Kolb Model

Tata Motors’ Singur Case (Nano Controversy) Introduction I have taken the case on Tata Motors Ltd. The case was all about on the Tata Nano Singur Controversy. This controversy refers to the Tata’s Nano Factory at Singur in Hooghly district in West Bengal, India. Since Tata Motors Started constructing the factory over there in Singur, the small place comes into the media worldwide. Tata Motors started this factory to manufacture 25000 cars firstly. The plans of Tata Motors were that Nano will come out from the factory by 2008 for rolling out the roads. Tata Motors Ltd. s the largest Indian automobile company having the revenues of USD 20 billion in 2009-10. Tata Motors is the leader in the manufacturing of commercial vehicles. It is among the top three in the passenger car and also in mid car segment. The organization stands at number four in truck manufacturing worldwide and stands at number two in bus manufacturing. The total workforce of Tata Motors worldwide is near about 24000 employees. Tata Motors established in 1945, Tata Motors is present across the India and even world wide as they have acquired the two brands of Ford Motors.The total quantity of the vehicles which rolling out on Indian roads by Tata Motors are near about 6 million. The company has its manufacturing units all across the India i. e. Jamshedpur, Pune, Lucknow, Pantnagar and Karnataka. In 2005, Tata Motors set the alliance with Fiat Motors at Ranjangaon, Maharashtra to produce bith Fiat and Tata cars. The company is also establishing the new manufacturing unit at Sanand( Gujrat). The company has a good dealership network in India. Abstract The controversy of Tata Motors was due to Land Acquisition at Singur for its Nano Project 4 years back. The Tata Motors have the dream to run a Rs. lakh car on Indian roads. In 2006, the CM of West Bengal Mr. Bhuddadeb Bhattacharjee’s vision was to make the West Bengal an industrialized state so that it can compare to other states i n India in industrialization. As the land in Singur was not so fruitful, so the government had decided to give it to Tata Motors for the Nano Project, so that the state will get benefit out of it. But the opposition had the continuously eye on this issue, they do not want that the poor farmers’ land will be taken from them under the government pressure. The political factors come into the picture against this project at Singur.The opposition was playing with the emotions of the farmers. The opposition put the arguments that the land is scarce resource in the West Bengal. The opposition does not want that the project will start here and it will end up at its scheduled time. The opposition got successful in its operations for the Tata Motors and finally Supreme Court asked the Ratan Tata to chuck out their plant from the Singur. The main person behind all this was Ms. Mamta Benerjee, she was adding fuel to the fire always at the time of issue. So, at the end Tata Motors have st opped its operations and went ahead to the place in Gujrat. Comparative AnalysisThe comparative analysis can be defined in terms of issues of the case and their depth analysis from the point of view of stakeholders. It can be explain in terms of some external forces which play important role in this issue as given below: First of all in this case, legal aspects in the land acquisition by Tata at Singur come into the play. Due to globalization, most of the developing countries want to have the shift from import substitution based strategy for the land acquisition. SEZ i. e. special economic zones are the geographical regions which have the economic laws more liberal than the economic laws in the whole country.By offering the all these privileged terms from the SEZ to the company, it will attract the investment from the investors, foreign exchange, boost the employment and improving the infrastructure facilities which will help in the growth of the particular location. The same reason was here in the case also. Tata want to improve the industrialization in the West Bengal though their Nano Project. As the Nano project will be beneficial for the both parties, Tata will get the desired place for the manufacturing of the Nano and West Bengal will also benefited.In this case, the main issue was that Industry, government and agriculture comes at the crossroads. There are so many implications for the external factors which come into this picture. As CPI had won the election for the seventh consecutive time in West Bengal, CM Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee has the vision to make the West Bengal an industrialized state which will help the people to upgrade their standards. CM was very happy that government has recommended the Singur for the Nano Plant. As Ratan Tata was looking for the place where he would able to control the cost and place would be cheap so that he can provide the people the car of worth Rs. lakh. So, Ratan Tata accepts the proposal from the West Bengal gover nment because at Singur the cost of its operation would be less and Tata will get benefited out of it. The statistical data of Hooghly district on Singur block is that 83% of the land is irrigated and crop density is 220%. The landholders in the Singur were very small. All have the land in the small proportions. There are a large number of migrant workers over there; it implies that Tata would get the cheap and easy labor over there in the Singur.On May 18, 2006, there was the announcement by the West Bengal government for the beginning of the project at Singur. Ratan Tata promise to complete the project in 2 years. The whole project was spread into 2 parts, one part having the land of 700 acres and another part of 300 acres which was kept for the ancillary production for the project. The project has created the 10,000 direct and indirect jobs over there in Singur. On Jun 19th2006, Tata got a notification from the government under the section 9(1) of land Acquisition Act of 1894 to the affected farmers due to this project.The Act mentioned that the land acquired by Tata needed to be taken by the government/ government authorities for the public purposes, employment generation and socio economic development of the state. After some time on Jul 27, 2006 the state government sets the 6 months deadline for acquiring the land. After that this land acquisition got challenged by the Kolkata High Court. Some people in the Singur got their cheques for the compensation from the government as they protest against the government for the cheques. After that there is state wide violence in the Singur began.The monitoring protesting starts in the Singur. Ms. Mamta Banerjee took the lead for the opposition of the project. On 22th Jan, 2007 there were near about the 1000 guards arranged for Tata Motors’ plant to save it from the protesting people on the day of Bhoomi Pujan. There are the people from the all parts of the society come in the Singur to protest this movemen t. On 4th Feb’07, HC issued a prohibitory order under the section 144 Cr at Singur and announce that it was the only use of power and unreasonable restricted practices by the government authorities.After some days, the government asked for the file an affidavit which will show all the details for the legality of the land acquisition by the Tata Motors at Singur. Here comes the issue whether land acquire though under the two different section of land acquisition act 1894, it got directed towards the farmers who receive the compensation from the government. After messing with government, finally Tata got the approval for the plant on March, 07. The government signed an agreement to lease the 949. 5 acres to the Tata Motors for 90 years.After some time, government felt that an advocate made some mistakes and the same case got filed again, government found that only 30% of the farmers signed willingly and yet other people do not want. The state government admitted that Till April 25, 07 only Rs. 90. 