Understanding

Managerial Roles

- Tarak Bahadur KC, PhD

tarakbkc@nasc.org.np
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Discussion Points
 Organisation and Management
 Manager
 Managerial Roles and Skills
 Key Competencies and
Personal Qualities of a
Manager

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 Organisation
 A systematic arrangement of people brought
together to accomplish some specific purpose.
 Two or more people working together toward
one or more shared goal(s). It is an entity with:
 Specific objectives
 Structure of authority
 Division of work
 Resources
 System of communication
 A set of customs (culture)

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Management

 What comes in your mind when

you think about management and
managers? Please express in the
form of picture or diagram in the
flip chart. You have five minutes.

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Management
Management is the art of
getting things done effectively
and efficiently through people
using organizational
resources in a dynamic
environment.
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 Management ensures that these resources are
combined into a total system to accomplish an
objective. It is a process of deciding:
 How many people are to be economically
employed,
 What kinds of people to assign to what jobs,
 How much money to spend on specific problems,
 What kinds of activities to perform first and what
to perform last,
 How much time should be spent on one activity,
and
 Who are the customers and whether they are
satisfied with its products and services.
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Management is what managers do. Managers
perform functions: Planning, Organising,
Directing, Controlling.
1. Planning: analyzing situation, setting goals,
devising a systematic process for attaining the
goals of the organization. It prepares the
organization for the future. What / How /
When / Who / Where / to do with What
resources?

This requires an ability to foresee, to visualize, to

look ahead purposefully.
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2. Organizing: organising resources to
complete the job, coordinating activities,
coordinating and arranging the
necessary resources to carry out the
plan. It is the process of designing /
creating structure, establishing
relationships, grouping activities, job
descriptions, authority and allocating
resources to accomplish the goals of
the organization.

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3. Directing / Leading: Move to action.
Communicating, influencing and
motivating people. Guiding, supervising,
coordinating, motivating, leading, and
overseeing of employees to achieve
organizational goals. Developing,
instructing, and helping maintaining a
work environment within which the
members want to perform the best.

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4. Controlling: monitoring organizational
performance. Verifying that actual
performance matches the plan. If
performance results do not match the
plan, corrective action is taken. 1, 2, 3
do not assure that the undertaking will
be a success.
 How well should work be done?
 How well is it being done maintaining
organizational performance?

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 Manager
People who manage other people and resources are
called managers. A manager is a person who is
responsible for running a particular section, or a
business or an organization. Without his leadership ‘the
resources of production’ remain resources and never
become production. A manager has:
 Targets to achieve
 People to manage

 Tasks to perform

 An organisation to liaise with, and

 A distinct shortage of time

Basically there are two types of managers: ‘doer’ and ‘developer’.

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Exercise – Types of Manager
 Spend few minutes reflecting on
how you see yourself as a
manager: are you mainly a ‘doer’
or ‘developer’? Focus on how
much you:
 Delegate work when possible
 Invest time in developing people

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 Exercise – Types of Manager
Now, place a mark on the line below to indicate
where you think you are on the continuum
between the two.

Doer …………………….Developer
Most effective way of Want someone
getting the job done for a more
on time senior position

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 Types of Manager
Doer Developer
 Performing tasks and  Enabling the team to
achieving targets perform tasks and achieve
 Do not like delegating, targets
prefer to lead by  Delegate as much as
example possible to have time for
 Doing as much as can strategic functions
 Do not invest time in  Motivating and supporting to
developing the take increasing responsibility
capabilities of their  Invest considerable time in
people developing the capabilities of
people
Depends on several factors: nature of work, capabilities of people,
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organisational culture, own preferences, etc.
 Traditional vs. Entrepreneurial Manager
Traditional Manager
• Tries to avoid mistakes
• Postpones recognizing failure
• Agrees with those in power
• Wants to please top management
• Likes the system and sees it as
nurturing and protective
• Works out problems by working
within the system
• Utilizes the hierarchy as a basic
power differentiation between
levels
Entrepreneurial Manager
• Is wiling to make mistakes in order
to learn
• Admits mistakes and moves on
• Gets those in power to be
committed to what should be done
• Wants to please sponsors,
customers and staff
• Dislikes the system and learns
how to manipulate it
• Works out problems by learning
how to bypass the system
• Uses the hierarchy as only a tool
for getting things done more
efficiently
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Levels of Managers
Supervise
Others
Top
Managers

Middle
Managers

First-Line
Managers

Front-Line Employees Work

on Jobs
The Levels of an Organization 17
 Levels of Managers
 First-line managers
 Responsible for day-to-day operations. Supervise

people performing activities required to make the good

or service.
 Middle managers
 Supervise first-line managers. Are responsible to find

the best way to use departmental resources to achieve

goals.
 Top managers
 Responsible for the performance of all departments
and have cross-departmental responsibility. Establish
organizational goals and monitor middle managers.
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Areas of Involvement
In order to manage people, a manager
has to be involved in the following
areas:
 Activity – what people do.
 Performance – how well people do.
 Career – planning of career
development.
 Life – non-work issues (personal).
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What is a Role?
A role is a set of
responsibilities organised
(or a pattern of behaviours
used) to produce specific
outputs related to a specific
function/ position.
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Exercise: Managerial Roles

 What you do as a manager

(tasks / functions)?

