The Relationship between Managerial Skills and Managerial Effectiveness in a Managerial Simulation Game

Abstract

The study explores the relationship between managerial skills and managerial effectiveness, measuring managerial effectiveness by four different methods. Evaluation of 96 top managers of fictitious companies by a group of 1,746 subordinates took place after three months of intensive cooperation during a managerial simulation game. All respondents were college students. Results show that different managerial effectiveness indicators have different sets of managerial skills predictors: Group performance (profit of company) is predicted by motivational skills; perceived effectiveness (evaluation by subordinates) is predicted by organizational skills and by motivational skills; organizational skills, communicational skills, and cooperativeness predict leadership emergence (assessed by subordinates); and evaluation and supervisory skills are the only predictor for leadership self-efficacy (self-evaluation of the manager). According to the results it is possible to recommend focusing especially on manager’s motivational skills in order to enhance team performance and on organizational skills for reinforcing manager’s position.

Keywords

• Managerial skills
• managerial effectiveness
• leadership emergence
• group performance
• managerial simulation game