######## LECTURETTE 1.2: An Examination of Managerial Roles

An increasing awareness of the management application has resulted in a significant change in the day-to-day work activities that are inherently a part of this dynamic process.

########## THE TASKS OF A PRACTICING MANAGER

Extensive studies in the duties and managerial activities have been done by Henry Mintzberg, Morgan McCall, Ann Morrison, Robert Hannan and others. A summary of their findings is presented below.

- 1. The managerial workday is long. Managers work long, long hours. The higher one goes up the managerial hierarchy, the longer the working hours.
- 2. Managers are busy and work at a hectic, unrelenting pace. They begin to work the very moment they walk into the workplace and continue working, without relief, until they leave many hours later. Managers cannot afford the luxury of leisurely coffee breaks-they drink their coffee during endless meetings. They do not enjoy a relaxed lunch - lunch is skipped unless it is used to entertain a client or to orchestrate a group decision. In either case, the meal is secondary to the work that is accomplished during the meal.
- 3. The manager's day is fragmented. A manager has so many work demands that there is little time to spend on any one activity. Therefore, the workday is fragmented with hundreds of brief episodes, few of which are brought to closure. Interruptions and discontinuity is commonplace. American executives tend to spend less than nine minutes on any one issue or activity. This pressure often extends throughout an organization. For example, a study found that U.S. foremen engage in an average of 583 separate activities over an eight-hour work shift-an average of one every 48 seconds.
- 4. The manager's work is varied. Managers are involved in a wide variety of activities. They must deal with telephone calls, meetings (both scheduled and unscheduled), tours, visits, appearances, speech-making, negotiations, grievance hearings, performance reviews, scheduling, controlling, and interacting with all kinds of people, and dealing with all kinds of paperwork. All these activities deal with all the functional areas within the firm.
- 5. Managers stay close to home. Managers can be called 'homebodies' because they spend the great bulk of their time engaged in activities within their own organization. However, as managers progress upward in the company hierarchy, increasingly more time is spent outside their own work area and outside the firm itself.
- 6. Verbal activities dominate the manager's time. In two British studies, managers were found to spend 66 and 80 percent of their time in verbal communications. Another study found that U.S. CEOs spend 78 percent of their time in verbal communication activities. In fact, most managers prefer verbal communications to paperwork.
- 7. Managers use many contacts and tend to network. Because of their high-level involvement in verbal communication, managers tend to have contacts with many people. The incessant parade of telephone calls, interpersonal sessions, and meetings result in an almost continuous exchange of information with a growing number of people. This need to exchange voluminous information has led many managers to develop a set of cooperative relationships with certain people whose assistance is often needed.