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Mintzberg's Management Roles

Identifying the roles managers play.

By the Mind Tools Content Team

As a manager, you probably fulfill many different roles every day.

For instance, as well as leading your team, you might find yourself resolving a conflict, negotiating new contracts, representing your department at a board meeting, or approving a request for a new computer system.

Put simply, you're constantly switching roles as tasks, situations, and expectations change. Management expert and professor Henry Mintzberg recognized this, and he argued that there are ten primary roles or behaviors that can be used to categorize a manager's different functions.

In this article and video, we'll examine these roles and see how you can use your understanding of them to improve your management skills.

Click here to read a transcript of our management roles video.

What Are Mintzberg's Management Roles?

Mintzberg published his Ten Management Roles in his book, "Mintzberg on Management: Inside our Strange World of Organizations," in 1990.

The ten management roles are:

• Figurehead.
• Disseminator.
• Spokesperson.
• Entrepreneur.
• Disturbance Handler.
• Resource Allocator.
• Negotiator.

From MINTZBERG ON MANAGEMENT by Henry Mintzberg. Copyright © 1989 by Henry Mintzberg. Reprinted by permission of Free Press, a division of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

The 10 roles are then divided up into three categories, as follows:

Let's look at each of the ten managerial roles in greater detail.

Interpersonal Management Roles

The managerial roles in this category involve providing information and ideas.

• Figurehead – As a manager, you have social, ceremonial and legal responsibilities. You're expected to be a source of inspiration. People look up to you as a person with authority, and as a figurehead.
• Leader – This is where you provide leadership for your team, your department or perhaps your entire organization; and it's where you manage the performance and responsibilities of everyone in the group.
• Liaison – Managers must communicate with internal and external contacts. You need to be able to network effectively on behalf of your organization.

Informational Management Roles

The managerial roles in this category involve processing information.

• Monitor – In this role, you regularly seek out information related to your organization and industry, looking for relevant changes in the environment. You also monitor your team, in terms of both their productivity, and their well-being.
• Disseminator – This is where you communicate potentially useful information to your colleagues and your team.
• Spokesperson – Managers represent and speak for their organization. In this role, you're responsible for transmitting information about your organization and its goals to the people outside it.

Decisional Management Roles

The managerial roles in this category involve using information.

• Entrepreneur – As a manager, you create and control change within the organization. This means solving problems, generating new ideas, and implementing them.
• Disturbance Handler – When an organization or team hits an unexpected roadblock, it's the manager who must take charge. You also need to help mediate disputes within it.
• Resource Allocator – You'll also need to determine where organizational resources are best applied. This involves allocating funding, as well as assigning staff and other organizational resources.
• Negotiator – You may be needed to take part in, and direct, important negotiations within your team, department, or organization.

Applying Mintzberg's Management Roles

You can use Mintzberg's 10 Management Roles model as a frame of reference when you're thinking about developing your own skills and knowledge. (This includes developing yourself in areas that you consciously or unconsciously shy away from.)

First, examine how much time you currently spend on each managerial role. Do you spend most of your day leading? Managing conflict? Disseminating information? This will help you decide which areas to work on first.

Next, get a piece of paper and write out all ten roles. Score yourself from 1-5 on each one, with 1 being "Very skilled" to 5 being "Not skilled at all."

Once you've identified your weak areas, use the following resources to start improving your abilities in each role.

Figureheads represent their teams. If you need to improve or build confidence in this area, start with your image, behavior, and reputation . Cultivate humility and empathy , learn how to set a good example at work , and think about how to be a good role model .

This is the role you probably spend most of your time fulfilling. To improve here, start by taking our quiz, How Good Are Your Leadership Skills? This will give you a thorough understanding of your current abilities.

Next, learn how to be an authentic leader , so your team will respect you. Also, focus on improving your emotional intelligence – this is an important skill for being an effective leader.

To improve your liaison skills, work on your professional networking techniques. You may also like to take our Skillbook course on Networking Skills .

To improve here, learn how to gather information effectively and overcome information overload . Also, use effective reading strategies , so that you can process material quickly and thoroughly, and learn how to keep up-to-date with industry news .

Disseminator

To be a good disseminator you need to know how to share information and outside views effectively, which means that good communication skills are vital.

Learn how to share organizational information with Team Briefings . Next, focus on improving your writing skills . You might also want to take our communication skills quiz , to find out where else you can improve.

