Public administration studies often fail to address the role of middle management in organizations. On the whole, most scholarship focuses on either top-level or street-level bureaucrats while the saliency of racial identity for management practices is an understudied phenomenon. Bridging the literatures on race in public administration and middle management, we argue that race is a significant component of managerial strategy. Utilizing a large-N dataset of school administrators, this analysis seeks to assess whether differences exist among mid-level managers. Specifically, this study addresses two questions. First, in what ways does middle manager strategy differ by race? Second, if such differences exist, how do they affect organizational performance? Preliminary findings suggest variation in management styles and policy preferences across racial groups. Moreover, race acts as a correlate of administrative and strategy choices, yet the overall impacts of these differential practices are mixed.
AlwinD. F. (1973). Making inferences from attitude-behavior correlations. Sociometry, 36, 253–278.
2.
AndrewsR.BoyneG. A.WalkerR. M. (2006). Strategy content and organizational performance: An empirical analysis. Public Administration Review, 66, 52–63.
3.
BalogunJ. (2003). From blaming the middle to harnessing its potential: Creating change intermediaries. British Journal of Management, 14, 69–83.
4.
BanksC. M. (2007). Gender and race as factors in educational leadership and administration. In GroganM. (Ed.), The Jossey-Bass reader on educational leadership (pp. 299–316). Wiley & Sons.
5.
BohteJ.MeierK. J. (2000). Goal displacement: Assessing the motivation for organizational cheating. Public Administration Review, 60(2), 173–182.
6.
BoyneG. A. (2002). Public and private management: What’s the difference?Journal of Management Studies, 39, 97–122.
7.
BoyneG. A.MeierK. J. (2009). Environmental change, human resources and organizational turnaround. Journal of Management Studies, 46, 835–863.
8.
BoyneG. A.WalkerR. M. (2010). Strategic management and public service performance: The Way Ahead. Public Administration Review, 70, S185–S192.
9.
BurtlessG. T. (1996). Does money matter? The effect of school resources on student achievement and adult success. Brookings Institution Press.
10.
BrysonJ. M. (1995). Strategic planning for public and nonprofit organizations. Jossey-Bass.
11.
CarrollK.WrightK.MeierK. (2019). Minority public administrators: Managing organizational demands while acting as an advocate. American Review of Public Administration, 49, 810–824.
Chung-HerreraB.LankauM. (2005). Are we there yet? An assessment of fit between stereotypes of minority managers and the successful-manager prototype. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 35, 2029–2056.
14.
CohenS.EimickeW.HeikkilaT. (2008). The effective public manager: Achieving success in a changing government. Jossey Boss.
15.
ConwayE.MonksK. (2011). Change from below: The role of middle managers in mediating paradoxical change. Human Resource Management Journal, 21, 190–203.
16.
DawsonM. (2003). Black visions: The roots of contemporary African-American political ideologies. University of Chicago.
DuttonJ.AshfordS. (1993). Selling issues to top management. Academy of Management Review, 18, 397–428.
19.
DuttonJ.AshfordJ.O’NeillR.HayesE.WierbaE. (1997). Reading the wind: How middle managers assess the context for selling issues to top managers. Strategic Management Journal, 18, 407-425.
20.
FernandezJ. P. (1981). Racism and sexism in corporate life: Changing values in American business. Lexington Books.
21.
FloydS. W.WooldridgeB. (1992). Middle management involvement in strategy and its association with strategic type: A research note. Strategic Management Journal, 13, 153–167.
22.
FloydS. W.WooldridgeB. (1994). Dinosaurs or dynamos? Recognizing middle management’s strategic role. The Academy of Management Executive, 8, 47–57.
23.
GatenbyM.ReesC.TrussC.AlfesK.SoaneE. (2015). Managing change, or changing managers? The role of middle managers in UK public service reform. Public Management Review, 17, 1124–1145.
24.
GreenhausJ. H.ParasuramanS.WormleyW. (1990). Effects of race on organizational experiences, job performance evaluations, and career outcomes. The Academy of Management Journal, 33, 64–86.
25.
HannanM.PolosL.CarrollG. (2007). Logics of organization theory. Princeton University Press.
