8607-508 Understanding Organisational Culture and Ethics

Introduction

The course 8607-508 Understanding Organisational Culture and Ethics is part of the ILM Level 5 qualification in leadership and management. It’s all about helping you understand how things work in your organisation. Organisational culture and ethics are like the rules that guide how everyone does their work to achieve goals. These rules shape what’s considered good and acceptable in the organisation. They also influence the policies and procedures the organisation follows.

The course covers practices that guide how people, like employees, work together to achieve goals. It also looks at leadership behaviours and styles that fit with the organisation. Ethics, on the other hand, looks at the impact of these practices on individuals, society, and the environment. It makes sure that what the organisation does is positive for its surroundings.

It’s crucial for everyone involved, including stakeholders, to understand the organisation’s culture and ethics. This understanding makes practices more efficient and appropriate.

The course 8607-508 Understanding Organisational Culture and Ethics is designed to improve this awareness. It helps learners understand and develop the ability to create organisational practices that follow ethical standards and cultural norms. It also teaches how these things affect leadership style and the structure of the organisation in a way that works well in their areas of responsibility.

The course is taught in 12 hours of guided learning and adds 3 credit values towards completing the ILM Level 5 qualification in leadership and management.

Unit Aim

The goal of this unit is to help you understand how ethics and culture work in organisations how they affect the way leaders lead and how the organisation is set up. This understanding is important for someone who is already a middle manager or wants to become one. In simple terms, it’s about learning how the values and way of doing things in a company impact the way leaders lead and how the organisation is organised.

Who is this unit suitable for?

Leaders play a crucial role in making sure that the practices and rules in their organisation match the established culture and ethics. This means understanding how the organisation fits into its surroundings, including people and the environment. Leaders need to follow principles and leadership styles that align with ethical values and organisational culture. By doing this, leaders can create a positive working environment that contributes well to the market.

So, the course 8607-508 Understanding Organisational Culture and Ethics is perfect for individuals, especially those in leadership roles. It helps them grasp how organisational culture and ethics influence the way they lead and structure the organisation. The course is specifically designed for middle managers. These are leaders who work on making effective plans and structures for their specific areas of responsibility.

But here’s the cool thing: this course is versatile! The stuff you learn can be used in different parts of the organisation. Executive leaders overseeing the development of organisation practices, procedures, and policies can use this knowledge to make sure everything aligns with the specific values and principles of culture and ethics. Team leaders can use it to build effective teams that achieve goals, and even employees can use the knowledge to improve their professional performance and get ready for leadership roles in the future. So, it’s not just for one type of leader; it’s useful for many roles in the organisation.

What are the learning outcomes of this unit?

After finishing this unit, learners should be able to do the following:

Understand Organisational Ethics and Culture about Own Organisation:

• Gain a clear understanding of the ethics and culture in their own organisation. This involves looking at the values and ways of doing things specific to their workplace.

Analyse Own Organisation’s Policies and Procedures:

• Take a close look at the policies and procedures in their organisation across various activities. The goal is to figure out the essential meanings and features of these policies and procedures and draw conclusions about the ethical considerations or stance of the organisation. It’s important to distinguish between ‘ethics’ and ‘culture’ and understand how they relate.

Understand How Ethics and Culture Influence Leadership Style and Organisation Structure:

• Grasp how the ethics and culture of an organisation affect the way leaders lead and how the organisation is structured. This involves using relevant research and theories to explain these influences.

Utilise Relevant Research and Theory or Models:

• Use appropriate research and theories or models to explain how ethical considerations and culture impact leadership style and organisation structure. This means applying knowledge from studies and established principles.

Understand How to Leverage Ethics and Culture to Improve Organisation Performance:

• Comprehend how to use ethics and culture to enhance the performance of the organisation. This includes evaluating various leadership styles and providing conclusions or recommendations on their effectiveness within the context of the organisation’s culture and ethics.

What are the key learning areas of this unit?

The course 8607-508 Understanding Organisational Culture and Ethics is all about figuring out how the culture and ethics of an organisation influence how leaders lead and how things work in the workplace. Here are the main things you’ll learn:

Organisational Culture and Ethics:

In this part, you’ll learn about the principles of organisational culture and ethics. The course guides you to spot places where you can put these principles into action at your workplace. You’ll also get to know concepts like corporate social responsibility and using resources to reach the organisation’s goals. Plus, you’ll learn about ethical considerations in different areas of work and activities.

Influence of Culture and Ethics on Leadership Style and Organisation Structure:

This section helps you understand how the culture and ethics of an organisation affect how leaders lead and how the organisation is set up. You’ll get to know things like the cultural web and modules about culture and strategy to really get this relationship between culture, ethics, and leadership styles. The course also covers various leadership and management styles and how culture and ethics can shape these techniques. Lastly, you’ll learn about subcultures in management, which help with empowerment, delegation, and leadership.

Leveraging Ethics and Culture to Improve Organisational Structure and Leadership Style:

This part helps you understand how to use what you’ve learned about organisational culture and ethics in real-life situations. You’ll be guided on applying this knowledge to create an effective leadership style and organisational structure in your specific context.

In simpler terms, the course teaches you about the principles of how things work in an organisation—like its culture and ethics—and how these affect the way leaders lead and how the organisation is set up. It gives you practical ways to use this knowledge in your workplace to make things better.

How is the unit evaluated?

Checking how well we’re learning is really important to make sure we meet our goals. In this unit, we have two types of evaluations.

First, there’s a big written test at the end (we call it a summative assessment) to see if we’ve learned everything we were supposed to.

But it’s not just about the big test. Along the way, we also have smaller checks called formative assessments. These happen in different parts, like doing practice exercises that simulate real situations, having someone guide and watch us while we practise, and looking at real-life examples to see how what we’ve learned applies in different situations. So, the evaluation process has different steps to make sure we’re learning and understanding things well.

Additional resources:

• Organisational Culture: https://www.businessballs.com/organisational-culture/
• Business Ethics: https://www.yourdictionary.com/business-ethics
• Corporate Social Responsibility: https://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/corp-social-responsibility.asp
• Influence of Culture on Leadership Style: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/347343260_Leadership_Styles
• Organisational Structure: https://quizlet.com/269246501/6-busn-chapter-6-organization-design-structure-flash-cards/
• Subcultures in Management: https://www.businessballs.com/organisational-culture/
• Empowerment: https://www.mindtools.com/ckx2ng4/empowerment
• Delegation: https://www.mindtools.com/ayxemre/delegation
• Formative Assessment: https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/professional-development/teachers/knowing-subject/d-h/formative-assessment
• Summative Assessment: https://perceptions.uwaterloo.ca/

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