MGT600 Semester 2: Exploring Manager's Roles and Challenges in Firms

This report provides insights into the roles and challenges of managers, drawing on an interview with a manager from Aldi Company. It identifies key managerial roles such as planning, coordinating, resource allocation, and decision-making, while also addressing challenges like organizational conflicts and adapting to change. The report emphasizes the interconnectedness of managerial roles and suggests approaches for managers to overcome challenges. It further highlights the importance of skills like technical, human, and conceptual abilities for effective management and organizational performance, discussing the need for continuous training and development of managers to ensure they can effectively manage diverse workforces and adapt to changing business environments. The report concludes by offering recommendations for managers to enhance their performance and address the complexities of modern organizational management.

Running head: MANAGER’S ROLES AND CHALLENGES 1
Roles of Managers and their Challenges
Student’s name
University

MANAGER’S ROLES AND CHALLENGES 2
Executive summary
This report has been prepared so that it can provide insight to future managers and
students pursuing the management field on what is expected of them when running an
organization and the challenges which they are likely to encounter. The report identifies the roles
of managers as well as challenges they face in firms by analyzing the experience of a manager
from Aldi Company who participated in an interview.
This paper critically discusses the roles of a manager such as planning, coordinating
allocating of resources and decision making and the like. It also explains the challenges
managers face such as conflicts in the organization and copying up with new changes. It also
outlines other crucial lessons learned from experience. The report concludes by emphasizing that
all roles of managers are interrelated and one has to practice all of them for successful
management of an organization. The paper suggests approaches that managers should embrace to
address the challenges they face.

MANAGER’S ROLES AND CHALLENGES 3
Table of Contents
1. Executive summary…………………………………………………………….….………2
2. Introduction ……………………………………………………………………...…...…4
3. Literature review………………………………………………………………………......4
4. Firm background……………………………………………………………………..........6
5. Operations………………………………………………….......……………………….…6
a) Roles of managers…………………………………………………………………6
b) Challenges facing managers………………………………………………………8
c) Lesson learned from the experience……................................................................9
6. Conclusion and recommendation………………………………………………………...10
7. References…………………………………………………………………………...…...11

MANAGER’S ROLES AND CHALLENGES 4
Introduction
The writing of this report has been inspired by a desire to equip the future managers and
students in the field of management with skills and knowledge of managing organizations
effectively. The report seeks to achieve this by exploring the roles of a manager and the
challenges they face and possible ways of addressing the challenges. The main aim of this report
is to provide insight on business management issues to the students as future team members and
managers. This will be achieved through systematic discussion and explaining in detail the roles
of managers and the challenges they face as per the information collected from interview and
literature review.
The paper will begin by discussing the roles of the managers, then the challenges facing
the managers and also other lessons learned through experience. After that, it shall provide a
conclusion concerning the discussion and recommendations to the issues encountered. The paper
majorly focuses on the roles of the managers and the challenges they face because they are
crucial to effective management. There are other issues which are relevant for managers to put
them into consideration and they are covered as the lessons learned from experience. Only affairs
of managers are the major concern in this report.
Literature review
To begin with, it is helpful to consider the concepts of leadership and management and
the deliberation on how managers are linked to the activities of management. Management refers
to activities that are associated with the running of a company (Wilkinson et al., 2015). Such
activities include controlling, leading, monitoring, organizing, and planning. These activities are
exercised by an individual who has the authority to oversee the operations of an organization. A
manager is an expert in a given field of an organization and supports system of employees (Voigt
et al., 2017). The manager delegates responsibilities to employees and assists them to achieve
them. The goal of management is for managers to attain high performance from oneself and
employees. It is essential for managers to make sure that the workers are doing what it takes to
achieve a company's goals.
A manager assumes many roles. He is a team leader, but again he also involved in
business planning, organizing activities, solving problems and a decision maker. These roles are
classified into three categories. The first one is interpersonal roles which involve human

