Employee participation stems from the pluralist approach, whereas employee involvement stems from the unitarist approach. The unitarist approach is where the worker and manager both share the same goals. Conflict is temporary and unusual. Communication is vital. The pluralist approach alternatively involves competing groups with different interests. Conflict is frequent, but can be contained by proper rules and regulations. Employee participation is the process where employees are involved in decision making processes, rather than just simply acting on their manager’s orders. Employee involvement on the other hand is about management trying to encourage employees to be committed to the organisation and its values. Employee involvement is a range of processes that are designed to engage the support, understanding and most efficient contribution of all employees in an organisation. Employee participation is a process of employee involvement that is supposed to provide employees with the opportunity to influence and take part in decision making matters.
http://ivythesis.typepad.com/term_paper_topics/2009/07/theory.html
http://www.thetimes100.co.uk/theory/theory.php?tID=310
Ways in which organisations can involve employees in decision making:
The ways in which organisations can involve employees in decision making, are by making them work in teams, and attend team meetings. Good communication between the manager and staff will be needed. One on one communication between a manager and an employee will also be useful. At Waitrose, staff are constantly being encouraged to use their initiative and not always look to their manager for guidance. Three examples that will help employees in decision making are brain storming suggestion boxes, financial participation and group talks.
At Waitrose, I know for a fact that they use the social networking site www.facebook.com. On this website, they publish social events and events such as the AGM (Annual General Meeting) in which employees learn about the profits that have been made during the year and they receive other facts and figures and compare them with other Waitrose’s across the country, and then Waitrose’s that are local to them. As well as this, Chrismas balls and parties, and summer balls and parties are advertised on facebook exclusively for Waitrose employees only. In order for employees to be sent messages to about these events, they must join the Waitrose group. I am currently a member of Waitrose, Worcester Park and it is the social secretary who sends out all of these messages. It is a huge advantage for companies to use these social networking sites, as it allows them to advertise both internally and externally. Internally, (like Waitrose) they are able to send out messages to certain employees notifying them of special and social events. Externally, they are able to use social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter to advertise to potential customers and even potential employees as many organisations now are using social networking sites to help them recruit.
Wednesday, 5 May 2010
Tuesday, 4 May 2010
Reward
A reward is something of value (payment) given in return for an act or service. Below are the rewards that Waitrose offer its employees.
· Annual bonus. Every year, a proportion of the business’s profits is distributed to Partners as a percentage of their previous year’s earnings. In my first year the bonus was 20% and having only worked there for 2 months I earned nearly £200 pounds as I had done a lot of overtime and had earned nearly £1000 in that time. Imagine what my bonuses would have been if I had continued at that rate for the whole year, or if I was a full time member of staff! Last year however, the bonus was only 12%, meaning I earned considerably less in bonuses.
· Discounts. After three months’ service, all Partners are entitled to a 12% discount on most purchases from John Lewis and Waitrose. In John Lewis this discount rises to 25% after one years’ service.
· Paid holiday. Employees get 22 days of paid holiday a year, rising to 25 days after 3 years of service. There are further long-service increases for most Partners after ten or fifteen years. Management Partners, including graduate trainees, receive five weeks’ holiday from the outset.
· Pension scheme.
· Life assurance.
· Subsidised dining room in most branches.
· Health services.
· Special help in time of need. In urgent cases, partners are offered a grant or a loan.
· Extended leave. Partners who work for 25 years can enjoy a paid sabbatical of up to 6 months.
· Education subsidies. Generous financial support is given to Partners who wish to acquire a new leisure skill or continue their education, e.g. through the Open University or evening classes.
· Health services.
· Ticket subsidies. Ticket subsidies of 50% of the cost of a visit to the theatre, opera or concert hall are available up to a maximum of £60 per year. Partners may also take advantage of corporate membership to bodies such as English Heritage, the Science Museum and the Royal Society of Arts. When I went to Reading Festival 2008, I was able to hand in proof that I went, and I received £60 in cash back.
· Societies.
· Sports Clubs.
· Voluntary benefits and discounted deals. There is a range of benefits available to Partners such as discounted private healthcare and a car purchase scheme, along with a number of one-off deals with hotels, amusement parks etc.
· Holiday and Leisure facilities. The business owns a number of residential clubs which offer subsidised holiday accommodation for Partners with at least three years’ service. These include:
- Ambleside Park in the Lake District.
- Brownsea Castle in Poole Harbour, Dorset.
- The Bala Lake Hotel and Activity Base, Snowdonia National park.
Something which is not mentioned above, is that Waitrose are the proud sponsors of Reading Football Club, partners are able to receive free or discounted tickets to go and see them. Another thing that is not mentioned, is that Waitrose employees that work very hard, often receive boxes of chocolate or wine (or sometimes even beer) to take home with them. This happened to me quite a few times, and when I left Waitrose they gave me a huge box of chocolates as a parting gift (reward) to thank me for my work. Another way Waitrose managers reward their staff which is not mentioned above, is by consistently giving them praise and encouragement. This is very rewarding for any individual and it gives them extra motivation. Another fact which is not mentioned is that partners get paid according to how well they perform (performance related pay), and they receive Annual Reviewals of Pay (ARP’s) to see exactly how well they are performing, and what they can do to improve in order to get their pay grading up. Therefore you are being rewarded for how hard you work. If you work hard, you are going to be rewarded more, whereas if you do not work as hard, you will be rewarded less, as in less pay. The rewards and benefits that Waitrose offer benefit all of its partners and does not discriminate, for example against older workers. Fairness is ensured, by making sure that all benefits and rewards can be used by any employee.
http://www.jlpjobs.com/experiencedHire/experiencedHire/benefits.htm
I do feel that chief executives should still receive large bonuses even if their organisation has underperformed, because not all blame can be attached to the chief executives. They may have worked as hard as anyone and still the company did not do well. This could be for a number of reasons, for example the competition improving. In any case the chief executive has already worked hard in order to get there so he should now reap his rewards. Some people may argue that if organisations underperform, chief executives should not receive large bonuses. They do indeed have a point, as it would mean that the following year they will be more motivated to do everything they can to ensure that the organisation does not underperform again. This however would be unfair if they had in fact tried everything they could to ensure the company performed to its maximum ability. In any case, if a company underperforms, a chief executives profit will take a hit anyway, so he would want to ensure that this does not happen again in future. Another thing is that most chief executives care about the companies they work for and not just the money. This is why I believe that chief executives should still continue to receive large bonuses regardless of whether or not the company underperforms.
Ways in which a teacher could be rewarded financially, are by giving them yearly increases in salary if their school performs well. They could be offered trips to take with their family, where all expenses are paid for. They could also be offered discounts on things like gym memberships and health services. Vouchers could also be given to them in order to buy accessories such as books and pens.
Non-financial ways in which a teacher could be rewarded, are promotions, extra time off and also praise. This could be something like being voted teacher of the month. Rewards teachers themselves may feel is if the students thank them sincerely, as teachers will feel like they have really done something to help someone else.
http://usliberals.about.com/od/education/a/ObamaEdPlan_4.htm
http://www.oecd.org/document/20/0,3343,en_2649_39263231_44111636_1_1_1_37455,00.html
http://www.oecd.org/document/3/0,3343,en_2649_34487_44198083_1_1_1_1,00.html
· Annual bonus. Every year, a proportion of the business’s profits is distributed to Partners as a percentage of their previous year’s earnings. In my first year the bonus was 20% and having only worked there for 2 months I earned nearly £200 pounds as I had done a lot of overtime and had earned nearly £1000 in that time. Imagine what my bonuses would have been if I had continued at that rate for the whole year, or if I was a full time member of staff! Last year however, the bonus was only 12%, meaning I earned considerably less in bonuses.
· Discounts. After three months’ service, all Partners are entitled to a 12% discount on most purchases from John Lewis and Waitrose. In John Lewis this discount rises to 25% after one years’ service.
· Paid holiday. Employees get 22 days of paid holiday a year, rising to 25 days after 3 years of service. There are further long-service increases for most Partners after ten or fifteen years. Management Partners, including graduate trainees, receive five weeks’ holiday from the outset.
· Pension scheme.
· Life assurance.
· Subsidised dining room in most branches.
· Health services.
· Special help in time of need. In urgent cases, partners are offered a grant or a loan.
· Extended leave. Partners who work for 25 years can enjoy a paid sabbatical of up to 6 months.
· Education subsidies. Generous financial support is given to Partners who wish to acquire a new leisure skill or continue their education, e.g. through the Open University or evening classes.
· Health services.
· Ticket subsidies. Ticket subsidies of 50% of the cost of a visit to the theatre, opera or concert hall are available up to a maximum of £60 per year. Partners may also take advantage of corporate membership to bodies such as English Heritage, the Science Museum and the Royal Society of Arts. When I went to Reading Festival 2008, I was able to hand in proof that I went, and I received £60 in cash back.
· Societies.
· Sports Clubs.
· Voluntary benefits and discounted deals. There is a range of benefits available to Partners such as discounted private healthcare and a car purchase scheme, along with a number of one-off deals with hotels, amusement parks etc.
· Holiday and Leisure facilities. The business owns a number of residential clubs which offer subsidised holiday accommodation for Partners with at least three years’ service. These include:
- Ambleside Park in the Lake District.
- Brownsea Castle in Poole Harbour, Dorset.
- The Bala Lake Hotel and Activity Base, Snowdonia National park.
Something which is not mentioned above, is that Waitrose are the proud sponsors of Reading Football Club, partners are able to receive free or discounted tickets to go and see them. Another thing that is not mentioned, is that Waitrose employees that work very hard, often receive boxes of chocolate or wine (or sometimes even beer) to take home with them. This happened to me quite a few times, and when I left Waitrose they gave me a huge box of chocolates as a parting gift (reward) to thank me for my work. Another way Waitrose managers reward their staff which is not mentioned above, is by consistently giving them praise and encouragement. This is very rewarding for any individual and it gives them extra motivation. Another fact which is not mentioned is that partners get paid according to how well they perform (performance related pay), and they receive Annual Reviewals of Pay (ARP’s) to see exactly how well they are performing, and what they can do to improve in order to get their pay grading up. Therefore you are being rewarded for how hard you work. If you work hard, you are going to be rewarded more, whereas if you do not work as hard, you will be rewarded less, as in less pay. The rewards and benefits that Waitrose offer benefit all of its partners and does not discriminate, for example against older workers. Fairness is ensured, by making sure that all benefits and rewards can be used by any employee.
http://www.jlpjobs.com/experiencedHire/experiencedHire/benefits.htm
I do feel that chief executives should still receive large bonuses even if their organisation has underperformed, because not all blame can be attached to the chief executives. They may have worked as hard as anyone and still the company did not do well. This could be for a number of reasons, for example the competition improving. In any case the chief executive has already worked hard in order to get there so he should now reap his rewards. Some people may argue that if organisations underperform, chief executives should not receive large bonuses. They do indeed have a point, as it would mean that the following year they will be more motivated to do everything they can to ensure that the organisation does not underperform again. This however would be unfair if they had in fact tried everything they could to ensure the company performed to its maximum ability. In any case, if a company underperforms, a chief executives profit will take a hit anyway, so he would want to ensure that this does not happen again in future. Another thing is that most chief executives care about the companies they work for and not just the money. This is why I believe that chief executives should still continue to receive large bonuses regardless of whether or not the company underperforms.
Ways in which a teacher could be rewarded financially, are by giving them yearly increases in salary if their school performs well. They could be offered trips to take with their family, where all expenses are paid for. They could also be offered discounts on things like gym memberships and health services. Vouchers could also be given to them in order to buy accessories such as books and pens.
Non-financial ways in which a teacher could be rewarded, are promotions, extra time off and also praise. This could be something like being voted teacher of the month. Rewards teachers themselves may feel is if the students thank them sincerely, as teachers will feel like they have really done something to help someone else.
http://usliberals.about.com/od/education/a/ObamaEdPlan_4.htm
http://www.oecd.org/document/20/0,3343,en_2649_39263231_44111636_1_1_1_37455,00.html
http://www.oecd.org/document/3/0,3343,en_2649_34487_44198083_1_1_1_1,00.html
Training and Development
Within any business, it is important that the staff are trained to their job properly. They will normally also be given an induction on the first day of their new job. There are two main types of training that a business will consider. These are on-the-job training, and off-the-job training. There are many advantages and disadvantages a business has to consider when deciding to train their employees on-the-job or off-the-job.
Advantages of on-the-job training:
1. Training an employee in their own working environment, with equipment they are familiar with and people they know can help they gain direct experience to a standard approved by the employer.
2. Employee may find that they have more confidence to use the equipment if they are supervised and guided as they feel they are doing the job right.
3. Employee may feel more at ease being taught or supervised by people they know rather than complete strangers.
4. Managers or supervisors can assess improvement and progress over a period of time and this makes it easier to identify a problem intervene and resolve problems quickly.
5. This type of training is also productive, as the employee is still working as they are learning.
6. As training progresses and the employee begins to feel more confident, this confidence would allow them to work at a higher standard and ultimately be more productive.
7. Training "on-the-job" would also prove an opportunity to get to know staff they might not normally talk to.
8. Mentoring or training on-the-job can work our very cost effective.
Disadvantages of on-the-job training:
1. Teaching or mentoring is a specialisation in itself, unless the person mentoring or training has the skills and knowledge to train, this would mean that the training would not be done to a sufficient standard.
2. The person teaching or mentoring may not be given the time to spend with the employee to teach them properly, which would mean substandard training has been achieved and learning has only been half done.
3. The trainers may posses many bad habits and pass these on to the employee being trained.
4. If the trainer has been given limited time to train the employee, this would mean that the skill or knowledge has not been fully understood.
5. If a trainer has been brought into the company externally they might not be familiar with the equipment fully or layout and this would waste time.
Advantages of off-the-job training:
1. If the course has been designed by staff member it can be delivered to fit in with the employee's regime and workload, so it does not affect productivity.
2. Can work out extremely cost effective as no hotel fees, trainer fees or extra equipment are incurred, all is provided in-house and in works time.
3. Depending on the course, employees are ample to meet other employees perhaps from other branches or departments they would not have normally met.
4. As employees are familiar with the trainer and the environment they are being taught in, this would help them to feel more relaxed.
5. The person developing the course would be able to gauge the level of ability and content for the course to be taught.
6. The course would be more relevant and adaptable to the needs of the company.
Disadvantages of off-the-job training:
1. Extra Audio or Visual aids to aid learning (whiteboard, Overhead projector, projector, video etc) might not be available and so this would mean courses might be basic or substandard.
2. As a member of staff may be delivering the course rather than an experienced trainer, the employees might not take the course seriously and this might hamper learning.
3. Employee rivalry and banter may mean that employees bypass the course and undervalue its content as they think they know better or have better ways of doing it.
4. Depending on the teaching skills of the employee training the members of staff, they might not be able to gauge the existing abilities; knowledge, skill or need for training, and so employees attending the course might already know what is being taught already.
5. If the need for training has not accurately been gauged this would result in the work space being wasted where it could have been utilised more productively.
6. If resources are limited, equipment available may be different than that used by the employees and this would be counter productive.
7. Employees may feel devalued if they are sent on an internal training course to improve skills rather than learn new ones and so courses have to be selected and promoted to the employees very carefully and sensitively.
For new graduate employees, the training will definitely take place on-the-job. On Monday the graduates will come in and be given an induction. Every day, graduates will be given a 30 minute break every 4 hours. They will come in and be shown around the place and shown where everything is (toilets, training room, dining room etc). This should last all morning. In the afternoon they will go through all of the health and safety procedures, shown all fire exits and be taught what to do in the event of a fire. On Tuesday when they come in, they will have a surprise test on everything they learned the previous day. They will not be given their results till the end of the week. This is to ensure that any graduate who did not perform well will not instantly become demotivated, before they have even got a feel of the place. I would give them the rest of the day off after this test. On Wednesday, when they come in, I will make each graduate go and “shadow” an employee. The graduate will follow the employee around all day doing everything that he/she does including having lunch and breaks at the same time as him/her. The employee will show them what must be done and how do it.
The graduates will work and be trained at the same time (on-the-job training). The same thing will happen again on Thursday, except with a different employee. In the afternoon however, graduates will be asked to go and take a training CD on customer service. They will each go and undertake this at different times of the afternoon. At the end of the day, they will be told that on Friday they will be tested on everything they had learned during the course of the week. On Friday, they will come in the morning and take the test. They will then be told their results from Tuesday’s test, and the graduates who did not do so well will be asked to retake it. The ones that did well will be given the rest of the day off. In order to evaluate my training programme, I will look at the results of the graduates Friday test results, and if most did well then that will show that my induction programme is effective. If however the results from the graduates are poor, then the induction programme will need to be improved for future graduates.
Advantages of on-the-job training:
1. Training an employee in their own working environment, with equipment they are familiar with and people they know can help they gain direct experience to a standard approved by the employer.
2. Employee may find that they have more confidence to use the equipment if they are supervised and guided as they feel they are doing the job right.
