A strategy map’s effect on the feedback that middle managers pass along to upper management

Brian D. Knox ()
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Brian D. Knox: Boise State University

Journal of Management Control: Zeitschrift für Planung und Unternehmenssteuerung, 2020, vol. 30, issue 4, No 3, 404 pages

Abstract: Abstract Feedback from lower-level employees helps upper management know when a strategy revision is necessary. Middle managers have significant control over upper management’s access to lower-level employee feedback because they decide whether to pass along that feedback when they receive it. A strategy map may help mitigate bias in these middle managers’ feedback reporting decisions. In my experiment, participants act as middle managers who receive one of two types of lower-level employee feedback: positive feedback or negative feedback. Without a strategy map, participants over-report positive feedback, under-report negative feedback, and exhibit motivated reasoning toward negative feedback. With a strategy map, participants over-report positive feedback less, under-report negative feedback at the same rate, and their motivated reasoning against negative feedback no longer affects their reporting willingness. Thus, a strategy map could help de-bias some of the feedback middle managers pass along to upper management.

Keywords: Strategy map; Middle management; Feedback; Strategy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: L15 L21 M41 M51 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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DOI: 10.1007/s00187-020-00293-1

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