Employee Communication

Employee relations refers to "an assortment of employer initiatives for improving workplace communications, for engaging employees either directly or indirectly in decision making and for securing employee compliance with management rules through disciplinary action" Bratton & Gold, 2007.

Employee relations is concerned about the relationships between policies and practices of an organisation and its staff. The content of the policy will be affected by a variety of different factors including:

• size and type of the organisation
• structure and methods of operation
• nature of staff
• strength of trade unions
• attitudes of top management

The two types of views are Unitarist and Pluralist. The unitarist view is where the managers and staff all share the same views and objectives. They have an accepted leader and there is a sense of loyalty. The leader will recruit staff who can follow these goals. There is no trade union and they are seemed unnecessary and cause disharmony. The pluralist view is where the organisation is made up from powerful sub-groups all competing with one another and all have separate loyalties and objectives. This means that conflict is very likely to happen and is seen as being inevitable. It may not be a bad thing if it is managed as it can help internal and external change. The managerial role would be less commanding and enforcing with employees having more say. They may be after an increase in wages. While managers will be interesting in increasing their profits. This therefore is a conflict of interests as the different groups have different objectives. This means trade unions are brought in to help negotiate between the two groups. Horn said "these views are widely acceptable, particularly to trade unions, who saw this as legitimising their intervention into an increasing range of managerial prerogative areas".

Employee participation comes about from the pluralist approach. It provides for employees to have a say in decisions that affect the company and is supported by legislation. It gives employees rights to have consultation meetings to discuss any changes that may happen within the organisation that could affect them, and also to discuss the economic status of the business. It protects the employees interests from when there is resistance from the management. Trade unions are used in this sense when there is a disagreement between staff and management and workers councils such as staff consultant committees are used to keep staff involved.

Employee involvement is a unitarist approach as it is about management encouraging employees to be committed to the organisations values and objectives. Some ways in which this is done include sharing information, consultation, financial participation, quality improvements, individuals and community.

Some organisations now use social networking sites to involve staff, both existing and potential employees. Many of them have a 'fan page' on facebook. Twitter is a another site that companies may use. There is also MySpace, but that is less popular now after the emergence of twitter and facebook. Agency companies create groups on facebook to advertise that they are recruiting staff, there are a lot now where staff are needed over the summer period and particularly aimed at students. An example of this is re_hospitality, an events agency. Other companies may use twitter to keep in contact with employees. It is also useful for advertising. Some companies use Blogs, such as Apple ("iPod's dirty little secret") they also have an Apple students group on facebook. BA have a microblogging account on twitter. Adidas have a MySpace.

  

In conclusion, employee relations how the staff and the management get along as to the policies and objectives of the organisation. There are two approaches to this which are the unitarist and pluralist. Pluralist approach fits in with employee participation in which employees have more empowerment and have a say in the changes in the business and are told about the economic situation with anything that may affect their job. The unitarist approach relates to employee involvement and how the company's management and staff all have the same goals and beliefs. Trade unions are only required when following the pluralistic approach. Many companies nowadays may also involve employees by using social networking sites such as twitter and facebook.

Bibliography

• Mullins, L.J. (2010). Management & Organisational Behaviour. 9th ed. Essex: FT
• http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/career_and_jobs/best_100_companies/
• Brottlund, B. (2009). Companies using Social Networking to Boost Sales. Available: http://www.resourcenation.com/blog/companies-using-social-networking-to-boost-sales/. Last accessed 2011. 
• Kim, P. (2008). A List of Social Media Marketing Examples. Available: http://www.beingpeterkim.com/2008/09/ive-been-thinki.html. Last accessed 2011. 

 

Reward

"A reward system consists of financial rewards and employee benefits, which together comprise total remuneration"  Martin, et al, 2010

The two types of reward are financial and non-financial, with businesses using the latter more and more now as an important method of reward strategy. Financial rewards include pay rise, performance related pay, bonuses, overtime and incentives. These are all tangible and extrinsic. Non-financial rewards include recognition, an opportunity to develop skills, career opportunities, work/life balance and flexible working hours. These are all intangible, intrinsic and difficult to value. Reward systems work by an employee undertaking work in exchange for a reward from the employer. It is all the monetary, non-monetary and psycological factors that benefit the employee. Rewards are important to satisfy the employee's 'psycological contract' to ensure that there is fairness in the workplace. The reward system must also support the corporate strategy and maintain equity. One of the main factors of rewarding staff is to motivate them to work harder. This comes into Locke's Goal Theory, where the employee works towards something.

