Managers work in demanding conditions that make the job complex and sometimes unpredictable. This lesson explores the pressures that shape a manager’s day and why efficiency, entrepreneurship, and leadership have become increasingly important.
Managers often have more obligations than they can complete in the time available. Their workday may be broken into many short activities, with frequent interruptions and rapid shifts between tasks. As Henry Mintzberg observed, managerial work is often characterized by brevity, fragmentation, and verbal communication.
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What does it mean for managerial time to be fragmented?
A manager’s work is divided among many brief activities and interruptions, requiring frequent shifts of attention rather than long stretches devoted to one task.
Why do managers face competing values?
Different stakeholders—such as employees, customers, supervisors, and shareholders—have priorities that may conflict, so managers must make trade-offs.
What is diminishing marginal return from extra work hours?
It is the situation in which additional hours produce progressively less useful work, often because fatigue and limited attention reduce effectiveness.
What does the entrepreneur role involve?
It involves monitoring the competitive and business environment for threats, such as obsolescence, and opportunities, such as underserved markets or useful investments.
How does a manager act as a leader and mentor?
A manager supports people by helping attract, train, motivate, retain, and advance capable employees, including those with promise and potential.
Quiz questions
Which three features did Henry Mintzberg use to characterize much managerial work?Answer: Brevity, fragmentation, and verbal communication.
Why can simply increasing work hours fail to resolve managers’ time pressures?Answer: Fatigue can reduce effectiveness, so added hours may yield less useful work.
What can happen to managers who remain after an organization removes management layers?Answer: They may inherit more responsibilities and supervise more direct reports.
A manager notices that a competitor’s new technology could make the organization’s product obsolete. Which managerial emphasis is most directly involved?Answer: Entrepreneurial scanning, which identifies environmental threats and opportunities.
Why can mentoring employees support an organization’s performance and competitiveness?Answer: Developing, motivating, and retaining capable people helps build talent and sustain performance.
Based on Principles of Management by David S. Bright, Anastasia H. Cortes, Eva Hartmann, K. Praveen Parboteeah, Jon L. Pierce, Monique Reece, Amit Shah, Siri Terjesen, Joseph Weiss, Margaret A. White, Donald G. Gardner, Jason Lambert et al. (OpenStax), licensed CC BY 4.0. Adapted into a summary, flashcards and quizzes.