In her clinical analysis of a large computer manufacturer Rosa Beth Kanter describes the efforts of middle managers who sheltered and encouraged an employee involvement program in the midst of an emotional, top-down redesign of production processes. [vii] This created an environment in which fears about the change could be surfaced and brought into the discussion. Participation helped the organization to adopt the new work processes, but the process diverged completely from top management's original intention. Without middle management's efforts to facilitate change, however, the reengineering would have met considerably more resistance and could have failed.

Thus, while middle managers are often called change resisters, Kanter describes them as "change masters." From our own interviews, we compare this role with the flexible, accordion-like structure between the two sections of a reticulated passenger bus. The shape and composition of the accordion overcomes the rigidities of the vehicle, while at the same time assuring that the front and back head in the same direction.