w The manager's job: folklore and fact Henry Mintzberg The classical view says that the manager organizes, coordinates, plans, and controls; the facts suggest otherwise uae what des the maser dottor yen the menage, the hear of he orgies tion, has ben assumed 12 te lite an orchena lear, contaling the ios pare of Bi rganizstion wih the ease nd rein of Se rawe: However when oe lake at he ew ‘len that ave been ‘onecoveng mancgera postions fo the Prnident of te Uaited Siew ect ang leader acs show (at manager ae not etecive replated wie infomed by Sele manive st inerpenoet, nor ‘Sato sad deena! ‘rant be mere eee. shat hel Jo ell i Ind then oe the resources Schand wo supper rather than hamper their own sare. Undentanding Sesing themselves takes toes intespen tad bjectiviy onthe mane ges par At te nd Fhe trie the sther Includes a see of erty ‘qustoas vo elp provide Secs Me, Miners ia asociate ‘profesor inthe acl of ‘Management at Mecil Univer, Montes (Canada He i curreatly 2 ring profesor at enue dead ot Recherche sr fer ‘ongninona et It geaon AE} im Aicene Provence, rane. Some of the mate ia hi srele in‘condened fron he fSuthors book The Nase Of danagel Work, publihed by Hamer & If you ask a manager what he does, he will most Likely ell you that be plans, organizes, coordinates, and conuols. Then watch what he does, Don't be Surprised if you can't relate what you see to these four words. ‘When he is called and told that one of his factories has just bummed dowa, and he advise che caller see whether temporary arengements can be made to supply customers through «foreign subsidiary, is Ihe planning, organizing, coordinating, or contol ling! How about when be presents «gold watch t 4 redring employee! Or when he attends « confer nce to meet people inthe tide! Or on returning from that conference, when he tells one of his em- ployees about an interesting product idea he picked Up there? ‘The fat is that these four words, which have dos inated management vocabulary since the French in: userlist Henri Fayol Ars ineoduced them in 1926, tell us litle about what managers actually do, AC best, they indiete some vague objecuives managers Ihave when they work ‘The Reld of management, 0 devoted to progess and change, has for more than hell «century no serious ly adetessed the basic question: What do managers dol Without « proper snawer, how oan we seach ‘management! How can we design planning or in. formation systems for managers! How ezn we ia prove the practice of management at all!(Our ignorance of the nature of managerial work shows up in various ways ia che modem organiza. flonvia the boast by the successful manager that he never spent a single day in a management waar {ng piogam, in the curnover of corporate olanners who never quite understood what ie was the mas ager wanted) in the compucer consoles gathering ‘duet in the backroom because the managers never used the fancy omline MIS some analyst thought they needed, eshaps most important, our ignorance hove up in the inability of our letge public of {nizations to come to gripe with some of their most serious policy problems. Somehow, inthe rash c0 sutomste production, to ‘use management science in the functional areas of marketing and finance, and to apply the skills of the behavioral scientist f0 the problem of worker ‘motivation, the manager-that pezsoa in charge of the organisation of one of it subunits—has been forgocten, My intention in this aricl is simple: to break the reader away from Fayol's words and inuoduce him to's more supportable, and whet I believe «9 be 2 ‘more useful, description of managedial work. This descripdon derives from my review and synthesis of the available research on how various managers Ihave spent ther time. In some sedies, managers were cbserved intensively (shadowed isthe term some of them used); in 2 ‘numberof other, they kept detailed diaries of thie Actives in a few stadies, their ecords were an alyzed, All kinds of managers were studied=fore nen, factory supervisor, staff managers, Geld sles ‘manager, hospital administrator, presidents of com. panies and nations, and even street gang leaders, ‘These “managers” worked in the United States, Canada, Sweden, and Great Britain. In the ruled insert on page 53 8 4 brief review ofthe major stud fe that I found most wefal ia developing this de seciption, including my own sedy of five American Chief executive officers A synthesis of these Gadings paints an interesting Picture, one as diferent from Fayol's classical view 45 cubist absuae ie from a Renaissance painting ina sense, this picture will be obvious to anyone who hat ever speat a day in a manzger's ofce, ‘ithe im front ofthe desk or behind te Ye, at the Same ime, this picture may turn out t be revolu Wonscy, in that throws into doube so much ofthe folklore chat we have secepted about the manager work. {Brat discuss some of this folklore and contrast it with some ofthe discoveries of systematic research {he hard facts about how managers spend thew me ‘Then T synthesize chese research Bindings in a de. sestotion of ten goles that seem to describe the es ‘ential content of all manages jobs. Ina concluding fection, I discuss « number of implications of this synthesis for those eying to achieve more efecive ‘Blanegement, both in classrooms ead a the business woul Some folklore and facts about managerial work ‘There are four mychs about the managers job that do not bear up under careful senitiny of the fact 1 Folklore: The manager is a reflective. systematic planner. The evidence on this issu is overwnelm- Ing, but noc shred of ie suppors this statement ace: Seudy afer study has