Management problems seen in software maintenance: An empowerment study

A survey of the problems faced by managers and supervisors of application software maintenance work is described. The responses were interpreted in terms of empowerment. Five conclusions emerged about managers and supervisors: 1) they see themselves as more powerless to take effective action on identified problems in the short run than in the long run; 2) they see themselves individually as largely powerless to take effective action on the problems they see; 3) they see themselves as organizationally largely powerless to take effective action on the problems they see; 4) they see the vast majority of problems as not being technical problems; and 5) they showed no significant differences across different industries. Overall, maintenance supervisors and managers do not recognize that the majority of the problems they feel unempowered about are themselves the result of management action or inaction where management has or had the power to take effective action