Concepts of Management and Leadership

Professional Thinking Process

Management

A team, in the workplace setting, can be defined as a group of people charged with different tasks, who come together to pool their skills towards the accomplishment of a common goal or project. In order to work effectively, teams need to be properly-managed. Management, in this context, would refer to the coordination and organization of team activities with the aim of achieving pre-determined objectives, where the manager is tasked with, among other things, the responsibility of overseeing the activities of the team, and making decisions on behalf of its members.

So what Exactly Makes One a Good Manager?

According to Mintzberg's management model, a manager has ten roles to play in their work setting -- the figurehead, leader, liaison, monitor, negotiator, resource allocator, disturbance-handler, entrepreneur, spokesperson, and disseminator of roles (Lussier, 2011). The aforementioned roles can be categorized into three major categories - interpersonal roles, informational roles, and decisional roles (Lussier, 2011).

Interpersonal Roles: this category covers the liaison, leader, and figurehead roles. It has to do with a manager being a source of inspiration for members of his team -- a person they look up to, perhaps because of the way he/she relates with team members, how he/she allocates duties and responsibilities, and the kind of image they portray to outsiders (Lussier, 2011).

Informational Roles: this category, which covers the roles of spokesperson, disseminator and monitor, has to do with how a manager processes information, including how they communicate potentially-useful information to members, how they speak for their members, and how they regularly seek out new information with the aim of improving the performance of individual members, and that of the team as a whole (Lussier, 2011).

Decision roles: this category covers the roles of negotiator, resource-allocator, disturbance-handler, and entrepreneur. It has to with a manager making decisions to the overall benefit of the team. It covers how they generate new ideas, solve problems, mediate disputes among members, allocate resources, and negotiate with team members to ensure that the team moves in a positive direction (Lussier, 2011).

From the three managerial role categories above, it is possible to deduce the qualities of a good/strong manager, and the corresponding qualities of a weak manager, as shown in table 1.

Strong Manager

Weak Manager

Appreciates his team members, by acknowledging their effort and giving positive feedback to boost their performance if necessary

Is egocentric; and has no appreciation for his team members

Allocates resources in the best possible way to the overall benefit of the team

Is a poor resource-allocator

Possesses on-the-job skills, which make him able to guide members through work-related processes; and knowledge on how to interact and engage positively with others

Lacks skills, knowledge and expertise on how to handle their jobs as well as their team members