Selection is very important for organisations at it will determine how their staff work and how their image is represented by their workforce from who they select.
The aim of the selection process is to determine several things
It tries to find out as much information as possible about the potential worker.
This information is then evaluated and organised.
Assessing the candidate.
To predict their productivity and effectiveness in the workplace.
To give feedback and information to the candidate.
To assess if the candidate will accept if they are offered a job.
When i started working in a rugby club I had to go through a selection process two and then was part of the selection process when i was working their. They used three main types of selection.
Short listing - They used information aquired from cv's and application forms to find out what qualifications the candidate has and his relationship with rugby as a sport but also as an organisation.
Interviews - Many interviews were done to find out how the candidate was socially because many of the jobs being offered were working with people either training them in rugby or in fitness. Every potential candidate was given an interview even if his cv was emaculate because of the large emphasis on charisma for the job.
Referencing - For this company this was the main thing as it is for most sports organisations. This was mainly used for coaching and playing jobs.
Advantages
Short listing - This is very good for a quick and easy assesment of the candidate. It is not very costly and is not very time consuming as it only takes about 10 minutes tops to read through.
Interviews - Very good for a true assesment of the candidates personality and other qualities that were written in the cv. It also helps assess how they are with their nerves and meeting new people which will happen alot in these jobs.
Referencing - This is very good for sports organisations as they are all well conected and know the best players and coaches from the other clubs and can trust eachothers judgement.
Disadvantages
Short listing - Many people lie about their morals, personality and experiences on paper. It is hard to asses a persons charisma based on a piece of writting. Also things can be missinterpreted from writting.
Interviews - Are quite expensive as they require a fair amount of time, a place and a trained interviewer. Also some people are very good at interviews but not the job.
Referencing - Tends to be frowned apon slightly by organisations from other organisations. A candidate can get a good reference from being liked and not being good meaning that the evaluation is not very valid.
For the rugby organisation I had to have an interview after i submitted my cv. It was a cross panel interview with 3 interviewers which made the whole thing alot more tense because it seems as though you in court being judged on trial.
The interview was very effective though because i was able to bring my true personality across and show the panel what i know and how i work. The interviewers asked questions from different areas of sport each in their respective area. After they had asked all their questions and the interview was over we relaxed a bit and chatted about the sport industry. I believe i was still being assessed but it was good because a person wanting a sports job should like to discuss relevant topics in sport.
Overall i think that it was a very good way to assess me because i was able to bring everything across that was me.
Overall I believe that the selection process is very important to organisations as it will determine the members of their workforce and the image the company gives off.
Wednesday 19 May 2010
Tuesday 18 May 2010
Week 8 - enterprise week
During this week I attend the apprentice challenge. The event consisted of 3 stages, at the end of each stage several groups get dropped.
The first stage was a one day donut stall. For this we needed to make as much profit as possible in the one day that we had. We prepared for a week befor the event in order to have the donuts ready for the day, we also made a plan at our prices and how many we need to sell to brake even so that after that it is just profit. We were given a sponsorship of 500 pounds of which we only used a small percentage, this money was paid back after and any surplus was for us to keep.
Our plan was to buy 300 assorted donuts in bulk from morrisons, this meant that in bulk we would get the donuts at a cheaper price, also we agreed that they would have the donuts ready and warm on the day. This was so we could have a usp (unique selling point) because many of the other groups had their donuts too early therefor they were cold and not very fresh hence us having a advantage over our competitors.
The price we got was 9p per donut including the special toppings donuts. We sold the plain donuts for 30p and the special toppings donuts at 70p. We also added in deals like 3 plain donuts for 70p or 2 special donuts for a pound. When we actually started selling we soon realised that we could charge more as the demand was higher than expected, the weather also helped as it was a cold day and we were selling hot donuts. This meant that we charged 50p for the plain donuts and £1. This caused the demand to decrease slightly but we were still selling enough at the new higher price to be making more profit than before the price increase.
Our promotion for the event was to poster it all around the centre of wycombe and had our location in the central part of the high street outside macdonalds. Wen we were selling the donuts we had one member of the group handing out the donuts, one collecting the money and one caller that drew people in. Because our group consisted of 6 people so we also had one group of three selling on the move. The travelling group was mainly used to find better spots, because our main stand couldn't move we used the travelling group to find pockets of higher demand.
After this the overseers of the event evaluated our profits and some groups were dropped. Our profit (revenue after cost were minused) was £167. This alloud us to pass into the next round.
There was a preliminary presentation befor the start of the second round, unfortunately we did not realise that we had to do this presentation therfor we struggled to compete agains the well rehearsed presentation of our rivals, however the business managers of eden were impressed with our presentation and commented that we had some very promising ideas, however it wasn't enough to get into the next round and we were out.
The second round was having a stall in the eden centre where you could sell whatever you want. It was the same aim as befor, make as much profit as possible.
