Performance Management - week 22

   One of the commonly used methods of performance management is the appraisal. BusinessDictionary.com explain the performance appraisal as ''process by which a manager or consultant examines and evaluates an employee's work behavior by comparing it with preset standards, documents the results of the comparison, and uses the results to provide feedback to the employee to show where improvements are needed and why''. It also says that ''performance appraisals are employed to determine who needs what training, and who will be promoted, demoted, retained, or fired''.
   When working as a junior mechanic at the garage , I have had an appraisal when working there for a month. It was carried out by the senior mechanic , who has been responsible for the department of the garage that I worked in. The senior mechanic started with questions about the work I have already finished. He wanted to know if I had any problems with that work and if yes , the way how I solved them. After my explanation regarding the small amount of problems I met , he was glad that I knew how to solve them in fast and efficient way. He told me that I was good at it. He shown me the timetables of the department and explained what to do to improve the working pace , even though he told me that it was good. He also presented the objectives that were to be done within the next months and clearly stated what was going to be expected from me. To give me additional information , I have been told about personal changes in the department.
   I found that appraisal effective. The senior mechanic wanted to make sure that by the right use of it , my work would improve without a negative impact on my motivation. By creating the objectives , he wanted to improve my performance , saying that it already was good. To show me that I am being treated as a proper employee without any signs of age discrimination , he was very serious. What is more , he was honest , had a proper knowledge to answer every question I asked him and used the clear language to make sure that I understood his points.

   Mentor is a person that supports and encourages people. He does it personally to others , by one to one consultation. It's a person trying to pass his experiences and teach other people how to use their skills properly to be more successful.
   To be an effective mentor , a high level of communication skills is required. No matter how big is the organisation that mentor works within , it's impossible for him to be effective when being shy and uncomfortable about working with people. To make proper use of his knowledge and skills , he has to create an interesting way to show other people how to develop their skills. Thus , they would be able to be a better employees , managers etc. Effective mentor should also be able to set up challenges between people that he works with. Challenges created by mentors could improve productivity as when working on issues with an experienced mentor , people would be able to see the way how to work on them , and gain the attitude from him. For example , in business organisation , people could learn how to solve problems easily on a simulations of rivalry between the teams , and in future be more effective with that experience.
   Mentoring requires also the ability to have a positive impact on people from different experience backgrounds. No matter if mentor is working with retail company employees , accountants or marketing managers , he should have the ability to improve their skills by the right presentation of his attitude to issues. Mentors having such ability can show the issues that are not industry-specific to people from different industries.

   My father has always been a mentor to me. Ever since I was a little kid , I wanted to be as good at everything as my dad or even better. He helped me in changing my lifestyle when I was sixteen years old. I used to have serious problem with sweets and normal food , and my parents were not able to control me at one point. My dad found a way to solve that problem. He explained that when carrying on with that lifestyle , I could have serious problems with health. The way he explained it to me was really serious and I remember that I realized how serious was that situation. My dad decided that he will hire a personal fitness coach , but not be one of that parents that don't care when have somebody to take care of their child. He also decided that he will join me , and we will excersise four times in a week together. Within three years , I lost twenty-seven kilograms of my body weight , I was able to bench press one hundred and twenty-five kilograms , and run for six kilometres on a forest track. My lifestyle changed completely.
   I started to train quadcross , which is a powersport discipline , when competitors race each other with quadbikes on a tracks full of jumps and hills. My fitness' level was increasing fastly. My dad provided me with everything I needed to do that sport , he went on trainings with me four times a week , and put much effort to make me as good as he was able to. Everytime I had a bad moment , he was there to motivate me. After three years of quadbike racing , I was known in Polish powersport environment as a good rider , and I started to compete at European Championship Rallys , and went for a international rally in Morroco.
   Nowadays , I am doing my university degree in England. My parents are in Poland , but my dad still supports me. When starting my degree I was anxious , because I didn't know if I was going to handle university work , and I had a bad moments with a lack of motivation. Again , my dad was there to motivate me and he even told me , that if it really is that bad , change your university. Although , he knew that I will not do that , because he was ensured about mine habit of no resigning , as he was the one that made that habit in me.
   My father was always a mentor to me. He was always there when I needed him. He explained every single issue that I wanted him to. Although being a chief executive of a international transport company , he put a lot of time and effort to save my life as my lifestyle was really harmful until I reached the age of sixteen. He had the proper knowlegde , skills and experience to explain everything with arguments , and basis from his experience. He also had a big impact on me , when it came to the national history of Poland. He spend hours to tell me the facts about the numeorus wars that Poland took part in , about other countries slaving or betraying Polish nation. My dad wanted me to be a patriot with proper values. He told me to fight for what's mine , never resign and to be a good person. I consider myself to be lucky to have such mentor as my father is.


Bibliography:

• Definition of the performance appraisal. (2011)  Business Dictionary.[Online] Available at: http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/performance-appraisal.html [Accessed: 7th April 2011]

• Entrepreneurs. (2008) Times Online. [Online] April 2008. Available at: http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/performance-appraisal.html [Accessed: 7th April 2011]

Communication and Involvement - week 26

   ''The main purpose of EIP is to make workers feel like active participants in what happens in the workplace.''  Foot , M. and Hook , C. (2008)

   Foot , M. and Hook , C. (2008) explains , that there is a range of methods to achieve this. They are divided into representative and direct methods. Representative methods , often reffer to employee participation , whereas direct methods often reffer to employee involvement.
   Employee involvement , which policies are often carried out through the direct methods , includes communications targeted straight at employees , and a variety of other techniques involving individuals or groups of employees. The practices of employee involvement try to get employees to understand how important the goals are for the organisation they work for. What is more , employees are clearly presented the plan set by the management , which attempts to make employees committed to their work.
   On the other hand , employee participation , focuses on groups within the organisation and their different points of view. It allows employees to take part in the decision-making process at higher levels. The policies of employee participation are often carried out through the represantative methods.
   What makes the difference between employee participation and employee involvement is that employee participation doesn't allow employees to be involved into decision-making process and communications directly and individually , but through the representatives , that have been elected to put the workers' view forward. As explained before , employee involvement is not cascaded by represantatives , it's focused on more individual approach on explaining the importance of organisation's goals and agenda to the employees.

