Managerial Competences in International Scope

Purpose – The aim of the paper is an identiication of key managerial competences based on selected typologies described in the literature of the subject and studies relecting managerial practices in East-Central Europe (Slovakia, Lithuania, Poland). Design/Methodology/Approach – The present study constitutes a review of the Polish and international literature of the subject. Findings – Fifteen key managerial competences were selected on the basis of managerial competences’ typologies outlined in the literature. Practitioners participating in several studies acknowledged the competences to be signiicant in managers’ work. They were also indicated as crucial in managers’ work by practitioners who had taken part in the described research survey. The most important were: personality traits such as lexibility, interpersonal/social skills, leadership, teamwork, and decision-making. Moreover, apart from the set of competences featured in the literature, evaluated mangers indicated two additional competences: information gathering and change management , which they considered vital. Originality/Value – The paper is a comparison of the international observations with indings of studies encompassing managers from three European states: Lithuania, Slovakia, and Poland.


Introduction
ICT advancements, global information, product and people low, constant national and global changes, constitute only a few of determinants impacting modern economies and daily challenges for organizations.Managers who plan, decide, organize, manage and supervise all resources in organizations constitute a key driving force for prosperity and development of enterprises.As a consequence, they ought to act effectively (Penc, 2005, pp. 323-324).
The signiicance and gravity of managers' responsibilities result in considerable interest in the issue of managers' key competences determining success and eficiency of their actions.
The aim of the paper is to analyse and identify key managerial competences on the basis of the chosen typologies contained in the literature of the subject as well as on studies conducted among practitioners of East-Central Europe.The analysis was based on studies made in Lithuania, Slovakia, and Poland -in the countries which in the past belonged to the Eastern Bloc where socialism hindered social life and economic growth.Economic transformation in these countries took place almost 30 years ago.Then, in 2004, they joined the EU.Disproportions between the mentioned countries and countries with longer free market economy history have been evened out.Therefore, the selection of the surveys was made upon a similar history of countries' economies conducted therein, neighbouring geographical location, and slight discrepancy in the social, economic, and cultural spheres.
To sum up, the goal of the paper is to identify key managerial competences based on the selected literature and researches.

Modern typologies of managerial competences
The literature of the subject offers various deinitions of the term "competences".For the purpose of the present study, the deinition offered by Rakowska (2007) was assumed.The deinition establishes that competences of modern managers are: personal features, application of knowledge (qualiications, experiences), attitude, and skills (Rakowska, 2007, p. 149).
The second typology, offered by Kubik (2005), classiies competences into 7groups: education, luency in languages, skills: interpersonal, conceptual, technical, diagnostic, and analytic.In addition, the author makes a reference to opinions of psychologists who observe that managers' effectiveness is determined by certain features of their personality which boost a success factor in the ield.Some of these are included in Table 1 (Kubik, 2005, pp. 85-86).
Another interesting typology which views competences in light of psychology and intelligence in a broad sense, was developed by Boyatzis (2011).The following groups 1 emerged in the process of categorization (Boyatzis, 2011, p. 94 (Gholipur et al., 2012, p. 508).
Filipowicz ( 2016) developed an interesting, systematized competence model.It is based on cases of approx.200 organizations which implemented competence systems.Competence map (a term developed by the team) was designed as a result of an analysis pertaining to competences featured in job descriptions and organizations' sets of competences.The map encompassed 36 most frequently indicated vocational competences.The author does not perceive the set as inal.However, it is considered that in 90% of companies, the set is suficient for introducing a Competence Management System.The author established 9 managerial competences among these (Filipowicz, 2016, p. 101)