Spokesperson

To be effective in this role, make sure that you know how to represent your organization at a conference . You may also want to read our articles on delivering great presentations and working with the media (if applicable to your role).

Entrepreneur

To improve here, build on your change management skills, and learn what not to do when implementing change in your organization. You'll also need to work on your problem solving and creativity skills , so that you can come up with new ideas, and implement them successfully.

Disturbance Handler

In this role, you need to excel at conflict resolution and know how to handle team conflict . It's also helpful to be able to manage emotion in your team .

Resource Allocator

To improve as a resource allocator, learn how to manage a budget , cut costs , and prioritize , so that you can make the best use of your resources. You can also use VRIO Analysis to learn how to get the best results from the resources available to you.

Improve your negotiation skills by learning about Win-Win Negotiation and Distributive Bargaining .

You might also want to read our article on role-playing – this technique can help you prepare for difficult negotiations.

Mintzberg's 10 Management Roles model sets out the essential roles that managers play. These are:

You can apply Mintzberg's 10 Management Roles model by using it as a frame of reference when you want to develop your management skills. Work on the roles that you fulfill most often as a priority, but remember that you won't necessarily fulfill every role as part of your job.

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Managerial Roles Essays

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6.7: Managerial Roles

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6. What roles do managers take on in different organizational settings?

In carrying out the responsibilities of planning, organizing, leading, and controlling, managers take on many different roles. A role is a set of behavioral expectations, or a set of activities that a person is expected to perform. Managers’ roles fall into three basic categories: informational roles, interpersonal roles, and decisional roles. These roles are summarized in Table 6.5 . In an informational role , the manager may act as an information gatherer, an information distributor, or a spokesperson for the company. A manager’s interpersonal roles are based on various interactions with other people. Depending on the situation, a manager may need to act as a figurehead, a company leader, or a liaison. When acting in a decisional role , a manager may have to think like an entrepreneur, make decisions about resource allocation, help resolve conflicts, or negotiate compromises.

Managerial Decision Making

In every function performed, role taken on, and set of skills applied, a manager is a decision maker. Decision-making means choosing among alternatives. Decision-making occurs in response to the identification of a problem or an opportunity. The decisions managers make fall into two basic categories: programmed and nonprogrammed. Programmed decisions are made in response to routine situations that occur frequently in a variety of settings throughout an organization. For example, the need to hire new personnel is a common situation for most organizations. Therefore, standard procedures for recruitment and selection are developed and followed in most companies.

Infrequent, unforeseen, or very unusual problems and opportunities require nonprogrammed decisions by managers. Because these situations are unique and complex, the manager rarely has a precedent to follow. The earlier example of the Norfolk Southernemployee, who had to decide the best way to salvage a five-mile-long piece of railroad track from the bottom of Lake Pontchartrain, is an example of a nonprogrammed decision. Likewise, when Hurricane Katrina was forecast to make landfall, Thomas Oreck, then CEO of the vacuum manufacturer that bears his name, had to make a series of nonprogrammed decisions. Oreck’s corporate headquarters were in New Orleans, and its primary manufacturing facility was in Long Beach, Mississippi. Before the storm hit, Oreck transferred its computer systems and call-center operations to backup locations in Colorado and planned to move headquarters to Long Beach. The storm, however, brutally hit both locations. Oreck executives began searching for lost employees, tracking down generators, assembling temporary housing for workers, and making deals with UPS to begin distributing its product (UPS brought food and water to Oreck from Atlanta and took vacuums back to the company’s distribution center there). All of these decisions were made in the middle of a very challenging crisis environment.

Whether a decision is programmed or nonprogrammed, managers typically follow five steps in the decision-making process, as illustrated in Exhibit 6.7 :

• Recognize or define the problem or opportunity. Although it is more common to focus on problems because of their obvious negative effects, managers who do not take advantage of new opportunities may lose competitive advantage to other firms.
• Gather information so as to identify alternative solutions or actions.
• Select one or more alternatives after evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of each possibility.
• Put the chosen alternative into action.
• Gather information to obtain feedback on the effectiveness of the chosen plan.

