Between the Millstones: A Narrative Account of the Vulnerability of Middle Managers’ Storying
通过分析中层管理者向上级、下属和自己讲述组织故事时面临的压力，揭示了他们特有的孤独、不稳定和脆弱性，并探讨了这些特征如何削弱管理实践。
This article seeks to illuminate our understanding of the lives of middle managers by considering the special pressures on them to tell stories about their organization that make sense to three different audiences; their superiors, their subordinates and themselves. Each of those audiences will demand to hear a convincing account, but the senior audience may trample unaware on middle managers’ stories, the junior audience may view them with scepticism or hostility, and the self audience may be fearful of losing the plot. Illustrated by four middle management storytelling situations, the article offers a narrative understanding of the peculiar loneliness, precariousness and vulnerability that characterize middle management, and suggests why these characteristics may be debilitating for middle management practice.