1. R E S E A R C H Managerial Competence:
includes research articles that
focus on the analysis and Do Technical Capabilities Matter?
resolution of managerial and
academic issues based on
analytical and empirical or Ujvala Rajadhyaksha
case research
Executive Globalization and rapid technological change is a reality for companies today. It has changed the
Summary manner in which business has been routinely conducted and has brought into focus delivery of
results in real time. Newer forms of organizational structures have emerged that are flatter with
fewer hierarchical levels. Career paths are no longer linear and unbroken but are spiralling and
lateral in nature. The traditional employment contract between employees and organization has
altered. While earlier it was normal to assume a life time of security in exchange for doing a good
job, now employees are increasingly looking for opportunities for professional development that
will enhance their future employability.
All these changes have had implications for HR departments and performance appraisal in the
new business context. Instead of evaluating primarily on the basis of quantitative results and on
what is achieved, the focus is shifting to how it is achieved as an indication of an employee’s ability
to keep performing well in the future. It has made ‘competencies’ the new mantra for the HR
departments aiming to effect change within organizations.
Based on a sample data of over 250 executives in one of India’s largest vehicle manufacturing
companies, this paper reviews the concept of competency, how it is assessed, and brings out the
need for assessing technical competency. The final model that emerges from the study goes beyond
managerial competencies — a model of techno-managerial competency that may be better suited
to emerging jobs in a more technology-driven future.
This model consists of four factors:
technical skills comprising of knowledge fundamentals, engineering drawing appreciation,
manufacturability appreciation, materials choice appreciation, knowledge of emerging
trends, etc.
group problem-solving skills comprising of problem analysis, creativity and originality,
technical leadership ability, communication ability, people management skills, etc.
KEY WORDS managerial skills comprising of perseverance, quest for learning, business understanding,
KEY WORDS
Techno-managerial visualization, attention to detail, etc.
Privatization
Competencies
Indian Banking aptitude comprising of analytical ability, creativity, risk-taking orientation, etc.
Assessment
Efficiency
Automobile Sector
Performance
VIKALPA • VOLUME 30 • NO 2 • APRIL - JUNE 2005 47
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2. I
n the literature, competence has been defined largely neurial, self-management, and thinking skills.
in terms of the desire to see specific work-related
behaviour very clearly: HOW ARE COMPETENCIES IDENTIFIED
• The ability to perform effectively the functions AND MEASURED?
associated with management in a work situation
A comprehensive method to identify and measure com-
(Hornby and Thomas, 1989).
petencies is the one adopted by McBer which involves
• A knowledge, skill, ability or characteristic associ-
five stages (Boyatzis, 1982):
ated with high performance on a job (Mirable, 1997).
• Identification of criterion measure: Choosing an
• Observable or habitual behaviours that enable a
appropriate measure of job performance to identify
person to succeed in her activity or function (Car-
top performers and collecting data on managers.
dona and Chinchilla, 1999).
• Job analysis: Generating a list of characteristics
• A combination of motives, traits, self-concepts,
perceived as leading to effective and/or superior
attitudes or values, skills, and abilities that differ-
performance and obtaining ratings from the man-
entiate superior performers from average perform-
agers to compute a weighted list of characteristics
ers (Lee and Beard, 1994).
which are then analysed in clusters.
• The capacity to transfer skills and abilities from one
• Behaviour event interviews (BEI): Conducting BEIs
area to another (Hogg, 1989 as cited in Lee and
to obtain a detailed description of the manager’s
Beard, 1994).
performance, coding interview data, and relating it
The above definitions of competence clearly suggest
to job performance data.
that, though implicitly, yet, competence is underlying
• Tests and measures: Choosing tests and measures
and does project itself as skilled behaviour. It includes
to assess competencies, administering and scoring
self-knowledge and motivation. In other words, a com-
them, and relating them to job performance data.
petent manager is one who has both the desire and the
• Establishing the competency model: Integrating
willingness to demonstrate effective behaviour. The self-
results from the previous three steps and statisti-
knowledge component of competence suggests that a
cally and theoretically determining and document-
competent person is able to transfer skills and abilities
ing causal relationships among the competencies
from one area to another. Finally, competency refers to
and between the competencies and job perform-
effective performance.
ance.
