Management and Organizational Structure

The roles and behaviours of the middle managers studied in Britain and Germany differed considerably, as shown in the previous chapters. To recapitulate on a few of these differences: Formal qualifications are more important for a career in middle management in Germany than in Britain. German middle managers exhibit a more technical orientation towards their jobs while their British colleagues stress the general management tasks of their jobs. Communication of German middle managers with their subordinates is predominantly task-oriented while that of their British counterparts concentrates on motivation, reaching agreement on targets, and getting general policies implemented. German middle managers spend significantly more time alone than British ones. For British middle managers meetings are the preferred method for achieving coordination, while German middle managers rely very much on establishing routines or programs. Consequently, British middle managers spend considerably more time in scheduled and unscheduled meetings than their German colleagues. German middle managers make more telephone calls than the British ones but the average length of their phone calls is shorter. German middle managers have more ad hoc contacts but, again, the average duration of their face-to-face contacts is shorter. In order to enlist support British middle managers rely first of all on persuasion and networking. Their German colleagues trust that they can convince others, primarily by the content of their arguments, not the presentation. German middle managers apply predominantly process control in order to check the work of their subordinates, while their British colleagues prefer output (progress) control.