Mintzbergs 10 Managerial Roles - Coursework Example

Mintzberg’s 10 Managerial Roles al Affiliation The current dis hereby aims to survey and explore Mintzberg’sten (10) managerial roles through expounding on each role, as well as presenting how these were applied in contemporary settings. The ten (10) managerial roles were generally categorized into interpersonal, informational, and decisional roles (Mintzberg, 1990). In addition, further classification of each role was presented and described in Table 1. Various authors from diverse literatures have applied Mintzberg’s theoretical frameworks to contemporary situations. The findings revealed that managerial roles, though equally relevant, are not applied equally by managers. Depending on which tasks or responsibilities are urgently required, as well as the objectives set of a given situation, managers determine what roles to assume. As such, the ability of managers to adapt and adjust to the requirements of the endeavors would strongly influence their effectiveness in influencing their followers into achieving explicitly defined goals. Table of Contents Introduction 4 The Ten Managerial Roles 4 Conclusion 8 References 9 Mintzberg’s 10 Managerial Roles Introduction There are diverse management theories that continue to be applied in contemporary times. Some of the famous managerial theories that continue to evolve include leadership theories, motivational theories, conflict and change management, as well as managerial roles. The prominent management researcher, Dr. Henry Mitzberg, was noted to have comprehensively described ten (10) managerial roles, categorized into three (3) general classifications of roles as interpersonal roles, informational roles, and decision-making roles (Mintzberg, 1990). Managers have been observed to undertake and assume different roles according to assigned responsibilities with are influenced by the complexity of work according to the number of subordinates being governed. Since contemporary organizations have increasingly become more complex and challenging, the effectiveness of managers to perform diverse roles in efficient and effective manners influence their abilities to facilitate the achievement of identified goals. The current discourse hereby aims to survey and explore Mintzberg’s 10 managerial roles through expounding on each role, as well as presenting how these were applied in contemporary settings. The Ten Managerial Roles Managers play different roles in the organization depending on assigned tasks, specialized or delegated endeavors, and the diversity in follower and situational contexts. As emphasized, these “ten roles are not easily separable…and, in all cases, the interpersonal, informational, and decisional roles remain inseparable” (Mintzberg, 1990; cited in Chapter 2: The Managerial Role, n.d., p. 45). The ten (10) managerial roles, as conceived by Mintzberg, are summarized in the table on the next page. Table 1: The Ten (10) Managerial Roles, as conceptualized by Henry Mintzberg Source: Burgaz (1997) First and foremost, business practitioners could deduce that Mintzberg initially evaluated the basic responsibilities (‘what did the manager do? (Burgaz, 1997, p. 15) to come up with the three (3) major role categories: interpersonal, informational, and decisional (Mintzberg, 1990). A closer evaluation of the roles in each major categories have further classified each major category, as noted in Table 1. For interpersonal role, managers assume roles as figurehead, leader, and liason, with description and identifiable activites noted from the position of chief executives (Burgaz, 1997). Likewise, the recognition of these specialized roles from different reviews of literatures revealed that the role of a leader is most predominantly recognized, while that of a liason officer is mostly ignored (Burgaz, 1997). The second major category, that of assuming the informational role, further subdivided classification of the role into monitor, disseminator, and spokesman (Mintzberg, 1990). Using the review of Burgaz (1997), the role of a spokesman was most recognized as generally acknowledged; while that of a disseminator of information as unrecognized. Finally, the third category, the decisional role was broken down into the following roles: entreprenuer, disturbance handler, resource allocator, and negotiator (Mintzberg, 1990). From the description of the roles, the identifiable activities, as well as recognition in reviews of literature, Burgaz (1997) disclosed that the entreprenueurial role was more recognized, followed by disturbance handler. One strongly believes that in contemporary times, the decision-making role could be more accurately be sub-classified into conflict management (conflict resolution and negotiation, problem-solving, as well as change management). Overall, it was emphasized that “as a result of describing the nature of managerial work in terms of a set of ten roles, Mintzberg recognises that the combination of roles varies for different managers, for different organisations, for different levels of organisations and over periods of time, that managers do not give equal attention to each role, that differences are in emphasis rather than in