Volume 4, Number 1, Fall 2009 1

The Prime-Requisite Roles Of Managers In Modern Organizations

Nadir Ali Kolachi

Bahria University
Abu Zar Wajidi
Karachi University

Abstract
The Organizations are in the search of intellectual business ambassadors for different departments to promote the status
of the organization through their strategic inquisitiveness to compete with the competitors and fascinate customers towards the
products and services they offer. The traditional definition of management as an ability to get work done through other people
seems to be a different than something based on today’s technological miracles. In today’s age, the concept of management as
an ability to equip with machines that has flexibility of faster adoption and innovations of best fit nature for the KINGS
(Customers) is much demanded. Such demand side concept has pressurized managers to formulate effective strategies for the
development of modern corporations. This paper develops two basic models for manager’s guidelines. The first model refers to
micro level managerial capability while the last one covers all areas of all managers to cope up with today’s threats specially
marketing, management and IT in particular. This paper further explores the responsibilities and roles of modern managers
specially Marketing Managers, HR Managers, IT Managers and Finance Managers. The paper also focuses on the comparative
analysis of four managers with reference to modern organizational perspectives.
Moreover, this paper comprises on five major sections: First part is about the Introduction and general discussion on
Management. Second is about the managerial roles and modern concepts of responsibilities, Third is regarding the
development of modern models to provide the main concept of the research paper, Fourth is about the major drivers which
managers need to be cautious in driving the companies to the right direction, Fifth part focuses on the research methodology,
recommendations, conclusion and some relevant references & bibliography.
Key words: Management, Managerial roles and Modern Organizations

Introduction
Today millions of people around the world hold managerial positions. Some philosophers argue that management exists
when some one pursues another, some believes that it is an ability to get work done through other peoples while others think
that it is a distinct process, a set of ongoing and coordinated activities that managers engage in as they pursue the
organizational goals and managers are those who actively participate and strive to promote the status of that organization and
themselves. Managing workforce effectively is one of the prime tasks of today’s HR managers and this is considered as one of
the backbone of any organization. The human element has always been in an utmost importance. The traditional theory of
firms postulates that only those firms which maximize corporate performance will survive and those that do not will be
eliminated (Alchian A., 1950). Moreover, modem management augments our vision which is defined as the process of
achieving organizational goals through management functions in much effective manner than competitors.
More over, today's managers of various organizations are some time very much befuddled due to the great challenges of
different resources such as raw material, people, information, fast changing technology and money which are needed for all
organizations to produce goods or services. The utmost goal of any organization is to prosper and earn enough money by
applying better business models to attract customers and recognized motivational theories to lead employees to put their efforts
for the ultimate objectives of the company. Money is one of the important factors for organizational value; it gives room to
fulfill some other sub-values. While making strategies for moving companies to right direction is based on three useful sub
goals, create customer value, differentiate our offering from those of competitors and extract some of the value created for
shareholders (Benson, Shapiro, 1997). Today's managers are confronted with many problems and are busy in creation,
imagination and development of thoughts to find methods to face all contemporary challenges specially, productivity, quality
and globalization.
There is a great need to promote the status of the company which has become possible by proper management and high
professionalism. Ipso facto, management is profession in the sense that management is a process by which one person
convinces an other and profession is an activity by which one person convinces many people and defend his work, but the
nature of both the managers and professionals are one way or other same. Whether the goal is to make money, to save time, or
to serve citizen, a proper management, best art and high professionalism is prime requisite to achieve any organizational
success. The role of managers is to focus on such factors to make their companies competitive in the competitive world. The
role of HR managers is to identify talented workforce, the role of IT managers is to identify best technological systems, the

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role of Finance managers is to find most profitable project and the role of marketing manager is to identify very effective
marketing strategies to entice all to them. Company’s success is based on the best HR, marketing, finance and IT strategies.
Marketing strategists and Industrial organization economists emphasize that creation of superior customers value is a key
element for the success of the companies (Milgrom and Roberts, 1995).
Manager is what he manages and what he manages is known as a Management. The common understanding of
manager’s definition is to look for better strategies to bring innovation and growth to the organization, maintaining the rapport
with current employees and getting significant capacity in the eyes of the boss. Such understanding and concept got different
shapes over the years. This study will focus on such issues, opportunities and concepts with specific focus and reference to the
advancement of computer and IT age which brought various different management patterns by changing and innovating the
role of the managers time to time.
The organizational process reengineering started from 1960 when the concepts of Material Resource Planning were in
existence. Such concept was the coordination at simple level regarding engineering, HRM and inventory. Organizations
seemed to be happy for the faster accounting methods and other finance related calculations after the introduction of
microprocessor chip in 1970s. Such introduction and good capacity of data advancement had converted manual information
systems to computer based information systems in 1980s. The year 1990s got miraculous advent of internet which brought
excellent coordination and communication methods which flourished the world of business and electronic business to deal and
do business by mobile means as everyone was exposed to such facility. As we know that manager’s role is to work and
promote activities favorable to the organization with in the given and defined domain.
Such roles can lead managers to take very effective initiative to understand the current and futuristic focus of business
activities to reach utmost customer satisfaction. This campaign is the plan to keep managers updated with changing customer
preferences and changing organizational trends all over the world specially followed by the faster moving information
superhighway.

