Managerial Roles

Dear Students,

In one of my recent write-ups, I shared with you the various managerial functions*. The purpose of this communiqué is to mention the various managerial roles.

So, after you have finished reading this article, you will be certain that functions and roles are not synonymous to a manager. This aspect of managerial roles is the work of Henry Mintzberg who is one of the proponents of the modern school of management thoughts.

According to Mintzberg, a manager can primarily discharge 3 roles, namely, interpersonal roles, informational roles and decisional roles. Let us see what each of these roles constitute:

(a) Interpersonal roles:
(i) Figurehead: performing ceremonial & social duties as the organisation’s representative e.g. at Conference.
(ii) Leader: of people, uniting & inspiring the team to achieve objectives.
(iii) Liaison: communication with people outside the manager’s work group or the organization.

(b) Informational roles :
(i) Monitor: receiving information about the organisation’s performance and comparing it with objectives.
(ii) Disseminator: passing on information , mainly to subordinates.
(iii) Spokesman: transmitting information outside the unit or organisation on behalf of the unit or organisation.

(c) Decisional roles :
(i) Entrepreneur: being a ‘fixer’- mobilising resources to get things done & sieze opportunities.
(ii) Disturbance-handler: rectifying mistakes and getting operations and relationships back on course.
(iii) Resource-allocator: distributing resources in the way that will most efficiently achieve defined objectives.
(iv) Negotiator: bargaining, eg.,for required resources & influence.

The crux lies in understanding which role you should play at a given point of time & act accordingly.

With best wishes,

Prof. D. P. Chattopadhyay
(Globsyn Business School)

* To read 'Managerial Functions' click here