The Only Skills Modern Managers Need Is Human Skills - Coursework Example

The only skills modern managers need is human skills. Discuss. Name Institution Date Word count: 1893 Introduction Managing is a very important human activity. The success of an organization depends on the existing management practices. Management is the act of continually and consciously shaping organizations. It is the process of creating and maintaining an environment in which people working as a team effectively and efficiently achieve set objectives (Clem & Mujtaba, 2010). All organizations today have individuals who help them achieve their goals and these are known as managers. Managers are responsible for planning, directing, co-ordination and controlling activities in the organization (Jones & George, 2010). How effective an organization accomplishes its aims depends, to a large extent, in how managers perform these managerial roles. Nevertheless, to perform their duties and activities effectively, managers require a combination of skills. The modern managers are enablers and facilitators of different aspects of interests within the organization. As such, they cannot rely only on human skills to be successful in driving organizations towards achieving their goals (Bloom & Van Reenen, 2010). This essay discusses that besides human skills, modern managers must also be competent in technical, conceptual, problem-solving skills to be effective in contemporary business environment. Management process It is important to understand the management process in order to acknowledge the skills modern managers need to perform their duties successfully. Today, management is described as a process which cuts across all organizational functions. It is a combining force for relating the various activities within the organization aimed at serving the general goals of the organization (Bloom, Genakos, Martin & Sadun, 2010). Considering the actions of managers, Kaifi & Mujtaba (2010) argued that managers spend most of their time with others, particularly individuals at their level and stakeholders from outside the organization. Additionally, managers infrequently give orders instead they try to influence the people they are managing by requesting, suggesting, persuading and coaxing (Clem & Mujtaba, 2010). Most of the work managers do appear to require language skills, being insightful to personal differences and understanding different players and opportunities that exist in different situations. In modern organizations, effective managers tend to have well-established networks of supportive relationship with individuals within and without the organization. Managers are able to know about issues as and when they occur at different levels through these networks (Jones & George, 2010). Good managers know what they need to do in order to manage these networks well. These include knowing how to establish supportive relationships between organizations, how to build teams and how to mobilize knowledge within the workplace (Bloom & Van Reenen, 2010). According to Bloom et al. (2010) contemporary management is about organizational patterns which managers establish and maintain through continuous social interaction. Effective managers are considered to be part of the social process in the organization. Also, they often seem to engage in political activity through persuasion, bargaining and compromising in order to influence others and win their support. Human skills Considering the general idea of management process as explained above, it seems inevitable for modern managers to possess human skills even though it is not the only skills they should have. Human skill is the ability of a manager to work with people. It is the ability to create an environment in the workplace in which individuals feel safe and at liberty to articulate their opinions (Griffin & Moorhead, 2011). Ideally, to be effective managers must understand selves, work with others and motivate them. Human skills entail managing personal stress, developing self-awareness, counseling, coaching, empowering others and managing conflict successfully (Rahman & Yang, 2009; Clem & Mujtaba, 2010). Normally, managers deal directly with individuals in the workplace and hence, human skills are very critical. Good human skills help managers to get the best out of the people they manage. They are able to communicate, lead, motivate and inspire trust in others (Smit, Cronje, Brevis & Vrba, 2011). Additionally, the fact that human skills have equal importance at all management levels makes these skills outstanding. As Kaifi & Mujtaba (2010) argued, human skills mostly imply working with and through others and judging them carefully. All successful managers apply human skills in their day-to-day interaction with people. They have to be sensitive to people and circumstances and using human skills they should be able to persuade others to accomplish a common goal (Thomson & Thomson, 2012). Much of management involves watching, doing, sensing and even getting to know the behaviour of people. From self-awareness and personal experience, managers try to understand what other people are thinking in order to make appropriate decisions. This requires social empathy as connoted Kaifi & Mujtaba (2010) which is an element of human skills. As managers interact with others they judge them in terms of how they can contribute to the management plans. As such, managers can understand the strategy that best suit the situations at hand which can help implement their plans (Bloom & Van Reenen, 2010). Therefore, human skills are very important for modern managers and it may not be easy for them to effectively deal with people in the workplace when they lack human skills. Yes, human skills are critical for modern managers because they often directly deal with people, but they also need other skills such as technical, conceptual and design skills in order to become better managers. Additional skills managers need Besides human skills, modern managers also need technical skills. Technical skill is proficiency in and knowledge of activities that involve processes, methods and procedures (Kaifi & Mujtaba, 2010). Therefore, technical skills require managers to work with tools and apply particular techniques. As Griffin & Moorhead (2011) noted, management is a practical issue and therefore requires managers to have functional skill and knowledge to apply professional practice. Although managers at all management levels require technical knowledge, it is interesting