HR Planning

A Human resources management is the approach to achieving the goals of an organisation through the management of providing and deploying human resources and the promotion of employee communication as well as the involvement and development throughout the organisation.
Human resources management or personnel function of an organisation covers a variety of activities. The term human resources management has been replaced by the old fashion word personnel that was used in the past.
Business have to plan carefully to ensure they have the right number of suitable employees for their needs and to do this they need a good understanding of the labour market in the areas where they operate. You need to consider the effects of the following labour market factors for human resources planning: local employment trends, local skills shortage, competition for employees, and availability of labour.
Human resources planning also involves looking at how labour is organised within the business. You need to understand why businesses must take account of a range of factors when making decisions about their internal staffing. The factors include labour turnover, sickness and accident rates, age skills and training, succession.
The types of work covered within human resources are policy making where major polices are established that cover the place and importance of people in the organisation, Welfare role this is helping functional mangers to develop their work for example training, appointments, recruitment and selection, working conditions, training and career development, job evaluation, employee relations, manpower planning and legal aspect of employment.
Human resources planning is a systematic approach to ensure that the right people will be in the right place at the right time as well as using them well and developing them in order to meet the goals of the organisation. In order to meet the organisations aims successfully. It is important to identify the means of using people in the most effective way and to identify any problems that are likely to occur for example during recruitment making sure the best candidates are selected.
The reasons why it is vital for organisation to have HR plans are so it helps to satisfy the individual needs of the employees for the promotions transfers, salary enhancement, better benefits, It helps in planning for physical facilities, working conditions, the volume of fringe benefits like canteen, schools, hospitals, conveyance, child care centres, quarters, company stores etc. It causes the development of various sources of human resources to meet the organizational needs.
It helps to take steps to improve human resource contributions in the form of increased productivity, sales, turnover etc. It facilitates the control of all functions, operations, contribution and cost of human resources.
The main reasons what HR may need to plan are for recruitment and selection, training, career progression, transfers and redevelopment and succession planning.
It is very important to monitor the effectiveness of HR within an organisation and if they didn’t do this then the problems that this would cause are that the level of employee satisfaction would be affected and this is where stability indexes and wastage rate are so important. If the employees have been trained and been explained the company’s rules and regulation through HR, then they are most likely to turn up for work. Levels of stress and stress-related absenteeism would also be reduced.
Using Rodger’s seven point person specification (in Foot and Hook), below I will design a person specification for a university lecturer but before this a Rodgers seven point person specification contains the following points that are essential.
1. Physique, dress and appearance
2. Attainments
3. General intelligence
4. Special aptitudes
5. Interests
6. Disposition
7. Circumstances



If Waitrose were considering opening a new store in High Wycombe, the key labour questions they would need to ask would be the following:
How much they are likely to pay their staff as there is already competition from Asda, Morrison, and how they would make them feel valuable in the organisation. This could overcome by offering a partnership percentage to all the staff members,
To check if the area has any skill shortage so it will actually be beneficial to open a store here where the local needs can be met as well as well as providing them a new shopping facilities and area.
Unemployment levels- Are there any job available for students and new graduates any scheme to help them work in the field they have graduated. According to the http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/economics/article5932206.ece website it has been said that Unemployment level 'will rise to 3.3m by end of 2010.
Patterns of employment- when is the demand higher of employment for example summer jobs, Christmas.
Government initiatives for example do they offer modern Apprentice scheme to help students.
Overall I have come to a Conclusion that HR planning is very important as it involves planning, resourcing and retention it also helps to control for example the effective manpower system, links to performances management information e.g. training and development needs, measuring recruitment and selection campaigns. These will have a major impact on organisation and HR.
Reference:
Lecture notes week 15
http://www.cipd.co.uk/subjects/maneco/general/rolefrntlinemngers.htm (Accessed 13 April 2010)
http://www.wycombe.gov.uk/council-services/business/economic-development.aspx (Accessed 13 April 2010)

Role of the Line Manager

Line managers are departmental or unit managers who have responsibilities for the operational functions directly related to the purpose and aims of the organisation. The form a hierarchical level in the chain of command throughout the organisation structure, Line managers tend to report straight higher management for the activities within their own department and for its operational efficiency. Line manager are responsible for the management of their own staff and have the authority and control over staff, however even though line managers are specialist in their own area of work they are not specialist on human resources management.
The five benefits and drawbacks of line managers being more involved in HR activities are as follow:
The benefits are that if the personnel functions are to be effective there has to be good team working and co-operation and consultation between line managers and the HR managers.
By devolving responsibility for HR practices to line managers, organisations will have a closer relationship between line managers and employees with speedier decision-making and more effective resolution of workplace problems.
By devolving responsibility for HR issues, line managers are provided with an opportunity to engage with day-to-day people management decision-making, while HR specialists can work on achieving closer alignment of an organisations systems and processes with corporate objectives, while remaining aware to external environmental changes.
Greater Degrees of Responsibility & Task Variation, there will be a close Relationships with Employees.

