Skills of An Effective Administrator
Skills of An Effective Administrator
Skills of An Effective Administrator
Robert Katz
In his paper Skills of an Effective Administrator, it is important to note that Robert Katz gave
emphasis to the Three-Skill Approach. Katz suggested that the essence of effective leadership
lies therein in the three most basic personal skills one must acquire technical, human, and
conceptual.
The skills mentioned above, though different in function, technical skills being related to the
actual field, human skills to establishing communication with the people and conceptual skills to
setting visions, must work correlatively to attain maximum results.
As defined by Katz in 1955, Technical skill is knowledge about and proficiency in a specific
type of work or activity. It includes competencies in a specialized area, analytical ability, and the
ability to use appropriate tools and techniques. Technical skills are important in the production
of actual products that a certain company is designed to produce. To acquire the skills under
these would mean a certain person qualifies to be called competent and knowledgeable in areas
that concern the rules, products, services, and standard procedures of an organization.
If technical skills focuses on the relationship between a human being and things, human skills
focuses on the interaction of people concerned. These skills enable a certain leader to work
efficiently among his/her subordinates and superiors. This is the interaction of a leader to all the
people that are working to attain successful results of the task on hand. These leaders are more
sensitive and empathetic to what motivates others, create an atmosphere of trust for their
followers, and take others needs and motivations into account when deciding what to do to
achieve organizational goals.
Basically, a leader that is promoted is expected to provide more output in terms of the direction,
aims, and goals of the organization. It is essential that motives and visions are carefully laid
down to motivate all the people involved to work with passion and dedication. This is where the
conceptual skills come in. Leaders with higher levels of conceptual skills are good at thinking
through the ideas that form an organization and its vision for the future.
In this approach, Katz actually tells us that anyone can be a leader. It only takes hard work for an
individual to become a good leader. This is encouraging for people who are interested in gaining
leadership effectiveness but do not possess the traits as proposed in other trait based leadership
theories. However, like any other leadership models, this approach also has limitations. The
development of these skills depends and varies from one personal trait to another. Some skills
may be difficult or easier for a person to develop based on his/her nature.