Managerial Roles and Skills

To meet the many demands of performing their functions, managers assume multiple roles. A role is an organized set of behaviors. Henry Mintzberg (1973) has identified ten Sub roles common to the work of all managers. The ten roles are divided into three groups: interpersonal, informational, and decisional. According to Henry Mintzberg(1973), managers in an organization, in order to be effective in their jobs, act in specific ways when they interact with others in the course of performing the four management functions of planning, organizing, leading and controlling.

These particular behavior patterns or roles were described by Mintzberg as 10 management roles, which he classified into 3 groups.  Interpersonal Roles  Informational Roles Decisional Roles. Interpersonal Roles The interpersonal roles are roles in which managers develop and maintain relationships. Interpersonal roles include the manager as figurehead, the manager as leader, and the manager as liaison. Figurehead: Managers being the head of a unit of an organization, represent their organization in ceremonial and symbolic activities, therefore serving as a figurehead.

Leader: the responsibility to hire, train and motivate the people who work for the organization also lies with the managers, therefore making them the leader of the workforce.

A manager performs the role of a liaison by building relationships with people outside the manager’s own unit.In the course of their liaison roles, managers may meet with peers, customers, corporate staff, and others. Informational Roles In the course of performing informational roles, a manager acquires, processes and communicates information. The three informational roles are: Monitor: Managers continually scan the environment to pick up useful information by interacting with people within and outside their own units.

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Disseminator: as disseminators, managers share and distribute information they have acquired to people within the organization. Spokesperson: as spokesperson, manager provides information to people outside the organization. . Decisional Roles Decisional roles are those roles in which managers examine alternatives and then make choices and commitments. These decisions range from minor choices to major strategic decisions.

The four decisional roles are: Entrepreneur: Managers initiate changes to improve their units or to adapt to changing conditions in the outside world. These changes may involve new products, processes or solution to problems. Disturbance handler: as disturbance handler, managers make changes to solve unanticipatedproblems that result from forces beyond their control. Resource allocator: Managers make choices about the quantity of people, money and available material to be used to achieve the organizational goal. Negotiator: the role of negotiator involves bargaining with others to support the organization’s goal. Managerial Skills Managers, whether top-level, middle-level, or supervisory-level, need specific skill to be effective in their job.

Management expert Robert L. Katz identified three basic skills that managers need. Katz (1974) has identified three essential management skills. They are: 1. Conceptual Skills Conceptual skills enable the managers to see the organization as a whole, and to understand how the various parts of the organization inter-relate. By applying conceptual skills, managers are able to recognize the consequences of any actions they take. Conceptual skills include the ability to analyze a situation, determine the root of any problems or opportunities, and devise an appropriate plan. Once managers have assessed why such a situation has arrived, he can create plans to solve the problem or to help the organization capitalize on good situations.

Interpersonal Skills Interpersonal skills allow the managers to work well with and through other people and to communicate effectively within a group. It is also called ‘human skills’ or ‘people skills’ because good interpersonal skills enable a manager to encourage people to freely share their ideas without fear of being criticized. In addition to this, good interpersonal skills enable managers to understand the needs and motivation of others and make them cooperative members of groups in which they participate. Technical skills are abilities enabling managers to use knowledge, methods, tools, techniques, and equipment to perform specialized tasks. Managers usually develop their technical skills through education and then by working in one or more functional areas of an organization such as accounting or marketing. Q2.

Discuss the methods of shaping behavior in details. Shaping is a conditioning procedure used primarily in the experimental analysis of behavior. It was introduced by B. F. Skinner with pigeons and extended to dogs, dolphins, humans and other species. In shaping, the form of an existing response is gradually changed across successive trials towards a desired target behavior using differential reinforcement. The principles of shaping are present in everyday interactions with the environment. In the case of a human trainer employing shaping to change another organism’s behavior, this procedure is used when giving verbal instructions  is impossible due to the absence of language or communication between the two. main are of two types s-r and r-s Methods of Shaping Behavior Extinction.

According to operating conditioning, both good and bad behaviors are controlled by reinforced consequences. Identifying behavioral reinforces and removing them can decrease a behavior. An undesired behavior without reinforcement can diminish until it no longer occurs. This process is called extinction. Extinction can modify the behavior of a worker who spends much time talking or telling jokes. The attention of coworkers reinforces this behavior. If coworkers stop talking and laughing, the worker is likely to stop telling jokes.

Although extinction is useful, it takes time to eliminate the undesired behavior. When behaviors need to stop immediately, managers may resort to punishment. Punishment: Punishment consists of administering a negative consequence when the undesired behavior occurs. Punishment is not the same as negative reinforcement. It decreases a behavior, whereas negative reinforcement increases the frequency of a behavior. Punishment administers a negative consequence, whereas negative reinforcement removes a negative consequence. Reinforcement

Reinforcement is the process that increases the probability that desired behaviors occur by applying consequences. Managers use reinforcement to increase the likelihood of higher sales, better attendance, or observing safety procedures. Reinforcement begins by selecting a behavior to be encouraged. Correctly identifying the behavior is important, or reinforcement will not lead to the desired response. A manager must decide if attendance at meetings is the desired behavior or attendance and participation. The manager would need to reinforce both behaviors if both are desired.