FUNCTIONS, ROLES and

SKILLS of a MANAGER
for Organization and Management
Senior High School (ABM)
Quarter 1 / Week 2
 FOREWORD

This Self-Learning Kit for Organization and Management is

designed specifically for ABM students in the Senior High School for
them to have a better understanding about the functions of a
manager, its roles and lastly the skills that a manager must have.
This learning kit will serve as a guide which illustrates the three levels
of management which are widely used by different business
organizations.
It will also serve as an aid as you learn new ideas about what
a manager does and what set of skills must they have in those three
levels of management.
What happened?
This section contains pre-activities like review of the prior
knowledge and a pretest on what the learners have learned in their
previous lessons.
What I Need to know? (Discussion)
This section contains definition and discussion about the three
levels of management, its examples and the manager’s roles and
their needed skills as well.
What I have learned? (Evaluation/Post Test)
The exercises contained in this section are designed to
enhance better understanding of what a manager does, which is
a very important for us to classify managers according to their
functions and explain their roles within the organization and also
identify their set of skills which are needed in the different
managerial levels.

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 OBJECTIVES:
K. Define what is a manager and its managerial levels
S. Explain the functions, roles, and skills of a manager
A. Appreciate the importance of the functions, roles, and
skills of a manager

LEARNING COMPETENCY:
Explaining the functions, roles, and skills of a manager
(ABM_AOM11-Ia-b-3)

I. What Happened
REVIEW
To review your current knowledge about the important terms
related to the topic which will be used in the discussion, let us explore
the Word Search Puzzle that follows.

PRE-TEST:
Word Search puzzle: Find words related to functions, roles, and skills of a
manager that are hidden in the grid. The words may appear straight
across, back-word straight across, up and down, down, and up, or either
diagonally. Write your answers in your notebook.

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II. What You Need to Know
DISCUSSION

INTRODUCTION

A manager is one of the most important person who influences the

productivity and success of any business organization. Before we dig down
deeper as to what are the roles and skills do managers have let us define first
what is a manager.

WHAT IS A MANAGER?

An individual engaged in management activities is called a manager.

Managers supervise, sustain, uphold, and assume responsibility for the work of
others in his or her workgroup, team, department, or the organization, in
general. Therefore, it is safe to assume that organizational success depends
upon managers who practice optimal utilization of their human and material
resources, and who encourage high levels of performance, effectiveness, and
efficiency among the individuals under their care (Cabrera, Altarejos, and Riaz
2016, 9).

MANAGERIAL LEVELS
Organizations typically have three levels of management in which they are
classified according to their respective functions. These are top-level
managers, middle-level managers, and frontline or lower-level managers.

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 Top-level Managers. Top-level
managers are the general or strategic
managers who focus on long-term
organizational concerns and emphasize
the organization’s stability, development,
progress, and overall efficiency and
effectiveness. They are also concerned
with the organization’s inter-relationships
with their external environment. Chief
executive officers (CEOs), chief
operating officers (COOS), presidents,
and vice presidents are examples of top-
level managers in big corporations; they
have authority over all other human
resources of their organization.
Traditionally, top-level executives set the
company’s general direction by
designing strategies and by controlling
various resources.
At present, however, they, too, must
act as organizational guides who must
elaborate on the wider purpose of their
organizational existence, so that their
subordinates could identify and be
committed to its success in the three
levels of management in Figure 1.6
(Cabrera, Altarejos, and Riaz 2016, 9).
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➢ Top level management is
typically composed of
the organization's
chairman or
chairwoman, chief
executive officer,
president, managing
director, and other high-
ranking company
executives.
Definition of Terms
Manager - an individual
engaged in management
activities such as supervising,
sustaining, upholding, and
assuring responsibilities for the
work of others in his/her work
group, team, department, on
the organization in general.
Managerial Roles - the various
roles played by managers, such
as interpersonal, informational,
and decision-making roles
Managerial Skills - the various
skill that managers must posses,
such as conceptual human and
technical skills
 Top level Managers
(Corporate Managers)

Middle level Managers

(Tactical Managers)

Frontline Managers
(Operational Managers)

Figure 1.6 The three levels of management are best illustrated in an organization
chart.

Middle-level Managers. Middle- ➢ Middle-level

level managers are the tactical
managers lead
managers in charge of the organization’s
middle levels or departments. They frontline or lower-level
formulate specific objectives and activities managers and are
based on the strategic or general goals and accountable to top-
objectives developed by top-level managers. level management.
Their traditional role is to act as go-betweens
between higher and lower levels of the organization; they announce and
interpret top management priorities to human resources in the middle
hierarchical level of the company. It has been observed that middle-level
managers are more aware of the company’s problems compared to
managers in the higher level because of their closer contacts with customers,
frontline managers, and other subordinates. To be an ideal middle-level
manager, one must be creative so that they could provide sound ideas
regarding operational skills as well as problem-solving skills that will help keep
the organization afloat.

