MANAGEMENT
SKILLS
by
Antonio C. Antonio
November
25, 2013
More
often, we have a tendency to brand and classify managers for the type of skills
they have. More often too, we classify
managerial skills as “must have”, “may have”, or even “not necessarily have.” Managerial skills come in different forms and
degrees… technical, conceptual, human and design skills. Most of us will agree that a manager/leader
should possess all four skills even when this skill set may be of varying
degrees…. And some will say all four should be on the same (high) degree. But all will agree that a manager/leader must
at least have all four.
There
really is no perfect combination of managerial skills. At the end of the day, what would really
matter is results and performance. In
business, production seems to be the main objective… but production at the
least possible cost (therefore, profitability) matters most. In organizations, the accomplishment of the
goals and objectives of the group, the reason for the organization’s meaningful
existence, defines the brand of management a particular leader/manager has.
Here are
some relevant questions and my answers on the subject of management skills:
1.
What management skill (technical, conceptual, human and design) do you
think can be learned from the textbook or in the classroom and what can be learned
only through experience?
All four
skills could be learned from textbooks and the classroom… at least in the
theoretical framework sense. The actual validation of these theories is
done in actual practice. Because of its interactive nature, people skills
can also be acquired in school because of group work and the dynamics that goes
with it plus the fact that students interact in person almost daily.
Human/People skills should, however, be developed in actual work conditions
especially when the concepts of management are clear in our minds.
2.
What type of personality should a manager possess? Can anybody be trained or able to learn to
become an effective and efficient manager, or is a manager position suited only
for a few with a certain personality?
People
normally display two types of personality: Type A (aggressive, pro-active,
inquisitive, result-oriented, have good communications skill, welcomes
challenges, etc.) and Type B (passive, reactive, easy-going, dislikes
responsibility, etc.). Unfortunately, the general accepted norm is Type B
and people while Type A personalities often find themselves in managerial and
leadership positions. Personality traits belonging to Type A are the
characteristics akin to managers. Conceptual skill is another
ability needed in management which allows the manager to see the "whole
picture" (Heinz, 1999 and Quinn, 2010) and not just the particular task at
hand
3.
From the four management skills above, which do you think is the most
important and why?
Not to
say that one is more important than the others but Conceptual Skills seems to
be the important one considering its broad scope. The ability to
visualize the entire picture is exactly what a manager should have before he
could involve himself in micro-management.
Upland
organizational activities are no different from those in the lowlands. It probably is more challenging in the
uplands considering the lower level of educational attainment and learnedness
that is prevalent among its inhabitants.
Socio-cultural traditions and barriers will also be largely considered
together with excellent inter-personal skills to back-up management skills.
Just my
little thoughts…
(Please
visit, like and share Pro EARTH Crusaders and Landscape Ecology UPOU on
Facebook or follow me at http://antonantonio.blogspot.com/ )
No comments:
Post a Comment