   Nando's is a chain of restaurants serving peri peri chicken dishes. It's ranked as the best company to work for in UK by The Times. The human resources director of Nando's , Julia Claydon explained , that about 75% of her budget is invested in learning and development. That works out at about 45 hours of training annually per employee, at an average cost of £425. The times shows an example of how Nando's involves it's employees in decision-making process. The magazine described the example of and ordinary employee , whose first job in UK was a job in Nando's , and his way from being a regular cleaner to working in firm's central support team thans to the firm's internal and external courses. What is more , Nando's support for that person was even further as the company had given him a paid time off and help with tuituon fees to complete a full-time business degree at university. Thus . Nando's involved one of the regular employees into it's decision-making process. He explains , that "decisions are not always made from the top, they will listen to everyone in the company and to have someone who will listen to what you have to say even when you are the cleaner, shows how it can motivate a person within a company.''

   Michael Watson , the account manager of Softcat , IT solutions company , explains the atmosphere inside the company. He claims , that it's all about the team , and that there is a massive sense of pulling together. Services partner specialist , David Francis says , that ''everyone wants to do well for the company.''
   Peter Kelly , the founder of the company , got his workforce organisation idea , when running the 17th mile of a marathon. He lets his employees to choose the team that they want to join , and claims that it works positively. Ever since , staff have had a vote on company-wide decisions. There was an anxious attitude of one of the managers , but after seeing that staff voice is heard , managers are doing more listening than telling.
It shows , how a different approach to communication between a regular workers and the managers can improve the team's attitude in the company.

   Iceland Frozen Foods , is a retailing company , specialised in fronzen food. The Times presents the article about the Iceland's staff , in which they measure levels of different factors of the staff's opinions. All of the factors from the article show that majority of the employees trust their senior management and feel motivated.
To involve it's employees into decision-making process , Iceland's directors and senior managers visit stores regularly and interact with employees. Representatives of the retail staff meet with regional and area managers to discuss ideas or issues at regular Talking Shop meetings. What is more , Iceland's chief executive , Malcolm Walker hosts an annual nationwide version , where employees can ask questions or make recommendations to him directly. Thus , Iceland can gain inspiration from it's employees , and its staff knows that the senior management of the company knows about the importance of their opinion and wants to use it on a positive basis for the development of the company.

   Many organisations are now using social networking sites as a means of involving both already employed staff and potentional recruits. Most of the social networking sites require registration before being able to research on them. The most popular social networking sites , use by the organisations to involve their employees and potentional recrutis are the ones from online recruitment. When researching at the most popular websites such as Facebook or MySpace , which are not a par of online recruitment , the things that I was able to see , were the following:

•  on Facebook: the branch of researched organisations nearest me and the amount of users that like that organisation.

• on MySpace: a small amount of pictures connected to the researched organisation and users being friends with the page of the researched organisation. Hardly any information available.

   However , when researching on less famous social networking websites being a part of online recruitment networking  , I found more information. Researching a job opportunities for accountant in London at fish4jobs network , I found two different job position for the same company , but in different branches. Already employed people , are able to see other opportunities and apply for them. Information about required qualifications is provided most of the time. What is more , potential recruits can gain important information when looking at the job description.
   Another social networking website that I have researched , was Absolvent.pl. Being registered user of that website , made the research much easier , as I knew that famous international companies were using it , as I have been send e-mails with adverts of job offers from that kind of companies. Like on fish4jobs , there are many different job posistions available in the same companies in variety of locations. And similarly to fish4jobs both employed staff and potential recrutis are able to gain information about a variety of new job opportunities. It might be very helpful for already employed people if they want to move to a different place as they are able to see a locations of branches with availability of job positions.

   In conclusion , both employee involvement and employee participation was developed to made employees feel like active participants in their organisations. However , there is a difference between the approaches of employee involvement and employee participation and the difference exists also between the methodology of practice in each factor. Organisations use a range of means to involve their staff in the decision-making process. They can develop their managers from regular workers , organise meetings to get to know the points of their employees , let their employees elect a representatives or develop more ways to involve their staff in the decision-making process. Many organisations use social networking sites to involve their already employed staff or potentional recruits. However , the most known social networking sites contain unimportant informations , whereas websites from online recruitment enable already employed people to explore numbers of new opportunities in the organisations they work for , and give important informations about the organisations and job positions to potentional recruits.

Bibliography:

•  Absolvent. (2011) Praca dla Studentów i Absolwentów , Praktyki i Staże. [Online] Available at: http://www.absolvent.pl/ [Accessed: 5th April 2011]

• fish4jobs. (2011) UK jobs and London jobs. [Online] Available at: http://www.fish4.co.uk/ [Accessed: 6th April 2011]

• Foot , M. , Hook , C. (2008) Introducing Human Resource Management. Fifth Edition. Harlow: Pearson Education Limited , pp.70-71. 

• Iceland Frozen Foods. (2010) Best 100 Companies. [Online] March 2010. Available at: http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/career_and_jobs/best_100_companies/article7029115.ece [Accessed: 6th April 2011]

• Nando's. (2010) Best 100 Companies. [Online] March 2010. Available at: http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/career_and_jobs/best_100_companies/article7029090.ece [Accessed: 6th April 2011]

• Softcat. (2010) Best 100 Companies. [Online] February 2010. Available at: http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/career_and_jobs/best_100_companies/article7027857.ece [Accessed: 6th April 2011]

Selection - week 20

   ''Organisations recognise the crucial part their peopleplay in achieving and sustaining a competetive edge , and they are therefore aware of the need to attract the people of the right calibre.'' Foot , M. and Hook , C. (2008)

    The organisation that I am familiar with is Polish international transport company , AMRO Logistics. Having iterviewed the chief executive and one of the senior managers of the company , I gained informations about the three methods of the selection use in the company.

   ''It is amazing how many managers still claim to be good judges of character and ability based on very short acquaintance. These managers will tell you that within a few minutes the can tell whether they are going to get on with someone , and whether that person will do well in the job.'' Foot , M. and  Hook , C. (2008)

   The rec
   First method is interview. The company uses it , when they want to meet the applicants that applied for their job positions through the internet or phone calls , and have no refferences or their refferences are not from reliable sources. What makes the interview a good method for the company is that it enables the interviewers meet the applicants personally and gain the informations regarding their refferences and not only.
   The interviewers claimed to start their interviews with a small talk and some easy questions , and also said that when doing it , they always try to look and sound interested in what they say and remain eye contact. Thus , they create the proper atmosphere for the interview making the interviewed applicant show his true emotions. Carrying such interview , they are able to fairly assess their applicants as people without refferences have chance to show their communication and interpersonal skills , and also their body language and behavioural habits , whereas people with refferences looking like faked ones or being given from non reliable sources are being assessed in case of their sincerity and fairness in both life and workplace.
   However , the interview has also cons of its efficiency. Interviewers are likely to gain positive or negative information to support their first impressions as the applicants may be trying to do everything they can to be hired , for example creating a false experience memories , or act the way they don't act naturally. Interview is not recorded , so there is a lack of comparison of fairness between carried interviews. It makes the interviewers able to hire in their own image. Thus , the interview is subjective as the aspects of an individual are not always fully assessed. What is more , the interview is likely to be interrupted if carried in the office.

