Competencies in Management Roles: Managers Roles by Mintzberg - Personal Statement Example

Personal Management Competencies Name: Lecturer: Course: Date: Introduction As a manager, I understand that I need to play multiple roles at prescribed levels of my organisation. In addition to discharging particular responsibilities I have been allocated to, including those related to personnel and operations management, I play operating and strategic roles. Khandwalla (2004) defines a role as a combination of expected behaviour patterns allocated to an individual who occupies a position in an organisational unit. Based on this background, I understand that my performance depends essentially on how effectively I play my multiple roles. In turn, these influence the performance of an organisation. However, I understand that inherent sets of incompetence may stand in the way of achieving effective organisation performance. Therefore, question that emerges is what are the competencies essential for playing the varied managerial roles effectively? The question draws the application of Mintzberg management competency models to reflect on my competency strengths, areas that need development and strategies for developing the weak areas. Background: Personal Competencies at SunRise Inc SunRise had experienced declined performance, leading to low profitability over three years, prior to my appointment. When I took over from SunRise Inc, I started meeting manager and stakeholders singly and in groups. During the meetings, I listened attentively to members' views on why SunRise was a ‘sick’ company and what options could be taken to remedy the weaknesses. I also briefed the members about the facts of the situations. Later, I came up with a vision for a world-class SunRise and how I was going to revitalise it. I later invited the department heads for forum, through which we conceived turnaround strategy. After personally coaching the departmental heads, they too went back to coach their subordinates. I was impatient with managers who were resisting change and recommended their dismissal. The turnaround strategy became the basis for brainstorming at the departments on what could be done to improve the company's performance. I encouraged massive training initiative for the employees. After 3 years of failure, SunRise was on course to turning around in just six months. Competencies in management roles Boyatzis (1982) described competence as an individual's capacity that leads to behaviour that satisfies the job demand in an organisation. According to 2008, competence refers to actions, outcome or behaviours that an individual is expected to demonstrate within the parameters of an organisation. In Cunliffe’s (2009) view, competence entails a set of behaviours that offer structured guide that facilitate the process of identifying, evaluating and developing behaviours in individual employees. Based on the definitions, it is easy to perceive that competence describe the capacity to perform a job effectively, which although necessary, is not sufficient in ensuring effectiveness organizational performance. As a manager, I intend to bring unique set of personal experiences, personal values and personal stylistic preferences to my job assignments. Of fundamental concern is the aspect of personal experience, skills and competencies acquired over time, as well as a combination of personal knowledge elements developed through informal and formal means. I also intend to communicate through message or organisational story to prevent conflicts. According to Cunliffe (2009), language and language realities are critical in organizational management and managers should possess skills in communicating with the subordinates to build a common organizational story in order to prevent conflicts. A critical issue is therefore whether competencies can promote excellence in performing managerial roles. In respect to transformational leadership, which proposes that leaders have to be visionary, empower, inspire and build trust-based leadership, several competencies are expected to serve as benchmark of what the company expects from my new role, based on Mintzberg’s (2009) proposed ten roles (See Fiure 1). Critical Analysis of Management competences As indicated in the personal case, I used communication with my subordinates as well as application of rank-and-file to mobilise the subordinates effectively, so as to ensure improved performance. I also demanded human resource development and creation of performance-oriented culture. I also displayed the competencies of being a forceful mentor. As the new managing director at a small to medium-sized enterprise called Sunrise, I’m expected to ensure that the organisation serves its purposes through efficient service delivery. I am also expected to take charge of designing and maintaining an organisation’s stability of operation. In addition to serving as the principle information link between an organisation and its environment, I also need to ensure that the organisation fulfils the expectations of those who control it. These roles are drawn from expectations of what managers should do as proposed by Mintzberg (2009), including figurehead, liaison, leader, disseminator, monitors, spokesperson, disturbance handler, entrepreneur, negotiator and resource allocator. Mitzberg’s proposed roles of a manager Mitzberg identified ten key roles of a manager, which are categorised into three, namely interpersonal, informational and decisional. Figure 1: Ten roles of a manager Mintzberg (2009) explained that while managers may tend to relate well, based on the description of managing, they may not relate particularly well as per the 10 roles he suggested. To effectively understand my competencies in management, the Mintzberg model of managing is used. The model describes the role of strategic leadership or management that happen on three platforms, namely people, information and action (See Figure 1). Personal evaluation based on Mintzberg model Interpersonal roles: Figure Head: Mintzberg (2009) proposes that the manager has to perform ceremonial, social and legal responsibilities. The manager is also expected to be a source of inspiration. I had key strengths in this role. Besides inspiring the team to focus their strategies on improving the company’s performance, I managed to become someone who could be looked up to as an authority. Leader: the manager has to provide leadership to the department, team or the organisation. In the case, I effectively managed the subordinate’s responsibilities and performances, including setting out