3. Employee may feel more at ease being taught or supervised by people they know rather than complete strangers.
4. Managers or supervisors can assess improvement and progress over a period of time and this makes it easier to identify a problem intervene and resolve problems quickly.
5. This type of training is also productive, as the employee is still working as they are learning.
6. As training progresses and the employee begins to feel more confident, this confidence would allow them to work at a higher standard and ultimately be more productive.
7. Training "on-the-job" would also prove an opportunity to get to know staff they might not normally talk to.
8. Mentoring or training on-the-job can work our very cost effective.
Disadvantages of on-the-job training:
1. Teaching or mentoring is a specialisation in itself, unless the person mentoring or training has the skills and knowledge to train, this would mean that the training would not be done to a sufficient standard.
2. The person teaching or mentoring may not be given the time to spend with the employee to teach them properly, which would mean substandard training has been achieved and learning has only been half done.
3. The trainers may posses many bad habits and pass these on to the employee being trained.
4. If the trainer has been given limited time to train the employee, this would mean that the skill or knowledge has not been fully understood.
5. If a trainer has been brought into the company externally they might not be familiar with the equipment fully or layout and this would waste time.
Advantages of off-the-job training:
1. If the course has been designed by staff member it can be delivered to fit in with the employee's regime and workload, so it does not affect productivity.
2. Can work out extremely cost effective as no hotel fees, trainer fees or extra equipment are incurred, all is provided in-house and in works time.
3. Depending on the course, employees are ample to meet other employees perhaps from other branches or departments they would not have normally met.
4. As employees are familiar with the trainer and the environment they are being taught in, this would help them to feel more relaxed.
5. The person developing the course would be able to gauge the level of ability and content for the course to be taught.
6. The course would be more relevant and adaptable to the needs of the company.
Disadvantages of off-the-job training:
1. Extra Audio or Visual aids to aid learning (whiteboard, Overhead projector, projector, video etc) might not be available and so this would mean courses might be basic or substandard.
2. As a member of staff may be delivering the course rather than an experienced trainer, the employees might not take the course seriously and this might hamper learning.
3. Employee rivalry and banter may mean that employees bypass the course and undervalue its content as they think they know better or have better ways of doing it.
4. Depending on the teaching skills of the employee training the members of staff, they might not be able to gauge the existing abilities; knowledge, skill or need for training, and so employees attending the course might already know what is being taught already.
5. If the need for training has not accurately been gauged this would result in the work space being wasted where it could have been utilised more productively.
6. If resources are limited, equipment available may be different than that used by the employees and this would be counter productive.
7. Employees may feel devalued if they are sent on an internal training course to improve skills rather than learn new ones and so courses have to be selected and promoted to the employees very carefully and sensitively.
For new graduate employees, the training will definitely take place on-the-job. On Monday the graduates will come in and be given an induction. Every day, graduates will be given a 30 minute break every 4 hours. They will come in and be shown around the place and shown where everything is (toilets, training room, dining room etc). This should last all morning. In the afternoon they will go through all of the health and safety procedures, shown all fire exits and be taught what to do in the event of a fire. On Tuesday when they come in, they will have a surprise test on everything they learned the previous day. They will not be given their results till the end of the week. This is to ensure that any graduate who did not perform well will not instantly become demotivated, before they have even got a feel of the place. I would give them the rest of the day off after this test. On Wednesday, when they come in, I will make each graduate go and “shadow” an employee. The graduate will follow the employee around all day doing everything that he/she does including having lunch and breaks at the same time as him/her. The employee will show them what must be done and how do it.
The graduates will work and be trained at the same time (on-the-job training). The same thing will happen again on Thursday, except with a different employee. In the afternoon however, graduates will be asked to go and take a training CD on customer service. They will each go and undertake this at different times of the afternoon. At the end of the day, they will be told that on Friday they will be tested on everything they had learned during the course of the week. On Friday, they will come in the morning and take the test. They will then be told their results from Tuesday’s test, and the graduates who did not do so well will be asked to retake it. The ones that did well will be given the rest of the day off. In order to evaluate my training programme, I will look at the results of the graduates Friday test results, and if most did well then that will show that my induction programme is effective. If however the results from the graduates are poor, then the induction programme will need to be improved for future graduates.
Performance Management
Managing people’s performance, helps with personal development, communication and sets clear expectations of what needs to be done, so is therefore relevant to employers and staff. Performance management is useful for managers, as it improves an employee’s productivity, but also their general training. Performance management is also useful to an employee, as it recognises an employee’s achievements and sets them further goals in order to further improve their performance and to better their careers.
Appraisals record an assessment of an employee’s performance, and show what they need to do to develop. It is an opportunity to look back on what has been achieved during the time the employee has been working there (either since they started, or since their last appraisal), and to agree aims for the next period until the next appraisal. During my time at Waitrose, I had one appraisal. They let me know about it a week beforehand and told me to prepare. I was told to prepare for questions such as “How do you think you have performed during your time at Waitrose” and how I would answer them. I did not actually bother with spending much time on these appraisal questions as I figured I would just “wing” them. In hindsight I wish I had, but the appraisal went well, I learned how I was doing as an employee, and whether I was fulfilling my job roles. This was where I found out about my 100% record in customer service tests, and I was set goals for the future.
I found that after this appraisal, I was more motivated to become better and to perform my tasks more efficiently. I see the appraisal as being very effective and I wish I had had more. I think it would be better for Waitrose to have them more than just once a year. In the appraisal I also found out how highly my section manager considered me to be. I was even more motivated when I was surprised by how highly he regarded me in the section. The aims I had been set at the start of the year were shown to me, and I had to answer truthfully whether or not I felt I had achieved these aims, and if I had not, what I could do to improve them. The appraisal helped me to become more motivated at a time when I was becoming bored with work and doing the same stuff week in week out. My manager challenged me to see how much better I could perform and this motivated me even further. Overall, I feel that the appraisal was extremely motivational and also highly influential as it taught me a few things I did not know before.
Mentors serve as a teacher or councellor. They are trusted guides and advisors. Mentors usually help with improving people’s ability to solve problems, and ensuring that they interact better with other people to cope with any challenges they may have. Mentoring can ultimately help with ALL aspects of life. To be an effective mentor, I believe that you need to be patient, influential and experienced. You need to be trustworthy, mature and wise in order to give good advice, and keep things confidential about other people. General characteristics rather than specific sector experience are the most important thing to look for in a mentor. To be a mentor you must also be extremely good at listening to other people. This is where patience comes in. If you are impatient with people, you will not really be giving them the best advice and more importantly they will not want to come back to you for advice again. Gaining insights about yourself through mentoring can be more important than concentrating on improving your business performance. In order for mentoring to work, the person being mentored must have the right approach and attitude. They must be willing to listen to and learn from their mentor’s advice. A good mentor will be able to help somebody improve themselves firstly before the person they are mentoring can go on to improve anything else. To be a mentor does not require much intelligence or brainwork. You do not need to be a rocket scientist to be a mentor and give advice. A mentor just needs to know what they are talking about (experience) but also be trustworthy and patient with their clients.
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/entrepreneur/article3778514.ece
A person that has been a mentor to me in my life, was my A level psychology teacher back in high school. I always used to say that he was not very good at teaching psychology but he was great at teaching life! I was able to go to him whenever I wanted to, if I had any troubles, or if I just wanted to sit quietly and be alone he would lend me his room. This of course was never the case; because I have already mentioned that I am a very sociable person but wait I am getting sidetracked! My psychology teacher would always give not only me but everybody in my class a lot of help and guidance. He helped me a lot when I was writing my personal statement, and he helped me produce a good gym routine as I use the gym frequently. If I had any troubles, I would go to him and he would try to help me solve them. He was an excellent mentor, as he was patient and always willing to offer the best counsel he could. Even though he was only meant to be my psychology teacher he was so much more, simply due to the fact of him being a mentor type figure to me. As well as helping me with my personal statement and gym routine, he even offered me such advice as not to work too hard because I should also be having fun as well. He would say “go to university and get your degree because I know you can but don’t forget to party hard!” He was continuously giving me encouragement and whenever he thought I was feeling down, he would always pat me on the back and try to make me smile. My psychology teacher affected my life greatly. Without him I can guarantee that I wouldn’t be the person I am today. I had him as a teacher for 3 years and that was enough for him to influence my life majorly. I have always wanted to be an accountant, ever since a young age when I considered my uncle a role model. I had already planned to go to uni and do a degree in accounting and finance for as long as I remember. However after just those 3 years, I started to seriously consider doing psychology as a degree instead. In the end I only chose accounting and finance, because that was what I have wanted to do my whole life. Due to his advice on not concentrating so hard on work, was what helped to make me such a sociable person. In a physical sense, it was his gym routine (which I still follow) that helped me get into the physical condition that I am in now which again is much better than it was 3 years ago. Overall, I can say that even if he didn’t intend or mean to, he as certainly been one of the biggest influences in my life so far.
Appraisals record an assessment of an employee’s performance, and show what they need to do to develop. It is an opportunity to look back on what has been achieved during the time the employee has been working there (either since they started, or since their last appraisal), and to agree aims for the next period until the next appraisal. During my time at Waitrose, I had one appraisal. They let me know about it a week beforehand and told me to prepare. I was told to prepare for questions such as “How do you think you have performed during your time at Waitrose” and how I would answer them. I did not actually bother with spending much time on these appraisal questions as I figured I would just “wing” them. In hindsight I wish I had, but the appraisal went well, I learned how I was doing as an employee, and whether I was fulfilling my job roles. This was where I found out about my 100% record in customer service tests, and I was set goals for the future.
I found that after this appraisal, I was more motivated to become better and to perform my tasks more efficiently. I see the appraisal as being very effective and I wish I had had more. I think it would be better for Waitrose to have them more than just once a year. In the appraisal I also found out how highly my section manager considered me to be. I was even more motivated when I was surprised by how highly he regarded me in the section. The aims I had been set at the start of the year were shown to me, and I had to answer truthfully whether or not I felt I had achieved these aims, and if I had not, what I could do to improve them. The appraisal helped me to become more motivated at a time when I was becoming bored with work and doing the same stuff week in week out. My manager challenged me to see how much better I could perform and this motivated me even further. Overall, I feel that the appraisal was extremely motivational and also highly influential as it taught me a few things I did not know before.
Mentors serve as a teacher or councellor. They are trusted guides and advisors. Mentors usually help with improving people’s ability to solve problems, and ensuring that they interact better with other people to cope with any challenges they may have. Mentoring can ultimately help with ALL aspects of life. To be an effective mentor, I believe that you need to be patient, influential and experienced. You need to be trustworthy, mature and wise in order to give good advice, and keep things confidential about other people. General characteristics rather than specific sector experience are the most important thing to look for in a mentor. To be a mentor you must also be extremely good at listening to other people. This is where patience comes in. If you are impatient with people, you will not really be giving them the best advice and more importantly they will not want to come back to you for advice again. Gaining insights about yourself through mentoring can be more important than concentrating on improving your business performance. In order for mentoring to work, the person being mentored must have the right approach and attitude. They must be willing to listen to and learn from their mentor’s advice. A good mentor will be able to help somebody improve themselves firstly before the person they are mentoring can go on to improve anything else. To be a mentor does not require much intelligence or brainwork. You do not need to be a rocket scientist to be a mentor and give advice. A mentor just needs to know what they are talking about (experience) but also be trustworthy and patient with their clients.
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/entrepreneur/article3778514.ece
A person that has been a mentor to me in my life, was my A level psychology teacher back in high school. I always used to say that he was not very good at teaching psychology but he was great at teaching life! I was able to go to him whenever I wanted to, if I had any troubles, or if I just wanted to sit quietly and be alone he would lend me his room. This of course was never the case; because I have already mentioned that I am a very sociable person but wait I am getting sidetracked! My psychology teacher would always give not only me but everybody in my class a lot of help and guidance. He helped me a lot when I was writing my personal statement, and he helped me produce a good gym routine as I use the gym frequently. If I had any troubles, I would go to him and he would try to help me solve them. He was an excellent mentor, as he was patient and always willing to offer the best counsel he could. Even though he was only meant to be my psychology teacher he was so much more, simply due to the fact of him being a mentor type figure to me. As well as helping me with my personal statement and gym routine, he even offered me such advice as not to work too hard because I should also be having fun as well. He would say “go to university and get your degree because I know you can but don’t forget to party hard!” He was continuously giving me encouragement and whenever he thought I was feeling down, he would always pat me on the back and try to make me smile. My psychology teacher affected my life greatly. Without him I can guarantee that I wouldn’t be the person I am today. I had him as a teacher for 3 years and that was enough for him to influence my life majorly. I have always wanted to be an accountant, ever since a young age when I considered my uncle a role model. I had already planned to go to uni and do a degree in accounting and finance for as long as I remember. However after just those 3 years, I started to seriously consider doing psychology as a degree instead. In the end I only chose accounting and finance, because that was what I have wanted to do my whole life. Due to his advice on not concentrating so hard on work, was what helped to make me such a sociable person. In a physical sense, it was his gym routine (which I still follow) that helped me get into the physical condition that I am in now which again is much better than it was 3 years ago. Overall, I can say that even if he didn’t intend or mean to, he as certainly been one of the biggest influences in my life so far.
Equal Opportunities
Equality is the quality of being the same in quantity or measure or value or status. The Sex Discrimination Act (1975) and The Race Relations Act (1976) are a couple of acts that have helped to establish equality in the workplace. Diversity is the quality of being different. Diversity is variety. Multiculturalism is the acceptance or promotion of multiple ethnic cultures, for practical reasons and/or for the sake of diversity. Examples of diversity factors are race, culture, ethnicity, age and gender. The difference between equality and diversity is that equality is where everything is the same (or at least treated the same), whereas diversity is where there is a variety.
What Margaret is saying about women only being appointed to senior positions on the basis of merit without using positive discrimination, would be useful in order for equality to be sustained. It would mean that men cannot claim that women are worse than them or that women are only there to “make up the numbers”. It would also help with women’s confidence, as they would then feel that they really are equal to men, and can do the same jobs just as well. Using positive discrimination is just emphasizing the belief that women need to be supported, whereas men do not. On the other hand, positive discrimination does help how companies are perceived. If a company has an equal number of male and female workers working for them, they are going to look good and attract more potential employees. Using positive discrimination will also help to raise women’s confidence, as it gives women more opportunities to show that they can do the job just as well as men can. Furthermore, positive discrimination helps women with things that men don’t actually understand, like maternity situations. It gives women the extra help that they require. Overall however, I believe that positive discrimination should not be used in order to help women. Women should be given the opportunity to show that they can perform certain tasks just as well as men can and they should not be given help or have it handed to them on a plate.
The new age legislation which properly came about in 2006 will have the impact of forcing employers to employ more younger or older workers even if it is against their will. For example, if an older person was to apply for a job that involves heavy lifting, the employer would not be allowed to discriminate, even though it may mean that this older worker does not perform as well as the younger workers in that company. The Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006 covers all employees and workers of any age, protecting them from age discrimination including partners of firms, contract workers and anyone in vocational training. The default retirement age is 65, making compulsory retirement below 65 unlawful. Employers will need to avoid making stereotypical judgements about people’s capabilities according to their age. Employers may not agree with it but they will still have to comply. The wording of a recruitment advert is certainly something employers will need to consider, as they will not be allowed to use words such as “energetic”, which may imply that they are looking for a young person, or “mature” which implies they are looking for someone older.
Age discrimination is absolutely everywhere. It is perceived that old people are too weak and fragile to do certain jobs, and that young people are too reckless or poorly behaved to do others. These are common stereotypes. Young people are sometimes considered as “inexperienced” whereas older people can be considered as “past it”. Employees have the right to request working beyond 65, and employers must give serious consideration to these requests, however they do not have to agree with them. Ways in which organisations can attempt to change these typical stereotypes, are by giving employees of all ages exactly the same tasks, and then comparing the results amongst the employees. Just because a person is older does not mean they cannot perform better. Take Ryan Giggs the Manchester United footballer for example, he is still playing at the highest level and performing much better than some of his younger teammates in games even though there are people who say he should have retired by now and have criticised him for not. He has proved that just because he is older does not mean he can perform the tasks that are required of him. Another thing organisations can do is to create teams with both young and old people in. This will ensure that they work together and this will enable them to recognise and utilise each other’s skills. These should help to stop the typical stereotypes that are still going round and help to provide a much more equal working environment.
The way in which Sainsbury’s maintains equal opportunities, is by following a policy which is based on a commitment to:
· Provide workplaces where all staff feel valued, respected and able to contribute to the business.
· Employ a workforce that recognises the diversity of current and potential customers.
Through these pledges Sainsbury's aim that all staff can work without fear of discrimination, harrassment and bullying and that all colleagues, job applicants, customers and suppliers should be treated fairly, regardless of the following:
· race, colour, nationality, ethnic origins or community background
· gender, gender realignment, sexual orientation, marital or family status
· religious or political beliefs and affiliations
· disability
· real or suspected infection with HIV/Aids
· membership or non-membership of a trade union
· differing working patterns such as part time
· age
http://www.bized.co.uk/compfact/sainsbury/sains15.htm
All of these equal opportunity aspects are seriously considered when Sainsbury’s recruit and retain its employees.
