Unit 2004V1 Controlling Resources

Unit Overview

Unit 2004V1 Controlling resources is a unit within the CMI Level 2 module that focuses on improving the ability of the leaders to utilise assigned resources within their areas of responsibility effectively. The use of resources within the workplace is essential in ensuring the teams can effectively meet their goals and objectives. This involves understanding the process of resource allocation by focusing on policies and procedures that have been established within the workplace as well as controlling resources in the areas of responsibility to optimise productivity and performance. The leaders must be able to ensure that their teams are able to increase the productivity of the organisation.

This is achieved by adding value to the resources that have been utilised within the areas of operation, which is reflected in terms of the performance of the teams. The leaders must, therefore, be guided to effectively build skills and ability to effectively control the resources within their areas of responsibility. This involves ensuring that the resources are efficiently utilised without misusing or mismanagement with the focus on organisational goals and objectives. Unit 2004V1 Controlling resources is a unit that is designed to provide the leaders with relevant training that is required to achieve the desired levels of performance in relation to controlling resources. The unit provides the leaders with an understanding of the principles of utilisation of resources.

It gives the leaders and learners within the unit an understanding of the components within the organisation involved in budgeting which is critical for project requirements. The unit also helps the learners to understand the approaches to adjusting the resources based on the trends that are experienced in their areas of responsibility. The unit is taught in 20 hours of guided learning and contributes 6 credit values within the completion of the CMI level 2 module.

Suitability of the Unit

Different stakeholders within the workplace need to understand the principles and approaches that need to be used to effectively handle the process of utilising resources. This is a process that begins with the allocation of capital for the setting up of the organisation to the different forms of resources allocated to project teams within the workplace which pursue various duties and projects. The learners must understand effective budgeting and analysis of the resources available for the workplace to ensure that they are aligned with the projection set within the organisation. Unit 2004V1 Controlling resources is, therefore, a unit that is effective for all stakeholders within the workplace. The unit contributes to understanding the principles that can be implemented in the budgeting process and ensuring that the resources allocated to their specific areas are utilised to effectively achieve the duties and tasks of the teams, which contribute to the organisational goals and objectives the unit also touches on the alignment of utilising resources within the teams to the organisational policies and procedures.

The unit is designed to meet the learning needs of the team leaders within the workplace. It ensures that they are able to effectively handle the resource allocated and allocate them effectively to different tasks within the team to promote the accomplishment of tasks and duties. The unit is also applicable for individuals seeking to pursue leadership, including employees and team members. Senior and middle managers can improve their understanding of their contribution to the organization through this course.

Learning Outcomes

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

• Understand the process of identifying the resources that are needed within the areas of responsibility to achieve their work objectives

• Create a resource plan that includes the sources of supply, mobilising the resources and allocation of resources within their areas of responsibility to achieve work objectives

• Understand approaches of checking the resources obtained by their teams and examining the suitability of these resources for the use

• Understand methods of communicating effectively on the resource use with the team

• Monitor the process of using the resource within the team to achieve the desired work objectives identifying the variances in resource allocation and utilisation

• Understand approaches that the leaders can use in their areas of responsibility to deal with variances in the use of planned resources

• Identify main contributors to resource wastage within the team

• Understand methods that can be used to reduce resource wastage while not compromising the accomplishment of organisational goals and objectives

Key Learning Areas

Unit 2004V1 Controlling resources focuses on providing the learners with exposure to information and knowledge that they need to improve their contributions in using resources to achieve work objectives. The main areas of learning include:

Resource Planning

This area of learning focuses on ensuring that the learners understand the approaches and procedures that can be used to create a plan to effectively handle the resources. The learners are guided in understanding different sources of resources that they need to achieve the desired goals and objectives. They are taught to evaluate the suitability of resources for the designed use.

Managing Resources

This is the area of learning that focuses on ensuring that the plan established for handling resources is effectively implemented. This involves being able to ensure that the resources allocated are utilised for their goals and objectives. The learner is guided to understand methods of communicating with their teams to ensure that the resources are effectively utilised and putting up measures to understand the impact of utilisation of resources. The learners are also guided to understand the variances in the utilisation of resources and approaches to handle these variances.

Waste Management

This area of learning focuses on ensuring that the learners understand the critical effects of resource wastage in accomplishing organisational goals and objectives. They are guided to understand the main causes of resource wastage within their areas of responsibility and approaches that they can use to identify the root causes of resource wastage. Learners are lastly guided to understand actions that they can put in place to reduce resource wastage, such as Lean production and in-time delivery which are examples of interventions within the workplace.

Evaluation

The learners are evaluated after completing the unit to ensure that the learning goals and objectives are achieved. The evaluation process involves a written assessment that covers the content that has been learned within the unit.