Role of Managers

To meet the many demands of performing their functions, managers assume multiple roles. A role is an organized set of behaviours. Henry Mintzberg has identified ten roles common to the work of all managers. The ten roles are divided into three groups. interpersonal (creating and maintaining of interpersonal relationships), informational (concerned with the information aspects of managerial work – resumption and transmission of information) and decisional (coming to decisions).  

1. Interpesonal roles include: 

– figurehead role – manager represents the business organization in all matters of formality, legally and socially to those inside and outside of the organization (it depends on his position in the enterprise’s structure) and he is like a company symbol for external environment, 

– leader role – he reaches the organization’s aims by using specified type of motivation oriented on employees needs satisfaction, 

– liaison role – manger interacts with peers and people outside the organization, he enters into agreements, contracts, gain the orders and therefore perform activity essential for the company. 

2. Information roles include: 

– monitor role – manager searches for the information concerned with the company’s activity (problems with selling, taxes, production, etc), which are necessary for making decisions; he read professional magazines connected with specificity and selling market of his enterprise,

 – disseminator role – manager transmits and propagate special information into the organization; he works up and sends reports, letters, etc, 

– spokesperson – disseminates the organization’s information into its environment (central government, local government, different offices, media, etc.) and into the organization (e.g. organized labour). 

3. Decision roles include:

 – enterpreteur role – manager analyzes possibilities of company’s development and implements systematic changes, initiates different programs and scientific research, encourages employees to make contribution and present individual ideas for developing the organization, 

– disturbance handler role – manager improves the organization’s structures, responds to conflicts, all types of criticism and complaints that appear in the company, solves them and counteracts new ones, eliminates disturbances and negative events in the enterprise, 

– resource allocator role – he chooses where the organization will expand its efforts, distribute limited resources (finance, technical, human, etc) in the organization, regulate their usage in work, prioritizes tasks and procedures,

 – negotiator role – manager negotiates on behalf of the organization in any individual or group, external or internal agreements. 

Nowadays the managerial roles have widened, became more complicated, active and creative. Managers, who want to administrate enterprises in an appropriate way must be up to the mark, fulfill more and more functions and play on many “stages”. They should be flexible, be able to adapt themselves to different situations and play many roles, change roles, adapt them and even create the roles , because the internal and external contexts of company’s functioning are constantly changing. Who is not able to keep up with it, will lose the game called “management art”.