Employee Involvement & Communication

Employee participation is the involvement of employees in organisations by means of communication. Employee participation allows employees to have some input in the decision making process within business's. Employee involvement, however, is the process of managers encouraging employees to be committed to the business in which they work. This can be done by sharing information, consultation and financial participation.

The difference between employee participation and employee involvement is that employee participation is more formal than employee involvement. For example, in employee participation, employees input their views and opinions on matters that concern the business e.g. whether or not to merge with another company while employee involvement involves matters that may not be directly concerned with the running of the business e.g. getting employees more active in the local community.

Organisations can involve employees in decision-making by:

1. Empowering them - Empowering employees gives them extra power and responsibility in the business, which would give them a greater say in the decision making process.

2. Working in teams - This would give employees an opportunity to discuss in teams the best course of action, which may involve making decisions agreed upon the group e.g. choosing a certain supply of goods.

3. Carry out staff opinion surveys - These can be given to employees within the company, allowing employees to give their views and opinions on the business. The results of the survey may determine how the business is run e.g. if the survey shows that 100% of employees dislike the autocratic leadership style in the business currently, the business may change its leadership style to a laissez faire leadership style.

Ernest & Young use Facebook as a social service, which allows potential recruits to inquire about any positions in the company that are available that they might be interested in under the "discussions" tab. This is done through online posts. Responses are then given by people that work at Ernest & Young about whether any positions are available and how to apply for a position in the company. For existing staff, employees can inquire about relocating to a different country but still work for Ernest & Young. Information is then given from users who work at the company that know which countries Ernest & Young support with available jobs going and respond with suitable answers.

Zappos use Twitter as a social service, which allows employees to communicate with each other on topics of their own choosing. Typical topics include how work is going, what training is like at Zappos and how the different Zappos branches compare. This is also done through online posts. Users reply to each other on topics that are currently active. Zappos' Twitter page isn't private however, which allows people that aren't employed by Zappos to post on the page. As a result, potential recruits can ask questions regarding Zappos that current Zappos employees can answer e.g. questions regarding the work environment in which Zappos employees work and the culture of the organisation.

In conclusion, I've enjoyed this topic because it is a topic that I'm relatively unfamiliar with. As a result, I've found the topic interesting having learnt a lot from it. It is also a topic that relates to the world of work, which is also why I enjoyed it to such a large extent as it will be relevant information to me once I finish University and find a job.

References:

Employee communication image [online]. [n.d.] [s.n.] Available from: http://www.powersbenefits.com/AA001354.jpg [Accessed 22 March 2010].

Reward

John Lewis rewards their staff by distributing a proportion of the company's profits to its employees (John Lewis Partnership, 2010). No groups in the company are exempt from receiving a proportion of the company's profits. The reason for this is that it would be unfair for certain employees working in the organisation to receive a share of the profits while others don't receive anything, taking into account that everyone has contributed to the company. In this respect, John Lewis ensures fairness and equality. On the other hand, the company's profits are distributed as a percentage of the employee's salary (John Lewis Partnership, 2010). As a result, the higher paid employees are more likely to receive a greater share of the profits than the lower paid employees. In this respect, fairness and equality isn't fully ensured as certain employee groups e.g. Managers are more likely to receive a greater share of the profits than other groups e.g. Checkout staff because they earn more.

Having said that, the reason why the share of the profits are distributed as a percentage of one's salary is because the employees that earn more have greater responsibilities and more difficult jobs to carry out. Based on this, you could argue that the higher paid earners in John Lewis receiving a greater share of the profits is perfectly fair. In addition, it is also arguable that employees earning the most have a bigger influence in generating the profits that are shared in the company than the employees that earn less, so it would make sense that they receive a greater share of the profits. In this respect, fairness and equality are ensured as the employees that have a bigger effect on the company receive a greater share of the profits.

Arguments for Chief Executives to receive bonuses even if the organisation that they have led has underperformed:

1. Receiving bonuses even if the organisation underperforms would encourage Chief Executives to stay in the company instead of leaving the organisation for a position in another company that gives bonuses to Chief Executives regardless of whether the company underperforms or not.

2. Receiving bonuses even if the organisation underperforms may make the Chief Executives feel valued in the business. This may motivate them into working more effectively which may improve the company's overall performance.

3. The performance of the company may not always be the fault of the Chief Executive/s or at least not totally. As a result, the Chief Executives may have actually performed well in reality even if the company as a whole hasn't. In this case, bonuses for Chief Executives even if an organisation is performing badly is justified.

