Page 4 - 6484

finance and accounting are critical organizational functions but do not typically
provide an input into the final product or service a customer buys, such as a box of
Tide detergent. Instead, they serve a supporting role. A project manager has the
responsibility for the planning, execution, and closing of any project. Project

managers are often found in construction, architecture, consulting, computer
networking, telecommunications, or software development.
A general manager is someone who is responsible for managing a clearly
identifiable revenue-producing unit, such as a store, business unit, or product line.
General managers typically must make decisions across different functions and have
rewards tied to the performance of the entire unit (i.e., store, business unit, product
line, etc.). General managers take direction from their top executives. They must first
understand the executives’ overall plan for the company. Then they set specific goals
for their own departments to fit in with the plan. The general manager of production,
for example, might have to increase certain product lines and phase out others.
General managers must describe their goals clearly to their support staff. The
supervisory managers see that the goals are met.

The Nature of Managerial Work
Managers are responsible for the processes of getting activities completed
efficiently with and through other people and setting and achieving the firm’s goals
through the execution of four basic management functions: planning, organizing,
leading, and controlling. Both sets of processes utilize human, financial, and material
resources.
Of course, some managers are better than others at accomplishing this! There
have been a number of studies on what managers actually do, the most famous of
[2]
those conducted by Professor Henry Mintzberg in the early 1970s. One explanation
for Mintzberg’s enduring influence is perhaps that the nature of managerial work has
changed very little since that time, aside from the shift to an empowered relationship
between top managers and other managers and employees, and obvious changes in
technology, and the exponential increase in information overload.
After following managers around for several weeks, Mintzberg concluded that,
to meet the many demands of performing their functions, managers assume multiple
roles. A role is an organized set of behaviors, and Mintzberg identified ten roles
common to the work of all managers. As summarized in the following figure, the ten

4