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The role of manager has long been a dream for employees. But it is increasingly criticized, particularly by younger generations of employees. The latter aspire to more autonomy in business, and are annoyed by any attempt at micromanagement. Which pushes employers to question the usefulness of managers.
This phenomenon is particularly visible in the United States, where middle managers accounted for nearly a third of layoffs in 2023, according to Bloomberg. By comparison, they made up only 20% of dismissals in 2018. Companies like Meta, UPS and Citigroup have cut many managerial positions in recent years, giving rise to what English speakers now call “the great unbossing”. great cleaning of the chefs”, in French).
If these staff cuts are part of a context of concerns for savings, they nevertheless demonstrate a questioning of the role of managers in the hierarchical structure. “I don’t think it’s desirable to have a management structure made up of managers who manage managers, who themselves manage others who manage those who do all the work.“, Mark Zuckerberg, founder of the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, told his teams last year, according to the site The Verge.
Mark Zuckerberg is not the only one who wants to make companies more agile, by significantly reducing, or even eliminating, middle management. Several voices are being raised to question the role of these officials. However, in theory, local managers maintain direct contact with a team of employees, while influencing the strategic vision of the company. But in reality, many are content to supervise the results of their subordinates.
Junior profiles particularly bear the brunt of this approach, which they perceive as micromanagement. “However, it has been proven that this is not productive and that it limits the learning potential of workers. The best way to develop a team is to give its members enough autonomy and freedom to make mistakes“, says Sophie O’Brien, specialist in hiring members of Generation Z and founder of recruitment agency Pollen Careers, at Business Insider.
A function to be revalued
Because failure can be formative. It pushes us to look for solutions and therefore to be creative. Only he or she never makes a mistake who does nothing. This is why it is important that managers recognize their employees’ right to make mistakes, especially those with less experience. “THE [micromanagers] can demotivate [les jeunes actifs], make them doubt or lead them to question themselves and lose interest in their work. Indeed, if their ideas and contributions are constantly reworked or rejected, they naturally lose interest in their position“, explains Sophie O’Brien to Business Insider.
But also the very function of manager. In fact, many employees do not want to hold a position of responsibility during their career. The figures speak for themselves: 62% of 1,000 full-time employed Americans surveyed as part ofa Visier investigation don’t dream of being promoted to manager.
In this context, we might therefore expect this function to disappear over time, especially in an “AI-esque” world of work. Indeed, a large number of managers fear that the deployment of artificial intelligence tools in business will make them obsolete. Two-thirds of Americans who work in this profession are afraid that this technology will cost them their jobs, according to a survey by the Beautiful.ai platform.
But managers’ responsibilities are not limited to reporting and administrative management – two tasks which, as we know, can be easily automated. These supervisors must above all help their colleagues to produce the best work possible, while ensuring their well-being at work. Missions that the machine cannot accomplish. “A manager’s job is to turn a person’s particular talent into performance. Managers will only succeed if they are able to identify and deploy differences between individuals, inspiring each employee to excel in their own way“, as the English author and lecturer Marcus Buckingham wrote in the journal Harvard Business Review.
This is why managers still have an essential role to play in companies, despite the proponents of “great unbossing”. However, leaders must value and support them more so that they can flourish in their positions. Managers say they are more stressed and anxious than non-managerial employees, according to the third edition of the Alan-Toluna-Harris Interactive barometer on mental well-being at work. They demand more support and training to excel in their position.