It is the same at Waitrose. Waitrose has a completely diverse range of employees. Age, gender and race are all taken into account on the application form, however none are discriminated against. People with disabilities are able to work there. When I was injured in a football match, and did not have the ability to lift heavy objects, I was still able to work, as they put me on the checkouts. I have noticed that most Waitrose employees are young people (mainly students of some sort) and most are also part time employees for this reason. However there are older workers there who work full time, and of course there are managers who are both young, old, male and female, from different races and cultures. Waitrose does not care about whether somebody has a disability, of status, however if you have sibling who previously worked for them, you are more likely to be able to work there, especially if that sibling was a very good employee.
John Lewis and Waitrose recruit staff on an equal opportunities basis, and do not require you to state on your CV any of the following:
Age, Sex, Marital, Status, Ethnicity, Medical History. This allows the organisation to recruit staff with the most skills and experience to meet the demands of the role without any discrimination.
http://www.jobsvacancies.org/john-lewis-and-waitrose-job-vacancies.html
At B&Q, The company strongly believes that a diverse workforce creates a mix of talents that makes the company such a success. More than 1,200 B&Q staff speak over 60 different languages, with many being multilingual. From products and working practices to store layouts and training, B&Q continue to promote equality of opportunity in everything they do, so there are no barriers for anybody who wants to be part of the B&Q team. http://www.mccarthyrecruitment.com/retail-employers/featured/b-q
What Margaret is saying about women only being appointed to senior positions on the basis of merit without using positive discrimination, would be useful in order for equality to be sustained. It would mean that men cannot claim that women are worse than them or that women are only there to “make up the numbers”. It would also help with women’s confidence, as they would then feel that they really are equal to men, and can do the same jobs just as well. Using positive discrimination is just emphasizing the belief that women need to be supported, whereas men do not. On the other hand, positive discrimination does help how companies are perceived. If a company has an equal number of male and female workers working for them, they are going to look good and attract more potential employees. Using positive discrimination will also help to raise women’s confidence, as it gives women more opportunities to show that they can do the job just as well as men can. Furthermore, positive discrimination helps women with things that men don’t actually understand, like maternity situations. It gives women the extra help that they require. Overall however, I believe that positive discrimination should not be used in order to help women. Women should be given the opportunity to show that they can perform certain tasks just as well as men can and they should not be given help or have it handed to them on a plate.
The new age legislation which properly came about in 2006 will have the impact of forcing employers to employ more younger or older workers even if it is against their will. For example, if an older person was to apply for a job that involves heavy lifting, the employer would not be allowed to discriminate, even though it may mean that this older worker does not perform as well as the younger workers in that company. The Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006 covers all employees and workers of any age, protecting them from age discrimination including partners of firms, contract workers and anyone in vocational training. The default retirement age is 65, making compulsory retirement below 65 unlawful. Employers will need to avoid making stereotypical judgements about people’s capabilities according to their age. Employers may not agree with it but they will still have to comply. The wording of a recruitment advert is certainly something employers will need to consider, as they will not be allowed to use words such as “energetic”, which may imply that they are looking for a young person, or “mature” which implies they are looking for someone older.
Age discrimination is absolutely everywhere. It is perceived that old people are too weak and fragile to do certain jobs, and that young people are too reckless or poorly behaved to do others. These are common stereotypes. Young people are sometimes considered as “inexperienced” whereas older people can be considered as “past it”. Employees have the right to request working beyond 65, and employers must give serious consideration to these requests, however they do not have to agree with them. Ways in which organisations can attempt to change these typical stereotypes, are by giving employees of all ages exactly the same tasks, and then comparing the results amongst the employees. Just because a person is older does not mean they cannot perform better. Take Ryan Giggs the Manchester United footballer for example, he is still playing at the highest level and performing much better than some of his younger teammates in games even though there are people who say he should have retired by now and have criticised him for not. He has proved that just because he is older does not mean he can perform the tasks that are required of him. Another thing organisations can do is to create teams with both young and old people in. This will ensure that they work together and this will enable them to recognise and utilise each other’s skills. These should help to stop the typical stereotypes that are still going round and help to provide a much more equal working environment.
The way in which Sainsbury’s maintains equal opportunities, is by following a policy which is based on a commitment to:
· Provide workplaces where all staff feel valued, respected and able to contribute to the business.
· Employ a workforce that recognises the diversity of current and potential customers.
Through these pledges Sainsbury's aim that all staff can work without fear of discrimination, harrassment and bullying and that all colleagues, job applicants, customers and suppliers should be treated fairly, regardless of the following:
· race, colour, nationality, ethnic origins or community background
· gender, gender realignment, sexual orientation, marital or family status
· religious or political beliefs and affiliations
· disability
· real or suspected infection with HIV/Aids
· membership or non-membership of a trade union
· differing working patterns such as part time
· age
http://www.bized.co.uk/compfact/sainsbury/sains15.htm
All of these equal opportunity aspects are seriously considered when Sainsbury’s recruit and retain its employees.
It is the same at Waitrose. Waitrose has a completely diverse range of employees. Age, gender and race are all taken into account on the application form, however none are discriminated against. People with disabilities are able to work there. When I was injured in a football match, and did not have the ability to lift heavy objects, I was still able to work, as they put me on the checkouts. I have noticed that most Waitrose employees are young people (mainly students of some sort) and most are also part time employees for this reason. However there are older workers there who work full time, and of course there are managers who are both young, old, male and female, from different races and cultures. Waitrose does not care about whether somebody has a disability, of status, however if you have sibling who previously worked for them, you are more likely to be able to work there, especially if that sibling was a very good employee.
John Lewis and Waitrose recruit staff on an equal opportunities basis, and do not require you to state on your CV any of the following:
Age, Sex, Marital, Status, Ethnicity, Medical History. This allows the organisation to recruit staff with the most skills and experience to meet the demands of the role without any discrimination.
http://www.jobsvacancies.org/john-lewis-and-waitrose-job-vacancies.html
At B&Q, The company strongly believes that a diverse workforce creates a mix of talents that makes the company such a success. More than 1,200 B&Q staff speak over 60 different languages, with many being multilingual. From products and working practices to store layouts and training, B&Q continue to promote equality of opportunity in everything they do, so there are no barriers for anybody who wants to be part of the B&Q team. http://www.mccarthyrecruitment.com/retail-employers/featured/b-q
Selection
The overall aim of the selection process is to find the best person to fill a specific job role. In order to do this, managers must find out as much information as possible about candidates and then evaluate this information to assess these candidates and choose who would be the best person for the job.
The most popular type of selection process is interviewing. Interviews are used after the recruitment process has been completed. When I got my job at Waitrose, I actually had to go to two interviews. The first was a group interview, where I was selected, and the second was a one to one interview with the person who was going to be my manager. In the second interview, all that happened was he offered me the job in person and then we discussed the hours that I would work. I was called up for an interview, after I submitted my application form to Waitrose. They had obviously decided that I was one of the more suitable candidates for selection from the pool of recruits that they had received. I found the interview effective as it was face to face, and I could show the managers at Waitrose my personality. This is an advantage of interviews, as because they are face to face, it is easier for the interviewer to pick up on the interviewee’s personality and attitude. Another advantage is that the interviewer can take a look at the person’s appearance e.g. whether he/she is presentable or scruffy as they would not want someone scruffy looking working for them. When I went to work at Waitrose every week, I had to be clean shaven and had to take off my earring and make sure that my shirt was tucked in at all times. It was very unhelpful that my trousers were too loose even with a belt! Interviews provide managers with the opportunity to notice how potential employees engage face to face, and how they cope in pressure situations. This last point is also a disadvantage of interviews however, as interviews cause people to become stressed and feel under pressure. This means they will not always be themselves, and the interviewer will not be seeing the “real” candidate, just a stressed out one. Interviews can also be time consuming and expensive.
Shortlisting is another way of selecting candidates. This involves reducing the number of applicants, to a more manageable number. Human Resources will forward all applications received to the chair of the panel for short-listing. A Shortlist Memo and Shortlist Form will also be sent for completion by the panel, giving reasons as to why applicants were not selected for interview. The Human Resources team will contact the shortlisted applicants to inform them of the interview arrangements. An advantage of shortlisting is that it significantly cuts down the number of applicants to a much more manageable number. Another advantage is that it helps Human Resources to review applicant’s skills and knowledge, by checking their CV’s and application forms. The disadvantages of shortlisting are that it may be difficult to ensure that the key things searched for by the HR department, do not overlook any applications which could potentially match the person specification. Employers have to develop long application forms in order to ensure that the candidate includes all appropriate information in sufficient detail for their application to be selected.
Assessment centres are yet another way of selecting candidates. Assessment centres are a process of combining a number of different assessment techniques. They usually take place over 1-5 days and bring together a range of candidates for a job or potential promotion. Assessment centres often test a person’s ability, personality and their writing and verbal skills. The advantages of using assessment centres to select applicants are that they are a valid predictor of job performance and whilst multiple assessors often mean that this process is accurate than others, it means that applicant behaviour can be monitored carefully during the whole testing process. Assessment centres allow a candidate to show a range of different qualities and abilities in a number of situations. This enables a quick decision to be made by assessors. Disadvantages of assessment centres are that it takes a lot of time to make and then conduct the tests. This can be quite expensive and it may not be realistic to expect candidates to commit the time required to them. Assessments are also stressful to many people, meaning that not all candidates will perform to the best of their abilities.
https://fac.dhs.vic.gov.au/home.aspx?TabID=content&type=4&contentID=4265
http://www.pwc.com/uk/en/careers/student/selection-process.jhtml
http://www.humanresources.hrvinet.com/online-screening-and-shortlisting/
http://www.bbk.ac.uk/hr/policies_services/Recruitment/selectionprocess
After questioning my mum, I found out that she believes it would be very advantageous for personality tests to be used in selection processes. She feels that they would help with organisations finding out about the kinds of people they are employing. By finding out whether or not somebody is likely to be a good leader or a good teamworker for example. Personality test will help businesses to understand the personalities of the people they are potentially going to employ. Using them will save organisations time and money, as they will not have to wait to find out whether or not the person they are employing will be good at that specific type of job. This is what my mum believes. I however do not agree with her. I feel that personality tests can hinder the likelihood of a person getting the job. A person like myself for example, who achieved very high scores for sociability might be considered “too talkative to employ” or considered not as good as another more work orientated person. This however does not really give people like myself much of a chance, however as Waitrose have noticed when testing me, I have achieved 100% records in all of my customer service tests. I consider this a massive compliment considering the fact that I work for Waitrose, who specialize in customer service, where quality customer service is one of their main priorities. The fact is, if I had had to take a personality test before being recruited at Waitrose, I may never have got the job, simply because they felt my personality was too focused on being sociable. They may have thought that I would much rather spend the time talking than getting on with my work. This however has proved NOT to be the case! Another thing is, the fact that people can quite easily lie on personality tests in order to make themselves look better. If this is to happen, it makes it even more likely that organisations are likely to recruit the wrong kinds of people to the wants they require.
At Waitrose, I feel that the selection processes are very good. They give everybody an equal chance, and even call people back for two interviews. In the first interview (group interview) they leave the interviewees in a room together to get to know each other and relax. This reduces candidates stress levels and ensures that they will be more themselves in an interview. The interview is conducted by one manager only so as not to intimidate candidates. It is conducted in a relaxed manner and does not last long, ensuring that candidates do not get bored. I remember the first thing I did in my interview there was to play a game of work related bingo! I actually won so was very pleased with myself! After that we were asked a few questions, and filled out some more information about ourselves (similar to the application forms so that was easy) and that was pretty much it. The interviews are effective as they really are not very stressful. I remember feeling very nervous at the start, but as the interview wore on I relaxed a lot, and by the end of it I was actually feeling very happy and confident even though I had no clue yet as to whether or not I would get the job. Soon after, the successful candidates are called up for a second interview.
My second interview was a one on one interview with the person who eventually turned out to be my manager. He basically asked me a couple of questions and when he was pleased with my answers he offered me a job and we discussed the hours that I would work. This interview was even less stressful as it was one on one, and as soon as he got there the first thing my manager did was to offer me a drink, tell me to sit down and ask if I was ok. This helped to relax my nerves hugely and I began to feel very confident and more myself. It is for these reasons that I have no recommendations for Waitrose in how they could improve their selection processes, as I feel they run them perfectly. I consider interviews to be the very best form of selection as nothing beats being face to face with somebody. It is the only way you are able to read attitudes and personality. Again these are the reasons for which I consider Waitrose’s selection processes to be extremely effective.
The most popular type of selection process is interviewing. Interviews are used after the recruitment process has been completed. When I got my job at Waitrose, I actually had to go to two interviews. The first was a group interview, where I was selected, and the second was a one to one interview with the person who was going to be my manager. In the second interview, all that happened was he offered me the job in person and then we discussed the hours that I would work. I was called up for an interview, after I submitted my application form to Waitrose. They had obviously decided that I was one of the more suitable candidates for selection from the pool of recruits that they had received. I found the interview effective as it was face to face, and I could show the managers at Waitrose my personality. This is an advantage of interviews, as because they are face to face, it is easier for the interviewer to pick up on the interviewee’s personality and attitude. Another advantage is that the interviewer can take a look at the person’s appearance e.g. whether he/she is presentable or scruffy as they would not want someone scruffy looking working for them. When I went to work at Waitrose every week, I had to be clean shaven and had to take off my earring and make sure that my shirt was tucked in at all times. It was very unhelpful that my trousers were too loose even with a belt! Interviews provide managers with the opportunity to notice how potential employees engage face to face, and how they cope in pressure situations. This last point is also a disadvantage of interviews however, as interviews cause people to become stressed and feel under pressure. This means they will not always be themselves, and the interviewer will not be seeing the “real” candidate, just a stressed out one. Interviews can also be time consuming and expensive.
Shortlisting is another way of selecting candidates. This involves reducing the number of applicants, to a more manageable number. Human Resources will forward all applications received to the chair of the panel for short-listing. A Shortlist Memo and Shortlist Form will also be sent for completion by the panel, giving reasons as to why applicants were not selected for interview. The Human Resources team will contact the shortlisted applicants to inform them of the interview arrangements. An advantage of shortlisting is that it significantly cuts down the number of applicants to a much more manageable number. Another advantage is that it helps Human Resources to review applicant’s skills and knowledge, by checking their CV’s and application forms. The disadvantages of shortlisting are that it may be difficult to ensure that the key things searched for by the HR department, do not overlook any applications which could potentially match the person specification. Employers have to develop long application forms in order to ensure that the candidate includes all appropriate information in sufficient detail for their application to be selected.
Assessment centres are yet another way of selecting candidates. Assessment centres are a process of combining a number of different assessment techniques. They usually take place over 1-5 days and bring together a range of candidates for a job or potential promotion. Assessment centres often test a person’s ability, personality and their writing and verbal skills. The advantages of using assessment centres to select applicants are that they are a valid predictor of job performance and whilst multiple assessors often mean that this process is accurate than others, it means that applicant behaviour can be monitored carefully during the whole testing process. Assessment centres allow a candidate to show a range of different qualities and abilities in a number of situations. This enables a quick decision to be made by assessors. Disadvantages of assessment centres are that it takes a lot of time to make and then conduct the tests. This can be quite expensive and it may not be realistic to expect candidates to commit the time required to them. Assessments are also stressful to many people, meaning that not all candidates will perform to the best of their abilities.
https://fac.dhs.vic.gov.au/home.aspx?TabID=content&type=4&contentID=4265
http://www.pwc.com/uk/en/careers/student/selection-process.jhtml
http://www.humanresources.hrvinet.com/online-screening-and-shortlisting/
http://www.bbk.ac.uk/hr/policies_services/Recruitment/selectionprocess
After questioning my mum, I found out that she believes it would be very advantageous for personality tests to be used in selection processes. She feels that they would help with organisations finding out about the kinds of people they are employing. By finding out whether or not somebody is likely to be a good leader or a good teamworker for example. Personality test will help businesses to understand the personalities of the people they are potentially going to employ. Using them will save organisations time and money, as they will not have to wait to find out whether or not the person they are employing will be good at that specific type of job. This is what my mum believes. I however do not agree with her. I feel that personality tests can hinder the likelihood of a person getting the job. A person like myself for example, who achieved very high scores for sociability might be considered “too talkative to employ” or considered not as good as another more work orientated person. This however does not really give people like myself much of a chance, however as Waitrose have noticed when testing me, I have achieved 100% records in all of my customer service tests. I consider this a massive compliment considering the fact that I work for Waitrose, who specialize in customer service, where quality customer service is one of their main priorities. The fact is, if I had had to take a personality test before being recruited at Waitrose, I may never have got the job, simply because they felt my personality was too focused on being sociable. They may have thought that I would much rather spend the time talking than getting on with my work. This however has proved NOT to be the case! Another thing is, the fact that people can quite easily lie on personality tests in order to make themselves look better. If this is to happen, it makes it even more likely that organisations are likely to recruit the wrong kinds of people to the wants they require.
