Selection

When a Business plans to hire an individual for a job, the selection process can be tough. The objective of selection is to result in hiring the best person for the job. The aim is to gather as much information about the candidates as possible which will allow organising and evaluating the information they have enable to assess each candidate. This will enable to employers to evaluate how qualified the candidate will be for the job and make decisions to further the process.

There are many methods of “Selecting”; some of these are listed below:

• Short listing from information on CV’s and application forms
• Interviews
• Tests

There are pros and cons of every method that is used during the selection method. We begin by looking at “Short listing”. This method is used to screen the candidates that have applied for a certain roles or position. It enables the employers to assess what qualifications a person holds and what achievements they have made throughout their careers and personal lives. Although this is a brilliant method when allocating jobs to academic roles, it may not be as applicable with other situations and jobs. It does not allow for the employer to have a ‘one on one’ situation with the individual and analyse their personality or ask questions as to what their goals for life are, where they plan on being in the future.

Next we analyse an “Interview”, this is the process that is taken by an employer which allows the chance for a personal meeting. The employer will have the chance to converse with the candidate and fully depict whether they are the right person for the job. The interview can allow for conversation to go past the formal and the employer can find out more about an individual which may help them in the long run to find the person who would best suit the role and the company. However, there is some speculation that an interview can be a very artificial setting and can be subjective.  The interviewer may make judgements on the candidate based within a few seconds and let their own beliefs cloud their judgement on how suited they would be for the available role. The interviewer may see the candidate in a particular stereotype and let that cloud their judgement.

Finally, ‘Tests’ are another form of screening someone for an open position within the workplace.  There are many forms of testing and many reasons why this would be a good way to select a person. Positive factors such as being able to find out information which could not be collected through an interview and being able to test a range of different areas instead of just a communication interview are reasons testing an individual.  Some forms of testing include:

• Intelligence tests – to assess a range of skills (verbal, numerical)
• Psychometric
• Ability tests – to assess attainment or aptitude
• Personality questionnaires  designed by Saville & Holdsworth
• And Occupational Personality Questionnaire and Myers-Briggs test
• Motivation tests
• Interest inventories
• Aptitude tests

All of these are perfectly reasonable forms of analysing an individual’s ability, and even determine what their personality may be however there are cons to this form of selection. An individual may lie or suppress the truth on a test due to wanting to make the right impression. The test may not show the individual in a truthful light.

I took part in an interview during my time at 6^th form at school. The interview was for the chance to attend a skiing trip to France. As there were limited places on the trip, an interviewing system was put in place to see who would fill the spaces available. The head of 6^th form and another teacher conducted the interview and all who were interested took part. The interviewers asked questions which would find out why we were so interested in the skiing trip, what experiences we wanted to take away from the trip and how much experience we had in skiing. Although the interviewing process allowed every person the same chance and an equal opportunity, I would not say it was extremely effective. I did receive a place on the trip but I do not feel as though it was entirely down to my answers during the interview. The teachers I felt may have also took into consideration how well behaved the students were and what their grades were. The perception of the individual would have played a part in the decision of who went on the trip.

Recently a friend of mine applied for a job. Before being given the job, she had to take part in an interview and also had to take a “Silver Service” test to prove she could manage to set a dinner table and show she was capable of greeting people and show them to their seats. She had to prove she was a good hostess and then she was hired for the job. I would recommend that a CV screening process would be a valid thing to do as it would let the employer see what qualifications and past experience the individual has in the area they are applying for.

To conclude, i think it is necessary that an employer considers all the options of selecting before deciding which one to use. This needs to happen in order for the right candidate to be chosen so that the available job is filled by the person with the most experience and can handle the role sufficiently. 

Referencing:

http://www.gettyimages.co.uk/Search/Search.aspx?contractUrl=2&language=en-GB&family=creative&p=selection&assetType=image

http://www.gettyimages.co.uk/Search/Search.aspx?contractUrl=2&language=en-GB&family=creative&assetType=image&p=interview

L.J. Mullins Management & Organisational Behaviour (2010) 9th Edition.

http://www.bbk.ac.uk/hr/policies_services/Recruitment/selectionprocess

Perception And Communication

Perception can be described as “The process by which individuals organise and interpret their sensory impressions in order to give meaning to their environment”  Robbins et al, 2010.

