Improving Staff Performance

Considering the theme of motivation, approaches and theories, can be divided in two different typologies: Process and Content theories. These approaches differ from the relevance that they give to the involvement of individuals in the motivation aspect and, especially, these have opposite thought concerning the way that individuals choose to motivate or be motivated. The relevant factor for content theories, are human set of needs and exigences, whose satisfaction represent for individuals the main purpose and aim; according to these considerations, motivational factors have to be focused on the contentment of these needs, in order to provide benefits to the entire organization. Process theories instead, propose a different evaluation about methods that humans use to motivate and to get motivated, process theories assume that individuals, to be motivated to reach a selected standard, set and choose their goals, in order to perform in the more efficient way to achieve them; all these processes are elaborated by an initial calculation.

A clear example of the use of motivation at work, is RBS (Royal Bank of Scotland), which is currently one of the major bank in the UK and EU; according to Maslow's theories, RBS's managers, recognize that money and salary are not the only interest of employees, but, instead, there are more exigences which need to be satisfied in order to improve staff performance. Obviously, employees are encouraged in their work by a real prospective of financial rewards, such as salary increase and payed bonuses to extra hours spent or more effort given, but there are also some other non financial prizes, which can seriously attract employees and change their intentions for the future. Staff effort is recognized by a total reward package that includes the possibility, for the employee, to change and choose working hours, health and medical benefits and paid holidays; RBS's staff is also allowed to buy and pay holidays period and have more accessibility to RBS products, finally they are encouraged to avail of many offers and shopping vouchers offered by the company. Practically, what RBS is offering to its employees, is an enjoyable and attractable community, where the staff is encouraged to provide, to the benefit of the company, the best of themselves; every aspect of an employee's life is considered as fundamental, RBS tries to maintain in harmony the work-life balance, enriches workers annual program with social and philanthropic initiatives, offer to its staff flexible work conditions, in order to satisfy individual needs, understanding that these are may different to each person. These choices are sustained by a solid basis made of a competitive salary (compared to same work employees), and an efficient process of bonuses reward, employees are encouraged to work hard and care of every aspect of the company, doing that, they are sure that their effort will be rightly and richly recognized.

An other useful example of motivation methods used at work is provided by Tesco's, which is currently leader in his market and one of the most powerful and influent company in the UK.

Tesco’s objective is to improve skills and job satisfaction of the employees, so that Tesco’s can not only grow as a company, but can also improve their customers satisfaction. Tesco wants also to maximise sales and profits of the company, furnishing services for the public, to achieve a defined level and maintain the position number one in the ranking of UK retail company. Finally Tesco's target is to maintain itself as a leader in the UK market.

To achieve these goals Tesco set up a plan which purpose is to define target to each employee, this action is clearly linked to Locke's theory of goals, which represent one of the process theory having the easily direct application to motivate companies performance. The objective is to reward employes that achieve best results with defined prize and to give them an higher position in the same company; this behaviour could guide Tesco to an improvement of employees motivation and to improve the sense of belonging of them to the company. Workers can achieve higher performance when they receive accurate feedback and when well chosen actions mean a reward. Finally, Tesco decided to give to its employees the possibility to participate in main decision of the company such as, individuate target and objectives and define prize and rewards, this behaviour produce many positive effects for employees motivation that feel them self important and their performance could earn an higher level because having a role and contributing in company decisions make them feel more responsible about the action they take while they work.

RBS's strategy is clearly following the instructions expressed by Maslow in his theories, and RBS approach to the motivation aspect is developed according to the hierarchy of needs, developed by Maslow itself in 1943. As said before, RBS recognize the importance of its employees needs, and understand that these usually do not only contemplate a financial reward, but, instead, there are more factors to be considered; starting from physiological needs, which represent the basis and an important factor in human needs, the company wants to satisfy each level of the hierarchy, which also contemplates: Safety needs, Love needs, Esteem needs and Self-actualization needs. RBS understand as well, that priority in human needs, may changes by individual considered, and the objective of the company is to provide more flexible choices in order to satisfy everyone.

The theme of motivation represent a sort of key for managers and companies themselves, helped by theories and elaborated approaches, organizations are enabled to control and manage their staff, they are able to set out targets knowing the effort that each employee will put according to the motivation they will provide; motivation represent also an useful and relevant instrument to permit the construction of a solid and healthy internal environment which otherwise can represent a de motivational factor if not well supported by managers. To conclude, motivation is a complex and fundamental system that links personal attitudes to every single sector of an organization, represent as well a powerful tool to control and manage the environment of the staff, not just in order to produce expected results, but also to allow the company to maintain a certain position in the market, making it more steady.