Early research on competencies can be attributed to
While job competence assessment is an extremely
McClelland (1973) who showed that a person’s success
rigorous approach for developing a competency model,
in a job could not be predicted solely on the basis of
it is time-consuming and expensive. Sometimes, com-
intelligence tests. Around the same time, McBer, a US
panies rely on a panel method for identifying compe-
company, was commissioned by the American Manage-
tencies. In this approach, a group of experts get together
ment Association (AMA) to identify those personal
and identify a list of characteristics that they think is
characteristics of managers that result in effective and/
relevant for superior performance. Even though the
or superior performance within a job. McBer’s research
competencies resulting from the panel method are not
which was documented by Boyatzis (1982) identified six
empirically tested against performance data, very often,
clusters of competencies that were related to managerial
they come close to explaining performance. In fact,
effectiveness. These included goal and action manage-
constructing competencies through the natural language
ment cluster, leadership cluster, human resource man-
interaction of organization members has been suggested
agement cluster, directing subordinate cluster, focus on
as being particularly suitable for organizations operat-
others cluster, and specialized knowledge.
ing in a turbulent environment where competencies
Since then, the human resource consultants and
frequently change (Michellone and Zollo, 2000).
experts have developed several competency models.
Most of these models capture a set of competencies
CURRENT DEBATE ON COMPETENCIES
similar to the ones identified in McBer’s research includ-
ing administrative, communication, interpersonal, lead- While considerable development of the concept of com-
ership, motivation, organizational strategy, entrepre- petencies has taken place since the 1970s, debate still
48 MANAGERIAL COMPETENCE: DO TECHNICAL CAPABILITIES MATTER ?
48
3. continues on the use of the term. Most of this debate (Boyatzis, 1982). The advantage of the first approach is
centres around the following themes: that it tends to make the assessment of competencies
• level of competence (individual vs. organizational) relatively easy and objective. However, the advantage
• depth of competence (observable skills vs. under- of the second approach is that it allows us to delve
lying characteristics) beyond conscious behaviours to unconscious levels of
• degree of competence (effective vs. superior per- competence at work such as motives (e.g., desire to
formance) achieve goals) and self-image (e.g., I am a forward
• specificity of competence (generic/managerial vs. planner).
specific/technical) Spencer and Spencer (1993) have proposed an ar-
chitecture of individual competence that encompasses
Level of Competence
both the approaches and define them as a series of layers,
Although the term ‘competence’ originally meant “basic like an iceberg, where only the top layers are visible and
personal characteristics that are determining factors for observable through behaviour (Figure 1).
acting successfully in a job or a situation” (McClelland, The first layer of the iceberg competence structure
1993), in recent times, another close-sounding term called is concerned with observable knowledge and skills that
‘core competence’ has been popularized by Hamel and relate to tasks and work and that can be learned in
Prahalad (1990). The two terms are distinct from each professional and technical training courses. The second
other, yet, attempts have been made to relate them. layer refers to non-job-specific skills that can be trans-
While competence refers to the individual level of ana- ferred from one situation to another such as communi-
lysis, core competence refers to the organizational level cation and problem-solving skills. The third layer of the
of analysis. Core competencies are a company’s charac- iceberg competence structure refers to values, stand-
teristic areas of expertise and consist of the synergy of ards, and morals of the person and how they relate to
intellectual assets such as motivation, employee effort, the social and political expectations of the organization
technological and professional expertise, and methods or the professional association. Finally, the fourth layer
of collaboration and management processes that are comprises of personal characteristics that are difficult
difficult for competitors to duplicate. to assess directly through behaviour such as pragma-
Godbout (2001) has integrated the two concepts of tism, commitment to results, etc. Clearly, the ease of
individual and core competence to develop the idea of assessing competencies through observable behaviours
competency-based organization. According to him, core and criteria increases as one progresses to the upper
competencies are created through the logical and prac- layers.
