- 13/01/2013
- Posted by: essay
- Category: Free essays
Describe the ways managers use boundary-spanning roles and why they use them
In the contemporary business environment, information plays an extremely important role. In this regard, managers focus their attention on the effective processing and use of information and media to develop effective marketing strategies and business plans, which can help their organizations to improve their organizational performance. In such a context, the use of boundary-spanning roles by managers is particularly effective in regard to the processing and using of information for benefits of organizations managers represent. In actuality, boundary-spanning roles have become an effective tool with the help of which managers can collect and process information, which is important for their business development, and what is even more important they can use this information for the promotion of their organizations, products and services.
On analyzing the significance of boundary-spanning roles and their impact on the contemporary management, it is important to lay emphasis on the fact that boundary-spanning roles are widely used in the contemporary business environment. At the same time, specialists (Aldrich and Herker, 1977) distinguish two major functions of boundary-spanning roles: information processing and external representation. Both roles are crucial for the functioning of modern organizations and managers cannot ignore the potential benefits of boundary-spanning roles.
First of all, it is worth mentioning the fact that the information processing is crucial for the functioning of modern organizations and managers use boundary-spanning roles for this purpose. What is meant here is the fact that managers collect information, which may be useful for their organizations, and process it. For instance, managers can observe the behavior of consumers and collect the information on their preferences. They can use this information to develop new products or change their marketing strategy to meet needs and wants of customers. Today, managers often use internet to collect and process information. For instance, they can start blogs, where they discuss some issues and directly or indirectly collect information about products or services their company supply to its customers. In such a way, managers collect the information and feedback they receive from users and process this information to introduce changes in their products and services or marketing strategies. For instance, managers can reveal reasons why consumers are dissatisfied with products or services supplied by their company. For instance, consumes may be dissatisfied with a poor customer support service of an online-shop. As a manager gets this information from the blog, he or she can start working on the problem and expand the customer support service to make it available to customers 24/7.
At the same time, managers always attempt to create a positive image of the company in the public eye because it improves the position of the company in the market and increases the customer loyalty to the brand. In such a situation, the external representation, as one of the manifestations of the boundary-spanning roles, is very effective. For instance, returning to the example of the blog, the manager can use the blog not only for the collection and processing of information but also for sending information to users to create a positive image of his or her company, product or service. For instance, a manager can inform users that he or she has noticed consistent improvements in the customer support service of the online-shop criticized by users.
Thus, managers use boundary-spanning roles because they allow them to collect and process information useful for their business and to send information that creates a positive image of their company, product or service. In addition, specialists (Jemison, 2007) insist on the positive impact of boundary-spanning roles on the decision-making process. Therefore, boundary-spanning roles are effective tools for the effective management and business development.
References
Aldrich, H. & D. Herker. (1977). “Boundary Spanning Roles and Organization Structure.” The Academy of Management Review, 2(2), pp.217-230.
Jemison, D.B. (2007). “The Importance of Boundary Spanning Roles in Strategic Decision-Making.” Journal of Management Studies, 21(2), pp.131-152.
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