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Unit 1: Introduction to Management

1.8 Roles of a Manager Notes

To achieve results, they shift gears and restructure and reorganise things continually. The diverse
roles played by managers in discharging their duties have been summarised by Henry Mintzberg
in the late 1960s, under three broad headings: interpersonal roles, informational roles and
decisional roles. Let us understand them one by one.
Figure 1.1: Managerial Roles

Source: www. static.flatworldknowledge.com
1. Interpersonal roles: Three interpersonal roles help the manager keep the organisation
running smoothly. Managers play the figurehead role when they perform duties that are
ceremonial and symbolic in nature. These include greeting the visitors, attending social
functions involving their subordinates (like weddings, funerals), handing out merit
certificates to workers showing promise etc. The leadership role includes hiring, training,
motivating and disciplining employees. Managers play the liaison role when they serve
as a connecting link between their organisation and others or between their units and
other organisational units. Mintzberg described this activity as contacting outsiders who
provide the manager with information. Such activities like acknowledgements of mail,
external board work, etc., are included in this category.

2. Informational roles: Mintzberg mentioned that receiving and communicating information
are perhaps the most important aspects of a manager’s job. In order to make the right
decisions, managers need information from various sources. Typically, this activity is
done through reading magazines and talking with others to learn about changes in the
customers’ tastes, competitors’ moves and the like. Mintzberg called this the monitor role.
In the disseminator role, the manager distributes important information to subordinates
that would otherwise be inaccessible to them. Managers also perform the spokesperson
role when they represent the organisation to outsiders.
3. Decisional roles: There are four decision roles that the manager adopts. In the role of
entrepreneur, the manager tries to improve the unit. He initiates planned changes to
adapt to environmental challenges. As disturbance handlers, managers respond to
situations that are beyond their control such as strikes, shortages of materials, complaints,

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