Unit 3: Understand How to Manage
Unit code: M/504/5373
QCF level 4: BTEC Professional
Credit value:
Guided learning hours:
Unit aim
The aim of this unit is to give learners the knowledge and understanding of the skills needed to manage work activities and to improve business effectiveness and efficiency.
Unit introduction
Managing activities involves planning and monitoring work activities to deliver agreed outputs to ensure organisational quality requirements are met. This unit aims to develop knowledge and understanding of the importance of managing work activities by using resources effectively. Learners will examine ways of designing and implementing operational systems to improve effectiveness and efficiency, and to achieve the desired results.
Learners will consider the importance and interrelationship of business processes and the implementation of operational work plans, focusing on the role and responsibilities involved. Learners will also have the opportunity to investigate the principles of planning work activities, setting objectives and priorities to ensure requirements are met efficiently, and the importance of customer requirements and quality issues.
Involving and motivating team members and colleagues is important in helping to improve efficiency, and in this unit learners will examine the importance of providing effective leadership and direction.
Effective management of work activities also involves maintaining a healthy, safe and productive work environment and continuously looking for ways to improve the processes involved. Learners will examine the organisational and legal requirements for maintaining this type of environment through developing an understanding the principles of risk assessment.
Unit content
1 Understand the importance of business processes in delivering outcomes based upon organisational goals and objectives
Functions: different functions, e.g. operations, marketing, finance, human resources, interrelationship of functions; mission, aims and objectives, e.g. purpose of organisation, mission and mission statement, vision
Organisational structure: purpose and meaning of organisational structure; span of control; types of structure, e.g. matrix, tall and flat, project teams
Culture: importance of culture; types of culture, e.g. Handy’s power, role, task and person culture; interrelationship with processes
Processes: processes, e.g. manufacturing, purchasing, sales; background of business process modelling; principles and models of effective process management; types of business process measure, output; quality gateways; how to evaluate suitability
2 Understand how work plans are developed for own area of responsibility
Work plans: purpose of a work plan; product and service specifications and standards; meeting quality, quantity, time and cost objectives; systems, e.g. Just-in-Time; value-added chains; statistical process control; coordinating activities; working within organisational and legal constraints and limitations; preparing work plans, e.g. identifying and prioritising outcomes, identifying roles, responsibilities, activities and resources
Areas of responsibility: internal and external customers; customer orientation,
e.g. segmentation, bottom-up approaches; market research; product development; operational management techniques, e.g. principles and methods of short- to medium-term planning, business process modelling, lean management techniques; project management, e.g. Gantt chart, PERT (Program Evaluation and Review Technique), critical path analysis; work flow, prioritising workloads; developing SMART objectives; time management; analysing and managing risk; how to align resources with objectives; legal, regulatory and ethical requirements
Allocating and agreeing work: identifying team member responsibilities for identified work activities; agreeing SMART objectives
3 Understand how to monitor appropriate work plans and systems to improve organisational performance
Systems: Total Quality Management (TQM), TQM philosophy, principles, methods and techniques; quality systems, quality circles, ISO9000/EN29000, managing and monitoring quality
Organisational performance: principles of models which underpin organisational performance; type of performance measures and how to determine and set them; cost/benefit analysis; risk analysis; the importance of prevention rather than correction; planning, proposing, implementing and evaluating change; identifying wider implications of change within the organisation; Business Process Improvement (BPI), Six Sigma
Quality culture: importance of developing a continual improvement culture and how to involve others; value of a customer-focused culture