13 Henry Mintzberg’s Functions

Dr.Shafali Nagpal

13.1  Learning Objective

13.2  Introduction

13.3  Manager Roles

13.4  Interpersonal Category

13.5  Applying the Model

13.6  5 P’s of Strategy

13.7  Generalist and Specialist Management

13.8 Summary

Learning Objectives

After completing this module, you will be able to:

1. To understand the theory given by Dr. Henry Mintzberg
2. To study the role of manager at different levels of management
3. To know the types of management and its roles in organization

Introduction

Dr Henry Mintzberg, a prominent management researcher, conducted a researcher to find out what area manager duties or responsibilities. In 1916 Henri Fayol was first to define manager. Dr Henry Mintzberg wanted to find out that if Henri Fayol’s 50-year-old definition of manager and management definition still stood in the 60s and 70s. So he conducted a research base on structured observation method.

For this Mintzberg observed the daily activities of five executives for a one-week period. They all were from five different type of organization; a consulting firm, a school, a technology firm, a consumer goods manufacturer and a hospital. He kept track of all there activates and analyzed it. His research report titled “MANAGERIAL WORK: ANALYSIS FROM OBSERVATION” was for his doctoral dissertation, at the Sloan School of Management, M. I. T. At January 1971 he submitted the report, and it was accepted and published in October 1971. In his research, Mintzberg said that what managers do can best be described by looking at the roles they play at work. The term management role refers to specific categories of managerial behaviour. He identified ten identified roles of a manager played in an organization which fall into three basic categories: interpersonal roles, informational roles and decisional roles.

Concept

According to Mintzberg, the work carried out by managers takes place on three levels, ranging from conceptual to practical: working with information, working with and through people, and taking action. In the middle of the model are the managers who shape their work by developing specific strategies and taking specific decisions. He examines the external context (country culture, sector and industry), organizational context (type, size and life cycle of organization), position context (level and type), situational context (temporary conditions and management trends) and personal context (background, years of employment and management style). It turns out that, except management trends, all factors influence the work of managers, the most important of which is the organizational type, since the nature of the organization determines many of the activities a manager must carry out. Mintzberg also claims that the work done by managers in different countries is similar since the country culture is far less important than expected.

Mintzberg lays a good dose of realism on the table: there is no recipe for success that applies to all managers under all conditions. But to help managers on their way to becoming more successful, Mintzberg provides a management effectiveness model that is derived from the literature on functional and happy families. Unfortunately, Mintzberg does not clarify why this model, in particular, is useful for developing effective managers. He does not go beyond saying that this model appealed to him considerably. What the model boils down to is that managers must first put in a great deal of energy to be able to do their hectic work. But, amidst all this chaos, they often need to find a moment for reflection, time to think about their organization. They also need to have good analytical skills, since trusting intuition alone is no longer an option in today’s world. A worldly perspective, defined by Mintzberg as multicultural sensitivity, a good sense of teamwork and a proactive attitude also help considerably.

Source: Albertsuckow.com

The role of ‘manager’ sound simple enough, but anyone who has ever served as a manager knows that it is far more complex than it might sound at first. Being a leader in any organization is a complicated and challenging task that can take on a variety of forms depending on the needs of the organization and the people that are being led. Any given manager may be asked to complete a variety of tasks during a given day depending on what comes up and what problems need to be solved.

Management expert Professor Henry Mintzberg has argued that a manager’s work can be boiled down to ten common roles. According to Mintzberg, these roles, or expectations for a manager’s behaviour, fall into three categories: informational (managing by information), interpersonal (managing through people), and decisional (managing through action). These roles require developing peer relationships, carrying out negotiations, motivating subordinates, resolving conflicts, establishing information networks, making decisions with little or ambiguous information and allocating resources. In this process, at different times, managers “wear ten hats” divided into the three categories:

The Roles

Mintzberg published his Ten Management Roles in his book, “Mintzberg on Management: Inside our Strange World of Organizations,” in 1990.

The ten roles are:

1. Figurehead
2. Leader
3. Liaison
4. Monitor
5. Disseminator
6. Spokesperson
7. Entrepreneur
8. Disturbance Handler
9. Resource Allocator
10. Negotiator

Mintezberg’s Management Roles

Interpersonal Category

The managerial roles in this category involve providing information and ideas.

