Plan, Implement and Assess Management Strategies in any Industry Sector



COURSE CONTENTS

There are 3 lessons in this module as follows:

1. Evaluating Workplace Efficiency
2. Human Resources Supervision
3. Plan Workplace Projects –cyclical or finite.

Aims

• Identify efficiency problems that occur in the production process at a workplace, develop efficiency improving procedures, and follow up and improvements’ assessing procedures.
• Demonstrate skills in supervising the performance of team work and individual workers to attain appropriate performance standards.
• Demonstrate skills in staff and teams motivation.
• Demonstrate skills in workplace project planning, either cyclical or finite.

How the Course Works

This course involves undertaking three hypothetical PBL projects, based on the industry you work in, or intend to work in. (eg. if you are a nursery worker, you must base your project on a small nursery; or if you work in administration, you will base your project on your sector of the business community.)

What is PBL?

Problem-based learning has been defined as: “A learning method based on using problems as a starting point for acquisition and integration of new knowledge.”

• A PBL relies on problems to drive curriculum.
• A PBL project relies on real-life problems, where students act as professionals.
• PBL problems are not intended to be precise – they are not intended to generate neat answers. In your analysis to find the answer, you will gain essential problem-solving and critical-thinking skills.
• There are never a single correct, or incorrect solutions. Problems are designed so that different appropriate answers might apply – there is never meant to be just one solution.
• Teaching staff are meant to act as facilitators or coaches, rather than  someone to provide you with "answers". They help you work out how to find the answers, but they do not give you answers.
• Students are provided with guidance but not answers – they are given guidance in techniques that might be used for problem solving.
• Assessment is based upon performance according to the specified guidelines,  not upon giving correct answers. Students are expected to perform within given parameters. Over performing can be just as bad as under performing. In the real world; success comes from doing what you are asked to do; rather than doing too much. Consider: If you asked a contractor to do a 10 hour job, and he turned it into a 30 hour job -even if the work was much better, you might not be as happy as you would be if he did what he said he would do.

Learn to Plan Work Better

This course helps develop your ability to plan work, by guiding you through a series of well structured hypothetical workshops. As you progress, you will apply different knowledge and ideas, building your capacity to plan and implement strategies that work in management.

There is a great deal of flexibility in the detail of where your pbl projects might go; as you gather and process information for each of the three highly defined pathways you follow.

Both quantitative and qualitative methods can be used to gather data and address areas of interest in the workplace. Most often a combination of techniques is used. The types of methods used will be determined by what information is sought. For instance, if it is a training needs assessment then the focus will be narrower, perhaps focusing on a specific purpose. If it is an organisational needs assessment then the focus will be on organisational operations and processes. Also, the type of data gathered and techniques used will vary according to the specific organisation, its focus, area of work, and specific work environment.    

Quantitative Methods

The most commonly used quantitative methods are statistics and these include:

Descriptive statistics - these are tools which are used to organise, present and describe data so that it can quickly and easily be understood. They are mainly used to 'describe' data in the form of charts graphs, tables, and similar methods. Typical measures which describe data are measures of central tendency such as the mean (average score), mode (most frequently appearing score), and the median (the middle score). They also include measures of variability of which the standard deviation from the mean is most often considered.    

Inferential statistics - these are tools that can be used to make specific inferences about large groups i.e. whole populations, from samples collected.  They often use the mean, or average, scores from the sample to estimate those for the population. The larger the sample, the more accurate the indication of the population's parameters will be. Inferential statistics are also used to test hypotheses. The most commonly used inferential statistics are regression, correlation and analysis of variance (ANOVA). Other more complex statistical analyses include various modelling techniques and multivariate ANOVAs.  

In practice, occupational psychologists often use a combination of descriptive and inferential statistics. For instance, they may use descriptive methods to interpret and present the findings revealed through inferential methods. 

Qualitative Methods

A range of qualitative methods may also be used. Amongst these are:

Interviews - the occupational psychologist interviews an employee and asks a series of questions. Interviews may be structured or unstructured. Unstructured interviews are very open and the employee is offered little guidance. This type of interview makes it difficult to compare results between employees because there is often little overlap. They are considered most useful for gathering data from newer employees. 

Structured interviews used in occupational psychology use either open or closed questions. Where open questions are used, these are asked to guide the course of the interview but the employee is free to respond as they choose. Where closed questions are used these are designed to pose specific questions and provide specific answers which are determined beforehand. The questions must be concise and easy to interpret.
 
Typical duration for an interview would be in the region of one hour. The information obtained from unstructured interviews is subjective in nature and so cannot easily be generalised, though it may be useful when considered in conjunction with other forms of data. Data from structured interviews, particularly closed-question interviews, can more easily be numerically coded for subsequent statistical analysis.