Management Skills - Coursework Example

Management Skills Introduction Management is an exciting field that needs to be studied in order to learn its valuable secrets. In this essay we will take a look at one special aspect of Management: management skills. We take into account that fact that Management is a science and an art at the same time. John Reh in About.Com puts it this way: "Management is both art and science. It is the art of making people more effective than they would have been without you. The science is in how you do that. There are four basic pillars: plan, organize, direct, and monitor." Keeping this concept in mind, we study management skills from different point of views. The most important consideration has to be the manager effectiveness. From this quality all the other facets in a manager depend upon. To be effective should be the main concern for any manager. So we study the management skills with this idea in mind. Management Skills In a world of continuous change thanks to the technological and scientific advances there is an increasing need for new and better leaders in all of the fields of the business spectrum. There is a growing need for a higher vision in the way business is done, so management skills fill up a very prominent place in the ladder of success in any corporate environment. To achieve many of its goals any company looks for the best people with the best qualities so they can fulfill its expectancies with certain reliability. Managers should be endowed with many different skills as we will see in the following pages. Their effectiveness will be the source for the success of the business enterprise, so there are many strong demands placed on the managers' shoulders in relation to their skills. Leslie W. Rue and Lloyd L. Byars (2005) in their book "Management: Skills and Application" (PowerPoint format) deals with the most relevant principles of Management. They make the distinction of the different kinds of management into three classes: Top management, middle management and supervisory management (chapter 1, slide 6). In the slide 7, chapter 1, they state that the tasks or functions of management are planning, organizing, staffing, leading, and controlling. As the roles of management they specify three roles in slide 9, chapter 1: interpersonal roles (figurehead, relationship builder, leader), information-related roles (monitor, communicator, spokesperson), decision making roles (entrepreneur, disturbance handler, resource director, negotiator). All this gives us a clear picture of the scientific nature of Management. On the other hand, Gerald M. Blair considers that the manager of a small team has to play the roles of planner, provider, and protector at the same time. In chapter 1, slide 10, of the cited book by Rue and Byars (2005) the authors delimit the management skills into three categories: conceptual, human resources, and technical; and they define them in the following way: Conceptual: help managers understand how different parts of an organization relate to one another and to the business as a whole. Human resources: needed by managers to understand and work with people. Technical: specific abilities that people use to perform their jobs. Gemmy Allen, on the other hand, speaks about the same categories in the article entitled "Management Skills" referring to one book by Robert Katz: "Robert Katz identified three managerial skills that are essential to successful management: technical, human, and conceptual. Technical skill involves process or technique knowledge and proficiency. Managers use the processes, techniques and tools of a specific area. Human skill involves the ability to interact effectively with people. Managers interact and cooperate with employees. Conceptual skill involves the formulation of ideas. Managers understand abstract relationships, develop ideas, and solve problems creatively. Thus, technical skill deals with things, human skill concerns people, and conceptual skill has to do with ideas." In this way they agree in these main classification of the management skills, and at the same time they shed light on this topic giving a concrete scope of action for the manager to do his/her job in an effective way. Rue and Byars (2005) in chapter 3, slide 6, of their book about Management deal with the communications skills with some specific detail. They clearly state the following about managers regarding their communications skills: -Managers must give directions to the people who work for them. -Managers must be able to motivate people. -Managers must be able to convince customers that they should do business with them. -Managers must be able to absorb the ideas of others. -Managers must be able to persuade other people. In chapter 4, slide 5, the subject of discussion is the difference between "making decisions" and "solving problems", and they state that "decision-making is the process of choosing from among various alternatives; and problem-solving is the process of determining the appropriate responses or actions necessary to alleviate a problem." (Rue and Byars, 2005). This distinction is very useful when it comes to applying valuable resources into the managerial activities of making decisions and solving problems. It is very useful to know the difference when the manager is facing a difficult task in order to approach the situation the proper way. Slides 6, 7 and 8, chapter 4, speak further about the decision-making process and classifying the decisions as Programmed and non-programmed decisions; and