Management is an extremely complex activity. It is possible to understand this by looking at the roles of the manager. In a business, the manager has multiple roles and these roles guide us in explaining what the manager’s job is. Mintzberg grouped the roles of managers into three groups. These; information processor, decision maker and interpersonal roles.
Interpersonal Roles:
Representative: The manager is the symbolic head of the enterprise. Therefore, he must represent his business in any legal or ceremonial activities.
Leader: The task of the manager is not only to tell what to do, but also to guide the people he works with, to motivate them and to enable them to work as a team. The leadership characteristic of the manager will be explained in detail in the following sections.
Combiner: The manager has to work to create systems that bring the employees together in the enterprise and to improve relations with the external environment.
Information Processing Roles:
Observer: The manager collects and analyzes all the information both inside and outside the business, and tries to understand the innovations in all these areas by recording the developments.
Information Dissector: It has a continuous role of disseminating information in order to explain the changes that occur in the external environment to the employees of the enterprise, especially in the meetings for the employees, in order for them to understand these changes well.
Spokesperson: The manager is the spokesperson of the business in the external environment. For example, he speaks on behalf of the company at press conferences, industry meetings, public statements, and shareholders meetings.
Decision Maker Roles:
Entrepreneur: The manager takes decisions on behalf of the entrepreneur with the assignment of the entrepreneur. For example, in which areas new investments will be made, the size of the investment to be made, etc.
Problem Solver: One of the manager’s duties is to resolve unexpected rendering problems. For example, the manager should play the role of problem solver in solving disagreements between departments, a problem with a customer or a problem with an important supplier of the enterprise, or a legal problem that arises between the government and the enterprise.
Resource Allocator: The manager ensures that these resources are found and given to the departments or people who need resources such as money, labor, equipment, information or time in order to achieve the objectives.
Negotiator: The manager ensures the continuation of the activities by negotiating with the elements inside or outside the business. For example, it plays a role in resolving the problem by negotiating with workers’ representatives or unions in the case of contracts with workers, or by negotiating with the state or social organizations in case of an environmental negative reaction in the public.
