Course Description
As organisations continue to remain competitive and sustainable, a recurring weakness identified is that employees are promoted to a line or middle management position without having sufficient management training. Thus new managers may find they are ill-equipped to take on the demanding role of managing a team and ensuring that the job gets done. This in turn has an impact on what the team and ultimately what the organisation achieves. Our aim in delivering this training is to fulfil these training needs by introducing management concepts to aspiring managers and those already occupying management positions. Our rationale is to teach management concepts which have a practical application to students’ real life experiences in the workplace so that they can reach their potential as managers.
In 2025, the pass rate for the course was 100%.
The accreditation category of the Programme is Further Education.
Learning Outcomes
By the end of the course programme, students will be able to:
- Outline how communication and interpersonal skills affect managerial performance in the workplace.
- Communicate information effectively on the activity of a team.
- Define and use basic communication structures.
- Overcome barriers to effective communication.
- Implement the process of the communication loop.
- Be able to interpret the middle management role and be able to plan their own future development.
- Gain experience and personal development by planning and leading a complex team activity.
- Plan and implement measures to manage workplace risks.
- Be able to Complete and identify their own learning styles and those of others.
- Reflect upon their motivation to learn and what assistance they need from others in the workplace and their families and friends.
- Plan and implement measures to manage workplace risks.
- Plan and lead a complex team activity to raise self-awareness of own strengths and weaknesses.
- Be able to identify their strengths and weaknesses and devise a Personal Development Plan (PDP) that reflects these strengths and weaknesses.
- Produce an action plan for developing his own leadership style and effectiveness.
Target Candidates
This Award in Leadership and Management is designed for new and aspiring middle managers, who wish to develop and grow professional management skills including problem solving and decision-making, performance management, managing team dynamics, delegation and motivation. Learners should have a thirst for developing practical skills that they can use in the workplace to effectively manage their teams and provide exceptional customer service.
| Course Code | Duration | Credit Value | Next Intake | FT/PT |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| LW/M/001 | 4 months | 12 ECTS | April 2026 | PT |
| Contact Hours | Placement Hours | Self Study Hours | Assessment Hours | Total Learning Hours |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 60 | 12 | 178 | 50 | 300 |
Mode of Training
Presentations, class discussions, problem-based learning, hands-on exercises and teambased learning.
Modules are delivered in the evening, twice a week.
Language of instruction is English.
Assessment
Awarding Body
Learning Works
Course Structure
Module 1: Understanding the Management Role to Improve Management Performance
(3 ECTS)
Although all line and middle managers may benefit from this unit, its main purpose is to introduce management concepts to employees who aim to take up a management position within an organisation or have just started in such a position.
This is the first module of a five module management course and serves as an introduction for the learning that follows.
- Define the specific responsibilities of managers in enabling an organization to achieve its goals
- Define how communication and interpersonal skills affect managerial performance in the workplace.
- Assess personal development opportunities to improve own managerial performance and grow their leadership skills
- Describe the goals and objectives of one’s organisation
- Evaluate the specific responsibilities of middle managers in enabling one’s organization to achieve its goals
- Evaluate how interpersonal and communication skills affect managerial performance
- Assess own knowledge, skills and behavior and their effect on own managerial performance
- Identify areas for personal development to improve own managerial performance
- Produce a personal development plan to improve own managerial performance
- The nature and purpose of organisations, including mission and value statements.
- Stakeholders and their objectives
- Organisational charts, hierarchical and matrix structures.
- Levels of management and associated roles and responsibilities
- Formal and informal organisational relationships
- To evaluate and give feedback
- To communicate in a relevant and timely manner
- To use interpersonal skills with colleagues and customers
- To explore different questioning and active listening skills
- To network and share information and knowledge
- Plan, organize and oversee management tasks
- Motivate and develop employees.
- Explain the importance of SMART objectives for the achievement of organisational goals
- Modify their management styles to take into consideration different workplace situations
- Align their activities to organisational goals
- Assess personal development opportunities to improve own managerial performance
- Assess one’s own knowledge, skills and behavior and their effect on one’s own management performance
- Produce a personal development plan to improve one’s own management performance
- Total Contact Hours: 15
- Supervised Placement & Practice Hours: 3
- Self-Study Hours:
- Assessment Hours:
- Total Learning Hours of this Module: 75
Module 2: Planning and Leading a Complex Team Activity (3 ECTS)
Most organisations require their employees to work in a team setting. There are many different kinds of teams, project teams and multidisciplinary teams all with the common goal of achieving organisational results. However, whatever the nature of the team, it is important for all team members to be aware of the different roles each team member plays. It is equally important for teamwork to be efficient and effective because these are some of the factors upon which a company’s competitive advantage is built.
