Recruitment!

Recruitment is a key aspect of an organisations running. It is a long and time consuming process and in some organisations, is a significantly large aspect to get correct as recruitment is there to find the right person for the role at hand.

I have reviewed the online recruitment website www.monster.co.uk. It is easily accessible and the design format used is very drawing to the human eye. It is an attractive site and doesn’t ‘put you off’ when searching. The site allows a person to create a CV online and it can be uploaded with a cover letter. The site also allows a person to search for jobs, and specify the area, postcode, region etc to where they would like to search for the job. There is a career tools function which is very handy as it can give an insight to what the job is all about, and can be defined against other company’s positions which is very useful for someone wanting a new career. The final section which was very warming was the advice function, this allows a person to take a virtual job interview online and helps giving tips in building a CV and in interview techniques, all which are very useful for someone to use.

Advantages of Online Recruitment 

1) Cost Effective – advertisement on the internet is cheap, mainly free, so it would make sense to advertise on your own website, rather than a newspaper, or a flyer.
2) Online recruitment is quick – it is very quick to put an advert up online, no printing or handing out needed, it is virtually at the click of a button.
3) Online recruitment gives you a wider audience – people across the globe are now ‘online’ which does give an organisation more chance to target different audience.
4) Online recruitment is easy – it isn’t a hard process to follow to make an advert online, this saves a lot of time and effort.
5) Online recruitment gives a better chance of success – the online advert will remain there for as long as you see fit, whereas an advert in the paper has a time limit, this is very effective and gives the organisation more chance of the recruitment.

Disadvantages of Online Recruitment 

1) Too many candidates – there is always a case for too many applicants, where a business doesn’t have time to go through each and every application.
2) Specialised jobs – this is a massive setback, the advert may not reach out to the qualified specialists, and therefore a different measure may be needed.
3) Additional expense – if there are too many applicants, it may come with an additional expense to review each applicant.
4) Less face to face contact – you cannot determine a person’s personality or characteristics without face-to-face communication, therefore it is very hard to solely advert and interview online.
5) Candidate dissatisfaction – not everyone enjoys online recruitment, some candidates simply won’t find or even look for the jobs online, therefore the organisation may miss out on the right person for the job.

Online recruitment is a way forward, however it still isn’t the outright best way to recruit or advertise. It comes with many advantages, but for certain jobs, a lot more time is needed to find the right candidate.

            

Equality and Diversity!

The difference between equality and diversity..

Equality

Equality or ‘Equal opportunities’ helps to prevent people from being discriminated against on the grounds of their sex, race, disability, sexual status, religion, culture, age etc. It is all about creating a fairer society through the workplace, or just out at the park. Employers have certain legal regulations to which they must stand by in the fair treatment of any employee; this creates a fairer workplace with no discrimination.

Diversity on the other hand is ‘the recognition of individual differences and that people are not homogeneous. It focuses on the multiplicity of visible and non-visible differences among people’ (Mullins 2010).

The age legislation act came into force in 2006. As an employer of a business, you cannot target people of a certain age for positions that you advertise, and it is not permitted that you refuse to employee someone due to their age. In advertisement, no age preference is permitted and business must be cautious of this fact.

Younger and older people alike tend to have a lot of specific stereotypes about them. Many people hold these stereotypes in and out of the business world and it is unfair to stereotype a person especially for a job role.

Stereotypical views of these generations:

The Younger’s	The Older
·         Unreliable ·         Don’t take job seriously ·         Mess around ·         Liable to have time off ·         Arrogant ·         Rude/obnoxious ·         Slag language used	·         Slow ·         Not efficient enough ·         Rude ·         Cannot work as much as a business may require

Young and Old

Companies should change this attitude especially internally due to the legislation. By employing people in these categories a business can train them in their own rules/ethics so that the there is an equal chance to all, and so that the attitudes towards these younger or older people can be a more positive one. As it is unfair to stereotype and discriminate companies need to emphasise the idea of equality and equal opportunities as the younger person may have an adapt set of skills, and the older person can use good experience of the workplace.