    Another selection method used by the AMRO Logistics is the psychological test. It is used , when the company is in need of a small number of new employees , but highly-qualified and there is a large amount of applicants for that positions. After interviewing them , the senior management of AMRO wants to gain more information about a range of individual abilities and traits.
   What makes the pros of that method , is that the psychological tests are professionally developed and checked by proper organisation that AMRO has the experience of working with. They are administered and scored in a standardised manner. Through the right use of that tests , the senior management of AMRO Logistics is able to test both maximum performance and habitual performance , and the results (scores) can be compared to norms. There is a high level of fairness in psychological testing. All applicants answer the same questions in the same conditions and the scores of tests are not open to individual interpretation , whereas interviews are. Psychological testing covers a range of human characteristics and carrying such tests enables to assess personality , intelligence , ability , interest and motivation of applicants. Thus , the selection in AMRO Logistics , enables its managers to choose the right people on more fair basis than only after carrying the interview.
   However , psychological testing has also it's cons. It is not a resonable source when used as the only selection method. It's impossible to assess interpersonal skills of applicants through that tests as it's easy for people to write that they can be very good in teamworking or customer service , when they have to answer questions on paper sheet , whereas for real , they might be shy and stressful most of the time.
   ''There is a vast amount of research that underpins the development of commercially produced tests , including proofs of their reliability and validity. If this is properly documented , the user of the tests can rest assured that the tests will improve the validity of the selection process.'' Foot , M. and Hook , C. (2008)

   The third selection method used by AMRO Logistics is the criminal record check. Every single employee has to be checked in case of criminal records. Senior management of the company claims that they have to trust their personnel , and they never would , if they had a criminal record as they had a bad experience with giving people a second chance. There used to be an examples of stealing money , customers and database , that members of staff wanted to use against the company.
   ''Employers are entitled to ask potential employees the question: 'Do you have a criminal record?''' Foot , M. and Hook , C. (2008)
   Learning from that experience , AMRO's managers treat the criminal record checks very seriously. The company cooperates with the Criminal Records Bureau , and the applicants are aware that they will be checked on the issue of criminal records. Such checks enable employers to see if their potential workers commited any crimes in their past and knowing about the contents of that records , or lack of contents provides employers with a knowledge , if the applicant has a trustworthy personality or not.
What is more , criminal record checks are the best selection method to use , if employers (like in AMRO) want to make sure that the applicants never had nothing to do with criminal organisations as such information is significant if company doesn't want to be stolen from , or have a member of a 'mafia' in their personnel.
   On the other hand , criminal record checks have also disadvantages. If the company uses it to assess their applicants past cirminal records , it must be aware of a 'generality' of law. Some people can have serious crimes on their criminal records , as they had to take responsibility for their teenage children that have commited a crime. Using criminal record checks , companies must make sure that the applicant can explain some of the contents of the criminal records as some contents don't have to be as serious as written.

   The interview I have taken part in and has a special place in my memory  has been carried out when I was thirteen years old. That time I was already learning English for about seven years and I wanted to develop my skills in that school. It has been almost seven years since it happened , but I still remember that interview very clearly because I have been rejected. However , the principal of the school told my parents that they had to reject me because they had no such advanced classes in that age groups and they were not allowed to put me with much older students. Although , I still think that the interview for that class was very efficient.
   Before the interview was carried out , I have been informed about the place and I could choose the date and time. There was more interviews that day and the school personnel , provided me with a suitable waiting area. Thus , there was a good first impression about that school taking care about it's potential students. The office , where the interview has been carried out , was big and there was a table with the same size of chairs , so there were no status barriers.
   The interviewer , was a native English speaker , so it was clearly stated , that my English skills were going to be checked by a quaified person. He started a small talk and then asked some easy questions about my school and my skills at the begining and later he asked some more specified questions to test my reactions. After every question , the interviewer made sure that I understood what he meant and given me enough time to express myself. Creating a good atmosphere by remaining proper eye contact and asking a variety of questions  , that interview was very efficient as interviewer gained needed information , and had given me the answer after a couple of minutes after finishing it.
   The principal of that school was able to explain how the situation looked like when they had to reject me , as he had shown me and my parents the files and the results from my interview. The interview must have been efficient as the principal presented every point with the argument based on the interview results.

   To improve selection process in AMRO Logistics , I would put more methods into their selection system. Despite already having interviews , psychological testing and criminal record checks , I would add work sample testing and further refference checks.
   After the interview , employers get to know the applicants personally and develop their own impressions and opinions. Then , they choose a group of people that will take part in their psychological test. Having the scores of that test , AMRO's senior management decides who is the best for the job , and choose also a couple optional people to check their criminal record. After carrying out that checks , the managers take their final decision and offer a job to the chosen applicant.
   In my opinion , it would be better if the senior management of the company would put a little more effort in getting to know its potential employees. After checking the criminal records , they should choose a group of applicants and put them into the work sampe testing. Getting the candidates to perform the full tasks or elements of tasks of the job , managers would have an opportunity to see how the applicants understand their job and what is the level of their real skills. Then , managers should arrange a meeting or call the previous employers of the applicants that attracted them the most to gain the last bit of information.
   Carrying this two more selection methods would give much more information to AMRO's senior management and would surely improve it's selection process.

   To sum up , organisations are using a range of selection methods to choose the proper people for their job positions. AMRO Logistics uses interviews , psychological testing and criminal record checks putting all of that method into a system enabling its senior management to choose the best applicants. However , all of that methods have both pros and cons of it's fairness. Interview , that I have taken part in , have been efficient thanks to the professionalism of the interviewer and the proper interviewing system preparation in that organisation. To improve the selection process in the organisations like AMRO , methods , such as work sample tests and further refference tests should be added. It would give even more information to the people responsible for selection and make their decision-making process easier.