At Waitrose, I feel that the selection processes are very good. They give everybody an equal chance, and even call people back for two interviews. In the first interview (group interview) they leave the interviewees in a room together to get to know each other and relax. This reduces candidates stress levels and ensures that they will be more themselves in an interview. The interview is conducted by one manager only so as not to intimidate candidates. It is conducted in a relaxed manner and does not last long, ensuring that candidates do not get bored. I remember the first thing I did in my interview there was to play a game of work related bingo! I actually won so was very pleased with myself! After that we were asked a few questions, and filled out some more information about ourselves (similar to the application forms so that was easy) and that was pretty much it. The interviews are effective as they really are not very stressful. I remember feeling very nervous at the start, but as the interview wore on I relaxed a lot, and by the end of it I was actually feeling very happy and confident even though I had no clue yet as to whether or not I would get the job. Soon after, the successful candidates are called up for a second interview.
My second interview was a one on one interview with the person who eventually turned out to be my manager. He basically asked me a couple of questions and when he was pleased with my answers he offered me a job and we discussed the hours that I would work. This interview was even less stressful as it was one on one, and as soon as he got there the first thing my manager did was to offer me a drink, tell me to sit down and ask if I was ok. This helped to relax my nerves hugely and I began to feel very confident and more myself. It is for these reasons that I have no recommendations for Waitrose in how they could improve their selection processes, as I feel they run them perfectly. I consider interviews to be the very best form of selection as nothing beats being face to face with somebody. It is the only way you are able to read attitudes and personality. Again these are the reasons for which I consider Waitrose’s selection processes to be extremely effective.
Recruitment
The aims of recruitment are to obtain a pool of suitable candidates for vacant job posts. Employers want to be seen to use a fair process, and they need to ensure that all recruitment activities contribute to company goals in order to provide a desirable company image. Recruitment activities must be efficient, and they must be conducted in a cost effective manner. Common places that people usually find out about available jobs are the internet, shop windows, job centres, local newspapers and of course word of mouth.
After looking at the website www.monster.co.uk, I noticed straight way that the layout is very attractive. With a bold purple colour that stands out and a search section right in front of you, the layout is extremely appealing. This website also has good accessibility. On the www.prospects.ac.uk website for example, you have to sign up in order to find out the information you want to. This is not the case with the www.monster.co.uk website. There is also a horrid green colour that pops out at you, with the featured jobs from that site on it. Although the colour is disgusting it still stands out and makes it easy to read. I have noticed that this website is also very easy to use and it is not boring. It is easily comprehensible and is set out well. This is unlike the www.fish4jobs.co.uk website, which looks mundane and the text is not exactly easy on the eyes. The background is boring and the font size is small. It is an unattractive website, especially in comparison with www.monster.co.uk. If you click on one of the links on www.monster.co.uk, it comes up straight away and it is easy to find what you are looking for. Everything is easily accessible and you can even sign up and become a member. This website is layed out in a way that makes it easy for absolutely anybody to use. All the headings are in bold and they stand out even more due to the colouring of the page. All in all, I consider www.monster.co.uk to be a very well made website.
Online recruitment is the use of technology to attract and recruit candidates. The advantages of online recruitment are:
1. Online recruitment is quick. It does not take very long to put a job on your website, and saves time when recruiting possible candidates as they don’t have to come into your store to pick up an application.
2. Online recruitment is very easy (posting a job on you own site is not exactly complex). It also enables possible candidates to look for jobs from the comfort of their house, without having to travel all the way to the shop.
3. Online recruitment is cheaper (if you put a job vacancy on your own website it costs nothing!).
4. It broadens the selection pool. Online recruitment is now a standard part of most people's job hunting no matter what level or age.
5. It gives you a better chance of success. This is because a job advert that you place on you website, is going to be up there 24/7 for as long as you want it to. This means that people who are looking for a job can search at any time and will find it there for as long as you are still recruiting.
The disadvantages of online recruitment are:
1. Online recruitment provides too many candidates. Too many candidates may not sound bad, but it provides the HR department with too many bad candidates that are inappropriate.
2. Online recruitment does not always work. There will always be difficult-to-fill jobs that can only be filled by recruitment consultants, headhunters or in other ways.
3. Online recruitment does not consider specialized jobs. Some jobs require specific skills that an employer might not be able to reach qualified candidates through Internet job posts.
4. There is less face to face contact in online recruitment. The employer may not get a good read on the candidate's personality or attitude without one-on-one interaction.
5. Online recruitment can sometimes cause candidate dissatisfaction. Some candidates prefer more traditional methods of job hunting, such as networking or using employment agencies.
http://www.ehow.com/about_5384653_disadvantages-online-recruitment.html
http://www.cipd.co.uk/subjects/recruitmen/onlnrcruit/onlrec.htm
http://www.whatjobsite.com/Online%20Recruitment:%20Advantages%20and%20disadvantages.htm
Interesting recruitment campaign:
Last year, when I was clothes shopping in London with a friend, we were both randomly approached by two people, and a guy and a girl. The first thing we noticed was that they were both very attractive. They came up to us and asked us how we were, how our day was, and whether we had ever heard of the brand name Abercrombie. Of course we both had and instantly I was interested. They then went on to compliment us telling us that we were very “attractive guys” and asked us if we would ever consider working for Abercrombie. We both said yes straight away and I had to put my details down on a form they carried with them. They then scheduled interviews for us and let us get on with our shopping. I considered this to be a very flattering and effective way of recruiting people. By getting a guy and a girl (that were obviously very attractive) to conduct face to face recruiting, Abercrombie ensured that they would appeal to all audiences. It was effective, because the way their employees approached us was pleasant and friendly. They did not harass us, and it was much better than having to look a recruitment advert in a newspaper for example. By situating themselves in a highly popular shopping environment they were ensuring that there were plenty of potential candidates. By recruiting face to face, Abercrombie were ensuring that they were already using shortlisting as a way of picking out specific candidates to try and recruit. It was also an effective way of recruiting, simply because the way they approached us was interesting, and we wanted to find out more.
The psychological contract:
The psychological contract is the “unspoken” contract between a manager and an employee. It is this contract which is key to the performance of every individual employee. An example would be, if a manager promises to let an employee leave early if that employee finishes the work he is doing, and then the manager goes back on his word the employee will instantly feel resentment even though his manager has not actually done anything wrong. The employee has a set time that he has to work until, so the manager has not broken any rules; however the manager has broken the “psychological contract”. This could result in the employee becoming demotivated and underperforming. The opposite of this is also true. If the psychological contract is positive, then it could result in the employee becoming more motivated to work harder, and he/she will perform better. A few examples of the types of commitments that go into the psychological contract are things like being honest, treating each other respectfully, working hard, providing interesting rather than mundane tasks and flexibility. These obligations are informal and imprecise. It won’t always be possible to avoid breach of the psychological contract but employees are more likely to be forgiving where managers explain what has gone wrong and how they intend to deal with it. By keeping to the psychological contract, managers can help maintain employee commitment and motivation.
http://www.cipd.co.uk/subjects/empreltns/psycntrct/psycontr.htm
After looking at the website www.monster.co.uk, I noticed straight way that the layout is very attractive. With a bold purple colour that stands out and a search section right in front of you, the layout is extremely appealing. This website also has good accessibility. On the www.prospects.ac.uk website for example, you have to sign up in order to find out the information you want to. This is not the case with the www.monster.co.uk website. There is also a horrid green colour that pops out at you, with the featured jobs from that site on it. Although the colour is disgusting it still stands out and makes it easy to read. I have noticed that this website is also very easy to use and it is not boring. It is easily comprehensible and is set out well. This is unlike the www.fish4jobs.co.uk website, which looks mundane and the text is not exactly easy on the eyes. The background is boring and the font size is small. It is an unattractive website, especially in comparison with www.monster.co.uk. If you click on one of the links on www.monster.co.uk, it comes up straight away and it is easy to find what you are looking for. Everything is easily accessible and you can even sign up and become a member. This website is layed out in a way that makes it easy for absolutely anybody to use. All the headings are in bold and they stand out even more due to the colouring of the page. All in all, I consider www.monster.co.uk to be a very well made website.
Online recruitment is the use of technology to attract and recruit candidates. The advantages of online recruitment are:
1. Online recruitment is quick. It does not take very long to put a job on your website, and saves time when recruiting possible candidates as they don’t have to come into your store to pick up an application.
2. Online recruitment is very easy (posting a job on you own site is not exactly complex). It also enables possible candidates to look for jobs from the comfort of their house, without having to travel all the way to the shop.
3. Online recruitment is cheaper (if you put a job vacancy on your own website it costs nothing!).
4. It broadens the selection pool. Online recruitment is now a standard part of most people's job hunting no matter what level or age.
5. It gives you a better chance of success. This is because a job advert that you place on you website, is going to be up there 24/7 for as long as you want it to. This means that people who are looking for a job can search at any time and will find it there for as long as you are still recruiting.
The disadvantages of online recruitment are:
1. Online recruitment provides too many candidates. Too many candidates may not sound bad, but it provides the HR department with too many bad candidates that are inappropriate.
2. Online recruitment does not always work. There will always be difficult-to-fill jobs that can only be filled by recruitment consultants, headhunters or in other ways.
3. Online recruitment does not consider specialized jobs. Some jobs require specific skills that an employer might not be able to reach qualified candidates through Internet job posts.
4. There is less face to face contact in online recruitment. The employer may not get a good read on the candidate's personality or attitude without one-on-one interaction.
5. Online recruitment can sometimes cause candidate dissatisfaction. Some candidates prefer more traditional methods of job hunting, such as networking or using employment agencies.
http://www.ehow.com/about_5384653_disadvantages-online-recruitment.html
http://www.cipd.co.uk/subjects/recruitmen/onlnrcruit/onlrec.htm
http://www.whatjobsite.com/Online%20Recruitment:%20Advantages%20and%20disadvantages.htm
Interesting recruitment campaign:
Last year, when I was clothes shopping in London with a friend, we were both randomly approached by two people, and a guy and a girl. The first thing we noticed was that they were both very attractive. They came up to us and asked us how we were, how our day was, and whether we had ever heard of the brand name Abercrombie. Of course we both had and instantly I was interested. They then went on to compliment us telling us that we were very “attractive guys” and asked us if we would ever consider working for Abercrombie. We both said yes straight away and I had to put my details down on a form they carried with them. They then scheduled interviews for us and let us get on with our shopping. I considered this to be a very flattering and effective way of recruiting people. By getting a guy and a girl (that were obviously very attractive) to conduct face to face recruiting, Abercrombie ensured that they would appeal to all audiences. It was effective, because the way their employees approached us was pleasant and friendly. They did not harass us, and it was much better than having to look a recruitment advert in a newspaper for example. By situating themselves in a highly popular shopping environment they were ensuring that there were plenty of potential candidates. By recruiting face to face, Abercrombie were ensuring that they were already using shortlisting as a way of picking out specific candidates to try and recruit. It was also an effective way of recruiting, simply because the way they approached us was interesting, and we wanted to find out more.
The psychological contract:
The psychological contract is the “unspoken” contract between a manager and an employee. It is this contract which is key to the performance of every individual employee. An example would be, if a manager promises to let an employee leave early if that employee finishes the work he is doing, and then the manager goes back on his word the employee will instantly feel resentment even though his manager has not actually done anything wrong. The employee has a set time that he has to work until, so the manager has not broken any rules; however the manager has broken the “psychological contract”. This could result in the employee becoming demotivated and underperforming. The opposite of this is also true. If the psychological contract is positive, then it could result in the employee becoming more motivated to work harder, and he/she will perform better. A few examples of the types of commitments that go into the psychological contract are things like being honest, treating each other respectfully, working hard, providing interesting rather than mundane tasks and flexibility. These obligations are informal and imprecise. It won’t always be possible to avoid breach of the psychological contract but employees are more likely to be forgiving where managers explain what has gone wrong and how they intend to deal with it. By keeping to the psychological contract, managers can help maintain employee commitment and motivation.
http://www.cipd.co.uk/subjects/empreltns/psycntrct/psycontr.htm
HR Planning
There are many reasons as to why it is crucial for organisations to have HR plans. For example, if an organisation did not have HR plans, it would recruit anybody just off the street. HR planning is used for recruitment, selection and training. By using HR planning, organisations are able to recruit and select employees that are needed for a certain, specific job role. This saves a lot of time in the long run, as if an employee is recruited and cannot perform a specific job role, then the company will have to recruit again, wasting time and proving to be more costly as well. Effective HR planning is essential for improved organisational performance. In order for businesses to remain competitive, they need to continually be improving. In order for this to happen they need to use HR plans, as without them employees will not be kept up to date with training and this will lead to them underperforming and the company falling behind its competitors. In order for businesses to successfully survive and compete with any competitors, it is vital that all staff are well trained, and this is exactly where HR planning comes in. As well as recruitment, selection and training, HR also helps with reducing conflicts. By doing this it ensures that all employees maintain professional attitudes and can work together peacefully, increasing performance and therefore output. By ensuring that all employees have somebody to talk to if they are feeling troubled, this puts staff at ease when at work, and in turn will increase their motivation so that they want to continue to work for the company in future. Managing and reviewing employees’ performance, behaviour and attitudes is another key component of HR planning. By doing this, it managers are able to know when their staff need to be trained or motivated in order to perform better and help to improve the company’s profits. Overall, all of these reasons, show just how important HR planning is to every company, and how without, it is very unlikely a business will be able to perform to the best of its ability.
Person Specification for a University Lecturer:
A person specification describes the ideal person to fill the job, and is a profile of the personal skills and characteristics you will look for in the recruitment and selection process. Using Rodgers seven point plan, I am going to state the skills and qualities a university lecturer will need.
Physical appearance (health, appearance and speech) – A university lecturers’ appearance will just have to be presentable. They do not have to be stunningly attractive but they cannot be scruffy either. They should be healthy enough to walk around and help students, and they must be able to speak comprehensibly.
Attainments (education, qualifications and experience) – A university lecturer will need to have the proper qualifications in order to teach that particular subject. They will not require any previous teaching experience however this would be useful if they had some.
General intelligence (intellectual capacity) – Their general intelligence would have to be high in the subject that they are teaching, however in other subjects it does not matter as much.
Special aptitudes (manual dexterity, mathematical and IT ability) – Concerning special aptitudes, a university lecturer would need to be able to calculate and speak properly, but he/she would not need to be a mathematician. They would not require any particular amount of skills with their hands either.
Interests (intellectual, practical, social, physically active, artistic, constructional) - The interests of a university lecturer when considering recruiting them, are mostly irrelevant. The only way they would be relevant is if they have something to do with the subject that he/she is going to teach. They are always good to know however, for things outside the workplace, where things become more social and less professional.
Disposition (maturity, self reliance, influence over others, compassion and humour) – The disposition of a university lecturer is hugely important. As a teacher, they need to be able to influence others. Having humour would also be very helpful with this, as people will always learn better if they find something funny and are relaxed. A university lecturer would need to show compassion and patience when teaching, especially as there will be less gifted students than others. No student ever has exactly the same ability. A university lecturer would also need to show maturity when helping students usually a lot younger than themselves. He/she would also need to be self reliant, and not depend on other people.
Circumstances (geographical mobility, hours available to work) – The circumstances required for a university lecturer would definitely need to be taken into deep consideration, however for a university lecturer these circumstances may be much more lenient than for say a high school teacher. This is because university lecturers usually work less hours and not all work full time. This enables more flexibility over the hours that they work, and also enables them to travel from further away as they are not doing this on a regular basis every day. One of the teachers on my friend’s course actually had to travel all the way from Italy to England just to teach a 3 hour lecture! He only had to this once a week however, as the only day he worked was Tuesday. This again shows the flexibility over circumstances that a university lecturer has.
http://bzowy.wordpress.com/2009/11/27/alec-rodgers-seven-point-plan-and-munro-frasers-five-fold-grading-system/
http://www.bola.biz/recruitment/rodger.html
http://www3.open.ac.uk/employment/tutors/sub3_6.shtm#jump2
If Waitrose were considering opening a new store in High Wycombe, these are the labour questions they need to would ask:
1. What is the current unemployment rate in High Wycombe?
2. Who would Waitrose’s main competitors be in High Wycombe?
3. Is there a lot of competition in High Wycombe?
4. Would the potential employees in High Wycombe be skilled enough to work for Waitrose?
5. What is the average disposable income in High Wycombe?
6. What is the infrastructure like in High Wycombe (are there easy transport links)?Would it be easy to secure the relevant planning permission from the Government?
Person Specification for a University Lecturer:
A person specification describes the ideal person to fill the job, and is a profile of the personal skills and characteristics you will look for in the recruitment and selection process. Using Rodgers seven point plan, I am going to state the skills and qualities a university lecturer will need.
Physical appearance (health, appearance and speech) – A university lecturers’ appearance will just have to be presentable. They do not have to be stunningly attractive but they cannot be scruffy either. They should be healthy enough to walk around and help students, and they must be able to speak comprehensibly.
