Competency Analysis: Managing Others, Teams, Conflict & Reflection

This report delves into the conceptual knowledge and implications for managing others, focusing on managing teams and groups, and conflict management. It emphasizes the importance of effective communication, motivational theories (Herzberg, McClelland, Sirota, Theory X and Y), and emotional intelligence in leadership. The report highlights the skills needed to plan, organize, lead, and control teams, as well as the techniques for assessing, avoiding, and resolving conflicts. Ultimately, the document stresses that properly managed teams lead to better outcomes and improved performance. Desklib is a platform where students can find similar reports and solved assignments to aid in their studies.

Conceptual Knowledge report and Reflective Essay
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Contents
Section 1: Conceptual Knowledge and Implications for Managing Others..........................................3
Section 2: Self-Analysis and Learning Contract..................................................................................10
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Section 1: Conceptual Knowledge and Implications for
Managing Others
Introduction
The key concept of management involves lots of skills, techniques and styles of handling
resources, dealing with situations, communicating with people, as well as the art of planning,
organising, directing, regulating and implementing various actions and activities. An
effective manager takes on the major role of a good leader with efficient decision making
skills and means of co-ordination.Management has two different perspectives, the traditional
viewpoint and the modern view point. The former viewpoint holds that management is the art
of getting things done, the process of planning, directing and controlling, and the use of
resources for achieving an objective. The latter viewpoint stipulates that management is the
drive behind an organisation’s functional productivity, the process of creation of an effective
working environment and the flexible operation of meeting challenges and changing
circumstances. (Cunliffe, 2016)
Theorists have argued about the nature of management as an art or a science. As an art,
management has some features, including the need to continuously practise, gaining of
experience, innovative and creative application of skills and theoretical knowledge of
relevant management. As science, management has unique characteristics such as
systematicarrangement of operation, observational research and analysis, understanding of
cause and effect and so on.
Management has several levels. Firstly, the top level management. This level is represented
by the chiefs, the boards and the highest authorities of organisations. This management deals
with goals and policies of the company, plans and collaborates actions and functions and
oversees the working of the entire company. Secondly, the middle level of management
comes next. Here the management is represented by different branches and departments who
ensure the smooth working of the organisational and directional functions and operations.
Thirdly comes the lower level of judgment. This level is the supervisory or operative
management. (Glendon, et al 2016)
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One of the key requirements of management is managing others, to be a balanced leader who
supports his or her team, guides it and motivates to work productively. To manage others a
manager needs effective skills in communicating with the team, to be a liaison between the
teams and individuals and other people and to be effective in getting things done in the right
manner. For people management skills, managers need some key features before managing.
First, the manager needs to improve his or her ego. Egos should never come in the way of
managerial duties. Humility is a feature to maintain. Second, the manager has to increase
confidence levels. He or she has to be confident and inspire trust and confidence in others.
Third, the manager should constantly update, hone and maintain communication skills. He or
she has to develop apt listening skills as well as negotiating aptitude so that management of
people can be done in an easier manner. Fourth, the manager has to have a strong and stable
personality so that the leadership quality is effective. Fifth, the priorities should be correct
and appropriate according to situations. Sixth, the manager should be able to sustain focus,
energy and time for all kinds of situations. A good leader has a good sense of time, can be
focused in a balanced way and has energy for everything. Last but not the least, a good
manager while managing the others is concerned about the health, safety, security and
wellbeing of self and the others. (Leberman, and McDonald, 2016)
In this assignment, two components of management of others will be elaborated on-
Managing teams and groups and Managing conflicts. A good manager has to have the right
attitude, skill set and aptitude to manage teams and groups effectively and the right qualities
and personality to understand, avoid, identify and resolve conflicts in workplaces. An
inefficient management tends to mismanage teams and groups as well as conflicts.