In the organisation I work for, Chelsea Football Club, there are a few reward systems in place. First of all they offer bonuses for attending five matches in a row. This relates to the expectancy theory. It'll make emplyees want to show up to every game and therefore keep attendance up so the company are not short on staff and can perform to full capacity. Another way it offers a reward is by entering staff with a high attendance rate into a draw to win tickets for the Cup Final, which again relates to the expectancy theory. This is done in a fair way by picking names out at random to ensure everyone is treated equally. 

Should Chief Executives receive large bonuses even if the organisation has underperformed?

For:-

• May not be the fault of the chief executive that the organisation has underperformed, it could be due to poor management or staff being unmotivated, and could be missing work. It is not the chief executives job to ensure staff morale is up.
• They have far more responsibility and carry a lot of pressure when making important decisions and deserve the extra pay for this.
• They have worked up the ladded in the organistion throughout their career to be where they are and reap the rewards of all that hard work.

Against:-

• If the organisation does not reach its target then they have failed and should not be paying out more in huge bonuses when they are not deserved.
• It does not show equality to reward the chief executive and no other staff.
• The chief executive could get complacent and just take the reward which they know they'll get no matter how the company performs, and just care about themselves rather than the company.
• it could be the chief executives fault that the business has not performed well and would be completely unjust if he was still rewarded.

In conclusion, companies reward employees to motivate them to work and keep morale up as well as ensuring fairness and equality in the workplace. These rewards can be financial or non-financial. 

Performance Management

“A process which contributes to the effective management of individuals and teams in order to achieve high levels of organisational performance.  As such, it establishes shared understanding about what is to be achieved, and approach to leading and developing people which will ensure that it is achieved”  Armstrong and Baron, 2004

It is important that managers make sure that staff maintain a high level of performance and that the skills and behavior of them is continuously monitored. The staff have to know exactly what is required of them. Performance management brings together all the aspects of people management and is improvement on an individual, team, department and organisational level. One of the main ways performance is managed is through appraisals. This is a formal regular review of an employee's performance measured against a set out criteria and how they compare to the expectations and objectives of the company which should be reflected in the business plan. It should be a two-way conversation about performances in the last year as opposed to the manager just telling the employee what they've done wrong. This makes the employee feel that they have a say. Feedback is given to them on how they can improve for the coming year and they discuss how they can go about making these improvements. 

"Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things."
Peter F. Drucker, American Management Guru


How does the university measure performance?

Bucks New University measures performance mainly by giving assignments and tests throughout the year. When set an assignment there are usually draft presentations to show to the lecturers beforehand so make sure that the work is good. The performance is measured in a quantitative format as there is a mark given for different aspects of the work, such as Content, Presentation, etc. This kind of feedback would include a grading system of Excellent, Very Good, Good, Average, Poor, Fail. There is also qualitative feedback received to give a more narrative review on specific aspects of work that need improving on. These assignments are fairly frequent across the  modules. There are also tests completed in certain modules, which are then gone through in class to show which mistakes were made and how to not make the same mistakes again in order to improve on the work. The lecturers have a key role to give good feedback to put students on the right path to success.

Being an effective mentor

A mentor is an expert in an area or leader in an organisation who offers advice, guidance and support. Mentoring differs from coaching is more of a supportive relationship to help someone along. Although a mentor may use coaching techniques within the relationship. Clutterbuck and Wynne state the four roles of mentoring to be counsellor, networker, facilitator and coach.

"The mentor is there to help the learn" Clutterbuck and Wynne.

Benefits of a mentor include communication improvements, self-learning, more equal opportunities and managerial effectiveness. It is good for a mentor to be different to the mentee in terms on personality and characteristics so that they can learn off them. The skills required to be an effective mentor are obviously experience, as they need to have expertise in the subject to be able to pass on knowledge. Then need to help them to solve problems so would need to have good patience, whilst also being a good listener so they can take on board the mentee's opinion. They would also need to be encouraging, positive, reliable, honest, trustworthy and being empathetic by being able to understand the problems of someone by putting themselves in their shoes.

