Question 1 [25 Marks]

Transformational change occurs as a response to the external environment, and directly affects the organisation's mission and strategy, its leadership and its culture. Discuss transformational change phases that are undertaken in preparation for change within organisations. [25]

Question 2 [50 Marks]

"The role of middle managers in strategy execution: a case study of a Local Authority Council in Namibia" by F.N Katoma and M Ungerer.

Source: Access the article from ResearchGate https://www.researchgate.net/publication/266150138_The_role_of_middle_managers_in_strategy_execution_a_case_study_of_a_Local_Authority_Council_LAC_in_Namibia

Abstract

This study explores the role of middle managers in executing organisational strategies in the local government sector. The study adopted a qualitative research method, using a local authority council (LAC) in Namibia as a case study. Interview information from 10 middle managers, selected using purposive sampling, forms the basis of this research. A theoretical framework consisting of four research focus areas was used to guide the study. The study found that middle managers interpret, communicate and translate organisational strategic goals into actions in their value-adding role as champions, synthesisers, facilitators and implementers. It also found communication and the availability of resources to be key enabling factors, whereas systems, structures, policies and communication channels are key processes impacting on the effective implementation of corporate strategies. The study also found that resources, performance management systems and legislation are key tools. There is contrary evidence that suggests that some middle managers play a value-subtracting role. The study used a purposive sample and employed a case study design which limits the wider generalisability of the findings. Further research is necessary to gain more in-depth insights into the different roles of middle managers and their influence on strategy generation and implementation versus the role of senior managers. This study is of value to the LAC in that top management formulates organisational strategic goals, with middle managers having little involvement in this process. The recorded views of middle managers indicate that there is a gap between the agenda setting and leadership of top managers and the observed roles of middle managers. Middle managers in the LAC fulfil specific value-adding roles and utilise key enablers, processes and tools to help execute strategy.

The article makes reference to 14 themes that add value and enrich the role of middle managers.

Fillemon Ndangi Katoma and Marius Ungerer Theme 1: Middle managers as champions of strateqy development and execution The role of middle managers as champions in the execution of the strategy of the LAC emerged as a prominent theme during the interviews. This role entails middle managers generating ideas that influence organisational strategy. The middle managers interviewed stated that they justify and define new programmes in their work. They also evaluate the merits of new proposals, search for new opportunities and propose programmes or projects to senior managers in different ways. The various activities performed by middle managers in this role of champions are summarised in the following preliminary themes of leading and managing. Regarding the leading and managing activities, a middle manager stated the following in terms of his role in strategy execution: 'You need to have two roles, one is the managing role, and the other one is a leading role. The leading role requires one to give further leadership to the people down to execute your vision, looking at the vision, share it with your colleagues. Now, managing staff means to allocate and make them understand your strategy and manage their performance and then coach them and of course, see that what supposed to happen is happening.' Middle managers are also heavily involved in policy development and serve as internal consultants in the organisation. One middle manager was clear about who 1s doing what in the organisation. She stated: 'Sometimes, although it is said in the literature that you need to advise on policies, because your Senior Executives (SEs) are the one who must come up with the policies, take it to Management Committee and Management Committee to Council, most of the policies in practice here are emanating from middle managers'level. I support that it should emanate from here.' This middle manager concluded that 'a manager [here] is supposed to be an internal consultant within the organisation'. Theme 2: Middle managers as synthesisers of information affecting Strategy This role involves middle managers collecting information on the feasibility of new programmes, interpreting ambiguous, diverse data related to various strategic situations, and assessing changes in the external environment that may impact the strategies of the LAC. Two key preliminary themes that emerged to capture this synthesising role of middle managers were research and advice. The research activities entail collecting information to assess the best or most cost-effective options for the organisation. In support of this, a middle manager stated in the interview: I/ do my own research and come up with strategies that 1 think are linked [giggle] with the corporate strategy, you see.