Arguments against Chief Executives to receive bonuses even if the organisation that they have led has unperformed:

1. Company's that are underperforming are generally short of income. As a result, bonuses for Chief Executives aren't justified in underperforming business's considering that they are largely responsible for the lack of income in the first place.

2. Company's that are paying Chief Executives bonuses when they are underperforming are encouraging poor performance on the behalf of the company. This is because its part of the responsibility of the Chief Executives for the company to perform well. This may encourage subordinates in the company to work less efficiently and effectively with the expectation of receiving bonuses.

3. Company's that are paying Chief Executives bonuses when they are underperforming may damage or harm the morale in certain organisations. This is because it's unlikely that any other employees in the underperforming companies are receiving bonuses. As a result, it may create a "them and us" type divide in company's, which may further worsen the company's performance.

Three financial ways of rewarding a teacher at a primary school are:

1. Wages - Teachers are paid based on the number of hours worked, usually each week e.g. the number of hours a teacher teaches his/her classes in total.

2. Salaries - Teachers are paid at the end of each month for their work. Salaries are annual.

3. Performance related pay - Teachers are paid based on meeting or failing to meet certain targets. A typical target might be to have 60% of a teacher's class to be averaging a "C" grade in Maths.

Three non-financial ways of rewarding a teacher at a primary school are:

1. Job enrichment - a teacher may be given more interesting, challenging and complex jobs to carry out e.g. becoming more involved in solving any bullying issues that may exist in a primary school.

2. Job enlargement - a teacher may be given more tasks to carry out that they are familiar with e.g. teaching more classes than before and or marking more pieces of homework.

3. Empowerment - a teacher may be given greater power and control in a primary school e.g. have the authority to decide on punishments for misbehaved children.

Out of the financial/non-financial ways of rewarding a teacher stated above, one of the ways of rewarding a teacher that would motivate me the most would be to empower me through empowerment. This is because it would make me feel like I'm an asset to the school because I'm given extra responsibilities that I otherwise wouldn't have. I would therefore feel valued as an employee. Another way of rewarding a teacher that would motivate me would be to give me more interesting, challenging and complex tasks to carry out through job enrichment. This is because it would involve carrying out jobs that are more challenging than what I would usually carry out. It would therefore test my skills as an employee, which would motivate me to work harder than I usually would.

In conclusion I've enjoyed this topic on rewards greatly. This is largely because this topic is relatively unfamiliar to me. As a result, I've learned a lot on the subject. In addition, this topic is relevant to me once I finish University and seek employment so I've found the topic particularly interesting and insightful.

References:

John Lewis Partnership (2010) Pay and benefits [online]. John Lewis. Available from: http://www.johnlewispartnership.co.uk/Display.aspx?&MasterId=68408a6d-eee2-4873-a2fb-420aad32e547&NavigationId=556 [Accessed 20 April 2010].

Reward image [online]. [n.d.] [s.n.] Available from: http://customerservicevoodoo.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/incentiverecognition.jpg [Accessed 22 March 2010].

Training and Development

In the one-week induction training programme for graduates, I would firstly include a session which involves gathering personal information from the trainees. This would include information regarding their age and any disabilities the graduates may have so that the training programme can be modified accordingly if certain individuals require it. This would also help avoid discriminating against individuals that may need to be accustomed for with certain tasks. This first stage of the induction programme would take place within the business but outside the workplace itself. This is because this process would be distracting to customers in the workplace but too expensive to pay a specialised training company to handle such a task. Its effectiveness would be evaluated in it's ability to accommodate for graduates that have disabilities. Feedback can also be given via a Questionnaire which would also evaluate its effectiveness based on the number of complaints/compliments given.

The second stage of the induction programme would involve E-learning. The content of this E-learning stage would be accessible both in and outside the workplace, requiring a PC, Internet connection and a valid username/password. The E-learning stage gives the graduates information on how to effectively:

• Communicate to both employees and customers
• Work in a team
• Manage time
• Solve problems

Its effectiveness is evaluated in it's ability for graduates to learn the material without any questions, queries or problems in general.

The third stage of the induction programme would involve coaching of the graduates. Graduates would be coached on topics regarding managing retail chains, motivating staff and problem solving in addition to any legislative laws and regulations that are relevant to store managers. This would take place within the organisation with the current store managers in the business being the mentors. Its effectiveness would be evaluated by the extent to which the trainees understand what they are being taught. If the coaching is proving to be effective, the trainees should perform well in the on the job training stage of the training programme as the two stages are linked.

