FOUR DIFFERENT LEVELS OF MANAGERS
Organizations---particularly large organizations---have many levels.
- Top-level manager.
- Middle-level manager.
- Frontline manager.
- Team leader.
1. Top Managers Strategize and Lead
Top-level managers are the organization’s senior executives and are responsible for its overall management. Top-level managers, often referred to as strategic managers, focus on the survival, growth, and overall effectiveness of the organizations.
Top managers are concerned not only with the organization as a whole but also with the interaction between the organization and its external environment. This interaction often requires managers to work extensively with outside individuals and organizations.
The chief executive officer (CEO) is one type of top-level manager found in large corporations. This individual is the primary strategic manager of the firm and has authority over everyone else. Others include the chief operating officer (COO), Company presidents, vice presidents, and members of the top management team. As companies have increasingly leveraged technology and knowledge management to help them achieve and maintain a competitive advantage, they created the position of chief information officer (CIO). A relatively new tip manager position, chief ethics officer, has emerged in recent years.
Traditionally, the role of the top-level managers has been to set overall direction by formulating strategy and controlling resources. But now, more top managers are called on to be not only strategic architects, but also true organizational leaders that create and articulate a broader corporate purpose with which people can identify and one to which people will enthusiastically commit. (Top-Level Managers Senior executives responsible for the overall management and effectiveness of the organization)
2. Middle Managers Bring Strategies to Life
As the name implies, middle-level managers are located in the organization’s hierarchy below top-level management and above the frontline managers and team leaders. Sometimes called tactical managers, they are responsible for translating the general goals and plans developed by strategic managers (top-level managers) into more specific objectives and activities.
Traditionally, the role of the middle manager is to be an administrative controller who bridges the gap between higher and lower levels. Today, middle-level managers break corporate objectives down into business unit targets; put together separate business unit plans from the units below them for higher-level corporate review; and serve as nerve centers of internal communication, interpreting and broadcasting top management’s priorities downward and channeling and translating information from the front lines upward.
Middle managers are closer to than top managers to day-to-day operations, customers, frontline managers, team leaders, and employees, so they know the problems. Good middle managers provide the operating skills and practical problem solving that keep the company working.
(Middle-Level Managers located in the middle layers of the organizational hierarchy, reporting to top-level executives)
3. Frontline Managers Are the Vital Link to Employees
Frontline Managers lower-level managers who supervise the operational activities of the organization, or operational managers, are lower-level managers who execute the operations of the organization. These managers often have titles such as supervisor or sales manager. Page They are directly involved with nonmanagement employees, implementing the specific plans developed with middle managers. This role is critical because operational managers are the link between management and nonmanagement personnel. Your first management position probably will fit into this category.
Traditionally, frontline managers were directed and controlled from above to make sure that they successfully implemented operations to support the company strategy. But in leading companies, their role has expanded. Operational execution remains vital, but in leading companies, frontline managers are increasingly called on to be innovative and entrepreneurial, managing for growth and new business development
Managers on the front line—usually newer, younger managers—are crucial to creating and sustaining quality, innovation, and other drivers of financial performance. In outstanding organizations, talented frontline managers are not only allowed to initiate new activities but are expected to do so by their top and middle-level managers. And they receive the freedom, incentives, and support to do so.
4. Team Leaders Facilitate Team Effectiveness
A relatively new type of manager, known as a team leader, engages in a variety of behaviors to achieve team effectiveness. The use of teams has increased as organizations shift from hierarchical to flatter structures that require lower-level employees to make more decisions. While both team leaders and frontline managers tend to be younger managers with entrepreneurial skills, frontline managers have direct managerial control over their nonmanagerial employees. This means that frontline managers may be responsible for hiring, training, scheduling, compensating, appraising, and if necessary, firing employees in order to achieve their goals and create new growth objectives for the business.
In comparison, team leaders are more like project facilitators or coaches. Their responsibilities include organizing the team and establishing its purpose, finding resources to help the team get its job done, removing organizational impediments that block the team’s progress, and developing team members’ skills and abilities. In addition, a good team leader creates and supports a positive social climate for the team, challenges the team, provides feedback to team members, and encourages the team to be self-sufficient. Beyond their internally focused responsibilities, team leaders also need to represent the team’s interests with other teams, departments, and groups within and outside of the organization. In this sense, the team leader serves as the spokesperson and champion for the team when dealing with external stakeholders.
Team leaders are expected to help their teams achieve important projects and assignments. In some ways, a team leader’s job can be more challenging than frontline and other types of managers’ jobs because team leaders often lack direct control (e.g., hiring and firing) over team members. Without this direct control, team leaders need to be creative in how they inspire, motivate, and guide their teams to achieve success.