It can be easy (and dangerous) for managers to get stuck at any stage of the decision-making process. For example, entrepreneurs can become paralyzed evaluating the options. For the Gabby Slome, the cofounder of natural pet food maker Ollie, the idea for starting the company came after her rescue dog began having trouble digesting store-bought pet food after living on scraps. Slome decided that the pet food industry, a $30 billion a year business, was ripe for a natural food alternative. She laments, however, that she let perfect be the enemy of the very good by indulging in “analysis paralysis.” 18

Exhibit 6.7 The Decision-Making Process (Attribution: Copyright Rice University, OpenStax, under CC BY 4.0 license.)

CONCEPT CHECK

• What are the three types of managerial roles?
• Give examples of things managers might do when acting in each of the different types of roles.
• List the five steps in the decision-making process.

Managerial Roles and Planning Levels Essay

The roles held by top-level, middle-level, and frontline-level managers.

The management of an organization can be viewed as a hierarchy consisting of several levels. In turn, people, who represent this hierarchy, can perform different functions. In particular, top-level managers focus on the long-term development of an enterprise and its ability to respond to the changes in the external environment. Moreover, these professionals identify the strategies that a company should implement in order to remain competitive (Bateman & Snell, 2011, p. 18). Moreover, these people are responsible for the formulation of corporate vision.

In turn, it is possible to mention middle-level managers who translate the strategic goals of the company into specific objectives that each department or division has to attain. These professionals are also known as tactical managers. Moreover, these people are responsible for explaining the priorities of senior executives (Bateman & Snell, 2011, p. 18). Moreover, they can participate in problem-solving. In turn, there are frontline managers who directly interact with employees. They have to improve the work of the department and ensure that workers can cope with the tasks that are assigned to them. Furthermore, these people can take initiatives and propose recommendations that can improve the operations of a department. This is why their activities can be described as operational management.

Yet, it is important to remember that there are people who operate at different levels. These people can formulate strategic goals, translate them into specific objectives, and identify steps that should be taken in order to attain them. Nevertheless, one should remember that the work of these professionals becomes more challenging when a company begins to grow. This is one of the main aspects that should be considered.

How strategic, tactical, and operational planning compliments one another

It is possible to say that planning activities at strategic, tactical and operational level complement one another. First of all, the goals set by senior executives have to be communicated to frontline managers and other employees. Moreover, they should be translated into measurable objectives that should be attained in various departments. Tactical or middle-line managers are responsible for this task. To a great extent, this interaction between strategic and tactical managerial teams is critical for the performance of any organization.

Nevertheless, the initiatives put forward by senior executives and middle-line managers have to be implemented in a certain way. As a rule, this implementation can be viewed as a series of problem-solving tasks. Yet, these specific issues should be addressed by front-line or operational managers. This is why their role should not be overlooked. Apart from that, operational managers collect information about the performance of a business, the quality of its products, retention of employees or other types of data. Only on the basis of this information, tactical and strategic managers can develop feasible policies and plans.

This discussion indicates that planning in organizations can be effective provided that managers from different levels closely interact with one another. Much attention should be paid to the exchange of information. If this cooperation is not present, the performance of an organization can be diversely affected. There are several risks that should not be overlooked. For example, senior managers can develop policies and plans that do not correspond to the needs of the company. Apart from that, the strategies worked out by senior executives may be misunderstood if tactical and frontline managers do not identify specific steps that should be taken. These are the main issues that can be singled out.

How using power is essential to being an effective leader/manager in all levels of an organization

The use of power is an inseparable part of the tasks that are performed by leaders and managers. These professionals must ensure that employees are willing and able to cope with the tasks that are critical for an organization. This issue is relevant to people who work at different levels of the managerial hierarchy. For instance, top-level executives have to rely on the power of their vision and charisma to gain the support of others (Bateman & Snell, 2011, p. 437). Provided that they lack this skill, it may be difficult for them to implement the long-term strategies that are vital for the sustainability of the enterprise.

Similarly, middle-line managers and leaders also have to make use of the power to communicate and attain the objectives that each department should reach. In particular, they need to rely on the power of their expertise and knowledge while interacting with frontline-line personnel. They should provide data and evidence in order to convince and motivate others. If they cannot do it, different departments of a company may not function properly. Moreover, the long-term vision developed by senior executives will not be shared by other employees. These are the main issues that should be considered.

