Managerial Competencies Essay

Question 1. List the three managerial competencies that have led to your success so far in your job. List your strength and, for each strength listed, determine how that strength might get you into trouble and why is it so difficult to become and effective middle manager? Answer Managerial competencies is defined as sets of knowledge, skills, behaviours, and attitudes that a manager needs in order to be effective in a wide range of managerial jobs and various organizational setting. There were six core important specific competencies: the communication, planning and administration, teamwork, strategic action, multicultural, and self competencies. Managerial competencies is useful to me, a current manager of business plan and reporting for Retail Product division in Telekom Malaysia Bhd, also would be useful after my promotion to Assistant General Manager of Business Finance for Technology and Innovation division of Telekom Malaysia Bhd. The competencies will help me to excel on designated job, improve self-management and communication within organisation unit, better planning and administration of teamwork and more sensitive about changing of subordinate behaviour and environment surround them. Three managerial competencies that have led to my success in a job are: a)Communication competencies, b)Planning and Administration competencies, and c)Teamwork competencies. 1.Communication Competencies A communication competency is your ability to effectively transfer and exchange information that leads to understanding between yourself and others. It includes: †¢Informal communication, †¢Formal communication, and †¢Negotiation In 2010, I was given responsibility to improvise Telekom Malaysia Group Segmental Reporting through high accuracy identification of cost drivers for Customer Subscriber’s Equipment (CPEs), Revenue Sharing Out payment, Leased Routers and Product Licensing. It requires a new cost transfer process  between Retail Product to respective Line of Business (LOBs) divisions where involves inter-department cooperation and collaboration to achieve this goals. Further, it requires me to build good working relationship with LOBs in order to be successful. I began by initiating informal communication with various divisions such as Information Technology and Network Infrastructure (ITNT), Service Management and Demand Forecast (SPDF), Group Costing, various LOBs and respective product owner within Retail Product to obtain their views and resources capabilities if the implementation takes place. I realized it is not a straightforward process because it requires a lot of effort to identify allocation drivers to each LOBs segments, limited access to the information and data available is not derived from one single place. In order to overcome these issues, together with my team, we have established strong collaboration between all divisions and communicate with them from time to time to understand problems, ways to minimize the difficulties and setting up moving forward plan and process flow. It takes a lot of negotiation with respective division especially in term of cut off time to provide the data and eligible of drivers that will be used for allocation purposes. Some negotiations with information providers do not take long but there few requires continuous negotiation until the processes are fully stable and ready for service. Once a process flow had been completely implemented and applied by all division, I then started to communicate formally with all TM Group and ready to start the process to improvise Group Segmental Reporting. Meantime, I have received a very positive feedback from Group and all divisions that this exercise really helps them to improvise better profitability as well. 2.Planning and Administration competencies Planning and administration competency involves deciding what tasks need to be done, determine how they can be done, allocating resources to enable them to be done, and then monitoring progress to ensure that they are done. This competency includes: †¢Information gathering, analysis and problem solving; †¢Planning and organising projects; †¢Time management; and †¢Budgeting and financial management We were once facing a challenge from top management to execute 100% 2011 Key Performance Indexes (KPI) for asset tagging achievement by taking consideration a full completion of tagging exercise for assets acquired prior 2006, 2007 – 2009 and 2010. The majority of assets were classified as routers which many of them already been deployed at customer’s premises, lost or not at working condition. This is one of the toughest job to be delivered in 2011 due to in complete information for old assets, problem to identify lost assets and require a high support from vendor whom previously perform installation at customers’ premises and from other division such as Customer Service Operation (CSOC) team. By October 2011, we are only managed to achieved 69% out of 1,821 assets that need to be tag and this situation really give us high pressure since we running out of time and got 3 more months only to complete the remaining of the assets. Further, it has potential Net Book Value (NBV) impact of RM4.5 Mil if the activities was not planned and administered properly. This situation also require Retail Product Finance team to gather all necessary information from various unit, analyzing a result, identify ways to solve a problems within a given timeframe. I took immediate action by putting strategic plan with respective assets owner and design the most achievable timeframe for everyone to follow. My team had table out the proposal to Vice President and Head of Department (HOD) during our weekly management meeting and action had been taken immediately soon as everyone agreed. I started to execute a plan together with my team and assets owner by classifying assets group with potentially not found, not working condition, can be found and available at customer’s premises. Each group of the assets was tackled by different kind of approach and we are monitoring a progress from time to time until end of the process. My team will update the status of assets on weekly basis and report was produced to respective HOD for their immediate attention and action. Any unresolved issues were brought up and thorough checking was performing for each of the issues. Meantime, we are also monitoring the financial impact and ensure asset retirement and depreciation was performed timely. Our hard work and tremendous effort was worthwhile for Retail Product where by December 2011 we managed to achieve 100% asset tagging KPI and manage to recognize RM4.5 Mil NBV in a book. 3.Teamwork competencies A teamwork competency is accomplishing tasks through small groups of people who are collectively responsible and whose job requires coordination. Teamwork competency can become more effective by: †¢Designing teams properly; †¢Creating a supportive team environment, and †¢Managing team dynamics appropriately I have realized that in the past 2 years both Retail Product and Global have been using unreliable forecast driver as a mechanism to allocate International Bandwidth cost among each other. By using forecast drivers, I have difficulties to convince LOBs about cost that should be taken up by Retail business and to ascertain the drivers that being used as allocation basis to them are proper or not. I have approached Bandwidth management team and Global Data Management (GDM) team to relook this matter again and find