Andrew Graham School of Policy Studies Queens University

The Real Life of the Manager: The Nature of Managerial Work Andrew Graham School of Policy Studies Queens University

Social Context of Work “Office space is not neutral ground…rather it is densely charged with social relations.” – can you think of some? Power, tension, authority and insecurity all closely interwoven Organizations have collective knowledge and support systems Social networking expands the social context.

What organizations are like: There is a less rationality than meets the eye Organizations are segmented rather than monolithic Stable segments in organizations are quite small Connections among segments have variable strengths Connections of variable strength produce ambiguity Connections of constant strength reduce ambiguity Weick, Making Sense of the Organization

Ten Minutes: What are the characteristics of your organization that can detract from getting the job done and that can help it? Two of each and maybe a story…….

Thinking about Organizations “Organizations may be anarchies but they are organized anarchies; they may be loosely coupled, but they are loosely coupled systems.” - Weick, 2001 “In organizations, real power and energy is generated through relationships. The patterns of relationships and the capacities to form them are more important than tasks, functions, roles, and positions.” ~ Margaret Wheatley, writer and management consultant

Thinking about management Looking at work as craft Concept of ‘know how’ versus ‘know what’ Have to understand both process and practice: often hear “Is this really managing or just busy activity?” – it depends on what you do with it Importance of people as creators and carriers of knowledge: organizations need to realize that knowledge lies less in databases than in people

Mark Moore, Creating Public Value: Strategic Management in Government, Harvard ,1995 “Social scientists build elegant, logically consistent models; public managers deal with messy, real-world problems.”

The reality of decision-making Think back to the activities of managers Few real nodal points where doors open or close completely Decision-making the same Notion of the great decision process that settles it all pretty loose in reality

Decision Making Myths and Realities Myth Reality Strategic Decision making entails simultaneous activity by people at multiple levels of the organization Much of the real work occurs offline, in one-on-one conversations or small subgroups, not around a conference table. • The Chief Executive Decides • Decisions are made in the room.

Myth Reality Strategic decisions are complex social, emotional and political processes. Strategic decisions unfold in a nonlinear fashion, with solutions frequently arising before managers define problems or analyze alternatives. Strategic decisions often evolve over time and proceed through an iterative process of choice and action. • Decisions are largely intellectual exercises • Managers analyze and then decide • Managers decide and then act Michael A. Roberto's book Why Great Leaders Don't Take Yes for an Answer. Reprinted here with the permission of Pearson Education

There is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things. Machiavelli Another Key Distinction: Management and Leadership

Management Roles Managers have subordinates, colleagues and relationships. Enable others to understand information, instructions or ideas Seek order and control Translate vision into reality Focus resources – people, money, knowledge, infrastructure – towards goals.

Leadership Roles Leaders have followers. Envision, influence, inspire Tolerate, promote creativity and imagination Create sense from chaos Influence people towards objectives and desire to achieve, gaining resources needed. Gain commitment over compliance Win hearts and minds

Lead, Command, Manage – All depends on the nature of the problem

Maintaining balance between these two forces. Essence of organizational design About centralizing or delegating authority, responsibility and power. Excessive integration may lead to stifling control with consequences for overload at the top and frustration at the bottom. But excessive division may lead to fragmentation, confusion and duplication of effort and wasted energy.

Aspects of Practice: Mark Moore, Creating Public Value: Strategic Management in Government • Concept that the manager the center of the enterprise rather than its subject • Managers must look • Upward toward securing policy mandates, building support and legitimacy for agency initiatives • Outward to the accomplishment of public purposes • Downward to the competent operation of their agencies • Sideways to co-dependents, sponsors, suppliers, partners, rivals and competitors.

Bridging the Gap Between Practice and Theory • In order to achieve the strategic and tactical objectives of managerial work, you must have a robust understanding of: • The underlying instruments: people, money, knowledge and infrastructure, but also • The actual activities that constitute managerial work using those instruments in pursuit of those objectives • And an understanding of how they interact within your culture and organization

Bridging Theory and Practice What else? What are the characteristics of the public managerial environment that drive practice? • Competing output demands • Different perspectives of various stakeholders • Complexity

Bridging Theory and Practice • Ambiguity: ends, means, authority • Multiple Goals: policy, organizational, personal • Time hunger • High emotional content • Resource scarcities • Rules versus service

Myth: Managers are reflective, systematic planners Truth: Managers are overburdened with obligations yet cannot easily delegate their tasks. As a result, they are driven to overwork and forced to do many task superficially. Brevity, fragmentation, and verbal communication characterize their work.

