Functions of Management,

the roles,
and the skills necessary to manage an organization
 Assignment-1

Course Title: Principles of Management

Course code: Mgt-101 Section: 01

Semester: Spring-2024 Group name: Titans

-Submitted To: Submitted By:

Name: Md. Shafayet Khan

Dr. Farhana Ferdousi
ID: 2021-2-10-129
Chairperson, Professor
Department Of Business Administration
Name: Sajib Ahmed Bappy
East West University
ID: 2021-3-10-190

Date of Submission:
1st April, 2024
 About Interviewing Manager:
Our question: Can you provide a brief overview of your role and responsibilities within
the organization?

The Manager's name is Md. Siddur Rahman. He completed his Bachelor's and Master’s degrees
at Chittagong International Islamic University. Currently, he is working as a private job holder in
a company named “DataPath”. He has been serving as a manager in this company for 7 years.
Currently, his position is Assistant General Manager (AGM).
 Introduction

No organization can work without proper management and the people responsible for carrying
out the management process are managers. To define, we can say managers plan and make
decisions, organize, lead, and control the resources of an organization efficiently and effectively
to achieve its goals. Those resources include human resources, financial resources, physical
resources, and information resources. A manager plays important roles such as interpersonal
roles, informational roles, and decisional roles. The roles are divided into parts like interpersonal
roles containing the roles of a figurehead, a leader, and a liaison, informational roles containing
the roles of a monitor, a disseminator, and a spokesperson and finally the decisional roles
containing the roles of an entrepreneur, a disturbance handler, a resource allocator and a
negotiator. To perform these roles a manager must have some skills as well. Those skills are
technical skills, interpersonal skills, conceptual skills, diagnostic skills, communication skills,
decision-making skills, and time management skills. With these skills, a good manager makes
the right decision at the right moment and brings forth the best for the organization. An effective
manager should be able to switch back and forth among the basic four activities to fulfill his or
her roles and to make sure of it he or she must have the skills mentioned above. In this
assignment, after interviewing a manager we will discuss how he or she performs the functions
of management, what roles he or she plays, and the skills he or she needs to do the job.
 *** Our Questions to the Interviewing Manager ***

For Functions of Management as a Manager:

1. How do you approach the process of planning within your role?

2. Can you give examples of how you organize tasks and resources to achieve objectives?
3. In what ways do you demonstrate leadership in your interactions with your team?
4. How do you ensure that performance standards are met and take corrective actions when
necessary?

For Managerial Roles as a Manager:

1. Can you describe some of the interpersonal roles you engage in as a manager?
2. How do you handle the flow of information within your team or between different
departments?
3. Could you provide examples of how you make decisions in your role, both routine and
strategic?

For Skills as a Manager:

1. What technical skills are essential for success in your position?

2. How do you approach interpersonal skills in managing your team?
3. Can you discuss the importance of conceptual skills in your decision-making processes?
4. Tell me about the diagnostic skill that you apply as a manager
5. Tell me the communication Skill which helps you to complete your task
6. Tell us about your decision-making Skills
7. Tell us how you utilize your time-management skills
 *** Questions Answer ***
Functions of manager:

1. Planning: As a manager, I approach planning by setting clear organizational goals and

creating a roadmap to achieve them. Like, when I develop a project plan for the next 5
years.
2. Organizing: I organize tasks and resources by allocating responsibilities, defining roles,
and ensuring efficient workflows. Like, creating project teams with specific roles of
designers, developers, and testers for a web development project.
3. Leading: I always motivate, guide, and inspire my team members to complete their tasks
properly. Like, conducting regular team meetings to align everyone’s efforts and boost
morale.
4. Controlling: To maintain performance standards, I monitor progress, assess outcomes,
and take corrective actions when needed. Like, reviewing project milestones and
adjusting timelines or resources as necessary.

Managerial roles:

1. Interpersonal roles: Always I try to build relationships with stakeholders, both within and
outside the organization.
2. Informational roles: I facilitate communication within my team and across departments
so that they can do work with proper information. Like, regularly updating team members
on project status and sharing relevant information from upper to bottom management.
3. Decision-making roles: Routine decisions involve day-to-day operations. If I should take
any decision, I make an immediate decision so that we can get rid of it.

