The Manager's Basic Responsibility: Beyond Focusing People

Introduction

It has been said that the manager's most basic responsibility is to focus people toward performance of work activities to achieve desired outcomes. Is this a true statement? Certainly, it describes part of the manager's role, and that part is a significant one. However, focusing people toward the performance of work activities is only one component of the manager's role and may not be the most crucial. A manager may have other responsibilities that are more basic and more essential. At the same time, this narrow description of the manager's role may actually undermine the manager's ability to perform their job effectively. These issues are considered in turn below.

Management Functions and the Scope of Managerial Roles

Management is defined as "the attainment of organisational goals in an effective and efficient manner through planning, organising, leading, and controlling organisational resources" (Daft 1997, p. 8). This definition encompasses four functions of management. One of these functions is leadership, defined as "the use of influence to motivate employees to achieve organisational goals" (Daft 1997, p. 10). When the claim that the manager's most basic responsibility is "to focus people toward performance of work activities to achieve desired outcomes" is set against this framework, it becomes clear that the claim describes only the leadership function. Focusing people toward work activities therefore represents just one aspect of the manager's overall job.

While Mintzberg (1975) refutes the four-functions model of management, he reached a similar conclusion about the breadth of the manager's role. In a study of five CEOs, Mintzberg described what managers do in terms of three sets of observed roles: interpersonal roles (figurehead, leader, and liaison); informational roles (monitor, disseminator, and spokesperson); and decision-making roles (entrepreneur, resource allocator, disturbance handler, and negotiator). Although these roles differ from those identified in the management-functions approach, a major similarity remains — the manager's role is recognised as involving a diverse range of duties. Some of these roles relate to focusing people toward work activities, but many others are equally crucial.

A further study of 44 managers at various organisational levels provides additional evidence. Luthans (1988) observed these managers and identified four general categories of activity: communication, traditional management, human resource management, and networking. In this framework, it is the human resource management activities that most closely correspond to focusing people toward work performance. As with the previous frameworks, the key point is that this is only one of several distinct task categories. It is therefore not accurate to say that the manager's most basic responsibility is to focus people toward the performance of work activities. It is only accurate to say that this is part of the manager's role.

The Importance of Non-Human Resources

Returning to the definition of management as achieving goals through the effective use of organisational resources, it is important to recognise that human resources are not the only resource type a manager must handle. Managers must also utilise financial resources, knowledge resources, technology resources, and physical resources. In many contexts, the effective management of these other resources may be more critical than managing people.

Consider the manager's responsibility to manage financial resources. Organisations exist in large part to generate profits, and financial resources are often the most scarce. This places particular pressure on managers to deploy financial resources wisely. To illustrate the relative importance of financial versus human resource management, consider two scenarios involving a CEO. In the first, the CEO fails to manage people effectively. The likely result is that employees work less efficiently or choose to leave the organisation. In either case, the organisation can recruit replacements. In the second scenario, the CEO fails to manage finances effectively, resulting in the loss of money and a collapse in profitability and cash flow. Unlike employees, a new source of finance may simply not be available. This illustrates that human resources are not necessarily the most critical managerial concern, particularly because staffing problems are often easier to remedy than financial, technological, or physical resource failures.

Conclusion

A manager's basic responsibility is not simply to focus people toward the performance of work activities. This view places the emphasis on leading, when leading is only one part of the manager's broader role. As the frameworks of Daft, Mintzberg, and Luthans all demonstrate, the manager's job encompasses a wide range of functions and activities. Furthermore, other organisational resources — particularly financial resources — may demand equal or greater managerial attention than human resources. It is also impossible to define a single most basic responsibility for all managers, since priorities differ according to the nature of the organisation and the specific managerial position held. Finally, placing excessive emphasis on focusing and controlling employees risks producing managers who ignore more significant concerns and over-manage the people in their charge, ultimately reducing both individual and organisational effectiveness.