• THE ROLE OF MANAGERS IN ORGANIZATIONS

    Manager is someone who works with and through other people by coordinating their work activities in order to accomplish organizational goals.[1] According to Mintzberg’s managerial roles, the roles of manager in organizations can be divided into 3 major categories which is interpersonal role, informational roles and decisional roles.[2]

                Interpersonal roles deal with the manager’s relationships with others in certain ways.. Interpersonal roles are roles that involve people whether subordinates or persons outside the organization and other duties that are ceremonial and symbolic in nature.[3] Interpersonal roles refer to teaching and leading employees.[4] They arise directly from a manager’s formal position and authority.[5] In interpersonal roles, manager can be as a figurehead, leader and liaison. As a figurehead, a manager is the head of his or her work unit, be it a division, department, or section. Because of this position, the manager must routinely perform certain ceremonial duties. For example, the manager may be required to entertain visitors to the organization, attend a subordinate’s wedding, or participate in a group luncheon.[6] Traditional concepts of management focus on organizing, planning, and control. However, when observed at their jobs, managers appear to spend most of their jobs, manager appear to spend most of their time in meetings, talking on the phone, reading or preparing reports, discussing projects with their colleagues, explaining procedures, and participating in other activities that are difficult to fit into the traditional framework[7] Mintzberg (1973) declared that the manager's position is always the starting point in a given analysis concerning organizations. Since the manager is the leader of a particular organizational unit, formal authority and status are immediate for the manager. From this formal authority and status come the interpersonal roles. First, in the role of figurehead, the manager represents the company in formal matters with the external constituencies. Second, in the role of liaison, the manager forms partnerships with colleagues and external constituencies to secure favors and information. Third, in the role of leader, the manager has the responsibility to motivate and develop subordinates.[8]

        Informational tasks are based on the organization, such as relaying information to subordinates or summarizing information for executives[9] The information roles involve receiving , collecting, and disseminating information. The three informational roles include monitor, disseminator, and spokesperson[10] The manager’s monitoring roles include seeking and receiving information from many sources to evaluate the organization’s performance, well-being, and situation.  The manager also exchanges and processes information.[11] In the role of disseminator, the manager is able to communicate information to individuals internal to the organization. In a much broader sense, as spokesperson, the manager is able to communicate the organization's message to the outside environment.

        Decision-Making roles involve evaluating alternatives and choosing directions that benefit the firm.[12] So, the decisional roles revolve around making choices.[13] The manager is the apex of status and authority and because of all information must come through this position, the manager is at the focal point for decision making. The four decisional roles include entrepreneur, disturbance handler, resource allocator, and negotiator.  The role of an entrepreneur includes designing and initiating much of the controlled changes within an organization. Managers identify new ideas and delegate idea responsibility to others. The manager’s responsibility as a disturbance handler involves taking charge in the organization when internal problems arise which have no clear solution. These internal problems may come from staff members and/or threats made by outsiders. A manager’s role as a resource allocator involves creating work schedules as well as programming and authorizing work to subordinates. The overall concept is to ensure that the basic work system is in place and to program staff overloads.

                The manager’s role as a negotiator is to take charge over important negotiating activities internally and externally. The negotiator role is important because the manager may be faced with routine or unexpected negotiations. [14] In many ways managers expend a lot of their effort in making decisions or contributing information so others can make decisions.[15]  The broader decision process involves collecting data, identifying problems, and implement a solution with this broader definition, many of the tasks performed by managers are actually steps in the decision process. Meeting, phone calls, and discussions with colleagues are used to collect data, identify problems, and persuade others to choose a course of action. Each of these steps may be so gradual that the participants do not think they are actually making decisions.[16]  Because of the subtlety of the process and the complexity of the decisions, it is often difficuit to determine what information will be needed. Decisions often require creativity before problems arise, it is challenging to design information systems to support managers and benefiot the organization. One important job of management is to examine the need for information and how it can be used to solve future problems.[17]

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