Week 24 - final blog! :)

Final blog entry

Provide an example of an interpersonal skill which you feel you have developed during this module.

From the very start of this module I believe I have been able to develop my communication skills. At first I did not know any one so had to be able to communicate with strangers and develop new relationships; this was the first time I had really been with a group of people who I did not know at all, so it was quite a challenge. When I had overcome this first stage of communication I felt it easier to get on with my class mates, but then had to achieve communication on a different level by working with them in a group. I feel like I have developed communication skills whilst working in a group as we all had to be in regular contact to achieve our assignment.

 Reviewing the blogs you have submitted, which was the most challenging to write, and why?

The blog which I found most challenging was Perception and Communication. I found this hard as at first I could not think of an example where I had perceived someone to be something they were not. I found it difficult to write about my own experiences as I had to think quite a long way back when I worked for Waitrose. I also found the second part of this blog challenging as we had to write about an article and discuss how the university could improve communication with students. I think the main reason I found this blog hard was because I left it until quite a while after the lecture to complete it; I believe that if I had done it straight away it would have been clearer in my mind and I would have found it easier.

What would you change, if anything, if you were the module leader? You can consider assignments, lecture content, activities, subjects.  You need to be constructive in your comments and ensure you approach this from the view of the module leader, so a suggestion to have no assignments is not appropriate! 

The two assignments for this module were fine, as they both linked together. I think it is good that one of them was a group piece and the other a reflection of how we worked, so I would not change anything about this. However, I found some of the blogs quite challenging and I was left with a lot to do at the end of the year. Although I know this is my fault, I think the lecturers could have done more to make sure no one was behind on blogs. If I was module leader I would set 1 blog every 2 weeks, but make sure that the deadline for each was at the end of those 2 weeks. This gives students a good amount of time to complete each one easily and makes sure they do it when it is fresh in their mind. If each of the blogs had to be completed within 2 weeks of them being set I know I would not have got behind and I would have had only 1 to complete in this last week, (instead of 5!). This would also make it easier for the lecturers as they would be able to mark them each week rather than have 100s to mark at the end of the year.

A lot of people have mentioned getting rid of blogs altogether, however I think that this is a bad idea as I actually found them quite enjoyable when I got round to doing them and motivated myself. I think they show that students can work independently and they encourage them to turn up to lectures; I have found that the blogs are so much easier when you actually turn up to class and pay attention.

Overall, I think this has been a really fun and interesting module, and I have enjoyed the lectures very much. There is not a lot I would change as I think it has been taught well and has good content. I feel I have done well in People and Organisations and I have gained a lot of skills.

Week 23 - Reward

Reward

 Reward refers to all of the monetary, non-monetary and psychological payments that an organisation provides for its employees in exchange for work they perform; ‘a reward system consists of financial rewards and employee benefits, which together comprise total remuneration’ (Martin et al, 2010). Increasingly organisations are looking at non-financial rewards as a key element of a reward strategy.

Consider your own organisation or one with which you are familiar – how does it reward employees? Does it differ for different groups- how and why? How is ‘fairness’ or ‘equity’ ensured?

John Lewis is a large organisation, which does many things to reward its employees. “Join us and we’ll ensure your job is not only fulfilling and rewarding but suited to the way you work best as an individual” (John Lewis, 2010), this motivates employees by ensuring they are empowered by working ‘the way the work best’, and assures that they will be rewarded for the work they put in.

Ways in which John Lewis reward their employees:

1. Their policy is to pay partners according to the market rate for the job they are doing and as much above that as is justified by performance.

2. An annual bonus where profit is distributed to partners as a percentage of their salary.

3. A non-contributory, final salary pension scheme after three years’ service.

4. After three months' service, all Partners are entitled to discount on most purchases from John Lewis and Waitrose.

5. Paid holiday.

6. Subsidised dining facilities.

7. Holiday and leisure facilities exclusively for partners.

8. Partners can get a 50 per cent subsidy on tickets for the theatre, opera and music performances.

9. The partnership offers business, technical and personal development through a range of flexible opportunities.

10. Partners with more than 25 years' service can take paid leave for six months.

Rewards at John Lewis are generally the same for all employees; for example, every employee gets the same percentage of bonus whether they work on the shop floor or they are a manager. This seems very fair; however it does not encourage employees to work their way up. The only way the reward differs for different groups is that the longer one has been working there, the more rewards they get. For example; if they have been working for over 25 years they get an extra reward of 6 months paid leave. I think John Lewis’ reward system is very fair and equal, as employees only get a better reward if they have worked there for a long time; it is not discriminative towards any one.

