9.5 ESSENTIAL MANAGEMENT SKILLS

The term management refers to the process of getting activities completed efficiently and effectively with and through other people. The process represents the functions or primary activities engaged in by manager. These functions are typically labeled planning, organizing leading and control...

Planning includes defining goals establishing strategy and developing plans to coordinate activities. Organizing is to determine what tasks are to be done, who is to do them, how to tasks are to be grouped, who reports to whom and where decisions are to be made. Leading includes motivating subordinates, directing others, electing the most effective communication channels and resolving conflicts. Controlling is to monitor activities to ensure that they are being accomplished as planned and correcting any significant deviation.

A managers job is varied and complex. Manager needs certain skills to perform the duties and activities associated with being a manager. During, the early 1970 research by Rober L. Katz found that. mangers need three essential skills or competencies technical, human and conceptual he also found that the relative importance of these skills varied according to.

Skill Needed At Different Management Levels

  • Top management - needs- conceptual skill
  • Middle management needs Human Skill
  • Lower level management need technical

Technical skills are those skills that include knowledge of and proficiency in a certain specialized field.

Human skills are the ability to work well with other people both individually and in group.

Conceptual skill are the ability to think and conceptualize about abstract situations to see the organization as an whole and the relationship among its various submits and to visualize how the organization fits into its broader environment.

Below are some of the skills that all effective classroom managers seem to have.

1. Patience.

I'm sure you've heard the saying that patience is a virtue. Well scrap that, because in the classroom patience is a necessity. In order to maintain good working relationships with the students that you teach, you need to be able to demonstrate patience. Get stressed out and start snapping at your pupils, and you will find classroom management harder than ever.

2. Determination

Effective classroom management takes skill, but it also takes determination. You need to be determined to establish your authority in the classroom at all costs, or you will see a deterioration in student behavior. The teachers with the most effective classroom management skills are the teachers who are determined to follow through, and appl their rules consistently, whatever the situation.

3. Consistency

If you're not consistent in your classroom, then you will find effective classroom management hard to achieve. The teachers who have the least problems with student behavior are the teachers who deal with the pupils in a consistent fashion. Treat identical situations differently, simply because of the child involved, and you're setting yourself up for failure.