References:

-Mullins, L. (2007) Management and Organisational Behaviour. 8^th ed. Pearson Education Limited: Harlow

-TheTimes100 (2009) RBS [online] Available from: http://www.thetimes100.co.uk/downloads/rbs/rbs_12_full.pdf [Accessed 21 April 2010]

-TheTimes100 (2009) RBS [online] Available from: http://www.thetimes100.co.uk/company_list.php [Accessed 21 April 2010]

Personality

Nature approach to personality refers to innate qualities, in other words to those qualities that are intrinsically part of the human behavior, humans born already having these qualities; the nurture approach of personality consist in all that we gain from personal experience, from the beginning of our life we are always involved in experience new situations, which contribute to form our personality. There is still an important debate about which approach forms our personalities, for someone is inherit (nature), for others evolve due to environmental conditions (nurture). The nomothetic approach, which is really close to the nature one, represent a measurable perspective and identify main traits of the human personality such as a collection of characteristics, which are describable and measurable; nomothetic approach is an important source of information for managers involved in the selection and training of individuals. The idiographic approach, really close to nurture one, identify the main traits of the human personality such as a consequence of environment experience, and consider the development of the personality a process of changing; it judge that people characteristics can not be compared because are not measurable. I feel my personality as an innate factor, I think main traits can be compared and characteristics measurable.

Here some articles about the debate:

- www.psychology.iastate.edu/~dgentile/Psy101_notes/nature%20or%20nurture.htm

- folk.uio.no/roffe/faq/node11.html

Taking the two tests, Framicon and What I am Like, results were: on the hand, on Framicon, I resulted as a sensitive and sociable person, who really cares about relations with other individuals and consider really relevant the emotional aspect of an human being; on the other hand, on What I am Like, was underlined my lower level of conscientiousness, meaning of a lack of constance and perseverance in achieving results, but also was marked the high level of neuroticism, extroversion, and agreeableness, these result mean that I care, as said in Framicon, about other people feelings, and that I, sometimes, feel anxious or tense.

I agree completely with the results of this tests, they showed my personalities in the way I consider it, underlining the importance I give to feelings and emotion, and illustrating how sometimes I can become tense or anxious and how I have some difficulties to gain expected results.

I do not consider these tests useful for a selection process, this because user answer in order to them in order to reach certain results, that means that these tests can be invalidate easily, prejudging the real results and objectives of the questionnaires. They also cover just a inconsiderable part of the human personality, and can not provide complete informations.

Personality play a considerable role in the management system, managers can influence the environment with their characteristic and qualities, and, especially through personality, managers can influence other individuals and member of the company. Personality is still a complex aspect that has not been yet deeply analyzed, and differing by individual to individual, is always a source of changing;

References:

---Mullins, L. (2007) Management and Organisational Behaviour. 8^th ed. Pearson Education Limited: Harlow

HR planning

HR plans are fundamental in order to maintain the company organized and functional, they represent managerial aspect of staff organization, and provide focused analysis, useful findings and relevant result that managers can use to prevent any sort of event and to set out the strategy of the company. HR plans manage important factor such as recruitment, selection, career progression, succession planning etc., factors which are vital for a well-performed company; in other words, HR plans cover all those aspects which involve directly the staff and employees management sector, with out it a company will collapse because will be not able anymore to organize, communicate and link each member, function, sector and department. The importance of HR plans involve also all the strategical aspect of an organization, controlling and monitoring the changes in the staff, managers can easily forecast future results, and establish target and goals is much more easier; when managers direct operate on HRM, they directly influence the company, in fact HR represent the central part of an organization, and, just changing an approach, a method used by HR managers, all the company will be influenced and function will react according to the relevance of the change.

Candidate should be well presented, graduated, have at least two past experiences in the education sector, one at least in a university, possess analytical abilities, high level of IT knowledge, should be practical, disposable and live near the university.

-Main competitors in the zone

-Unemployment level

-Average habitants

-Communication

-Average salary

-Legislation and restrictions

-How the population is made

-Average age

References:

--Mullins, L. (2007) Management and Organisational Behaviour. 8^th ed. Pearson Education Limited: Harlow

Role of Line Manager

Line managers getting involved in HR activities can produce some benefit and also some disadvantages, their role consist in coordinating procedures and operations between HR sector and highest level of the company; on the one hand they enable HR practices and polices, they are linked to higher level of management, provide communication among the levels and the sectors of a company, works and operate close to his own staff, meaning of stronger relations between members, and is better able to face and approach daily matters in the company. On the other hand, they do not possess those skill useful to manage and relate with the HR sector, their experience are more compatible to the top management, can be not really effective in training staff because do not have a real past experience in HR management, their role can be overloaded and finally often they suffer a conflict of priorities.

Line manager , in order to manage effectively people, has to be self-confident in himself and have to understand the considerable role that he is playing in the management process, he has to have a strong sense of his own security, this because he has constantly to face problems concerning people and staff. In order to provide a positive behavior, line manager has to be involved in decision making, has to be assured about possibilities of career progression and has to be assured about his job security; a good relation with own managers is really important also to enable to perform with out conflicts and contrasts. Usually line managers do not have a managerial knowledge, this why is really important for there contribute to the company, that they produce the maximum effort to earn as much information as possible to possess abilities and features appropriate to face any sort of matter.

