Management Core Competencies Research Articles

Chronic Pain in the Outpatient Palliative Care Clinic

Chronic pain is common. Many patients with cancer and other life-limiting illnesses have chronic pain that is related to their disease, and some have comorbid chronic nonmalignant chronic pain. As palliative care continues to move upstream and outpatient palliative care programs develop, palliative care clinicians will be called upon to treat chronic pain. Chronic pain differs from acute pain in the setting of advanced disease and a short prognosis in terms of its etiology, comorbidities-especially psychiatric illness and substance abuse-and management. To successfully care for these patients, palliative care providers will need to learn new clinical competencies. This article will review chronic pain management core competencies for palliative care providers.

MANAGEMENT COMPETECIES FOR ENHANCING EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT AT WORK: A CASE STUDY OF THE RAJBY INDUSTRIES KARACHI

Purpose- Major aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of competency management on employee engagement and to identify leadership or management behaviors which are key drivers of employee engagement. A competency approach was adopted in this study to define the constellation of skills and behaviors required by an individual manager to facilitate employee engagement in their staff. In Pakistan there are serious management problems across the organizations. Line managers or senior managers do not have proper training, skills and experience to effectively manage employees at work. Therefore, the prime purpose of this study was to explore and identify core competencies of managers in order to enhance employee engagement in the workplace. Methodology/sample- The study involved use of questionnaires filled by 100 respondents (with age ranging from 21 to 60) of Rajby industries. Respondents comprised non-managerial staff only. Random sampling technique was used to carry out this research. To analyze the data, Regression and ANOVA tests were applied. Findings- The analysis of results clearly suggested that there was significant impact of competent management on employee engagement. It shows that in order to enhance employee engagement, it is important for managers to display competent behaviors such as giving feedback on proper time, praise and recognition etc Practical Implications- The outcomes of the research might help organizations to design and develop competency framework which provide clear guidelines to managers and supervisors to foster employee engagement.

Planning for the acquisition of information resources management core competencies

PurposeThis paper aims to discuss the development of a core set of information resources management (IRM) competencies and to detail a plan for their acquisition by IRM librarians of a large academic university library.Design/methodology/approachThe paper examines the work of librarians who manage information resources at the University of Arizona Libraries to inform the development of a set of core competencies. The planned implementation and assessment of a series of training sessions for developing these competencies is also discussed, as is the role of individual librarians who have been assigned specific tasks related to broader issues not easily addressed by a training session. Finally, a prioritized list of mastery‐level competencies for future development is defined.FindingsBy defining in detail the information resource‐related tasks for which IRM members are responsible, the authors were able to develop a plan for training modules that are designed to ensure core competencies for all team members.Originality/valueThis paper is a detailed plan for developing competencies needed to manage information resources at an academic library.

PMP® Certification as a Core Competency: Necessary but Not Sufficient

This research seeks to investigate the relationship between project management certification and established project management core competencies in the IT industry. This study was conducted in two phases, the objective being to first identify those characteristics most common to the successful hire of project managers, from the perspective of IT recruiters. Once identified, the study sought to determine preference for these characteristics from the point of view of corporate IT executives. Two hypotheses were tested in an effort to determine the valuation of Project Management Professional (PMP®) certification as a core competency and as an indicator of project success. Both hypotheses were rejected, as results indicated that PMP® certification was the least valued of 15 core competencies and that there was no difference in project success rates between PMP®-certified project managers and uncertified project managers. In addition, recruiters’ and IT executives’ suggestions for improvement in the delivery of the project management body of knowledge are discussed.

A Study on Core Competencies of ITS Project Managers Using QFD and AHP

A Study on Core Competencies of ITS Project Managers Using QFD and AHP

Exemplary public library branch managers: their characteristics and effectiveness