Perception can determine the way a Business is run and what the morals and beliefs of the company stand for. It can factor in to every part of the organisation and can manipulate the way certain things are directed and run.

All five senses of an individual are used during perception. There can be many factors that can influence how one perceives.

                                          

Perceiver    -------->    Target  --------->  Situation

The perceiver may perceive a situation or person incorrectly due to the attitude they hold at the time, any interests they have, past experiences they have encountered and expectations they hold towards people and situations. The target of a situation may fluctuate depending on sounds occurring at the time of perception, the background or if the person has encountered similarities to the subject.  The perception of the situation depends solely on the time and place of the scenario taking place. Perception can differ entirely depending on whether the situation is taken place in a working environment or a social environment.

Reflecting upon my time in school, I recall making a perception about a teacher which I no longer hold to be true. I perceived this woman at the time to be rude, unable to understand problems and as if she would make no time for any of her students. I made this judgement due to the attitude I held that day and struggling to cope with being in a situation I did not want to be in. It was not in fact the teacher’s fault why I perceived her in such a negative light.  To avoid making the same misjudgement again there are several methods I could use.

•        Effective Communication
•      Focus on goals
•     Look for information to dis-confirm your beliefs  (“devil’s advocate”)

Each of these would give me the opportunity to think about the situation and person before I judge. My perception will change when I take into consideration the situation around myself.

After reading the article “How to Improve Staff Communication”, it is my belief that the three ways the University could improve communication with students would be to :

•         Enforce ‘One To One’ meetings between students and personal tutors more often
•         Ensure feedback is understood after assignment have been marked
•         Enforce communication and survey forms more often to provide both students and           teachers with information on how the public are feeling.

It is my belief that these points would increase the communication levels between the University and students. If the Internal and External factors of a person could be observed and taken less into consideration, a person’s perception would change dramatically.

Referencing :

http://www.gettyimages.co.uk/Search/Search.aspx?contractUrl=2&language=en-GB&family=creative&assetType=image&p=human+senses

Robbins et al, 2010

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

communication.htm

http://www.gettyimages.co.uk/Search/Search.aspx?contractUrl=2&language=en-GB&family=creative&p=perception&assetType=image

L.J. Mullins Management & Organisational Behaviour (2010) 9th Edition.

Communication And Involvement

In every organisation and Business, it is vital for the employee to feel as though they can communicate with their managers and employers and feel like they can express their opinions and voice concerns. It is a healthy thing to do in a Business, opening doors from growth and fresh ideas. It can be hard to differentiate from employee participation and employee involvement as both are similar within a work place environment.

Employee participation is said to stem from a pluralist approach. The point of employee participation is to involve the staff is having say in some decisions. Employee participation is supported by legislation and gives a right to employees to be involved in consultation on matters that will affect them personally and not just the business. This may be on matters such as the economy or issues that will affect employee status.

Involvement on the other hand, is more personal. Laurie J. Mullins stated that

“It is important that staff themselves should also feel a sense of involvement and know how they can play their part in achieving the goals and objectives of the organisation”.

Employee involvement is more about a manager’s desire and belief that encouragement towards an individual will enforce commitment to the organisation and reinforce the values.

There are different categories that are involved in employee involvement:

• Sharing information
• Consultation
• Financial participation
• Quality improvements
• Individuals
• Community

Employees can involve staff in making decisions by holding staff meetings and brief staff about upcoming ideas and events and allowing them to brain storm and create ideas and voice opinions. Another way on allowing staff to be involved in decision making is by using ‘Staff Suggestion Schemes’. This allows staff the opportunity to suggest to their managers what they feel need could be improved on without feeling pressure to reveal their identity. Another way of involving staff would be to hand out ‘Staff Opinion Surveys’ to employees. Checking staffs opinions on a range of issues allow opinions to be voiced and allow staff to feel like the managers care and want to know about their problems and concerns.