The Drawbacks would be as follow:
More support will be needed to provide to line managers to enable them to effectively take on new HR responsibilities.
This could cause confusion and conflict with HR specialists and line managers.
Lack of Training & Support may be provided depending on the Organisation costs. There will be Excess Workload and a lot more Political Pressures

Below I used the CIPD website
http://www.cipd.co.uk/subjects/maneco/general/rolefrntlinemngers.htm

The skills that I feel line managers need to develop in order to effectively manage people are to get closer with staff and take time out to talk to them and make them feel valued for their work, to deal with difficult situations including conflict effectively, providing motivation and to inspire others. To show full commitment and confidences in the role, which they are given, Take matters future up instead of leaving them or avoiding them and providing straight feedback. To build trusts relationship with workers and the organisation. The reasons why I feel these are important are because I feel not enough action gets taken if employees have problems the problems get neglected and then from there staff feel unvalued and decide to leave as they feel they are not being noticed within the organisation. It is also important to bring values to life that will be meaningful to the organisation therefore to help make your company values more than good words behaviour and commitment is utmost important.

Ways in which line managers at my work place are developed are by carrying out regular appraisal training programs, going to off the job training centres where they get trained by professions.
They set targets and with them they give prizes that motivate us and set clear objectives and expectations that make us want to achieve them. My managers give out feedbacks sheet to the staff to see how they feel and what could be done to improve. Regular acknowledgment is given which makes us feel important and more valued. My line manager listens with empathy and help, to agree and sort out any problems and issues.

The Job roles that are needed for an HR Manager are to be aware of local, state and federal employment guidelines, manage payroll issues, maintain employees record, complete and record and to assist employees and to understand them, they are also involved in retraining or training new employees or existing employees or answering questions that employees may have on policies or procedures within the company. To provide workplace safety, employee absenteeism and any health issues also to resolve any conflict.
Common work activities include:
· Posting advertisements for new employees in newspapers, on the internet or in trade specific magazines. Contacting employment services or even executive recruiters for very specialized postings.
· Ensuring all record keeping with regards to workman's compensation, health and medical insurance, and other state and government regulations is completed as required.
· Overseeing the human resources department staff and handling all issues involving employee complaints or questions that cannot be answered by other staff.
· Managing office or agency health, safety and mental health and well-being issues.
· Working with employers and employees in training and in-service presentations as required.
· Hiring, supervising, training, monitoring and firing of staff.
Taken from
http://www.jobprofiles.org/bushrmanager.htm (accessed on 20 March 2010)

I personally feel that my skills are more suited to be a HR Manager rather then a Line Manager this is mainly because of my personality I have which is to be very understanding which allows me to communicate well with others, people tend to listen and take on my advice rather then feeling as I am looking down on them, I am very organised and good at planning and taking actions, I can be very encouraging to team members and will not let them down and am most likely to deal with any complaints at a higher level straight away. Therefore I feel I will adapt better being given the role of a HR manager.

Overall I think that both Line managers and HR managers are equally important to any organisation as the organisation highly relies on them and will not be able to manage without them,



Reference:

http://www.cipd.co.uk/subjects/maneco/general/rolefrntlinemngers.htm (Accessed 20 March 2010)
http://www.hse.gov.uk/stress/roles/yourteam.htm(Accessed 20 March 2010)

