Contemporary Management Capabilities

This report provides an overview of contemporary management capabilities by analyzing a particular situation of sexual harassment allegations against a CEO. It discusses the skills, behavior, and capabilities required for managers to address management problems. Recommendations are provided for key competencies from a leadership perspective.

Running head: HRM
Contemporary Management Capabilities
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

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Executive Summary:
The aim of the report is to provide an overview of contemporary management capabilities by
analyzing a particular situation. The situation to be discussed in this report mainly revolves
around the case of sexual harassment brought against the CEO of a company who posed
complete denial of the allegations. The report commences with an assessment of the situation
and finds that managers require possessing necessary skills, capabilities and behavior in
addressing any kind of management problem. There are also recommendations provided on the
key competencies from leadership perspective that would help the managers in dealing with
management problems in future.

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Table of Contents
Introduction:....................................................................................................................................3
Discussion:.......................................................................................................................................3
Accessing the Situations and Findings:...........................................................................................3
Recommendations:..........................................................................................................................5
Conclusion:......................................................................................................................................8
References:......................................................................................................................................8

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Introduction:
The report aims at providing an insight into the contemporary management capabilities
through analysis of a given situation. The situation in this particular report has been surrounding
the case of sexual harassment brought against COO of a company by two subordinates. The
stories of such accusations have been gaining virality in online and media in spite of the fact that
the COO, who is presently the CEO of another company, denied it. But the crux of the matter lay
in the fact that the stories were separately provided with the knowledge of one another and hence
the details that it provided have been consistent and unique. The report aims analyzing the skills
of the business manager, behavior and capabilities in addressing a management problem in the
organization. The report also puts across recommendations on key personal competencies for the
senior management in addressing any futuristic management problem. The report will then
enable the board in accessing whether the present CEO meets the recommendations and then
decide on replacing the present him.
Discussion:
Accessing the Situations and Findings:
According to Gilani, Cavico & Mujtaba (2014), sexual harassment refers to an
unwelcome sexual behavior that makes a person feel humiliated, offended and intimidated. It can
either be physical, written or verbal. It is however not a behavior that can be mutually agreed
upon. Sexual harassment causes real problems at work places and might either be in the form of
quid pro quo or take the form of pornography on the office computers, inappropriate jokes or
inappropriate touching of someone (Lipinski & Crothers, 2013).
There have been cases when the person accused is not guilty or is not accepting his fault
as in mentioned in scenario of the report. False accusations or non acceptance of mistake does
happen. In this particular case scenario, the CEO has constantly been denying the aspects while
the stories had details that have been not only consistent but unique. The challenge lies with the
HR department in investigating the complaints related to sexual harassment. According to
Mainiero & Jones (2013), one of key mistake that the HR makes is in creation of investigative
plan before they dive into the interviews. In order to determine the credibility of process, it often
required to bring in outside investigator when the accused is a higher level executive.
Buckner et al., (2014) however, stated that in order to establish their stand in not being
involved in the allegations, managers should also possess the following skills, behavior and
capabilities in dealing with the problem.
Skills of Business Manager in Addressing a Problem: The most important responsibilities
of a manager lie in problem solving (Block, 2016). Finding answers to the most difficult

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questions are sometimes considered as source of greater distress and perplexity. The success of
an organization depends on the managerial problem solving that arrives in all the sizes from the
daily nuisances to the organizational crises. Managers who possess the ability of systematically
thinking through facts, diagnosing situations and finding the workable and accurate solutions
helps the business in not only thriving but also prospering. Efficient problem solvers help in
guiding the teams towards achieving the goals through elimination of confusion, frustration and
misunderstanding before they reach unmanageable heights. In order, to deal with the accusations
of sexual harassment they should define and identify the problem, undertake an analysis of the
problem, developing solutions and planning and acting.
Behavior of Business Manager in Addressing a Problem: According to Trevino &
Nelson (2016), it is necessary for the managers to pay attention to the emotions and the way in
which it influences him or her. It is crucial for the managers to realize that emotions are part of
workplace and negative emotions can aggravate an issue. Therefore, it is necessary for
acknowledging the emotions and then determining the source. Managers should also consciously
decide in responding to any conflict situation. This helps him or her in taking responsibility of
the actions. To address a problem, the manager should not only listen but also reflect and inquire.
They should listen not only to hear but make it a point in confirming the viewpoint. It is also
necessary to frame the issue by asking powerful questions.
Capabilities of Business Manager in Addressing a Management Problem: The
capabilities lie in establishing open door policy for the employees (Rothaermel, 2013). They
should also avoid in letting the problems linger and thereby address the issues through adoption
of better strategies. It is of utmost importance to the manager to practice fairness by scheduling
regular meetings for addressing problems.
Recommendations:
From a leadership perspective, the key personal competencies necessary for addressing
management problem in future are as follows:
1. Adoption of a Strategic Perspective: This helps the executives in getting a clear view
regarding the future of company. Possession of a culture and deeper industry knowledge enables
them in anticipation of the market and the economic trends and hence in better addressing of
management problem (Ahsan, Ho & Khan, 2013). They also undertake a long term view of the
market and business along with taking a broader strategy and translating them into meaningful
objectives and goals.
2. Customer Understanding and Focus: It is necessary for the executives in
understanding needs, concerns and the problems of the customers. They should aim at assisting
the customers in accomplishing their objectives and goals.

