Business in China Consults Prof. Mintzberg's Management Theories

Chinese companies' ideas about hierarchical leadership are obsolete. Middle management needs more cultivation … Academic and author Henry Mintzberg, who teaches at the Desautels Faculty of Management at McGill University in Canada, has long argued that the managerial role is often over-idealized as detached planning and strategizing. However, in reality the most productive work is done by individuals dealing with small actions, opportunities and challenges on a day-to-day basis - namely middle managers.  The key to success, therefore, is to ensure middle and senior management remain effectively connected: "Middle management can be more in touch with the details, but, with a disconnected senior management, middle managers get pressures from the hierarchy that make it very hard for them to manage at their own level," Mintzberg said.

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