Today, HR managers are not just administrative heads but strategic partners responsible for talent management, employee engagement, and organizational growth.
Henry Mintzberg, a Canadian academic, observed managers in real work settings and analyzed their behavior. Based on his research, he identified ten key managerial roles that are closely related to managerial functions.
This explanation emphasizes the manager’s role as a leader and the extent of influence they exercise over their team. Effective planning and clear goal setting are critical to the successful functioning of an organization.
1. Interpersonal roles
2. Informational roles
3. Decisional roles
One perspective is Managing, like all other disciplines- whether medicine, music composing or even cricket is an art. It is “know-how.” Still managers can use the organized knowledge about management to perform better. So let us put it this way,
Managing as practice is an art; the organized knowledge underlying the practice may be referred to as a science. Let them be complementary to each other and be present in peaceful co-existence.
In his view, the areas a manager has to focus and concentrate are
1. Market standing
2. Innovation
3. Productivity
4. Financial and Physical resources
5. Profitability
6. Manager performance and development
7. Worker performance and attitude
8. Public responsibility
He says that business has only two functions- marketing and innovation. While others were concentrating on products and commodities, he concentrated on people and their performance.
His “management by objectives- MBO ” became a very popular concept though it faced criticism. MBO according to Drucker is a philosophy that rests on a concept of human action, behaviour and motivation. It sets personal goals (both shortterm and longterm) to be achieved by each individual working for the organization and coverts them into challenges to be accomplished, thus motivating the individuals.
The effective manager is a situational manager who evaluates each approach in the light of circumstances and selects the one that most effectively and efficiently achieve individual and organizational goals –This perfectly explains the functions of a manager in a nutshell whereby,
In conclusion, HR managers play a multifaceted role combining leadership, communication, and strategic decision-making. While classical roles remain relevant, modern HR demands a stronger focus on people development and organizational growth.