Prospects profile of HR manager looks more suitable to a role of line manager, the candidate, in fact, is requested to interact, coordinate and relate to different levels of an organization, considerable relevance is given to the aspect of implementing and developing policies, practices and procedures. The role seems overload, a typical characteristic of a line manager, and often contemplate the interaction with other department and function, which are features of a line manager; finally the job profile explain that knowing company objectives and targets is fundamental, in fact line managers always have to coordinate set target to developed policies, and this sometimes can create conflict of interests and priorities for the line manager.

References:

-Mullins, L. (2007) Management and Organisational Behaviour. 8^th ed. Pearson Education Limited: Harlow

-CIPD (2009) [online].Role of Front Line Managers. Available from:http://www.cipd.co.uk/subjects/maneco/general/rolefrntlinemngers.htm [Accessed 28 April 2010].

-Prospects(2009) online job offers [online] Availablefrom:http://www.prospects.ac.uk/cms/ShowPage/Home_page/p!eLaXi[Accessed 12 April 2010]

Equal Opportunities

Equality and diversity represent two different approaches to manage differences existing between members of an organization; Equality is based on the avoidance of discrimination, considered fundamental to create an equal system and develop equal opportunities in order to produce benefits to the company and to the harmony of the organization. Differences are minimized, everyone is treated in the same way and discrimination is made unlawful. Diversity consider differences between members of the organization a potential factor that, managed in the right way, can motivate employees to produce an important effort in order to reach some goals; diversity factors are race, religion, age, gender, culture and a disability at work. Diversity approach allowed members of a group to perform according to their potential and their abilities, in other words manager receive from employees the effort they have the right to expect and, therefore, they can receive everything employees are able to provide. Differently from the equality, differences are not just an issue of the HR department, but instead represent a concern for all the employees, and differences are seen not just as an impediment to reach equal opportunities, but is also a concept influencing more aspects of the company such as the culture and motivation, managing them in a careful and correct way is possible to obtain positive results.

The article showed Margaret Mountford point of view about woman and their position at work, in her opinion, women should achieve senior position only for merit, without positive discrimination. On the one hand it is a right point of view, discrimination can cause problems in both ways, negative and positive, that is why, women should make more efforts to gain certain results and obtain higher position just by themselves, through the improvement of their performance; take advantage from a situation that, in the past and even nowadays, is really dramatic, is not respectful for those people who fought and still fight to obtain equal opportunities for women; finally, an equal environment should be formed on a solid basis made of equal opportunities, parity between genders and identical working conditions and treatments. On the other hand, people should motivate managers to start to employe more often women, this behavior in fact can create a chain reaction which can be really useful in order to improve the women position in the working environment; proposing women to get senior position, is not a meaning of positive discrimination, but is instead a way to avoid any sort of discrimination, offering an opportunity usually reserved for men; finally, considered the particular and different behavior of a woman, is correct to sets flexible work conditions in order to guarantee to women a system more appropriate to their needs.

Age represent an importan diversity factor, and both young and old people are victim of discrimination just based on the age they have, old people are commonly considerate inefficient, unreliable and oblivious, in opposite, young people are considered not experienced, unskilled and unprepared. An organization which want to face this problem, should start creating internal teams which involve both young and old people, spending time together in fact, differences and incomprehensions will be minimized; an other solution could enable old people to be involved in the training process, in this way, relations among young and old employees should become base on other aspects such as faithful and respect.

B&Q offers innovative equal conditions, is listed in the top50 companies where women want to work for four consecutive years, and, more than 15 years ago, removed its retirement age.

Sainsbury's strongly declare that it believe in diversity as a motivational factor and a meaning of improvement in the performance, equality is guaranteed to each member and equal treatments are considered the basis for an efficient working environment; all these aspects are proved by diagrams and focused analysis.

Speaking about differences, people normally think about something having just a negative aspect, this is not true in working environment, organization take advantage from the developing of a system based on diversity, there is no discrimination, every one is able to provide a different service according to personal abilities. Nowadays, companies developed methods and system to avoid discrimination, providing equal condition is the basis of the companies themselves and organizational initiative receive a considerable effort by managers in order to maintain the current situation and constantly developing this process that is not completed yet.

References:

-B&Q (2010) Our Ethics [online] Avialable from: http://www.diy.com/diy/jsp/corporate/content/environment_ethics/ethics/index.jsp [Accessed 25 April 2010]

-Mullins, L. (2007) Management and Organisational Behaviour. 8^th ed. Pearson Education Limited: Harlow

-TheTimes (2009) Business [online] Available from:http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/career_and_jobs/article6830916.ece [ Accessed 25 April 2010]

-Sainsbury (2010) Corporate Responsibility [online] Available from: http://www.jsainsburys.co.uk/cr/index.asp?pageid=53 [Accessed 25 April 2010]

Managing Performance

University measures my performance trough the effort and results achieved providing the requested assignment or attending exams, the value of how manage knowledge, the level of the knowledge itself and the way I present projects and test, are criteria used by the the university to evaluate my work. The lecturer illustrates me guidelines and methods to carry out the assignment requested and provides me enough source to increase my knowledge on the theme, tutors follow my involvement in this process, providing helpful suggestions and useful recommendations to clarify doubts and incomprehensions.

