Management skills

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The term management competence describes the ability to successfully exercise management functions such as planning , organization , leadership and control (measured against the goals of the organization, for example a company). Consequently, leadership skills are a subset of management skills .

Conceptual clarification and overview

The term management has two meanings. One describes the functions (tasks) that managers have to perform. Since Henri Fayol (1916), this has primarily included planning, organization, leadership, coordination and control. Consequently, leadership is a part of management, although the two terms are often used interchangeably. The second meaning of the term describes the people who perform these tasks and the roles associated with them . Analogous to the organizational pyramid, these can be divided into "upper", "middle" and "lower" management. According to Katz (1977) and Stewart (1982), the skills required to carry out management tasks can be broken down into technical, social and analytical skills. Examples of technical skills are (in addition to technological knowledge ) cost and investment accounting , project planning , quality control and the use of key figure systems . The social skills include leadership, motivation , communication , conflict resolution or fulfilling the role model function . Ultimately, managers need analytical skills such as problem solving , strategic thinking, risk assessment and a holistic understanding of how a company works and the interdependence of its areas (corporate functions) such as marketing , production , finance and administration .

Figure 1: Overview of the most important terms: management, competencies and functions

Some authors such as Zaleznik (1977), Bennis and Nanus (1985) or Kotter (1990) differentiated between management and leadership. According to this, managers would be more concerned with operational things like planning, control and organization, while leaders would have more visionary , inspiring and motivating changes in view. This discussion is now considered outdated because successful management is not possible without leadership (and vice versa); in other words: managers must be able to lead and leaders must be able to manage. According to Gary Yukl, the debate about the ideal definition of the terms does not go any further; It is more important to focus attention (research) on empirically testable findings and not on the subjective expressions of opinion of different authors. Figure 1 visualizes the most important relationships and terms.

Development and importance of the topic

The qualification of managers and their skills has a relatively recent tradition. For example, Peter Drucker observes that in the early 1950s there were only two companies with more or less systematic leadership development (Sears Roebuck in the United States and Marks & Spencer in England). Ten years later there were about three thousand; and after another decade, the number of such companies and development programs at universities was no longer quantifiable. This indicates the enormous need in practice for qualified managers, especially since the tasks and expectations of managers are becoming more and more complex.

Until the 1970s it was widely believed that management could not be taught or learned; it is more of an art to be born to. A successful manager should have special character traits and personality traits . In practice, however, this opinion has not prevailed. To empirically clarify these (and other) questions, Nitin Nohira and co-authors carried out a comprehensive study with 50 leading experts at Harvard University ("Evergreen Project"). 220 success factors (“secrets of success”) of management were examined over ten years at 160 companies. The result: There is no connection between the 30 tested personality traits of the top managers (CEO) and the long-term economic success of the company. So it is irrelevant whether the managing director is charismatic, visionary, self-confident, patient, reserved or detail-oriented. Rather, the ability to maintain personal relationships across all hierarchical levels and functions and to recognize problems and opportunities a little earlier than others ( intuition ) proved to be important . Figure 2 gives an overview of the most important results of the study on this topic. The “visionary” ( image ) only emerges afterwards ( creation of legends ).

Figure 2: "Harvard Evergreen Study": What really matters in management

Practice of skills development

What is the current practice of selecting and qualifying young people for management? To this end, a meta-study was carried out at the Steinbeis Institute for Management Innovation in which numerous studies on “best practice in leadership development” were evaluated. These include the publications by Carter, Conger, Day, and Fulmer. These findings can be summarized in the following principles and methods (see also Figure 3 for an overview):

Principles

Future orientation: Traditional case studies and training methods have an important disadvantage: They are based on experience and framework conditions from the past. In order to build competitive advantages , it is important to be oriented towards future strategic requirements of the business, anticipated challenges and market trends . The results are then used in the design of the training content. It is therefore a forward-looking approach that does not wait until the (economic) problems are obvious.

Succession planning: The qualification should be linked as closely as possible to the succession planning - i.e. to the individual strengths and weaknesses of the candidates. For example, FedEx has developed an almost complete system for regularly assessing the performance of young employees. The assessment system consists among others of employee appraisals , coaching , 360-degree feedback and supervisor assessments to talks in which the candidates difficult management problems before a panel of experienced managers present .

Involvement of practitioners: It is important to involve experienced operational managers. For example, candidates at General Electric are used to solve real-world problems in day-to-day business. This takes place, for example, in the form of projects. The companies also attach great importance to the fact that not only psychologists, but above all experienced line managers, also participate in assessment centers .

Success control: All best practice companies consistently monitor the success of training and further education . This relates not only to the subjective satisfaction of the participants, but also to the most objective, measurable results possible, such as learning success (newly acquired knowledge), transfer into practice or the impact of the training measures on business results such as sales , costs or customer and employee satisfaction .