that as managers ascend to higher levels of management they do not directly use technical skills but they apply more conceptual and human skills (Smit et al., 2011). Important to note, though, is that managers often are promoted to higher level of management because of their competence in technical skills and therefore this shows how significant technical skills are for modern managers. Other significant skills modern managers need in order to successfully perform their duties are conceptual skills, also known as thinking skills. Conceptual skills are associated with the capacity to envisage the organization in its entirety, understand relationships among parts and the position of the organization in respect to industry, community and world context (Jones & George, 2010; Bloom et al., 2010; Kaifi & Mujtaba, 2010). Managers, especially at top management level, must have conceptual skills to be able to conceptualize and think about intangible situations that are complex within and outside the organization. Using conceptual skills, managers should view their organization in totality and how it fits into wider business environment (Rahman & Yang, 2009). Ideally this is what defines effective managers. Although managers may not necessary be unique conceptual thinkers, they need to have clear minds and the ability to see the entire picture. Modern managers also need problem-solving skills to be effective. This involves the ability to solve problems in the workplace in a manner that benefits the organization as a whole (Jones & George, 2010). Managers must be able to identify a problem and design a workable solution to such a problem in respect to the existing realities. According to Bloom & Van Reenen (2010) problem solving is an unavoidable aspect in the management of people. Normally, managers encounter more pressure in dealing with employees’ problems in the workplace. To overcome this pressure, managers should be able to define the existing situation and develop a particular approach to solving the problem as it is (Thomson & Thomason, 2012). Ultimately, the course of action a manager decides to take must be practical and acceptable to the people who are affected by the problem. Therefore, problem solving skills are equally important as human, technical and conceptual skills and modern managers need to have them as well in order to be effective in their duties. It is necessary, however, to mention that the relative significance of these human skills, technical, conceptual and problem-solving skills may be at variance at different level of the organization. Managers at various levels of the organization may need more skills than others. Human skills are essential to success at all managerial levels because managers at all levels of organizational hierarchy are often in regular interactions with subordinates (Rahman & Yang, 2009; Bloom et al., 2010; Jones & George, 2010). The same applies to problem-solving skills because problems may arise in all organizational levels requiring being resolved. At the supervisory level, technical skills are of more importance than they are at the top and middle level of management (Thomson & Thomason, 2012). Although not critical at low level, conceptual skills are more valuable at the top and middle management levels (Kaifi & Mujtaba, 2010; Clem & Mujtaba, 2010). Generally, to be valuable in contemporary dynamic and demanding workplace, managers need the combination of the four management skills. Management as practice Like other practices, managing is an art and it entails doing things in respect to the realities of a circumstance. Nevertheless, managers work effectively by use of organized knowledge concerning management, which constitutes science. It is this management knowledge that improves managerial practice and makes it successful as observed Clem & Mujtaba (2010). In managing, practitioners gain knowledge through trial and error, and hence they are able to accumulate knowledge which they often seek for meaningful guidance. The accumulated knowledge that underlies managerial practice is what is considered to be theory (Jones & George, 2010). However, for practical reasons, all managers need to develop human, technical and conceptual skills. By using conceptual skills, managers are able to establish relationships between factors that may not be visible by other people. Managers with exceptional conceptual skills can use different theories of management in a similar situation (Rahman & Yang, 2009; Kaifi & Mujtaba, 2010). To be technical, it implies that a manager should act professionally. One of the requirements of professionalism is that managers perform their duties within set up rules, procedures and regulations. Additionally, managers must view organizational members as human beings, who besides having needs, also experience emotions and psychological feelings (Thomson & Thomson, 2012). For motivation of employees and to the organizational benefit, these human needs and feelings must be constructively utilized. Indeed, this is an important factor in increasing the productivity of the organization. Conclusion In conclusion, it should be noted that modern managers do not need only human skills, but they also need other skills such as technical, conceptual and problem-solving skills in order to be effective managers. Management is a process of creating and maintaining a workplace environment that enables efficient and effective achievement of organizational goals. It is important at all organizational levels and the use of the four types of skills is necessary in making the organization successful. Modern managers need human skills to establish good working relationships with people. They need technical knowledge and skills to apply professional practice. Conceptual skills enable managers to develop a bigger picture of their organization while problem-solving skills enable them to identify problems and use practical solutions to solve them amicably. Although the relative significance of these managerial skills varies with the level of organization, modern managers need them all to be valuable and more productive in the organization. References Bloom, N., & Van Reenen, J. (2010). Why do management practices differ across firms and countries?. The Journal of Economic Perspectives, 24(1), 203-224. Bloom, N., Genakos, C., Martin, R., & Sadun, R. (2010). Modern Management: Good for the Environment or Just Hot Air?. 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(2012). Managing people. Routledge. Read More