shown that managers ‘work qt an unrelenting poce, chat their ectivites are characterized by brevity, vatiery, and discontinuity, dnd that they ate scongiy oriented to action and dislike reflective acuvities. Consider this evidence o Hilf the acelvties engaged In by the five chief ex- coutives of my seudy lasted less than nine minutes, snd only of exceeded one hour! A study of 56 US. foremen found that they averaged 583 acivites per elghehour shift, an average of t every 48 sec: (nds The work pace for both chief executives and foremen was unrelenting. The chief exeeutives met 4 steady steam of calles and mail from the moment they arnved in the moraing atl they left in the evening, Cole bresks and lunches were Ineviably ‘work related, and ever present subordinates seemed {9 usurp any free moment. a AA diary study of 160 British middle and top man- agers found che they worked fora half hour or more ‘wiehout incerruption only about once every eo days a (Of dhe verbal contaess ofthe chief executives in my study, 93% were aranged on an ad hoe basis. Only 1% of the executives time was spent in open-endedobservational tours. Only 1 out of 368 verbal con: (acts was unvelated ta specific issue and could be sale general planning “Another scercer fads that "in aot one single case did a manager report the obtaining of importante extemal information fom 4 general converscion of other unduetied pesonal ° No study bas found important pattems in the way ‘managers schedule cher time. They seem to ump from isue to issue, continually responding t0 the seeds of the moment. Is cis the planner that th classical view describes? Hardly. How, thea, can we explain this behavior! ‘The manager is simply responding to the presses of his job. I found that my chiet executives ter ‘minated many of their own aetviies, often leaving ‘meetings before the end, and interrupted their desk ‘work teal in subordinates, One president not only placed bis desk so that he could foo downs long fallway bue also lef hie dooc open when he sae alone~an invitation for subordinate 10 come in sd interupt him. Cleary, these manasers wanted to encourage the flow of current information. But more significantly, they seemed tp be eonditioned by their own work loads. They appreciated the opporeuniy cost of thee own time, and they were continually awate of their ever present obligatons-mail to be answered, callers to attend to, and so on. It seems that no matter what he is doing, the manager is plagued by the possiblities of what he might do and what he must do. ‘When the manager must plan, he seems to do so ‘enplictly in the context of daily setons, not in some abstract process reserved for two weeks ia the organization's mountain rettsat The plas of the chief executives {studied seemed to exist only in thes Readswas evble, but often specif, inten tions. The traditional lierseure notwithstanding. the job of managing does not breed restive planters, the manager is 2 tealtime responder to stills a Individual who is conditioned by his job to prlet live to delayed action. Folkiore: The efecaive manager has no regular dx ‘ues to perform. Managers ate constantly being ‘old to spend more time planning and delegating, ond less time seeing customers and engaging ia negota- soon Then are not ter ll the aves of she manager. To use the popular analogy, the good ‘manager, ike the good tonductor,eatfully orehes: leates everthing in advance, then sis back to enjoy the fruits of his labor, responding occasionally oe ‘unforeseeable exception, ‘But here again the pleasant abstscton just does aot seem to hold up. We had better take a closer look st those activites managers feel compelled to tm: ‘age in before we arbiwany define them sway, Fact: n addition 10 handling exceptions, managerial work involves perfonning a number of regulat di Wes, including ritual and ceremony, negotiations, and processing of soft information that links the organization with ts envuament. Consider some evidence from the research studies: ° A seudy of the work of the presidents of small com Panies found chat they engaged in toutine aciiies ‘because their companies could not afford seat spe. clalsts and were so thin on operating personnel that 4 single absence often required the president to sub a One study of field sales managers and another of chief executives suggest that ite a natural pet of both jobs to see important customers, asumlag the anager wish to hep shove custome ‘Someone, only half in jest, once described the man gee as that person who sees vistors wo that everyone else can get his work done. In my study, 1 found ‘hat certain ceremonial daues—mecting visting dig: itaies, giving out gold watches, presiding a Chiat. amas dinaers~were an intrinsic par ofthe eble! ex ecutive ob. Studies of manager’ information Gow suggest that ‘managers play a key role in securing "soft" external information {much of (e avalsble only thems because of their status) and i passing ic aloag to thee subordinates 3 Folklore: The senior manager neede aggregated ins formation, which a formal management efermation jyutem beie provides. Not too long ago. the wands total information system were everywhere ia the ‘management literature. tn keeping with the clanical view of the manager as that individual perched on the apex of a regulated, hierarchical system, thelieracure's manager was to receive all his important ‘information fom a gant, comprehensive MIS, But lately, as it has become increasingly evident thar these gane MS systems are aot working that managers ate simply not using theme ent sHaum has waned, A look st how mansgers actually process information makes