The intent of this study was to examine the effectiveness of behavioral self-management for mid-level managers in a variety of organizational settings. Behavioral self-management combines some of the current techniques found in behavioral psychology and management research. The present approach uses behavioral self-control and certain aspects of time management in a four-term contingency analysis (SOBC) to systematically control work-related problems that result in less than optimal performance. Eight individuals who occupied middle-management positions participated in the study. The behavioral self-management approach was used to successfully manage a total of about 20 out of 23 target behaviors associated with on-the-job performance. Each manager selected, modified, and evaluated each of their chosen problem events. Seven participants worked on three target behaviors each and one participant worked on two. Results were highly favorable, indicating that the approach can be successfully used by middle-managers in various settings to increase the effectiveness of their own performance. It was concluded that the possibility of success with several types of work-related problems is high, provided the manager is committed to following the program and that the problems have been adequately identified. An exit interview revealed that seven of the eight managers were convinced of the program's effectiveness and usefulness in managing the target behaviors. Ratings of each manager's graphed results were made by nine individuals who were knowledgeable in the techniques of behavior analysis. Their ratings, which were very similar to the exit interview results, suggest a medium to considerable amount of behavior change on almost all target behaviors.

There are many important factors that influence and even determine the work of middle and senior managers in the public and private sectors, NGOs, and international organizations such as the UN. Yet, despite this overall agreement, the study of ¿managerial effectiveness¿ has remained relatively neglected and unexplored particularly within the developing world. The present research explores the dimensions of the managerial effectiveness of middle and senior managers who work in the Education Programme of the UN Agency in Lebanon. These managers are dedicated to refugees and their children at primary and high schools, and vocational centers. In doing so this study has adopted the framework, ¿parameters of managerial effectiveness¿, developed by Analoui (1999) to explore and identify the factors and causal influences which form the basis for the effectiveness of these managers to develop policies and strategies for their increased effectiveness. The literature in the areas of development of management, management training and development, and recent works on managerial effectiveness confirm the importance of the parameters and interrelationship between them and the unique contextual factors, namely the personal, organizational and external factors. The Education Programme of the UNRWA in Lebanon provides a suitable case, and the middle and senior managers constitute the units of analysis. The entire cadre of senior and middle management (N= 132) were included in this first time study. The methodology adopted for collecting and generating relevant and adequate data was a combination of survey questionnaire, interviews and the use of secondary data available. The adoption of ¿triangulation¿ as a strategy yielded adequate and relevant data which was analyzed using statistical methods. The quantitative analysis was supported by qualitative data based on senior and middle managers¿ own perception of their effectiveness. The results, by and large, support Anloui¿s (1999; 2007) theory and led to the first time discovery of the eight parameters of the managerial effectiveness in UNRWA, Lebanon. The results revealed a myriad of factors and influences concerning the middle and senior managers¿ perception, managerial skills and competencies, organizations criteria for effectiveness, opportunities, demands and constraints involved, as well as the inter-organizational relationship and the dominant managerial philosophy of effectiveness. The study contributes to the literature on managerial effectiveness by contextualizing the model adopted thus contributing to this neglected field of managerial studies. It also provides the basis for the formulation of policies and strategies to improved and increase managerial effectiveness in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Palestine, and the developing world as the whole where UN is actively operating to support refugees. Like any empirical investigation the study suffers from limitations which need to be considered in the future research in this field.

The covid-19 pandemic plunged the world into an experiment in work-from-home without any collective experience in how to manage this situation. During a crisis characterised by social distancing and blurring lines between home and work, providing support to employees is important. Middle managers, being in-between upper management and subordinates, were in a special situation of having to balance new demands from both sides. In light of this, the purpose of our study was to investigate how middle managers handled the challenge of supporting their subordinates during the pandemic. To achieve the purpose of this study, a qualitative research methodology was applied. We investigated middle managers experiences of supporting their subordinates during the pandemic. The data was collected through 8 semi-structured interviews with middle managers working in Sweden. Our results show that during the pandemic middle managers had to adopt empathic behaviour as leaders and adapt their way of leading to each subordinates needs.

No description available.

