Losing the Plot - Middle Managers and Identity by Thomas, Robyn, and Linstead Alison - Article Example

• Critical Appraisal of the Research Design

• Introduction

The paper attempts to critically appraise the research design of a qualitative or quantitative research. This will help in developing an in-depth understanding of the different research strategies used by the researchers to investigate about some established theories, or to form new theories. The research paper chosen for the purpose is ‘Losing the plot? Middle managers and identity’ by Thomas, Robyn and Linstead Alinson and was published in 2002. The research focused on answering the question regarding the impact on the middle management in organizations due to the unprecedented restructuring and downsizing of the organizations. The research identified both the positive and negative side of the recent changes in the organizational structuring on the state of middle managers. It attempts to find the more accurate depiction of the state of middle management and adopts a broad theoretical framework for accommodating diversity and agency in the organizations while they undergo restructuring.

• Research questions or Hypotheses and their theoretical and practical relevance

The research was undertaken to enquire about the impact of downsizing, de-layering or restructuring of the contemporary organisations on their middle management. The research question framed as ‘What is happening to middle management in contemporary organisations? following unprecedented levels of delayering, downsizing and restructuring.’ (Thomas and Linstead, 2002). The research question formed reflects purpose of the research well. A trend in both UK and US organisations was observed during 1990s in which role of many middle managers or executives had been eliminated when the organisations undergo restructuring. This was because of the complexities associated with the hierarchical organisational form where the role of middle management had become problematic with many managerial redundancies, changing role of management jobs and insecurities in the job. The key purpose of the research was to find out the result of any structural changes in the organisation and its environment, as many pessimistic predictions were made over the future position of the middle management. However, some predicted that the role of middle managers would not be affected due to organisational restructuring, as the middle management would be no more stuck in the bureaucratic shackles rather their roles had been transformed (Thomas and Linstead, 2002). The middle management are more associated with strategic decision-making of organisations in the de-layered and non-hierarchical organisations. Some authors and scholars even argued that following restructuring or de-layering in the organisations, the middle management role is transformed into a new way and had a strategic focus with more entrepreneurial involvement. This had hence enriched the role of middle management and resulted in intrinsic motivation in the managers.

Therefore, there was much contradictory, inconclusive and confounding picture in the literature regarding the role of middle management. On one side, majority stated a pessimistic future of the middle management. On the other hand, some reflected that due to downsizing, de-layering and restructuring, there has been development of new role of middle management cadre with more enriching, entrepreneurial, empowering role and engagement in strategic management (Thomas and Linstead, 2002). Here stands the relevance of the research question as looking at the confusing and contradictory views regarding the role of middle management, it had become essential to establish a constructive theory of the real picture on the role of middle managers. Furthermore, the research question when addressed through the research would help the middle managers to construct their own identities and what perception they had for their identity construction process. The research question when answered would also help them in understanding the tensions that are inevitable, while middle managers try to ensure their social and economic legitimacy after restructuring of the organisations.

• Epistemological and Ontological assumptions underpinning the research and their consistency with research questions or hypotheses

Epistemology is ‘a way of understanding and explaining how we know what we know’ while ontology is defined as “the study of being”. It is concerned with “what kind of world we are investigating, with the nature of existence, with the structure of reality as such” (Ahmed, 2008, p.3). Epistemology is concerned with offering a philosophical ground that decides on the type of knowledge that are feasible and ensuring that is legitimate and adequate (Creswell, 2012). On the other hand, ontological assumptions of the research respond to the reality that is what actually exists and can be known (Ahmed, 2008). Having understood the concept of ontology and epistemology, it is now worth recognising the ontological and epistemological assumptions of the research article, ‘Losing the plot? Middle managers and identity’ by Thomas, Robyn and Linstead Alinson.

The research used ontological assumptions as it had essentially explained the reality-based facts regarding the restructuring and de-layering the organisations, which were being observed as a trend in the UK and US organisations (Thomas and Linstead, 2002). There had been many clear manifestations in the article through different research methods or techniques, especially of interpretive designs like interviews with the middle managers. The research study clearly represented the opinions, thoughts, experiences and feelings of the managers. The section called ‘Exploring Middle Managers’ Text: Identities and Discourses’ had explained the actual ways in which the managers seek to confirm and legitimize their roles in the organisations and also in society.

