Killing the Middle Managers

This is a general guide to post-pandemic business management.The post-pandemic higher-level business manager must accept the demise of middle management as a given in the post-pandemic world of business. Middle management has been under attack for three decades leading to the pandemic. It was beaten, bruised, butchered, and battered but is not yet dead. Someone has to pull the trigger.Pulling the trigger is the work of the post-pandemic business manager. Somebody has to do it. Be the executor.What is middle management? Who is the middle manager? As the name implies, this is a managerial layer that exists between the senior managers (executives) and everyone else. The top layer consists of C-suite executives and, in larger organizations, some other senior managers. The C-suites are those with titles that typically start with a C (Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer, Chief Operating Officer, etc). The bottom layer is everyone else. Middle management lies in between the top and the bottom.Examples of Middle Manager Titles:General ManagerPlant ManagerRegional ManagerDivisional ManagerAssistant ManagerMiddle managers are typically generalists with no specific line function. Regional managers, for example, are the most misunderstood. People don’t really know what they do besides the general statement that they oversee the region. They do not oversee a direct line function. The fellas running operations in a region probably still report to the Operations Director (a C-suite) in addition to the Regional Manager. Finance, marketing, and HR would probably be centralized. If not centralized, the employees in the region would still report to the line managers who report to the C-suites responsible for these functions.The role of middle managers is still there in some entities though it is no longer necessary in most entities. Every situation is different. However, the general trend is that of the gradual elimination of middle management jobs.What does…