A case study of the role of middle managers in organizational communication in a secondary school in Hong Kong

Abstract

While organizational communication in school management has become vital and complicated along with an increasing emphasis on collaboration and teamwork in lesson preparation and performances in local secondary schools, it largely lies on the capability and the role of middle managers such as department heads and committee heads, who constitute a layer of management between the senior management team and subordinate classroom teachers. Despite that effective communication can be seen as the foundation of modern organizations, there are very few local studies on how organizational communication among members of a school management organization in Hong Kong is carried out, particularly on the roles of middle managers in schools in the process of organizational communication. This study aimed to examine the functional roles of middle managers in a Band One Hong Kong secondary school in the process of organizational communication. The research was conducted on members from three sectors of the organizational hierarchy: senior managers, middle managers and non-administrative teachers, with reference to previous overseas and local studies in the area of organizational communication and the roles of middle managers. The study reported in this paper identified that middle managers generally appeared to fulfil three major functions, although which might not be seen as successful by other members, namely transmitting, bridging and buffering. Apart from these desirable functions of middle managers, it was found that there was another side of their function – some interviewed middle managers reflected that they were the sandwiching class in the school’s organizational communication process. Challenges and variables influencing their roles were summarised in this paper: the extent to which the nature and expectations of the role have been clearly and comprehensively defined, the structure of organizational communication, as well as middle managers’ perception and attitude. The findings of this study will help the school, and perhaps other local schools, to assess the communicating roles of middle managers and thus to enhance the communication flow within and beyond each organization branch. Moreover, the analysis of the study will provide the school with some groundwork for reviewing the organizational communication structure and offering relevant training for teaching members where applicable.