Analyse the current problems in production from the standpoint of

Mintzberg’s managerial roles.

These roles are developed by Henry Mintzberg in 1960s after careful study of executives at work.
These roles are divided into three categories.

1. Interpersonal roles

2. Information roles

3. Decision roles

Interpersonal roles

Managers have to spend consirable amount of time in interacting with other people, both with their
own organisations as well as outside. These people include Peers, subordinates, superiors, suppliers,
customers, government officials and community leaders. All these interactions require an
understanding of interpersonal behaviour. Studies who that interacting with people takes up nearly
80% of manager’s time. The important interpersonal roles are:

1. Figure/Lead role –As a manager Mr Chilufya, has social and legal responsibilities. His
expected to be a source of inspiration. Employees should look up to him as a person with
authority, and as a figurehead. Mr Chilufya was on good terms with all employees, but he
was not perceived by employees as being involved actively in routine operational decisions.
He used Paul as his assistant, and he was responsible for ensuring that company goals were
achieved.

2. Leader – A family-type atmosphere existed at Chilufya industries. Before the cost-

reduction programmes were installed, there was little direct supervision, and pressure was
seldom placed on employees to meet production standards. Several employees worked
overtime without supervision, and most employees socialised at lunch and often played cards
together after work. Mr Chilufya was supposed to provide leadership for the production
department or perhaps your entire organization; He was suppose be an ideal leader so that his
subordinates follow his directions and guidelines with respect and dedication
3. Liaison – Mr Chilufya is responsible for communicating with internal and external
contacts. He must be able to network effectively on behalf of organization. In this he must
build an external information system. When he began the business, he was one of a handful
of firms building the products. Recently, several other international rivals in countries with
lower labour costs had started making similar products. One competitor had bid on business
with one of Chilufya ’a major customers. Mr Chilufya’s did not know which of his rivals had
entered his market but he was very concerned about his firm’s rising production cost structure
and was pressuring Ian to increase efficiency and cut production costs to ensure low bids for
all of Chilufya’s major customers. He could have achieved this by attending meetings major
customers and through personal phone calls, trade journals and informal personal contacts
with outside agencies.
Information Roles

A manager, by virtue of his interpersonal contacts,emerges as a source of information about a

variety of issues concerning an organisation.In this capacity of information processing, a manager
executes the following three roles:

1. Monitor – In this role, he regularly seek out information related to organization and
industry, looking for relevant changes in the environment. He monitor his team, in terms of
both their productivity, and their well-being. Managers constantly scanning their internal and
external environment for this purpose. He used Paul as his assistant, and he was responsible
for ensuring that company goals were achieved.
2. Disseminator – As Production manager Musumadi must communicate potentially useful
information to the foremen and they teams. The managers must transmit the information
regarding changes in production and other matters to subordinates but Musumadi rarely
spoke to employees, and his habit was to leave ‘distasteful’ personnel decisions to his
secretary, Meya Manda.

3. Spokesperson – Managers represent and speak for their organization. In this role he is responsible
.
for transmitting information about his organization and its goals to the people outside it.
Musumadi ended the one-way meeting by telling the foremen that they had one
week to implement the new programme.

Decisional Category

A manager must make decisions and solve organisational problems on the basis of environmental
information’s received. In this respect managers play four important roles:

