Competencies for Senior Manager Roles
Pradip N Khandwalla

includes research articles that focus on the analysis and resolution of managerial and academic issues based on analytical and empirical or case research

RESEARCH

Executive Summary

KEY WORDS Senior Managers Roles Managerial Competencies India

This paper identifies competencies that may aid role effectiveness at senior managerial levels. It fills a research gap: while managerial roles and competencies have been studied fairly extensively, their relationships have not been demonstrated. The performance of senior level managers — and therefore of the organization — depends upon how well they play their varied roles. In this paper, the roles of senior managers have been categorized into nine strategic, nine operations-related, and nine leadership roles. Strategic roles relate to such matters of long-term and organization-wide import as policy formulation, setting of long-term objectives, articulation of a vision of excellence for the organization, contributing to the organization’s growth and diversification, procuring of strategic resources and intelligence, etc. Operations-related roles cover implementation of policies and changes, setting short-term targets, work allocation to staff, operating a control system, crisis management, etc. Leadership roles encompass inspiring subordinates, developing effective relationships, getting cooperation, emphasizing core values and norms, mentoring, fostering teamwork and collaborative effort, effective conflict resolution, etc. Forty-five senior manager-level competencies have been categorized into six groups as follows: competencies related to contextual sensitivity (power structure management) management of initiatives introduction of innovations resilience and effective coping through problem solving effective task execution interpersonal competence and