Someone in my life who has been a good mentor was my form tutor in Year 11. He always stood out as a teacher who you could approach with a problem and he would help you out. Pointed me in the right path and encouraged me to work hard to achieve good GCSE's after doing poorly at school the year before. Made me see what would happen if I didn't work to the best of my ability. This genuine support and encouragement was important and it meant I wanted to work hard and I managed to achieve the grades that I wanted.

In conclusion, managers need to make sure that their staff maintain a consistantly high performance so that their company is a success and also to keep morale up within the workforce. They do this by giving feedback during annual appraisals. They may also employ mentors to guide workers along by giving expert advice and helping them solve problems and become a better person at what they do.

Bibliography

• Mullins, L.J. (2010), Management & Organisational Behaviour, 9th edition, Essex, FT 
• http://alignment.wordpress.com/2009/02/10/performance-management-quotes/
• The Benefits of Coaching and Mentoring. Available: http://www.exemplas.com/Skills-and-Training/Mentoring--Coaching/The-benefits/. Last accessed 2011. 
• Performance Management: An introductory guide. Available: http://www.teamtechnology.co.uk/performancemanagement.html. Last accessed 2011. 
  

 

Selection

Selection is choosing the best person to do the job by gathering information on the candidate and then organise and evaluate that information. The candidate then must be assessed and the employer can try and forecast how well they would do in the job. Information on the job is then relayed to the candidate and they must decide whether to accept the offer. Some examples of selection methods are: Interviews, Tests, Assessment centres, References, Work simulations, Telephone screening and Role play. 


Interview
 Organisations need to get an idea of the personality of potential employees before they hire them. The best way to determine someones personality is through an interview. The interview is the most common method of selection. The interview would take place once the CV's have been checked over to make sure the candidates have the correct qualifications and then a select few will be called forward for the interview process. An interview is useful for the interviewer to examine the interviewee on a deeper level and give them more complex questions to see if they are suitable for the job. They are also able to obtain detailed information on the candidates personal feelings and they usually achieve a high response rate. However, some drawbacks of the interview process could be that the interviewer could be biased and ask closed questions or leading questions to make the candidate fall into a trap, this may mean that the interviewer is not consistent and the process would be unfair. It is also very time consuming in setting up and analysing.

Tests
Psychometric tests can help the organistion gain objective information about the range of skills and traits that the individual has. This maybe done after or instead of the interview process although it would be expensive to use both. It allows the company to assess factors that cannot be measured through an application form or an interview. They are professionally checked and validated to make sure the information is reliable. Other types of test that may be used are intellegence tests that can test the verbal and numerical skills of the candidate. Personality questionnaires, ability tests, motivation tests, and aptitude tests (such as a response test) are a number of others that may be put into practise.






Assessment Centres
Sometimes companies may run a series of extended selection procedures that run throughout the day or sometimes over a few days. These usually occur after the first round of interviews and before the final selection. They are usually held in the company's premesis or in a hotel and are seen at the most objective and fairest form of selection because it is taken over a longer period of time and gives numerous assessors a chance to see what the candidates can really do rather than what they say they can do. Lots of different candidates complete the process at the same time so they can see the direct competition that they are up against. They also allow the candidates to show a range of abilities rather than just doing one tests so it gives them more opportunities to play to their strengths. Feedback is also given to help them improve. The only disadvantage of assessment centres are that they are very time consuming and expensive to run.

The last interview that I took part in would have been to get into secondary school. This is because the process required to get my job was a test and no interview was required. I don't think the interview went very well as I didn't get the place. Although I was at a young age so was not really prepared or experienced enough to handle the situation. I don't think I sold myself well enough, even though there was a test beforehand which I had done well in. If I did an interview now I would appear enthusiastic and driven on getting the job. However, interviews are telling the interviewer want they want to hear a lot of the time and not what you actually think so it is hard for someone to be themselves in an interview. I would much prefer to go through an assessment centre as it gives you more opportunites to show off your skills.