they also state that there are to kinds of decision-making processes: Intuitive and Rational. (Rue and Byars, 2005). In relation to the creative process in making decisions, Rue and Byers (2005) establish the following steps in the slide 18, chapter 4: Preparation/investigation, concentration, incubation of ideas and information, illumination, and verification. In the Slide 22, chapter 4, they suggest to use brainstorming, brainwriting, and synectics, for stimulating creativity in the workplace. Many times it is recommended to emphasize group or team work, but some times the manager has to solve problems on his/her own. Knowing what to do sometimes is as important as knowing what NOT to do. Ceridian Corporation (2005) specializes in management training and development, and they give some valuable insight about what the efficient managers should do and should NOT do. Among the things that good managers should NOT do they list the following: focus on the negative, not supportive of employees, take all the credit, micromanage (overmanage every single detail), give no direction, etc. The things to do are the following in order to be an effective manager: give positive feedback often, show employees they matter, promote work-life balance, provide ongoing opportunities for learning and growth, give employees some control over how they do their work, etc. (Ceridian, 2005). Ceridian Corporation has also something to say about leadership and motivation. Effective managers tend to: find out what motivates the people who work for them, hire and keep people who have the right skills and abilities for the job, get people working on what's important, explain and train, let people get the work done, be generous with praise and recognition, expect excellence, care about people and show it, treat employees with respect, lead by example, etc. (Ceridian, 2005). All these good traits enhance the manager skills with a precious quality that will keep the organization growing in an effective manner. Motivation is extremely important and there is no substitute for it. If there is not enough motivational feedback from the managers, their relationship could be a real failure. The Wikipedia (2005a) puts it this way: "If they (the managers) fail to convince employees that they are better off staying than leaving, the organization will be forced into a downward spiral of hiring, training, firing, and recruiting." As we can see from this statement, motivation plays a very important role in the managers-employees relationship, and the managers should be aware of this fact keeping in mind that he/she is responsible for providing the adequate feedback that keeps the employees motivated and on his/her side. From Robert Heller's (n.d.) point of view, managers have also to be entrepreneurs and innovators, all at the same time. He refers about top executives, and he concludes that "stardom has nothing to do with the processes that make one company more effective than another. Those processes require the Triple Talents of the manager (who makes things happen), the entrepreneur (who makes things start) and the innovator (who makes things different - and better)." Heller makes his claims putting as an example the recent history of Procter & Gamble. In the last decades this enormous organization had been going through an institutional crisis. It went from one manager to another trying to improve its situation in the market. Finally, a new manager with Heller's Triple Talents of manager, entrepreneur and innovator came along the way. His name is A. G. Lafley, and he makes things different in his management office according to Heller (n.d.). Among other changes, Lafley does the following: 1. He gives human resources priority, personally tracking the performance of 200 senior executives. 2. He made managers concentrate on the major brands ('instead of trying to develop the next big thing'). 3. He made an ally rather than an enemy of the culture. 4. He changed the style at the top: quiet manners; moving top executives away from their 11th floor eyrie; meeting with 12 seniors at a round table every Monday morning - and, above all, listening. Heller (n.d.) sums all this up saying: "The above quartet admirably demonstrate that prime art of the manager - making it happen." Heller is speaking about vision. So this is one of the most fundamental of the management qualities. A manager without vision will find himself/herself lost in the big jungle of Business. Heller (n.d.) states it this way: "What the great manager does is to emulate the artistic genius by seeing the whole picture. Read the wonderful letters of Vincent van Gogh, and you will see exact discussion of technique and detail - but all set within a total concept of the image he wanted to create on paper or canvas. The manager likewise needs imagination to see what the business can become and to enlist the help of the people best able to start new ventures and develop the different and better." Heller's insight into this topic of management skills is very useful to understand the importance of good management in general. In some unique studies between academics and practitioners, people from the university world and real managers active in the workplace, there were conducted several surveys in order to find out with an integrated balance what manager skills were the most necessary for succeeding in Business for the 21st century. Mark Mallinger, PhD (2004) chronicles the conclusions of these recent studies in The Graziadio Business Report of Pepperdine