REWARD

Some time ago I was working in hospitality for well known company, which employed at about 120 people in one branch. That company rewards its performing employees and take care of appreciation at work. Employees can be awarded by:

· Promotion

· Flexible work schedules, people can take time for personal issues, such a doctor appointment

· Send a handwritten note to employee who deserve recognition

· Make work fun by organising festivals, barbecues, sport days or banqueting

· Created by managers annual idea called “One life” is rewarded by holiday abroad

· Free membership for gym

· Free life insurance

· Annual payment” Thank you” for making great profit , every employee can get between £70-£150

· Best employee have a chance to pick their own project or task with a colleague they like

Fairness and equity is regulated by work policy, which state that the company is not respecting any racism, harassment or bullying. Company is strongly focused on “Whistle blowing” policy.

There is no standardized list of the major functions and responsibilities carried out by position of Chief Executives. Chief Executives officer is the most important role in the management of an organisation. That is why in my opinion those people should be paid very well, but depends on their performance and gained profit. I feel that is unnecessary to pay chief executives at all times high bonuses. If the company doing well then they should be rewarded but if is a crisis, recession, less profit in the tax year or other problems the percentage of the bonuses should decrease, otherwise that could put the company into financial problems for example cost of expenses could be higher than income. I think that Chief Executives salary should be divided into few stages, such as:

· BASIC (monthly income ,which stay the same every month)

· BONUS (provision for example from monthly sales)

· REWARD (extra percentage from the annual profit)

COMPANIES THAT ARE SEEN AS PAYING BONUSES THAT BEAR LITTLE REFLECTION TO THE COMPANY’S PERFORMANCE MAY FIND THEMSELVES IN VERY HOT WATER. (INDEPENDENT, 2009)

There is many ways how primary school teacher could be rewarded, some of my ideas are as follows:

· FINANCIAL

- Give employee thirteen annual wages as a bonus to show the appreciation,

- Promote the teacher and give for example position of “Head of the year”

-Give a pay rise

· NON FINANCIAL

-Allow the teacher use free of charge school facilities, such a swimming pool or gym

-Celebrate their birthday and give on that day paid day off

-Give to the teacher free of charge voucher for a day or weekend is SPA

From the financial side thirteen wages and from the non financial free of charge use of swimming pool or gym will motivate me the most, simply because for the extra income I could buy a holiday abroad for my family. I do care about physical and mental health a lot I think that gym or swimming is good for keeping body and mind in shape all year long. That is why I have chosen these two rewards.

Employees motivation, recognition and reward is most important at work place, because will keep them positive and more successful. Many people these days struggle to balance their personal life with their working life’s, so offering time in lieu or flexible working hours as reward will not cost much, but can be a highly motivating and have substantial value for people.

REFERENCES:

· INDEPENDENT, 2009,Home, News, Business, Business news, Top executives pocket huge bonuses despite recession –online source

Available from

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/top-executives-pocket-huge-bonuses-despite-recession-1773549.html

(Accessed 27 April 2010)

ROLE OF THE LINE MANAGER

Line manager is a person who was direct responsibility for employees and their work. (Farmer M. 2008, p 04).Good example is a Tesco stores employs line managers for different departments, such as clothing, media or catering. The line managers are directly responsible for peoples work in their exact sector. Very often line managers playing role of HR in the company, that combination could save some money or even help to run different sectors more effectively but also could overload managers with work and responsibilities.

Line manager can be advantageous of being involved in HR activities, could help to reduce amount of work carried out by HRM or replace him/her when the person will decide to leave the company, so the new HRM could be selected internally.

