ORGANIZATIONAL MANAGEMENT

Explain the Functions, Roles and Skills of a Manager

What is a manager?

Manager is a person responsible for supervising and motivating employees and for directing the
progress of an organization.

A manager is one of the most important personnel which influences the productivity and success
of any business organization.

Managers supervise, sustain, uphold, and assume responsibility for the work of others.

MANAGERIAL LEVELS

1. TOP-LEVEL MANAGER – are the general or strategic managers who focus on long term
organizational concerns.
 They are the senior executives of an organization. They are responsible for its overall
management. They are often referred to as strategic managers and are supposed to
focus on long-term issues and emphasize the survival, growth, and overall effectiveness
of the organization.
2. MIDDLE-LEVEL MANAGER – are the tactical managers in charge of the organization’s middle
levels or departments.
 As the name implies, middle-level managers are located just below top-level managers
and above frontline managers. While top-level managers are referred to as strategic
managers, middle-level managers are known as tactical managers.
3. FRONTLINE OR LOWER-LEVEL MANAGER – are also known as operational managers and are
responsible for supervising the organization’s day-to-day activities.
 They are considered as operational managers, they are lower-level managers who
supervise the operations of the organization. These managers often have titles such as
supervisor or sales manager. They are directly involved with non-management
employees, implementing the specific plans developed with middle managers. Their role
in the organization is critical because operational managers are the link between
management and non-management personnel.

CATEGORIES OF MANAGERIAL ROLES ACCORDING TO MINTZBERG

A role is defined as an organized set of behaviors belonging to an identifiable office or position.

Thus, actors, managers, and others play roles that are predetermined, although individuals may interpret
them in different ways.

INTERPERSONAL – the roles in this category involve providing information and ideas.

1. Leader – staffing, training, and motivating people.

  The manager, as in charge of the organization/department, coordinate the work of
others and leads his subordinates.
 This role includes hiring, training, motivating and disciplining employees. Formal
authority and functional authority provides greater potential power to exercise and get
the things done.
2. Figurehead – performing symbolic duties (ceremonies and serving other social and legal
demands).
 Welcoming official visitors, signing legal documents, etc., as head of the organization or
strategic business unit or department.
 Duties of interpersonal roles include routine, involving little serious communication and
less important decisions. However, they are important for the smooth functioning of an
organization or department.
3. Liaison – maintaining a network of outside contacts who provide information and favors.
 As a leader of the organization or unit, the manager has to perform the functions of
motivation, communication, encouraging team spirit and the like. Further, he has to
coordinate the activities of all his subordinates, which involves the activity of a
liaison.
 This role also requires the manager to interact with other managers outside the
organization to secure favors and information. In this role, the manager represents
his organization in all matters of formality.

INFORMATIONAL – the roles in this category involve processing information.

1. Monitor – seeking and receiving information to develop a thorough understanding of the

organization and its environment; serving as the “nerve center’ of communication.
 As a result of a network of contacts, the manager gets the information by scanning
his environment, subordinates, peers and superiors.
 The manager seeks and receives information concerning internal and external
events so as to gain understanding of the organization and its environment.
 Typically, this is done through reading magazines and talking with others to learn the
changes in the public’s tastes, what competitors may be planning, and the like.
 Managers, mostly collect information in verbal form often as gossip, hearsay,
speculation and through grapevine channels.
2. Disseminator – transmitting information from source to source, sometimes interpreting and
integrating diverse perspectives.
 Manager disseminates the information he collects from different sources and
through various means. He passes some of the privileged information directly to his
subordinates, peers and superiors who otherwise have no access to it. This
information is gathered by him from his environments and from his own equals in
the organization.
 The manager will play an important role in disseminating the information to his
subordinates, when they don’t have contact with one another.
3. Spokesperson – speaking on behalf of the organization about plans, policies, actions, and
results.
  Managers also perform a spokesperson role when they represent the organization to
outsiders. Manager is required to speak on behalf of the organization and transmit
information on organization’s plan, policies and actions.
 The manager has to keep his superior informed of every development in his unit,
who in turn inform the insiders and outsiders. Directors and shareholders must be
informed about the financial performance, customers must be informed about the
new product developments, quality maintenance, government officials and
implementation of law, etc.