- Define the purpose, aims and objectives of the activity
- Identify the tasks and resources required for the activity, including any operational constraints
- Produce a plan for the implementation of the activity
- Plan and lead a complex team activity which demonstrates leadership skills
- Theoretical motivation and empowerment frameworks such as Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and Tuckman’s stages of team development
- Defining the benefits and barriers to coaching
- Setting SMART objectives,
- Strategy and tactics to translate objectives into action
- Practise new implementation and planning skills
- Evaluate contingency techniques
- Explain briefing, questioning and listening skills
- Use techniques to check comprehension
- Review delegation and role allocation techniques
- Identify the tasks needed to achieve an agreed goal
- Set priorities
- Evaluate safety issues that apply to team activities
- Discuss operational constraints
- Outline key performance measure to ensure that team activities are on track and within pre-established budgetary limits
- Decide on team best practices and benchmarks
- Assess team-members performance and provide feedback
- Deal with semi-structured and unstructured challenges
- Evaluate feedback from stakeholders
- Manage conflict within the team
- Present information on the activity to one’s team
- Communicate allocations of roles and responsibilities to team members
- Take into consideration and assess the impact of non-verbal communication
- Explain how professional barriers can affect communications in a multi-disciplinary team
- Practise the communications feedback loop
- Collect feedback on one’s ability to lead the team through a complex activity
- Review one’s performance
- Identify one’s leadership strengths and weaknesses
- Produce a personal development plan based on feedback received and self-assessment to improve one’s own planning and leadership skills
- Total Contact Hours: 15
- Supervised Placement & Practice Hours: 3
- Self-Study Hours:
- Assessment Hours:
- Total Learning Hours of this Module: 75
Module 3: Developing Your Leadership Styles (3 ECTS)
Leadership has been identified as the key element in what makes an effective manager. The aim of this Unit is to help students reach their management potential by helping them to identify and develop their leadership style to improve their own and organizational performance.
- Define leadership
- Evaluate how their performance as a leader impacts the engagement of others in the organisation
- Review one’s own preferred leadership style and the impact this may have on stakeholders including customers, team members, their manager and other colleagues
- Produce a personal development plan which includes current leadership and management behaviours, desired leadership and management behaviours and SMART goals for bridging the gaps
- Different leadership styles and their relationship motivation theories such as McGregor’s X-Y Theory
- Development of leadership thought
- Knowledge of theories relating to emergent leadership
- Comprehend the implications of models such as Action Centered Leadership
- Motivation theories such as Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and Herzberg’s motivation-hygiene theory
- Appraise the factors which impact on leadership effectiveness
- Interpret a range of tools to inform leadership behaviour
- Profile leadership
- Carry out situational analysis
- Identify one’s own preferred leadership style for various situations
- Evaluate the factors which impact on leadership effectiveness
- Adopt an effective leadership style which fits best with changing situations
- Engage, motivate and lead staff towards goal achievement
- Empower staff to take responsibility of their own professional development
- Evaluate one’s own leadership style by using a diagnostic test
- Analyze emerging situations that may impact one’s operations
- Identify different methods to motivate staff members
- Explain the importance of performance and commitment to followers within an organisation
- Use clear communication styles during one’s interaction with staff members
- Discuss clear SMART objectives to one’s staff members
- Set up effective communication/feedback channels which would allow him to act on critical information in a timely fashion
- Communicate with different stakeholders according to their information needs and priorities
- Produce an action plan to develop one’s own leadership style and effectiveness
- Appraise the benefits of implementing one’s
- action plan
- Monitor and evaluate the action plan
- Demonstrate interpersonal skills that communicate the organization’s Mission Statement and values to team members
- Total Contact Hours: 15
- Supervised Placement & Practice Hours: 3
- Self-Study Hours:
- Assessment Hours:
- Total Learning Hours of this Module: 75
Module 4: Managing Customer Experience (2 ECTS)
Research shows that attracting new customers can be five times more expensive than retaining existing ones. To gain competitive advantage, organisations invest thousands of Euro to research their target markets and discover the needs and wants of their customers. As part of delivering superior value to their customers, many organisations strive to establish long-term profitable relationships with their customer. However, unless their front-line workers are trained to practice customer relationship management, the chances of reaping the competitive benefits remain remote.
