Logistics skills and competencies for supply chain managment

Journal of Business Logistics, 2001 by Gammelgaard, Britta, Larson, Paul D

IMPLICATIONS FOR SCM PRACTITIONERS, RESEARCHERS, AND EDUCATORS

Practitioners

The surveys and qualitative interviews both found strong support for the proposition that ability to communicate is of utmost importance. With respect to communication, the case studies greatly enriched results of the survey. While the surveys found oral and written communication of high importance, the cases provided insight into various receivers of this communication. Today's logistician needs the ability to communicate with a variety of audiences, inside and outside the organization. Upward communication is necessary to sell SCM to top management. Downward communication is needed to motivate the troops toward world-class supply chain performance. Logisticians must also be able to communicate across functions and organizations, to promote SCM, and to coordinate the supply chain.

Analysis of data from the second survey yielded a three-factor model of SCM skill areas. Three factors were extracted, interpreted, and labeled as follows: (1) interpersonal/managerial basic skills, (2) quantitative/technological skills, and (3) SCM core skills. An important implication is that SCM college courses and executive development programs should cover all three broad skill areas. Logisticians need a new, broader set of skills to be effective in the SCM world.

Researchers

This study demonstrates the complementary use of surveys and case studies in logistics and SCM research. For many skill areas, case study findings corroborate the survey results. One skill area, teamwork, was rated highly important by survey respondents but not explicitly mentioned by qualitative interview subjects. Another skill, gathering and sharing information, was mentioned by all five interviewees but not included on the survey. Thus, it appears more can be learned about logistics and SCM phenomena by using multiple methods in complementary fashion.

Surveys and case studies could be used to further our understanding of context-independent, general "skills" and context-dependent, unique "competencies." To understand SCM competencies, researchers must capture organizational contexts. Surveys can measure aspects of context, such as industry, organizational size, respondent experience, etc. Case studies are able to probe deeper into context-and link different skills to specific contexts.

Educators

Through development of context-based cases, logistics educators can enhance the analytic and intuitive ability of students. For instance, CLM sponsors an annual case development program. Results of such efforts may be that students will reach the expert level more rapidly. In this way, logistics educators may also be able to add "transformational quality" to their courses. According to Harvey and Knight (1996), transformational quality helps a student develop "knowledge of structures, principles and procedures in a domain; ability to use new data to reshape old concepts and form new ones; independence as a learner; commitment to continued learning; use of a range of frames of reference; recognition that frames of reference empower and limit; interplay between own values and values in professional settings." Future research is needed to assess the impact of CLM cases on the development of skills and competencies by logistics/SCM students.