After this came the final phase in which the teams had to plan an event/takeover at the student union. The teams needed to breakeven but preferably make a profit from the night.
This event was very eye opening because I did not expect the selling of donuts to be as much fun as it was or that simple. I believe it has definatly widened my carrer aspirations as I believe I would like to start a small business in the future.
The first stage was a one day donut stall. For this we needed to make as much profit as possible in the one day that we had. We prepared for a week befor the event in order to have the donuts ready for the day, we also made a plan at our prices and how many we need to sell to brake even so that after that it is just profit. We were given a sponsorship of 500 pounds of which we only used a small percentage, this money was paid back after and any surplus was for us to keep.
Our plan was to buy 300 assorted donuts in bulk from morrisons, this meant that in bulk we would get the donuts at a cheaper price, also we agreed that they would have the donuts ready and warm on the day. This was so we could have a usp (unique selling point) because many of the other groups had their donuts too early therefor they were cold and not very fresh hence us having a advantage over our competitors.
The price we got was 9p per donut including the special toppings donuts. We sold the plain donuts for 30p and the special toppings donuts at 70p. We also added in deals like 3 plain donuts for 70p or 2 special donuts for a pound. When we actually started selling we soon realised that we could charge more as the demand was higher than expected, the weather also helped as it was a cold day and we were selling hot donuts. This meant that we charged 50p for the plain donuts and £1. This caused the demand to decrease slightly but we were still selling enough at the new higher price to be making more profit than before the price increase.
Our promotion for the event was to poster it all around the centre of wycombe and had our location in the central part of the high street outside macdonalds. Wen we were selling the donuts we had one member of the group handing out the donuts, one collecting the money and one caller that drew people in. Because our group consisted of 6 people so we also had one group of three selling on the move. The travelling group was mainly used to find better spots, because our main stand couldn't move we used the travelling group to find pockets of higher demand.
After this the overseers of the event evaluated our profits and some groups were dropped. Our profit (revenue after cost were minused) was £167. This alloud us to pass into the next round.
There was a preliminary presentation befor the start of the second round, unfortunately we did not realise that we had to do this presentation therfor we struggled to compete agains the well rehearsed presentation of our rivals, however the business managers of eden were impressed with our presentation and commented that we had some very promising ideas, however it wasn't enough to get into the next round and we were out.
The second round was having a stall in the eden centre where you could sell whatever you want. It was the same aim as befor, make as much profit as possible.
After this came the final phase in which the teams had to plan an event/takeover at the student union. The teams needed to breakeven but preferably make a profit from the night.
This event was very eye opening because I did not expect the selling of donuts to be as much fun as it was or that simple. I believe it has definatly widened my carrer aspirations as I believe I would like to start a small business in the future.
Monday 17 May 2010
Week 13 - Teamworking
Recently I had to do an assignment about exploring the organisational culture of a company per member of the group and then focus on 2 of the companies to find out their policies and how they work. for this we used primary research and secondary research in order to find the formal and informal culture. the members of my group were; graham, rich, chris and me. the two companies we focused on were games workshop, a warhammer shop, and .
We divided the report amongst us so that everyone did something and didn't feel left out.
teams are a selection of people with a comman goal and purpose and who will support the other members of the team to achieve the best result possible. teams are different to groups seeing as groups are people that have contact with each other, know eachother and see themselves as a group. a team on the other had goes beyond this because they support eachother to achieve a comman goal. many people tend to like working in a group because it gives us a sense of being part of something and gives us securtity as you know u can count on someone to help you if you're in over you're head. teamwork tends to be a step up from this in which the members of the team motivate and inspire the other members so that they can achieve the best results of their shared goal.there are many benificial things that occur from working in a team, people can become motivated or even inspired by their team members, they can gain new key skills and they can achieve better grades due to extra input from the team.
Stages of team development - (Tuckman 1973)a team is formed in stages, forming which is where people are polite, guarded and impersonal trying to figure out the other members.after this the storming stage begins in which conflicts occure, people may be demotivated, there is a feeling of not being able to move forward. members of the forming team might be lost through conflict.then norming kicks in where by the team starts to organise each other and establish systems and procedures. issues are confronted so that they can be dealt with and solved.perfoming is the last stage and here the team really comes together to form closeness. members become flexible for eachother and support and tolerate eachother. they share resources to achieve .usually once the teamwork has finished a final stage happens, this is adjourning when team mates reflect and evaluate their work. there is also anxiety and sadness about the seperation and ending of the team work.