tical linkages between the organization’s goals, struc-
Degree of Competence
ture, and culture which transform into a series of man-
agement concepts and business rules reflecting the Boyatzis (1982) distinguished between threshold com-
expertise of its employees and the degree to which the petency and differentiating competencies. Threshold
employees’ know-how is appreciated by the manage-
ment. This entails that skills and motivation of employ- Figure 1: Iceberg Model
ees are important factors in achieving a company’s
objectives. In short, according to Godbout, individual Ease of observation
competence is a necessary condition to develop core
High
competency. Know-how
Depth of Competence Transferable skills
Competency approaches fall loosely into two categories
Values
— those that essentially value the definition and mea-
surement of competence as displayed in observable
Motives, self-image
behaviours (Cardona and Chinchilla, 1999), and those
Low
that essentially value the underlying characteristics that
lead to behavioural demonstration of a competence Source: Spencer and Spencer (1993).
VIKALPA • VOLUME 30 • NO 2 • APRIL - JUNE 2005 49
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4. competency refers to that minimum quality that a person audit of technical competencies possessed by the com-
needs in order to do a job such as the ability to speak pany executives helps the HR department to re-deploy
the native language. Differentiating competencies refer and retrain employees according to business needs.
to those factors that distinguish superior from average Further, if we take an instance of a product devel-
performers. Most threshold competencies are consid- opment executive whose job is to modify vehicle engine
ered to be generic in nature in that they tend to apply features in keeping with more stringent pollution con-
to most managerial jobs whereas differentiating compe- trol norms, no doubt, he would be required to be a good
tencies may be more organization-specific. For instance, leader, a communicator, and a manager. However, these
time and again, the list of basic management competen- qualities, though necessary, are not sufficient by them-
cies has included analysis, communication, creativity, selves. This employee must also be a trained engineer
decision-making, etc. However, a competency such as with, say, the skill to read engineering drawings and
awareness of international ways of approaching busi- understand the petrol cycle as well as have knowledge
ness deals may be a critical factor determining job success specific to the function — for example, understand terms
and high performance in a particular global company like EURO II and EURO III. Such details are unfortu-
(Lee and Beard, 1994). nately not assessed in the standard available managerial
competency models.
Specificity of Competence
Therefore, organizations need to move beyond
This debate concerns whether competencies are unique assessment of generic managerial competencies to more
to a particular job or organization or whether they are specific technical competencies and adopt a holistic
generic. Most threshold competencies for management approach to competency assessment as it applies to real
are often treated as being generic rather than specific. jobs in the work place. Some organizations have already
In fact, competency models developed by HR consult- started doing this (for instance, see the technical com-
ants usually give us a plethora of generalized behaviour- petencies for software engineers in Philips Digital
al and attitudinal information about employees such as Networks – Product Services (DPS) within Royal Philips
their communication ability, leadership ability, and Electronics by Begeer and Banerjee, 2002). However,
problem-solving ability, to name a few. This is due to there is ample scope for research-based contributions in
the fact that managerial behaviours in all sectors or this area. It is in this context that this paper attempts
organizations tend to be based on a triumvirate of in- to validate a model of techno-managerial competencies.
terpersonal roles, informational roles, and decision-
making roles (e.g., Mintzberg, 1973). However, more RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
recently, there have been suggestions (e.g., Turner and
Company Profile and Sample
Crawford, 1994) that examining general managerial
competencies may not be enough to differentiate be- To validate our model of techno-managerial competen-
tween average and high performance and that an exten- cies, we gathered data from an assessment exercise
sion into assessing specific technical and functional conducted on executives (N = 271) in one of India’s
competencies may be required even for senior manage- largest vehicle manufacturing companies. The company
ment levels in a technology-driven future. is a leading player in the medium and heavy commercial
A look at the recent developments in the automobile vehicle segment in India with a market share of about
sector in a developing country like India demonstrates 33 per cent in 2000 and is a dominant market player in
this point. In order to survive, the Indian vehicle manu- the south of India. Executives who participated in the
facturers have had to upgrade products by replacing assessment exercise belonged to product development,
manually operated product features with electronically corporate quality engineering, and manufacturing func-
controlled ones. This change in product features has tions. Their grades ranged from 22 (just over entry level)
resulted in a change in job specifications. An auto com- to 27 (just below top management cadre), covering a
pany today requires maintenance and service engineers range of total work experience from 3-25 years. Most of
who, in addition to being mechanical engineers, should the participants had been inducted into the company as
also have an understanding of certain aspects of elec- trainee engineers and had risen through the ranks to
tronics and electrical engineering. At such times, an senior levels.
