The Prominent Role of Managers in Influencing Organization Outcomes

This essay examines the influential ideas concerning the role of managers in shaping organizational outcomes. It explores resource dependency theory, institutional theory, and population ecology theory. The essay discusses the roles of managers in relation to strategic choice theory and determinist theory.

The Prominent Role of Managers in Influencing Organization Outcomes
Student’s Name:
Institution:

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Introduction
In the present dynamic and completive business market, an organization experiences a lot
of challenges due to management issues that require attention. In the paradigm war of
organization theory, theorists put forth different views with the aim of justifying the influence of
strategic action and determinist theories in creating an appreciation of managerial action.
In view of this, the roles of a manager are not clear and thus bringing in the question:
what are the influential ideas concerning the role of managers is shaping organizational
outcomes?
As a result, the essay is going to examine the strategic choice theory and determinists’
theory. As a starting point, resource-based, institutional and population theories will be
examined. The next paper gives the roles of a manager in relation to strategic choice theory as
well as determinist theory, the position of the researcher and end with a conclusion.
Resource dependency theory
The theory is grounded on the fact that an establishment must transact with other
organizations or actors in a given environment in order to get resources. Even though these
engagements might be beneficial, it develops unsuitable dependencies. The resources needed by
the organization might be scarce, not obtainable, or are controlled by other entities that are not
cooperative result in imbalances. The unequal exchanges prevailing lead to authority, power, and
access to more resources (Hessels, and Terjesen, 2010, p.215). As a result of the deficiencies
created, organizations come up with strategies and structures in order to increase bargaining
power in resources. The strategies that may be taken by the organization include diversification,
collaborations, expanding the scale of production, and taking a political stance. This leads to the
organization increasing leverage and power. Organizations make adjustments to suit their

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business approaches in order to acclimatize to changes in a control relationship with other firms
(Bryant and Davis, 2012, p.1).
The theory assumes that uncertainty is not editable in the control of resources and this
makes the dependency choices vital so that when both uncertainties and dependencies increase,
an organization increases collaboration and connections (Al-Janadi et al., 2013, p.4). It is
established that in practical situations, both dependencies and uncertainties do not match-but
rather they contrast, thus leading to a closed system. A closed system posits that careful use of
resources within the organization are the determinants of success and outside forces does not
figure out or are minimal. On the other hand, the open system proposes that an organization will
perform if it recognizes the changes that are happening in the environments and adjust according
to these changes (Bryant and Davis, 2012, p.155).
Institutional Theory
The theory argument that the legitimate nature of an association shows its survival-if the
people in the organization accept the organization, then it succeeds, but if they do not accept then
it is deemed to fail. Organizations are under pressure to make decisions based on set guidelines
and this reduces the diversity of the organization on different options available. As a result,
organizations endeavor to imitate to set standards so as to foster their legitimacy and be
acknowledged in the environment (Morgan, and Hauptmeier, 2014, p.200).
The theory posits that both the legitimate and accidental decisions compel an
organization to conform to the values, ideologies, and norms set in the management field.
Therefore, companies meeting these standards become legitimate and allowed to get the
resources from the environment and society. On the other hand, if the organization goes beyond

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the set standards, then it is viewed by society as deviant and not worthy to get resources (Fang et
al., p.2).
Despite the fact that the theory tries to set standards for organizations, it limits the
freedom of organizations to undertake particular strategic tasks. It is because the organization is
given pressure to conform to a particular alignment. The theory emphasizes that the environment
is a determining factor in the company’s activities. This limits the preferences of options because
there is dependence on the external pressures which are the driving forces for a variety of
decisions for the company (Willmott, 2015, p.107).
Isomorphism increases homogenization in a given field and is of three types- coercive,
normative and mimetic isomorphism. Coercive happens when pressures come from regulating
bodies owing to a new change in standards, normative happens when there is an increase in ‘best
practices’ that promotes homogenization, and mimetic emanates from technologies that are not
clear and thus leading to models that are not impressive (Fang et al., p.2).
Even though the theory is advocating for a common set of guidelines, standards, there are
issues emanating. There is the creation of behavior that is self-driven leading to conflicts and
power. This renders organization to be the originators of alienations (Willmott, 2015, p.110).
Population ecology Theory
The theory explains that there is the existence of organizations with the population of
organizations and that every organization in the population is striving to survive. An organization
that adopts the environment will survive. The theory points that new organizations are prone to
survive because they use the strategies of older organizations, and also the new organization will
succeed if the behave like older organization so that they are perceived as legitimate and hence
capable of gaining resources they require (Abbott, Green, and Keohane, 2016, p.275).

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The new organizations have more advantages over old companies because they can
quickly adapt to the environment while old companies are slow and larger. These big
organizations are more committed to carrying on with what they have built over time
(Thompson, 2017).
The theory warns that firms can be in trouble if they fail to understand the environment,
fail to notice the changes or they comprehend the changes but does not act as per the changes and
that the environment does not accept no-conformities (Vibert, 2017).
The Role of the manager
In this section, two theories are used-strategic choice and determinist so as to give
direction to get a critical view of the role of a manager in an organization. First, the Strategic
Choice theory, explains that managers when leading employees in the organization have a role to
play in decision making for the organization (Goulden and Spence, 2015, p. 285). As opposed to
the institutional theory that requires an organization to be guided by rules, this theory emphasizes
the criticalness of employees in the organization to make decisions. The decisions made became
part of the learning process in the organization which can then be adjusted to the external
environment and internal radical circumstances. Secondly, the determinist theory posits that the
causes of events that took place earlier determine all events or occurrences that are going to
happen (Contractor et al., 2015). These events may include moral decisions. This theory prevents
free-will because it is presumed that people do not act otherwise than what they normally do.
The theory relies on the fact that there is sensible knowledge in the planet and that any
understanding of any situation gives an assurance that sensible understanding of the future is
conceivable (Seshadri and Elangovan, 2019, p.1).