Frontline or Lower-level Managers. Lower-level managers are also known

as operational managers and are responsible for supervising the organization’s
day-to-day activities; they are the bridges between management and non-
management employees.
Traditionally, they are controlled and instructed by top and middle-level
managers to follow their orders in support of the organization’s major strategy.
Lately, however, their role has been expanded in some large companies, as
they are now encouraged to be more creative and intuitive in the exercise of
their functions, so that they, too, could contribute to their company’s progress

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and the development of new projects (Cabrera, Altarejos, and Riaz 2016, 9-
10).

Managerial roles are classified into three types: interpersonal, informational,

and decision-making. Henry Mintzberg, a professor at McGill University,
researched what real managers do. See Table 1.3 for the managerial roles by
Mintzberg (Cabrera, Altarejos, and Riaz 2016, 10).

Categories of Managerial Roles according

to Mintzberg

• Leader
Interpersonal • Liaison
• Figurehead
• Spokesperson
Informational • Disseminator
• Monitor
• Disturbance handler
Decisional or • Resource allocator
Decision- • Negotiator
making • Entrepreneur
•

Table 1.3 Managerial roles identified by Mintzberg.

CATEGORIES OF MANAGERIAL ROLES ACCORDING TO MINTZBERG

INTERPERSONAL
Figurehead - As head of a department or an organization, a manager is
expected to carry out ceremonial and/or symbolic duties. A manager
represents the company both internally and externally in all matters of formality
(Mulder 2016).
Leader - In this role, the manager motivates his/her workers. Managers
communicate with them, guide and support them to develop a positive work
environment.
Liaison - A manager serves as an intermediary and a linking pin between the
high and low levels. In addition, he develops and maintains an external
network. As a networker, he has external contacts and he brings the right
parties together. This will ultimately result in a positive contribution to the
organization (Mulder 2016).
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INFORMATIONAL
Monitor - As a monitor, the manager gathers all internal and external
information that is relevant to the organization.
He is also responsible for arranging, analyzing, and assessing this information so
that he can easily identify problems and opportunities and identify changes.
Disseminator - As a disseminator, the manager transmits factual information to
his subordinates and to other people within the organization (Mulder 2016).
Memorandums and other important information are well disseminated from
top-level up to the managerial lower levels and vice versa.

Spokesperson - In this role, managers represent and speak for their

organization, as he or she communicates and transmit relevant information
about their organization to external parties.

DECISIONAL
Entrepreneur - As an entrepreneur, the manager designs and initiates changes
and strategies to enhance productivity and generate more income.
Disturbance handler - In this role, the manager always responds to employees’
disputes, operational breakdowns, and other issues whether internal or
external and uses solutions to resolve the problems.
Resource allocator - This role of the manager describes his control and the
allocation of organizational resources which will be put in use in all
organization’s operations.

Negotiator - As a negotiator, the manager participates in negotiations with

other organizations and individuals and he represents the interests of the
organization (Mulder 2016).

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MANAGERIAL SKILLS Definition of Terms
Managerial skills may be classified into three:
Manager - an individual
conceptual skills, human skills, and technical
engaged in management
skills. activities such as
Conceptual Skills. Conceptual skills supervising, sustaining,
enable managers to think of possible solutions upholding, and assuring
responsibilities for the work
to complex problems. Through their ability to
of others in his/her work
visualize abstract situations, they develop a
group, team, department,
holistic view of their organization and its on the organization in
relation to the wider external environment general
surrounding it. Top-level managers must have
these conceptual skills to be successful in their Managerial Roles - the
work. various roles played by
managers, such as
Human Skills. Human skills enable
interpersonal,
managers in all levels to relate well with informational, and
people. Communicating, leading, inspiring, decision-making roles
and motivating them to become easy with
the help of human skills. Dealing with people, Managerial Skills - the
both in the organization’s internal and various skill that managers
external environment, is inevitable, so must posses, such as
managers must develop these human skills. conceptual human and
technical skills.
Technical Skills. Technical skills are also
important for managers for them to perform
their tasks with proficiency with the use of their expertise. Lower-level
managers find these skills very important because they are the ones who
manage the non-management workers who employ varied techniques and
tools to be able to yield good quality products and services for their company
(Cabrera, Altarejos, and Riaz 2016, 11).

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ACTIVITY
Identification 1. Identify which of the management roles does each of the
following belong?