The ability to influence the attitudes and activities of others is of great importance to leaders working at the frontline level. Without this ability, they may not engage in problem-solving. Moreover, the use of power can be needed for ensuring that workers can meet the timelines set by other executives. Thus, these skills can be of great benefit to leaders and managers who occupy different places in the workplace hierarchy. Yet, this power should be based on expertise, charisma, and evidence, rather than coercion. This is one of the main points that can be made.

How does the decision making style on the part of an executive affect the manager

The decision-making style of a senior executive has profound implications for managers since he/she can set different requirements for their colleagues. In particular, it is necessary for them to know what kind of persuasion strategy should be adopted to gain the trust of an executive and eventually implement new initiatives. One can distinguish such types of decision-makers as charismatics, controllers, thinkers, followers, and skeptics who have different values and priorities (Williams & Miller, 2002). For instance, the executives, who are called charismatics, take genuine interest in the innovative ideas (Williams & Miller, 2002, p. 66). Nevertheless, they want their colleagues to focus on the long-term results. Therefore, in order to convince them, one should emphasize the relevance of a proposal to the performance of an organization. The executives, who are described as thinkers and skeptics, also set such requirements for other managers and leaders. Yet, they also pay attention to the credibility of data.

There are executives representing a different approach to decision-making. For instance, leaders, known as followers, have a strong aversion to risk. They are not likely to consider a strategy that has not been tested (Williams & Miller, 2002, p. 72). Therefore, managers and leaders should demonstrate that a new policy will not diversely affect the performance of the company. They can be persuaded if the arguments are presented by a person who is an expert in a certain field.

On the whole, these examples suggest that senior executives have different decision-making styles, and these distinctions should be considered by managers and leaders. They need to choose the most optimal way of convincing these people. They should focus on the method of presenting information; otherwise, their initiatives will not be supported. This is the main argument that can be put forward.

How power and persuasion might affect teams and team building

Power and persuasion play an important role in the functioning and formation of teams. First of all, a manager or a leader should rely on the power of their expertise to show that a certain goal can and should be achieved. In this way, one can strengthen the commitment of a team (Heathfield, n. d.). One should bear in mind that employees pay close attention to the competence of leaders. To a great extent, it acts as a cornerstone for the effective performance of this workgroup. This is why the power of expertise and charisma is essential for success. If a manager lacks these qualities, and effective team may never be formed.

Apart from that, managers have to persuade the team to be committed to the goals of the organization. To achieve this task, one has to explain that an objective is feasible and important (Zenger, Folkman & Edinger, 2009, p. 6). This is why the functioning of a team is not possible without effective persuasion. Certainly, these people can follow the instructions of a manager, but they will not take initiatives or display their best qualities. This is the main pitfall that should be avoided.

These issues should be considered by managers who may represent different levels of the workplace hierarchy. These professionals can manage different types of teams. The skills that have been described in this section can help these professionals enhance the performance of the company.

Reference List

Bateman, T., & Snell, S. (2011). Management: Leading and collaborating in the competitive world . New York, NY: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.

Heathfield, S. (n. d.). 12 Tips for Team Building . Web.

Williams, G., & Miller, R. (2002). Change the Way You Persuade. Harvard Business Review , 80 (5), 65-73.

Zenger, J., Folkman, J., & Edinger, S. (2009). Stretch Goals. Leadership Excellence , 26 (7), 6-7.

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IvyPanda. (2024, April 1). Managerial Roles and Planning Levels. https://ivypanda.com/essays/managerial-roles-and-planning-levels/

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Managerial Roles Essay Examples for Free

A managerial role is a range of tasks and functions associated with management. Those are: organizing, planning, leading, staffing, and controlling.

An obvious option is to describe these functions together or separately. Another option is to concentrate on the ethical and moral sides of management. One more exciting topic refers to effective communication. The lack of it between managers and their subordinates might create obstacles for productivity.

Keep reading to see high-quality managerial roles essay samples for free. These papers will help you get familiar with the vocabulary used in this field. They will also inspire you to start writing your own essay.

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6.6 Managerial Roles

• What roles do managers take on in different organizational settings?

In carrying out the responsibilities of planning, organizing, leading, and controlling, managers take on many different roles. A role is a set of behavioral expectations, or a set of activities that a person is expected to perform. Managers’ roles fall into three basic categories: informational roles, interpersonal roles, and decisional roles. These roles are summarized in Table 6.5 . In an informational role , the manager may act as an information gatherer, an information distributor, or a spokesperson for the company. A manager’s interpersonal roles are based on various interactions with other people. Depending on the situation, a manager may need to act as a figurehead, a company leader, or a liaison. When acting in a decisional role , a manager may have to think like an entrepreneur, make decisions about resource allocation, help resolve conflicts, or negotiate compromises.