Attainments (education, qualifications and experience) – A university lecturer will need to have the proper qualifications in order to teach that particular subject. They will not require any previous teaching experience however this would be useful if they had some.
General intelligence (intellectual capacity) – Their general intelligence would have to be high in the subject that they are teaching, however in other subjects it does not matter as much.
Special aptitudes (manual dexterity, mathematical and IT ability) – Concerning special aptitudes, a university lecturer would need to be able to calculate and speak properly, but he/she would not need to be a mathematician. They would not require any particular amount of skills with their hands either.
Interests (intellectual, practical, social, physically active, artistic, constructional) - The interests of a university lecturer when considering recruiting them, are mostly irrelevant. The only way they would be relevant is if they have something to do with the subject that he/she is going to teach. They are always good to know however, for things outside the workplace, where things become more social and less professional.
Disposition (maturity, self reliance, influence over others, compassion and humour) – The disposition of a university lecturer is hugely important. As a teacher, they need to be able to influence others. Having humour would also be very helpful with this, as people will always learn better if they find something funny and are relaxed. A university lecturer would need to show compassion and patience when teaching, especially as there will be less gifted students than others. No student ever has exactly the same ability. A university lecturer would also need to show maturity when helping students usually a lot younger than themselves. He/she would also need to be self reliant, and not depend on other people.
Circumstances (geographical mobility, hours available to work) – The circumstances required for a university lecturer would definitely need to be taken into deep consideration, however for a university lecturer these circumstances may be much more lenient than for say a high school teacher. This is because university lecturers usually work less hours and not all work full time. This enables more flexibility over the hours that they work, and also enables them to travel from further away as they are not doing this on a regular basis every day. One of the teachers on my friend’s course actually had to travel all the way from Italy to England just to teach a 3 hour lecture! He only had to this once a week however, as the only day he worked was Tuesday. This again shows the flexibility over circumstances that a university lecturer has.
http://bzowy.wordpress.com/2009/11/27/alec-rodgers-seven-point-plan-and-munro-frasers-five-fold-grading-system/
http://www.bola.biz/recruitment/rodger.html
http://www3.open.ac.uk/employment/tutors/sub3_6.shtm#jump2
If Waitrose were considering opening a new store in High Wycombe, these are the labour questions they need to would ask:
1. What is the current unemployment rate in High Wycombe?
2. Who would Waitrose’s main competitors be in High Wycombe?
3. Is there a lot of competition in High Wycombe?
4. Would the potential employees in High Wycombe be skilled enough to work for Waitrose?
5. What is the average disposable income in High Wycombe?
6. What is the infrastructure like in High Wycombe (are there easy transport links)?Would it be easy to secure the relevant planning permission from the Government?
Role of the Line Manager
A line manager is the manager who is directly responsible for an employee. A line manager will contribute directly to the output of products or services. The benefits of a line manager being more involved in HR activities are:
· It will produce better relationships between the line manager and employees.
· It means line managers will be more involved, and enables better communication with employees.
· Enables them to give appraisals to employees in order to help them improve their performance.
· Enables managers to offer further training, coaching and guidance to employees.
· A line manager will have skills that maybe a human resource manager does not.
Drawbacks are:
· A line manager is not a specialist in human resources.
· The relationship between the line manager and the HR manager may deteriorate.
· Line manager may already have too much work to do, so could give less time to HR activities.
· Line manager may not actually care much about HR activities.
· Line manager may focus too much on HR activities and spend less time on other, perhaps more important roles.
In order for a line manager to effectively manage people, he/she will need to have good communication and motivational skills. They will also need to be good at training people and obviously they will need to be organised in order to effectively manage employees. Well-managed front line managers are more likely to go on to lead high performing teams. Furthermore, line managers will need to be good at making decisions as there will be plenty of those for them to make! My line manager at Waitrose was pretty easy going. I felt that I had a pretty good relationship with him, and was able to voice any issues or concerns I had if I had any. He was always good at praising me, whenever I worked hard, and he always made sure that I was properly trained in order to fulfill my job role. Whenever he wanted me to know something, he would communicate it to me himself. The one area I found that he wasn’t very good in was motivating people. As hard as he could try, I noticed that his employees just did not seem to get motivated by what he would say. All in all however, I felt he was a good manager and that the work was always completed on time, with all of his employees saying how much they liked him, that is proof enough to show that he is a fine line manager.
After looking at the job roles of both a line manager and a human resources manager, I feel that my skills are more suited to being a human resource manager. Line managers are more concerned with the allocation of duties and the organisation of work on the department level. HR managers on the other hand are more concerned with broader aspects of procedures that affect the organisation as a whole, or the staff generally. It is for these reasons that I would be more suited to becoming a HR manager. I am not the most organised person, and I am much better with people. I am good at making decisions, so I would be good at recruiting people. Another skill I have, is that I tend to be able to motivate people quite well. This skill would be useful to have when inducting and training employees. HR managers are involved in employee development, and I know I would be good at this, as I consider myself to be a “people’s person”. I would definitely take interest in my staff and ensure that our relationships were very friendly and professional. These are the reasons that I would be a much better HR manager than line manager.
· It will produce better relationships between the line manager and employees.
· It means line managers will be more involved, and enables better communication with employees.
· Enables them to give appraisals to employees in order to help them improve their performance.
· Enables managers to offer further training, coaching and guidance to employees.
· A line manager will have skills that maybe a human resource manager does not.
Drawbacks are:
· A line manager is not a specialist in human resources.
· The relationship between the line manager and the HR manager may deteriorate.
· Line manager may already have too much work to do, so could give less time to HR activities.
· Line manager may not actually care much about HR activities.
· Line manager may focus too much on HR activities and spend less time on other, perhaps more important roles.
In order for a line manager to effectively manage people, he/she will need to have good communication and motivational skills. They will also need to be good at training people and obviously they will need to be organised in order to effectively manage employees. Well-managed front line managers are more likely to go on to lead high performing teams. Furthermore, line managers will need to be good at making decisions as there will be plenty of those for them to make! My line manager at Waitrose was pretty easy going. I felt that I had a pretty good relationship with him, and was able to voice any issues or concerns I had if I had any. He was always good at praising me, whenever I worked hard, and he always made sure that I was properly trained in order to fulfill my job role. Whenever he wanted me to know something, he would communicate it to me himself. The one area I found that he wasn’t very good in was motivating people. As hard as he could try, I noticed that his employees just did not seem to get motivated by what he would say. All in all however, I felt he was a good manager and that the work was always completed on time, with all of his employees saying how much they liked him, that is proof enough to show that he is a fine line manager.
After looking at the job roles of both a line manager and a human resources manager, I feel that my skills are more suited to being a human resource manager. Line managers are more concerned with the allocation of duties and the organisation of work on the department level. HR managers on the other hand are more concerned with broader aspects of procedures that affect the organisation as a whole, or the staff generally. It is for these reasons that I would be more suited to becoming a HR manager. I am not the most organised person, and I am much better with people. I am good at making decisions, so I would be good at recruiting people. Another skill I have, is that I tend to be able to motivate people quite well. This skill would be useful to have when inducting and training employees. HR managers are involved in employee development, and I know I would be good at this, as I consider myself to be a “people’s person”. I would definitely take interest in my staff and ensure that our relationships were very friendly and professional. These are the reasons that I would be a much better HR manager than line manager.
Team Working
Time when I worked well as part of a team:
An example of when I have worked well as part of a team was when I completed my Duke of Edinburgh Bronze Award. We were all carrying big bags full of all our clothes, equipment and food for the 3 day hike. These bags (which had our entire luggage in including our tents) were extremely heavy and were certainly the reason this course was so difficult. On this course, our challenge was for every single member of our team to make it to the target destination in the specified time limit. The first two days went swimmingly, and our team was coping very well. By midday of the third day however, a few of our team members were struggling. As the day wore on, one of my team mates actually collapsed on the ground from extreme exertions. He was the team member currently in charge of the map and was at that moment leading our team. We all had to do this at some point of the course, and I had already completed my leading part on the first day. Whilst a few of my other team mates gave him some water and food, I decided that it would be best for us to lighten his load to enable him to continue. We started to split his equipment between us, so that each member of our team was now carrying something of his.
This significantly decreased the weight of his bag, and then I took hold of the map (as we had gotten lost by this point) and lead us back to the correct path that we needed to follow. As we continued along our path, we decided to take more frequent breaks and check on each other more. However as the day wore on, another of our team members claimed that we he could no longer be able to keep up with the burden of his bag. So again, the rest of us started taking things out of his bag and putting them in our own. In the end, we made it back to camp as a team. We all passed the course, and this was a significant team achievement. If it was not for the rest of us compromising and deciding to offload some of our team members stuff into our own bags, then I highly doubt that all the members of our team would have made it back to camp on time.
Our team showed the norming and performing stages of Bruce Tuckman’s (1965) model of team development (shown clearly below). In these final two stages, the norming stage consists of working together to complete the task, and co-operation where individuals listen to, appreciate and support each other. Our team co-operated when individuals in the team could no longer continue, and co-operation was also needed to stop us from getting lost. The performing stage is where the team is focussed solely on completing the task at hand, and our team certainly were. There was no conflict and disagreements were resolved politely and positively.
In 1965, Bruce Tuckman developed a four stage model of team development. The four stages are:
· Forming
· Storming
· Norming
· Performing
He claimed that a successful team would know which stage they are in, and manages transitions between the different stages cleverly. It is possible for the group to go back a stage at any time however. Bruce Tuckman in 1977 did go on to develop a fifth stage called the adjourning stage.
Forming, involves the introduction of team members. It is the early stage of getting to know each other, and committing yourselves to the completion of the task. People focus on being busy with routines, such as team organisation, who does what, when to meet, etc. Individuals are also gathering information and impressions about each other, and about the scope of the task and how to approach it. This is a comfortable stage to be in, but not much actually gets done. The forming stage is ultimately a transition stage, where a group of individuals come together to form a team. As team members become more confident the team are likely to enter the storming stage. Team members will have different opinions as to how the team should operate and it is likely that conflicts will arise. The better teams will listen to each other and make compromises so that they can continue to work together efficiently in order to gain the best results. Other teams may however begin to fall apart through arguments.
The norming stage is a settling down period. The team begins to work together in order to complete the task. Co-operation and collaboration replace the conflict and mistrust of the previous phase. Individuals listen to each other, appreciate and support each other. This may be as a result of fear of the group breaking up, or (as in my group’s case) the deadline for the work drawing ever nearer.
The final stage is the performing stage. The team is now focussed on completing the set task. Relationships are now more at ease, and the team is able to manage more complex tasks. Disagreements occur but now they are resolved within the team positively. Not all teams reach this stage, but the teams that do are able to focus solely on the task at hand.
I believe that our team reached the performing stage; in Tuckman’s theory however we only got there because we started becoming pushed for time as the deadline drew nearer. For a long time our group seemed to switch in between the storming and norming stages.
The main problems our team faced were that we did not really work together as a team. We all completed individual pieces of work before putting it together at the last minute.
I feel that we should have all met up more as a group and then worked together on all the different parts of the work. That way it would have been much more a team assignment, rather than four individual pieces of work put together messily. Although we received a fair grade, our grade would certainly have been better had we done this.
Perhaps if we had reached the “performing” stage sooner (rather than because we had to in order for the work to be completed and handed in on time) and compromised more, i.e. with meeting times etc our teamwork skills would have considerably improved, enabling us to work together and produce a better piece of work than the one we actually did. My only real issue, is that we did not really work together as a team. If we had understood Tuckman’s theory better we would certainly have been able to utilise our skills and roles differently.
P3, The Social Inclusion Charity, was voted the best company to work for in The Sunday Times Best 100 Companies 2010. 87% of all employees claimed that colleagues go out of their way to help each other. This was a top results, and shows great teamwork within the organisation. A female employee called Catherine Fearon admits that she places a lot of emphasis on making time for her colleagues. She claims “You're giving clients individual support and supervision. It's very important that staff get that too".
Managers talk openly and honestly with staff (89% of employees said this) and care about their job satisfaction (87% of employees said this). They also care about them as individuals (88% of employees said this). A male employee, who goes by the name of Steve Sunderland says the people who helped him the day he walked into the advice centre are now his colleagues, and continue to offer support if he needs it. 84% of employees claim that the senior management team really listens to them, and 88% say they love working for the company. All in all, P3 have shown that they have a phenomenal team spirit, and their teamwork has been a major factor in them becoming the best company to work for in 2010.
Beaverbrooks, The Jewellery Retailer, was voted the 3rd best company to work for in The Sunday Times Best 100 Companies 2010. It was in fact, last years winner, however this year it has dropped just two places. Again, teamwork plays a massive factor in Beaverbrooks continued success. Senior members of staff regularly visit the 66 stores and any employee can contact them by email or phone. There are celebration nights for top performing teams and last year the firm stumped up an average of £100 for each member of staff to have fun at party nights and meals out. Beaverbooks people say they have fun with their colleagues (86% of employees said this) and feel a strong sense of family in their team (80% of employees said this). Managing director Mark Adlestone gets a 90% score for staff having a great deal of faith in him and workers say there are plenty of opportunities to learn and grow, earning the firm a 72% positive result. Both are top scores. As managers are also part of the team alongside employees, it is good that employees have faith in him, and again this shows a good sense of team spirit within the organisation.
Bruce tuckman forming storming norming performing team, (n.d), Tuckman team working, Website: http://www.businessballs.com/tuckmanformingstormingnormingperforming.htm
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/career_and_jobs/best_100_companies/article7030215.ece
Tuckmans Model Theory for Group Development, (n.d), Tuckman team working, Website: http://www.teambuildingsolutions.co.uk/Default.aspx?pagename=Tuckmans-Theory-of-Group-Development
Stages of group development, (n.d), Tuckman team working, Website: http://www.chimaeraconsulting.com/tuckman.htm
Team process, (n.d), Tuckman team working, Website: http://www.teal.org.uk/et/teampro.htm
An example of when I have worked well as part of a team was when I completed my Duke of Edinburgh Bronze Award. We were all carrying big bags full of all our clothes, equipment and food for the 3 day hike. These bags (which had our entire luggage in including our tents) were extremely heavy and were certainly the reason this course was so difficult. On this course, our challenge was for every single member of our team to make it to the target destination in the specified time limit. The first two days went swimmingly, and our team was coping very well. By midday of the third day however, a few of our team members were struggling. As the day wore on, one of my team mates actually collapsed on the ground from extreme exertions. He was the team member currently in charge of the map and was at that moment leading our team. We all had to do this at some point of the course, and I had already completed my leading part on the first day. Whilst a few of my other team mates gave him some water and food, I decided that it would be best for us to lighten his load to enable him to continue. We started to split his equipment between us, so that each member of our team was now carrying something of his.
This significantly decreased the weight of his bag, and then I took hold of the map (as we had gotten lost by this point) and lead us back to the correct path that we needed to follow. As we continued along our path, we decided to take more frequent breaks and check on each other more. However as the day wore on, another of our team members claimed that we he could no longer be able to keep up with the burden of his bag. So again, the rest of us started taking things out of his bag and putting them in our own. In the end, we made it back to camp as a team. We all passed the course, and this was a significant team achievement. If it was not for the rest of us compromising and deciding to offload some of our team members stuff into our own bags, then I highly doubt that all the members of our team would have made it back to camp on time.
Our team showed the norming and performing stages of Bruce Tuckman’s (1965) model of team development (shown clearly below). In these final two stages, the norming stage consists of working together to complete the task, and co-operation where individuals listen to, appreciate and support each other. Our team co-operated when individuals in the team could no longer continue, and co-operation was also needed to stop us from getting lost. The performing stage is where the team is focussed solely on completing the task at hand, and our team certainly were. There was no conflict and disagreements were resolved politely and positively.
In 1965, Bruce Tuckman developed a four stage model of team development. The four stages are:
· Forming
· Storming
· Norming
· Performing
He claimed that a successful team would know which stage they are in, and manages transitions between the different stages cleverly. It is possible for the group to go back a stage at any time however. Bruce Tuckman in 1977 did go on to develop a fifth stage called the adjourning stage.
Forming, involves the introduction of team members. It is the early stage of getting to know each other, and committing yourselves to the completion of the task. People focus on being busy with routines, such as team organisation, who does what, when to meet, etc. Individuals are also gathering information and impressions about each other, and about the scope of the task and how to approach it. This is a comfortable stage to be in, but not much actually gets done. The forming stage is ultimately a transition stage, where a group of individuals come together to form a team. As team members become more confident the team are likely to enter the storming stage. Team members will have different opinions as to how the team should operate and it is likely that conflicts will arise. The better teams will listen to each other and make compromises so that they can continue to work together efficiently in order to gain the best results. Other teams may however begin to fall apart through arguments.
The norming stage is a settling down period. The team begins to work together in order to complete the task. Co-operation and collaboration replace the conflict and mistrust of the previous phase. Individuals listen to each other, appreciate and support each other. This may be as a result of fear of the group breaking up, or (as in my group’s case) the deadline for the work drawing ever nearer.
