According to the study, 79 percent of U.S. respondents and 64 percent of U.K. respondents said that middle managers are critical to the success of a company.
Additionally, the survey evaluated where middle managers provide the most value to an organization. In the U.S., respondents cited customer satisfaction (74 percent), company morale (73 percent), hiring and team building (66 percent) and implementation of a CEO's vision (66 percent) as the most critical job functions. The survey had a margin of error of plus or minus 7 percentage points.
Comparatively, respondents in the U.K. named company morale (73 percent) as the most important function, with customer satisfaction (68 percent), hiring and team building (63 percent) and sales and productivity (58 percent) following close behind. In both countries, innovation trailed behind with only 42 percent and 38 percent in the U.S. and U.K. respectively naming it as a critical job function.
"Middle management represents the beating heart of today's successful companies," said William Olson, president and chief executive officer of MRINetwork, which conducted the study. "For a business to succeed in today's market, companies must be prepared to make a strong investment in hiring and supporting critical impact players in the mid-management layer of their organizations. But conversely, middle managers still have some work to do to shake the baggage that they are not as innovative as their senior peers. They are clearly innovative, but they need to market this innovation in a more effective manner to ensure their accomplishments are being recognized."
Additionally, the survey found that in the U.S. and U.K. a void in middle management can only exist for less than three months before it begins to negatively impact morale and employees' ability to perform their daily jobs. Therefore it is critical that hiring managers take immediate steps to fulfill vacancies in this layer before it impacts the rest of the company.
"While leading companies know they need to fill a void in a timely manner, the 'three-month' timeframe has never been documented and should serve as a significant wake-up call to business leaders," added Olson. "In many companies the middle management layer serves as the keystone that links senior management with junior team members. When that link is interrupted, the repercussions are sudden and far-reaching."
Opinion Research Corp. conducted telephone interviews with 200 human resource directors or senior executives in the United States and 200 in the United Kingdom. The interviews took place in the U.S. between July 14 and August 5, 2005, and in the U.K. between July 14 and August 12, 2005. Error of margin for each sample of 200 is plus or minus 7 percentage points at a 95 percent confidence level.
