8600-334 Understanding and Developing Relationships within the Workplace

Unit Overview

8600-334 Understanding and Developing Relationships within the Workplace is a unit within the ILM Level 3 module that helps to build an understanding on the risk that the leader should play in creating the desired environment that sports the development of work relationships within the workplace. The contemporary workplace environment is characterised by the need to build effective workplace relationships, which create the opportunity to put in place effective teamwork and collaborative activities within the organisation. However, workplace relationships are not limited to being able to establish effective working collaboration between the employees or team members.

It is extended to other stakeholders within the organisation, including customers, colleagues and key stakeholders who are involved in making critical contributions to the success of the organisation by supporting different practices and areas of production. 8600-334 Understanding and Developing Relationships within the Workplace is a unit that provides relevant information that is applicable in real-life situations to improve the capabilities and skills of leaders in developing effective relationships.

It helps them to understand the expectations of the stakeholders within the organisation hence pacing them to a position where they can put up strategies to meet this expectation and improve the relationships. The main aim and purpose of the unit is to develop knowledge and an understanding of the significance of managing and developing relationships within the workplace and the role of the first-line managers in achieving this goal. The unit is taught in 8 hours of guided learning and contributes 2 credit values towards the completion of ILM Level 3 module.

Suitability of the Unit

Workplace relationships are critical in any area of practice within the organisation. All stakeholders must show understanding and awareness of the role that they can play in influencing the relationships that are established within the organisation. This involves understanding the expectations of other stakeholders and playing an active role towards meeting this expectations hence improving workplace relationships. 8600-334 Understanding and Developing Relationships within the Workplace is a unit that is suitable to all stakeholders, mainly leaders and employees.

The unit is designed with content that is designed to meet the learning needs of the first-line managers, junior managers and team leaders. These are individuals responsible for overseeing activities that involve dealing with stakeholders in project teams. They are required to effectively interact with each other in the form of teamwork as well as work to build relationships with other stakeholders, including suppliers, customers and leaders, to facilitate success within the organisation making the information provided within this unit highly relevant for them.

The unit is also suitable for the top manager and middle managers who decide on the organisational culture and principles that they want to be reinforced within the organisation hence creating policies and structures to be followed by other stakeholders within the organisation. Lastly, the employees benefit from the content of the unit as it builds their affiliation and commitment to the organisational goals and objectives through being able to work well with other stakeholders to achieve the desired goals and objectives within the organisation.

Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of the unit, the learners should be able to:

• Identify the specific needs and expectations of customers, colleagues , key stakeholders, and other individuals who are relevant within the workplace

• Identify the importance of knowing the stakeholders, both internal and external, including customers, colleagues and others relevant within the workplace and their specific needs

• Identify ways that can be used to effectively meet the needs and expectations of the stakeholders identified within the workplace, putting into consideration the organisational constraints

• Show understanding of the approaches that can be used to evaluate and check that the needs or expectations of others are met

• Describe the methods that can be used to deal with difficult situations within the workplace that arise due to difficulties and impossibilities to meet the needs and expectations of others within the organisational guidelines and constraints.

Key Learning Areas

8600-334 Understanding and Developing Relationships within the Workplace is a unit that aims at improving the understanding of the principles within which the leaders can develop an environment that supports work-related relationships. Some of the learning areas that have been used within the unit to achieve this learning goals include:

Stakeholder Analysis

This area of learning helps to build stakeholder analysis to understand the needs and expectations of others. The learners are introduced to methods that they can use to collect information on the stakeholders, which is important in understanding their expectations and needs. Learners are also guided to appreciate the significance of knowing the needs of the stakeholders and setting up approaches to validating the needs and expectations hence ensuring they are relevant and managed in alignment with organisational goals and objectives.

Approaches to Meet Stakeholder Needs

This area of learning focuses on identifying the ways and approaches that can be used to meet the needs and expectations of others. It involves understanding the approaches of active and effective testing as well as understanding the environment to ensure that the learner can effectively master the needs and feedback that is given towards the process of completing the goals of meeting others’ needs. The learners are also guided on developing approaches to checking whether the needs and expectations of others have been met by the implementation ways and mechanisms.

Constraints in Achieving the Needs

This area of learning helps the learners to understand the challenges that could be faced based on organisational constraints, meeting the needs and expectations of the stakeholders. The learners are therefore guided on approaches that they can use to ensure that they address the failures to meet needs on such limitations such as building confidence and trust among stakeholder an managing the relationships based on communication and implementation of possible alternatives.

The learners are guided on using the principles of effective communication to ensure that they are able to bridge these gaps that may arise due to organisational constraints. They are also taught on principles of negotiation, consulting, conflict management and problem solving, which are all useful in such situations.

Evaluation

This unit is evaluated using a written assessment. The assessment is used to gauge the mastery of theoretical concepts and provides simulated questions where the learner exhibits ability to apply the concepts within case studies and practical settings.