Skill Approach in Leadership

What is Skill approach?

A Leader has certain abilities and knowledge which can be developed to accomplish a set of goals and objectives. “Skills and ability can be learned and developed” (Northhouse, 2010)

There are two influential models; one is three skill approach of Katz, 1955 and the skill model of Mumford etal., 2000.

1) Three Skills Approach (Katz, 1955)

There are three types of Skills a leader should have Technical, Human and Conceptual skill. But it changes based on the level of management.

1.1 Technical Skill

It is the knowledge and ability in a particular area of work. Technical skills are more important in supervisory and middle management level but less important in top Management.

1.2 Human Skill

It is the ability to work with people. Effective communication, attention to the relationship with others, working together and motivating are some of the human skills needed in an organization. These skills are required in all three levels in Management.

1.3 Conceptual Skill

It is the ability of creative ideas and concepts to work with and understand complicated ideas. The conceptual skills help an organization to create the vision and implement it creatively. This skill is more important in Top and Middle management, less important for Supervisory Management.

2) Skill Model (Mumford etal., 2000)

This model has five components which are Individual Attributes, Competencies, Leadership Outcomes, Career Experience and Environmental Influence.

2.1 Individual Attributes

It includes four components

• General Cognitive ability - Intelligence and common sense
• Crystallized cognitive ability - Specialized knowledge or acquired knowledge through learning and experience
• Motivation
• Personality

2.2 Competencies

It includes three components

• Problem Solving Skills – The ability to solve a problem It can be done by understanding the problem, defining the problem, gathering information regarding the problem, formulating and generating a plan to solve the problem
• Social Judgment – The capability to understand others perspective and interact with people.
• Knowledge – The accumulation of Information

2.3 Leadership outcomes

Effective problem solving and performance are the outcomes of Leadership.

• Effective Problem Solving – It involves providing solutions that are unique, High quality and logical. If the leader has advanced  level of competency will be a more effective problem solver
• Performance – It refers the job performance. Good performance leads to better evaluation.

2.4 Career Experience

Career experience effect both Individual attributes and Competencies. The knowledge acquired through career experience can help to solve problems or interact with people. It can change the leaders’ personality.

2.5 Environmental Influence

Environmental influence are the factors lies down outside the Attributes, Competencies and experience of a leader. It is out of control of the leader. There are two types of Environmental influence Internal (for example Technology, Competency of employees, poor communication skills and etc.) and External ( for example political, social, economic and natural disasters)

Strengths in skill approach

• Skills make leadership available to everyone. Everyone has skills if they can develop it they can use it. (Northhouse, 2016)
• It is the first approach to conceptualize and create a structure of the process of leadership around skills (Northhouse, 2016)
• Provides an expensive of leadership that incorporates with a wide variety of components (eg: Problem-solving skills, social judgement skills, etc.) (Northhouse, 2016)
• Provides a structure consistent with leadership education programs. (Northhouse, 2016)

Critics in skill approach

• The breadth of the skills approach appears to extend beyond the boundaries of leadership, making it more general/ less precise. (Northhouse, 2016)(Don’t really specify how to solve problems in certain situations)
• Week in predictive value; does not explain how skills lead to effective leadership performance. (Northhouse, 2016)
• Skills model includes individual attributes that are trait-like such as cognitive ability, motivation and personality. (Northhouse, 2016)

Bibliography

Northhouse, P. G., 2010. Leadership Theory and Practice. 5 ed. s.l.:SAGE.

Northhouse, P. G., 2016. Leadership Theory and Practice. 7 ed. s.l.:SAGE.