Lecture Notes week 14

Teamworking

Teams are an important part of the successful running of the business or an event. Team forming is when teams go through a pattern of development and this is explained below these are the stages in which teams may go through. (Tuckmans Model).
Stage 1: Forming- This stage is when we came together as a group not knowing what exactly to do but discussion was made about the objectives and composition of the group. At this stage team members begin to establish their roles within the team to seek recognition and position.
Stage 2: Storming- At this stage we began to exchange ideas and views, but as yet there is little structure to the group, and there are no clear plans to take the group forward.
Stage 3: Norming- The group begins to share ideas, a leadership pattern was beginning to develop, and the group starts to a give set of ideas to each other.
Stage 4: Performing- At this stage a clear organised pattern was established, which is based on a mutual respect, the sharing ideas and the drawing out of plans and proposals from all members of the team.
Stage 5: Dorming- this is when we become to comfortable with your team members and you don’t really take work much seriously and you become too nice.
Teams area more than a group of individuals, they are based on co-operation, shared endeavours and recognition of the importance’s of the team to all its members. Reasons why some people may form groups are to help carry out aims and objectives in which to achieve a goal which we did for our motivation presentation.
Teams can be managed more effectively than many individuals each doing their own thing. Working in a team can increase commitment and motivation; people in a group are likely to feel a commitment to that group and want to work for the success of the group, it is an understanding of and commitment to group goals on the part of all team members. When holding any event working in a team is very important and there can be many types of benefits and limitations. When working in a team you need to make sure everyone feels equal and involved, you also need to make sure there is:
Quality, Flexibility, Coordination, Satisfaction and Development and Productivity/Cost.
An example of a time where I have worked in a team where it was successful was when we held the Charity event for Haiti, this was an Asian food stall where we set up a stall and offered henna painting, fresh arisen food and raffle tickets. The Actual event went smoothly as everyone came together really well in the end and put in a joint team effort as we listened to each other and helped out without having major problems even though we were one team member down on the day we still managed to raise a lot of money and make it successful with everyone joint team work,I think that the meetings helped our team working to be successful as this everyone felt involved more flexible and everyone got to have their own say. The disadvantage of working in a tem was that some team members were not serious or focused at certain times. I think everyone discussed everything properly, and solved any problems that arose. At times we did have disagreements and found it hard to make decisions but it all worked out in the end.
Dr. Bruce Tuckman introduced the idea that groups develop in a sequences. He therefore published his Forming, Storming, Norming and Performing model in order to help teams. This was the four-stage model he created but later on added a fifth stage, I will be using and relating this Model with the group I worked with for my presentation and will describe how it fits in with my team. These are also similar to other models such as: Tannenbaum and Schmidt Continuum and especially with Hersey. The first group work assignment that was carried out was a group presentation on Motivation and the members that I worked with were Gagan, myself and Tyler.
Below I will review my group that I worked with and how I felt they worked within the team.
Rabia-I felt that being a team worker meant that I was socially oriented and allowed people to talk to me easily as I am an easy communicator who listen well and I feel that I have a rather mild and relaxed personality who can sorts out any problems and can get the work done in on time and effectively, but one of my weakness is that I can be indecisive which I do agree with as I allow others to make decision if I am not exactly sure but can take the lead to make decision at any moment of crisis.
Gagan- I felt that Gagan fitted in well with her role as I do strongly feel she is a Team worker as she has a socially oriented personality and she was co-operative with the rest of the team members and listened to each other but her weakness was to panic at times and also be very indecisive.
If Tyler did conduct the questionnaire then I felt that he would have been a Resource investigator this is because he was enthusiastic, curious and communicate with the team members and he explored opportunities with each other but his weakness were that he was lost interest with the group as soon as the work was done and he was unable to be contacted I felt that he was slightly laid back but over all he helped get the work done effectively on time.
Over I think that as we already knew each other we didn’t go through all the stages from the start I felt that we already had a good interaction with each other so therefore we already started on Norming stage this was because we were getting organised, developing new skills and trying to competence the assignment, I felt that knowing the team members was an advantages as we knew how they already work and what they are looking for which was a benefit to each other but an disadvantage was getting to friendly and being laid back was an issue to. I have come to a conclusion that my team members worked well with each other we all had good communication with one another and sorted out any issues quickly and without any problems.
The link below is to “The Times Top 100 companies to work for” I will review 2 companies where teamwork has been identified as a major contributory factor to their success
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/career_and_jobs/best_100_companies/
The two that I have chosen are Nandos and Boots, The reason why I have chosen Nandos is because from my research it shows that has happy employees that rank it to be the best big company to work for in the UK this shows that employees are happy within the organisation which is a very key to becoming a successful company. It also shows that Nando's came second for Leadership (75%) and attained third place positions for Fair Deal (61%). Both managers and employees have the same set values and the managers believe in their staff, which is a key motivator. Employees say they love working for Nando's, giving an 80% positive score, they agree that there is a strong sense of family in their teams (81%) and not only feel that managers care about them as individuals (79%), but say they also talk openly and honestly with them (82%). Decisions are not always made from the top, they will listen to everyone in the company. Employees also feel that managers help them fulfil their potential managers share important knowledge and information, they listen and motivate. The reasons why I have chosen Boots was because it has kept students and has recognised them through out their education after them completing their degree and then offering them a management training route which moved them up within the organisation, it has shown that team-working in Boots has been very positive as everyone gets on well with each other as well working together in the same direction for the same achievement. From this research I have identified that yet again Boots have kept teenagers who work Saturdays and has worked for the firm ever since and after some picking a pharmacy degree along the way they were given the certificate awarded to staff for long service. I feel that this is a major factor which have kept staff going and allowed them to progress further on, this is a motivator to motivate them that there are a lot more opportunities and employees and managers will help them achieve that level. Boots has a strong brand image and provides a great services to customer this was shown by giving a questionnaire that scored 82%. It has been said that if you want to progress you got the opportunity. Staffs believe that they are paid fairly for the work they do and are very satisfied overall as they are able to balance work commitments with family ones.
Conclusion
Overall team-working is very useful for every organisation as it helps them to progress together which allows them to achieve a lot more goals, agree and get tasks done a lot more quicker, everyone gets to have their own say and the support and motivation helps and encourages each other to do well and to overcome any problems.
Reference
v Clegg, S, Kornberger,M. and Pitsis, T. (2008) Managing and Organizations: An Introduction to Theory and Practice, London: Sage
v Knights, D. and Willmott, H. (Eds.) (2006) Introducing Organisational Behaviour and Management. London, Thompson.
v Mullins, L. (2007) Management and Organizational Behaviour. 8th Ed.
v Class lecture notes from week 12
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/career_and_jobs/best_100_companies/