Bibliography:

• Foot , M. , Hook , C. (2008) Introducing Human Resource Management. Fifth Edition. Harlow: Pearson Education Limited , pp.142-219.

• Rostowski , K.B. , Bartkowiak , W. Selection Process in AMRO Logistics. [Interview] Buckinghamshire New University with K.Rostowski. 3rd April 2011.

Recruitment - week 18

   Nowadays , there are many websites created to help people in their job research. With the development of the internet , online recruitment developed as well. All over the world , people have access to the internet. Knowing that , both small organisations and large companies put their job offers in the internet. One of the famous online recruitment websites in Great Britain is fish4jobs.

   The website has been made in a very creative way. First of all , the name , being easy to remember as fish4jobs makes people think about looking for interesting opportunities , very often not expected ones. It's attracting people as chosen colours and layout of the website make it look modern. It's very easy to operate , as every type of information to research is kept in order , for example , main searching tool is bigger and it's located at top of the website , whereas a list of industry types , advertised opportunities and other tagged jobs is located in the middle and bottom part of the website. Thus , people that were not in favour of using internet , can see that online recruitment may be easy. What makes that website attractive to variety of people is that on the main site , people can see the list of the different types of work , so they can choose if for example they are looking for a job for gratuate or charity and many other.
   The creators of that websites must have been aware of people's perception differences. Seeing anything for the first time , people notice different things and pay attention to the work of different factors. For example , when I had an opportunity to see that website for the first time , I started my research from looking at Great Britain's job map , whereas one of my friends typed sales into the main tool , and another friend just looked at the list of options. It shows , that the website is very easy to operate , modern and attractive.

 

   STENA Innovative Recycling , is a department of STENA Metall Group , which is a large international company localized in two hundred and fifty places and specialised in production and selling of metal materials and recycling.
   STENA is carrying out a recruitment campaing in Poland. It's an internship program for students , with opportunity of being employed after the program. I am interested in that campaign , mostly because I have never seen such clearly presented recruitment campaign that contains every information needed.
   The group put the elements of their campaign on Polish job researching website for students. First page of their offer asks its visitors if they want to know how to save forest area size of 21.000 sport fields. Under that question there is a explanation saying ''If yes , we want to know you.'' It shows , that the approach of young students is exactly the one STENA is looking for. On further pages of their offer , I have seen the skills needed to be the right person for that position. They require knowledge of English at advanced level , ability to translate fast , easility in travelling and studying the course at university that is connected to business , marketing and organisational habits. After reading that , that offer attracted me , because I have every single one of the skills they require.
   What is more , the recruitment campaign of STENA Innovative Recycling not only describes the job position , but also issues such as the place of stay , the accomodation and wage issue. They say , that main tasks during the work , would be gaining a customer base and helping in translation both paper and oral. Opportunity of that program is attractive for Polish students as it enables to do it in central part of Poland , and the company provides the interns with accomodation. They also claim that taking part in that program will develop managerial skills as interns would be involved in brand image development projects. The company wants their interns to be independent in solving problems , to have have very good organizational skills , to be open minded , creative , productive and have easiness in communication.

   ''You will be where all the action is and you will experience a business culture with fast decision where every challenge is seen as an opportunity.'' STENA Innovative Recycling (2011)

   As a student of a university localized in United Kingdom and having proper skills and experience required , that offer was created exactly the way I was looking for , when researching.



   The online recruitment is a great way to research job opportunities. However , it's not perfect. It has both advantages and drawbacks.

   The advantages of online recruitment:

•  There is a variety of job opportunities , divided into many types , such as charity , for graduates , full-time or part-time , HR , leisure , science and many more. Thus , when researching online , people can see an opportunity that they were not looking for , and very often that is better than the one that they have been looking for.
• Many people nowadays , even if not employed , have not much free time. Especially , they might have no time to go to job centre , consultancy or personal skill assessment centres. Online recruitment enables people to research millions of job opportunities all over the world by the right use of the internet. People can spend fivew minutes during their free time , no matter where they are , because all they need is a computer or phone with the connection to the internet.
• Internet is a resource available for majority of people looking for job. Even if not having a computer , people can use a mobile phone to research job online. It's easier for mothers to have a look at available job positions online , watching their children playing at home , than taking them on a trip to job centre.
•  Most of the online recruitment websites enable people to create an account , filling the proper forms with job preferences , skills , schools they finished , their hobby etc. After setting such account and filling the proper forms , the network does the research by itself. It sends the offers automatically in relation to the preferences , skills etc. Online recruitment makes research easier.
• There is no age discrimination when applying for a job through online recruitment websites. People of different age have an opportunity to find a job they want , because the network will not lock it's database. Everybody that wants to find a job does not have to hesitate and worry because nobody will comment on their research , the visitors of online recruitment websites are anonymous.

   The drawbacks of online recruitment:

•  When researching online , people can get bored of the big amount of offers. It might be complicated to specify what job is being research carried on , because the more words typed into the searching tool , the answer contains less sense.

• There are many offers that are incomplete. Personally , I have read many job offers on online recruitment websites , and I have also been send them automatically on my account. However.
• A big amount of offers is being put in the wrong categories all the time. Many companies try to attract people for the lower payed job positions by making the name of the job sound better , and placing the offer in the category that is being researched by qualified people. For example , companies likes Oriflame or Avon , specialized in selling a variety of cosmetics are in constant demand for canvassers. They offer their job even to people with a low level of interpersonal skills and difficulties with working with people. Companies looking for canvassers very often call that kind of job offer as the sales manager and place them in a variety of categories , because they know from their experience that it attracts people.
• There are many people that are not likely to use electronic devices in their lifes a lot. For example , older people , that prefer reading newspapers , or when going for a walk , looking for job offers in the variety of boards in shops or job centres. Onlince recruitment is often making a impression of difficult research tool for older people , especially when there is nobody to help and explain that people that it can be much easier to use it , than looking in newspapers.
• A major disadvantage of online recruitment is that a lot of companies that placed their offers in the internet , are getting lost in all the e-mails they are being send by people having queries about their offers. Very often , people responsible for answering that e-mails , are getting fed up with that work , and stop doing it. When it comes to the problem solving part of recruitment , the classic phone call is much better than online recruitment , as answer are being given much faster and if there is a need to , they are being also explained.

