Management Competencies - Essay Example

Introduction Managers and leaders of today need to develop some so called soft skills apart from developing their hard skills. These soft skills allow the managers to develop better relationships with their employees and improving and developing them. This is also critical due to the fact that the current organizational cultures have become more diversified and rich in the sense that organizations are now open to interact with employees belonging to different cultural norms and values. It is therefore important that the development of management competences is critical for the overall success of the managers in current era. (Jubb and Robotham). Management competences therefore are considered as key for achieving continuous improvements in the performance as well as extracting better performance from others. It is however, important to note that issues like empathy, conflict management, dealing with the difficult people and developing others are some of the competences which most of the managers often struggle to develop. This is due to the fact that managers having such competences need to display different behaviors and behavioral characteristics in order to successfully utilize these competences. (Millman and Wilson) Empathy, conflict management, developing others as well as dealing with different difficult people are some of the competences which are considered as essential for the success of the today’s managers. However, it is important that the managers must show some attributes in order to ensure that these competences are best utilized. This paper will therefore broadly attempt to discuss some key competences-some key enablers which managers may utilize in order to develop others as well as manage the conflicts. Competences “Boyatzis (1982) suggests that a competence is an underlying characteristic of a person which consists of an effective mix of motives, traits, skills, aspects of one’s self-image or social role, or body of knowledge used by an individual. From a management perspective it can be considered that competence is the ability to use knowledge and skills effectively in the performance of a specific task.” (Gilmore and Carson) The above explanation of a generally a competence is point towards different aspects of what actually the managerial competencies are and how they are actually applied within an organizational setting. This definition further suggests that the competences must comprise of the mix of motives and how these can be applied towards an organizational setting by an individual. Today’s managers therefore must understand the importance of not only the development of these competences but how these competences will be disseminated within the organization is critical also. The competences are also important from the perspective of the organizational performance because the achievement of organizational goals largely depend upon how effective managers are in dealing with the different issues. (Conway) Defining competences is a bit complex because earlier literature seems to have placed a distinction between the concept of competencies and competences. However, later on, both the terms are now being used interchangeably and indicate the set of behaviors and characteristics which employees must have to provide input into a given situation to achieve the higher performance. Competences therefore also serve as a signal to employees from the management regarding what is expected of them and how they can utilize these competences to achieve the better performance. Thus competences mostly fall within the domain of performance management and how management of the organization can actually use to achieve the desired level of performance. Managerial competences are also important because they allow managers to utilize their strengths in various organizational situations and extract the best performance from their employees. In a sense, strong managerial competences allow managers to become more effective in their dealing with the different organizational situations. (Murphy) It is also important to note that the organizations can actually gain competitive strategic advantage by following and developing the competences of their employees and managers. The strategic focus therefore requires that the higher management must develop a culture where such competences are flourished and developed in order to unleash the employee creativity as well as improving the employee relations. It is also important to note that the competences often fall into two broader categories of behavioral as well as technical competencies. Technical competences are mostly related with the hard skills which are necessary to achieve a desired standard of performance the core activities required to be performed. The behavioral competences however, are relatively difficult to identify and its often difficult to set an objective criteria against which the competences of the managers can be judged against such competences. (May) The behavioral competences such as empathy, developing others, conflict management, as well as development of others. The next section will therefore discuss the core competences required under two different organizational settings i.e. developing others and conflict management. Developing others One of the key responsibilities of the leaders and the managers is to bring best out of their available resources. Since employees are probably the more versatile and complex pool of resources therefore it becomes relatively more critically to develop them as compared to other assets in order to achieve organizational objectives. Developing others therefore not only equip the employees to become self sufficient but also develop their own unique set of capabilities to handle various organizational settings so that the organization as a whole can benefit from the diversified pool of resources. (Cannon) There are different competences required in order to ensure that the managers can actually help their subordinates and others to develop as better managers in the future. One of the key competencies required to develop others is the use of so called efficiency orientation. Efficiency orientation outlines the use of skills and abilities by the managers to focus on achieving the specific results. (Ramo, Saris and Boyatzis). As managers must have to develop and set the goals required to be achieved and than subsequently developing the methods and tools to achieve these objectives. (Mumford). This competence is necessary to develop others because once the managers identify the goals and objectives and the overall expectations from a project or task, it becomes relatively easy to identify the resources required to achieve the overall goal or objective. Once the resources are identified, managers can than develop these resources and utilize them in such a manner that the overall objectives are achieved. Efficiency orientation