INTRODUCTION

The question requires to discuss if the managerial functions and roles are similar, to a nearer
context these two terms are different, hence the managerial functions and roles are not similar the
management functions and the management roles are different whereby management functions is
what is the manager ought to do or his or her duty; but for management roles a manager plays his
or her part in the organization in a particular situation. We can see at there are situations that an
organization goes through a manager should play his or her key role or part in the organization
by using various skills and knowledge, the question will be answered by giving first the
overview of management then through the definitions of managerial functions, the functions also
being explained then to the roles and through to the conclusion as follows.
Management is the art of getting things done through and with people in formally organized
groups.
Harold Koontz gave this definition of management in his book “The Management Theory
Jungle”
Management is forecasting, planning, organizing, commanding, coordinating and controlling.
This is according Henri Fayol
Management is a distinct process of planning, organizing, actuating and controlling, performed
to determine and accomplish stated objectives with the use of human beings and other resources.
According to George R. Terry, “Management is a distinct process consisting of planning,
organizing, actuating and controlling; utilizing in each both science and art, and followed in
order to accomplish pre-determined objectives.”
According to Peterson and Plowman, “Management may be defined as the process by means of
which the purpose and objectives of a particular human group are determined, clarified and
effectuated.”
One popular definition is by Mary Parker Follett. Management, she says, is the “art of getting
things done through people.”
Generally; Management Is the process or action of one to plan, organize, control and direct the
organization’s resources and people to achieve the stated goals of the organization.

MAIN BODY

Managerial Functions; Are the activities or task or the natural purpose that a manager has to do
to ensure that the stated goals of an organization, company or office are attained by managing
people, resources and the technology available. The manager should have capabilities so as to
perform this activities in an organization.

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These Managerial functions they depend where a manager is in position, i.e. the position of the
manager in the organization is important to consider about and the environment. According to
(Harold Koontz, Cyril O’Donnell. 1976) “There are five key functions of management which are
Planning, Organizing, Staffing, Directing/Leading and controlling.
But also George Terry wrote his book of Principles of Management in 1968 and outlined four
core functions of Management, which are; Planning, Organizing, controlling and leading.
Also, Gulick et al. (1980) he outlined seven functions using the acronym POSDCORB. This
includes Planning, Organizing, Staffing, Directing, Coordinating, Reporting and Budgeting.

The following are the Management Functions in an organization;

 Planning; is the detailed process or act of giving of a proposal on achieving something or
giving strategic decisions, designing and deciding on various issues to achieve stated
goals. A person who does all this in a positive impact is a good planner. A manager
should be a good planner, he or she should be able to define the goals stated and to come
up with a great plan by giving strategic decisions, giving proposals to reach the analysed
goals of the organization he or she is working with, also by setting strategic and precise
objectives, performances, actions. All these is Just to meet the stated goals and achieve. A
manager can plan at any environment, it ensures the proper use of available resources and
the ability to understand how these should be used in order to achieve the goal also, there
is more focus when there is planning.
When a manager is planning, he or she identifies the activities or tasks to be performed to
achieve the desired goals, outlining how the tasks should be done and showing when and
by whom they must be done or performed.

 Organizing; is the state or act of one to arrange systematically or in order, making

arrangements or preparations for a certain operation or activity. A manager should be a
well organizer, a manager organizes or arranges ideal work routines in an organization,
they organize the institution’s projects, and managers also organize the organization’s
resources that is allocating them effectively for perfect operations and prosperous
achievements also allocating people, equipment and money in order to work well so as to
achieve the company’s goal, also organizing is all about creating work structures and
systems, arranging resources to achieve stated objectives, organization also puts the plan
set into work or in action made in the organization.
Example an operations Manager in a manufacturing organization should organize
routines for labourers or employees in machine operations for production of goods and
allocate resources and equipment so as to ensure good transformation process of the
inputs of the manufacturing organization to produce a good output consumable and meets
the standards of customers and maintain good customer value and good customer
relationship for giving feedbacks on products.

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 A good manager should be organized and also to be able to organize others well and in
allocation of resources in the organization to give positive impact and good results of the
operations of the organization and meeting company’s goals set.

 Leading; Is the process of being an initiative in action so it can be done or being an

example for others to follow, also leading is to cause a group of people to perform their
operations responsibly to achieve stated goals. This is sometimes known as influencing, a
manager should encourage active and strong interest to employees in achieving stated
goals, also by motivating them to work hard and maintaining good relations between one
another, also a manager should ensure a certain task or operation is completed and
fulfilled to the maximum potentiality. This function also goes beyond organizing
employees to their specific roles and it also involves managers to ensure the employees
are able to perform the tasks through a variety of means.