35 crores have distributed and rest the people are left undistributed the money where as their land had already acquired. In the meanwhile the Nano got unveiled in Delhi’s pragati Maidan on Jan10, 08. On Jan 18, 10, Calcutta High Court sealed the land acquisition in Singur and asked the Tata to roll out the Nano without completing the project.The Chief Justice dismiss the all the 11petitions filed by the Tata. Tata has not paid the people which are CPI(M) supported. Now there are cpnditions got critical and Ratan Tata decide to roll out the project from the Singur on Oct 3, 08 due to worried about the safety concern of the Mangers and their families over there. Implications on Stakeholders The stakeholder impacts the case a lot from the point of view of their different place in the organization. The implications of all the stakeholders are given below: Tatas Prospective Investors Ancillary Units Competitor to Nano Farmers Stakeholders WB Government Employ eesMamta Banarjee Different Stakeholder Values The primary stakeholders for the Tata project were Tatas, government of west Bengal and farmers. The government plays a critical role in pulling out the project by Tatas. Mamta Banerjee played with the emotions of the Farmers by making them ignited for the opposition of this project. Every stakeholder thinks from its prospective of getting the benefit out of this problem. Talking about the farmers, as they firstly persuaded for the land acquisition but they were opposing it because due to increase in the land prices as they are demanding now the high prices for their land.As the West Bengal is a agriculture state, there is a lack of industrialization in the West Bengal. The issue was taken up by the opposition due to this factor also. The main role played by the Mamata Banerjee by taking the help of political and government issues which are totally external, could not able to handle by Tatas. The formulation of Tata-Singur case is very much uncertain. There are too many speculations over there for unsatisfied farmers as they demanded more money now. Returning 400 acres to the farmers which was unwillingly for the Tatas or the main reason was the political factors.Theory of Socialism Socialism is a theory related to the political and economic factors of the public or for the mutual ownership of the people in particular regions. It has a lot of importance in the means of the production and makes the resources allocated among all the departments. The theory of socialism plays an important part in Singur Case. As the socialism theory will have the care for the people in the society, it will help the people to co operate the each other. The Tatas can carry out the production by the free association of the workers to use the maximum optimal resources.The co-ordination planning is the major part of this theory and I think in co-ordination or in the planning of the co-ordination Tata is the best in the industry. The decis ions about the investment, distribution of the surplus money or invest in the production methods give the advantage over the others. Socialism is the theory which is based on the arrangements for labour time, all the units of power and other factors of the production. In the case of Singur, there are a lot of political factors or forces Tata faced by the government. The socialism theory originated from the intellectual and the working class of the society.So it impacts a lot of the political movement of the Tata Motors which arises from the fact of industrialization in the state. The main issue which comes into the picture was the private properties of the farmers in the Singur. As the West Bengal is an agriculture state, the Singur is totally depending upon the agriculture. But due to government rule, the land which is about irrigated from a long time it could be comes under the SEZs. Under SEZs the land will be used under the various government laws to start with some industries o ver there.The theory also emphasis on the fact about the issue at the Singur case is that due to socialism, the modern values to rationalize economic activities by the eliminating the capitalist production at the plant. It would also allow the workers for the economic output and the power to be distributed on the base of extended work in the manufacturing of the Nano Project. Theory of Pluralism Final Outcome All Organizations face a business environment in which international and macroeconomic phenomena Matter, The same with happened to TATA in Singur They faced a huge protest by the farmers in the land acquisition matter.The problem in Singur is essentially just that: the irresistible coming up against the immovable. While the government wants to develop industry in the state, farmers are worried about losing their land and procuring the next meal for themselves and their families. The trinomial congress, with its honorable leader Mamta Banerjee had a right intention of protecting the interests of the local farmers, started off well and managed to get a lot of political support from rural Bengal. As Nano factory was nearing completion, The CM of Bengal Mr.Bhattacharya stepped back and soon to come up with support and not putting up the factory in Singur. The Tata's mistake was to put too much faith in west Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, and to depend only on him to provide them with easy possession of land on favorable terms, and to sort out all political problems. After that TATA had offered many compensation package in exchange of the acquired land to the farmers but their leader Mamta was not interested whatsoever in any package that endangers the survival of the problem.Taking a drastic site-selection turn, Tata Motors has abandoned the site in eastern India where its 2,000-employee plant was going to manufacture the new Nano mini-car. Prompted by months of often violent opposition from uprooted farmers, the pullout from the city of Singu r came only after Tata had reportedly spent almost US$350 million, working for two years to ready the operation in West Bengal state to make the low-cost â€Å"People's Car. Instead, the automaker is relocating to Sanand, Gujrat, where it will construct a $417 million facility to make the Nano mini car. Critical Recommendations The TATA motors should have entered into direct negotiations with the farmers, tried to understand their problems with empathy and offered them a higher price and employment for at least one member of each affected family. Tata motors should not have gone so far ahead in construction before critical land acquisition issues were settled

Do Men make Better managers than Women? Essay

Only in the last century have more esteemed jobs been allocated to women, in light of the women-rights movement. Even though pay between men and women is still unequal and gender discrimination at the workplace is still imminent, the improvement in the opportunities of women to maintain high ranking jobs in the last century has been drastic. However in certain occupations, such as that of the manager, inequality is even firmer, as shown in studies detailing the sex ratio of managers (Vinniecombe and Colwil, 1995). This phenomenon does not advise that men are more suitable managers, as women are especially disadvantaged in more commonly masculine workplaces, like a managerial role. Rise to new managerial styles and a decrease in prejudice towards women may even prove women to be the more effective managers, or at least equally effective, as men. When it comes to the occupancy of the manager, Women are still more unlikely to hold the position than in other relatively higher job positions, with only about 10 % of management positions in Europe being held by Women, further of those the grand majority lie in the lower management ranks (Vinnicombe and Colwill, 1995). The implication of these figures are either that discrimination is rife in the world of management, or that the qualities that are commonly regarded as necessary for a successful manager are mostly masculine characteristics, including â€Å"drive, objectivity and an