We may notice that, in a very real sense, conceptual skill embodies consideration of both the technical and human aspects of the organization. You must also be able to use various types of communication including verbal, nonverbal, written and visual communication. It is important that they speak clearly and loudly, maintaining a positive tone. Because there are so many various responsibilities involved in business administration, managing your time wisely is a key skill. Job rotation, special interdepartmental assignments, and working with case problems certainly provide opportunities for a person to enhance previously developed conceptual abilities. Because human skill is so vital a part of everything the administrator does, examples of inadequate human skill are easier to describe than are highly skillful performances. Here are tips you might consider when working on your administrative skills: Setting specific, measurable goals to increase some or all of the above administrative skills can help you improve over time. Of the three skills described in this article, technical skill is perhaps the most familiar because it is the most concrete, and because, in our age of specialization, it is the skill required of the greatest number of people. One way a superior can help “coach” his subordinate is by assigning a particular responsibility, and then responding with searching questions or opinions, rather than giving answers, whenever the subordinate seeks help. However, my experience over the past 20 years, in working with senior executives in a wide variety of industries, suggests that several specific points require either sharp modification or substantial further refinement. In addition to using spell-check and other tools on your computer, take the time to reread and proof your work for clarity, typos, appropriate voice and context. As a practical matter, however, the executive must develop his own human skill, rather than lean on the advice of others. As a result, he was able to identify strong sentiments for one man whose subsequent promotion was enthusiastically accepted by the entire group. In smaller companies, where technical expertise is not as pervasive and seasoned staff assistance is not as available, I believe the chief executive has a much greater need for personal experience in the industry. Harriet O. Ronken and Paul R. Lawrence, Administering Changes (Boston, Division of Research, Harvard Business School, 1952). This aid depends for effectiveness, obviously, on the extent to which the superior possesses the human skill. Many different approaches to the development of human skill are being pursued by various universities and professional men today. For example, a production manager may be most efficient if he puts all his emphasis on obtaining a high degree of reliability in his production schedule. The remedial role (saving the organization when it is in great difficulty) calls for drastic human action and emphasizes conceptual and technical skills. In coping with these varied conditions, he may appear to demonstrate one trait in one instance—e.g., dominance when dealing with subordinates—and the directly opposite trait under another set of circumstances—e.g., submissiveness when dealing with superiors. Do you know the three types of learning styles? For a further discussion of this point, see F. J. Roethlisberger, “Training Supervisors in Human Relations,” HBR September 1951, p. 47. Others can be individually aided by their immediate superiors as an integral part of the “coaching” process to be described later. To the extent that two departments’ values conflict with each other, skillful intergroup relationships require some equivocation. ], “I’d also suggest setting a daily base rate at 45 or even 40 dozen pair. UNDERSTANDING . In fact, recent research findings lead to the conclusion that at the top level of administration this conceptual skill becomes the most important ability of all. Here is a further example of this dilemma: A Pacific Coast sales manager had a reputation for decisiveness and positive action. However, its success must necessarily rest on the abilities and willingness of the superior to help the subordinate. A number of methods have been tried to aid in developing this ability, with varying success. What is active listening, why is it important and how can you improve this critical skill? They depended on him to set their objectives and to show them how to reach them. In this instance, the sales manager’s skillful performance was improperly interpreted as “indecisiveness.” Their concern with irrelevant traits led his associates to overlook the adequacy of his performance. A security administrator needs to have experience working with the physical security layer, as well as understand how to develop a security plan, coordinate with appropriate personnel, implement security measures, and monitor the IT environment for potential threats. Cases such as these would indicate that it is more useful to judge an administrator on the results of his performance than on his apparent traits. Communication in General. Since 1922, "Harvard Business Review" has been a leading source of breakthrough ideas in management practice. Leadership Skills And Abilities Of An Effective Administrator 1414 Words | 6 Pages. Yet this quest for the executive stereotype has become so intense that many companies, in concentrating on certain specific traits or qualities, stand in danger of losing sight of their real concern: what a man can accomplish. 