Key roles of managers perform in organizations

Summarization of results

Interview:

We interviewed a manager who works in Grosvenor casino in Stockton-On-Tees. We

learned from a managers perspective, what he thinks a good manager is. He said that
here are two ways to look at a good manager. One is a good manager who can manage
organizations, accounts, facts and figures and time and manage the tangible parts of a
business. The other side is about leadership. Good at managing about people. So one
is good at managing of business, time and money, the other aspect is manager with
people. Being a good manager, with one aspect, you need to be very organized (task
assessment time management skills). With the other, you need understanding,
confidence. You need to tell the truth, response accurately. He thinks he play a role
like a couch and a mentor.
He believes that it is essential that the employees are aware of the goals. The first
thing to do is communication. The teams need to know where they are heading to go.
Secondly, The manager, as a leader, expected to do anything that the team does. The
manager in Casino used an incentive based motivation. They set targets and if reached
get bonus and prizes.

A article from academic journal

The article pointed that on the basis of the environmental information received, a
manager

must

make

decisions

and

solve

organizational

problems.

(http://www.managementstudyhq.com). As for the decisional role of managers,

Mintzberg (1939) once defined three management roles. Decisional role is one of
those vivid features of management. It can be specified as entrepreneur, disturbance
handle, resource allocator and negotiator. As a manager, it is significant to create and
control any changes within the organization like an entrepreneur to solve problems,
encourage colleagues to generate new ideas and assist in realizing them. Moreover a
manager should always take charge of the situation whatever it is good or not. When
an organization or a team could not move forwards, it is the managerial job to figure
out the roadblock and clear it. Being a disturbance handler, the manager is supposed

to reconcile any contradiction. During the process of allocating resources needed for
organizational programs, the manager need to make a decision on how to allocate
limited resources to mobilize everyone in the organization and produce more profit,
make sure resources are best applied. A good manager can be a bridge between staffs,
teams, departments and organizations when it comes to internal work, it is a part of
managerial work to take part in, to direct and more importantly, to negotiate with
them. The ability to recognize the appropriate role to play in each situation and the
flexibility to change roles readily when necessary, are characteristics of effective
managers. Most often, however, the managerial effectiveness is determined by how
well the decisional roles are performed.

A novel

The Goal is a management-oriented novel by Dr. Eliyahu M. Goldratt, a business

consultant. The main character Alex Rogo is a harried plant manager working ever
more desperately to try and improve performance. His factory is rapidly heading for
disaster. The story of Alex's fight to save his plant is more than compulsive reading.
The main feature of Alex as a manager has:
Negotiating with other managers or representatives
Planning
Controlling and directing subordinates
Strong sense of responsibility
From this book, we not only understand how a manager solve crisis successfully, but
also a good manager should deal with family relationship properly as well. Alex is a
really responsible manager, so that he seems neglect his wife when he try to solve
plants problem. His wife wants to divorce. Somehow this worries him. So it is
important for him to find a balance between work and family, he can immerse himself
into his job without any worries.

Media report

Its a talk show in 2010 , which states that economy in the world still suffering from
early financial crash. During this recovery period, the role of sales managers has
changed. The key priority are recruiting and coaching. Under these conditions, a
system can be introduced quickly for new employees; they could make a progress in a

short period. Managers goanna be able to show them quickly as them knew. A great
system helps them to work in the system to increase productivity. Managers have to
coach them along the way. Coaching is the future of sales manager.
Managers hire them looking them as a product. Managers job is to get them to the
highest level they want to. A good coach can let people do things they dont want to
do. Employees will become high quality people.
Under the effect of financial crash, sales become more difficult than before. The
quality of product and good sales technique are important. In reality, the role of
manager isnt stable. It varies under certain circumstances. A manager has to change
his role to lead company and help company survive in the market. Managers should
be able to allocator resources efficiently such as allocator right person in right place.
On the other hand, managers also need to decide which one is going to hire in the
future. As a leader of company, make new strategies to apply different circumstances.
The functions of management are planning, organizing, leading and evaluation. This
theory is based on a stable unchanging environment .If environment is stable, things
can be predicted with accuracy and firms can respond appropriately. In the modern
industry, there is a lack of leadership for managers. Its more like managers become
watchers rather than command.
Since they prefer normal circumstances and deal with it. In reality, there are large
uncertainties waiting for managers. In summary, the changing role for manager is
important. Managers should be creative and seek for new opportunities.
Comment
We obtained information from several different sources. The validity and quality of
the results from those sources are various. Therefore, we offer a brief comment on the
knowledge we got.
The first source we used is the core textbook. On the topic of roles of managers
perform in organizations, the author directly quoted Mintzbergs theory. Its quite
valid and it gives us a general view about this topic. We also acquired information
from Mintzbergs book and academic articles. In those sources, he provided more

examples and evidence to support his statement about the roles of managers.
Mintzberg is an expert on business and management. He did a lot of work on his
theory. The information we got from him is quite reliable, although the contents are
not that practical to us.
In order to acquire more practical information, we found a video from Real Trends,
which is an interview of a sales manager in 2010. The interviewee is a real sales
manager who experienced the financial crash and the recovery period. His thought
about the changing role of managers is based on his own real experience during that
specific period. Therefore, the information obtained from this source is valid but is
not a general case. Then we interviewed a manager of a casino by ourselves. The
answer given by the manager is based on his own managing experience as well. We
learnt about how the roles of managers presented in the real life.
Another two sources are a biography of Warren Buffett and a management-oriented
novel. The biography is just like a more detailed interview. The information is based
on a much more successful managers management and life experience. Unlike the
biography, the novel is fictional. The author of the novel is a famous business
consultant. Hence the book is based on his knowledge about management. To some
extent, it can indicate the roles of managers and provide us evidences. But it is not
practical enough. After all, it is just a fiction.
Conclusion
Generally, managers work consisting three sets of behaviors: interpersonal,
informational and decisional. There are ten roles under those three behaviors:
figurehead, leader, liaison, monitor, disseminator, spokesperson, entrepreneur,
disturbance handler, resource allocator and negotiator. But the roles of managers are
always changing. In practice, not all the roles will be represented on one manager.
Different managers in different field will perform differently. Therefore, the specific
roles of managers depend on individual managers.