As many organisations are using social networking sites as a way of keep staff involved, I looked around for up to date fashion sites that caught my attention. H&M are a leading high fashion brand that offers a wide selection of clothes to women and men. They offer up a unique experience on ‘Facebook’ which allow potential employees the chance to become involved in the H&M experience before they apply for the job. The site offers up a lot of different options such as “About H&M”, “Store Locator”, “Customer Service”, “Working At H&M”, “Corporate Responsibility”, “All For Children”, “Social Media Room”, “H&M On Twitter”, and “H&M On Youtube”. The website also offers a ‘discussion’ page for people interested in H&M to discuss job availability, new trends, prices and other related topics. Other social networking sites available to H&M are Twitter and Youtube, both provide the store with a wide audience and could potentially gather more customers due to the publicity online.

Referencing:

http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_X62Awd7Ae-g/TE8hbWLavII/AAAAAAAAAOg/gT-dwBFyApU/s400/hm_logo-thumb.gif&imgrefurl=http://thegirlmichael.blogspot.com/2010/07/gab-h-home.html&usg=__m-wBRMsSc_6fdJsWVzalHk7Rt8M=&h=400&w=400&sz=17&hl=en&start=0&zoom=1&tbnid=6EvHejx0mmaIIM:&tbnh=129&tbnw=129&ei=xxOvTdfjGI_-4Ab46p3HCA&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dh%2526m%2Blogo%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DX%26rlz%3D1G1SVEE_ENUK418%26biw%3D1366%26bih%3D667%26tbm%3Disch&um=1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=445&vpy=59&dur=585&hovh=225&hovw=225&tx=134&ty=126&oei=xxOvTdfjGI_-4Ab46p3HCA&page=1&ndsp=28&ved=1t:429,r:2,s:0

www.cipd.co.uk/subjects/empreltns/comconslt/empcomm.htm

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/career_and_jobs/best_100_companies/best_100_tables/

http://www.facebook.com/hm?sk=app_4949752878

L.J.Mullins Management & Organisational Behaviour (2010) 9^th Edition.

http://www.gettyimages.co.uk/Search/Search.aspx?contractUrl=2&language=en-GB&family=creative&assetType=image&p=participation

Leadership

Leadership and Management can be seen as having many similarities. Sometimes it can be hard to differentiate between the two of them when you consider how close they are together. Leadership can be defined as “ a clear implication that leadership not part of the job but a quality that can be brought to a job… The work that leadership encompasses in the context clearly is not assigned but comes about spontaneously” – Belbin, R. M. Changing the way we work, Butterworth- Heinemann (1997) p.90. This differs from management which can be described as “getting things done through other people in order to achieve stated organisational objectives”. (Mullins 2010)

The Managerial/ Leadership Grid by Blake and Mouton is used as a means of evaluating different styles of management. Two principle dimensions are the key of the grid:

Concerns for production – This is the amount of emphasis the manager puts on accomplishing the tasks in hand, achieving a high level of success and getting the results or profits. This is the horizontal axis of the Grid.

Concern for people – This is the amount of emphasis the manager gives to staff and colleagues as individuals and to their needs and expectations. This is the vertical axis of the grid.

Working in Lloyds TSB in Cardiff for a few weeks allowed me the opportunity to work under a manager which I would place at (9,9) on the managerial/leadership grid. This is also known as “The Team Manager”, this person has a high concern for production and a high concern for people. They hold a great belief in creating a situation where people can satisfy their own needs by commitment to the objectives of the organisation.

“After campaigning on a platform of hope and change that inspired a nation, Barack Obama was elected as the 44th President of the U.S. and the first African American to hold the position. Shackled with the "inbox from hell," he has weathered both criticism and praise with grace and calm. In another historic moment, on Dec. 13, 2009, President Obama became only the third sitting U.S. President to receive the Nobel Peace Prize—this while managing two wars” - http://images.businessweek.com/ss/09/12/1222_inspirational_leaders/11.htm

This articles summaries just some of the achievements that Barack Obama has which makes him a good leader. Not only can he take criticism but he also does good for people and leads America in a new way. Opening the eyes to people who never thought he could achieve the Presidency, Barack Obama has gone on to achieve many goals.

To conclude, leadership is about more than managing people and directing them. It's about giving them the support they need to grow and develop within themselves and the Business. Inspiration can be drawn from a leader and this can create a new and positive atmosphere.

