A common question that many people find themselves asking is What do managers actually do?
Truthfully this is a fair question.
If we intend to train and educate the next generation of managers isn't it important
to have an understanding of what we're training them for?
These questions plagued the mind a professor at McGill University by the name of Henry
Mintzberg.
You see Mintzberg wasn't satisfied by Henri Fayol's depiction of managers as those that
engage in planning, organizing, leading, and controlling.
He felt that these functions were far too vague and weren't an accurate representation
of what managers actually did on the job.
So naturally Mintzberg sought out to uncover a more supportable and useful description
of managerial work.
In addition to conducting his own research, Mintzberg scoured current and available research
pertaining to managerial roles.
These studies incorporated managers at all levels of the organizational structure as
well as managers from different countries.
Managers were observed firsthand in their natural environments and some were even asked
to keep detailed diaries of their various activities during the day.
With access to all of this data, Mintzberg attempted to paint a much more accurate picture
of managerial roles and accurately answer the question: What does a manager actually
do?
Mintzberg found that managers serve three distinct roles in the organization: interpersonal
roles, informational roles, and decisional roles.
Each of these categories spawned more specific responsibilities that ultimately share a common
theme.
But before we get to this, lets discuss where it all begins.
What is a manager?
Although definitions vary, a manager can easily be described as someone who is in charge of
an organization or subgroup.
And since the manager is in charge of an organization or subgroup they're given a certain amount
of authority over the group.
Mintzberg argued that the presence of this authority was important because this formal
authority, meaning authority derived from simply having a certain position in the organizational
structure, results in the possession of status.
And a manager's status in the organization is what leads to the various roles that we'll
describe now.
The first role of managers is an interpersonal role.
Interpersonal roles are derived directly from formal authority since the manager wouldn't
have the same relationship with his or her subordinates if he or she lacked formal authority
and thus status in the group.
Within interpersonal roles managers fulfill three important roles: figurehead, leader,
and liaison.
As a figurehead, managers are the head of the organizational unit and are responsible
from performing certain ceremonial duties.
These duties can include taking a newly hired employee out to lunch, attending the wedding
of an employee, or even meeting with foreign dignitaries.
Although these may not sound critically important to the organization, they insure that the
organization runs smoothly.
The next role is that of a leader.
As a leader, managers are accountable for the work and performance of their subordinates.
Managers are often responsible for hiring and training in their direct area, and also
providing subordinates with incentives to increase productivity while working towards
group goals.
The last interpersonal role is one of a liaison.
As a liaison, managers serve as a connection between their organization or subunit to those
outside of it.
Acting as a liaison leads to managers establishing contacts with their peers, as well as customers
and supplies, which can serve as a valuable source of information.
Each of the individual roles within interpersonal roles leads to the second role of a manager:
informational roles.
Through their interpersonal roles, managers develop important contacts that provide them
with access to important information.
Within their informational role, managers serve as a: monitor, disseminator, and spokesperson.
At this point I'm sure that you can see how these roles are beginning to tie together.
For without the interpersonal roles managers wouldn't be in a position to gain access to
information in the first place.
As a monitor, managers are responsible for scanning their environments for information.
This information can come from a managers vast collection of networks, and can either
be solicited or unsolicited.
The important thing, is that the manager has their ears to the ground and is waiting for
valuable information to relay to his or her subordinates.
Once the managers collects this information they are now in a position to disseminate
that information to their organization or subunit.
This action highlights a manager's role as a disseminator.
Without the manager, subordinates wouldn't have access to this information since they
likely lack to vast network of contacts that managers possess.
The last informational role of a manager is that of a spokesperson.
In addition to disseminating information to those inside the organization of subunit,
managers also send information to people on the outside.
This could take the form of a conference call with investors, a testimony at a congressional
hearing, or even a conversation with a supplier.
In addition to managing the interests of their subordinates, managers must also deal with
external stakeholders, such as: investors, suppliers, creditors, and government agencies
to name a few.
Due to their informational roles, managers now have access to what is needed to make
decisions.
Managers play a significant role in the decision-making of their organization or subunit, and this
is in large part due to the level of information that they have access to.
Within a managers role as a decision-maker, they also serve as an: entrepreneur, disturbance
handler, resource allocator, and negotiator.
As an entrepreneur, managers seek to utilize their information for the purpose of improving
their organization or subunit.
Remember that while serving as monitor the manager is scanning the environment for information
and opportunities.
As entrepreneur, the manager now takes advantage of those opportunities that were previously
identified.
As the disturbance handler, managers are responsible for responding to events or circumstances
that are beyond their control.
These circumstances or pressures are typically too significant for a manager to ignore, and
thus some kind of action is needed.
These pressures can include: deteriorating economic conditions, labor strikes, natural
disasters, competitor actions, or even product issues like Firestone tires in the 1990s,
the deaths caused by Tylenol in the early 1980s, and more recently the BP oil spill.
The impact of these events is significant, and certainly warrant a response from managers
in their disturbance handler role.
The third decisional role that managers engage in is that of a resource allocator.
As resource allocator, managers decide who in their organization or subunit gets what.
This can include things like: time, which is important considering the managers connections
and access to information, money, equipment, or even facilities.
In addition to allocating scarce resources, managers also establish an organizational
structure for their unit and authorize decisions before implementation.
The fourth and final decisional role is that of a negotiator.
Due to their authority to commit organizational resources, as well as their access to information,
managers are uniquely positioned to negotiate on behalf of the organization.
Managers regularly negotiate supplier contracts, employee grievances, and employee labor contracts.
Together, Mintzberg argued that each of these ten managerial roles provide a better reflection
of what managers actually do.
Each role is uniquely important and the sum of these managerial roles is certainly greater
than the individual roles by themselves.
Take for example a manager who doesn't have access to information.
How would they make accurate and timely decisions?
How would they allocate resources, negotiate effectively, or even identify new opportunities
for their organization?
The truth is that each managerial role is necessary and important to ultimately the
effectiveness of a manager.
Now Mintzberg certainly didn't claim that every manager gives each role the same attention,
but that access to each was important for a manager to be able to fulfill their roles
and responsibilities effectively.
This has been Mintzberg's Managerial Roles.
In our next video, we'll discuss the early management theory Scientific Management.
For questions please leave them in the comment box below and I'll do my best to get back
to those in a timely fashion.
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Thanks for watching.