Unit 14: Collaborate with Other Departments

Unit reference number: M/506/1931 QCF level: 3

Credit value: 3

Guided learning hours: 14

Unit type: Competence

Unit summary

An organisation cannot overlook the importance of collaboration and communication between departments. Business innovation and improvement requires collaboration amongst a variety of departments.

In this unit, you will learn how to collaborate with other departments. Work completed by one department with total disregard of the importance of that work to others and to the organisation as a whole is a thing of the past. Collaboration is important, especially as organisations become more widespread and complex. The unit will also equip you with the ability to identify opportunities for collaboration between variety of departments, from research and development to production to marketing to customer service, and the ability to collaborate with departments, all to better the work and achieve the desired outcomes of the organisation.

Learning outcomes and assessment criteria

Unit 14: Collaborate with Other Departments

To pass this unit, the learner needs to demonstrate that they can meet all the learning outcomes for the unit. The assessment criteria outline the requirements the learner is expected to meet to achieve the unit.

Unit amplification: Unit 14: Collaborate with Other Departments

AC1.1: Explain the need for collaborating with other departments

• Collaboration: definition i.e. cooperative arrangement in which two or more parties work jointly towards a common goal; techniques, e.g. brainstorming, affinity sorting/affinity diagrams, ranking
• Need for collaboration: reasons, e.g. cross-disciplinary skills and insight, innovation, builds trust, communication, stakeholder/team buy-in, greater productivity
• The knowledge to meet this AC depends on the learner’s own role and the particular organisational context. Learners need to apply the knowledge specific to their organisation to meet this AC.
• Features: e.g. shared goals, respect for all perspectives, empowerment of individuals, open communication, equal access to information, a collective mind set
• Potential implications of ineffective collaboration: e.g. conflict between individuals and departments, wasted resources, organisation’s competitive ability is weakened, delays, inefficiencies, poor lines of communication
• Knowledge management: i.e. strategies and processes designed to identify, capture, structure, value, leverage, and share an organisation’s intellectual assets to enhance its performance and competitiveness
• Factors to consider: tacit and explicit knowledge to be managed; availability of IT systems to support the process e.g. intranets, databases; organisational culture, e.g. trust and willingness to share knowledge; suitability of engagement approaches; intellectual property; collaborative technologies to manage knowledge, e.g. groupware

AC1.2: Explain the nature of the interaction between their own team and other departments

AC1.3: Explain the features of effective collaboration

AC1.4: Explain the potential implications of ineffective collaboration with other departments

AC1.5: Explain the factors relating to knowledge management that should be considered when collaborating with other departments

Unit 14: Collaborate with Other Departments