the reson quite clear ‘Managers have five media a their commend docu: ments, telephone calls, scheduled and unscheduled meetings, and observational tour, Fact: Managers strongly favor the verbal media~ namely, als and meetings. The evidence comes from every single study of managerial work. Consider the following: o 1a ovo Bridsh studies, managers spent an average (Of 66% and fo% of cheir time in verbal [oral] com ‘munication’ In my study of ve American chief gece the gue wa 78%. ‘These Sire chief executives wreated mail prcesing 454 burden tobe dispensed with. One came in Sat lurday morning to process 43 pieces of mail in just lover three hour, to “get rid of al che stuf." This sume manager looked at the fist piece of “bard” ‘all be had received all week, a standard cost te port and pue it aside with che comment, "never Took se cis” a These same five chief executives responded immedi- ately t0 2 of the 4o routine reports they received uring the five weeks of my study and 9 four items in the 10s periodicals. They skimmed most of these peviodicals in seconds, almost situalistially. In al, these chief executives of good-sized organizations fnidated on their own~that is, not in response (© something clsewa grand toual of 35 pieces of mail during the 25 days T observed thea ‘An analysis of the mail the executives received 1 vealsan interesting pieture-only 23% was of specie tnd immediate ure, So now we have another piece in the purse: not much of the mall provides live current informauon-the acxon of a competitor, he ‘ood of a govemment epilator, or the rating of Digit television show Yer this the infoner sion that drove the managers, interupeing theit meetings and rescheduling thie workdays, (Consider another interesting Binding, Managers seem to cherish "sole" information, eepecally gossip, Ihearsay, and speculation. Why! The seston isis timelines; today's gosip may be tomorrow's fact. ‘The manager who is not accesible for the telephone call informing him chat his biggest customer was Seen goldag with bis main compeutor may read about a dramade drop in sles in the next quartely report. Bue chen t's too late ‘To assess the value of historical, aggregated, “hard” IMIS information, consider two of the managers Drime uss for bis information=to identity problems {and opportunices ® and to bullé his own mental models of che things around him (eg, bow his ot- ganizaton’s budget ayetem works, how his cus: fomers buy his product, how changes in the eq” omy affect his organisation, and t0 on). Every\.c of evidence suggests that the manager identifies decision situations and builds models not with the egregeted abstractions an MIS provides, but with specific dies of daa. Consider the words of Richard Neustadt, who stud fed the informationollecting habits of Presidents Roosevelt, Truman, and Evsenhovwer “Te is not information of + general sore that helps a President se personal stakes; not summaries, not Surveys, aot the bland amalgams. Rather... leis the fdas and ends ofrangible deal that pieced together im bis mind illuminate the underside of issues pat before him. To help himself he must reach out 38 widely 26 he ean for every srap of fae, opinio fps bearing on his inert ad reasoning President. He must became his own director of C+ own centeal intelligence," * ‘The manager’ emphasis on the verbal media raises ‘eo important points First, vebal information is stored in the brains of people. Only when people write this information own can it be stored in the files of the organ leation—whether in metal cabinets of on map. netic tpenand managers apparently do aot write own much of what they hear, Thus the stateple aa bank of the organication isnot in the memory of its computers but in the minds of its manager Second, dhe wane’ extmsive we of verbal media helps to explain why he is reluctant to delegate tasks When we note chat most of the manage Important information comes in verbal form and is stored in his head, we can well appreciate fis telue- tance Ie s not as if he cun hands dower over 10Research on managerial work Sorc a way ictal tae Sa Sas, SE eu ty ete) Sg Ease eo rcue aune Sey 8 tonal Sonor toe Severe” aye Irene compury, Foe H, Gus in Parson pe rpara oe ay oo ‘SPS froma vert aoe ‘ne oghenoer nt epee tod nan US nab Pam tay Sremtosn sa et ieee ee ec fSrmaso sve Nim be someone, he must take the time to “dump memory” “to ell that someone al he knows about the su ject But this could take 20 long that the manager may find it carer to do the tank himeelt Thus the ‘manage is daroned by his own information sysexs to "dilemma of delegation”-t0 do too much him {elf o 10 delegate his subordinates with ined equate briefing Tolklor Management i, of wt last Us quickly be ‘coming, a science and a profesion. By almost ny definitions of science and profesion, this statement ts alse. Brief observation of any manager will quick Jy ly wo est the notion that managers practice 3 science. A science involves the enacton of syste tats, spalytcally determined procedures or trams. If we do not even know what rocedees {managers tse, bow can we presen them by cleat {ihe analysis And how ean we eal manafesent 2 proesion if we cannoe specify whae managers tre 9 lesm? For ser ll, « profession mvelves, emowiedge of sue depacsaen of luming 2 cence” [Random Howse Dictionary| Fact: The managers’ programs—to schedule tim prowess information, sake decisions, ond 20 0 femain locked deep inside thelt Dring. Ths, 10 describe these programs, we rely on words like dg. ‘ment and incuton, seldom stopping to realize that they are merely labels for our ignorance.1 was struck during oxy seedy by