Personnel Management

If you have a natural ability to relate well to people, add some serious knowledge to that and become an invaluable member of any business - the Personnel Manager. Learn the fundamentals of this highly rewarding position from the comfort of your own home.

Course Code: VBS107
Fee Code: S3
Duration (approx) Duration (approx) 100 hours
Qualification Statement of Attainment
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Personnel Management - the key to the next step up the rung!

This course will:

  • Help you to plan, organise, delegate and manage personnel efficiently
  • Help you go to the next step in your job

This course is ideal for:

  • Business owners
  • Supervisors and foremen
  • Human relations managers
  • Departmental managers
  • Project managers
  • Teachers, students, employees - anyone wishing to climb to a higher position within their organisation.

Although planning, organising and administering may be assigned to other persons, they are an integral part of a leader’s responsibility, and may sometimes fall under the leader’s list of tasks. In either case, the leader is responsible for ensuring these tasks are carried out in a manner consistent with the group’s agreed goals and priorities.

We are here to help you achieve your goals - our one to one tutors will help you through the process.


Lesson Structure

There are 10 lessons in this course:

  1. Human behaviour
    • Individual and group behaviour
    • Perception
    • Gestalt theory of perception
    • Influences on perception: behaviour, appearance, expectations, primary effect, attribution, schemas
    • Perception and reality
    • Selective attention
    • Central traits
    • Attribution
    • Kelley's theory of attribution
    • Changing perceptions
    • Defence mechanisms
    • Psychologically healthy individuals
    • Influences on human behaviour
    • Socialisation
    • Family influence
    • Influence of school
    • Influence of peers
    • Influence of society
  2. Workplace communications
    • Communication defined
    • Variables affecting communication: context, nature and quality of the transmitted message and the received message
    • Effective communication
    • Listening effectively
    • Giving clear instructions
  3. Workplace conditions
    • Unions
    • Duty of care
    • Workplace safety
    • Costs of illness and injury
    • Lifting and manual handling
    • Protective equipment
    • Workplace bullying and violence
    • Workplace design; physical and psychological factors
    • Colour
    • Office landscaping
  4. Controlling Operations
    • Supervising staff: listening, informing, leading
    • Managing a project
    • Applying standards
    • Monitoring performance
    • Regulating progress
    • Giving directives and introducing change
    • Dealing with contingencies
    • Developing contingency plans
    • Problem solving methodology
    • Stock control
    • Quality control
    • Production control
    • Labour utilisation control
    • Financial control
  5. Recruitment and Induction
    • Advertising a position
    • Interviewing
    • Interview guidelines
    • Interview questions
    • Types of questions
  6. Staff training
    • Responsibilities of a trainer
    • Factors affecting learning: Attention, intelligence, self esteem. etc
    • How we learn
    • Memory
    • Assessing training needs
    • Sources of information for a needs assessment
    • Communication skills for trainers
    • Body language
    • Reasons that people do not learn -communication barriers
    • Developing conversation
    • Effective questioning
    • Motivating learners
    • Principles of learning
    • Adult learners
  7. Work teams
    • Conformity -Heiders Balance Theory
    • Different styles of handling conflict
    • Delegation
    • Delegation situations: High Experience/Low Motivation; High Experience/High Motivation etc
    • Conflict handling tequniques
    • Dealing with anger (in yourself and in others)
    • Negotiation
    • Joint problem solving approach
    • Mediation
    • Negotiation problems
  8. Positive Discipline
    • Static and dynamic principle
    • Giving praise
    • Enforcing rules
    • The disciplinary interview
    • Changing behaviour -classic and operant conditioning
    • Reinforcement
    • Punishment
  9. Grievances and Complaints
    • Detecting a problem
    • Guidelines for dealing with grievances
    • Reducing grievances
    • Applying the formal problem solving technique
  10. Monitoring and Reporting
    • Monitoring performance
    • Observation
    • Regular review
    • Scheduled evaluations
    • Report writing
    • Work study
    • Techniques of work study
    • Work measurement

Each lesson culminates in an assignment which is submitted to the school, marked by the school's tutors and returned to you with any relevant suggestions, comments, and if necessary, extra reading.

