Middle managers play a key role in influencing worker behavior and compliance through effective communication, safety culture development, and leadership. They should communicate safety standards, involve workers in hazard identification, monitor safety daily, and provide feedback to senior management. Without feedback from middle management, companies cannot properly assess safety culture or benchmark performance. It is important for middle managers to lead by example in prioritizing safety, developing workers' skills and attitudes, and promoting a positive culture.

1. Importance Of Middle
Management in Worker
Compliance
Influencing Behaviour
Presented By
John McGinn
HSE Engineer
Seadrill
12th Dec 2013

2. Definition Of
• Middle Management:
Comprises of managers who head specific
departments such as safety, construction, or
production, or who serve as project managers in
some organisations
• Worker Behaviour:
Patterns of actions and interactions of the
members of an organisation that directly or
indirectly affects its effectiveness

3. Why Middle Managers May Be the Most
Important People in Influencing worker
behaviour
• “We tend to think of companies as all about
systems and not enough about people.” He
suggests that companies should pay more
attention to filling middle levels of management,
figuring out who the best ones are and
rewarding them appropriately”.
Ref: Ethan Mollick: University of Pennsylvania
25/05/2011

4. Ask yourself……
Do my managers/ team leaders:
1. Communicate safety standards to their teams?
2. Involve workers in hazard spotting in the workplace?
3. Prevent unsafe acts?
4. Motivate workers to be safer?
5. Monitor safety standards on a daily basis?
6. Report workforce activity to Senior Management?
7. Get regularly assessed on their ability to manage their
teams effectively by Senior Management?

5. Communication
• Managers who make an effort to remain in constant
contact with workers, place emphasis on workplace
communication.
• Managers who don’t communicate with their workers
essentially tell them that communication isn’t important
and isn’t needed in the workplace.
• A workplace that doesn’t practice effective
communication often results in missed deadlines,
incomplete or wrongly completed tasks and a lack of
knowledge about new policies and guidelines.

6. Communication
Effective communication requires managers to
share their thoughts and positive ideas with
workers.
In turn, this allows workers to share theirs with
management.
e.g. Reporting without consequence!

7. Safety Culture
What makes up a Good safety culture?
“The product of individual and group values, attitudes, perceptions, competencies
and patterns of behaviour that can determine the commitment to, and the style
and proficiency of an organisation’s health and safety management system”
Quote Ref:
http://www.managementbriefs.com/_media/pdfs/safety_matters_chapter3.pdf

8. Barriers
To Managing a Safety Culture
There are a wide range of reasons why some organisations may be
reluctant to use middle management to feedback on their own level
of safety maturity, such as:
• Not perceiving there to be a need
• Worries about what might be discovered
• Resource issues
• Difficulties associated with signing up to long-term commitments
• Belief that there is nothing (positive) to achieve
• Concern that the results of assessments may be worse compared to
other yards

9. Feedback
• Without feedback, you cannot assess
• Without assessment you cannot benchmark
• Without a benchmark you have no standard
comparison

10. Feedback:- Behaviour Culture
• Worker Morale
• Worker Performance
• Worker Communication
• Worker Attitude

11. Management Performance
• Workers often mimic the dedication that
managers exhibit.
• People learn from an early age to pay attention
to the way their superiors act which can either
be hardworking or lack work ethic
“Culturally Conditioned”

12. “Lead By Example”
•Invest time and effort in developing workers safety morals
and attitudes
“Promote a positive culture & individual development”
•Look out for high potential in workers as the next generation
of team leaders and middle management

13. Promotion with Middle
Management Support
Show high potential
workers the ropes through
effective coaching.
Lead by example and
support.
Monitor progress through
engagement.
Title isn’t everything!!

14. Kimchi Effect
Being taught is one thing……..
Making it taste good is another…..

15. Attitude
• A company consists of workers with negative or positive
attitudes.
• A workers attitude often reflects the attitude of his middle
Management.
• Managers who take a negative outlook on everything
usually cause workers to do the same.
• Negative attitudes cause workers to become cynical
about their work, leading to carelessness.
Carelessness in this industry causes loss of life!!

16. Positive Thinking
Positive Action!

17. Remove Negativity
• Negative managers also prevent workers from
developing and improving, because their management
style doesn’t promote positive thinking and
encouragement.
• Managers who take on a negative attitude usually do so
without realizing that it adversely affects the workplace

18. Example
A worker in another project isn’t wearing his PPE safety
glasses.
What are your managers teaching your workers in your
project to do when they passed him?

19. Did They Ignore it?
Result:
• Possibility of worker being blinded / disabled
and unable to work.
• An LTI and investigation for the organisation
Dented Safety Record??

20. Punishment or Correction?
Punish poor behaviour
Or
Manage it through an effective
training program

21. Role of Middle Management
• Lead by example
• Be directly involved Worker Manager
• Be motivated & Proactive
• Be knowledgeable
• Be understanding
• Be Firm
• Be accountable!
Engage! Communicate! Monitor! Report!
Middle
Managemen
t

22. If Not…….
You Might Get……

24. Thank You
Stay Safe!
Stay Visible!