Sainsbury's carried out an extensive recruitment drive in 2005 before the age legislation became law, by making 10,000 full time jobs available for the over 50's. This was a good idea as the older generation were given opportunities to fill these jobs and bring their experiences to Sainsbury's. This also promoted equal opportunity and diversity.

Equality and diversity is important in anyone organisation, the legislation put in place is a positive move as employers should not discriminate anyone. There should be a fair chance to any person, and employees of the business should be treated in the correct manner.

Teamworking!

A working group is a set of individuals who are aware of each other, interact with one another and have a sense that they are a group (Schein, 1988). This is the idea that for successful teamwork, you must cohere into a group.

People live their lives working in teams, and groups and it is often essential to be a successful team. Throughout my life I have been in and out of different teams and groups and often have had a clear goal or outcome, whether it is to win a football match, or complete an assignment.

In March 2011, a group and I performed a Charity event to raise money, but it was also for a module assignment at university. The overall outcome was a massive success and we rose just over £200 and gained good recognition with an overall mark of 57%.

It is very easy to account this team effort to Tuckman’s theory on how groups developed, however I believe that a relevant theory for this group is Gersick’s model for temporary groups. The idea of having only 2 months to create a whole event sounds easy, but it really wasn’t. However that mid-point in the model served the group very well as that is the point where each member put significant amounts of effort into making the event a success. This was aided by the team’s composition (Belbin 1993). Each member had their different characteristic in terms of team working, and this helped the group prevail in the assignment, and helped the group to ‘get on’ and work together well. The main bonus from Belbin’s theory is that the team knew each other, and that there were no personality clashes. We all had clear and defined objectives/goals which aided us in working well together.

During assignment 1, I had a relatively successful group that I was a part of. Tuckman (1973) suggests this idea of group development: Forming, Storming, Norming and Performing.

Did we progress through the 4 stages?

The group that I was a part of already knew each other rather well, which made the Forming (testing) stage easy enough to develop through, and the idea of being comfortable with one another meant that the Storming (infighting) stage wasn’t an obstacle, as people could put forward their views and any conflict was controlled. The Norming (doing) stage is where the group took a stumble. ‘Getting our act together’ and actually doing the work and developing a structure for the work took time as people were seen as ‘lazy’ for the earlier stages of the assignment. However as time drew on the structure of the group became more apparent and everyone worked hard into the Performing (identity) phase and developed a closeness. The group had matured and everyone understood their role within the group which eventually led to the assignment being completed well, and in turn, a satisfying grade handed to us as a group.

Both of these are examples of where I have been directly involved in team working and many of the theorists do have valid studies to show that these stages, and roles are relevant in everyday life. They also do show that to be in a successful team, the group must develop (Tuckman) and that different roles need to be established to prevent a conflict (Belbin).

Personality!

Mullins (2010) states that personality is ‘an individual’s unique set of characteristics and tendencies which shape a sense of self, and what that person does and the behaviour they exhibit’.

Nature v Nurture

One of the biggest debates to modern day man is whether personality is inherited (nature) or developed due to environmental growth (nurture). Nature theorists believe people behave totally on genetic built and natural instincts, disregarding any external factors to growth. Whereas nurture theorists believe that people think and behave in certain ways due to the idea that they are taught to do so, with the natural responses already being there.

The  main difference between the two is that the nature side of the coin believes that DNA is the overall answer, we are born with eye colour and hair colour, however this theory believes that we are also born with traits such as intelligence, anger, emotional value etc, believing that we do not learn any of these traits. Whereas nurture doesn’t discount the idea of genetics in terms of eye colour etc, nurture believes that our behaviour is learned for the environment and how we are brought up, but the traits are ever present in our genetics.

The nomothetic and idiographic approaches to personality are a massive influence today.

Mullins (2010) states that:

Nomothetic – nomothetic approaches to the study of personality that focus on people in general through the analysis of group data. These approaches claim that personality is largely inherited and resistant to change. This clearly favours the nature side of the debate.