\" In the same vein, while explaining the value-adding role in terms of institutional memory, knowing what happened historically and why help to avoid certain things and thus to succeed. Another middle manager stated: 'With historical information, one can avoid pitfalls that happened in the past. The advising preliminary theme is closely linked to the themes of internal consultant and policy development. One middle manager remarked: 'As a middle manager, one is an advisor, executor, involved in organising, control and directing including changing the direction of the division.' Theme 3: Middle managers as facilitators in the strategy execution process This relates mainly to the role of middle managers in getting new projects started, encouraging development in their team members and promoting learning, increasing the ability of their team members to respond to change, and encouraging informal discussion and information sharing. This role emerged from the data categorised in the following preliminary themes: motivation and technical skills. Motivation and technical skills relate to the middle manager's activities in motivating and coaching staff to perform on the strategic focus areas of the LAC. They also relate to advising others in the organisation on the basis of their expertise. A middle manager used an example to illustrate this point, stating: '4 very good example if you take the SE Forum, it is discussing mainly submissions from middle managers. If this level stops writing submissions, then there will be no such forum.' Another middle manager echoed a potentially biased view by saying: 'In our organisational set up, the only person with more knowledge, technical knowledge is the middle manager.\" Another middle manager put the same view differently, stating that 'middle managers are actually the \"work horses\" of the executives. They do the ground work, write the item, make changes, and provide managerial technical advice because the other person is just a general manager.' Another indicates: 'Being a technocrat, you want to implement projects that you think are to the benefit of the organisation.' Motivation, on the other hand, entails organising resources and ensuring a shared responsibility. In doing this, one middle manager commented: 'As a manager, one needs to lobby and put pressure on other departments to promote sanitation [as an organisation function to deliver on].' Theme 4: Middle managers as implementers of strateqgy This role relates mainly to the role of middle managers in monitoring activities to support top management objectives, translating goals into action plans and tactics, translating goals into individual objectives and selling top-management strategic mitiatives to subordinates. The activities in this role were captured under the following preliminary themes: implementation and monitoring, and planning. Implementation and monitoring activities refer to translating overall strategy into tactics and monitoring service delivery to citizens. The following extract from an mterview with a middle manager illustrates this point: 'The organisational vision is to enhance the quality of life of all our people...in order to translate that at the divisional level, this division aspires to be recognised as a forerunner striving to attain excellence in the services we provide to both those facilities we regulate and to the general public.' Planning 1s required to ensure that strategies can be implemented. One middle manager stated: 'You need staff to execute objectives; you need finance fo fund projects and institutional knowledge.\" Another middle manager stressed the value of financial planning, stating: 'The issue of budgeting ... is an important role we need to fulfil as managers...continuously be aware what is allowed in terms of the budget, is there [an] overspending or under spending? So the continuous monitoring of how your budget is doing is very important.' Key enabling factors are those critical success factors that need to be in place in order to ensure the successful execution of strategies by middle managers. Themes that emerged around this focus area were communication and resource availability. Theme 5: Communication about strategy Communication entails networking, asking questions, making staff understand the strategy, improving interaction and managing relationships with customers. Amiddle manager demonstrated this by pointing out: 'My role entails communicating the divisional goals and objectives broken down to individuals and explains why we are here as a division. That means one takes the vision and mission of the organisation and adapts that at the sectional level.' Communication also relates to the entrenched organisational culture of how people interact, and expect to be interacted with, as well as the accessibility of the required information. During the interviews, middle managers expressed different views, sometimes contradictory to each other, on how the communication, or lack of it, influences their ability to execute strategy. From the interviews it was evident that top-down internal communication appears to be a weakness in the organisation, since middle managers do not always have access to the information they require to perform their roles. The following excerpt from a middle manager serves to illustrate this observation: 'Even now, you can go to all the managers and ask them what is our new vision, our new mission, they don t know why, because departments [are] supposed to take what they did there, come down and say this is our new vision, let us come up with our new departmental vision that will link to this new organisational vision, it is not happening. Up to now, no one told me in a formal way to say, this is our new vision.\" Another interviewee supports this observation by saying, 'I find a gap between top management and middle managers in terms of prioritising the projects for implementation in the organisation.' This communication gap has practical implications for strategy implementation, as noted by one middle manager: 'If you find that the SE is involved in the implementation, and there is communication between the SE and the middle management, you will find that the strategy would be implemented and the strategy position of CoW will flow in the implementation plan. But where the top manager or departmental head does not have real communication with the middle managers, you find that strategy is not implemented in certain areas.