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NARRATOR: The skills a manager needs can be placed into four broad categories, technical, interpersonal, conceptual, and motivation to manage. However, the degree to which each is needed varies depending on a manager's role within an organization.

Technical skills include mastery of a specific job function, such as engineering, manufacturing, or finance. Technical skills also include specialized knowledge to solve problems. These skills are particularly important at lower organizational levels, where first-line managers train subordinates.

Interpersonal skills depend on the manager's ability to work with other people. They include the ability to motivate, facilitate, coordinate, lead, communicate, and resolve conflicts. Interpersonal skills are essential for mid-level managers who work directly with employees on a daily basis.

Conceptual skills include the ability to see the big picture of the organization as a whole system and the relationship among its parts. They also include the ability to think strategically, and know where one's team fits into the total organization, and how the organization fits into the industry, the community, and the broader business and social environment. Conceptual skills are especially needed for managers at the top.

There is also another skill, motivation to manage. Motivation to manage is an assessment of how employees interact, compete with, and direct other coworkers. This also includes the ability to tell others what to do, reward good behavior, and punish poor behavior.

Managers at higher levels in a company typically have a stronger motivation to manage than other employees. Other skills that managers may need include diagnostic skills to analyze problems, communication skills to convey ideas, decision-making skills to choose the right course of action, and time management skills to prioritize work efficiently.