Idiographic – idiographic approaches to the study of personality that focuses on understanding the uniqueness of individuals. These approaches regard personality as a process which is open to change. This clearly favours the nurture side of the debate.

A difference in the two:

Nomothetic	Idiographic
·         Fixed personality ·         Statistical studies of groups to determine personality ·         Objective questionnaires used in research ·         Personality types are branded, pre written ·         Prediction of outcome ·         Links to heredity, biology, genetics ·         Traits are the main idea	·         Individualises personality ·         Uniqueness – no one is the same ·         Adaptable, open to changes ·         Influence of social and cultural processes ·         Interaction with environment ·         Self-concept is the main ideal

It’s fair to say that both sides of the debate to have strong points, however for me, it is hard to tell them apart. Yes people inherit traits from parents etc, but it doesn’t take into account the upbringing of that person, and the external influences that can change anyone’s personality. Therefore I believe that they both have aspects to how personality grows in a person and that there isn’t a clear winner of the two in this debate.

Personality is what makes a person and there are many factors to it. However I do not believe that a written test or online test can determine a person’s personality. Personality is unique and trying to frame it in sub-category just doesn’t work for me, I do not believe science can determine personality as a whole and no test can determine it.

Perception and Communication!

Mullins (2010) states that perception is the dynamic and complex way in which individuals select information (stimuli) from the environment, interpret and translate it so that a meaning is assigned which will result in a pattern of behaviour or thought.

Perception is something everyone does, and I have had my own significant experience of perceiving someone and being wrong. I met a girl called Emily, now my girlfriend, it wasn’t always this case. When I met her I was very stereotypical of her and made an incorrect judgement thinking she was ‘annoying’ and childish. This was an incorrect perception as when I finally got to know her I realised she was mature, and very warming to be around, eventually deciding to be boyfriend and girlfriend, I fully realised my judgement was an incorrect one. Next time I meet someone new, I will make sure that I don’t stereotype and that I give the person a chance.

Communication is a vital part of any business, university, football team, anything really that deals with large amounts of people. Having read the article ‘how to improve staff communication’, I have analysed the different options in improving communication and decided on 3 that would help Bucks New University in the communication with students.

1. Keep the personal touch

The idea of keeping a personal value between student and staff is important. Students would much rather appreciate this close relationship with their tutors so that there is more comfort when being around them, and talking to them. The university should consider this way to help communication as it does bring the communication down to a more personal level, where the students may feel more comfortable.

2. Consider your channels

Technological advances in media and in forms of communication can help the university on communicating with students. They already communicate via email and ‘blackboard’, however by bringing in social networking, they can advance on how quick, and successful the communication can be with students, as everyone checks their facebook, twitter etc.

3. Have a shared purpose

The tutors need to engage the students, make them enthusiastic about the course they are doing, and help them in finding that inner want to achieve. By doing this, the atmosphere will be a better one and communication between tutor and student will be massively helped.

Perception of someone can be very wrong, as this is apparent in my scenario, however everyone will perceive something about someone, that cannot be helped, but it is essential not to stereotype and to always give the person a chance.

Communication is a key aspect of any organisation, and in the university, they will always look for better ways to communicate with students. The communication can impact on the work-rate of the student and can motivate them more in engaging fully in their course.

Enterprise week!

The session that I attended in Enterprise week was an Advertisement conference. A young lady named Clair Soweby of UM looked at the social side of internet exploring as a tool for advertisement.

The idea and purpose of this conference was to show the development of ideas in which social media can be a tool for advertisement and how the company she works for is creating a project to begin a socialisation of brands.

Miss Soweby’s role in the organisation was to work out where to target adverts, so market research is done to find where the advert should be targeted. She also gave an insight to how social media tools such as ‘facebook’ will be the most powerful marketing tool of the future. This conference was very educational, and I did gain a good insight into what UM do as a company. They have a project named ‘WAVE 5’ which runs off the Google server and conducts market research into what everyone is doing on the internet daily. This helps businesses that contract UM in discovering there target audience. Many interesting facts were made apparent in this presentation with regards to the future of marketing, and it is a believable prospect that the Google search engine will one day be the leading marketing tool for organisations to use.