Organisation and Management Theory

Organisation and Management theory has been broken down into many elements such as Classical school, which includes scientific management and Bureaucracy. Human Relations school which includes the Hawthorne experiments such as Elton Mayo, Maslow Herzberg, Mc Gregor. Systems theory of organisations and lastly the contingency plan that is based on ‘it depends’ and the role of theory,

Management Theory is important as it helps to view the interrelationship between the development of theory, behaviour in organisations and management practise.
An understanding of the development of management thinking helps in understanding principles underlying the process of management.

The two case studies that I will be looking at are John Lewis and House of Fraser.

The two theories that I have chosen to relate them with are Human Relations School and Contingency Theory.

Human Relation School theory, was introduced by Mayo he believed that workers are not just concerned with money but could be more motivated by having their Social needs met while at work this was something that Taylor ignored, the Human Relation School of thought was introduced to be focused on managers taking more of an interest in the workers by treating them fairly and interacting with them so they feel valued.
The company that I feel best fits in with the Human relation theory is House of Fraser this is because House of Fraser is a large British PLC organisation which is well recognised, it is very important that they make sure they keep a high level of continuous customer services, in order to acquire this it is important to keep the staff motivated so they can deliver good customers this will also mean staff will perform better and there will be more productivity which will resort in happy, satisfied customers and a good business image for the organisation over all as well as repeat business.
House of Fraser keeps its staff motivated by providing a basic pay which increase after 6months, it provides a highly pleasant working conditions for both the employees and the customers, it also provides a café and a restaurant in which you can receive up to 10% discount as you can see these are the basic Physiological needs. The company benefits such as commission if a store card is opened , pensions scheme, Voluntary benefits and discounted deals as well paying staff if they go on training and meetings away from the store your transport fare will be paid as well as 20% off on staff card, Managers and staffs from different concessions get together and organise a night out so they can all be relaxed in a friendly atmosphere to enjoy them self and build better relations outside work. As you can see the Human Relations School theory fits in well with House of Fraser as there are large benefits packs available as well as training and development to make you feel welcomed and a lot more inner opportunities to move up in the organisation.

Contingency theory is a class of behavioural that claims that there is no best way to organise a corporation to lead a company or to make decisions as it all suggests ‘ it all depends’ According to Mullins (2007) so there is not ‘one best way’ of organising and managing a company, a suitable approach needs to be found to ‘fit’ the circumstances.
Some examples of such constraints include: the size of the organisation, how the firm adapts itself to its environment, assumptions of managers about employees and the technologies being used. This also means that there is no ‘single best way’ to manage and organise.
The contingency approach, large number of variables that influence a persons motivation. These theories all have factors that relate to the work place (Mullins L. 2005).
As John lewis is a large organisation which is public lmited company and it belongs to its employees as a group, it is the largest partnership and if one off the Uk’s top ten retail business therefore it is very important that the organisation keeps its employees and consumers happy. For my research I have looked at how the contingency theory fits in with John Lewis and as you can see below is a link.

http://www.internetretailing.net/2009/10/john-lewis-assures-customers-royal-mail-strike-wont-affect-deliveries/

In the link above it shows that John Lewis have issued a statement which assures consumers that their online orders will not be affected by the Royal Mail strikes as John Lewis has drawn up robust contingency plan to mitigate the impact of ongoing regional and threatened national postal strike by Royal Mail staff as we can see that John Lewis has made it clear that this will not have any affect on there organisation in anyway. And as we can see this is the suitable approach that needs to be found to ‘fit’ the circumstances at that time.

These includes:
securing arrangements with alternative carriers and encouraging the use of Click and Collect, which is now available in all John Lewis branches and in Waitrose Tonbridge and Hexham.
“To minimise costs we have worked with our existing next day carriers to introduce new services such as 48- and 72-hour delivery,” says Victoria Clarke, operations manager, johnlewis.com.
Click and Collect — where customers can pick up products ordered online in shops — is also providing “an excellent contingency”, she says.
This week most Royal Mail services were reported to be operating normally, but there were delays in areas such as London and Bristol.
Some consumer groups are advising those customers planning to buy Christmas gifts online or by mail order to do so sooner rather than later and to check final delivery date. (This has been taken from the link above).

The pros and cons of scientific management that I have thought of are the following:

The advantages are that work is simplified and carried out in the most economical and efficient manner, so there the relationship between managers and subordinate is harmonious.
Management tell the employees what they must do and therefore conflicts are mainly avoided and if they do not like this they can leave. It develops the
It helps to increase the productivity and efficiency of work, which has a positive impact on profits and production.
This type of management is also good for employees who start getting higher salaries than before as the higher wages and different incentives plans will increase the standard of production. Which means standard of production leads higher turnover and profits.
Individuality and variety of the workers are not recognised.