John Kotter’s Research: What Effective General Managers Really Do Harvard Business Review March-April, 1999 “They chat about hobbies, hold spur-of-the-moment meetings, and seek out people far from their chain of command – all to combat the uncertainty and resistance inherent in their work.” “The efficiency of seemingly inefficient behaviour.” “‘Wasting’ time is more important than ever.”

Kotter’s Research The average general manager spends only 25% of his/her working time alone, and that time is spent largely at home, on airplanes, or while commuting. Few spend less than 70% of their time with others, and some spend up to 90% of their work time this way. They spend time with many people in addition to their direct subordinates and their bosses.

Kotter’s Research They regularly see people who may appear to be unimportant outsiders. The breadth of topics in their discussions is extremely wide. GMs do not limit their focus to planning, business strategy, staffing, and other top-management concerns. They discuss virtually anything and everything even remotely associated with their businesses

Kotter’s Research • GMs ask a lot of questions. In a half-hour conversation, some will ask literally hundreds of them • During conversations, GMs rarely seem to make "big" decisions • Executives rarely give orders in a traditional sense. • GMs often attempt to influence others. Instead of telling people what to do, however, they ask, request, cajole, persuade, and even intimidate.

Kotter’s Research GMs often react to others' initiatives; much of the typical GM's day is unplanned. Even GMs who have a heavy schedule of planned meetings end up spending a lot of time on topics that are not on the official agenda GMs spend most of their time with others in short, disjointed conversations. Discussions of a single question or issue rarely last more than ten minutes. They work long hours.. Although GMs can do some of their work at home, while commuting to work, or while traveling, they spend most of their time at their places of work.

And Now the Star of the Show

Henry Mintzberg: Looking at Practice: Characteristics of Managerial Work • Much work at unrelenting pace • Little down time for reflection – plenty of different interactions • Prevalence of fire-fighting demands • Schedules often set by others – above, external, lateral • Continuous shifting of gears • Threat of attention span disorder • Senior management jobs are open-ended, managers feel compelled to tackle a large workload at demanding pace. There is little free time. Breaks are rare. Escaping from work after hours is physically/mentally difficult.

Henry Mintzberg: Looking at Practice: Characteristics of Managerial Work The work is fragmented, full of brevity & variety with a lack of pattern. Managers confront the law of the trivial many and the important few (80/20 principle). Behaviour must change quickly and frequently; interruptions are common.

Henry Mintzberg: Looking at Practice: Characteristics of Managerial Work A Key Finding: They Like It Managers seem to prefer this and become conditioned by workload. Opportunity-costs of time (urgencies) are keenly felt and superficiality in relationships is a hazard.

Henry Mintzberg: Looking at Practice: Characteristics of Managerial Work Texting as chat, not mail. There is an activity-trap - managers tend towards current, specific, well-defined, non-routine activities. Processing mail is a pain; 'non-active' mail gets little attention. Current information (chat, speculation) is preferred - routine reports are not.

Henry Mintzberg: Looking at Practice: Characteristics of Managerial Work Use of time reflects close, immediate pressures rather than future, broader issues. Fire-fighting (reacting to immediate stimulus) is a problem. Live action pushes the manager away from thinking and planning.

Henry Mintzberg: Looking at Practice: Characteristics of Managerial Work • Verbal contacts and media are preferred over written. • Written communications get cursory treatment, but must be processed regularly. • Less goes out than comes in. • It moves slowly. • There can be feedback distortions. Subordinates outside spoken lines of contact may feel uninformed. • Informal media (E-mail, texting, telephone and unscheduled meetings) are used for brief contacts if people know each other well and when quick information exchange is called for.

Henry Mintzberg: Looking at Practice: Characteristics of Managerial Work Scheduled meetings eat up managerial time - long formal duration, large groups and often away from the organization. The agendas cover ceremonials, strategy-making and negotiation. Chatting at start/end of meetings contributes significantly to information flow.