Aims

  • Explain how perception, learning and prior experience influence human behaviour
  • Identify and practice communication skills that will improve your ability to effectively receive and transmit messages in the workplace
  • Explain factors that contribute to overall workplace conditions and can affect workplace culture
  • Explain basic supervising practices for controlling business or department operations
  • Identify essential processes in the recruitment and induction of employees
  • Describe the key elements of planning and conducting effective staff training
  • Describe how team processes can be used to improve performance and productivity
  • Identify methods to establish and maintain discipline through positive means, such as reinforcement and increasing motivation
  • Describe strategies for reducing dissatisfaction and handling dissatisfaction when it arises
  • Explain the importance of monitoring workplace processes and performance, and how to report your observations

Are You a Good Leader of Staff?

General consensus is that a good leader possesses the following characteristics:

  • Show genuine interest in people.  Leadership is a person-to-person business that requires a positive attitude about people from the leader.
  • Show imagination and enthusiasm. Imagination allows the leader to adapt to situations that are continuously changing.    Enthusiasm is contagious and a leader’s enthusiasm can increase the participants’ own enthusiasm and involvement.
  • Be sensitive.    Problems such as group disillusionment or pessimism, frustration, disagreement, or loss of interest will arise from time to time, and a good leader is quick to read cues or signals of problems before they develop and are more easily dealt with.
  • Maintain integrity.   Integrity is an ephemeral concept that is a combination of honesty, fair dealings, keeping one’s word and matching actions to words. Without integrity, the leader will lose the respect and probably the confidence of the group.
  • Develop respect.    Self-respect projects self-confidence and inner strength and respect for others makes individuals feel more valued. Furthermore, the leader’s respectful attitude provides a model for group interaction that will facilitate group cohesiveness and processes.
  • Be Patient and persistent.   Patience allows a leader to accommodate group members’ different work styles and personality and to inevitable delays and obstacles. Patience and persistence are complementary qualities that keep a leader from being easily discouraged or from losing interest. Patience, in this context, is not mere passive acceptance but a reflection of inner resolve, commitment, faith and self-discipline.
  • Be honest about yourself.    Every leader will occasionally make mistakes, but a good leader will know his or her strengths and weaknesses and know the limitations of his/her abilities. Inaccurate assessment of one’s abilities will cause a leader to act in ways that eventually undermine the group’s confidence in the leader’s abilities and judgements.
  • Develop a decision-making ability.    While not all decisions will be good decisions, indecisiveness or unwillingness to assume responsibility for making decisions will cause a leader to lose valuable time and opportunities, and undermine the group’s confidence and trust.
  • Be pragmatic.     It may sometimes be better to make an acceptable decision and act upon it quickly than to delay in the hope of making the best decision. Indecisiveness on the leader’s part can be seen an needless procrastination, and group members are likely to become frustrated or impatient.
  • Develop administrative and organising abilities.    Although planning, organising and administering may be assigned to other persons, they are an integral part of a leader’s responsibility, and may sometimes fall under the leader’s list of tasks. In either case, the leader is responsible for ensuring these tasks are carried out in a manner consistent with the group’s agreed goals and priorities.

WHAT CAN THIS COURSE DO FOR YOU?

This course will:

  • Help you to plan, organise, delegate and manage personnel efficiently
  • Help you go to the next step in your job

This course is ideal for:

  • Business owners
  • Supervisors and foremen
  • Human relations managers
  • Departmental managers
  • Project managers
  • Teachers, students, employees - anyone wishing to climb to a higher position within their organisation.
Although planning, organising and administering may be assigned to other persons, they are an integral part of a leader’s responsibility, and may sometimes fall under the leader’s list of tasks. In either case, the leader is responsible for ensuring these tasks are carried out in a manner consistent with the group’s agreed goals and priorities.


ACS Global Partner - Affiliated with colleges in seven countries around the world.
ACS Global Partner - Affiliated with colleges in seven countries around the world.
Since 1999 ACS has been a recognised member of IARC (International Approval and Registration Centre). A non-profit quality management organisation servicing education.
Since 1999 ACS has been a recognised member of IARC (International Approval and Registration Centre). A non-profit quality management organisation servicing education.

