Publications

Find at Harvard

05 Feb 2024
Research & Ideas

The Middle Manager of the Future: More Coaching, Less Commanding

Middle managers aren’t going extinct. They’re evolving. Once a wasteland where careers stalled or abruptly ended in layoffs, middle management... View Details

Keywords: by Ben Rand

05 Jul 2023
What Do You Think?

How Are Middle Managers Falling Down Most Often on Employee Inclusion?

asked to consider its relationship to diversity, inclusion, and belonging at work.” She reminds us: “A recent tidal wave of harassment claims highlights the costs of failing to create a psychologically safe workplace for women.” May it also suggest that View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

January 2016 (Revised November 2018)
Case

Match Next: Next Generation Middle School?

By: John J-H Kim and Daniel Goldberg

This case is set in 2015 as a team at Match Education, a high performing charter middle school in Boston, explores new staffing and technology approaches in their quest to obtain what they term "jaw dropping" results. The team hopes to test and model for other schools... View Details

Keywords: General Management; K-12; Charter Schools; Public Schools; Edtech; Education; Information Technology; Management; Public Sector; Entrepreneurship; Education Industry; Boston

01 Mar 2021
What Do You Think?

What Does Remote Work Mean for Middle Managers?

(iStockphoto/FreshSplash) There seems to be limited interest in middle management or the managers that occupy such positions among those who study View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

2005
Class Lecture

Leadership Is a Choice: The General Manager in the Middle

By: Joseph L. Bower

Keywords: Leadership; Managerial Roles

1982
Chapter

Power and Enterprise in Action: Corporate Middle Managers as Entrepreneurs

By: R. M. Kanter

Keywords: Corporate Entrepreneurship; Power and Influence; Business or Company Management

March 2005
Class Lecture

Leadership is a Choice: The General Manager in the Middle (FSS)

By: Joseph L. Bower

Find at Harvard

August 2013
Teaching Note

Nutricia Middle East: Measuring Sales Force Effectiveness

By: F. Asis Martinez-Jerez

Nutricia's Middle East and African region is transitioning from a trading to a customer focus. CEO Ernest Vandenbussche must decide how to market infant milk formula most effectively in a region where the information environment is much less rich than in other... View Details

Keywords: Globalized Firms and Management; Customer Relationship Management; Commercialization; Management Practices and Processes; Salesforce Management; Nutrition; Performance Evaluation; Information Management; Health Industry; Africa; Middle East

April 2006
Case

Nutricia Middle East: Measuring Sales Force Effectiveness

Nutricia's Middle East and African region is transitioning from a trading to a customer focus. CEO Ernest Vandenbussche must decide how to market infant milk formula most effectively in a region where the information environment is much less rich than in other... View Details

Keywords: Management Teams; Salesforce Management; Customer Relationship Management; Emerging Markets; Nutrition; Performance Effectiveness; Business Strategy; Commercialization; Health Industry; Middle East; Africa

2025
Working Paper

Training Within Firms

By: Brayan Diaz, Andrea Neyra-Nazarrett, Julian Ramirez, Raffaella Sadun and Jorge Tamayo

Training investments are essential for improving worker and firm productivity, yet their implementation is often hindered by low participation rates and insufficient worker engagement. This study uses data from three firms–a car manufacturer, a quick-service... View Details

Keywords: Productivity; Absenteeism; Middle Managers; Training; Management Practices and Processes; Performance Productivity; Employees

SSRN

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March 1996 (Revised April 1996)
Case

Andy Chew at Siemens Nixdorf: Change from the Middle

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter and John F. McGuire

Andy Chew, a British manager reassigned to Germany by a large German computer company, is in the middle of carrying out a project as a designated "change agent" in a program to reshape the culture toward one that is more entrepreneurial for success as a nimble global... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Organizational Culture; Information Technology; Technological Innovation; Business or Company Management; Projects; Computer Industry; Electronics Industry; Germany

September 2013 (Revised April 2014)
Teaching Note

Transitions Asia: Managing Across Cultures

By: Roy Y.J. Chua, Sharon Mozgai and Dawn Lau

The director of an interim executive research firm, Chee Lung Tham, faced a clash of culture and management styles when his mainland China client threatened to fire the American interim manager that Tham had assigned. The client, Wong Lung, ran a family-owned garment... View Details

Keywords: China; Cross-cultural Management; Family Business; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Management Style; Service Industry; China

April 2013 (Revised April 2014)
Case

Transitions Asia: Managing Across Cultures

By: Roy Y.J. Chua and Dawn H. Lau

The director of an interim executive search firm, Chee Lung Tham, faced a clash of culture and management styles when his mainland Chinese client threatened to fire the American interim manager that Tham had assigned. The client, Wong Lung, ran a family-owned garment... View Details

Keywords: China; Cross-cultural Management; Management Style; Conflict Management; Family Business; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Service Industry; China

2004
Case

Learning to Manage with Data in Duval County Public Schools: Lake Shore Middle School (A)

By: Allen Grossman, James P. Honan and Caroline Joan King

Keywords: Middle School Education; Management Skills; Florida

2004
Case

Learning to Manage with Data in Duval County Public Schools: Lake Shore Middle School (B)

By: Allen Grossman, James P. Honan and Caroline Joan King

Keywords: Middle School Education; Management Skills; Florida

04 May 2021
Cold Call Podcast

Reversing Brain Drain: Moving Talent to Middle America

Keywords: Re: Prithwiraj Choudhury

2014
Report

Bridge the Gap: Rebuilding America's Middle Skills

By: Joseph B. Fuller, Jennifer Burrowes, Manjari Raman, Dan Restuccia and Alexis Young

The market for middle-skills jobs—those that require more education and training than a high school diploma but less than a four-year college degree—is consistently failing to clear. That failure is inflicting a grievous cost on the competitiveness of American firms... View Details

Keywords: Business or Company Management; Human Capital; Education; Competency and Skills; Macroeconomics; United States