Strategic Positioning of Middle Managers in the Egyptian Private Sector

Abstract

Reports from and about Egypt point to decline on several pillars of the Global Competitiveness Index(GCI)even through the growth years between 2004 to 2011.  In this paper, we argue that there is insufficient diffusion of managerial knowledge from top and senior level executives to middle managers, and thus the focus is on strengthening the middle management as the venue for sustainable growth and firm performance. This paper is a conceptual qualitative research. We pose two propositions to address the fragility of middle management.  The first contributor is lack of congruency in education and training for job requirements that increased the gap between top and senior managements' knowledge-base and that of middle management.  For the second reason, we attempted to discount the effect of culture by positing the proposition that education is a mediating variable, and with improved education cultural differences in management converge over time; both propositions are supported by the literature. We also propose framing the role of middle management from the perspective of agents to their principals, namely top executives; this relational frame stresses the importance of trust and loyalty in both directions.