50 MANAGERIAL COMPETENCE: DO TECHNICAL CAPABILITIES MATTER ?
50
5. Method assessed using a written test that was specially designed
for the purpose. Items for assessing analytical ability
Assessment exercises were conducted between the years
were adapted from standard books and tests on IQ (Alder,
2000 and 2002 as a part of the company’s larger efforts
2002; Barrett, 2000) in the context of an automobile
to gear itself up to the threat of increased competition
engineering company. Numerical reasoning, verbal
from other players as well as to cope with changes
reasoning, visual-spatial reasoning, and logical reason-
resulting from the enforcement of stringent pollution
ing were tested (Box 1 gives an example).
control norms in the country. The assessment was con-
Items to test creativity were adapted from books
ducted by a team of experts in human resource manage-
and websites on creativity and visual puzzles (DiSpezio,
ment and automobile engineering drawn from academia
1998) keeping in mind the context of the company and
along with senior company executives. Since the com-
the automobile sector. Both divergent and convergent
pany in question was treating the assessment as a
forms of creativity were examined based on techniques
developmental tool rather than an appraisal tool, the
such as lateral thinking, assumption smashing and asking
following four elements generally considered to be crucial
questions, attribute listing, and analogy. Since some
for an effective development centre (Lee and Beard,
items on the creativity tests had open-ended answers,
1994) were made an integral part of the entire exercise:
initially, two raters, one from the company and the other
• setting up of an appropriate criteria (competencies)
from the external expert team, assessed these items
against which to measure participants
separately and compared responses. Only when a suf-
• selection of instruments (interviews, exercises, and
ficiently high degree of consistency in evaluation by the
tests) that accurately measure the appropriate cri-
assessors was established was the rest of the evaluation
teria
of the creativity test completed. Each response in the
• identification of skilled assessors who can recognize
test carried one mark. A high score indicated a higher
effective performance as defined by the appropriate
creative potential (Box 2 gives an example).
criteria
Risk-taking was assessed using an adapted and
• provision of feedback of the assessment data in
abridged version of Kogan and Wallach’s (1964) mea-
order to improve individual and organizational per-
sure of risk-taking behaviour cited in Robbins (2001).1
formance.
Situations were placed before the participants who were
Accordingly, the team began by conducting focus
asked to indicate the minimum odds of success they
group discussions and interviews with senior manage-
would demand before recommending one alternative
ment to identify competencies that were relevant for
over another by placing themselves in the position of
superior performance particularly given the future
advisor to the central person in each of the situations.
business goals of the company. This resulted in a set of
24 items that were broadly clubbed into managerial (11
1
Although it was difficult to calculate traditional measures of alpha reliability
items) and technical (13 items) competencies (Exhibit 1). of some of these measures given the ‘live’ nature of the assignment, successive
Once the competencies had been identified, top use of the same written test provided consistent results.
managers were asked to assign suitable weights to them Box 1: An Item in the Analytical Section of the Test
using a paired ranking technique to indicate the relative
In the question below is a given statement followed by two conclusions
importance of the particular criterion to successful numbered I and II. You have to assume everything in the statement
performance. to be true and then decide which of the two given conclusions
logically follows beyond a reasonable doubt from the information
Measures given in the statement.
Give answer (1) if only conclusion I follows; give answer (2) if only
The next stage in the assessment involved the selection conclusion II follows; give answer (3) if either I or II follows; give
answer (4) if neither I nor II follows; and give answer (5) if both
of instruments and measures for the identified criteria. I and II follow.
A combination of techniques including written tests, Statement: Some four-wheelers are blue. Mahindra Bolero is
a four-wheeler.
leaderless group discussions around a case analysis, and
Conclusions: I. Mahindra Bolero is blue.
in-depth interviews was used for the final assessment. II. Mahindra Bolero is not blue.