The final stage is the performing stage. The team is now focussed on completing the set task. Relationships are now more at ease, and the team is able to manage more complex tasks. Disagreements occur but now they are resolved within the team positively. Not all teams reach this stage, but the teams that do are able to focus solely on the task at hand.
I believe that our team reached the performing stage; in Tuckman’s theory however we only got there because we started becoming pushed for time as the deadline drew nearer. For a long time our group seemed to switch in between the storming and norming stages.
The main problems our team faced were that we did not really work together as a team. We all completed individual pieces of work before putting it together at the last minute.
I feel that we should have all met up more as a group and then worked together on all the different parts of the work. That way it would have been much more a team assignment, rather than four individual pieces of work put together messily. Although we received a fair grade, our grade would certainly have been better had we done this.
Perhaps if we had reached the “performing” stage sooner (rather than because we had to in order for the work to be completed and handed in on time) and compromised more, i.e. with meeting times etc our teamwork skills would have considerably improved, enabling us to work together and produce a better piece of work than the one we actually did. My only real issue, is that we did not really work together as a team. If we had understood Tuckman’s theory better we would certainly have been able to utilise our skills and roles differently.
P3, The Social Inclusion Charity, was voted the best company to work for in The Sunday Times Best 100 Companies 2010. 87% of all employees claimed that colleagues go out of their way to help each other. This was a top results, and shows great teamwork within the organisation. A female employee called Catherine Fearon admits that she places a lot of emphasis on making time for her colleagues. She claims “You're giving clients individual support and supervision. It's very important that staff get that too".
Managers talk openly and honestly with staff (89% of employees said this) and care about their job satisfaction (87% of employees said this). They also care about them as individuals (88% of employees said this). A male employee, who goes by the name of Steve Sunderland says the people who helped him the day he walked into the advice centre are now his colleagues, and continue to offer support if he needs it. 84% of employees claim that the senior management team really listens to them, and 88% say they love working for the company. All in all, P3 have shown that they have a phenomenal team spirit, and their teamwork has been a major factor in them becoming the best company to work for in 2010.
Beaverbrooks, The Jewellery Retailer, was voted the 3rd best company to work for in The Sunday Times Best 100 Companies 2010. It was in fact, last years winner, however this year it has dropped just two places. Again, teamwork plays a massive factor in Beaverbrooks continued success. Senior members of staff regularly visit the 66 stores and any employee can contact them by email or phone. There are celebration nights for top performing teams and last year the firm stumped up an average of £100 for each member of staff to have fun at party nights and meals out. Beaverbooks people say they have fun with their colleagues (86% of employees said this) and feel a strong sense of family in their team (80% of employees said this). Managing director Mark Adlestone gets a 90% score for staff having a great deal of faith in him and workers say there are plenty of opportunities to learn and grow, earning the firm a 72% positive result. Both are top scores. As managers are also part of the team alongside employees, it is good that employees have faith in him, and again this shows a good sense of team spirit within the organisation.
Bruce tuckman forming storming norming performing team, (n.d), Tuckman team working, Website: http://www.businessballs.com/tuckmanformingstormingnormingperforming.htm
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/career_and_jobs/best_100_companies/article7030215.ece
Tuckmans Model Theory for Group Development, (n.d), Tuckman team working, Website: http://www.teambuildingsolutions.co.uk/Default.aspx?pagename=Tuckmans-Theory-of-Group-Development
Stages of group development, (n.d), Tuckman team working, Website: http://www.chimaeraconsulting.com/tuckman.htm
Team process, (n.d), Tuckman team working, Website: http://www.teal.org.uk/et/teampro.htm
Organisation and Management Theory
Case Studies:
P&O Ferries appear to follow the human relations school which is centred around people. Joe Keight, the call centre manager for P&O Ferries claims that he felt it was important for the brand to be known for customer service and brilliant call centre experiences, both for consumers and also within the wider company. This shows that he is interested in ensuring customer as well as employee satisfaction. Employee satisfaction is also gained by Herzberg’s theories of job enrichment, job enlargement and job rotation (which comes under the human relations school. “It’s motivated our staff, gained real commitment to the call centre from the board, and shown us how to talk to our customers better” says Keight. “The feedback from the trainers and the staff has been amazing” claims Keight, showing again that employees are enjoying their work. The human relations school sees organisations as social systems. Keight says that P&O Ferries pride themselves on treating customers as people rather than just calls. The Human relations school focuses on the need to pay attention to the needs and interests of workers.
P&O Ferries also relates to the contingency approach which is concerned with the importance of structure as a significant influence on organisational performance. The Top 50 presented the ideal opportunity to prove the worth and value of the contact centre which and Joe Keight joined the company because he wanted to improve its image. The contingency approach considers the success of the company as important and this obviously relates to its image. As well as the external environment and size being issues with P&O Ferries technology is also vital, as improving phone calls to customers is all part of their programme. “We’ve had so many calls from people around the business - it’s really boosted the profile of the contact centre internally” says Joe Keight. By improving technology and the way they answer phone calls, P&O Ferries has helped to improve their image. P&O Ferries are Europe’s biggest ferry company, however “they do not have the best reputation” admits Keight. Within the travel industry however they are behind leading airline companies.
http://www.top50callcentres.co.uk/pando
Specsavers are another company that use the human relations approach. Head of call centre services at Specsavers, Jonathan George states “We linked the success of the Top 50 to department incentives, with the individual who achieved the best scores during the calling period getting the chance to attend the gala celebration”. Using incentives like this is a fantastic way of motivating employees to work harder (Maslow’s hierarchy of needs). George insists that the Top 50 did a tremendous job of reminding staff of the importance of giving great customer service: “The fact that the hard work they have put into improving quality has been recognised externally has been a huge boost for staff and really pushes them to perform even better”. To further motivate staff, Specsavers have introduced a new reward scheme, rewarding a king and queen of service each month. This is to ensure the quality of service is kept high as employees are tested on the way they engage and talk to customers. All of this involves the organisation as being a very social system (human relations approach).
Like P&O Ferries, Specsavers also use the contingency approach. With the size part of the contingency approach George claims that he wants to help Specsavers become the best call centre. “The fact that we weren’t number one has got us thinking what we can do better and how we can boost our performance”. He admits that being in the top 50, has helped improve the company’s image. “The Top 50 has led others in the business to better regard the value of the call centre to the organisation, and I find it much easier to get support for contact centre projects as a result of participation and success. What’s more, the team uses the Top 50 as a way of attracting staff who want to work for one of the best contact centres in the UK”. With the external environment side of the contingency approach, George says that on a personal level it has helped him improve relations with other call centres. “It’s also helped me build better relationships with other centres and share best practice. I’ve been sharing performance levels with fellow managers and discussing with them what we should be doing differently”. This is further evidence of Specsavers using the contingency approach within its organisation. On the technology side of the contingency approach, Specsavers are always trying to improve, with things like new glasses and better eye tests. “Consistency is incredibly important to us. It really is about quality”. All of these aspects, are part of the contingency approach, and shows that Specsavers focus heavily on this approach as well as the human relations school.
http://www.top50callcentres.co.uk/specsavers
After analysing both P&O Ferries and Specsavers, it appears that both businesses use the human relations school, and the contingency approach within their organisations. However where Specsavers seem more task and job centred, P&O Ferries appear to be more people centred. Both companies show signs of all four approaches (The Classical school, (The Human Relations school, the Contingency Approach and the Systems Approach) however it is the contingency approach and the human relations school which really stand out in both of these businesses. Specsavers uses extremely good benefits and incentives to motivate their employees, like king and queen servicer of the month. P&O Ferries on the other hand try to treat employees and customers alike, all with the same politeness and respect. Specsavers aim to become the number 1 call centre in the UK. P&O Ferries aim to improve their customer service so much so that their reputation precedes them and their company becomes synonymous with excellent customer service.
Scientific Management is an analytical approach to managing activities by optimizing efficiency and productivity through measurement and control. Scientific Management is sometimes called “Taylorism” as it is based on the work by Frederick Winslow Taylor (1856-1915) who even wrote a book in 1911 called “The Principles of Scientific Management”. His Scientific Management principles basically break down every job or task into smaller, more manageable and easier segments.
Taylor’s 4 principles of Scientific Management are:
1. Replace rule-of-thumb work methods with methods based on a scientific study of the tasks.
2. Scientifically select, train and develop each worker, rather than leaving them to train themselves.
3. Co-operate with the workers to ensure that the scientifically developed methods are being followed.
4. Divide work almost equally between managers and workers, so that managers apply the scientific management principles to planning the work, and the workers actually complete the tasks.
http://www.netmba.com/mgmt/scientific/
Scientific management improves productivity. Scientific management is essential for any type of business these days. It aims at introducing new and improved methods of production and removal of wastage and inefficiency in undertaking the production activities. As the work is simplified, it significantly reduces the number of disagreements. Close understanding, mutual trust and confidence between the employees and the managers are also given importance in this type of management. This type of management is also beneficial for the workers as they start getting higher salaries than before. Higher salaries will increase employee motivation, and therefore productivity and increased profits. Under scientific management, the work is carried out systematically in accordance with pre-determined plans. Wastage of time is reduced to a minimum and the quality of work is enhanced. Even the recruitment is conducted along scientific lines, ensuring that the correct type of person is chosen for a specific role. Proper working hours followed by rest pauses, adequate lightning, freshening, ensuring proper safety, provision of many other facilities etc. are made certain.
As well as scientific management being very helpful for businesses these days, there are also many disadvantages. Workers are motivated mainly by money. Piece rates (payment by each piece produced) was introduced, and this meant that younger workers were paid more than older ones as they were able to produce more. Although productivity was increased, quality decreased. The workers felt alienated, and they became an add-on to machines. The theory was built around the assumption that man is naturally lazy and motivated by money. The core job dimensions of skill variety, task identity, task significance and feedback were all missing from the picture of scientific management.
The repetitiveness of work was also increased, therefore increasing boredom, which would in turn decrease employee motivation. It is believed that through the use of scientific management Taylor increased productivity on the shop floor by 200 percent. Taylor’s ideas and thoughts were adopted throughout the world including in France, Russia and Japan. In today’s world scientific management has been merged with other ideas and is used by managers in the form of time and motion studies to eradicate wasted motions, incentive schemes based on performance and hiring the best qualified workers for each job.
http://www.learnmanagement2.com/scientificmanagement.htm
P&O Ferries appear to follow the human relations school which is centred around people. Joe Keight, the call centre manager for P&O Ferries claims that he felt it was important for the brand to be known for customer service and brilliant call centre experiences, both for consumers and also within the wider company. This shows that he is interested in ensuring customer as well as employee satisfaction. Employee satisfaction is also gained by Herzberg’s theories of job enrichment, job enlargement and job rotation (which comes under the human relations school. “It’s motivated our staff, gained real commitment to the call centre from the board, and shown us how to talk to our customers better” says Keight. “The feedback from the trainers and the staff has been amazing” claims Keight, showing again that employees are enjoying their work. The human relations school sees organisations as social systems. Keight says that P&O Ferries pride themselves on treating customers as people rather than just calls. The Human relations school focuses on the need to pay attention to the needs and interests of workers.
P&O Ferries also relates to the contingency approach which is concerned with the importance of structure as a significant influence on organisational performance. The Top 50 presented the ideal opportunity to prove the worth and value of the contact centre which and Joe Keight joined the company because he wanted to improve its image. The contingency approach considers the success of the company as important and this obviously relates to its image. As well as the external environment and size being issues with P&O Ferries technology is also vital, as improving phone calls to customers is all part of their programme. “We’ve had so many calls from people around the business - it’s really boosted the profile of the contact centre internally” says Joe Keight. By improving technology and the way they answer phone calls, P&O Ferries has helped to improve their image. P&O Ferries are Europe’s biggest ferry company, however “they do not have the best reputation” admits Keight. Within the travel industry however they are behind leading airline companies.
http://www.top50callcentres.co.uk/pando
Specsavers are another company that use the human relations approach. Head of call centre services at Specsavers, Jonathan George states “We linked the success of the Top 50 to department incentives, with the individual who achieved the best scores during the calling period getting the chance to attend the gala celebration”. Using incentives like this is a fantastic way of motivating employees to work harder (Maslow’s hierarchy of needs). George insists that the Top 50 did a tremendous job of reminding staff of the importance of giving great customer service: “The fact that the hard work they have put into improving quality has been recognised externally has been a huge boost for staff and really pushes them to perform even better”. To further motivate staff, Specsavers have introduced a new reward scheme, rewarding a king and queen of service each month. This is to ensure the quality of service is kept high as employees are tested on the way they engage and talk to customers. All of this involves the organisation as being a very social system (human relations approach).
Like P&O Ferries, Specsavers also use the contingency approach. With the size part of the contingency approach George claims that he wants to help Specsavers become the best call centre. “The fact that we weren’t number one has got us thinking what we can do better and how we can boost our performance”. He admits that being in the top 50, has helped improve the company’s image. “The Top 50 has led others in the business to better regard the value of the call centre to the organisation, and I find it much easier to get support for contact centre projects as a result of participation and success. What’s more, the team uses the Top 50 as a way of attracting staff who want to work for one of the best contact centres in the UK”. With the external environment side of the contingency approach, George says that on a personal level it has helped him improve relations with other call centres. “It’s also helped me build better relationships with other centres and share best practice. I’ve been sharing performance levels with fellow managers and discussing with them what we should be doing differently”. This is further evidence of Specsavers using the contingency approach within its organisation. On the technology side of the contingency approach, Specsavers are always trying to improve, with things like new glasses and better eye tests. “Consistency is incredibly important to us. It really is about quality”. All of these aspects, are part of the contingency approach, and shows that Specsavers focus heavily on this approach as well as the human relations school.
http://www.top50callcentres.co.uk/specsavers
After analysing both P&O Ferries and Specsavers, it appears that both businesses use the human relations school, and the contingency approach within their organisations. However where Specsavers seem more task and job centred, P&O Ferries appear to be more people centred. Both companies show signs of all four approaches (The Classical school, (The Human Relations school, the Contingency Approach and the Systems Approach) however it is the contingency approach and the human relations school which really stand out in both of these businesses. Specsavers uses extremely good benefits and incentives to motivate their employees, like king and queen servicer of the month. P&O Ferries on the other hand try to treat employees and customers alike, all with the same politeness and respect. Specsavers aim to become the number 1 call centre in the UK. P&O Ferries aim to improve their customer service so much so that their reputation precedes them and their company becomes synonymous with excellent customer service.
Scientific Management is an analytical approach to managing activities by optimizing efficiency and productivity through measurement and control. Scientific Management is sometimes called “Taylorism” as it is based on the work by Frederick Winslow Taylor (1856-1915) who even wrote a book in 1911 called “The Principles of Scientific Management”. His Scientific Management principles basically break down every job or task into smaller, more manageable and easier segments.
Taylor’s 4 principles of Scientific Management are:
1. Replace rule-of-thumb work methods with methods based on a scientific study of the tasks.
2. Scientifically select, train and develop each worker, rather than leaving them to train themselves.
3. Co-operate with the workers to ensure that the scientifically developed methods are being followed.
4. Divide work almost equally between managers and workers, so that managers apply the scientific management principles to planning the work, and the workers actually complete the tasks.
http://www.netmba.com/mgmt/scientific/
Scientific management improves productivity. Scientific management is essential for any type of business these days. It aims at introducing new and improved methods of production and removal of wastage and inefficiency in undertaking the production activities. As the work is simplified, it significantly reduces the number of disagreements. Close understanding, mutual trust and confidence between the employees and the managers are also given importance in this type of management. This type of management is also beneficial for the workers as they start getting higher salaries than before. Higher salaries will increase employee motivation, and therefore productivity and increased profits. Under scientific management, the work is carried out systematically in accordance with pre-determined plans. Wastage of time is reduced to a minimum and the quality of work is enhanced. Even the recruitment is conducted along scientific lines, ensuring that the correct type of person is chosen for a specific role. Proper working hours followed by rest pauses, adequate lightning, freshening, ensuring proper safety, provision of many other facilities etc. are made certain.
As well as scientific management being very helpful for businesses these days, there are also many disadvantages. Workers are motivated mainly by money. Piece rates (payment by each piece produced) was introduced, and this meant that younger workers were paid more than older ones as they were able to produce more. Although productivity was increased, quality decreased. The workers felt alienated, and they became an add-on to machines. The theory was built around the assumption that man is naturally lazy and motivated by money. The core job dimensions of skill variety, task identity, task significance and feedback were all missing from the picture of scientific management.
The repetitiveness of work was also increased, therefore increasing boredom, which would in turn decrease employee motivation. It is believed that through the use of scientific management Taylor increased productivity on the shop floor by 200 percent. Taylor’s ideas and thoughts were adopted throughout the world including in France, Russia and Japan. In today’s world scientific management has been merged with other ideas and is used by managers in the form of time and motion studies to eradicate wasted motions, incentive schemes based on performance and hiring the best qualified workers for each job.
http://www.learnmanagement2.com/scientificmanagement.htm
Enterprise Week Report
During Enterprise week, I went to two events. The two events I attended were the “Running a Sport Business – The Sporting Landscape” event and the “5%Idea, 95% Effort event. Both events were held in the Gateway Lecture Theatre with the Running a Sport Business event lasting just over an hour, and the 5%idea,95%effort event lasting about 45 minutes. The Running a Sport Business event was all about the sporting landscape. Jonathan Miller, who is the Marketing Director of a business called 110% and who previously worked for the FA was the speaker. He discussed the types of skills and attitudes people would require to be successful. The 5% Idea, 95% Effort event, was presented by Nico, the creator of the business Letterboxchocs, a business which posts chocolates through the door. He talked about how he started his business, and the help he received along the way. He even met Gordon Brown!
