The Importance of Problem-Solving Skills for Modern Managers

This report explores the significance of problem-solving skills for managers in today's business environment. It begins by defining the core competencies required for effective problem-solving, including creative thinking, critical analysis, and risk management. The literature review delves into research highlighting the importance of these skills for managerial success, particularly in operations management. The analysis section examines how these competencies contribute to organizational adaptability, innovation, and decision-making. It emphasizes the need for managers to possess emotional intelligence and leadership qualities to navigate complex situations and influence employees positively. The report concludes that problem-solving skills, encompassing decision-making, creativity, critical thinking, and risk assessment, are indispensable for managers aiming to excel in their roles. The ability to balance these skills with inherent attributes such as leadership, research capability, and patience is crucial for effective management.

Running head: MASTERS OF BUSINESS AND PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Masters of Business and Project Management
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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
Literature Review.......................................................................................................................2
Creative Thinking...................................................................................................................2
Critical Thinking....................................................................................................................3
Risk Management...................................................................................................................4
Analysis......................................................................................................................................5
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................6
References..................................................................................................................................7

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Introduction
Problem solving skills are one of the most important qualities that a manager can have
(Iiuber 2014). In a workplace, different problems might arise each day and it is the role of the
managers to be able to solve that problem on a day-to-day basis as well as for longer term
(Schoenfeld 2013). In order to develop effective problem solving skills, one must develop
certain competencies first. These competencies are creative thinking, research skill, team-
work, emotional intelligence, managing risks and decision making ability (Gardashova 2014).
All these aspects along with intuition make a person good at problem solving. There are some
attributes and qualities that a person has naturally that enable him to achieve these sills easily.
I intend to work as operations manager in reputed organizations and manage the workings of
the organization. In this study, the different competencies and attributes that are needed to
develop problem solving skill has been discussed. Along with that, the application of these
competencies and attributes for managing an organization with special reference to operation
management has been analyzed.
Literature Review
Managers are responsible for the successful running of the organization. They
manage the workforce, run the operation, take several decisions and make sure that all the
aspects are balanced properly(Laar et al. 2017). In order to be able to manage all that, they
need to have several skills that will enable them to do their job successfully. In the following
section, the researches that study the skills necessary for successful management have been
thoroughly analyzed.

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Creative Thinking
According to Carmeli, Gelbard and Reiter-Palmon (2013), creative thinking and
problem solving is the newest approach to problem solving. Most organizations nowadays
follow an innovative approach to their operation and thus the managers must approach each
problem with innovative thinking as well. The study mainly focuses on the attributes of
leaders that enhance the innovative capacity of the employees. The study concludes that
creative problem solving capacity enhances knowledge sharing among the employees as well
as increases their originality. Erozkan (2013), believes that the development of problem
solving skills and innovative approach to it comes if people are trained in problem solving
skills. The students should be trained and seasoned with social interaction as well as problem
solving since their adolescent years. as this time is the most impressionable for every child,
these abilities that they gain during this time becomes ingrained into them. Basadur, Gelade
and Basadur (2014), build a four-stage problem solving process that will enhance the
organizational adaptability. The research provides a concrete framework that the leaders
might use in order to enhance the organizations adaptability. The two dimensions that enable
creative problem solving are Utilization of knowledge and apprehension of knowledge. These
attributes can be used in different measures to achieve different organizational goals. All
these studies have deep impact in the development of problem solving skills necessary for an
operations manager.
Critical Thinking
Another attribute that is needed by managers of an organization is research and critical
thinking. According to Stewart, Wall and Marciniec (2016), studies the gap between the skills
of the graduate students and the skills that are expected by the recruiters within them. Among
the skills that the recruiters expect, critical thinking and problem solving skills are given
much importance. These skills are known as soft skills that cannot be developed in a

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classroom or from textbooks. The main area of problem that the study focuses on is the lack
of communication from the recruiter’s end about the required attributes and soft skills that
they want in graduates. The study is limited in nature, as it does not provide any framework
or tool that would enable the graduates to develop these skills. Messum et al. (2017), echoes
the same concern that the soft skills that make the graduates employable in the market are
lacking in recent times. mainly for health care managers, along with the university degree and
practice, skills such as problem solving skills, communication and decision making are
extremely important. Problem solving skills are necessary in this sector as managers have to
deal with emergency situations all the time. The research shows that most of the graduates
that go for healthcare management jobs are quite developed in the critical thinking sphere.
They are capable of planning, research and execution of the strategies set by them. Though
while rating themselves, the graduates set themselves on a significantly higher level than the
managers think.
Risk Management
Another competency that the operations managers need is assessment of risks and
mitigating them. The main role of an operations manager is to improve the performance of
the employees and create cost effective plans. In order to do that they must be able to assess
the risks that the plans pose and the method that can be adopted to mitigate those risks. Any
new project or plan has some risks underlying. Oehmen et al. (2014), conducts an empirical
study and reaches to the same conclusion. They relate risk assessment and management with
the outcome of operation that are relevant to the job of operations managers. Their study
shows strong evidence that the managers should assess all their initiatives from the aspect of
risk assessment and only if the outcome is greater than the possible risks, only then the
program should be adopted. The operations managers should also review the risk and the
mitigation techniques continuously in order to remain updated and relevant in all scenarios.

