Introduction
Management skills are a crucial aspect of organizational success and involve more than just telling people what they are supposed to do. However, when discussing management, it is also necessary to bring in the aspect of leadership because the two terms are complementary and linked on the roles they play in an organization. Leadership and management skills overlap in functionality as both are involved in decision-making, problem-solving, communication, delegation, time management, and planning. This paper will, however, focus on the analysis of the skills needed for a manager to succeed in his/her organizational work. It is important to note that leaders play the role of inspiring others to deliver on their duties while managers focus on the technicalities of an organization. Over 90% of management skills are developed through practical experiences and learning.
Important Management Skills (Golden Rule)
Being an effective leader involves more than just driving employees to work more efficiently or harder ( Aguinis & Bradley, 2015) . Consequently, forcing employees to perform their tasks in certain ways can lead to disloyalty or resentments while being too soft can unfavorable habits such as boredom, laziness, or procrastination. However, some researchers argue that there is no right style of management because every organization has individual perspectives. On the contrary, Aguinis, and Bradley (2015) state that there are universal rules that can lead to the success of a manager when used for purposes of governance:
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Be consistent: This rule is considered the first rule since it encompasses most of the other rules too. For a management method to be operative, it has to be consistent. Some of the means of ensuring consistency include observing equal treatment to all members of the organization, having a level-headed perspective, and rewarding and discouraging good and bad behaviors respectively anytime they appear.
Focus on accuracy, clarity, and thoroughness in communication: Communication is one of the critical ingredients of success in an organization. Thoroughness in communication is determined by how a manager; relays instructions, doling out the organization's updates, or recapping meetings. Additionally, the information being relied upon needs to be accurate and precise on every media of relaying it such as phone calls, in-person communication, as well as emails. Accuracy, thoroughness, and clarity ensure there is no miscommunication and keeping the organization on the same page.
Setting a goal of working as a team : Nurturing teamwork has been proven to breed a healthy mentality. On the contrary, setting goals only for specific people or departments breeds limited mentality while forcing them to be isolated. Teamwork ensures unified purpose and focus while creating inspiration to the team members.
Publicly reward and recognize hard work: Rewarding individuals and team members in public motivates them and makes them feel good. Motivation breeds focus and hard work in the organization. While rewarding and recognizing hard work, the manager should be consistent.
Be the example : Striving to be an own-ideal of the impeccable work especially before the employees will ensure the same behaviors or characteristics of the team. For instance, other employees will be less punctual if the manager shows up late.
Never go with ‘one-size-fits-all:’ Different people have different strengths, ideas, weaknesses, and preferences. Therefore using the same approach to encourage, mold, or motivate them can prove futile. The managers should focus on customizing their plan to fit different employees as individuals.
Remain as transparent as possible : Integrity is influenced by transparency as a manager, and it builds trust with the other employees. Consequently, withholding information or lying about something jeopardizes the relationship between the employees and the respect as a manager.
Encourage all opinions and ideas : Encouraging employees to participate in discussions in the organization promotes motivation and independence. People got discouraged and resented when they are not allowed to voice their opinions about something.
Help people enjoy work : Things such as surprise lunch outings, engaging in conversations with other employees, and creating dedicated break rooms can make other employees enjoy working in your organization.
Listen and ask questions : Identifying problems involves listening to grievances and concerns of the employees. The employees feel acknowledged and appreciated.
Management Skills According to Management Experts
Different management experts have different opinions on the types of management skills effective managers should possess to carry out their mandates in an organizational setting ( Aguinis & Bradley, 2015 ). A study done by the American Social and Organizational Psychologists Association (ASOPA), suggests that there are ten types of essential management skills for effective management of an organization ( Petersen, 2015) . Firstly; the study lists technical skills as the most critical management skill for managers to achieve their objectives. It states that these skills enable a manager to operate production tools, to operate the software, to boost sales, and market products and services. Secondly, the scholars list conceptual skills as a second important management skill that enables a manager to formulate ideas, diagnose a problem, find creative solutions, and analyze a situation critically. Thirdly, interpersonal skills allow a manager to work, interact, and relate effectively with other employees for motivation. Moreover, planning, as well, is an important skill that enables a manager to organize activities in line with the laid out guidelines, formulating strategies, and identifying achievable goals for the company. Furthermore, communication is an essential aspect of management skill because it determines how information is conveyed to all the employees of an organization thereby influencing the smooth running of an organization.
Additionally, decision-making is another vital management skill since it dictates the smooth running of an organization thereby determining the success of a manager. Also, delegation skill is another crucial management skill according to ASOPA because delegation facilitates quick and easy results thereby optimizing production and avoiding wastage of time. Besides, problem-solving skills are essential for managers to help them in solving the problem which arises in organizational settings by identifying them and coming up with solutions. Lastly, motivational skills are other essential management skills which all managers much possess because they help them to help bring responses and desired behaviors from employees.
Future Management and Leadership Skills
Many scholars have defined Psycap in different ways; however this article will adopt Dawkins and the colleagues' (2015) definition as "an individual's positive psychological state of development that is characterized by having confidence to take on and put in the necessary effort to succeed at challenging tasks by: (1) making a positive attribute about succeeding now and in future; (2) persevering toward goals and redirecting paths to goals in order to succeed, and when beset by problems and adversities; and (3) sustaining and bouncing back and even beyond to attain success." Psycap involves giving hope, efficacy, resilience, and optimism ( Bockorny, 2015 ) . Consequently, the future management and leadership skills required by leaders and managers: a capability to provide hope to the employees, being focused and goal-oriented, being resilient, and being able to endure adversities. According to Banks and others (2016) , m ost of the managers and leaders today do not have these skills and they can only practice and learn them with time to effect the needed change.
Conclusion
Management skills are an essential aspect of organizational success (Burke & Page, 2016). While some are innate, others can be learned with time. It is important to note that managers focus on technicalities of an organization thereby ensuring a smooth running of operations of the organizations. The golden rule contains the top ten management skills managers are required to have. However, those skills are universal, but managers can add some to the list that works for them. Consequently, the future managers are required to be more efficient in their mandate by considering the psycap skill that would enable them to succeed because the world is changing and that the future organizational setting would be more competitive and complex.
References
Aguinis H. & Bradley, K. J . ( 2015) . The secret sauce for organizational success: Managing and producing star performers . Organizational Dynamics, 44 , 161 – 68.
Banks, G. C. , McCauley, K. D. , Gardner, W. L., & Guler, C. E . ( 2016) . A meta-analytic review of authentic and transformational leadership: a test for redundancy . The Leadership Quarterly, 27 (4), 634 – 52
Bockorny K . ( 2015) . Psychological capital, courage, and entrepreneurial success (Dissertation). Bellevue Univ., Bellevue, Neb.
Burke, R. & Page, K . ( 2016) . Research Handbook on Work and Well-Being . Cheltenham, UK : Edward Elgar
Dawkins, S. , Martin, A. , Scott, J. & Sanderson, K . ( 2015) . Advancing conceptualization and measurement of psychological capital as a collective construct . Hum. Relat. 68: 925 – 49
Petersen, K . ( 2015) . Authentic leadership and unit outcomes: additive and interactive contributions of climate and psychological capital (Dissertation). Bellevue Univ., Bellevue, Neb.
