Roles of Manager
Henry Mintzberg identified ten different roles, separated into three categories. The categories he defined are as follows
a)
Interpersonal Roles - The ones that, like the name suggests, involve people and other ceremonial duties. It can be further classified as follows
• Leader – Responsible for staffing, training, and associated duties.
• Figurehead – The symbolic head of the organization.
• Liaison – Maintains the communication between all contacts and informers that compose the organizational network.
b)
Informational Roles - Related to collecting, receiving, and disseminating information.
• Monitor – Personally seek and receive information, to be able to understand the organization.
• Disseminator – Transmits all import information received from outsiders to the members of the organization.
• Spokesperson – On the contrary to the above role, here the manager transmits the organization’s plans, policies and actions to outsiders.
c)
Decisional Roles - Roles that revolve around making choices.
• Entrepreneur – Seeks opportunities. Basically they search for change, respond to it, and exploit it.
• Negotiator – Represents the organization at major negotiations.
• Resource Allocator – Makes or approves all significant decisions related to the allocation of resources.
• Disturbance Handler – Responsible for corrective action when the organization faces disturbances.
A
manager's job is never static, and is always in movement. At any given time, a
manager may be carrying out some combination of these roles to varying degrees, from none of their time to 100 percent of their time. Over their working life, a person may hold different management positions that call upon different roles.
Top level managers consists of the board of directors, president, vice-president, CEOs and others. They are responsible for controlling and overseeing the entire organization. They develop goals, strategic plans, company policies and make decisions on the direction of the business. In addition, top-level
managers play a significant role in the mobilization of outside resources and are accountable to shareholders and the general public.
Middle level managers consist of general
managers, branch
managers and department
managers. They are accountable to the top management for the functions of their departments. They devote more time to organizational and directional concerns. Their roles can be emphasized as executing organizational plans in conformance with the company's policies and objectives. This includes being able to define and discuss information and top management policies with lower management and, most importantly, provide lower level managers with guidance and inspiration for high performance.
First level managers consist of supervisors, section leads, foremen, and the like. They focus on controlling and directing. They usually have the responsibility of assigning employees tasks, guiding and supervising employees on day-to-day activities, ensuring quality and quantity production, making recommendations, and solving employee problems.