the face chat the cxceutives [ was observingwall very competent by Sy standatd~are fundamentally indisdingushable (fom their counterpers of 4 hundred years ago for 4 thousand years ago, for that mater). The Iefotmation they need dilers, Dur they seek it ia the tame way—by word of mouth, Their decisions ‘oncem modem tecanoiogy, but the procedures they {se to mule them ate te sume st the procedures or che nineteenth century manage. Even the com- ‘uter, 2 important for the spectalzed work of the Srganisation, has apperently had no ladluence on the work procedures of general managers, In fact, the manager isin + kindof loop, with increasingly heavy work prerures but 20 id forthcoming from management science. Considering the facts shout managerial work, we Gn se thatthe managers jb is enormously com: flcsed and dsicale The managers overburdened Irth obligations, yet be cannot eanly legate hs {ia As erly be is driven 0 overwos and ferent to do many tasks supertally. Breve, fag teens, and wrbal communication charset Es work Yer thee aze the very chaactensts of Imenageial work that have impeded sled wrt inp fe Ana result the management ‘Sess har concentrted hs elf onthe special Eat funeions ofthe organization, were he could tao easily sualyae che procedurer and quanuly the mdevane nformanon™ But the pressures ofthe manager’ jb ace becoming ‘worse, Where before he needed only to respond %0 ‘Swner and director, now he nds that subordinates ‘wich democratic norms continwally reduce bis Fre dom to issue unexplained orders, anda growing number of outside influences [consumer soups, {government agencies, and so os) expect his atten Hon. And the manages has bad nowhere to cumn for hnlp. The dist step is providing the manager with some help ist Sind out what hijab really Back to a basic description of managerial work pussle togecher Eater, I defined the mansger a6 that person in charge ofan organization or one of les subunits. Besides chief execuaive officers, this definition would include vice presidens, bishops, foremen, hockey couches, nd prime ministers. Can ail ofthese people have anyehing én common! In eed they can. For an Important raring point, all fare vesed with fonal authosity over en organiza tonal unit From formal suthorty comes stats, Wich leads fo various interpersonal relations, and from these comes access to information. Informs: ‘on in turn, enables the manager w@ maxe dessions sd suategies for hs unie ‘The manager's job can be described in tems of ‘various "oles," or organized sets of behaviors iden- {led with position. My desceiption, shown in Evhibie/, comprises ten tole As we shal se, formal awhoriey gives rise fo the thre interpersonal roles, ‘which in furm give rise to the chee informations) roles, these two sets of roles enable the manage to play the four deesional roles. Interpersonal roles ‘Thee of the managers roles arse dzeetly from bis formal authoriey and involve basic interperonal relationships 1 Frei che figurehead role. By virtue of his postion 4s head of an organizational unit, every manager ‘must perorm some duties of 4 ceremonial nature ‘The president grees the touring dignitaries, the fore man attends the wedding of a lathe operator, and the sales manager takes am important customer (0 lunch ‘The chief executives of my soudy spent safe of heir contact time on ceremonial dates, 17% of their incoming tail dealt with acknowledgments nd requers related to their statue. For example, & fewer to 2 company president equested free met- chandise fora erppled schoolehld, diplomas were put on the desk of ehe school superintendent for Bis signature, Duties that involve interpersonal roles may some times be outine, involving litle serious communica: fon and no important decision making, Neverthe: less, they are important fo che smooth functioning of in organization and cannot be ignored by the manager 2 Because he is im charge of an organizational uni the manazers responsible for the work ofthe people fof that unit. His actions in ehis regard consticue theleader role. Some of these actlons involve leader Ship direciy—for example, in most organizations the manage is normally responsible for biring and tesning his own stat In addition, there is the indirect exercise of the leader sole Every manager must mouvate and en courage his employees, somehow reconciling their Individual needs with the gols of the organization In vireally every coneact the manager hae wih his cmployees, subordinates seeking leadership clues probe is actions: "Does he approve!” "How would be like the report to turn out?” "Ts he more inter ccted in macket share than high profs!” ‘The influence of the manager is most cleanly scea inthe lesder tole. Formal authority vests him with treat potential power, leadership determines in urge pate How much of i he will realize. 