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The Managerial Roles - Henry Mintzberg

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A. Interpersonal Roles arise directly from the formal
authority the manager has and involve interpersonal
relationships.
1. Figurehead role
The manager performs ceremonial and symbolic duties by
virtue of his position. They include: receiving dignitaries,
attending parties, visiting the sick employees, etc.
2. Leadership role
This role is particularly performed by heads of units or
departments. As heads managers are responsible for the
work of people in that unit. As a leader he gives directions,
appraises performance, correct mistakes, disciplines staff,
motivates subordinates, determines rewards and
punishments, etc.
3. Liaison role
The manager ensures contacts with other units and outside
agencies on behalf of own unit. He works more as a public
relations officer.
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B. Informational Roles. Due to his status and contacts the
manager gets to know a lot of information which may not be
available to his subordinates. This information he uses in a
variety of ways for the effective functioning of his unit.
4. Monitor
As a monitor of information, the manager scans his
environment for information. As a monitor of information he is
continuously keeping his ears open for all sources. Typically,
this is done by reading papers and talking with others.
5. Disseminator
After having acquired information, the manager also passes
this information relatively to his subordinates, superiors and
colleagues.
6. Spokesman role
The manager represents his unit and its problems in different
forums. As a spokesman, the manager presents the problem of
his unit to others, and presents information to others who
control his unit and so on. 24
C. Decisional Roles. By virtue of the position and authority vested
in him, a manager is continuously making decisions dealing with
the unit's strategy, allocation of resources, solving problems, etc.
7. Entrepreneurial role
The manager seeks to respond to the changing conditions of
environment. He is constantly looking for new ideas and initiating
development projects.
8. Disturbance handler
He responds to pressures and crisis situations.
9. Resource allocater
This role involves the allocation of resources: human, physical,
financial and other forms of resources to get things done.
Allocation of his own time and powers are important dimension
10. Negotiator
The manager is carrying on negotiations with external as well as
internal agents. The negotiator role is very important as the
manager's capability to negotiate determines the unit's
performance.
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 Category Role Activity Examples

Informational Monitor Seek and Scan/read trade

(managing by acquire work- press, periodicals, reports;
information) related attend seminars and
information training; maintain personal
contacts

Disseminator Communicate/ Send memos and reports;

disseminate inform staffers and
information to subordinates of decisions
others within the
organization

Spokesperson Communicate/tra Pass on memos, reports

nsmit information and informational materials;
to outsiders participate in
conferences/meetings and
report progress 26
Interpersonal Figurehead Perform social Greet visitors, sign legal
(managing and legal documents, attend
through people) duties, act as ribbon cutting
symbolic ceremonies,
leader host receptions, etc.

Leader Direct and Includes almost all

motivate interactions with
subordinates, subordinates
select and train
employees

Liaison Establish and Business

maintain correspondence,
contacts within participation in meetings
and outside the with representatives
organization of other divisions or
organizations.
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Decisional Entrepreneur Identify new Implement innovations;
(managing ideas and initiate Plan for the future
through improvement
action) projects

Disturbance Deals with Settle conflicts between

Handler disputes or subordinates; Choose
problems and strategic alternatives;
takes corrective Overcome crisis
action situations

Resource Decide where to Draft and approve of

Allocator apply resources plans, schedules,
budgets; Set priorities

Negotiator Defends Participates in and

business directs negotiations
interests within team,
department, and
organization 28
 A manager does not perform each of these roles
in isolation. In fact all these roles are linked and
in reality it may become difficult to separate
them. Some managers may be performing more
of one set of roles than others. Most managers
irrespective of their levels and nature perform, to
a little degree at least, all these roles.
 In the real world, these roles overlap and a
manager must learn to balance them in order to
manage effectively. While a manager’s work can
be analyzed by these individual roles, in practice
they are intermixed and interdependent.
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Managerial Skills
 Skill is the knowledge and ability
that enables one to do a job very
well.
 Managers need to develop
different skills in order to perform
their duties effectively. There are
some basic skills, which all
managers should possess.
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Exercise: Managerial Skills

What skills you require to

perform the role of a
manager?

