Mintzberg: Descriptions about Managerial Work

These notes summarise the main conclusions of MIntzberg's early 1970's conclusions of the (nature of managerial work). He observed the everyday activities of senior managers and offered telling conclusions to be compared with the limited definitions of managerial functions from the classical and human relations schools e.g. Fayol - to forecast, plan, organisation, command/motivate, communicate, review and control or leadership models which recommend various task and relationships-oriented behaviours.

Mintzberg presents a picture of an all-consuming role for managers and prescriptions about how to behave or techniques to use should be treated with caution.

His conclusions, although related to senior management, seem to reflect the demanding job roles of the mid-1990's - the post-In Search of Excellence, matrix management, lean and down-sized organisation era.

Minzberg concluded that

1. Senior management jobs are open-ended, managers feel compelled to tackle a large workload at demanding pace. there is little free time. Breaks are rare. Escaping from work after hours is physically/mentally difficult.

2. The work is fragmented, full of brevity & variety with a lack of pattern. Managers confront the law of the trivial many and the important few (80/20 principle). Behaviours must change quickly and frequently; interruptions are common.

3. Managers seem to prefer this and become conditioned by workload. Opportunity-costs of time (urgencies) are keenly felt and superficiality in relationships is a hazard.

4. There is an activity-trap - managers tend towards current, specific, well-defined, non-routine activities.

   Processing mail is a pain; 'non-active' mail gets little attention. Current information (chat, speculation) is preferred - routine reports are not. Use of time reflects close, immediate pressures rather than future, broader issues. Fire-fighting (reacting to immediate stimulus) is a problem. Live action pushes the manager away from thinking and planning.

5. Verbal contacts and media are preferred over written. written. Written communications get cursory treatment, but must be processed regularly. Less goes out than comes in. It moves slowly. There are long feedback delays. (How does E-Mail fit in?) Subordinates outside spoken lines of contact may feel uninformed.

   Informal media (telephone and unscheduled meetings) are used for brief contacts if people know each other well and when quick information exchange is called for.

6. Scheduled meetings eat up managerial time - long formal duration, large groups and often away from the organisation. The agendas cover ceremonials, strategy-making and negotiation. Chatting at start/end of meetings contributes significantly to information flow.

7. Managers seldom 'tour' yet WTJ (walking the job) enhances 'visibility' & understanding of the actuality of work and production/service methods, standards and problems.

8. Managers as boundary managers, link his/her own organisation with outside networks. External contacts (clients, suppliers, associates, peers, informer networks) can consume 30-50% of a senior manager's time. Non-line relationships are also important.

   Subordinates (line-relationships) consume 30-50% of contact time dealing with requests, information exchanges, making strategy. Open access with subordinates by-passes formal channels. Yet a subordinate spends relatively little time with his/her own superior (10%).

This blend suggested to Mintzberg that managers control little of what they do. Self-control over their initial commitments enables them to unlock the activity trap and orientate themselves to

• extracting information
• exercising leadership

1. How does this compare with your current job? Your bosses job? What fine tuning is suggested for your own behaviour as a manager?
2. How can you assist your boss better - if this is the real nature of managerial work?
3. What are the implications for manager training and development?
4. How does information technology-based communication assist such managers - how may IT make matters worse?

References