1. Entrepreneur – Musumadi as Production manager, he was supposed to create and control

change within the organization. Managers, as entrepreneurs are constantly involved in
improving their units and facing the dynamic technological challenges, three production
foremen supervised the repetitive work of 175 employees who were assigned to three
production lines that operated on a 24-hour basis. As an entrepreneur for Mr Musamadi
meant solving problems through generating new ideas, and implementing them so as to
competitive in the industry.
2. Disturbance Handler – When teams hits an unexpected roadblock, it's Mr Musumadi to
take charge, to help mediate disputes within .As Production manager he was suppose to be
constantly involved as judge in solving conflicts among the employees and between
employees and management. In response to the loss of overtime, employees from each of the
production lines agreed to stage a work slow-down. Hardworking employees who were loyal
to the firm voiced their support for the slow-down, reasoning that ‘the company can’t fire all
of us’.
 3. Resource Allocator – He also need to determine where organizational resources are best
applied. This involves allocating funding, as well as assigning staff and other organizational
resources. Musumadi Chilufya a production manager because the founder’s son, pulled
production employees away from their jobs to work on his ‘special projects’, which were not
always related to the work of the firm and recently, several employees had completed the
installation of an integrated computer, Internet-streaming service and digital entertainment
system at his home.
4. Negotiator – Managers need to take part in, and direct, important negotiations within his
team, department, or organization .At Chilufya industries For several weeks there were no
improvements in the three targeted areas. Paul called a meeting with Musumadi and the
foremen to announce another new programme of a four-day, 40-hour work week, and ending
all overtime payments to hourly workers, especially among the older workers, who felt 10-
hour work days were too long. The younger employees were indifferent to the four-day work
week plan. As manager Mr Musamadi before the decision He was supposed to negotiate an
agreement with employees and management. The suspension of overtime offended everyone
and no one supported the plan because many employees had come to depend on the extra
income.

Resolving Conflict in
Organizations

3. When and how do you negotiate, and how do you achieve a mutually
advantageous agreement?

We have discovered that conflict is pervasive throughout organizations and that

some conflict can be good for organizations. People often grow and learn from
conflict, as long as the conflict is not dysfunctional. The challenge for managers is
to select a resolution strategy appropriate to the situation and individuals involved.
A review of past management practice in this regard reveals that managers often
make poor strategy choices. As often as not, managers select repressive or
ineffective conflict resolution strategies.

Common Strategies that Seldom Work

At leave five conflict resolution techniques commonly found in organizations
prove to be ineffective fairly consistently.

Miles, op. cit.

In fact, not only do such techniques seldom work—in many cases, they actually
serve to increase the problem. Nonetheless, they are found with alarming
frequency in a wide array of business and public organizations. These five
ineffective strategies are often associated with an avoidance approach and are
described below.

Nonaction. Perhaps the most common managerial response when conflict emerges
is nonaction—doing nothing and ignoring the problem. It may be felt that if the
problem is ignored, it will go away. Unfortunately, that is not often the case. In
fact, ignoring the problem may serve only to increase the frustration and anger of
the parties involved.

Administrative Orbiting. In some cases, managers will acknowledge that a

problem exists but then take little serious action. Instead, they continually report
that a problem is “under study” or that “more information is needed.” Telling a
person who is experiencing a serious conflict that “these things take time” hardly
relieves anyone’s anxiety or solves any problems. This ineffective strategy for
resolving conflict is aptly named administrative orbiting.

Due Process Nonaction. A third ineffective approach to resolving conflict is to set

up a recognized procedure for redressing grievances but at the same time to ensure
that the procedure is long, complicated, costly, and perhaps even risky. The due
process nonaction strategy is to wear down the dissatisfied employee while at the
same time claiming that resolution procedures are open and available. This
technique has been used repeatedly in conflicts involving race and sex
discrimination.

Secrecy. Oftentimes, managers will attempt to reduce conflict through secrecy.

Some feel that by taking secretive actions, controversial decisions can be carried
out with a minimum of resistance. One argument for pay secrecy (keeping
 employee salaries secret) is that such a policy makes it more difficult for
employees to feel inequitably treated. Essentially, this is a “what they don’t know
won’t hurt them” strategy. A major problem of this approach is that it leads to
distrust of management. When managerial credibility is needed for other issues, it
may be found lacking.

Character Assassination. The final ineffective resolution technique to be

discussed here is character assassination. The person with a conflict, perhaps a
woman claiming sex discrimination, is labeled a “troublemaker.” Attempts are
made to discredit her and distance her from the others in the group. The implicit
strategy here is that if the person can be isolated and stigmatized, she will either be
silenced by negative group pressures or she will leave. In either case, the problem
is “solved.”