DECISIONAL – the roles in this category involve using information.

1. Entrepreneur – searching for new business opportunities and initiating new projects to
create change.
 As an entrepreneur, the manager is a creator and innovator. He initiates and oversee
new products that will improve their organization’s performance.
 He seeks to improve his department, adapt to the changing environmental factors.
 The manager would like to have new ideas, initiates new projects and initiates the
developmental projects.
2. Disturbance Handler – taking corrective action during crises and other conflicts.
 As a disturbance handler, managers take corrective action to respond to previously
unforeseen problems.
 Disturbance handler role presents the manager as the involuntary responders to
pressures. Pressures of the situation require attention of the manager and as such,
the manager cannot ignore the situation.
 For example, worker strike, declining sales, bankruptcy of a major customer etc.
 The manager should have enough time in handling disturbance carefully, skillfully
and effectively.
3. Resource Allocator – providing funds and other resources to units or people; includes
making or approving significant organizational decisions.
 The most important resource that a manager allocates to his subordinates is his
time. As a resource allocator, managers are responsible for allocating human,
physical and monetary resources.
 Accordingly, setting up of a time schedule for the completion of an operation or
approval of expenditure on a particular project, etc., are the functions which the
managers perform in the role of a resource allocator.
 The manager should have an open-door policy and allow the subordinates to
express their opinions and share their experiences. This process helps both the
manager and his subordinates in making effective decisions. In addition, the
manager should empower his subordinates by delegating his authority and power.
4. Negotiator – engaging in negotiations with parties outside the organization as well as inside.
 In this role, the manager represents the organization in bargaining and negotiations
with outsiders and insiders, in order to gain advantages for his own unit.
 He negotiates with the subordinates for improved commitment and loyalty, , with
the peers for cooperation, coordination and integration, with workers and their
 unions regarding conditions of employment, commitment, productivity, with the
government about providing facilities for business expansion, etc.
 These negotiations are integral part of the manager’s job for only he has authority to
commit organizational resources and has nerve center of information.

MANAGERIAL SKILLS

Understanding the functions and roles of a manager still does not ensure success. They need a
variety of skills to be able to perform well. Skill is an ability and capacity acquired through deliberate
systematic, and sustained effort to smoothly and adaptively carryout complex activities or job functions.
Although managers need many individual skills, there are three essential categories: technical skills,
interpersonal and communication skills, and conceptual and decision skills.

There are three classifications of managerial skills:

1. Conceptual and Decision Skills

Conceptual and Decision skills involve the ability to identify and resolve problems for the
benefit of the organization and everyone concerned. Managers use these skills when
they consider the overall objectives and strategy of the firm, the interactions among
different parts of the organization, and the role of the business in its external
environment. This is essential as you acquire greater responsibility, vital for top-level
managers, less critical or mid-level and frontline managers.

2. Human Skills (Interpersonal and Communication Skills)

Illustrates the manager’s ability to work with people. This is considered as one of the
most critical management tasks, and managers spend the great majority of their time
interacting with people. Without people, there will not be a need for the existence of
management and managers.

Managers must develop their abilities to lead, motivate, and communicate effectively
with those around them. Your human skills often make the difference in how high you
go. That is why this skill is essential for all hierarchical levels in the company.

3. Technical Skills
Comprise the knowledge and capabilities to perform specialized tasks related to a
specific field. Management often needs to have technical skills in orders to communicate
effectively with the line workers and coordinate effort. We should also know that
technical skills are not related only for machines, production tools or other equipment,
but also, they are skills that will be required to increase sales, design different types of
products and services, market the products and services, etc.
Technical skills are most important for first-level managers (frontline managers). When it comes
to top-level managers, these skills are not something with high significance level. As we go
through a hierarchy from the bottom to higher levels, the technical skills lose their importance.