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to revisit a study that identifies the characteristics that contribute to perceptions by local politicians, library board members, library leaders and colleagues of what makes a public library branch manager “exemplary”.Design/methodology/approachThe paper is an in‐depth study that draws upon a survey questionnaire and 120 interviews with multiple stakeholders, supervisors, peers and branch managers from two large public library systems in the Greater Vancouver (British Columbia, Canada) area and peer members of the Ontario (Canada) Library Association. Branch managers also completed the Myers‐Briggs Type Indicator assessment instrument for personality type and temperament profiling.FindingsSurvey results collectively described the exemplary branch manager as a flexible individual with best‐practice management know‐how and the emotional intelligence needed to motivate and bring others along. The exemplary branch manager has a strong tendency toward extraverted behaviors.Practical implicationsKnowledge can be leveraged to improve graduate school curriculum, career planning, recruitment, and staff training and development to enhance the effectiveness of public library branch managers as perceived by community and library leaders.Originality/valueThe paper provides perceptual, behavioral and psychometric evidence that incorporates perspectives of community leaders, colleagues and staff needed to identify core competencies for public library branch managers.

Internationalization and organizational resources of Chinese firms

PurposeThe internationalization of Chinese firms has been gaining importance in recent years. Informed by Dunning's eclectic paradigm, this paper examines the factors leading to the “going international” decisions of Chinese firms in the very early days of the “go global” call, before the central government offered substantial support.Design/methodology/approachIt is suggested that two types of organizational factors are relevant to these decisions: the firm's management capability and core competencies. A survey of data of chief executives from over 3,000 firms in the year 2000 was analyzed.FindingsEmpirical results indicate that different resources endowments have different relationships with internationalization decisions. The intention of going international is affected by organizational competencies of R&D and manufacturing. Two capabilities (production and sales, and operation and finance) have significant impacts on outward direct investment, while manufacturing and marketing competencies have positive effects on exports, together with production capability. In addition, manufacturing competencies also have a negative effect on the acquisition and use of international capital.Originality/valueBy using firm‐level data collected in China, a better understanding of the nature of internationalization and the foreign direct investment characteristics of firms has been obtained. The empirical results show that the impacts of the organizational resources are different for different internationalization decisions, and the effects of core competencies of a firm vary across different paths of internationalization.

COMPETENCIES FOR MEDICAL FITNESS CENTER MANAGEMENT

In Brief LEARNING OBJECTIVE • This feature article is intended to present core competencies for medical fitness center management. Core competencies will be identified and described, and real-world examples will be provided. Key reasons for acquiring core competency aptitude as well as expected outcomes will be presented. Medical fitness center success directly correlates to the degree in which organizational leadership understands and models core management competencies. Several of these competencies are identified and described using "real-world" examples and professional sports organization analogies. Expected outcomes are presented and discussed.

Commercialization Through Standards Development

Commercialization Through Standards Development

Critical success factors from outsourcing theories as determinants of leadership roles in IT outsourcing projects

The contingent approach to management is applied in this paper by making leadership roles dependent on critical success factors. Six leadership roles are made dependent on 11 critical success factors derived from outsourcing theories. An empirical study was conducted in Norway. Results indicate that the most critical success factor for the client organisation is core competence management. Core competence management is best achieved when the outsourcing project manager focuses on the entrepreneurial role.

CRM and Corporate Communication

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) has triggered a number of chain reactions that are changing the business communication and the core competencies of managers of businesses, agencies and consultancy companies to direct their processes. From the viewpoint of classic marketing – which developed on the basis of American experience in the field of fast moving consumer goods – it is no surprise that Direct Marketing was considered a sort of minor discipline, tactical and not strategic, CRM is not a technology, but a new market-oriented strategy at the service of marketing, sales and communication.

Building an Understanding of the Competencies Needed for Health Administration Practice

Rapid change in the healthcare environment has pressured healthcare organizations, health management professional associations, and educational institutions to begin examining more carefully what it means to be a fully competent healthcare executive. As a result, interest in healthcare management core competencies has increased. Most competency development initiatives seek to build consensus and typically result in the generation of five or six broad competency domains--but consensus around what? Most competency initiatives are based on literature reviews and consensus-building efforts. Typically, such efforts in healthcare management have involved defining general competency domains and attempting to specify representative behavioral exemplars that demonstrate mastery of the general competency domain. This study describes an approach that used a purposeful sample of ACHE affiliates who represent different geographic regions and health industry segments to construct a framework composed of critical healthcare issue clusters. A panel of healthcare executives then specified five sets of entry-level behavioral competencies that would be required to address the clusters of critical issues. Although the behavioral competencies identified by the executives in this study are anchored to a framework, their empirical association with performance has not been tested. Before implementing broad curriculum redesign, the effect of these competencies on performance should be established. Additionally, competencies should be examined in the context of potential moderating influences such as specific educational program focus, educational delivery format, and type and preparation of students entering healthcare management education programs. Competency, competencies, competency models, and competency-based training are all Humpty Dumpty words meaning only what the definer wants them to mean. The problem comes not from malice [or] stupidity... but instead from some basic procedural and philosophical differences among those racing to define the concept and to set the model for the way the rest of us will use competencies (Zemke 1982).

