Relative Skills Needed for Effective Performance at Different Levels of Management

Fayol and Katz suggest that although all the skills i.e. technical, human and conceptual, arc essential to a manager, their relative importance depends specially on the manager' rank in organizational hierarchy.

Technical Skill is specially important for first line managers who spend much of their time training workers and answering questions about work-related problems.

          

Human skill, although important for managers at all levels, is specially needed by mid-level managers. Their ability to tap the resource of their subordinates is more important than their own technical efficiency.

 Conceptual skill is mostly needed at the top level. In fact, the importance of conceptual skill increases as one rises through the ranks of management. At higher and higher levels of organization, the full range of relationships, and the organization's place in time are important to understand. This is where a manager must have a clear grasp of the total picture of what his/her enterprise would look like in the remote future.

Other Skills of Managers : Besides the skills discussed so fair, there arc two other skills that a manager should possess, namely diagnostic skill and analytical skill.

Diagnostic skill : Successful managers are found to possess diagnostic skill. A manager can diagnose a problem in the organization by studying its symptoms. For example, a particular division may be suffering from low productivity. With the help of diagnostic skill, the manager may find out that the division's supervisor has poor human skill. This problem might then be solved by transferring or training the supervisor.

Analytical skill : By analytical skill we mean the manager's ability to identify the key variables in a situation, see how they are interrelated and decide which ones should receive the most attention." This skill enables the manager to determine possible strategies and to select the most appropriate one for the situation. Analytical skill is similar to decision making skill, but analysis may not involve making an actual decision. For example, when selecting a site for a new plant, a manager may analyst the advantages and disadvantages of several sites and make a recommendation to the board of directors, which in fact takes the ultimate decision.In short, diagnostic skill enables managers to understand a situation, whereas analytical skill helps determine what to do in the given situation.