Manager’s Roles in General

1. Active
He is active in formulating some good strategies to have a product differentiation and enhancing a competitor’s edge for
the purpose of taking organizations to the climax.
2. Communicator
He communicates to employees and boss about the progress of the company.
3. Coordinator
He coordinates for different strategies with boss and other employees.
4. Encourager
He encourages the employees on work and other efforts being utilized for the company
5. Leader
He influences the employees by his character, charismatic behavior and assigns them a task in a very effective manner.
6. Educator
He educates the employees for the futuristic ups and downs of the company’s position
7. Researcher
He is researching some solution to the problems and identifying some good things for the betterment of company.
8. Administrator
He administers the current situation and administers the other processes of the organization in a very effective manner.
9. Trainer
He is trainer and trains employees on current work scenario to speed up the process.
10.Effective presenter
He has efficiency to present things properly in a very understanding way.
11.Decision-maker
He always needs to be good decision maker in order to timely advancement and success in various organizational
aspects.
12.Conflict handler

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He handles the conflicts very effectively and prognosticate on any certain and uncertain situations in the organizations
13.Arbitrator
He settles the disputes, if some time it occurs in the organization.
14.Mentor
He is mentoring all young and new employees in company and facilitates them with the required exposure of good work
in the organization.
15.Participative
He participates in every forum which can lead organization to the required development.
16.Adjudicator
He can judge a competition for the betterment of the organization.
17.Investor
He sincerely invests company’s money in the most profitable project
18.Genius
He needs to be genius in designing strategies.
19.Negotiator
He negotiates and deals with employees, customers and suppliers very positively
On the basis of the above vital managerial roles, we can move any organization towards the right direction. The problem
with today’s manager could be the strategic analysis of competition and for that managers assume above roles to carefully
follow and apply in all situations. Manager is a source to make organizations very competitive by applying intelligent exposure
especially with reference to globalization, society & ethics and technology. Following acronym of M.A.N.A.G.E.R is the
analysis of responsibilities of a manager which he performs in different organizational domains.
Moderator
In this capacity, the manager must guide with moderated methods to proper workflow and help employees in achieving
organizational goals. He apprises other employees with success and failure stories of the company’s activities which give them
a chance to participate, empower them and convince them to move on the right direction.
Active.
He must be active in designing strategies and have enough exposure to study competitor’s strategies and adopt modern
changes as needed. His active behavior leaves a salutary effect on other employees to work more. He shows his active
behavior in coordination and enhances leadership skills to motivate other employees to work.
Neutral.
He maintains trust in employees and adopts laissez faire patterns to them. He has neutral vision in adjudicating
employees performance and reward them accordingly. His neutral style promotes paternalistic behavior and motivates
employees to work more.
Agile.
He is quick witted in understanding the changing patterns and smart initiator in innovation. His intelligentsia in
developing strategies motivates other employees to work with full sincerity.
Genius.
He is genius in bringing accuracy in organizational methods. His positive behavior to employees can spawn geniuses in
them. His geniuses benefits employees to learn desired strategies to promote the status of the organization.
Eager.
He must be eager in beating the competition. He is always hard working in taking company to climax. His eagerness sets
faster plans to get success.
Responsible.
His responsibility includes compatible reward systems to employees, equal capacity behavior, motivating them for
organizational commitment and care for organizational assets.
He moderates all activities to flourish the organization in different activities and also provide the solution to the
organization by having proper and intelligent hiring and equipping organization with talented manpower. He knows how to set
organizational structure by providing the promotion to the deserving people and convince them to put more efforts to achieve