   In conlusion , online recruitment is a modern way of researching the job opportunities. It's fast , easy and contains a variety of opportunities all over the world in different categories. Everybody is able to find something. To attract people with required skills and attitude , companies create a recruitment campaigns that are being placed online. They are a very efficient way of looking for proper personnel , as by the right description of the offered jobs , they attract the right people. Online recruitment has many advantages as it's easy to operate with , doesn't require much effort to be put and is available for majority of people. However , with that many offers online , the communication between the interested people and companies is often a disadvantage of online recruitment , as it might be much easier to find answers by the right use of classic job research tools  , such as phones.

Bibliography:

Primary research:

• A interview with anonymous canvassers and consultants of two different cosmetic companies. 

• Showing the fish4jobs website to two different people , and comparing their first experience with that website to mine.

Secondary research:

• Absolvent. (2011) STENA Innovative Recycling. [Online] March 2011. Available on: http://www.absolvent.pl/program-stena-recycling-internship/opis-stanowisk/staz-w-dziale-prmarketing-communication-3873 [Accessed: 31st March 2011]

• fish4jobs. UK jobs and London jobs. [Online] Available on: http://www.fish4.co.uk/ [Accessed: 31st March 2011]

Equal Opportunities - week 16

   There is a variety of people all over the world. There are also two factors that have a major impact on life of every single person. They are known as equality and diversity.

   ''Equality (or ‘equal’) signifies correspondence between a group of different objects, persons, processes or circumstances that have the same qualities in at least one respect, but not all respects.'' Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (2007)

   ''The concept of diversity encompasses acceptance and respect. It means understanding that each individual is unique, and recognizing our individual differences.  These can be along the dimensions of race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, age, physical abilities, religious beliefs, political beliefs, or other ideologies.  It is the exploration of these differences in a safe, positive, and nurturing environment. It is about understanding each other and moving beyond simple tolerance to embracing and celebrating the rich dimensions of diversity contained within each individual.'' Queensborough Community College (2007)

   Mentioned definitions explain the concepts of both equality and diversity. However , there is a big difference between them. That differences are often seen in places like a company employing many people or a school.
Equality shows and values the different experiences of people , identifies discrimination , helps in treating people in the same way and often operates within the law. On the other hand , diversity shows and values the differences between individuals , treats every single person in a individual way , helps in challenging the opportunities coming from diverse people , and often is beyond the law.

   The age legislation came into force in 2006. It contains the regulations about the discrimination opportunities when looking at people's age. That legislation might have several impacts on employers. For example:

• Employers have to be very careful when assessing their employees. They have to ensure their staff that the assessment has nothing to do with the age of assessing person and also employers must make sure that they have proper arguments in case of arguments on that topic.
• When sorting the job opportunities , promotions and rewards , employers can have problems with giving them to their workers as if not given equally to certain age groups , employees can make it look like they have been discriminated , whereas they might be lazy and jealous.
• Grievance policies in companies can be a problem for employers. They can be in serious trouble , when members of their personnel would like to use it against each other during an argument against the background of the different age groups. Employers might have to undertake some expensive actions to solve that kind of problems.

    People tend to hold a variety of stereotypes about younger and older people. The stereotypes about younger people present them as lazy , looking only to benefit from other people's failures and heartless , caring only about money and their own life. In case of older people , the stereotypes about them present them as afraid of a modern technique , electronic devices and show them as people with limited knowledge and skills. To change this attitudes , organisations should make people of different age groups see , that in the real life , such stereotypical personalities occur very rarely. Organisations could do that through either:

•  Creation of working teams , made of people from different age groups , so that older people would  have to cooperate with younger people. Thus , older people would see that younger people don't always have to be heartless and younger people could learn a lot from the experience of older people and respect them , not see them as a usless part of personnel.
• Or making sure that the workplace is not divided into the parts. For example , older people working on the first floor and younger on second. There should be a similar amount of people from different age groups working in every place , so that they could get to know each other and change their attitudes about the stereotypes.

   On its website , British Airways claims to constantly work towards creation of an inclusive culture that understands and respects the individual differences of its employees. British Airways , being a company operating globally , needs to attract and retaind a diversity of talented individuals as their customer base is also a diversity. Knowing that employing a mix of people from diverse background leads to potential new ideas and innovation , BA wants to stay competetive through the right level of equal opportunities within its personnel. They organise regular events , on which employees discuss issues on religion , disability , flexible working , sexual orientation and ethnicity. British airways make sure that the diversity issues are communicated to employees via their corporate internet site , forums and networks. They also use newspapers and monthly newsletters called ''Diverse Times'' and ''Religious Festivals''.

   In conclusion , the diversity and equality are the two major factors related to every single human being. They can help in looking for new opportunities and treating people in a fair , equal way. Since the age legislation came into force in 2006 , employers have to be careful in undertaking the actions they are used to , and make sure that their assessments have no age assessing background. There are plenty of stereotypes about people from the different age groups and organisations can solve their negative impact within their personnel through the right actions. British Airways , a company operating globally , employs a diveristy of people from the different backgrounds all over the world , on a variety of job positions , and takes care about the equal opportunities through the organisation of events and use of their internet network and materials like newspapers and newsletters containing the articles about different issues.
   

Bibliography:

•  British Airways' view for equality. [Online] Available from: http://www.britishairways.com/travel/crdivhome/public/en_gb [Accessed: 30th March 2011]

• Definition for Diversity. Queensborough Community College. [Online] Available from: http://www.qcc.cuny.edu/diversity/definition.asp [Accessed: 30th March 2011]

• Equality. (2007) Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. [Online] June 2007. Available on: http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/equality/#DefCon [Accessed: 30th March 2011]

Teamworking - week 13

   When working on the charity assignment for the Role of Marketing in Business , I have cooperated in a team with four more members. The aim of the team was to raise money for the Oxford Transplant Foundation. After brainstorming , we decided to organise a themed party in the Wycombe's Yates's.

   ''A team role is described as a pattern of behaviour , characteristic of the way in which one team member interacts with another whose performance serves to faciliate the progress of the team as a whole''. Mullins , L.J. (2010)

   Mullins , L.J. (2010) explains the way how one team member works with another , how they do it , and how they differ , which makes them have different roles that are approaches to the task.

   Meredith Belbin divided the team roles into nine different approaches , and explained every single one , giving the details about it's contribution to the team , and it's allowable weaknesses.

