“The Nature of Managerial Work” is a highly influential 1973 book by Henry Mintzberg that challenged traditional views of management (like Henri Fayol’s “planning, organizing, commanding, coordinating, and controlling”) by observing what managers actually do in their day-to-day work.
His research found that managerial work is characterized by:
- A fast pace and unrelenting pressure.
- Brief, varied, and fragmented activities (the median time spent on one issue was often very short).
- A preference for verbal communication (meetings, calls, etc.) over formal written communication.
- A complex web of internal and external contacts (the “liaison” role).
The most enduring contribution of the book is the identification of Ten Managerial Roles, grouped into three categories:
1. Interpersonal Roles
These roles stem from the manager’s formal authority and involve relationships with other people.
- Figurehead: Performing ceremonial and symbolic duties (e.g., signing documents, attending a subordinate’s wedding, greeting visitors).
- Leader: Motivating, inspiring, training, and guiding subordinates; responsible for the performance of the team or unit.
- Liaison: Maintaining a network of contacts and information sources inside and outside the organization (e.g., interacting with peers, suppliers, or other departments).
2. Informational Roles
These roles position the manager as the central point for receiving and transmitting information.
- Monitor: Seeking and receiving a wide variety of internal and external information (e.g., reading reports, scanning the environment, observing the team).
- Disseminator: Transmitting privileged information received from outsiders or subordinates to other members of the organization.
- Spokesperson: Transmitting information about the organization’s plans, policies, results, and actions to people outside the unit or organization.
3. Decisional Roles
These roles involve making strategic choices and taking action.
- Entrepreneur: Initiating and overseeing projects that bring about controlled change and innovation to improve the organization’s performance.
- Disturbance Handler: Taking corrective action when the organization faces significant, unexpected problems or crises (e.g., resolving major conflicts, reacting to a sudden crisis).
- Resource Allocator: Deciding who gets what—allocating organizational resources (money, time, equipment, personnel) and authorizing significant decisions.
- Negotiator: Representing the organization in major negotiations with external parties (e.g., unions, suppliers, customers) or internal parties (e.g., other departments).
Mintzberg argued that these ten roles are interdependent and necessary for a manager to be effective, providing a comprehensive description of the managerial job that moves beyond simple classical management functions.