Mintzberg’s 10 Managerial Role
When you take on a managerial position, you take on a variety of roles. Not only do you manage people, but you also oversee the processes, relationships and resources that ensure work runs smoothly. Through his research on managers, business and management expert Henry Mintzberg was able to divide those diverse responsibilities into 10 roles within three categories.
To simplify the complexities of management positions, Mintzberg, an academic and author focused on business and management practices, developed 10 managerial roles that he divided into three categories. The categories of the Mintzberg theory are:
- Interpersonal roles: This category covers behaviors and responsibilities related to interactions with employees and other stakeholders. Through these interactions, the manager can achieve organizational goals. The managerial roles included in this category are
- figurehead,
- leader and
- liaison.
- Informational roles: This category represents situations when a manager generates, receives or shares knowledge with employees and higher-level colleagues to accomplish objectives. The managerial roles included in this category are
- monitor,
- disseminator and
- spokesperson.
- Decisional roles: This category describes a manager’s responsibility to use the information they gain to form business and strategic decisions. The managerial roles included in this category are entrepreneur, disturbance-handler, resource-allocator and negotiator.
10 roles are:
| Role | Description | Identifiable Activities |
|---|---|---|
| Figurehead | Symbolic head; obliged to perform a number of routine duties of a legal or social nature | Greeting visitors; signing legal documents |
| Leader | Responsible for the motivation and activation of employees; responsible for staffing, training, and associated duties | Performing virtually all activities that involve employees |
| Liaison | Maintains self-developed network of outside contacts and informers who provide favors and information | Acknowledging mail; doing external board work; performing other activities that involve outsiders |
| Informational | ||
| Monitor | Seeks and receives wide variety of special information (much of it current) to develop thorough understanding of organization and environment; emerges as nerve center of internal and external information about the organization | Reading periodicals and reports; maintaining personal contacts |
| Disseminator | Transmits information received from other employees to members of the organization-some information is factual, some involves interpretation and integration of diverse value positions of organizational influences | Holding informational meetings; making phone calls to relay information |
| Spokesperson | Transmits information to outsiders on organization's plans, policies, actions, results,etc.; serves as expert on organization's industry | Holding board meetings; giving information to the media |
| Decisional | ||
| Entrepreneur | Searches organization and its environment for opportunities and initiates "improvement projects" to bring about change; supervises design of certain projects as well | Organizing strategy and review sessions to develop new programs |
| Disturbance Handler | Responsible for corrective action when organization faces important disturbances | Organizing strategy and review sessions that involve disturbances and crises |
| Resource Allocator | Responsible for the allocation of organizational resources of all kinds-in effect, the making or approval of all significant organizational decisions | Scheduling; requesting authorization; performing any activity that involves budgeting and the programming of employees' work |
| Negotiator | Responsible for representing the organization at major negotiations | Participating in union contract negotiations or in those with suppliers |
