Floyd and Wooldridge’s (1997) survey of the activities of middle managers in boundary spanning positions identifies instances where their position provides them with the opportunity to operate between the internal and external environment. This situation is attributable to the fact that middle managers with responsibilities for maintaining contacts in the external environment have developed an awareness of
external activities that enable them to contribute to internal strategic decision-making (ibid).
King and Zeithaml’s (2001) study into 17 organizations has also identified how middle managers contribution to corporate decision-making can be increased through the operation of middle managers in environments where they have
cultivated an environment with competitors enabling them to engage in knowledge sharing.
Regnér (2003) explores the way different groups of middle managers in the centre of and on the periphery of an organization participate in the creation of strategy. This study is undertaken by analysing the micro-level processes that are undertaken when developing strategy. Research is conducted into four multinational organizations exploring how middle managers assimilate strategy and knowledge. The key findings from this research identify knowledge structures as being more inductive at the periphery of the organization because they have the opportunity to contribute to internal strategy by developing external exploratory activities. These include
experimenting on a trial and error basis and participating in discussions with external contacts (ibid). In contrast the formalised processes of the centre of an organization foster a deductive approach to strategy formation. This created the situation where deductive activities of the centre were mainly endorsing what was known already but it was not adept at initiating new strategic ideas. This suggests that top executives should be more receptive to activities taking place in the periphery in favour of the traditional strategic decision-making in the centre. This would acknowledge the more attuned awareness that these middle managers had gained on external products
and markets (ibid). However, the picture provided in this study is incomplete
because the data has been gleaned from only four organizations and there is a danger of generalisation because of the relatively small number of participants. The study also has limitations in focussing on only the implementation of strategies that are generally successful and these gaps can be explored through future research integrating the strategy content and processes (ibid). This research also identifies variations in the operation of strategy between corporate and peripheral middle managers affecting their capability to shape strategic decisions (Jarzabkowski and Spee, 2009).
Rouleau’s (2005) research into the daily activities and interactions of middle managers identifies their interventions resulting in the effective implementation of strategic change in a top quality clothing organization. The micro processes undertaken by middle managers are set within the context of how their daily activities are associated with their intuitive awareness (ibid). This study also identifies a number of key micro activities deployed by middle managers when establishing their relationships with external contacts. In particular, in response to these processes being subject to continual change middle managers developed adeptness to reorganise and utilise their intuition to disseminate these change to others. The study also establishes a link between the discourse used by middle managers when forging a connection between strategy and external actors. This activity was guided by the activities of middle managers in social situations in addition to activities that were enacted in accordance with the objectives of the organization (ibid).
A study of 89 middle managers in a US hospital reveals how that their, … ‘network position both within and outside the organization importantly influences their level of divergent strategic activity’ (Pappas and Wooldridge, 2007: 339). This study highlights how the activities of middle managers contribute to the development of internal strategy with the benefit of their external network of contacts. This research emphasises how middle managers are well placed to make use of their external association to gain information that can contribute to the strategic decision-making process.
There are a limited number of research studies that have identified the role of middle managers as being effective negotiators with their external contacts (Balogun and Johnson 2004; Bartlett and Ghoshal, 1993). However, this sparse research is
insufficient to define the extent to which there is the potential for middle managers to create and sustain relationships with key executives inside and outside the
organization (Wooldridge et al., 2008). Further academic investigations into the activities that are performed horizontally would, therefore, provide an additional contribution to the literature that already exists in this area (Johnson, Langley, Melin and Whittington, 2007). The limited evidence on how middle managers perform external functions (Balogun and Johnson 2004; Burgelman, 1994; Huy 2002) provide scope for additional research to be undertaken that detects how external changes can provide a contribution to future strategic decision-making (Wooldridge et al., 2008). This also highlights the scope for studies that would contribute to the paucity of research on assumptions relating to the role of middle managers in the external environment particularly relating to the conditions influencing behaviour that has a direct impact on change initiatives and organizational outcomes (ibid).