Managerial Competencies can be defined as the personal traits
and skills required by a Manager, to perform his job effectively. The
importance of good management in organization has led to various training and
development activities dedicated to enhancing Management Competencies in their
employees.
The critical Management competencies can be categorized as the
following:
Technical Competencies
Technical Skills Involve process or technique knowledge and
proficiency in a certain specialized field, such as engineering, computers,
accounting, or manufacturing. These skills are more important at lower levels
of management, since these managers are dealing with employees doing the
organization’s work.
The technical skill involves the manager’s understanding of
the nature of job that people under him have to perform. It refers to a
person’s knowledge and proficiency in any type of process or technique. In a
production department, this would mean an understanding of the technicalities
of the process of production. This type of skill and competence seems to be
more important at the lower levels of management, it's relative importance as a
part of the managerial role diminishes as the manager moves to higher
positions. In higher functional positions, such as the position of a marketing
manager or production manager, the conceptual component, related to these
functional areas becomes more important and the technical component becomes less
important.
Human Competencies
Human Skills Involve the ability to interact effectively with
people. Since managers deal directly with people, this skill is crucial.
Managers with good human skills are able to get best out of their people. They
know how to communicate, motivate, lead, and inspire enthusiasm and trust.
These skills are equally important at all levels of management.
Human skills are also the ability to interact effectively with
people at all levels. This skill develops in the manager the ability to perform
the following :
a) To recognize the
feelings and sentiments of others
b) To judge the
possible reactions to, and outcomes of various courses of action he may
undertake and
c) To examine his own
concepts and values, this may enable him to develop more useful attitudes about
himself.
Conceptual
Competencies
Conceptual Skills Involve the formulation of ideas,
conceptualization about abstract and complex situations. Managers understand
abstract relationships, develop ideas and solve problems creatively. Using
these skills, managers must be able to see the organization as a whole. They
have to understand the relationships among various subunits, and visualize how
organization fits into its border environment. These skills are most important
at the top management levels.
Conceptual skills refer to the ability of a manager, to take a
broad and farsighted view of the organization and its future, his ability to
think in abstract, his ability to analyze the forces working in a situation,
his creative and innovative ability and his ability to assess the environment
and the changes taking place in it. In short, it is his ability to
conceptualize the environment, the organization, and his own job, so that he
can set appropriate goals for his organization, for himself and for his team.
This skill seems to increase in importance as a manager moves up to higher
positions of responsibility and authority in the organization.
Thus, technical skill deals with things, human skills concerns
people, and conceptual skills have to do with ideas.
