Skills and Competencies That Will Be Useful and Valuable for a Manager - Essay Example

Introduction Management involves coordination of people’s efforts to achieve organizational goals using organizational resources effectively and efficiently. Management includes planning, organizing, influencing, controlling, staffing and leading an organization to achieve the objectives and goals. As Dreyfus (2008) explains, effective managers purposely focus their attention and efforts in managing individuals; their actions/behaviors; change and manage across organizational boundaries to build relationships with stakeholders and partners and leverage internal and external networks. As a management student, I have learnt vital things which will be important in making me a better and an effective manager. This is an essay on reflection and self-evaluation of my managerial skills and competencies that will be useful and valuable in my future career as a manager. Additionally, in this essay, I will create a plan on how I will develop my managerial skills and competencies in future. This essay will be structured as follows: introduction, evaluation of my management skills and competencies, literature review and conclusion. Evaluation of my management skills is necessary because for a manager to stand out in management field, one has to develop more and more management skills. The management skills assist me in developing my personality and thus make me successful in my future career. Therefore, evaluation of skills will help me identify my weaknesses and strengths and thus develop my strength skills and make them better and improve my weaknesses as well. Management competencies include various resources allied to knowledge, skills and cognitive capabilities. The key to competence is the ability to integrate the sources and hence evaluation will help me in improving and making my future career in regard to my management competencies better. Finally, literature review will provide evidence and review of available literature on what effective management involves and the skills and competencies that an effective manager should have. Literature Review According to Punia (2013) to be an effective manager, a manager must achieve set organizational goals and make best possible utilization of all organizational resources. An effective manager should make suitable decisions, delegate tasks, empower individuals, solve and manage conflicts effectively and be a good listener as well (Punia, 2013). Therefore, an effective manager should have certain characteristics that enable him/her to carry out the managerial responsibilities effectively. An effective manager must possess numerous skills and competencies that enable them to perform effectively and efficiently at various management levels. As per Shirazi & Mortazavi (2009), receptiveness, being proactive, effective communication, team building, negotiation as well as decisiveness are some of the most important traits for an effective manager. Naylor (2010) found that team building, good communication, coordination, implementation, and constant communication are the most important managerial skills and competencies for effective managers. Punia (2013) outlines the required managerial skills and competencies and they primarily consist of: team player and team building; communication skills; assertiveness; adaptability; creativity; decision making; integrity and courageous. Naylor (2010) further describes effective managers as managers whose employees and subordinates are satisfied and productive as well. This literature review will focus on communication skill as an important characteristic for an effective manager and team building as well as adaptability. According to Luis et al (2008) managers with good communication skills are good instructors and good listeners as well. As a result, managers with good communication skills are able to efficiently process information and then relate the information back to their teams clearly. Additionally, with good communication skills, managers can clearly understand, decode and relate organizational vision and organizational goals to the personnel and hence maintain productivity (Luis et al, 2008). Dreyfus (2008) further explains that having clear communication is an important competency for an effective manager at all levels. This is because communication is the center and the heart of everything that a manager does. Studies indicate that managers spend up to 80% of their daily work communicating (Dreyfus, 2008). This is obviously factual because managers spend their day either talking, listening, presenting as well as in sharing information with other individuals within and outside the organization. Generally, the better a manager is in communicating with other managers, employees, subordinates and customers and sharing ideas the more the manager is able to understand individuals’ needs and the more successful they are in their managerial roles (Manzoor & Ullah, 2011). Yang (2010) explains that currently that nature of organizational work calls for individuals to work in team. Therefore, an effective manager should have skills to manage not just individuals but also teams. The responsibility of a manager is to develop a high performing team where individuals carry out their responsibilities effectively and respect and support each other. To accomplish this, an effective manager must constantly work to promote teamwork and collaboration among individuals they manage (Naylor, 2010). Team management is an important aspect in management. Managers with team management skills are able to administer and coordinate a group of people to carry out tasks. Team management entails teamwork, communicating, goal setting