authoritative manner† (Wajcman, 1998 pg 55). Therefore it would seem that men have a natural advantage to being a strong manager. Nonetheless, in recent times certain developments in organization theory, including human resource management and Japanese management have indicated that a more effective management needs a â€Å"softer edge and a more people-orientated approach† (Wajcman, 1988 pg 55). The main characteristics of women are commonly seen as â€Å"affectionate, helpful, friendly, kind soft-spoken, sympathetic and gentle† (Barreto, Ryan and Schmitt, 2009 pg 23). Thus, this new concept of a productive manager would pertain more to women. However, as mentioned before, the ratio of female to male managers in lower management positions is still dramatically unbalanced, with higher management positions being only very rarely awarded to women, with an average of 5 % in Europe; even only 2% in England, (Vinnicombe and Colwill, 1995 pg3). This imbalance suggests that the traditionally ideal masculine manager approach is still preferred by the majority of firms and unfortunately only government enforced â€Å"Equal opportunities action plans† have really made a significant difference in the sex ratio of managers. These positive action initiatives have been launched by several countries in the last few decades, as for instance Denmark in 1989 which found that it made a two percent increase in female managers over the course of a year, (Vinnicombe and Colwill, 1995). Hence without the aid of government policies, it will take extremely long for women to be equally represented in managerial roles. That the traditional masculine view of the manager is still vastly more popular than the newer managerial perception which would be more suitable for females, is not only shown by the stagnant change of the gender representation, but also by the characteristics of the few females who hold top managerial positions. Whilst high ranking male managers behave in accordance to the stereotypical male traits, women who have made it to the top mostly act in their profession in a masculine manner, almost indistinguishable from their male counterparts ((Wajcman, 1998). Thus, the few Women who have made it to the manager positions have intentionally acted in a masculine manner in order to succeed (Wajcman, 1998). This indicates that the contemporary feminine managerial style has only been implemented extremely rarely, and that in the extensive majority of cases in order to maintain a top ranking manager position one must exert masculine characteristics. Research shows that this feminine approach, also referred to as â€Å"transformational leadership style†, is often more useful than the traditional management style, especially in firms with more feminine employees (Barreto, Ryan and Schmitt, 2009). The fact that the feminine managerial style is thus by many regarded as at least as effective as the traditional style, if not more, yet still barely ever used seems to lie in the explanation of prejudice and discrimination. Tragically, prejudice and discrimination effects equality in the workplace in exponential ways, from the very choice women make when choosing a career, such as being dissuaded from a manager career as it is seen as a masculine position, to the fact that many firms want a man as a manager as they fear a woman may not be treated with the same respect and authority from the employees (Barreto, Ryan and Schmitt). Such prejudice and discrimination cannot simply be vanquished through stricter discrimination laws, the only truly effective mechanism until now has been positive action initiatives by Governments, which for instance in Scandinavian countries has dramatically increased the representation of Women in management(Vinnicome and Colwill, 1998. In theory, women are at least equally suitable for the role of a manager. Sadly in practice women are at a disadvantage in attaining any management position, and once that position is maintained women have a much harder time being an effective manager. The reason for this is a lack of respect of some subordinates who don’t see a woman as enough of an authority. Though woman can be just as effective managers as men, ingrained prejudice and discrimination, affecting how a female manager is seen and treated by her subordinates, may make her less of a successful manager. If women will be more common in manager positions, over time people will get used to a female manager and the prejudice and discrimination will most likely decrease. Thus positive action programs by governments, may be essential to decreasing prejudice and discrimination and making it possible for women to not just theoretically be equal or even better managers than men, but also in practice.

British Gas HRM Case Study Essay

The UK enjoys a wealth of indigenous energy resources and has the technical expertise and experience to exploit them. Much of this expertise is being utilized in gainful commercial ventures overseas. In its position as one of the most energy-rich countries in Europe, the UK is uniquely placed to profit from a strong energy market. Expenditure on energy amounted to  £99.87bn in 2008. UK householders spent  £40.67bn on energy products, representing 5.2% of total consumer expenditure. Privatization has provided the impetus for competition, resulting in a major restructuring of the energy industries and the companies involved. Restructuring commenced in the late 1980s with the privatization of the gas sector, closely followed by similar moves in the electricity, coal and nuclear sectors. Oil resources had always been in private hands. Full liberalization was achieved in May 1999, with the completion of the opening up of the electricity market. All consumers, both domestic and business, are now free to choose their supplier of gas or electricity. A succession of bids, notably in the electricity sector where many of the regional electricity companies (RECs) are under new ownership, has changed the nature and structure of the energy industry. Thus, public electricity suppliers have evolved since privatization into complex structures embracing diverse businesses. Most have extended their interests into generation or are part of wider groups with major interests in generation. . Acquisitions by foreign concerns, notably from the US and from Europe, have created a much more international industry. The  £10bn take-over of Powered PLC by E.ON of Germany remains on track for completion in 2002. However, the  cost of acquiring energy customers has become too high for some US energy groups. The collapse of Enron Corp., the energy trading group, in November 2001, was threatening to destabilize energy markets in the US and Europe. 1.1 BRITISH GAS British Gas is Britain’s favorite domestic energy supplier. As well as providing gas and electricity, they also install and maintain central heating and gas appliances in millions of homes throughout the country. Part of the energy group Centrica, British Gas provides gas, electricity and home repair services to eight million home and business customers in England, Scotland and Wales. It is the UK’s largest operator in the installation and maintenance of domestic central heating and gas appliances, serving 16.6 million customers. In addition, their customers turn to them to provide expert, hassle-free care that takes care of their kitchen appliances, home electrics and plumbing and drains. Everything they do is driven by their desire to deliver high quality products and services. They operate in England and Wales under the British Gas brand name and as Scottish Gas in Scotland. Among a total workforce of 28,000, British Gas employs more than 9,000 trained engineers who carry out servicing and break-down calls. In 2008, 2.2% of its engineering workforce was female and 4.6% were from an ethnic minority background. Against the background of a highly competitive energy market, they continue to be the first choice gas supplier for millions of customers. What’s more, since the residential electricity market opened to competition in 1998, they’ve grown to become the largest supplier of electricity to residential customers in Britain. 