1. Engineer: “If I’m going to be foreman of the conveyor unit, I want to do things my way. But in every case that method should be chosen which will enable the executive to develop his own personal skill in visualizing the enterprise as a whole and in coordinating and integrating its various parts. Human skill, the ability to work with others, is essential to effective administration at every level. In my experience, outstanding capability in one of these roles is frequently accompanied by mediocre performance in the other. Because the manager was inconsistent and unpredictable in his behavior, the supervisors were insecure and continually engaged in interdepartmental squabbles which they tried to keep hidden from the manager. Filing, sorting, and general organisation skills are essential for office administrators. Copyright © 2020 Harvard Business School Publishing. The ability to communicate effectively is critical to the job of administrative assistant. Hence, the success of any decision depends on the conceptual skill of the people who make the decision and those who put it into action. The person with highly developed human skill is aware of his own attitudes, assumptions, and beliefs about other individuals and groups; he is able to see the usefulness and limitations of these feelings. “What Should a President Do?” Dun’s Review, August 1951, p. 21. In addition to this, administration staff will also need the ability to organise their own professional priorities on the fly, too. Also, under different playing conditions the relative importance of these elements varies. The search for these traits was vigorously pursued in the hope that the selection and training of managers could be conducted with greater reliability. But he will encounter severe antagonism from other departments with conflicting values. Our online Master of Public Administration at Ohio University can help you build the skills to address public needs in effective, efficient, and imaginative ways. Management had gambled that this man’s ability to work with people was more important than his lack of a technical production background, and the gamble paid off. But does not every promotion, in the last analysis, depend on someone’s subjective judgment? These three men make up an executive committee which has been outstandingly successful, the skills of each member making up for deficiencies of the others. By so doing, he produced a highly efficient team. Find out for yourself how these vital skills can be put to work today. In "Skills of an Effective Administrator," Robert L. Katz identifies the three fundamental abilities companies should seek to develop in their managers. Administrative skills are qualities that help you complete tasks related to managing a business. This three-skill approach implies that significant benefits may result from redefining the objectives of executive development programs, from reconsidering the placement of executives in organizations, and from revising procedures for testing and selecting prospective executives. A. Zaleznik, Foreman Training in a Growing Enterprise (Boston, Division of Research, Harvard Business School, 1951). I don’t want a daily base rate.”2. The purpose of this article has been to show that effective administration depends on three basic personal skills, which have been called technical, human, and conceptual. In trying to predetermine a prospective candidate’s abilities on a job, much use is being made these days of various kinds of testing devices. Programs which concentrate on the mere imparting of information or the cultivation of a specific trait would seem to be largely unproductive in enhancing the administrative skills of candidates. Administrative workers need strong interpersonal skills because they deal with employees from almost every department of a company. Human skill, however, has been much less understood, and only recently has systematic progress been made in developing it. Conceptual skill, as defined above, is what Chester I. Barnard, former president of the New Jersey Bell Telephone Company, is implying when he says: “…the essential aspect of the [executive] process is the sensing of the organization as a whole and of the total situation relevant to it.”3 Examples of inadequate conceptual skill are all around us. Effective administration depends upon three basic personal skills which, for analytical purposes, can be classified as technical, human, and conceptual. At the root of this difference is industry’s search for the traits or attributes which will objectively identify the “ideal executive” who is equipped to cope effectively with any problem in any organization. For example, one medium-size midwestern distributing organization has as president a man of unusual conceptual ability but extremely limited human skill. The executive development programs of some of the nation’s leading corporations and colleges reflect a tremendous variation in objectives. A strictly informative program was described to me recently by an officer and director of a large corporation who had been responsible for the executive-development activities of his company, as follows: “What we try to do is to get our promising young men together with some of our senior executives in regular meetings each month. Furthermore, skills offer a more directly applicable frame of reference for executive development, since any improvement in an administrator’s skills must necessarily result in more effective performance. Courses of this kind, often called “General Management” or “Business Policy,” are becoming increasingly prevalent. But research in psychology and physiology would also indicate, first, that those having strong aptitudes and abilities can improve their skill through practice and training, and, secondly, that even those lacking the natural ability can improve