Behaviors of an Effective Manager
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Mintzberg (1989) divided a manager’s activities into three categories: interpersonal, decisional, and informational. We use these categories and have added some activities suggested by other authors (Dunham-Taylor, 1995; Montebello, 1994) and from our own observations of nurse managers (Fig. 2.2).
Interpersonal Activities The interpersonal category is one in which leaders and managers have overlapping concerns. However, the manager has some additional responsibilities that are seldom given to leaders. These include the following:
■ Networking. As we mentioned earlier, nurse managers are in pivotal positions, especially in inpatient settings where they have contact with virtually every service of the institution as well as with most people above and below them in the organizational hierarchy. This provides them with many opportunities to influence the status and treatment of staff nurses and the quality of the care provided to their patients. It is important that they “maintain the line of
sight,” or connection, between what they do as managers, patient care, and the mission of the organization (Mackoff & Triolo, 2008, p. 123). In other words, they need to keep in mind how their interactions with both their staff members and with administration affects the care provided to the patients for whom they are responsible.
■ Conflict negotiation and resolution. Managers often find themselves resolving conflicts among employees, patients, and administration. Ineffective managers often ignore people’s emotional side or mismanage feelings in the workplace (Welch & Welch, 2008).
■ Employee development. Managers are responsible for providing for the continuing learning and upgrading of the skills of their employees.
■ Coaching. It is often said that employees are the organization’s most valuable asset (Shirey, 2007). Coaching is one way in which nurse managers can share their experience and expertise with the rest of the staff. The goal is to nurture the growth and development of the
Informational
Interpersonal
Representing employees
Representing the organization
Public relations monitoring
Networking
Conflict negotiation and resolution
Employee development and coaching
Rewards and punishment
Decisional Employee evaluation Resource allocation Hiring and firing employees Planning Job analysis and redesign