Referencing :

Belbin, R. M. Changing the way we work, Butterworth- Heinemann (1997)

http://images.businessweek.com/ss/09/12/1222_inspirational_leaders/11.htm

L. J. Mullins Management & Organisational Behaviour (2010) 9th Edition.

http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://labspace.open.ac.uk/file.php/4047/T205_2_010i.jpg&imgrefurl=http://sucaminonatural.com/restol/blake-and-mouton-managerial-grid&usg=__qK4OeXcG6AGYqx0IxHi7yLUkZ1s=&h=458&w=574&sz=53&hl=en&start=6&zoom=1&tbnid=DQVk5yb3O5B1hM:&tbnh=107&tbnw=134&ei=2TuuTZ-kIpKW4gaY8t3GCw&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dleadership%2Bgrid%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26rlz%3D1G1SVEE_ENUK418%26biw%3D1366%26bih%3D624%26tbm%3Disch&um=1&itbs=1

http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://www.makebiofuel.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/barack-obama-speech.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.makebiofuel.co.uk/news/obama-calls-for-more-biofuels-investment-no-oil-subsidies&usg=__Kcoq80WoF6PElrduD2oe9EqvHjY=&h=375&w=560&sz=45&hl=en&start=0&zoom=1&tbnid=wCE3KH4oPDu0GM:&tbnh=143&tbnw=188&ei=OjmuTfj0DunR4waVmuX4Cg&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dbarack%2Bobama%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26rlz%3D1G1SVEE_ENUK418%26biw%3D1366%26bih%3D624%26tbm%3Disch0%2C21&um=1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=329&vpy=351&dur=1318&hovh=184&hovw=274&tx=130&ty=139&oei=HTmuTa-gGZ6H4gb2rpS5Cw&page=1&ndsp=21&ved=1t:429,r:15,s:0&biw=1366&bih=624

Performance Management

Performance management is about establishing a culture in which individuals and groups take responsibility for the continuous improvement of business process and their own skills, behaviours and contributions. It is about sharing expectations.

‘Performance Management: An overview: Factsheet’, CIPD February 2008

Attending Buckingham New University has given me a chance to receive information on my performance and how I can improve my work. Being on The Human Resources Management course involves writing a lot of essays, blogs and creating financial documents. In order to ensure I’m doing well within my work and improving after every piece of work I do, lectures ensure feedback as well as grades for the work every student does. The feedback gives both positive and negative feedback, going in depth about what a person excelled in and what could be improved on the piece with an overall grade along with it. Each lecturer I have are supportive and provide extra help for a student if they struggle with their work, there is also a support system in place at the university which acts as a drop in centre. This provides students with the opportunity to have their work checked before handing it in for a final deadline. Our personal tutors are there to ensure that the students can cope with the work load and we understand what our next steps our within our degree. It is important for the individuals attending the university to feel as though they have a mentor guiding them and can be available for help at any time.

An effective mentor will be able to change the life of the person they are helping. With the abilities to be a good listener and provide support, the mentor can pass on guidance and wisdom to the person without finding themselves in a difficult situation. The opportunites created from having a mentor can be huge. Bob Garvey recently held a project which proved that having a mentor can involve benefits that “included transferring new skills and knowledge, creating better networking opportunities as well as helping them improve their product and in some cases even going into business with their mentor”.

Being a good mentor comes with the ability to pass on life experiences and knowledge. This comes from being a completely different personality type to the person you are mentoring and having lived a longer time than them and have experienced different situations. This gives the mentor the ability to talk from experience which will benefit the person the mentor is helping.

Bob Garvey was also quoted stating that a mentor must “need to be empathetic and sensitive, encouraging a solution out of the person they are mentoring rather than telling them what to do.” Thus allowing them to be capable of “improving their ability to solve problems, to interact better with other people and to cope with challenges”.

During my time at 6^th form I felt I had a mentor in my Media Studies teacher. He was able to communicate with me on a friendship level as well as an authoritative level. He provided me when a lot of knowledge about his past and how I could use some of his advice and apply it to my own life academically and personally. Struggling with a hard year in my life was uplifted slightly knowing I had a person I was able to reply on for support and structure. His encouragement allowed me to go on with my education and finish my schooling year. I am thankful for the effort he put into mentoring me and I can honestly say it helped me. Mentors can be very useful in times of need and for building up new structure and learning a new 

approach to take at a problem.

