Given that almost all organizations employ managers, one would expect that we would have a clear idea of what managers do and the knowledge, skills and ability (KSAs) necessary to do those things effectively. Scientific research has yet to provide a clearly supported model that can be used to guide management development. Organizations must respond to environmental challenges to stay competitive, and the structures and strategies they use change over time. The role of management has changed in most organizations as well.

Researchers have examined the job of managing from three perspectives. The characteristics approach involves observing the tasks managers perform and grouping them into meaningful categories. A second approach to describing the managerial job is to identify the roles that managers are typically assigned. This can be accomplished by using either an observational approach or an empirical approach. The integrated competency focuses on managerial competencies, that is, skills and/or personal characteristics that contribute to effective performance, rather than the roles managers perform.

The model identifies twenty-one competencies that are grouped into six categories: human resource management, leadership, goal and action management, directing subordinates, focus on others, and specialized knowledge. The approaches we have presented to describing the manager’s job all have one thing in common: they attempt to describe the manager’s job by identifying its elements. Globalization has led organizations to create management development programs that produce globally competent managers.