The measures that were used for each of the listed Answer: (1) (2) (3) (4) (5)
competencies are discussed below in brief. Each correct answer carried one mark. There was no penalty for
wrong answers.
Analytical ability, creativity, and risk-taking were
VIKALPA • VOLUME 30 • NO 2 • APRIL - JUNE 2005 51
51
6. Box 2: An Item from the Creativity Test The participant groups were given 20 minutes to read
the case and 45 minutes for the discussion. They were
free to decide among themselves the best modalities for
arriving at a solution — whether they should appoint
a leader or split up the task into smaller sub-tasks, etc.
A panel of technical and behavioural experts observed
them without intervening. Through this exercise, tech-
(A) (B) (C)
nical competencies such as problem definition, problem
analysis and choice definition, choice evaluation and
solution, creativity and originality, technical leadership
ability, and behavioural competencies such as commu-
(D) (E) (F) nication ability, team working ability, and people man-
agement ability were assessed. Scoring was done on a
Find three things that you can do by combining objects (A) and
(F) above. Look for applications which use the properties of both scale of 1 to 10 with 1 indicating a poor score and 10
objects and which could not be done (or would be very difficult) indicating a good score.
if you had only one of the objects.
The final stage in the assessment exercise was an
in-depth interview lasting between 30 and 45 minutes
Each alternative scored a few points with more risky
with the panel of behavioural and technical experts.
alternatives scoring fewer points than less risky alter-
During the interview, questions were asked to assess the
natives. Overall, the lower the score, the greater the risk-
remaining competencies. Answers were rated on a scale
taking orientation of the participant (Box 3 gives an
of 1 to 10 with 1 indicating a poor score and 10 indicating
example).
a good score. Exhibit 2 indicates a sample of questions
Other than the written tests, participants were
that were asked to assess each of the remaining com-
assessed through a group problem-solving exercise
petencies.
around a case analysis. Some of the cases were devel-
oped based on actual problems faced by the company. ANALYSIS
As the panel of assessors did not remain constant over
Box 3: An Item from the Risk-taking Measure
the two-year period during which the exercise was
Mr. L, a 30-year old research physicist has been given a five-year
appointment by a major university laboratory. As he contemplates conducted panel-bias free, normalized scores of candi-
the next five years, he sees himself working on a difficult, long- dates were computed and used for analysis. Complete
term problem. If a solution could be found, it would resolve basic
scientific issues in the field and bring high scientific honours. If
data were available for 271 executives who formed the
no solution was found, however, Mr. L would have little to show final data set for analysis. Descriptive statistics of the
for the five years in the laboratory and it would be hard for him
competencies is given in Exhibit 3.
to get a good job afterwards. On the contrary, as most of his
professional associates are doing, he could work on a series of Based on discussions with senior executives, it was
short-term problems for which solutions would be easier to find expected that the competency model for the company
but they are of lesser scientific importance.
Imagine that you are advising Mr. L. Listed below are several would comprise of two broad set of competencies —
probabilities or odds that a solution will be found to the difficult technical and behavioural/managerial competencies. An
long-term problem that Mr. L has in mind. Check the lowest probability
that you would consider acceptable to make it worthwhile for Mr. exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was conducted to test
L to work on the more difficult long-term problem. this notion and explore the clusters of competencies that
_____ The chances are 1 in 10 that Mr. L will solve the long- emerged from the data. EFA gave five factors in place
term problem
_____ The chances are 3 in 10 that Mr. L. will solve the long- of a neat two-factor model of competencies. The results
term problem of EFA are given in Exhibit 4. The factors included
_____ The chances are 5 in 10 that. Mr. L. will solve the long-
technical skills, group problem-solving skills, manage-
term problem
_____ The chances are 7 in 10 that. Mr. L. will solve the long- rial skills, aptitude, and risk-taking ability. These factors
term problem together explained about 80 per cent of the total variance
_____ The chances are 9 in 10 that. Mr. L. will solve the long-
term problem
with the first three factors alone explaining 70 per cent
_____ Place a check here if you think that Mr. L should not choose of the variance.
the long-term difficult problem no matter what the proba- Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) using AMOS 4.0
bilities are.
