Management Skill: The Key to Management Success
Thus far, the introduction to the study of management has focused on discussing concepts such as the importance of management, the task of management, and the universality of management. This section continues the introduction to management by defining management skill and presenting both classic and more contemporary views of management skills thought to ensure management success.
Defining Management Skill
No introduction to the field of management would be complete without a discussion of management skill. Management skill is the ability to carry out the process of reaching organizational goals by working with and through people and other organizational resources. Learning about management skill and focusing on developing it are of critical importance because possessing such skill is generally considered the prerequisite for management success.20 Because management skills are so critical to the success of an organization, companies commonly focus on possible steps that can be taken to improve the skills of their managers.
Management Skill: A Classic View
Robert L. Katz has written perhaps the most widely accepted early article about management skill.21 Katz states that managers’ ability to perform is a result of their managerial skills. A manager with the necessary management skills will probably perform well and be relatively successful. One without the necessary skills will probably perform poorly and be relatively unsuccessful.
As an example illustrating how companies need to develop their managers’ skills, consider the importance of preparing managers for working with people of other cultures. An increasingly global business world requires that managers who travel be aware of and grasp cultural differences in their dealings with coworkers, clients, and the public. Professionals at New York–based Dean Foster Associates, an intercultural consulting firm, provide cross-cultural training that helps businesspeople prepare for work overseas. For example, for a client heading to Japan, Foster conducted a five-hour session that included a traditional Japanese meal, coaching on Japanese dining etiquette, and information on business customs, socializing, and developing the proper mind-set for working outside one’s native country.22
Figure 1.6 As a manager moves from the supervisory to the top-management level, conceptual skills become more important than technical skills, but human skills remain equally important
Katz indicates that three types of skills are important for successful management performance: technical, human, and conceptual skills.
-
Technical skills involve the ability to apply specialized knowledge and expertise to work-related techniques and procedures. Examples of these skills are engineering, computer programming, and accounting. Technical skills are mostly related to working with “things”—processes or physical objects.
-
Human skills build cooperation within the team being led. They involve working with attitudes and communication, individual and group interests—in short, working with people.
-
Conceptual skills involve the ability to see the organization as a whole. A manager with conceptual skills is able to understand how various functions of the organization complement one another, how the organization relates to its environment, and how changes in one part of the organization affect the rest of the organization.
As one moves from lower-level management to upper-level management, conceptual skills become more important and technical skills less important (see Figure 1.6). The supportive rationale is that as managers advance in an organization, they become less involved with the actual production activity or technical areas, and more involved with guiding the organization as a whole. Human skills, however, are extremely important to managers at top, middle, and lower (or supervisory) levels.23 The common denominator of all management levels, after all, is people.
Management Skill: A Contemporary View
More current thought regarding management skills is essentially an expansion of the classic view of what skills managers need to be successful. This expansion is achieved logically through two steps:
-
Defining the major activities that managers typically perform
-
Listing the skills needed to carry out these activities successfully
The major activities that modern managers typically perform are of three basic types.25
-
Task-related activities are management efforts aimed at carrying out critical management-related duties in organizations. Such activities include short-term planning, clarifying objectives of jobs in the organization, and monitoring operations and performance.
-
People-related activities are management efforts aimed at managing people in organizations. Such activities include providing support and encouragement to others, providing recognition for achievements and contributions, developing the skills and confidence of organization members, consulting when making decisions, and empowering others to solve problems.
-
Change-related activities are management efforts aimed at modifying organizational components. Such activities include monitoring the organization’s external environment, proposing new strategies and visions, encouraging innovative thinking, and taking risks to promote needed change.
Managers are involved in daily activities that plan, organize, influence, and control company resources in order to achieve organizational goals.
Jim West/Alamy
Important management skills deemed necessary to successfully carry out these management activities appear in Figure 1.7. This figure pinpoints 12 such skills, ranging from empowering organization members to envisioning how to change an organization. Keep in mind that Figure 1.7 is not intended as a list of all skills managers need to be successful, but as an important list containing many of the necessary skills. One might argue, for example, that skills such as building efficient operations or increasing cooperation among organization members are critical management skills and should have prominence in Figure 1.7.
Management Skill: A Focus of This Book
The preceding sections discussed both classic and contemporary views of management skills in modern organizations. A number of critical management skills were presented and related to top, middle, and supervisory management positions.
To increase the probability of being successful, managers should have competence in . . .