for our team the stages of development were very clear.rich and i were close friends before the assignment so we were straight into storming, but with graham and chris we started very politely, we listened to ideas and even if we didn't agree we wouldn't yet create conflict but instead called it a good idea and listen to any other ideas that appealed more. chris was very guarded at the begining and didn't contribute much to the pooling of ideas but tended to agree with the idea everyone else agreed on. graham listend very attentively to ideas contributing several himself.after this the storming phase began, in this graham created conflict because he always saw a problem with our ideas, if we solved them he was happy and managed conflict between us if me and rich had equally good ideas. rich wanted to mostly start doing the things but still contributed to ideas. chris was still very held back but also voiced issues he had with ideas. i came up with ideas and tried to solve the problems the others found in them.during the norming graham became a sort of leader of us, he organised our parts of the plan and helped out if we were stuck and if he had time. all of us jst started to work on what graham had given us.the performing stage was the best because there was a feeling as though we were all on the same level. everyone was ther for eachother i.e. researching something for someone if they were behind from writing a different part of the report.once the task was complete we all saw eachother in a different light with more respect and inspiration. we were very relieved though to have finally completed the task.
in 1993 belbin established some team roles.he found that there were roles that people showed when working in a group.Co-ordinator (chairperson), they help focus the team and can control and motivate individuals to get the best out of themthe shaper has strong opinions, loves to hear his own voice and wants to get started, they also becaome restless and frustrated when the team comes to a hold.plants are very creative and have meny ideas to contribute to the team, they can solve problems but tend not to get involved in them. they are the genius that formes the ideas and lets the other members perform it.the teamworker tries to involve all members of the group and produces a team feel.the implementer (company worker), is more practical than theoretical, he changes ideas into action to produce results.rsource investigators have lots of contacts and like ot explore and collect data for the team.a monitor/evaluator is very accurate and logical, they analyse and check everything to make it perfect.comleters/finishers brings all the different information together.specialists are purely used when theres is specific knowledge and skills required.all members of my team took the testrich was an implementer so he wanted to get things done. this was very reflective of how he worked during our teamwokr assignement. once we had chosen an idea he would go and do it or try it out to get it done quickly.Graham was chairman and put it all together at the end.chris was a teamworker and tried to make us bond.i was a plant. i believe my style of working did reflect this as i came up with most of the ideas and knew how to solve them, however i did need motivation from the other members to actually turn those brilliant ideas into results.
overall i think that due to us bonding as a team we supported, motivated and inspired eachother so that we gave our best and made valuable contributions to eachothers work. i also think that it is a very good idea to use teamwork to perform a difficult task as not only does it bring the team together but also produces better results.
We divided the report amongst us so that everyone did something and didn't feel left out.
teams are a selection of people with a comman goal and purpose and who will support the other members of the team to achieve the best result possible. teams are different to groups seeing as groups are people that have contact with each other, know eachother and see themselves as a group. a team on the other had goes beyond this because they support eachother to achieve a comman goal. many people tend to like working in a group because it gives us a sense of being part of something and gives us securtity as you know u can count on someone to help you if you're in over you're head. teamwork tends to be a step up from this in which the members of the team motivate and inspire the other members so that they can achieve the best results of their shared goal.there are many benificial things that occur from working in a team, people can become motivated or even inspired by their team members, they can gain new key skills and they can achieve better grades due to extra input from the team.
Stages of team development - (Tuckman 1973)a team is formed in stages, forming which is where people are polite, guarded and impersonal trying to figure out the other members.after this the storming stage begins in which conflicts occure, people may be demotivated, there is a feeling of not being able to move forward. members of the forming team might be lost through conflict.then norming kicks in where by the team starts to organise each other and establish systems and procedures. issues are confronted so that they can be dealt with and solved.perfoming is the last stage and here the team really comes together to form closeness. members become flexible for eachother and support and tolerate eachother. they share resources to achieve .usually once the teamwork has finished a final stage happens, this is adjourning when team mates reflect and evaluate their work. there is also anxiety and sadness about the seperation and ending of the team work.
for our team the stages of development were very clear.rich and i were close friends before the assignment so we were straight into storming, but with graham and chris we started very politely, we listened to ideas and even if we didn't agree we wouldn't yet create conflict but instead called it a good idea and listen to any other ideas that appealed more. chris was very guarded at the begining and didn't contribute much to the pooling of ideas but tended to agree with the idea everyone else agreed on. graham listend very attentively to ideas contributing several himself.after this the storming phase began, in this graham created conflict because he always saw a problem with our ideas, if we solved them he was happy and managed conflict between us if me and rich had equally good ideas. rich wanted to mostly start doing the things but still contributed to ideas. chris was still very held back but also voiced issues he had with ideas. i came up with ideas and tried to solve the problems the others found in them.during the norming graham became a sort of leader of us, he organised our parts of the plan and helped out if we were stuck and if he had time. all of us jst started to work on what graham had given us.the performing stage was the best because there was a feeling as though we were all on the same level. everyone was ther for eachother i.e. researching something for someone if they were behind from writing a different part of the report.once the task was complete we all saw eachother in a different light with more respect and inspiration. we were very relieved though to have finally completed the task.
