28 Key Attributes Management Analysts Need To Succeed In Their Career

by Noah Smith

Sunday, January 3, 2016

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Management analysts conduct organizational studies and evaluations, design systems and procedures, conduct work simplification and measurement studies, and prepare operations and procedures manuals to assist management in operating more efficiently and effectively. Includes program analysts and management consultants.

The core tasks that management analysts are likely to carry out include:

Gather and organize information on problems or procedures.
Analyze data gathered and develop solutions or alternative methods of proceeding.
Confer with personnel concerned to ensure successful functioning of newly implemented systems or procedures.
Develop and implement records management program for filing, protection, and retrieval of records, and assure compliance with program.
Review forms and reports and confer with management and users about format, distribution, and purpose, and to identify problems and improvements.
Document findings of study and prepare recommendations for implementation of new systems, procedures, or organizational changes.

In order to successfully forge ahead with their careers, analysts in a survey carried out by U.S. Department of Labor (via O*NET) have marked out the following as important attributes that management analysts would need. These attributes have been selected from characteristics and requirements strongly associated with the occupation. They are

Abilities: Enduring attributes of the individual that influence performance
Interests: Preferences for work environments. Occupational Interest Profiles (OIPs) are compatible with Holland's (1985, 1997) model of personality types and work environments. Six interest categories are used to describe the work environment of occupations: Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, and Conventional. An OIP consists of six numerical scores indicating how descriptive and characteristic each work environment (or interest area) is for an occupation
Knowledge: Organized sets of principles and facts applying in general domains
Skills: These include basic skills, which are developed capacities that facilitate learning or the more rapid acquisition of knowledge. Plus cross-functional skills, which are developed capacities that facilitate performance of activities that occur across jobs
Style: Personal characteristics that can affect how well someone performs a job

We have listed out attributes which were scored 80% or more in terms of importance by the analysts.

Being reliable, responsible, and dependable, and fulfilling obligations.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 91.8%

Being open to change (positive or negative) and to considerable variety in the workplace.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 90.6%

Having a strong preference for investigative work environments. Investigative occupations frequently involve working with ideas, and require an extensive amount of thinking. These occupations can involve searching for facts and figuring out problems mentally.
Attribute Type: Interests Score: 90.43%

Being pleasant with others on the job and displaying a good-natured, cooperative attitude.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 89.4%

Accepting criticism and dealing calmly and effectively with high stress situations.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 89.2%

Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
Attribute Type: Knowledge Score: 88.8%

Being honest and ethical.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 88.4%

Being sensitive to others' needs and feelings and being understanding and helpful on the job.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 88%

A willingness to lead, take charge, and offer opinions and direction.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 87.8%

The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
Attribute Type: Abilities Score: 87.6%

The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
Attribute Type: Abilities Score: 87.6%

Persistence in the face of obstacles.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 87.4%

Having a strong preference for enterprising work environments. Enterprising occupations frequently involve starting up and carrying out projects. These occupations can involve leading people and making many decisions. Sometimes they require risk taking and often deal with business.
Attribute Type: Interests Score: 85.71%

The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
Attribute Type: Abilities Score: 85%

Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.
Attribute Type: Knowledge Score: 84.4%

Analyzing information and using logic to address work-related issues and problems.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 84.4%

A willingness to take on responsibilities and challenges.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 83.8%

Being careful about detail and thorough in completing work tasks.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 83.4%

The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
Attribute Type: Abilities Score: 82.6%

The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
Attribute Type: Abilities Score: 82.6%

Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents.
Attribute Type: Skills Score: 82.4%

Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
Attribute Type: Skills Score: 82.4%

Talking to others to convey information effectively.
Attribute Type: Skills Score: 82.4%

Establishing and maintaining personally challenging achievement goals and exerting effort toward mastering tasks.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 82%

Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
Attribute Type: Knowledge Score: 81.4%

Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.
Attribute Type: Skills Score: 80%

The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing there is a problem.
Attribute Type: Abilities Score: 80%

The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
Attribute Type: Abilities Score: 80%