Please rewrite in your own words

Aspects of the managers role to be considered:

The role senior managers play in linking resources and capabilities to strategy and competitive advantage.

Reasons why middle managers are better positioned than senior managers to bring about strategic success.

The role senior managers play in linking resources and capabilities to strategy and competitive advantage.

Senior level managers play a critical role in linking resources and capabilities to gain competitive advantage. “In addition to deciding how to use resources and capabilities and configuring a firm’s value-chain activities, senior managers also set the context that determines how frontline and middle managers can add value.” (Carpenter & Sanders, 2008, p. 85). Senior level managers have various approaches in utilizing the resources, and allowing middle managers to have more decision-making and influence on carrying out strategy. Within each company are various processes in carrying out strategy and utilizing resources. These processes allow a firm to be dynamic, competitive, and gain competitive advantage in the market. There are three processes that Carpenter and Sanders (2008) share as strategies that senior level managers use to allow a firm to be effective: entrepreneurial, capability-building, and renewal processes. Each one of these processes help senior level managers maintain competitive advantage, utilize resources properly, as well as capitalize on the firm’s capabilities.

If I were to compare the three processes to my current company, I’d say we operate most similarly to the renewal process, “Where senior managers shake up the firm and challenge its historic ways of operating, by using information learned through current business activities.” (Carpenter & Sanders, 2008, p. 86). One example would be how we currently are changing how our procurement team orders inventory. We currently have min and max levels set for our inventory bins. When a kanban bin reaches its minimum quantity, an alert email is sent to our purchasing team to order more of that part to bring levels back to maximum quantity. We’ve decided to change by having that minimum quantity alert email be sent directly to the supplier to have them ship us more inventory. This cuts out the procurement team entirely on smaller stock, easily replenishable material. They can now focus on longer lead-time material, which can sometimes be challenging to get delivered on time. Management has made the decision to change how procurement orders material due to current activities taking place and identifying a way to make the process more efficient.

Reasons why middle managers are better positioned than senior managers to bring about strategic success.

According to Carpenter and Sanders (2008), there are four areas where middle managers are better positioned in a firm to contribute to overall competitive advantage. The first is entrepreneur, and in this area middle managers are on the front lines of business activities, processes, resources, and capabilities, allowing the middle level manager a clear understanding of the various dynamics occurring within the firm. This area allows the middle manager to make decisions and identify areas to improve due to seeing things first hand.

The second area is communicator, and in this area “middle managers are typically long tenured and have very broad social networks.” (Carpenter & Sanders, 208, p. 87). By being well networked this allows the middle manager to clearly be in tune with employees more easily, generate support internally, and generate change in a nonobstructive way (Carpenter & Sanders, 2008). A well liked, and well-networked manager gains more support from employees, therefore having more success in pushing change through the firm.

The third area is psychoanalyst. Middle manages provide support to employees when lots of change is occurring. Not all employees accept change well, and in this area middle managers understand what to say and how to put employees at ease to best prepare the team for a transition.

The last area is tightrope walker. In this are, middle managers must be able to balance dramatic change within the firm, but also balance the environment and the capabilities that go along with the change. This can be challenging, but with the right internal processing’s in place, along with the proper senior management support, middle managers are able to slow down the change and avoid chaos as the firm moves through a transition (Carpenter & Sanders, 2008).

Based on what I’ve experienced in my current company, middle managers have an advantage when it comes to carrying out competitive advantage because they know their teams and what motivates employees, are well connected with their resources and have a good understanding of their capabilities, and have the ability to effectively reach their employees to drive productive change for the future. “In the successful initiatives, MLMs served as levers of change, influencing those above and below them in the corporate hierarchy.” (Tabrizi, 2013, para. 3). All these components can be critical to the success of driving change and competitive advantage for a firm.

Carpenter, M.A. & Sanders, Wm., G. (2008). Strategic management: A dynamic perspective. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall

Tabrizi, B. (2013). New research: What sets effective middle managers apart. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2013/05/reinventing-middle-managem…