However, epistemological stance that was also used in the research study is constructionism. Constructionism defined as “the view of that all knowledge and therefore all meaningful reality as such is contingent upon human practices, being constructed in and out of interaction between human beings and their world and developed and transmitted within an essentially social context” (Ahmed, 2008, p.2). Thus, taking epistemological assumptions implies that the meaning is conferred but it is constructed. The first reason for which the research study had constructionism as the epistemological assumption is that the researcher had tried to discover an answer to the question “What is happening to middle management in contemporary organisations? following unprecedented levels of delayering, downsizing and restructuring” (Thomas and Linstead, 2002) through the research. Secondly, construction of the meaning was conducted in the paper within the social context shown through face-to-face interviews or interactions with the middle managers. Lastly, the constructionism view is applicable for the research as there was no valid or real interpretation (Maxwell, 2012). This was represented in the discussions and conclusion of the study where researchers had provided some new directions about how the middle managers assume his or her identities after organisational restructuring and revealed the discourses on their identity construction. This does not imply that whatever was presented in the paper is valid or real. In fact, the research is an attempt to reinterpretation of the happenings in the management of the organisations.

• Research design and its strengths and limitations for answering the research questions or hypotheses

Before evaluating the type of research design used in the chosen research article, it is essential to have a clear understanding about the purpose and relevance of research design. One should understand well where the research design fits in the entire research study i.e. from framing of the research questions to analysing and interpreting the data (Silverman, 2010). Research design depends on the type of the research question i.e. whether the researcher attempts to answer ‘what is going on?’ or ‘why is it going on?’ (Cohen, Manion and Morrison, 2013). Answering the initial question implies conducting a descriptive research, while answering the second question through the research implies exploratory research (Creswell, 2013). The research question addressed in the chosen research article regarding what was happening to the middle managers because of organisational restructuring and downsizing. Hence, the chosen research study is evidently descriptive in nature. Descriptive research design was used in the research article as it had encompassed the two research papers for exploring the relation between the middle management and organisational restructuring. Based on the original research question, ‘what is happening to middle management?’ descriptive research design was used for the research, which aimed at enquiring whether the middlemen in organisational management were struck with identity crisis or were experiencing positive transformation in their roles after organisational restructuring. Moreover, the research had positivism philosophy as it focused on ‘what’ question and revealed facts about the attitude and behaviour of the middle managers when organisational restructuring took place (Mitchell and Jolley, 2012).

The researcher had used descriptive research design for investigating what the impact was on the middle managers’ role after revamping of organisations. Such a research design has some specific advantages of fusing both qualitative and quantitative data as means for reconstructing ‘what is’ happening in the research area (Dörnyei, 2007). The chosen article utilised qualitative data and data collection involved taking interviews of the managers in the middle hierarchy of management in the different organisations. Using descriptive research design offered unique techniques of gathering relevant data for the research and face-to-face interviews is an observational technique, which helped in studying the life experiences i.e. experiences of the middle managers and what is going on in the sphere of management after restructuring (Grbich, 2012; Doz, 2011). This henceforth helped in removing the obstructions of the academic approaches as the researchers witnessed the real experiences of the managers in the event of organisational restructuring (Myers, 2013). However, ensuring confidentiality is the main drawback of primary researches. Some interviewees can be reluctant to provide answers when they feel that it involves revelations of their personal information or often some responds with the answers that the interviewer wants to hear (Ritchie et al., 2013). Secondly, there is possibility of subjectivity and errors in descriptive qualitative researches as the researchers can only record and interpret those data that he or she wants to confer through the study and ignore the ones that do not conform to the research questions or hypothesis (Antwi1 and Hamza, 2015).