Henry Mintzberg: Looking at Practice: Characteristics of Managerial Work Managers as boundary managers, link his/her own organization with outside networks. External contacts (clients, suppliers, associates, peers, informer networks) can consume 30-50% of a senior manager's time. Non-line relationships are also important. Subordinates (line-relationships) consume 30-50% of contact time dealing with requests, information exchanges, making strategy. Open access with subordinates by-passes formal channels. Yet a subordinate spends relatively little time with his/her own superior (10%).

Henry Mintzberg: Looking at Practice: Characteristics of Managerial Work • Between the organization and a network of contacts • Often play representational role for organization • Often interpret and explain organization to external environment • Visa versa • Has huge and important communication and value transfer role with subordinates: formal and informal • Builds and develops networks outside the immediate organization • Operates informal networks (where the real deals are made) within the organization

How to Interpret this Characterization of Management ? The Result • Is this view real? • Is has held up in many surveys – Ducksbury, Westminster I and II, APEX • Has it changed since Mintzberg began? • Trends have become stronger – more brevity, more variety, more time pressure • Technology has improved and worsened the situation • Mintzberg has redone the • research after 30 years

How to Interpret this Characterization of Management ? • Is this good or bad? • Good in that kind of role demands a high level of interpersonal interaction • Management is dynamic and capable of adaptation • Pace can sometimes overwhelm results

How to Interpret this Characterization of Management ? • What does it suggest about traditional notions of management? • Makes it more challenging not less so • Means seeing this world differently: defining managerial work differently: that is what Mintzberg did

Redefining Roles

The Functions of the Manager: Mintzberg • Figurehead Role • Being there • Performing ceremonial duties • Never underestimate this role • Adds credibility to processes and decisions • Leadership Role • Creating a sense of common purpose • Linking individual goals with corporate goals • Giving meaning to events: context setting • Most significant of all the roles

The Functions of the Manager: Mintzberg • Liaison Role • Horizontal relationships • Contacts and connections • Exchange relationships: implicit and explicit • Everyone is someone else’s middle manager • Concepts of networking key to this role • Monitor Role • Detecting changes, new pressures • Identifying problems and opportunities • Build up knowledge • Both internal and external • Most of this information not in formal reports • Managers often in ‘privileged’ position to pick up information

The Functions of the Manager: Mintzberg • Disseminator Role • Sending external information into the organization • Moving internal information from one employee to another • Not just data-type information, but value-laden information as well • Manager as nerve centre • Spokesman Role • Transmits information outside the organization • Often appears as the ‘expert’ to the outside • Not just to media: there are many audiences

The Functions of the Manager: Mintzberg • Entrepreneur Role • Originator and designer of much of the controlled change in the organization • Exploiting opportunities and problems • Solving non-pressing problems • Voluntary activity by the manager to achieve an end • Disturbance Handler Role • Involuntary response to imposed events • Inevitable part of the work: ‘X’ happens • Poorly recognized • High risk potential for organization in how managers respond

The Functions of the Manager: Mintzberg • Resource Allocator Role • Not just money, but time and attention as well • Choice is the base of all allocation decisions • Lack of choice is a decision – dithering is expensive • Explicit versus implicit allocations • Scheduling time • Programming work • Authorizing actions • Negotiator Role • Negotiation is resource allocation in real time • Manager’s negotiation role often ignored • Often barters scarce resources both internally and externally through negotiation

Key Messages Management is messy, but often fast paced and emotionally engaging and fun Addictive qualities The prevalence of the informal over the formal Many roles, often played at one time Manager as bridge within the organization and outside it Huge role played by information in finding meaning, understanding, explaining and justifying

What does it take to be a great manager? Why is it that you can have a good manager without a single ‘professional’ qualification?

“Managing is … like surfing on waves. People who surf do not command the waves. Instead, surfers do their best with what they get. They can control inputs to the process, but they can’t control outcomes. To ride the waves as if one were in control is to act and have faith” . • - Karl E. Weick,

Management Skills and Attitudes to Cultivate and Look For

Andrew Graham School of Policy Studies Queens University