   The team I have been a member of , contained two female , and three male members , giving the sum of five members. However , some of the members had more than one team role.
   There have been a resource investigator and co-ordinator in one person responsible for clarifying goals , promoting decision-making , exploration of the opportunities and for the development of contracts. However , often being manipulative when talking about the ideas.
   There was a member seen as a plant from Belbin's theory , that solved difficult problems with his creative and imaginative working system , however , ingoring some details.
   I have been seen as a shaper , monitor-evaluator and completer in the team as I had the drive to overcome obstacles , seen most of the options and searched for our mistakes. However , I caught myself on provoking others and worrying unduly.
   Teamworker in our team was very co-operative , perceptive and listened very carefully to everything. However , Belbin's theory considers the teamworker as indecisive in crunch situations , the teamworker from our team has been very decisive all the time.
   Implementer's and specialist's team role has been carried by one person responsible for turning ideas to action and providing the knowledge and support. He was disciplined and reliable , very efficient and dedicated but slow to respond to new possibilities.

   The plan has been developed by the team's co-ordinator , containing every single action to undertake by certain team members. Thus , the objectives were sorted and responsibilities shared. Every single member knew what to do. There was a good communication in the team as the members used to e-mail each other every two days , or text each other's mobile phones to set up the meetings or solve any problems if occured.

   Thus , the group had a good contact with the Yates's manager , who was happy to help in raising money for the charity by giving us all the profit from cloakroom and entry charges. He also allowed the team to sell their own shots and party accessories. With the right management of finance within the group , we spent 43.46 pounds and raised 230 pounds , raising the profit of 186.54 pounds for the charity.

   Having all of the Belbin's nine team roles present in our team , we succeeded to reach every single goal from the plan as there was a proper cooperation , communication and effort within the team.



   The first assignment for People and Oranisations was to make a presentation about motivation , and after a consultation with the tutor , produce a report on motivation. It was a group based assignment. I have been working in a group of three members.

   Tuckmann's theory on group development contains an explanation of  building , developing , and analyzing the behaviour of the members in the team. Tuckmann explained the process of developing the team by the right use of five key stages of forming , storming , norming , performing and adjourning. The group I have been working in , progressed through all of the stages.

   At the stage of forming , we were testing each other by conversation and questions to find out about the interpersonal and task behavioural skills of each member.  Such testing enabled us to see that we communicate easily with each other , and we contrast different points of view without agruements. The atmosphere at that stage suggested that there might be no need for a leader as the cooperation level was likely to be high.

   Storming was the stage , when there was a variety of members's ideas competing. However, Tuckmann's theory explains that this competition is very often fierce , in our case it was not. The objective was clear for all of us as we knew that we have to show our tutor the presentation on what we want to do , and after that , produce the report. We agreed on some of the ideas , and then we knew each other more as when deciding about that ideas , each member shown his personality to confront each other's perspectives. At this stage , the need of a leader was higher , so from that moment , I used to coordinate the work with the tolerance of each member and their ideas.

   When the team progressed to the stage of norming , the rules , and the working system has been developed. There was a noticeable working progress as the team was working with a good cooperation and effectiveness among it's members and no major conflicts or arguments. With that effectiveness , the team developed it's identity as there was a habit of the right use of methods , such as asking other members for help or opinion. Methods helped in adjusting members' personalities to each other , as when consulting our work , we had to agree or disagree on issues.When the working system was developed , the motivation increased and the objectives seemed to be much easier in achieving.

   At the stage of performing, the team roles and the interpersonal structure of the team became a tool of our task activities. With the bigger increase of motivation in the team , we were working as a unit because we clearly understood what we had to do and what we have done. We were now able to handle the stress and the decision-making process easier.


   Adjourning was the stage , when we completed all of our tasks , and got the job done. After submitting the report the team was disassembled. Our work have been marked with a positive grade , so we succeeded in every goal we wanted to succeed. However , the team did not meet every issue from Tuckmann's theory on this stage as there were no sense of loss felt by the group members and no introduction of new tasks as the assignment was completed.

   Going through all of the stages from Tuckmann's theory and meeting most of the issues detailed in that theory enabled us to see how the development of the team was working in our team. It also enabled us to see what issues happen at which stage , and how team members interact with each other , which was helpful in working on our project.



   The teamwork has been identified as a major contributory factor to the success for the companies such as P3 , charity organisation , or Lindum Group , working in construction and development industry.

   P3 is a charity organisation , helping young people in such issues as finding home , education or job. The online article from The Times archieves shows how the staff of P3 and their effort has been considered as a major factor to the success of P3. As an example , The Times used the story of P3's employee , to show how does P3 differ from other that kind of organisations. He claimed to be disenchanted with the support of the public services for the young people. When he went to one of P3 centres , he made a contact with P3 and two years later , after P3 helped him in improving his living circumstances it also offered him a job , to enable him to help others.

   P3 employs 262 people. They all claim that P3 is the best company to work for. P3's staff is confident about the leadership of their managers , full of pride , and cooperate among each other well. The staff has faith in what they are doing , and they believe that the organisation makes a positive difference to the world. They are well motivated as they feel that that they can make a valuable contribution to the success of their organisation. P3 achieves top results in six of the eight factors in which employees give their views. It shows that the teamworking in the P3 is a major factor of it's success.

   Contstruction Group Lindum considers building up a strong relation with it's staff as a important issue. Lindum's employees claim to be proud to work for the company and also that most days they don't feel exhausted when coming back from work. Over half of the company's employees are with Lindum for ten years or more.

   The communication system in the company enables the members of senior management to be on first-name terms with staff. The high level of motivation within the company is likely to to exist as a result of the way how Lindum's staff considers it's managers as they feel inspired by their chairman and think that he runs the company on sound moral principles. What is more , the employees think that the senior managers are a good listeners and inspire confidence in the workforce.

   Staff has a choice of flexible working options and ability to benefit from the occupational health programme , gym membership or holidays through the firm package.

  All of the issues mentioned above explain that the teamworking of the Construction Group Lindum's staff is a major factor on the company's success as the cooperation between the managers and the ordinary workers results in a high level of motivation , faith and understanding in the company.


Bibliography:


- Lindum Group. (2010) Best 100 Companies. [Online] March 2010. Available from: http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/career_and_jobs/best_100_companies/article7030232.ece [Accessed: 25th March 2011]

- Mullins , Laurie J. (2010) Management & Organisational Behaviour. Ninth edition. Harlow: Pearson Education Limited , pp.342-343.

