keymodels
Mintzberg’s managerial roles
How can mintzberg’s managerial roles improve people, teams, or organisational effectiveness?
Contents
What do managers actually do in the workplace?
What do managers actually do? Henry Mintzberg’s observational work describes managerial activity through three families: interpersonal roles, informational roles and decisional roles. The framework helps managers compare how they spend time with what their situation requires, without pretending that one ideal schedule fits every job.
When to use it
- To examine and improve your own pattern of managerial work.
- To diagnose organisational expectations and gaps.
- To design context-specific management development.
Origins
For his doctoral research at the MIT Sloan School of Management, Mintzberg observed chief executives at work rather than beginning with abstract functions such as planning, organising, budgeting and controlling. This close study of what executives actually did produced a different account: work was fast, fragmented, verbal, relational and responsive. It helped establish managerial-work research as a field and later informed situational views of management.
The study was small and descriptive. Its enduring value is the method and vocabulary, not a claim that every manager, culture or modern communication environment behaves identically.
What it is
Mintzberg observed that managers:
- work at a demanding pace and tend toward action;
- rely heavily on meetings, calls and other verbal exchanges;
- spend substantial time with subordinates and external contacts;
- move through short, varied activities—averaging 9 minutes in the original observation.
He grouped ten roles into interpersonal, informational and decisional categories.
| Category | Role | Activity | Examples |
|---|---|---|---|
| Informational | Monitor | Seek and acquire work-related information. | Scan and read trade press, periodicals and reports; attend seminars and training; maintain personal contacts. |
| Informational | Disseminator | Communicate and disseminate information to others within the organisation. | Send memos and reports; inform staff and subordinates of decisions. |
| Informational | Spokesperson | Communicate and transmit information to outsiders. | Pass on memos, reports and informational materials; participate in conferences and meetings; report progress. |
| Interpersonal | Figurehead | Perform social and legal duties; act as symbolic leader. | Greet visitors, sign legal documents, attend ribbon-cutting ceremonies, host receptions. |
| Category | Role | Activity | Examples |
|---|---|---|---|
| Interpersonal (continued) | Leader | Direct and motivate subordinates; select and train employees. | Includes almost all interactions with subordinates. |
| Interpersonal (continued) | Liaison | Establish and maintain contacts within and outside the organisation. | Business correspondence; participation in meetings with representatives of other divisions or organisations. |
| Decisional | Entrepreneur | Identify new ideas and initiate improvement projects. | Implement innovations; plan for the future. |
| Decisional | Disturbance handler | Deal with disputes or problems and take corrective action. | Settle conflicts between subordinates; choose strategic alternatives; overcome crisis situations. |
| Decisional | Resource allocator | Decide where to apply resources. | Draft and approve plans, schedules and budgets; set priorities. |
| Decisional | Negotiator | Defend business interests. | Participate in and direct negotiations within the team, department and organisation. |
Interpersonal roles concern symbolic representation, relationships and leadership. Informational roles involve monitoring, disseminating and speaking for the organisation. Decisional roles involve initiating change, handling disturbances, allocating resources and negotiating.
The roles describe work; they do not endorse constant interruption, overload or reactivity. Context determines which roles matter most and how they should be performed.
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