Manager’s Functional Role in an Organization
our final project for each week in this course will require you to examine this organization. * If you wish to use
your current organization in which you work, you must have this approved in writing by your instructor before
moving forward with the assignment.
Research your chosen company. Find a minimum of one library source, which will support your thesis in this
assignment. Review your assigned weekly lecture and text reading. Select from this reading 3-5 key
concepts, which will also support your thesis. In a two to three page paper, address the questions below.
Your paper should follow APA format including a title and reference page. The two to three page paper
length requirement does NOT include the title page and reference page. Refer to your classroom area titled
South University Policies and Guideline: Using APA Standards in Your Coursework to ensure you are
following the correct format.
Managers have the responsibility to oversee and influence the direction of an organization. Their input is
critical to an organization�s performance and success. Describe the manager�s functional role in the
organization. Explain expectations of the role. Evaluate how the manager fulfills the expectations of the role.
Explore the different types of planning in your assigned reading. Explain what specific planning challenges
you think this manager might face on a day-to-day basis. Provide examples. Compare these planning
challenges to a manager in a similar position of 25 years ago.
Post your report in the W1: Assignment 3 Dropbox by Week 1, Day 6.
Assignment 3 Grading Criteria
Maximum Points
Submitted a two to three page research paper that included one library source and provided 3-5 key course
concepts to support work.
10
Described the manager’s functional role in the organization. Explained expectations of the role.
10
Evaluated how the manager fulfilled the expectations of the role.
5
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Manager’s Functional Role in an Organization
Explained what specific planning challenges this manager might face on a day-to-day basis. Provided
specific examples.
10
Compared planning challenges to a manager in a similar position of 25 years ago.
5
Wrote in a clear, concise, and organized manner: demonstrated ethical scholarship in accurate
representation and attribution of sources; displayed accurate spelling, grammar, and punctuation.
10
Total:
50
Managers always have different responsibilities depending on the needs of their respective
organizations. Manager roles vary from one organization to another and also from one functional
area to another within an organization. Well’s Fargo is an American Banking company. It performs
various financial services and is situated in San Fransisco, California. A manager in a company like
Well’s Fargo plays many important roles for the company to perform well in it’s banking activities.
All the functional roles of the manager in a company like Well’s Fargo may be grouped into
five basic functions including; Planning, leading, staffing and controlling. These functions are
usually global for managers in different organizations.
Planning
Planning, designing or creating a method that can be used to achieve a particular goal. An
example is if Well’s Fargo company want to open a new branch in a different state. The manager
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Manager’s Functional Role in an Organization
firstly decides which steps are necessary to accomplish that goal. The steps might include how they
will construct the new branch building, where it is situated, estimated period to be taken and also
cost. When the plan is in place, Well’s Fargo company will then follow it to accomplish their goal
of opening a new branch. There are four main types of planning that the organization manager may
use ( Lewis, 2007) ;
Financial Planning
In financial planning, the manager creates a good plan showing the amount of finance that
will be used to achieve the set objective.
Strategic planning
A strategy plan of action for accomplishing the project must be introduced. This
responsibility still goes to the manager. The manager should provide a clear strategic vision that can
be implemented with minimal or no problem at all.
Contingency Planning
Here, the manager designs another backup plan which will be useful if unexpected
occurrence that hinders the central plan occurs. Contingency planning is important when a disaster
strikes and they are activated to fill the void.
Succession Planning
This is a very important planning action. This is where the manager must be able to set up a
plan that will be used in case one member of the team suddenly left. The manager must make sure
that the project still continuous when an employee abandons. The manager will therefore think of a
plan like just creating a different backup team that will only be called when such calamity strikes.
Organizing
After the plan is put in place, the manager then needs to organize the team responsible and
gather all the materials that will be required. The manager will also be responsible for assigning
responsibilities to different workers of the organization.
Staffing
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Manager’s Functional Role in an Organization
Here, the manager discerns all the needs of the project. The manager then decides to prepare
employees well for the task by recruiting more employees, and also training them.
Leading
The manager is responsible for leading the team of employees into achieving the set goal.
The manager leads by motivation, communicating, guiding an also encouraging employees before
and when they are working ( Lewis, 2007) .
Controlling
After all other elements of the project are set. The manager needs to continually check the
team progress against the set goals. The manager will also be responsible for setting correctional
measures necessary to make sure that the set plans are followed accordingly (Ferraro, 2012).
A manager in Well’s Fargo may face many challenges especially during planning. These
challenges are mostly due to time, money, scope, ad also employees. The following are a list of
problems that the manager might likely face;
Undefined Goals
In this case the goals of the manager are not clearly defined. Upper organization of Well’s
Fargo upper management might not agree to support certain goals and this poses a significant
problem to the manager in trying to explain the goal and also finding another method of achieving
the same goal if it becomes impossible.
Scope Changes
Scope changes is a big problem that a manager might encounter during planning. This
occurs when the scope of the project is extended beyond the already set limits. This may call for
more resources to be pumped into the project so as to accomplish it. Pumping more resources like
money means the planned resources will need to be adjusted and the manager might be blamed for
fund mismanagement (Ferraro, 2012).
Other challenges that a manager might also face are like inadequate skills posed by
employees. The manager will be required to gather more resources to use for training the
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Manager’s Functional Role in an Organization
employees. Other problems like impossible deadlines expected of the manager might arise if the
time given for a certain project is just not enough.
Other planning challenges that would have been faced by the Well’s Fargo manager 25 years
ago can be compared. Challenge like communication would have been extreme. This is because
communication media 25 years ago was so poor compared to the current communication state. The
employee skills 25 years ago was very low and the manager would have used a lot of resources to
hire employees with good skills, unlike now, many employees are well trained in their respective
fields ( Lewis, 2007) .
We therefore can see that a manager in Well’s Fargo can have many roles to play. These
roles have been categorized into the six management functions discussed above. The main
functional role of the manager is planning on how a certain objective or a goal can be met by the
organization.
References
Lewis, P. S. (2007). Management: Challenges for tomorrow’s leaders. Mason, OH:
Thomson/South-Western.
Huffman, Matt L. (2013). Organizations, Managers, and Wage Inequality
Ferraro, J. (2012). Project management for non-project managers. New York, NY:
AMACOM.
Goh, M. H. (2011). A manager’s guide to British Standard BS25999 for business continuity
management. Singapore: GMH Pte Ltd.
