Characteristics of world class managers

¶ … Manager

Any organization's well-functioning or failure depends entirely on the managers that run it. Managers have the power to directly influence their organizations' both internal and global affairs through the actions, decisions, and directions they take. World class managers are determined by their skills, by the effective management they promote "in an ever-changing global environment" (Rundle, 2007).

A world class manager is represented by competence. A world class manager's competence should be approached from two distinct dimensions: the granted competence, also referred to as official authority, on the one hand, and the so-called competence, also referred to as personal authority, on the other hand. The first dimension refers to the manager's freedom of decision, to his possibility of implication in the decisional process regarding the company's activity. The second dimension refers to the knowledge, skills, and abilities that any world class manager should have in order to exert his authority in normal conditions. In order to best analyze a world class manager's professional requirements, this second dimension should be treated from two distinct points-of-view: the professional competence (professional, scientific knowledge and professional skills and abilities), and the managerial competence (management knowledge and management skills and abilities).

The manager' granted authority allows him to make decisions about the company's strategy and policy; to make propositions about objectives, options, and resources regarding the company's global strategy and policy; to approve the company's general budget; to approve management centers' budgets; to make decisions about cost management methods used inside the company; to make decisions about inventory actions; to make decisions regarding financial control, and others.

A world class manager's personal authority is recommended by his knowledge, skills, and abilities. The manager's knowledge should be approached from two sides: professional knowledge and management knowledge. Professional knowledge refers to knowledge regarding: technological features regarding the company's products or services; the structure of all production costs, both general and per each product; economic-financial indexes, quantitative indexes, and efficiency indexes; economic analysis; financial mechanisms; suppliers market and customers market; profit centers functioning mechanisms; budgets and accounting. Management knowledge refers to knowledge regarding: management processes and management functions; management system configuration, content, and components; managerial instruments; strategic management; human resources management.

A world class manager should make proof of certain skills and abilities. These abilities refer to: leadership, desire for managing and leading, talent, intuition, experience spontaneity, communication abilities, and the ability of managing people. The skills include: skills regarding energetic resources and temper (health, physical and mental resistance, self-control); character skills (honesty, sociability, integrity, courage, modesty, perseverance); and intellectual skills (intelligence, analysis and synthesis ability, good memory, imagination, prevision ability).

These knowledge, skills, and abilities should characterize any good manager. But for a world class manager these SKA's should be at a superlative level. In addition to this, a world class manager must be oriented towards anything new. He must be able to observe new situations, to accept them and to apply them in order to take his company to the next level.

A world class manager should have superior leadership skills and abilities compared to other managers activating on a lower level. The manager must understand that leadership is a group process that requires the interaction of at least two people in implementing a certain course of action (Frank, 1993). The manager must understand that he establishes the direction, and that he also needs others to help him follow this direction. The manager must understand that leadership is the process through which he establishes the purpose or the direction for one or several people and determines them to act together with competence and full dedication in order to accomplish them (Clement, 1991). A world class manager must definitely have certain innate qualities, like intelligence and charisma, but other required characteristics are built in time, as they are the result of years of education and experience (Bennis, 1992).

Any organization that activates on a global level goes through significant changes quite often. Therefore, such an organization requires a manager that knows best how to anticipate and how to handle these changes. A world class manager focuses on different priorities than average, classic managers do. He focuses on providing value, loyalty, and overall satisfaction to the clients, employees, and owners. This manager should be oriented towards human aspirations. He must spend his time dealing with problems regarding his employees, as he must determine them to give their best. A world class manager understands that the human resource is a critical one that requires special treatment. A world class manager should know when to combine individual responsibilities with group responsibilities (Katzenbach, 1996).