• Sampling strategy for selecting data sources and appraisal of the rationale choosing the participants

Sampling is the key technique used while collecting primary data irrespective of its nature i.e. whether qualitative or quantitative (Gray, 2013). The chosen research had used qualitative data for investigating what has actually happened to the middle managers’ position because of the organisational changes in the form of downsizing or de-layering. The research discussions were derived from a wider study of about 50 middle managers from 50 large and small organisations that has experienced major restructuring. The sample was drawn from a varied and diverse source and included the extensive range of managers in terms of gender, age, race, occupation, hierarchy and professional experience. The researcher considered both the public and private sector organisations with geographical and functional variations ranging from insurance, manufacturing, brewing to health, armed forces, local authorities, logistics, engineering, private utilities etc. The researcher used the technique of simple random sampling as every middle manager from the organisations that underwent restructuring had the equal chance for being selected.

The technique used for sampling is the essential constituent of the sampling strategy of the research. Being a qualitative research, probability was inappropriate and hence researcher used non-probability sampling (Teddlie and Yu, 2007). It is because, the research neither aim at providing any statistically representative sample nor drawing any statistical inference from the data (Merriam and Tisdell, 2015). Purposive and simple random sampling is used for this kind of qualitative research investigation where the people to be interviewed are selected based on some criteria decided by the researcher. The characteristics of the people are often used as the basis of selecting and often it reflects the depth and diversity of the sample population (Teddlie and Yu, 2007). Here, the criteria used for selecting the sample is the managers of the organisations should be engaged in the intermediary levels of the management and hence, were subjected to crisis identity when downsizing or de-layering took place in their organisations. More precisely, the researchers must have some advance knowledge of the chosen population, which is to be investigated while carrying purposive sampling.

• Research methods and their strengths and weaknesses for addressing the research questions

The research article attempted to explore the relationship between the middle management in the organisation and organisational restructuring, based on a wider research of over 150 middle managers from 50 organisations (Thomas and Linstead, 2002). For presenting a more diverse and varied range of data, sample is drawn from a wide range of business organisations from oil, insurance, manufacturing to health, engineering, armed forces, etc. The researchers had used qualitative and inductive method of conducting the research. More specifically, multi-methods approach had been used to reach the purpose of the research. The research involved case-study approach that focused on the genre of middle managers in the organisational context to get ideas about their subject experiences and hence, provide context-bound findings of the research (Noor, 2008). This not only helped in creating a generalised theory on the topic of middle management but also helped in analysing the process of identity construction for the middle managers. Thus, one crucial aspect of using a case-study approach by the researcher was to provide emphasis on the integrated analysis of the phenomenon of organisational restructuring by avoiding the isolation of elements i.e. middle managers from the larger context to which those matters were actually related (Yin, 2013). The main source for collecting data in the research was individual fact-to-face interviews through semi-structured interviews. The focus of the semi-structured interviews was on the middle managers to reflect their day-to-day experiences in the organisations on their work–life balance and life outside their organisation.

The researcher used inductive approach to establish a new theoretical framework and to ensure a greater cognitive depth of the study (Easterby-Smith, Thorpe and Jackson, 2012). Moreover, the human attachments to any kind of events can be explored properly through inductive approach by using qualitative data (Gray, 2013). However, one major drawback of inductive approaches is that the generalised theories derived from the research for answering the research question cannot be applied to the universal context. Thus, the research question was addressed through the qualitative inductive research approach, but it could not have related to the scenario of middle management in other organisational portfolios or in other countries’ organisations. On the other hand, researchers collected data about their experiences using semi-structured interviews. This allowed the middle managers to express their perceptions and opinions about their identity and position more openly in their own terms. This method not only helped the researcher in conforming what was known or expected but also provided some scope for learning (van Teijlingen, 2014). Further, semi-structured interviews helped to produce rich data, which can be analysed in various ways (Galletta, 2013). However, semi-structured interviews required careful framing and planning regarding the questions that would be asked to the managers to reveal the answers that directly address the issue or question raised in the research.

