The findings of a survey carried out by the Macau Management Association (MMA) released Monday show that management staff skills in local companies have improved this year.
The survey was carried out from March to July, when the association collected 401 valid questionnaires from management members working in local companies.
The survey is titled Macau Enterprises Management Ability Index.
Addressing a press conference about the findings, MMA Project Advisor Alan Poon Yiu Wah said that his association launched the survey last year with the aim of evaluating various kinds of managerial skills in local companies.
Poon said that the results of the survey would help local companies provide training courses suited for their management staff and help the government formulate policies for professional training.
The scores of the index range from 0 to 100. The index has 10 sub-indices, which stand for 10 different kinds of management skills, including leadership, organisation, innovation, the application of knowledge, financial management, and integrity, among others.
According to the findings, the overall index reached 76 this year, up by four points from last year when it stood at 72. The scores of all the 10 sub-indices this year are also higher than last year.
According to the findings, male management personnel performed better than their female counterparts in eight out of the 10 categories. Women obtained scores higher than men in the categories of leadership and of integrity.
The association compared the findings of its survey with the findings of similar surveys in Australia, Hong Kong and India, the indices of which were 68.7, 71.6 and 75.5 respectively last year. Poon said the results show that local companies’ management personnel skills have reached the levels of some advanced countries and regions, adding the score of 76 shows there is “still room for improvement” in their management skills.
According to the findings, local companies’ management staff obtained a score of 80.8 for integrity, the highest score among the 10 categories, while they were weakest in organisation – a score of 73.6.
Poon said the results show that local companies have to enhance the organisation skills of their management staff. He said that good organisation skills enable a company to convert factors of production into products and services more efficiently than their competitors.
According to the findings, management personnel in the finance and insurance sector performed the best, compared to those working in three other sectors, namely education; hotels and restaurants; and the arts, entertainment and leisure.
Poon said the results show that local companies in the three sectors need to enhance their staff training.