\" The importance of a shared communicated view of the future is highlighted by one middle manager, who says: 'The first thing you do as a middle manager is that you have to have the same vision as the organisation. So, once you have that vision, you know the common purpose why the organisation is there and you are here to make it possible for the CoW to deliver service.' Referring to the need for the departmental heads to set the strategic direction for middle managers to follow, one middle manager remarked that 'in terms of a vertical relationship approach, the middle managers are supposed to be getting leadership direction from SEs'. In the absence of this, another manager stated: 'Unfortunately, we are logical beings, so I am only able to dance to the tune if I can hear that tune being played by my leader and then I will replay that tune for my people and then my people in turn will replay the tune to whoever they are dealing with in their respective positions within the organisation.' Another interviewee felt that a communication channel needed to be established, and stated: 'The communication channel between the division and the GM needs to be established, and both the middle manager and GM need to understand what is the job at hand, what is required from this division and you need to agree that the direction that needs to be taken is the common direction for both the GM and submit plans to the GM that he reviews and allocates resources.' A middle manager, while discussing the role of committees as communication channel for decision-making purposes, argued that: 'In the past for example we had a committee, but we realised that committees do not work. The sheer numbers of people in the committee for example a representative of every department renders committees ineffective ... But consultation remains important and one must create consultative forums ... brainstorming sessions, SE Forum are all part of the organisational processes one gofes] through in executing strategies.' On whether the communication channel in the organisation presented any constraint to the execution of strategy by middle managers, one middle manager offered a more positive observation, saying: 'I was never hampered by the process in doing what I need to do, unless one does funny things. There is a conducive climate in the organisation for implementing your strategies.\" Another middle manager, however, remarked: 'When it comes to managing discipline, you need unions to be consulted.' Theme 6: Availability of resources to execute strateqgy The availability of resources has been highlighted as a critical enabler of strategy and refers to both human and financial resources. A middle manager stressed this, saying that the 'provision of resources ... it is very, very important, resources in terms of finance and human resources'. Another middle manager, echoing the same view, stated: 'It is also important to draw up a one to five-year plan in the division to define projects and link the budget to the annual activities.\" Another middle manager further confirmed the above by stating: 'There must be a budget, the support of the SE in terms of technical support and managerial support. You must have people, the staff and there must be compiled policies.' Commenting on the importance of an enabling culture as a critical resource in the organisation, but one which is lacking in the organisation, a middle manager said: 'Culture must be cultivated from the top leadership.\" Similarly, another middle manager remarked: '7 would say the first one is the type of management that you get from up there, because that is what encourages you that there are people on top expecting you to perform.' Key processes relate to processes through which middle managers effectively implement corporate strategies in the LAC. The following themes emerged from the data: systems, structure and policies. Theme 7: Systems and procedures Middle managers follow or use various systems (internal and external) to execute organisational strategies. Some systems are integrated and others are not. One middle manager stated: 'Internally, within the organisation, the system is integrated. There is a need for improvement and now that we are implementing an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system, we have been able to do a gap analysis of the system to see which information should be in the system, relevant information which will enable the IT specialists to make business processes more efficient.' In highlighting the formal processes and procedures involved to get a subdivision certificate in accordance with a set of rules that govern this operation, one middle manager made the following statement: 'You need to ensure that the applicant is advised of the need to get approval from another body, the Surveyor General to approve the diagrams because it is only the registered town planner who can actually do this. If the person is not registered, they are not qualified to assist an applicant. So, all these are business processes and if there is a defect in any of these processes, the transaction can be declared null and void. Theme 8: Organisational structure Organisational structure 1s another process theme that emerged from the data. One middle manager stated: 'As a middle manager, you need to ensure that your structure is responsive or is in line with the function or responsibility of the division ... .' Externally, as reflected in the preceding theme, certain structures through which middle managers execute strategies are not within their control. As