1. MGT 450 – Spring 2017 Class 3 - Chapter 2
The Nature of Managerial Work

2. Learning Objectives
After studying this chapter, you should be able to understand:
The different roles and activities commonly required for managers.
How managerial roles and activities are affected by aspects of the situation.
How managers cope with demands, constraints, and choices confronting them.

3. Learning Objectives (Cont.)
The importance of external activities and networking for managers.
How managers solve problems and make decisions.
How managers can make effective use of their time.

4. THE ROLE OF THE MANAGER
To advance the objectives of the organization through the effective use of available resources
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5. Managerial Pressures
Superiors Peers Stakeholders Colleagues Customers Regulators Vendors Subordinates
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6. Real World Activity Patterns for Managers
Hectic work pace – Continuous requests for information, assistance, direction, and authorization
Varied and fragmented work content – Interruptions occur frequently, conversations are disjointed, important activities are interspersed with trivial ones

7. Real World Activity Patterns for Managers
Many reactive activities –
- Problems occur in a mostly random order;
- Managers choose to react to some problems when they become aware of them, others are postponed or ignored;
- There are more problems that a manager can handle at any given time;
- Managers are more likely to respond to a problem when there is immediate pressure for action due to a crisis, deadline, or the demands of the boss.
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8. Real World Activity Patterns for Managers
Peer and outsider interaction (Ivory Tower Syndrome)
- Managers typically spend considerable time with persons other than their subordinates or their bosses
- Managers spend considerable time with outsiders such as customers, clients, suppliers, subcontractors, government officials, civic leaders and other business leaders.
These elements frequently lead to:
Disorderly and political decision processes
Informal and adaptive planning
Involving emotions and intuition
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9. Decision Making and Planning By Managers
Emotions and intuition are often involved Frequently characterized by confusion and emotions rather than by rationality Information is often distorted or suppressed to serve preconceptions and biases about the best course(s) of action BEWARE: Group Think
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10. WHAT IS GROUPTHINK?
Groupthink is a psychological phenomenon that occurs within a group of people in which the desire for harmony or conformity in the group results in an irrational or dysfunctional decision-making outcome. Group members try to minimize conflict and reach a consensus decision without critical evaluation of alternative viewpoints by actively suppressing dissenting viewpoints, and by isolating themselves from outside influences.
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11. GROUP THINK
Avoids discussing controversial issues or alternative solutions;
Produces the illusion of invulnerability
Concurrence-seeking becomes so dominant in a cohesive in-group that it tends to override realistic appraisal of alternative courses of action.
When five people are in agreement without critical thinking, four of them become unnecessary
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12. Decision Making and Planning By Managers
Important decisions are disorderly and political Different people involved in making a decision often disagree about the true nature of a problem or the best course of action for the solution. E.G.: Hire more people vs. pay for overtime Sales vs. production
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13. Practical Example
The Problem: Sales of your primary source of revenue are falling badly. How would the following people view this problem: Sales Marketing Production Finance Human Resources Customers Suppliers Shareholders Engineering R&D
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14. GROUPTHINK EXAMPLES
Pearl Harbor (1941) Bay of Pigs Invasion (1961) Vietnam (1964) Challenger explosion (1986) US Presidential Election (2016)
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15. Decision Making and Planning By Managers
Routine decisions Solving operational problems Short term goals Work schedules Work assignments Allocation of resources There is usually are ready-made and low risk decisions Therefore, they can possibly be delegated or digitized
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16. Decision Making and Planning By Managers
Most planning is informal and adaptive Short-term planning (1-30 days) are usually quite specific and detailed Long term (1-10 years) are generally vague, incomplete and loosely connected. Much of the important strategies decisions were made outside of the formal process in an incremental, flexible and intuitive manner.
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17. PRACTICAL EXERCISE
Please make a list of roles that a manager must be able to play in order to be effective:
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18. Henry Mintzberg
Born: 2 September 1939
Professor of Management Studies at McGill University, Montreal,
“Companies are communities. There's a spirit of working together. Communities are not a place where a few people allow themselves to be singled out as solely responsible for success.”
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19. Henry Mintzberg’s Taxonomy of Managerial Roles
Leader
Liaison
Figurehead
Monitor
Disseminator
Spokesperson
Entrepreneur
Disturbance Handler
Resource Allocator
Negotiator