Advantages of working line manager with HR are:

· Coaching, guidance and training

· Undertaking performance appraisals

· Dealing with discipline and grievances

· Carry out recruitment and selection

· Employee engagement (involvement and communication)

There also can be some disadvantages of both HR and line manager working together:

· Disagreements between HRM and line manager

· Line managers may not have required skills or experiences

· Bad communication between line manager and HRM

· Conflicts and bad decision making which may affect their work and relation between management and other employees

· Enabling the HR policies & practices or bringing them to life

To avoid conflicts between both of the managers there should be clearly stated what they are responsible for, otherwise they could deliver wrong information and make confusion between employees. (Blackboard, 2010)

Skills required by line manager:

· Managers should be able to find a solution when problem arises

· Allocate people in sector were they can use their skills

· Manage rotas, shifts

· Be able to budget- reduce cost of production

· Managers should be able to check work quality and monitor employee on daily, weekly or monthly basis

· They should have an excellence communication skills to deal with customers

· Managers should know how to be friendly and strict in the same time(CIPD,2009)

I strongly believe that I do have the skills to be a line manager, because of my 10 years work experience, dealing with difficult customers and employees. I am able to organise work very well as also monitor work process and its quality. I do like to work for people and with people. Studying HRM at New Bucks University can give me opportunity to become qualified HRM and make a big step in my career.

REFERENCES:

· Blackboard,2010,New Bucks University, People and Organisations, Power point slides, Week 14 intro to role of Line and HR Manager -online source

Available from

http://blackboard.bucks.ac.uk/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_id=_2_1&url=/webapps/blackboard/execute/launcher%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_186341_1%26url%3D

(Accessed 26 April 2010)

· CIPD, 2009, The role of frontline managers in HR – online source

Available from

http://www.cipd.co.uk/subjects/maneco/general/rolefrntlinemngers.htm

Accessed 27 April 2010)

· People & Organisations,2008, Second Edition, Marylin Farmer & Wendy Yellowley, Buckinghamshire New University, page 04.1.1

LEADERSHIP

Leadership and management are used as synonyms but there are differences between these two words (Mullins, 2007, p 363). In management problems are controlled and solved by the manager when in leadership person who is the leader motivate and inspire employees. Manager is responsible for plan and budget, when leader showing the direction to people to follow to achieve given by manager tasks. Manger organise things but leader try associate with his idea. In leadership people are encourage to changes, in management they are command and foretell. Manager takes things impersonally and is not emotionally abusive but leader take things more personally and tries to understand other’s feelings. In management the most important is planning, organising, directing and controlling. On the contrary in leadership were significant are: communicating, motivating and encouraging. In management manager is focused on result where in leadership leader is most interested in transforms. (Blackboard, 2010)

The” Managerial Grid” created by Blake and Mouton is a way to identify whether a manager has a high focus on people to the damage of result or whether to achieve good result. Blake and Mouton believed that management is used to inspire employees to creativity, innovation or performance. The leadership grid includes:

· 1,1 The Impoverished Manager-this is the type of manager who care only about himself and will not do much for people, is simply passing information from employees to higher management, will do only enough to just collect his wages.

· 9, 1 The Authoritative Manager-those managers’ represents a task oriented and to have a job done is their highest priority. Employees will not have a chance to express themselves. These type of manager will keep informed people about what they can or cannot do and force them to focus on the task.

· 1, 9 The Social Manager-will work very hard and not to offend employees. These managers are understanding and compassionate. Is a kid of soft person which will even apologize for having expectations. They treat employees as a one big happy family and the social atmosphere is very important where in the same time concern of production is low.

· 5, 5 The Middle of the Road Manager-is a bureaucratic manager who keeps a tradition at work and follows rules and regulations, they do not promote excellence but do not tolerate poor work. Goals are discussed with employees but focus on organization achievement not on personal goals. Concern of production is high but importance of people low.

· 9, 9 The Team Manager- believes in people and that there is a strong connection between people and production. They will create good working conditions and that employees know the expectations and what is strongly required but in the same time let them have a say in decisions that affect them. There is strong development of communication, motivation and commitment. High level of concern for people and production.(Blackboard,2010)

I used to work for a big company with many line managers employed .One of the line manager was my boss which was very nice, too nice to people and because of that nobody was respecting him. He was a very talkative person and around him we felt like a big strong family. The problem was when we needed to finish a task, which could not happen because he was too busy focusing on people’s private problems. In Blake and Mouton “Managerial grid” I relate him to 1, 9 The social Manager.

