Barlett and Ghoshal (2000)

Management > Global Strategic Management > Lectures > Independent Research > Bartlett and Ghoshal > New Managers

Operating-level Entrepreneurial Role

At the operating, frontline level, the new manager becomes an entrepreneur, where they drive business performance by focusing on productivity, innovation and growth on the frontline. As entrepreneurs they seek out and create new growth opportunities and manager continuous improvement within the unit.

They are no longer the more traditional passive-dependent manager, defined by corporate processes.

Senior-Level Development Role

The risk which comes with redefining the operating-level managerial role is that it can "fragment the company's resources and capabilities and lead tot the kind of undisciplined, localised expansion that conglomerates experienced in the 1960s"

To prevent this the senior-level managers need to change their roles as well, from authority-based to one of support. There are three core tasks to achieve:

1. Being a vital source of support for the frontline managers
2. Taking responsibility for leveraging resources and capabilities developed by frontline managers
3. They ensure resolutions of tensions and conflicts built into the management process

Senior-level managers need to take responsibility for the performance of the frontline units they support.

Senior managers are often the "Forgotten" level of manager in the organisation transformation process.

Top Management Leadership Role

The traditional role of top management was as controllers of a system, where they drove firms towards goals, free from individual inputs from employees. Many large firms became standardised in their operations as a result, which dehumanised the employees and depersonalised the system.

The old role was static, focusing on strategy and structure and systems. The new role is more dynamic, focusing on purpose, processes and people. Top management build processes that add value by having the organisation work more effectively together.

Instead of depending on the system, they challenge it, which brings them more in touch with the people, as they consider their individual inputs, rather than monitoring collective outputs.

Personal competencies