Managerial Decision Making

In every function performed, role taken on, and set of skills applied, a manager is a decision maker. Decision-making means choosing among alternatives. Decision-making occurs in response to the identification of a problem or an opportunity. The decisions managers make fall into two basic categories: programmed and nonprogrammed. Programmed decisions are made in response to routine situations that occur frequently in a variety of settings throughout an organization. For example, the need to hire new personnel is a common situation for most organizations. Therefore, standard procedures for recruitment and selection are developed and followed in most companies.

Infrequent, unforeseen, or very unusual problems and opportunities require nonprogrammed decisions by managers. Because these situations are unique and complex, the manager rarely has a precedent to follow. The earlier example of the Norfolk Southern employee, who had to decide the best way to salvage a five-mile-long piece of railroad track from the bottom of Lake Pontchartrain, is an example of a nonprogrammed decision. Likewise, when Hurricane Katrina was forecast to make landfall, Thomas Oreck, then CEO of the vacuum manufacturer that bears his name, had to make a series of nonprogrammed decisions. Oreck ’s corporate headquarters were in New Orleans, and its primary manufacturing facility was in Long Beach, Mississippi. Before the storm hit, Oreck transferred its computer systems and call-center operations to backup locations in Colorado and planned to move headquarters to Long Beach. The storm, however, brutally hit both locations. Oreck executives began searching for lost employees, tracking down generators, assembling temporary housing for workers, and making deals with UPS to begin distributing its product (UPS brought food and water to Oreck from Atlanta and took vacuums back to the company’s distribution center there). All of these decisions were made in the middle of a very challenging crisis environment.

Whether a decision is programmed or nonprogrammed, managers typically follow five steps in the decision-making process, as illustrated in Exhibit 6.7 :

• Recognize or define the problem or opportunity. Although it is more common to focus on problems because of their obvious negative effects, managers who do not take advantage of new opportunities may lose competitive advantage to other firms.
• Gather information so as to identify alternative solutions or actions.
• Select one or more alternatives after evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of each possibility.
• Put the chosen alternative into action.
• Gather information to obtain feedback on the effectiveness of the chosen plan.

It can be easy (and dangerous) for managers to get stuck at any stage of the decision-making process. For example, entrepreneurs can become paralyzed evaluating the options. For the Gabby Slome, the cofounder of natural pet food maker Ollie, the idea for starting the company came after her rescue dog began having trouble digesting store-bought pet food after living on scraps. Slome decided that the pet food industry, a $30 billion a year business, was ripe for a natural food alternative. She laments, however, that she let perfect be the enemy of the very good by indulging in “analysis paralysis.” 18

Concept Check

• What are the three types of managerial roles?
• Give examples of things managers might do when acting in each of the different types of roles.
• List the five steps in the decision-making process.

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• Authors: Lawrence J. Gitman, Carl McDaniel, Amit Shah, Monique Reece, Linda Koffel, Bethann Talsma, James C. Hyatt
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• Publication date: Sep 19, 2018
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Managerial Roles and Skills

To meet the many demands of performing their functions, managers assume multiple roles. A role is an organized set of behaviors. Henry Mintzberg (1973) has identified ten Sub roles common to the work of all managers. The ten roles are divided into three groups: interpersonal, informational, and decisional. According to Henry Mintzberg(1973), managers in an organization, in order to be effective in their jobs, act in specific ways when they interact with others in the course of performing the four management functions of planning, organizing, leading and controlling.

These particular behavior patterns or roles were described by Mintzberg as 10 management roles, which he classified into 3 groups.  Interpersonal Roles  Informational Roles Decisional Roles. Interpersonal Roles The interpersonal roles are roles in which managers develop and maintain relationships. Interpersonal roles include the manager as figurehead, the manager as leader, and the manager as liaison. Figurehead: Managers being the head of a unit of an organization, represent their organization in ceremonial and symbolic activities, therefore serving as a figurehead.

Leader: the responsibility to hire, train and motivate the people who work for the organization also lies with the managers, therefore making them the leader of the workforce.