Administration of educational curriculum beyond the traditional classroom are becoming an increasing concern for public and private sector organizations that offer formalized supervisory and management training. Training is expensive. Salaries of trainers, materials and equipment, and especially lost production are factors that go into the decision-making process when companies invest dollars into training employees. The establishment of cost effectiveness in terms of whether or not training content transfers to the job is of vital concern. Studies of learning transfer are rare, but even rarer are long-term measures. This study empirically, measured learning transfer and utilization from Communication, Stress Management, and Team Building content seminar/workshops at both short and long-term intervals. The study was divided into three distinct phases. The first phase was an experimental design using randomly selected treatment and control groups with an uncorrelated t-test used in the statistical treatment of group measures. The second phase of the study utilized treatment group only comparison of matched item measures at six-week and one-year intervals. A correlated t-test was employed for statistical analysis. The final phase of the study utilized external interviewing of supervisors of the managers who received the treatment. The supervisors were employed as external anchors to provide testimony as to the perceptual effects of learning transfer. The study suggested that learning transfer and utilization did occur in all three areas of intervention relevant to Phase I. Phase II suggested that long-term effects were present in two of the three interventions. External interviews in Phase III were not found to be highly contributing to the conformation of training transfer. / Ed. D.

Accounting is generally regarded as a stressful occupation. Research suggests that the most stressful positions in a public accounting firm are those of middle management. Given the pivotal role these individuals play in the accounting firm, it is important to gain an understanding of the stressors they encounter and the consequences of those stressors, as well as any possible moderating effects of personal characteristics. This study of stress in public accounting was conducted to address the following research questions: What environmental factors (both work-related and home-related) contribute to stress at the middle-management level in public accounting? What are the consequences of this stress? Are the consequences of stress modified by the personal characteristics of the individual? Data for the study were collected through questionnaires mailed to a national sample of certified public accountants. The sample consisted of two groups—1,593 individuals presently employed in public accounting positions, and 340 individuals who were employed in public accounting firms but have recently switched to nonpublic accounting jobs. Of the 1,933 individuals sampled, approximately 1,200 (62%) responded. The results of the study suggest that middle-management level public accountants are most stressed by home-related factors (conflict with leisure and conflict with family roles) as well as work-related factors (time pressure and quantitative overload). This stress is associated with several negative outcomes—job-related tension, job dissatisfaction, propensity to leave public accounting, and turnover. Gender and personality type are important moderators of the relationships between the stressors and stress outcomes. / Ph. D.

The assessment center is a contemporary approach to identifying managerial potential for purposes of selection, placement, promotion, or development. This research determined the extent to which participants actually implemented developmental activities following assessment. The organization assumed that learners would follow-up with recommended activities on their own. There has been no study to determine they did. This study set out to determine if participants did implement development and the conditions under which they did or did not. First, a preliminary questionnaire was administered to all 120 graduates of the Success Program. Nineteen participants who were originally divided into (a) those who completed one or more recommended developmental activities and some self-selected developmental activities, (b) those who did not implement recommended developmental activities but did complete one or more self-selected developmental activities, (c) those who implemented recommended and/or self-selected developmental activities but did not complete any, and (d) those who did not implement either recommended or self-selected developmental activities were interviewed. It was found that most people did. Individuals were further classified into levels of implementation: (a) High implementers, (b) moderate implementers, (c) low implementers, (d) implementers of self-selected activities only, and (e) non-implementers. This study provides evidence to support the organization's assumption: Through the assessment center process, individuals will be motivated to change their managerial behavior. Seventeen of the nineteen Success graduates followed up with development. While they differed in the number of activities they pursued, they targeted the same skills cited by the assessors for improvement. Further, the program was a positive learning experience for almost all its members. Self-awareness was heightened and served as a catalyst for further development in targeted managerial skills. Self-reported changes in management behavior tended to focus on the same skills targeted by the assessors for improvement. Both individual and organizational responsibilities were reflected in the problems encountered and reasons given for not pursuing development. Personal factors generally related to the willingness to devote time and energy to self-development and to the individuals' perceptions about the importance of change. Organizational factors generally related to feedback, relevance of the training to job functions, and post-program support. Although it was concluded that the Success Program is basically a sound one, recommendations were made to aid the organization in strengthening its program. / Ed. D.

A rise in the number of high-profile cases of management failure and leadership misconduct increased the awareness of one of the core challenges of management, namely to lead responsibly and with integrity. The environment which senior managers create and within which middle managers need to function seems to have a direct bearing on the moral behaviour and integrity of the middle manager. The aim of this research was therefore to gain a better understanding of how middle managers view the impact of senior managers on their experience of integrity. There is an increasing need in organisations for responsible leadership, leadership with integrity and leadership towards developing the integrity of the follower. This study was conducted within the interpretive research paradigm. Sampling was directed by criterion-based guidelines, focusing on current middle managers from different industries in the private sector. In-depth interviews were conducted and the data was analysed using a grounded theory method. The main findings indicated that senior managers should engage in two debates with middle managers in the organisation. Firstly, integrity is not something that is demonstrated but rather means that leaders can be differentiated from other leaders when they lead with integrity. Secondly, defining integrity and linking it to personal standards and values, as well as aligning these standards and values to the organisational strategy, vision and mission, are important. The findings of this study can assist senior managers with decreasing unethical behaviour and increasing integrity in the organisation. The research provided a basic framework that can assist in creating a positive context for the viii relationship between senior managers and middle managers within which to function, in order to decrease unethical employee activity and increase integrity. / Industrial and Organisational Psychology / M.A. (Industrial and Organisational Psychology)

