Mintzberg Interpersonal Roles Alex Rose

Mintzberg

Interpersonal roles

ALEX

ROSE

Figurehead

Present in customer greetings; not carried out regularly in other tasks/activities

Somewhat established in constant interactions with others in an official capacity

Leader

Almost entirely lacking -- some motivation through establishment of rules/expectations

Near constant presence among workforce; highly visible as leader, but questionable as motivator

Liaison

Functions as liaison only inasmuch as he has to -- info regarding company policies/directives from home office

Key aspect of her job, and one she spends much of her time engaged with -- seeking out info and relaying it to necessary parties

Informational roles

ALEX

ROSE

Monitor (receiver)

Again, fills this function only as absolutely necessary -- point person with home office, but doesn't seek out info

One of her primary functions; her time is spent maintaining contacts and utilizing/transmitting info

Disseminator of information

Fills this role fairly well -- transmits expectations of home office/company to subordinates

Primary task, in many ways, but somewhat limited in her ability/desire to carry this out completely due to politics

4. Spokesperson

Visible in some interactions with customers, otherwise non-existent

Point person for union, outside vendors, etc., but not applicable with general public

Decisional roles

ALEX

ROSE

7.Entrepreneur (initiator of change)

Willfully non-existent

Though not precisely an initiaor of change, she does make fundamental decisions regarding change

8. Disturbance handler

Falls under his "staffing" responsibilities primarily, and adequately performed

In current state of change, a basic function involving a great deal of her time

9. Resource allocator

Primary function as he sees it; bulk of his time is spent in scheduling/purchasing/other resources

Not a major function in a day-to-day sense, but somewhat applicable to situation of changing vendors

10. Negotiator (mediator)

Negotiates with suppliers and employees

Much more prominent and large-scale negotiations with unions, patient and health provider groups, etc.

2)

This framework for understanding the various roles, activities, and tasks of managements was not especially useful in the given scenarios. Though the various roles in Mintzberg's framework can certainly be observed (or distinctly unobserved) in the ways that Alex and Rose carry out their respective jobs and duties, they do not align perfectly or even largely with the apparent perspectives of Rose, Alex, or many of the other individuals and departments/office's view of their managerial roles. The most well-aligned set of expectations visible in these scenarios would most likely be that of Alex's superiors, who expect him to carry out each of these roles in ways that Alex completely misunderstands or ignores. Even in their framework of expectations, however, many of the identified aspects of each of these roles is not assigned to Alex, but rather to themselves or other superiors -- though they desire more entrepreneurial behavior from Alex, for instance, he has relatively little control over his costs (which are almost entirely set by the company) and little discretion over new overall directions or promotions for the unit (or chain), and thus little capacity to act on any entrepreneurial ideas he might develop.

There is also a great deal of overlap in the various duties as identified by Mintzberg, at least as management is practiced in these two scenarios. The monitor and disseminator informational roles, for instance, are entirely linked -- there is no separate monitor communicating with a disseminator, nor does that arrangement seem highly practical. It is necessary for the monitor to share information with the disseminator in order for the latter to perform their job at all, let alone effectively and efficiently; it makes little sense to discuss these roles separately. There is certainly a difference between seeking out and receiving information and sending it off to others, but the former is useless without the latter.

3)

The above listed confusion and in-applicability of this framework to the larger picture presented in these scenarios leads to the conclusion that this framework is not truly applicable to the way management is approached today. There are other ways in which the overlapping of roles and duties, or conversely the complete non-expectation of a fulfillment of one of Mintzberg's identified roles, make this framework less applicable to management today then it perhaps was when the framework was developed. Simply put, the roles and duties identified by Mintzberg have become both more consolidated and more diversified, as organizations have both grown in size and scope and become more integrated through various technological developments. This makes the framework inadequate as a model for examining or discussing real-life managerial expectations and duties.