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Managers do not spend all their time managing. When choreographers are
dancing a part, they are not managing, nor are office managers managing when they
personally check out a customer’s credit. Some employees perform only part of the
functions described as managerial—and to that extent, they are mostly managers in

limited areas. For example, those who are assigned the preparation of plans in an
advisory capacity to a manager, to that extent, are making management decisions by
deciding which of several alternatives to present to the management. However, they
have no participation in the functions of organizing, staffing, and supervising and no
control over the implementation of the plan selected from those recommended. Even
independent consultants are managers, since they get most things done through
others—those others just happen to be their clients! Of course, if advisers or
consultants have their own staff of subordinates, they become a manager in the fullest
sense of the definition. They must develop business plans; hire, train, organize, and
motivate their staff members; establish internal policies that will facilitate the work
and direct it; and represent the group and its work to those outside of the firm.
1.1 Who Are Managers?
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. Know what is meant by “manager”.
2. Be able to describe the types of managers.
3. Understand the nature of managerial work.
Managers
We tend to think about managers based on their position in an organization.
This tells us a bit about their role and the nature of their responsibilities. The
following figure summarizes the historic and contemporary views of organizations
[1]
with respect to managerial roles. In contrast to the traditional, hierarchical
relationship among layers of management and managers and employees, in the
contemporary view, top managers support and serve other managers and employees
(through a process called empowerment), just as the organization ultimately exists to
serve its customers and clients. Empowerment is the process of enabling or
authorizing an individual to think, behave, take action, and control work and decision
making in autonomous ways.
In both the traditional and contemporary views of management, however, there
remains the need for different types of managers. Top managers are responsible for
developing the organization’s strategy and being a steward for its vision and mission.
A second set of managers includes functional, team, and general
managers. Functional managers are responsible for the efficiency and effectiveness
of an area, such as accounting or marketing. Supervisory or team managers are
responsible for coordinating a subgroup of a particular function or a team composed
of members from different parts of the organization. Sometimes you will hear
distinctions made between line and staff managers.
A line manager leads a function that contributes directly to the products or
services the organization creates. For example, a line manager (often called
a product, or service manager) at Procter & Gamble (P&G) is responsible for the
production, marketing, and profitability of the Tide detergent product line. A staff
manager, in contrast, leads a function that creates indirect inputs. For example,

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