one middle manager illustrated: 'If you have to merge a property with a small portion, either municipal or public open space, you need to get a subdivision certificate from [a] certain board which is under the auspices of the line Ministry of Regional and Local Government and Housing and Rural Development. One interviewee, explaining whether the organisational structure facilitates or constrains effective strategy execution, observed: 'This organisation is not designed forinterdepartmental projects, and it is not always easy to work cross-departmentally. Our structure does not always allow working that way, but sometimes this is due to lack of confidence on the part of middle managers and SEs, hence silos.' Theme 9: Processes linked to policies Policies relate to municipal guidelines that middle managers follow in carrying out their duties. As one middle manager pointed out: 'Policies in the organisation that were made by the LAC are very easy to change, but an Act made by Parliament takes a very long time to amend.' In the case of this LAC, certain policies do not always facilitate the smooth execution of strategies. In some cases, in fact, policies are a source of frustration to middle managers. An excerpt from an interview illustrates this point: 'It is one thing to have a policy, it is another thing to have a policy that works or which does not make it cumbersome ... I must say that some of them are cumbersome. In fact, it is my submission that the current special project policy should probably just be scrapped. That means we should just go back to the drawing board and have the council empowered to take decisions when the item is submitted to the councillors.' Since policies may be political, managerial, financial or administrative mechanisms arranged to reach explicit strategic and operational goals, they become outdated with time. Commenting on the relevance of current policies, one interviewee remarked: 'Policies might be suitable for that point in time, but after [a] few years you realise this thing is not working for us ... when the policies were developed it was easy at the time because there were few suburbs but now the CoW has grown.' Similarly, another middle manager highlighted another example, saying: 'Like procurement, there is a policy that you have to put up an informal tender for anything more than six thousand and a formal tender for any job worth more than ten thousand. But it has been like that, I think, for more than 10 to 15 years and if you take 6 000 Namibian dollars 15 years ago, it was a lot of money, but nowadays you cannot do anything.' Key tools relate to what middle managers use to effectively implement corporate strategies in the organisation. The data revealed some preliminary themes that informed the final themes: resources, performance management system and laws. Theme 10: Infrastructure-related resources Resources as tools refer to physical infrastructure (cars, telephone and computers) and systems, which are critical tools in strategy execution. Organisational infrastructure also includes Information Technology (IT), which many middle managers highlighted as critical. An example from one interview illustrates this point: 'One of the frustrating issues in the organisation, I don t know whether it will be addressed, is the IT ... IT as a tool is very important.' Another middle manager expressed similar frustration, stating: 'The other shortcoming is the technology we are using which is a severe setback at the moment. The new system [ERP] is frustrating, as we cannot really control the outcome of our inspection.\" Another frustrated middle manager stated: 'I have doubts about our e-planner. I1don t think it is a quality thing because it keeps creating a lot of problems for us ... There is a problem with interface, flow of information from e-planner to e-venues ... We enter the information here, they don t receive it, we now only verify with the manual information we send them.' Other middle managers, however, found the ERP system to be a valuable tool: '/ can't talk enough of the ERP system that was introduced, because I can do so many things ... I can measure people's performance; I measure who is working and who is not working. I can draw the top 100 clients for example. I know some people say it is cumbersome, but it is the only system I know, in my opinion, it is really helping me to do my duty.' As 1s evident from Figures 2 and 3, resources are both a key enabler and a tool. As a key enabler, resources refer mainly to the availability of human and financial resources, while as a tool refers to physical infrastructure and IT tools that middle managers use to execute strategies. Theme 11: Performance management system A performance management system (PMS) emerged as a vital tool in executing strategies, because middle managers employ various techniques to deliver results. This extract from an interview with a middle manager illustrates the point: 'My role is to assist the CoW to execute strategies and we need mechanisms for that ... one of the mechanisms is performance management system.' This, however requires top management to lead and drive the process, as one manager remarked: 'As a middle manager, I will only be able to fulfil my role within the whole realignment process if I can see the light at the end of the tunnel because there is somebody who is holding the torch in front and it is very clear as to where we are going.' Another tool cited in the context of PMS 1s the Balanced Scorecard (BSC). As one middle manager stated: 'The balanced scorecard has been adopted and I don 't see how the role cannot be clearer in this organisation than before.