2.0 Challenges faces by HR managers at British Gas Over the last 20 years, the workplace has changed in more ways than one could have ever imagined, resulting from the increase in technology, innovation and globalization, new employment legislations, different attitude in society, economic recession and ethnic diversification. The next decade will bring even greater change, impacting all facets of the workplace, including major changes for the HR department and HR managers. In order to respond to the demands of globalization, HR managers at British gas will require new  skills and competencies relating to language and culture, technology capabilities, methods to measure and quantify effectiveness and evaluate strategies and return on investment. Evidently, these skills and competencies will result in an emerging new role for HR managers, requiring them to be strategic business partner, supportive of the overall corporate strategy. The role of HR managers has changed from a less administrative role to more of a strategic role. HR managers will continually be required to prove their effectiveness and their existence. They will be expected to understand strategic business practices and promote cultural diversity within the organization. They will need to understand the core business of the organization and become partners with line managers. They will need to prove that their initiatives and programs are result-oriented, providing specific measurable results in terms of business competitiveness that contribute positively to the bottom-line of the organization. They will be required to stay current with leading edge as more and more organization is faced with the demands of globalization and strategic alliances with other competitive organizations in the energy sector in UK. Whilst the current economic climate is clearly influencing the agenda for HR leaders, the challenges of retaining, motivating and aligning em ployees remain a priority. The results show that more than ever there is pressure on HR to deliver real business impact, and to do so with HR costs constrained. (The green village, 2009) Intuitive talent management systems, designed for the business as well as HR, can play a critical part in ensuring the organizational adoption of any talent strategy. The number of respondents prioritizing the need for performance management, succession and career planning systems shows that HR managers realize the importance of enabling technology in executing talent management programs. Workplace flexibility is expected to be on the rise as the future workplace, the ‘virtual office’ is characterized by creative and flexible work arrangements. As more employees work off-site-up to two thirds of an organization in the 21st century – there will be an increase in emphasis on performance and results as opposed to the number of hours worked. In addition, off-site employees can expect to attend fewer meetings. Specified work will become much more collaborative and management will spend nearly all its time managing cross-functional work teams who enjoy a lot of autonomy. In essence, there will be a movement, a  trend towards a decentralized model of HR. HR managers will have to accommodate employees in their virtual work locations and find ways to manage corporate culture, socialization and employee orientation. In order to obtain and maintain a competent workforce, they must act as organizational performance experts and shape employees behavior without face to face meetings.( Research and markets, 2009) Globalization will impact HR managers by requiring new skills such as language capabilities. For e.g., in order to recruit employees from other cultures, HR managers will either have to learn new languages or else they will certainly have to have foreign speakers on staff. But in order to facilitate communication among p eople coming from a wide range of language backgrounds in UK. Organization must take into account cultural differences that shape managerial attitudes, when developing multinational management programs. For e.g., British managers value individual achievement and autonomy, whereas French managers appreciate competent supervision, fringe benefits, security and comfortable conditions, while Indian managers gives more importance of their culture and tradition. HR managers in British gas must therefore be familiar with and understand other cultural norms to promote organization diversity. An organization that recognizes and promotes cultural diversity will benefit because it will be employing the market that it serves. With increasing globalization and competition within the market, a diverse workforce is conducive to attracting and retaining a strong client base. While competing in an international market, employees from diverse national backgrounds provide language skills and understanding of other cultures. HR professionals will also be responsible for providing cultural sensitivity training for the organizations employees and for managers throughout the entire organization. (Czebter, Anamaria, 2002) HR professionals play a critical role in the globalization process by helping companies evaluate the human resource prospects and possibilities involved in moving to different regions of the world (Marsnik and Luthans, 1997). As the global economic crisis continues to impact businesses, employee retention is seen as the greatest challenge overall. This reflects the need for organizations to identify and retain top talent during a period when internal mobility is essential to retain a competitive edge and ensure  company survival as the UK economy slows. Since 2006, the ‘HR Challenges’ research has found that employee retention is the biggest concern for HR managers. In an unstable economy, employee engagement tools such as effective goal alignment, internal mobility, career planning and succession programs are essential for motivating the workforce. According to reports, almost half of HR managers named ‘a system to improve performance management, succession and career planning’ as the one thing that would help them do their jobs better in 2009. Whilst the current economic climate is clearly influencing the agenda for HR leaders, the challenges of retaining, motivating and aligning employees remain a priority. 3.0 HRM Models 3.1 Guest’s model of HRM David Guest’s (1989, 1997) model of HRM has 6 dimensions of analysis: * HRM strategy * HRM practices * HRM outcomes * Behavior outcomes * Performance outcomes * Financial outcomes The model is prescriptive in the sense that it is based on the assumption that HRM is distinctively different from traditional personnel management .It is idealistic, implicitly embodying the belief that fundamental elements of the HRM approach (essentially those of the Harvard map) such as commitment have a direct relationship with valued business consequences. However, Guest has acknowledged that the concept of commitment is ‘messy’ and that the relationship between commitment and high performance is (or, perhaps, was – given the age of this material) difficult to establish. It also employs a ‘flow’ approach, seeing strategy underpinning practice, leading to a variety of desired outcomes. Like its American predecessors, this UK model is unitarist (tying employee behavior and commitment into the goals of strategic management) and lukewarm on the value of trade unions. The employee relationship is viewed as one between the individual and the organizat ion. 3.2 The Harvard Model of HRM This map is based on an analytical approach and provides a broad causal depiction of the ‘determinants and consequences of HRM policies.’ It shows human resource policies to be influenced by two significant considerations: * Situational factors in the outside business environment or within the firm such as laws and societal values, labor market conditions, unions, work-force characteristics, business strategies, management philosophy, and task technology. According to Beer et al these factors may constrain the formation of HRM policies but (to varying degrees) they may also be influenced by human resource policies. * Stakeholder interests, including those of shareholders, management employees, unions, community, and government. Beer et al argue that human resource policies SHOULD be influenced by ALL stakeholders. If not, ‘the enterprise will fail to meet the needs of these stakeholders in the long run and it will fail as an institution.’ The authors also contend that human resource policies have both immediate organizational outcomes and long-term consequences. Managers can affect a number of factors by means of the policy choices they make, including: – The overall competence of employees, – the commitment of employees, – the degree of congruence between employees’ own goals and those of the organization, and – the overall cost effectiveness of HRM practices. 3.3 HR Activities of British Gas British Gas ran a number of diversity workshops, primarily for its senior and middle managers, to engage them and help them understand what the organization was trying to achieve and why it was trying to achieve it, and show them what a diverse workforce would look like ‘on their patch’. Meanwhile, all managers who are either involved in recruiting and/or managing staff and all recruitment specialists have undergone equality and diversity training to again ensure they fully understand what British Gas is trying to achieve and why, and are able to make decisions free from bias. When recruiting British gas use technical skills to undertake the work to the required standard to having the people skills to deliver excellent  customer services. As a result, recruitment and selection of apprentices and trainees is increasingly focusing on recruiting for attitude. Examples of attributes and competencies that British Gas looks for are listed on the Recruitment website and inclu de: ââ€"  Good communication, organizational and problem-solving skills ââ€"  Aptitude for team work ââ€"  Careful, accurate and methodical approach ââ€"  Polite, tactful, friendly, professional, with a pleasant manner for dealing with customers. With the change in emphasis away from pure technical skills to behaviors and attributes, there were initial concerns that the quality of the intake or the pass rates could drop within the Academy. Carole Willsher says: ‘We were a little worried that we would get apprentices and trainees with great people and communication skills, but who were technically not very good. But that’s not been borne out at all. The pass marks remain very high. It shows that if you’ve got the attitude to want to learn and get on, you can do really well All the recruitment policies, practices and literature have been reviewed to remove any gender or race bias. In addition, a thorough audit of policies and practices to remove any age bias was carried out at group level by parent company Centrica ahead of the Employment Equality (Age) Regulations in 2006. It brought to light the need to make a number of changes, the most significant of which was the removal of upper age limits for entrance to the British Gas apprenticeship scheme (Previously, the scheme was targeted at young adults in the 17–23 age range). British Gas is focusing this year on developing partnerships with organizations that have already built strong links with its target audiences, including Job centre Plus; the London Development Agency; housing associations and specialist groups including the Windsor Fellowship, a charity that offers educational and leadership programs to develop diverse young talent; Women and Manual Trades; and YWCA, a charity working with disadvantaged women in England and Wales. 4.0 Recruitment and selection The overall aim of the recruitment and selection process should be to obtain at minimum cost the number and quality of employees required to satisfy the human resource needs of the company. The three stages of recruitment and selection dealt with are 1. Defining requirements – Preparing job descriptions and specifications; deciding terms and conditions of employment; 2. Attracting candidates – reviewing and evaluating alternative sources of applicants; inside and outside the company, advertising, using agencies and consultants; 3. Selecting candidates –sifting applications, interviewing, testing, assessing candidates, assessment centers, offering employment, obtaining references; preparing contract of employment. (Armstrong, 2007) 4.1 British Gas Recruitment and Selection Process The greater focus on customer service skills and personal attributes is reflected throughout the recruitment process itself. The initial application form must now be completed online. Basic biographical information is requested, and applicants are required to complete basic Maths, English and logic tests. However, the key part of the application is a personality/work style questionnaire, which is used to assess an applicant’s suitability. Applicants must respond to a series of questions designed to assess their attitude to work and people. The questionnaire is lengthy, as similar questions are asked in a number of different ways to ensure consistency of responses. Applicants who score highly after this initial screening then have a telephone interview to confirm essential information – for example, to be eligible for the apprentice technical engineer program, applicants must be aged at least 17, must have four GCSEs at grade C or above, and must hold a full or provision al UK driver’s license. Those who pass this stage are then invited to an assessment centre. There are three elements to the assessment day – an interview, a role play exercise and a manual dexterity test. The interview is largely based around questions relating to the candidate’s completed online questionnaire to further assess their personal  attributes and competencies. Similarly, the role play is also used to assess a candidate’s attitude and whether they are able to understand and assimilate information, but more importantly, to see how they deal with customers. The test involves a practical assessment, but no gas-related knowledge is required – it is simply designed to assess whether the candidate is able to follow step-by-step instructions and handle small components. The recruitment process is lengthy but thorough and a big investment in terms of time and resources for British Gas, admits Carole Willsher. ‘But it’s been designed that way to ensure that we ge t the right people with the right skills who will fit into our organization and help us move closer to where we want to be in terms of having a diverse engineering workforce.’ Recruiting is an uncertain game, even at the best of times. On the other hand the larger your pool of candidates, the greater your chance of finding someone who is just right for you. However, this possibility has to be balanced again the fact that you can’t interview hundreds of candidates for every available post. So you need to develop the expertise of defining your job requirements, while ensuring that these requirements are presented to the widest possible field of candidates in the given context. (Pettinger and Allen, 2007) British Gas ran a number of diversity workshops, primarily for its senior and middle managers, to engage them and help them understand what the organization was trying to achieve and why it was trying to achieve it, and show them what a diverse workforce would look like ‘on their patch’. Meanwhile, all managers who are either involved in recruiting and/or managing staff and all recruitment specialists have undergone equality and diversity training to again ensure they fully understand what British Gas is trying to achieve and why, and are able to make decisions free from bias. Selection involves a number of costs; the cost of the selection process itself including the use of various instruments, the future costs of inducting