The fourth stage of the induction programme would involve on the job training. This would include the store managers demonstrating how to carry out tasks and activities a typical store manager would e.g. how to deal with customer complaints/queries. This stage would take place within the work environment of the business. The effectiveness of the stage would be evaluated by the responses given by graduates when the store managers ask questions at random regarding the on the job training. If all of the graduates respond with the answers that the store managers are looking for, it would appear the stage is too easy. Conversely, if all of the responses from the graduates aren't what the store managers are looking for, it would appear the stage is too difficult for the graduates.

In conclusion, I have enjoyed this topic on Training and Development. This is because the information that I've learnt from this topic will be of use to me once I leave University and seek employment. I've also found the material of the topic interesting. This is because a lot of the information on this topic is new to me as I wasn't very knowledgeable with regards to Training and Development before I had read into this topic.

References:

Training and Development image. [n.d.] [s.n.] Available from: http://www.through-the-maze.org.uk/symbols_x2/training.gif [Accessed 17 March 2010].

Managing Performance

Bucks New University measure my performance by using assignment percentages that I receive from the assignments that I hand in. The higher the percentage, the better I am performing. My lecturers play a big role in the process of giving me the assignment percentages because they are the ones that mark my assignments and decide on the percentage of marks that I get. As a result, the lecturers are directly involved in interpreting and measuring my performance. Over time, my lecturer's look at all of the assignment percentages and work out an average percentage that I am working at for each module in order to get a good overview of my progress and how I'm performing in general. This also applies to my personal tutor who looks at all of my assignment percentages for all of the modules, giving her a definitive overview of my overall performance.

The university also measure my performance through feedback. After the lecturers have marked my work, they give me my assignment/s back with feedback on what I've done well and what I could have done to improve the assignment/s. The lecturers use the feedback that they give to students like myself to measure my performance because they will be able to identify if I'm taking into account the feedback given in the assignments that follow. For example, if I have poor spelling and grammar in one assignment, the lecturer will have expected me to have improved my spelling and grammar for the next assignment if that was stated in the feedback given. The lecturers therefore play a huge role in the process of giving feedback because they are the ones that are directly stating how well I'm performing in each assignment, assessing whether I'm using the feedback to my advantage in improving the quality of the following assignments.

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

Skills required to be an effective mentor:

• Communication skills - it is important that mentors have good communication skills because if a mentor can't communicate with his or her learner properly, the learners won't be able understand the knowledge and advice that the mentor is trying to communicate to them, making the mentor as good as useless.
• Listening skills - mentors needs good listening skills so that they can listen and understand any problems that their learners may have and from that, reply back with any useful or necessary advice.
• Delegating skills - it is vital that mentors have good delegating skills so that they can delegate responsibility to their learners when it is necessary or appropriate. This is so that the learners can carry out activities on their own without the mentors doing the job for them.
• Problem-solving skills - mentors need good problem-solving skills so that they can teach their learners how to fix certain problems or offer solutions to any issues that may be present.
• Knowledge skills - it is crucial that mentors are knowledgeable because their would be no need in having a mentor if the learner already knew what the mentor does and nothing else. If this was the case, the learner couldn't be "mentored" as he/she wouldn't be learning any new material.

My father is someone that I consider to be a mentor to me. He has affected my life because he's always been someone that I've looked up to. As a result, I've tried to emulate a lot of his best characteristics such as his work ethic and professionalism with a reasonable amount of success. He has also taught me a great deal. For example, he has shown me right from wrong on many occasions, a lot of which I still apply to certain situations to this day. In addition, he has been a massive encouragement particularly with regards to education for me so I give a lot of credit to my success in school and now university to him.

Having said that, while he has had a positive affect on my life, he's also disciplined me when it was appropriate to do so. While this may have initially seemed like a negative affect, I feel like it has changed my attitude and behaviour for the better. For example, I used to be quite loud and obnoxious when I was a small child. Today I'm a quiet individual that is a lot more considerate of people around me. My father has therefore single-handedly carved my personality into what it is today.

In conclusion, I have enjoyed this topic greatly. This is because the topic as a whole applies and is relevant to me e.g. my progress at university is being monitored regularly, and my father is most definitely a mentor to me. I have also found this topic interesting because once I leave university and find a job, I'll be monitored in similar ways such as those mentioned in this topic. As a result, I will have a greater understanding of how I'm monitored in the workplace.

References:

Managing performance image. [n.d.] [s.n.] Available from: http://makingendsmeet.idea.gov.uk/idk/aio/5222355 [Accessed 05 March 2010].