According to the Times article, mentors to be effectives have to possess certain qualities that can be useful to achieve results wanted; a mentor has to be experienced and successful, is important that he appear listening and skilled; on the emotional aspect they have to possess qualities such as empathy and sensibility, and even more important, they have to encourage a choice instead establishing it. General characteristics are usually more relevant than professional skills, that means that there is not the exigence of a mentor whose skills contemplate the same specific sector of the mentored. A mentor should encourage a person to challenge himself, should provide new skills, solve problems and help people to interact in a more efficient way in their job.

Mrs. Turazzi, my professor of chemistry during high school, can be considered my mentor, and for all that period she has been an example for my evolvement; she teach me how to perform better in order to answer correctly to requests, she improved my way to face an exams, assignment or test, providing me an helpful and detailed method of study; from her I learned the real meaning of effort and the relationship that links a good effort to expected results, I learned to set targets that have to be achievable but not in an easily way. Her manner were really rude and direct, she appear really interested in her student results but actually she was really careful to every aspect of a study process, knowing right motivations in order to increase our effort. She changed completely my way to face problems, encouraging me to continually challenging myself and constantly setting targets to achieve in order to improve my performances.

References:

-Mullins, L. (2007) Management and Organisational Behaviour. 8^th ed. Pearson Education Limited: Harlow

-TheTimes (2009) Business [online] Available from:http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/entrepreneur/article3778514.ece [Accessed 28 April 2010]

Training and Development

The induction week I have to organized will try to provide to graduates every sort of information to prepare them to become firstly employees of the retail chain and therefore store managers, it is important that I have to cover every single aspect that might be useful for them to learn tasks precisely, according to what they will be requested during the next two years and to allow them to earn as much information as they can, to prepare themselves to become, in the future, store managers; they have to understand which qualities are important and which abilities will be useful in this job. Training sessions will be set in the morning during all the week, Monday morning there will be a formal lecture to introduce graduates in this particular environment, will be assigned a project, that has to be completed at the end of the week, which will request to provide examples and solutions to a particular case study related to the new job, therefore will be illustrate the plan of the week. Tuesday will be dedicated to e-learning and video learning, graduates will be requested to complete a questionnaire at the end of the session. Wednesday graduates will be coached and trained to work for a retail chain, at the end of the session there will be group activities about what learned during the morning. Thursday morning graduates will be requested to experience their first day in the company, during the on-the-job training, mentor will guide and comment every action of graduates, finally there will be a discussion where explain any problem sorted during the experience. Friday, the last day of the induction week, graduates will visit the rest of the store, focusing on the managerial activity, it will be possible to interact with employees and managers during all the morning, at the end of the day graduates will be requested to provide their completed assignment, each one, briefly summarizing results and findings will be encouraged to discuss and elaborate new ideas from the project they worked for. The effectiveness of the induction week will be evaluated by the analysis of the result of the questionnaire, mentor comments, graduates findings about the assignment elaborated and by their participation in discussion and debate; except Monday and Tuesday, for the rest of the week training session will take place in the store where they will work into, the other days sessions will take place in the conference room of the company.

-Mullins, L. (2007) Management and Organisational Behaviour. 8^th ed. Pearson Education Limited: Harlow

Reward

A common and famous example of reward is provided by McDonald, employees good effort is always recognized and rewards consist in incentive bonuses, regional, sectorial and worldwide awards and company car prize; even if other companies often offer richer rewards, McDonald, create in this way a deep sense of belonging and enough competition to motivate its employees to work in order to gain a certain prize. Following rules and guidelines to give awards to its employees, McDonald ensures equal treatments among members respecting value as fairness and equity, in fact every single employee have the same opportunities to get rewarded according to their effort. Employees can not reach awards as soon as they get employed by McDonald, to become eligible to awards, an employee have to pass through a qualifying period of five years and ten years of activity, some awards are accessible after other years of qualifying period; in addition McDonald offer to his worker the possibility of a career progress in the company, in fact it encourage employees to involve themselves in the management of restaurants.