 Controlling; is the act of restraining or regulating and supervising various operations and
activities, a manager should be able to take into account all activities and operations in
the organization, controlling requires managers to compare performance against the plans
to monitor how successful an organization is at implementing its strategies. Controlling
also to managers is the process of monitoring performance against goals, intervening
when goals are not met and managers taking into action, controlling is very important
like as planning, organizing without controlling systems and operations of the
organization the goals of the organization cannot be reached.
Managers also have to ensure that things go well by monitoring and supervising
performance and taking corrective action where necessary, performance evaluation and
reward systems also managers have to do so as to achieve the stated goals of an
organization.

Other Functions which are not the main functions are directing, staffing, coordinating,
reporting and budgeting

 Directing; is the managerial function of guiding, supervising, motivating and leading

people towards the attainment of personnel targets of performance.
 Staffing; is the process of filling all positions in the organization with qualified
employees or personnel.
 Reporting; is the providing of information or notifying about anything happening within
the organization including regulations, laws, discoveries, data and many others or outside
the organization that concerns the organization, this is done to make sure employees have
the information or news of day to day or activities within the organization.
 Budgeting; is the process of looking at the organization’s incomes and the uses or
expenditures over a specific period in the organization, this is very important to have a
budget in order to control activities and operations within the organization. Example
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 budget for marketing, for providing education, for running day to day activities of the
organization.

Managerial roles; are specific behaviors associated with the task of management, this means
this are the behaviors that a certain manger should have so as to ensure stated goals of the
organization are achieved. Managers uses these roles to accomplish the basic functions of
management which are discussed before such as planning, organizing, leading, controlling,
staffing, directing, reporting and budgeting.
Managers in organizations they perform multiple roles as suggested by various authors.
According to Henry Mintzberg he identified ten managerial roles which he grouped them
into three major categories which are; Interpersonal, informational and decisional roles.

Diagram1

Interpersonal Roles; Interpersonal roles are the managerial roles that involve interacting with
other people inside and outside the organization. This generally means the relationship or
interaction of the manager and employees and other people apart from employees out of the
organization. According to H.Linda managers get things done through their network of
interpersonal relationships. Mintzberg identified three types of interpersonal roles; Figurehead
role, Leader role and liaison role.

Figurehead Role; Mintzberg said at all levels managers are figureheads. They welcome visitors
and greet them, represent the company at community events such as planting trees, cleaning up
1
It shows the ten Managerial roles identified by Henry Mintzberg.

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streets, visiting orphanage centers. For example on the organization’s anniversary of operations
the organization plans to clean
Various parts of the city including bus stops, hospitals and other areas hence the manager should
be there to clean also. By doing this the manager is acting as a figurehead for the organization.
Also managers welcome new staff, celebrate performance of the organization, giving awards,
hosting receptions, presentations and other activities associated with the figurehead role. A
manager also is also a figurehead by being a symbolic leader of the organization, performing
duties of social and legal character.
Liaison Role; A manager should be able to establish contacts with managers and specialists of
other divisions and organizations, informing the subordinates, also corresponding to business
activities in the organization, participating in meetings with representatives of other companies
or organizations. In their liaison role managers connect with people outside of the organization
such as suppliers, buyers and partners the aim is just to build a network of relationships and
hence they use this networks or connections to help in coordination of their activities and to gain
access to information which can be useful in the organization.

Informational Roles; Informational roles are concerned with collecting, processing and
disseminating information or news. Mangers collect information and news from various sources
both inside and outside the organization, process the information and distribute it within the
organization to the subordinates and employees. According to Mintzberg Information roles of
management are of three types monitor, disseminator, and spokesperson.
Monitor Role; managers should be monitors such that to scan the environment both inside and
outside the organization. To review competitive, technological and regulatory trends in the
markets in which the organization competes. Managers rely on formal and informal channels to
collect the information required for effective monitoring, formal channels include the
organization’s own internal accounting information systems and data provided by external
agencies, while informal channels include the manager’s own personal network which can be a
great source of information in the organization. A manager should be a monitor or a receiver,
collecting various data useful to work in the organization.
Disseminator Role; managers perform the role of dissemination, According to the Oxford
Dictionary it is the act or fact of spreading something especially information. Managers should
regularly inform staff about the company’s direction and technical issues or difficulties, this can
be done through one to one informal conversations with specific employees about particular
matters. Also managers should transmit information obtained from both outside sources and
employees to important people inside the organization including top administrators and board
members.
Spokesperson Role; Managers should be able to speak for their organization or on behalf of
their organization. A manager is responsible for transmitting the information about the
organization and its goals to the people outside it. Also a manager should deliver specific

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information to individuals and groups located outside their organization. For example sales
managers communicate with business partners regarding new sale plans. Another example a
CEO meet with investors, government officials, community leaders and others to speak about the
development of the company and its operations.