I wouldn’t say this presentation has influence my career aspirations, however I would say that it has opened my mind to many new things, and I do now have an interest to research more about the idea of Google being the largest marketing tool in the future. The research I have done on this matter has been very intriguing as I have found that many marketing companies are worrying over this prospect and that the future of marketing could change very soon with the access that Google have across the globe.

Power and Conflict at work!

Conflict arises in an organisation when the objectives of different parties do not match and this is caused from opposing behaviours at the individual, group or organisational level. This conflict is certain behaviour which is intended to stall the achievement of another’s objectives.

Conflict can be the cause of failure, it is however good in certain organisations, but on the whole, it does cause problems, time-wastes, and can be an essential feature in the failure of a project or a whole organisation.

As a 15 year old I was part of a football club, Aylesbury Town FC and the team were in a position of relegation from division 1. With one match left in the season we had to win to stay in division however came short to a 2-0 defeat. It was evident however that conflict between the team was a key reason to this defeat. There was a clear and defined goal, however minutes into the match, one of our players gave away a penalty, which made it 1-0, and received a red card for a dangerous tackle. Automatically, conflict appeared with the other members of the team. Roles in the team were affected and no one really knew what to do with only 10 men on the pitch. This in turn caused many of the team members to become angry, which knocked on to a massive clash of personalities. The goal and red card caused an environmental change, as the match had totally changed, with the opposition at an advantage. To make these conflicts even worse, the opposing side then scored a second minutes before half time, and ‘blame’ was cast upon certain players causing a conflict in the different departments of the team. As we came in for half time, our manager had noticed the conflicts and contributed suggestions and strategies in solving this conflict. Clarifying the individual goals and objectives of each player in the situation of 10 men was key for the manager. He also clearly identified an on the pitch leader to get the team organised as this was essential with one man down. Losing 2-0 was a bad result, however the second half clearly showed that conflict was eliminated as the team were organised and did not concede any more goals.

Power is the ‘level of control or influence a person holds over the behaviour of others with or without their consent’ according to Mullins (2010).

 French and Raven (1959) suggest 5 sources of power among leaders, and their influence over an individual. (http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newLDR_56.htm)

Ø  

Legitimate – This comes from the belief that a person has the right to make demands, and expect compliance and obedience from others. An example of legitimate power would be a CEO or a minister.

Ø     Reward – This results from one person's ability to compensate another for compliance. This is where people ‘in power’ can issue rewards, and if someone expects a reward for what you want them to do, there is a high chance they will do it.

Ø     Expert – This is based on a person's superior skill and knowledge. A specialist is an example of this as people will follow whoever is the leader of the project for example due to the idea that they have the ‘know how’.

Ø     Referent – This is the result of a person's perceived attractiveness, worthiness, and right to respect from others. Celebrities have this power and in the workplace it is the big personality workers that gain this power.

Ø     Coercive – This comes from the belief that a person can punish others for noncompliance. Coercive power revolves around the idea of threats and punishments as an enforcer for an employee to listen and follow their boss.

There are many strategies that organisations can use to overcome conflict in the workplace. Mullins (2010) says although a certain amount of organisational conflict may be seen as inevitable, there are a number of ways in which management can attempt to avoid the harmful effects of conflict.

5 strategies that organisations can use:

Clarification of goals and objectives helps to avoid misunderstandings and conflict among employees. Continually refreshing an employee’s mind on the objectives that are present can avoid conflict between individuals so that they can all coordinate in achieving the goal.

Non-monetary rewards can help avoid conflict in situations where financial resources are limited. This is because the employees have an incentive in working productively as they can maybe win a prize, or get time off etc.

Group activities can help gain cohesiveness among the workforce. If people in the workforce know each other better then they can work together better, this will reduce the chances of conflict happening.

