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Session 1 Making sense of being a manager
Here's a representative excerpt from Book 1 of the first module
in the OUBS Professional Certificate for you to work through.
Note the following features which are a hallmark of all OUBS
distance learning materials, designed to deliver you maximum
value per minute of study time:
- clearly-signposted content using headings, and
summary introductions to get you into the material as
quickly as possible
- explicit aims and objectives so you know what you
need to know by the end of the session
- robust theory from leading thinkers (in this case Henry
Mintzberg, whose influential work on the nature of
management continues to set the agenda for
management research)
- examples which help you relate the material to your
own experience
- meaningful activities which help you make immediate
use of the concepts you are learning
We hope that you will enjoy this material, and that it will whet
your appetite for more.
| Contents |
| 1.1 | Introduction | 6 |
| 1.2 | What managers do | 7 |
| 1.3 | Some approaches to management | 11 |
| 1.4 | The importance of context | 16 |
| 1.5 | The impact of a changing world | 23 |
| 1.6 | Summary | 26 |
1.1 Introduction
In this session we explore the job of a manager from different
perspectives. We look at the different roles managers are
required to play, and we consider what you can learn from
some traditional approaches to management. We look at how
your job is affected by the context of your organisation and an
ever-changing external environment. We suggest that there is
no single way to manage that is appropriate in all contexts. In
this session you will be identifying different features of the actual
job you are doing and the factors that influence it. This is
important because management requires special skills and
behaviour - it is not just an extension of your previous job.
Aims and objectives
The aims of this session are to:
- identify key elements of the manager's role
- review different approaches to management
- consider factors that shape management roles
After studying this session, you should be able to identify the
elements of your job and the factors that influence it, and to
improve your performance and job satisfaction.
The session is divided into four main sections. First it looks at
the diverse roles that managers have to perform. Next it
explores the relevance to modern management of some
traditional approaches to management theory and practice.
Then it introduces the important concept of contingency - the
idea that different approaches to management work in different
contexts. There is no single approach to management that is
best in all circumstances; managers need to adapt their
approach to the requirements of different situations. Finally, this
session considers how changes in the external environment
and in the structure of organisations are affecting managers'
jobs today.
1.2 What managers do
Whether you are new to management, an experienced manager
or preparing for management work in the future, you will be
aware that management requires certain skills and aptitudes.
You may find that the pressure of work gives you little
opportunity to consider or analyse what you are doing, and you
may feel that you are responding to a range of demands without
being as in control of your work as you would like. If you feel
this way, you are not alone - all managers at some stage feel illprepared
for their role and wonder whether they are doing the
right things. Perhaps your experience of management bears
some similarity to that of Carla in Example 1.1.
Example 1.1 Is this how it is meant to be?
It was Carla's first review meeting with her manager since she
had been appointed as Section Manager. She was pleased to
be promoted, of course, but the job was very different from her
expectations. Her manager had asked her to prepare for the
meeting a list outlining her views of her job based on her
experience so far.
Session 1 Making sense of being a manager (cont.d)
She looked at the list and found it rather depressing.
- She could never spend any time on one task -
she was constantly being interrupted.
- She seemed always to be reacting to, rather than
initiating, events and requests.
- Much of her time was spent on one-off
day-to-day matters.
- She was always having to argue about work
responsibilities and resources.
- She never had any time to think - she was always
having to make decisions immediately.
- She seemed to spend all her time talking to people and
never actually doing anything.
She was apologetic as she handed over the list, but was
relieved when her manager laughed and said, 'Welcome to the
world of management!'
Over the years a number of writers have attempted to analyse
this confusing world, trying to make sense of the contradictions
and time pressures that characterise most management jobs.
One such writer is Mintzberg, who, since the 1970s, has been
concerned with the increasingly fragmentary nature of much
managerial work (for example Mintzberg, 1973). His analysis of
management jobs started from the simple question 'Why do the
managers do what they do?' At the heart of his answer lay the
equally simple but very useful idea that all managers are
expected to undertake a wide range of roles.
We are all familiar, from other aspects of our lives, with the
notion of having to assume a variety of roles. Depending on the
circumstances in which we find ourselves, at different times we
have to be employees, colleagues, friends, parents, citizens,
and so forth. All parents will be aware of the different roles they
have to adopt in relation to their children - guardians, authority
figures, teachers, nurses, entertainers - and of the difficulties
faced in balancing the differing demands and requirements of
these roles.
In the case of management, Mintzberg identified ten roles, which
he grouped under three broad areas of management activity:
interpersonal, informational and decisional. These areas are
described as follows by Pugh and Hickson (1996, pp. 30-1.
Interpersonal roles. These cover the relationships that a
manager has to have with others. The three roles within this
category are figurehead, leader and liaison. Managers have to
act as figureheads because of their formal authority and
symbolic position, representing their organisations. As leaders,
managers have to bring together the needs of an organisation
and those of the individuals they manage and work with. The
third interpersonal role, that of liaison, deals with the sideways
relationships which studies of work activity have shown to be
important for a manager. A manager has to maintain a network
of relationships inside and outside the organisation. Dealing with
people, formally and informally, hierarchically and sideways, is
thus a major element of a manager's role.
Informational roles. Managers have to collect, disseminate
and transmit information and have three corresponding
informational roles, as monitor, disseminator and spokesperson.
A manager is an important figure in monitoring what goes on in
the organisation, seeking and receiving information about both
internal and external events, and transmitting it to others. This
process of transmission is the dissemination role, passing on
information. A manager has to give information concerning the
organisation to staff and outsiders, taking on the role of
spokesperson to both the general public and those in positions
of influence.
