Mary Parker Follet gave what is considered the simplest definition of management- “the art of getting things done through people.” Some dismissed it as being too simplistic. Management is more complex, or is it? Scholars are not quite agreed on whether management is an art or a science. When it comes to the practice, Managers quickly discover it is both an art and a science. What is generally agreed upon however is that management is complex. In this complexity, managers are involved in many different functions, roles and responsibilities, sometimes concurrently, requiring different skills set.
With my Management team at Trans World Radio- Kenya and SIFA FM Stations, we have been discussion how these three look in our context and how their practice can enhance our organizational mission.
We have looked at the functions of Management, i.e. Planning, Organizing, Influencing (or directing) controlling and what these portend in the daily running of a media organization and a specific FM Station.
What are the specific roles and responsibilities of a Manager that each of our Managers can benchmark with? How well is each individual Manager playing these roles? What are the gaps and areas of improvement? Where do we need to celebrate?
Henry Mintzberg analyzed how Managers spend their time and concluded that there are three major roles that Managers play; divided into 3 major categories; interpersonal, informational and decisional roles, each leader and the manager’s they lead then take time to apply these roles in their specific context. A manager’s interpersonal role involves being the organization’s figure head, leader and liaison. The informational role consists of monitoring and disseminating information as well as being a spokesperson on behalf of the organization. Finally, in the decision-making role the manager is the entrepreneur (initiator and designer of controlled change), disturbance handler, resource allocator and negotiator.
Robert I. Katz asserts that there are 3 basic skills that a Manager must possess in varying degrees. For Senior Management, all are necessary. They need the technical skill or the knowledge and analytical ability required in their context. Secondly, they need human skills or the ability to work with people and build a corporative effort. Finally, the Manager needs conceptual skills or the ability to see the enterprise as a whole and the necessary dependency of one part on the others.
Functions, roles and skills – How well are we balancing?