, & Weil, 2011). The full engagement of the managers in the change process encourages the other employees as they act as examples and role models to change. The managers, therefore, are required to show full interest to change and lead by example as others follow. Another critical approach is rewards and recognition. The employees who play a very significant role in implementing change needs to be rewarded for their efforts and participation in change. It will lead to their motivation towards up keeping the change in the organization.

Rewarding the employees will also increase performance in the organization thus business success. Finally, the managers should also consider performance management to sustain change in the organization. A. , & Harris, S. G. Reflections: Our journey in organizational change research and practice. Journal of change management, 9(2), 127-142. Organizational change for corporate sustainability. Routledge. Carlström, E. D. , & Ekman, I. Organization development and change. Cengage learning. Drucker, P. Managing in a time of great change. Routledge. Leading change. Harvard business press. Mantere, S. Role expectations and middle manager strategic agency.  Journal of management studies, 45(2), pp. A. Managing conflict in organizations. Routledge. Rouleau, L. ’Micro-practices of strategic sensemaking and sensegiving: how middle managers interpret and sell change every day’.  5 Case Studies About Successful Change Management.