AIPM601 Graduate Certificate in Applied Management
Subject Overviews & Learning Outcomes
- S1 Foundations of Strategic Management
- S2 Contemporary Issues in Public Safety & Emergency Services
- S3 Strategic Planning & Performance Management
- S4 Leadership & Organisational Change
S1 Foundations of Strategic Management
Subject Overview
This subject provides an introduction to management and strategic planning theory, a brief historical survey, and an exploration of contemporary approaches to service delivery and quality management. It develops students’ knowledge and understanding of the public safety and emergency services environment. The subject demands that students examine their own organisation and assess the extent to which management theory and sound practice are used to produce outcomes. By considering issues relating to organisation design, implementation and accountability in service delivery, students develop their appreciation of the need for a whole of organisation effort in ensuring quality in service delivery. The subject also challenges students to consider the role of human resource management in achieving cultural change and organisational effectiveness.
Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of this subject, students will:
- Have in-depth knowledge of management in a public safety and emergency service environment;
- Better act as a manager in public safety and/or emergency service environments;
- Be able to examine comparative frameworks and values on which public safety and emergency service organisations are based;
- Appreciate the aspects of the traditional public service that are subject to change.
- Appreciate public sector trends;
- Operate according to a guiding set of ethics;
- Have a strategic approach to service delivery;
- Know a blend of strategic planning theories;
- Have a contemporary approach to marketing, customer service and total quality management.
- Ensure quality in service delivery;
- Significantly respect quality accountability;
- Appreciate the role of human resource management in achieving the necessary cultural change for survival in the contemporary public sector environment;
- Be suitably prepared to oversee effective change, whether demanded or locally initiated;
- Have a strategic approach to human resource management.
S2 Contemporary Issues in Public Safety & Emergency Services
Subject Overview
This distance subject consists of a comprehensive overview of the key debates about the theory and practice of modern public safety and emergency services. It covers the responsibility and ethical considerations of public safety and emergency services, the relationships between industry organisations and the community, and the legal and social arrangements between government, public safety and emergency services with a particular emphasis on accountability. The subject encourages students to develop their own views on the extent and nature of recent changes to the goals, operating environment, challenges to and demands on these industries.
Using learning contracts and the case study method, this subject allows students to critically investigate a major or strategic contemporary issue in their agency. The intention is to subject the issue to analysis from multiple perspectives in order to get students to appreciate a variety of stakeholders and theoretical views and their consequence for policy development.
Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of this subject, students will be able to:
- Grasp the necessity of aligned and succinct policy, and effective management;
- Visualize issues from a range of perspectives and employ wide considerations;
- Align management mandates and agendas to the setting of suitable implementation plans;
- Identify goals and the extent and nature of change initiatives;
- Consider any legal, political and social arrangements that may underlay public safety management;
- demonstrate awareness of relationships between wider government, and public safety/emergency services;
- Hold a conscience that public safety and emergency services are responsible to the citizens of the state;
- Understand how state ministers and commissioners interact, the underlying pressures on each office, and know how and where to present issues to this audience;
- Appreciate the correlations between service ideals and delivery, and the fragile link between perceptions and performance reality;
- Understand the public perspective on contemporary issues in public safety and emergency service contexts.
S3 Strategic Planning & Performance Management
Subject Overview
This subject provides an opportunity for students to analyse a range of issues in contemporary management that have a significant impact on the future development of the police and public safety profession. The subject stresses the increasing need for public sector managers to adopt enlightened and innovative management practices and, in particular, the need for effective decision making, strategy development and business planning. Subject modules canvass a range of issues that provide students with a better understanding of how public sector reforms impact on public safety and emergency service organisations. Students are exposed to issues such as managing for outcomes, strengthening accountability, performance planning (and measurement), strategic planning, generic decision making and strategic (corporate) problem solving. Students are encouraged to take a systems view of organisations, and to understand the link between strategic planning and performance management.
Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of this subject, students will be able to:
- Refine the managerial response to strategic issues in public safety and emergency services;
- Perform competently as a manager during periods of reform;
- Strengthen accountability arrangements in government;
- Fortify good ethics in public safety/emergency services;
- Resolve strategic issues;
- Demonstrate the ability to oversee performance management;
- Analyse wide public safety scenarios by applying theories from the strategic planning framework;
- Recognize links between strategic planning and performance management;
- Ensure that the organization maintains the capacity to adapt to environmental change;
- Diagnose organizational problems and plan strategically;
- Better identify and solve corporate-level problems within their own organization.
S4 Leadership & Organisational Change
Subject Overview
This subject examines the roles of leaders in contemporary organisations, analysing the skills and attributes of effective leaders. Students are encouraged to reflect on their own leadership styles and capabilities. The subject develops students’ skills in communication, case study analysis, self-awareness and public speaking. There is a focus on future challenges, with students framing their leadership analysis within a discussion of significant issues affecting the industry over the next 10 years. The subject explores how the traditional command and control leadership style on which public safety and emergency services organisations had been based compares with more contemporary styles. This subject encourages students to explore the links between successful organisational change, leadership and sound planning and communication. It considers issues such as workplace culture, ethics, government demands on senior executives in the public sector and leadership of change.
Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of this subject, students will be able to:
- Appropriately recognise, contextualise, interpret and respond to political communiqué and inferences;
- Portray own industry beliefs appropriately, accurately prepare and position representative delegates;
- Deliver on intended corporate outcomes;
- Develop as leaders of change;
- Conceptualise and deliver the concepts of best practice and benchmarking;
- Demonstrate the practical skills required to lead teams, chair meetings and deal with conflict;
- Demonstrate the required skills for conducting interviews with the media.