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T a s k 8. Discuss the necessity of developing the following skills.
HUMAN SKILLS The ability to work with, understand, and motivate other people, both individually and in
groups, describes human skills. Many people are technically proficient but inter-personally incompetent. They might,
for example, be poor listeners, unable to understand the needs of others, or have difficulty managing conflicts. Since
managers get things done through other people, they must have good human skills to communicate, motivate, and dele-
gate.
CONCEPTUAL SKILLS Managers must have the mental ability to analyze and diagnose complex situations.
These tasks require conceptual skills. Decision making, for instance, requires managers to spot problems, identify al-
ternatives that can correct them, evaluate those alternatives, and select the best one. Managers can be technically and
interpersonally competent yet still fail because of an inability to rationally process and interpret information.
Effective vs. Successful Managerial Activities
Fred Luthans and his associates looked at the issue of what managers do from a somewhat different perspective.
They asked the question, Do managers who move up most quickly in an organization do the same activities and with the
same emphasis as managers who do the best job? You would tend to think that the managers who were the most effec-
tive in their jobs would also be the ones who were promoted fastest. But that’s not what appears to happen. Luthans and
his associates studied more than 450 managers. What they found was that these managers all engaged in four manage-
rial activities:
• Traditional management. Decision-making, planning, and controlling.
• Communication. Exchanging routine information and processing paperwork.
• Human resource management. Motivating, disciplining, managing conflict, staffing, and training.
• Networking. Socializing, politicking, and interacting with outsiders.
The "average" manager in the study spent thirty-two percent of his or her time in traditional management activi-
ties, twenty-nine percent communicating, twenty percent in human resource management activities, and nineteen per-
cent networking. However, the amount of time and effort that different managers spent on those four activities varied a
great deal. Among successful managers, networking made the largest relative contribution to success, and human re-
source management activities made the least relative contribution.
Among effective managers, communication made the largest relative contribution and networking the least. This
study adds important insights to our knowledge of what managers do. On average, managers spend approximately
twenty to thirty percent of their time on each of the four activities: traditional management, communication, human re-
source management, and networking. However, successful managers don’t give the same emphasis to each of those
activities as do effective managers. In fact, their emphases are almost the opposite. This finding challenges the historical
assumption that promotions are based on performance, vividly illustrating the importance that social and political skills
play in getting ahead in organizations.
A Review of the Manager’s Job
One common thread runs through the functions, roles, skills, and activities approaches to management: Each rec-
ognizes the paramount importance of managing people. As David Kwok found out when he became a manager at The
Princeton Review, regardless of whether it’s called "the leading function," "interpersonal roles," "human skills," or
"human resource management and networking activities," it’s clear that managers need to develop their people skills if
they’re going to be effective and successful in their job.
T a s k 9. Comment on the following interview between a journalist of CNN Global Office and Hirst Pacific
principal Kenneth Hirst. CNN.com, Dec 20, 2004.
Kenneth Hirst is an award – winning product and retail interiors designer and the founder and principal of strategic
design firm Hirst Pacific.
Global Office: What are you reading?
Kenneth Hirst: "A Short History of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryson; A smart, thought – provoking book of
discovery that makes you realize how little we know about everything. The Board of Education should take note of
Bill’s engaging, informative and entertaining style. It is a lesson in education.
GO: Who’s been your biggest influence?
KH: Luigi Colani: a truly maverick designer with intelligence and foresight. His innovation and original work has
influenced many of the products we use today. He has the rare ability to bring an object to life, to create something with
a personality able to befriend the viewer. You can’t help but smile when you look at his work.
GO: What’s your biggest mistake?
KH: A happy balance between professional and personal life is difficult to achieve. If anything I work too hard,
but my work is my passion and it’s created some of my biggest successes and friendships.
GO: Is management an art or a science?
KH: Neither, it’s a sense. Management is a natural reaction to the needs of both the company and its employees.
Good managers strategize according to forecasts, however a natural instinct for administering the plan whilst motivating
the human element is key.
GO: What do you reach for on your desk when the fire alarm goes off?
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