Decisional Roles; According to D.Peter, whatever managers do, they do through making
decisions. After collecting the information from various sources through monitoring is directed
towards discovering problems or opportunities, weighing various options and hence making
decisions which are later put in action. Mintzberg identified four decisional roles which are;
Entrepreneur, Disturbance handler, Resource allocator and negotiator.
Entrepreneur Role; as a manager, a manager should create and control change within the
organization. This means solving problems, generating new ideas and implementing them in the
organization. Managers should perform entrepreneurial role so as to survive in competitive
markets, managers should initiate and pioneer new products, processes and operations and
quickly adopt and put them in action in an organization. Managers should be innovators, should
innovate new product, processes or operations and change the previous ones to bring
development and achieve stated goals into the organization. They may develop or use new and
advanced technologies and sometimes response to feedback from consumers can help through.
They also initiate improvement projects; identify new ideas and delegate those ideas
responsibility to others.
Disturbance Handler Role; Disturbance handling includes addressing problems as they arise
and resolving them. In managerial work problems may arise often. Sales may grow slowly,
production processes may stop or delay. Hence managers must decide what to do about these
problems very quickly also managers have to take corrective action during disputes or crises in
the organization, resolve conflicts among subordinates and also adapt environments. A manager
should help to mediate disputes within it, he or she has to correct ongoing activities and assume
responsibility when factors threatening normal work of the organization emerge, debating and
decision making on strategic current issues concerning ways of overcoming situations.
Resource Allocator Role; A manager should draw up and approve schedules, plans and estimate
budgets and controlling their execution, also deciding on expenditure of the organization’s
physical, financial and human resources he or she decide who gets resources and determine the
priorities. Organizations never have enough money, time, facilities or people to satisfy all their
needs. This is an important responsibility of managers to decide how best to allocate the
minimum resources under their control in order to meet the organization’s goals. As a resource
allocator a manager should be in charge with all resources of the organization including
employees, equipment, time, technology and other inputs in order to undergo a well
transformation process to obtain good output of services or goods to customers. For example a
marketing manager in cooperation with the finance managers may allocate money between
media advertising, promotion and distribution, a production manager may allocate money for

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new equipment to ensure good production. Generally; resource allocation decisions should be
guided by the goals set and the strategies of organization.

Negotiator Role; negotiator role is very continual for managers in any organization. Negotiation
is the act of finding a way over or through or obtaining or bringing about by discussion, hence
managers negotiate with suppliers for better delivery, lower prices and higher quality inputs.
They also negotiate with customers over the pricing, delivery and design of products and
services. They also negotiate with subordinates and employees in the organization over resources
and cooperation in working, they negotiate with higher superiors for access to resources
including capital, equipment, employees and facilities. They also negotiate with subordinates in
their own work unit, trying to allocate employees between tasks to meet the goals of both the
organization and individual employees. Managers who are successful when making these
negotiations can lower input costs, get better and good deals with the customers, represent the
department from which him or her is coming from on contracts, sales, purchases, budgets and
conditions of working of his or her subordinates to the superiors, also get the quality resources
hence managers who are good negotiators implement or achieve the goals of the organization
and raise its performance of the organization.

CONCLUSION
In a Broaden generalization, Managerial functions and roles are an important attribute of any
organization that can make it or break it. Managers use these functions and roles to make sure
they achieve the goals set in the organization, although their roles and responsibilities vary
depending on their levels and position in the organization however all managers have to lead and
develop other employees, plan and strategize for their units or departments, organize them and
apply controls and motivation to employees in the organizations, in order to do all these there are
certain behaviors that a manager should have which are now referred to as the managerial roles.
Successful Managers are made, one can become an excellent manager when he or she learns and
practice the behaviors, methods and techniques of others.
A good manager should be able to perform these functions and the roles respectively for success
and good performance of the organization but these terms functions and roles are used
interchangeably but in fact they are not similar they are different.
In our discussion we have seen the Managerial functions are just the things a manager should do,
this are just his tasks or responsibilities a manager ought to perform, or the capabilities a
manager should have to perform activities and making sure the goals are achieved in the
organization at a good success rate but the Managerial roles are just the behaviors associated
with the task of management that a manager should have, they adopt these roles to accomplish
the functions.

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 REFERENCES
Saxena, P. (2009). Principles of Management: A Modern Approach, New Delhi: Global India
Publications PVT LTD.

Koontz, H. and O’Donnell, C. (1984). Management, 8th edition. McGraw-Hill.

Mintzberg, H. (1973). The Nature of Managerial Work, New York: Harper & Row.

Managerial Roles and Functions. Retrieved on February 12th, 2021. From

https://www.wisdomjobs.com .

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