In my job the selection process is just a simple test based on a presentation given and they select the candidates who answer the most questions correctly based on how much they took in. I would change this to give more activities to see whether or not the candidates are suitable for the job as with the test it is easy to ask someone else for the answer. They should have done an assessment centre by putting candidates in real life simulations and see how the respond to it. The assessors can then put through the people who coped best with the problem. This would show a wider range of skills than just answering questions on a paper. Would also allow for the candidate to show how they can improvise under pressure which would be useful for the company to have employees with these skills.


In conclusion, choosing the right person for a job is vitally important to the company. Hence why they inject so much time and money into the process to make sure they get it right. They need to make sure that they hire someone with all the correct skills to carry out the job to the highest standard to give the organisation the best results. The main way in which they do this is interviewing, however, they can also used tests and assessment centres for a more objective view.

Bibliography

• Recruitment, selection and training. Available: http://www.army.mod.uk/join/join.aspx. Last accessed 2011. 
• Mullins, L.J. (2010), Management & Organisational Behaviour, 9th edition, Essex, FT
• Oatley, A. (2004). The Strengths and Limitations of Interviews. Available: http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Students/aeo9702.html. Last accessed 2011.
• http://www.evalued.bcu.ac.uk/tutorial/4c.htm

 

Recruitment

Recruitment is the process of attracting and selecting qualified people and enrolling them for a job. All activities are directed to locating potential employees. It is usually a reaction to an existing or foreseen shortage in staff. It aims to obtain a pool of suitable candidates for the vacant posts and must use a fair process of recruitment to give everyone an equal opportunity. Companies will want to do the process in an efficient and and cost effective manner so that it does not cost the business too much time and money.

Job Website Review

Fish4Jobs.co.uk

Seems easy to use as they have a search bar in which you can state what type of job you are looking for and within what distance and location. It contains a "This Weeks Featured Jobs" section and gives you the option of uploading a CV. It lists jobs in your area in alphabetical order which makes things easy to use. Also has a map of UK so you can select your region in one click. The search option is not very good as it gives you jobs that can be too far away or not relevant to what you asked for. There are also a lot of people spamming the boards with one job. But the site itself is fairly straight forward and easy to use. There is also the option of talking on the phone and also a live chat room.

A recruitment campaign that have taken my interest is the TV advert to join the army, it is the first one that comes to mind so it must have had an effect on me to make me remember it. The advert campaign was called "Start Thinking Soldier" and portrayed scenarios that occur in the army and ask the viewer what they would do in that situation. 















































I think it is an effective campaign as it grabs the viewer's attention by going straight into action. It is also from a first person POV which engages the viewer more into making think that they are there. In some adverts it compares it to situations that people at home maybe familiar with, such as playing COD on the Xbox. This adverts ask a question at the end, "What would you do?" and gives 3 options A, B or C. This will get the viewer thinking and make the advert stick in their mind. Therefore I think it is a very effective advertising campaign, although whether it would actually make people want to join the army I'm not so sure.


Advantages of Online Recruitment

1. Less expensive for the company, and posting job vacancies online is cheaper than advertising in newspapers.
2. There are no intermediaries. Saves time and money with not having to deal with a third party.
3. Reduces time for recruitment, which is 65% of hiring time.
4. Improved efficiency of the recruitment process.
5. Helps organisations eliminate the unqualified candidates in an automated way to save a lot of time.
6. 24/7 access to an online collection of CV's

Disadvantages of Online Recruitment

1. Screening and checking the skills and authenticity of a very high number of CV's is very time consuming for the company.
2. Not everyone has access to the internet.
3. Organistions cannot depend solely on online recruitment methods.
4. Some employers and candidates prefer face to face interaction.
5. Some jobs may require such specialised skills that they cannot be found through a recruitment website and need to be headhunted down specifically. 

Conclusion

In conclusion, the recruitment process is a very important part of the organisation. It needs to be done carefully so that the right employee is hired. It can be very time consuming and costly but there are ways to speed it up, such a e-recruitment. After recruitment comes the selection process...