in 1993 belbin established some team roles.he found that there were roles that people showed when working in a group.Co-ordinator (chairperson), they help focus the team and can control and motivate individuals to get the best out of themthe shaper has strong opinions, loves to hear his own voice and wants to get started, they also becaome restless and frustrated when the team comes to a hold.plants are very creative and have meny ideas to contribute to the team, they can solve problems but tend not to get involved in them. they are the genius that formes the ideas and lets the other members perform it.the teamworker tries to involve all members of the group and produces a team feel.the implementer (company worker), is more practical than theoretical, he changes ideas into action to produce results.rsource investigators have lots of contacts and like ot explore and collect data for the team.a monitor/evaluator is very accurate and logical, they analyse and check everything to make it perfect.comleters/finishers brings all the different information together.specialists are purely used when theres is specific knowledge and skills required.all members of my team took the testrich was an implementer so he wanted to get things done. this was very reflective of how he worked during our teamwokr assignement. once we had chosen an idea he would go and do it or try it out to get it done quickly.Graham was chairman and put it all together at the end.chris was a teamworker and tried to make us bond.i was a plant. i believe my style of working did reflect this as i came up with most of the ideas and knew how to solve them, however i did need motivation from the other members to actually turn those brilliant ideas into results.
overall i think that due to us bonding as a team we supported, motivated and inspired eachother so that we gave our best and made valuable contributions to eachothers work. i also think that it is a very good idea to use teamwork to perform a difficult task as not only does it bring the team together but also produces better results.
Week 11 - Organisation and Management theory
This week we discussed the theories of Organisation and management. These are used to increase productivity of companies.
Scientific Management
This theory is part of the classical school. The classical school (1880-1930) was when early management theorist were looking for one best way to organise and manage. From this organisations were viewed as machines and adopted a very militaryistic approach using some of their principles. The writters from classical school made their principles universal, applying to all types of companies. The three main theorist were Taylor, Weber and Foyal.
Taylor came up with Scientific Management.
Scientific management had six main principles.
For every job there is one best way - This meant that there was one way to do specific jobs to make them the most productive. This meant it was also easier for workers because they had very specific ways to do work.
Decision making only for managers - This was so that only the managers were able to influence important decisions, making it more reliable. It also meant that all the responsibility was on them to perform.
Focused on shop floor workers - If the focus is on the shop floor workers this will increase their job satisfaction which in turn will make them more charismatic on the customers. This will promote an image of friendliness for the company giving it an advantage over competitors.
Payment by results - Workers get pain by their productivity. This motivates them to work harder and better to attain a larger salary. Money being a very good motivater was also identified by Maslow and Aldefer in their theories as basic needs.
Standardisation, discipline and efficiency - This was to make the workers better. The discipline kept the workers working in line and avoided mistakes. The efficiency was an aim aided by payment by results and focus on shop floor workers.
Select workers based on physical strength - This is based on the fact that many of the concepts were taken from military context.
The Scienticif management approach had many advantages but also disadvantages.
Advantages
Simplicity - One best way to do a job, this makes it easier for the workers to know how things are run and how they should do their work meaning they can concentrate on doing their job one method, thus they became very good and doing their jobs in a specific way.
Right decisions - Because the responcibility of decision making was only given to the managers meant that the only qualified and responsible members of the company were in charge. This decreased the number of bad decision.
Increased work efficiency - Pay by results lead to increased motivation by the workers as this increased their pay.
Higher motivation by staff - The focus on floor workers meant they were happier in their jobs which was reflected onto the consumers giving the company a reputation for friendly staff, therefor supplying them with customers that made the company their first choice.
Discipline - Emphisis on discipline caused the workers to be more accurate and carefull about their work decreasing the amount of mistakes/problems for the company.
Disadvantages
Boredom - Due to the specific way in which workers should perform their job meant that they were working like machines with no creativity. This caused boredom and decreased job satisfaction and work efficiency.
Bad pay - Many workers did not agree with the pay by results principle as this meant that they had to work harder for their money and may have feelt treated unfairly when their collegues recieved a higher salary.
Mistakes - The large focus on discipline may have caused workers to do more mistakes as they were worried all the time about being punished. Also it may have caused many members of staff quiting as they felt they werent treated with respect.
Responsibility - Many workers will have felt like they werent given opportunities for promotions as they were not taken into consideration for decision making.
Quitting - Due to the higher responsibility for managers from decision making and the focus on floor workers by the company, many higher members of staff may have feel undervalued as they were not given as much attention even though they had higher responsibilty.
Overall I feel that the Scientific management approach is very good in the short run. It will motivate low members of staff alot to perform better but over time staff will become bored and have low job satisfaction. Also the higher members of staff will resign as they feel that they aren't being treated equally in respect to their role in the business. Therefor if this approach was used when their is a high demand for jobs or used just to start up a business it is a good idea but in the long term it could cause a decrease in workforce for the company.
Scientific Management
This theory is part of the classical school. The classical school (1880-1930) was when early management theorist were looking for one best way to organise and manage. From this organisations were viewed as machines and adopted a very militaryistic approach using some of their principles. The writters from classical school made their principles universal, applying to all types of companies. The three main theorist were Taylor, Weber and Foyal.