During the events, I sat and listened intently to what both speakers were saying and took a fair amount of notes. I feel that both activities were very beneficial to me, as I learned a lot. During the Running a Sport Business event for example, Jonathan spoke about how each and every one of us would need to stand out somehow, as there would be thousands of people competing for just one position in a business. He opened my eyes a bit more as to what I may need to do, other than just work hard and get good grades. I am considering doing volunteering after his talk, something which I would have laughed at in the past, having the attitude of “why should I work if I don’t get paid, as I would be working for no benefit”. I understand now that it would be to my benefit to maybe go and do something along the lines of volunteering as it would help me to stand out and gain better life experience. Nico helped me to understand where I could go for help if I ever thought about starting up a new business. He said that after he went to the UK Trade and Investment he was able to receive a loan of £120,000 to help get him started. He also made me aware that marketing and PR is much better than advertising as advertising is riskier and more expensive.
Personally I feel that the 5% Idea, 95% Effort event was better as it helped me more. The Running a Sport Business event was very much about general skills about standing out and competing with people of similar calibre’s to you. John stated commonly known facts such as needing to have a positive work ethic and attitude to work hard. Most of this I already know, however with the 5% Idea 95% Effort event Nico helped me understand that it is very possible to become successful in a short space of time if you go to the right places. I did not know about the UK Trade and Investment before him. I always thought that advertising was the best way to promote something, however now I know that it is not. I also learned it is very helpful to research other markets, for example abroad, rather than just our home market. By selling internationally, you spread your risks, but also increase them.
I think that the Running a Sport Business event could have gone better if John had had more time to speak, as you could tell he was rushing towards the end and he even went over his time limit. It should also have been more sport related rather than being so generic, and I know that although John had a good sporting background, he could have emphasised more on that side of things. I felt that both John and Nico were excellent speakers, however Nico had a set duration of an hour and a half to speak, and we ended up leaving nearly an hour early. They were both able to keep my rapt attention for the duration of the events which is a compliment to them both, considering that saying that my attention span is poor would be a major understatement. Overall though, I felt that both presentations were very helpful for me and I am glad that I went to them both. Although I found both events extremely helpful, I feel that neither influenced my career aspirations, as neither of them had much to do with accounting. They did however provide me with extra motivation, as there is solid proof that you are able to get rich from virtually nothing.
During the events, I sat and listened intently to what both speakers were saying and took a fair amount of notes. I feel that both activities were very beneficial to me, as I learned a lot. During the Running a Sport Business event for example, Jonathan spoke about how each and every one of us would need to stand out somehow, as there would be thousands of people competing for just one position in a business. He opened my eyes a bit more as to what I may need to do, other than just work hard and get good grades. I am considering doing volunteering after his talk, something which I would have laughed at in the past, having the attitude of “why should I work if I don’t get paid, as I would be working for no benefit”. I understand now that it would be to my benefit to maybe go and do something along the lines of volunteering as it would help me to stand out and gain better life experience. Nico helped me to understand where I could go for help if I ever thought about starting up a new business. He said that after he went to the UK Trade and Investment he was able to receive a loan of £120,000 to help get him started. He also made me aware that marketing and PR is much better than advertising as advertising is riskier and more expensive.
Personally I feel that the 5% Idea, 95% Effort event was better as it helped me more. The Running a Sport Business event was very much about general skills about standing out and competing with people of similar calibre’s to you. John stated commonly known facts such as needing to have a positive work ethic and attitude to work hard. Most of this I already know, however with the 5% Idea 95% Effort event Nico helped me understand that it is very possible to become successful in a short space of time if you go to the right places. I did not know about the UK Trade and Investment before him. I always thought that advertising was the best way to promote something, however now I know that it is not. I also learned it is very helpful to research other markets, for example abroad, rather than just our home market. By selling internationally, you spread your risks, but also increase them.
I think that the Running a Sport Business event could have gone better if John had had more time to speak, as you could tell he was rushing towards the end and he even went over his time limit. It should also have been more sport related rather than being so generic, and I know that although John had a good sporting background, he could have emphasised more on that side of things. I felt that both John and Nico were excellent speakers, however Nico had a set duration of an hour and a half to speak, and we ended up leaving nearly an hour early. They were both able to keep my rapt attention for the duration of the events which is a compliment to them both, considering that saying that my attention span is poor would be a major understatement. Overall though, I felt that both presentations were very helpful for me and I am glad that I went to them both. Although I found both events extremely helpful, I feel that neither influenced my career aspirations, as neither of them had much to do with accounting. They did however provide me with extra motivation, as there is solid proof that you are able to get rich from virtually nothing.
Personality
Personality is defined as the relatively enduring combination of traits which makes an individual unique and at the same time produces consistencies in his or her thought and behaviour. Personality can be thought of as a set of characteristic behaviours, attitudes and general temperament that remain relatively stable and distinguish one individual from another. Personality is that fundamental “thing” that makes us who we are and makes us different from everybody else.
Personality can be divided into two main approaches. These are the Nomothetic Approach and the Idiographic Approach. The term “nomothetic” comes from the Greek word “nomos” meaning “law”. Psychologists who adopt this approach are mainly concerned with studying what we share with others. That is to say in establishing laws or generalisations. The term “idiographic” comes from the Greek word “idios” meaning “own” or “private”. Psychologists interested in this aspect of experience want to find out what makes each of us unique.
Despite the fact that an important aspect of our uniqueness is our genes (i.e. it comes from biology) the distinction between the nomothetic and the idiographic is often associated with two types of science. These are the natural sciences concerned with discovering laws of nature and the social sciences, concerned with concerned with individual meanings (nurture).
The nomothetic view emphasizes the fact that personal traits have the same psychological meaning in everyone. This view believes that people only differ in the amount of each trait they have. These characteristics are ones that can be identified and measured so this means that they can also be observed and tested. This perspective is especially helpful for managers when they are involved in selecting and training individuals. The nomothetic approaches views environmental and social influences as minimal and personality as mainly inherited characteristics which are resistant to change. It claims that it is possible to measure and guess the ways in which certain personality types would behave given certain circumstances. Being able to predict behaviour is a major aim and outcome of this approach.
The idiographic view on the other hand emphasizes the fact that each and every individual has their own unique structure and that some characteristics and traits are possessed only by one individual. This theory suggests that it is impossible to compare one person with another. This approach also claims that different traits may vary in importance from person to person. It tends to use case studies, bibliographical information, and diaries for information gathering. It insists that managers take into account a “full” understanding of the individual at work. The idiographic perspective regards personality development as a process that is open to change. It claims that people respond to the environment, the people around them and social influences. Social interaction plays a major part in shaping personality. It criticises the nomothetic approach, stating that a person’s personality cannot be revealed simply by superficial questionnaires. (Mullins 2007).
Darwin's theory of evolution led psychologists like William Hamilton, George Williams and many others to the idea of personality evolution. They proposed that like physical organs, your personality is result of natural selection for survival of the fittest. You do as your genes dictate.
They suggest that fear of injury/ death, fear of spiders, fear of heights, shyness, addiction, criminality and sexual orientation are main examples of inheritable behaviours. Steven Pinker (2004) includes religiousness, liberalism and conservativeness in the list. William Paley considers cognitive capabilities, temperaments and cheating behaviours inheritable.
There is however a lot of criticism to this nature approach. There is no single universal behaviour which can be proved evolutionary. Even fear of death, that seems natural to all, cannot be explained by things such as suicides. Research has found that chimpanzees share 95% of our genetic characteristics. However, they don't share even 10% of our behaviours. Even identical twins (with 100% similar genes) behave differently in most circumstances.
It is due to all of these reasons that I feel the nurture approach is the more dominant influence. Although I believe that our personality is influenced by nature and genes, I believe that nurture and social influences have a more dominant role. As an example, both of my parents both have extremely short tempers and are very impatient. Alternatively, I am a very patient person and do not get angry or upset easily. Therefore this trait of my personality cannot be explained by genes. I believe that the reason I am patient is due to having watched them a lot and not liking their impatience, I choose to be more patient so that I am not like them in that way. Another way social influences have impacted my personality, rather than with genes, is that my mum and most of my family in fact are doctors or nurses. Both of my parents wanted me to become a doctor too; however I found that I was more influenced by my friends mother who is an accountant. The odd thing is that that particular friend of mine does not want to be an accountant but a doctor! This shows that it is not genetic influences (the nature approach) that are the main influence on our personality, but it is social influences (the nurture approach).
After taking the “Big Personality Test” I achieved the following results. There are 5 big personality traits. These are Openness, Conscientiousness, Extroversion, Agreeableness and Neuroticism.
For Openness, I scored 2 out of 5. This trait is sometimes known as ‘Openness to experience’. People with scores like mine tend to have a less broad range of interests. They usually stick to what they know rather than being overly enthusiastic about trying new things. Generating lots of imaginative ideas is not your biggest strength. It has been suggested that openness is related to a person’s likelihood to hold unusual beliefs. People with low openness like myself are therefore less likely to believe in things such as conspiracy theories.
For Conscientiousness, I scored 2.9 out of 5. Conscientiousness describes how dependable, organised and hard-working a person is likely to be. This may be the reason why, of all the personality traits, Conscientiousness is the most consistent indicator of job success. People with scores like mine can appear disorganised, but tend to be spontaneous and have a good sense of fun. People with low conscientiousness like myself may be well suited to investigative or artistic careers. Some studies have shown that the more conscientious a person is, the more disciplined they are likely to be about exercise and diet (which I guess does not bode well with me!).
For extroversion, I scored 3.9 out of 5. Extroversion is characterised by positive emotions and the tendency to seek out pleasure-stimulating or risk-taking activities. People with scores like mine are often perceived as gregarious, expressive and energetic. I am someone who enjoys socialising and is quick to form new friendships. Personality studies have shown that scoring highly on Extroversion often translates to a natural capacity for leadership. High Extroversion may also indicate a tendency to earn more than those with lower scores, but the reasons for this are as yet apparently unclear. People with high Extroversion are more likely to lead risky lifestyles and take greater risks in pursuit of rewards. Health studies have shown they are more likely to smoke and less likely to get enough sleep than people who score less highly on this trait. I have to say that I disagree with the smoking part of this theory, as after scoring highly on this trait, I do not smoke (and do not intend to either) and cannot say I have very much trouble sleeping.
For Agreeableness, I scored 4.8 out of 5. Agreeableness measures how sympathetic and considerate a person is likely to be. People with scores like mine are likely to find it very easy to get along with other people. I find that I am sensitive to the feelings of others and that people find it easy to warm to me. As a “peoples person”, I find it very comfortable and easy to work in situations that require teamwork.
Finally, for Neuroticism, I scored medium with a score of 2.4 out of 5. In the context of the Big Five personality traits, the term 'Neuroticism' relates to a person’s response to threatening or stressful situations. People with scores like mine are likely to be comparatively level-headed about perceived threats, but I may find myself worrying when faced with uncertainty or unfamiliar situations. Some scientists have suggested that Neuroticism was beneficial in evolutionary terms. Early man may have found it advantageous to live in a population where certain individuals had a high sensitivity to threats to the group's survival. There is evidence to suggest that Neuroticism, when combined with high scores in personality traits such as Conscientiousness, can result in a powerful work ethic and a will to succeed.
Overall I feel that the “big personality” test is very realistic, and I will most certainly recommend people to take it. In fact I have already told both my mother and my brother just how insightful I consider it to be. I found that the results of this questionnaire, match my personality almost perfectly and I have also gained valuable knowledge on areas I am not so good at which I did not in fact know before, for example openness. I considered myself to be a fairly open person however I understand now, after going through these results, that I was wrong and that I can improve on this trait.
Alongside the “big personality” test, I also took the Mind Frames questionnaire. There are 4 mindframes of thought (the internal mindframes) and 4 mindframes of action (the external mindframes). The 4 mindframes of thought are Logic, Insight, order and Sensitivity. The 4 mindframes of action are Proactivity, Charisma, Control and Sociability. The mindframe that receives the highest score is called the "lead" mindframe, because very often it will be the first mindframe I turn to as I deal with the everyday challenges of work and life. Of the 8 mindframes, my lead mindframe is the sociability mindframe. This mindframe is used by me very often and feels so comfortable, natural and effortless that I may use it more than 80% of the time. I will use it first and most often and I will probably stick with it longer. My second highest mindframe was the charisma mindframe. Apparently I use this mindframe often. This mindframe feels comfortable, and I may use it 60% - 80% of the time. Even if I rely on others more, you’ll have no trouble operating in this mode.
Overall I feel that this questionnaire, although not as realistic as the “big personality” test, is still useful to use. The results I received were the ones I expected to get, showing that this questionnaire is just as realistic as the “big personality” test, however unlike with that questionnaire; in this test I did not learn anything new.
http://wilderdom.com/personality/traits/PersonalityTraitsIdiographicNomothetic.html
http://ezinearticles.com/?Nature-VS-Nurture---Theories-of-Personality-in-21st-Century&id=64862
http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/bb/neuro/neuro06/web1/ttomasic.html
http://genealogy.about.com/cs/geneticgenealogy/a/nature_nurture.htm
http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/mind/surveys/whatamilike/index.shtml
www.initforlife.com/home/tm.asp
Personality can be divided into two main approaches. These are the Nomothetic Approach and the Idiographic Approach. The term “nomothetic” comes from the Greek word “nomos” meaning “law”. Psychologists who adopt this approach are mainly concerned with studying what we share with others. That is to say in establishing laws or generalisations. The term “idiographic” comes from the Greek word “idios” meaning “own” or “private”. Psychologists interested in this aspect of experience want to find out what makes each of us unique.
Despite the fact that an important aspect of our uniqueness is our genes (i.e. it comes from biology) the distinction between the nomothetic and the idiographic is often associated with two types of science. These are the natural sciences concerned with discovering laws of nature and the social sciences, concerned with concerned with individual meanings (nurture).
The nomothetic view emphasizes the fact that personal traits have the same psychological meaning in everyone. This view believes that people only differ in the amount of each trait they have. These characteristics are ones that can be identified and measured so this means that they can also be observed and tested. This perspective is especially helpful for managers when they are involved in selecting and training individuals. The nomothetic approaches views environmental and social influences as minimal and personality as mainly inherited characteristics which are resistant to change. It claims that it is possible to measure and guess the ways in which certain personality types would behave given certain circumstances. Being able to predict behaviour is a major aim and outcome of this approach.
The idiographic view on the other hand emphasizes the fact that each and every individual has their own unique structure and that some characteristics and traits are possessed only by one individual. This theory suggests that it is impossible to compare one person with another. This approach also claims that different traits may vary in importance from person to person. It tends to use case studies, bibliographical information, and diaries for information gathering. It insists that managers take into account a “full” understanding of the individual at work. The idiographic perspective regards personality development as a process that is open to change. It claims that people respond to the environment, the people around them and social influences. Social interaction plays a major part in shaping personality. It criticises the nomothetic approach, stating that a person’s personality cannot be revealed simply by superficial questionnaires. (Mullins 2007).
Darwin's theory of evolution led psychologists like William Hamilton, George Williams and many others to the idea of personality evolution. They proposed that like physical organs, your personality is result of natural selection for survival of the fittest. You do as your genes dictate.
They suggest that fear of injury/ death, fear of spiders, fear of heights, shyness, addiction, criminality and sexual orientation are main examples of inheritable behaviours. Steven Pinker (2004) includes religiousness, liberalism and conservativeness in the list. William Paley considers cognitive capabilities, temperaments and cheating behaviours inheritable.
There is however a lot of criticism to this nature approach. There is no single universal behaviour which can be proved evolutionary. Even fear of death, that seems natural to all, cannot be explained by things such as suicides. Research has found that chimpanzees share 95% of our genetic characteristics. However, they don't share even 10% of our behaviours. Even identical twins (with 100% similar genes) behave differently in most circumstances.
It is due to all of these reasons that I feel the nurture approach is the more dominant influence. Although I believe that our personality is influenced by nature and genes, I believe that nurture and social influences have a more dominant role. As an example, both of my parents both have extremely short tempers and are very impatient. Alternatively, I am a very patient person and do not get angry or upset easily. Therefore this trait of my personality cannot be explained by genes. I believe that the reason I am patient is due to having watched them a lot and not liking their impatience, I choose to be more patient so that I am not like them in that way. Another way social influences have impacted my personality, rather than with genes, is that my mum and most of my family in fact are doctors or nurses. Both of my parents wanted me to become a doctor too; however I found that I was more influenced by my friends mother who is an accountant. The odd thing is that that particular friend of mine does not want to be an accountant but a doctor! This shows that it is not genetic influences (the nature approach) that are the main influence on our personality, but it is social influences (the nurture approach).