Managing Teams and Groups
Teams and groups are integral to any workplace. Management skills are required to plan,
organise, lead, control the teams and groups, also called the POLC functions. Planning refers
to the decision making and assessment done in order to understand the individuals in the
teams and their needs, skills and potentials. The manager plans out the working of each team,
based on the assessment and evaluation done of the team members. (Certo, 2018) Organisation
is the regular systematic arrangement of activities, tasks, actions and solutions that the
manager ensure the team does with commitment to performance, time and professionalism.
Leading is the guidance that managers offer the teams. It is important to constantly guide and
support and motivate the teams to carry on with their work, to perform better, to change track
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and to take the company forward. By leading and inspiring and practising, the manager shows
the way to the team. Controlling is another important function. By controlling, the manager
regulates, supervises, monitors, tracks and oversees the entire team work. Managers are
essentially needed to continuously looks after the progress of the work and the position of
the projects undertaken. The modern day managers must be both good group members and
good team leaders. Managing groups and teams is an essential skill that all managers possess.
(McNeil, et al 2015)
As a manager in charge of dealing with groups and handling teams, it is quite noticeable that
the position of a team leader and a group manager leads to overlapped roles. In totality, both
the roles have to be conducted. For managing teams and groups, the manager has several
priorities. Firstly, the manager has to delegate. Successful delegation refers to giving the right
task or assignment or job to the right person. Using the tools like team charter, the manager
sets out to communicate to the team the main goals and mission of their work, what they are
expected to do and how they should work things out. Task allocation is done on a regular
basis so that the team or group can understand duties without clashing.
The next major thing a manager has to do is apply various motivational theories so that the
team members can be motivated to perform better and improve the quality of work. The
manager has to understand which motivational approach and technique will suit the different
teams so that the groups can be better managed. Some best theories include the following-
- Herzberg’s Motivators- The manager using the basics of this theory first tries to know
the individuals in the team. He has to sense what the team members want from their
jobs, what skills they possess and what potential they have. The manager has to apply
motivating factors for motivating the team members. He encourages factors like
achieving a goal or gaining recognition to get the satisfaction of the team member.
He also makes sure to reduce demotivating factors so that the team stays motivated.
- McClelland’s Human Motivation Theory- The manager keeps in mind what drives the
members of the team. He regularly has to handle teams of different personalities with
different kinds of interests, attitudes, preferences and opinions. It is essential to
understand where the commonness lies. A manager uses this theory to identify each
team member so that he can allocate tasks accordingly. With the help of the theory he
manages to segregate people according to their common goals, needs and features.
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Some features are dominant while others are passive. Recognising these, the manager
manages his team. (Bothaet al 2014)
- Sirota’s Three Factor Theory- Using this theory, a manager keeps his teams
enthusiastic, eager and willing to work hard. Some times the tasks can become
burdensome and the team members begin to perform poorly. They need inspiration.
The manager has to take not of three factors- the organisation’s goals and the team
member’s goals should not be in conflict, the basic needs of the team members should
be considered and a healthy competitive atmosphere is necessary for encouraging the
team members. Based on these factors, the manager has to make sure every individual
in the group has equal and fair amount of opportunities and importance, every
member of the team has to be appreciated for work and achievement and there has to
be an interactive, communicative and open working relationship between teams and
among team members. People get motivated to work in teams when these three
factors are taken care of. (Geisler, and Wickramasinghe, 2015)
- Theory X and Theory Y- Managers are of two types according to this theory. Theory
X stipulates that managers take negative and pessimistic approaches of handling
teams. Theory Y states that managers take on positive and optimistic ways of
managing teams. According the Theory X, teams under negative management tend to
be dissatisfied, negligent towards jobs, feel intimidated at work and have no incentive
to work. Theory X managers oversee and control teams minutely, leaving no room for
individual progress, freedom and flexibility. This type of manager does not relegate
work but instead controls and regulates work in an authoritative way. Teams under
Theory Y management tend to perform better, are motivated and involved, have
flexibility and freedom and are motivated. Theory Y managers allow team members
to grow progressively. This type of manager allows greater motivation.