Entrepreneur Spokesperson Disseminator

Roles
Resource allocator Leader Liaison
Monitor Disturbance handler Negotiator
Figurehead

Draw this box and place your answers in the appropriate row:

Roles

Interpersonal

Informational

Decisional

Identification 2. Identify which management skills does each of the following

belong?

Critical thinker Imaginative Motivator

Skills
Problem solver Good Leadership Expertise in the field
Perform with proficiency Creative Inspiring
Good communicator Multi tasking

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 Draw this box and place your answers in the appropriate row:

Managerial Skills

Conceptual
skills

Human skills

Technical skills

III. What Have I Learned

There are 3 levels of management:
1. Top-level Managers. Top-level managers are the general or strategic
managers who focus on long-term organizational concerns and
emphasize the organization’s stability, development, progress, and
overall efficiency and effectiveness.
2. Middle-level Managers. Middle-level managers are the tactical
managers in charge of the organization’s middle levels or
departments.
3. Frontline or Lower-level Managers. Lower-level managers are also
known as operational managers and are responsible for supervising
the organization’s day-to-day activities; they are the bridges between
management and non-management employees.

Managerial Roles according to Mintzberg

1. Interpersonal
2. Informational
3. Decisional or Decision-making

Managerial Skills
1. Conceptual skills
2. Human skills
3. Technical skills

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POST TEST:
Test. Multiple choice. Choose the letter of the correct answer.

1. How are top-level managers different from managers at other levels?

Choose the best answer.
A. They only set goals for individual areas of the company
B. They have the most personal interaction with the general workforce
C. They are most responsible for implementing plans to achieve
organizational goals
D. They hold the most responsible for setting the overall direction of the entire
company

2. When Mark the manager communicates his department's resource needs

to company headquarters, which interpersonal role is he fulfilling?
A. Leader B. Disseminator
C. Liaison D. Figurehead
3. Fred the football coach must meet with the media and answer questions
about team performance after every game. Which one of Mintzberg's
managerial roles is Fred fulfilling?
A. Liaison B. Spokesperson
C. Disseminator D. Monitor
4. Sylvia is a manager at an accounting services firm. She is designing a long-
term organizational plan that will help in the development of all the projects in
current progress. What managerial level does Sylvia belong to?
A. Top-level managers B. Middle-level managers
C. Lower level managers D. None of the above
5. Which level of management is responsible for establishing a vision for the
organization, developing broad plans and strategies, and directing
subordinate managers?
A. Top-level managers B. Middle-level managers
C. Lower-level managers D. Operational managers
6. Which level of management is responsible for implementing programs that
are intended to carry out the broader objectives of an organization set by
executives?
A. Supervisory managers B. Middle-level managers
C. Top-level managers D. Lower-level managers
7. A manager who possesses the holistic knowledge and processes and
potential problems of an industry is a must. What type of managerial skills are
we referring to?
A. Conceptual skills B. Human skills
C. Technical skills D. None of these are correct
8. How do managers perform their roles as a liaison?

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 A. The manager serves as an intermediary and a linking pin between the
high and low levels
B. The managers represent and speak for their organization
C. The manager gathers all internal and external information that is relevant
to the organization
D. The manager is expected to carry out ceremonial and/or symbolic duties
9. These are skills that enable managers at all levels to relate well with people.
A. Conceptual skills B. Human skills
C. Technical skills D. Professional skills
10. What managerial level is described if one of their functions is to focus on
long-term organizational concerns and emphasize the organization’s stability,
development, progress, and overall efficiency and effectiveness?
A. Top-level managers
B. Middle-level managers
C. Lower-level managers
D. Operational managers

Test 2. Your Company is looking for competent managers to be assigned to

these following positions in the new business establishment. These are the
following:

1. General Manager (Top level), requires 2 years experience as Area

Manager.
2. Area Manager (Middle Level), requires 2 years experience as Branch
manager.
3. Branch Manager (Low level), requires 1-year experience as Assistant
branch manager.

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 Using the data below which contain the information of each applicant,
you are tasked to choose the best candidate based on the needs of the
company and the skills and roles each applicant has in their experiences.

Managerial Skills and roles

Applied
Applicants Experience that are identified by the
position
company

Critical and analytical

Alice 2 years area General
thinking, problem solver,
Duran manager manager
monitor, disseminator

Good communicator,
Robert 2 years branch Area
motivator, resource
Aba manager manager
allocator, spokesperson

Imaginative, inspiring,
critical and analytical
Hilda 3 years area General
thinking, problem solver,
Aragon manager manager
creative, figurehead,
Leader of the year

Perform with proficiency,

2 years assistant
Angela multi-tasking, expertise in Branch
branch
Rodriguez the field, an employee of manager
manager
the year award

Good leadership, inspiring,

Benjamin 1-year branch good communicator, Area
Uy manager motivator, liaison, leader of manager
the year award

1-year assistant Perform with proficiency,

Clarence Branch
branch multi-tasking, expertise in
Sy manager
manager the field

Requirement:
1. Identify which of them should be chosen for the new positions using the
specific managerial roles and skills that each employee has.