Strategies for Preventing Conflict

On the more positive side, there are many things managers can do to reduce or
actually solve dysfunctional conflict when it occurs. These fall into two categories:
actions directed at conflict prevention and actions directed at conflict reduction.
We shall start by examining conflict prevention techniques, because preventing
conflict is often easier than reducing it once it begins. These include:

1. Emphasizing organization-wide goals and effectiveness. Focusing on

organization-wide goals and objectives should prevent goal conflict. If larger goals
are emphasized, employees are more likely to see the big picture and work together
to achieve corporate goals.
2. Providing stable, well-structured tasks. When work activities are clearly
defined, understood, and accepted by employees, conflict should be less likely to
occur. Conflict is most likely to occur when task uncertainty is high; specifying or
structuring jobs minimizes ambiguity.
3. Facilitating intergroup communication. Misperception of the abilities,
goals, and motivations of others often leads to conflict, so efforts to increase the
dialogue among groups and to share information should help eliminate conflict. As
 groups come to know more about one another, suspicions often diminish, and
greater intergroup teamwork becomes possible.
4. Avoiding win-lose situations. If win-lose situations are avoided, less
potential for conflict exists. When resources are scarce, management can seek
some form of resource sharing to achieve organizational effectiveness. Moreover,
rewards can be given for contributions to overall corporate objectives; this will
foster a climate in which groups seek solutions acceptable to all.

These points bear a close resemblance to descriptions of the so-called Japanese

management style. In Japanese firms, considerable effort is invested in preventing
conflict. In this way, more energy is available for constructive efforts toward task
accomplishment and competition in the marketplace. Another place where
considerable destructive conflict is prevented is Intel.
Sustainability and Responsible Management: Constructive Conflict that Leads
to Championships

Dealing with conflict lies at the heart of managing any business. Confrontation—
facing issues about which there is disagreement—is avoided only at a manager’s
peril. Many issues can be postponed, allowed to fester, or smoothed over;
eventually, they must be solved. They are not going to disappear. This philosophy
not only applies to business but to sports dynamics as well.

Take two NBA all-stars, Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal. Although they are
world-renowned athletes now, when they first started in the NBA, there was plenty
of conflict that could have caused their careers to take a much different path.

In 1992, O’Neal was the first play taken in by the NBA draft, he dominated the
court with his size and leadership from day one. Four years later, Kobe Bryant, the
youngest player to start in the NBA was brought onto the same team: the Los
Angeles Lakers. The two were not fast friends, and the trash talk started as Bryant
publicly criticized his teammate—and continued for years.

Ultimately in 1999, Phil Jackson was brought in to coach the LA Lakers, and his
creative approach to their conflict changed everything. Instead of seeing this
tension and ignoring it, or chastising the players for their feud, he used their skills
 to develop a new way of playing the game. O’Neal brought power and strength to
the court, while Bryant was fast and a great shooter. Jackson developed a way of
playing that highlighted both of these talents, and he built a supporting cast around
them that brought out the best in everyone. The outcome: three NBA
championships in a row.

While many may have just ignored or tried to separate the two superstars, Jackson
was innovative in his approach, saw the opportunity in using the conflict to create a
new energy, and was able to build a very successful program.
Questions:

1. What was the key to the success for Phil Jackson and his team?
2. How would you have approached the two players (or employees) that were
in conflict and causing tension on your team?
3. What strategies would have been important to employ with these two
individuals to resolve the conflict?

Sources: J. DeGraff, “3 Legendary Creative Conflicts That Sparked Revolutionary

Innovation,” Huffington Post, September 26, 2017,
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/3-legendary-creative-conflicts-that-sparked-
revolutionary_us_59c85a9de4b08d66155043d6; K. Soong, “‘I owe you an
apology’: Shaquille O’Neal explains why he loves Kobe Bryant years after feud,”
Washington Post, February, 17, 2017,
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/early-lead/wp/2018/02/17/i-owe-you-
an-apology-shaquille-oneal-explains-why-he-loves-kobe-bryant-years-after-
feud/?utm_term=.b9cca63b5761; M. Chiari, “Kobe Bryant Discusses Getting
into Fist Fight with Shaquille O’Neal,” Bleacher Report, March 9, 2018,
https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2763468-kobe-bryant-discusses-getting-
into-fist-fight-with-shaquille-oneal.