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The task bestowed among the managers in the organization is changing owing to changes
in the business environment. In relation to the strategic choice theory, a manager is given the
discretion to make decisions together with the employees in order to transform the organization
(Cui, Davis and Huang, 2016, p.14). In the past, a manager used to be a liaison person between
the management and employees. However, there has been a lot of revolution, and managers
became empowered, democratic leadership took over and all this has drastically changed the role
of a manager (Contractor et al., 2015).
The manager is now influential in the organization with full empowerment. The manager
is able to employ, determine work quality and quantity, type of products among others.
Moreover, the influential aspect of the manager is shaping the company’s action through the
modification of the internal a well as the external environments in the company. This is because
technological advancement calls for employing experts (Goulden and Spence, 2015, p. 286).
This is in line with the population ecology theory where one must be able to recognize
change and act based on the changes. Therefore organizations are acting in a similar manner and
therefore the need for people with special skills and who need freedom (Seshadri and Elangovan,
2019, p.1).
In the course of changes in the external environment as a result of labor regulations
changing, employee’s needs become essential. A manager must be very concern and sensitive to
the employees’ requirements. The Strategic choice theory has given the manager leadership
quality thereby making the manager eliminate the tight rule of control (Contractor et al., 2015).
There are different roles a manager performs and many times these roles come up due to
particular behavior patterns prevailing both in outdoor as well as the inside environment within
the association. There are connected to the roles differentiated for the manager in different

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categories. These can be in the categories of market behavior, task priority, or the supervisory
category (Goulden and Spence, 2015, p. 286).
In relation to the task category, an organization is inclined to being under survival
oriented as opposed to being developmental. In this case, the manager takes the role of being
conservative-this means that based on the day to day issues, the manager asserts conservative
attitude and survival so as to avoid conflicts by restraining aspirations and well as own self-
realization (Cui, Davis and Huang, 2016, p.14). Secondly, the manager can take the creative role
that is linked to the expansion of the organization. The manager adapts to the changing
environment and takes a self-realization attribute. This, therefore, makes it possible to set
policies for long-term development (Seshadri and Elangovan, 2019, p.1).
In relation to the typology of market behavior, the manager takes the role of a strategic
leader which is characterized by realizing the goals of the organization and fulfilling the
objectives based on the mission of the organization; also the manager takes the role of organizing
in which there is an accurate organization that ensures smooth operation of the firm based on the
set objectives (Contractor et al., 2015).
The other category is the role of fulfilling the supervisory role. The manager under this
illustrates uniform behavior across all level of the hierarchy. This entails a set of organized
behavior and this entails ten roles that are divided into three: 1). interpersonal-this deal with the
creation and ensuring a good relationship between people; 2). informational-this entails passage
of information from people to people or from section to section in the organization and 3).
Decisional-this entails the aspect of making decisions in the organization (Goulden and Spence,
2015, p. 287).
Strategic Choice and Manager’s Role

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In the elucidating the role of the manager, it is apparent that strategic choice theory
prevails over determinist theory. These anchors well with the three theories: resource
dependency, institutional and population ecology theories. The manager has a big role in
influencing the decision in the organization when all the variables affecting the organization are
put into consideration. Resources dependency theory explains the relationship between variables
whether closed or opens as affecting the way organization behaves, the manager being a
custodian of the system employs strategic choice theory to come up with elements that set the
organization in a stable manner (Grant, 2016).
The institutional theory, on the other hand, asserts the use of set standards that conforms
to those accepted by the environment. Even though this theory appears limiting, it is in a way
assisting the organization employs determinist theory to arrive at the best alternative for the
organization and the environment but within the set standards (Wheelen et al., p.55).
The ecology based theory explains the use of changes in the environment as a correcting
measure to survive in the environment but warning that bad choices have consequences of being
expunged from the environment. This agrees with the strategic choice theory because in order to
survive in the environment an organization through the decisions of a manager has to come up
with strategic choices (Seshadri and Elangovan, 2019, p.1).
In view of this, I find resource dependency theory, ecology theory, and strategic choice
theory contributes to the manager’s ability to come up with influential ideas that shape the
organizational outcomes. This is because there is freedom of weighing on alternative choices so
that the best strategic choices are made for the success of an organization. Additionally, the
manager is given the discretion of making choices thus having a wide spectrum of alternatives to
use for the sake of the organization. The only greater task is the ability to scan the environment,

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discern the changes, and strategically utilize the changes for good organizational outcomes
(Grant, 2016).
Conclusion
In looking at the prominent thoughts regarding the role of managers is determining
managerial results, it is clear that different theories have different viewpoints each of which
trying to put across the role of a manager in organizational outcomes.
It is established that resource dependency theory, population ecology theory, and
strategic choice theory contributes to the manager’s ability in coming up with influential ideas
that shape the organizational outcomes. These theories present varied options and are not
limiting to the manager like the institutional theory which is limiting.
The success of the organization rests in the hands of the manager who has all the powers
to run the organization. The direction taken will depend on the choices taken based on the
prevailing conditions in the business environment.

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