however, requires that the managers must have the personal character and required competency to understand the situation at hand in a better manner and must also ensure that the requisite expectations are then transformed into material objectives upon which different employees can be developed and trained to achieve. (Iles) For example, a sales manager may have the task to double the sales for a particular region and in order to achieve the objective; manager may have to ensure that the field staff must have the enough product knowledge as well as the skills to close the sales for the company. As such the clarification of the objectives and goals therefore provide a very realistic opportunity to the managers to develop others. Another important competency which may be critical importance in terms of developing others is the communication competence. Communication competence requires the managers to develop the ability to transfer and exchange in the information in such a manner that overall message are conveyed and understanding is built between the managers and the employees. In order to effectively develop others, it is of paramount importance that the managers have developed the ability to extrovert in order to develop better rapport with the employees. Further, it is important that the managers must have the ability to communicate through informal and formal manners in order to ensure that the message is delivered correctly to the intended audiences. (Hart) Quinn however, identified different roles in which leaders and the managers have to show and display different levels of competences. Developing others as a competency therefore comes under the role of mentors wherein the managers and the leaders assume the charge of the mentors and develop their subordinates in order to achieve the organizational objectives. The role of the mentor therefore allows the managers to not only understand the self and others but also develop the ability to communicate properly with others. This ability therefore greatly enhances the capability of the managers to develop and grow other subordinates in either formal or informal settings. The role of the mentors and the subsequent competency of developing others also allow the managers to develop the informal networks and channels through which they can effectively understand the needs of their employees and subsequently develop strategies to address such problems to achieve better performance from the employees. (Lamond) Conflict Management Though the term conflict may suggest a negative connotation associated with the word however, conflict is a part of the day to day routines of the organization. Conflict therefore can either be a source of identifying new ways of doing things or alternatively it can prove as detrimental to the overall health of the organization. Organizations therefore generally tend to avoid situations which may create the conflict either internally or externally. Internal conflict may be between he employees and the management whereas the external conflict can be between the organization and other stakeholders such as shareholders. Whatever the situation, it is of critical importance that the managers must have the ability and the will to manage the conflict and maintain a desired degree of performance. (Huang) Managers therefore must develop the ability to critically ensure that the conflicts within the organization are minimized or they are utilized in most creative manner in order to improve the existing organizational processes and procedures. One of the most important competence managers may use under this situation therefore is the competence of utilizing the socialized power. The use of socialized power provides managers to take benefit from the various formal as well as informal networks and hierarchies in order to achieve the desired results. The use of socialized power therefore brings the managers in the middle and act as a person who can end the conflict and bring together different parties to the conflict. (Collins) In order to achieve this competence, it is however, of importance that the managers must have the ability to express themselves clearly and succinctly. Having effective communication therefore is one of the key behaviors and skills required to ensure that the conflicts are resolved. Another important behavior characteristics required to successfully accomplish the task of conflict management by utilizing the socialized power is to develop the certain degree of empathy and closeness with the employees. Developing the ability of empathy in such a manner that the employees consider you sincere in solving their problems is therefore of critical importance. (Varca) It is critical to note that the use of power can be either for the personal use or for the purpose of the personal gains also. However, if socialized power is used for the purpose of conflict management, it can really help the managers to become the critical source within the organization to solve the conflicts. This also means that the managers must learn the ability to think beyond themselves and have the necessary skills and abilities to ensure that they have the required level of sensitivity to others. There is also an adjustment process when the leaders and the managers use the subsequent adjustment process to accomplish their personal objectives also. Thus the use of socialized power also addresses the need for the achievement as well as to develop high level of affiliation also. Conclusion The development of management competence is considered as essential in the current work environment. The development of the competences in the managers therefore is considered as essential for achieving the desired level of performance and maintaining the overall degree of organizational harmony and peace. Managers can use the efficiency orientation as the key competency in order to develop others besides assuming the role of mentors. Mentoring as a competency therefore allows the leaders and the managers to better develop rapport with the employees and understand their needs and requirements. In order to effectively solve the organizational issues such as conflict management, managers can use socialized power as the most effective competency to resolve the conflicting situations. Bibliography Cannon, Fred. "Business-driven management development." Journal of European Industrial Training 19.2 (1995): 26-31. Collins, David. "Organizational Change: Sociological Perspectives." Leadership & Organization Development Journal (1998): 214. Conway, Christopher. "Developing Senior Management Competences at Ocean Group." Management Development Review 7.1 (1994): 7-12. Gilmore, Audrey and David Carson. "Management competences for services marketing." JOURNAL OF SERVICES MARKETING 10.3 (1996): 39-57. Hart, Graham. "Making the grapevine bear fruit — developing communication competence." 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