I would consider Adolf Hitler as a great leader. Trough the World War 2 he changed a world from happiness to sadness for many years, even after the war. Hitler always had the final say. People could not protest otherwise they could be killed. The image of Hitler as a leader in military operations is powerful and persistent. He was very stubborn and had a paranoid fear. His personality led people to follow him and endorse his brutality.

It is very important to have a strong leader at work place as also good manager who focuses not only on production level but in the same time know how to motivate and inspire employees to work together. Important is to create friendly social atmosphere which could help achieve organisation goals.

References:

· Blackboard,2010,New Bucks University, People and Organisations, Power point slides, Leadership-online source

Available from

http://blackboard.bucks.ac.uk/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_id=_2_1&url=/webapps/blackboard/execute/launcher%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_186341_1%26url%3D

(Accessed 25 April 2010)

· Mullins Laurie, 2007, eight edition, Management and Organisational behaviour, Pearson Educational Limited, page 363.

ORGANISATION AND MANAGEMENT THEORY

Classical school theory is based on belief that employees in the company only need physical and economical needs. There is no job satisfaction and management do not care about it. Employees becoming best specialised in their sector and the productivity level is very high. (Business dictionary, 2010) Good example of that theory could be at “Primark” their production is placed in Bangladesh where workers are working in very poor conditions and are paid below minimum wages. Poor families are working there together to support each other and just to buy a basics, such as food or drink. They are treated as slaves often abused. The policy and legislation does not exist. Their work shift is often 12 hours per day with no breaks only allowed to go to the toilet but not so many times. (Times Online, 2010)

Human relation theory is based on the idea that employees are motivated not only by financial reward but also by a range of social factors, such as a sense of belonging, praise or feelings of achievement. (Encyclopedia.com 2010). Good example of that theory is my current employer pub “Nascot Arms” as an employee I am getting not only my wages but also responsibility, my Boss trusts me and very often I do cover him when he is unavailable to work, there is no pressure I feel appreciated and respected too. Other things are that the days and working hours are flexible and I always can manage to solve my private problems.

Scientific management pros and cons

Advantages:

· All the profit can be used by the owner of the business, because of the high effectiveness

· Management is organised very well so there is no place for any delays or waste of time

· This type of management is very strict and conflicts are sorted out straight away and if employees will not follow the procedures then, they could be replaced

· There is no space for wastage, because management will always try to reduce cost on a large production scale. The quality and production is well monitored

· The work is carried out in the most economical and efficient manner (DailyOjo,2009)

Disadvantages:

· Fail to take to the consideration employees ideas

· Fail to appreciate social needs at work which can give no result of losing interest at work and given tasks

· Fail to give attention to employees and leave them demotivated

· Fail to respect human rights

· Fail to recognise employees skills and qualifications or give the same boring tasks(Trans Tutors.com 2010)

In my opinion the human relation theory is better, because there is a space for recognition at work place and the managers are treating employees as human being not as machines. There always should be a place for new ideas and social activities. If I would have an option with deciding which theory to chose I would definitely go for the human relation.

REFERENCES:

· Business dictionary 2010, Classical School of Management-online source

Available from

http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/classical-school-of-management.html

(Accessed 25 April 2010)

· DailyOjo,2009,What are the advantages of scientific Management in Business-online source

Available from

http://dailyojo.com/articles/what-are-the-advantages-of-scientific-management-in-business.html

(Accessed 25 April 2010)

· Encyclopedia .com, 2010 Humans relations theory-online source

Available from

http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O18-humanrelationstheory.html

(Accessed 25 April 2010)

· Times online 2010,Life, The dilemma of ethical clothing at Primark-online source

Available from

http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/fashion/article4150771.ece

(Accessed 25 April 2010)

· Trans Tutors. Com, 2010, Criticism to scientific Management- online source

Available from

http://www.transtutors.com/homework-help/Industrial+Management/Principles+of+Management/criticism-to-scientific-management.aspx

(Accessed 25 April 2010)

POWER AND CONFLICT AT WORK

Conflict is a disagreement between things for example War World II because people could not leave their normal life, people were killed when they could leave happy with their families and enjoy life. Conflict can be also when two or more people have different point of view and they cannot find a solution to their problem.

