Who is a manager?

In our efforts to discuss governance processes of organisations, we addressed briefly leadership and leaders in one of our previous articles.  Ordinarily, the discussions should have commenced with Floor level Staff, Supervisors, Managers before discussion on Leadership.  In an effort to correct the mistake, we have decided today to take on the topic Manager.  Who is a manager and what are the roles and responsibilities of a manager?  We would also attempt to draw a distinction between managers and leaders for purposes of clarity.

Organisational leadership as it is in public service and indeed government is hierarchical.  From floor level staff to supervisors and officers as well as managers and executive officers otherwise called leaders, layers of supervision and management of entity vary from one institution to another.  However, over the years, mankind has distinguished clearly a difference between managers and leaders.

If we start with a simple question such as who is a manager? A manager may be described as a person who contributes directly or indirectly towards achievement of an organisation or institution’s goals and objectives through direction of other people.  Managers seldom do things themselves.  Managers are given control of aspect of an organisation.  They control, direct and manage affairs of a section of an organisation by guiding team members.  According to Henri Fayol, a French Management theorist, managers must be able to plan and organize personnel.

There is a lot of literature on the general responsibilities of managers.  These are basically to plan, organize, staff, set goals, implement and control their team. In all one may be able to sum up the roles of a manager under about ten items viz:- Figurehead (not as a stooge), Leader (in it literal meaning), Liaison, Monitor, Disseminator, Spokesperson, Entrepreneur, Negotiator, Disturbance Handler or Mediator and Resource Allocator and Controller. These have been broadly categorised into Interpersonal, Informational and Decisional Roles, by Mintzberg, a Management guru.

Interpersonal: In this role, the manager is expected to function as a head and a liaison person between organizational leaders and workers.  He or she is to inspire confidence, motivate, listens and provides guidance. As Liaison, he or she is to provide an environment where strong relationships exist amongst team members on or off work.

Informational: This category of roles covers the manager being the organization’s spokesperson, and information source / disseminator. As a spokesperson, he or she is to be the “go-to” person for any information the organization wants to share with the public. As an information source, he or she is to gather information that can affect or assist the organization; whilst as information disseminator, he or she is to clearly communicate information from executive management or superior officers, to team members.

Decisional: This category of roles include entrepreneurial, resource allocator, and control. As an entrepreneur, the manager is expected to wear the shoes of the business owner, which include initiating, designing, owning the vision and charting a mission to attain the vision. As a resource allocator, the manager is to ensure resource is allocated efficiently and on a priority basis. The control role involves the manager providing checks and balances for the organization’s operations, to ensure the organization is functioning optimally and minimizing risks, leakages or losses.

Broadly speaking, there may be three major types of management styles.  They are Autocratic, Democratic and Laissez – Faire Styles.  Autocratic is directional, dictatorial and controlling.  Democratic is somewhat a person orientated, populist and usually go with majority opinion while Laissez Faire is indifferent and a bit of loose in control of team members.  A good manager should have all attributes of these styles for effectiveness and success.  Indeed, a good manager should be experienced and skillful, good communicator, knowledgeable, reliable, disciplined, organizational, strategic and ability to delegate and share responsibilities amongst team members.

On the other hand, in simple terms, a Leader is one who is able to influence peoples’ behaviour and actions, in a group, to achieve desired results or predefined goals. Leadership is more of an art, as it deals with people. Leaders may be born but leadership attributes can be learned and developed.

Management level in an organization is attained by virtue of an employee’s position or rank. Such a person is responsible for planning, organizing, staffing, setting up of goals, provision of direction and supervising his or her subordinates, in order to achieve previously set goals and objectives.

Indeed, a good manager should possess some leadership traits to be successful. However, a leader does not have to be a manager and not all manages can be leaders. Infact a leader can exist at all levels of an organizational chain.

The roles and responsibilities of leaders are numerous.  Enumerating all is near impossible more so that we had a full article dedicated to Leadership in our previous outing.  A few of the expected roles are as follows:

Ability to mobilise support: A leader should be able to harness and galvanise team towards performing tasks.

This can be achieved by leading followers in such a way that is fair and transparent. A leader should clearly communicate goals, request and receive input from all stakeholders. Members of a team should be carried along so as to work in sync. In addition, this ensures that all members of the team understand what is expected of them so as to bring a successful outcome from a project. Where there are challenges, the group members will be comfortable enough to present them to the leader for further guidance.

A leader is someone that must effectively represent an organization as well as his or her colleagues, in such a way that both bodies will be happy, have confidence in his or her abilities, and know that their best interests are being represented.

He or she must be able to find a fit between the organizations objectives and those of colleagues.  Where there is a conflict, the organisation’s goals supersede that of staff.

A good leader must be able to function effectively as a friend, guardian, counselor, and trainer. He or she must have a good listening ear and be able to advise followers on both work related and non-work related affairs.

In conclusion, every organization should ensure its managers are potential good leaders and at the same time also from the supervisors potential managers are identified and nurtured.  Indeed from the floor level staff, supervisors should also be identified and nurtured as well as developed.  This will lead to organization success that is lasting and enduring.

“Recite: In the name of thy Lord who created man from a clot. Recite: And thy Lord is the Most Generous Who taught by the pen, taught man that which he knew not.”

“Give me wisdom and knowledge, that I may lead this people, for who is able to govern this great people of yours?”