How can I start this course?

You can enrol at anytime and start the course when you are ready. Enrolments are accepted all year - students can commence study at any time. All study is self paced and ACS does not set assignment deadlines.

Please note that if a student is being assisted by someone else (e.g. an employer or government subsidy), the body offering the assistance may set deadlines. Students in such situations are advised to check with their sponsor prior to enrolling. The nominal duration of a course is approximately how long a course takes to complete. A course with a nominal duration of 100 hours is expected to take roughly 100 hours of study time to complete. However, this will vary from student to student. Short courses (eg. 100 hrs duration) should be completed within 12 months of enrolment. Certificates, Advanced Certificates and Awards (eg. over 500 hours duration) would normally be completed within 3 -5 years of enrolment. Additional fees may apply if a student requires an extended period to complete.
If a student cannot submit their assignments for 6 months to ACS, they should advise the school to avoid cancellation of their student
registration. Recommencement fees may apply.

Simply click on the ENROL OPTIONS button at the top of this screen and follow the prompts.

You can see the course price at the top of this page. Click 'enrolment options' to see any payment options available.

You can pay by Credit Card, PayPal, Afterpay or bank transfer.

Yes! We have payment plans for most courses. Click 'enrolment options' to see the available payment plans.
We also have Afterpay that will allow you to pay for your course or payment plans in four instalments (if you are in Australia).


What do I need to know before I enrol?

There are no entry requirements that you need to meet to enrol in our courses, our courses are for everyone.
If you are under 18, we need written permission from your parent/ guardian for your enrolment to continue, we can arrange that after you have enrolled.

You don’t need to purchase any additional resources to complete our courses.

We aim to teach you the essentials without you having to purchase any specific computer program.
We recommend that you have access to a word processing program, such as Microsoft Word or Google Docs, so that you can easily complete and submit your assignments.

You sure can. We are here to help you learn whatever your abilities.

Yes, if you are enrolling in a Certificate or Advanced Certificate, you might be eligible for credits if you have evidence of your previous studies or relevant experience. More information is here.

We recommend that you are able to browse websites, send emails and conduct online research. You will need to be able to type and submit your assignments.
If you have limited computer skills, we can make special arrangements for you.

This is possible, it depends on the institution. We recommend that if you would like to use our courses that you contact the institution first. Our Course Handbook is a good resource for this.

Our courses are written in English and we only have English speaking academic staff. If you can read and complete your assignments in English, our courses are ideal for you.

Our courses are designed to build knowledge, hands on skills and industry connections to help prepare you to work in the area, running your own business, professional development or as a base for further study.

This course has been designed to cover the fundamentals of the topic. It will take around 100 hours to complete, which includes your course reading, assignment work, research, practical tasks, watching videos and anything else that is contained in the course. Our short courses are a great way to do some professional development or to learn a new skill.

It’s up to you. The study hours listed in the course are a rough guide, however if you were to study a short course (100 hours) at 10 hours per week, you could finish the course in 10 weeks (just an example). Our courses are self-paced, so you can work through the courses in your own time. We recommend that you wait for your tutor to mark and return your assignment before your start your next one, so you get the benefits of their feedback.

The course consists of course notes, videos, set tasks for your practical work, online quizzes, an assignment for each lesson (that you receive feedback from your tutor from) and ends in an exam (which is optional, if would like to receive the formal award at the end), using our custom built Learning Management System - Login.Training.

Our courses are designed for adults to gain professional development and skills to further their careers and start businesses.

Our custom online learning portal allows you to conduct your learning online. There may be practical tasks that you can do offline. You have the option of downloading your course notes or print them to read later.

There is also the option to pay an additional fee for printed course notes and or USB (availability limited to location and deliverability).

Yes, if you don’t have access to the internet, you can receive the course as paper notes or on a USB stick for an additional fee. We can also make alternative arrangements for you to send your assignments to us.

We offer printed notes for an additional fee. Also, you can request your course notes on a USB stick for an additional fee.

Yes, your tutor is here to help you. Simply post any questions you have in your login.training portal or contact the office and we can pass on a message to your tutor.

