Conceptual Skills

Conceptual skills involve viewing the organization as a whole and applying  one’s planning and thinking abilities. Managers with good conceptual skills are able to see how the organization’s various departement and function relate to one another, how changes in one departement can affect other departement. They use conceptual skills to diagnose and assess different type and management problems that might result.

            Conceptual skills are among the most difficult to develope because they involve the way one think. To use conceptual skills well requires thinking in terms of relative priorities, rather than ironclad objectives and criteria, relative chances and probabilities, rather than certainties, and rough correlations and overall patterns, rather than clear-cut, cause-and-effect relationship. Conceptual skills are especially importantto the manager’s decisional roles of entrepreneur, disturbance handler, resource allocator, and negotiator. All of which require an ability to scan the environment for trends. Conceptual skills are needed by all managers, but especially top manager. They must percieve change in the organization’s environment and respon to them promptly by making right decision.