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Wood LDS 1301
Chapter 3 – Skills Approach
Assignments and Exercises
1. What is the skills approach? What are the 3 basic personal skills that Katz outlines? Define and
describe each of these skills.
The skills approach takes a leader-centered perspective on leadership with an emphasis on skills
and abilities that can be learned and developed. The three personal skills that Katz outlines are
technical skills, conceptual skills, and human skill. Technical skill is knowledge about and
proficiency in a specific type of work or activity. It includes competencies in a specialized area,
analytical ability, and the ability to use inappropriate tools and techniques. Human skill is
knowledge about and ability to work with the people. People skills are abilities that help a leader
work effectively with followers, peers, and superiors to accomplish the organization’s goals.
Conceptual skills involve the ability to work with ideas. A leader with conceptual skills works
easily with abstractions and hypothetical notions.
2. How might group size affect the relative importance of each of the three skills in Katz’ model?
For the most part, technical, human, and conceptual skills are all important no matter what the
group size. However, conceptual skills and human skills may be a little bit more important when
dealing with a larger group size because there are more people that must understand the ideas of
the group and more people that a leader has to be sociable and deal with.
3. When the skills model was developed, what were Mumford and the other researchers trying to
explain? This model delineated components of effective leader performance. List the 3
competencies, define and describe each.
When the skills model was developed, Mumford and the other researchers were trying to explain
the underlying elements of effective performance. The three competencies are problem solving
skills, social judgement skills, and knowledge. Problem solving skills are leader’s creative ability
to solve new and unusual, ill-defined organizational problems. These skills include being able to
define significant problems, gather problem information, formulate new understandings about the
problem, and generate prototype plans for problem solutions. Judgement skills are the capacity to
understand people and social systems. They enable leaders to work with others to solve problems
and to marshal support to implement change within an organization. Knowledge is the
accumulation of information and the mental structures used to organize that information.
Knowledge and expertise make it possible for people to think about complex system issues and
identify possible strategies for appropriate change.
Wood LDS 1301
4. Within the Mumford Skills model are Individual Attributes and Leadership Outcomes. Describe
and define them and their components.
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General cognitive ability can be thought as a person’s intelligence. It includes perceptual
processing, information processing, general reasoning skills, creative and divergent
thinking capacities and memory skills. General cognitive ability is related to biology not
experience.
Crystallized cognitive ability is intellectual ability that is learned or acquired over time. It
is the store of knowledge that is acquired through experience. Additionally, crystallized
cognitive ability includes being able to comprehend complex information and learn new
skills and information, as well as being able to communicate to others in oral and written
form.
Motivation is the third attribute listed in the skills model. There are three aspects of
motivation that are essential to developing leadership skills. First, leaders must be willing
to tackle complex organizational problems. Second, leaders must be willing to express
dominance to exert their influence. Third, leaders must be committed to the social good of
the organization.
Personality is the fourth individual attribute in the skills model. Any personality
characteristic that helps people cope with complex organizational systems probably is
related to leader performance.
Effective problem solving is the keystone in the skills approach. Good problem solving
involves creating solutions that are logical, effective, and unique, and that go beyond
given information.
Performance outcomes reflect how well the leader has done his or her job. Performance is
the degree to which a leader has successfully performed the assigned duties. Leaders who
are affective receive good annual performance reviews.
5. Complete Case 3.1. (or 3.2. or 3.3.) and answer all questions.
1. Dr. Wood is not using any social judgement skills with his team and, therefore, is diminishing
any relationship between he and his colleagues of the Elder Care Project. I do not believe the
project will be successful because Dr. Wood is not using any people skills whatsoever. He
may have been successful in the past, however, yelling at his colleagues is getting him
seemingly no matter within the Elder Care Project.
2. I do not believe he has the necessary skills to be an effective leader of this research team. He
be able to see the “big picture” better than anyone else, but he does have any human skills.
This specific project requires him to work as part of a large team and he does not have the
social judgement skills or human skills that allow him to cooperate with others.
3. If I were to coach Dr. Wood, I would suggest that he redirect his social judgement skills. He
needs to see the project through the eyes of his colleagues and he needs to realize how hard
they all are working. I would also suggest that he majorly brush up on his people skills. He
should really learn that negativity does not help anyone really.
Wood LDS 1301
6. Rate yourself on the Skills Inventory. What are your leadership competencies? Do your scores
suggest that one or two of the skills are stronger? Do you agree with this assessment? Give a
personal example to support this. How might you expect your results to change 5 years from
now?
For the most part, the scores of Skills Inventory for my technical, human, and conceptual skills are
fairly equal. Presently, I do not believe I have any one skill that is stronger than the others. I agree
with this assessment as I feel that I am a fairly balanced person. I have a decent amount of
specialized knowledge within math and science, I do work well with others, and I have the
capacity to work with concepts, too. I do believe that within five years my results will vary
drastically. I think my conceptual skills will grow a lot stronger as I grow throughout college. I’m
also hoping that both my technical and human skills grow as well. I would like to stay a wellrounded individual.
7. How do the problem-solving skills of leaders and managers differ?
The problem-solving skills of leaders and managers differ in that sense that leaders look for more
innovative solutions to complex issues that will better the organization as a whole, while managers
simply look for a solution that will fix the problem. Managers usually do not have to deal with the
complex system issues that leaders have to contain. Often times managers do not think “outside
the box” and just look for a solution that will at least temporarily solve the problem.
8. Are social judgment skills the same as emotional intelligence?
Emotional intelligence is very similar to social judgement skills. Both are focused on
understanding emotions and people and applying this to solve different tasks. However, emotional
intelligence is focused on day-to-day tasks, whereas social judgement skills are more narrowed in
on solving problems within an organization to implement change or create a large movement.
9. How does the skills approach fit with the processual nature of leadership? Influence? Group
context of leadership? Goal attainment?
The skills approach fits with the processual nature of leaderships because it is leader-centered and
emphasizes on the fact that skills and abilities can be developed or learned. The skills approach
allows the public to see how a leader can or will influence groups through his or her technical,
conceptual, and human skills. Additionally, the skills approach can be redefined if the group
context of leadership changes. Each management left requires different skills as well as different
competencies. The skills approach reflects on goal attainment through the qualities and
competencies a leader possesses. Goal attainment is more possible depending on what
competencies a leader holds.
Wood LDS 1301
10. The Mumford Skills Model was based on studies of more than 1800 Army officers. How might
leadership in the army be similar to/different from leadership in business, the arts, collegiate
sports, or scientific research?
Leadership within the army is similar to leadership in business, the arts, collegiate sports, and
scientific research because leaders within each sect are focused on solving problems, completing
tasks, and creating change. Obviously each problem, task, and change is different and requires a
different type of leader, but they all have one common goal.