- P3 Charity. (2010) Best 100 Companies. [Online] March 2010. Available from: http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/career_and_jobs/best_100_companies/article7030217.ece [Accessed: 25th March 2011]

- Stages of Team Development (Tuckman). [Online] Available from: http://www.12manage.com/methods_tuckman_stages_team_development.html [Accessed: 27th March 2011]

Reward - week 23

   The company , with which I am familiar is AMRO Logistics. It is a company providing a wide range of transport options for oversized freights. AMRO owns special sets of trucks and trailers enabling to transport oversized freights and cooperates with other companies having abilities in similar services and also owns a service station with warehouse and paint shop , where the company's equipment is serviced. AMRO is separated into two departments. The first department is office , where office staff works on finances , customer services and other formal issues. The second department is service , where specialized mechanics , painters , engineers and suppliers work both physcially and mentally as they are responsible for the right preparation and maintenance of trucks , trailers and the rest of the company's equipment.
   The rewarding system of the AMRO Logistics differs for different groups because members of different departments want different rewards. Office department members are being given money bonuses divided into three stages with different percentage depending on the task assessment. Service department members are being given salary bonuses depending on the effort they put in their work and also they are being given free qualification raising courses such as welding courses with the use of the newest machines , coordinating a work of digital milling machines etc. The rewards of AMRO employees are different. Office employees are being given money bonuses , whereas service employees are being given both money bonuses and free qualification raising courses. There are reasons why it is happening. Firstly , office employees don't want to go on courses , where they are able to learn how to weld or use the milling machine. The other reason of office employees being rewarded only with money is that most of them are working for the company from the beginning of it's existence and they have their own working systems that they developed themselves. They know how to react properly in their job and they prefer to be given more money than courses , on which they will be told how to work better mostly by younger and less experienced people than they are. On the other hand , there are also younger members of the office department but they also prefer to be given more money , because their process of raising qualifications is taking place when doing their job because they learn from the older employees. Thus fairness and equity in the AMRO Logistics is ensured as both of it's departments have been offered same rewarding options.

   When interviewed , Mr.Rostowski explained also his previous working experience in transport company working within Poland and Germany , in which he has been working as the transport manager. He knew the chief executive personally and that way he was able to learn more about the senior management in a large company. That company doesn't exist anymore nowadays , but it's chief executive used to receive large bonuses when the performance level of the company was both lower and higher. However , when the performance level of the company was low because of his mistakes , he hasn't been rewarded.

   Chief executives should receive large bonuses , even if the organisation that they have led has underperformed , but other factors have taken place.
    If the decision about an action that is vital for the company has been forced by shareholders , and chief executive knew that he can not disagree with them , he should still receive a bonus because it wasn't his fault. He might have advised the shareholders that their ideas are not good for the organisation. He could have been told that the punishment is going to be given to him if not doing what shareholders want him to. For example , the chief executive that Mr. Rostowski has been working for , was told by his shareholders to change their standard way through the border for the longer one. They thought that going through the longer road will cost less than going through the standard one , because the permission paper costs were lower. However , many mistakes were made in their calculations , and the company has been fined by the transport agency for the wrong papers. Chief executive has been given the instruction to follow. He did. He also spend more time on carrying out the project , and although he knew what is going to happen , he could not disagree with shareholders. He has been given a reward for the time and effort , because the shareholders were clearly presented with the opinion of chief executive about their plan.

   However , chief executives should not receive any bonuses if the low performance level of their companies resulted from their decisions. For example , if chief executive forced the junior managers to employ people disliked by the managers , which resulted in the lack of communication , effort or task understanding within the teams , chief executive should be blamed for it and not being rewarded. In the company described by Mr. Rostowski , chief executive knew people that used to work for the local small accounting firm. He forced the junior management of the company to employ them in the department responsible for ordering the proper permission papers for extra heavy freights. The managers predicted that they would fit better as accountants ,  but chief executive told them to put them in the department he chosen.  Although they had teamworking experience , the tasks they were presented with were totally different from the tasks they used to have in their previous jobs , so they made many mistakes when ordering papers , which resulted in another fines for the company. Chief executive has been blamed for it , and he was not rewarded.

   Another reason not to reward the chief executive with large bonuses is the undertaking the wrong actions on purpose by chief executive. The chief executive mentioned above , has been offered a better paid job position in a company being a competition to the one he worked for. Also , the shareholders changed. Chief executive didn't wanted the new shareholders to gain profits , and knowing that he will soon work for another company , put effort in undertaking the wrong decisions on purpose. He wanted to make the performance level as low as possible. However , it became to obvious for the shareholders after a single period of time , and he was fired , he was not rewarded and further investigation has been taken.

   In conclusion , the rewarding system in AMRO Logistics differs for the different types of the employees and the rewards have to motivate the employees as well. They are chosen fairly for both office and service department employees. Chief executives should still receive large bonuses even if the organisation that they have led has underperformed , because they might have been forced by the shareholders but they still could have put much effort and time in their tasks. However , if the bad performance of the led company resulted from their mistakes , that have been proved to them , they shouldn't be rewarded.


Bibliography:

- Rostowski, K.B. Rewarding system in AMRO Logistics and previous working expierience. [Interview] Buckinghamshire New University with K. Rostowski. 24th February 2011.

Personality - week 11

   Personality contains a pattern of features responsible for behaviour of an individual. Every person has got a different personality and behaves in different way. People's personalities may be similar at some points but they are never the same at every point.
   Nature approach to personality explains people's behaviour through their hereditary characteristics. It shows that people can inherit characteristics such as rapidity , wisdom or charisma from their ancestors. For example , if a person is intelligent and has many abilities and in future is a parent , it's child or grandchild is likely to inherit some or even all of it's personal characteristics.
   Individual can also develop it's personality through the environmental influences such as contact with it's peers , situation in it's family or it's interests. This kind of personality development is explained by the nurture approach to personality. For example , when an inteligent person gets into a group of people with lower level of inteligence , that person is likely to lose it's confidence in it's inteligence and may have problems in developing his future key skills.
   However , both nature and nurture approaches can involve the same characteristics. For example , when an individual inherits stubbornness , he or she can develop it to even higher level when being guided by that characteristic in decision-making.
   The nomothetic approach contains a fixed perspective of people with similar traits. It shows the same psychological meaning in people having unique combinations of traits. On the other hand , what makes people different in that approach is the amount of possesed traits. This approach tends to view personality as consistent , inherited and resistant to change and view environmental and social influences as minimal. It's also helpful for managers , when the selection is on in their organistations as they can use it in future when training employed individuals.
   The idiographic approach is a perspective showing that people unique structrure but their cardinal traits are more important than others because they help in understanding their structures. It explains also that some traits are possessed by only one person and sometimes it is impossible to compare some individuals as the responses of compared individuals may not be comparable. (Mullins , 2010) suggests that personality assessment is not a valid method of understanding the unique ways of individuals's behaviour as the depth of a person's personality cannot be revealed in superficial paper-and-pencil questionnaires.
   In my opinion , nature approach has got a tremendous influence on people as their inherited traits make their basic way of behaving but nowadays the nurture approach has dominant influence on people as that basic models created by inherited traits change as people develop that traits or gain new ones influenced by other people , more often in negative way. It is easy to see that many people are leaving their priorities for their friends and very often become criminals because of that.