Referencing :

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/entrepreneur/article3778514.ece

http://www.gettyimages.co.uk/Search/Search.aspx?contractUrl=2&language=en-GB&family=creative&p=mentor&assetType=image

L. J. Mullins Management & Organisation Behaviour (2010) 9th Edition

http://www.mentorset.org.uk/pages/mentoring.htm

‘Performance Management: An overview: Factsheet’, CIPD February 2008

Equality & Diversity

Equality and Diversity are used within a Business for several reasons. Kandola and Fullerton, 1998 described the reason for both. The reasons for Equal Opportunities are as follows:

• Removing discrimination
• Equal Opportunities seen as an issue for disadvantaged groups
• Equal Opportunities seen as an HR issue
• Equal Opportunities relies on positive action

The reasons for Diversity is described as :

• Differences can be strengths for the organisation as a whole.
• Focus on maximising individual employee potential
• Seen as relevant to all employees
• An issue that involves all managers
• Does not rely on positive action

The Age Legislation came into force in 2006. It is one of the most resent of the equality legislation acts to be put in place. Along with; the Equal Pay Act (1970), Sex Descrimination Act (1975), Race Relations Act (1976), Sexual Orientation (2003), Religion Or Belief Regulation (2003) and Disability Act (2004). These acts were put in place to minimise victimisation and harassment and to manage diversity within a company.

As an employer, the age legislation age no longer allows employers to employ staff based on their age.

The impact this will have on them will be huge. They will no longer be able to put in place a line of succession and some promotions may not be able to be given due to the positions being filled longer than expected. Staffs are no longer required to retire at a certain age and this may put strain on the manager if they are starting to find the employee not filling the potential of their role. New skills will also be harder to teach as the skills will be retained in the work place. No new information will be brought in if the older generation to not retire and stay on to work instead. This may also be a difficult process to handle in manual types of work. A person may not be as physically fit and able to do the work necessary in the job as they get older but the Age Legislation age prohibits an employer from dismissing an employee due to their age.

It was put in place to minimise stereotypical views being cast on young and old people. Some stereotypical comments can be seen from the photos below.

There are many reasons for focusing on diversity so recently, if we take a closer look and analyse we can see the key points:

·         Demographic changes within the work place

·         A wider customer base has opened up since new implements have been put in place to contact companies abroad and expand businesses.

·          A shortage of higher level skills has taken place and more jobs need to be filled in order to get the work done. 

·         There is an increased number of women and part time workers in the work fore

·         Changes in social attitude

·         Globalisation

One of the more innovative practises would be to hire more young people. On the ASDA website, they make it their aim to create awareness for the ‘Young Retails Programme’. The website quotes:

“We're creating thousands of new opportunities and investing heavily in helping young people get their feet on the career ladder. From school pupils getting work experience in years 10 and 11 to graduates joining us after University… from our new Retail Apprenticeship scheme to thousands of Seasonal roles… we're opening the way into our amazing world of retail, where careers can be built and ambitions can be fulfilled.”

Their target is to hire more young people are create more opportunities for them to be involved in.

To conclude, it can be seen that equality and diversity is vital within a workplace in order to make every situation fair for every employee.

Referencing :

http://www.asda.co.uk/

Kandola and Fullerton, 1998

http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://www.phonesystem.co.uk/assets/uploads/asda-logo.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.phonesystem.co.uk/isdn-lines&usg=__XbNPf8xCYXtyfC5EL3ma92pdQVY=&h=270&w=363&sz=12&hl=en&start=0&zoom=1&tbnid=SyesL8i67SPDkM:&tbnh=135&tbnw=182&ei=QgOuTb_eD56H4gb2rpS5Cw&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dasda%2Blogo%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DG%26rlz%3D1G1SVEE_ENUK418%26biw%3D1366%26bih%3D624%26tbm%3Disch&um=1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=129&vpy=117&dur=1497&hovh=194&hovw=260&tx=107&ty=85&oei=QgOuTb_eD56H4gb2rpS5Cw&page=1&ndsp=18&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:0

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Employment/ResolvingWorkplaceDisputes/DiscriminationAtWork/DG_10026665

L.J. Mullins Management & Organisational Behaviour (2010) 9th Edition.