was further conducted to test for a two-factor model of
52 MANAGERIAL COMPETENCE: DO TECHNICAL CAPABILITIES MATTER ?
52
7. techno-managerial competencies as had been expected in one of India’s largest vehicle manufacturing compa-
as well as a five-factor model of competencies as had nies during a consulting assessment exercise conducted
emerged in the EFA. After several attempts at model- within the company. A total of 24 competency items
fitting, the best-fit model that emerged was a four-factor were identified based on discussions with senior man-
model of competencies comprising of technical skills, agers in the company, 13 of which were technical in
group problem-solving skills, managerial skills, and nature and 11 were managerial. A panel of experts using
aptitude. In this model, risk-taking as a factor was a combination of written test, group discussion, and in-
included in the factor labelled aptitude since it contrib- depth interview conducted the assessment of executives
uted only 4 per cent to the total variance in the EFA. on the listed competencies.
Following the recommendation of Bollen (1989), multi- Exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor
ple indexes of fit were examined to interpret the results analysis were conducted on the 24 competency items.
of CFA. These included chi-square, root mean square It was expected that the items would load on two di-
error (RMSEA), normed fit index (NFI), and comparative mensions — technical and managerial. However, EFA
fit index (CFI). The CFA showed a good fit for the four- and CFA confirmed instead a four-factor model of com-
factor model, χ 2 (246, N = 324) = 1514.12, p < 0.001, petencies comprising of technical skills, group problem-
RMSEA = 0.13, NFI = 0.93, CFI = 0.93. Factor loadings solving skills, managerial skills, and aptitude.
of all items were satisfactory and above 0.50, except for The results of the study, therefore, supported the
risk-taking, which was –0.03, suggesting that it would basic premise of a model of competencies that extended
perhaps be more suitable to consider dropping this item beyond managerial competencies to include technical
from the model altogether in future studies. competencies. However, two additional dimensions of
The final model of competencies that emerged from group problem-solving skills and aptitude came up in
the study, therefore, consisted of the following four the model. In a sense, these additional dimensions are
factors: not surprising. Much of the work in an automobile
Technical skills — comprising of knowledge fundamen- manufacturing company, especially the work associated
tals, application and judgement, engineering drawing with new product development and quality, is done in
appreciation, regulatory test requirements, manufactur- teams. Similarly, the importance of aptitude comprising
ability appreciation, test and validation requirements, of analytical ability and creativity to effective perform-
materials choice appreciation, and knowledge of emerg- ance of a manager has been supported time and again
ing trends. through various other competency models. The prob-
Group problem-solving skills — comprising of problem lematic item was risk-taking that did not load well on
definition ability, problem analysis and choice determi- the factor of aptitude. Perhaps, this item was not relevant
nation ability, choice evaluation and solution generation for this particular company as it had a largely conserva-
ability, creativity and originality, technical leadership tive culture or perhaps a better measure of risk-taking
ability, communication ability, team working ability, is required. Future research should attempt to rectify
and people management skills. this problem.
Managerial skills — comprising of perseverance, quest Further, since the company was using assessment
for learning, visualization, business understanding, and as a developmental rather than an appraisal tool, it had
attention to detail. consciously sought to de-link assessment from the past
Aptitude — comprising of analytical ability, creativity, job performance. As a result, it was not possible to
and risk-taking orientation. correlate the dimensions from the four-factor model that
emerged in the study to job performance. Perhaps, future
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS researchers could use this model for automobile sector
This paper tested a model of techno-managerial compe- companies and relate it to job performance to test its
tencies based on data gathered from over 250 executives concurrent and predictive validity.