and training new staff and the cost of labor turnover if selected staff is not retained. (Bratton and Gold, 2000) 4.2 British Gas Targeted advertising British Gas uses a variety of ways and media to appeal to its target audiences, including: ââ€"  advertising in magazines like ‘Bliss’ and ‘Sugar’ which are aimed at teenage girls, careers-type websites like Voice and The Asian News, and the gay media ââ€"  redesigning its recruitment advertisements in terms of both images and language to reach Out to people from more diverse backgrounds ââ€"  ensuring that marketing materials such as recruitment brochures and its dedicated recruitment website (www.britishgasacademy.co.uk) portray a diverse range of individuals to help challenge stereotypical attitudes and project an inclusive image – for example, the website contains a number of real apprentice and trainee profiles including Kirk (a BME apprentice technical engineer) and Maria (a female BME trainee electrical field engineer) ââ€"  producing DVDs for schools and partner organizations One of the key objectives of the diversity team is to increase the number of applications from under-represented groups. To attract as wide a range of talent as possible, the team has introduced changes to all areas of the recruitment and selection process, including developing partnerships with organizations that have already established relationships with their target audiences; reviewing all its policies and practices to remove any gender, race or age bias; and changing the emphasis from recruiting for technical ability to recruiting for attitude. 4.3 Outreach The diversity team adopts a number of positive action strategies to raise awareness of the different opportunities available at British Gas among under-represented groups including running taster days and building partnerships with organizations that already work with people who are among their target audience 4.4 Partnership working Recognizing that there are difficulties gaining access to under-represented groups, British Gas is focusing this year on developing partnerships with organizations that have already built strong links with its target audiences, including Job centre Plus; the London Development Agency; housing associations and specialist groups including the Windsor Fellowship, a charity that offers educational and leadership programs to develop diverse young talent; Women and Manual Trades; and YWCA, a charity working with disadvantaged women in England and Wales. Another way that British Gas is developing partnerships is by working with other large employers, particularly those that experience similar issues in the recruitment of a diverse workforce, such as the London Fire Brigade and BT Open reach. The aim of these relationships is to share best practice and data for benchmarking purposes. 4.5 Taster days British Gas regularly runs women-only and BME taster days, with the specific aim of attracting women and ethnic minorities into engineering and apprenticeships. The day is designed to give participants a clearer understanding of the engineering opportunities at British Gas. Attendees are given a presentation on the career paths available, an opportunity to meet engineers to find out what the job is really about, and a chance to question a panel of recruitment and training experts from the Academy. Taster days are usually planned to coincide with the availability of apprentice or trainee positions in a particular area, so that if people are interested by what they find out, they can apply while they are still keen. 4.6 Ambassadors British Gas has developed a network of engineering ‘ambassadors’ from its workforce – apprentices, trainees and qualified engineers – who provide support to the diversity team in recruitment and awareness-raising activities including school visits, careers events and taster days. They are  able to promote a positive side to engineering and their ability to tell people firsthand what they do on a day-to-day basis and what it is really like to work for the organization is a powerful tool in changing perceptions and in motivating young people, women and those from a BME background to consider a ‘non-traditional’ career in engineering. The ambassadors are also used as role models in promotional materials such as DVDs, recruitment brochures and the Academy’s dedicated website, and in media campaigns. 5.0 Training and Development Training enables people to perform better in their jobs, when they perform better they feel pride and fulfillment. (Allen, 1996) To attempt to identify the dynamics in an organization which demonstrate that development of self and others is being taken seriously at all levels and that such investment is having a positive impact on individual and corporate performance. Such a quest begs all sorts of questions, Does strategic training only incorporate that which has a quantifiable effect on business objectives.( Mabey and Salaman ,1999) 5.1 British Gas Training & Development At British Gas take training and development very seriously, beginning with an induction program that will give all the skills need to succeed. They want people training to be a rewarding and enjoyable experience, so have made sure that trainees are involved all the way through from day one until graduation. And trainees will find that the more they put in, the more they’ll get out, with the ultimate goal to be ready for a role within one of our existing British Gas Energy Sales teams. Trainees will learn not only about the history of British Gas, but also brand and what it means. Naturally this will include their fantastic products and services, so trainees’ have the confidence to talk to people about all their energy and home services needs. Company’ll also look at the important sales side of the role, helping trainees refine their existing skills, or develop new ones if they don’t come from a sales background. Once completed training, they’ll be supported through their first few weeks by an experienced buddy who will  be on hand to offer guidance and develop skills further. In addition manager will also regularly review progress and answer any queries so trainee won’t be left feeling on their own. In short, company has an excellent training package waiting for recruits. Training that will give them the skills and knowledge which, in addition to natural enthusiasm, will help take advantage of company position as the largest energy supplier in the UK when speaking with prospective and existing customers. Recruit’ll also be rewarded for efforts with continued development opportunities. 5.2 British Gas AcademyBBBBB Energy Academy Box 2: The British Gas Energy Academy Established in 2003, the British Gas Energy Academy (the ‘Academy’) was set up to address a severe shortage of qualified gas engineers. This was caused largely by the privatization of the gas industry in 1986, which led to major fragmentation of the industry – large organizations were broken up while new players entered the market, and the number of qualified engineers in the UK failed to keep up with demand. With a plan to recruit an additional 5,000 new engineers by 2007/08 to address this skills shortage, and recognizing the significant financial investment this would involve, British Gas created the Academy, bringing together existing internal training centers, the recruitment function and the management of third-party training. This facility enabled British Gas to recruit and train large groups of suitable individuals to become fully competent engineers. The Academy runs two types of training programs for those who choose a career as an engineer: it offers apprenticeships for individuals wishing to become technical engineers responsible for central heating system maintenance and installation, and traineeships, primarily for people looking for a career change, so they become qualified engineers responsible for maintaining electrical and gas appliances. In addition to training new recruits, the training centers are used for mandatory competency training and three-yearly assessments of trained engineers to ensure they maintain their skills and keep up to date with new information and technologies. Today: ââ€"  the remit of the Academy has since been expanded to handle all volume recruitment for British Gas, including call centre and sales staff as well as induction and skills training for call centre and operational agents and team leaders ââ€"  all  recruitment is channeled through a dedicated website, www.britishgasacademy.co.uk, which has around 38,000 visitors a month ââ€"  the Academy invests around  £30 million each year recruiting and training staff ââ€"  training is delivered at a number of purpose-built facilities across the UK, stretching from Hamilton in Scotland to hatcham in Berkshire. 