Disadvantages are that scientific managers practically ignores the human element and the view on an employee is quite simplistic since Taylor limits interests and needs of employees only by financial stimuli.
Taylorism can easily be used abused to exploit human beings for example this can cause conflict with labour unions.
It is not useful to deal with groups or teams as it does not take into account the ideas and suggestions of workers.
The scientific management tends to treat people like machines and not human beings, there is a rush to finish work off which means it leaves no room for individual preferences or initiative.

Over all I have come to a conclusion that scientific management is very important for any type of business as it aims to improve new and improved methods to help organisation.
The general approach of Scientific Management includes selection of work force with appropriate abilities for specific tasks, training, planning, wage incentives for increasing output and standard method of performing each job.
I believe that money is not everything and for a good organisation to be successful managers must meet and understand employees needs in order to keep them happy so they deliver good services as they will feel valued.

Appendix

The pro and cons of scientific management
http://www.netmba.com/mgmt/scientific/ (accessed 27th April 2010)

Week 11 lecture notes

http://www.internetretailing.net/2009/10/john-lewis-assures-customers-royal-mail-strike-wont-affect-deliveries/ (accessed 27th April 2010)

http://www.houseoffraser.co.uk/on/demandware.store/Sites-hof-Site/default/Page-Show?cid=HoF_9.0II_CAREERS_AT_HOUSE_OF_FRASER (accessed 27th April 2010)

Power and Conflict

Conflict is present where there is an incompatibility of goals arising from the opposing behaviours at the individual, group or organisation level. Conflict is behaviour intended to obstruct the achievement of some other person goals.

The objectives of any organisation should be designed to ensure that they are meet, the needs of both the company and the individual. If these are not met conflict may occur. Causes or sources of organisational conflict can be many and varied. The most common causes are the following:
· scarcity of resources (finance, equipment, facilities, etc)
· different attitudes, values or perceptions
· disagreements about needs, goals, priorities and interests
· poor communication
· poor or inadequate organisational structure
· lack of teamwork
· lack of clarity in roles and responsibilities
The only time I have been in group in which conflict occurred and we were not able to achieve its purpose was for an event we had to hold to raise money and as there were 6 of us in the group it was very hard to make sure everyone happy, had their say, No one was left out, this was one of the most difficulties task as everyone had different personalities and at times there were personality clashes which made decisions harder for everyone, as it took a lot of time to decide on things, there were a few arguments in which people were unhappy and unsatisfied. We also had times where someone wanted to take on the leadership and do everything, which was a massive down fall, as others were unhappy, there were Feelings of defensiveness some actions and comments are taken personally, Arrival and departure times are not sharp, there was disagreements over trivial matters and someone people felt left out from the whole thing. The strategies that were used to deal with the conflict were the following:

ü Maximize people's strengths and minimize their weaknesses in a strategic manner to optimize team functioning.
ü Realize you will not change personalities or styles people bring to the team, but you can work with them creatively.
ü Try to deal with the underlying reasons for conflict; use active listening skills.
ü Be aware of what team members are doing outside of work. If a team member goes to an extreme, there may be problems outside of work that are causing the conflict.
ü Focus on the positive side of each person's differences. Each person brings a different strength to the table.
ü Redesign the job or role to maximize group effectiveness
ü Give everyone an equal job and make sure they are satisfied and have their say


The different ‘sources of power’ that there are, are the following:

Daniel Katz (1965), created a typology that distinguishes three main sources of conflict: economic, value, and power.
1. Economic conflict involves competing motives to attain scarce resources. Each party wants to get the most that it can, and the behavior and emotions of each party are directed toward maximizing its gain. Union and management conflict often has as one of its sources the incompatible goals of how to slice up the“economic pie”.
2. Value conflict involves incompatibility in ways of life, ideologies – the preferences, principles and practices that people believe in. International conflict (e.g., the Cold War) often has a strong value component, wherein each side asserts the rightness and superiority of its way of life and its political-economic system.
3. Power conflict occurs when each party wishes to maintain or maximize the amount of influence that it exerts in the relationship and the social setting. It is impossible for one party to be stronger without the other being weaker, at least in terms of direct influence over each other. Thus, a power struggle ensues which usually ends in a victory and defeat, or in a “stand-off” with a continuing state of tension. Power conflicts can occur between individuals, between groups or between nations, whenever one or both parties choose to take a power approach to the relationship. Power also enters into all conflict since the parties are attempting to control each other.