Recruitment

The recruitment process within a business can be a lengthy procedure to go through. If and when the business decide to hire a new individual for a role, the business must define the needs and wants of the role required before they can begin the search to recruit. The specifications need to be drawn up of what the role requires and then the process can start. Businesses need to attract people to the job, then screen the selected few chosen and then begin the selection process.

The website ‘www.prospects.ac.uk’ is a website aimed at graduates of university beginning their search for the perfect job. The website is split into sections ‘Careers Advice’, ‘Jobs And Work Experience’, ‘Postgraduate Study’, ‘Job Sectors’, ‘Student Life’ and ‘International Students’. From these sections arise sub-sections. These are put in place so that the individual can explore any area and find out more perhaps about what a certain role would entails, how to get the qualifications necessary for the job, and if qualifications are necessary, how and what qualifications would be necessary and how would the individual  achieve them.

The website was easily accessible and was simple to understand. The layout of the webpage was helpful and the sub sections held a lot of useful information. The website was linked to other potential websites depending on what area or direction the individual was looking at and seeking advice about.

The website was extremely handy for first time users and individuals unaware of the steps to take to further either their education or their place in the hierarchy within a business.

A recruitment campaign that has caught my attention is on the B&Q website. The company prides itself on have five main goals :

1. Customer first
2. Down To Earth
3. Respect For People
4. We Can Do It
5. Nobody does it better

·      The campaign’s main achievement is to enlighten people on how B&Q separate themselves to other companies and provide people with information on what jobs they have to offer. The website states that “Our diversity policy relates to gender, race, age and ability” and “we aim to reduce the impact that our products have on the environment”.

B&Q have prided themselves on some of their achievements such as:

•   Removed our retirement age more than 15 years ago
•   Introduced 'Voice of the Customer' web-based questionnaire to gather valuable  customer feedback
•  Only UK employer to receive Gallup Great Workplace Award for three years running
•  Listed in The Times 'Top 50 places where women want to work' for four consecutive years
•  Largest UK retail user of City & Guilds Qualifications
• Supported more than 10,000 community projects

Online recruitment seems to be the newest and easiest way of recruiting people. The advantages of this are;

• The opportunity to advertising to a range of different people
• Advertising to a vast amount of people all at once
• The internet is fast and emails send instantly therefore the process is quicker
• It saves a lot of money for the Business
• The Business won’t need to employ as many people to recruit

5.    However, although it may be a faster option there can be some draw backs to this new system too;

•               Unable to analyse the person face to face
•         Many more applications to sort through
•         The more applications, the more time consuming the process becomes
•         People lose out on job opportunities being in a recruitment agency
•         Lengthens the process

The recruitment process within a business is very important and any steps taken to improve the process will be seen as a positive thing.

Referencing:

https://kingfisher.taleo.net/careersection/2/jobsearch.ftl?lang=en

http://www.diy.com/diy/jsp/corporate/content/careers/find_your_job/index.jsp

http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://www.bitc.org.uk/images/side_column/377_bandq_logo.gif&imgrefurl=http://www.bitc.org.uk/resources/case_studies/bq_environment.html&usg=__M8F-_1HidOKDpG98itMVjUVJRpE=&h=160&w=160&sz=26&hl=en&start=0&zoom=1&tbnid=YGj6Aiicixc44M:&tbnh=128&tbnw=128&ei=wv2tTe3gHYTw4Aav3ICxCw&prev=/search%3Fq%3Db%2526q%2Blogo%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DX%26rlz%3D1G1SVEE_ENUK418%26biw%3D1366%26bih%3D624%26tbm%3Disch&um=1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=164&vpy=160&dur=137&hovh=128&hovw=128&tx=119&ty=31&oei=wv2tTe3gHYTw4Aav3ICxCw&page=1&ndsp=21&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:0

www.prospects.ac.uk

http://www.gettyimages.co.uk/Search/Search.aspx?contractUrl=2&language=en-GB&family=creative&p=recruitment&assetType=image

L. J. Mullins Management & Organisational Behaviour (2010) 9^th Edition.

Reward

“A reward system consists of financial rewards and employee benefits, which together comprise total remuneration”

Martin et al, 2010

There are two types of reward systems Financial Rewards and Non-Financial Rewards. The differences between the two are simple. The Financial Rewards involve:

·         Basic pay rates

·         Bonuses

·         Incentives

·         Performance related pay

·         Overtime payments

These are also known as ‘Tangible’ or ‘Extrinsic’. The Non-Financial Rewards are based on:

·         Recognition

·         Career opportunities

·         Opportunity to develop skills

·         Work life balance

·         Flexible working time

These are known as ‘Intangible’, ‘Intrinsic’ or ‘Difficult to value’.