3 ‘The lneraure of managemenc has always recognized the leader role, paruiculady hose aspect of ire Iated ta marivinion. In comparison, tail recently teas harly mentioned the lion role, ia which the manager maker contacts outside his vertical chain of command. This Is semarkable in light of the finding of virally every stady of managerial work that managers spend as much time with peers {nd other people outside thelr unite ae they do with ‘heir own Subosdinates—and, surprisingly, very lie time with their own superiors. In Rosemary Stewards dary arudy, the 160 Brith ‘middle and top manager spent «fe of thee ane ‘with peers, 41% of their me with people outside their nity and only 13% of thelr deme with thie superiors. For Robert H. Guests seedy of US, fore ‘en, the figures were 44%, 46%, and 10%. The Chief executives of my study averaged 44% of their contact ume with people ouside theit organics ons, «8% with subotdinates, and 7% with directors sd trustee, ‘The contscts the ive CEOs made were with an in- credibly wide range of people: subordinates, clients, business astocates, and supplier, and peer-man- ger of similar organizations, government and wade organization officals fellow directors on outside boards, and independents with no relevant organiza ‘onal allistions. The chief executive time with and mal from these groups is shown in Exhbie IT (on page 57. Guest's study of foremen shows, ike Wise, that sheir contacts were aumerous and wide ‘anging seldom involving fewer than 35 individuals, and offen more chan 50, ‘As we shall see shortly, the manager cultivates such Contacts largely to find information. In eflect, the liaison fole is devoted to building up che managers ‘own exteral information system~informal, private, verbal, but, neverteles, effective Informational soles By view of his interpersonal contsets, both wich 1s subordinate and with ie network of contacts, the manager emerges as the nerve center of his or fanizauonal unit He may aot know everything Sut he eypically Knows more than any member of is tag Studies have shown this relationship to old for at managers, om street gang leaders 0 US, pres: dencs. In’ The Humen Group, George C. Homans ‘explains how, because they weve 20 the center of the information flow in their own gangs and were slro in clove touch with other gang leedar, eteet {ang leaders were better informed than any of thes followers. And Richard Neustadt deseibe the fo. lowing account ‘om his study of Franklin D. Roosevelt:‘rte estnce of Roosevel?'s technique for informs tion gathering was competition. ‘He would call you {none of his ides once told me, end he'd ask you to get the sory on soaie complicated business, and ‘you'd come bac after a couple of days of hard labor Thu present the juicy morsel you's uncovered under {one somewhere, and then You'd find out he knew {labour i slong with something else you didn't Know. Where he got chis information from he ‘wouldn’ mension, usually, but after be had done this to you once of ewice you got damn careful shout your information’ ‘We can see where Roosevele “got this information” when. we consider the relationship beeween the interpersonal and informational roles. As lesde, the manager has formal and easy acces t every mem ber of his staff. Henes, as noted easier, he tends to know more aboue his own unit than anyone else does Im addition, hs liaison contacts expose the ‘manager to extemal information to which his sub- trdinates offen lack access Many of these contacts fre with other managers of equal stars, who ae themselves nerve centers in ther owa organization, In this way, the manager develops powerful data base of infomation. “The processing of information is a key part of the smunager’ job. In my study, the chief executives spent go% oftheir contact time on acivites devoted exclusively tothe taasmission of information, 70% (of their incoming mall was purely Informational les opposed to requests for action). The manager doesnot leave mesuags oF hang up the telephone fn order 9 gee back to work. [a large part, come trunicaton i his work Three cole deteribe these Informational aspects of managerial work, t ‘As monitor, che manager perpetually seans his en ‘vironment for information, interrogrtes his Lisson contcts and his subordinates, and receives unso Tieited information, much of itas ¢ result of the reework of peronal contacts he has developed. Re member that a food part of the ioformation the ftanager collects in hie monitor role aries in ver bal form, often as gossip, hearsay, and speculation. By wire of hi conten, the manager has a natural sddvantage in collecting this soft information for his organizsuon. 2 Fe must share and disebute muck ofthis informs tion. Information he gleans from outside personal contacts may be needed within hie organization In bis issemnator role, the manages passes some of his pavileged information deeeuyt9 his subor dinates, who would otherwise have no access to i ‘When his subordinates lack easy contact with one another, the manager wil sometnes pas informs fon from one to another 3 Ta his spokesman role, the manager tends some of his information to people ouside hs unit~s pres dent makes a speech to lobby for an organization cause, of a foreman suggests a product modifica ton tos supplier In adie, a# pare of his role 4s spokesman, every manager must inform and sat- {sty the influential people who contol his organip~ tional unit. For the foreman, chis may simply inv keeping the plant manager informed about the ow of work through the shop. “The president ofa large corporation, however, may spend a great amount of his time dealing with 2 hos of iniluences, Dzeciors and shareholders must be advised about Snancial pesformanee, consumer ‘fous mare be semred thatthe organization i fl: Sing its social responsibiives, and government fiias must be saueded hat the organization is abiding by the law. Decisional roles Information is not, of course, an end in isfy i the basic input to decision making, One thing ‘= clear in the seudy of managerial work: che mana plays the major vole in his units decision-making System. As ie formal auchoriy, only he ean commit the unit to imporant new courses of action, and sis nerve center, only he has fall and curren i formation to make the set of decisions that deter mines the units srateyy. Four roles describe the manager as decisionsmaker 1 ‘As entrepreneur, the manager seeks to improve his ‘une, to adape it to