\" Yet another middle manager argued: 'Currently, very few people understand the balanced scorecard, and very few people refer to the balanced scorecard when they design their annual plan and when they draft their quarterly plan or annual plan or reports, they don 't look at the balanced scorecard.\" A similar concern was expressed by another interviewee, who stated: 'I must admit that I am confused on how the performance management system will be implemented at the organisational level ... At the individual level, it is clear with the current exercise we are busy with on job description writing and alignment ... The execution of the balanced scorecard at the organisational level is for me clouded.' Theme 12: Legislation Legislation emerged as another theme and, as the name suggests, this relates to various legal tools (Acts, ordinances, and regulations) used in the execution of strategy. Laws are different from policies because laws compel people to do something, such as requiring people to pay taxes on properties, or prohibiting certain behaviour. The following example cited by a middle manager illustrates the point: 'We had some cases where buildings were completed in 2004, but were only picked up in 2007 [a delayed tax detection on the formal systems of the LAC] so we had now to back charge the client because even if it was a delay from the LAC side, the law says we can back charge them up to 15 years, but it is not good because the customer now receive[s] a bill of forty thousand [Rand].' Middle managers use various relevant legal instruments in their duties, as highlighted by one interviewee, who stated. 'The tools that we have in place, we got the Local Authorities Act, Town Planning Scheme, we have certain Ordinances that are still in place in our statutory books and then we have certain guidelines.' It also emerged from the interviews that not all laws are useful tools in strategy execution: 'Some of these Acts are outdated and irrelevant to the current situation...the Public Health Act of 1919 is still applicable today ... The General Health Regulation of 1969 last amended in 1976 is still in use today. There are gaps in the regulations, for example, when dealing with issues of informal trading ... Informal trade at work site[s] [is] not allowed in the old law for example, but is [a] reality foday.\" Contrary to the value-adding roles middle managers play in executing strategies, as highlighted above, the interviews also revealed that some middle managers take on roles that can only be described as 'value-subtracting'. These include disruptive roles and the engagement of routine duties. Theme 13: Middle managers as disruptors The interviews revealed that some middle managers act in a value-subtracting manner. This relates to middle managers who use their influence in the organisation, along with certain tools and processes, to incite opposition to senior management, obstruct certain ideas they feel are unfavourable to them or their divisions (even if that seriously undermines organisational strategy), or who work to develop certain programmes without senior management's knowledge or support. There are various reasons for this disruptive role, most of them based on ignorance and a lack of strategic alignment or low commitment to the LAC's strategies. From the interviews, a disruptive role was mainly attributed to behaviours and activities classified under the preliminary theme of incompetence. This implies that some middle managers do not understand their role. The disruptive role of middle managers also includes middle managers who were once good performers in adding value to the organisation, but who have, for some reason, 'hit a wall' (mainly job-related disappointment) these are people whom Welch refers to as 'sliders' (Welch 2005: 112). The following extract from one interview confirms this view: 'I think 50% of the middle managers have already taken a view that they will just do what is expected of them and not more, nothing less, hence the vital importance of performance management system.\" Similarly, another middle manager stated: '/ think there is a tendency of, I think, laissez-faire or free for all, or people doing what they like.\" Other middle managers are said to use policies as excuses for not executing strategies: 'Middle managers [are] suppose[d] to be optimiser[s] of systems. However, in some cases, they cling to old habits and ways of doing things using policies as justifying reasons as if policies are cement [fixed and permanent].' Doing private work during working time has also been cited as a form of disruptive behaviour. A middle manager stated: 'Some people like doing private work and this also contributes to that, because you get distracted and pay less attention fo your work.' Theme 14: Middle managers doing routine duties This theme emerged from the data as a preliminary theme categorised as value- subtracting activities. The following extract illustrates the point: 'Some middle managers become too bogged down in operational issues ... I would say that sometimes they go deep down in operational issues that need to be done by some operational staff.\" One middle manager gave a specific example of routine duties, saying: 'For example, some middle managers execute or write submissions that someone lower [is] supposed fo do.\" Another example of routine duties was highlighted by a manager who cited an example of what he sometimes does on behalf of his supervisor: 'But there are some who just sits there, even a letter that is supposed to come from that person, a very simple letter, you have to do it.' Another middle manager cited examples of routine activities that did not add value in terms of executing strategies. He stated: 'Sometimes middle managers are overloaded with work work that may not be relevant to your job, e.g. serving in 10 different committees. There are too many task committees because some middle managers are just co-coordinators