The Dying Ulysses: Middle-Aged Middle Managers in the Indian Public Sector

Abstract

Middle managers tend to face physiological and psychological crises in their middle age. Part I proposes certain constructs to understand the psychodynamics of these crises and Part II provides empirical support to Part I. The dominant theme in Part I is the process of dying. Two models to cope with this inevitable but passing phase of life can be seen. Part II reports a study of 208 middle managers from 20 industrial organizations in the public sector. They emerge as moderate but not intense, mediocre, and fairly alienated with a deep sense of inefficacy and misanthropy. The paper concludes that by confronting the mid-life crisis in cognitive, affective, and connative planes simultaneously and integrating with it the concern for self and others, managers can give new meaning and richness to their lives.