as well as performance evaluation. Additionally, to effectively manage teams, managers should be able to identify problems and solve any conflict that may arise within the team (Yang et al, 2010). Effective, productive and cohesive teams require good management skills in team management. Cohesiveness in teams is achieved by team members working cooperatively, sharing common objectives and sharing resources to accomplish the objectives. Such teams are productive because even if they disagree, they have ways of resolving their conflicts when they arise (Manzoor & Ullah, 2011). In addition, the teams are effective because tasks are allocated in accordance with every member’s skills and interests and thus there is no domination of team members by the insistent and popular personalities. Jiang (2010) explains that managers have a fundamental role in the developing and leading teams that function in this manner. According to Scarnati (2001) employee team refers to a group of interdependent persons who share the responsibility and accountability of teams’ task outcomes. A team facilitates cooperation, improves individual skills and also offers practical and valuable feedback devoid of conflicts between team members (Yang, 2010). Teamwork is therefore a paramount aspect for smooth organizational operation. A study by Yang (2010) found out that teamwork is important for all kinds of organizations and that team members improve their skills, capabilities and knowledge when working collectively within teams. Apart from teamwork facilitating personnel development and growth, it influences performance outcomes as well as organizational goals. Additionally, teamwork enhances relationships between employees and trust levels because in teams individuals are able to share same and common organizational goals. Manzoor & Ullah (2011) further explains that team work also improves organizational efficiency and productivity. These all benefits of teamwork indicate the significance of managers have teamwork competency and being able to facilitate teamwork in organizations (Scarnati, 2001). Adaptability is a key competency for an effective manager within the current ever-changing workplace structure. Adaptability is an important managerial aspect because being able to adapt significantly contributes to effective management (Crow, 2012). This is because a manager who is able to adjust rapidly to unanticipated situations has the ability to lead his team and subordinates to also adapt. Additionally, adaptability implies that a manager has the ability to think creatively and get provide solutions to cropping organizational problems (Crow, 2012). Accordingly, managers who are competent in adaptability are effective managers because they are able to handle unexpected situations. Such managers acknowledge the significance of changing themselves and being change agents to other people in order to respond to new situations that need new strategies and solutions (Yulk &Mahsud, 2010). Nonetheless, for a manager to be adaptive, the adaptive action should be relevant to the circumstances. Therefore, the degree at which a manager’s behavior and actions varies in ways suitable to varying tasks and subordinates is an indicator of an adaptable manager. As Kaiser et al (2007) argues, many managers are responsible for numerous diverse tasks and hence they are often required to shift fast from one activity. Generally, various tasks require varying management behavior and also subordinates often vary when it comes to their needs, experience, skills, competences and values and hence managers should be able to adapt their behaviors accordingly (Yukl & Mahsud, 2010). For instance, more delegation is suitable for subordinates who are strongly dedicated to task goals. Similarly, managers require adaptability competency when changes take place in regard to the motives and skills of the subordinates. Evaluation of Skills and Competencies Interviews’ Analysis The first respondent indicated that I have the ability to influence people easily and I also possess great motivation as well. As literature illustrates, being able to influence a group of people is an essential attribute for a manager. This is because management involves having to work with people under you and hence a manager should be able to influence individuals under him. A manager should also be decisive and driven and therefore I have the required managerial attributes for making decisions and being driven to achieve organizational goals. From the interview, it was indicated that I am a good listener. The respondent also said that I am empathetic and I interact with other people easily. Initially, I was a person who never used to interact much and I would shy away whenever we were having discussions. I was never much confident in meetings or during any other interaction and as I result I would end up socializing less with my colleagues. However, from the respond I got, it seems my communication skills have improved greatly and this came as a surprise to me. Communication skills are the foundation of any person for the personal development. This is because communication skills are important in maintaining personal, professional as well as job relations. In my opinion, my being a good listener and a person who can easily interact with others and take time to empathically hear what other people have to say seems to me my greatest asset when it comes to communication skills. However, even if it did not come as a surprise, it was somehow shocking to discover that I give my feedback in a rush and I do not take time to go through the details. Generally, I am somehow an impatient person and I think this is what makes me not take details into consideration. I think