Read the following passage and answer questions from 46 to 50 – One of the newer approaches to…

Read the following passage and

answer questions from 46 to 50 –

One of the newer approaches to

management

theory

is

the

managerial

roles

approach,

popularized

by

Prof.

Henry

Mintzberg of McGill University.

Essentially, his approach is to

observe what managers actually do

and from such observations come to

the conclusion as to what managerial

activities (or rules) are. Although

many approaches have studied the

actual work of managers – from

chief executives to line supervisors –

Mintzberg has given this approach a

higher visibility.

After systematically studying

the activities of five chief executives

in

a

variety

of

organizations,

Mintzberg came to the conclusion

that executives do not perform the

classical managerial functions –

planning, organizing, co-ordinating

and controlling. Instead, they engage

in a variety of other activities. From

his research and the research of

others who have studied what

managers actually do, he came to

certain conclusions.

14

Mintzberg’s approach has also

been criticized. In the first place, the

sample of five executives used in his

research is for too small to support

so sweeping a conclusion. In the

second place, in analyzing the actual

activities of managers – from chief

executives to supervisors – any

researcher must realize that all

managers do some work that is not

purely managerial; one would expect

even presidents of large companies

to spend some of their time in public

and stock holder relations, in fund

raising

and

perhaps

in

dealer

relations, marketing and so on.

In the third place, many of the

activities Mintzberg found are, in

fact,

evidences

of

planning,

organizing, staffing, leading and

controlling. For example, what is

resource allocation but planning ?

The entrepreneurial role is certainly

an element of planning. And the

interpersonal

roles

are

mainly

instances of leading. In addition, the

informational roles can be fitted into

a number of functional areas.