The Manager Today

The nature of the manager’s task has produced many ideas. The manager in fact takes on a wider range of roles in pursuing the objectives of the organization.

Many persons have responsibility in an organization. But managers also are held accountable for the work of others as well as their own. This additional feature can cause concern, in that control of this may not be so easy. A manager may not have time to check everything others do, so there is an element of risk here :

1.      A manager assumes responsibility to see that work is done effectively.

2.      He must balance competing goals and needs, which require resources which are limited. A balance between the goals and needs of departments and individuals is needed and priorities have to be established.

3.      A manager works with and through other people at every level in an organization in striving towards goals.

4.      He is also :

-. a mediator of disputes which may affect morale and productivity

-. a politician, using persuasion and compromise to promote organizational goals

-. a diplomat, representing the company at meetings within and outside the firm.

There are many other roles of a manager. A manager must be flexible to change roles approximately to be truly effective.

A manager’s responsibilities require performance to be both efficient and effective.

The important points that although efficiency is important, effectiveness is vital (i.e. the ability to choose appropriate objectives or means to achieve an objective). Efficient production of large cars may not be effective when the market needs are all for small cars. The pertinent question is not how to do things right, but how to find the right things to do and to concentrate, resources and efforts on them.

There are limitations inevitably placed on a manager’s ability to perform efficiently or effectively, e.g. a firm may limit a manager in his handling of subordinates or what he can do in hiring or motivating them, or his leadership style maybe in conflict with the current style in the organization.

·        Technical skill of manager

Ability to use tools, procedures and techniques in a specialized area.

·        Human skill of manager

Ability to work with and understand and motivate people as individuals or groups.

·        Conceptual skill of manager

Mental ability to coordinate and integrated all of an organization’s activities, especially in the long-term decisions affecting the organization. In additional, conceptual skills are needed to see the organization as a whole and recognized how the various factors in a situation are interrelated so actions taken are in the best interest of the organization.

Human skills and technical skills are more important at a lower level, where more manager-subordinate interactions occur. Conceptual skills are needed at all level of management, but the nearer to top management positions, the more time is needed to devote to conceptual skills.

Manager interpersonal roles and Manager informative roles

A manager’s interpersonal roles include that of a figurehead, performing ceremonial duties, e.g. receiving visitors. He/she also has a leader role, e.g. hiring, training, motivating staff, and a liaison role dealing with others outside the organization, e.g. clients and suppliers.

A manager’s informational roles include monitoring and disseminating information obtained in numerous ways. As a company representative, he/she transmits some information to others outside his/her area or organization. An important part of this work is to keep superiors well informed.

A manager’s decisional roles can be of four types :

-. As an entrepreneur – to launch a new idea;

-. As a disturbance handler, e.g. of strikes;

-. As resource allocator – choosing from among competing demands for money, equipment, personnel and management time;

-. As a negotiator, e.g. g=drawing up contract with suppliers. Managers have information and authority, therefore they maybe heavily engage in negotiation.

The real effect that should be highlights is the changing, uncertain environment in which the manager operates. Many things occur which cannot be predicted or controlled. The manager has little time to reflect and must cope with numerous challenges each day.

So although the function of planning, organizing, decision making, etc., are useful in analyzing the work of the manager, the work is more involved than this.

Manager’s jobs are complicated and difficult. They cannot easily delegate, as they keep most of the important information in their heads because it comes to them mainly in verbal form.

Today pressures are becoming greater and they now need to respond not just to owners and directors, but to subordinates, to consumer groups and outside agencies.