Managerial Skills:

1. Technical skill: when I had to accomplish a project I need few proficient tools.
2. Interpersonal Skill: I give clear, concise, and empathetic communication and I believe
which fosters my team members.
 3. Conceptual Skill: Conceptual skill is a most necessary skill, when I make a decision I
have to think about the whole scenario in an abstract.
4. Diagnostic Skills: When I am faced with challenges, I diagnose root causes, analyze data,
and develop strategies to improve efficiency.
5. Communication Skill: I give clear, concise, and empathetic communication and I believe
it fosters my team members. Also, I Resolve conflicts and reach consensus.
6. Decision-making Skill: I evaluate the pros and cons, consider risks, and predict outcomes
then I make the necessary decisions.
7. Time-Management Skill: I analyze the critical tasks and focus on high-impact activities
and then I assign tasks to the right team members, if there need any adjustable schedule I
do that.

Analysis
As a manager, Mr. Md. Saidur Rahman has to supervise and coordinate the activities of the
operating employees which requires him to work in a sequence and perform some roles, and to
do all these he must have some skills. From our interview with Md. Saidur Rahman we have
come to recognize him as an effective manager as he follows the steps of management very
efficiently. The steps are discussed below:
 Planning and Decision Making

Planning involves setting the organization's goals and deciding how best to achieve them and
decision-making is the part where a manager has to select a course of action from all the
alternatives. A manager who is responsible for achieving the organization’s goal while he has
control over the organization’s resources cannot make any rush move. A manager has to think of
everything he or she has at his or her disposal and make the best use of it. So, he or she has to
coordinate the resources in hand in a way that the use of those resources is efficient. This is not
the end though as no one can predict the future there is no saying that the best thought out plan of
the manager cannot fail. For such situations, an effective manager must always have contingency
plans as well.
 Organizing

After a certain plan is selected to go forward with a manager has to group the activities and
resources. Since the amount of resources available in an organization is huge a manager has to
play another crucial role because even a small mistake in coordinating will not only prevent the
organization from reaching its goals but it might cause serious damage to the organization.
 Leading

Another important step of management is leading which means motivating the employees to
work in the best interest of the organization. The employees are very crucial to an organization
as they are the ones carrying out the operations using the other resources of the organization. If
they do not feel loyal and dedicated to the organization or are not motivated to perform the job
they are given their productivity will decrease and the outcome will not be satisfactory. So, a
manager has to make sure that his or her subordinates are motivated. On the other hand,
employees should be given the task they are specialized in as it will improve their productivity.
 Controlling

As we have already mentioned, even the slightest mistake from an employee can prove to be
harmful to any organization, a manager has to monitor every ongoing process and correct the
wrongs. The subordinates of a manager are his responsibility, and so are their actions. So, to
make sure that his or her subordinates are doing their best to achieve the organizational goals and
to undo the mistakes if made, a manager must be monitoring.
 Managerial Roles
Along with these management steps Mr. Md Saidur Rahman has to play some roles as a
manager. A discussion about those roles is given below.

Interpersonal Roles
The role of a figurehead, a leader, and a liaison. These roles involve dealing with other people.
Figurehead: Mr. Md Saidur Rahman has to attend a lot of dinners, and seminars and has to take a
tremendous amount of visitors as his job requires him to be a figurehead representing the
organization he or she works for. Leader: A manager serves as a leader by hiring, training, and
motivating the employees. Mr. Md Saidur Rahman has to train new recruits and keep them
motivated to try their best to obtain their goal. Liaison: An organization has a vast number of
employees and collaborators. A manager like Mr. Md Saidur Rahman serves as a liaison by
coordinating these people. This is a serious responsibility for the managers as both the
employees and collaborators serve as key factors along with others in the organization’s
productivity.
 Informational Roles
The roles of a monitor, a disseminator, and a spokesperson. Monitor: As a monitor, Mr. Md
Saidur Rahman constantly seeks information that has value. For this, he tries to be well-
informed. Disseminator: The obtained knowledge has to be transmitted back to the other people
in the workplace. Mr. Md Saidur Rahman does this because as a manager he has to play the role
of a disseminator and this role is very important as without the flow of information the
organization will not be able to work properly and fall behind with its productivity.

