Management competencies required in the transition from a technician to a supervisor

M.Phil. (Leadership in Performance and Change)Technicians are frequently promoted to supervisory positions based on their technical abilities, with scant attention focused on developing supervisory competencies. This oversight often poses significant challenges. The effective transition from technician to supervisor is important in any organisation. Human Resource (HR) managers, Human Resource Development (HRD) managers, and line managers need to ensure that relevant training interventions are implemented to develop the necessary management competencies for this career advancement. The primary objective of this study was to identify and verify the competencies required for the positions of both a technician and a supervisor; whilst the secondary objective was to determine the differences in the competencies between the positions of technician and supervisor, so that Human Resource (HR) managers and Human Resource Development (HRD) managers are able to design and implement relevant training interventions to ensure the smooth transition of technicians to supervisory positions. The literature review highlights that the transition of technicians to supervisory positions often poses significant challenges for technical professionals because they may lack management or supervisory competencies. Effective transitioning is a necessary step. In this study, the mixed method approach was used to enable three-phase data collection, namely, the development of a theoretical framework, quantitative, and qualitative studies. The first phase was to generate a theoretical framework to gather information from energy utility industries on the competencies that are required for a technician and a supervisor. The second phase was the quantitative phase, where a survey was used to identify and verify the competencies required for a technician and a supervisor. The third phase was the qualitative phase, where the focus groups were instructed to validate the list of competencies, assign a degree of agreement, identify the differences between the lists of competencies for the technicians and supervisors, and recommend any further competencies that are essential to successfully transition an employee from the level of a technician to the level of a supervisor