Figure 3: Best Practice: Company and Principles

Methods

Classic seminars are the basis for all companies and are usually bought in by business schools because of the high costs. The companies ensure that these universities conduct practice-oriented research so that the participants get a knowledge advantage. Pure textbook knowledge can be acquired much more cheaply through reading and self-study. As a teaching method called the get action learning an increasingly important role. These are project groups that work on solving real problems from day-to-day business. In addition to its practical relevance, this approach has the advantage of improving the relationships between different participants, managers and functions (departments). As a starting point of development measures often serve management audits , conduct interviews ( "behavioral interview") and the 360-degree feedback , in which the candidate with feedback on their behavior from employees , supervisors , colleagues get ( public image ) and merging it with its own assessment ( Self-image ) compare. Numerous concerns and topics have a strong personal component and can therefore not be discussed in the group. So-called executive coaching is offered for this purpose . These are face-to-face meetings with internal or external consultants. Another common measure are so-called job assignments . These are one to three-year tasks in various functions that are particularly important for the acquisition of skills (so-called Linchpin positions). For example, it is extremely important that a prospective general manager who comes as an engineer from a technical department also spends an appropriate amount of time in sales , i.e. acquires experience in dealing with customers and thus develops an understanding of the development of the market. Figure 4 provides a comprehensive overview of the most important methods.

Figure 4: Best Practice: Methods

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ This definition results from the evaluation of the following sources: W. Staehle: Management. 7th edition. Munich 1994; SP Robbins, DA DeCenco: Fundamentals of Management. 4th edition. Upper Saddle River 2004; P. Ulrich, E. Fluri: Management. 7th edition. Bern u. a., 1995.
  2. ^ R. Katz: Skills of an effective administrator. In: Harvard Business Review. January-February 1955.
  3. ^ R. Stewart: Choices for the manager. London et al. 1982.
  4. ^ W. Staehle: Management. 7th edition. Munich 1994.
  5. ↑ SP Robbins, DA DeCenco: Fundamentals of Management. 4th edition. Upper Saddle River 2004.
  6. ↑ A. Zaleznik: Managers and leaders: Are they different? In: Harvard Business Review. No. 5/1977.
  7. ^ W. Bennis, B. Nanus: Executives. Frankfurt am Main 1985.
  8. ^ JP Kotter: A force for change: How leadership differs from management. New York 1990.
  9. ↑ G. Yukl: Leadership in Organizations. 6th edition. Upper Saddle River 2006.
  10. ↑ G. Yukl: Leadership in Organizations. 6th edition. Upper Saddle River 2006, p. 7.
  11. ↑ PF Drucker: Management: Tasks, Responsibilities, Practices. New York 1993.
  12. ^ SM Datar: The Center for Creative Leadership. Harvard Business School Case Study, May 2009.
  13. ^ W. Pelz: Competent leadership. Wiesbaden 2004, p. 25 ff.
  14. ↑ N. Nohira: What really works. In: Harvard Business Review. July 2003.
  15. ↑ N. Nohira: What really works. In: Harvard Business Review. July 2003, p. 7.
  16. ↑ L. Carter, D. Ulrich, M. Goldsmith: Best Practices in Leadership Development and Organization Change. San Francisco 2005.
  17. ^ JA Conger, RM Fulmer: Developing Your Leadership Pipeline. In: Harvard Business Review. December 2003.
  18. ↑ VD Day, SM Halpin: Leadership Development: A Review of Industry Best Practices. US Army Research Institute Publication, 2001.
  19. ^ RM Fulmer et al .: Developing Leaders: How Winning Companies Keep On Winning. In: Sloan Management Review. No. 1/2000.

Relevant specialist literature

  • CA Bartlett, AN McLean: GE's Talent Machine: The Making of a CEO. Harvard Business School Case Study, 2003.
  • W. Bennis, B. Nanus: Executives. Frankfurt am Main 1985.
  • L. Carter, D. Ulrich, M. Goldsmith: Best Practices in Leadership Development and Organization Change. San Francisco 2005.
  • JA Conger, RM Fulmer: Developing Your Leadership Pipeline. In: Harvard Business Review. December 2003.
  • VD Day, SM Halpin: Leadership Development: A Review of Industry Best Practices. US Army Research Institute Publication, 2001.
  • PF Drucker: The Effective Executive: Gaining effectiveness and the ability to act in the leadership role. Munich 2014.
  • PF Drucker: ManagementTasks, Responsibilities, Practices. New York 1993.
  • RM Fulmer et al .: Developing Leaders: How Winning Companies Keep On Winning. In: Sloan Management Review. No. 1/2000.
  • R. Katz: Skills of an effective administrator. In: Harvard Business Review. January – February 1955.
  • JP Kotter: A force for change: How leadership differs from management. New York 1990.
  • N. Nohira: What relly works. In: Harvard Business Review. July 2003.
  • W. Pelz: Competent leadership. Wiesbaden 2004.
  • R. Reichwald et al: Leadership excellence, Learning from an exploratory study on leadership systems in large multinationals. In: Journal of European Industrial Training. No. 3/2005.
  • SP Robbins, DA DeCenco: Fundamentals of Management. 4th edition. Upper Saddle River 2004.
  • W. Staehle: Management. 7th edition. Munich 1994.
  • R. Stewart: Choices for the manager. London et al. 1982.
  • G. Yukl: Leadership in organizations. 6th edition. Upper Saddle River 2006.
  • A. Zaleznik: Managers and leaders: Are they different? In: Harvard Business Review. No. 5/1977.