Definitions of Some Related Terms That Often Confuse Many

(Refer our High Quality Management Encyclopedia “Management Universe” at: http://management-universe.blogspot.com/)

(This is in continuation of my previous post http://shyam.bhatawdekar.net/index.php/2010/01/17/questions-to-evaluate-job-applicants-on-soft-competenciesskills/)

The terms given below are alphabetically arranged.

Ability: An individual’s capability either developed or not developed (undiscovered, unrealized and untapped). An accountant may be able to sell but has not done so.

Attitude: An individual’s tendency to act in predictable ways. A manager may have humanistic attitude and therefore, he may be compassionate towards people.

Behavior: What an individual performs or does is his behavior and that is observable. It is based on his thinking which is not observable.

Competency: It is the developed ability of an individual. One competency may be a good integration of several allied skills related to the competency. Conducting an effective meeting is a competency that calls for many allied skills like making a meeting agenda, promoting healthy group process, resolving conflicts, managing time etc. Competencies are observable and ratable/measurable.

Knowledge: What an individual knows and comprehends is knowledge. Knowledge may be obtained from formal education, observations, training and experience.

Management: It consists of planning, organizing, staffing, directing (also leading) and controlling.

Potential: It is the predicted future performance of an individual.

Performance: Actual work output/results given by an individual against the expected results or goals/objectives is his performance. It is normally the basis for appraisals and rewards.

Practice: An individual acting as per his or organizational strategies and policies is putting the policies into practice.

Skill: It is the work behavior. In a sense, every verb in a dictionary is a skill. It is micro competency. Allied skills make a competency. In earlier example of conducting meeting, listening is another skill that is essential for conducting effective meetings. Skills are observable and ratable/measurable.

Style: Patterns of behavior is style. A person with humanistic values will have particular sets of behavior towards people and that defines his style.

Traits: They are personal characteristics. For example, an individual can be harsh, arrogant, aggressive or some other person may be polite, just, assertive etc. Many a time, they may not be observable or ratable/measurable.

Read "Management Anecdotes" authored by Shyam Bhatawdekar at: http://management-anecdotes.blogspot.com/

You may also like to read short articles on "Out of Box Ideas" at: http://wow-idea.blogspot.com/

Originally posted at http://shyam-bhatawdekar.blogspot.com/ Saturday, December 26, 2009