A Study on the Personality Profile of Middle Managers: The Indian Experience

In the context of transformations taking place in the environment, organizations are initiating major changes in their structure, design and human processes. These changes generate a great deal of anxiety and apprehension amongst different levels in the cadre. It appears that the middle level managers in the organization are affected the most through these changes. The top levels and the lower most levels are becoming more powerful whereas the middle levels are questioning their space and location in the organization. An action research study was undertaken to get into the universe of this level of managers and get a feel of how they perceive and respond to these changes. This study utilized a projective technique (the Thematic Apperception Test) to unfold the personality traits of these managers which were then linked to their response patterns in social and organizational contexts. An effort was made to move from a micro to a macro level. This work was undertaken in groups of 12-15 middle managers across different organizations. Three day workshops were held to explore and enlarge the concepts of job, task, role, hierarchical relationships, membership in a group and professionalization of systems. These workshops facilitated a look into the self in the context of the external environment. The aim here, was to generate greater ownership and enhance effectiveness among the middle managers. Having explored the universe of the managers through their stories and the group interactions that took place, some specific traits and experiences got revealed. These are grouped into specific themes like (a) individual’s definition of self, work and social roles; (b) individual’s experience with authority and relationships; (c) individual as a group member; and (d) individual’s experience with structure, system and processes. The external and internal influences on a manager’s role-taking processes are also discussed in the paper. These findings have relevance for the human resource professional in designing such systems and structures keeping in view the socio-cultural context, the dreams, aspirations and ambitions of this group and the present reality of the organization and the environment.