Dr Kion Ahadi, head of the Management Standards Centre, speaks to ePolitix.com about its work to help UK employers to develop a skilled management workforce.

Question: Tell us a bit about the Management Standards Centre (MSC)

Kion Ahadi: The MSC is the government recognised standards-setting body for management and leadership. Our remit is to develop national occupational standards for managers and leaders, which outline the key skills, knowledge, understanding and behaviours that managers need to possess in order to meet different management objectives effectively.

We agree and set statements of best practice outlining what we expect managers to be able to do to carry out various functions, for example, managing projects and working with people.

We have 56 units that cover a range of task managers carry out in the workplace. This is based on extensive research we have undertaken as part of the standards review project between 2002 and 2004, during which three to four thousand managers were consulted to help develop the standards.

The MSC also promotes the standards to make sure managers and leaders in all types of organisations across all sectors (e.g. private, public and voluntary) use them.

We also work with other sector skills councils and standards setting bodies to ensure that they have managerial competencies covered within their occupational standards.   

Question: Why was it important to develop a set of national occupational standards for management and how have they affected business productivity and competition?

Kion Ahadi: Improving the output and productivity of the UK workforce in order to be able to compete with other economies around the world has been labelled a key priority by the government. There are various indicators that measure global competitiveness used by the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform and published by organisations such as the Institute of Employment Research at Warwick University.

According to these indicators, the UK tends to lag behind other countries in certain areas of management using various measures of productivity.

Therefore, we believe it is important for managers to use our standards either as part of training programmes, through formal qualifications or within 360 degree appraisal systems based on the standards. We know and have evidence that this would help make them more effective in their roles. The logic is simple if you have skilled managers the organisation should be more efficient, which will improve overall business productivity and competitiveness.

We have a number of case studies of organisations that have used our standards and how it has benefited them in terms of productivity. The standards give an organisation a good structure for basing training upon and help them to understand what their managers may need in terms of CPD.

Also, individual managers may themselves use the standards as a means of self-assessment and to find out what areas they need to concentrate on in order to raise their skills.

Question: How important are management qualifications to the amelioration of management standards?

Kion Ahadi: There tends to be a link between skills and qualifications, although my understanding is that skills are very different to qualifications, they are much broader.

However, someone's skill level is often measured by looking at their qualifications. Qualifications are about the best proxy we have for skills but it is far from perfect. Less than 20 per cent of managers in the UK, out of a total of four to five million, actually have a management related qualification.

So although we would agree that there are certain qualifications that would make someone a more effective manager, I believe skills development should be based on standards. This is because standards are not just about qualifications they could be used for over a 100 different purposes. I would be very happy if people used the standards first, and a qualification second, in attempts to improve their management skills.

Numerous qualifications are underpinned by our standards such as VRQs, NVQs and foundation degrees. We work with a range of awarding bodies that deliver different management and leadership qualifications. We work with them to ensure they are consistent and based on the standards, which we know are the skills needed in the workplace. There is a slow move away from theoretical qualifications to more practical work-based learning, which benefits the learner by giving them the skills employers tell us they want.

One project the MSC has been working on is the management and leadership learning and qualifications strategy. In this strategy, we outline what we feel the fundamental vision should be in the development of UK qualifications and what principals' qualifications should be based on.

For example, we believe qualifications should be based on national occupational standards, and that any qualifications should benefit managers and organisations. These are quite basic statements but you would be surprised. There are numerous qualifications that don't adhere to our vision and principals and which fall short of actually helping managers to raise their skills.

Question: Do you think the UK is really facing a challenge to business productivity as a result of the skills gaps?

Kion Ahadi: As I said before, several indicators do exist to show that the UK falls behind in certain league tables that measure competitiveness. In the future, the UK will need to compete more effectively in certain service areas based on intellectual property and knowledge generation. Managers play a key role in making sure knowledge is effectively developed within the organisation and sold on to external people.

