8605-408 Management Communication

Unit Overview

8605-408 Management Communication is a unit within the ILM Level 4 module that focuses on improving the understanding and duties of the middle managers in improving the communication processes within the organisation. Middle managers should be able to not only play the role of team leadership but also ensure that they provide opportunities and innovative approaches that can be used to communicate and improve propel and relationships within the organisation.

As such, 8605-408 Management Communication us a critical unit within the module that focuses on improving the skills and abilities of the learners in relation to this different areas that are required in managing effective organisational communication. This unit focuses on both the skills of communication and importance of effective communication within the organisation.

The main purpose of the unit is building an understanding and ability to effectively communicate within the organisation as a practicing or potential middle managers which is important in ensuring that all lower levels of management understand the organisational goals, objectives and strategies as well as effectively linking up with the top management. The unit is taught in 18 hours of guided learning and is equivalent to 4 credit values indicating its significance in the preparation of both practicing and potential middle managers within the organisations.

Suitability of the Unit

Communication is a basic principle in ensuring that stakeholders within the organisation are able to focus on the same goals and objectives hence facilitating success within the organisation. The middle manager splay a central role in linking the executive management to lower levels of organisational leadership and employees. As such, 8605-408Managemnt Communication is a unit that is designed to effectively improve the abilities and understanding of the middle managers to their roles and responsibilities in improving the performance of the organisation and facilitating interactions among individuals within the organisation.

The unit is suitable to middle managers since it builds both skills and competencies in effectively conducting communication within the organisations as managers. However, the unit is not limited to the middle managers. Other stakeholders can effectively use the knowledge presented within the unit to improve their performance in their areas of operation. Executive managers within the organisation, need to master the skills and art of effective communication. The information presented within the unit can contribute in effectively improving the understanding and skills that these top managers required in fulfilling their mandate within the organisation to facilitate an environment based on effective communication.

The junior managers and team leaders are also suited to the content of this unit. It is important that individual sin this lower levels in the hierarchy within the organisation to understand the principles and methods that they can use to effectively communicate with senior managers as well as members of their teams. This unit helps to improve this skills hence improving the performance of these individuals in their areas of responsibility. Lastly, external consultants play a critical role in supporting decision making. Pursuing this course can help them to understand the nature of information that they need to consider when providing support in the process of setting up effective communication structures.

Learning Outcomes

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

• Show understanding and explain the relevance of the communication cycle within the organisation setting in creating effective communication in management

• Identify different contexts where tone language and level of formality in management communication is applicable in improving interaction and collaboration

• Assess the effectiveness of different verbal and written communication methods within the organisation

• Develop approaches to evaluate individual performance in communication skills

• Collect and analyse feedback from other stakeholders on communication skills

• Identify areas of strength and weakness in own communication skills as middle level managers within the organisation

• Develop an effective continuous improvement plan for the areas of weakness to improve performance.

Key Learning Areas

This unit is built on the principles of improving the understanding of the role that effective management communication plays within the organisation. As such, the unit covers different areas of learning that are aimed at improving the awareness of the middle managers and ensuring that their skills are improved some of the key learning areas include:

Principles of Management Communication

This area of learning helps to build an understanding in the role of management communication in improving the process of accomplishing organisational goals and objectives. First, the learners are introduced to the different theories of communication, communication cycle and barriers to effective management communicator.

This area involves understanding different types of communication such as verbal, written, visual and electronic communication that can be used in management. They are also guided through understanding aspects of non-verbal communication such as body language and facial expression, as well as business language which include tone, style and vocabulary.

The learners are also taught on different levels of formality that can be used in communication as well as structure image and layout conventions that impact communication. Lastly, they are informed on differ statistical and visual materials that they can use in creating appendices for effective reports in management communication.

Personal Communication Skills

This area of learning focuses on reflecting on the individual competencies and abilities and the impact that they have on the ability to communicate as a leader within the organisation. Learners are provided with effective criteria that can be used to evaluate understanding of the principles of management communication and the effectiveness of their communication process.

This area of learning aims at equipping the learners with the necessary tools to conduct effective personal evaluation. They are guided in process of collecting and analysing feedback that could be used in building personal performance in management communication. This includes being able to identify strengths and weaknesses that impact on their communication abilities and creating a personal development plan to achieve the desired levels of performance in management communication.

Evaluation

On completing the unit the leers are required to complete an assessment that covers the critical area of learning within the unit. The assessment includes 3000 words of responses to questions on both the theoretical information and simulated cases hence showing understanding of the principles of effective management communication.