U3AOS1 - Management Skills

Question 1

What are management skills?

Answer 1

Are the abilities or competencies that managers use to help them to complete the tasks that are necessary for the achievement of business objectives.
Management skills included:
- communicating
- delegating
- planning
- leading
- decision-making
- interpersonal skills

Question 2

What is communicating?

Answer 2

Transfer of information from sender to receiver
Non-verbal: body language, visual
Verbal: written (emails, texts, letters…) or oral (meetings, conference…)
Method chosen depends on audience
Effective communication is clear, articulate and concise
Can be time-consuming

Question 3

What is delegating?

Answer 3

Transfer of authority and responsibility from manager to employee, for the completion of specific tasks
- Manager retains accountability
- Clear communication of instructions required
- Enables staff to learn new skills
- Builds trust and mutual understanding
- Manager needs to provide support, set deadlines and evaluate the task
- Risk of misuse of new ‘power’

Question 4

What is planning?

Answer 4

The ability to define business objectives and determine methods or strategies that will be used to achieve those objectives
Levels of planning:
Strategic - Long term - 2.5 years - market share, competitors
Tactical - Medium term - 1-2 years - supports strategic plan ,resource allocation
Operational - Short term - up to 1 year - daily/ weekly schedules, stock

Question 5

What is leading?

Answer 5

The endeavour to influence or motivate people in the business to work to achieve the business objectives
- Model good practice - encourage and praise good practices
- Actively listen - welcome new ideas, remain clam in conflict
- Delegate - share responsibilities with employee with capacity to handle them
Transactional leaders - rewards staff for compliance (pay rise, promotion)
Transformational leaders - inspires or enthuses staff with a vision to commit to achieving business objectives

Question 6

Transactional leaders?

Answer 6

Leaders who reward staff:
Advantages:
- Motivation to strive for objectives
- Celebrating success (increasing moral)
Disadvantages:
- People feel missed out or overloaded
- Limiting how much more effort is put in, if not further reward

Question 7

Decision-making?

Answer 7

Identifying available options and choosing one course of action from the alternatives
- Timeframes - group decision making takes longer but may result in more ideas
- Risks - may prompt the need for quicker decisions

Question 8

Decision-making?

Answer 8

• Develop objectives and criteria
• Outline facts
• Identify alternative solutions
• Analyse alternatives
• Chose one and implement

Question 9

Interpersonal skills?

Answer 9

Ability to deal or liaise with people and build relationships with staff
- Identify and recognise perspectives of others
- Clear communication with staff
- Responsive to needs to staff (empathy and sensitivity)
- Inspire and influence staff
- Resolve conflict between staff

Question 10

Managers lacking interpersonal skills?

Answer 10

Difficulty relating to staff, limited effective communication