Taylor came up with Scientific Management.
Scientific management had six main principles.
For every job there is one best way - This meant that there was one way to do specific jobs to make them the most productive. This meant it was also easier for workers because they had very specific ways to do work.
Decision making only for managers - This was so that only the managers were able to influence important decisions, making it more reliable. It also meant that all the responsibility was on them to perform.
Focused on shop floor workers - If the focus is on the shop floor workers this will increase their job satisfaction which in turn will make them more charismatic on the customers. This will promote an image of friendliness for the company giving it an advantage over competitors.
Payment by results - Workers get pain by their productivity. This motivates them to work harder and better to attain a larger salary. Money being a very good motivater was also identified by Maslow and Aldefer in their theories as basic needs.
Standardisation, discipline and efficiency - This was to make the workers better. The discipline kept the workers working in line and avoided mistakes. The efficiency was an aim aided by payment by results and focus on shop floor workers.
Select workers based on physical strength - This is based on the fact that many of the concepts were taken from military context.
The Scienticif management approach had many advantages but also disadvantages.
Advantages
Simplicity - One best way to do a job, this makes it easier for the workers to know how things are run and how they should do their work meaning they can concentrate on doing their job one method, thus they became very good and doing their jobs in a specific way.
Right decisions - Because the responcibility of decision making was only given to the managers meant that the only qualified and responsible members of the company were in charge. This decreased the number of bad decision.
Increased work efficiency - Pay by results lead to increased motivation by the workers as this increased their pay.
Higher motivation by staff - The focus on floor workers meant they were happier in their jobs which was reflected onto the consumers giving the company a reputation for friendly staff, therefor supplying them with customers that made the company their first choice.
Discipline - Emphisis on discipline caused the workers to be more accurate and carefull about their work decreasing the amount of mistakes/problems for the company.
Disadvantages
Boredom - Due to the specific way in which workers should perform their job meant that they were working like machines with no creativity. This caused boredom and decreased job satisfaction and work efficiency.
Bad pay - Many workers did not agree with the pay by results principle as this meant that they had to work harder for their money and may have feelt treated unfairly when their collegues recieved a higher salary.
Mistakes - The large focus on discipline may have caused workers to do more mistakes as they were worried all the time about being punished. Also it may have caused many members of staff quiting as they felt they werent treated with respect.
Responsibility - Many workers will have felt like they werent given opportunities for promotions as they were not taken into consideration for decision making.
Quitting - Due to the higher responsibility for managers from decision making and the focus on floor workers by the company, many higher members of staff may have feel undervalued as they were not given as much attention even though they had higher responsibilty.
Overall I feel that the Scientific management approach is very good in the short run. It will motivate low members of staff alot to perform better but over time staff will become bored and have low job satisfaction. Also the higher members of staff will resign as they feel that they aren't being treated equally in respect to their role in the business. Therefor if this approach was used when their is a high demand for jobs or used just to start up a business it is a good idea but in the long term it could cause a decrease in workforce for the company.
Wednesday 25 November 2009
week 6 Power and conflict in Organisations
Conflict is apparent when at least one party percieves that it exists and where an interest or a concern is about to or has been compromised or frustated. (Brooks, 2006)
This means conflict can occur because of one person only if he/she thinks it so. Conflict occurs when people's ideas aren't praised or even mention which can lead to frustatration and conflict.
Many years ago the dauntseys school rugby squad went to swansee in wales for a week of rugby mixed with military training methods and equipment. One of the tasks assigned to a group of 6 boys was to build a raft. Initially they agreed on material and who was going to do each part of the raft, but they could not agree on the design and structure of the raft. Some member wanted a simple yet sturdy structure consisting of roping severat large planks together making a large base, the other members wanted to build a more modern boat base, a curved hull to make it float better. The conflit occured because party A (boys that wanted the basic design) felt that the curved hull would make the raft too unstable to use, and the other group where not taking their risks seriously. Finally after a few minutes for argumental discussions one of the boys from party B (boys that wanted curved hull)quietened everyone down and asked the other group why they thought it would not work, they explained and everyone listened. This lead to realisation in the other boys that the simple base design was best suited for the task even if it did not look so "cool".
During that task the main conflict was that the ideas of party A were not recognised by the other boys, they became frustrated because no one listened, the fact that the boy from the other party was willing to hear them out instantly caused a calming of the situation. This then finally lead to the conflict being managed because both partys agreed on a design and could then go ahead and build it together.
Power is the ability of one member of a party to influence another member to do something they would not otherwise do. Power can be used to resolve conflict but the missuse of power can cause conflict.
The five sources of power, as stated by French and Raven (1959), are;
Coercive power
This "is the ability to obtain compliance through fear of punishment." (wps.prenhall.com/wps/media/objects/213/218150/glossary.html, accessed on 5th may).
