Managing People, End of Week One

Think about what we’ve looked at this week and the nature of the course. What are your personal objectives?

They might be particular learning objectives that you want to master. They might simply be about keeping up with the schedule. Record these in your journal. We will come back to them at the end of the course.

My personal objectives include:

• Learning to work in groups online, grasping the basics of the technologies and the social dynamics of doing so.
• Improving my understanding of management and its aims, methods, ethics and values. 

The learning objectives which matter most to me are: 

• Construct an account of what effectiveness means for you and your organisation.
• Identify factors that may contribute to a good quality of working life.
• Explain the nature of the stress transaction and scrutinise stress management interventions.
• Identify what motivates you and develop personal strategies to help you through difficult patches.
• Describe how the line manager supports the deployment of human resources.
• Debate the value of fit and flexibility in resource planning and reflect on the potential contribution of a diverse workforce.

Managers often have to teach their staff. With this in mind consider:

Can you think of possible challenges that could arise?

• People may not want to learn what you are trying to teach. 
• People may see what you are trying to teach as 'not my job'.
• People may feel you are trying to 'teach your grandmother to suck eggs'.
• People may feel they know more about something than you do; and they might.
• Lack of resources for teaching purposes.
• Lack of time for teaching and learning to be able to occur.
• Lack of support from 'the higher-ups'.
• Anxiety amongst learners that they may be 'found lacking'; fear of exposure of weak academic skills or shaky job skills.
• Lack of confidence or areas of weakness regarding communication skills.
• Feeling 'put upon' for having been asked to teach people stuff.
• Showing up your own lack of knowledge or skills in an area.
• Balancing the roles of teacher and manager, which may be at odds with each other.

• How can you use the material considered thus far to help you overcome these challenges?
• Valuing experience.
• Activating past learning before introducing new learning.
• Recognising and valuing 'differences'.
• Matching teaching style to learning style 
• Matching content to learning needs and using sequencing.
• Employing sound learning theory and applying it well.

Topics that are coming up that I am looking forward to:

• Organisational Behaviour
• Personality Theory
• Motivational Theory
• Taking Theory into Practise

Other topics are:

• Matching People and Jobs
• The Art and Science of Management
• Exemplifying Good Practise