Strategies in which organisations can use to overcome conflict at work are:

As a manager there are a number of actions that you can take to increase motivation and reduce conflict, these include:
· Designing jobs and organizational objectives with the needs if the people that you manage in mind
· Consulting those that you manage regularly to gauge their views and to identify their development needs
· Creating channels of communication such as suggestion boxes enabling the people that you manage to communicate with you
· Keeping the people you manage in the picture about targets and changes in the organization
· Give more decision making powers to those who work for you
· Give a lot of praise where it is due and recognize efforts and achievement
Conclusion

I have come to a conclusion that conlict between individual are that people have differing styles of communication, ambitions, political or religious views and different cultural backgrounds. In this diverse society, the possibility of these differences leading to conflict between individuals is always there, and we must be alert to preventing and resolving situations where conflict arises. And conflict within a group of people is different because even within one organisation or team, conflict can arise from the individual differences or ambitions mentioned earlier; or from rivalry between sub-groups or factions. All leaders and members of the organisation need to be alert to group dynamics that can spill over into conflict.
It is important that work is designed in such a way that it in-corporate the needs of the individual and the organization.
Key management responsibility is to create a two way communication between organizations and individuals. This will allow the employee to communicate the aspirations and worries about work while the employer is able to communicate organizational needs and objectives. Improved communication can be achieved through regular progress reviews. The employee sits down with their line manager to discuss work related progress.

Reference:
http://www.mediate.com/articles/donaisB2.cfm
Week 6 lecture notes - Power and Conflict in organisations

Organisation Culture

Organisation culture refers to the general culture within an organisation or a company and it is also referred to as corporate culture, organisation Culture is about how the organisation organises itself, its rules, procedures and beliefs make up the culture of the company. Cultures are founded and built over the years by the dominant groups in an organisation.
The company that I have chosen to study is Marks and Spencer’s the reason why I have chosen this organisation is because it is a large firm that is very well known and is a great example of a company that has a culture within it.

Marks and Spencer’s are one of the UK’s leading retailers, they offer stylish, high quality, great value clothing and home products, as well as outstanding quality foods, they are responsibly sourced from around 2,000 suppliers globally. They employ over 75,000 people in the UK and abroad, and have over 600 UK stores. There are two features one is visible and the other is hidden, the visible features are things that anyone can see even customers, for example: uniform, shop floor space, working culture – communication and language style. In Marks and Spenser they wear black uniform they wear with a green Marks and Spencers logo which represent them and show their identity to make them feel equal and as a team, the colour scheme that they have throughout the store such as the signs on displays, layout it has its own personality the identity and atmosphere to make them look different and to make them stand out.
The Hidden aspects are the Values, attitudes, beliefs and behaviour within the organisation such as how staff behave internally, atmosphere, the communication, management style and the general pace of work.
This links into the Organisational Iceberg – (French and Bell, 1990), which shows the following:
l The outer layers are clearly visible
l middle layers deeper aspects of culture
l centre - the basic beliefs on which the organisation is built
l (Schein,1992)
Below are some of Marks and Spencer’s cultures Values that they work along:
Our values
Quality
We’re committed to delivering excellent standards consistently
Value
We will always aim to deliver exceptional value to our customers
Service
We will deliver the highest standards of service to our customers
Innovation
We will strive to stay at the forefront of innovation in both general merchandising and food
Trust
We are the most trusted retailer. We have a proud heritage of staff welfare, customer care and involvement in the community. And we want to continue to build on this.
(http://corporate.marksandspencer.com/mscareers/opportunities/graduates/the_way)

Explanation of what Charles Handy meant by the following in your own words:


· A power culture- this depends on central power source with influences from the central figure throughout the organisation. A power culture is frequently found in small entrepreneurial organisations and they relies on trust, empathy and personal communication for its effectiveness. It was also said that Mayo (1945) was among the first proponents of human relations in industry. He argued that many of the problems of organizations, including inefficiency, conflict, and alienation, occur because organizations do not take into account the attitudes and feelings of its members.

· A role culture- This assumes that employees are rational and that roles can be defined and discharged within clearly defined procedures. An organisation with a role culture is believed to be generally very stable but poor at implementing change management.

· A task culture-a type of organizational culture based on individual projects completed by small teams. It can be job oriented or project oriented. A distinct team culture develops, and because the team is empowered to make decisions, task cultures can be creative.

· A person culture- This is when an activity is strongly influenced by the wishes of the individuals who are part of the organisation. This form of culture exists when individuals are fully allowed to express themselves and make decisions for themselves

The main problem of trying to classify culture into one of the four types described above is that every organisation will have its own unique culture and most large businesses are likely to be something of a mix of cultures. As we know different people enjoy working in different types of organisation culture and they are more likely to be happy and satisfied at work. The Hawthorne experiment also demonstrated that group and social forces more than financial incentives and physical conditions of work are important determinants of worker productivity.