For the Assignment 1 for people and Organisations subject we needed to get into groups of 4 and work together as a team. Working in groups is very difficult because of people’s different personalities. It is very hard to achieve something when all the individuals getting together and nobody want to take any responsibilities. Some of the team members will not do any work, some of them will work hard. On beginning there was no problem because I took a team leader responsibility and I tried control and motivate team. We could not achieve and finish our assignment and pass a subject because team members did not work effectively. Some of them did not attend to the meetings, others did not reply to the phone calls. Actually nobody cared about anything. We could not agree with things. I started to deal with a conflict and I took all the tasks back and finish what others started but without a good result, because there was no enough time. As part of the team member I can say now that we should take to the consideration how people work and what is theirs ability and skills to finish tasks. Very often we getting into groups with someone we do not know very well and we are not sure if we could achieve our goals. It is very important for all team members to work hard individually and also as part of the team.

There is a different source of power for example:

· Coercive power- comes from the person’s authority to punish for example mother can punish a child(Blackboard,2010)

· Reward power-someone who control the dispensing of reward and benefit for example Manager can reward a Line Manager

· Expert power-ability to influence someone regarding a course of actions(knowledge, experience) good example is when a person is willing to listen to other person and inspire him/her to take actions to get something done

· Legitimate power-is formal authority delegated to the holder of the position. Is usually accompanied by various attributes of power such as uniforms

· Referent power-is individual power based on a high level of identification with, admiration of, or respect of power holder (Wikipedia,2010)

To avoid conflict at work organisations should give responsibility to Managers, so they could deal with problems in first line. Very important is to provide employees with written policy and regulations which should be respected. There should be also HR employed because the conflicts can be solved trough professionals.

I read on the internet about a drugs problem in Czech Republic. Their government was facing a voting which should decide if there will be an allowance to have legal amount of drugs in a pocket. Many people did like that idea so they started to demonstrate on the streets and speak out loud that they leave in democratic country and that the alcohol is damaging people’s life more than weed smoking. The crowd was heard and new legislation was out soon and politicians decided about how much of the drug they are allowed to have.(Novinky. Cz, 2010)

People have different view and opinion and it is very hard to make them think in the same way, that is why we all are facing conflicts. Conflict may arise and is in a workplace Managers responsibility to resolve them but conflicts should be avoided and people should always think about best solutions otherwise conflict can turn into war and this is the worst thing to happen.

References:

· Blackboard ,2010 New Bucks University , People and Organisations, Power point slides, Power and Conflicts in Organisations –online source

Available from

http://blackboard.bucks.ac.uk/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_id=_2_1&url=/webapps/blackboard/execute/launcher%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_186341_1%26url%3D

(Accessed 25 April 2010)

· Novinky.CZ, 2010,Hlavni Stranka,Domaci,Vlada ucila, jak velke je male mnoznstvi drogy-online source

Available from

http://www.novinky.cz/domaci/186927-vlada-urcila-jak-velke-je-male-mnozstvi-drogy.html

(Accessed 25 April 2010)

· Wikipedia, 2010 The Free Encyclopedia, Referent Power- online source

Available from

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Referent_power

(Accessed 25 April 2010)

PERSONALITY

Ø Compare and contrast the differences between the nature and nurture approaches to personality? Include the nomothetic and idiographic approaches. Provide links to any articles which review this topic. Summarise with your views – do you feel nature or nurture is the dominant influence.

Ø Visit 2 websites and take 2 tests e.g.