Coercive power is using negative influences to influence others. examples of this are demoting staff or reward withold. This means that the power is from using the desires for a reward or fear of having the reward witheld to gain obedience. This tends to be the least effective and most hated source of power as the people experience form resentment and may try to resist it.
An example of coercive power is an employer telling an employee to do an extra assignement or else have his/her bonus taken away.
Reward power
This is when the power wielder influences others by being able to offer, and offering, valuable tangeable and non-tangeable rewards i.e. holidays, days off, promotion, a raise or gifts. This source of power too can be misused, this is when the power wielder becomes pushy or wants to have everything done in unrealistic time constraints. An example of reward power is when a manager offers a worker a promotion if he does an extra piece of work.
Exper power
This is a highlz specialised power as it is only relevan to the wielder's specific expertise, the power is determined by the wielder's ability or skills in his area of expertise. i.e. an electronics specialist is called in and if he can fix the damage in a certain time frame he will be given a full time job there.
Legitimate power
This is the power of name and title, the power is from their position and responsibilities in the company. This may be seen as formal delegation. This is the most important kind of power and is also usually displayed by uniforms, offices ... An example of this is a tesco's floor managers gives a cashier an order to open/close their till.
Referent power
This is when the individual gains loyalty and trust from workers. Interpersonal skills and charisma largly determine the amount of power. The individual is admired by his peers and seen as a role model or idol because of a trait, which gives him/her power over them. Those under the power want to be seen as followers of the wielder and want to identify with their personal qualities. A good example of this is nationalism or patriotism because soldiers go into war to defend the honour and glory of their country.
Avoiding conflict at work
There are many things that can minimise conflict at work, some examples are;
This means conflict can occur because of one person only if he/she thinks it so. Conflict occurs when people's ideas aren't praised or even mention which can lead to frustatration and conflict.
Many years ago the dauntseys school rugby squad went to swansee in wales for a week of rugby mixed with military training methods and equipment. One of the tasks assigned to a group of 6 boys was to build a raft. Initially they agreed on material and who was going to do each part of the raft, but they could not agree on the design and structure of the raft. Some member wanted a simple yet sturdy structure consisting of roping severat large planks together making a large base, the other members wanted to build a more modern boat base, a curved hull to make it float better. The conflit occured because party A (boys that wanted the basic design) felt that the curved hull would make the raft too unstable to use, and the other group where not taking their risks seriously. Finally after a few minutes for argumental discussions one of the boys from party B (boys that wanted curved hull)quietened everyone down and asked the other group why they thought it would not work, they explained and everyone listened. This lead to realisation in the other boys that the simple base design was best suited for the task even if it did not look so "cool".
During that task the main conflict was that the ideas of party A were not recognised by the other boys, they became frustrated because no one listened, the fact that the boy from the other party was willing to hear them out instantly caused a calming of the situation. This then finally lead to the conflict being managed because both partys agreed on a design and could then go ahead and build it together.
Power is the ability of one member of a party to influence another member to do something they would not otherwise do. Power can be used to resolve conflict but the missuse of power can cause conflict.
The five sources of power, as stated by French and Raven (1959), are;
- Coercive power
- Reward power
- Expert power
- Legitimate power
- Referent power
Coercive power
This "is the ability to obtain compliance through fear of punishment." (wps.prenhall.com/wps/media/objects/213/218150/glossary.html, accessed on 5th may).
Coercive power is using negative influences to influence others. examples of this are demoting staff or reward withold. This means that the power is from using the desires for a reward or fear of having the reward witheld to gain obedience. This tends to be the least effective and most hated source of power as the people experience form resentment and may try to resist it.
An example of coercive power is an employer telling an employee to do an extra assignement or else have his/her bonus taken away.
Reward power
This is when the power wielder influences others by being able to offer, and offering, valuable tangeable and non-tangeable rewards i.e. holidays, days off, promotion, a raise or gifts. This source of power too can be misused, this is when the power wielder becomes pushy or wants to have everything done in unrealistic time constraints. An example of reward power is when a manager offers a worker a promotion if he does an extra piece of work.
Exper power
This is a highlz specialised power as it is only relevan to the wielder's specific expertise, the power is determined by the wielder's ability or skills in his area of expertise. i.e. an electronics specialist is called in and if he can fix the damage in a certain time frame he will be given a full time job there.
Legitimate power
This is the power of name and title, the power is from their position and responsibilities in the company. This may be seen as formal delegation. This is the most important kind of power and is also usually displayed by uniforms, offices ... An example of this is a tesco's floor managers gives a cashier an order to open/close their till.
Referent power
This is when the individual gains loyalty and trust from workers. Interpersonal skills and charisma largly determine the amount of power. The individual is admired by his peers and seen as a role model or idol because of a trait, which gives him/her power over them. Those under the power want to be seen as followers of the wielder and want to identify with their personal qualities. A good example of this is nationalism or patriotism because soldiers go into war to defend the honour and glory of their country.