There are economies around the world that the UK simply cannot compete with when it comes to certain factors, such as labour costs, and so we need to be thinking about competing in knowledge areas. We are talking more about higher level skills, but it is important to address the skills gap in terms of improving productivity. Again, the argument sticks, the implementation of standards and best practice by managers in an organisation should have a tangible impact on productivity.

Question: Do you feel the government is doing anything to address the problem?

Kion Ahadi: The government has set up the Sector Skills Development Agency whose remit is to monitor the work of the 25 sector skills councils and the various standard setting bodies that cover cross sector areas. Management and leadership for example cuts across all 25 sectors, with retail managers, education managers, financial managers etc.

The UK government's approach at the moment is to fund the sector skills development agency to distribute money to the sector skills councils and the MSC has been working with a range of these. We have helped Lifelong Learning UK, the skills council for further and higher education (among other sectors), to develop a leadership and management tool kit to help managers in their sector.

I think there needs to be more emphasis put on funding cross-sector skills, such as management and leadership. At the moment, standard-setting bodies tend to come second in line to skills councils, whereas I think it should be the other way round. This is my main concern with government policy as it currently stands.

Question: In February, the MSC is running consultations on the review of standards, what are the new challenges facing employers wanting the best from their management teams?

Kion Ahadi: Standards are reviewed on a yearly basis through a process called incremental review which has been set up to ensure standards are fit for purpose and reflect changes in different workforce skills needs. Management is a discipline that evolves through time and there are constantly different views and theories. The work managers need to carry out evolves in tandem with economic, technological and environmental changes.

We need, therefore, to make sure the standards are reflective of the different actions and functions required of managers in a dynamic world.

Last year, as a result of these reviews, we developed a new standard on managing environmental performance. This is more of a concern now with an emphasis from government on addressing the environmental challenges we are facing in the 21st century.

There is more pressure on companies to adhere to regulations and laws about environmental factors and this is bound to have a knock-on effect for managers who have to be aware of the environmental consequences of their company's work. It is important for managers to be aware of the environmental impact of using resources, that they know how to deal with waste and what their recycling policies are. These are things that will become more and more important for managers in the future.

This year, we have developed standards around how to effectively deal with redundancy and poor performance. These are subjects that tend to be swept under the carpet but are important things managers should be aware of and there needs to be a standard in this area to help managers make difficult decisions.

Question: Who will be involved in the consultations and what do you hope to achieve as a result of the discussions?

Kion Ahadi: Anyone that is a manager or an aspiring manager would be very welcome at our events; standards are there for every manager in the UK; in government, public, private and voluntary sectors.

There are four to five million managers in the UK and ideally we would like all of them to be involved. Obviously, this is not realistic in the practical sense. We publicise our events through the Chartered Management Institute and other awarding bodies; we also work with sector skills councils and key leadership people within commercial organisations. Managers and leaders from all these organisations will be involved.

The consultations, both through the various events and via our online questionnaire, will help ensure the final new standards we put forward for approval are supported by clear evidence.

Question: Finally, what makes a good manager in your opinion?

Kion Ahadi: Someone who understands and can get the best out of people, can efficiently manage resources, and is willing to learn from their mistakes. Understanding not just the people who work for you but the people you are providing services for is important, as is being adaptable to change. It is crucial that a good manager has generic skills they know how to apply to different situations.

Question: Do you have any final comments for ePolitix.com readers?

Kion Ahadi: The main issue is that there needs to be more emphasis placed on management and leadership skills in the UK. Although government has addressed this to an extent through the management and leadership advisory panel, which advised the Leitch Review, I do still think that there is not enough emphasis being placed on developing generic high-level skills.

Management and leadership is a generic skill that once you instil in someone, they will take through and apply to different settings. If a good retail manager wanted to move into a different sector they would be an effective manager in this new setting if they had the generic leadership and management skills.

I would like to see the MSC recognised as a sector skills council in its own right and given more funding and influence to be able to help continue to raise management skills. We have made a notable impact in numerous areas and with further support we can genuinely help make UK managers and leaders an example to follow for the rest of the world.