MANAGER’S ROLES AND CHALLENGES 5
interaction. Then there is an informational role which consists of sharing and analyzing of
information (Viitala et al., 2017). Lastly is decisional role category that is dealing with decision
making. Management educators suggest that it is necessary for individuals to acquire technical,
human as well as conceptual skills such that they can develop competencies or expertise that can
lead to excellent performance in management.
In the 1980’s it was argued that poor organizational performance was attributed to a poor
educational background of managers and inadequate training and development. Scholars contend
that considerable attempts should be made to convince employers to systematically train their
managers (Uvhagen et al., 2018) properly. This is because investment in human resource
managers gives rise to increased business performance and flexibility.
Researchers argue that organization management development has been relatively
neglected and continue to state that organizations would gain from receiving their formal
responsible managers, focusing on the abilities of managers to manage the activities of their
operations. Related research by management educator found that managers who display higher
standards and more advanced process and systems of management also exhibit higher business
performance against competitors (Riccucci, 2018). Many organizations put emphasize on people
management skills.
The role of the managers is not limited to basic operations in their current jobs. Some
authors argue that they are responsible for providing information required to employees to
manage their development effectively (Radomska, 2015). Effective career discussions between
managers and employees usually lead to practical actions and can highly motivate for employees.
Scholars argue that high performing organizations retain their competitive advantage by the way
in which they balance the management of the people.
The importance of the competency in exercising managerial role is not a new proposition.
The competency is highlighted in many established management skills. A manager is required to
have technical skills whereby special knowledge is utilized to perform a particular task (Panwar
& Bansal, 2016). The other two necessary skills are human and conceptual skills which are
essential for interpersonal interaction and how to get along with others and problem-solving
analysis respectively at a workplace.

MANAGER’S ROLES AND CHALLENGES 6
Firm background
This report has been prepared successfully with the help of information collected from
interviewing a resource manager at Aldi Company. Aldi is a privately owned company and
leading retailer of supermarkets with over 8000 shops and store across Europe, United States and
over 104, 400 employees worldwide. Its stores provide customers with a range of products. Their
objective is to provide customers with the products they buy regularly and ensure that those
products are of the highest possible quality at guaranteed low prices. Aldi traces its origin back
in 1941 when Anna Albrecht opened a small store in Germany. It has an average of number 7 to
8 employees occupying each store.
Operations
Roles of managers
Managers exercise the figurehead role. They are responsible for performing ceremonial
and symbolic nature of duties (Oh et al., 2017). Example of such obligations of such nature is
signing legal documents and welcoming visitors as the head of strategic business unit or
organization. The interpersonal role is also the duty of a manager. It involves activities such as
routine which demands less severe communication and minor decisions. However, they are
crucial for convenient running and functioning of an organization or department.
A manager of any company or firm has a leadership role. Managers are responsible for
coordinating the work of others and lead the subordinate staff of their respective departments.
The leadership roles done by a manager include the hiring of employees, training them, giving
them motivation and maintaining discipline (Lotz, 2014). Formal and functional authority builds
power to exercise and get tasks accomplished.
Liaison is another role performed by managers. As a leader of the firm or organization,
the manager is mandated to perform functions of communication, motivation such as
encouraging team spirit and the like. Further, the manager has to coordinate the activities of the
subordinate staffs which involves the activity of liaison (Junior, & Silva, 2017). The role also
demands an organization manager to interact with managers from other organizations to secure

MANAGER’S ROLES AND CHALLENGES 7
favors and useful information. In this role, managers represent their companies or organizations
in all matters of formalities which are necessary to get things done.
Managers are also in charge of monitoring the activities of the firm. The network of
contacts provides the manager with information through observing his or her environment,
employees, peers, and superiors. The manager seeks and gets information to do with internal and
external activities and events so that he or she gains the understanding of the organization and its
environment (Goetsch & Davis, 2014). This is typically done through reading newspaper and
magazines and talking with other people to learn the changes in market tastes for products, the
plans of competitors and the like.
Managers also perform an entrepreneurial role. As an entrepreneur, the manager is
responsible for the creation of business ideas and innovation. They initiate new products that will
improve the performance of the organization (Gill, 2018). They seek to improve their
departments where they are in charge of and adapt to the changing environmental factors. The
managers generate new ideas, initiate new projects and establish developmental projects.
Managers also carry out the role of resource allocation. The manager allocates time to his
subordinate staff which is a crucial resource. They are responsible for allocating physical, human
and monetary resources (Gatenby et al., 2014). Accordingly, they schedule time for completion
of the operation is one of the functions of a manager in the role of a resource allocator. Also, a
manager delegates his authority and power towards empowering his subordinate.
A manager again performs the task of a negotiator. In this role, the manager bargains and
negotiates with outsiders and insiders for the advantage of his department or unit. The managers
negotiate with their subordinates to improve their commitment and loyalty (Collings et al.,
2018). They negotiate with their equals for cooperation, coordination, and integration, with the
government about providing resources for business growth and alike. These negotiations are part
and parcel of manager’s tasks for he has the authority to commit organizational resources and
has the primary source of information.