Bibliography

•  Mullins, L.J. (2010), Management & Organisational Behaviour, 9th edition, Essex, FT
• http://www.fish4.co.uk/
• http://www.youtube.com/
• Recruitment, selection and training. Available: http://www.army.mod.uk/join/join.aspx. Last accessed 2011.
• http://www.army.mod.uk/join/join.aspx

Teamworking

A work group is a group that is formed by a number of people who are in contact with each other, are conscious of each other and consider themselves to be a group and can be formal, informal, permanent or temporary. A team is where they share a common sense of purpose and identity and support each other to achieve the goals, going well beyond a group. People often enjoy working in groups as it gives them a sense of belonging which meets their social needs, it makes them feel secure and safe, it also satisfies their need for status and affiliation, meeting Maslow’s security and esteem needs. It also gives them a sense of power.

 Theorists involved in teamworking include Belbin, Tuckman and Gersick. Belbin being the most widely used theorist. He said that a team amde of of similar people with similar personalities and characteristics would not work well and a team with a wide range of personalities and skills is more likely to succeed. He made a list of 9 roles to help determine which kind of worker each person is in order to achieve a good balance in a group. Tuckman looks at Forming, Norming, Storming and Performing and will be discussed further down in more detail. Gersick came up with the Punctuated Equilibrium model and is a timeline showing the stages when most work is completed. Stating that there will be a lot of work completed in the mid point and a rush at the end, whilst not much is completed at the beginning (as seen in the diagram on the right).


A time when I worked in a successful team was when I was at school was when I took part in the Duke of Edinburgh expedition. This required a lot of co-operation and team work. We were in a group of 4 and had to navigate across the countryside in Wales and pitch tents at different locations. We were given a map and compass to help us. We also had to carry all the camping gear, food for the weekend, cooking instruments, and other essential items. This team worked successfully as we all had different skills and were able to rely on another person to do their part right. One person in the group with the most experience was made the leader so that we had some direction, but everyone had equal say and were able to get their ideas across. The leader was good at reading maps so was essential to our trip and would be a Plant in Belbin's model as he was creative in solving problems. Other tasks were putting up a tent which required good team work and one person could not do it on their own. We also had a set cook, who made all the meals, this person would be a Specialist as this was their particular strength and did not contribute too much else. The rest of us were Teamworkers and contributed in lots of different areas. Being that we all had different strengths, and put them to good use, we were able to complete the task and pass the course.


Tuckman's theory related to Assignment 2
The stages of Tuckman's theory are forming, storming, norming and performing. These are:

• Forming: this is the bringing together of the group and assigning roles and responsibilities and considering the hierarchy of the group. In our group we decided upon a leader and assigned who would do which part of the essay. It was difficult at first with people not turning up to group meetings as we needed to seek out each person's strengths and weaknesses.
• Storming: now everyone is more comfortable with each other more ideas are put forward. Could result in conflict. However, there was not much conflict in our group as everyone was happy to get on with the work they had been assigned. The only conflict occured when members didn't show up to group meetings and progress check couldn't be evaluated.
• Norming: conflict is controlled and group member set out how each other want to behave and everyone establishes the need to co-operate to achieve the goals. Once members started coming to group meetings progress was made and everyone set about to do what they had to do.
• Performing: everyone concentrates on completing the task. It was finished and looked over by the whole group to make sure everyone was happy with the work that had been produced. Doing the work in this order meant that we were a success as a group and achieved a respectable mark.

Times Top 100 Companies to work for 2010

 Office Angels - Recruitment Consultancy
 This company gets the best results in the "My Team" category with an overall positive factor of 85%. Teamwork is encouraged by teams competing for holidays to Dubai, New York and Barbados. The article says "Employees feel a strong sense of family within their teams, giving 86%, the top positive score nationally, for this statement. They believe colleagues care about each other (87%), say working together gives them a buzz (82%) and that team-mates are fun (89%). " This means that they have retained most of their staff as they are happy in their job and the staff feel they can make a difference to the company. 

 Beaverbrooks - Jewellery retailer

They have teams across the 66 stores which employers visit regularly. Top performing teams get celebration nights and last year the company put forward £100 for each member to spend on celebration nights. "Beaverbooks people say they have fun with their colleagues (86%) and feel a strong sense of family in their team (80%). These are all good to motivate employees and keep them happy in their job and so the employees feel accepted and rewarded rightly. This will encourage them to work well as a team.