Leadership style of the bosses can prevent conflict, an aggressive authoritive approach to leadership can sometimes cause friction in the workforce, so to prevent any conflict, bosses should use a much more friendly and relaxed approach to leading.

Socio-technical approach to eliminating conflict involves the idea of psychological and social factors being developed in keeping with structural and technical requirements, thus finishing any dysfunctional conflict.

To conclude this blog, it is evident that conflict affects any organisation but it can be helped and prevented. The various sources of power show how people run organisations, and how that can affect an employee’s morale at work. Finally, exploring the strategies to stopping conflict in the workplace shows that there are many different ways in stopping conflict; however each situation may need a different solution.

Organisation culture!

Mullins (2010) claims that organisational culture is ‘the collection of traditional values, policies, beliefs and attitudes that constitute a pervasive context for everything we do and think in an organisation’.

Tesco as an organisation are very strict upon their approach to organisational culture. They work around norms and values to which are based around making customers shopping experience a satisfactory one. One of the biggest aspects of this is Tesco’s motto, ‘Every little helps’. As an employee I personally know and understand the value of this phrase. This motto is there to make customers aware of anything the organisation do; they do for the customer experience, which gives an idea that Tesco’s culture is very much around the consumer’s welfare.

‘I don’t queue’ is a prime example of Tesco’s unwritten norms or values. This phrase is built upon the idea that no customer should queue for a significant period of time, this links in to the general pace of work aspect of visible culture. The company like to have swift, and fast EPOS to allow the ‘I don’t queue’ to happen, therefore giving the customer a much happier time at the store. Again it is evident that Tesco do care about their customers, as a lot of their culture is based around them. However from an external view I can see that these policies do still amalgamate into the idea of maximum profits.

The final visible culture example is the management of Tesco. From an employee’s perspective, it is obvious to me that Tesco do revolve around the customer, each employee is constantly reminded of what to do, and how to approach customers, and that the sale doesn’t finish at the checkout, it finishes only when they become a regular customer with a satisfying service at Tesco.

Handy (1993) created four classifications of culture, power, role, task and person. Which all suit different types of organisational structure.

Ø  Power culture

Usually found in small-entrepreneurial businesses, the power culture is one with few rules and systems, and fast, quick and easy decisions. There are central powerful figures involved in the organisation. This culture is present in local corner shops and other small businesses.

Ø  Role culture

This is typical of a bureaucratic organisation and revolves around specialist people within finance, production, purchasing etc. Power is based around hierarchy level and work is decided via rules and regulations. People work to their job description, this culture is very much like Tesco’s ethos.

Ø  Task culture

Task culture is project/job orientated, where the task is key rather than individual’s or rules. This culture utilises the unifying power of the group and influence is widely spread with a lot of freedom. It is also based on expert power, rather than position, so this figure could change every time. A typical business for this is contractors, e.g. re-fit contractors at a store.

Ø  Person culture

This is where the individual is the central force of the organisation and any structure around the individual exists to serve the individual. There is no hierarchy and the organisations only interest is those within it. This is typical for barristers, builders, architects etc.

Classifying culture in the above four classifications can provide many problems. It doesn’t take personality into account, which can have a significant impact on how the business is run on a managerial level. The four types of culture are very systematic and are ‘by the book’. It doesn’t take into account personal values, or situations outside the workplace that can influence an employee. External and Internal culture can both be changed on a day to day basis, depending on the situation that the organisation is in at the time, therefore classifying them to the different groups is not always the best policy.

The culture of a business is an important aspect of running one. From a CEO to the customer, the culture is always present, and always evident, and an organisation needs the correct culture so that they are able to operate successfully and also satisfy customer needs.

Improving Staff Performance!

As explained in the previous blog, motivation is a driving force in life and in achievement. Content theories of motivation are one side of the coin; the other is the process theories of motivation.

Mullins (2010) says that process theories of motivation are ‘concerned with how behaviour is initiated, directed and sustained, i.e. the actual process of motivation’.

