Key Differences Between Entrepreneur and Manager

The difference between entrepreneur and manager can be drawn clearly on the following
grounds:
1. A person who creates an enterprise, by taking a financial risk in order to get profit, is
called an entrepreneur. An individual who takes the responsibility of controlling and
administering the organisation is known as a manager.
2. An entrepreneur focuses on business startup whereas the main focus of a manager is to
manage ongoing operations.
3. Achievements work as a motivation for entrepreneurs. On the other hand, the primary
motivation is the power.
4. The managers approach to the task is formal which is just opposite of an entrepreneur.
5. An entrepreneur is the owner of the enterprise while a manager is just an employee of the
company.
6. A manager gets salary as remuneration for the work performed by him. Conversely, profit
is the reward for the entrepreneur.
7. An entrepreneurs decisions are driven by inductive logic, courage, and determination;
that is why the decision making is intuitive. On the contrary, the decision making of a
manager is calculative, as they are driven by deductive logic, the collection of
information and advice.
8. The major driving force of an entrepreneur is creativity and innovation. As against this, a
manager maintains the existing state of affairs.
9. While entrepreneur is a risk taker, the manager is risk averse.

MANAGERIAL ROLES AND MANAGERIAL SKILLS

When marking test papers, I have often noticed that students tend to confuse the terms
managerial roles and managerial skills. In this tutorial session, I would like to stress on the
difference between these two terms.
MANAGERIAL ROLES
Managers are the people who plan, organize, lead, and control the activities of the organization

so that its goals can be achieved. Managerial roles talks about the roles managers play in the
organization. Henry Mintzberg identified three major roles of a manager as follows:
In interpersonal roles, the manager is responsible for managing relationships within and
outside the organization. The manager must play a role as a figurehead, a leader and a liaison. In
informational roles, the manager is responsible for gathering and distributing information
to the stakeholders of the organization. Types of informational roles are monitor, disseminator,
and spokesperson. Finally, in decisional roles, the manager is reponsible for processing
information and reaching conclusions. Types of decisional roles are entrepreneur, disturbance
handler, resource allocator and negotiator. (Refer to your notes for explanation on the different
types of roles.)
MANAGERIAL SKILLS (MANAGEMENT SKILLS)
Being a manager is not an easy task as he/she is not only required to perform a job well, he/she
is also required to manage, direct and motivate his/her subordinate to perform their job well.
Therefore, being a manager requires a certain set of skills.
There are three levels of managers namely first-line managers, middle level managers and top
level managers. First line managers supervise the individuals who are directly responsible
for producing the organizations product or delivering its service. They carry the title production
supervisor, section chief. Middle level managers supervises first-line managers or staff
department. They carry titles such as marketing manager or department head. Top level
managers provide the strategic direction for the organization. They carry titles such as CEO,
CFO, CIO or executive vice president.

The figure below indicates the skills managers must have and the degree of importance for each
level of managers.
Conceptual skills is the ability to analyze complex information. It enables managers to
process information about the internal/external environment of the organization and determine
its implications. Top level managers need to have strong conceptual skills if they are to
effectively accomplish goals.

Human skills is the ability to work effectively with people. It involves motivating and
disciplining employees, monitoring performance, providing feedback, improving
communication and instructing employees. Human skills are most important for middle
managers as these managers must coordinate efforts of the members in his group as well as
other work groups within the organization.
Technical skills is the knowledge and the ability to use tools, techniques and procedures that
are specific to their particular field. Technical skills tend to be most important for first line
managers as they must have the knowledge and the "know-how" to ensure that the products and
services of their organization are delivered to customer.

Hopefully I have cleared up the confusion between these two terms. Remember, managerial
roles are the roles that managers play in the organization while managerial skills are the set of
skills required by managers to be effective managers.