The Importance of Managerial Skills

by abubakr007 (student)

Quote:

The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort
and convenience but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy [Martin Luther King Jr.]

Title: Importance of Managerial Skills
Aspect of Management/Business: Efficiency and effectiveness of a manager

‘The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort
and convenience but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy’. It is true that the real judge of success is the ability of an individual to exercise perseverance, presence of mind and sound decision making skills during tough times. Controversy, though not welcomed, tends to make the person stronger. Not to mention, it makes an individual more experienced and prepared to address a countless number of challenges. The managers of any firm, big or small, are often placed in such situations where their decision making skills are put to the test. Not all of them succeed but those who do are rewarded with prestige and a sense of accomplishment which they carry on throughout their career. Inspired by the roles played by some leaders of the business world this essay will explain the vital roles of managers and managerial skills. Effective managers might have more of one set of qualities than others but ideally a manager develops a balance of both managerial and leadership qualities. Nevertheless they never forfeit the ability of taking corrective action when necessary. If managers are placed in challenging situation, they clearly need to possess extraordinary skills in order for them to be successful.

There are many examples of managers with such skills. Consider Mark Zuckerberg who is twenty-eight years old and the CEO of Facebook. As a manager he has had to be rational about his decisions and aware of how to solve problems. (1) “The first steps to becoming a really great manager are simply common sense; but common sense is not very common.” On the other hand, Richard Branson (Founder of Virgin group) eventually started a record shop in Oxford Street in London in 1971. Year by year he expand his business, from small to large scale. Later he diversified his business to include services such as virgin trains, virgin mobile and virgin airlines. He stresses the importance of time management skills and considers them to be a key quality of effective managers. (4) Warren Buffett, arguably the great investment managers in the world. Buffett owns Berkshire Hathaway, National Indemnity Company and National Fire & Marine Insurance Company and winds up investment partnerships to concentrate on Berkshire. He purchased major stakes in McDonald's and owns the 6th largest U.S. automobile insurer. He is an icon for stock selection and long-term investments and one of the most influential financial people in the world.

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The people discussed in examples of the ultimate managers follow the basic functions of management; there are four main functions of management. They include planning, organizing, leading, and controlling. All four functions are greatly important and no one function has greater priority than another. These four functions must be coordinated to have the management operate as a whole. Managers must continue to check on the functions of their subordinates and their tasks to make sure that they are being achieved and constantly updated. Different organizations and businesses require the different skills in the managers in order to handle the and to make them successful in the market. So there are different types of skills which the managers need in order to exercise the skills in the person in the different people. So managers have to deal with a lot of problems which requires their special skills. (4) Katz’s theory of managerial skills states three different skills namely conceptual skill, interpersonal skill, and technical skill. Those three managerial skills are used by different managers in different ways to deal with contentious and challenging issues. Furthermore a top manager needs to have more conceptual skill than technical skill. They have to think about the future of the company (goal and objectives). This requires long term planning and execution skills. Any small activities that support to achieve the goal and objectives are done by their s. Top managers always think about the long life of the business. Middle managers perform more using their interpersonal skill. They have to meet many people, so they need interpersonal skills to with people. These managers often take up roles as negotiators. Finally, lower level managers need technical skills in their job. The lower level manager deals with small activities that may lead to achieve the goal and objectives. These three managers must have a good relationship each other, so that the objectives and goals of the firm can be achieved.

These are the example of managers at the very highest level, (2) Henry Ford of Ford Motors and (3) Rupert Murdoch Chairman and CEO of News Corporation are excellent examples of top level managers. Apart from the controversies surrounding his corporation, Murdoch, like many others, has served at every level of management. Ford’s understanding of the production process, based on his insights as a lower manager, gave him to ability to refine and improve the production of cars on an unprecedented scale. Such exposure gives top level managers a complete understanding of the functions of a business and this knowledge is essential to ensure the efficiency and productivity of any top level manager. Hence it is essential for top managers to have climbed the managerial ladder in order to possess true knowledge and skill of their expertise.

In the light of the above examples we can see that (2) Mintzberg's Ten Management Roles are a complete set of behavior or roles within a business environment which are followed by most of these managers at every level. Each role is different, therefore spanning the variety of all identified management behaviors’. When collected together as an included whole, the capabilities and competencies of a manager can be further evaluated in a role-specific way. The roles are divided into three categories. The first category is informational which includes; monitoring duties and this includes assessing internal operations, a department’s success and the problems and opportunities which may arise. All the information gained in this capacity must be stored and maintained. The disseminator is the person who highlights factual or value based external views into the organisation and to subordinates. This requires both filtering and delegation skills. The final role is spokesman, who transmits information to outsiders through speeches and report to organisation. The second category is interpersonal which consists of the role of figurehead for social, inspiration, legal and ceremonial obligations. In this light, the manager is seen as a symbol of status and authority. Leaders direct and motivate subordinates, train counsels and communicate with subordinates. The role of the liaison is to maintain information links both inside and outside the organization and uses e-mail, cell phones, and meetings to communicate and bridge networks. Another role is decisional which includes the Entrepreneur. This role seeks to encourage managers to create improvement projects and work to delegate, empower and supervise teams in the development process. The Disturbance handler role is based on taking corrective action during disputes or crises and resolves conflicts among subordinates. The Resource allocator describes the responsibility of allocating and overseeing financial, material and personnel resources. The Negotiator represents the department during negotiation of union contracts or sales and represent department of interest. All Managers also use SMART. The word SMART means to be Specific, Measurable, Action oriented, Realistic and function according to a Time scale. Consider the example of Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC). Colonel Harland Sanders started his work with the depression rate of 25% in 1930s. So it’s a fact that if Colonel has applied to this rules and he seceded it during those years, his efforts made him a successful person through a lot of challenges and from controversy.

In fact the (5) problems in the corporate world are caused both internally and externally, therefore managers need to be extra careful and intelligent when considering the things that may affect them. This process is done through a SWOT analysis; this is the second step in the process. SWOT stands for Strength; Weakness; Opportunity; Threat. This is carried out by managers to determine what to focus on in the near future. The strengths are reinforced; the weaknesses are overcome; the opportunities are looked into and appropriate measures are taken to seize them; the threats are dealt with swiftly. Every manager uses SWOT to overcome his problem in business as he faces the challenges.

In the conclusion the key is the effective problem solving ability of managers and their understanding of the conditions of the failure or success of business. All great businesses have gained success by putting their every effort only those companies lead to success which implements on these strategies to be at the top of the competition. (6)Steve jobs the CEO of Apple and Co-founder of Pixar is one of the proofs of the ultimate measures of a man. He got fired by the board of directors at the age of thirty, fired from Apple which was the best thing which happened to him. The time period when he got fired gave him the confidence to face the challenges of world and However he started working from start and in next five years he became the founder of Pixar studio and Next. After few years Apple invited him next and he rejoined the Apple Company. He didn’t lose the faith and belief in himself and through his tough time of controversy, he again became the CEO of Apple Company. This paper as argued that by using the above aspects of management of manager’s roles and managers skills, any man can face the problems through his challenges although he can have the comfort and convenience.