Week 7: Role of Managers Flashcards
Grint 1995
The role of a manager is to maximise the efficiency of employees
Fayol 1916
Argues that there are five clear “elements” to managerial work. Planning Organising Commanding Coordinating Controlling
Also says that there were fourteen other “principles” that were useful
Mintzberg 1990
Argues against Fayol, says his five elements are not enough. Management is about what managers do, not their “functions”
Performs an empirical study of 5 CEOs
Traditional planning not that important: 50% of managerial activities take less than 9 minutes.
Fayol argues for a formal information management system. Mintzberg argues CEO’s prefer verbal systems such as meetings or calls
Managers have ten roles, grouped into interpersonal, informational, and decisional roles.
Believes that his ten roles are “timeless”
The information that drives management decisions has improved but not changed the nature of the job
Hales 1986
Looks at previous thinkers and comes up with a list of roles that are common to all of them and it is basically Mintzberg’s list of roles
Spender (1989)
Supports Mintzberg’s ideas and elaborates on the tasks managers face.
Discusses how originally managers were seen as a simple “rational processing device”
Now they are negotiators who produce consensus in an organisation, and respond to uncertainty.
Similar to an idea of bounded rationality.
Fayol or Mintzberg
Fayol explains the purpose of management. Mintzberg explains but what management actually does
Abrahamson (1996)
Discusses management “fashions”
Argues that these are very influential on managers and should be more highly researched
Looks at management trends over time and shows empirically that for many interest in them fluctuates over time.
Barley and Kunda 1992
Discusses the phases through which management thought went.
Concludes it kept fluctuating between “scientific management” and more humanistic normative control
This may be due to fads. Or the economic cycle.
Astley and Zammuto 1992
“The total perceived impact is, judged by what we learned in some 200 interviews in the business sector, virtually nil” (Porter and McKibbin, 1988)
“As much as 80% of management research may be irrelevant… I wonder if the majority of it is of any significant value to executives in terms of influencing their daily actions, behaviours, or business practices” (Byrne, 1990)