Avoiding conflict at work
There are many things that can minimise conflict at work, some examples are;
- Equal pay and opportunities and other human resource management policies and procedures, this avoids favouritism.
- Making sure that decision making is well communicated and consulted and that there is high involvement.
- Make sure the goals are clear and that everyone knows what they need to do.
- Ensure there is a complaints area to try and eliminate the cause of the complaints.
- Make sure that everyone knows the codes and rules.
In "West Coast Customs", a tv series about a hot rod and customs garage there can be conflict at times buy is mainly managed well. In the series most conflicts occure because employees individualise their work more than their bosses want them to. Usually this conflict is evapourated by legitimate power of "Boyde" who is the boss of the garage and his work goes. This can sometimes lead to greater conflict if the worker resists. Most of the conflicts are resolved by the second in command who quiets down the situation by seperating the members of the conflict and listening to them individually this calms down the situation because the causes of conflict are seperated and then calmed down by a respected member of the garage.
Overall I think there are lots of opportunities for conflict at work however if handled right they can be eliminated or even prevented. Also any form of power should not be missused as this will not only by inefective it will also cause conflict to occure.
Saturday 7 November 2009
Week 5 Leadership
Leadership is an often misunderstood subject. People tend to become confused with the difference between leadership and management and think they are the same thing. They are not.
Kotter (1990) had a similar theory
Forrest and Tolltree (1996), thought that managers and leaders are not the same.
They said that managers Plan, control, co-ordinate, implement policy, achieve results. This seems to mean that the managers are there for performance, they make sure that the job is done and that their workers work efficiently to achieve that goal.
They also said that leaders Motivate, generate ideas, enthuse and inspire. This implyes that leaders help managers because they motivate and inspire the workforce to be efficient, which is what the managers whant. The managers can have the perfect plan and come up with the best strategies to produce high productivity but the inspiration from the leaders are what will actually make those workers use those plans to become productive.
Kotter (1990) had a similar theory
This theory also places the leaders as the people that manage to enspire the workforce but the managers are the people with the plans of what the newly inspired workforce should do.
From these two examples it seems that a leader needs to be present to get the workers to do what the the manager plans to have them do. Yet at the same time a manager must be present to tell the workers what to do.
After this Mullins (2007) had a theory about the relationship that each the manager and leader had with the employees.
According to this model it becomes apparent that the manager is very distant to his employees. He only cares about the performance but not how it will affect the workers unless it stops them doing as he wishes.
In this theory the leader has a relationship with his workers, this would explain how he inspires and motivates them. He changes them into better workers and motivates them by comunication so that they respect him.
The Blake and Mouton Managerial grid is used to identify the different manegerial styles used. It is used because it is easier to place a manager on the grid than placing them into a specific label of manager.
It takes into consideration the concern for people and also the concern for production. It identifies the priorities of the manager i.e. a social manager tends to prefer to make sure the workers are happy than to make sure they work efficiently unlike the the authoritative manager who makes sure the workers work efficiently rather than making sure that they are happy.
The aim for every manager should be to strive to become a team manager because they then have the right amount of concern for people and production ensuring that their workers are happy but also performing sufficient work.
A former manager of mine was a great manager because he was a very social manager most of the time making sure we were happy. He seemed like a friend to us not only our manager, but when work needed to be done and his workers didn't work he would show a different side which due to the respect gained from his social role was respected and obeyed. So he was a team manager since he made sure we were happy but also made sure that we worked.
Warren Buffett "a born leader"
In september of 2007 Warren Buffett was ranked as the third richest man behind Bill gates (richest man) and Carlos Slim (second richest man)by Forbes Magazine. He had an estimated net worth of $52 billion.
Warren Buffett is a very social leader meaning that he tends to talk alot to his employees, this establishes a very good relationship which may lead to them wanting to work harder for their manager. He uses his social relationship with his employees so that they use his strategies, plans and set goals. On the Blake and Mouton managerial grid he would be placed as a team manager due to his ability to influence his workers by socialising so that they are very productive, this satisfies a high level of concern for people and a high concern for productivity.
There is also alot of discussion that suggests that Warren Buffett tends to lean more toward the social side of the managerial grid but due to his huge success there must be an equel if not greater concern to productivity.
Overall I believe that to be a good leader you need to have a compromise of concern for people and concern for productivity. A team manager seems to be the best build of managers to produce a successful workplace relations atmosphere.
Gardener, J. (2007). Cognitive Behavior Theory. Retrieved December 26, 2007, from http://www.cognitivebehavior.com/theory/index.html
Harris, D. (2006, June 26,). Warren Buffett's Unprecedented Generosity. Retrieved December 31, 2007, from http://abcnews.go.com/print?id=2118501
Kore Kalibre (2006, March-April 2006). Warren Buffett’s Innovation: Staying away from Rapid Product Innovation. Retrieved December 26, 2007, from http://www.korekalibre.com/index.php?option=com_magazine&task=show_magazine_article&magazine_id=26
Legg Mason Value Trust (2006, October 26). Legg Mason Value Trust (LMVTX) Letter to Shareholders. Retrieved December 26, 2007, from http://markets.kiplinger.com/kiplinger?GUID=323448&Page=MediaViewer&Ticker=LMVTX
Week 4 Organisation Culture
This weeks topic was Organisation Culture.