Decisional roles. Like so many writers about management,
Mintzberg regards the most crucial part of managerial activity as
that concerned with making decisions. The four roles that he
places in this category are based on different types of
decisions, namely entrepreneur, disturbance handler, resource
allocator and negotiator. As entrepreneurs, managers make
decisions about changing what is happening in an organisation.
They may have to initiate change and take an active part in
deciding exactly what is to be done. They are proactive. This is
very different from their role as disturbance handlers, which
requires managers to make decisions arising from events that
are beyond their control and unpredicted. The ability to react to
events as well as to plan activities is an important managerial
skill, in Mintzberg's eyes. The resource allocation role of a
manager is central to much organisational analysis. Clearly, a
manager has to make decisions about the allocation of money,
people, equipment, time and so on. Mintzberg points out that
in doing so a manager is actually scheduling time,
programming work and authorising actions. The negotiation
role is important: a manager has to negotiate with others and
in the process be able to make decisions about the
commitment of organisational resources.
An illustration of a manager performing both interpersonal and
informational roles is given in Example 1.2.
Example 1.2 Learning management roles
My first manager was excellent. I had joined as a management
trainee. I was keen and enthusiastic, but I knew little about the
company and nothing about management. He was prepared to
spend time with me. He asked me to sit with him as he opened
his mail each morning (it would be checking his e-mail today).
He would explain the background to each item, the options
available and the action he would take. After a week he began
passing items to me to handle.
At first I was overwhelmed by the number of disconnected
items. However, gradually I was able to see the connections
between many of them, and to categorise them into important
and trivial matters. Soon I came to appreciate which items had
to be passed on to others, and which needed decisions.
I began to realise that a manager has a number of roles to
play, and can make a major difference to the way that the
organisation functions.
By the end of three months I was handling
more than half the tasks. It was hard work,
and I made some mistakes, but I learned
quickly and it was interesting and fun.
Mintzberg considered that the informational role is crucial:
managers determine the priority of information. Through their
interpersonal roles they acquire information, and through their
decisional roles they put it to use. However, Mintzberg did not
claim that one aspect of the job is more important than the
others. This is for two reasons: the relative importance of each
role changes over time and from job to job; and the roles
overlap and do not have neat boundaries - as Carla's
experience indicates. Mintzberg recognised the extent to which
managers' roles could vary in importance according to the
situation and setting in which a manager works. This is an
important proviso: there is no single model or pattern for
managers to follow, and what works well in one situation may
not be appropriate for another. We call this the contingency
approach to management and discuss it in more detail later in
this session.
The negotiation role is important: a manager has to negotiate with others
and in the process be able to make decisions about the commitment of
organisational resources.
Session 1 Making sense of being a manager (cont.d)
The scope for each manager to choose a different blend of roles
means that management is not reducible to a set of scientific
statements and programmes. Management is essentially an art
and, as a manager, you need to try to learn continuously about
your situation. You can do this by studying yourself and the way
in which you carry out your work. This is termed 'reflective
practice', meaning that you can learn by reflecting on what you
do: what went well and what did not go well, and why these
results occurred. Throughout this course we will encourage you
to reflect on your practice as a manager through a series of
activities.
Begin now with Activity 1.1.
Activity 1.1 (Allow 15 minutes)
MINTZBERG'S ELEMENTS OF MANAGEMENT
Interpersonal roles
- figurehead
- leader
- liaison
Decisional roles
- entrepreneur
- disturbance handler
- resources allocator
- negotiator
Informational roles
- monitor
- disseminator
- spokesperson
- Consider your own work and identify three things
you have done during the past week. Match them
to the appropriate categories.
- Are there any of Mintzberg's roles you do
not carry out?
It would be unusual if you were able to find examples from your
recent work that fulfilled every one of the ten roles, but on the
other hand it would be surprising if you were not undertaking
several of the roles in your current job. If you are not yet a
manager, you might still perform some of these roles as a team
member. Not every manager has all these responsibilities, as the
range depends a great deal on the context in which a manager
works. It would also be unusual for each of the activities to have
equal importance, as the content of a manager's work depends
on the purpose of the organisation in which he or she works.
Nevertheless, trying to understand your role or roles can help
you to reflect on the purpose of your job as manager.
One benefit of reflective thinking is that you will become aware
of the differences between the models of management and your
actual experience. You may find, on reflection, that a difference
exists because you undertake your work in a particular way.
Taking time to reflect may enable you to identify other ways in
which you could work that might be more successful. However,
you are just as likely to find that some models do not fit very well
with your own experience. You may base many of your decisions
and actions as a manager on your own judgement or intuition -
your past learning. If this is how you work, you are in good
company, as this is how most managers make decisions. But do
not dismiss the models we present on this course, as they
provide a framework to assist you in analysing your actions and
may help you to reflect on ways to improve your management.
Taken together, the various constraints within which the
orchestra conductor works describe a very common
condition among managers - not being in absolute
control of others nor being completely powerless, but
functioning somewhere in between.
(Mintzberg, 1998, p. 144)
We will end this introduction to the elements of management
with another reference to Mintzberg. In this he emphasises the
importance of the linking and communicating element of a
manager's activity, which enables the team to work effectively.
He illustrates this point by using the metaphor of the orchestra.
Metaphors are useful as a means of illustrating ideas and
concepts - of bringing them alive - and the orchestra metaphor
is a good example. You will come across metaphors throughout
this course.
We look more closely at this 'somewhere in between' area in
Section 1.4, where we consider the freedoms and constraints
under which managers operate. We also discuss the complexity
and potential for conflict of managerial jobs in Session 3. Before
then, however, we will consider some other approaches to
management that may be helpful to you in understanding your job.
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