The Role and Perceptions of Middle Managers and Their Influence on Business Performance: The Case of Sri Lanka

Abstract

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 4pt; line-height: 12pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-pagination: widow-orphan;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-NZ; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;" lang="EN-NZ"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">This paper investigates the role and perceptions of middle managers and how they influence business performance in Sri Lankan companies. The study presented here is based on a questionnaire survey of 121 middle managers regarding issues of communication, group decision making, and organizational leadership. Quantitative analysis of the responses suggests that organizations with collectivistic leaders achieve better performance. As a result, it is argued that collectivism, which includes middle management, can positively contribute to Sri Lanka’s business development and economic recovery. </span></span></p

MacIntyrean Virtue Ethics in Business: A Cross-Cultural Comparison

“…The practise of dana (charity) is promoted and practised widely in Sri Lanka as an act of gaining merit. Researchers have found that these humanistic and collectivist practices emphasize the 'soft' values of the East over the 'hard' values of the West, and have a significant and negative direct impact on financial performance (Xenikou and Simosi, 2006;Kumarasinghe and Hoshino, 2010). Schumacher (2011) notes that the Buddhist understanding of economics is very different from the economics of modern materialism.…”

“…The Theravada Buddhism (the doctrine of the elders) practised in Sri Lanka includes the ideal that wealth alone should not be a life goal, and thus the accumulation of wealth is negatively perceived (Kumarasinghe and Hoshino, 2010). The practise of dana (charity) is promoted and practised widely in Sri Lanka as an act of gaining merit.…”

“…In Compared to the West, researchers have identified several unique attributes of the Sri Lankan business culture. These include, the dominance of 'soft' management aspects such as loyalty, trust, co-operation, compassion, tolerance, morality and empathy over 'hard' measures such as profit, sales or return on investment (Kumarasinghe and Hoshino, 2010;Wijewardene and Wimalasiri, 1996); the importance of the affiliation need as much as the need for achievement (Carter, 1979;Ranasinghe, 1996), resulting in a higher level of regard for other's welfare and, therefore, a need to accommodate others in the decision-making process; a strong work ethic (Batten, Hettihewa and Mellor, 1999;Niles, 1994); dedication to the task, long-term business ambition, commitment to quality and personal attention to customers (Ranasinghe, 1996); belief that hard work leads to success but considered only as a means to an end (Niles, 1994); recruitment to local firms mostly from family and trusted friends (Ranasinghe, 1996); and the pervasive influence of Buddhism on national culture, developing social attitudes such as philanthropy (Nanayakkara, 1997). It is possible that the 30 years of the separatist war could have impacted on the above-mentioned attributes of Sri Lanka's business culture.…”

A Theoretical Study of Performance Measures in the Strategic and Corporate Entrepreneurships of Firms

“…The measurement of firm performance is considered important at improving the firm's competitiveness (Sharma et al, 2005). According to Kumarasinghe and Hoshino (2010) "measuring performance is a controversial issue in management studies" One of the problems with performance measurement literature is that it is diverse" (Marr and Schiuma, 2003). This is evident from the fact that research by academics on firm performance measurement has been widely undertaken from a variety of spectra of academic disciplines including accounting, strategic management, operations and production management, organizational behavior and human resources management.…”

Managing Curriculum Change from the Middle: How Academic Middle Managers Enact Their Role in Higher Education

“…In the maze of this definitional confusion of the term academic middle manager, a number of authorities provide positional definitions of middle management by focusing on middle managers' position as occurring between two polarities, namely the upper echelon and the operating core (Currie & Proctor, 2005;Kumarasinghe and Hoshino, 2010). Using the positional context, middle managers are defined as people occupying a position at the intermediary level of the organisation, a position that is two or three levels from top managers and one level above front-line managers (Madden, 2013), i.e., a position that enables them to supervise supervisors and are also in turn to be supervised by others.…”