Managers play important roles in any organization, as they cooperate and supervise other employees' work in order to achieve the goals effectively and efficiently. Since first-line managers interacting with and having a strong influence on most staff members daily, this level manager can be considered as the crucial contribution to a company's success. In spite of its low level of management, the managers are still required to have appropriate managerial skills. As the research by Robert. L. Katz (1955) indicated that most managers, especially the first-level ones, should be prepared properly and perfectly three critical skills, including Technical, Human and Conceptual skills. In order to identify which of these three skills has the most and the least essential impact on the first-line managers, the usages of Katz's skills will be clearly clarified in this essay; besides, how these skills are applied in this lowest level of management comparing to other higher levels such as middle and top managers also be discussed. .
Before starting discussing about the main concentration of this essay, clear definitions are provided for purification. First-line managers are in the basic level of management, also known as supervisor, team leaders, office managers, etc., have responsibilities to run the work of non-managerial employees, who are as part of manufacturing processes and customer's services. With those functions, the requirement of this level managers are three Katz's skills. Technique skills can be understand as the appropriate knowledge of a particular field and methods needed to execute certain tasks adequately. Human skills or interpersonal skills are the capability that managers need to have in order to cooperate with others individually or as a team, as well as encourage the work and handle any contradiction may happen. Conceptual skills are which managers can predict and to deliberate theoretical and complicated cases, understand the problems, provide solutions as well as foreseeing how the company adapt to the community.
