Roles and Activities of a Manager- Comparison of Theories

 

1. The main roles and activities of a manager are:

Managers should run an organisation by organising structures, people and finances. Peter Drucker identified five activities of a manager, these are;

Setting objectives- Robin Fraser is responsible for all production and quality assurance he aims to make processes less labour intensive and more automated. In order to achieve this, he has secured a investment from the bank and plans to use these funds to increase automation.[1]

Organising- Hazim Khan analyses sales trends of different products and after assessing customer feedback in order to make sure that the company keeps with the changing market. Hazim is in charge of a team of chefs who develop new products and recipes.[2]

Motivating and communicating- Hazim also demonstrates this activity, he allows his team of chefs to work independently on their ideas but regularly meets with them to discuss any problems and ideas.[3]

Measuring- Laura Bolton is focused on the company’s finances and keeps an eye on the cash flow of the business. [4]

Developing- Kathryn Hannah encourages staff to undertake training in order the ensure that staff have all the skills that the business requires.[5]

Henry Mintzberg identified ten management roles which are then divided up into three categories.

Category	Roles	Manager
Interpersonal	Figurehead Leader Liaison	David Fraser
Informational	Monitor Disseminator Spokesperson	Kathryn Hannah Laura Bolton Hazim Khan
Decisional	Entrepreneur Disturbance Handler Resource Allocator Negotiator	Robin Fraser Hazim Khan

2. Measuring managerial effectiveness

Fraser Foods can measure managerial effectiveness by motivation and morale of the staff, this would be put to good use in the shop floor. Here the work is repetitive and can be challenging due to the temperatures needed to produce hygienic food. The teams are set targets but have the freedom to decide how they will achieve this, working this way has increased staff morale and flexibility. [6]

Another way to measure managerial effectiveness would be by the level of complaints. Fraser Foods could distribute anonymous feedback forms asking questions about how the staff feel about the manager and why. The company would then be able to grasp how well the manager is performing.

3. Behavioural theory of leadership.

Macgregor’s Theory X and Theory Y both assume the behaviours of different management styles.

A Theory X manager assumes that staff dislikes work, need directed, avoid any responsibility, dull, uncreative, have no desire, see money as the only motivation for work and view goals and objectives as caging. [7]

David Fraser could be described as a Theory X manager, “David also felt it was his role to make all the decisions affecting production. He didn’t see the need to involve staff and believed they preferred to be told what to do and didn’t want the responsibility – that was the manager’s job, not theirs. He believed staff were motivated by money and should be paid bonuses if targets were exceeded”[8]

4. Contingency theory of leadership

A contingency theory is based on the belief that there is no style of leadership that is applicable to all situations that may arise within a company. Hersey and Blanchard’s theory was based on the leader adopting an appropriate style of leadership depending on the members in the team and the situation they have found themselves in. In accordance with their theory a leader can adopt one of four styles depending on how much support the team requires and the amount of direction.[9] The four styles (known as S1-S4) are:

• Telling-

This leadership style is categorised as giving a lot of direction to team members. This style is recommended for use when dealing with new staff or where the work can be tedious and repetitive.

• Selling-

This is sometimes known as the ‘coaching’ approach. It is used when team members are motivated to carry out the work but don’t quite have the needed maturity to complete the task.

• Participating-

This style encompasses high support but hardly any direction, it is used when team members are able to do the tasks required but maybe lack the confidence.

• Delegating-

The responsibility for carrying out the task is given to team members, this style requires high levels of maturity and competence.

David Fraser mostly adopts the telling style (S1) as he felt it was his role as the boss to make all decisions.

Hazim Khan style of leadership fits into S2-S4 he does this by allowing his team of chefs to use their talents to create new products for the company. He regularly meets with his team of chefs to discuss and help to solve any issues that have arisen.

5. Theories of leadership and the proposed expansion plans

Bennis and Nanus state that there is no one right way to being a leader, but that each has to find their own style. They did however, identify common characteristics:

• A visions to focus minds
• Communicating the vision
• Consistency and honesty
• Awareness of weakness

Bennis and Nanus also state that “effective leadership can move organisations from current to future state, create visions of potential opportunities for organisations.”[10] The managers of Fraser Foods must ensure that they effectively and clearly communicate to the staff, the vision that they have for the company such as reducing their heavy reliance on the supplier, Perkins. [11]Robin must also effectively communicate his vision for increasing automation as the staff feel anxious about the impact this will have on their jobs. He must also be honest with the staff in order to ease their worries and make them feel involved in the process. [12]

Bibliography

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7 Student notes

8 Case study paragraph 12

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12 Case study paragraph 24

[1] Case study paragraph 24

[2] Case study paragraph 13

[3] Case study paragraph 13

[4] Case study paragraph 14

[5] Case study paragraph 15

[6] Case study paragraph 16

[7] Student notes

[8] Case study paragraph 12

[9] Student notes

[10] Student notes

[11] Case study paragraph 18

[12] Case study paragraph 24