Communication Abilities of Managers: The Relationship to Performance

Communication competence is considered essential to managing, both in terms of its theoretical role in management and in observations of the communication behaviors of managers. Yet the specific skills and abilities or communication competencies of managers have received only limited study in organizational settings. The purpose of this study was to clarify the relationship between managerial performance and communication competency by identifying communication skills and social cognitive abilities that are associated with managerial performance for both male andfemale managers. Female managers provided lower self-reports of skills than male managers, and results linked managerial performance primarily to communication skills.