Working Papers

This paper explores the presence of eleven managerial attributes in five groups of managers engaged in various aspects of rural development in India.?? The managers studied are from the cooperative dairy sector, the cooperative fertiliser sector, Gujarat Forest Department, the Indian Administrative Service and nongovernmental organisations.?? By a comparative analysis of data from a self-assessment questionnaire, the paper identifies sets of attributes that charaterise the problem-solving behaviour of each group of managers.?? The findings suggest that in solving their problems, the dairy managers depend on their sensitivity to events, mental agility, social skills, proactivity, and command of basic facts in that order of significance.?? The fertiliser managers do so on proactivity, sensitivity to events and relevant professional knowledge, in that order.?? The forest department officers rely on creativity, command of basic facts and social skills.?? Problem solving by nongovernmental development managers is characterised by relevant professional knowledge and mental agility.?? The IAS officers solve problems predominantly on the basis of their command of basic facts, reinforced by proactivity. ??