Guidelines for Middle Managers for Thriving amid Continuous Change
Mubarak, Nauman (2016)
Mubarak, Nauman
Metropolia Ammattikorkeakoulu
2016
All rights reserved
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2016062713389
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2016062713389
Tiivistelmä
This thesis suggests the much needed guidelines for middle managers for thriving amid continuous change. Middle managers, being an integral part of their organizations, needed a set of consolidated guidelines for thriving in the times of continuous change. Thriving requires high engagement, learning and growth as a response in stressful situations. The proposed guidelines include elements from literature and recommendations of the middle managers which came from co-creation sessions with middle managers from different industries.
The proposed framework, based on the literature review, suggests that the process management mindset and resilience mindset are suitable for continuous change, where process mindset puts emphasis on collaboration and co-creation in problem solving, and resilience mindset emphasizes bouncing back while maintaining true-self with peak performance to setbacks. In order to apply these mindsets, middle managers have to indulge in personal development for learning new behaviours and getting self-mastery in emotional intelligence, support seeking and obtaining essential competences such as confidence, risk taking, and learning from experiences. It is also argued that without being self-aware and knowing the purpose and meaning in life, middle managers can easily get lost in continuous change situation.
New elements in the proposal as recommended by middle managers include (a) grit: perseverance and passion for long-term goals, (b) efficient change management: effective systematic working, adapting to co-workers, leading change, knowledge of change management best practice, (c) essential management skills: conflict resolution, team and expectation management, (d) finally, new elements in personal development are suggested such as work-life balance, living in present, intuition, growth mindset and self-audit. Overall, with the help of these guidelines, middle managers can thrive in continuous change.
The proposed framework, based on the literature review, suggests that the process management mindset and resilience mindset are suitable for continuous change, where process mindset puts emphasis on collaboration and co-creation in problem solving, and resilience mindset emphasizes bouncing back while maintaining true-self with peak performance to setbacks. In order to apply these mindsets, middle managers have to indulge in personal development for learning new behaviours and getting self-mastery in emotional intelligence, support seeking and obtaining essential competences such as confidence, risk taking, and learning from experiences. It is also argued that without being self-aware and knowing the purpose and meaning in life, middle managers can easily get lost in continuous change situation.
New elements in the proposal as recommended by middle managers include (a) grit: perseverance and passion for long-term goals, (b) efficient change management: effective systematic working, adapting to co-workers, leading change, knowledge of change management best practice, (c) essential management skills: conflict resolution, team and expectation management, (d) finally, new elements in personal development are suggested such as work-life balance, living in present, intuition, growth mindset and self-audit. Overall, with the help of these guidelines, middle managers can thrive in continuous change.