ENROL NOW

Management

Course CodeVBS105
Fee CodeS2
Duration (approx)100 hours
QualificationStatement of Attainment
BE BEST HORTICULTURAL MANAGER YOU CAN BE!

This course provides a very solid foundation for you to learn or enhance management skills.

Great managers get results!  They can apply their skills to many different areas and the career options are limitless.

Lesson Structure

There are 7 lessons in this course:

  1. Introduction and Organisational Structures
    • Types of Organisations
    • Legal Status
    • Liability for Staff Actions
    • Basic Contract Law
    • Role of a Manager
    • Management Objectives
    • Management Processes
    • Mission Statements
    • Types of Managers
    • Levels of Management
    • Organisational Structures; formal and informal
    • Division of Responsibilities
    • Understanding the Workplace
    • Unions
    • Committees
    • Scope of Office Work
    • Report Writing
  2. Management Theories and Procedures
    • Motivating Employees
    • Classic School of Management Theory
    • Behavioural School of Management Theory
    • Management Science School of Management Theory
    • Other Management Theorists and their Ideas; Weber, Barnard, Follett, Mazlow, Herzberg
    • Contingency Planning
    • Introducing Change
    • Giving Orders
    • Types of Orders
  3. Problem Solving and Decision Making
    • Decision Making
    • Problem Solving Technique
    • Types of Managers
    • Group Decision Making and Problem Solving
    • Conflict Resolution Techniques
    • The Planning Process
    • Implementing a Plan
    • Time Management
    • Planning for Your Organisation
    • The Importance of Planning
    • Developing a Business Plan
    • Lateral Thinking
  4. Management Styles and External Influences
    • Management Styles
    • Target Oriented Management
    • Process Oriented Management
    • Interactive Oriented Management
    • Management as Leaders
    • Perception
    • Perceptual Barriers
    • Perceptual Change
    • Motivating Employees to Change their Perception
    • Other Factors affecting Managers Effectiveness; Stress, Self Esteem, Career Management, Security etc
  5. Employing People and Interview Skills
    • Advertising for New Staff
    • Anti Discrimination
    • Interviewing
    • Communication at an Interview
    • Common Communication Barriers
    • Induction
    • Staff Training
    • Training Programs
    • Conversation with Trainees
  6. Staff Management
    • Scope and Nature
    • Learn to Plan
    • Steps for Successful Goal Achievement
    • Managing Staff Levels
    • Importance of Clear Procedures
    • Writing Procedures
    • Quality Assurance
    • Job Satisfaction
    • Professional Supervision
    • Mentoring
    • Dealing with Grievences
    • Productivity
    • Workplace Health and Safety
  7. Ethics and Equity
    • Code of Conduct
    • Interpreting Code of Conduct
    • Refund Policy
    • Honesty and Fairness
    • Respect
    • Intellectual Property Rights
    • Privacy

Aims

  • Describe the role of managers in a horticultural organization and the kinds of organizations in which they function.
  • Identify the processes and procedures that are associated with the effective management of staff in the horticultural workplace.
  • Describe the use of motivation in the workplace and the effects this can have on staff performance.
  • Describe how to recruit and interview a new staff member for a specific job in an organisation.
  • Discuss workgroup project preparation, costing, performance analysis and goal completion from a managerial perspective.
  • Describe the principles of Occupational Health and Safety policies, and their application in the horticylture industry.

What is Best Practice Management?

Best Practice is a management concept that asserts there is a way of achieving a particular outcome that is better than any other way. Through observation and assessment of other similar activities, processes are systematically improved upon and, through documentation, incorporated into an organisation’s management activities. In other words, Best Practice is about learning from others and consistently implementing what has been shown to work.

There are both wide-ranging and specific benefits gained by adopting Best Practice Management. These include:

  • Improved business efficiency
  • Increased productivity
  • Improved quality assurance
  • Increased customer satisfaction
  • Reduced costs
  • Improved communication between staff and customers
  • Minimised risks

Best Practice is tailored to the specific operations of every business or organisation. For example, in most business operations, the main focus of Best Practice management is enhanced economic performance. By comparison, amenity horticulture operations that adopt Best Practice tend to focus on achieving a broader suite of outcomes, with a particular emphasis on promoting environmental sustainability. Best Practice documentation in amenity horticulture industries typically encompasses such things as soil management, water use, waste disposal and chemical use.

How is Best Practice Determined?
Best Practice is determined by benchmarking, a technique that compares processes within an organisation or, more usually, between similar organisations. Its purpose is to identify industry best practice so that the organisation can transfer and adapt the ideas and techniques that will enhance performance.

Almost any aspect of an organisation’s operations can be benchmarked, including their services, products and practices. The main criteria for benchmarking are that the areas chosen for benchmarking will meet and enhance a critical need within the organisation, and that the operations or processes can be measured in a consistent way.

The benchmarking procedure broadly involves identifying problem areas and identifying organisations that are leaders in those areas. While there are many different models used to benchmark, they typically follow a process similar to the one below.

 
Stage 1. Planning the Benchmarking project:
• Identify the purpose or strategic intent of benchmarking.
• Select the processes to benchmark.
• Develop a benchmarking team

Stage 2. Collecting the data

Stage 3. Analysing the data for performance gaps

Stage 4. Developing strategies to close the gaps

Stage 5: Implementing the strategies

Benchmarking may be a one-off event but most organisations see it as an ongoing and evolving process which allows them to continually improve their operations.

 
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