Managing 'Fifteen' Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Managing 'Fifteen' - Essay Example Graph 1 – Mintzberg’s ten managerial roles (Source:http://www.lmcuk.com/management-tool/mintzberg-s-ten-management-roles) Through the above graph, the following issues are made clear: a) a manager’s role can be quite demanding, being related to a series of requirements that are not easy to be met, b) the high performance of a manager in one of each category’s subsections can hide the potential weaknesses of the manager in regard to the other sections of the same category; c) a manager need to be able to develop simultaneously a series of activities, keeping a balance between the internal and the external environment of the organization. The roles of Jamie Oliver, as manager in Fifteen, could be evaluated using the Mintzberg’s model as follows: A) Informational; a1) monitor: Jamie is continuously informed on the developments of the food industry, meaning not just new ingredients or recipes but also on new trends in regard to food preferences; at the same time, he has managed to develop an extended chain of supporters/ strategic alliances. They were these persons that have helped Jamie in the establishment of Fifteen and, further, in the expansion of the business, as also revealed in the case study, a2) disseminator; in the case of Fifteen, the ability of Jamie to pass information to others has been verified; Jamie has been able to act as a mentor for trainees helping them to understand the needs and demands of the food industry; a3) spokesperson; Jamie has successfully promoted Fifteen through the media; in fact, the particular project has been presented to the public through a TV-series that had the characteristics of a reality show. Through Fifteen, the exceptional skills of Jamie in acting as a spokesperson have been made clear; b) Interpersonal; b1) figurehead; Jamie is characterized by high enthusiasm and passion for his job; developing events for attracting more visitors to the restaurant has been one of Jamie’s st rategies for making Fifteen popular to the public; b2) leader; Jamie has managed to transfer to trainees much of his knowledge on food preparation and food quality; in addition, by providing to trainees an example of daily behaviour in the workplace, he has managed to gain their trust and respect; b3) liaison; as noted in the case study, Jamie has monitored the trends and developments of the food industry and has transferred the above information to trainees acting as a liaison between the internal and external environment; c) Decisional; c1) entrepreneur; developing a business project in the context of the modern market can be a risky activity, especially if taking into consideration the current crisis (World Bank 2010); Jamie has been able to take the relevant risk measuring the profits and benefits expected but also the resources required; his estimations were proved as accurate, despite the turbulences in the UK market; as noted in the case study, Jamie decided to cover a key pa rt of the project using ‘his own money’ (case study, p.1); c2) disturbance handler, during the development of the project Jamie had to respond to a series of problems, including the lack of experience of individuals involved, the lack of