Management skills are seen as the greatest development need according to a survey of over 1,000 international HR and business leaders.

Developing managerial and supervisory skills were rated as the key employee development concerns, with 64% of respondents citing these issues, followed by customer relationship skills (52%).

The survey, by Ken Blanchard, found that interpersonal skills came third, with anecdotal comments recording conflict resolution, emotional intelligence and basic communication skills as key areas of concern.

However, responses from top management and HR differed in these areas; 61% of management rated customer service as the most critical employee development need, while HR rated it fourth, at 44%.

HR also sees developing manager/supervisor skills and executive development as a much higher priority (83% and 47% respectively) than do executives themselves (59% and 36%). Management also rated IT and sales skills higher than HR personnel. The highest percentile increase in people development challenges expected in 2010 were rated for manager/supervisor and IT skills.

Over-all respondents sited increased competition and the challenges of attracting and retaining a skilled workforce are key issues facing organisations in 2007.

Ken Blanchard’s fifth annual Corporate Issues Survey also found that few expect the situation to improve before 2010.

The survey looked at three areas: organisational challenges, management challenges and employee development challenges. Respondents were also asked to anticipate what their top issues might be three years ahead.

Both HR managers and top management agreed that their number one organisational concern was increased competition (65% overall). Alongside the issue of competing for talent in a shrinking labour market. Very few respondents (3%) felt the situation would improve before 2010.