Chief Executives play a considerable role in the management of a company, their large bonuses is motivated by the effort they provide to achieve target set and by the influence they have on other employees; actions and decision established by the C.E. in order to provide benefits to the organization are always chosen to advantage and led towards goals the company, sometimes even if the purpose are good, these decision can led to a lower level of performance of the organization and some targets are not achieved. Large bonuses represent an important and relevant motivational factors for the C.E., and usually these bonuses represent the hard work they made in their career to gain that particular position and role; an other aspect that have to be considered is the effective responsibility of the C.E. concerning the disappointing performance of the company, many functions and levels are involved in the company working processes, and a lower level of performance often is caused by a combination of mistakes made by different sectors and employees; this is why I think that, not providing large bonuses to the C.E., can be big mistake, because it can demotivate them, feel too much responsible about the management of the company and can create conflicts among C.E. and other sectors of the company, in fact other employees will consider them as culprits of the negative performance, and their faith in them will be considerable damaged, and C.E. themselves will feel victim of injustice and blackmailed by managers.

Financial rewards and prizes represent the most simple way to motivate to someone to produce more effort in their work; a teacher at primary school can be motivated by offering an increase of the salary according to the results gained by students, special prizes can be offered to her if the development and improvement of students results concern not just few students but all the class, and the maintenance of a lower level of absence at work can be rewarded by offering additional holiday weeks. A non-financial way to motivate her could be a promotion, allowing her to reach a more important role in the organization, the improvement of students results can be motivated by organizing challenging tournaments between student from different classes or different schools, in order to make the teacher proud of the result gained by her students in these tournaments; other non-financial way to motivate her could also a constant recognition of good effort and the enrichment and enlargement of her role in the school, allowing her to teach to one more class, or adding an other subject to teach to her tasks.

References:

-Mullins, L. (2007) Management and Organisational Behaviour. 8^th ed. Pearson Education Limited: Harlow

-About McDonald (2009) Careers [online] Available from:http://www.aboutmcdonalds.com/mcd/careers/ [Accessed 12 April 2010]

Communication and Involvement

The involvement of employees in the company decision and activities is a direct consequence of the changes and events happened during these last 20 years, from the absence of the influence of employees in the main aspects of an organization, companies developed and evolved to the current situation, nowadays, because of the effort of trade unions, which are organizations that protect workers and employees right, staff contribute in decisions making is more considerable and is seen as a fundamental feature to improve performance in modern organizations. The way that managers nowadays chose for integrate every function of the company in the decisional aspect are mainly two: employee involvement and employee participation; employee involvement is a more a unitarist approach, employees are seen as an unique group that shares the same values and wants to achieve the same targets, the intent is to create a staff strictly related among members in order to create shareable ideals and culture; managers integrate employees in financial, strategical and organizational decision, staff is allowed to provide new ideas, to recommend suggestions and sometimes participate financially in the company. Differently, employee participation, is more a pluralist approach, staff members are seen as members are seen as part of groups which have different values and interests, the involvement of employees is assured by internal legislation and maintained by trade unions establishment, workers have the right to participate in decision which involve employment status, conflicts are seen as part of the working environment and as an opportunity of evolvement, legislation guarantee the participation of staff members in main decisional aspects of the company.

Seven Oaks District Council, is an organization direct involving their employees in decision aspects such as budget savings and communication; adopting an employee involvement way, this company creates a task force of people who share same values and interest, and who feel really proud of the work they are doing. Broadland District Council is also involving his employees, this organization follow an employee participation system, employees have the right to establish a debate where to discuss about some decision that are involving their employment status and members of teams have different interests and targets. Iceland frozen food is an other example of an employee involvement system, managers encourage staff to participate in the decisional aspect of the company by organizing meetings between retail staff representation and regional shop managers in order to discuss and set out decision according to the benefit of the company.

Social networks such as Facebook and Twitter are becoming more and more important in order to guarantee enough staff involvement in the decision-making aspect of a company, a lot of organization already have their own group on these social networks, this because it represent an useful way to directly interact with every aspect of a company and staff members are motivated to provide their suggestions, recommendations and opinion joining groups on these websites. The profile of a company contemplate a discussion section where employees can express their opinion about a theme that concern a decisional aspect of the organization, and the profile itself is managed by members of the company, normally members of the HR sector. Every theme is discussed in these social networks, work conditions, salary, financial choices and organizational aspects; in this way managers are able to control and receive feedback by employees and they can increase the sense of belonging to the company of the staff, even more important is the communicational factor, interacting by these tools, new relationship are continually builded among staff members, this represent an useful to create a group that shares same ideals and interests.

References

-Mullins, L. (2007) Management and Organisational Behaviour. 8^th ed. Pearson Education Limited: Harlow

-Thetimes100 (2009) case studies [online]. Available from: http://www.thetimes100.co.uk/ [Accessed 23 April 2010].

-CIPD (2009) Employee Communication [online]. Available from:http://www.cipd.co.uk/subjects/empreltns/comconslt/empcomm.htm [Accessed 23 April 2010].

Selection

There are different methods of selection, each one is different by some features and managers chose a particular method according to the situation and the individual involved in the selection; for different and variable reason each method can be appropriate or not to the selection process, usually it depends by the situation, the location and the individual, that is why choosing the type of selection, managers have to analyze every single aspect of the recruitment process. Main methods are interviews and tests, references is one of the most used and common in the working environment.