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organizational goals. Such thing will bring all the employees to one platform and educate them with the organizational plans to
develop much trust. Such thing will also help in developing intellectual capital
Modern Managers should maintain the sanctity of the organization coordination and increases the chances of
organizational loyalty to the larger scale. He must be very careful in allocating the work and reward systems in particular
which are compatible with the organizational setups. An other great concern of managers should be their agility in promoting
the cooperation among employees and bringing them on one platform to communicate and exchange ideas for company’s
promotion. He visits all employees and evaluate the progress of the work through designing strategies regarding career
development plans after every moment to reach at the desired goals. He also innovates company’s plans, promotion, program
regarding the organizational goals, brings the solution and cooperation for the employees and the organization.
His untiring efforts should set an example of his loyalty to the organization which will have a salutary effect on other
employees to put more efforts for the organization. His eagerness puts his organization into the world’s successful position
framework and design strategies which will bring better results. He shows utmost responsibility to maintain coordination
among employees, facilitate employees with modern working methods and promote the activities of developing organizational
goals. He should bring innovations to the organization by identifying some technological advancement and solves company’s
communication and sharing of data problems. He moderates the organizational current set up with the new and required one
which promotes the organization communication, coordination and understands current business methods. He plays the role of
moderator in updating technology which may serve the purpose of having world’s connectivity. All the companies at all times
look for three things; profitability, survival and expansion. In such perspective, companies invest in different departments as
promotional activity, hire good people and heavy investment in technological value chains. Above all, the most important
thing is only to satisfy a customer which is guarantee of achieving profitability and survival. The expansion comes underway
when having lots of profits.
Following are the three things which are of prime requisite for organizations. The factors are explicating the importance
of managerial responsibilities and careful steps to understand market, globalization, competition and development of strategies.
This thing will innovate ways to move the corporations to the right track of progress.
The customer satisfaction is not an easy task as it is already pulled by other competitors. To achieve your share of such
success, you need to focus on the main factors which are market analysis, competition and strategy. Through market analysis,
you can come up with research and information collection, In competition; you need to identify your competitors and then
operates as according to the constraints in control while strategy is something which you design to beat the competition.
Market Analysis Competition Strategy
Market potentiality Competitive edge Focus Future objectives
Economic position Competitive edge (future) Evaluating sources
Company’s culture Competitor’s budget Implementing strategies
Literacy level Competitor’s strategies. Feedback

Above are the interesting areas of modern managers. Focusing on market analysis will result in understanding the
potentiality of market existence, knowing some of the financial constraints, checking corporate culture and improving it by
adopting modern trends will help to pace up with faster business environment. Market analysis also updates about the positive
and negative situations. Evaluating literacy rate of the customers will also provide confidence to managers for designing some
promotional strategies. In the competition phase, managers show their prime responsibility to bring organization to an
international arena. The competition brings opportunity some time to you because it drives managers to improve lots of things.
Focusing on the product differentiation can make you to formulate very effective strategies to prosper organization. On the
basis of all above roles, the effective strategies can be developed. Focusing on competitive strategies, managers can develop
their own strategic environment in better way. Such things are developed with the help of some available business models.
An other is HRMFIT manager’s model in this research. HRMFIT stands for HR (Human Resources), M (Marketing), F
(Finance) and IT (Information Technology). In every organization these few factors are always playing pivotal role in moving
companies towards your desired goals. The four pillars of HRMFIT model are based on the strong foundation of Management
for its updates, innovations in prevailing trends especially in HR, Marketing, Finance and IT domains. Following framework is
an effort to identify some required features to understand competitive edge. The HRMFIT factors with reference to current
situation should be important study for today’s talented managers. Such framework analyses current situation to overcome
some possible obstacles and complications to get across with some future focus factors. Modern managers can utilize the
model for the strategic foundations.

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HRMFIT
(HR, Marketing, Finance and IT)

HR Marketing Finance IT
Analyze current situation Analyze current situation
1. Intellectual Capital 1. Projected revenues by months/years
2. Employees’ efforts 2. Projected expenses by months/years
3. Motivational level 3. Projected cash flows by months
4. Meeting objectives, Marketing Plans and 4. IT inspection, Coordination and
Product focus Communication
Complications
Competition, Heavy budgets and Motivational level
Futuristic Focus
1. HR-Training for managers including change management
2. Marketing-Competitive Strategies
3. Finance-Generating Funds and invest in profitable project.
4. IT-Removing obsolete Technologies and bring Frequent updates.
SUCCESS

