Management skills

The National Skills Task Force has been established by the Secretary of State for Education and Employment to assist him in developing a National Skills Agenda. The Task Force was asked to provide advice on the nature, extent and pattern of skill needs and shortages, including associated recruitment difficulties, how these are likely to change and what can be done to ease such problems. This paper is one of a series that has been commissioned to review and evaluate existing literature in a number of skills-related areas.

There is a perception in the United Kingdom (UK) that management skills are among the areas of skill shortages. This paper was commissioned to review the evidence and ascertain whether or not this perception is valid. It has been organised into four sections: the changing context of management, management skills and competencies, managerial skill shortages, and policy implications. The authors begin by identifying the kinds of changes that managers face in the current environment - increasing competitive pressures, global markets and technological developments. They examine some of the strategies that managers develop in response to these changes, grouped into five dimensions of restructuring - financial, industrial, institutional, technological and organisational. The next section looks more closely at management skills and competencies and the difficulties in deciding precisely what skills managers need to work effectively. Recruitment and skill shortages are addressed in the third section, citing the annual Skill Needs in Britain (SNIB) survey. Management skills for the future, and management skills needed in the small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are discussed, including the skills shortages and gaps. Finally, policy implications are explored and critiques are made of competence-based management development.

Other research reports in this series are indexed from TD/TNC 62.633 to TD/TNC 62.634 and from TD/TNC 62.636 to TD/TNC 62.651. Show less