this is my weak point when it comes to communication skills and I therefore need to improve on this aspect because rushing to give feedback can make leave important and critical details during communication. Additionally, the interview indicated that I have the ability to lead in a team which indicates my skills and competency in team management. Managers are not only involved in managing individuals but also a group of people. This means that my ability to manage teams contributes to my being an effective manager. In addition, the interviewee indicated that I have the ability to assign team members roles in accordance with their skills and capabilities which implies my ability to assign subordinates roles according to their skills and competencies as a manager. Nonetheless, I need to be more accommodative of other’s opinions since the interview showed that at times I do not take criticism positively. Furthermore, there was also a respondent who emphasized that I am decisive and have the ability to solve conflicts. This also contributes to my management skills and competencies because as literature indicates, an effective manager should be able to solve and manage conflicts amicably. Questionnaires and Quizzes The questionnaire and quizzes indicate that I have a great drive to implement my ideas and achieve my goals. I quickly recognise patterns in external events and I am able to develop responsive mechanisms to the events. I always ensure that tasks are accomplished up to the end and I expect high performance from myself and others as well. According to the reviewed literature, these are some of the key attributes of an effective manager. The ability to implement my ideas and achieve my set goals is a very important trait competency for a manager. This is because a manager has the responsibility of achieving organisational goals and hence the attribute of being able to implement ideas and achieve my goals can help me achieve organisational goals as a manager. Additionally, my ability to be responsive to external events implies that I have adaptability as a competency. Accordingly, adaptability will be important to me as a manager in that I will be able to respond and act on facing unexpected events and changes as well. Lastly, my ability to ensure that tasks are accomplished also highlights my management skill. This is because managers are responsible for ensuring that those under them finish their tasks and accomplish the set objectives. Generally, the results from almost all the class quizzes are consistent and this highlights their reliability. This implies that the results can be interpreted as correct in regard to my managerial skills and competencies. Furthermore, the results somehow agree with the interview which further underpins my management skills and competencies. Plan Teamwork management is a skill plan to develop. This is because teamwork is such an important skill for managers (Scarnati, 2001). To help me develop teamwork management and teamwork leadership, I plan to enrol in a leadership Management Australia’s course on teamwork. During this course, I will receive training on how to manage teams better, conflict resolution, how to recognise team members roles and assign roles accordingly among other skills. This training will help me in improving teamwork which is extremely important in management. To evaluate this skill, I will use a 360-degree feedback. In this regard, I will gather information from my colleagues and also from my managers. Their responses will then be used to evaluate if I am competent in teamwork management. Communication is another skill I plan to improve. Currently, I interact with people from various cultures and even though the evaluation indicates that I am able to effectively interact with other people, sometimes it becomes so difficult for me to interact with people from different cultures. Additionally, since the results from the interview shows that at times I rush and do not take into account all details, it is necessary for me to develop the communication skill to enable me to communicate with everyone competently. To improve my communication skills, I plan to have some training on interpersonal communication skills which will consist of topics like; developing active listening skills’ how to best offer and receive feedback; recognising barriers to good communication, among other topics. To evaluate my communication skill, the level to which I meet the set activity targets can be measured; transmission checks can also be conducted where a survey on how much other work mates know about me can be asked to pass on to me; my workmates responses to the questionnaires can be reviewed to evaluate how my colleagues rate me and how those under me as a manager understand organisational goals. This evaluation can tell a lot about my interactions and thus my communication skills with my colleagues. In addition, there are other various parameters that I will use to improve my communication skills is a communication model that displays the communication process between two individuals, consisting of the frame of reference every communicator utilises, along with key filter via which a sent and received message should pass through. This model will assist me in understanding and improving my communication skills especially within cross cultural environment and make me an efficient and better communicator and consequently a better and efficient manager in future. Finally, adaptability is a skill I want to further develop and improve since I am within multicultural environment. To improve my adaptability, I plan to learn more regarding various cultures and their lifestyles and get adaptable. This will expand my ability to adapt to various