8/17/2020 Lesson Printout - Study.

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Transcript: What Are Technical Skills in Management? - Definition &

Examples
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Technical skills are the knowledge and capabilities to perform specialized tasks. Management often needs to have
technical skills in order to communicate effectively with line workers and coordinate efforts.

Technical Skills Defined

Your four subordinates are about to design a specialized computer program for one of the firm's
clients. Things are going swimmingly until the test runs, at which point they discover that the program
is not working and their debugging efforts have failed. Luckily, you have technical skills related to
computer programming, so you are able to jump in and save the day.

Technical skills comprise the knowledge and capabilities to perform specialized tasks related to a
specific field. In this example, the field is computer programming, and technical skills may include
aspects like knowledge of computer languages, knowledge of advanced algorithms, or knowledge of
assembly languages related to the basic functions of a computer.

Examples and Roles of Technical Skills Management

One of the major areas in which skills are needed is data analysis. A manager of data analysts needs
to understand not only how to analyze data, but how to store it, code it, and retrieve it, because data
analysts are engaged in all of these tasks. A manager needs to have a sufficient understanding of
what the data analysts are doing so that he or she can coordinate the efforts. A pair of analysts might
be working on different parts of the same problem separately, each producing a piece that the
manager may need to cobble together. Alternately, a manager needs to know how the work that one
person is doing will be the input for what another person is doing. Managers also need to have
sufficiently strong technical skills so they can ascertain which analysts are better at which tasks and
the work can be distributed effectively.

It may seem like a very simple task to get a burger at a fast food joint, but the reality is that there are
a slew of steps to the assembly-line-like process that is run with near-military precision. Everything
from cooking the meat to ringing up the purchase is regulated, but glitches happen. A manager with
good technical skills can understand the system, its moving parts, and its intricacies so well that he or
she can actually fix many of the problems that come up. In fact, some managers have such strong
skills that they can see trouble brewing in the assembly line before it arises and can step in with
preventive measures.

Sometimes the technical skills of a manager are specifically related to the oversight of other skilled
laborers. A train dispatcher, for example, needs to have some general understanding about how
trains are run, but must also have technical skills related to planning and organization that are higher-
order than those who physically run the trains. As such, a dispatcher for a metropolitan rapid transit
system, for example, needs to know about the various passenger-related vagaries that can delay a

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8/17/2020 Lesson Printout - Study.com

train, reasons why signals may not be working, and where there is construction on the lines. A
dispatcher also needs to know where all the trains are, and be able to look at the big picture in light of
what goes on at the 'little picture' level of the train.

Lesson Summary
Technical skills are the knowledge and capabilities to perform field-specific, specialized tasks.
These skills enable a manager to coordinate work, solve problems, communicate effectively, and also
understand the big picture in light of the front-line work that must be performed.

Learning Outcomes
After this lesson is completed you should be able to:

Describe technical skills

Recall some examples of managerial technical skills

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