ways to allocate cost at high accuracy and efficiently rather than using forecast as a basis throughout a year. Realized that this implementation requires strong and high commitment team, I have approached my team member and we have started to initiate several discussions with Costing, GDM, and Bandwidth management team including product owners. We also communicated to LOBs and Group Finance to support us on our mission to change the driver process. Initially, we have difficulties to convince Global Finance about the important of using appropriate drivers and cost allocation since they have been performing the same method for several years already. They were afraid the changes may impact a lot in in their Financial book, require additional tasks and resources. In order to overcome this ambiguity, in the past few months, we have been brief about the existence of new system called ABOR resided at network which able to track bandwidth usage up to service offerings and thus, using this opportunity, we managed to convince Global Finance to start making changes. Further, our management have empowered us to take actions based on the best judgement without always seeking approval from them. We were also been promised by management that the successful of this project will add to our KPI. Finally, with a great support and commitment, both RP and Global have come to consensus about methodology and approach to deliver cost allocation with better cost drivers’ analysis and everyone seems able to accept the new way of doing things. Strengths and challenge to achieve affective middle manager Based on the above 3 competencies, I believe that I possess the following strengths that able to help on self development and assist a company towards achieving strategic goal and objectives. a)Relation-oriented and Change-oriented leadership behaviour; b)Value Innovation and Change; and c)Excellence Relationship. 1.Relation-oriented and Change-oriented leadership behaviour I believe that I possess a relation-oriented behaviour especially on providing a support and encourage my team member when perform difficult task, providing coaching and mentoring, finding time to listen to my subordinate and willing to accept suggestion from subordinates and peers. In change-oriented leadership, I have shown to management that I am able to understand the need to adapt the change of environment, implementing a major change in strategies and encourage and facilitate efforts to implement major change. A challenge to practice this strength in current middle manager position is that top managers such as Vice President and Executive Vice President might sometime have difficulties to accept the new strategies and ways of doing things because they are already complacent with current method and not willing to take a risk with the new approach. Thus, even though my subordinates have a very high motivation to perform the new methodologies but without a strong support and encouragement by top managers may sometime lead to frustration. 2.Value Innovation and Change I am always encourages my subordinates and peers to seek opportunities for different and innovative approaches to address problems and opportunities in Telekom Malaysia and facilitates the implementation and acceptance of change within the workplace. I am also able to identify and drives changes needed to adapt strategically to changing of management and internal initiatives, catalyzes new approaches to improve results by changing organizational culture, systems, or products/services. In other occasion, each year we encountered a problem to rationalize our Business Plan number with Information Technology and Network Technology (ITNT) unit because there was  no specific platform being given by TM management that we can discuss and agree among each other during Business Plan exercise period. The outcome is mush worsen when a project start to kick off because somehow part of a project cost neither budgeted at our unit nor ITNT. A lot of staff complaining about this situation and something need to be done to improve the situation. Upon realizing the important of this issues, together with my superior and peers, we started to put up proper plan and drive communication with ITNT during 2011 Business Plan exercise. I have initiated a first discussion with ITNT team where comprehensive rationalization exercises have been carried out several times after that. I have appointed one of my subordinate to compile and execute all information so that both our unit and ITNT can share each other, detail assurance where a cost should be resided was taken into high consideration and the demarcation of project owner was fully identified. No doubt, though we have some problems with a few product owners who resistance to accept this new way of exercise due to time consuming and a lot of pressure was putting back to them, we are constantly persuade them about the important and benefit of the outcome from this newly added exercise. Though Group Finance had provided the platform at a very last minute during BP exercise period, both our unit and ITNT have a very minimal issues and problem to bring up since we have rationalized our number prior to that. At the end of a period, objectives have been fully achieved and ultimately have mutual understanding and co-operate each other with minimum discrepancies. 3.Excellence Relationship I have a capability to initiates and maintains strategic and trusting relationships with stakeholders inside and outside the organization (e.g. TM colleagues, government bodies, regulators, industry players, technology partners, investors, media, customers and alliance partners) to advance business goals. My team members were given responsibility to improvise Group Segmental Reporting through identification of proper cost drivers for Subscriber’s Equipment (CPEs), Revenue Sharing Outpayment, Routers Leasing and Product Licensing. It requires a new cost transfer process and my team felt difficulties to implement due to complication on obtaining the drivers, too manual and limited resources. I have initiated the discussion with various parties like GEMS, IT – Data Warehouse, Service Planning and Demand  Forecast Unit (SPDF) and Retail Product division about possibility to obtain the drivers and identify a method to do it. In order to reduce the difficulties among my team member, I worked with them to identify a methodology to access the information, type of template to extract the data and setting up the deadline to accomplish a job on monthly basis. I always discussed with my team about problems to perform this job and how to overcome such incidents. I told my team members that their effort and contribution towards achieving this goal is very valuable and helps to improvise TM’s reporting. We are started to establish good relationship with data provider parties such as IT, SPDF and product owners so that the analysis can be carried out on monthly basis. My team members successfully implement the new tasks and help to improvise Group Segment Reporting. We have received a positive feedback from various parties in Group Finance and Line of Business (LOBs) since the cost transfer exercise really helps them to establish better profitability Unfortunately, a great challenge that I have to face when putting through this concept in work division is a reluctant from management to accept the changes as every division seems more comfortable to work within their own division rather than to accept changes from outsiders.