Introduction
The concept of management is often conflated with the phenomenon of leadership, which makes the role of a manager in an organization quite obscure for an uninitiated person. However, on closer inspection, a manager performs a range of set functions within a corporate environment, ensuring that a company delivers the performance of the expected quality. There are a plethora of roles that a manager has to play in the organizational setting. These include planning key activities within the target setting, organizing and arranging the key steps to accomplishing these plans, and ensuring that the set objectives are fully met. Yet, they are not limited to these elements (Yoder-Wise, 2018). The controlling stage is typically preceded by the motivational one, during which a manager may need to encourage staff members to meet the desired standards.
Manager’s Role and Responsibilities
The controlling stage, which implies significant challenges due to maintaining consistent awareness about a vast array of corporate processes, deserves special scrutiny. The controlling stage is usually defined as the step during which a manager supervises the completion of particular tasks and addresses quality-related concerns (Yoder-Wise, 2018). As a rule, a manager exerts twofold control, which includes finite stages of supervision during the completion of work-related projects and continuous control required for ensuring that the key tasks are performed properly (Yoder-Wise, 2018). The former is of particular importance since it involves closing a project and considering the effects thereof to identify further steps. Thus, the significance of the controlling role, which invites a manager to embrace a vast array of tasks, should not be underrated. The specified function may be underestimated due to its perceived simplicity. Yet, it requires outstanding prowess in many areas, such as Personnel, Operations, and Customer Satisfaction (Yoder-Wise, 2018). Therefore, the job of a manager should not be underrated due to the ostensibly smaller range of responsibilities; the distinctions between a leader and a manager lie in the specificity of their responsibilities and not in difficulty thereof.
The notions of a leader and a manager are often conflated, especially during the management of complex projects, where the line between the two is slightly blurred. However, there is a distinction between a manager and a leader of a particular project. Unlike a leader who primarily provides guidance and inspiration for team members, a manager is expected to supervise the key processes closely. It is often assumed quite erroneously that a manager’s role is more task-oriented, whereas a leader’s role is geared toward people. While the described characteristic could be seen as valid, it should be noted that a manager also has to focus on interpersonal relationships; in fact, it is the duty of a project manager to handle emergent conflicts between participants, which are often quite personal (Yoder-Wise, 2018). Thus, to define the distinction between a leader and a manager, one should mention that the role of a manager never involves inspiring team members to follow them as role models and mentor figures (King & Lawley, 2016). Instead, managers supervise team processes, manage relationships between participants, control key processes, and provide feedback (King & Lawley, 2016). The described difference is critical for a manager to perform the key roles of instructing, controlling, and supervising.
Conclusion
Thus, the importance of the specified roles is quite high in a company’s setting. As a manager, one should solve complex problems associated with the stages of production, organizational relationships, and the coordination of workplace relationships (Yoder-Wise, 2018). Noticing changes in the set patterns and making decisions concerning the choice of methods for addressing the undesirable or unwarranted changes is one of the key responsibilities that managers have to face, which is why it is important to introduce an extensive range of tools for gathering information, communicating with employees, and exerting control.
References
King, D., & Lawley, S. (2016). Organizational behavior (2nd ed.). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
Yoder-Wise, P. S. (2018). Leading and managing in nursing. New York, NY: Elsevier Health Sciences.