Formal assignment 1

Three different kinds of managerial skills

Ander supervision:

PROF. DR. YASSER A. BORIEK MD

Ass. Prof. Cardiothoracic Surg. Cairo University

Healthcare Accreditation and Quality Consultant

lecturer at Arab Academy, P&Q Institute -DQM, MQM, EGY-CAP

Chief Executive Officer at Private Healthcare Systems

M.D, Cardiothoracic Surg. Cairo University

TQMH, HHMG, LSSBB, CIPT AUC

Management skills are abilities that enable you to lead a team or oversee projects effectively.
Usually, managers apply these skills to a wide range of functions in marketing, production, finance
and human resources. If you are preparing for a future leadership role or are already a manager who
wants to improve and grow your abilities, you can develop managerial skills to make effective
decision-making.

What are management skills?

Management skills are attributes and abilities that drive specific tasks in a company. There are two
types of skills you need to master to advance and excel in your career: hard skills and soft skills.
Employers look for employees who have the right balance between these two, so you'll want to
develop both types of skills to be a successful manager.

Hard skills are technical skills and teachable skills that you learn through schools, colleges,
certification programs and training. They are abilities specific to your job or industry. These include
software programming, operating machinery, or even working with CAT tools to translate a foreign
language. Soft skills include communications, customer service, time management and leadership.
These skills are transferable to any job and are often called people or social skills and are harder to
develop, making them valuable to employers.

Types of Management Skills

According to American social and organizational psychologist Robert Katz, the three basic types of
management skills include:

1. Technical Skills

Technical skills involve skills that give the managers the ability and the knowledge to use a variety of
techniques to achieve their objectives. These skills not only involve operating machines and
software, production tools, and pieces of equipment but also the skills needed to boost sales, design
different types of products and services, and market the services and the products.

The technical skills of management can include:

- Handling machines
- Preparing daily work schedule

- Supervising employees

- Team formation and mobilizing performance appraisal

- Preparing reports

- Motivating employees, etc.

Technical skills are mostly required for operating-level managers since they spend much of their time
training subordinates and answering questions on work-related problems.

2. Conceptual Skills

Conceptual skills refer to the mental ability to analyze and diagnose complex situations. It involves
the seeing organization as a whole and understanding how its parts will affect the whole.

Conceptual skills are mostly necessary for top-level management. It assists the managers to imagine
the environment, analyzing the forces in a working place, and taking a broad farseeing view of the
business.

Managers further need to see for possibilities in the dynamic environment and form strategic plans
to realize such possibilities. Every manager must have a clear vision and concept about the policies,
planning, and other activities of the organization.

Top-level managers require a high degree of conceptual skills while other-level managers also
necessitate enough amounts of conceptual skills.

3. Human or Interpersonal Skills

Human skills refer to the ability to work with, understand and motivate other people individually or
in a group. It is concerned with understanding people.

Managers with high-grade human skills are capable to produce the best output from their juniors.
Because they know how to motivate, communicate, lead, and inspire subordinates.

Human behavior is the most complex aspect of management. Every manager must have good
knowledge of communication, motivation, leadership, grievance handling, and conflict management.
A manager should have ideas to communicate effectively with followers and immediate superiors.

A manager with ample human skills can lead subordinates and successfully manage the groups and
coordinate them effectively.

Managers can acquire human skills through education and training. These management skills are
equally important at each level of the organization. Thus, human skills are craved equally by all
managers in all organizations for productive and profitable operations.
Examples of Management Skills

There is a wide range of skills that management should possess to run an organization effectively and
efficiently. The following are some of essential management skills that any manager ought to possess
for them to perform their duties:

• Leadership

Leadership is a process of influencing your employees to direct their efforts towards achieving
objectives and goals. Leadership skills are key executive abilities that include communications,
interpersonal skills, planning and persuasion. Overseeing a team and other employees' work requires
skills to coordinate tasks, build teams, develop employees, evaluate them, and accomplish company
goals.

• Planning

Planning is a vital aspect within an organization. It refers to one’s 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 is also the process of formulating a set of actions or one or more strategies to
pursue and achieve certain goals or objectives with the available resources.

The planning process includes identifying and setting achievable goals, developing necessary
strategies, and outlining the tasks and schedules on how to achieve the set goals. Without a good
plan, little can be achieved.

• Strategy

Managers accomplish goals through strategic planning. Along with problem-solving, you can set a
well-thought-out plan, execute it and reach your goals. If you encounter setbacks, your key strategic
thinking skill will be useful, allowing you to be creative and pull from previous experiences. Thinking
strategically helps achieve the long-term vision of the company by scheduling daily objectives. For
instance, you plan and recognise the process that team members should perform to overcome
obstacles, problems and complete projects on time. Strategic managers are also able to identify
inefficiencies and determine quick solutions.

• 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.

Communication involves the flow of information within the organization, whether formal or informal,
verbal or written, vertical or horizontal, and it facilitates the smooth functioning of the organization.
Clearly established communication channels in an organization allow the manager to collaborate
with the team, prevent conflicts, and resolve issues as they arise. A manager with good
communication skills can relate well with the employees and, thus, be able to achieve the company’s
set goals and objectives easily.

• Organisation

Organisational skills include a neat work area, to-do lists and setting priorities. As a manager, you will
multitask by setting and attending many calendar events, meetings, deadlines, timelines and
projects. Organisation skills also include time management and prioritisation. Having well-developed
organisational skills helps you keep pace with your workload, stay on target with deadlines, ensure
you can find materials and reports, handle unexpected events and reduce stress. Organisational skills
help eliminate miscommunication, procrastination and support a healthy work-life balance.

• 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.

For the organization to run effectively and smoothly, clear and right decisions should be made. A
manager must be accountable for every decision that they make and also be willing to take
responsibility for the results of their decisions. A good manager needs to possess great decision-
making skills, as it often dictates his/her success in achieving organizational objectives.

• 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.

Delegation helps the manager to avoid wastage of time, optimizes productivity, and ensures
responsibility and accountability on the part of employees. Every manager must have good
delegation abilities to achieve optimal results and accomplish the required productivity results.
• 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. When it is clear that a manager has great problem-solving skills, it differentiates him/her from
the rest of the team and gives subordinates confidence in his/her managerial skills.

• 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. There are numerous
motivation tactics that managers can use, and choosing the right ones can depend on characteristics
such as company and team culture, team personalities, and more. There are two primary types of
motivation that a manager can use. These are intrinsic and extrinsic motivation.
References

• Management Skills. A list of attributes or abilities that an executive should possess in order to
fulfill specific tasks in an organization. Written by CFI Team.
• Management skills: definitions and examples. Indeed editorial team. Updated 24 August 2023.
• 3 Management Skills: Human, Technical, and Conceptual July 3, 2023 by Sujan.