ExDel is a mid-sized sized company. Janet Chan (“Janet”) headed the Finance Department. The Human Resource Department was headed by Jeff Tan (“Jeff”). Jeff also served as a liaison between the management and the employees. The Logistics Department was managed by Mark Chan (“Mark”). Susan Wang (“Susan”) managed the customer service and service delivery. Samuel Tan (“Samuel”), the IT manager managed the IT team and was responsible for computer integration, operations and outsourcing, Harold maintained an open-door policy to his staff. He would encourage his staff to come to him directly for solving issues and problems. The practices of openness cascade throughout the company. There were lesser hierarchical levels and all staff (including junior staff) were also encouraged to express their views and to provide ideas and feedback. This inadvertently led to some of the senior staff and Heads to have some uneasiness whereby junior staff could bypass them due to direct access to Harold.

Mark was responsible for the Logistics Department, managing the logistic operations in their two facilities at Tampines and Jurong. He was responsible to achieve the corporate targets and goals set by Harold. The department has four (4) executives and 20 logistics officers. Mark was the liaison between his staff and the management. There were capability gaps between the executives and logistics officers. The executives were knowledgeable and competent while the logistic officers lacked the skills and confidents in their work. Mark maintained an open communication with his executives. On the other hand, managing the logistics officers were a challenge for Mark. The logistics officers felt overworked and opined that Mark treated the executives better. This led to mistrust between the executives and the logistics officers. Mark wanted the logistics officers to be more motivated and to take up more responsibility and higher valued roles.

a. Explain the three (3) categories of roles of a manager. Identify and briefly discuss one (1) sub role for each of these three (3) categories relevant to Mark. Justify your answers with relevant.