Finding the Balance

This article considers case-study data from four English further education colleges. Responses from managers occupying a range of middle manager roles, their senior managers and their teams were analysed in order to assess key features of the middle manager role, and to identify factors which enable or impede them. Analysis focused upon the `mechanical' and `organic' aspects of the role, ways in which the role occupies the mechanical and organic dimensions, and where the difficulties lie in balancing the needs of the two.