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A Hard Look at the Hard Skills

Needed to Succeed

THE PROFESSION OF BUSINESS MANAGEMENT

Presented by

Pearson Learning Solutions

November 2009

BUSINESS MANAGEMENT WEBINAR SERIES

� Welcome and Introductions

� The Definition of a Business Manager

� How Companies Define Business Skills

� The APBM/PLS Survey on Business Management Certifications

� Review of Survey Findings

� Points of Additional Consideration and Reflection

� Questions

Overview of this Session

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A business manager is a person employed by an organization, whether corporation or other, which is engaged in either manufacturing and selling of goods or rendering of services, or both, and operating in any industry or country.

This individual is working in a line or staff function such as accounting, auditing, engineering, research and development, finance/treasury, human resources, information technology, manufacturing/service operations, marketing, purchasing, logistics, supply chain, quality, international business, or project management.

He/she may be starting out his/her career as an analyst, specialist, or supervisor and later moving up the ladder to a manager, general manager, senior manager, division/group director, vice president, president, or CEO.

Business Manager Defined, www.APBM.org

Definition of a Business Manager

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The conventional curriculum within most organizations suggests core

business skills are defined using the following core set of competencies

�Planning: Deciding what needs to happen in the future (today, next

week, next month, next year, over the next 5 years, etc.) and

generating plans for action.

�Organizing/Staffing: (Implementation) making optimum use of the

resources required to enable the successful carrying out of plans,

recruitment, and hiring individuals for appropriate jobs.

�Leading/Motivating: Determining what needs to be done in a

situation and getting people to do it; the process of stimulating an

individual to take action that will accomplish a desired goal.

�Controlling: Monitoring, checking progress against plans, which may

need modification based on feedback.

The Scope of Business Management

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HOW COMPANIES DEFINE BUSINESS SKILLS

In Summer of 2009, the Association of Professionals in Business Management

and Pearson Learning Solutions conducted the APBM/PLS Survey on Business

Management Certifications.

The goals of the survey included:

�Understanding the motivation for managers and leaders for participating in a

business skills training program;

�Understanding the skills/knowledge areas that are most critical to

organizations and those that are most lacking,

�Understanding organizational desire to invest in business skills training

programs.

The APBM/PLS Survey on Business Management Certifications

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Overview of Participants

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44% response rate = +/- 3% margin of error

(89 respondents of approximate population of 250)

What would be your primary motivation for participating in a business skills

development program?

Survey Responses

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Business Management Skills in Demand

8Source: Survey Study, Business Management as a Profession, July 2009

If you were to administer a skill-assessment of your current

department, what business skill would be most lacking?

What specific business skills are the most

important for a job applicant to possess?

FIGURE 3: MOST SOUGHT AFTER SKILLS FOR RECRUITINGFIGURE 4: SKILLS MOST LACKING IN AN ORGANIZATION

What business functions are most important to your organization’s success?

Survey Responses

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FIGURE 1: SKILLS MOST CRITICAL

(OVERALL TRAINING DISTRIBUTION)

FIGURE 2: SKILLS MOST CRITICAL

(HARD SKILL DISTRIBUTION)

Source: Survey Study, Business Management as a Profession, July 2009

As an organization, how likely are you (and other managers) to require business skills

training to support employee career-pathing?

Survey Responses

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Do you feel that the pool of qualified candidates for management opportunities is

limited due to lack of knowledge of core business functions outside their area of

expertise?

Survey Responses

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How likely is your organization to invest in re-skilling current staff to fill

cross-functional positions?

Survey Responses

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Do you anticipate there will be an increased need to re-skill business specialists to

effectively operate in a business generalist capacity?

Survey Responses

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Does your organization currently measure management competencies through

independent testing and continuing education?

Survey Responses

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Do you perceive that having an MBA serves as a differentiator among top performers in

your organization?

Survey Responses

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How much would you expect to pay for an

online business skills curriculum (per

employee)?

Average = $3,100

Survey Responses

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How much would you expect to pay for an

online business skills curriculum that offers

a management certification (per

employee)?

Average = $4,500

Rank the importance of the following criteria in evaluating a business skills program:

(results shown are relative to top 3)

Survey Responses

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1. Quality & Depth of Content - 52%

2. Recognized value within industry - 29%

3. Cost - 19%

4. Time commitment

5. Online/self-study option

6. Validates knowledge application through testing

7. Standardized curriculum

8. Fulfills CE credit

Business Management Skills – Future Training Investment

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FIGURE 5: FUTURE TRAINING DEMAND FOR MOST CRITICAL SKILLSFIGURE 4: ANTICIPATED TRAINING SPEND ALLOCATION

+ yellow denotes statistically significant percent increase against Figure1:Skills Most Critical to an Organization’s Success

+

*Source: Survey Study, Business Management as a Profession, July 2009

Redefining The Scope of Business Management

The conventional curriculum within most organizations needs to be redefined to include to core areas below, integrated with a core body of management knowledge:

�Planning: Deciding what needs to happen in the future (today, next week, next month, next year, over the next 5 years, etc.) and generating plans for action.

�Organizing/Staffing: (Implementation) making optimum use of the resources required to enable the successful carrying out of plans, recruitment, and hiring individuals for appropriate jobs.

�Leading/Motivating: Determining what needs to be done in a situation and getting people to do it; the process of stimulating an individual to take action that will accomplish a desired goal.

�Controlling: Monitoring, checking progress against plans, which may need modification based on feedback.

Key Management Knowledge Areas:

� General Management Leadership and Strategy

� Operations Management

� Marketing Management

� Quality and Process Management

� Human Resources Management

� Accounting

� Finance

� Information Technology

� Corporate Control, Law, Ethics, and Governance

� International Business

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Points of Consideration and Additional Reflection

1. How do the findings of this survey align to what you are seeing in

your organization?

2. If the needs of your organization are similar to the organizations that

participated in our survey, are your current curriculum offerings able

to meet the needs of the organization?

3. If your current curriculum is not aligned to meet the needs of the

organization, what is the organizational impact of not addressing

these needs?

Thank You for Attending our Session Today

About the APBM

APBM's mission is to make business management a profession - similar to

law, medicine, engineering, and accounting - with the CABM and CBM

Certifications, Continuing Education, Code of Professional Ethics, and

Professional Standards through Best Practices Research. APBM works with

leading companies and business schools worldwide to fulfill its mission.

About Pearson Learning Solutions

Pearson Learning Solutions is the dedicated learning solutions consultancy

for the world's largest educational publisher, Pearson Education (NYSE:

PSO). Drawing on the vast Pearson library of educational content, services,

and media, Pearson Learning Solutions offers clients a single access point to

the full range of Pearson's resources and expertise, including: Development

of custom publications; Learning design expertise for guided-learning

materials; Subject matter expertise from Pearson's world-class authors and

contributors; Development of electronic content in any form and on any

platform; Assessment and Faculty Development expertise.

Please Join Us for our Upcoming Sessions

Please join us as we continue our Business

Management Skills Webinar Series with:

� What Makes A Leader: Redefining the Approach to Training Managers

— December 2, 2009 – 1:00 pm EST

� The Business of Learning: Why Learning and Development Professionals Need

Business Skills

— December 16, 2009 – 1:00 pm EST

Would you like additional information?

If you would like additional information, or a

copy of the presentation from today’s session,

please email sean.stowers@pearson.com.