Management skills

Effectiveness of a manager's activity depends on certain im­portant skills. These skills can be divided into seven different cat­egories: conceptual, decision making, analytic, administrative, communicational, interpersonal and technical.

1. A conceptual skill is the ability of a manager to see the "general picture" of an organization. Managers must understand how their duties and the duties of other managers fit together to plan their activity in a proper way and get the required results. This skill is very important for top managers because it helps them plan "super goals" and develop proper strategies for the whole organization.

2. A decision making skill is the ability of a manager to choose the best course of actions of two or more alternatives. A manager must decide the following:

1) What objectives and goals must be reached?

2) What strategy must be implemented?

3) What resources must be used and how they must be distrib­uted?

4) What kind of control is needed?

3. An analytic skill is the ability to determine the most impor­tant problem of many other problems and identify the causes of each problem before implementing a proper action plan. This abil­ity is especially important for top managers because they have to solve complex problems.

4. An administrative skill is the ability of a manager to keep to the organizational rules specified for the production process, within a limited budget, and coordinate the flow of information and paper work in his group and in other groups.

5. A communicational skill is the ability of manager to share his ideas and opinions with other people both orally and in writing. This skill is a decisive factor of a manager's success. Some inves­tigations show that top managers and middle managers spend ap­proximately 80% (per cent) of their work time in communicating with each other.

6. An interpersonal skill (psychological skill) is the ability to deal effectively with other people both inside and outside the orga­nization. It is the ability to understand the needs and motives of other people. This skill is very important for a good psychological atmosphere for successful activity in the common work in future. If the interpersonal relations are good, a manager will be success­ful in getting a support in the development and implementation of organizational plans.

7. A technical skill is a specific competence to accomplish a task. The lower is a manager's level in the organization; the closer is his/her connection with the production process. Thus first-line managers have the closest connection with the production pro­cess. They need high technical skills to provide technical guidance for the subordinates. Top managers don't need these skills as much as first-line managers but the knowledge of the technical sphere is useful for all the managers.

III. Give the English equivalents:

зависеть от определенных умений, планировать деятельность, нужным образом, получать требуемые результаты, выбрать лучшее направление, решать следующее, выяснять причину проблемы, решать сложные проблемы, ограниченный бюджет, поток информации, делиться идеями и мнениями, устно или письменно, решающий фактор успеха, приблизительно, общаться друг с другом, эффективно взаимодействовать с людьми, внутри и вне организации, понимать нужды и мотивы, хорошая психологическая атмосфера, успешная деятельность, межличностные отношения, получать поддержку, развитие и осуществление, выполнять задачу, высокие технические навыки, осуществлять техническое руководство подчиненными, быть полезным.

IV. Complete the sentences:

1. Effectiveness of a manager’s …

2. A conceptual skill is …

3. A decision making skill is the …

4. An analytic skill is the ability …

5. A communicational skill …

6. It is the ability to understand …

7. The lower is a manager’s level …

V. Agree or disagree to the following:

1. The skills can be divided into 5 different categories.

2. A conceptual skill is the ability of a manager to see the “general picture” of an organization.

3. A decision making skill is the ability of a manager to deal effectively with other people.

4. An analytic ability is especially important for top managers because they have to solve complex problems.

5. A decisive factor of manager’s success is a technical skill.

6. Top and middle managers spend 40 % of their work time in communicating with each other.

7. A good psychological atmosphere is very important for successful activity in the common work.

8. The higher is a manager’s level in the organization, the closer is his / her connection with the production process.

VI. Match the adjectives in the left-hand column with the nouns in the right-hand column:

1. interpersonal	1. skills
2. psychological			2. budget
3. technical			3. rules
4. limited			4. atmosphere
5. successful			5. problems
6. organizational			6. strategy
7. proper			7. relations
8. complex			8. activity

VII. Find the right word order:

1. skill, a, technical, is, a, task, specific, to accomplish, competence, a.

1. decisive, factor, this, skill, a, is, success, of, a, manager’s.

1. effectiveness, depends, on, of, a, manager, important, skills, certain.

VIII. Guess the words:

e _ _ _ c t _ _ _ n e _ _

c a _ _ g _ _ y

_ u t _

s _ c c _ _ s

_ t m _ _ p h _ _ _

s u _ _ _ d _ n _ _ e _

IX. Answer the questions:

1. How many categories of skills do you know?

1. What does a conceptual skill mean?

1. What skill is very important for top managers? Why?

1. What are the duties of decision making managers?

1. Does an analytic skill help to solve complex problems?

1. If a manager keeps to the organizational rules specified for the production process, which skill does he possess?

1. Which factor is a decisive in manager’s success?

1. Why is a good psychological atmosphere important?

1. What is the connection between a technical skill and level of a manager?

X. Speak on the following:

1. Conceptual and decision making skills.

2. Analytic, administrative and communicational skills.

3. Interpersonal and technical skills.

Lesson V

I. Read and translate the following international words without using a dictionary:

basis, financial, management, plan, action, organization, firm, to modify, planner, finally, to identify, financing, process, realistic, specific, period, budget, to project, calendar, to combine, traditional, to base, dollar, problem, manipulation, interest, budgeter, dramatically, business, operation.

II. Remember the following words.

outline - схема

once – после того, как

to monitor - контролировать

goal and objective – конечная и ближняя цель

source of fund – источник денежных средств

sales revenue – доход от продаж

equity capital – акционерный капитал

debt capital – заемный капитал

sale of assets – продажа активов

to revise - пересматривать