After taking the “Big Personality Test” I achieved the following results. There are 5 big personality traits. These are Openness, Conscientiousness, Extroversion, Agreeableness and Neuroticism.
For Openness, I scored 2 out of 5. This trait is sometimes known as ‘Openness to experience’. People with scores like mine tend to have a less broad range of interests. They usually stick to what they know rather than being overly enthusiastic about trying new things. Generating lots of imaginative ideas is not your biggest strength. It has been suggested that openness is related to a person’s likelihood to hold unusual beliefs. People with low openness like myself are therefore less likely to believe in things such as conspiracy theories.
For Conscientiousness, I scored 2.9 out of 5. Conscientiousness describes how dependable, organised and hard-working a person is likely to be. This may be the reason why, of all the personality traits, Conscientiousness is the most consistent indicator of job success. People with scores like mine can appear disorganised, but tend to be spontaneous and have a good sense of fun. People with low conscientiousness like myself may be well suited to investigative or artistic careers. Some studies have shown that the more conscientious a person is, the more disciplined they are likely to be about exercise and diet (which I guess does not bode well with me!).
For extroversion, I scored 3.9 out of 5. Extroversion is characterised by positive emotions and the tendency to seek out pleasure-stimulating or risk-taking activities. People with scores like mine are often perceived as gregarious, expressive and energetic. I am someone who enjoys socialising and is quick to form new friendships. Personality studies have shown that scoring highly on Extroversion often translates to a natural capacity for leadership. High Extroversion may also indicate a tendency to earn more than those with lower scores, but the reasons for this are as yet apparently unclear. People with high Extroversion are more likely to lead risky lifestyles and take greater risks in pursuit of rewards. Health studies have shown they are more likely to smoke and less likely to get enough sleep than people who score less highly on this trait. I have to say that I disagree with the smoking part of this theory, as after scoring highly on this trait, I do not smoke (and do not intend to either) and cannot say I have very much trouble sleeping.
For Agreeableness, I scored 4.8 out of 5. Agreeableness measures how sympathetic and considerate a person is likely to be. People with scores like mine are likely to find it very easy to get along with other people. I find that I am sensitive to the feelings of others and that people find it easy to warm to me. As a “peoples person”, I find it very comfortable and easy to work in situations that require teamwork.
Finally, for Neuroticism, I scored medium with a score of 2.4 out of 5. In the context of the Big Five personality traits, the term 'Neuroticism' relates to a person’s response to threatening or stressful situations. People with scores like mine are likely to be comparatively level-headed about perceived threats, but I may find myself worrying when faced with uncertainty or unfamiliar situations. Some scientists have suggested that Neuroticism was beneficial in evolutionary terms. Early man may have found it advantageous to live in a population where certain individuals had a high sensitivity to threats to the group's survival. There is evidence to suggest that Neuroticism, when combined with high scores in personality traits such as Conscientiousness, can result in a powerful work ethic and a will to succeed.
Overall I feel that the “big personality” test is very realistic, and I will most certainly recommend people to take it. In fact I have already told both my mother and my brother just how insightful I consider it to be. I found that the results of this questionnaire, match my personality almost perfectly and I have also gained valuable knowledge on areas I am not so good at which I did not in fact know before, for example openness. I considered myself to be a fairly open person however I understand now, after going through these results, that I was wrong and that I can improve on this trait.
Alongside the “big personality” test, I also took the Mind Frames questionnaire. There are 4 mindframes of thought (the internal mindframes) and 4 mindframes of action (the external mindframes). The 4 mindframes of thought are Logic, Insight, order and Sensitivity. The 4 mindframes of action are Proactivity, Charisma, Control and Sociability. The mindframe that receives the highest score is called the "lead" mindframe, because very often it will be the first mindframe I turn to as I deal with the everyday challenges of work and life. Of the 8 mindframes, my lead mindframe is the sociability mindframe. This mindframe is used by me very often and feels so comfortable, natural and effortless that I may use it more than 80% of the time. I will use it first and most often and I will probably stick with it longer. My second highest mindframe was the charisma mindframe. Apparently I use this mindframe often. This mindframe feels comfortable, and I may use it 60% - 80% of the time. Even if I rely on others more, you’ll have no trouble operating in this mode.
Overall I feel that this questionnaire, although not as realistic as the “big personality” test, is still useful to use. The results I received were the ones I expected to get, showing that this questionnaire is just as realistic as the “big personality” test, however unlike with that questionnaire; in this test I did not learn anything new.
http://wilderdom.com/personality/traits/PersonalityTraitsIdiographicNomothetic.html
http://ezinearticles.com/?Nature-VS-Nurture---Theories-of-Personality-in-21st-Century&id=64862
http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/bb/neuro/neuro06/web1/ttomasic.html
http://genealogy.about.com/cs/geneticgenealogy/a/nature_nurture.htm
http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/mind/surveys/whatamilike/index.shtml
www.initforlife.com/home/tm.asp
Power and Conflict within Organisations
Definition of Conflict:
Conflict is where two groups or individuals disagree or clash about particular things and they will argue or debate until a solution arises. Usually a conflict arises when people have different views or opinions on a certain subject. Conflict is not necessarily only a bad thing, as in some circumstances in can be used to make changes for the better, for example during World War Two, had we not disagreed with Hitler, we would now be under his rule! Businesses try to minimise conflict as much as possible in order to help maintain a friendly working environment. Conflict is apparent when at least one party perceives that it exists.
Conflict at school:
During my time in secondary school, I recall a time when conflict arose between me and my team mates as to who should be captain of our school football team. People were unsure as most individuals in the starting eleven wanted to be captain. The issue was resolved in the end because the manager picked me to be captain. If he had not stepped in, the conflict may never have been resolved. I had however suggested that we could have a team vote where none of us could vote for ourselves, and this was a suggestion which was regarded warmly amongst my team mates. It was not however needed, as our manager decided that he wanted me to be captain due to my contribution to the team on and off the field. Being good friends with everyone on our team, meant there was no argument when our manager named me as captain and as he had authority over all of us, his word was law and there could be no disagreement.
Sources of Power:
There are five different sources of power:
· Reward Power
· Coercive Power
· Expert Power
· Legitimate (Position) Power
· Referent Power
Reward power is one way of resolving conflict within an organisation. When an employee performs well, rewards such as a pay rise, or work recognition will keep the employee happy and therefore reduce conflict and also possibly increase motivation. Subordinates comply to a manager’s requests because they expect to benefit. Reward power is more likely to be associated with a democratic style of leadership. An example of reward power would be a manager giving a box of chocolate to an individual who has performed well and completed his/her designated tasks on time. Reward power is basically giving the employee an incentive to work harder and can be used to boost motivation and create friendly competition. Managers who use reward power may find that staff respond positively and are willing to offer ideas and suggestions as well as taking on more roles and responsibilities.
http://www.simonstapleton.com/wordpress/2007/12/17/the-five-sources-of-a-leader%E2%80%99s-power-and-how-and-how-not-to-use-them/
Coercive power is the exact opposite of reward power. Instead of using rewards, it uses punishment. Fear is the controlling factor with this source of power. This power is the perceived ability to punish those who do not comply with the ideas and demands set for them An example of a person who has this power would be a school teacher as they have the power to give detention’s to, suspend, and in some cases even expel students who do act badly and against the rules or do not complete set tasks. My first ever detention was given to me simply for forgetting to bring blue socks to football as these were our school colours.
Expert power involves people who have particular expertise, skills and knowledge. Leaders with these attributes have the power to make decisions as subordinates are likely to recognise the leaders’ expertise and be willing to follow their suggestions. The more important and unusual the expertise, the greater the power associated with it. An example of a leader with expert power would be Sir Alex Ferguson, the manager of Manchester United. He is an expert at managing football teams, and former Manchester United players who played for him go to him for advice regularly, e.g. Steve Bruce (manager of Birmingham City) and Mark Hughes (former manager of Manchester City).
Legitimate (Position) power derives from a person’s position or job in an organisation. Legitimate power increases as you move up the hierarchy of an organisation. An example of a person in a position of legitimate power would be the Prime Minister Gordon Brown. Research in multinational companies shows that employees say that legitimate power is the major reason for why they follow their bosses’ orders.
(Chapman.T 2006, Applied Business, Collins, Hammersmith, London)
Referent power derives from a leader’s charisma. People are more likely to follow the lead and listen to instructions from someone they like and admire. Many employees identify with managers who hold referent power, seek their approval and also use them as role models. Subordinates identify with a charismatic leader, and they are more likely to believe in and work hard to achieve the leader’s policies and goals. As employees and subordinates share the same beliefs and goals, it encourages interaction between managers and subordinates. Anyone in a business may have charisma and be well liked, regardless of their status; therefore meaning that referent power can be used at all levels within an organisation. An example of a person with referent power is Cheryl Cole. She is popular and attractive and many people worldwide look up to her and try to be like her.
Strategies to Overcome Conflict at Work:
It is important for an organisation to try and minimise conflict. In order to do this, organisations an organisation must:
· Ensure Human Resources department sets out fair policies, such as equal opportunities and equal pay in order to ensure all employees feel and are treated equally.
· Have disciplinary procedures in place to protect in case of conflict situations, e.g. bullying or fighting.
· Clarifying goals and objectives with employees will help employees avoid misunderstandings and therefore avoid conflict with other employees on the task.
· Have a bonuses and rewards system in place for if employees work hard, behave appropriately and complete the set tasks in order to help increase their motivation and reduce the likelihood of conflict.
· Ensure employees have good communication, are involved in decision making, and are given the chance to talk about any problems or issues they may have. Managers need to involve their staff with decisions that are made so they feel that they are involved. For example, if a manager isn't communicating much with the employees, the employees might begin to dislike their manager and lose motivation. Employees need to feel that they are able to talk about any problems they may have in order to avoid possible future conflict.
Conflict situation:
A conflict I witnessed recently, arose when my best friend’s girlfriend started claiming he no longer cared as much about her as they barely saw each other anymore and he was so busy with work, he did not have much time for phone calls. The situation has not yet been resolved, because there is very little communication between the two. I know for a fact that my friend is very busy with work and has very little free time, however I also know that he has not really explained this to his girlfriend, or told her of how he feels for her, as he has told me. Perhaps if they were able to communicate more during his free time, and he explained to her that he still does care very deeply for her, the conflict will be resolved.
Conclusion:
Conflict in any organisation is inevitable. People just need to try and minimise it as much as possible, and avoid it from getting out of hand. Conflict should be used as something positive as a new view and changes can be brought up to help run organisations more efficiently and effectively. Sometimes Conflict allows an organisation to become a better place to work in because it allows people to speak their minds and put their opinions across in order to clarify a point. However if a conflict is not dealt with quickly, it could lead to a worse situation which will be harder to resolve and therefore could create a bad image for the organisation.
References:
· Management and Organisational Behaviour Mullins (2007) Pearson : Essex
· (Chapman.T 2006, Applied Business, Collins, Hammersmith, London)
Conflict is where two groups or individuals disagree or clash about particular things and they will argue or debate until a solution arises. Usually a conflict arises when people have different views or opinions on a certain subject. Conflict is not necessarily only a bad thing, as in some circumstances in can be used to make changes for the better, for example during World War Two, had we not disagreed with Hitler, we would now be under his rule! Businesses try to minimise conflict as much as possible in order to help maintain a friendly working environment. Conflict is apparent when at least one party perceives that it exists.
Conflict at school:
During my time in secondary school, I recall a time when conflict arose between me and my team mates as to who should be captain of our school football team. People were unsure as most individuals in the starting eleven wanted to be captain. The issue was resolved in the end because the manager picked me to be captain. If he had not stepped in, the conflict may never have been resolved. I had however suggested that we could have a team vote where none of us could vote for ourselves, and this was a suggestion which was regarded warmly amongst my team mates. It was not however needed, as our manager decided that he wanted me to be captain due to my contribution to the team on and off the field. Being good friends with everyone on our team, meant there was no argument when our manager named me as captain and as he had authority over all of us, his word was law and there could be no disagreement.
Sources of Power:
There are five different sources of power:
· Reward Power
· Coercive Power
· Expert Power
· Legitimate (Position) Power
· Referent Power
Reward power is one way of resolving conflict within an organisation. When an employee performs well, rewards such as a pay rise, or work recognition will keep the employee happy and therefore reduce conflict and also possibly increase motivation. Subordinates comply to a manager’s requests because they expect to benefit. Reward power is more likely to be associated with a democratic style of leadership. An example of reward power would be a manager giving a box of chocolate to an individual who has performed well and completed his/her designated tasks on time. Reward power is basically giving the employee an incentive to work harder and can be used to boost motivation and create friendly competition. Managers who use reward power may find that staff respond positively and are willing to offer ideas and suggestions as well as taking on more roles and responsibilities.
http://www.simonstapleton.com/wordpress/2007/12/17/the-five-sources-of-a-leader%E2%80%99s-power-and-how-and-how-not-to-use-them/
Coercive power is the exact opposite of reward power. Instead of using rewards, it uses punishment. Fear is the controlling factor with this source of power. This power is the perceived ability to punish those who do not comply with the ideas and demands set for them An example of a person who has this power would be a school teacher as they have the power to give detention’s to, suspend, and in some cases even expel students who do act badly and against the rules or do not complete set tasks. My first ever detention was given to me simply for forgetting to bring blue socks to football as these were our school colours.
Expert power involves people who have particular expertise, skills and knowledge. Leaders with these attributes have the power to make decisions as subordinates are likely to recognise the leaders’ expertise and be willing to follow their suggestions. The more important and unusual the expertise, the greater the power associated with it. An example of a leader with expert power would be Sir Alex Ferguson, the manager of Manchester United. He is an expert at managing football teams, and former Manchester United players who played for him go to him for advice regularly, e.g. Steve Bruce (manager of Birmingham City) and Mark Hughes (former manager of Manchester City).
Legitimate (Position) power derives from a person’s position or job in an organisation. Legitimate power increases as you move up the hierarchy of an organisation. An example of a person in a position of legitimate power would be the Prime Minister Gordon Brown. Research in multinational companies shows that employees say that legitimate power is the major reason for why they follow their bosses’ orders.
(Chapman.T 2006, Applied Business, Collins, Hammersmith, London)
Referent power derives from a leader’s charisma. People are more likely to follow the lead and listen to instructions from someone they like and admire. Many employees identify with managers who hold referent power, seek their approval and also use them as role models. Subordinates identify with a charismatic leader, and they are more likely to believe in and work hard to achieve the leader’s policies and goals. As employees and subordinates share the same beliefs and goals, it encourages interaction between managers and subordinates. Anyone in a business may have charisma and be well liked, regardless of their status; therefore meaning that referent power can be used at all levels within an organisation. An example of a person with referent power is Cheryl Cole. She is popular and attractive and many people worldwide look up to her and try to be like her.
Strategies to Overcome Conflict at Work:
It is important for an organisation to try and minimise conflict. In order to do this, organisations an organisation must:
· Ensure Human Resources department sets out fair policies, such as equal opportunities and equal pay in order to ensure all employees feel and are treated equally.
· Have disciplinary procedures in place to protect in case of conflict situations, e.g. bullying or fighting.
· Clarifying goals and objectives with employees will help employees avoid misunderstandings and therefore avoid conflict with other employees on the task.
· Have a bonuses and rewards system in place for if employees work hard, behave appropriately and complete the set tasks in order to help increase their motivation and reduce the likelihood of conflict.
· Ensure employees have good communication, are involved in decision making, and are given the chance to talk about any problems or issues they may have. Managers need to involve their staff with decisions that are made so they feel that they are involved. For example, if a manager isn't communicating much with the employees, the employees might begin to dislike their manager and lose motivation. Employees need to feel that they are able to talk about any problems they may have in order to avoid possible future conflict.
Conflict situation:
A conflict I witnessed recently, arose when my best friend’s girlfriend started claiming he no longer cared as much about her as they barely saw each other anymore and he was so busy with work, he did not have much time for phone calls. The situation has not yet been resolved, because there is very little communication between the two. I know for a fact that my friend is very busy with work and has very little free time, however I also know that he has not really explained this to his girlfriend, or told her of how he feels for her, as he has told me. Perhaps if they were able to communicate more during his free time, and he explained to her that he still does care very deeply for her, the conflict will be resolved.
Conclusion:
Conflict in any organisation is inevitable. People just need to try and minimise it as much as possible, and avoid it from getting out of hand. Conflict should be used as something positive as a new view and changes can be brought up to help run organisations more efficiently and effectively. Sometimes Conflict allows an organisation to become a better place to work in because it allows people to speak their minds and put their opinions across in order to clarify a point. However if a conflict is not dealt with quickly, it could lead to a worse situation which will be harder to resolve and therefore could create a bad image for the organisation.
References:
· Management and Organisational Behaviour Mullins (2007) Pearson : Essex
· (Chapman.T 2006, Applied Business, Collins, Hammersmith, London)
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