changing condicons in the en- vironment. In his monitor role, the president is constndly of he Ipokout for new idess.'When 4 goed one appear, he initiates a development project that he may supervise himself or delegate to an em ployee (permaps wath the suipulaion that he must Epprove the Sina! propel ‘There are two interesting features about these de- velopment project at the chief executive levelss, these process do aot involve single dessions fr even unified clustrs of decisions, Rather, they Gmerge a series or small decisions and actions ‘equenced over me. Apparently, the chief executive prolongs cach project so that he can fi ie bit by bit Tht his busy, dsjoined schedule and so that he can ridually come to comprehend the issue, if i i 2 Complex one. Second, the chief executives I studied supervised ss ‘any a8 9 ofthese project at the same time. Some projects entailed new products or processes, others nvolved public celavons campaigns, improvement of the cash position, earganizaton of 2 weak de partment, rrolution > 4 morale problem in a for ign division, integration of computer operations, arious seauisivons ve diferent stages of develop sent, and 30 00, ‘The chief executive appears to maintain a kind of Inventory of the development projets that he him sell supervisesprojects that are at various stapes of Sevelopmiene, ome ative and rome in limbo Like 1 jungles, he Keeps + aumber of projects in the ait, Periodically, one comes down, is given 2 new burst ‘Of energy, dissent back into orbit. At various in tervals, he put new projects on-stream and discards old ones. a ‘Wile the entrepreneur role deserbes the manager tthe voluntary inator of change, he disturbonce handler sole depiess the manager involuntanly ze ponding t9 prewsres. Here change Is beyond the managers contol. He must act because the pres: turer of the situation af too severe to be ignored: Ske looms, a major customer has gone bankrupt, fr supplier ceneges on his contact. thas been fashionable, {noted ealer, to compare the manager to an orchestra coaductor, just a8 Peter F. Drucker wrote in The Precice of Management: ‘evne manager hat the ean of cresting a ue whole ‘hat larger than che som ofits part, a productive fenviy that tums out more than the stm of the {esources put into fe One snalogy isthe conductor of 2 symphony orchest, through whose efor, vision and leadership individual insrumental pas thar ace 20 mech noise by themselves become the living whole of music. Dut the conductor has the composers score, he is oaly interpreter, Tae mane get ie both composer and conductox”" Now consider the words of Leonard R. Sayles, who thas caried out systematic research on the mans ger jb {The manager i Hke + symphony orchestra con: ductor, endeavouring to maintain + melodious per formance in which the contabutions of the various instruments are coordinsted and sequenced, pat temed and paced, while the orchestra members are hing various personal dificulties, stage hands are ‘moving music stands, sltemating excessive heat tnd cold ate creating audience snd tastrument prob lems, and che sponor of the concer s insisting on inraional changes ia che progam’ In effect, every manager must spend a good part of his time responding to high-pressure disturbances [No organisation can beso well un, so standardized, thal hus considered every contingency in the un fertsia environment in advance. Disturbances srise fot only because poor managers ignore situations tint they reach exss proportions, but also because nad managers cannot poshly anticipate all the onsequances of the actions they take. 3 “The thied decisional role ie that of esoure allocator To the manager falls the responsibility of aeccingSelf-study questions for managers NOSE at Shao ‘rin tne argneaion ‘Pose so peri my = Zeeaare, lett ep. a Seer Sm ee my time munaing ese Bat tw amy Sao Sect ae. EERIE ow fon fm socesyhsee, ‘ours my oruauion’ SoS ENS z Eee mare Sone iar eet toe Ain oo avout in wnat Tum my deanna my an ite tonnage? oes Be ccmpetnpe Eaves en sen Se wo will get what ia bis organizational unit. Per- fas the moet important resource the manager al- Tocates i is own time. Acces 19 the manager con: svutes exposure to the unity nerve center and Aecision maker. The manager is also charged with ‘designing bis unie' structure, chat pater of formal {elatonshipe taae detenmines how work 1s 10 De divided and coordinated. ‘Also, ia his role as resource allocator, the manazer futhonzes the important decisions of bis unit before they are implemented. By retaining this power, the ‘manager can ensure chat deesions se interrelated HI ust pase dough a single brain. To fragment this power is to encourage discontinuous decision making and a dijoined state. ‘Tice ase + suuler of interesting fearares about the managers authonzing others decisions, Fist. despite the widespread use of capital budgeting pe ‘edures-a means of authorizing various eapital ex- Dencitures se one me-execusives in ny study madea great maay authorizvtion decisions on an ad hoe basis Append, many projects cannot walt or Sicaply do not have the quantdable costs and bene- Ses that capieal Budgeeng requires. Second I found that the chef executives faced in redibly complex choices, They had to consider the {pact of each decision on other decisions and on the organizaon’s strategy. They had co ensure that the devsion would be seceptable to those who i ‘Duence the organization, as well as ensure that re sources would not be overextended. They had to “understand the various costs and benefice as well 26 the feaiiliey of the proposal. They also bad to consider questions of eming All this was