Effective managers develop and train their teams. Teams consist of different types of people
at different levels. A good manager has the skill of overcoming challenges associated with
handling different people and putting them into teams. The manager takes the feedback
taking technique to ensure that the team is developing productively. Feedback is taken from
teams as to how satisfied they are in working together. The manager also gives the team
members feedback as well in order to encourage the,the manager also makes sure to train the
team with regularity. It is crucial to have required skills in the face of emerging trends in the
competitive market. The team members have to be well equipped to handle daily new
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changes. Training and assessments also help managers understand the developmental needs
of the teams and groups under him, (Bryman, and Bell, 2015)
One of the most significant skills all managers need for managing teams and groups is the
development and application of all communication skills. Communication is of several types.
Non verbal communique refers to expressions, tone, body language, the attitude like listening
skills and the eagerness to hear some one out. Verbal skills of communicating are the style of
talking, the delivery of the verbal content and the mannerisms of talking, like clarity and
logic. Written communication system is represented by means of communique through media
like technology. Computers, mobiles and other such conveniences help in easing and
smoothening communication process. Good managers practise active listening and facilitates
brainstorming sessions to include opinions and suggestions of everybody. This motivational
way of dealing with team members is crucial. (Donate, and de Pablo, 2015)
It is worth mentioning Mayer-Salovey’s theory about emotional intelligence being one of the
key characteristics of managers. According to this theory emotional intelligence is the ability
to accurately predict, perceive and anticipate the needs, emotions and aspirations of self and
of others. The manager is a good leader if he or she possesses as much emotional intelligence
as IQ and technical skills. The good manager has self-awareness, self-regulation, self-
motivation, empathy and social skills that he applies to his groups or teams.
According to Boyatzis, managers also possess five common senses which help him in
handling teams and groups- the discovery of ideal self, real self as well as creation of learning
agenda, experimentation with new innovations and creating a support system. A good
manager applies these to his management of teams and groups.
Managing Conflict
Conflict management is the technique of assessing and evaluating the sources of conflicts,
avoiding and identifying potential crises, eliminating and resolving situations and minimising
effects of all sorts of contingencies. A properly managed group or team leads to better
outcomes, improved performances and better managed situations. The management of
conflict resolution includes strategic and tactful elimination through techniques of competing,
compromising, collaborating, avoiding and accommodating. (Kianto, et al 2014) Competing
allows the management to avoid conflicting position in the market, emergency contingencies
like poor performances and tension coming from within and outside. Compromising and
Accommodating are two sides of a coin which the management resorts to when conflicts
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cannot be resolved in any one way. Either the management has to overcome hurdles by
reaching compromise in decisions and actions, often hurting the company in the process, or
the management manages to consider and apply everyone’s point of views. For instance in
organisational conflicts involving employees and the organisation, the management takes
care of hearing both sides out before making the right choices. Either the situation is
compromised or the management makes both sides adjust and adapt in an accommodative
manner.
Organisationsapply different types o0f conflict resolution according to circumstances.
Conflicts can occur at all levels and in several ways. Conflicts can arise out of negative
outside factors such as legal or economic crises which can severely affect the organisational
policies and objectives. Conflicts can occur internally as well in form of tussles between
different departments, teams or individuals. The most common conflict is the interpersonal
organisational conflict. It the manager who has to oversee the resolution of such conflicts. A
properly and effectively managed organisational conflict can increase organisational learning.
The organisation learns to assess and evaluate the conflicts and analyse the teams or
individuals or departments involved. (Birasnav, 2014)
There are several conflict models to show the different ways such contingencies can arise.
For instance, Khun and Poole’s model states that conflicts are of two types- distributive and
integrative. From the perspective of the former, conflict is handled in form of concessions to
the conflicting sides. Form the perspective of the latter, the solution is sought to integrate the
needs, requirements and demands of the conflicting parties. DeChurch and Marks’s Meta-
taxonomy model argues that there are two approaches of handling conflicts- activeness or the
extent to which conflicts are discussed and analysed and specifically managed and
agreeableness or the extent to which the management goes in satisfying the conflicting
parties.