Spokesperson: Just like providing the people with information, a manager has to relay
information to people outside of the organization as well. A manager has to communicate with
the world on the organization’s behalf.
 Decisional Roles
Making critical decisions is also a part of any managerial job. The roles of an entrepreneur,
disturbance handler, resource allocator, and negotiator are related to decision-making.
Entrepreneur: A manager sometimes has to be the initiator of change. As we know certain
obstacles may show themselves during any operation. In situations like this, a manager must
make decisions that may change the way of doing things.

Disturbance Handler: An organization may find itself amid a strike or problems in public
relations or public image. Overcoming these problems as a disturbance handler is also the role of
a manager.

Resource Allocator: As a resource allocator a manager decides how resources should be

distributed and with whom he or she will work most closely. Since an organization possesses a
vast amount of resources and the prosperity of the organization depends on the efficient use of
these resources the manager has to be very cautious while allocating them.

Negotiator: We know that to keep producing organizations have to collaborate with other
organizations. It is a very common practice with quite a hassle because the organizations
working together may have different goals and cultures which may create problems for the
people working for these organizations. A manager has to make sure this does not happen. He or
she has to communicate and negotiate terms on behalf of his or her organization to make sure of
a successful collaboration.
 Managerial Skills

He or she must have some skills to play these roles and to carry out the management process
which are discussed below.

Technical Skills
The skills necessary to accomplish or understand the specific kind of work being done in an
organization. Without knowledge of how a particular task is done he or she would not be able to
perform the job. Even getting it done by others would not be possible as without the knowledge
of how to do it he or she would not be able to give instructions about how to do it, neither he or
she can monitor because the ways of performing the job is unknown to the person.
 Interpersonal Skills

Communicating and understanding the people we are working with is very important to keep
them motivated and bring forward the best of them. If a manager is bad at communicating with
the employees, then he or she has a chance of failing to maintain a good relationship with his
employees, and even worse without proper communication and motivation the employees will
fail to provide their best and the productivity of the organization will fall.
 Conceptual Skills

The manager’s ability to think in the abstract. This comes very handy while making decisions as
it helps a manager to predict the problems he might face or to see the opportunity that is needed.
 Diagnostic Skills

The ability to visualize the most appropriate response to a situation. As an organization forwards
to its goals many unexpected situations may arise. A manager finds out the factors creating these
situations and proceeds with the best response to these situations.
 Communication Skills

The ability to convey both ideas and information to others and to receive ideas and information
from them. A manager has to deal with a tremendous amount of information every day. If he
fails to deliver this information in an understandable and usable way then it will accomplish
nothing. On the other hand, generating new ideas is also a very important skill a manager must
have. Besides, he or she must be open to ideas from other people as well.
 Decision-Making Skills

The manager’s ability to correctly recognize and define problems and opportunities and then
select an appropriate course of action to solve problems and capitalize on opportunities.
 Time Management Skills

The ability to prioritize work. A manager has to perform tons of tasks every day and like
everybody else he or she cannot do everything at once. He or she has to prioritize the tasks at
hand. He or she has to understand which should come after what. If a manager wants to be
effective then he or she must make the best use of time and for that, he or she has to be very
good at time management.

Conclusion

As a first-line manager, Mr. Md Saidur Rahman plays a variety of roles, and the study
emphasizes how well he supervises and coordinates these tasks. The core management processes
of organizing, leading, controlling, and planning are all demonstrated by Mr. Md Saidur Rahman
with competence. He is aware that attaining organizational objectives requires careful planning,
efficient resource management, staff engagement, and performance evaluation. Additionally, Mr.
Md Saidur Rahman excels in informative and decisional tasks and plays a variety of management
responsibilities well, including liaison, leader, and figurehead. Technical, interpersonal,
conceptual, diagnostic, communication, decision-making, and time management skills are just a
few of the many abilities Mr. Md Saidur Rahman possesses to do these duties well. All things
considered, the study highlights Mr. Md Saidur Rahman's management proficiency and his
capacity to deftly and effectively handle the intricacies of his duties.

References

APA