The model focuses on the importance of analyzing current situations in HRMFIT activities. Many philosophers
emphasized to understand companies’ current situations and complications to be successful and also develop futuristic
strategies. This model can help today’s managers in focusing on the factors mentioned in analyzing situations, understanding
complications and focusing on futuristic activities in particular. If any manager can adopt such things, then progress is always
waiting for them.
HRMFIT model can be very effective guidelines for the modern managers in designing strategies, futuristic focus,
competitive edge, management and marketing plans, increasing financial strengths & overcoming the constraints. The model is
designed with the concept of modern managerial roles. The model is strategically divided into two segments. The first segment
is the combination of HR & Marketing and the other one is the combination of Finance and IT. First segment is the opportunity
to evaluate the current situation and also evaluating the company’s status in the competitors’ pool. Through managerial roles,
company identifies the importance of intellectual capital. The HR people help in identifying the best manpower and rejuvenate
employees’ efforts to win the game of competition. The other roles of marketing managers are to develop marketing plans to
check what company can achieve with input to get maximum output. Marketing plans towards product launch or re-
modification is the simple strategy to penetrate into the market.
The second segment based on the Finance and IT are the real sources of organization positions. Generating funds,
evaluating financial positions are based on the effective managerial roles of finance managers when they identify most
profitable projects. On the other hand, IT managers’ crucial roles are to maintain the communication flow, workflow and work
processes with the faster activities. This leads companies to entice customers with the flexible IT systems. This also
coordinates with other competitors, suppliers and customers in particular.
The HRMFIT factors are the crucial icons to evaluate organizations to avoid any uncertain situations. Managerial roles
are the pivotal steps to make organization most profitable. After the analysis of current situation, there come some
complications which need to be effectively read, watch and overcome with managerial roles mentioned in this paper. The
managerial roles help to identify the competition in the market. The competition is much focused on Marketing and IT
activities and heavy budgets will be tackled by Finance managers while motivational level is the task of HR managers.
All managers play a crucial role in understanding competition by focusing on competitive strategies in order to develop
much better plans to beat the competition. HR people should take advantage of reward system and recognition tools to handle
situation and motivate employees to put their efforts to achieve organizational goals. The finance managers play a role of
evaluating finances and effectively allocate budgets to the demand of current situations and save money for future prospects.
The other factor is the futuristic focus which is mentioned just to guide new managers to take advantage of the managerial
roles, guidance and some important steps to take the companies to the pinnacle of the progress. If above model is followed in
an effective manner, then, there is no doubt that success will build everlasting love affair with any organization.

Research methodlogy
The research described in this paper has several objectives: First, the research is designed to understand and explicate the
concept of managerial roles in modern organizations. In order to obtain broad view of the topic, an exploratory study was

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conducted which was based on the literature survey and some structured and unstructured interviews. Second, the research
highlights the areas of local and international companies with special reference to developing countries.
Third part focuses on constructive interaction to develop an increasingly sophisticated understanding of the factors,
which positively bring better effect on the company’s success. Few limitations came across from the response of the business
and IT companies in Pakistan but after repetitive visits to authorities and review of literature survey and exploration, made it
possible to collect enough information to meet the objectives. The response from the top notch managers of national and
multinational organizations was satisfactory and helped in the collection of relevant data

Conclusion
The research paper concludes that the four managers mentioned above are the most important and need to be focused on
the activities as to gain product differentiation in their company’s product and services. Companies are in great need to explore
and innovate training methods for their managers to enhance commitment and increase competitive edge through their
intelligentsia. The organization can be successful when they have proper and right managers to move the organization to the
right track of profitability and survival. The HRMFIT model with reference to acronym activities is the real vision and a very
positive clue towards success.
The paper also justifies that any organization following all above roles and strategic look on the HRMFIT model will
bring better position than the competitors, they can learn good marketing strategies, smarter technological orientation towards
marketing, knowing what your competitors are offering, and you offer more than them. The organizations can be better when
better equipped with the roles identified in this paper. When the company focuses on competitors, then they can build up
strategies which can prevent their competitors from being the market leader. Such focus will give you an edge and help you to
take perpetual lead in serving the needs of the customers exclusively, and that is very much possible with the guidelines of the
managerial roles of this paper.

Recommendations
x Modern managers suppose to have utmost inquisitiveness to cope up with the modern management, change
management and technological trends. They must be fluent with the flexible and worth adopting emerging marketing
patterns in order to achieve an edge in various areas.
x Managers must understand the changing preferences of the customers and also adopt the changing patterns of
emerging technologies.
x Modern managers need to know how to cope up with the Marketing, Management, HR and IT strategies based on
the most updated information layered processes.
Refernces
Following are some of the references which have been helpful for relating the literature survey. Because of the
limitations of the page spaces, many references are not mentioned. The paper is mainly based on the original and primary
effort to identify factors relating to the topic.
[1] Management by Patrick J Montana, Bruce H Charnov
[2] Shapiro, Benson P. “Buy low, Sell high” 1997 (Harvard Business School note)
[3] The Principles of Scientific Management by Frederick Winslow Taylor
[4] Milgrom P. and Roberts “Complementarities & Fit: Strategy, Structure and Organizational change in
manufacturing” 1995 (Journal of Accounting and Economics) vol 19 p. 179-208
[5] Marketing Management by Kotler
[6] Bergmann T.J Lester S.W, De Meuse, K.P Grahn J.L (2000) Integrating the three domains of employee
commitment -An exploratory study (The Journal of Business Research 16:4, 15-26)
[7] Strategic Marketing Management Richard M Wilson

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