There are 4.3 million managers and supervisors in the UK, of whom 1.5 million are women; however, fewer than 1 million of them are qualified. Certain personal qualities are helpful in management:
- Tough-mindedness
- Decisiveness
- Being an extrovert
- Ability to tolerate uncertainty
- Ability to thinks on one’s feet
- Intuitive understanding of others
- High tolerance of stress.
Supervision has been defined as ‘directing or managing work, workers, etc.’ Supervision and management exist in every organisation and they go hand in hand; but above all they are about the control and use of people and material resources within an organisation. Use of teams and projects, identification of individual roles within the organisation, and increased emphasis on the best possible use of all resources, all under a legal spotlight, make management and supervision more of a challenge than ever before.
Management in the Forces
Service careers involve a wide and varied experience of management – often in extremely difficult circumstances. Many Service people will have management skills and experience, and institute membership that reflects this. General management is practised by most people with authority and responsibility in the Forces, and is increasingly recognised with formal qualifications.
The award of certificates and the opportunity to earn other qualifications by some additional work on top of Service courses means that all levels of Service management can now be recognised, so that all levels of military training may be translated into terms that other employers will understand.
Qualifications and training
The Management Standards Centre (MSC) is the government-recognised standards-setting body for the management and leadership areas. It has developed National Occupational Standards that describe the performance for a range of management and leadership functions/activities, as follows.
• Managing self and personal skills
– Manage your own resources
– Manage your own resources and professional development
– Develop your personal networks
• Providing direction
– Develop and implement operational plans for your area of responsibility
– Map the environment in which your organisation operates
– Develop a strategic business plan for your organisation
– Put the strategic business plan into action
– Provide leadership for your team
– Provide leadership in your area of responsibility
– Provide leadership for your organisation
– Ensure compliance with legal, regulatory, ethical and social requirements
– Develop the culture of your organisation
– Manage risk
– Promote equality of opportunity and diversity in your area of responsibility
– Promote equality of opportunity and diversity in your organisation
• Facilitating change
– Encourage innovation in your team
– Encourage innovation in your area of responsibility
– Encourage innovation in your organisation
– Lead change
– Plan change
– Implement change
• Working with people
– Develop productive working relationships with colleagues
– Develop productive working relationships with colleagues and stakeholders
– Recruit, select and keep colleagues
– Plan the workforce
– Allocate and check work in your team
– Allocate and monitor the progress and quality of work in your area of responsibility
– Provide learning opportunities for colleagues
– Help team members address problems affecting their performance
– Build and manage teams
– Reduce and manage conflict in your team
– Lead meetings
– Participate in meetings
– Support individuals to develop and maintain their performance
– Initiate and follow disciplinary procedure
– Initiate and follow grievance procedure
– Manage redundancies in your area of responsibility
– Build and sustain collaborative relationships with other organisations
• Using resources
– Manage a budget
– Manage finance for your area of responsibility
– Obtain additional finance for the organisation
– Promote the use of technology within your organisation
– Ensure your own actions reduce risks to health and safety
– Ensure health and safety requirements are met in your area of responsibility
– Ensure an effective organisational approach to health and safety
– Manage physical resources
– Manage the environmental impact of your work
– Take effective decisions
– Communicate information and knowledge
– Manage knowledge in your area of responsibility
– Promote knowledge management in your organisation
– Support team and virtual working
– Procure supplies
– Select suppliers through a tendering process
– Outsource business processes
• Achieving results
– Manage a project
– Manage programme of complementary projects
– Manage business processes
– Develop and review a framework for marketing
– Resolve customer service problems
– Monitor and solve customer service problems
– Support customer service improvements
– Work with others to improve customer service
– Build your organisation’s understanding of its market and customers
– Develop a customer-focused organisation
– Manage the achievement of customer satisfaction
– Improve organisational performance.
– Manage quality systems
– Prepare for and participate in quality audits
– Carry out quality audits
– Manage the development and marketing of products/services in your area of responsibility
– Manage the delivery of customer service in your area of responsibility
– Prepare sales proposals and deliver sales presentations
– Sell products/services to customers.
These translate into NVQ/SVQs in:
- Team Leading – level 2
- Management – levels 3, 4 and 5.