1. Figurehead –One of the important roles of a leader is simply to be a figurehead for the rest of the group. This is one of the interpersonal roles because so much of it is about being someone that people can turn to when they need help, support, etc. A good leader will project confidence so that everyone involved feels a sense of security and reassurance that the job will be done right. As a manager, you have social, ceremonial and legal responsibilities. You’re expected to be a source of inspiration. People look up to you as a person with authority, and as a figurehead.
2. Leader – Another interpersonal role, this one should be obvious. A manager needs to lead the people that he or she is in charge of guiding toward a specific goal. This can include telling them what to do and when to do it, organizing the structure of the team members to highlight specific skills that each possesses, and even offering rewards for a job well done. This is where you provide leadership for your team, your department or perhaps your entire organization; and it’s where you manage the performance and responsibilities of everyone in the group.
3. Liaison – The final role within the interpersonal category, acting as a liaison means that the manager must successfully interface with a variety of people – both within the organization and on the outside – to keep things running smoothly. This point is all about communication, and it is one of the main things that determine the ultimate success or failure of a manager. Being able to properly communicate with a range of people in such a way that the project remains on track is a crucial skill to develop. Managers must communicate with internal and external contacts. You need to be able to network effectively on behalf of your organization.

Informational Category

The managerial roles in this category involve processing information.

4. Monitor – In this role, you regularly seek out information related to your organization and industry, looking for relevant changes in the environment. You also monitor your team, regarding both their productivity and their well-being.

5. Disseminator – This is where you communicate potentially useful information to your colleagues and your team.

6. Spokesperson – As the head of a team of any size or role within the organization, you will be the representative of that team when it comes to meetings, announcements, etc. Being a spokesperson is the final informational role on the list, and it is an important one because perception is often a big part of reality. Even if your team is doing great work, it might not be reflected as such to other decision-makers in the organization if you aren’t a good spokesperson. Managers represent and speak for their organization. In this role, you’re responsible for transmitting information about your organization and its goals to the people outside it.

Decisional Category

The managerial roles in this category involve using information.

7. Entrepreneur – In some ways, being a manager within a larger organization is like running your own small business. While you will have managers above you to answer to, you still need to think like an entrepreneur regarding quickly solving problems, thinking of new ideas that could move your team forward, and more. This is the first role within the decisional category on the list. As a manager, you create and control change within the organization. This means solving problems, generating new ideas, and implementing them.

8. Disturbance Handler – When an organization or team hits an unexpected roadblock, it’s the manager who must take charge. You also need to help mediate disputes within it.

9.  Resource Allocator – Every project is tackled using resources that are limited in some way or another. As a resource allocator, it is your job to best use what you have available to get the job done and meet your defined goals and objectives. Resources can include a budget that has been made available for a project, raw materials, employees, and more. This is the third item within the decisional category, yet it is one of the most important things a manager must do. You’ll also need to determine where organizational resources are best applied. This involves allocating funding, as well as assigning staff and other organizational resources.

10.  Negotiator – Business is all about negotiation, and that is especially true for managers. The final role on the list, being a negotiator doesn’t just mean going outside of the organization to negotiate the terms of a new deal. In fact, most of the necessary negotiation will take place right within your team itself. Getting everyone to get into the overall goal and vision for a project likely will mean negotiating with individual team members to get them to adopt a role that suits their skills and personal development goals. A good manager will be able to negotiate their way through these challenges and keep the project on track for success. You may be needed to take part in, and direct, important negotiations within your team, department, or organization.

Applying the Model

You can use Mintzberg’s 10 Management Roles model as a frame of reference when you’re thinking about developing your skills and knowledge. (This includes developing you in areas that you consciously or unconsciously shy away from.)

First, examine how much time you currently spend on each managerial role. Do you spend most of your day leading? Managing conflict? Disseminating information? This will help you decide which areas to work on first.

Mintzberg’s 5 Ps for Strategy

The word “strategy” has been used implicitly in different ways even if it has traditionally been defined in only one. Explicit recognition of multiple definitions can help people to manoeuvre through this difficult field. Mintzberg provides five definitions of strategy:

• Plan
• Ploy
• Pattern
• Position
• Perspective.

Plan

The strategy is a plan – some consciously intended course of action, a guideline (or set of instructions) to deal with a situation. By this definition strategies have two essential characteristics: they are made in advance of the actions to which they apply, and they are developed consciously and purposefully.

Ploy

As a plan, a strategy can be a ploy too; just a particular manoeuvre intended to outwit an opponent or competitor.

Pattern

If strategies can be intended (whether as general plans or specific ploys), they can also be realised. In other words, defining strategy as a plan is not sufficient; we also need a definition that encompasses the resulting behaviour: Strategy is a pattern – specifically, a pattern in a stream of actions. The strategy is consistency in behaviour, whether or not intended. The definitions of strategy as plan and design can be quite independent of one another: plans may go unrealized, while patterns may appear without preconception. Plans are intended strategy, whereas patterns are realised strategy; from this, we can distinguish deliberate policies, where intentions that existed previously were achieved, and new strategies where patterns developed in the absence of intentions, or despite them.

