Understanding Mintzberg’s Informational Roles: An Overview
Henry Mintzberg, a management scholar, proposed the idea of managerial roles which helped to understand the importance of a manager’s role in an organization. In his research, Mintzberg identified three roles that managers perform: Interpersonal, Informational, and Decisional. However, in this article, we will be focusing on the Informational role, its types, and how managers can effectively utilize it.
Introduction
Managers play a crucial role in an organization. They are responsible for planning, organizing, controlling, and directing the activities of their subordinates. However, most people may not realize that managers also perform informational roles, which are essential for the smooth functioning of an organization. Understanding these roles can help managers to effectively carry out their duties and responsibilities.
Informational Roles
Informational roles refer to the responsibilities of a manager to collect, analyze and disseminate the information relevant to the organization’s operation. Mintzberg identified three types of Informational roles: Monitor, Disseminator, and Spokesperson.
Monitor Role
The monitor role involves a manager’s responsibility to continuously scan the environment for information that may impact the organization. This information may come from multiple sources, such as competitors, customers, suppliers or broader technological and economic factors. Managers must analyze this information and determine its relevance to the organization. For instance, a manager may monitor the industry trends and identify new technologies to improve their organization’s processes and operations.
Disseminator Role
The Disseminator role requires a manager to communicate relevant information to their subordinates. Managers must summarize the information, develop clear messages and disseminate it in a way that is easily understandable by their team members. For instance, a manager may receive information regarding a customer complaint and must communicate the details to the relevant department to initiate the resolution process.
Spokesperson Role
In the Spokesperson role, a manager represents their organization in front of external stakeholders, such as customers, suppliers, and the media. Managers must convey the organization’s goals, policies, and achievements to these stakeholders effectively. For instance, a manager may provide a public statement about the organization’s efforts to improve its sustainability practices to its shareholders during the annual meeting.
Utilizing Informational Roles Effectively
Mintzberg’s research highlights the importance of managers performing informational roles for effective decision-making and organizational performance. To utilize informational roles efficiently, managers must create an effective organizational communication structure. Such communication structures should be transparent and promote information flows across departments, levels and also encourage employees to share information. Moreover, it should provide managers with the necessary tools and resources to analyze the information and improve their decision-making.
Conclusion
The Informational role is an essential aspect of a manager’s overall portfolio, as it enables managers to collect, analyze, and utilize crucial information for effective decision-making. Mintzberg’s research highlights the importance of Informational roles and identifies three roles: Monitor, Disseminator, and Spokesperson. To maximize the benefits of these roles, managers must create an effective organizational communication structure. They should encourage all the relevant stakeholders to share information and develop an open communication environment to improve decision making in the organization.
In conclusion, understanding the Informational role of a manager can help organizations to achieve their goals effectively. By utilizing Mintzberg’s framework, managers can identify the relevant sources of information, communicate it to their subordinates and stakeholders effectively, and make informed decisions to improve their organization’s performance.