. . . Clarifying roles: assigning tasks and explaining job responsibilities, task objectives, and performance expectations
. . . Monitoring operations: checking on the progress and quality of the work, and evaluating individual and unit performance
. . . Short-term planning: determining how to use personnel and resources to accomplish a task efficiently, and determining how to schedule and coordinate unit activities efficiently
. . . Consulting: checking with people before making decisions that affect them, encouraging participation in decision making, and using the ideas and suggestions of others
. . . Supporting: acting considerate, showing sympathy and support when someone is upset or anxious, and providing encouragement and support when there is a difficult, stressful task
. . . Recognizing: providing praise and recognition for effective performance, significant achievements, special contributions, and performance improvements
. . . Developing: providing coaching and advice, providing opportunities for skill development, and helping people learn how to improve their skills
Figure 1.7 Skills for increasing the probability of management success
MyManagementLab : Try It, What Is Management?
If your instructor has assigned this activity, go to mymanagementlab.com to try a simulation exercise about a dairy business.
One common criticism of such management skill discussions is that although understanding such rationales about skills is important, skill categories—such as technical skill, human skill, and conceptual skill—are often too broad to be practical. Many management scholars believe that these broad skill categories should contain several more narrowly focused skills that represent the more practical and essential abilities for successfully practicing management.26 These more narrowly focused skills should not be seen as valuable in themselves, but as “specialized tools” that help managers meet important challenges and successfully carry out the management functions of planning, organizing, influencing, and controlling. Table 1.2 summarizes the management functions and challenges covered in this book and the corresponding management skills that help address them.
Table 1.2 Management Functions and Challenges Covered in This Text and Corresponding Management Skills Emphasized to Help Address Them
| Introduction to Modern Management |
| Chapter 1—Management Skill: The ability to work with people and other organizational resources to accomplish organizational goals. |
| Appendix 1—Comprehensive Management Skill: The ability to collectively apply concepts from various major management approaches to perform a manager’s job. |
| Modern Management Challenges |
| Chapter 2—Corporate Social Responsibility Skill: The ability to take action that protects and improves both the welfare of society and the interests of the organization. |
| Chapter 3—Diversity Skill: The ability to establish and maintain an organizational workforce that represents a combination of assorted human characteristics appropriate for achieving organizational success. |
| Chapter 4—Global Management Skill: The ability to manage global factors as components of organizational operations. |
| Appendix 2—Entrepreneurship Skill: The identification, evaluation, and exploitation of opportunities. |
| Planning |
| Chapter 5—Planning Skill: The ability to take action to determine the objectives of the organization as well as what is necessary to accomplish these objectives. |
| Chapter 6—Decision-Making Skill: The ability to choose alternatives that increase the likelihood of accomplishing objectives. |
| Chapter 7—Strategic Planning Skill: The ability to engage in long-range planning that focuses on the organization as a whole. |
| Organizing |
| Chapter 8—Organizing Skill: The ability to establish orderly uses for resources within the management system. |
| Chapter 9—Responsibility and Delegation Skill: The ability to understand one’s obligation to perform assigned activities and to enlist the help of others to complete those activities. |
| Chapter 10—Human Resource Management Skill: The ability to take actions that increase the contributions of individuals within the organization. |
| Chapter 11—Organizational Change Skill: The ability to modify an organization in order to enhance its contribution to reaching company goals. |
| Influencing |
| Chapter 12—Communication Skill: The ability to share information with other individuals. |
| Chapter 13—Leadership Skill: The ability to direct the behavior of others toward the accomplishment of objectives. |
| Chapter 14—Motivation Skill: The ability to create organizational situations in which individuals performing organizational activities are simultaneously satisfying personal needs and helping the organization attain its goals. |
| Chapter 15—Team Skill: The ability to manage a collection of people so that they influence one another toward the accomplishment of an organizational objective(s). |
| Chapter 16—Organization Culture Skill: The ability to establish a set of shared values among organization members regarding the functioning and existence of their organization to enhance the probability of organizational success. |
| Appendix 3—Creativity and Innovation Skill: The ability to generate original ideas or new perspectives on existing ideas and to take steps to implement these new ideas. |
| Controlling |
| Chapter 17—Controlling Skill: The ability to use information and technology to ensure that an event occurs as it was planned to occur. |
| Chapter 18—Production Skill: The ability to transform organizational resources into products. |
Because management skill is generally a prerequisite for management success, aspiring managers should strive to develop such skill. In developing such skill, however, managers should keep in mind that the value of individual management skills will tend to vary from manager to manager, depending on the specific organizational situations faced. For example, managers facing serious manufacturing challenges might find that the ability to encourage innovative thinking aimed at meeting these challenges is their most important skill. On the other hand, managers facing a disinterested workforce might find that the ability to recognize and reward positive performance is their most valuable skill. Overall, managers should spend time defining the most formidable tasks they face and sharpening the skills that will help them to successfully carry out these tasks.