The brand ‘New Look’ is a high street shop aimed at girls and women all looking for the latest fashion. The shop aims to offer each person who works for them a large staff discount in order to thank them for the hard work they put in creating and selling the outfits the shop offers. They also offer competitive bonuses, incentives and a company pension scheme. Each person who works for the shop is offered the chance to train and develop themselves, this is to ‘Teach, enrich and stretch people to be the best they can be’. New Look state that they ‘At every level in the business, we value and encourage continual learning. From E-Learning to workshops and secondments, we’ve the resources in place to grow our own future managers and leaders’.

The New Look brand ensures that each employee is given the same rewards and incentives and they all have the same opportunity to better themselves within their careers. The brand differs itself from other brands and shops by giving their employees the chance to create their own working uniform created by the clothes in the shop. This gives the employee freedom to express themselves but still feel controlled by their manager.

The purpose of a reward system is to ensure several things such as :


·         To motivate employees to perform to their maximum
·         Comply with legal obligations
·         Strengthen the psychological contract
·         Support the corporate strategy
·         Recruit qualified employees
·         Retain capable employees
·         Maintain equity
·         Be sustainable within financial resources

There is a big debate as to whether the chief executives of large businesses should receive rewards in the form of a bonus if it comes to light that their companies have underperformed.

The Royal Bank Of Scotland banking group made a loss of more than £1bn last year It was revealed last month that Mr Hester Chief of RBS banking group was given an additional £4.5million potential shares on top of his £2m annual bonus and £1.2m salary for 2010.

Some people may believe that this is not right and that the people who get the company into debt and underperform within their business should not be rewarded for the things they do. They believe that the customer satisfaction levels of the Business were not met to the correct standards and therefore the people in charge should not be given praise for their poor skills in their jobs. However, on the other hand, there is an argument to suggest that people believe in being fair and allowing the people who misjudged their business to be rewarded for the work they did and hope for an improvement within the next financial year. Royal Bank Of Scotland Chairman said “We need talented and motivated people and we need to be able to pay them fairly”. It is my personal belief that the bonuses given to the people of the board who have achieved a huge bonus after under achieving within the Business is not acceptable. I feel like this is not a fair thing to happen and other processes should be under taken in order to reward the person but a bonus that large should not be given.

Referencing:

http://www.newlookcareers.co.uk/

www.newlook.com

http://www.gettyimages.co.uk/Search/Search.aspx?contractUrl=2&language=en-GB&family=creative&assetType=image&p=money

http://www.channel4.com/news/barclays-boss-receives-6-5m-bonus

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-13132635

http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://www.globalcrisisnews.com/wp-content/uploads/royal-bank-of-scotland.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.globalcrisisnews.com/europe/royal-bank-of-scotland-to-cut-9000-jobs/id%3D775/&usg=__c--8tB46lYFvatyMLt3T_EhQdNY=&h=253&w=591&sz=22&hl=en&start=0&zoom=1&tbnid=5K2-Fik10TWjuM:&tbnh=94&tbnw=219&ei=pending&prev=/search%3Fq%3Droyal%2Bbank%2Bof%2Bscotland%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26rlz%3D1G1SVEE_ENUK418%26biw%3D1366%26bih%3D667%26tbm%3Disch0%2C13&um=1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=337&vpy=144&dur=302&hovh=97&hovw=225&tx=176&ty=73&oei=F-6tTbGyF4Gw8gOvwrDzAQ&page=1&ndsp=15&ved=1t:429,r:1,s:0&biw=1366&bih=667

Martin et al, 2010

L. J. Mullins. Management & Organisational Behaviour (2010) 9th Edition.