26.
HanushekE. (1996). School resources and student performance. In BurtlessG. (Ed.), Does money matter? The effect of school resources on student achievement and adult success (pp. 43–73). Brookings Institution.
27.
HedgesL. V.GreenwaldR. (1996). Have times changed? The relation between school resources and student performance. In BurtlessG. (Ed.), Does money matter? The effect of school resources on student achievement and adult success (pp. 74–92). Brookings Institution.
28.
HendersonL. (1979). Administration advocacy: Black administrators in urban bureaucracy. R&E Research Associates, Inc.
29.
HerbertA. (1974). The minority administrator: Problems, prospects, and challenges. Public Administration Review, 34, 556–563.
30.
HopkinsW.HopkinsS.MalletteP. (2001). Diversity and managerial value commitment: A test of some proposed relationships. Journal of Managerial Issues, 13, 288–306.
31.
HorngE.KalogridesD.LoebS. (2009). Principal preferences and the unequal distribution of principals across schools (Working Paper No. 36). CALDER.
32.
HuyQ. N. (2001). In praise of middle managers. Harvard Business Review, 79(8), 72–79, 160.
33.
JamesE. H. (2000). Race-related difference in promotions and support: Underlying effects of human capital. Organization Science, 11, 493–508.
34.
JencksC.PhillipsM. (1998). The Black-White test score gap. The Brookings Institution.
35.
JohansenM. S. (2012). The direct and interactive effects of middle manager quality on organizational performance. Administration & Society, 44, 383–411.
36.
JohansonJ. E. (2009). Strategy formation in public agencies. Public Administration, 87, 872–891.
37.
KanterR.M. (1979). Differential access to opportunity and power. In AlvarezR. (Ed.), Discrimination in organizations (pp. 52–68). Jossey-Bass.
38.
KeiserL.WilkinsV.MeierK.HollandC. (2002). Lipstick and logarithms: Gender, institutional context, and representative bureaucracy. American Political Science Review, 96, 553–564.
39.
KrasK.RudesD.TaxmanF. S. (2017). Managing up and down: Community corrections middle managers’ role conflict and ambiguity during organizational change. Journal of Crime and Justice, 40, 173–187.
40.
LawrenceP. R.LorschJ. (1967). Organization and environment: Managing differentiation and integration. Division of Research, Graduate School of Business Administration, Harvard University.
41.
LikertR. (1961). New patterns of management. McGraw-Hill Book Co.
42.
MartinezT. (1991). The role of Hispanic public administrators: A theoretical and empirical analysis. American Review of Public Administration, 21, 33–55.
43.
MeierK. J. (2003). Public management and educational performance: The impact of managerial networking. Public Administration Review, 63, 689–699.
44.
MeierK. J.O’TooleL. J.Jr. (2001). Managerial strategies and behavior in networks: A model with evidence from U.S. public education. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 11, 271–294.
45.
MeierK. J.O’TooleL. J.Jr. (2002). Public management organizational performance: The impact of managerial quality. Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 21, 629–643.
46.
MeierK. J.O’TooleL. J.Jr.BoyneG. A.WalkerR. M. (2007). Strategic management and the performance of public organizations: Testing venerable ideas against recent theories. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 17, 357–377.
47.
MeierK. J.O’TooleL. J.Jr.HicklinA. (2010). I’ve seen fire and I’ve seen rain: Public management and performance after a natural disaster. Administration & Society, 41, 979–1003.
48.
MeierK. J.WrinkleR. D.PolinardJ. L. (1999). Representative bureaucracy and distributional equity: Addressing the hard questions. The Journal of Politics, 61, 1025–1039.
49.
MeltonE. K. (2015). Testing turbulence: Exploring the determinants of managerial networking. Public Organization Review, 17, 19–37.
50.
MeltonE. K. (2017). From politics to performance: How perceived support matters for public organizations. International Journal of Public Administration, 40, 989–999.
51.
MeltonE. K.WalkerM.WalkerS. (2010). Management strategies and performance: An examination of minority managers in public organizations. Economics, Management, and Financial Markets, 5, 129–157.
52.