20. Mintzberg - Taxonomy of Managerial Roles
Coding the content of activities observed in a study of executives: Expected Rolls of a Manager Leader – responsible for making their organizational sub-unit function as an integrated whole in the pursuit of its basic purpose; Liaison – Intended to establish and maintain a web of relationships with individuals and groups outside of a manager’s organizational unit
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21. Henry Mintzberg - Taxonomy of Managerial Roles
Figurehead – Leaders are expected to perform symbolic duties of a legal and social nature Monitor – Managers continually seek information from a variety of sources to keep up to date on the changing nature of the business – and to perform SWOT analyses from time to time; Disseminator – Leaders have special access to information not available to subordinates
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22. Henry Mintzberg - Taxonomy of Managerial Roles
Spokesperson – Leaders are expected to transmit information and express value statements to people outside of their organization
Entrepreneur – The leader acts as an initiator or designer of controlled change to exploit opportunities for improving the existing situation
Disturbance Handler – The leader deals with student crises that cannot be ignored
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23. Mintzberg’s - Taxonomy of Managerial Roles
Resource Allocator – Leaders exercise their authority to allocate resources such as money, personnel, material, equipment, facilities, and services
Negotiator – Leaders have the authority to impact negotiations requiring a substantial commitment of resources
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24. Decision Making and Planning by Managers
Emotions and intuition are often involved
Important decisions are disorderly and political
Routine decisions often involve problems for which ready made and low risk solutions are available
Most planning is informal and adaptive

25. How Managers Make Decisions
Contrary to images of an orderly rational process, decision-making
is often characterized by:
Disorderly processes
Incomplete or biased information
Incomplete analyses
Reliance on past solutions
Difficulty reaching agreement

26. Role Conflict & Core Components
Demands and constraints and choices define the job of a manager and strongly influence the behavior of the manager Demands – the required duties, activities and responsibilities Constraints – Characteristics of the organization and the external environment, e.g. rules, policies, regulations, laws, availability of resources, physical locations, etc. Choices – e.g. Required vs. optional Establishing priorities Proper delegation of responsibilities Demands and constraints are situational influences on the leader and affect the scope of the leader’s choice of actions

27. Other Determinants of Managerial Work
Management level – Executive, senior, mid, 1st line supervisors
Strategy related
High level managers have more responsibility for making important decisions, establishing objectives, & planning strategies
Tactical or operations related
Lower level managers have less discretion and freedom of action and must operate within the constraints imposed by formalized rules and policy decisions

28. Other Determinants of Managerial Work
Organizational unit size – Span of control, multi-site, conglomerate, global, etc. As span of control increases upper-level managers make more autocratic decisions, but use more delegation As the size of a work unit increases, so does the administrative workload Managers of large work units have less opportunity for interacting with individual subordinates and maintaining interpersonal relationships with them,.
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29. Other Determinants of Managerial Work
External dependencies
Other units must do their job before we can do our job
As interdependence increases with other sub-units, coordination with them becomes more important and there is more need for mutual adjustments in plans, schedules and activities
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30. Other Determinants of Managerial Work
Crisis situations Terrorist attack, natural disasters, extreme weather, labor strife, bankruptcy of principle supplier In many crisis situations, officers were more directive, autocratic, and goal-oriented
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31. DEVELOPMENTAL GUIDELINES FOR MANAGERS
Understand the reasons for demands and constraints Expand the range of choices – Plan A, Plan B, Plan C, etc. Determine what you want to accomplish Plan your time smartly Prioritize your must-do, should-do, & want to-do lists Limit unnecessary activities

32. MORE GUIDELINES FOR MANAGERS
Identify important problems that can be or must be solved Look for connections among problems Experiment with innovative solutions – (If five managers agree on a business solution, four of them are unnecessary) Take decisive action to deal with crises

33. END OF CLASS 3
Homework Assignment a. Re-read Chapter 2 b. Read and be prepared to discuss Chapter 3 c. During class 5, team 1 will lead the discussion on the material covered in Chapter 2. d. Team 2 will analyze the Case Study that is printed at the end of Chapter 2.