Do you think that Chief Executives should still receive large bonuses even if the organisation that they have led has underperformed?

List the arguments for and against this.

For

ü  It usually states in their contract that they are to receive a bonus at the end of the year, therefor it would be illegal to break this contract

ü  They have to work very hard and under a lot of pressure; it cannot just be blamed on them if the organisation has underperformed

ü  If they have worked to their best ability for the company then there could be many other factors as to why they are underperforming

Against

• When the chief executive signs their contract they should be signing to achieve the goals that have been set, therefor if goals aren’t met they should not receive their bous
• It is very frowned upon in the media if chief executives are still getting large bonuses when the rest of the company is suffering
• Reduces initiative and motivation to work hard throughout the year, if large bonus is going to be given out either way

In conclusion, a job as chief executive is very hard, and a person has to be very motivated and strong to get the job in the first place. If the organisation as a whole has underperformed then it cannot all be blamed on one person, therefor they should not be punished. As long as the rest of the employees still get the rewards that they are entitled to then I think the chief executive should still get theirs; if this is not the case, then there will be a large upheaval in the media, which will have negative effects on the company.

References

John Lewis. (2010) Employee benefits. [Online] Available from: http://www.jlpjobs.com/your-career/benefits.htm [Accessed on: 07/05/12]

Godson, J. (2011) Reward PowerPoint presentation. [Online] Available from: https://blackboard.bucks.ac.uk/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_tab_group_id=_32_1&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Flauncher%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_220600_1%26url%3D [Accessed on 07/05/12]

Week 22 - performance management

“Performance management is 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).  By managing performance of staff, managers can easily see who is working well and who is not, therefore will be able to fix the problem. Performance needs to be measured in order to improve the organisation; “Involvement and motivation is likely to increase how productive employees are,” Locke (1968).

An appraisal refers to the classification of someone or something with respect to its worth; or an expert estimation of the quality, quantity, and other characteristics of someone or something (Anon, 2009).

Describe an appraisal you have had at work.  Was it effective?  What were the outputs of the meeting?

When I worked for Waitrose they carried out an appraisal every 6 months. This appraisal consisted of one of our line managers watching how we worked and tracking our progress. They would then complete a score card which scored us out of 5 for various factors relating to our jobs. When this was completed the line manager would organise a one-to-one meeting in which they would explain our progress, what we were doing well, and what we could improve on. This process was very effective as it allowed employees to have an understanding of how well they were working. The outputs of the meeting were that employees felt valued for what they had achieved and what they were doing well; but also felt motivated to improve on factors that they were deficient in.

Read the article on the next page from The Times on mentoring.  What skills do you think are required to be an effective mentor?

I believe that an effective mentor needs to be able to communicate well. They need to be able to give clear and concise advice to the people who they are mentoring, and be positive. They also need to be patient and be able to explain things until the person understands well. A mentor needs to have a lot of skill and knowledge in the subject that they are teaching, and they need to be confident; a person will only seek advice from someone who has credibility and knows what they are doing. Finally, I think that a good mentor needs to be able to give good feedback and constructive criticism; they need to be able to tell the person how they can improve and what they are doing wrong, but also what they are doing well to boost their confidence.

Identify someone from your college/uni, school, work, social life who has been a mentor to you.  How have they affected your life?

One person who has been a mentor to me in my life was my form tutor in secondary school. Each student had scheduled one-to-one meetings with our tutor so this regularity helped them gain trust, which is a step towards being a good mentor. My tutor helped me by asking me questions about various things, from my school work to how things were getting on at home; this made her a successful mentor as I felt I could open up and ask her advice on anything, even if it was not related to school. She also told me anecdotes about when she was at school, making it a less- formal chat. She has affected my life by giving me advice on a range of skills; she helped me become more confident by mentoring me on speaking aloud in front of many people.