These method are usually used by an italian company based in Milan that is recruiting people to work as drivers for models during fashion events and fashion week.

Interview is the most usual and adopted method by managers, its used frequently when selection processes involve just one person, it contemplate a direct dialogue between the manager and the possible employee, the reason why is so common among managers is that it is simple, fast, and does not need an hard effort by managers to be set up; because of its rapidity, allowed interviewers to manage to face more than one interview in one day and represent a good opportunity to test the reaction of the candidate. It have also some disadvantages, is a unrealistic and artificial representation of a real situation, so information gained during an interview have to been managed carefully; it is really subjective and dependent by the emotional status of the candidate and sometimes even of the interviewer; it can not cover all the aspect which compose the profile of the candidate, an other method have to or should be added; finally it has a poor predictive validity, not all the qualities seen during the interview will be respected and the emotional status of the candidate can also influence his performance providing the wrong perception to the interviewer.

Tests are an other example of common used methods, differently from interviews, these do not contemplate a direct contact between the part, in fact candidates are involved in a questionnaire or a test, previously prepared by managers or HR sector , which can change according to the situation, the individual, the job and the information needed; is usually adopted to accelerate selection processes in case of numerous candidates and can be followed by an other method, is simple, does not involve managers and HR in a direct way and normally provide information needed and useful data. It have also some disadvantages, it provide only certain and established informations, so represent an incomplete method of selection; is usually hard and complex to prepare, every single error in a test preparation can prejudice the validity of results; is strength and limited for candidates, they can provide just some information and can not show all their range of abilities.

References represent a little but important method of selection, these contemplate that the opinion, expressed by a past employer, a professor or any other influent individual on the candidate, have a considerable role in the final decision of the employer; is usually used as a final step of a selection process, but sometimes can be the only aspect considered by a manager, there is no contact and direct participation of the candidate in the process, the only people involved are the manager and the referent; is simple and fast and there is no need of effort by the manager; its disadvantages are: the absence of the candidate in the process, because his contribute is not requested, he can not influence the final decision, it means that employer has to have an high consideration of the referent and the referent has to have a good reputation in the work environment, reputation is provided normally be the role played in the work-place; finally this system can be easily invalidated by corruption, damaging considerably the company but also prejudicing other candidates career.

The only interview have been take part into, was for an offer of two-months stage in a marketing consulting company, because the company operate in Italy, and i was in UK, i had to participate to it by phone; Previously was established the time of the conference call, therefore the date and finally they illustrated me who was going to participate in the interview, all these information were given by email; At the time established my phone ringed and the interview started, after 15 minutes we concluded the call and they advise me that i will be contacted in the next days. The interview was effective, I carefully answer to each question, trying to provide enough information without expose too much myself, I sounded interested in what they said and I trying to explain what kind of experience I would like to be involved in, and which was my study "curriculum", the course I was attending and exams prepared and faced, finally I provide them briefly summary of my profile, concerning abilities, qualities and features.

Priscilla Queirolo, the friend I involved in my interview, explain me her thoughts about the advantage of using personality tests as methods of selections, in her opinion these can represent an double edged weapon as for managers than for candidates; she said that personally she does not like personality test but, in her opinion, this does not mean they are not advantageous; obviously, she said, candidates can consider these test limited, and the fact that they not involve other specific aspects of the candidate profile, can provide a misdescription of the candidate to employers, but on the other hand they represent also a valid method to cover the psychological profile of an individual, profile that is rarely analyzed by other methods. In her opinion, personality tests have to be followed by other tests or methods such as interview and assessment to provide a complete and deep vision of the candidates qualities; finally she said that this kind of tests are advantageous only if well prepared and if the people, that have to prepare these questionnaire, cover every single aspect in order to provide a fair and correct analysis of the psychological profile of an individual, following those theories related to the theme.

As said before, in the italian company that provide driver services for fashion events, only three method are used, these methods are not enough and inadequate in order to provide to the company a prepared and efficient staff; adding other selection method such as work simulation, they can cover and analyze more qualities of their candidates, and they can also select only good and efficient drivers in order to provide an improvement of the service they give to costumers, even because the company operate in a keen competitive market.

Selection represent the first step from where a company can be improved, according to the level of performance requested, is important that candidates possess good qualities and correct abilities to be able to work for the company; selection is also really relevant for candidates, in fact it can represent the first experience in the new job environment, and is fundamental that their approach is conscious and direct in order to show and illustrate why the company they are applying for may needs their contribute.