necessary for the simple approval of someone elses propos [At the same time, however, delay could lose eime, ‘while quick approval could be il considered and Guck ejection might discourage the subordinate Sho had spent months developing a pet proiect. (One common solution t0 spproving projects is to pick the maa instead of the proposal. That is, the Ensnaget authorises those projects presented «0 him by people whose judgment he trusts. But he cannot slovays use this simple dodge. ‘The Gaal decisional role is that of negotiotor. Studies of managerial work at all levels indicate chat man- Seets spend considerable time im negotistions! the president ofthe football team is called in to-work fur a contact with the holdout superstar, the cor potation peesident leads his company's contingent fo negotiate a new stk isue, dhe foreman argues 2 plevance problem #9 ies conclusion with the shop Seber As Lennard Sayles punt i ncgodacons are {way of fe" forthe sophisiated manages, “These negodiations ate duties of the manager's job; perhaps routine, they are not to be shisked. They can integral part of his jb, for only he has the horcy t commit organizational resourees in ‘real time,” and only be has the nerve center in ormation that important negoustions feauie ‘The integrated job 1k shouldbe clear by now thatthe ten roles I have ‘been describing are not eanly separable. In the ter minalogy of the psychologist chey form a gestalt, fn integrated whole. No role can be pulled out of the framework and the job be left inact. For ex imple, # manager without liaison coneacs lacks exceral information, As 2 result, be can neither Siseminace the information his employees need nor take decisions *hat adequately reflect extemal con- ditions. a fact, eis 3 peoblem for the new person {na enanagerial poston, snes he canne make ef tive decisions unl he bas built up his neework of contacts Here lies a clue tothe problems of tim manage ment" Two of thee people cannot share 2 single ‘anagerial postion unless chey can act a8 one neiy, This means that they eanaot divide up the ten roles unless they cam very carefully reintegrate them. The real ifteuley les with the informational oles, Unless theze can be full sharing of managerial information-and, as I pointed out eae, pr sanly verbalmtesm management breaks down. A fngle managerial job eannot be axbizanly split, for ‘Grample, into intemal and extemal roles, fr in formation from both sources must be brought ‘bear on the same decisions. “To say thatthe en roles form 2 gestalt s not say hat all manager give equal aitenion to each role In fut, [fount in may review of the various research studies that tales managers seem to spend relatively more of their sme in the interpersonal roles, presumably 2 feflection of the extrovere nature of the marketing scuviy, productlon managers give relatively more atten tion to the decisional oes, presumably a refection of theis concern with eficeat work Bow, soata’ managers spend che most time in the in ormational roles, since they ae experts who man- age departments that advise other para of the or. ganization [Nevertheless n all eas the interpersonal, informa: tioaal, and decisional roles remain inseparable Toward more effective management ‘What are che messages for management in this de scription T believe, Arst and foremost, that this Aeseription of manageral work should prove moreimportant to manager chan aay prescription they ‘ighe derive from fe That isto say, the mancger't ‘foctiveness i sgnifancly influenced by Bis in- igh inco is own work. His performance depends SF how well he understands and responds so the rea sad dilemmas ofthe job. Thus managers iho ean be introspective about their work ate ely abe elective at ther jobs. The ruled Insert on page So ober 1a gioups of eestudy questions for mae Shem Some may sound thetozal, none is meant (0 ‘be Even though the questions cannoc be answered Simply, the manager should address them, Let us take 4 Took 2 dee specific areas of concer. For the most pare, che managerial logiams—the ‘Atesama of delegation, che database centralized in tne bain, the problems of working withthe man- Gpemene scientst~revolve around the verbal nature GF the managers informacion. There ae great dan- (ges in ceavalising the organization’ data bank in he minds of ie managers. When they leave, hey fae their memory with them. And when subord- Snes are out of convenient verbal rach of the ‘anaged they are ae an informational disadvantage 1 ‘The maneger challenged to find systematic ways to tare hs peivilegd information. A regular de biieting session with key subordinates, 2 weekly memory dump on the dictating machine, the main {ining ofa diary of portant information for lim- feed elfculation, or other similar methods may esse the logjam of work considerably. Time spent dis eminating tis informacion will be more then re uined when decisions must be made. Of course, ‘Emme wil raise the quertion of confidentiality But nansgers would do well to weigh the risks of ex: posing privileged information against having sub- Srainates who can make efeccve decisions, there i a single theme that runs through his fulcle, ic fs that the pressures of his job dive the ‘ranager to be superdcial ia his ations—ro overload Fimwelf with work, encourage ineeuption, respond quickly to every semulus, seek the tangible and void the abstract, make decisions in small Sacre iments and do everyting abrsptly. 