Course Mateial- Entrepreneur v/s Manager

Entrepreneur vs. Manager

The entrepreneur is a person who is motivated to satisfy a high need for achievement in innovative and creative activities. His creative behavior and innovative spirit which forms a process of an endless chain is termed as entrepreneurship. It is not enough for the entrepreneur to buildup the process, but equally important task for him is to manage the business. He performs entrepreneurial vis-a-vis managerial functions. The entrepreneur enters at a transitional stage in which what is initially with innovation becomes a routine for him the transition from an entrepreneurship to management. Also, the emphasis switches from techniques and analytical methods to insight and to involvement with people. The entrepreneur perceives and exploits opportunity, and the subsequent steps necessary for organization are pertinent, to management.

The entrepreneur differs from the professional manager in that he undertakes a venture for his personal gratification. As such he cannot live within the framework of occupational behaviour set by others. He may engage professional manager to perform some of his functions such as setting of objectives, policies, procedures, rules, strategies, formal communication network. However, the entrepreneurial functions of innovation, assumption of business risk and commitment to his vision cannot be delegated to the professional manager. Failure to the professional executive may mean a little more than locating a new job perhaps even at a higher salary, whereas failure of an entrepreneur in his efforts would mean a devastating loss to his career. The professional manager has to work within the framework of policy guidelines laid down by the entrepreneur.

This distinction between entrepreneur and the professional (traditional) manager is presented in Table I.

Table-I

Distinctive Features of Traditional Managers and the Entrepreneur

Features	Managers	Entrepreneur
Primary Motives	Want promotion and traditional	Wants freedom, goal oriented
	Corporate rewards. Power-motivated.	Self-reliant, and self-motivated.
Time Orientation	Respond to quotas and Budgets, weekly,	End goals of 5-10 year growth
	monthly, quarterly, annual planning	Of business in view as guides.
	Horizons, the next promotion or transfer.	Takes action now to move the
	Next step along way.
Action	Delegate action. Supervising and	Gets hands dirty. May upset
	Reporting take most of energy.	Employees by suddenly doing their work.
Skills	Professional training. Often business	Knows business intimately. More
	School trained. Abstract analytical tools,	business acumen than managerial
	People-management and political skills.	Or political skill. Often technically
	Trained if in technical business.
Courage and	Sees others in charge of his or her	Self-confident, optimistic,
Destiny	Destiny. Can be forceful and ambitious,	Courageous.
	but may be fearful of others’ ability in
	Case of optimism.
Attention	Primly on events inside corporation.	Primarily on technology and market place.
Risk	Careful	Like moderate risk. Invests heavily, but expects to succeed
Market Research	Has market studies done to discover	Creates needs. Creates products
	needs and guide product	that often can’t be tested with
	Conceptualization.	market research-potential
		Customers don’t yet understand them.
		Talks to customers and forms own opinions

Status	Cares about status symbols.	Happy sitting on an orange crate if job is getting done.
Failure and	Strives to avoid mistakes and surprises.	Deals with mistakes and failures as learning experiences
Mistakes	Postpones recognizing failure.
Decisions	Agrees with those in power. Delays	Follows private vision. Decisive and action-oriented.
	decision until he gets a feel of what
	Bosses want.
Who they Serve	Please others.	Pleases self and customers.
Attitude Toward	Sees system as nurturing and protective,	May rapidly advance in a system,
the system	Seeks position within it.	when frustrated; reject the system
		And form his or her own.
Problem-solving	Works out problems within the system.	Escapes problems in large and
Style		formal structures by leaving and
		Starting his own.
Family History	Family members worked for large	Entrepreneurial small-business,
	Organizations.	professional, or agricultural
		Background.