Alternative Role Conceptions of the Manager

a. Traditional Conception management was seen in terms of skills or activities

performed within organizations
1. Functional Model - represents the basic activities of management:
Planning
Directing
Organizing and staffing
Controlling

- these activities are the definition and key contribution of management

Advantage:
emphasizes the application of scientific methods
Disadvantage:
more of a representation of objectives rather than a description of
managerial work.
ignores the informal aspects of the managerial role.
excludes external relations.
2. Human Relations Perspective - driven by the ideology that the human component
is the most important element of organizational success.
-its central theme is the motivation of individuals to
achieve organizational goals
Management tactics:
Leadership processes
Team building

Development of intrinsic rewards

Participative decision making

Advantage:
promotes motivation, competence and general effectiveness
Disadvantages:
tends to be prescriptive
ignores external environment

b. Political Personal Conception - emphasizes on centrality of power and

personal tactics
- Heroic Manager or the Great Man or Woman
- centers around the charisma of the individual or the
politics of power.
- stresses the importance of the leadership and
resources of the individual manager
- hints that leaders are more likely born than made
- revolve around personal characteristics and qualities
needed to manage effectively
Managerial Strategist - built on the notion of organizational power and
politics;
Power is first and foremost a structural phenomenon that can affect the amount
of influence a manager has.
c. Organizational Conception produces a different and more complex view of a
manager by taking into account factors both within the organization and its
environment and considering their respective effects
Three levels:
Technical level concerned with the activities that produce the
organizations outputs
Managerial level administers the technical level
- secures the needed resources for the organization
- finds customers for the products or services
Institutional level represents that portion of the environment from which
the organization must secure its resources, its markets, and its legitimacy
Subsystems of Activities:
Production system activities that produce the products or services of
the organization
-emphasizing technical proficiency and efficient
production methods
Supportive system aids the production system by securing necessary
resources, allocating resources, and disposing of the organizations
output
Maintenance system centers on the human organization
-focused on maintaining stability and predictability of
behavior among individuals and groups

-selection of personnel, socialization practices, and

reward and sanction mechanisms
Adaptive system focusing on the organizations ability to adapt to its
environment
-seeks to understand the environment and translate the
meaning of environmental changes to the organizations
Managerial system resolve conflicts between levels
-mediate external demands with organizational
resources