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ACCA Applied Knowledge · Business and Technology · Leadership, management and supervision

A department head has a limited budget and must choose between funding new software requested by the accounts team or extra staff requested by the audit team. He decides which request to support and how much to give each. Which statement about his role and Mintzberg's classification is most accurate?

He is acting as resource allocator, which Mintzberg classifies as a decisional role. Choosing how limited budget is divided between competing requests is a decision about distributing resources. Negotiator is also decisional rather than interpersonal, and leader and disseminator do not describe the allocation decision.

  1. AHe is acting as resource allocator, a decisional roleCorrect
  2. BHe is acting as negotiator, an interpersonal role
  3. CHe is acting as leader, an interpersonal role
  4. DHe is acting as disseminator, an informational role

Explanation

Deciding how scarce money, time and people are distributed is the resource allocator role, which Mintzberg places in the decisional category. Negotiator is also decisional, not interpersonal, and involves bargaining with others. Leader concerns motivating staff, and disseminator concerns passing on information.

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