University, where the studies were conducted. As a starting point, fourteen skills were selected as choices for the surveys. They were the following: 1. Ability to manage differences 2. Ability to manage change-- diversity 3. Being a strategic/visionary manager 4. Ability to motivate 5. Decisive-- quickness of action 6. Having a global perspective 7. Ethical and/or spiritual orientation-- that is, to act with integrity 8. Knowledge of computer technology 9. Analytic and problem solving skills 10. Resiliency-- being able to balance job, family and outside demands 11. Ability to facilitate/manage teams 12. Communication and interpersonal skills-- people skills 13. Having a self-development mindset 14. Being able to recognize current trends/market conditions In order of relevance, the academics and practitioners chose the next 6 skills as the most necessary for managers in the 21st century: 1.- Communication and interpersonal skills 2.- An ethical or spiritual orientation 3.- The ability to manage change 4.- The ability to motivate 5.- Analytic and problem solving skills 6.- Being a strategic/visionary manager Some participant groups chose to include other skills that were not present in the original list. These additional skills or attributes are: 1.- Persistence in overcoming difficulties 2.- Managing the knowledge worker 3.- Hard work 4.- Being passionate about work Summing up, Mallinger states it with the following words: "The group decision-making technique used in this exercise revealed that the effective 21st century manager is likely to be a transformational leader. That is, a masterful change agent who, through the use of outstanding interpersonal skills and analytical application, is able to motivate others by sharing a strategic vision, while at the same time adhering to a rigorous ethical code." This transformational leader has to be endowed with astounding qualities. There is no short-cut for success in any human area. The final test is effectiveness as the Wikipedia (2005b) explains it: "In management, the ultimate measure of management's performance is the metric of management effectiveness which includes: execution or how well management's plans were carried out by members of the organization leadership or how effectively management communicated and translated the vision and strategy of the organization to the members delegation or how well management gave assignments and communicated instructions to members of the organization return on investment or how well management utilized the resources (financial, physical, and human) of the organization to bring an acceptable return to shareholders All the skills required from a manager signal towards effectiveness, towards getting the job done. Not everybody can be a good manager. The top managers need to have remarkable attributes in order to succeed. Management is thus an art and a science, but it is also hard work. There is no substitute for walking the extra mile. Good managers work real hard, and they also know how to give their best by going further the extra mile towards excellence. Conclusion We have seen that management is a very demanding task. First of all, an excellent manager has to be first a leader. Without leadership, nobody can be an effective executive for any company. We have studied management skills from different perspectives, and we can conclude that good and appropriate management skills will help any business making it much more productive. In the long run, success depends from all the employees put together as a team. The numerous rewards for good managers make this position highly attractive in any company. At all costs, managers have to strive for excellence as the market is really competitive, and a bad manager will not stand the test for a long time. There is always an available spot at the top, and good managers always do their best to be always at the top thanks to their leadership attributes. References Allen, G. "Management Skills". (1998). Retrieved 25 November, 2005, from http://ollie.dcccd.edu/mgmt1374/book_contents/1overview/management_skills/mgmt_skills.htm Blair, G. M. "What Makes a Great Manager". (April 1993). Retrieved 26 November, 2005, from http://www.see.ed.ac.uk/gerard/Management/art9.html Ceridian Corporation. "Bad Managers: Bad News for Everyone". (2005). Retrieved 26 November, 2005, from http://www.ceridian.com/myceridian/connection/article/archive/0,3263,12550-56825,00.html Heller, R. "Business management skills - The Art of Management: the triple talents of the manager, the entrepreneur and the innovator". (n.d.). In Edward De Bono and Robert Heller's Thinking Managers. Retrieved 25 November, 2005, from http://www.thinkingmanagers.com/management/business-management-skills.php Mallinger, PhD, M. "Management Skills for the 21st Century". (2004). In The Graziadio Business Report. Pepperdine University. Retrieved 25 November, 2005, from http://gbr.pepperdine.edu/982/skills.html Reh, J. "Management 101". (2005). Retrieved 25 November, 2005, from http://management.about.com/cs/generalmanagement/a/Management101.htm Rue, L. W., and Byars, L. L. "Management: Skills and Application". (2005). Eleventh edition. McGraw-Hill/Irwin. The McGraw-Hill Company. PowerPoint book. Wikipedia. "Management". (November 25, 2005a). Retrieved 26 November, 2005, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Management Wikipedia. "Management Effectiveness". (November 20, 2005b). Retrieved 26 November, 2005, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Management_effectiveness Read More