MilesR. E.SnowC. C. (1978). Organizational strategy, structure and process. McGraw-Hill Book Company.
53.
MilesR. E.SnowC. C.MeyerA. D.ColemanH. J.Jr. (1978). Organizational strategy, structure, and process. Academy of Management Review, 3, 546–562.
54.
MolinaA. L. (2016). A manager is a manager is a manager? Race and managerial impact on organizational performance. Public Organization Review, 16, 39–53.
55.
MolinaA. L. (2018). Strategic responsiveness and the minority public manager. Public Performance & Management Review, 41, 790–814.
56.
MooreM. (1995). Creating public value: Strategic management in government. Harvard University Press.
57.
MorganD.BaconK.BunchR.CameronC.DeisR. (1996). What middle managers do in local government: Stewardship of the public trust and the limits of reinventing government. Public Administration Review, 56, 359–366.
58.
MorrisonA.GlinowM. (1990). Women and minorities in management. American Psychologist, 45, 200–208.
59.
MurrayS.TerryL.KellerL.WashingtonC. (1997). Minority public administrators: The Herbert thesis and America’s promise. Public Administration Review, 57, 366–369.
60.
MurrayS.TerryL.WashingtonC.KellerL. (1994). The role demands and dilemmas of minority public administrators: The Herbert thesis revisited. Public Administration Review, 54, 409–417.
PerryJ. L.RaineyH. G. (1988). The public-private distinction in organization theory: A critique and research strategy. Academy of Management Review, 13, 182–201.
63.
PickD.TeoS. (2017). Job satisfaction of public sector middle managers in the process of NPM change. Public Management Review, 19, 705–724.
64.
PittsD. (2009). Diversity management, job satisfaction, and performance: Evidence from U.S. Federal Agencies. Public Administration Review, 69, 328–338.
65.
PittsD. W. (2006). Modeling the impact of diversity management. Review of Public Personnel Administration, 26, 245–268.
66.
PittsD. W.HicklinA. K.HawesD. P.MeltonE. (2010). What drives the implementation of diversity management programs? Evidence from public organizations. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 20, 867–886.
67.
RiccucciN. (2002). Race, ethnicity, and diversity management. In RiccucciN. (Ed.), Managing diversity in public sector workforces (pp. 35–60). Westview Press.
68.
RiccucciN. (2009). The pursuit of social equity in the federal government: A road less traveled. Public Administration Review, 69, 373–382.
69.
RochC. HPittsD.NavarroI. (2010). Representative bureaucracy and policy tools: Ethnicity, student discipline, and representation in public schools. Administration and Society, 42, 38–65.
70.
RourkeF. E. (1984). Bureaucracy, politics, and public policy. Little Brown and Company.
71.
SeldenS. C. (1998). The promise of representative bureaucracy: Diversity and responsiveness in a government agency. M.E. Sharpe.
72.
SmithR. A. (2005). Do the determinants of promotion differ for White men versus women and minorities? An exploration of intersectionalism through sponsored and contest mobility processes. American Behavioral Scientist, 48, 1157–1181.
73.
TheobaldN.Haider-MarkelD. P. (2009). Race, bureaucracy, and symbolic representation: Interactions between citizens and police. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 19, 409–426.
74.
U.S. Department of Education, Office of Planning, Evaluation and Policy Development, & Policy and Program Studies Service. (2016). The state of racial diversity in the educator workforce. U.S. Department of Education, Office of Planning, Evaluation and Policy Development, Policy and Program Studies Service.
75.
WalkerR. M. (2013). Strategic management and performance in public organizations: findings from the Miles and Snow framework. Public Administration Review, 75, 675–685.
76.
WamsleyG.ZaldM. (1973). The political economy of public organizations. Public Administration Review, 33, 62–73.
77.
Watkins-HayesC. (2009). Race-ing the bootstrap climb: Black and Latino bureaucrats in post-reform welfare. Social Problems, 56, 285–310.
78.
WenglinskyH. (1997). How educational expenditures improve student performance and how they don’t. Educational Testing Service.
79.
WickerA. (1969). Attitude versus actions: The relationship of verbal and overt behavioral responses to attitude objects. Journal of Social Issues25(4), 41–78.
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