VIKALPA • VOLUME 30 • NO 2 • APRIL - JUNE 2005 53
53
8. Exhibit 1: List of Managerial and Technical Competencies
Managerial Competencies Technical Competencies
Analytical ability (AN) Knowledge of fundamentals (of automobile engineering) (KF)
Creativity (CR) Application and judgement (of automobile engineering principles) (AJ)
Risk-taking orientation (RT) Engineering drawing appreciation (EDA)
Perseverance (PERS) Regulatory test requirements (RTR)
Quest for learning (QFL) Materials choice appreciation (MCA)
Attention to detail (ATTN) Test and validation requirements (TVR)
Visualization (VIZ) Manufacturability appreciation (MA)
Business understanding (BU) Knowledge of emerging trends (in automobile engineering) (ET)
Communication ability (COM) Problem definition (PD)
People management skills (PM) Problem analysis and choice determination (PACD)
Team work skills (TW) Choice evaluation and solution (CES)
Creativity and originality (CO)
Technical leadership ability (TLA)
Exhibit 2: Sample Questions for Assessing Managerial and Technical Competencies
Managerial Competencies Sample Questions
Perseverance Can you talk about some technical problem / design that you have solved or are currently involved
in solving at work?
What are the barriers and obstacles (both technical and non-technical) that you faced while
attempting to solve the problem?
How long did you commit yourself to solving the problem?
Quest for learning What technical magazines/journals do you read?
Have you made any further additions to your qualifications in the last few years? What new skills
have you picked up in the last year?
Attention to detail What is the total number of vehicle models that your company manufactures?
(This competency was also assessed based on the detail to which responses were given to technical
questions)
Visualization If a vehicle were to be made more accessible for a handicapped person, what broad changes
in design features would you expect to make?
Business understanding What do you think will be the implications of the government announced ‘Golden Quadrilateral’
project for your company’s sales?
Technical Competencies Sample Questions
Knowledge of fundamentals What are the different kinds of gears? What are the different kinds of welds?
Application and judgement Why do you put a vehicle in the first gear while climbing up a slope?
Engineering drawing appreciation (Actual engineering drawings from the company were used to ask questions to the candidates)
What is the difference between first angle and third angle drawing?
Regulatory test requirements What is the meaning of EURO III? What are some of the safety regulations pertaining to vehicle
tyres?
Materials choice appreciation What is the exact composition of the metal used for the body of a truck? Can the radiator be
made of brass? Why or why not?
Manufacturability appreciation What are the advantages and disadvantages of using fibreglass for the body of a vehicle? What
implication does this material have for welding?
Emerging trends What are some of the emerging trends in the choice of materials for vehicle bodies?
54 MANAGERIAL COMPETENCE: DO TECHNICAL CAPABILITIES MATTER ?
54
10. REFERENCES
Alder, H (2002). Boost Your Creative Intelligence, New Delhi: Michellone, G and Zollo, G (2000). “Competencies Man-
Kogan-Page. agement in Knowledge-based Firms,” International Jour-
Barrett, J (2000). Test Yourself! New Delhi: Kogan-Page. nal of Technology Management, 20(1/2), 134-155.
Bollen, K A (1989). Structural Equations with Latent Variables, Mintzberg, H (1973). The Nature of Managerial Work, New
New York: John Wiley & Sons. York: Harper Collins.
Boyatzis, R E (1982). The Competent Manager, Chichester: Mirable, R (1997). “Everything you Wanted to Know about
John Wiley & Sons. Competency Modeling,” Training and Development, 51(8),
Cardona, P and Chinchilla, M N (1999). “Evaluating and 73-77.
Developing Management Competencies,” Technical note Robbins, S (2001). Organizational Behaviour: Concepts,
of the Research Department at IESE, International Controversies and Applications (9th edition), New
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Ujvala Rajadhyaksha is currently a Fellow at the Centre for leave) where she teaches courses in organizational behaviour,
Women’s Intercultural Leadership (CWIL) and Visiting Professor organization theory, communication skills, and human resource
in the Faculty of Business Administration and Economics at management. She has published in national and international
St. Mary’s College, Notre Dame, Indiana, USA. She also serves journals such as Human Relations, Sex Roles, Vikalpa, and
as Associate Professor at Shailesh J. Mehta School of Economic and Political Weekly.
Management, Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay (on e-mail: ujvala@iitb.ac.in
I learned ... that inspiration does not come like a bolt,
nor is it kinetic, energetic striving, but it comes into us
slowly and quietly and all the time, though we must
regularly and every day give it a little chance to start
flowing, prime it with a little solitude and idleness.
Brenda Ueland
56 MANAGERIAL COMPETENCE: DO TECHNICAL CAPABILITIES MATTER ?
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