- This top layer of the iceberg, at which only about 10% of the iceberg is exposed, lies the visable and formal part of the iceberg.
This is present in every company, it is what the company stand for and what they believe in. The culture of a country gives it its identity, just like the culture of a company gives it its identity.
Organisation culture is "the way we do things around here" (Deal & Kennedy, 1982).
It is "a body of learned behaviour, a collection of beliefs, habits and traditions, shared by a group of people and learned by people…." (Hofstede, 1984).
The organisation culture must be accepted by new employees, if they cannot do that they will leave. It is very hard to put into writting each company's individual culture but it influences the mentality and personality of the work force.
To talk about the visual and formal sides of organisation culture I will use French's and Bell's (1990) Organisational Iceberg model.
- This top layer of the iceberg, at which only about 10% of the iceberg is exposed, lies the visable and formal part of the iceberg.- Here below the surface of the water lies the other part, this part consists fo 90% of the iceberg yet it is concealed from view.
The visable formal organisation consists of;
Goals
Strategy
Structure
Systems and Procedures
Products and Services
Financial Resources
Management
Goals
Strategy
Structure
Systems and Procedures
Products and Services
Financial Resources
Management
The idea that the visable aspect of organisation culture is different to the rest was also used by Shein (1992) with his layer principle.
Visual/formal culture
Goals - Mcdonalds had many adverts for "Happy meals" and "Student offers", this suggests their goals are to provide a value for money environment for children and young students. Also their staff were friendly and made sure the customer was satisfied therefor another goal my be to satisfy their customers.
Strategy - Due to the amount of deals and offers their strategy appears to be to sell groups of product for a reduced price rather than selling individual products for a higher profit. This provides the customer with a feeling that they food is less expensive, which it is, meaning they will go there more oftern and also buy more when they are there.
Structure - During the research visits Mcdonalds seemed to have one or two managers that overlooked the rest of the staff. One would look after the cashiers and the other made sure the cooks were working efficiently.
Systems and Procedures - There wasn't any visable evidence of systems or procedures.
Products and Services - As mentioned earlier there seemed to be a strong emphasis on the selling of products in a packages i.e. meals and offers. Also as mentioned earlier the service was good and it seemed as though the workforce were very concentrated on keeping the customer happy.
Financial Resources - The Mcdonalds used for this research was about average size, it was clean with sufficient staff to tackle customers and it also had sufficient seating and eating space. From this it seems that Mcdonalds has good financial resources and are not wasting them.
Management - This seemed sound as the employees were working well and efficiently and there were no long waits for food or orders. At one point there was a dissagreement between the manager and a worker, the manager wanted the worker to "Welcome" each customer and was very loud when the employee failed to do so, other than that it seemed like great management.
Uniform - Due to the uniform there was a clear indication of who did what job. The uniforms were split into cashiers, cleaners, cooks and the two managers.
In 1993 Handy introduced his idea of the four types of culture.
They consisted of Power culture
Role culture
Task culutre
Person culture
Power Culture
The power culture is common in small businesses. The main idea behind the power culture is very authoritarian, it basically suggests that there is one focal leader, this leader is given all power and he/she has the control over everything in the business.
Role Culture
This culture relies strongly on framework and hiearachy. The structure of this strongly resembles that of a Greek temple. Hierachy dominates this culture, instructions and orders are sent from the top of the pyramid to the bottom, the bottom sent information back up to the top.
This type of culture may be used in
Top Management
] [
] [
\ /
\/
Personel Production Finace Marketing
Task culture
Organisations with substantial amount of profect based operations tend to use this culture i.e. civil engineering or consultancy. It relies heavily on team work and linking between the whole organisation. Decision making is usually a group task in task culture.
Person culture
A typical organisation for this culture is a consultancy or a barrister's chambers. It is similar to the power culture because it involves one person to be the focal point but in person culture this role is changed for specific tasks so that there is a different person acting as the focal point for each task.
It is difficult to classify any business culture clearly into one of these types of culture because today more and more businesses adapt to what is required of them to survive. Many businesses use a mixture of three or all of these types of cultures which makes it difficult to decide which one is the predominant one. Also there may be several of these cultures active in one business for example a power culture may be used in one department and a person culture in another yet they are still in the same organisation.
Overall it is my opinion that culture plays a very strong part in an organisation but it is very difficult to classify which one is in use all the time because there are many organisations that use a multitude of these at once.
References
Martin, J. (1998), "Organizational Behaviour and Management", 3rd ed, London: Thomson
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