References

--Mullins, L. (2007) Management and Organisational Behaviour. 8^th ed. Pearson Education Limited: Harlow

Recruitment

Prospects is a website offering services of recruitment online, job collocation and work opportunities. Accessing www.prospects.ac.uk, the public is directly introduced in a summary page, containing helpful links according to the user desires, the design and layout are very elemental and simply to understand, costumers can choose different options according to their needs. This website offer the opportunity of registering personal account in order to personalize own desires, target and features, being a member of the website in fact, permit to users to receive on personal email and mobile phone, news, offers and new opportunities, in this way costumers are constantly updated. Prospects is really accessible, and provide every kind of tools that user may need for their research, costumers can explore job offers choosing by section, zone and abilities requested, and even more important, provide useful instruments to solve any sort of problem that a user can have, is possible to talk with specialist about the way to behave when applying to a job or when facing an interview, in other words, Prospects try to cover all those aspects which are really important for user needs. This website represent a complete and helpful guide for recruitment, is also an important instrument to simplify user research and is a powerful method to link together job appliers to job offerers.

Recruitment online provide markable advantages but also some disadvantages;

on the one hand is fast and simple, costumers just access the website and they are directly introduced in a job opportunities-provider, there is no waste of time; is impersonal and private, in fact users apply by themselves and they receive private feedback and answer, no other people is involved except the user and the company; provide a vast point of view, costumers, differently than an agency, have the opportunity to consider and know more options just clicking and choosing different sectors; websites offer the opportunities to directly interact with a company, eliminating those barriers that an agency can create; finally offer simultaneous help and guidelines to users, assisting them it they have facing any kind of problem or just if they need to clearance about an aspect or a theme.

On the other hand does not allow company to directly know who are they may going to interview, or even more worse, who they are going to employ, they just have some details written on a website's profile; exposes an organization to possibles tricks and is unsafe, everyone can apply for a job, there is no selection by the agency; does not allow to experience all the aspects of working life, people may will be unprepared to real work conditions and may do not know enough to solve problematic situation such as career opportunities or loss of the job; is too vast, users may be able to explore just a part of the many work opportunities, and they make loose an opportunities or do not take advantage of a offer just because do not know about it; finally seriously debilitates communication, people do not have anymore a direct contact, they use chats, email and mobile phones to interact, a lack of communication and direct interaction is usually one of the main causes of negative performance in an organization.

The italian Civil Protection (Protezione Civile), which is a volunteering organization, in 2002 organized a strong and vast campaign of recruitment, by television and radio commercial, newspaper advise and agency announcement, differently than before, its campaign was focused of the many opportunities that this particular job offered to student and postgraduates to enrich their experiences and their career. It was the first time that an organization of volunteers did not explain the importance of our contribute to provide help and effort to people victims of natural disasters, fortune-less or necessitous; choosing this strategy they attract a slice of population really interested in opportunities such this one, especially those people that did not have more opportunities to improve their career.

The Psychological Contract, defined as "…the perceptions of the two parties, employee and employer, of what their mutual obligations are towards each other" (Guest, D.E.; Condway, N.; 2002), contain some guidelines and behavior to respect in order to preserve a faithful relationship between employees and employers. Differently by the Legal Contact of Employment, the Psychological Contract, is more imprecise but not less important, seen as a relation of "promises" and "expectations", it guides managers and employees to behave in the correct way to preserve a sane work environment; if managers or employees broke promises or do not maintain promises, the mutual respect between the parts can be seriously damaged creating a negative and problematic situation in the relations between employers and employees. Managers, in order to maintain a balanced harmony among the staff and encourage and motivate his employees have to respect staff attendances, offering opportunities of promotion, provide a salary commensurate to the performance of the employee, opportunities of training and development, recognition for innovation or new ideas, feedback on performance, respectful treatment, reasonable job security, etc. ; employees instead have to respect managers expectation on: hard work, uphold company reputation, maintain high level of attendance and punctuality, honesty, extra hours working if requested, etc. Following these instruction managers and employees can simplify their relationship for the benefit of themselves and of the company. The Psychological Contract represent a considerable aspect of the working environment and is as much relevant for individuals needs than for company exigences, it cover every single aspect of human relationship and human behavior which involved employees and employers and, finally play a relevant role in motivate staff performance.

References

-Guest, D.E.; Condway, N. (2002) Pressure at work and the psychological contract. London: CIPD.

-Mullins, L. (2007) Management and Organisational Behaviour. 8^th ed. Pearson Education Limited: Harlow

-CIPD(2009) the psychological contract: [online] Available from: http://www.cipd.co.uk/subjects/empreltns/psycntrct/psycontr.htm[Accessed 12 April 2010]

-Prospects(2009) online job offers [online] Available from:http://www.prospects.ac.uk/cms/ShowPage/Home_page/p!eLaXi[Accessed 12 April 2010]

Organization and Management Theories

Call centers represent a perfect example of the adoption of organizational and management theories, in particular, these two case study, P&O Ferries and Specsavers, reveal the considerable usefulness of approaching organizational problems using these theories.