- Provide ongoing training to build up experience, knowledge, and skill.
- Recognize examples of good customer service with motivational praise to enforce positive behaviour and give staff a sense of achievement
- Network with internal stakeholders to manage customer expectations
- Distinguish between a product, a service and an experience
- Use initiative to address customer complaints and take action to prevent future occurrences of such complaints.
- Why is service difficult to define accurately
- Material service vs personal service
- Role of the first line manager in ensuring Customer Service standards are met or exceeded.
- Value adding and non-value adding elements in customer care
- Staff motivation to deliver excellent customer service
- Establish robust procedures and practices for customer service
- Practise problem solving techniques
- Handle complaints
- Define ways of staying assertive whilst calming others’ anger
- Identify the needs of internal and external customers
- Identify one’s internal and external customers
- Define customer needs and why they come to your organisation rather than to the competition
- Manage customers’ expectations to achieve customers delight
- Analyze complaints to improve service delivery
- Use customer service to create differentiation
- Differentiate between justified and unjustified complaints
- Increase one’s awareness of the implications of different cultural, ethnic and social backgrounds
- Recognize examples of good customer service to provide feedback to followers in an organisation
- Analyze problems and access organisational knowledge to find solutions
- Map out one’s stakeholders according to their power and interest in the organisation
- Be assertive but courteous when faced with difficult customers
- Communicate clearly specification of price, product features and after sales service to clients
- Ensure that objectives, strategy and tactics are aligned to translate senior management plans into action
- Actively listen to customer service issues raised by customers, staff, colleagues and senior management and communicate them to the relevant party.
- Transfer knowledge from one part of the organisation to another to provide inputs to problem solving
- Assess how well he meets customer expectations
- Take responsibility for one’s own development to build up knowledge, skill and experience
- Increase the effectiveness of one’s interactions with customers, thus reducing stress and make one’s interactions with customers, thus reducing stress and make one’s
- Be more customer sensitive and follow up after services have been delivered
- Recognize trigger words that would strike a nerve with some people either positively or negatively
- Total Contact Hours: 10
- Supervised Placement & Practice Hours: 2
- Self-Study Hours:
- Assessment Hours:
- Total Learning Hours of this Module: 50
Module 5: Managing Risk at the Workplace (1 ECTS)
All managers have a legal duty to assess the risks to the health and safety of their employees, contractors and visitors. Comprehending the implications of managing the risks that may arise in organisations is a fundamental responsibility of all managers and thus this Unit has been included in this course.
- Identify Risks: Generate a comprehensive list of risks based on those events that might enhance, prevent, degrade, or delay the achievement of the organization or team objectives.
- Assess Risks: Consider the causes and sources of risk, their possible consequences, and the probability of occurrence.
- Evaluate Risk: Determine which risks need to be addressed by prioritizing them based on those that exceed your risk tolerance.
- Identify what event might trigger a risk
- Define when a risk is no longer relevant.
- Mitigate Risks: by using one or more of the following: avoiding the risk, removing the source of risk, changing the likelihood, changing the consequence, sharing the risk with another party, and retaining the risk by choice.
- Monitor and Control Risks: This step should encompass all aspects of the risk management process
- The reasons why it’s vital to identify risks
- The ability to assess the risk
- The measures available to control the risk
- The ability to assess how effective control methods have been over a period of time
- Plan to control organizational risks
- Motivate employees to take responsibility for risk management
- Mitigate risk related to the Data Protection Act
- Mitigate risk related to the provisions of Equality for Men and Women Act
- Practise risk assessment
- Identify the most appropriate means to manage a risk
- Access how well the risk has been managed and what risk it currently poses.
- Use experience from the work place and from this course to expand their risk management practices
- Plan and implement risk management strategies to ensure that all staff work in a healthy, safe environment
- Accurately evaluate relevant laws dealing with Data Protection Act
- Correctly interpret the provisions of Equality for Men and Women Act to mitigate risks of harassment and abuse towards clients and staff members
- Describe the provisions of the Occupational Health and Safety Act
- Total Contact Hours: 5
- Supervised Placement & Practice Hours: 1
- Self-Study Hours:
- Assessment Hours:
- Total Learning Hours of this Module: 25
Entry Requirements
Learners need to satisfy the following criteria:
- Ages 18 +
- Have a MQF Level 3 standard of education or at least 3 years experience in a junior management role
- Be able to communicate in the English Language
- Hold a clean Police Conduct Certificate.