Paul Osterman

An insightful set of essays that build on the remarkable theories of labor economist Michael Piore:
-M. Diane Burton builds on internal labor markets by incorporating the role of clustering in shaping the diversity of firms
-Natasha Iskander builds on Piore's work on immigration by analyzing the environmental factors that result in differing work dynamics of Mexican construction workers in Raleigh-Durham and Philadelphia
-Suzanne Berger extends "The Second Industrial Divide" by looking at Piore and Sabel's theories of flexible specialization in light of modern vertical disintegration of firms
-Andrew Schrank analyzes the factors that have led to the evolution of generalist and specialized systems of labor inspection and programs for labor regulation
-Charles Sabel expands on "street-level bureaucracies" by outlining an alternative--the Experimentalist Organization--using the Finnish school system as a practical illustration

Sabel's overview of Piore's career showcases why his work is incredibly relevant to anyone interested in labor policy and labor dynamics: "Indeed, it is only a slight exaggeration to say that [Piore's] deepest concern has been the design of regulation that reconciles the protection of workers with the requirements of economic efficiency, and that curiosity about labor market organization is an outgrowth of the conviction that improved understanding of those markets under changing circumstances is indispensable to improved design." (113)… (meer)

Having been a middle manager and now writing stories set in workplaces, I looked forward to this book both as a glance in the mirror and as research into the current workplace. I was disappointed on both accounts. There is little content here and much repetition. The writing is dry and abstract, accompanied by minimal data and argument, moderate anecdotal evidence and leaping conclusions, and maximal page-filling quotes from middle managers -- vacuous in their content and printed verbatim so the reader has to wade through quantities of “you know” and “like.” If trimmed, the material seems much better suited to an article in the Harvard Business Review than a book-length treatment.… (meer)

When I chose this book, I though that as a middle manager, I would gain some insight into my work niche, but I find having finished it, that I don’t feel that I learned much. I am guessing that this book is better directed to HR employees/managers, and that they might get more out of the graphs and statistics that I did.

The book ends, seemingly in the same place it begins, saying that most middle managers are committed to their jobs and colleagues, but that they have lost much of their commitment to their firms and are suspicious of upper management. But…isn’t this true of the workforce as a whole? Aren’t we all, management or no, recognizing that there is no loyalty to be had from most companies and that upper management (speaking here of CEOs in particular) is living in an entirely different universe than the average American worker?

Again, I am perhaps not the right audience for this book, but I just didn’t find much that was enlightening regarding either my day to day life or career as a middle manager. Times have changed for employees, on all levels of the org chart.

I did find one section that really struck home, though. In defining “middle managers” – Osterman does it well. “Middle managers are responsible for both internal and external management of teams, act as the transmission belt between the top of the organization and the bottom, and make day-to-day choices and trade-offs that escape the attention of top management yet are central to the organization’s performance.”

Too true, too true.… (meer)