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this post was submitted on 05 Oct 2024
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I'm gonna assume you don't know any better. Not saying there aren't bad or stupid middle managers, but usually the middle manager is the person who got shoved into a "management" position they probably didn't want, and all they really get to do is take all the heat when decisions they didn't make blow up in their face. It also usually comes with false promises of raises but upper management never really intends on giving it.
It's like, top level squeezing the bottom out 101.
I'm pretty fucking sure you still have to apply to become a middle manager. You don't just evolve like a Pokemon.
They voluntarily became the manager's gofers because they're disgusting climbers and they get what they deserve. 🙂
I'm pretty fucking sure it doesn't work like that outside of your black and white interpretation.
I'm not saying it doesn't happen, I'm saying a lot of people find themselves in that (bad) situation either outside their control, or they can be manipulated, coerced, pressured, or hell use your imagination.
To be clear, it's definitely not always "oh so-and-so was so obsessed with climbing the ladder that they became the bosses bitch, Oooo." Thats a kindergarden take and, IMO, helps empower people at the top hoarding all the wealth.
Managers at every level exist to protect the boss's wealth and extract the surplus value we create with our labor. They're slave drivers for the wage slaves.
News flash: managers at every level also think of themselves as victims and they always pass that on down the chain of command. Upper management gets screamed at by senior management, then they scream at middle management, and then the people on the ground get screamed at. Shit rolls down hill. They aren't always looking to get promoted all the way to the top, but every single one of them wants to be promoted higher than the rest of us so they can get a little more of the surplus value we generate.
If their job as middle management is so fucking hard how about they give it up? Accept a demotion and rejoin us on the floor. No one has to be middle management.
A lot of us here work in software. Often times there are two tracks, IC and people management. Often times both of those tracks pay similarly.
The good people managers and directors are usually folk that were identified as being good at mentoring people and good at providing air cover so people could do good work.
I’m sorry you’ve never worked at a place with good middle management. It does exist in many places, and many people selected it because they like working with the people and the strategy more than the product directly. Often times these people could’ve been paid comparably by working as a staff or principal track engineer or experience designer.
The people managers are identified as the ones that can control and discipline the workforce to maximize their exploitation.
Whether they're nice about it or they just really like their job as a slave driver doesn't really change what their job is. Their job is to be the enforcers for upper management and this grants them a different class position.
I feel like all of your knowledge about “middle management” is derived from The Office.
I work for a living honey. My knowledge is derived from dealing with them.