6.0 Performance Management Performance management is a process on performance measurement approaches, such as the balanced scorecard. While the balanced scorecard offers a framework for the collection of strategic information, performance management ensures that results are used to influence the selection of planned actions and to foster the renewal of dynamic, competitive strategy. Unlike most tools and techniques, performance management is a continuous, enterprise-wide process, rather than a one-time, isolated event. Six Performance Management imperatives are Compliance Management, Profitability Management, Cost Management, Performance Improvement, and Business Innovation 6.1 British Gas Performance Management British Gas performance appraisals Serve as an objective basis for communicating about performance and Enable the employee to differentiate between unacceptable and acceptable results. Increasing job, inform new expectations about job performance and encouraging the open and trusting relationship with employees. Performance expectations are the foundation for appraising employee performance. Standards recognize is a baseline for measuring performance. From performance standards, supervisors can provide specific feedback relating the gap between expected and actual performance. 6.2 British Gas use following steps to review employee performances Ask the employee to meet for the review; have the employee estimate progress-to-date. Begin meeting by asking employee to estimate progress-to-date toward each goal. Listen to employee’s comments and take notes. Discuss progress and praise employee, Manager and employee need to engage in fact-finding and determining progress-to-date. It is vital that  regardless of how far away employee is from meeting the goal, manager praise him/her for his/her progress-to-date. Re-negotiate goals and/or resources where deviation is significant, If the deviation is downward, manager and his employee should discuss causes and solutions to agree on appropriate actions. Appropriate actions may include increasing available resources, agreeing on activities which will enable employee to meet goals or adjust the goals downward. If, on the other hand, employee is exceeding goals, manager should discuss how added effort and/or resources may be utilized to further exceed the goal. Manager and his employee may decide to add additional goals at this time as well. Write down new agreements and set a follow-up date, Take notes during the discussion. These should be used as a summary of the agreements so that both manager and his employee can review them. A new follow-up session should be scheduled at a time when the data will be available to evaluate progress toward the goal(s). Thank employee, But what if the performance has been below agreed targets; the appraiser must be able to review and set objectives which will improve performance. Performances discussions are monitored externally to ensure consistency .Staff are introduced to a series of mutual benefits. For the individual it stressed clarity of expectations, strengths, feedback on results and the improvement in motivation and ability to independently gain recognition. For the organization it stresses performance, team sprit, accountability, reduced errors and flexibility. Performance appraisals looks forward to agree standards, targets and training that will help improve performance and achieve company business objectives. 7.0 References Armstrong,M.(2007)A hand book of human resource management practice ,10th ed†¦,London: Kogan Page Hendry,C.(1995) Human resource management a strategic approach to employment , 1st ed†¦, Oxford: Butterworth – Heinemann Marbey,C and Salaman,G. (1998) Human resource management a strategic introduction ,2nd ed†¦, Oxford: Blackwell Publishers Bratton,J and Gold,j.(2000) Human resource management theory and practice ,2nd ed†¦,London: MACMILLAN press Schuler,R and Jackson,S (1999) Strategic human resource management , 1st ed†¦, Oxford: Blackwell Publishers Allen,J.(1996) Motivating people , 1st ed†¦, London: Kogan Page Forsyth,P.(2001) Developing your staff, 2nd ed†¦, London: Kogan Page Pettinger,R and Allen,K.(2007) Weekend MBA , 1st ed†¦, West Sussex: John Willy & Sons British Gas (2009)’Valuing Employees’, web page accessed on 19/12/2009 from http;//www.britishgas.co.uk Total Success (2009) ‘Performance Appraisals’, web page accessed on 13/12/2009 from http;//www.totalsuccess.co.uk Guardian (2009) ‘ British energy industry’, web page accessed on 10/12/2009 from http;// www.guardian.co.uk British Gas (2009)’British gas academy’, web page accessed on 17/12/2009 from http;//www.britishgas.co.uk British Gas (2009)’Our business’, web page accessed on 08/12/2009 from http;//www.britishgas.co.uk British Gas (2009)’Career influencers’, web page accessed on 15/12/2009 from http;//www.britishgas.co.uk British Gas (2009)’Resources’, web page accessed on 18/12/2009 from http;//www.britishgas.co.uk British Gas (2009)’how we’ve structured’, web page accessed on 19/12/2009 from http;//www.britishgas.co.uk British Gas (2009)’Training and development’, web page accessed on 19/12/2009 from http;//www.britishgasjobs.co.uk

Fidelity To Truth Essay

TRUTH is an idea or thought analogous to knowledge. Thus, â€Å"knowledge of truth† leads us to consider the meaning of two words: knowledge and truth. Knowledge gives us rational and conceptual image and an accurate reflection of the true state of things as they really exist. While, truth is a state of mind free of error which entails a truthful image of things in existence. Moreover, truth encompasses the fact that it conveys universality and it is constant. Hence, truth does not vary – it is a piece of unalterable reality. Through the article presented, I have learned that the answer to what is true for you always exists at the core of who you are, if you give yourself the space and time to listen. When you are being true to yourself, you are completely honest with what you feel, deeply value, and desire. It also means communicating your feelings wholeheartedly both with yourself and others, allowing your truth to flow through you and into the world. Furthermore, I have learned that to know the truth for oneself, you need to cultivate a deep and trusting relationship with yourself. Eventually, this begins with awareness of your thoughts, as well as awareness of your whole-body experience and how you interact with the world each day. Feelings of openness, expansion, inner joy and freedom are good signs that you are on the right path. Moreover, I have also learned that if you are not being true to yourself, it may show up through feelings of contraction and tension, unease, disconnection, resignation, emptiness, discontentment, or a lack of fulfillment. It is said that the truth will always come out in the end and it may take some longer than others to determine his or her accurate outlook of what he/she perceives to be truth. Above all, the most important thing to be treasure is – †pretending to be someone your not is a waste of the person you are. † MinSCAT plants Responsibility I NVOLVEMENT C OMMITMENT E XCELLENCE â€Å"WE ARE BORN TO BE TRUE NOT TO BE PERFECT. †