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Use the table provided below. (5 points)

Congratulations to the newly hired personnel for the following positions:

Name of chosen applicant

1. General Manager (Top level)

2. Area Manager (Middle Level)

3. Branch Manager (Low level)

2. Explain and Justify the reason why you have chosen those three
applicants that you deemed fit in those positions. (5 points each
managerial level, overall, 15 points)
Rubrics for requirement # 2:

Level of General Approach Comprehension

Achievement
Exemplary •Addresses the question. •Demonstrates an accurate and
(5 pts •States a relevant, justifiable complete understanding of the
quizzes) answer. question.
•Presents arguments in a •Backs conclusions with data and
logical order. warrants.
•Uses 2 or more ideas, examples,
and/or arguments that support
the answer.
Adequate •Does not address the •Demonstrates accurate but only
(3 pts question explicitly, although adequate understanding of
quizzes) does so tangentially. question because does not back
•States a relevant and conclusions with warrants and
justifiable answer. data.
•Presents arguments in a •Uses only one idea to support
logical order. the answer.
•Less thorough than above.
Needs •Does not address the •Does not demonstrate an
Improvement question. accurate understanding of the
(2 pts •States no relevant answers. question.
quizzes) •Indicates misconceptions. •Does not provide evidence to
•Is not clearly or logically support their answer to the
organized. question.
No answer (0
pts)

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 DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
SCHOOLS DIVISION OF NEGROS ORIENTAL

SENEN PRISCILLO P. PAULIN, CESO V

Schools Division Superintendent

JOELYZA M. ARCILLA, EdD

Assistant Schools Division Superintendent

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Assistant Schools Division Superintendent

NILITA L. RAGAY, EdD

OIC - Assistant Schools Division Superintendent
CID Chief

ROSELA R. ABIERA
Education Program Supervisor – (LRMS)

ELISA L. BAGUIO, EdD

Division Education Program Supervisor – MATHEMATICS

MARICEL S. RASID
Librarian II (LRMDS)

ELMAR L. CABRERA
PDO II (LRMDS)

SALVADOR G. AGUILAR JR.

Writer

RADHIYA A. ABABON
Lay-out Artist
_________________________________

ALPHA QA TEAM
LITTIE BETH S. BERNADEZ
MERCYDITHA D. ENOLPE
RONALD TOLENTINO
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BETA QA TEAM
ELIZABETH A. ALAP-AP
EPIFANIA Q. CUEVAS
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ENHANCEMENT TEAM
BB. BOY JONNEL C. DIAZ
JEE LIZA T. INGUITO
SALVADOR G. AGUILAR JR

DISCLAIMER

The information, activities and assessments used in this material are designed to provide accessible
learning modality to the teachers and learners of the Division of Negros Oriental. The contents of this module are
carefully researched, chosen, and evaluated to comply with the set learning competencies. The writers and
evaluator were clearly instructed to give credits to information and illustrations used to substantiate this material.
All content is subject to copyright and may not be reproduced in any form without expressed written consent from
the division.
 SYNOPSIS AND ABOUT THE AUTHOR

This Self-Learning Kit (SLK) ANSWERS KEY

is about the functions of a
manager and also his/her roles
and skills. This learning kit serves
as a guide which illustrates the
three levels of management
which are widely used by
different business organizations.
Activities and examples of
business situations are
specifically designed for ABM
learners to achieve the
objectives and to guide learners
to a successful and insightful
exploration in Organization and
Management.

LIAISON
LEADER MONITOR MANAGER
ENTREPRENEUR FIGUREHEAD SPOKESPERSON
INFORMATIONAL DISSEMINATOR INTERPERSONAL
PRETEST

AUTHOR
Salvador G. Aguilar Jr graduated from Villaflores College with a
Bachelor of Science in Commerce Major in Management
Accounting and also taken Bachelor of Science in Secondary
Education degree major in Social Science as his secondary
course. His 8 years of experience working in a private financial
institution and his experience in accounting where he passed NC
III bookkeeping assessment helped him teach ABM subjects
competently within his 2 years of teaching at Manjuyod National
High School – Senior High.
 REFERENCES

Cabrera, H., Altarejos, A., and Benjamin, R. 2016. Organization and

Management. Quezon City: Vibal Group Inc.

Mulder, P. 2016. Mintzberg Managerial Roles. Retrieved from:

https://www.toolshero.com/