Modules are both mandatory and optional at the various levels and include:
- Manage your own resources
- Provide leadership for your team
- Develop productive working relationships with colleagues
- Ensure your own action reduce risks to health and safety
- Encourage innovation in your team
- Allocate and check work in your team
- Provide learning opportunities for colleagues
- Help team members address problems affecting their performance
- Participate in meetings
- Resolve customer service problems
- Support customer service improvements
- Manage your own resources and professional development
- Provide leadership in your area of responsibility
- Allocate and monitor the progress and quality of work in your area of responsibility
- Ensure health and safety requirements are met in your area of responsibility
- Promote equality of opportunity and diversity in your area of responsibility
- Encourage innovation in your area of responsibility
- Plan change
- Implement change
- Recruit, select and keep colleagues
- Build and manage teams
- Lead meetings
- Manage a budget
- Manage the environmental impact of your work
- Take effective decisions
- Communicate information and knowledge
- Manage a project
- Monitor and solve customer service problems
- Work with others to improve customer service
- Develop and implement operational plans for your area of responsibility
- Develop productive working relationships with colleagues and stakeholders
- Manage business processes
- Develop your personal networks
- Ensure compliance with legal, regulatory, ethical and social requirements
- Lead change
- Reduce and manage conflict in your team
- Manage finance for your area of responsibility
- Manage physical resources
- Manage a programme of complementary projects
- Build your organisation’s understanding of its market and customers
- Manage the achievement of customer satisfaction
- Provide leadership for your organisation
- Encourage innovation in your organisation
- Ensure an effective organisational approach to health and safety
- Improve organisational performance
- Map the environment in which your organisation operates
- Develop a strategic business plan for your organisation
- Put the strategic business plan into action
- Develop the culture of your organisation
- Manage risk
- Promote equality of opportunity and diversity in your organisation
- Plan the workforce
- Obtain additional finance for the organisation
- Promote the use of technology within your organisation
- Develop and review a framework for marketing
- Develop a customer-focused organisation.
Chartered Management Institute The CMI has 80,000 members throughout the UK, with 400 corporate partners. It has a network of local branches, while all members enjoy access to its Management Information Centre and publications. Its approved and registered centres support students worldwide. It offers core qualifications in Team Leading, Management and Strategic Management as well as specialist qualifications in:
- Strategic management and leadership
- Management and leadership
- Management coaching and mentoring
- First line management
- Team leading
- Management
- Introductory qualifications.
It also offers specialist qualifications in:
- Programme and project management
- Business start-up
- Business development
- Business support
- Care services
- Innovation and change management
- Energy management
- Registered manager
- Quality management
- Automotive retail management
- Neighbourhood management
- Public service leadership
- A range of MoD awards
- A range of police awards
- Management consultancy
- Assessment & verification.
Chartered Manager status is also offered for senior managers.
Institute of Leadership and Management
The ILM has more than 25,000 members throughout the UK. Its 2,000 accredited centres deliver training on a huge range of courses each year in management and leadership, delivering 90,000 certificates annually, and all members enjoy access to its Information Service and publications. It offers qualifications in:
- Team leading
- Facilities management
- First line management
- Management
- Environmental management
- Managing equality and diversity
- Executive management
- Leadership
- Strategic leadership
- Leadership and management skills
- Strategic leadership and executive management
- Workplace coaching
- Coaching & mentoring
- Executive coaching & leadership mentoring
- Vocational assessment
- Preparing for business enterprise
- Exploring business enterprise
- Business improvement
- Starting your enterprise
- Business support
- Personnel support
- Personnel management
- Personnel strategy
- Management of volunteers
- Social impact assessment
- Social enterprise support.
There are many other courses on offer, with most business schools and both institutes offering a number of certificates and diplomas in management, and assessment and quality assurance (verification) qualifications.
Contact details
Management Standards Centre, 3rd Floor, 2 Savoy Court, London WC2R 0EZ Tel: 020 7240 2826 Website: msc.managers.org.uk
Chartered Management Institute, Management House, Cottingham Road, Corby, Northants NN17 1TT Tel: 01536 204222 Website: www.managers.org.uk
Institute of Leadership & Management, Stowe House, Netherstowe, Lichfield, Staffs WS13 6TJ Tel: 01543 266867 Website: www.i-l-m.com