Business Communication Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Business Communication - Essay Example The organisational structure of BED is as follows: Theoretically, communication involves the encoding of information by a sender, transmission of the information and decoding of information by the receiver (Golio, 2002: Begeron, 2011). Information in the organisational setting must prompt the required action and in any cases where the required action is not carried out, there is said to be some â€Å"noise† in the communication loop (Schiova, 2010: Koontz, 2008). Noises could be anything that obstruct communication and this include issues with decoding the message, poor transmission systems and interruptions in the flow of the message (Allender et al, 2012). Communication is said to be complete if the information sent prompts a feedback as per the initial message sent (Narula, 2010). There are various issues with the communication channel and the communication system of BED and these are discussed below. First of all, there are natural communication issues between the administrative staff and the engineering staff. This is because the Engineering Managers and the Administrative Managers have limited horizontal communication channels and systems through which they can have discussions and communications. Thus, they hardly conduct lateral communication. To this end, the administrative staff members tend to communicate more within themselves whilst the engineering staff members communicate with each other in a much more frequent manner. Due to this, if a manager in the lower tier of the company needs to communicate, there is a challenge. Secondly, there are times where there is friction between the Engineering Managers and Administrative Managers. This causes a hold up of information flow and there are various problems and issues in the operations. This has blocked upward and downward information flow, and there is so much resentment. Thirdly, the Engineering unit is used to using

Creating Graphics for Learning and Performance Essay

Creating Graphics for Learning and Performance - Essay Example Serif typefaces have little extensions at the end of the character. Sans serifs, on the other hand, do not have those little extensions at the end. At large, sans is considered more readable especially in electronic-based presentations such as PowerPoint presentations. This is normally because, in high resolution, serifs are not well shown thus making serif typefaces to lose their readability. Therefore, sans serifs are always preferred to serifs when it comes to the writing of computer-based instructional material. However, most people seem to hold the belief that reading body text written in serif typeface is easier especially for extended text (William &Tollet, 1998). According to William, readability is concerned with the ease of reading the extended text, a lot of text, pages of text, and pages. Can I, therefore, claim that serifs are better than sans for reading? I would say Yes and No. No, sans are rather better than serifs when used in preparing instructional material, when l egibility is the goal.   Thus, this question of whether sans or a serif is better for readability is debatable. Chapter 9 Web activity Q. Attempt one of the web activities below. If activity one is chosen, remember that they are two in number and thus you should do all. The second activity should be carried out in the mentioned forum if at all the writer decides to attempt. Activity 1 Using a black and white typography, the meaning of the following words needs to be expressed in an art form. A typography representing the word Collaboration A typography representing the word Synergy A typography representing the word Bossiness A typography representing the word Alienation Use typography (black and white only) to express the words: A typography representing the word Anger A typography representing the word Discord A typography representing the word Harmony A typography representing the word joy Chapter 9 Challenge Activity Activity: Designing words that express their meaning A design expressing the meaning of the word Exit A design expressing the meaning of the word Typhoon A design depicting the meaning of the word walk Chapter 10 Focus questions Q. 1: Are meanings attached to shapes? Yes, meanings are attached to shapes. According to Hansen (1999), designers get more than classic experience when it comes to simple shapes. Shapes such as circles, squares, ovals, lines, and rectangles all have some instructional attribute or meaning. For instance, when ovals and circles are used, they often portray, or show harmony, unity, focus attention, slow process, and portray elements of subsystems or systems.

The conflict in the Middle East Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The conflict in the Middle East - Essay Example Similarly, international relations are concerned with how countries in the world relate to each other and the impact of that relation and whether it is beneficial or destructive. In essence international relation is meant to bring mutual cooperation amongst countries. Before we go further we need to know in a nutshell the history and the nature of Israeli Palestinian conflict. This conflict began in the late 19th century, but the conflict turned into a nasty during the early 1990s with both sides employing the use of artillery that resulted in many deaths from both sides. Consequently as the aggression increased so did the human suffering and this definitely caught the attention of the world thus the need to find a lasting solution to the issue. Historical accounts indicate that the Jews were displaced from the land which they were occupying formerly known a Canaan through continuous conflict with its neighbors. During the 14th century, the Ottoman Empire had conquered the whole of t he Middle East. Thus all the peoples of this region came under the Ottoman rule and during the First World War the Ottomans sided with the Germans while on the other hand the British supported an Arab uprising against the Ottomans. The British did this with the promise that they were then going to give the Arabs independence and thus self rule. Of importance to note at this point is that the British also promised to give the Jews who were scattered the world over a homeland in the Palestine. After the war, a declaration known as the Belfour declaration was signed by the British foreign secretary Arthur Balfour. The declaration stated its support for... The conflict in the Middle East The American- Israeli Cooperative Enterprise (2013), puts the number of Jews killed at 24,841 and that of Palestinians killed at 90,785. This paper will thus be looking at the global position of the Middle East, the two warring states (Israel and Palestine), nature and history of the conflict, cost of the war, current state of the conflict, role of leaders, impact of the conflict, and that of religion in this conflict. The Middle East is a location in the east of the world map and it can also be said to comprise Western Asia. This is a region starting from the northeastern part of Africa to southwestern Asia and southeastern Europe.Several ethnic groups inhabit this area with the largest group being the Arab with Jews, Palestinians, Kurds, and Persians among others being the small ethnic groupings. In spite of being neighbors the two states are in a constant war mode that is detrimental to the populations in both states. Interestingly, part of the Palestinian state is located on the southwest of Israel (Gaza) and the other part is located east of Israel (west Bank). This therefore means that both Israel and Palestinian Gaza have access to the Mediterranean Sea and both share borders with Jordan and Egypt. There are several reasons that created this conflict which have had negative impacts on populations of both countries, their economies as well as the social order. Numerous attempts have been made by world leaders at bringing this situation under control but results have not as yet been positive.