MANAGER’S ROLES AND CHALLENGES 8
Challenges faced by managers
One of the significant challenges facing managers is managing the funds and maintaining
profit margins. It is difficult to identify the loopholes that cause loses incurred in the firm. A
manager may find himself or herself in trouble with his superiors when mismanagement of funds
and financial theft is realized (Carter & Tamayo, 2017). This happens primarily when the firm is
operating with huge funds and generating huge profits. A manager has to account for all the
funds spent in the firm (Chiu et al., 2017). Therefore, it demands the manager to maintain close
financial supervision to avoid the occurrence of thefts or financial fraud.
Expectations from managers are on ever increasing in their effort to compete in the
diverse, complex, and dynamic business environment that they are facing today (Carnall, 2018).
They have to accept the changes that confront them every day. This is because firms which do
not change their operations with the changing business atmosphere may be forced to close their
operations.
Workforce diversity generates problems which have to be tackled by managers. Diversity
with respect to workforce refers to members’ differences regarding race, color, nationality,
gender and the like. Firms usually hire people from diverse sets of cultural, social, economic and
ethical backgrounds. Diversity offers many competitive advantages, but again it is also a source
of conflict in many organizations (Bratto & Gold, 2017). Individuals from one background may
not readily agree to work with people of other cultural backgrounds. Even in the case where they
agree to, there is always fear or prejudices in the workplace. The managers, therefore, are faced
with the challenge to tackle opportunities and problems as a result of the diverse workforce.
.
Strategy formulation can be a challenge for managers. The business world is
continuously changing, and the business firms must formulate and adjust their strategies and
strategic management accordingly (Brandes & Brandes, 2015). It is a challenge for managers to
adjust their strategy according to environmental changes. It demands managers to continually
involve and promote healthy interaction between the organization and the environment.
Managers who succeed in framing effective strategy will continue to remain in the market while
the one who fails to formulate productive strategy will lose the market.
Quality and productivity and is the primary concern of the managers, but it has its
challenges that one has to overcome to make it successful. Firms are competing with other local

MANAGER’S ROLES AND CHALLENGES 9
and international competitors regarding the quality and productivity of goods and services.
Managers are compelled to concentrate on more production and excellent products using limited
resources (Bolden, 2016). This is because productivity and quality are essential functions of
business that determine its success.
Another challenge facing managers in their organizations is high staff turnover. In the
present world, retaining talent is a challenge. Failure to mitigate staff turnover implies massive
costs, and it takes almost 33% of an employee's annual salary to replace them (Riccucci, 2018).
Every time an employee leaves a company, they go with their ideas and company knowledge.
Therefore, attracting and maintaining talent is one of the top priority of the managers regardless
of the challenges.
Lessons learned from experience
The number one lesson learned from the experience is that one should be hardworking to
get things done. Hard work outdoes talent and intelligence and is a requirement for one to
succeed. One should work hard at times of difficulties and at a time of little or no challenges.
One should be willing to embrace calculated risks and abide by them regardless of the
challenges. No one is perfect, and everyone has his or her shortcomings. It is vital to be modesty,
accept your faults without making excuses. One should not waste time covering up his or her
mistakes. Instead, accept them and face reality and that way you develop problem-solving skills.
In the business world, it is okay for managers to take risks. However, this must be a calculated
risk. Taking risks without considering weighing one's option is a reckless move, but calculated
risks have a high chance of success and lead to the most significant rewards.

MANAGER’S ROLES AND CHALLENGES 10
Conclusion and Recommendation
Even though various roles of a manager are discussed separately from another, it is
important to realize that they are inseparable. The manager has to exercise these roles
concurrently by integrating every one of them all. The manager's major role is to integrate all
these roles while performing the managerial role and other tasks.
Retaining skilled employees and reducing burnout is not a matter of offering money and
promotions. One should reduce the turnover by embracing meaningful development
opportunities and training that is geared towards their personal goals. Creativity and innovation
are not all about big ideas or new inventions. Instead, it is important to encourage workers to
share their practices and inspiring experiences.
It is important to identify and reinforce the team values as it is the best way to avoid
team conflicts. If conflicts emerge, there should not be delays in dealing with them. The moment
one identifies a problem it is essential to engage in constructive feedback as soon as possible to
facilitate positive change. Cover-ups should be avoided, and they are worse than even mistakes.
Learn from your mistakes and move on.
Generally, to survive and as well succeed in every business one will need to transform the
business into a change agent. With the right tools and decisions for the job, a manager and his
team can take on challenges in business.

MANAGER’S ROLES AND CHALLENGES 11
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MANAGER’S ROLES AND CHALLENGES 12
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