Overall, I think appraisals and mentoring can be very effective. It gives employees a chance to ask questions and find out how well they are doing. Some people may argue that they are bad as faults are pointed out; however, I think this is a good thing because it can motivate people to improve themselves. I think if an appraisal is done correctly, and combined with reward; it can increase productivity and encourage employees to work harder.

References

Anon (2009) Word definitions. [Online] Available from: http://www.wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn [Accessed on 06/05/12]

Lock (1968) Goal setting theory. [online] Available from: http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/256137?uid=3738032&uid=2129&uid=2&uid=70&uid=4&sid=47698975244287

Chacko, T, 1983. Locke's theory of goal setting. Academy of management journal, vol. 26.

week 16 - flexible working

Flexible working

Flexible working has become a lot more popular in recent years; it is when an employee can work hours which suit them. An example of flexible working is a parent working around school hours so as to be able to collect their child from school. There are many different types of flexible working to suit different people, and many companies use these techniques to boost staff motivation and productivity.

Identify 3 companies who offer flexible working.  Try to include different forms of flexibility, eg part-time, zero hours, using contractors, working from home.

John Lewis is one example of a company which has flexible hours available to its staff. A career break scheme was introduced to enable staff to take an unpaid break from work of up to 12 months in the knowledge that their service continues and that they have a job to return to (Smith, 2009). This enables employees to do certain things, like go travelling, with the security of knowing that they have a job at the end of it. This can be beneficial to John Lewis as employees may decide to take a year out to further their education or gain new experiences. It also gives people a good incentive to work for them.

Tesco also offers a flexible working scheme but in a different way. They try to make sure everyone can work in a way that suits their circumstances by offering flexible working such as: offering part-time roles, encouraging job-sharing opportunities and shift-swapping where possible, Tesco (2012).

Another company who offer flexible working is Johnson & Johnson. For example; my mum works for them and has chosen to work from home every Wednesday and has chosen hours which suit her. They are also lenient when it comes to having odd days off fir appointments, etc. Another perk of working for Johnson & Johnson is that after 25 years of working for them they offer the chance to take 6 months paid leave.

Explain the different types of flexibility. 

The different types of flexible working have been described on the Direct Gov. website to make people more aware of it; it means that some people who think they cannot work because of other responsibilities, can in fact work. Here are some examples of different forms of flexibility from the Direct Gov. website:

Flexitime
Flexitime allows you to choose, within agreed limits, when to start and end your working day. You work a standard core time, but you can vary your start, finish and break times each day.

Homeworking
Homeworking is where you work all or part of your contracted hours from home. It allows you to spend all or part of your working week doing your job from home or a different location to your workplace.

Term-time working
This is where your work follows school term patterns. You work as normal during term-time then during school holidays you don't go to work but you are still employed. For example you could choose not to work during school holidays in order to care for your children.

Structured time off in lieu
Structured time off in lieu is where you agree to work longer hours during periods of peak activity or demand. These extra hours are recorded and you can then take the time off (with pay) at a less busy time.

Compressed hours
Compressed hours are where you work your agreed hours over fewer days. For example, instead of working a 35 hour week over five days, you could ask to work the same number of hours over four days.

Part-time working
Part-time working means you are contracted to work less than your normal full-time hours. You normally agree with your employer which hours you work.

Annualised hours
Annualised hours average out your working time across the year so that you work a set number of hours per year rather than per week. Normally, they are split into core hours that are worked each week and unallocated hours that can be used for peaks in demand.

Job-share
Job-sharing is where you work part time either, part day, part week or part year and share the duties and responsibilities of a full-time position with another part-time worker. You agree the hours between you and then share the workload, decision making, problem solving and sometimes staff supervision.

Staggered hours
Staggered hours are where you and your workplace colleagues have different start, finish and break times, allowing your employer to cover longer opening hours. It is essentially a shift system.

Advantages to employers

By providing employees with the opportunity to work flexible hours, employers will find that they are more motivated and have higher productivity. Allowing them to work to their own schedule will mean lower rates of absence and lower staff turnover. It will also increase the number of people who want to work for their company.

