Managerial roles

Management expert Professor Henry Mintzberg has argued that a

managers work can be bring down to ten common roles. According to
Mintzberg, these roles, or expectations for a managers behavior, fall
into three categories: informational (managing by information),
interpersonal (managing through people), and decisional (managing
through action).
This chart summarizes a managers ten roles:

Mintzbergs Managerial Roles

Category

Role

Activity

Examples

Informationa
l

Monitor

Seek and acquire

work-related
information

Scan/read trade
press, periodicals,
reports; attend
seminars and
training; maintain
personal contacts

Disseminato
r

Communicate/
disseminate
information to others
within the
organization

Send memos and

reports; inform
staffers and
subordinates of
decisions

Spokesperso
n

Communicate/transmi
t information to
outsiders

Pass on memos,
reports and
informational
materials; participate
in
conferences/meeting
s and report progress

Figurehead

Perform social and

legal duties, act as
symbolic leader

Greet visitors, sign

legal documents,
attend ribbon cutting

Interpersonal

ceremonies,
host receptions, etc.

Decisional

Leader

Direct and motivate

subordinates, select
and train employees

Includes almost all

interactions with
subordinates

Liaison

Establish and
maintain contacts
within and outside the
organization

Business
correspondence,
participation in
meetings with
representatives
of other divisions or
organizations.

Entrepreneu
r

Identify new ideas

and initiate
improvement projects

Implement
innovations; Plan for
the future

Disturbance
Handler

Deals with disputes or

problems and takes
corrective action

Settle conflicts
between
subordinates;
Choose strategic
alternatives;
Overcome crisis
situations

Resource
Allocator

Decide where to
apply resources

Draft and approve of

plans, schedules,
budgets; Set
priorities

Negotiator

Defends business
interests

Participates in and
directs negotiations
within team,
department, and
organization

In the real world, these roles overlap and a manager must learn to
balance them in order to manage effectively. While a managers work
can be analyzed by these individual roles, in practice they are intermixed
and interdependent. According to Mintzberg: The manager who only
communicates or only conceives never gets anything done, while the
manager who only does ends up doing it all alone.
1. Interpersonal roles:
Figurehead:
Manager is often asked to serve as a figurehead.
Taking visitors to dinner, attending ribbon- cutting ceremony and
the like.
More ceremonial and symbolic in nature.
Leader:
Hiring training and motivating employees.
A manager who formally or informally shows sub ordinates how to
do things and how to perform under pressure is leading.
Liaison:
It often serves as a coordinator or link among people, groups or
organizations.
For eg: companies in the computer industry may use liaisons to
keep other companies informed about their plans.

2. Informational roles:
The process of carrying out these roles places the managers at the
strategic point to gather and disseminate information. The three roles
under it include:
Monitoring:
One who actively seeks information that is of value.
The manager questions subordinates, is receptive to unsolicited
information, and attempts to be as well informed as possible.
Disseminator:
The manager is also a disseminator of information, transmitting
relevant information back to others in the workplace.
When the roles of monitor and disseminator are viewed
together, the manager emerges as a vital link in the
organizations chain of communication.
Spokesperson:
Formally relays information to people outside the unit or
outside the organization.

3. Decisional roles: An informational role leads to the decisional

roles. The information roles acquired by the manager as a result of
performing the informational roles has a major bearing on
important decisions that he or she makes. The decisional roles
includes:
Entrepreneur:

 Manager has to play the role of entrepreneur, the voluntary

initiator of change.
Disturbance handler:
Handles the problem such as strikes, copyright infringements,
or problems in public relations or corporate image.
Resource allocator:
As a resource allocator, manager decides hoe resources are
distributed and with whom he or she will work most closely.
Negotiator:
The manager enter into negotiations with other groups or
organizations as a representative of the company