situations. To evaluate my efficacy in adaptability, Emotional Quotient Inventory (EQ-i 2.0) can be used. EQ-i 2.0 is a popular EQ-i ® assessment which is used in an emotional intelligence test and can effectively measure my adaptability. In addition, since the current environment has complex challenges and is faced with constant changes, ability to solve problems is extremely important. I plan to use Kirton Adaption-Innovation Inventory (KAI) to measure how I solve problems and make decisions. According to Kirton Adaption-Innovation Inventory (KAI), adapters prefer a more adaptable and organized approach to solve problems while innovators prefer a less orderly and prefer a more eccentric and resourceful strategy in solving problems and hence havea likelihood of seeking solution by thinking outside the box. Therefore, by using Kirton Adaption-Innovation Inventory (KAI) I will be able to know if I am an adapter or innovator when it comes to problem solving. Conclusion This reflective task was undertaken to evaluate my managerial skills and competencies and create a plan on how I will further develop the skills and competencies. The evidence on my managerial competencies and skills was collected from interviews I conducted on my workmates where they gave different comments on my skills and competencies. Further evidence was obtained from the class quizzes and questionnaires. The evidence was consistence because the interview comments and questionnaire/quizzes’ answers indicated that I am an influencer; have good communication skills; I am a good team leader and I have the ability to solve conflicts. The evidence did not surprise me because I have always been confident of my managerial skills and competencies. However, I was somewhat to discover that I am always impatient when giving feedback when communicating and I end up leaving out some details. I plan to use the gathered evidence to improve on my weak skills and competencies and further develop my strong points. References Chyle L, Osman M & Rosli A. (2010). Are managerial competencies a blessing to the performance of innovative SMEs in Malaysia? International Journal of Economics and Management. 4(1): 120-136. Crow T. (2012). Adaptability as a Management Competency. . Dreyfus R. (2008). Identifying Competencies that predict effectivene of R & D Managers. Journal of Management Development. 27(1):76-91. Jiang J. (2014). Th e Study of the Relationship between Leadership Style and Project Success. American Journal of Trade and Policy. 1(1): 51-55. Jiang X. (2010). How to Motivate People Working in Teams. International Journal of Business and Management. 5(10). Kaiser, R. B., Lindberg, J. T., & Craig, S. B. (2007). Assessing the flexibility of managers: A comparison of methods. International Journal of Selection and Assessment. 3(15): 40 – 55. Koman E & Wolff S. (2008). Emotional intelligence competencies in the team and team leader a multi-level examination of the impact of emotional intelligence on team performance. Journal of Management Development. 27(1):55-75. Luis R, David B, Robert L & Cardy B. (2008). Management: People, Performance, Change, 3rd edition. New York: McGraw-Hill. Manzoor K& Ullah H. (2011). Effect of Teamwork on Employee Performance. International Journal of Learning & Development. 1(1): 2164-4063. Naylor, G. (2010).The Role of Professionalism in Determining Job Satisfaction in Professional Services: A Study of Marketing Researchers. Journal of Service Research. 3(4): 321-330. Punia B. (2013). Managerial Competencies and their Influence on Managerial Performance: A Literature Review. International Journal of Advanced Research in Management and Social Science. 2(5):70-80. Scarnati, J. T. (2001). On becoming a team player. Team Performance Management. An International Journal. 7(1/2): 5-10. Yang L, Huang C & Wu K (2010). The association among project manager's leadership style, teamwork and project success. International Journal of Project Management. 29(3):258- 267. DOI: 10.1016/j.ijproman.2010.03.006. Yulk G &Mahsud R. (2010). Why Flexible And Adaptive Leadership Is Essential. Consulting Psychology Journal. 62(2): 81–93. Appendix Interview 1. What are some of the skills do you think make me an effective manager? You are driven, decisive and motivated in your work and manage to easily influence other people. You are very clear about your responsibilities in the department. Whenever presented with a change or new idea you easily adapt and you easily come up with solutions. 2. Whenever I am a team leader, what trait do you think makes me stand out as a good team leader? You are a great asset to the team. For instance, in spite of difficult deadline in our previous project you maintained positive attitude and managed to maintain cohesiveness in our team and solved the few conflicts amicably. You respond to problems that arise during teamwork without being angry or getting frustrated. Your most outstanding trait is assigning the team members roles in accordance with their talents and skills. However, you seem to take criticism from team members as personal attack. 3. What do you think is my greatest strongpoint as a manager? You have good work skills and initiative as well. You are always ready to assist other people solve their problems. You are decisive and you have the ability to solve and manage conflicts efficiently. 4. During our interactions in the workplace, what would you comment regarding my communication skills? You are always listening during our interactions. You are also empathetic and take time to listen to other people. You are an easy goer and a person who freely interacts with others. However, you normally rush to give feedback without giving much consideration to details. Read More