Advantages to employees

Some employees may be able to work when before they could not; if the job offers hours which suits them around their other responsibilities then they will be able to work. It will also mean that they are happier at work and willing to work harder. New mothers will be able to go back to work early if they need to, and homeworking would be a good opportunity for them to earn money. Overall, flexible working offers a lot of opportunities and advantages for both employees and employers, however there are some disadvantages.

Disadvantages of flexible working

·        It may be harder for flexible workers to keep up to date because they may not be in constant contact with their manager

·        They will need to have the right equipment, resources and space if working from home to allow them to work efficiently

·        If employers allow workers to choose their hours they may be a period in which no one wants to work

·        It may be hard for line managers to keep track of who is working when

The different forms of flexibility are:

¡  Locational Flexibility - Employed to work in one place but can be asked to work somewhere else, or homeworking

¡  Temporal flexibility - Altering work hours to enable more efficient use of labour eg staff working longer hours at sale time

¡  Numerical flexibility - Increase or decrease headcount to meet customer needs eg take on extra staff at Christmas

¡  Functional Flexibility - Employees are multi- skilled and can switch between jobs eg at supermarkets

¡  Financial flexibility - Pay and reward differs between groups of employees eg part time and full time get different benefits

I think that the most efficient forms of flexibility would be temporal and numerical. They are both good because they mean that staff can be used to the best advantage by the company by only employing the amount of people that they need at a certain time. This means the company will not lose money by having to pay employees which are not necessarily needed. However, it may not be popular with the employees as they would not have any work at quieter times, therefore not being paid.

In conclusion, flexible working has a lot of advantages for the company and the employees, however it needs to be controlled and only certain factors should be flexible. If the company is too lenient they may lose out on money or may find themselves with too little employees at particular times.

References

Direct Gov. (2012) Types of flexible working. [online] Available from: http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Employment/Employees/Flexibleworking/DG_184872 [Accessed on 06/05/12]

Smith, K. (2009) Flexible working case study [online] Available from: http://www.bitcdiversity.org.uk/best_practice/exemplar_employers/flexible_working/case_studies/jlp.html [Accessed on: 06/05/12].

Tesco. (2012) Why join us. [online] Available from: http://www.tesco-careers.com/home/working/why-join-tesco [Accessed on: 06/05/12].

Week 15 - CSR

According to Nancy Lee and Philip Kotler, corporate social responsibility (CSR) is “a commitment to improve community well-being through business practices and contributions of corporate resources.” However it also extends to being: “the continuing commitment by businesses to behave ethically and contribute to economic development while improving the quality of life of the workplace as well as the local community and society at large; a company’s obligation to be accountable to all of its stakeholders in all its operations and activities (including financial stakeholders as well as suppliers, customers, and employees) with the aim of achieving sustainable development not only in the economic dimension but also in the social and environmental dimensions,” Brown, (2009).

One company that demonstrates CSR well is The Body shop, founded by Anita Roddick in 1976. Some ways in which they carry out CSR are as follows: firstly, “the soul of beauty”, meaning that they produce products to make their customers feel good and have a sense of wellbeing. Secondly, “our incredible planet; our commitment to seeking and sustaining natural materials and ingredients, and using all our planet’s resources wisely, guides our approach to business. We set challenging environmental targets, which we detail in our bi-annual Values Reports. We were one of the first to make a stand against animal testing in the cosmetics industry, and through The Body Shop Foundation, we continue to fund organisation’s campaigning to end the needless suffering of animals,” The Body Shop are demonstrating good practice in protecting our environment, with also giving something back to it. Being against animal testing is also very good use of CSR and it keeps a lot of customers happy. The final way in which they use CSR effectively is: “the community of people.” They believe that people are at the heart and soul of their business; therefore they aim to treat everyone fairly and value their integrity. They also have campaigns for human rights, and say that they “are not afraid to champion the vulnerable and the disadvantaged.”

By doing all of these things, The Body Shop are successfully demonstrating CSR, meaning that they are doing well by the environment and giving something back to the community. They are working ethically and fairly towards everyone and are free from discrimination. Carrying out good CSR can have a lot of benefits for a company; it gives them a good reputation therefore increasing customer base and sales. “Some customers don't just prefer to deal with responsible companies, but insist on it” (Anon, 2009); The Co-operative, for instance, place a strong emphasis on its CSR and publishes detailed reports on its performance - from animal welfare to salt levels in its pizzas. By doing this customers feel as though they are more informed and are not being lied to or deceived at all, therefore are more in favour of the company. This, in turn, will all lead to more sales for the company; so the money which is spent on CSR is all worth it.