Key managerial competences in studies
In 2011, in Lithuania, a study titled Determining Managerial Competencies of Management Professionals by Bakanauskienė and Martinkienė (2011) was published.The aim of the study was to determine and deine managerial competences on the basis of a survey conducted among managers of companies in western Lithuania.The following research methods were applied: analysis of the hitherto studies, a questionnaire, and qualitative and quantitative surveys.The study was conducted among mid-level management.Eleven surveys were collected from managers of 11 different companies.The following structure of businesses emerged: 5 industrial companies (46%), 2 trade companies (18%), 2 service companies (18%), and 2 international companies (18%).Managers' professional experience was the following: 1 had 3-5 years' experience (9%), 1 -5-7 (9%), 2 -7-10 (18%), 2 -13-15 (18%), 1 -15-18 (9%), and 3 -18-20 (18%).Each of respondents possessed a university degree (at least a Bachelor's).Fifty nine competences in 3 subgroups were presented to respondents.The subgroups were  16), and personal ( 14).Based on this study, it may be observed that, according to respondents, key competences in their positions include: striving for results, communication, convincing communications, responsibility, and learning from one's own and others' experience.In addition, the following scored further on the list: fairness, self-development, and orientation to customer.The list ended with conlict handling, ethics, and self-trust (Bakanauskienė and Martinkienė, 2011, pp. 29-43).
Another interesting study in the ield of managerial competences, titled Managerial Competencies and Innovations in the Company -the Case of Enterprises in Poland, was published in 2014 by Szczepańska-Woszczyna and Dacko-Pikiewicz.The authors explore the subject of competences in light of innovation implementation in companies, because, as they observed, the emphasis has been recently placed upon human capital and competences facilitating innovative processes (Szczepańska-Woszczyna and Dacko-Pikiewicz, 2014, pp. 266-282).
In modern global economy, constant technological advancements, free transfer of products, and multitude of business entities, development of competitive advantages determine organizations' survival.According to Limański, "factors facilitating the development of competitive advantages include: access to resources critical for success in a particular sector, and possession and ability for constant creation of skills, knowledge, innovation, creation and dissemination of novel solutions".Moreover, the author observes that innovation, as a characteristic feature of organizations, if detached from integrated and coordinated activities in all aspects of the company's operations, will not overcome existing laws and weaknesses (Limański, 2011, p. 146).
Therefore, implementation of innovations in modern businesses ought to become a standard procedure in organizations' day-to-day operations, which determines their survival.This, in turn, ought to be based upon a key determinant for implementing such a change, i.e. competent managers, and introducing integrated actions.As a consequence, the above mentioned study was included in the present paper.

97
The study was conducted among top-, middle-and operational-level managers of Silesian companies.Results were obtained on the basis of 101 questionnaires.Respondents' structure was approximately the following: 23.7% were 40 years of age and older, 48.5% were 31-40, 27.5% were younger than 31.Moreover, 97% of respondents graduated with a university degree.43.6% of them graduated from studies in economics, 20.8% -engineering, 14.9% -humanities and social sciences, 11.9% -law and administration.In addition, 20% of managers had over 10 years' experience in this position, 18.9% -5-10 years, and the remaining -5 years.The questionnaire consisted of 10 questions with a Likert-type scale (score 5 indicating "maximum agreement" and 1 "no agreement"), and closed single-choice questions.Apart from demographics, the questionnaire featured a question on the type and scope of innovations introduced in the company.In 66.6% of cases, technological innovations were implemented, in 58.4%product innovations, in 56.4% -organizational innovations, and in 43.6% -marketing innovations.In 11.9% of companies innovations were international in scope, in 19.8% the scope was national.The remaining ones pertained to a region, sector or company.
Managers responded in questionnaires considered the following 18 competences as the most sought for: operational and strategic thinking, knowledge of the industry, striving to achieve results, coping with change, analytical skills, activity and initiative, setting goals, motivating others, and managerial courage.The following are of signiicance as well: commitment, creative problem solving, ability develop employees' commitment, observing the market and competitors, openness to change, motivating others (as an interpersonal skill), ability to listen, accept orders and having the vision and implementing it (Szczepańska-Woszczyna and Dacko-Pikiewicz, 2014, pp. 266-282).

