Have organisations squeezed the ‘squeezed middle’ too much?
This paper looks at how the health and wellbeing of line managers has an impact on the delivery of their role, and on the wellbeing of those they manage.
Have organisations squeezed the ‘squeezed middle’ too much? Why now is the time to take line manager wellbeing seriously
This paper looks at how the health and wellbeing of line managers has an impact on the delivery of their role, and on the wellbeing of those they manage.
Published:
In this paper, Zofia Bajorek looks at how the health and wellbeing of line managers impacts on the delivery of their role, and on the wellbeing of those they manage.
Organisational productivity and employee performance are two of the most studied topics in management research, with the focus on how both can be maximised, and operational effectiveness can be achieved (Knies, Leisink and Kraus-Hoogeveen, 2018). Much of this research has focused on organisational leaders and top management structures who are viewed as fundamental to the development of organisational priorities and the strategies to reach them. Guest (2011) noted that in doing so, however, the role of the front-line manager is frequently ignored, even though their contribution to achieving organisational goals is pivotal because they are at the sharp end of people management.
Evidence suggests that there is a distinct link between worker functioning (in terms of health and performance) and organisational performance (Day, Penney and Hartling, 2019). If this is also seen in line management functioning, surely now is the time that line management wellbeing is taken seriously, and how organisations stop squeezing the squeezed.