Managerial Skills

Session 3
• Management skills can be defined as certain attributes or abilities
that an executive should possess in order to fulfill specific tasks in an
organization.
• Good management skills are vital for any organization to succeed and
achieve its goals and objectives. A manager who fosters good
management skills is able to propel the company’s mission and vision
or business goals forward with fewer hurdles and objections from
internal and external sources.
Managerial skills across the management
functions
1. Planning:
• ability to organize activities in line with set guidelines while still remaining within
the limits of the available resources such as time, money, and labor. It also requires
ability in formulating a set of actions or one or more strategies to pursue and
achieve certain goals or objectives with the available resources.
2. Communication:
• Possessing great communication skills is crucial for a manager. It can determine
how well information is shared throughout a team, ensuring that the group acts as
a unified workforce. How well a manager communicates with the rest of his/her
team also determines how well outlined procedures can be followed, how well the
tasks and activities can be completed, and thus, how successful an organization
will be.
3. Decision making:
• Another vital management skill is decision-making. Managers make numerous decisions,
whether knowingly or not, and making decisions is a key component in a manager’s
success. Making proper and right decisions results in the success of the organization, while
poor or bad decisions may lead to failure or poor performance.
4. Delegation:
• Delegation is another key management skill. Delegation is the act of passing on work-
related tasks and/or authorities to other employees or subordinates. It involves the process
of allowing your tasks or those of your employees to be reassigned or reallocated to other
employees depending on current workloads.
• A manager with good delegation skills is able to effectively and efficiently reassign tasks and
give authority to the right employees. When delegation is carried out effectively, it helps
facilitate efficient task completion.
5. Problem-solving
• Problem-solving is another essential skill.
• A good manager must have the ability to tackle and solve the frequent problems
that can arise in a typical workday.
• Problem-solving in management involves identifying a certain problem or situation
and then finding the best way to handle the problem and get the best solution.
• It is the ability to sort things out even when the prevailing conditions are not right.
6. Motivating
• The ability to motivate is another important skill in an organization. Motivation
helps bring forth a desired behavior or response from the employees or certain
stakeholders.
7. Interpersonal skills
• Management jobs are all about people, and being able to build successful relationships is integral.
• To lead a team managers need to earn the respect of their colleagues.
• To do this, managers need to know how to effectively deal with people.
8. Communication and Motivation
• Effective leaders must master all forms of communication including written, verbal and listening skills.
• As a team manager managers are the line of communication between frontline staff and senior management.
• Managers liaise with a variety of people, from entry-level employees to heads of departments and CEOs, in a
number of different ways - via email and social media, over the phone and in presentations, meetings and one-to-
ones.
• Managers need to establish a trusting relationship with employees so they feel comfortable sharing information
with you, and vice versa.
• To ensure that lines of communication remain open, managers need to make themselves readily available and
accessible to your employees to discuss any issues or concerns that arise. Having an open door policy or weekly or
monthly team meetings should facilitate this.
9. Organisation and delegation
• Managers juggle multiple responsibilities, so excellent organisational skills are vital.
• Managers need to manage their own workload, oversee the work of other employees,
attend meetings and training sessions, carry out appraisals and review company
policies.
• Sloppy working practices, tardiness and a general lack of organisation won't be
tolerated at this level and will set a bad example to your staff.
• Effective organisational skills reduces stress, save time and ensure that important
deadlines are met.
• Many managers ease their own busy workload by delegating tasks to colleagues. To do
this effectively you need to analyse and identify the skills of your employees and assign
duties to each depending on their skillset.
10. Forward planning and strategic thinking
• It's a manager's job to think of the bigger picture, so as well as focusing on today's tasks and responsibilities you'll also need to
plan for the future.
• This means setting priorities in line with company goals, reviewing systems and policies.
• As a strategic thinker, managers are capable of thinking long term for organizational profits and growth
11. Commercial awareness
• This skill is in huge demand among business employers.
• In fact, according to recruiters, commercial awareness is something that the majority of graduates lack.
• If you want to progress to management level, an understanding of the marketplace in which a business operates and what it is
that makes a business successful is essential.
12. Mentoring
• As well as being business-focused decision-makers, managers also need to play a supportive role.
• As managers reach this senior level they have a repertoire of experience, knowledge and skills, and it's your job to pass this
knowledge on and share your skills with others.
• This involves training and advising staff and building their confidence and skills.
• In a management position, managers will be the driving force behind the progression of team members.
3 Critical skills in Managing (by Robert L.
Katz)
• Technical:
• The know how in a particular area: e.g.-selling skills, administrative skills, accounting skills,
interviewing skills, training skills, production management skills.
• Interpersonal:
• Ability to work well with people both individually as well as a group, skills to build and manage teams,
build and manage strong inter-personal relations, communication skills to motivate , to bring people
together.
• Conceptualization:
• Skills to think and to conceptualize about the abstract. Skill to think ‘out of the box’.
• E.g.: skill that allowed Ratan Tata to come up with the concept of the cheapest car-the Nano; skill with
which Toyotas Top management came up with ideas such as JIT (just in time ) inventory management
& Kaizen— ideas that helped Toyota to eat into the market shares of major American Car companies;
the skill of Sony and Steve Jobs of Apple to come up with the idea of ‘personal entertainment’ and
thus, the birth of the Walkman and i-pod respectively.
 SKILLS AND MANAGEMENT LEVELS:

TOP MANAGEMENT CONCEPTUAL

&
DESIGN SKILLS

MIDDLE
MGMT HUMAN
SKILLS

TECHNICAL
SKILLS

SUPERVISOR

 As you can see, at lower levels , technical skills are more needed, as one moves
up the Hierarchical Chain, skills needed are Human skills. At Top management,
Conceptual and Design skills become essential.
Managerial skills and Organisation hierarchy
• The relative importance of skills may differ at various levels in the organisational
hierarchy
• Technical skills are of greatest importance at the supervisory level
• Human skills/interpersonal skills are helpful in the frequent interactions with
subordinates.
• Conceptual and design skills are not critical at the low level
• At the middle management level, the need for technical skills decreases, human
/interaction skills are still essential while conceptualisation skills gain in importance
• At the top level management, conceptual and design and human skills are
especially valuable but there is little need for technical abilities.
• At higher levels, technical skills of lower level managers can be utilised.
What firms look for in a top
manager
Skills and requirements for a mid
level manager