Working life > Self-Employment > Interim Management

Interim Management: Temporary Employment of Managers

Definition, Explanation

A special form of temporary employment is the interim management, German Management auf Zeit (MAZ). Here, highly qualified generalists as well as specialists are employed as executives.

For a defined period of time, or until a certain defined event, the interim manager adopts management tasks with operative measures and betimes with result responsibility in the company. The time period may well be 2 years, while on average it is 8 months. The manager leaves the company when his goal has been achieved. The goal may be short-term substitution of a sick managing director or restoration of a company. Therefore, interim managers are often thought of as “firemen” who are called to help in problematic and difficult situations. Especially medium-sized companies use this as a way to focus their capacities on finding proper personnel for permanent employment. Interim managers are remunerated with an honorarium as usual for liberal-professionals.

Because the requirements are high, often older managers become interim managers, having worked on similar tasks in other companies. There are good chances, as well, for specialists and generalists with the right experience in the field.

Placement of interim managers is usually a rather unofficial process and involves recommendations and personal contacts. There are also known providers of interim managers who lease managers or experts like temporary employment agencies lease employees.

Possible tasks in interim management:

• Closing down or restoring of a company
• Restructuring projects
• Project work with expert knowledge
• Controlling tasks
• Filling temporary open positions
• Merging or acquisition of companies

Competences of an interim manager:

• Long-term professional and personal experience
• Social competence
• Branch- and position-specific experience
• Extern networks
• Excellent references

Advantages of interim management:

• Impartiality of the manager being a self-employed entrepreneur or an employee of an interim management provider
• No attachment to company-intern personnel
• Gain of special expertise
• Immediate recruitment and foreseeable expenses

Disadvantages of interim management

• Interim manager is new to intern structures, power relations and rules of the game
• Has to learn the ropes
• Barriers of acceptance with other executives
• No supporters within the company

Literatures

• Leadership on Demand by Charles Besondy, Paul Travis, Theresa Heath
• Interim Management: The new career choice for senior managers by Dennis Russel, Ian Daniell

Last update: 09/22/2010