The manager’s competency is tested by the way he handles conflicts and deals with tension
within his teams. A good manager is instrumental in solving issues and building teams
simultaneously. He has tounderstand, and possess, conflict management competency. An
ineffective manager fails to manage conflict, and the conflict ends up blowing things out of
proportion. The company ends up on a destructive path with huge number of troubles. Teams
split and break up due to different reasons. From conflict in opinion to clashes of interests to
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attitude problems of individuals and teams, such issues have to be recognised by the manager
before it is too late. (Wilton 2016)
Managers who are competent in managing the holistic affairs of the workplace need the
competency qualities as follows- assertiveness while initiating solutions to conflicts, listening
skills with empathy and objectiveness, avoidance of blame game, being open minded and
open in everything including decisions and conclusions, controlling nature with flexibility,
focus on the result and solution, professionalism, negotiating personality and the foresight to
the future possibilities and potentials. (Villar, et al 2014)
Maslow’s theory stipulated that a good manager goes through four stages of competencies
before finally managing the conflict. First he finds himself with Unconscious incompetence,
especially in cases where the conflicts are relatively unknown and unprecedented. Secondly,
the manager then begins to realise areas of his Conscious incompetence. He feels he is
incompetent and he is trying to gain insight and skill for the particular conflict. Gradually he
enters the third stage, Conscious competence. He learns the specific conflict management
style and manages the conflict. He then gets his fourth stage the Unconscious competence, he
is now adept at handling the conflict. This theory thus stipulates that the conflict management
style and approach is a mixture of skills and behaviour, defined by the manager’s attitude
towards the conflict. Inept managers can stop at the second stage and do not make efforts to
reach the fourth stage. Such behavioural stance can lead to lack of required skills. A good
manager learns with experience and applies that to the conflicts all the time. Maslow also
emphasized the difference between the competence and the competency of the effective
manager. Competency is generally associated with inept and ineffective managers who lack
skills or competence.
Managers also possess the following competent qualities that define his management style of
the various conflicts- (Maag 2016)
- Power and authority- Most managers use the influence of power and authority
associated with position, knowledge or personality to manage the behaviour of the
conflicting individuals or teams. Sometimes too much reliance on power can create
different outcomes, often backfiring the conflict situations.
- Avoidance- Managers through their regular tracking, monitoring and general
awareness manage to prevent conflicts because they manage to catch the source of the
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emerging conflict. Such managers are successful in stopping conflicts from occurring
at all.
- Reaction- Conflict management approaches can have different reactions of the
manager. If the manager overreacts or reacts negatively, the conflict increases or is
just temporarily solved. A good manager positively reacts or does take his own time
to react according to the conflict situation. He first assesses the situation and then
reacts appropriately.
- Listening- A good manager listens to both sides instead of showing any bias towards
one group or team or individual.
Managers supervise closely situations and team members so that conflicts can be stopped
from even happening. They train their teams and adopts strategies to combat the conflicts and
prevents future possible conflicts. From group discussions under his supervision to training to
initiation of interactive programmes among the members, the manager makes sure a healthy
working ambience is present among the teams. (Webb2017)
According to Goleman, managers should possess emotional intelligence as the ability to
identify the team members’ needs and demands, the capability of assessing the different
perspectives of the team members and the efficiency of handling emotions in the face of
handling others.
Conclusion
A competent and emotionally intelligent manager has a good understanding of the
organisational behaviour and the employee psychology at workplace. He can relate better to
his group or team members if he manages them with a proper guidance, motivation, support
and inspiration. He has the understanding of the key basics of the conceptual knowledge
related to good people and team management. A good manager thus is a good leader who can
understand his team before managing them.
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