Management Skills …are the key to career success

Whether it's a career in retailing, the media, manufacturing, supply chain, the public sector of one of the professions, every young person preparing for the world of work needs management skills in order to manage themselves, their job and those who will report to them as they climb the ladder to success.

Operational skills, budgeting, leadership, and managing people and information are all core competencies which the well equipped manger needs and it is these skills which students can learn from the Institute of Management (IM)

The IM has been established for more than 60 years and has over 86,000 individual and 600 corporate members. If offers a range of courses accommodating all levels of management at all stages of career development - from college students to CEOs of blue-chip companies.

Students make up 34per cent of the total membership. Not all are full time students. In fact many are full time workers, studying in their own time for the IM's Certificate in Management and diploma in Management. The IM also offers a range of short courses and management training programmes to support managers with their continuing professional development.

Courses are available throughout the UK in hundreds of further and higher education establishments and also through in-company training programmes, Students are attracted to study for IM qualifications for a variety of reasons. For example, Vivienne Manning, who recently won an IM award for outstanding achievement on the Certificate programme, opted for the course on the advice of her college tutor. She was unable to continue with a course in personnel management because courses in that discipline clashed with work commitments.

"My tutor suggested that an NVQ Certificate in Management would give a good grounding and that I would get a lot from the course," said Vivienne Manning, who lives in Gloucestershire. "I particularly enjoyed the human resource modules. I funded the course myself and actually managed to get another job as a personnel administrator. I assist the manufacturing director of a packaging company with a staff of 120 employees and am responsible for training and development plans and also deal with a range of resource issues," added Vivienne Manning.

Another recent IM award winner is Gordon Rutherford, a police sergeant with Cumbria Constabulary, based in Carlisle. He says his studies helped him to win promotion last September. "I always think in terms of outcomes and my aim is to achieve an MBA," said Sgt Rutherford. "I took the Diploma in Management courses as it offered a fast-track system. You learn a lot very quickly. It's very intensive. I scored high in my interview for promotion because of studying and researching for the Diploma," he added.

The IM is the leading management organisation in the UK and the largest in Europe. Through its wide ranging management development programmes it enables a broad cross section of people to develop their skills and confidence and increase their personal effectiveness.

It's students also benefits from a unique support package which includes access to the Management Information Centre, the largest management library in Europe; special discounts on books and other services and subscription to Professional Manager, the Institute's own journal.

The IM's mission is to promote the art and science of management. It aims to:

• Encourage and support the lifelong development of mangers
  
  
• Raise the level of competence and qualifications of management
  
  
• Initiate, develop, evaluate and disseminate management thinking, tools, techniques and practices
  
  
• Influence policy-makers and opinion formers on management issues.
  
  

As a membership organisation, the IM id committed to meeting the development needs of managers at every level and in every industry, in order to equip them with the knowledge, resources and access to training they increasingly depends upon to further their career ambitions.

The IM also plays an important role in influencing policy-makers and opinion formers in the UK on management issues, supported by the publication of substantial research reports on a wide range of management issues, including employment trends remuneration, management tools and the work/life balance.