Abstract:

McClelland (1973) introduced the concept of competencies associating it with social abilities and job skills. Since then, competencies have been linked to managers and leadership. Furthermore, Boyatzis (1982) outlined competencies as capabilities of a manager: abilities, traits, motivation, values and knowledge of their organization. The concept of leadership and managerial competencies of Millennials is of particular interest as they will become the largest workforce to assume managerial positions. Accordingly, managerial competencies and leadership styles have been examined to understand which skills contribute to creating strategies when it comes to building competitive business advantages. Some recent investigations have examined the development of competencies related to skills and cognitive dimensions in finance education that strengthens their competitiveness in the labour market (Krpalek et al., 2018).

This paper's aim is to examine the extent to which undergraduate and post-graduate Millennials, specializing in finance, perceive themselves to have developed a set of competencies. In addition, this study explores the differences in skill sets related to creative or cognitive dimensions’ regard to selected demographics. Lastly, it examines the relationship between the skill set and leadership styles among Millennials and previous generations in finance.

To analyse these issues, the methods involve a multi-methodology, on one hand, the study comprises surveying a sample of Millennial undergraduate and post-graduate students enrolled in finance-related courses and recent college graduates for self-identified skills related to creative and cognitive dimensions. The survey applies a multidimensional measure in order to address the behavioural, cognitive and personality factors. Questions were designed based on a list of managerial competencies focused on three dimensions: strategic, personal and intra-strategic (Bosch et al., 2013). On the other hand, a qualitative approach, interviewing demographics related to finance: Millennials’ managers, Millennials in managerial positions, and faculty in business schools.

According to a leadership based on skills theory (Mumford et al., 2000), competencies determine the leadership style in organizations. All embracing, the paper discusses the preliminary results that examines behavioural, cognitive and personality factors of Millennial that drives leadership styles and elaborates on differences to managers from other generation.

References:
[1] Bosch, M. J., Lee, Y. T., & Cardona, P. (2013). Multicultural validation of a three-dimensional framework of managerial competencies: A comparative analysis of its application in Asian versus non-Asian countries, 12(4), 433–453.
[2] Boyatzis, R. E. (1982). The competent manager: a model for effective performance. Wiley.
[3] Krpalek, P., Krpalkova Krelova, K., & Berkova, K. (2018). The Importance of Metacognitive Strategies for Building Competitive Business Competencies. Journal of Competitiveness, 10(3), 69–85.
[4] McClelland, D. C. C. (1973). Testing for competence rather than for “intelligence”. The American Psychologist, 28(1), 1–14.
[5] Mumford, M. D., Zaccaro, S. J., Harding, F. D., Jacobs, T. O., & Fleishman, E. A. (2000). Leadership skills for a changing world. The Leadership Quarterly, 11(1), 11–35.

Keywords:

Millennials, competencies, leadership, skills, managerial competencies.