Becoming an effective manager means understanding the different roles that the manager must play
within a team.
A good manager needs to focus on more than just the physical work. It needs to be clarified that the
manager’s job is to examine the work to be completed and disperse it accordingly to his team members.
While this is almost always an element of the manager’s job, there are many more functions that the
manager must carry out. He must be good at managing his people, decisions, and information.
Understanding these different roles is the first step in learning to be an effective manager.

The purpose of management is to get good results. In order to achieve results, managers must develop
an insight into the following:
Work: A manager must know from the start what his or her work involves.
Tasks: A manager must clearly understand the tasks he or she is expected to perform.
Attitude: A manager must have the right attitude to perform tasks efficiently and effectively.
Your behavior as a manager is determined by the nature, variety, and complexity of the roles you
perform. Many organizations need to define specific roles. This can create uncertainty for you as a
manager about:

What you are required to do.
The boundaries of your responsibilities.
Your relationships with other people inside and outside the organization.
The necessary skills to fill your roles effectively.

Even when roles have been formally defined, as a manager, you can benefit from periodically examining your work. This could act as a basis for reviewing what you are doing about what you should be doing, the extent to which your roles are changing, and your need for further training and development to fill current and future roles. Generally speaking, however, the essential interrelating roles of an effective manager can be seen as the following:

1- Interpersonal Roles
The roles in the interpersonal category relate to or involve several people:

Group leader: The group leader takes the initiative and generates action. As a group leader, your role
involves:
• Being responsible for managing a group of people.
• Resolving problems within your group.
• Deciding and agreeing on courses of action for your group.
It would help if you connected with, stayed in contact with, and were highly visible to everyone on your team and in your organization.

Mediator: The mediator role involves communicating with other individuals and groups on behalf of
your group. This role does not usually involve mediating between members of the same team. However, there are different situations in which the mediator’s role can come into play. For example, perhaps your team is in a dispute with another team in the company. As a mediator, you could help resolve this dispute.

Performance evaluator: The role involves regularly discussing individual performance with subordinates and planning. As a good performance evaluator, you:
• Ensure that everyone on the team is subject to evaluation.
• Clarify job descriptions.
• Include and follow up on objectives for the current year.

Trainer: The trainer role means developing and implementing training programs and processes. As a
trainer, you implement training programs to develop team members. A good trainer:
• Selects and uses appropriate learning methods.
• Defines specific learning objectives.
• Maintains a positive learning climate to keep learners motivated.
• Encourages maximum team interaction and involvement.

2- Decisional Roles
Roles in the decisional category involve making decisions on current issues and problems.
Disturbance handler: The disturbance handler deals with conflicts within the team. You respond to and cope with conflicts and discipline problems. Disturbances can arise from staff disagreements, resources, threats, mistakes, or unexpected consequences. Being a disturbance handler means stepping in to calm matters, evaluating the situation, supporting the people involved, and buying time if necessary.

Delegator: The delegator role involves allocating tasks to team members. The delegator role involves
deciding what tasks individuals do in your team. Effective delegation can provide the following:
• Better time management.
• Valuable staff development.
• Cost efficiency.
• Team responsibility and competence.
Negotiator: The negotiator role involves conferring with others to reach an agreement. Being a
negotiator means bargaining with individuals both within and outside your team. Those outside the
team may include other teams inside the company or outside of the organization. In a successful
negotiation, everyone wins. The objective should be agreement, not victory.

3- Informational Roles
Lastly, the roles in the informational category involve giving and receiving information to and from
various sources. As a manager, you will likely find yourself in the following roles:

Information seeker: The information-seeking role is about gathering information. As the information
seeker, you obtain information from the team and other parts of the organization. You do this to
evaluate performance and identify where improvements can be made. This role is about building and
using an intelligence system. As a manager, you can maintain this information system by building
contacts. You also need to train staff to provide you with information they collect.

Information sharer: The information sharing role involves distributing the information received. Your job as an information sharer means you distribute information both within the team and throughout the organization. This information includes values, preferences, changes, problems, and opportunities. Based on this information, you can make decisions.

Innovator: The innovator role allows for the development of ideas. Being an innovator means
developing and assisting in the implementation of ideas. As a manager, you must encourage your staff
to put forward their ideas and suggestions. This can be achieved by:
• Invite your team to tell you about their ideas at any time.
• Listening without comment, criticism, or evaluation.
• Accepting and acting on appropriate ideas and solutions.

Spokesperson: The spokesperson represents the team and the organization. This role involves
representing the organization to other organizations and the outside world and could involve
communicating with the organization's customers and suppliers.