MANAGERIAL ROLES IN ORGANIZATIONS:Informational roles, Decisional roles

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Principles of Management MGT503

Lesson 1.3

MANAGERIAL ROLES IN ORGANIZATIONS

Management Roles:

Managers fulfill a variety of roles. A role is an organized set of behaviors that is associated with a particular

office or position.

Dr. Henry Minzberg, a prominent management researcher, says that what managers do can best be

described by looking at the roles they play at work. The term management role refers to specific categories

of managerial behavior. There are three types of roles which a manager usually does in any organization.

Interpersonal roles are roles that involve people (subordinates and persons outside the organization) and

other duties that are ceremonial and symbolic in nature. The three interpersonal roles include being a

figurehead, leader, and liaison.

Informational roles involve receiving, collecting, and disseminating information. The three informational

roles include a monitor, disseminator, and spokesperson.

Decisional roles revolved around making choices. The four decisional roles include entrepreneur,

disturbance handler, resource allocator, and negotiator.

In the late 1960s, Henry Mintzberg concluded that managers perform 10 different, but highly interrelated

roles.

Follow-up studies of Mintzberg's role categories in different types of organizations and at different

managerial levels within organizations have generally supported the notion that managers perform similar

roles.

However, the more traditional functions have not been invalidated. In fact, the functional approach still

represents the most useful way of classifying the manager's job.

As depicted in following table, Mintzberg delineated ten managerial roles in three categories.

Interpersonal roles grow directly out of the authority of a manger's position and involve

developing and maintaining positive relationships with significant others.

The figurehead performs symbolic legal or social duties.

The Leader builds relationships with employees and communicates with, motivates, and

coaches them.

The liaison maintains a network of contacts outside the work unit to obtain information.

Informational roles pertain to receiving and transmitting information so that managers can serve

as the nerve centers of their organizational units.

The monitor seeks internal and external information about issues that can affect the

organization.

The disseminator transmits information internally that is obtained from either internal or

external sources.

The spokesperson transmits information about the organization to outsiders.

Decisional roles involve making significant decisions that affect the organization.

The entrepreneur acts as an initiator, designer, and encourager of change and innovation.

The disturbance handler takes corrective action when the organization faces important,

unexpected difficulties.

The resource allocator distributes resources of all types, including time, funding,

equipment, and human resources.

The negotiator represents the organization in major negotiations affecting the manager's

areas of responsibility

The four major functions of management--planning, organizing, leading, and controlling provide

the purpose for managers taking the roles they do.

Principles of Management MGT503

Professor Mintzberg explained his concept with the help of table; it is given on next page:

Mintzberg's

Examples of Identifiable

Managerial Roles

Role

Description

Activities

Interpersonal

Symbolic head: obliged to Greeting visitors: signing

Figurehead

perform a number of legal documents

routine duties of a legal or

social nature.

Leader

Responsible

for

the Performing virtually all

motivation

of activities

that

involve

subordinates: responsible subordinates

for staffing, training, and

associated duties.

Liaison

Maintains self-developed Acknowledging mail: doing

network

outside external

board

work:

contacts and informers performing other activities

who provide favors and that involve outsiders

information.

Informational

Monitor

Seeks and receives wide Reading periodicals and

variety of internal and reports: maintaining personal

external information to contacts.

develop

thorough

understanding

organization

and

environment.

Disseminator

Transmits

information Holding

informational

received from outsiders or meetings: making phone calls

from subordinates to to relay information.

members

the

organization

Spokesperson

Transmits information to Holding board meetings:

outsiders on organization's giving information to the

plans, policies, actions, media.

results,

Decisional

Entrepreneur

Searches organization and Organizing strategy and

its

environment

for review sessions to develop

opportunities and initiates new programs

"improvement projects"

to bring about changes

Disturbance

Responsible for corrective Organizing strategy and

handler

action when organization review sessions that involve

faces

important, disturbances and crises

unexpected disturbances

Resource

Responsible

for

the Scheduling:

requesting

allocator

allocation

of authorization:

performing

organizational resources of any activity that involves

all kinds making or budgeting

and

the

approving all significant programming

organizational decisions

subordinates' work

Negotiator

Responsible

for Participating

union

representing

the contract negotiations

organization at major

negotiations

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