Social Sciences and Economics – Management
Introduction
The training Course “SOCIAL SCIENCES AND ECONOMICS – MANAGEMENT” is structured into five self-contained teaching/thematic units, each lasting two months. The Course offers an integrated approach to developing professional skills and knowledge in the fields of public administration and entrepreneurship, highlighting the importance of emotional intelligence and communication skills for effective organisation and resource management. It also focuses on internal and external communication in organisations and on serving citizens through public services. Finally, it explores modern management in the public sector in depth, highlighting the techniques and strategic approaches needed to improve performance and address challenges. With its coherent and scientific approach, the Course is an essential pillar in training professionals who are able to meet the management demands and challenges of public-sector organisations.
Units
The aim of the Teaching Unit “Emotional Intelligence” is to help the trainees and executives who attend it to acquire the ability to handle another person’s emotions, which lies at the heart of the art of human relationships. In every harmonious relationship in our lives, care is rooted in emotional attunement and the capacity for empathy. This ability – the facility to perceive the emotions of others – is an effective aid across a very wide range of life’s activities, from sales and management in general to social life (social and political action) and family life (relationships between parents, spouses and children). Understanding emotions at these levels helps employees and executives achieve their goals through the success of the goals of their business or organisation.
The aim of the Teaching Unit “Communication and Communication Skills” is to limit or minimise any damage or other impact on the reputation and public image of the business. This objective is achieved by improving the skills of the executives who will be called upon to deal with and manage a potential crisis. Building on the existing knowledge, experience and behaviours of those responsible, this teaching unit helps to improve the following skills:
- Maintaining and promoting the corporate image
- Recognising weak communication signals
- Analysis of the key elements of good communication
- Reviewing the barriers to effective communication and seeking practical solutions
- Describing the effect of our own communicative behaviour in our contacts with other people
- Delivering good or even bad news to employees.
The aim of the Teaching Unit “Internal Communication in Services and Organisations” is to improve the reputation and public image of the business through effective internal communication, with the ultimate aim of achieving its objectives, satisfying its customers and cooperating with other stakeholders. Information can be disseminated within the business through internal circulars, meetings, teleconferences and all modern methods. Building on the existing knowledge, experience and behaviours of those responsible, this teaching unit helps improve their skills so that they can:
- All employees of the company or organisation are kept informed
- Acquire the appropriate skills to understand developments in the business environment
- Resistance to the changes proposed by management has been overcome
- Better understand their roles and make the necessary efforts to achieve the corporate vision
- The corporate image is maintained and promoted
- There is timely and accurate feedback both from management and from all employees
The aim of the Teaching Unit “Citizen Service in Public Services” is to highlight the skills and behaviours sought by modern Administration and Leadership in their efforts to provide better service to citizens. Building on the existing knowledge, experience and behaviours of those responsible, this teaching unit helps to improve the following skills:
- Insight and intuition in serving citizens
- Innovation: new ideas that will improve the current situation in the service
- Communication with citizens and provision of feedback on the problem that concerns them
- Reliability on the part of the Service
- Accessibility of the service: citizens should be welcomed and never treated with disregard
- Feedback to management and to stakeholders in the Sector
- Reliability of the information given to citizens by those in charge of a service
- Briefing those in charge so that they provide accurate information to citizens
- Flexibility on the part of the service, so that citizens are spared inconvenience
- Willingness and readiness to serve, regardless of the citizen’s behaviour
- Accountability on the part of the public servant
- Validity of the instructions and recommendations given to citizens
- Solving the problem and meeting the citizen’s request
- Managing the service’s relations with the citizens who visit it
- Their job performance, etc.
The key focus of the policies pursued, and the main criterion for the choices and changes made in Public Management, is the citizen, who is treated as a ‘customer’ with personal wishes and needs. These needs form the basis of legitimacy for the functioning of the Administration, as they guide its action and shape a ‘bottom-up’ approach to administration–citizen relations, in contrast to the ‘top-down’ approach of the bureaucratic model that has prevailed until now. Building on the existing knowledge, experience and behaviours of those responsible, this teaching unit helps improve the following skills:
- Organisation of work
- Fostering creativity and innovation
- Critical thinking and flexibility
- Acquiring knowledge on how to better manage their staff and their department
- Acquiring leadership skills essential in the 21st century
- Feedback from employees to management and vice versa
- Better decision-making
- Teamwork and collaboration so as to reap the benefits of synergy
- Communication and active listening skills
- Overcoming resistance to change proposed by Management
- Commitment and enthusiasm in serving citizens, etc.
Educational Material