There is a specific difference in content theories and process theories. Mullins (2010) states that the content theories place emphasis on the nature of needs and what motivates, and that the process theories are more concerned with the actual process of motivation. The key difference is the idea that content theories have set stages of needs whereas the process theories look at how the person is actually motivated.

 In an organisation such as Tesco, it is important that staff motivation is high. Due to the nature of the work and the structure of the organisation, alternative theories of motivation are relevant and used.  Vroom’s expectancy theory is relevant for the high level of employees in Tesco, such as managers and head office. At the first-level outcome, the employee will gain recognition for the high productivity and performance and then they may access the second-level outcomes by moving up the Tesco employee ‘ladder’.  On a more visible level, i.e. checkouts at Tesco, the equity theory is more than evident. There are many different roles around the checkouts  at Tesco, and speaking with employees, some feel hard done by due to the fact that the ‘team leaders’ have ‘favourites’ to which they hand out the same roles to. This means that it isn’t giving each individual enough equity within the workplace, this de-motivates the worker. Looking around the Tesco careers website, it became apparent that they have a scheme to bring about goal-setting. Tesco’s values awards give awards to employees who meet targets, impress customer’s and pass the mystery shopper. This is a scenario of the Locke’s goal theory. The goal is set and employees work toward achieving the goal and gain the awards. (http://www.tesco-careers.com/home/working/rewards-and-benefits)

The process theories of motivation definitely improve staff performance as they help to motivate the employees in achieving goals and in working harder for the organisation. Recognition for this also improves the motivation of the employee and does have an impact on the employees output for the company.

Motivation!

Mullins (2008) states that motivation is ‘the driving force within individuals by which they attempt to achieve some goal in order to fulfil some need or expectation’.

Mullins (2008) also states that content theories of motivation ‘attempt to explain those specific things which actually motivate the individual at work and are concerned with identifying people’s needs, the strength of those needs and the goals they pursue in order to satisfy those needs’.

The content theory which has been most relevant to me in my life is ’Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs’.  This theory is about satisfying a person’s needs at different levels. There are 5 levels to this, and they are each of different importance.

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

Physiological needs are somewhat essential for life, safety, to a degree, is also an essential to live a healthy life. Love is another essential feature of life as everyone needs ‘caring’ or ‘belonging’ to a cause. Esteem and Self-actualisation is brought about through achievement and success and is something individuals want, rather that need. This is also referred to the ‘highest point’ of a person’s life. To achieve the top needs, a person must have the lower levels of this hierarchy.

Motivation was a key aspect for my decision to start Business & Sports Management at degree level. It really fills out the Esteem part of this theory. The reason for me being at university is so I can achieve the qualification of a degree, which in turn will help me to self-actualise. Achieving the degree will be beneficial to my future as it will help me to get a good job, and have a successful career. This is my motivation for seeing out the 3 year course. The idea of self-actualising, and reaching the highest point in life really is my motivation for doing this degree course.

Along with the university course, I also have a part-time job at Tesco. There was an opportunity for me to advance in my role at Tesco, and taking a role in the Phone Shop, however a corporate decision to eliminate this position meant that I could not take up the role and this left me de-motivated. When I was denied this opportunity, my esteem was lost, I felt less confident, not very respected, and I didn’t gain the achievement.  According to Hertzberg’s two factor theory, http://www.valuebasedmanagement.net/methods_herzberg_two_factor_theory.html , this would have damaged my ‘motivators’ at the time, affecting my confidence, and especially my own growth and advancement. To regain the motivation for work, my manager re-assured me that if the position became available once more, I would get the first opportunity in taking it. This helped motivate myself once again. There isn’t much that I could have done differently, as it was an external reason for my de-motivation.

Doing this research on my own personal motivation, I have realised that every aspect of my university course and my part-time work relates to motivation in one form or another. The idea of Maslow’s self-actualisation is realistic, everyone needs to be safe, and loved, however everyone wants to achieve the best that they can, and this is also what I feel like I want from this degree. To achieve the highest that one can achieve, they must be motivated to doing it; otherwise it will not be achieved.