Strategies for Reducing Conflict

Where dysfunctional conflict already exists, something must be done, and

managers may pursue one of at least two general approaches: they can try to
change employee attitudes, or they can try to change employee behaviors. If they
 change behavior, open conflict is often reduced, but groups may still dislike one
another; the conflict simply becomes less visible as the groups are separated from
one another. Changing attitudes, on the other hand, often leads to fundamental
changes in the ways that groups get along. However, it also takes considerably
longer to accomplish than behavior change because it requires a fundamental
change in social perceptions.

Nine conflict reduction strategies are shown in (Figure). The techniques should be
viewed as a continuum, ranging from strategies that focus on changing behaviors
near the top of the scale to strategies that focus on changing attitudes near the
bottom of the scale.

1. Physical separation. The quickest and easiest solution to conflict is physical

separation. Separation is useful when conflicting groups are not working on a joint
task or do not need a high degree of interaction. Though this approach does not
encourage members to change their attitudes, it does provide time to seek a better
accommodation.
2. Use of rules and regulations. Conflict can also be reduced through the
increasing specification of rules, regulations, and procedures. This approach, also
known as the bureaucratic method, imposes solutions on groups from above.
Again, however, basic attitudes are not modified.
3. Limiting intergroup interaction. Another approach to reducing conflict is to
limit intergroup interaction to issues involving common goals. Where groups agree
on a goal, cooperation becomes easier. An example of this can be seen in recent
efforts by firms in the United States and Canada to work together to “meet the
Japanese challenge.”
4. Use of integrators. Integrators are individuals who are assigned a boundary-
spanning role between two groups or departments. To be trusted, integrators must
be perceived by both groups as legitimate and knowledgeable. The integrator often
takes the “shuttle diplomacy” approach, moving from one group to another,
identifying areas of agreement, and attempting to find areas of future cooperation.
5. Confrontation and negotiation. In this approach, competing parties are
brought together face-to-face to discuss their basic areas of disagreement. The hope
 is that through open discussion and negotiation, means can be found to work out
problems. Contract negotiations between union and management represent one
such example. If a “win-win” solution can be identified through these negotiations,
the chances of an acceptable resolution of the conflict increase. (More will be said
about this in the next section of this chapter.)
6. Third-party consultation. In some cases, it is helpful to bring in outside
consultants for third-party consultation who understand human behavior and can
facilitate a resolution. A third-party consultant not only serves as a go-between but
can speak more directly to the issues, because she is not a member of either group.
7. Rotation of members. By rotating from one group to another, individuals
come to understand the frames of reference, values, and attitudes of other
members; communication is thus increased. When those rotated are accepted by
the receiving groups, change in attitudes as well as behavior becomes possible.
This is clearly a long-term technique, as it takes time to develop good interpersonal
relations and understanding among group members.
8. Identification of interdependent tasks and superordinate goals. A further
strategy for management is to establish goals that require groups to work together
to achieve overall success—for example, when company survival is threatened.
The threat of a shutdown often causes long-standing opponents to come together to
achieve the common objective of keeping the company going.
9. Use of intergroup training. The final technique on the continuum is
intergroup training. Outside training experts are retained on a long-term basis to
help groups develop relatively permanent mechanisms for working together.
Structured workshops and training programs can help forge more favorable
intergroup attitudes and, as a result, more constructive intergroup behavior.

Factors Affecting
Communications and the Roles
of Managers
3. Understand how power, status, purpose, and interpersonal skills affect
communications in organizations.

The Roles Managers Play

In Mintzberg’s seminal study of managers and their jobs, he found the majority of
them clustered around three core management roles.

Mintzberg, H. (1973). The Nature of Managerial Work. New York: Harper &
Row, p. 31.

Interpersonal Roles

Managers are required to interact with a substantial number of people during a

workweek. They host receptions; take clients and customers to dinner; meet with
business prospects and partners; conduct hiring and performance interviews; and
form alliances, friendships, and personal relationships with many others.
Numerous studies have shown that such relationships are the richest source of
information for managers because of their immediate and personal nature.

