21779 Management Skills

Subject level: Postgraduate

Handbook description

Students develop insight into the interpersonal skill requirements of managers and establish a basis for the future development of skills. This subject deals experientially with the interpersonal skills needed by managers to lead teams successfully and takes the individual's awareness of his or her skills and interpersonal style as its starting point. It goes on to examine basic communication skills such as listening, counselling and non-verbal behaviour. It deals with applied skills including interviewing, time management, goal setting, delegation, group facilitation and meetings management, decision making, conflict management and negotiation, and organisational communication.

Subject objectives/outcomes

On successful completion of this subject students should be able to:

1. Describe the range of intra and interpersonal skills and competencies that research and practice have shown to be of critical importance for success in managing and leading in organisations of growing complexity and diversity.
2. Demonstrate an understanding of the key principles and theoretical underpinnings of behavioural skill learning as a platform for on-going skill development.
3. Demonstrate a conceptual (theory/research based) understanding of the dimensions of intra and interpersonal competency and skill practice.
4. Demonstrate increased self-awareness and proficiency in nominated skill areas.

Contribution to graduate profile

Self-management and interpersonal skills have continued to be acknowledged as areas of most critical skill requirements for managerial effectiveness. The findings of the Industry Task Force on Leadership and Management Skills in 1995 not only highlights this fact, but placed such skills as fundamental components in meeting what has been called "the challenges of the Asian-Pacific century". The findings further alerted us to the fact these skills remain significantly underdeveloped in Australian managers compared to world best practices.

In an environment of continued and unprecedented change the need for increased levels of competency in the areas of self-management, interpersonal skills, communication in a variety of diverse business environments, and capacity to take leadership roles in business takes on an added challenge. Not only do students need to be operating at the highest proficiency but even more importantly we need to understand the nature of on-going learning and the mechanisms for continued change and development of our skill base. Managing in an environment of globalisation, virtual organisations, cultural diversity, and knowledge management are just some of the continued challenges students will need to face.

Teaching and learning strategies

Cognitive input comes from lectures, discussion, text and references. Experiential input comes from weekly workshops and other activities. A major task for students is to reconcile cognitive and experiential activities with their personal reactions and reflections on your functioning. This type of reflection is strongly supported by the use of a "diary" for personal reflection.

Content

• The importance of interpersonal competencies and management skill for managerial and leadership effectiveness; differing skill requirements within different management context.
• The centrality of diversity within organisations including cultural, inter-cultural, gender and the issue of ethics.
• Behavioural change theories and the experiential/group learning model.
• Theories of human development; managing personal change and the centrality of self-awareness in personal development.
• Goal setting, stress management, time management.
• Interpersonal skills of relating to others including listening skills, non-verbal communication, assertion, responding and feedback skills.
• Applied skill of delegation, meeting management, group skills, presentation skills, decision making skills, problem solving skills, conflict resolution, negotiation skills, interviewing skills, networking, influence and leadership skills.

Assessment

Recommended text(s)

Carlopio, Andrewartha and Armstrong (2001) Developing Management Skills: A comprehensive guide for Leaders 2nd Edition, Prentice Hall.

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator Self Scoring Booklet and Answer Sheets including Krebs Hirsch S. and Kummerow J. M. 'Introduction to Type in Organizations'.

Indicative references

Olaf Isachsen Working together - A Personality Centered Approach to Management., Ph.D.Newworld Management Press. 2nd ed. 1992

Gifts Differing- Understanding Personality Type. Isabel Briggs Myers With Peter B. Myers CPP Books. 1993

Working With Different Types - The Theory, Research and Application of Psychological Types at Work by Ron Cacioppe,. Management Studies Center, Macquarie University.

Mapping Managerial Styles by Charles Margerison and Ralph Lewis. International Journal of Manpower 2,1. 1981.

Quinn, Robert E.et al Becoming a master manager: a competency framework

John Wiley and Sons N.Y. 2nd ed., 1966

Honey, Peter. Improve your people skills Institute of Personnel Management, London 1988.

Lumsden, G. and Lumsden. Communicating in groups and teams: sharing leadership: Wadsworth Pub. Co., Belmont, Calif. 2nd ed., 1997

Hayes, J. Interpersonal skills : goal-directed behaviour at work Harper Collins London 1991

Pedler, M., Burgoyne, J. and Boydell. A manager's guide to self-development McGraw-Hill, London, 3rd Ed.,1994

Adler et al. Interplay: The process of Interpersonal communications Chp.11, Intercultural Communication, Harcourt Brace College Publishers, 1998

Matteson, M. and J. M. Ivancevich Managing job stress and health: the intelligent person's guide Free Press, New York 1982.

Covey. S. R The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People The Business Library, 1989

James Hooke and Jeremy Philips Getting your message across: the seven steps to communicating successfully in every situation Simon and Schuster, 1996.

Jerome, Paul J, Coaching through effective feedback: a practical guide to successful

Communication, London: Kogan Page, 1995.

Fisher, R. and Ury, W., with B. Batton Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In. Houghton Mifflin, Boston, 1991

Kottler, Jeffrey A., Beyond blame : a new way of resolving conflicts in relationships

San Francisco : Jossey-Bass Publishers, c1994.

Adler, H. NLP for Managers, Piatkus Publishers, 1996

Lindenfield, Gael. Assert yourself ,New York: Harper Paperbacks, 1997.

Eunson, Baden, Negotiation skills, John Wiley, 1994

Ian McDermott and Joseph O'Connor, Practical NLP for managers, Gower, 1996.