Leading Human Resources: An Analysis (part 4)

Three Competencies of Leadership
by
Charles Lamson

Leading or influencing requires three general skills, or competencies: (1) diagnosing---understanding the situation you are trying to influence; (2) adapting---altering your behavior and the other resources you have available to meet the contingencies of the situation; and (3) communicating---interacting with others in a way that people can understand and accept. We will discuss each of these competencies in greater detail in subsequent posts, but for now here is a brief summary of each.

• Diagnosing is a cognitive---or cerebral---competency. It is understanding what the situation is now and knowing what you can reasonably expect to make it in the future. The discrepancy between the two is the problem to be solved. This discrepancy is what the other competencies are aimed at resolving.
• Adapting is a behavioral competency. It involves adapting your behaviors and other resources in a way that helps close the gap between the current situation and what you want to achieve.
• Communicating is a process competency. Even if you are able to understand the situation, even if you are able to adapt behavior and resources to meet the situation, you need to communicate effectively. If you cannot communicate in a way that people can understand and accept, you will be unlikely to meet your goal.

Management Process

Many authors consider the managerial functions of planning, organizing, motivating, and controlling to be central to any discussion of management. These functions, which constitute the management process (a step-by-step way of doing something) are relevant regardless of the type of organization or level of management being discussed. As Harold Koontz and Cyril O'Donnel said: "Acting in their managerial capacity, presidents, department heads, foremen, supervisors, college deans, bishops, and heads of governmental agencies all do the same thing. As managers they are all engaged, in part, in getting things done with and through people. As a manager, each must, at one time or another, carry out all the duties characteristic of managers." In today's world, even a well-run household uses these managerial functions.

Planning involves setting goals and objectives for the organization and developing "work maps" showing how those goals and objectives are to be accomplished. Once plans have been made, organizing becomes meaningful. This step involves bringing together resources---people, capital, and equipment---in the most effective way to accomplish the goals. Organizing, therefore, involves an integration of resources.

Along with planning and organizing, motivating plays a large part in determining the level of performance of employees, which, in turn, influences how effectively the organizational goals will be met. Motivating is sometimes included as part of directing, along with communicating and leading.

In his research on motivation, William James of Harvard found that hourly employees could maintain their jobs (that is, not be fired) by working at approximately 20 to 30 percent of their ability. His study also showed that highly motivated employees work at close to 80 to 90 percent of their ability. 

If motivation is low, employees' performance will suffer as much as if their ability were low. For this reason, motivating is an extremely important function of management.

Another function of management is controlling. This involves feedback of results and follow-up to compare accomplishments with plans and to make appropriate adjustments where outcomes have deviated from expectations.

Although these management functions are stated separately and seem to have a specific sequence, one must remember that they are interrelated. At any one time, however, one or more functions may be of primary importance.


Skills of a Manager

There is a general agreement that at least three areas of skill are necessary for the process of management: technical, human, and conceptual.

• Technical skill. Ability to use knowledge, methods, techniques, and equipment necessary for the performance of specific tasks; acquired from experience, education, and training.
• Human skill. Ability and judgment in working with and through people. This includes an understanding of motivation and an application of effective leadership.
• Conceptual skill. Ability to understand the complexities of the overall organization and where one's own operation fits into the organization. This knowledge permits one to act according to the objectives of the total organization rather than only on the basis of the goals and needs of one's own immediate group.

The appropriate mix of these skills varies as an individual advances in management from supervisory to top management positions.

Proportionately less technical skill tends to be needed as one advances from lower to higher levels in the organization, but more conceptual skill is necessary. Supervisors at lower levels need considerable technical skill because they are often required to train and develop technicians and other employees in their sections. At the other extreme, executives in a business organization do not need to know how to perform all the specific tasks at the operational level. However, they should be able to see how all these functions are interrelated in accomplishing the goals of the total organization. This ability is particularly important because the executives' focus at the higher organizational levels is increasingly more external and global.

The amount of technical and conceptual skills needed at these different levels of management varies; the area of human skill appears to be crucial at all levels.

*SOURCE: MANAGEMENT OF ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR: LEADING HUMAN RESOURCES, 8TH ED., 2001, PAUL HERSEY, KENNETH H. BLANCHARD, DEWEY E. JOHNSON, PGS 11-14*

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