Ø www.initforlife.com/home/tm.asp

Ø http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/mind/surveys/whatamilike/index.shtml

Ø

http://www.shldirect.com/practice_tests.html

1. Include a summary of your findings about your own personality in your portfolio

2. Compare the findings of both tests; do you agree with the findings of the tests?

3. Would you be happy for such a test to be used as a selection tool, explain your answer?

Nature versus Nurture is an expression that is shorthand appearance for debates about the relative significance of a person’s inborn individuality, which is considered as ‘’nature’’ versus individual experiences, which is ‘’nurture’’ in shaping or causing personage differences in physical and behavioural character (Wikipedia, 2010).

Good explanation of nature and nurture is available to watch on the ‘’YouTube’’ Nature v. Nurture http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jilxKFxutU

Personality can be described as nomothetic or idiographic. The nomothetic describes the study of the individual, who is seen as an entity, with property setting people apart from other individuals and can be categorised as:

· Fixed

· Statistical study of groups

· Objective questionnaires

· Personality types

· Prediction

· Link to heredity, biology, genetics

· Traits, trade clusters

The idiographic is more the study of group of individuals and can be categorised as:

· Individualises

· Uniqueness

· Adaptable, open to change

· Influence of social and structural process

· Interaction with environment

· Self concept.

My first test was called as ‘’The Big Personality Test’’ and was designed by Proffesor Michael Lamb and Dr Jason Rentfrow of the University of Cambridge to discover and understand more about the relationship between personality and different areas of our lives, such as happiness, family, health and career choice.

The test was divided to big five trade score,

1. Openness

2. Conscientiousness

3. Extroversion

4. Agreeableness

5. Neuroticism

Which have given two results: numerical score and a grouping-high, medium or low.

The test result described me as a very easy person which can likely come up with original solutions to problems also that I probably enjoy planning aspects of my life and may indulge in list-making, but I am unlikely to be averse to behaving spontaneously. My high extroversion score shown that I am more likely to lead risky lifestyles and take greater risk in pursuit of rewards. I am probably can find it easy to get along with most people, but I won’t be averse to speaking my mind. I may find myself worrying when faced with uncertainty or unfamiliar situations.

The second personality test was called ‘’The Framicon and Your Comfort Zone’’ which explain the behaviour and personality patterns that result from thought, takes place in the human brain. The brain is divided to four regions and handle’s conceptual thoughts.

1. Left front-principles, options, analysis and logical conclusions.

2. Left back-names, definitions, data and information.

3. Right front- beliefs, values, intuition and creative associations.

4. Fight back-sensations, experiences and feelings.

As a result, each of the four regions of the brain performs a special kind of thinking. In turn, each region triggers a special kind of action.

The test result shown that my tendency is to favour; sociability and control, because I employ it more often, a mindframe in my zone will strongly influence my behaviour. I will find using it comfortable and enjoyable, so anything I handle in my comfort zone will be done with more enthusiasm and persistence .To build my success I should

· Teaming-make an effort to get along or work more smoothly with people who favour mindframes that I do not

· Skills-gain experience with techniques

· Procedures- follow jobs aids, menus and other guides

· Devices-employ technology to support myself.

In conclusion I must say that was very interesting to take a tests and discover things that could help me to learn much more about myself and my reactions and to see how human brain works. In my opinion only a trained professional can give a perfectly accurate personality profile. However, free personality from the internet which I had an opportunity to take can give me some ideas about what I should do to understand my behaviour and reactions. I do agree with both results and I enjoyed reading about myself especially when most of the scores were compatible with my personality. I think that this type of test should be included in recruitment to help create good culture at workplace.

References:

· Blackboard, Bucks New University 2010 online source-People and Organisations , Power point slides, week 7 Personality

Available from

http://blackboard.bucks.ac.uk/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_id=_2_1&url=/webapps/blackboard/execute/launcher%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_186341_1%26url%3D (Accessed 20 April 2010)

· Wikipedia 2010, The free Encyclopaedia-online source

Available from

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nature_versus_nurture

(Accessed 20 April 2010)