Ibid, p. 166-167.

Three of a manager’s roles arise directly from formal authority and involve basic
interpersonal relationships. First is the figurehead role. As the head of an
organizational unit, every manager must perform some ceremonial duties. In
Mintzberg’s study, chief executives spent 12% of their contact time on ceremonial
duties; 17% of their incoming mail dealt with acknowledgments and requests
related to their status. One example is a company president who requested free
merchandise for a handicapped schoolchild.

Ibid, p. 167.

Managers are also responsible for the work of the people in their unit, and their
actions in this regard are directly related to their role as a leader. The influence of
managers is most clearly seen, according to Mintzberg, in the leader role. Formal
authority vests them with great potential power. Leadership determines, in large
part, how much power they will realize.

Does the leader’s role matter? Ask the employees of Chrysler Corporation (now
Fiat Chrysler). When Sergio Marchionne, who passed away in 2018, took over the
company in the wake of the financial crisis, the once-great auto manufacturer was
in bankruptcy, teetering on the verge of extinction. He formed new relationships
with the United Auto Workers, reorganized the senior management of the
company, and—perhaps, most importantly—convinced the U.S. federal
government to guarantee a series of bank loans that would make the company
solvent again. The loan guarantees, the union response, and the reaction of the
marketplace, especially for the Jeep brand, were due in large measure to
Marchionne’s leadership style and personal charisma. More recent examples
include the return of Starbucks founder Howard Schultz to reenergize and steer his
company and Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and his ability to innovate during a
downturn in the economy.

McGregor, J. (2008). “Bezos: How Frugality Drives Innovation,”

BusinessWeek, April 28, 2008, pp. 64–66.

Popular management literature has had little to say about the liaison role until
recently. This role, in which managers establish and maintain contacts outside the
vertical chain of command, becomes especially important in view of the finding of
virtually every study of managerial work that managers spend as much time with
peers and other people outside of their units as they do with their own
subordinates. Surprisingly, they spend little time with their own superiors. In
Rosemary Stewart’s (1967) study, 160 British middle and top managers spent 47%
of their time with peers, 41% of their time with people inside their unit, and only
12% of their time with superiors. Guest’s (1956) study of U.S. manufacturing
supervisors revealed similar findings.

Informational Roles

Managers are required to gather, collate, analyze, store, and disseminate many
kinds of information. In doing so, they become information resource centers, often
storing huge amounts of information in their own heads, moving quickly from the
role of gatherer to the role of disseminator in minutes. Although many business
organizations install large, expensive management information systems to perform
many of those functions, nothing can match the speed and intuitive power of a
well-trained manager’s brain for information processing. Not surprisingly, most
managers prefer it that way.

As monitors, managers are constantly scanning the environment for information,

talking with liaison contacts and subordinates, and receiving unsolicited
information, much of it because of their network of personal contacts. A good
portion of this information arrives in verbal form, often as gossip, hearsay, and
speculation.

Mintzberg, H. (1990). “The Manager’s Job: Folklore and Fact.” Harvard

Business Review, March–April 1990, pp. 166–167.

In the disseminator role, managers pass privileged information directly to

subordinates, who might otherwise have no access to it. Managers must decide not
only who should receive such information, but how much of it, how often, and in
what form. Increasingly, managers are being asked to decide whether subordinates,
peers, customers, business partners, and others should have direct access to
information 24 hours a day without having to contact the manager directly.

Ibid.

In the spokesperson role, managers send information to people outside of their

organizations: an executive makes a speech to lobby for an organizational cause, or
a supervisor suggests a product modification to a supplier. Increasingly, managers
are also being asked to deal with representatives of the news media, providing both
factual and opinion-based responses that will be printed or broadcast to vast unseen
audiences, often directly or with little editing. The risks in such circumstances are
enormous, but so too are the potential rewards in terms of brand recognition, public
image, and organizational visibility.

Ibid
 Decisional Roles

Ultimately, managers are charged with the responsibility of making decisions on

behalf of both the organization and the stakeholders with an interest in it. Such
decisions are often made under circumstances of high ambiguity and with
inadequate information. Often, the other two managerial roles—interpersonal and
informational—will assist a manager in making difficult decisions in which
outcomes are not clear and interests are often conflicting.