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3. Ability to Resolve Conflict: It is an inevitable reality in workplace and hence it is
vital for managing the conflict since it impacts the relationship between the groups of the people
that has a major impact on the productivity of the worker and the organizational culture (Osagie
et al., 2016). From the leadership perspective, managers should possess the ability of managing
conflict and lead to the creation of a win-win situation. This is done through identification of the
source of the conflict and negotiating and collaborating with both parties for resolving issues.
4. Possession of Emotional Intelligence: It is defined as the capacity of being aware of,
express and control emotions and in handling of interpersonal relationships both empathetically
and judiciously. Emotional intelligence represents a mark of the professional maturity. It may
take years or a lifetime to develop (Goleman, Boyatzis & McKee, 2013). It however represented
a key leadership competency that each manager should possess.
5. Possession of Communication Skills: Managers need to possess good verbal and
written communication skills for effectively managing the employees. Besides, there requires
being structure communication process for filtering information throughout organization.
6. Ensure Managing Performance: Managers requires understanding fundamentals of
managing performance (Hopkin, 2018). To ensure this successfully manager need to put across
clearer expectations for the job assignments, monitoring the employee goals, holding employees
accountable for achieving goals and job responsibilities, rewarding the employees for their
performance and coaching, mentoring and discipline the employees whenever required.
7. Ensure Delegation: Executives and managers know the importance of the delegation.
Delegation helps in developing the employees through gradual increase of their job
accountability and responsibility. Effective delegation is most often result of strategy and
forethought. Successful delegation lies in knowing people one is working with and requires an
innate understanding of what the others can do (G. Banford et al., 2014). The aspect of
developing others and learning to trust is a matter of practice and skill. Once learned it becomes
liberating for the managers thereby allowing them in performing complicated tasks.
8. Acting as Change Agent: Organizations are sometimes forced in making dramatic
improvements to the products and service, compete and also survive in today’s economy.
Progressive organizations takes into consideration that change remains constant and in moving
forward there requires to be a constant process of improvement in the manner in which work is
performed. It is therefore necessary for the leaders to act as the change agents and lead to
continuous change initiatives.
9. Means of Problem Solving: Managing process and people requires the skills of
problem solving. These problems might be related to the work process, employees and the
quality of the product or service. Managers should be in a position to identify the problems, have
an understanding of the basic techniques of problem solving along with facilitating the process of
solving problems and resolving the issues with work environment.

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10. Instilling the Aspect of Motivation: Leaders need to have an understanding of what
motivates and inspires the employees. Managers can adopt various motivation models into their
strategy for motivating the employees. In doing so, it is vital for remembering that every
employee is motivated differently. The trick lies in identifying what motivates the employees and
thereby develop process and systems that support the motivators.
Conclusion:
On a concluding note, it can be said that have been instances where sexual harassment
can either be a false allegation or an instance of complete denial of the charges by the executives
of the senior management. The report provides an elaboration of an instance when a CEO has
ensured a complete denial of such charges. By assessing the situation it has been found that
managers should to possess the required behavior, capabilities and skills in dealing with issues
like sexual harassment. The report also puts across recommendations of key competencies in the
leadership perspective, adoption of which helps the managers in managing futuristic problem.

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References:
Ahsan, K., Ho, M., & Khan, S. (2013). Recruiting project managers: A comparative analysis of
competencies and recruitment signals from job advertisements. Project Management
Journal, 44(5), 36-54.
Block, P. (2016). The empowered manager: Positive political skills at work. John Wiley & Sons.
Buckner, G. E., Hindman, H. D., Huelsman, T. J., & Bergman, J. Z. (2014). Managing
workplace sexual harassment: The role of manager training. Employee Responsibilities
and Rights Journal, 26(4), 257-278.
G. Banford, C., Ronald Buckley, M., & Roberts, F. (2014). Delegation revisited: how delegation
can benefit globally-minded managers. International Journal of Physical Distribution &
Logistics Management, 44(8/9), 646-654.
Gilani, S. R. S., Cavico, F. J., & Mujtaba, B. G. (2014). Harassment at the workplace: A practical
review of the laws in the United Kingdom and the United States of America. Public
Organization Review, 14(1), 1-18.
Goleman, D., Boyatzis, R. E., & McKee, A. (2013). Primal leadership: Unleashing the power of
emotional intelligence. Harvard Business Press.
Hopkin, P. (2018). Fundamentals of risk management: understanding, evaluating and
implementing effective risk management. Kogan Page Publishers.
Lipinski, J., & Crothers, L. M. (Eds.). (2013). Bullying in the workplace: Causes, symptoms, and
remedies. Routledge.
Mainiero, L. A., & Jones, K. J. (2013). Workplace romance 2.0: Developing a communication
ethics model to address potential sexual harassment from inappropriate social media
contacts between coworkers. Journal of business ethics, 114(2), 367-379.
Osagie, E. R., Wesselink, R., Blok, V., Lans, T., & Mulder, M. (2016). Individual competencies
for corporate social responsibility: A literature and practice perspective. Journal of
Business Ethics, 135(2), 233-252.
Rothaermel, F. T. (2013). Strategic management: concepts. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Irwin.
Trevino, L. K., & Nelson, K. A. (2016). Managing business ethics: Straight talk about how to do
it right. John Wiley & Sons.