Management Skills

Chapter 5 Management Skills

Learning Objectives

• To define all the managerial skills and elaborate on it.

Management Skills • Managers need certain skills to perform the varied duties and activities associated with being a manager. • This include technical skills, human skills, conceptual skills, diagnostic skills, communication skills, decision making skills, and time management skills.

Technical skills • skills that include knowledge of and proficiency in a certain specialized field, such as engineering, computers, finance and manufacturing • Example: Accounts Payable Managers must be proficient in accounting rules and standardized forms so that they resolve problems and answer questions that their accounts payable clerks might encounter • important for first-line manager and become less important as a manager moves into the higher levels of management; even top managers need some proficiency in the organization's specialty • Because lower-level managers spend more time dealing with observable objects and processes

Human Skills or Interpersonal Skills • include the ability to work well with other people both individually and in a group • skills that are important for managers at all levels – remain just as important at the top levels of management as they supervise the lower levels • managers with good interpersonal skills are able to get the best out of their people

Conceptual Skills • include the ability to think and to conceptualise about abstract situations, to see the organisation as a whole and understand the relationships among the various sub-units and to visualise how the organisation fits into its broader environment • needed by all managers at all levels – these skills are more important in top management positions • Because upper-level managers deal

Diagnostic Skills • skills that enable managers to visualise the most appropriate response to a situation • Example: • A Physician diagnoses a patient’s illness by analysing symptoms and determining their probable cause. • A Manager can diagnose a problem in the organisation by studying its symptoms and then developing a solution.

Communication Skills • refers to the manager’s abilities to effectively convey ideas and information to others and effectively receive ideas and information from others • enable a manager to transmit ideas to subordinates so that they know what is expected, to coordinate work with peers and colleagues so that they can work well together and to keep higher-level managers informed about what is going on • help managers listen to what others say and to understand the real

Decision-Making Skills • refers to the manager’s ability to correctly recognise, define problems and opportunities and then to select an appropriate course of action to solve problems and capitalise on opportunities

Time-Management Skills • refers to the manager’s ability to prioritise work, to work efficiently and to delegate appropriately