Conclusion

In conclusion, good teamwork is needed for a team or group to succeed. A group differs from a team as a team has a common sense on purpose and goals. Companies try to promote good teamwork to keep staff happy and motivated and meet their social needs. This will also help the company have a good output and ethic. There are many different theorists, but the easiest one to use is Belbin's model of team characteristics.

Bibliography

•   Mullins, L.J. (2010), Management & Organisational Behaviour, 9th edition, Essex, FT 
• Tuckman, Bruce W. (1965) 'Developmental sequence in small groups',  Psychological Bulletin

• Gersick, C. J. G. (1988). Time and transition in work teams: Toward a new model of group development. The Academy of Management Journal

• Smith, M. K, (2005). Bruce W. Tuckman - forming, storming norming and performing in groups. Available: http://www.infed.org/thinkers/tuckman.htm. 2011
• http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/career_and_jobs/best_100_companies/
• http://www.office-angels.com/Pages/default.aspx

Equal Opportunities and Diversity

It is vital that there is equality in the work place. Equality means that everyone is giving the same opportunity to to fulfil their potential no matter what race, age, gender, etc they are. New legislations came in to remove discrimination and create equality. These are Sexual Orientation (2003), Religion & Belief (2003), Disability (2004), Age (2006) and the Equality Act (2010).

Diversity is about acceptance and respect, and recognising that everyone is unique and understanding everyones differences. These differences can be explored in a safe environment and embrace the diversity of each individual.

The purpose of Equal Opportunities Legislation Act is to eliminate unjustified discrimination by making it illegal. This means that all workers get the same chance as everyone else and employers cannot favour someone based on the factors mentioned before. The employers can take positive action to create equal opportunites, this will help with motivation within the company, and could improve staff performance, whilst also creating a better working environment. It also provides a way for people who have been discriminated against to redress the problem.

Age legislation came into force in 2006, this would have had a big impact on employers as they could now not favour people of a preferred age. They would now have to allow people of certain ages to continue working if they wished as they could not make them redundant due to their age as it would break the law. Therefore there would be a much older workforce, they would not be able to favour someone when employing them due to their age. It could also work the other way as employers may not want to hire someone who is too young. Employers may hold stereotypes against older and younger people including (for younger people) that they're lazy and maybe selfish. The media does not portray young people in a good way and gives them a bad name, when they can be very positive and driven to succeed. Some stereotypes on old people is that they could be forgetful and set in their ways but that they are also experienced. There may also be a problem in the work place of employers not hiring women of a certain age, as they are likely to get pregnant and have to take maternaty leave and cost the business more money. With the new legislation this cannot happen now.


How Sainsbury's promote equal opportunities

 They launched a programme called "You Can" in 2008 which encourages a wide range of people to join, particularly for long-term unemployed people and disadvantaged people. It helps them develop skills needed. In 2006 they founded a scheme called WorkRight which was aimed at people with difficulties at work to help them overcome those disadvantages to enable to pursue their ambitions. In 2008 they set themselves a target of increasing the amount of female floor managers to 20% by 2011 and they have achieved this. Then give employees an annual feedback to help improve problems that ethnic minorities face ar work and make sure there is diversity within the organisation. They also planned to recruit 10,000 over 50's to their stores nationwide in a bid to reduce age discrimination and give elder people more chance of work.

Conclusion

In conclusion, equal opportunities are essential in a business, as it makes for a pleasant working environment and it can get the best out of each individual despite their differences. It helps people to feel accepted and enable to them to complete the job to the best of their ability. The Acts are put in place to make this happen and make the work place a discrimination free environment.

Bibliography

•  Mullins, L.J. (2010), Management & Organisational Behaviour, 9th edition, Essex, FT
• http://www.personneltoday.com/articles/2005/05/18/29965/sainsburys-seeks-to-recruit-10000-50-somethings.html
• http://www.sainsburys.co.uk/sol/index.jsp
• What are Your Employment Rights?. Available: http://www.aboutequalopportunities.co.uk/employment-rights.html. Last accessed 2011