References

Anon. (2009) [online] Avialable from: http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/bdotg/action/detail?itemId=1075408491&type=RESOURCES [Accessed on 04/05/12]

Lee, N. and Kotler, P. (2005) CSR: doing the most good for your company [online] Available from: http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=ViZ4OHRZULIC&pg=PA27&lpg=PA27&dq=Corporate+social+responsibility+is+a+%E2%80%98commitment+to+improve+community+well-being+through+business+practices+and+contributions+of+corporate+resources.%E2%80%99+(Philip+Kotler,+Nancy+Lee,+2005).&source=bl&ots=NubGrNozE2&sig=Hniyoi4Dn7nblNWVOJj0XQRZE8w&hl=en&sa=X&ei=ZcijT43zEe724QT989W8CQ&ved=0CFYQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=Corporate%20social%20responsibility%20is%20a%20%E2%80%98commitment%20to%20improve%20community%20well-being%20through%20business%20practices%20and%20contributions%20of%20corporate%20resources.%E2%80%99%20(Philip%20Kotler%2C%20Nancy%20Lee%2C%202005).&f=false [Accessed on: 04/05/12]

Brown, F. (2009) Sustainability dictionary [online] Available from: http://www.clevelandcarbonfund.org/resources/sustainability-dictionary/ [accessed on: 04/05/12]

http://www.thebodyshop.com/_en/_ww/services/aboutus_finances.aspx

Week 9 - percention and communication

When I successfully applied for my job at Waitrose, at first I did not think I would get on with my colleagues as I thought they would be bossy, know-it-all’s because they had been working there a lot longer than me. I thought that they would look down on me and think that I was not as good as them because I had only just started. However, when I actually had my first day working at Waitrose, I realised that most of my colleagues had also only just started, so we were all in the same boat. The other employees who had been working there for longer were also a lot different to how I had perceived them; they were in fact really kind and helpful, and willing to guide me in my first few weeks of working in the store. When I got settled down I realised I had had a completely wrong perception of my colleagues at first, and that perception is not always reality. A person has to have an open mind to gather the necessary knowledge needed for a valid judgement to be made.

Read the article below on “How to Improve Staff Communication.  Using the recommendations from the article, identify 3 ways in which the university can improve communication with the students.

As mentioned in the article, everyone needs to have a shared purpose. This means that the students need to know that the lecturers are on the same page, and that the shared goal is for them to leave university with a degree. To communicate this to the students they could make a short video to be shown at the start of the academic year. Video can be very powerful when trying to convey a message and can be a quick and easy way to get people motivated, the main message in the video would be that the university wants the students to walk away with a degree as much as they themselves do.

As much as 85% of students use Facebook (Arrington, 2005); therefore it would be an excellent idea for the university to start using Facebook too. One idea would be to make a Facebook group for each module, where students can share ideas and ask questions about that specific module and the assignments that they have been set. Students should also be encouraged to make their own Facebook page when participating in group work. This, alongside Blackboard, would make communication between students and lecturers a lot more efficient.

My final way in which I believe the university can improve its communication is to engage its students more; “The CIPD has identified three main drivers of employee engagement: having the opportunity to feed your views upwards; feeling well informed about what is happening in your organisation; and believing your manager is committed to the organisation,” Clake (2010). Therefore I believe there should be an easier way for students to express their views; this could be as simple as a suggestion box (Waddington, 2010). There should also be an easier way for the university to inform students of what is going on, as they do not always check Blackboard for updates. This is where Facebook is useful again, as all students would get notifications for events and other things that are happening.

References

http://www.peoplemanagement.co.uk/pm/articles/2010/07/how-to-improve-staff-communication.htm

Arrington, M. (2005) [online] Available from: http://techcrunch.com/2005/09/07/85-of-college-students-use-facebook/ [accessed on: 04/05/12]

Waddington, A. (2010) how to improve communication. [online] Available from: http://documents.manchester.ac.uk/display.aspx?DocID=8436 [accessed on: 04/05/12]