P&O Ferries joined "TOP 50", a program for call centers, in 2009, they were facing some problems in their call center, and they needed to improve the efficiency of their employees, in order to guarantee a useful service for their costumers. Solutions concerned the training system and motivation to agents which were working in the call center; usually call center are better identifiable as "machines", they work and produce following procedures really similar to Taylor's Scientific Management, not enough work conditions, wage as motivational factor, and absence of communication in the team and between the positions in the call center. Even if the tasks of this particular type of organization do not expect an elaborate managerial system, sometimes it is really relevant how the team perform and how the general harmony is balanced in it, in fact, particular situations in an organization are able to produce unexpected events in other parts of the organization itself.

Following theories established by the Human Relations theory, they tried to create a more affable environment in order to improve agents efficiency, provide new motivational factors such as career opportunities, in other words they want agents to be proud of their belonging and adding their company to "TOP 50", agents felt more responsible and interested in their work.

Even Specsavers joined "TOP 50" program, trying to enrich the position of its call center in the market; providing motivational factors such as prize and rewards, creating team work, enlarging and changing the role of each member of the team, Specsavers achieved considerable results, these initiatives, can been compared to the Behaviourist Approach, which are theories developed by Herzberg, McGregor and Maslow. In order to gain established goals, the managerial activities have to be focused on the organizational and motivational factors, in fact they believed that make employees participate in decision making and in other aspects of the company they can create satisfaction at work, base from where build an organization where every part, function and member are related together providing more communication and efficiency to the team work. A job providing more opportunities, an affable environment and career possibilities, is easily more attractable for possible employees, and represent a considerable motivational factor for staff itself. Specsavers enlarged and enriched the role of each member, created functional task forces and involved staff in critical decision, therefore reward agents effort, in order to create new motivational factors.

Developed by F.W. Taylor, Scientific Management, represented for a long period, between 1850 and 1950, the main approach used by managers to control and organize their company. Based on a focused and deep analysis, Scientific Management objective was to create a system able to provide established level of production, just finding the best scientific method to improve the performance of each function of the company. Motivation was considered differently than nowadays, in fact the only encouragement factor was represented by wages, in fact employees which were working a scientific management-company usually did earn more money according to their improvement and contribute, This system even if was useful to provide a certain amount of profits, was clearly damaging the internal organization, and especially represented a de-motivational factor for employees which were seen as machine, and were continually under pressure, a lack of contribution in fact, could cause the loss of the job or the reduction of the wage.

For these reasons the Scientific Management was criticized for some disadvantages: Lack of relationship between members of the company, in fact, because of the straight division operated from a function to an other, there were no communication from a sector to an other, this influenced also the internal harmony of the group; old and young workers were too distant, this influenced in a negative way the maintenance of a culture in a company, and increase the amount of money that managers had to spend to teach and train new employees, in fact an organization having a solid and strong relationship between members permit to allow old workers to become trainers to new employees; workers were seen as machines, as said before, because the only target was to gain as much production as possible, people represented the way to reach this goal, and no motivational factors were considered except the increasing or decreasing of wages; lack of sense of belonging of staff, they were some times hostiles to the company and to the managers because they knew that every single mistake may cause to them the loss of their role, the loss of the job or the reduction of the salary, the direct consequence of managers behavior were numerous strikes and protests against managers and the creation of group of workers, (Trade Unions) which were involved in a dramatic fight to obtain for workers better work conditions and to established rights for employees and staff members; the quantity preferred instead of quality, managers were focused on production, trying to achieve set targets, and increase profits, this way to behave obviously damage the quality of the production, in fact companies were not able to provide always a medium-high standard of quality in their products.

Scientific Management was preferred for a long period because it was able to provide to managers and to their company some advantages: represented an efficient way to increase production, workers had the only task of achieving a target and produce as they were asked for; training was simple and shorter, each employee had to follow managers instructions and complete their tasks; according to the wage motivational factor, a good effort represented to employees a good increase of the salary, usually tasks were just repetitive and boring but not hard to complete; roles were clearly defined and the lack of a particular sector did not influence the rest of the organization; managers were able to make decision independent in order to the exclusive benefit of the company.

Many different theories and approaches have been developed period after period, each one showed an improvement from the previous one, but still today, modern organizations maintain the same approaches used in the past, this because sometimes there are no better solutions, sometimes just because these have some relevant aspects still useful for a particular type of company. Every author developed different theories following the period possibilities and thought, at the beginning managerial activities were more orientated to the increment of production and profit, evolving, due to experiments, and new theories, approaches changed, trying to understand the complex aspect of motivation and staff morale, individuals and groups become basis where to build a strong and efficient organization.

References

-Mullins, L. (2007) Management and Organisational Behaviour. 8^th ed. Pearson Education Limited: Harlow

-TOP50 (2009) Case Studies: Specsaves [online] Available from: http://www.top50callcentres.co.uk/www.top50callcentres.co.uk/specsavers[Accessed 10 April 2010]

-TOP50 (2009) Case Studies: P&O Ferries [online] Available from: http://www.top50callcentres.co.uk/www.top50callcentres.co.uk/specsavers[Accessed 10 April 2010]