Management Skills

Robert Katz has identified three essential management skills: technical, human, and conceptual.

1. Technical Skills
• The ability to apply specialized knowledge or expertise. All jobs require some specialized
expertise, and many people develop their technical skills on the job.
2. 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 interpersonally incompetent
3. Conceptual Skills
1. The mental ability to analyze and diagnose complex situations
2. Decision making, for example, requires managers to spot problems, identify alternatives
that can correct them, evaluate those alternatives, and select the best one.

Skills Exhibited by an Effective Manager

1. Clarifies goals and objectives for everyone involved
2. Encourages participation, upward communication, and suggestions
3. Plans and organizes for an orderly work flow
4. Has technical and administrative expertise to answer organization-related questions
5. Facilitates work through team building, training, coaching and support

6. Provides feedback honestly and constructively
7. Keeps things moving by relying on schedules, deadlines, and helpful reminders
8. Controls details without being over-bearing
9. Applies reasonable pressure for goal accomplishment
10. Empowers and delegates key duties to others while maintaining goal clarity and commitment 11. Recognizes good performance with rewards and positive reinforcement