A manager performs the role of a liaison by building relationships with people outside the manager’s own unit.In the course of their liaison roles, managers may meet with peers, customers, corporate staff, and others. Informational Roles In the course of performing informational roles, a manager acquires, processes and communicates information. The three informational roles are: Monitor: Managers continually scan the environment to pick up useful information by interacting with people within and outside their own units.

Proficient in: Communication

“ Ok, let me say I’m extremely satisfy with the result while it was a last minute thing. I really enjoy the effort put in. ”

Disseminator: as disseminators, managers share and distribute information they have acquired to people within the organization. Spokesperson: as spokesperson, manager provides information to people outside the organization. . Decisional Roles Decisional roles are those roles in which managers examine alternatives and then make choices and commitments. These decisions range from minor choices to major strategic decisions.

The four decisional roles are: Entrepreneur: Managers initiate changes to improve their units or to adapt to changing conditions in the outside world. These changes may involve new products, processes or solution to problems. Disturbance handler: as disturbance handler, managers make changes to solve unanticipatedproblems that result from forces beyond their control. Resource allocator: Managers make choices about the quantity of people, money and available material to be used to achieve the organizational goal. Negotiator: the role of negotiator involves bargaining with others to support the organization’s goal. Managerial Skills Managers, whether top-level, middle-level, or supervisory-level, need specific skill to be effective in their job.

Management expert Robert L. Katz identified three basic skills that managers need. Katz (1974) has identified three essential management skills. They are: 1. Conceptual Skills Conceptual skills enable the managers to see the organization as a whole, and to understand how the various parts of the organization inter-relate. By applying conceptual skills, managers are able to recognize the consequences of any actions they take. Conceptual skills include the ability to analyze a situation, determine the root of any problems or opportunities, and devise an appropriate plan. Once managers have assessed why such a situation has arrived, he can create plans to solve the problem or to help the organization capitalize on good situations.

Interpersonal Skills Interpersonal skills allow the managers to work well with and through other people and to communicate effectively within a group. It is also called ‘human skills’ or ‘people skills’ because good interpersonal skills enable a manager to encourage people to freely share their ideas without fear of being criticized. In addition to this, good interpersonal skills enable managers to understand the needs and motivation of others and make them cooperative members of groups in which they participate. Technical skills are abilities enabling managers to use knowledge, methods, tools, techniques, and equipment to perform specialized tasks. Managers usually develop their technical skills through education and then by working in one or more functional areas of an organization such as accounting or marketing. Q2.

Discuss the methods of shaping behavior in details. Shaping is a conditioning procedure used primarily in the experimental analysis of behavior. It was introduced by B. F. Skinner with pigeons and extended to dogs, dolphins, humans and other species. In shaping, the form of an existing response is gradually changed across successive trials towards a desired target behavior using differential reinforcement. The principles of shaping are present in everyday interactions with the environment. In the case of a human trainer employing shaping to change another organism’s behavior, this procedure is used when giving verbal instructions  is impossible due to the absence of language or communication between the two. main are of two types s-r and r-s Methods of Shaping Behavior Extinction.

According to operating conditioning, both good and bad behaviors are controlled by reinforced consequences. Identifying behavioral reinforces and removing them can decrease a behavior. An undesired behavior without reinforcement can diminish until it no longer occurs. This process is called extinction. Extinction can modify the behavior of a worker who spends much time talking or telling jokes. The attention of coworkers reinforces this behavior. If coworkers stop talking and laughing, the worker is likely to stop telling jokes.

Although extinction is useful, it takes time to eliminate the undesired behavior. When behaviors need to stop immediately, managers may resort to punishment. Punishment: Punishment consists of administering a negative consequence when the undesired behavior occurs. Punishment is not the same as negative reinforcement. It decreases a behavior, whereas negative reinforcement increases the frequency of a behavior. Punishment administers a negative consequence, whereas negative reinforcement removes a negative consequence. Reinforcement

Reinforcement is the process that increases the probability that desired behaviors occur by applying consequences. Managers use reinforcement to increase the likelihood of higher sales, better attendance, or observing safety procedures. Reinforcement begins by selecting a behavior to be encouraged. Correctly identifying the behavior is important, or reinforcement will not lead to the desired response. A manager must decide if attendance at meetings is the desired behavior or attendance and participation. The manager would need to reinforce both behaviors if both are desired.

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