Managers are known as individuals who are entrusted the operations of an organization by the owner or the board of directors. They are supposed to undertake different roles, which define their impact into the organization. There are a wide variety of duties that managers should undertake in a bid for excellence of n organization. The manager should represent the image of an organization and should never be ignorant of the duties entrusted to them. However, the duties of the manger may vary on the bases of their functions in an organization.
The first functional role of managers is administration. Through this the manager is required to be in charge of all the employees in a business. They assume the role of the overall leader where they ensure that employees undertake their duties as they are required by the company. Under this role, the manager should ensure that all employees act according to the set code of conduct or the behavioral rules (Bartlett & Ghoshal, 1997). An outstanding manager must be authoritative; to ensure that there is a room for the subordinates to respect him or her.
The second duty is supervision. This is a duty where the manager oversees employees as they undertake their duties. Different people have different roles to play in an organization. It would be extremely difficult to experience overall outstanding performance if there is no an individual who is in charge of the performance of the rest of the employees. A good manager should ensure that all duties allocated to certain people have been undertaken in the best way (Mintzberg, 2000). They help the subordinates identify the mistakes that they could have made in execution of their duties.
The third functional role that managers should undertake is coordination of activities in an organization. This means that the manager must be aware of all the activities that should be undertaken within a given period. Every company is made of departments, which act as cells through which the overall goal of an organization is achieved. It is the role of the manager to ensure that employees remain focused to a given goal as defined by their department. He makes it known to the employees that specific departments are just organizational sections that are defined by the duties that each one of them undertakes. The manager ensures that all departments assume their roles accordingly without interfering with each other’s activities (Mintzberg, 2000). He lets the leaders of different departments know that departments are not competitive teams but should work together as teams meant to achieve extensive goals for an organization.
Also, managers are entrusted the role of delivering messages to the management. A manager being the link between the board of directors or owners and the employees is entrusted the role of reporting on the performance of an organization. They should be people with extensive ability to match alertness to report all the activities that the company undertakes to the owner. After receiving reports on the activities and performance of different departments of an organization, the manager comes up with a conclusive presentation. This presentation covers overall performance for all departments in an organization. The manager is responsible of any lack of proper performance (Bartlett & Ghoshal, 1997). Therefore, he or she should ensure that the information that he gives to the owners of a company is reliable to track the overall duties of an organization.
The functional roles of a manager are wide but may be narrowed to coordination, supervision, representation, and administration. All these duties must be undertaken as defined by the constitution of the company under the roles of a manager. They are extremely fundamental since they act as the driving force for the company. They gear up the success of an organization. Managers should be ready to assume their roles accordingly. Acceptance of the defined roles by a manager dictates his or her preparedness to enable the company achieve its goals.
References
Bartlett, C. A., & Ghoshal, S. (1997). The Myth of the Generic Manager: NEW PERSONAL COMPETENCIES FOR NEW MANAGEMENT ROLES. California management review, 40(1).
Mintzberg, H. (2000). The manager‘s] ob: folklore and fact.
