Roles of a Manager, Research Paper Example

Henry Mintzberg defined 10 common roles associated with the work of all managers, which have since been broken down into interpersonal, informational and decisional roles.  The interpersonal roles have three main roles called the figurehead, leader and liaison.  The purpose of interpersonal roles is to ensure that information is provided to assist with decision-making.  The figurehead role is a position-based role where the manager acts as a social and legal representative both inside and outside the company.  The leader role positions the manager in a position of power with relation to subordinate employees.  Finally, the liaison role can be used to either gain favors, additional information or simply to maintain the normal workflow.

The informational roles are broken down into monitor, disseminator and spokesperson roles.  These roles work to link all of the managerial work together through each various function.  The monitor role suggests that the manager is collecting or receiving information from multiple internal and external sources.  As a disseminator, the manager is transmitting pertinent information to the company working to decide which information is important and who should receive it.  As a spokesperson, the manager is taking the information and transmits it into the company’s environment, which assumes that the manager is an expert on the subject matter being presented.

Finally, there are the entrepreneur, disturbance handler, resource allocator and negotiator roles within the decisional role function.  The decisional roles are meant for managers to take action with the information that has been acquired.  The entrepreneur role places the manager in a position it initiate change within the company or market.  The disturbance handler role is used to effectively handle any potential threats to the organization both present and future.  As the resource allocator, the manager is responsible for choosing how resources are allocated within the company.  Lastly, the negotiator role places the manager in a position to speak on behalf of the company or department and negotiate in its best interests.

The most significant way that I can improve is to embrace and implement the subject of leadership into my own behavior.  Because leadership is essentially motivating others to achieve a particular goal, it is necessary for me to engage in leadership behaviors.  I am a strong communicator but sometimes fail at developing relationships and being a “light” that others can follow.  To address this issue, I feel that it is important that I begin stepping outside of my boundaries and speak to others that I normally would not and take a vested interest in their interests and development.  If I can do this, I can give people a reason to follow me and listen to me when the time comes for me to step up and be a leader.