2 Fete ogcn, the manager ss challenged to deal con sously wih the pressures of superficiality by ving Setoas cucusion to che irucs that require i. By Stepping back from bis tgible bits of information in order to see e broad pture, and by making we of analytical impute Although effective managers hnave to be adept 2 responding quickly to numerous dnd varying problems, the danger in managerial ‘work is that they will respond to every issue equally [and shar means abruptly] and that they wil never trork the tangible bie end pleces of informational Taput into a comprehensive picture of their world ‘As I noted eater, he manager uses these bits of information to build models of his word. But che ‘manager can also avail himself ofthe models of the fetlalina, Economists describe the functioning of ‘market, operations researchers simulate financial How proceses, and behavioral scientists explain the ‘needs and oats of people. The best ofthese models ‘can be searched out and leamed. In dealing with complex lsues, che senior mana ‘hes much to gain from a clove relationship with the ‘management scientists of his own organization. They have something important that he lacks time to probe complex semves. An eflective working felationship hinges an the resolution of what a col. Teague and bave called “the olanning dilemma” ‘Managers have the in‘ormation and the authority; chalyse have the time and the technology. A sue- Gestal working telaonship between the wo wil be effected when the manager leams to share his information and the anaiyst fears to adapt 9 the ‘managers needs, For the analyst, adaption means ‘worying ess abovt the elegance of the method and ore about ier apeed and Sebi. Ieseems to me that analysts can help the top man- ager especially © schedule his time, feed in analy- ‘ical information, monitor projects under his #u ‘sion, develop models to aid in making chow, design contingency plans for disturbances that can be anseipated, and conduct “quick-and-dirty" an tlysis for those that cannot, Bue there can be no Cooperation if the analysts are out of the main- ‘ream of the manager’ information low. 3 ‘The manager ie challenged to gain contrl of bis ‘own dime by turing obligacons to his advantage Gnd by timing those things he wishes co do into Sbligavions, The chief executives of my study ink Ciated only 32% of their own contacts (and another SG by mutual agreement]. And yer «0 a consider: ‘ble extent they seemed to control their sme. There ‘were two key factors that enabled chem to do so. Fics, he manager has to spend so such dime # ‘charging obligations that he were © view th 4 fs jut tha, be would leave no mark on his organiza-tion, The unsuccessful manager blames failure on ‘Rv cigucions, the effeceve manager cams his ob- Tehcondto his own advantage. A speech ita chance eabby for cause, a meeting isa chance to Send sent depasuucne, «vist fo an important (iomer ins chance to extract wade information. second, the manager frees some of his time to do Shove things that he-perhaps no one else~thinks Empocant by tuming them into obligations. Free fim is made, not found, in the manager’ job; i is Trced into the schedule: Hoping to leave some time ‘pen for eomemplauion or general planning is tan- Enoune to hoping thae the pressures of the ob wall fo away. The manager who wants ro innovate ink Ses 2 project and obligates others to report back fo hin, te manager who needs cerain environ- ‘Senta information establishes channels that will Suiomaticlly keep him informed) the manager who ‘hast tour faclives commits himself publicly. The educators job inlly,a word about the walning of managers. Our anagemene schools have done an admirable job Of wraining the organization’ specialits—manage Great scientist, marketing reseatehers, accountants, nd organizational development specialists, Bu for {he most pare they Bave not eained managers.” ‘Management schools will bein the serious training ‘Shinanagess when skill aiming eakes a serious place ‘ext to eopnaive leaming. Cognitive learning is de tached and informations, ike reading a book or Lisening to a lecture. No doube much important opie mavetal sist be assimilated by che man- Suerte, Bot cogmiave learning no more makes SPobanagee than it does 4 swmmes. Toe Later will frowa the Gast me he jumps ino the water if his Coach never sakes him oue of the lecture hall, gets ‘hes wet and gives him feedback on his performance, tn other words, we ae taught a skill ebrough prac te plus feedback, whether ina real or a simulated [Shustion, Oue management schools need wo identify ‘he sls managers Ge, select students who show potential in there sill, put che students into sit ‘ations where there skills canbe practiced, and chen [pee them systema feedback on thes performance ‘My deseiption of managerial work suggests « num fer of important managers! shalls~developing peer felauonships, caving out negotiations, mouvating Subordinases, resolving confit, establishing infor mation networks and subseqsently dsseminating {formation, making decisions in conditions of ex tueme ambigutey, and allocating sources Above Ii the manager needs to be inuospecive bout his Clove sn shat he may conta t earn on the ob. Many of the manager’ sills can, ia fact be prac ticed sing techniques dhe ange from cole playing to videotaping teal meetings. And our management fchools can endance the encrepreneural sills by ‘esigning programs chat encourage sensible sk take ing and snnavacin, No job is mote vital to our socieny than that of the manager Te is the manager who determines whether our social institutions serve us well or whether they squander our talents and resources. Tels cme to stup avay the folklore about manager" fl work, and tne to study it realistically so that ‘re can begin the ciiclt ask of making sgificant Emprovements in its performance