Management Roles

Management Roles
Managers can use their understanding of organizational behavior to improve their management skills. A skill
is an ability to act in a way that allows a person to perform highly in her or his role. Managers need three types
of skills: conceptual skills to analyze and diagnose a situation to distinguish between cause and effect;
human skills to understand, work with, lead, and control the behavior of individuals and groups; and
technical skills, job-specific knowledge and techniques required to perform an organizational role.
Effective managers need all three types of skills—conceptual, human, and technical. For example,
entrepreneurs often are technically skilled but lack conceptual and human skills. Scientists who become
managers have technical expertise, but low levels of human skills.
The ten roles can be grouped as being primarily concerned with interpersonal relationships, the transfer
of information, and decision making.

1. Interpersonal roles

• Figurehead—duties that are ceremonial and symbolic in nature
• Leadership—hire, train, motivate, and discipline employees
• Liaison—contact outsiders who provide the manager with information. These may be individuals or
groups inside or outside the organization.

2. Informational Roles

• Monitor—collect information from organizations and institutions outside their own
• Disseminator—a conduit to transmit information to organizational members
• Spokesperson—represent the organization to outsiders
3. Decisional Roles
• Entrepreneur—managers initiate and oversee new projects that will improve their organization’s
performance
• Disturbance handlers—take corrective action in response to unforeseen problems
• Resource allocators—responsible for allocating human, physical, and monetary resources
• Negotiator role—discuss issues and bargain with other units to gain advantages for their own
unit
Management