Three Roles That All Managers Perform
A classic study of top executives found that they spend their time engaging in 10 key activities, falling into three broad categories or roles:
- Interpersonal roles:
- Leader—Staffing, training, and motivating people to achieve organizational goals.
Example: The manager of a real estate company leads and manages 10 realtors.
- Liaison—Maintaining a network of outside contacts and alliances that provide information and favors.
Example: A human resources manager attends monthly HR association meetings.
- Figurehead—Performing symbolic duties on behalf of the organization, like greeting important visitors and attending social events.
Example: The president of a university presides over a graduation ceremony.
- Informational roles:
- Monitor—Seeking information to develop a thorough understanding of the organization and its environment.
Example: A marketing researcher for a fast-food company tracks changing consumer tastes.
- Disseminator—Sharing information between different people like employees and managers; sometimes interpreting and integrating diverse perspectives.
Example: A team leader in an accounting firm shares her team’s concerns with the managing partner.
- Spokesperson—Communicating on behalf of the organization about plans, policies, actions, and results.
Example: A public relations officer of a global company issues a news release detailing plans to expand operations in China and India.
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- Decisional roles:
- Entrepreneur—Searching for new business opportunities and initiating new projects to create change.
Example: A software engineer at a social networking website company identifies a new and more intuitive way to connect its users.
- Disturbance handler—Taking corrective action during crises or other conflicts.
Example: An accounting manager at a firm disciplines a junior accountant for engaging in unethical behavior.
- Resource allocator—Providing funding and other resources to units or people; includes making major organizational decisions.
Example: The chief financial officer at a company determines the size of each division’s budget for the upcoming fiscal year.
- Negotiator—Engaging in negotiations with parties inside and outside the organization.
Example: An account executive from an advertising company negotiates the purchase price and terms of an advertising campaign with a team from a large client.
MANAGERS NEED THREE BROAD SKILLS
1 Technical skills: The ability to perform a specialized task involving a particular method or process.
2 Conceptual and decision skills: Skills pertaining to the ability to identify and resolve problems for the benefit of the organization and its members.
3 Interpersonal and communication skills: People skills; the ability to lead, motivate, and communicate effectively with others.
Organization Culture:
Organization culture is the set of goals and practices that members of the company share. It is a system of shared values about with is important and beliefs about how the firm works. It provides a framework that organizes and directs people’s behavior on the job.
There are three layers of organization culture.
The first level- Visible Artifacts, Structure, office layout, behaviors like dress, office space, and written material (annual reports and strategic plans).
The second level- culture-value, are the underlying qualities and desirable behaviors that are important to the firm. For example, a company saying, “lets become a green organization.”
The Third level- unconscious assumptions, deeply help beliefs: “We have to be profitable.” Strong cultures can greatly influence the way people think and behave. A strong culture is one in which everyone understands and believes in the firm’s goals, priorities, and practices. A strong culture can be a real advantage to the firm if the behaviors it encourages extraordinary devotion to customer services.
Companies Give Many Clues About Their culture
- Corporate mission statements and official goals are a starting point because they will tell you the firm’s desired public image.
- Business practices can be observed. How a company responds to problems, makes strategic decisions, and treats employees and customers tells a lot about what top management really value.
- Symbols, rites, and ceremonies give further clues about culture.
- The stories people tell carry a lot of information about the company’s culture.
Four Different Types of Organizational Cultures
Clan (Collaborate) Dominate attribute:
Cohesiveness, participation, teamwork, sense of family
Leadership style: Mentor, facilitator, parent figure
Bonding: Loyalty, tradition, interpersonal cohesion
Strategic emphasis: Toward developing human resources,
commitment, and morale.
Adhocracy (Create) Dominant attribute:
Entrepreneurship, adaptability, dynamism
Leadership style: innovator, entrepreneur, risk taker
Bonding: Flexibility, risk, entrepreneur
Strategic emphasis: Toward innovation, growth, new
Resources.
Hierarchy (Control) Dominant attribute:
Order, rules and regulations, uniformity, efficiency
Leadership style: Coordinator, organizer,
Administrator
Bonding: Rules, policies and procedures, clear
Expectations
Strategic emphasis: Toward stability, predictability, smooth
Market (Complete) Dominant attribute:
Goal achievement, environment exchange, competitiveness
Leadership style: Production and achievement oriented decisive
Bonding: Goal orientation, production, competition,
Strategic emphasis: Toward competitive advantage and market superiority
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