Question

Three skills (technical, human, and conceptual) are commonly used to summarizing the competencies managers need. In your view, is this an exhaustive list of competencies? Explain.

Answer 1

The three skills namely technical, human and conceptual cover all the other skills under them which a manager will need for efficiency in his work. The technical skills include all the skills that a manager possesses to use techniques and the most efficient way of doing something. Being technically sound does not only cover dealing with the technology, machine and other equipment but all the techniques and methods that are used to simplify processes and attain business goals. A manager needs to be technically sound in the knowledge of the department or project he is handling. For example, the sales manager will have technical knowledge of sales and finance manager will have the technical knowledge of handling finance and accounts of the company.

Human or interpersonal skills are about dealing with people, handling and controlling them, motivating and guiding them towards achieving their goals. Being a manager it is important that one becomes a good leader and possess all leadership qualities. Only a happy and motivated team can give better outputs. Hence it is the responsibility of a manager to keep a good relationship with the employees and also ensure a healthy atmosphere among the employees. The employees should willingly follow him and look up to him for guidance and resolving issues.

Conceptual skills are that which differentiates a manager from the other staff. He should have a sense of current actions on future results. Decision making is an important task of a manager on which the actions and results of the whole organization depend. To take these decisions, the manager should have the ability to think critically and abstractly. He should know which department should focus on which individual objective so that all departments can collaboratively attain the common goal. He should be able to predict the future based on his conceptual thinking.

The other skills can be considered as subparts of these main skills. For example, decision-making skills will come under conceptual skills and communication skills will come under human skills. Hence these are the major skills under which a number of other skills of an efficient manager can be categorised.