Middle managers are the operational backbone of manufacturing and marketing organisations. While they don’t always get visibility, their absence or ineffectiveness leads to disorganisation, inefficiency and loss of competitiveness.
MANAGEMENT
Middle managers are the operational backbone of manufacturing and marketing organisations. While they don’t always get visibility, their absence or ineffectiveness leads to disorganisation, inefficiency and loss of competitiveness.
Middle managers act as the link between top management and frontline employees in both manufacturing and marketing concerns. Their importance lies not just in day-to-day supervision but in ensuring that strategy translates into action.
In Pakistan, middle management is often undervalued and overlooked, despite being central to the functioning of both manufacturing and marketing organisations. This neglect manifests in several ways, including lack of empowerment, limited training, poor career progression and exclusion from strategic decision-making.
Middle managers in our country are often seen more as task executors than decision-makers, even though they are the best positioned to interpret ground realities. Their feedback is rarely factored into strategic decisions — even though they have operational insight. Strategy often comes top-down, and middle managers are expected to implement it without questioning or adapting it. Their role is administrative and operational, not strategic, even though they could offer crucial input.
Most Pakistani firms do not invest in management development programmes, leadership grooming or exposure for middle managers. Skills like digital literacy, data-driven decision-making or modern supply chain tools are rarely imparted.
Promotions are frequently based on loyalty or seniority, not performance or leadership potential. There's often a glass ceiling for capable middle managers, especially if they lack political connections or family ties in family-run firms.
In the manufacturing sector textile units located in Faisalabad, Lahore and Karachi production managers are held responsible for output and quality, but have no say in purchasing raw material, despite it affecting production efficiency. Maintenance heads are expected to fix issues without proper budgets or authority to upgrade machinery.
While middle managers in Pakistan are indispensable to daily operations, they remain underappreciated, under-trained and under-involved in key decisions
Line managers are pressured to meet production quotas, even when senior management delays critical procurement or skips machine upgrades. In some cases, plant managers suggest technical changes, but these are dismissed by owners or senior execs unfamiliar with factory dynamics.
If we look at marketing and sales the FMCGs and pharmaceuticals need to employ middle managers. These regional or area sales managers have strong market knowledge, but their input on pricing, promotion or new product positioning is rarely considered.
For example, some mid-level marketing personnel have complained that top-level strategies are designed in Karachi or Lahore head offices without input from regional field teams. Most complaints come from those assigned to sell tea brands or fertilizers.
Middle managers in branch operations often report that local customer trends are ignored by centralised marketing teams. They may suggest changes in packaging, bundling or discounting — but decisions remain with head office, even if they don’t align with market ground realities.
Many large firms in Pakistan are family-run. Loyalty often outweighs competence, and top-down hierarchies dominate. HR departments are often not empowered to build proper career ladders or leadership pipelines for middle managers. Some top executives fear that empowering middle managers could lead to power shifts or loss of control. Middle managers are stuck between political appointees at the top and unionised workers below — leaving them powerless as bureaucratic culture prevails especially in state-owned enterprises (like Wapda, PIA or SNGPL).
To improve productivity and innovation, Pakistani businesses must involve middle managers in strategic planning. They must also invest in training, especially soft skills, digital tools, and leadership. They must establish clear KPIs and promotion criteria and encourage bottom-up feedback loops in decision-making.
While middle managers in Pakistan are indispensable to daily operations, they remain underappreciated, under-trained and under-involved in key decisions. Rectifying this imbalance could drastically improve efficiency, employee morale and competitiveness — especially in export-oriented or consumer-driven industries.
The writer is a freelance contributor.