In the role of entrepreneur, managers seek to improve their businesses, adapt to

changing market conditions, and react to opportunities as they present themselves.
Managers who take a longer-term view of their responsibilities are among the first
to realize that they will need to reinvent themselves, their product and service lines,
their marketing strategies, and their ways of doing business as older methods
become obsolete and competitors gain advantage.

While the entrepreneur role describes managers who initiate change, the
disturbance or crisis handler role depicts managers who must involuntarily react to
conditions. Crises can arise because bad managers let circumstances deteriorate or
spin out of control, but just as often good managers find themselves in the midst of
a crisis that they could not have anticipated but must react to just the same.

H. Mintzberg, Mintzberg on Management: Inside our Strange World of

Organizations, Free Press, 2007.

The third decisional role of resource allocator involves managers making decisions
about who gets what, how much, when, and why. Resources, including funding,
equipment, human labor, office or production space, and even the boss’s time, are
all limited, and demand inevitably outstrips supply. Managers must make sensible
decisions about such matters while still retaining, motivating, and developing the
best of their employees.

The final decisional role is that of negotiator. Managers spend considerable

amounts of time in negotiations: over budget allocations, labor and collective
bargaining agreements, and other formal dispute resolutions. During a week,
managers will often make dozens of decisions that are the result of brief but
 important negotiations between and among employees, customers and clients,
suppliers, and others with whom managers must deal.

Mintzberg, H. (1990). “The Manager’s Job: Folklore and Fact.” Harvard

Business Review, March–April 1990, pp. 166–167.

1. What are the major roles that managers play in communicating with
employees?
2. Why are negotiations often brought in to communications by managers?

3. Understand how power, status, purpose, and interpersonal skills affect

communications in organizations.

Interpersonal communication is influenced by social situations, perception,

interaction involvement, and organizational design. Organizational communication
can travel upward, downward, or horizontally. Each direction of information flow
has specific challenges.

Glossary

figurehead role
A necessary role for a manager who wants to inspire people within the
organization to feel connected to each other and to the institution, to support the
policies and decisions made on behalf of the organization, and to work harder for
the good of the institution.

2. How does the human resources compliance role of HR add value to an

organization?

Human resources compliance is an area that traces back to the very origin of the
human resources function—to administrative and regulatory functions.
Compliance continues to be a very important area that HR manages, and there are
numerous regulations and laws that govern the employment relationship. HR
professionals must be able to understand and navigate these laws to help their
organizations remain compliant and avoid having to pay fines or penalties. The
additional threat of reputational harm to the organization is another reason that HR
needs to be aware and alert to any potential gaps in compliance.

10 Mintzberg Managerial Roles

In addition, Henry Mintzberg describes the operational work of managers in terms of
managerial roles.
The activities that are carried out by those managers are key elements. The way in
which the Mintzberg Managerial Roles are carried out, are influenced by individual
and situational factors. Henry Mintzberg initially divided the ten managerial Roles
roles into three sub categories:

 Interpersonal contact
 Information processing
 Decision making
Interpersonal contact
Interpersonal contact concerns the contact between the manager and the people in
his environment. For example, subordinates, other managers, the board of directors,
the works council, customers and suppliers.

The following Mintzberg Managerial Roles are primarily concerned with interpersonal
contact:

1. Figurehead
As head of a department or an organisation, a manager is expected to carry out
ceremonial and/or symbolic duties. A manager represents the company both
internally and externally in all matters of formality.

He is a networker but he also serves as an exemplary role model. He is the one who
addresses people celebrating their anniversaries, attends business dinners and
receptions.

2. Leader
In his leading role, the manager motivates and develops staff and fosters a positive
work environment. He coaches and supports staff, enters into (official) conversations
with them, assesses them and offers education and training courses.

3. Liason
A manager serves as an intermediary and a linking pin between the high and low
levels. In addition, he develops and maintains an external network.

As a networker he has external contacts and he brings the right parties together.
This will ultimately result in a positive contribution to the organization.