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The research of Sohmen and Dimitriou (2015), also shows similar results. They list ten
competencies that are essential in today’s managers among which risk management is one of
the essentials. They suggest that through thorough research and pre-planning risks can be
mitigated. While it is true that the exact assessment of risk cannot be done at an initial stage,
still practicing this method reduces the chance of sudden disasters. The managers who
practice this skill will be able to manage their job roles better and ensure that none of their
projects fail due to lack of planning and risk assessment.
Analysis
The above attributes and skills are all essential attributes of problem solving skills. In
order to manage the operations of an organization, Creative thinking helps the organizations
in innovation. Most of the successful organizations in recent times depend on this strategy in
order to maintain their competitive advantage (Choudary and Ponnuru 2015). Critical
thinking on the other hand prepares the managers for every situation. This is further helped
by the risk assessment capability. All these capabilities are essentially attributes that
constitutes problem solving. Managers generally depend largely depend on their intuition and
experience in order to manage the operations (Carriger 2016). They also must be aware of the
emotional implication that their decision might bring upon the employees. Problem solving
skill is also related to decision making skills. In most cases any position of authority needs to
make hard decisions and under duress. In organizations problems might occur at any time.
Creative thinking allows the managers to face any new problem with confidence. This
confidence is essential while working as a operations managers. Researching about the
emerging problem and creating proper plans that are likely to solve the problem will make
the approach easier. Problem solving skills comes with team working attributes. The main
idea of problem solving is to keep an open mind, be able work with different people, and

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listen to the suggestions of everybody. This gives the managers enough ideas in front of them
to choose the one that suits the organization the best. Through critical thinking, operations
managers can dig deeper into the problem and find out the source of the problem (Keil, Lee
and Deng 2013). It might occur sometimes that managers take the most viable decision that
they think will suit best to the organization. However, the employees are less than
enthusiastic about the changes that have occurred in the organization. In this case, the
managers will have to think about the employees and change the decision that will take much
time. Here comes the importance of emotional intelligence that will enable the managers to
consider the impact of any decision on the minds and behavior of the employees. In order to
able to manage all these aspects some natural attributes are necessary for the managers. It is
expected, that they will be good negotiators and will have patience (Erozkan 2013). They will
have an analytical mind and must have the interest to go to the roots of any problem.
Moreover, they must be able have certain leadership qualities in order to be able to influence
the people working under him to accept his decisions unequivocally.
Conclusion
From above discussion, it can be concluded that problem-solving skills are extremely
necessary for managers. There are certain aspects that are needed to solve any problem that
might occur. Among these are decision-making skills, emotional capabilities, creativity and
critical thinking. In order to be able to manage all the operation they must balance these skills
with their inherent attributes, like, leadership, research capability and patience that make
them better managers.

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References
Basadur, M., Gelade, G. and Basadur, T., 2014. Creative problem-solving process styles,
cognitive work demands, and organizational adaptability. The Journal of Applied Behavioral
Science, 50(1), pp.80-115.
Carmeli, A., Gelbard, R. and Reiter‐Palmon, R., 2013. Leadership, creative problem‐solving
capacity, and creative performance: The importance of knowledge sharing. Human Resource
Management, 52(1), pp.95-121.
Carriger, M.S., 2016. What is the best way to develop new managers? Problem-based
learning vs. lecture-based instruction. The International Journal of Management Education,
14(2), pp.92-101.
Choudary, D.V. and Ponnuru, M., 2015. The Importance Of Soft-Skills Training For Mba
Students And Managers. Abhinav International Monthly Refereed Journal of Research in,
4(11), pp.6-14.
Erozkan, A., 2013. The Effect of Communication Skills and Interpersonal Problem Solving
Skills on Social Self-Efficacy. Educational Sciences: Theory and Practice, 13(2), pp.739-
745.
Gardashova, L.A., 2014. Application of operational approaches to solving decision making
problem using Z-numbers. Applied Mathematics, 5(09), p.1323.
Iiuber, O., 2014. Complex problem solving as multistage decision making. Complex problem
solving: The European perspective.

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Keil, M., Lee, H.K. and Deng, T., 2013. Understanding the most critical skills for managing
IT projects: A Delphi study of IT project managers. Information & management, 50(7),
pp.398-414.
Messum, D., Wilkes, L., Peters, C. and Jackson, D., 2017. Senior Managers' and Recent
Graduates' Perceptions of Employability Skills for Health Services Management. Asia-
Pacific Journal of Cooperative Education, 18(2), pp.115-128.
Oehmen, J., Olechowski, A., Kenley, C.R. and Ben-Daya, M., 2014. Analysis of the effect of
risk management practices on the performance of new product development programs.
Technovation, 34(8), pp.441-453.
Schoenfeld, A.H., 2013. Reflections on problem solving theory and practice. The
Mathematics Enthusiast, 10(1), pp.9-34.
Sohmen, V.S. and Dimitriou, C.K., 2015. Ten core competencies of program managers: an
empirical study. International Journal of Health and Economic Development, 1(1), p.1.
Stewart, C., Wall, A. and Marciniec, S., 2016. Mixed signals: Do college graduates have the
soft skills that employers want?. In Competition Forum (Vol. 14, No. 2, p. 276). American
Society for Competitiveness.
Van Laar, E., Van Deursen, A.J., Van Dijk, J.A. and De Haan, J., 2017. The relation between
21st-century skills and digital skills: A systematic literature review. Computers in human
behavior, 72, pp.577-588.