Importance of organizational behaviour to managers

Managers in the organizations have important roles. They help in the planning, organizing,
directing and controlling. Along with these, managers perform ten managerial roles
developed by Henry Mintzberg (1960). These roles are divided into three major categories as
mentioned below:
Interpersonal Roles
These are the roles in which managers spend lots of time with others within and
outside the organization like colleagues, peers, customers and others. These interactions
have the basic requirement of the understanding of the personal behaviour. Managers
perform different roles of Figure, Leadership and Liaison role. As in a figure role,
managers need to complete legal and social obligations. As in a leadership role, managers
need to coordinate with their colleagues and subordinates in a unit or an organization. As
in liaison role, manager needs to keep in touch both within and outside organization so as
to be aware of the competitive external environment and market (Stephen P, 1992).
Informational Roles
Manager can also act as the source of information in various issues in an organization.
In these circumstances, manager performs the monitor, disseminator and spokesperson
role. As in a monitor role, managers always keep an eye on the internal as well as external
environment and keeps on reading reports and periodicals. As in an information
disseminator role, managers keep on passing on the information related to the policies and
procedures. As a spokesperson, manager represents his or her department or unit and
keeps on sharing relevant information with other units (Stephen P, 1992).
Decisional Roles
Manager can also act as the decision maker so as to sort out the organizational
problems. In this capacity, manager can play the role of entrepreneur, conflict handler,
resource allocator and negotiator role. As an entrepreneur, managers always look for
innovative ideas for the improvement of their units. As a conflict handler, managers act as
judge between two parties in order to solve the conflicts. As a resource allocator,
managers make sure that relevant resources have been allocated to projects on a priority
basis. As a negotiator, manager helps in negotiating the deals in and out of organization
(Stephen P, 1992).
All these roles and very important and vary from manager to manager in the
organization. Managers can't perform these roles unless they have the understanding of
the organizational behaviour. As all these roles are related to the communication between
the managers and other staff whether inside or outside, lower level of higher level. This
relevant communication motivates the employees in the organization and improves the
performance of the organization (Gregory M, 1994).