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Managerial Skills
Robert Katz identified three types of skills to make a manager
effective: technical, human and conceptual.
1. Technical skills involve an understanding of, and
proficiency in a specific kind of activity particularly one
involving methods, processes, procedures and techniques.
2. Human skills reflect the ability of a manager to work
effectively as a team member and build cooperative effort
within the team he heads. Human skills deal with working with
people.
3. Conceptual skills involve the ability to see the enterprise
as a whole. It includes recognising how the various functions
of an organisation depend on one another and how changes
in one part affect all the other parts and it extends to
visualising the relationship of the individual business to the
organisation, the community and the political, social and
economic forces of the nation as a whole.

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Management Skills

40% 50% 10%

30% 45% 25%

10% 40% 50%

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- Robert Katz
 Managerial Skills
• Communication • Time Management
• Leadership • Managing Discipline
• Listening • Motivation
• Delegation • Managing conflict
• Critical Thinking • Managing meeting
• Trustworthy • Managing diversity
• Decision Making • Maintaining integrity

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Key Competencies
 A competency is more than just knowledge
and skill. It involves creative abilities to meet
complex demands of society and
organisations by drawing on and mobilising
psychosocial resources including attitudes,
motivation and values which an individual
must possess in order to produce the outputs
for his/her roles in a particular context.
 Job competency describes the underlying
characteristics of an individual that drive
behaviour leading to superior performance in
a job.
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Exercise: Key Competencies
What are key competencies
of a manager?

A competency is a generic knowledge,

motive, trait, value, bahaviour, self-
image, social role or skill of a person
that is usually related to superior
performance on a job, such as:
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 Leadership / Self Management
 Decision Making
 Personal Effectiveness- Integrity, Interpersonal
skills / Communication, Adaptive, Innovative,
Creative, Self-directed and Self-motivated
 Strategic Planning
 Change Management
 Learning and Achievement Orientation
 Technical Know-how
According to American Management Association,
the competencies of an effective manager are:
1. Entrepreneurial competencies
2. Intellectual competencies
3. Socio-emotional competencies
4. Interpersonal competencies 37
 Key competencies, OECD (1997)
Individuals need to be able to:
1. use a wide range of tools for interacting
effectively with the environment.
2. engage with others in an increasingly
interdependent world
3. take responsibility for managing their
own lives, situate their lives in the
broader social context and act
autonomously
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 Act Interacts in
autonomously heterogeneous
groups

Use tools
interactively

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 Personal Qualities
 A quality is a characteristic like honesty that is
part of the nature of a person.
 Among other things, those who want to lead
people and manage events must bring with
them a set of qualities that can’t always be
taught but can be learned:
 Will: Desire to make a difference, influence
others, and gain satisfaction from doing so -in
sum, the "will to manage."
 Power: Healthy desire for power. Enjoy it but
don’t abuse it.
 Empathy:Able to understand feelings and roles
of others.
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Exercise: Personal Qualities
What are Personal Qualities
of a Manager?
A manager must:
 Be a professional- integrity, courage,
imagination, commitment…
 Know oneself, job, organisation and
human nature- needs & emotions
 Do directing, implementing, monitoring
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 Character – the ‘thought man’, the
‘action man’, the ‘front man’
 Capacity to judge upon relevant
advice and to decide promptly and
rightly
 Capacity to inspire confidence among
subordinates / team player
 Earning respect from being to be fair,
trustworthy and approachable.
 No vacillation after a decision is made.
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Successful Manager
 Needs knowledge of all factors
that he has to manage and all
that is beyond, which directly or
indirectly impinge on his micro
environment
 Is impartial
 Creates conducive work
environment
- Geeta 43
Thank You

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 Managing and leading endeavors
Managers Leaders
 Handle things Inspire people
 Maintain stability Force change
 Emphasises process Emphasises people
 Define procedures Create vision
 Solve today's problems Seek tomorrow's opportunities
 Use their heads Listen to their hearts
 Get people to do things Get people to want to do things
 Count beans Win wars
 Asks how and when Asks what and why
 Directs Motivates
 Surrender to context Conquer context

“Managers do things right.

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Leaders do the right things.”- Warren Bennis
A Manager must be able to manage
and lead at the same time.

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 Examples of managing and leading at
the same time:
Activity Managing Leading

Run a Follow the Build

meeting agenda consensus
Sell a Persuade Create
proposal with logic enthusiasm
Devise a plan Issue Give people
instructions ownership
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