Changes in Skill Sets of Management (Research Paper Sample)

Changes in Skill Sets of Management Student’s Name Institutional Affiliation ABSTRACT The evolution of management over the last half century is the history of constantly changing set of skill of managers in various organizations. As organizational managers evolved from simple small managers who only possessed little human and technical skills, the current century has witnessed managers with magnificent conceptual, technical and human skills. This implies that set of skills traditional and earlier managers possessed may not resemble skills the current management practices entail. This paper will focus on changes in skill sets of management between the 1960s and the 21st century. Key Words: Changes, sets, management, skills, manager(s) Introduction Leaders are born, but managers are made. There is no single person who can be a manager immediately after being born; it's only after birth that a person undergoes through various spheres of life that he/she acquires skills to be a manager. People have the tendency of evolving since birth as they reach, with time, the highest managerial levels. The requirements of management several decades ago are somehow different with what it takes to be a manager in the current generation. For instance, due to minimal use of automation in the 1960s, being a manager required a person to have competency in motivating workers since they did manual jobs which have later been replaced with machinery. As years elapse, with globalization and internationalization undergoing a transformation, this has necessitated skill sets of management also to change to keep pace with the changing environment CITATION Ace11 \l 1033 (Autor, 2011). This paper will focus on changes in skill sets of management between the 1960s and the 21st century in which 2015 is inclusive. Major Skill Sets of Management in the 1960s The 1960s was the period that was characterized by use minimal technology and most of the work during this period involved manual work. To be a manager in this period, one was required to design jobs properly that could be performed by employees CITATION Den11 \l 1033 (Acemoglu, 2011). Unlike the modern world in which automation and machinery are the main sources of labor in industries, managers during the 1960s were required to motivate workers to achieve high productivity since they were the main source of labor during this period. The managers were also required to have competency in solving conflicts and problems among human relationship. Thus, management practice during this period mostly entailed job designing, worker motivating and conflict solving set skills CITATION Den11 \l 1033 (Acemoglu, 2011). A manager was required to motivate workers for the benefit of high productivity of the company. The managers were required to get results through others. To be a manager, one was required to possess the skill of keeping the team members motivated even when the going got tougher. As such, during this period, there was the prevalence of use of words such as "thank you, I appreciate so much" since managers believed these words could praise the workers besides making a huge positive difference CITATION Den13 \l 1033 (Bell, 2013). Besides other skills of management, a manager is required to design and come up with simpler ways to achieve a given task effectively and efficiently. Although the need to possess designing skills has over the years been declining due to the emergence of systems that aid in designing, this skill was essential during the 1960s. Frederick Taylor, a mechanical engineer, was the earliest manager who designed the job structure for his workers. As he worked at the Steel company in Philadelphia, Frederick came up with a newer and radical method of managing. The approach was identified as the scientific management. Frederick carried out a series of researches on the way employees/machinery carried our jobs. He analyzed and measured every parameter of work that was measurable. Frederick later determined standard periods and procedures required to complete each job. Frederick provided a basis for realistic production standards per man- and per machine- an hour that managers used during the 1910 – 1960s CITATION Gre12 \l 1033 (Green F., 2012). Conflict solving was a skill that was not only essential during the 1960s, but is also vital in the modern management practices. By the fact that machinery and automation were scarce, most of the tasks relied on human labor that was used in manufacturing and production industries. Therefore, several industries had huge volumes of people working together. Consequently, conflicts among workers were like a mandatory practice of the day. Managers during this period were required to be in possession of the ability to solve conflicts and problems among workers CITATION Fre131 \l 1033 (Green F., 2013). Management skills in the 1970s Between the 1970s and 1980s, there was the emergence of two-income earning households, and this called for the need to have a flexible working schedule. The traditional work schedule required workers to work for 5-9 hours. However, the emergence of two-income earning households allowed the workers to address their home and professional needs. Therefore, managers were required to think creatively, formulate abstractions and analyze on ways to have a flexible working system which is conceptual skills. Thus, the 1970s was characterized by the high application of conceptual skills in management practices. Conceptual skills are defined as the abilities of managers to view a company as whole, discern relationships and comprehend the way the company fits into the society CITATION Mur12 \l 1033 (Murnane, 2012). As the rate of female workers who entered the professional workforce increased and with an economic crash in 1971, managers had to think creatively and formulate policies that could allow for flexible work schedules based on the working hours. By creating a flexible work schedule, this created new work styles besides redefining work/life balance. Taking an example of the United States, in the 1970s (in particular 1975), this was the period in which women and children under 18 years increased from 48-79 percent. According to the United States Census Bureau, the women contributed to approximately 30 percent of professionals and managers who worked at major United States companies. Most of these women juggled caregiving and professional work CITATION Fer12 \l 1033 (Fernandez-Macias, 2012). Thus, most of the managers during this period were required to possess creative skills that could allow for work flexibility and control the work CITATION Fre131 \l 1033 (Green F., 2013). The job of management is not easy; it is complex besides being multidimensional. Although managers are required to possess a wide variety of sets of skills, some skills are deemed to be essential to the successful running of a company. The technological revolution is believed to have been introduced into manufacturing and production industries in the last decades of the 19th century. As much as machinery were early applied in the 1960s, their degree of application improved between the 1970s and the 1980s. Faster and effective transportation and communication services experienced improvement and this facilitated movement of people, products and services from one place to another. With the introduction of technological improvement, this drove possession of technical skills by managers to be mandatory. The managers were required to have knowledge of the machines that were used in the line of production apart from understanding the principles behind their operation. This idea is supported by Theorist Robert Katz, who in 1974 proposed that managers required technical, human and conceptual skills to run successful organizations that operated during that period CITATION Agh12 \l 1033 (Howitt, 2012). Sets of Management Required in The 1980s Levy and Murnane (2012) provide an ideal way that could help us to evaluate the skill demand required in the 1980s period. The two authors classified jobs into two categories; routine and non-routine jobs. Levy suggest that the percentage of non-routine analytic and interactive jobs had been increasing since 1980. Non-routine analytic jobs are defined as those jobs that can be handled by managers who possess expert thinking and complex communication skills. Routine jobs are defined as those jobs that involve people working manually to achieve the set goals. Levy argue that routine jobs decreased between the 1980s to 1990s CITATION Mur12 \l 1033 (Murnane, 2012). This can be accepted owing that it is possible to automate and computerize routine jobs to replace human manual labor. Since 1980, non-routine analytic and interactive jobs have shown an increasing trend, and this requires managers to possess expert thinking and complex communication skills. The basic idea to be a manager is to have a good communication skill. This implies that the manager should have writing, speaking and listening which are the main skills of communication. Managers are required to excel when it comes to speaking and writing. However, there is a question on the number of managers who have mastered the art of listening since the possession of this skill has not been well reflected in most of the managers. While the introduction of computers and computerized processes only helped to reduce manual tasks, there is still a challenge in computerizing and automating some skills such as decision making, planning, and communication. The organizations have been growing year after year, with some having several hierarchical levels and departments. This has made obligatory for managers to have abilities to decide the communication method to use to disseminate information to every organ of the organization and this explains why there has been a ...