Question

Mintzberg set out 10 managerial roles which can be summarized into three categories: Interpersonal roles, Informational roles, Decision roles. If a manager does not perform the informational roles (Nerve Center, Dissemination, Spokesperson) well, WHAT WOULD HAPPEN TO THE PERFORMANCE OF MY TEAM?

Answer 1

Informational roles - It includes those roles in which a manager must generate and share the knowledge to efficiently achieve the organizational goals. The informational roles are further divided into three categories: Monitor, Disseminator, and spokesperson.

Monitor - Seeks out and gather the information relevant to the organization. For example, finding about the legal restrictions on the new product.

Disseminator - Provides the information where it is needed. For example, providing correct production figures to workers on the assembly line.

Spokesperson - Transmit the information to the people outside the organization. For example, representing the company at the shareholders meeting.

If the manager does not perform the informational roles (monitor, disseminator and spokesperson) well the performance of the team will reduce though they are working effectively and efficiently.

1) Monitor - If the manager is not a good monitor, he will not be able to scan the external environment effectively which results in the failure of the efforts of the team members. As the Manager could not be aware of the government policies, and also about the strategies of competitors, it results in the failure of the organization. Most of the time the competitors will be having an advantage over the organization.

2) Disseminator - If the manager is not a good disseminator, the team members will always be in the confusion and could not be able to achieve the team's objective. A disseminator ensures the proper flow of information within the organization. If all the information is not correctly passed among the team members, the result may vary from what it is expected to be and leads to the overall failure of the efforts of team members.

3) Spokesperson - If the manager does not perform the spokesperson role well, then the outcomes of the efforts of the team members will not be properly communicated to people outside the organization. The manager will not be able to represent his team properly which results in the failure of the team.

Thus informational roles are the lifeblood of the organization. If it is not performed well, the efforts of everyone in the team gets wasted and leads to a decrease in the performance of the team. The manager is the "nerve center" of the organization.