their performance and over-all effectiveness. Like human skill, conceptual skill, too, must become a natural part of the executive’s makeup. These procedures, which indicate what a man can do in specific situations, are the same for selection and for measuring development. Being a good communicator also … In the context of the three-skill approach, it seems that this manager was able to capitalize on this dependence because he recognized the interrelationships of all the activities under his control, identified himself with the organization, and sublimated the individual interests of his subordinates to his (the organization’s) interest, set his goals realistically, and showed his subordinates how to reach these goals. These attitudes are a reflection of the administrator’s conceptual skill (referred to by some as his “creative ability”—the way he perceives and responds to the direction in which the business should grow, company objectives and policies, and stockholders’ and employees’ interests. I now believe this mobility is possible only in very large companies, where the chief executive has extensive staff assistance and highly competent, experienced technical operators throughout the organization. Still another danger in many existing executive development programs lies in the unqualified enthusiasm with which some companies and colleges have embraced courses in “human relations.” There would seem to be two inherent pitfalls here: (1) Human relations courses might only be imparting information or specific techniques, rather than developing the individual’s human skill. But one has only to look at the successful managers in any company to see how enormously their particular qualities vary from any ideal list of executive virtues.”1. Later, when conditions changed and it was necessary to pare down operations, management was again unable to recognize the implications of its action and reverted to the old procedures, which, under the circumstances, were no longer appropriate. It would be unrealistic to assert that these skills are not interrelated, yet there may be real merit in examining each one separately, and in developing them independently. To be effective, he must develop his own personal point of view toward human activity, so that he will (a) recognize the feelings and sentiments which he brings to a situation; (b) have an attitude about his own experiences which will enable him to re-evaluate and learn from them; (c) develop ability in understanding what others by their actions and words (explicit or implicit) are trying to communicate to him; and (d) develop ability in successfully communicating his ideas and attitudes to others.11. 16. Development of technical skill has received great attention for many years by industry and educational institutions alike, and much progress has been made. He must establish the standards and controls necessary to monitor progress and to place limits on individual actions. In this way an individual’s understanding of the total situation and his own personal ability to do something about it can be evaluated. Although the selection and training of good administrators is widely recognized as one of American industry’s most pressing problems, there is surprisingly little agreement among executives or educators on what makes a good administrator. You must be able to communicate processes and information to others, respond clearly to questions and requests and more. 11. But such a confidant requires just as high a degree of conceptual and human skills as the chief executive himself; and to be truly helpful, he must know all about the company’s operations, key personnel, and industry. At this point, a new production manager was brought in from outside the company, and he established a wide range of controls and formalized the entire operating structure. Perhaps consideration of an actual situation would serve to clarify what is involved: When a new conveyor unit was installed in a shoe factory where workers had previously been free to determine their own work rate, the production manager asked the industrial engineer who had designed the conveyor to serve as foreman, even though a qualified foreman was available. Executive Leadership (New York, Harper & Brothers, 1953); see also “Leadership Pattern in the Plant,” HBR January–February 1954, p. 63. It is the purpose of this article to suggest what may be a more useful approach to the selection and development of administrators. Here is a situation in which the production manager was so preoccupied with getting the physical output that he did not pay attention to the people through whom that output had to be achieved. The interpersonal skills administrative workers need that are transferable to other roles include: Speaking and listening skills Ability to work as part of a team A heavy influx of orders following World War II tripled the normal production requirements and severely taxed the whole manufacturing organization. The administrator needs: (a) sufficient technical skill to accomplish the mechanics of the particular job for which he is responsible; (b) sufficient human skill in working with others to be an effective group member and to be able to build cooperative effort within the team he leads; (c) sufficient conceptual skill to recognize the interrelationships of the various factors involved in his situation, which will lead him to take that action which is likely to achieve the maximum good for the total organization. As used here, a skill implies an ability which can be developed, not necessarily inborn, and which is manifested in performance, not merely in potential. 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