A Life Cycle Approach to Management Fashion: An Investigation of Management Concepts in the Context of Competitive Strategy

Although it is generally not possible to assess their economic benefits either in advance or even in retrospect, most executives rely on the reasoning and the ideas promoted in modern management concepts. This paper presents a model for explaining and predicting the underlying management decisions. In order to exemplify the methodology described, the model is applied to ten current management concepts in the context of an empirical analysis: Business Process Reengineering, Total Quality Management, Knowledge Management and Learning Organisations, Customer Relationship Management, Lean Management, Core Competence Management, Shareholder Value Management, Growth Strategies, eBusiness/eCommerce, as well as Virtual Corporations and Network Organizations.

The contribution of technology selection to core competencies

The purpose of this study is to provide a process which can be used to analyze and understand the linkages between the technology selection and core competencies of a company. The understanding of the linkages helps in setting priorities between different technologies and markets, when the company is acquiring or developing new technology. Opportunities for building and managing core competencies should be systematically assessed when selecting technologies. The developed process helps to clarify the impacts of technology selection to core competencies in a systematic way in industrial companies. Finally, the potential benefits of a group decision support system for promoting technology selection processes and core competence management are discussed.

Enabling the Cream to Rise to the Top

The use of competencies to identify and target leaders in organizations has picked up steam in the past decade or so. Drawing from the private sector, the public sectors of several advanced countries have comprehensively employed the competency approach within their own governance and management systems. This article looks at the employment of competencies in the senior public services of five jurisdictions and concludes that cross-jurisdictional similarity is evident only on “vision and strategy,” although people-related skills also appear as core competencies for enior managers. The article also argues that further research is necessary to understand why competencies in use in the senior public services differ so markedly from those in other organizations and settings.

Core competency requirements for manufacturing effectiveness

A postal survey to manufacturing managers in six different industry sectors was conducted to ascertain their views on core competencies. Questions deemed important by the literature centred on establishing the level of understanding the manufacturing managers had on core competence and ascertaining if they operated in an environment where core competence could be built and enhanced. Their views were contrasted with those expressed in the current literature and it was concluded that manufacturing managers need to increase their knowledge and understanding of core competencies. To be more competitive they need to operate more in an outward/strategy driven way and develop a strategic architecture to enable their organisation to develop the necessary core competencies. Of the six manufacturing industries surveyed the machinery producers emerged as the strongest advocators for core competence development with the food industry having the least orientation towards their development. To assist in core competence management an Enabling core competence lens model was presented together with a framework for core competence maintenance.

Implementing technological and organisational innovations and management of core competencies: lessons from the automotive industry

The paper is focused on the new features of the OEM-supplier relationship in the context of the so-called modular assembly approach, presented as a major change in the design of the vehicle and its manufacturing process, with transfer of key responsibilities to the suppliers. This is largely considered as the current unavoidable best practice in Europe and in the USA. Such evolution shows an in-depth transformation of the industrial organisation, thus of the rules of the game within the whole value chain. The paper is based on an in-depth case study of the Japanese industry carried out through interviews with key decision makers and academic researchers during two visits to Japan in May and November 1999.

The core competence organization: Implications for human resource practices

Abstract This article describes the core competence organizational model (Prahalad & Hamel 1994) and discusses the conceptual shifts implicit in this model in relation to other theories: resource dependence, traditional strategic thinking, and the resource-based view of the firm. A strategic Human Resource (HR) Management framework is utilized to develop and present twelve hypotheses concerning the implications of core competence management for HR practices: job design, staffing, training and development, and the employee rewards system.