The company that I have chosen is Marks and Spenser this is because I feel that it does demonstrate a strong culture mainly because is a successful organisation, which attracts people with talent to work they provide them with a good position within the organisation as well as helping them to fulfil what they expect such as better salaries and benefits. Strong culture creates paves for people to take the responsibility and work rather than trying to control them with rules and regulation. Marks and Spencers also have good communication within it staff which helps the people to get to know each other better which will eventually lead to new ideas and greater productivity therefore they will achieve higher goals in the future and will beat their competitors.

I have come to a conclusion that culture can have a major impact on an organisation and can show its pros and cons, I have also seen that some organisation will have strong cultures and other can have week. A strong culture is when people tend to agree on the beliefs, values within the organisation and on the other hand weak culture can be when people disagree on the existing culture and instead form their own sub cultures. It is important to have a strong culture so you can survive and beat your competitive environment.


Refernces


http://corporate.marksandspencer.com/mscareers/opportunities/graduates/the_way
http://corporate.marksandspencer.com/mscareers/careers_about/our_values
http://peterresearch.blogspot.com/2009/11/organisation-culture.html
http://corporate.marksandspencer.com/mscareers/opportunities/graduates/the_way

Personality

Personality is an individual unique set of characteristic and tendencies, which shape a sense of self, and what that person does and the behaviour they exhibit. A dynamic concept describing growth and development of the whole psychological system,
Personality can also be defined as ‘The relatively enduring combination of traits which makes an individual unique and at the same time produces consistencies in his or her thought of behaviour’ (Fincham&Rhodes, 1999).

The differences between Nature and Nurture approaches to personality are that Nature theory explains that the behaviour traits are innate and are present in the human instinct and on the other hand Nurture theory states that all human beings learn through their personal experiences it’s the way you were brought up.

There are different views of personality such as:
· Freud (1856-1939)- Psychoanalytical theories of personality
· Trait theories of personality e.g Cattell(1970)
· Type Theories of personality e.g Jung and Myers Briggs(1945-1995)
· Types and Traits were linked by Eysenck(1960-1980)

There are many approaches to personality such as Freudian iceberg metaphor the ID, which is biologically inherited, The Ego, which is an acquired psychological component, The Super-Ego, which is the social component developed by adults.

There is also a 5 factor model of personality (Costa & Mc Crae 1985)
Trait Approach:

n Openness to experience
n Curiosity, flexibility, imagination, artistic sensibility
n Conscientiousness
n Discipline, organization, dependable
n Extraversion
n Outgoing, upbeat, friendly, assertive, gregarious
n Agreeableness
n Sympathetic, trusting, cooperative, straightforward
n Neuroticsm
n Anxious, hostile, self-conscious

Eysenck’s Type Theory is built around:
v Extroversion- Introversion, this involves directing attention on inner experiences, while extraversion relates to focusing attention outward on other people and the environment.
v Neuroticism- stability this involves the dimension of Eysenck’s trait theory, which is related to moodiness versus even-temperedness. Neuroticism refers to an individual’s tendency to become upset or emotional, while stability refers to the tendency to remain emotionally constant.

Below is a link of an article that I have looked at and from this I will describe if it is a Nature or Nurture dominant influence, the article that I have looked at is about teenage knife crime, which is currently a major threat in today’s world, I believe that Nurture and Nature are very similar to each other but have a different meaning, from this article I feel that it is nature this is because people perception can depend on every individuals personality and it depends on what is around the person and as we can see from the article there is a lot of violence’s and crime occurring everywhere and if a child see this happening around them then the child is likely to be influenced by it and will behave like that as they grow up and that also where nature would come in but nurture is similar because the child could have the genetics of the father when their born so I suppose it fits in with both because you can either learn it from the environment around you or you can adapt it from your friends and family. Nature also shows that they adapt this behaviour from parents because now adays parents are not even raising their child they put them straight into daycare this can, which doesn’t substitute for parental guidance’s. When parents don’t pay enough attention to their child, it basically leaves the child to do what ever he or she pleases and allows them to make friends with whomever they want, poor judgement of friends is usually the consequences and this is where nurture comes in because this has to do with environment and what is happening around them forces them to do this and then the next thing the parents realise that their children are selling drugs or becoming one of those crime victim.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/hi/the_p_word/newsid_8119000/8119417.stm

I have taken the 2 Test from these websites below:

Ø http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/mind/surveys/whatamilike/index.shtml
Ø www.initforlife.com/home/tm.asp (MindFrames)
The first test that I took was from the BBC website and was called The Big Personality Test and it discovers your unique personality finger print and reveals your five traits just within 20 minute, this has been created by one of the biggest scientist called Robert Winston, it therefore helps with the following
· Openness describes to what extent you are receptive to novel ideas, creative experiences and different values.
· Conscientiousness describes to what extent you are organised, strategic and forward-planning.
· Extroversion describes to what extent you are inclined to experience positive emotions and how attracted you are to social, stimulating experiences.
· Agreeableness describes to what extent you are concerned about the feelings of others and how easily you form bonds with people.
· Neuroticism describes to what extent you react to perceived threats and stressful situations.
Here are a few of my result that showed in the test.