Position

The strategy is a position – specifically a means of locating an organisation in an “environment”. By this definition, strategy becomes the mediating force, or “match”, between organisation and environment, that is, between the internal and the external context.

Perspective

The strategy is a perspective – its content consisting not just of a chosen position, but of an ingrained way of perceiving the world. Strategy in this respect is to the organisation what personality is to the individual. What is of key importance is that strategy is a perspective shared by members of an organisation, through their intentions and by their actions. In effect, when we talk about strategy in this context, we are entering the realm of the collective mind – individuals united by common thinking and behaviour.

Generalist and specialist management

The core of Mintzberg’s Ten Managerial Roles is that managers need to be both organisational generalists and specialists. This is due to three reasons:

External frustrations including operational imperfections and environmental pressures. Authority disputes which upset even basic routines.

The expected fallibility of the individual and human, manager.

Mintzberg’s summary statement may be that the role of a manager is quite varied and contradictory in its demands and that it is therefore not always the lack of managerial prowess, but the complexity of individual situations demanding a variety of roles, which troubles today’s manager. Mintzberg writes “What is the relationship between planning and strategy? Is strategy making simply a process of planning, as the proponents of planning have so vigorously insisted? Or, at the other extreme, is strategic planning simply another oxymoron, like progressive conservative or jumbo shrimp (or civil engineer?). In other words, should strategy always be planned, never be planned, or sometimes be expected? Or should it relate to planning in some other way? ” After criticizing other definitions of planning, Mintzberg (1993) concluded “Planning is a formalized procedure to produce an articulated result, in the form of an integrated system of decisions. What to us captures the notion of planning above all — most clearly distinguishes its literature and differentiates its practice from other processes — is its emphasis on formalization, the systemization of the phenomenon of which planning is meant to apply.” This narrow definition is set up as the target for additional criticism of the entire idea of planning.

Mintzberg argues “An emphasis on formal rationality permeates the literature of planning. … Along with rationality and decomposition, articulation is the third key component of formalization. The product of planning – the plans themselves — after being carefully decomposed into strategies and sub-strategies, programs, budgets, and objectives, must be clearly and explicitly labelled — by words and, preferably, numbers on sheets of paper.” “An organization can plan (consider its future) without engaging in planning (formal procedure) even if it produces plans (explicit intentions); alternatively, an organization can engage in planning (formalized procedure) yet not plan (consider its future); and planners may do all or some of these things, sometimes none of them, yet, as we shall see in conclusion, still serve the organization.”

According to him, for example, managers are not reflective or systematic planners but work with feverish energy on all kinds of brief and fragmented matters that primarily require immediate resolution. Managing is not just about the hierarchical relationship between superiors and subordinates, but also about the lateral relationships between coworkers. Managers appear to have anything but complete control of their agenda and activities. Rather, they determine which obligations they must meet based on their position, and which obligation they want to meet because it would benefit them. Managers continue to have little faith in official information from the ‘formal’ information system. Instead, they prefer getting their information from informal contacts, chiefly by e-mail, phone or meetings. They are also becoming increasingly more dependent on e-mail. About the latter, Mintzberg claims that the Internet is not necessarily something new for managers, but something that makes it easier for them to get into and stay in contact with people.

Summary

Mintzberg says that the work is carried out by managers takes place at three levels, ranging from conceptual to practical: working with information, working with and through people, and taking action. It states that there is no recipe for success that applies to all managers under all conditions. But to help managers on their way to becoming more successful, Mintzberg provides a management effectiveness model that is derived from the literature on functional and happy families. Unfortunately, Mintzberg does not clarify why this model, in particular, is useful for developing effective managers.

References

• Grover, V., Jeong, S. R., Kettinger, W. J., & Lee, C. C. (1993). The chief information officer: A study of managerial roles. Journal of Management Information Systems, 10(2), 107-130.
• Henry Mintzberg, “Five Ps for Strategy” in The Strategy Process, pp 12-19, H Mintzberg and JB Quinn eds., 1992, Prentice-Hall International Editions, Englewood Cliffs NJ.
• Mintzberg, H., The fall and rise of strategic planning. Harvard Business Review, (1994, January-February), 107-114.
• Curtis L, Kent Netten A, editors. UK: Personal Social Services Research Unit; 2006. Unit cost of health and social care 2006.
• NHS Supply Chain. April 2007 Edition. Alfreton, UK: NHS Supply Chain; 2007. [No authors listed] Kootnz & O’Donnell, Principles of Management.
• J.S. Chandan, Management Concepts and Strategies.
• Stephen P Robbins, David A Decanzo, Fundamentals of Management, 3rd Edition, Pearson Education, 2002.