We are more learning focussed, rather than assessment focussed. You have online quizzes to test your learning, written assignments and can complete an exam at the end of the course (if you want to receive your certificate). You will not receive a pass/ fail on your course work. If you need to add more details on your assignment, we will ask you to resubmit and direct you where you need to focus. If you need help, you can ask your tutor for advice in the student room.

Each module (short course) is completed with one exam.

Exams are optional, however you must sit an exam if you would like to receive a formal award. You will need to find someone who can supervise that you are sitting the exams under exams conditions. There is an additional cost of $60 incl. GST for each exam.
More information is here

There are practical components built into the course that have been designed to be achieved by anyone, anywhere. If you are unable to complete a task for any reason, you can ask your tutor for an alternative.

When you complete the course work and the exam and you will be able receive your course certificate- a Statement of Attainment. Otherwise, you can receive a Letter of Completion.

You can bundle the short courses to create your own customised learning bundle, Certificates or Advanced Certificates. More information is on this page.

Yes, our courses are built to be applicable for people living anywhere in any situation. We provide the fundamentals, and each student can apply their own unique flair for their own interests, region and circumstances with the one-on-one guidance of a tutor. There is also a bit of student directed research involved.

Employers value candidates with industry skills, knowledge, practical skills and formal learning. Our courses arm you with all of these things to help prepare you for a job or start your own business. The longer you study the more you will learn.

ACS has an arrangement with OAMPS (formerly AMP) who can arrange Professional Indemnity from Australian and New Zealand graduates across all disciplines. Ph: 1800 222 012 or email acs@oamps.com.au.


Who are ACS Distance Education?

ACS Distance Education have been educating people for over 40 years.

We are established and safe- we have been in education for over 40 years.
We are focused on developing innovative courses that are relevant to you now and what you will need to know in the future.
We are focused on helping you learn and make the most of your experience.
You can enrol at any time, you can work on your course when it suits you and at your own pace.
We are connected to many industry bodies and our staff participate in continuous improvement and learning activities to ensure that we are ahead of what learning is needed for the future.

Our courses are not accredited by the Australian Government. However many of our courses are recognised and held in high regard by many industry bodies.

Our courses are written by our staff, who all have many years experience and have qualifications in their speciality area. We have lots of academic staff who write and update our courses regularly.


How do I enrol my staff/ sponsored students?

Yes, you can do a request for a bulk enrolment and request an invoice on our Invoice Request Form

We can prepare an invoice, quote or proforma invoice. Simply complete your details on our Invoice Request form

We can arrange bulk discounts for your course enrolment, please get in touch with us to discuss your needs.

Yes, we have many students who are in locked facilities, such as prisons or hospitals. We can cater by also offering paper notes at an additional cost.


What if I have any more questions or need more information?

We can assist you to find the right course for your needs. Get in touch with us via email (admin@acs.edu.au) call on +61 7 5562 1088 or complete our course advice form.


What if I change my mind?

Please get in touch with studentservices@acs.edu.au if you would like to be removed from our mail list.

If you would like ACS Distance Education to delete your information at any time (whether you are a customer or a prospective customer), please contact our privacy officer and we will process this ( admin@acs.edu.au ).




Course Contributors

The following academics were involved in the development and/or updating of this course.

Kate Gibson

Kate has 12 years experience as a marketing advisor and experience as a project manager. Kate has traveled and worked in a variety of locations including London, New Zealand and Australia. Kate has a B.Soc.Sc, Post-Grad. Dip. Org Behaviour (HR).

Tracey Jones (Psychologist)

B.Sc. (Psych), M.Soc.Sc., Dip.Social Work, P.G.Dip Learning Disability, Cert Editing, Cert Creative Writing, PGCE.
Member British Psychological Society, Member Assoc. for Coaching, Member British Learning Assoc.
25 years industry experience in writing, editing, education, psychology, and business. Tracey has several books and hundreds of articles published; in both fiction and non fiction.

John Mason

Writer, Manager, Teacher and Businessman with over 40 years interenational experience covering Education, Publishing, Leisure Management, Education, and Horticulture. He has extensive experience both as a public servant, and as a small business owner.
John is a well respected member of many professional associations, and author of over seventy books and of over two thousand magazine articles.

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