Information processing
According to Henry Mintzberg, the managerial role involves the processing of
information which means that they send, pass on and analyze information. Managers
are linking pins; they are expected to exchange flows of vertical information with their
subordinates and horizontal flows of information with their fellow managers and the
board of directors. Further more, managers have the responsibility to filter and
transmit information that is important for both groups. The following Mintzberg
Managerial Roles fall under process information:

4. Monitor
As a monitor the manager gathers all internal and external information that is
relevant to the organization.
He is also responsible for arranging, analyzing and assessing this information so that
he can easily identify problems and opportunities and identify changes.

5. Disseminator
As a disseminator the manager transmits factual information to his subordinates and
to other people within the organization.

This may be information that was obtained either internally or externally.

6. Spokesman
As a spokesman the manager represents the company and he communicates to the
outside world on corporate policies, performance and other relevant information for
external parties.

Decision-making
Managers are responsible for decision-making and they can do this in different ways
at different levels. The leadership style is important in decision-making.

An authoritarian leader is sooner inclined to make decisions independently than a

democratic leader. The following Mintzberg Managerial Roles fall under decision-
making:

7. Entrepreneur
As an entrepreneur, the manager designs and initiates changes and strategies.

8. Disturbance handler
In his managerial role as disturbance handler, the manager will always immediately
respond to unexpected events and operational breakdowns. He aims for usable
solutions.

The problems may be internal or external, for example conflict situations or the
scarcity of raw materials. .

9. Resource allocator
In his resource allocator role, the manager controls and authorizes the use of
organizational resources.
He allocates finance, assigns employees, positions of power, machines, materials
and other resources so that all activities can be well-executed within the
organization.

10. Negotiator
As a negotiator, the manager participates in negotiations with other organizations
and individuals and he represents the interests of the organization.

This may be in relation to his own staff as well as to third parties. For example salary
negotiations or negotiations with respect to procurement terms.

Skills
According to Henry Mintzberg, the skills of individual managers do not always
contribute to the success of an organization.

Effective managers develop themselves based on protocols for action. In addition,

they use their leadership roles independently and they know to use the right role for
the right situation.

The Mintzberg Managerial Roles make it easier to understand what the nature of
their work is. Mintzberg’s objective was to observe and analyze managerial
behaviour.

By studying the Mintzberg Managerial Roles, it is possible to find out in which areas
managers can improve themselves and how they can develop the right skills.

Tool for managers

The 10 Mintzberg Managerial Roles provide a tool for managers and other people in
leading positions. By understanding their own roles, they can find out how much time
they devote to the activities below:

 Directing subordinates
 Attending meetings as a Liason
 Representing the organization
 Transmitting information
 Analyzing information
 Allocation of resources
 Negotiating resources
 Problem solving
 Developing new ideas
 Promoting the interests of the organization
Furthermore, it is important that the manager answers the following questions. This
will provide more insight into his own qualities:

 Is the time distribution in sync with the manager’s own perception of it?
 Is there a balance between time flow and work distribution?
 Which tasks boost the manager’s energy?
 Which is the most satisfying task of a manager?
 Which task does the manager most unpleasant?

In practice a certain managerial role will more predominant than the other. In addition
to preference, this also has to do with the interdependence of factors, such as the
position of the manager within the organization, the activities, the composition of the
team and the size of the organization.

One of the managerial roles mentioned is always visible and in some activities,
multiple roles at the same time are possible.

It’s Your Turn

What do you think? Do you recognize the Mintzberg Managerial Roles in today’s
companies? And if so, how do you understand and develop these? What are your
general results and learning lessons? Are the basics the same or are there additional
success factors?

Share your experience and knowledge in the comments box below.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our Free Newsletter for the latest
posts on models and methods. You can also find us on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter
and YouTube.

