8605-400 Understanding the Management Role to Improve Management Performance

Unit Overview

8605-400 Understanding the Management Role to Improve Management Performance is a unit within the ILM Level 4 module that focuses on improving the understanding of the leaders on the function and responsibilities they should play in improving the general performance of the organisation by maximising their individual performance as leaders. The ILM Level 4 module is designed to meet the needs of middle managers within the organisation.

These are leaders tasked with the duty of heading the departments and various units of the organisation. This unit aims at improving the understanding of their role and the aspect of improving individual leadership and management skills with the aim of impacting the organisational activities and processes. Middle managers benefit from this unit as it provides them with the background in terms of theory and practical information that helps to improve their practice as managers.

The main purpose of this unit is to provide and demonstrate an understanding of the role of middle management as well as improving the ability of middle managers to plan and implement their personal development plans. The unit is taught in 15 hours of guided learning and amounts to a credit value of 4 within the general ILM level 4 module assessment. This makes the unit one of the critical areas of learning in the module and important for leaders within the organisation.

Suitability of the Unit

The unit is suitable for leaders within the organisation. First, 8605-400 Understanding the Management Role to Improve Management Performance is designed to cover critical learning principles for middle managers within the organisation. It provides both theory and practice that improves the performance of middle managers within the organisation, which is important in facilitating the success of the organisation in general as these are leaders responsible for directly interacting with both internal and external customers within the organisation. However, the unit is not limited to middle managers.

It can be used to provide significant information on management roles to different stakeholders and leaders. Executive management can benefit from the unit as it helps them to understand the critical needs and responsibilities of the department heads and line managers. More importantly, the unit can contribute to improving the capabilities, skills and competencies of lower levels of management, such as the junior managers and team leaders within the organisation.

It can be sued to provide this stakeholder with information that is relevant within their areas of operation as well as prepare them for promotions in the ranks of the organisations.Lastly, business partners and external consultants can pursue the unit to better understand the composition, roles and responsibilities of leaders within the organisation, which is important in maximising the support given to organisations.

Learning Outcomes

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

• Understand the goals and objectives of their organisations

• Evaluate the responsibilities that middle managers have in enabling the organisation to achieve its goals and objectives

• Understand the role of interpersonal communication within the organisation

• Evaluate strategies that can be used to overcome barriers to effective communication and interpersonal skills

• Assess the required knowledge, skills and behaviours in the line of practice as a middle manager

• Identify specific strategies that can be used to implement a personal development plan to improve the managerial performance of the leader

• Develop a personal development plan to improve performance and cover weaknesses noted through various evaluation tools and processes.

Key Learning Areas 

8605-400 Understanding the Management Role to Improve Management Performance is a unit that aims at improving the overall awareness of the middle managers to their roles and capabilities within the organisations. The unit covers areas that are aimed at improving situational awareness and boosting skills that help to address barriers within managerial positions. Some of the key learning reaps within the unit include:

Organisational Goals and Objectives

Learners being prepared for leadership positions or performing managerial tasks need to understand the context of the organisation in relation to organisational goals and objectives. This area of learning aims at providing the learners with the ability to analyse their areas of responsibility and develop sustainable goals that can help improve the performance of the organisation within their market setting. The learners are helped to build skills that align their managerial responsibilities as middle managers to the organisational goals and objectives.

Effective Communication

This is a wide area of study that covers both the main barriers and the ability to effectively communicate as managers and social begins. It boosts the skills of communication and interpersonal skills within the organisation, improving the understanding of the cultural and individual differences that may affect eth process of communication.

Additionally, the leaders are introduced to different approaches that can be used to improve their communication ability, such as image and presentation and social skills. Lastly, these areas of learning aim at improving trust and control, which are critical tools for expressing respect to others within the organisation and improving networking among the subjects, which is critical in improving managerial performance.

Personal Development

The learners are guided through processes that help them to better evaluate their abilities, knowledge, skills and capacities to boost the ability to develop plans of improving managerial performance. This area of learning further helps learners to understand tools of evaluation such as 360-degree feedback.

Self-assessment and skills and behaviours that are responsible for achieving the desired levels of managerial performance before they conduct effective improvement on their abilities. Additionally, the learners are introduced to different personal development methods, which include internal and external training and development, traditional learning and e-learning to improve personal skills and knowledge.

Evaluation and Assessment

Upon completion of the unit, the learners are assessed to determine their mastery of theory and practical information presented within the unit. The assessment consists of two main parts. The first part is a written assessment where the learners are required to provide responses and feedback on questions centered on the unit, which are both practical and theoretical. The second phase consists of a supervised practice where the learner is attached to a practical firm to build on skills and practical ability.