• Analytical strategies used to analyse the data together with an appraisal of their strengths and weaknesses

In order to address the epistemological stances, the research paper proposed an alternative theoretical framework that incorporated a broader macro-structural level. At the same time, it focussed on the micro-level for evaluating whether the middle managers’ reaction would transform or reinforce the macro-structures of entrepreneurship after restructuring. The social contexts of the chosen middle managers were presented in the research article by the researchers for analysing the collected data. The text helped in illustrating the ways through which the managers who were interviewed seek to create, validate and confirm their roles within the organisations and outside them (Folkestad, 2008).

Analysis of qualitative data involves thematic analysis or grounded theory or discourse analysis (Woods, 2011). The researchers have chosen discourse analysis as the analytical strategy for the research as it is based on the idea that communicating through texts (as in case of interviews or recorded observations) is the way of providing meaningful context with a given group or population. The texts that were collected by the researchers through semi-structured interviews were examined by researchers through intuition with specific attention being paid to prevent the emergence of any discursive frames or other themes in them (Olson, 2016). The analysis of the data obtained through interview was then linked to other relevant matters in the research area for drawing points on the substantive area that was considered for the research (Galletta, 2013). Thus, the stage of analysis of qualitative data of semi-structured interviews involved reflection on the issue that was raised in the research purpose.

The research aimed at illustrating how the middle managers construct their own identities at the moment when there was frequent streamlining and downsizing of organisations’ functions. In other words, the research aimed at examining the discourses that were drawn on in the process of identity construction of the middle managers and what type of stress or tension were present in their attempt for securing legitimacy when organisational restructuring took place. The researcher first presented the whole conversation with the middle managers in the research report to help the readers to get a sense of their whole feelings and opinions. The researcher after shaping the natural meanings from them, interpreted them in the simplest way as possible. Interrogation of the meaningful texts from the interview conversation eventually helped in reaching the exact purpose of the research.

However, there were some challenges met by the researcher in triangulation of the data and for integrating the data for analysis collected from several sources. The middle managers interviewed were from different range of organisations with various designations that provided varied range of view on their identity construction after restructuring. Thus, it was difficult for the researchers to incorporate the varied range of perceptions into one conceptual or theoretical framework liable to address the question of the research.

• Contribution of research to existing knowledge of the topic and to policy and practice

The research contributed towards evaluating the impact of organisational restructuring and de-layering on the role of middle managers. By using positivism philosophy, the researchers examined ‘what is happening’ exactly to the role or identity of the middle mangers after frequent downsizing of organisations and removal of the redundancies in management. The research paper provided the insights about how the middle managers made sense of their position in the newly restructured organisations and reflected the discourses that were drawn on their identity construction. The research hence presented a multifaceted picture of the organisations and management, which was an improvement over the simplistic and functionalist debate regarding the positive or negative impact of the restructuring on middle managers (Thomas and Linstead, 2002). Thus, the research contributed towards understanding of how the process of restructuring in the organisations had been taking place and its impact on the middle managers as there arose identity crisis or a feeling of insecurity, confusion and ambiguity in the middle managers when they assume that they are losing their role in the organisations. The research paper presented several discourses to highlight how managers in the organisations perceive their identity in the organisation. Furthermore, the research paper also revealed the discourses of professionalism, expertise, commitment and performance as well as public sector ethics by drawing them in different contexts in the process of identity construction. The research also revealed the strains between these discourses when they were drawn. The stress on socially constructed management nature and focus on the process of identity construction helped in revealing the discourses regarding the power relations within the organisations.

• Conclusion

A research paper named ‘Losing the plot? Middle managers and identity’ by Thomas, Robyn and Linstead Alinson, was chosen to critically appraise the research design of qualitative researches. Such a critical appraisal helped in developing insights of different research strategies that are used by the researchers to explore some established theories or to frame new theories. This particular research focused on answering a question regarding the impact of restructuring, delayering of organizations or downsizing of organizational operations on the middle management. The research evaluated the positive and negative side of the recent structural changes in the organizations on the state of middle management through qualitative research i.e. semi-structured interviews with the middle managers of a varied range of organizations. It aimed at finding out a accurate depiction of the state of middle management in organizations undergoing restructuring and accordingly established a wider theoretical framework emphasising on the process of identity construction for the middle managers.

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