ARE MANAGERS MANAGING?

Middle managers spend only about a quarter of their time managing, while roughly one-third of the work-week is dedicated to nonproductive activities and support tasks, according to a survey by Peter Sassone, an economist at the Georgia Institute of Technology. The five-year study involved 1,563 employees. Mr. Sassone attributed the phenomenon to the boom/bust cycles which take their toll on support staffers, and the replacement of secretaries by personal computers.