The Middle Management is Squeezed and Struggling – Why and What Should be Done – Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #1132

The Middle Management is Squeezed and Struggling – Why and What Should be Done – Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #1132

Dear Colleagues! This is Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #1132 for Pharma Veterans. Pharma Veterans Blogs are published by Asrar Qureshi on its dedicated site https://pharmaveterans.com. Please email to pharmaveterans2017@gmail.com  for publishing your contributions here.

Credit: cottonbro studio

Credit: Mikhail Nilov

Preamble

In the corporate hierarchy, middle managers have traditionally been the bridge between strategy and execution, vision and action, senior leaders and frontline teams. They are the interpreters, implementers, buffers, and stabilizers.

But today, middle managers find themselves in an uncomfortable, often unsustainable position. With mounting responsibilities, increasing ambiguity, and little recognition, they are the most squeezed layer in modern organizations—and many are burning out.

 What’s changed in the role of middle managers? Why the pressure is greater than ever? And how companies can rethink, re-scope, and re-humanize the role to protect these crucial players? Let us discuss.

The Evolution of Middle Management

To understand the current pressures, we must first see how the role of middle managers has evolved.

When I started working in pharma, there were no middle managers. The first line managers reported directly to the national head. The change started a decade later when one layer of middle managers, the regional managers or sales managers, was added. Now, there are multiple layers of middle management. I may add here that in pharma industry, national sales managers, business managers, and business unit managers are all middle management positions. 

From Operational to Strategic

Historically, middle managers oversaw day-to-day operations, ensured policy compliance, and passed down directives from leadership. But over time, organizations have become leaner, flatter, and more digitally driven. Middle managers now must translate complex strategies into actionable plans, manage cross-functional collaboration, guide change management initiatives, balance employee engagement with performance targets, and achieve ever increasing business objectives. 

They are now expected to be both leaders and doers, without any real increase in support or increase in authority.

The Age of Ambiguity

In the past, the manager’s job was relatively clear: track productivity, resolve conflicts, and maintain team morale. Today’s work environment is clouded with uncertainty. In some industries, there are hybrid teams, the work force is distributed over large areas, multiple generations are working with different expectations, working environment keeps changing, and social, political, environmental disruptions are constantly at work.

Middle managers are not just implementing policies; they are navigating culture, crises, and complexity—simultaneously.

Why Are Middle Managers Struggling?

Here are the primary sources of stress and dysfunction for middle managers in today's world.

They’re Pulled from All Sides

Middle managers often answer to multiple executives while serving their teams, a dual accountability that puts them in emotionally conflicting roles.

They must champion the company’s agenda, absorb pushback from skeptical employees, defend their team’s position to senior leaders, and translate vague instructions into concrete deliverables. This “middle” position frequently turns into a pressure cooker, where they absorb heat from both ends.

Lack of Autonomy, But Too Much Responsibility

Middle managers are held accountable for performance and engagement but often lack decision-making authority, budget control, and influence on policy. 

They are blamed when results falter but rarely consulted when decisions are made.

As organizations cut costs and “streamline” teams, middle managers inherit multiple roles:

People leader

Project manager

Coach

Crisis handler

Technology gatekeeper

Workdays are filled with back-to-back meetings, firefighting, and endless reporting. Many managers work longer hours than executives, with fewer perks and less flexibility.

Inadequate Training and Development

While top executives may receive coaching, offsites, and bespoke learning, middle managers are often overlooked. Most are promoted for technical competence or business performance, not leadership ability. But they receive little support to handle difficult conversations, navigate matrixed reporting lines, and deal with burnout, either their own or their team’s.

This lack of preparation creates insecurity, frustration, and disengagement.

The Emotional Toll

Middle managers are often first responders to human problems: layoffs, resignations, family emergencies, team conflict, or mental health crises. Yet they rarely have time or space to process their own emotions.

A 2023 Gallup study found that middle managers report the highest levels of stress and burnout across all levels of the corporate ladder.

What Needs to Change?

Middle management is not obsolete, but the way we define and support the role must evolve radically.

Here are five key changes organizations must make.

Redefine the Role

Stop treating middle managers as middlemen. Instead, acknowledge that they are:

Cultural carriers

Strategic enablers

People developers

Feedback loops between frontline and C-suite

This reframing helps both HR and leadership invest in them not as executors, but as multipliers of value.

This will need redesigning job descriptions with clarity, strategic alignment, and autonomy.

Invest in Manager-Specific Learning & Coaching

Middle managers need:

Communication and conflict resolution training

Tools for coaching and performance management

Resilience and well-being programs

One-size-fits-all leadership development doesn’t work. Training must address the unique context and pressure points of middle management.

Organizations must create learning tracks specifically for mid-level leaders and offer peer coaching forums or small-group mentoring.

Simplify Workload and Empower Decision-Making

Organizations must declutter the excessive reporting, redundant processes, and micromanaged check-ins that dominate middle managers’ time.

Give managers greater decision rights and clearer KPIs. Audit managerial workloads and eliminate non-value-adding tasks. Empower decision-making at the manager level wherever possible.

Support Emotional and Mental Health

Managers should not be the emotional shock absorbers of the organization without support for themselves. They should be provided with mental health resources, regular wellness check-ins, and leadership retreats that focus on rejuvenation, not just strategy. Train HR business partners to proactively check in with mid-level managers and offer support.

Recognize and Reward Management

Management is a skill, not a default step on the career ladder. But it often goes unnoticed.

Reward great managers not just with bonuses, but also: 

Public recognition

Career growth paths (including horizontal ones)

Invitations to contribute to strategic planning

Include team feedback in manager evaluations and promote visible appreciation for good management practices.

Rethinking the Middle Manager Career Path

Middle management is often viewed as a “holding zone” between real power and front-line execution. But that narrative must change. Great middle managers should be seen as long-term assets, not interim players. They should be offered dual career paths: managerial (people leadership) and expert (deep knowledge roles), and they should be included in succession planning and innovation programs.

When middle managers see a future, they become far more motivated in the present.

Sum Up

Middle managers are the linchpins of modern organizations. They interpret vision, motivate teams, handle crises, and deliver results. Yet, they often do so without clear support, development, or recognition.

As companies move toward flatter, more agile models, there’s a temptation to downplay middle management. But this would be a costly mistake. Instead, the future belongs to organizations that nurture, empower, and listen to their middle managers, recognizing them not as bureaucracy, but as the backbone of execution and culture. Because when middle managers thrive, the whole organization moves forward with strength, stability, and humanity.

Concluded.

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