Conclusions
As far as the main aim of the present study is concerned, it revolved around the identiication of modern managerial competences' typologies described in the literature of the subject with studies examining managerial practice of East-Central Europe.Considering the irst column on the left-hand side in Table 2 -it contains a list of key managerial competences compiled on the basis of the selected typologies: Abraham et al.'s (2001), Kubik's (2005), Boyatzis' (2011), Dainty's (2005), and Filipowicz's (2016).The remaining columns encompass competences indicated by respondents of the subsequent studies.
Authors of the outlined literature of the subject offer various numbers of competences in their typologies, which was determined by their signiicance for managers.However, authors unanimously mention some of the areas: personality features, and interpersonal/ social skills.As far as the irst group is concerned, they were not unanimous with regards to individual personality features or behaviours.However, all of them acknowledged personality as vital for managers.In addition, 3 out of 5 authors indicated lexibility as a signiicant feature.Next, they acknowledge that leadership, teamwork and decisionmaking are crucial as well.Four out of ive authors allotted separate categories for these in their typologies.Self-development, focus on clients, communication, teambuilding, and planning and coordinating are seen as important as well.The authors differed the most in their opinions on knowledge, experience, vocational and technical skills, problem-solving, integrated thinking, image, and business skills associated with focus on results and sales.
On the other hand, respondents were unanimous in the opinion that the following constitute critical competences for managers: integrated thinking (operational, analytical, strategic), information gathering/openness to information, and similar to typologies described in the literature -personality features.In the latter case, respondents indicated lexibility, ethical behaviour, activity, initiative, and responsibility, the most frequently.The fact that -as far as integrated thinking and personality features are concernedauthors and respondents' indications were convergent is noteworthy.As a consequence, a premise can be made that they are of vital importance for managers.The most numerous group of competences consists of those detailed in literature and, at the same time, perceived as important in at least two out of three studies.These include: experience, technical skills, self-development, interpersonal/social skills, focus on clients, communication, decision-making, teambuilding (including motivation), and business competences associated with achieving objectives and results.Only one of the three studies mentions the following skills: teamwork, leadership, and planning and coordinating.However, it may not be a proof of these being the least signiicant.The situation may originate from dificulties in classiication of individual groups, e.g.teamwork is strongly correlated with communication skills, or interpersonal skills in general.Regarding the results of studies featuring teamwork at the bottom of the ladder, importance was placed upon these skills, which may relect the tangible signiicance of a more speciic competence, i.e. teamwork.
Apart from the above clearly classiied competences which are based on the selected typologies, another category labelled "other" was isolated.It contains pursuit of quality, which was categorized in Abraham et al.'s (2001) typology.However, due to the fact that the competence was indicated by a sole author, it was not highlighted as an independent category.Pursuit of quality did not emerge as a signiicant skill of managers in any of the studies.On the other hand, they indicated two additional ones they deemed signiicant: information gathering and change management.These two constitute an answer to modern environment organizations operate in.Effective information gathering, its selection and application, offer opportunities for gaining a competitive advantage.In addition, effective change management enables permanent development and lexible adjustment to the ever-changing economic reality.
It is worth mentioning Rakowska and Sitko-Lutek's (2016) survey conducted among specialists from Spain and Taiwan in the scope of key managerial competences of employees of the future.10 specialists were surveyed from each country.In the question about important present competences, unanimous answer was: social intelligence, relationship and trust building, lexibility, and learning.That conirms the conclusions mentioned above (Rakowska and Sitko-Lutek, 2016, pp. 180-182).To sum up, managers' key competences indicated in the literature of the subject and by managers-practitioners in the above-mentioned studies are convergent.Apart from the literature's typologies set of competences, respondents indicated information gathering and change management as particularly important.It results from the necessity for managers to ind their place in economic reality and effective use of such.Accumulation of information in managers' job presents a necessity of selecting information which seems valuable from the point of view of a decision-making processes.In addition, technological advancements, dynamic changes and development of markets require managers to adapt swiftly, predict, and, at times, anticipate certain changes in order to create competitive advantage and successfully achieve objectives of the organization.

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Pobrane z czasopisma International Journal of Synergy and Research http Source: Authors' own study on the basis of the literature.