The role os a manager - Mintzberg 1975
MINTZBERG ASSIGNMENT ON THE ROLES OF A MANAGER
BY
January, 2014
Henry Mintzberg described managerial work as consisting of 10 roles classified into 3 roles: (a) interpersonal roles including the figurehead, leader, and liaison roles; (b) informational roles including the monitor, disseminator, and spokesman roles; and (c) decisional roles including the entrepreneur, disturbance handler, resource allocator, and negotiator roles. H. Mintzberg(1973) states that “formal authority gives rise to the three interpersonal roles which in turn give rise to the three informational roles; these two sets of roles enable the manager to play the four decisional roles” (p.54) much to imply that the three roles are intertwined and without the practice of one role the other two suffer and may well lead to less than an efficient manager. Whereas I agree with Mintzberg I find that his observation lacked the present day management role where increasingly we are seeing a global change in the work environment where online and therefore e-management is practiced. In a bid to reduce the cost of operation (office space and equipment and all the bills that come with having a physical office, many companies are offering employees the option of working from the comfort of their homes. This “new trend”, in my opinion, almost takes the manager back to working much in the manner in which the management folklore describe the role of the manager as the planner, organizer, coordinator and controller. Looking at each roles individually may explain better my point.
1. The interpersonal role: Mintzberg on p54-55 of the Harvard business review July-August 1975 explains this role of a manager to involve figurehead, leader and liaison. In order to play this role the manager finds him/herself in the folklore grey zone of planning, organizing, coordinating and controlling the different arms of the unit h/she manages; In a big organization that may well be by delegating other nominated
BY
January, 2014
Henry Mintzberg described managerial work as consisting of 10 roles classified into 3 roles: (a) interpersonal roles including the figurehead, leader, and liaison roles; (b) informational roles including the monitor, disseminator, and spokesman roles; and (c) decisional roles including the entrepreneur, disturbance handler, resource allocator, and negotiator roles. H. Mintzberg(1973) states that “formal authority gives rise to the three interpersonal roles which in turn give rise to the three informational roles; these two sets of roles enable the manager to play the four decisional roles” (p.54) much to imply that the three roles are intertwined and without the practice of one role the other two suffer and may well lead to less than an efficient manager. Whereas I agree with Mintzberg I find that his observation lacked the present day management role where increasingly we are seeing a global change in the work environment where online and therefore e-management is practiced. In a bid to reduce the cost of operation (office space and equipment and all the bills that come with having a physical office, many companies are offering employees the option of working from the comfort of their homes. This “new trend”, in my opinion, almost takes the manager back to working much in the manner in which the management folklore describe the role of the manager as the planner, organizer, coordinator and controller. Looking at each roles individually may explain better my point.
1. The interpersonal role: Mintzberg on p54-55 of the Harvard business review July-August 1975 explains this role of a manager to involve figurehead, leader and liaison. In order to play this role the manager finds him/herself in the folklore grey zone of planning, organizing, coordinating and controlling the different arms of the unit h/she manages; In a big organization that may well be by delegating other nominated