Managerial Roles or Roles of a Manager is a “Must-Know” for all intended managers, especially for management students. This article explains these roles and also, the personality traits and attributes of a manager.

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MANAGERIAL ROLES

Mintzberg identified (3) three group of roles which administrators and managers must play. They include the following:

INTERPERSONAL ROLE:

This is the first of the three managerial roles propounded by Mintzberg. This arises from the administrators and managers formal authority and include:

1. The figurehead or ceremonial role: This took about 15% of chief executives time spent in contact with other people, according to Mintzberg studies.
2. The role of the leader: This involves hiring, firing and training staff, motivating employees, reconciling individual needs with the requirements of the organization.
3. The liaison role: It is performed by the chief executive/managers when making contacts outside the vertical chain of command.

CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER

Chief Executive Officers may spend a great deal of time with people outside the organisation. The purpose of the contacts is to build up an informal system and at the same a means of extending influence both within and outside the organisations.

INFORMATIONAL ROLE

This is the second of the three managerial roles propounded by Mintzberg. A chief executive officer, as a leader, has access to every member of staff and may have more external contacts than any of them. His liaison contact means that he is a channel of information from inside the department to outside and vice-versa.

Three types of information roles he plays are as follows:

1. Monitoring the environment.
2. Disseminating information.
3. Spokesperson roles.

DECISION ROLE

This is the third of the three managerial roles propounded by Mintzberg. The chief executives are in a better position to take decisions relating to the work of the environment due to his formal authority and access to information. He takes charge of the under-listed;

ENTREPRENEURIAL ACT: He acts as an entrepreneur by initiating a number of projects of small-scale nature to improve the department or to help it react to a changing environment.

DISTURBANCE HANDLER: He is meant to respond to pressure over which the department has no control. He is, therefore, a disturbance handler taking decisions in unusual situations that are difficult to predict.

ALLOCATION OF SCARCE RESOURCES: He takes decisions relating to the allocation of scarce resources. He is also responsible for determining the departments, direction, and authorities, decisions taken by subordinates.

NEGOTIATION: A great deal of time of a chief executive is spent on negotiation both within and outside the organisation.

A Manager’s Personality Traits and Attributes

Personality is a stable attribute that a person carries within and determines his approach to the problems of life. It is a pattern of disposition to act consistently in varying situations. The following are the traits required of a good chief executive officer;

1. Appearance: A chief executive must have a corporate appearance. His look must be good and smart.
2. Ambition: A chief executive officer must be ambitious, looking forward towards achieving the organizational goal and personal advancement.
3. Good judgment: A chief executive officer must possess the sense of good judgment i.e. to determine the sense accurately what is to be done, how to do it and where to do it.
4. Inter-personal skill: A chief executive must have the ability to get along with others effectively.
5. Intelligence: A chief executive should be intelligent i.e must possess a high degree of the intelligent quotient (IQ).
6. The desire to manage: Chief executive must have the desire to influence others and build up a team effort of subordinates.
7. Communicate: A chief executive officer must be able to communicate effectively through reports, letters and discussions.
8. Integrity and Honesty: Chief executive officer must behave in accordance with the ethical standard. He must be morally sound and worthy of trust.
9. Other personality traits and attributes of CEO are Innovation, initiative and perseverance.