PERSPECTIVES ON MIDDLE MANAGER ACTIONS
DURING IMPROVEMENT EFFORTS IN GOVERNMENT ORGANIZATIONS

by
Philip D. Harnden
An Abstract of a Thesis Submitted to the Graduate
Faculty of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree of
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
Major Subject: Organizational Change
Focusing on Organizational Behavior

The original of the complete theses is on file
In the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Library

Examining Committee:
Dr. Richard P. Leifer, Thesis Advisor
Dr. Richard Burke, Member
Dr. Michael J. Kalsher, Member
Dr. Lois S. Peters, Member

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Troy, New York

April 2002
ABSTRACT
Governmental agencies today are "under siege" from various governmental, private sector, and taxpayer pressure fields. This pressure should drive agencies to better understand best business practices, including outsourcing, etc. Most of the sheer "sprawl" of references in and around organizational change deal with for-profit organizations. Much of the organizational improvement literature deals mainly with "top management" and/or "employees" while a majority of the interactions occur with mid-level or immediate managers. These interactions need a studied approach to better understand the tools needed by the mid-level managers for organizational improvement.

The method of investigation was an on-line survey based data gathering process that tested a correlational model of the factors affecting organizational performance, individual motivation to change, and the establishment of mid-managers' "mechanisms" to help work group performance. The resulting conceptual model was evaluated using Factor Analysis and was exploratory in nature, given the business environments of the nine organizations participating in the study.

Fundamentally, the research was aimed primarily at providing mid-managers in public sector organizations guidance and insights into the particular areas they should invest their time within the ongoing press of the work group's day-to-day activities. Senior managers and employees will also be informed about the different perspectives that may exist regarding key factors contributing to individual, group and organizational performance.

Phil Harnden, PhD, provided his dissertation defense in the conference materials. Contact Phil at pharnden@highperformanceorg.com for more details.