training strategies. Liaison: Mintzberg (2009) suggested that managers need to set up and maintain communication with the external and internal contacts. This was a key strength, as I participated in meetings with representatives from different divisions within the company. Informational role Spokesperson: Mintzberg (2009) proposed that managers should represent as well as speak on behalf of the company. I had poor strengths in this regards, as I failed to effectively transmit information on my organisation and its new objectives to individuals outside the organisation, such as through reports. Disseminator: I had poor skills in this role, as I failed to communicate effectively within the organisation. This is since members missed the strategic meetings. Monitor: I had strengths in these areas as I monitored how trainings were done and implementations carried out. Decisional roles Entrepreneur: Mintzberg (2009) proposed that the manager has to create and control shifts within the organisation. I had strengths in this area as I led the organisation in solving performance problems, generating new ideas and implementing them. This included coming up with a turnaround strategy to improved organisational performance. Resource allocator: Within this role, Mintzberg proposed that the manager has to determine where organisational resources should be best applied. I had weaknesses in this area, including allocating funds and other organisational resources to each department to promote the proposed changes. Instead, I relied on the departmental heads to take care of them. Disturbance handler and negotiator: Mintzberg suggested that managers should mediate disputes and problems, including managing change. I had poor competencies in this area. For instance, rather than help the employees who resisted change to manage change, I threatened them with dismissal. I also failed to resolve conflicts among the subordinated. This implies that I tend to be less tactful when handling disturbances. Mitzberge (2009) argues that when it comes to issues of organisational culture, leadership requires tact as organizational culture can be rather difficult to establish. It can take years to establish while it is rather easy to destroy. Developing the weak areas in management Based on analysis of my competences through reflection on the 10 key roles proposed by Mintzberg, my strong competencies can be summed up in roles such as liaison, leader, figure head, entrepreneur. In contrast, my weak roles included spokesperson, disseminator, and resource allocator. In this regards, it is submitted that the ‘model of managing’ proposed by Mintzberg can be applied in developing the weak skills. Figure 2: Mintzberg's model of managing (adapted from Mintzberg, 2009). In using the model (as indicated in the Figure 2 above), Mintzberg proposes that the manager should be positioned at the centre, where he has to ensure that the organization serves its core purposes. The model further proposes that other than a manager taking a direct action, the manager steps back and gets things done through other people by strengthening culture, coaching and motivating. The manager can in addition take two steps back and instead use information to trigger the subordinates to take action. Mintzberg (2009) further proposed that managing occurs on three planes, from the conceptual to concrete, with information through people and directly to actions. He explained that two roles are indicated as being performed at each plane. This reflects effective strategies to improve on my weak competencies: spokesperson, disseminator, resource allocator. For instance, on the information plane, I would need to communicate all-round while controlling the inside. On the people plane, I would lead from inside and link the organization to the outside. On the action plane, I would perform operations from the inside and deal with issues from the outside. Indeed, when it comes to linking people outside the unit or organization, Minztberg (2009) commented that linking looks out the manner in which managers are able to sustain relationship with the groups and individuals outside their organizations and unit. The message needs to be consistent at all levels while also reflecting the objectives and mission of the organisation. According to Boyatzis (1982), whether in the private or public sector, the goals, objectives and mission of the organization will often influence the normative value and messages issued by the managers. As indicated in Figure 2, I would still be able to conceive strategies and determine priorities and schedules. Conclusion As a manager, I intend to integrate the competencies acquired into mental models I apply in guiding my interpretation of environmental conditions and developments as well as my presupposition on whether and when I should take actions. While I have effectively put SunRise on the path to revitalisation after poor performance over a three-year period, Mintzberg’s proposed manager’s roles model indicate that the objective may not be achieved unless I attend to the weak areas in leadership. Based on analysis of my competences through reflection on the 10 key roles proposed by Mintzberg, my strong competencies can be summed up in roles such as liaison, leader, figure head, entrepreneur. In contrast, my weak roles included spokesperson, disseminator, and resource allocator. In using ‘model of managing’ proposed by Mintzberg, it is established that I should be an all-round communicator while controlling the inside. I also need to lead from inside and link the organization to the outside. I also need to perform operations from the inside and deal with issues from the outside. Overall, I would still be able to conceive strategies and determine priorities and schedules. Reference List Cunliffe, A 2009, Management, managerialism and managers: A very short, fairly interesting and reasonably cheap book about management, SAGE, Los Angeles, pp. 8-50 Dowling, M 2008, Managing Personal Competencies, Edinburgh Business School, Edinburgh Boyatzis, R 1982, Competence and job performance' in The competent manager : a model for effective performance, Wiley, New York, pp. 10-39. Khandwalla, P 2004, “Competencies for Senior Manager Roles," Vikalpa vol. 29 no. 4, pp.11-24 Mintzberg, H 2009, A model of managing', Managing, Financial Times Prentice Hall, Harlow, pp. 43-96 Shahmandi, E, Silong, A, Ismail, I & Samah, B 2011, "Competencies, Roles and Effective Academic Leadership in World Class University,' International Journal of Business Administration vol. 2, no. 1, pp. 44-53 Read More