Developing Competencies For Middle Level Managers Across Areas Of Functional Specialization - A Study In An Indian BPO

Abstract

In a continuously changing environment, for a sustained personal development, an expansion of a person's capacity to be effective in managerial roles becomes vital (Davis et al., 2004; Jackson et al., 2003; Tubbs and Schulz, 2006). In this regard, the competency approach marks a new development and the importance given to competencies in the organizational context is continually increasing (Matthewman, 1995). When capturing and capitalizing on individual capabilities, it is important to understand whether managers working in different work environments require different sets of competencies in order to satisfy the different job demands that are encountered or whether different job demands connected to different areas of functional specialization could be satisfied by a common set of management competencies. Though there is an enormous diversity in the scope of competency studies, a few empirical research studies have been conducted on management competency requirements for different functional areas. Findings of such studies have indicated that the variations in functions and contexts of managerial roles make a one-size-fits-all competency profile impractical (Barber and Tietje, 2004; Hayes et al., 2000; McKenna, 2002). In most cases, randomly developed competencies (self-developed or developed by consultants) are used by policy makers in making crucial decisions on HR issues and programs. Few studies have been conducted in Asia and that too, were confined to a single functional area. Wang and Chen (2002) conducted a study on managerial competency modeling for selection and assessment in China using hierarchical strategic job analysis and a survey on leadership competency to formulate a model of managerial competency. They suggested that managerial skills for middle managers included strategic decision making, relationship coordination, empowerment and facilitation, business monitoring, and innovation. Furthermore, there is very little research reported in the literature for exploring the competencies required by middle managers. Even ifthere are, the perception of informants in the work situation is frequently used by researchers when studying competency (van der Velde et al, 1999). Therefore, the present study aims at examining whether there is a set of management competencies that should be possessed by middle managers, irrespective of the functional area they belong to.