Text in Afrikaans / The goal with the research is firstly is to study and theoretically describe the interpersonal style repertoire of middle level managers according to the interpersonal approach and more specifically the 1982 Interpersonal Circle. Secondly the interpersonal development interventions and the development process for middle level managers were discussed from this approach. The third theoretical goal involved compiling a interpersonal development programme for middle level managers. The empirical goals of the research involved the evaluation of the interpersonal style repertoires of middle level managers by means of self and fellow manager evaluations in an attempt to get an indication of the most prominent interpersonal styles of middle level managers. Furthermore the empirical investigation involved an analysis of the influence of the interpersonal development programme in expanding the interpersonal style repertoires of middle level managers. The results of the self evaluations suggest that the warm-friendly, deferent-trusting, assureddominant and sociable-exhibitionistic styles are the primary styles of the 263 middle managers in the sample. Their evaluations by the 82 fellow managers seem to indicate that the warmfriendly, assured-dominant, deferent-trusting, and sociable-exhibitionistic styles are the most prominent interpersonal styles of middle level managers. Although these results seem to correspond to the teoretically applicable style repertoires of middle level managers the scores were all below average. XIV With the interpersonal development programme an attempt was made to make the group of 32 managers aware of their own interpersonal style repertoires and to provide them with the opportunity to study the way in which these are used in interpersonal transactions during a experiential learning experience. The development interventions, process and the influence of the development programme are also discussed. / Die doel met hierdie navorsmg is eerstens om die interpersoonlike stylrepertoire van middelvlakbestuurders aan die hand van die interpersoonlike benadering en meer spesifiek 1982 Interpersoonlike Sirkel, te bestudeer en teoreties te beskryf. Tweedens is die interpersoonlike ontwikkelingsintervensies en -ontwikkelingsproses vir middelvlakbestuurders vanuit die benadering beskryf. Die derde teoretiese doelstelling het die samestelling van 'n interpersoonlike ontwikkelingsprogram vir middelvlakbestuurders behels. Wat die empiriese doelstellings in die navorsing betref, is die interpersoonlike stylrepertoire van middelvlakbestuurders deur middel van self- en medebestuurderevaluasies geevalueer om sodoende 'n aanduiding van die mees prominente interpersoonlike style van middelvlakbestuuders te kry. Verder het die empiriese ondersoek ook 'n ontleding van die invloed van die interpersoonlike ontwikkelingsprogram op die uitbreiding van middelvlakbestuurders se interpersoonlike style ingesluit. Die resultate van hulle selfevaluasies suggereer <lat die warm-vriendelik, geleidend-vertrouend, versekerd-dominant en sosiaal-ekshibisionistiese style die primere interpersoonlike style van die steekproef van 263 middelvlakbestuurders is. Wat die resultate van die evaluasies van die 82 medebestuurders betref, blyk dit dat die warm-vriendelik, versekerd-dominant, geleidendvertrouend en sosiaal-ekshibisionistiese style as die mees prominente style is. XVI Alhoewel hierdie resultate in 'n groot mate met die teoereties-toepaslike stylrepertoire van middelvlakbestuurders ooreenstem, was al die tellings ondergemiddeld. Met die interpersoonlike ontwikkelingsprogram is daar gepoog om 'n bewustheid by 'n groep van 32 bestuurders van hulle eie interpersoonlike stylrepertoire te kweek, en om hulle die geleentheid te bied om die interpersoonlike transakies waarin die style na vore tree, tydens 'n eksperimentele leerondervinding te bestudeer. Die gedragsontwikkelingsintervensies, die gedragsontwikkelingsproses en die invloed van die ontwikkelingsprogram word ook bespreek / Industrial and Organisational Psychology / D. Com (Bedryfsielkunde)

The aim of this research is to investigate how succession planning can be used as a developmental tool in developing middle managers in the Department of Science and Technology (DST). The research shows that the DST has good strategies and policies in place for the development and retention of its employees, although there is no succession planning tool or system in place. Proposed interventions to address identified gaps in terms of succession planning include a quota system of positions that should be filled by internal candidates to encourage employees’ buy-in to succession planning; inculcating it in the institutional culture and therefore, preserving and retaining institutional memory; creating a robust reward management programme based upon a pay-scheme that seeks to reward middle managers for developing their competencies in line with institutional requirements / Public Administration / M.A. (Public Administration)