As you can see that from the test it shows that I have a medium openness which I do agree with as I don’t open up with everyone and I also have a medium conscientiousness, a high Extroversion which means positive emotions and that I am highly socially who agree cares a lot about other and I do tend to trust people around me, neuroticism level was medium as I do tend to get stressful at certain times and do feel I am unable to cope.

I scored high in agreeableness, which meant that I am a great team player, understanding, kind, forgiving, warm, empathetic, appreciative, but on the other hand this can mean that when I put others first I may loose out on my own opportunities.


I also scored high extrovert, which meant that I am energetic, expressive, gregarious, sociable and ready to go which shows I am a natural team leader.



As you can see below one of my main personality traits was openness in which I scored 3.0/5 which is a medium and showed that I find it easy to communicated with others and can come up with original solutions to problems.




The second test that I undertook was from MindFrames this was an online personality test based on research in brain science. It measured how often we use each of eight distinct patterns of thought and action. These patterns were related to the four main areas of the brain, which everyone uses many times each day, from this test it showed a lot about myself and I strongly agree with the answers that came out as I answered these all truthfully. After completing the second test a whole report was generated.

Here are a few results that showed information about me

The mindframe that receives the highest score is called the "lead" mindframe, because very often it will
be the first mindframe you turn to as you deal with the everyday challenges of work and life.
"Very often" means . . .
This mindframe feels so comfortable, natural and effortless that you may use it more than 80% of the time. You’ll use it first and most often, and you’ll stick with it longer.

"Often" means . . .
This mindframe feels comfortable, and you may use it 60% - 80% of the time. Even if you rely on others more, you’ll have no trouble operating in this mode.

"Sometimes" means . . .
This mindframe feels familiar, but not exactly comfortable. It’s not really a stretch, so you’re likely to use it
every now and then—perhaps 40% - 60% of the time.
"Seldom" means . . .
This mindframe isn’t a comfortable pattern, and you’ll probably rely on it only 20% - 40% of the time. To stretch, you’ll need to overcome your tendency not to use it very much. "Rarely" means . . . You typically avoid this mindframe, using it less than 20% of the time. It’s a definite stretch, so you’ll need to make a concentrated effort to use it.
Recommendations for Rabia siddiq
The sequence of your eight mindframes is quite special. You may never encounter another individual who
has this identical mindframe pattern.
Here are four strategies that will help you take advantage of your unique strengths to achieve greater
success. They require an awareness of your tendencies, an understanding of the eight mindframes and a
willingness to make conscious choices about what you'll do next.
1. Make the most of your comfort zone.
Rabia, your tendency is to favor: SOCIABILITY, SENSITIVITY, CHARISMA and ORDER.
Because you employ it more often, a mindframe in your comfort zone will strongly influence your
behavior. You'll find using it comfortable and enjoyable, so anything you handle in your comfort zone will
be done with more enthusiasm and persistence. Whatever you get involved in, you'll do it well and
accomplish a lot.
To build on your success:
Learn to be aware when you're operating in your comfort zone
When working in one of your comfortable mindframes, push yourself to higher levels of performance
Seek other projects, roles or jobs that require you to use your comfort zone
2. Stretch beyond your comfort zone.
You're less likely to use: INSIGHT, CONTROL, PROACTIVITY and LOGIC.
Regardless of the job or task at hand, you won't be able to operate in your comfort zone all the time. So
when the situation requires it, use one of the mindframes outside your comfort zone—even if you have to
"stretch" to do so.
"Stretching" means making an extra effort to do what needs to be done, even if you consider it unfamiliar,
uncomfortable or unpleasant. You don't have to change who you are. Just make a special exception to
your usual pattern. Rather than neglect a requirement, make a deliberate decision to get the task done,
whether you're inclined to do it or not. Once you've taken care of business, you can return to doing what's
comfortable.
In addition, consider these methods for accomplishing tasks that are beyond your comfort zone:
Teaming—Make an effort to get along or work more smoothly with people who favor mindframes that
you don't
Skills—Gain experience with techniques
Procedures—Follow job aids, menus and other guides
Devices—Employ technology to support your efforts
3. Increase your understanding of yourself and others.
Gain powerful insights into your own personality with the Revelations Report. And get a match-up report for help in learning how to connect effectively with another individual the first time, every time.
Conclusion
I have come to a conclusion that I would be more than happy to use these test as a selection tool because I feel you can find out a lot about your self and are worth a while looking into because it helps to find out the littlest things that you wouldn’t think about, they are very useful to compare yourself with they can have drawbacks to it as well such as not responding to them truthfully but over I think this is a great tool to consider.
Brief conclusion
The main reasons why organisations would study personality is due to money as it’s costly to recruit and train, helps with fast track recruitment and development, less absenteeism and turnover therefore more motivation and commitment. Also helps to select team member suitable, leadership qualities.