More information

1. Alexander, L. D. (1979). The Effect Level in the Hierarchy and Functional

Area Have on the Extent Mintzberg’s Roles Are Required by Managerial Jobs.
In Academy of Management Proceedings (Vol. 1979, No. 1, pp. 186-189).
Academy of Management.
2. Bass, B. M., & Stogdill, R. M. (1990). Handbook of leadership. Free Press.
3. Grover, V., Jeong, S. R., Kettinger, W. J., & Lee, C. C. (1993). The chief
information officer: A study of managerial roles. Journal of Management
Information Systems, 10(2), 107-130.
4. Mintzberg, H. (1989). Mintzberg on management: Inside our strange world of
organizations. Hungry Minds Inc.

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6 Steps to Effective
Organizational
Change Management
Most organizations today are in a constant state of flux as they
respond to the fast-moving external business environment,
local and global economies, and technological advancement.
This means that workplace processes, systems, and strategies
must continuously change and evolve for an organization to
remain competitive.

Change affects your most important asset, your people. Losing

employees is costly due to the associated recruitment costs and the time
involved getting new employees up to speed. Each time an employee
walks out the door, essential intimate knowledge of your business leaves
with them.

WHAT IS EFFECTIVE ORGANIZATIONAL

CHANGE MANAGEMENT?
A change management plan can support a smooth transition and ensure
your employees are guided through the change journey. The harsh fact
is that approximately 70 percent of change initiatives fail due to
negative employee attitudes and unproductive management behavior.
Using the services of a professional change management consultant
could ensure you are in the winning 30 percent.

In this article, PulseLearning presents six key steps to effective

organizational change management.

1. Clearly define the change and align it to

business goals.
It might seem obvious but many organizations miss this first vital step.
It’s one thing to articulate the change required and entirely another to
conduct a critical review against organizational objectives and
performance goals to ensure the change will carry your business in the
right direction strategically, financially, and ethically. This step can also
assist you to determine the value of the change, which will quantify the
effort and inputs you should invest.

Key questions:
• What do we need to change?
• Why is this change required?

2. Determine impacts and those affected.

Once you know exactly what you wish to achieve and why, you should
then determine the impacts of the change at various organizational
levels. Review the effect on each business unit and how it cascades
through the organizational structure to the individual. This information
will start to form the blueprint for where training and support is needed
the most to mitigate the impacts.

Key questions:
• What are the impacts of the change?
• Who will the change affect the most?
• How will the change be received?

3. Develop a communication strategy.

Although all employees should be taken on the change journey, the first
two steps will have highlighted those employees you absolutely must
communicate the change to. Determine the most effective means of
communication for the group or individual that will bring them on
board. The communication strategy should include a timeline for how
the change will be incrementally communicated, key messages, and the
communication channels and mediums you plan to use.

Key questions:
• How will the change be communicated?
• How will feedback be managed?

4. Provide effective training.

With the change message out in the open, it’s important that your people
know they will receive training, structured or informal, to teach the
skills and knowledge required to operate efficiently as the change is
rolled out. Training could include a suite of micro-learning online
modules, or a blended learning approach incorporating face-to-face
training sessions or on-the-job coaching and mentoring.

Key questions:
• What behaviors and skills are required to achieve business results?
• What training delivery methods will be most effective?

5. Implement a support structure.

Providing a support structure is essential to assist employees to
emotionally and practically adjust to the change and to build proficiency
of behaviors and technical skills needed to achieve desired business
results. Some change can result in redundancies or restructures, so you
could consider providing support such as counseling services to help
people navigate the situation. To help employees adjust to changes to
how a role is performed, a mentorship or an open-door policy with
management to ask questions as they arise could be set up.

Key questions:
• Where is support most required?
• What types of support will be most effective?

6. Measure the change process.

Throughout the change management process, a structure should be put
in place to measure the business impact of the changes and ensure that
continued reinforcement opportunities exist to build proficiencies. You
should also evaluate your change management plan to determine its
effectiveness and document any lessons learned.

Key questions:
• Did the change assist in achieving business goals?
• Was the change management process successful?
• What could have been done differently?

Is your business going through a period of organizational change?

PulseLearning can assist in managing the change process to meet
business goals and minimize the associated impacts. PulseLearning is
an award-winning global learning provider experienced in change
management consultancy and developing engaging and innovative
eLearning and blended training solutions.