Management skills

What types of skills do managers need? Managers need three critical skills in managing: technical, human, and conceptual.

Technical skills are the job-specific knowledge and techniques needed to proficiently perform work tasks. These skills tend to be more important for first-line managers because they typically are managing employees who use tools and techniques to produce the organization’s products or service the organization’s customers. Often, employees with excellent technical skills get promoted to first-line manager.

Human skills involve the ability to work well with other people both individually and in a group. Because all managers deal with people, these skills are equally important to all levels of management. Managers with good human skills get the best out of their people. They know how to communicate, motivate, lead, and inspire enthusiasm and trust.

Finally, conceptual skills are the skills managers use to think and to conceptualize about abstract and complex situations. Using these skills, managers see the organization as a whole, understand the relationships among various subunits, and visualize how the organization fits into its broader environment. These skills are most important to top managers.

In today’s demanding and dynamic workplace, employees who want to be valuable assets must constantly upgrade their skills, and developing management skills can be particularly beneficial in today’s workplace.

A. Find out whether the statements given below are true (T) or false (F) according to the information in the text. If the statements are false, correct them.

1. Three skills are especially important for managers. ( )

2. As usual top managers have excellent technical skills. ( )

3. Human skills help work with people at all levels of company structure. ( )

4. First-line managers should have conceptual skills to work with employees. ( )

5. The ability to see the organisation as a whole, to set goals and develop strategies refers to conceptual skills of a manager. ( )

3 Vocabulary

A. Match nouns and adjectives and their definitions.

1 challenge	A something that you hope to achieve in the future
2 issue	B something that tests strength, skill, or ability, especially in a way that is interesting
3 not-for-profit (esp. AmE) [= non-profit]	C without any commercial success or making a profit.
4 goal [= aim]	D a subject or problem that is often discussed or argued about, especially a social or political matter that affects the interests of a lot of people
5 performance	E a big company, or a group of companies acting together as a single organization
6 customer	F the act of doing a piece of work, duty etc
7 corporation	G the activity of making money by producing or buying and selling goods, or providing services
8 business	H someone who buys goods or services from a shop, company etc

1-… 2-… 3-… 4-… 5-… 6-… 7-… 8-…

B. Translate sentences. Pay attention to the use of the key words.

1. The company is ready to overcome the challenges of the next few years.

2. The key issue is whether workers should be classified as 'employees'.

3. Nonprofit organizations refer to groups whose purposes are to benefit the public.

4. The Company seeks to make an accurate and detailed presentation of its performance results.

5. His ultimate goal was to set up his own business.

6. We aim to offer good service to all our customers.

7. He works for a large American corporation.

8. Students on the course learn about all aspects of business.

C. Word Focus.

The word ‘business’ is very important for you as a future manager but it has a lot of meanings. Look at the list of meanings and collocations.