kind” (Burgaz, 1997, p. 16). One shares similar contentions in affirming that managers assume diversity of roles depending on the necessity of the situation, as well as in addressing various work-related needs of the subordinates under their respective jurisdictions. Application in Various Contemporary Endeavors The ten (10) managerial roles were applied in various studies, such as those conducted by Ramezani, Khabiri, Alvani, & Tondnevis (2011), Burgaz (1997), and Shapira & Dunbar (1980). The authors Ramezani, Khabiri, Alvani, & Tondnevis (2011) used the study to evaluate sports federations managers of Iran. The findings revealed from their study was cited herewith: “Managers rated the role of resource allocation as the most important one followed by disseminator, disturbance handler, leader, entrepreneur, monitor, figurehead, liaison, spokesperson and, negotiator” (Ramezani, Khabiri, Alvani, & Tondnevis, 2011, p. 562). The contributory factor to the relegation of importance in identified managerial roles in the sports federation agencies in Iran is the organizational type (Ramezani, Khabiri, Alvani, & Tondnevis, 2011). On the other hand, in the study conducted by Burgaz (1997), the author disclosed that in studying the roles of educational administrators, using Mintzberg’s ten (10) managerial roles, the author revealed that “detailed observations of manager’s (administrators) work dearly call attention to the diference between what a manager (an administrator) should do and what he/she can do… In a sense it points out that educational administrators give importance to some of their roles which are proposed for them and ignore some of them. It could be said that administrative roles can vary for different administrators, for different schools,for different levels of schools and over periods of time” (p. 19). These assertions confirm that managers apply roles depending on which are deemed to be most needed according to the situation and the subordinates being governed. Finally, in the study undertaken by Shapira & Dunbar (1980), the authors used Mintzberg’s ten (10) managerial roles in various participants to simulate organizational settings. As revealed, the 10 roles can be meaninglfully divided into two facets: (1) the generation and processing of information, and (2) decision-making (Shapira & Dunbar, 1980). The studies from real organizational situations and simulations indicate that the ten (10) managerial roles conceptualized by Mintzberg were identified to be applicable with variations according to organizational type, actual tasks or activities, and the categorization of roles. Likewise, just like applications of leadership theories assert, the type of leadership (or managerial style and roles) would also depend on the personalities of the leaders (and managers), the personalities of the subordinates, and the context of the situation. From the findings in various studies, practitioners could affirm that managerial roles, though equally relevant, are not applied equally by managers. Depending on which tasks or responsibilities are urgently required, as well as the objectives set of a given situation, managers determine what roles to assume. As such, the ability of managers to adapt and adjust to the requirements of the endeavors would strongly influence their effectiveness in influencing their followers into achieving explicitly defined goals. Conclusion In retrospect, through the survey and exploration of Mintzberg’s ten (10) managerial roles, practitioners are provided with a conceptual framework which would be tailored to the requirements of contemporary organizations. Mintzberg has provided an effective guideline in determining managerial roles which are deemed to still be applicable in today’s globalized organizational setting. As such, although some of the identified roles remain to be significantly recognized, especially those of a leader, a spokesman, and an entrepreneur, there are other roles that could have evolved through time. Due to the complexity and challenges in the global environment, managers’ roles have transformed to effectively address the changing demands of the times. References Burgaz, B. (1997). Managerial Roles Approach and the Prominent Study of Henry Mintzberg and Some Empirical Studies upon the Principals Work. Retrieved January 4, 2015, from Hacettepe University: http://www.efdergi.hacettepe.edu.tr/199713BERR%C4%B0N%20BURGAZ.pdf Mintzberg, H. (1990). The Managers Job, Folklore and Fact. Harvard Business Review, Vol. 88, 2. Chapter 2: The Managerial Role. (n.d.). Retrieved January 4, 2015, from trinity.edu: http://www.trinity.edu/departments/healthcare/content/Articles/Session%201.pdf Ramezani, Z., Khabiri, M., Alvani, S., & Tondnevis, F. (2011). Use of Mintzbergs Model of Managerial Roles to Evaluate Sports Federations Managers of Iran. Retrieved January 4, 2015, from Middle-East Journal of Scientific Research: http://www.idosi.org/mejsr/mejsr10(5)11/3.pdf Shapira, Z., & Dunbar, R. (1980). Testing Mintzbergs Managerial Roles Classification Using an In-Basket Simulation. Retrieved January 4, 2015, from Journal of Applied Psychology: http://pages.stern.nyu.edu/~rdunbar/Articles/testingmintzbergsmanagerial.pdf Read More