Study: Workers can survive three months without their managers

Bosses have just three months in which to fill middle manager vacancies before the lack of leadership and direction resulting from their absence has a detrimental effect on morale and productivity, a joint British and U.S survey has suggested.

Perhaps less surprisingly, the study of 400 HR directors, split evenly between the two countries, also concluded that middle managers, long considered the work-horse of management, are critical to the success of an organisation.

Nearly two thirds � 64 per cent � of the UK HR managers polled by recruitment firm MRINetwork felt middle managers were critical to success, compared with 79 per cent of those in the U.S.

The most crucial function for middle managers was in maintaining company morale (73 per cent), said the UK HR managers, with customer satisfaction next at 68 per cent, followed by hiring and team building (63 per cent) and sales and productivity (58 per cent).

In the U.S, by comparison, customer satisfaction came top, at 74 per cent, followed by company morale (73 per cent), hiring and team building (66 per cent) and implementation of a chief executive’s vision (66 per cent).

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“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,” said Mills.

[via management-issues.com]