MANAGEMENT ROLES

and
SKILLS
 Define “role”
• A role is a set of behaviours associated
with a particular job

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Mintzberg’s Managerial Roles
Henry Mintzberg studied CEOs at work
and created a scheme to define what
managers do on the job. These are
commonly referred to as Mintzberg’s
managerial roles.
These can be grouped into three primary
headings: interpersonal, informational and
decisional

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 INTERPERSONAL
Role Description
Figurehead Manager serves as an official
representative of the
organization or unit
Leader Manager guides and motivates
staff and acts as a positive
influence in the workplace
Liaison Manager interacts with peers
and with people outside the
organization to gain information
Identifiable Activity
Greeting visitors;
signing legal
documents
Staffing, training
Acknowledging
mail/email; serving on
boards; performing
activities that involve
outsiders
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 INFORMATIONAL
Role Description Identifiable Activity
Monitor Manager receives and Reading magazines
collects information and reports;
maintaining personal
contacts
Communication Manager distributes Holding meetings;
(Disseminator) information within the making phone calls to
organization relay information;
email/memos
Spokesperson Manager distributes Holding board
information outside the meetings; giving
organization information to the
media
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 DECISIONAL
Role Description Identifiable Activity
Entrepreneur Manager initiates change Organizing sessions
to develop new
programs; supervises
design of projects
Disturbance Manager decides how Steps in when an
Handler conflicts between employee suddenly
subordinates should be leaves or an important
resolved customer is lost
Resource Manager decides how the Scheduling;
Allocator organization will use its requesting
resources authorization;
budgeting
Negotiator Manager decides to negotiate Participating in union
major contracts with other contract negotiations
organizations or individuals or in those with
suppliers 6
 MANAGEMENT SKILLS
What are the critical skills that are related
to managerial competence?
Generally speaking, effective managers
must be proficient in four general skill
areas:
Conceptual
Interpersonal
Technical
Political

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 Conceptual skills
The mental ability to analyze and diagnose
situations.
The skills that help managers understand
how different parts of a business relate to
one another and to the business as a
whole.
Decision making, planning, and organizing
require these skills.

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 Interpersonal skills
The ability to work with, understand,
mentor, and motivate other people.
Interviewing job applicants, forming
partnerships with other businesses, and
resolving conflicts all require these skills.

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 Technical skills
The ability to apply specialized knowledge
or expertise.
Specific abilities that people use to
perform their jobs.
Operating a word processing program,
designing a brochure, training people to
use a budgeting system, understanding
manufacturing systems, etc. are examples
of technical skills.
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 Political skills
The ability to enhance one’s position, build
a power base, establish connections,
acquire resources for the business.

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