   After taking the personality test at the BBC website , I found out my five key traits on different levels of importance. The results showed that I am conscientious , open , neurotic , extrovert and agreeable. The level of my openess found out to be high , which means that I am open for novel experiences and artistically sensitive. Conscientiousness in my example reached the border level between low and medium showing that I am not a person that plans everything and sticks to that plans every singe time but it doesn't mean that I am never making any plans and stick to them. Extroversion is linked to positive emotions and energy and explains people's  desire for social stimulation. My extroversion is on the medium level so I am a person with positive emotions and energy , but I am not making people around me feel better every time they see me as I am not reacting to everybody. My agreeableness reached medium level as well. This means that I care about feelings of others and I am likely to trust many people , but only the ones I feel I can trust. Another key trait reaching high level in my example is neuroticism. High level of that trait explains that I can manage with stress and negative emotions like anxiety and fear very well and I am also very good in perceiving threats. In my opinion it is a reliable source as after watching video , in which a psychologist explained that traits in my results I found them all to be truly presented.


Bibliography:

- Mullins , Laurie J. (2010) Management & Organisational Behaviour. Ninth edition. Harlow: Pearson Education Limited.

- Personality Traits. (2004) Personality Traits: Idiographic vs. Nomothetic. [Online] July 2004. Available from: http://wilderdom.com/personality/traits/PersonalityTraitsIdiographicNomothetic.html [Accessed: 22nd February 2011]

- The BBC Lab UK. (2010) The Big Personality Test. [Online] Available from: https://www.bbc.co.uk/labuk/experiments/personality/ [Accessed: 22nd February 2011]

Perception and Communication - week 9

   In April of 2007 , when taking part in the first round of the Enduro Rally Championship of Poland , I had an opportunity to meet the winner of the previous year championship. Before I meet him , I've seen articles , and interviews with that person. I thought he must be a brave man with the proper riding skills and strong personality to handle the pressure from his sponsors.

I wanted to know how to practice to develop my skills and what parts to use to improve my quad bike. Knowing that I am about to meet him made me feel exicted. After talking to him and getting to know everything I wanted him to tell me , I felt proud that I know such a good rider.

   However , after two years that person decided to take part in the Dakar Rally. After finishing it on the third place , he started a kind of campaign to show everybody how great he is. He was known to be rich , so he spend a lot of money to put himself into every newspaper about cars or motorcycles. He also paid a lot to less famous celebrities to allow him to seat with them on events known to be under the auspices of the media. Unfortunatelly to that person , one motorsport journalist didn't want his money and revealed the information that made that person look bad in eyes of his fans including me. He was said to use illegal help during the Dakar Rally on every fifteen stages. Firstly , that news was considered as gossip , but the famous Orlen Team riders competing in Dakar Rally for twelve years  that time , confirmed that information to be true as they saw him using his truck to go through the stage when he should be using his bike , so that he could take a rest when his rivals were putting effort to complete the stage.

   After that news , my opinion about that person changed completely. What is more , there have been more and more sport journalists that owned videos showing that person cheating during the events of the Championship of Poland in 2006 , 2007 and 2008.

   My initial perception of that person was totally incorrect as when getting to know that person I was looking only at achievements making him a good man without even thinking about the research on other achievements of that person.

To avoid this judgement again , I am trying to see both positive and negative sides of people I have opportunities to meet. It's also important to remember that our personal perception is different than perception of others , so when meeting new people , I am trying to make my own opinion about the person without thinking much about what other people told me about that person.


    Buckinghamshire New University has a modern software that enables students to communicate fast and easily with university employees such as lecturers or receptionists and vice versa.
    However ,  in some of the services provided by university , it takes a lot of time to get the answer about the application that has been handed in or any other queries. When asking online or researching online on job vacancies , there are information that are too general , without the essential informations. To improve that , university should either employ new managers or provide already employed managers with coaching showing them that creating a shared sense of purpose is an important starting point for a srategic approach to communication. When they do that , the managers will try to improve the work of people responsible for answering students in both electronic and personal way. Managers will show them that they are working towards the same goal as the more proper answers they will give , the more people will know what to do , for example what student job to apply for , how and when and university will benefit from that.
    Univeristy is trying to improve it's working system and wants to know how to do it. There has been several surveys available on blackboard. Students were reminded to fill them , but the way they were presented was not attracting students and if not tutors sending hundreads of e-mails asking and reminding students about it , not many people would have done that. Surveys should be advertised in extraordinary way , for example there should be lecturer or another person responsible for communication with students going to the library asking five to ten random people if they have a single idea how to improve some points of working , for example searching for books. After a short conversation that person should be given a pen , little notebook or any small gift with the logo of Buckinghamshire New University and also should be encouraged to complete surveys. In that way , communication with students through surveys would improve as well as univeristy's image.
   University should create a blog with general news. That blog should be linked with blackboard. It should be created in extraordinary way with many pictures and videos used as description of things posted on that blog. It should be known as Bucks News so that every student would know that the right use of that blog is the easiest way to find answers on any quesions. For example , if there is a vacancy in Student's Union's Bar , there should be post about it with a big comic picture of that vacancy like steward or barman to attract people. There should be also person available to chat online with on that blog for eight or twelve hours helping students in solving their problems. This is another way that would improve both communication and image of the Buckinghamshire New University.


Bibliography:

 - Clake , R. (2010). How to... improve staff comunication [Online]. Available from:

http://www.peoplemanagement.co.uk/pm/articles/2010/07/how-to-improve-staff-communication.htm [Accessed: 20th February 2011]