Mintzberg's Management Roles
Mintzberg’s Management Roles is a Guideline that
describes what Roles Managers tend to play on a daily
basis.
These Roles were established by Henry Mintzberg in
1990.
According to Mintzberg, there are 10 main Roles that
Managers usually play.
These Roles are classified into 3 different categories:
Interpersonal Roles.
Informational Roles.
Decisional Roles.
1. Interpersonal Roles
These Roles are those whose purpose is
to Interact, Motivate and Improve Relationships between employees.
1. Figurehead: Managers tend to be Aspirational Figures.
Somebody people admire, with Authority, Presence and Integrity.
2. Leader: Managers lead People, not just on Work-related matters.
Managers know How to Lead and make People follow them.
3. Liaison: Managers must know How to Bond and establish
Relationships.
Establishing alliances with third parties and other internal
departments.
2. Informational Roles
Managers know, or must know, How
to Understand, Process and Transmit data, in order to Allocate Resources
properly.
4. Monitor: Managers Analyze and draw Accurate Conclusions from
available data.
They know what information is important and what is not.
5. Disseminator: Managers know How to Transmit data effectively.
Highlighting what is important based on who will receive the Information.
6. Spokesperson: A Manager knows How to speak on behalf of the
Company.
No matter if he (or she) speaks with internal employees or third parties.
3. Decisional Roles
Managers tend to fill that position because they know
how to make the best Decisions.
A right decision can make a company successful …
And a bad one can doom it.
7. Entrepreneur: A Manager has to be able to take
Innovative and Brave Decisions.
Adapting to New Trends and Technologies.
8. Disturbance Handler: Managers must solve the
Problems that the Company has Internal and external
Problems.
9. Resource Allocator: Managers
must Properly Allocate Company Resources.
By assigning the right tasks to the right
employees, for example.
10. Negotiator: Managing implies to
Negotiate with Employees, Suppliers, etc.
A Manager is continuously Negotiating to make
things move forward.
Roles of Managers – Interpersonal Roles,
Informational Roles and Decisional Roles
1. Interpersonal Role:
i. Figure Head Role:
a. Doing ceremonial duties like receiving visitors,
attending the wedding of subordinates.
b. Signing documents.
c. Delivering speeches at social gatherings.
ii. Leadership Role:
Motivating subordinates and directing them
towards goal accomplishment.
iii. Liaison Role:
a. Integrating organization internally and
externally.
b. Integrating individuals with the
organization vertically and horizontally.
c. Integrating the organization with its
environment to assess the level of
competition, magnitude of social change,
impact of Government policies, and
legislative enactment, etc.
2. Informational Role:
i. Monitoring Role:
Receiving from several sources to obtain thorough
knowledge about environments influencing
organization.
ii. Disseminator:
Transmitting information collected from different
sources to other members of the organization.
iii. Spokesperson:
Representing organization to the outside world and
explaining goals, policies decision, programmes and
results of certain actions.
3. Decisional Role:
i. Entrepreneurs:
a. Whenever opportunities manifest, he initiates
action for capitalizing it.
b. Absorbing changes or bringing in changes
into the organization to capitalize opportunities
identified through environmental scanning.
c. Conducting viability study, organizing
strategy meeting with the project manager and
R&D personnel.
ii. Trouble Shooter:
Intervening whenever unexpected events unfold like
strike, grievances, cash flow shortage, accident, etc.
iii. Resource Allocator:
Deciding the priorities of organizational activities
and allocating resources to those activities.
iv. Negotiator:
Representing an organization in negotiating deals
within the organization and also with external
agencies like suppliers’ contractors, banks and the
like.
