Mitzberg's Manager Roles
Do managers just plan, organize, coordinate, and control?
The author of this article doesn’t believe so. After conducting studies of managers in the work place the author has come to some other conclusions, classifying the managers role into three main categories:
1.) Interpersonal Roles – a key to authority
· Figurehead – ceremonial duties of someone with authority
· Leader – motivate and encourage employees
· Liason – making contacts outside the vertical chain of command
2.) Informational Roles – comes from interpersonal relationships
· Monitor – scanning the environment
· Disseminator – letting subordinates in on information
· Spokesperson – communication outside of the unit
3.) Decisional Roles – comes from information
· Entrepreneur –improve the unit or group
· Disturbance Handler –fix problems and handle pressures
· Resource Allocator – deciding who will get what
· Negotiator – making tradeoffs between two things
The managers’ effectiveness is related to their insight into their own work which is an integrated job of the roles given in the list above.
“Influence is seen in the leader role, formal authority vests them with great power; leadership determines how much of it they will realize”
My Thoughts: It is interesting to see a article almost solely on management in a leadership compellation. I wish this article talked more on the differences between leadership and management. It sort of falls into the trap of thinking that all managers are leaders of their subordinates. Anyway I would summarize this as: managers’ personal contacts lead to information which leads to decision-making. Managers must do all three. I am not sold on the “leader” part without a further discussion of the difference between a manger and a
The author of this article doesn’t believe so. After conducting studies of managers in the work place the author has come to some other conclusions, classifying the managers role into three main categories:
1.) Interpersonal Roles – a key to authority
· Figurehead – ceremonial duties of someone with authority
· Leader – motivate and encourage employees
· Liason – making contacts outside the vertical chain of command
2.) Informational Roles – comes from interpersonal relationships
· Monitor – scanning the environment
· Disseminator – letting subordinates in on information
· Spokesperson – communication outside of the unit
3.) Decisional Roles – comes from information
· Entrepreneur –improve the unit or group
· Disturbance Handler –fix problems and handle pressures
· Resource Allocator – deciding who will get what
· Negotiator – making tradeoffs between two things
The managers’ effectiveness is related to their insight into their own work which is an integrated job of the roles given in the list above.
“Influence is seen in the leader role, formal authority vests them with great power; leadership determines how much of it they will realize”
My Thoughts: It is interesting to see a article almost solely on management in a leadership compellation. I wish this article talked more on the differences between leadership and management. It sort of falls into the trap of thinking that all managers are leaders of their subordinates. Anyway I would summarize this as: managers’ personal contacts lead to information which leads to decision-making. Managers must do all three. I am not sold on the “leader” part without a further discussion of the difference between a manger and a