The Recruitment and Selection Process

7/30/2019 The Recruitment and Selection Process

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The recruitment and selection process:

Selection of the right individuals is of fundamental importance and a

cornerstone of good management.

Watson defines recruitment and selection as the processes by which the

organizations solicit, contact and interest potential appointees, and then

establish whether it would be appropriate to appoint any of them.

Choosing the right candidate:

It is important that people are placed in jobs where their natural abilities and

interests are reasonably suited.

Choosing the right candidate for the job, or selecting the right person for

promotion, is a critical organizational decision as incorrect decisions can

lead to frustrated employees and poor performance levels.

Carrying out appraisals and performance reviews with existing staff should

identify those employees who have necessary skills and knowledge to satisfy

job description requirements. Furthermore careful analysis of the job to be

done and identification of the skills and knowledge needed to carry out the

job successfully should provide useful information for the selection process.

Aim:

To obtain quantity and quality of employees required to fulfill the objectives

of the organization.Recruitment involves hiring a certain number of people/candidates.

Selection process begins later and it is aimed at selecting the best person for

the job out of the field of candidates.

Process:

Stage 1: need for vacancy to be filled

Stage 2: job analysis, sort out knowledge, skills and aptitude needed to do

the job

Stage 3: attract a field of candidates

Stage 4: sort out candidates, find out if fulfill the required job specifications.Stage 5: selection interview, make the actual choice

Stage 6: induction, make sure that new recruits start quickly and

enthusiastically

Roles and responsibilities:


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Responsibility lies with the chief executive and policy making group of top

executives.

Responsibilities:

Develop a staffing program

Make decision on whether to promote from within or secure staff fromoutside

Source of candidates

Selection procedures to follow

Type of appraisal system to use

The type of development program

The promotion and retirement policies to adopt

Line managers should assist in the recruiting, selecting, placing and

promoting.

Final decision rests with the candidates prospective superior.

Methods of finding recruits:

1. Human resource dept.

2. Employment agencies.

1. Human resource department:

It is important to have a centralized basis of recruitment. As a large

proportion of new employees join the organization after approaching the

employer directly or hearing about the possibility through friends, rather

than some form of established recruitment procedure. This underlines thesignificance of readily available information on a centralized basis perhaps

for existing employees who seek a job for a friend, or the casual enquirer

who telephones or visits the organization to see what is available.

2. Employment agencies:

Seem to be the most cost-effective way obtaining good candidates. Many

agencies undertake initial screening of potential candidates, so that the

recruitment officer sees only the most suitable applicants.

Reasons for ineffective recruitment:

Insufficient consideration is given to the actual demands of the vacant

position.

Problems in job analysis: identification of skills required being too

restrictive or too lax, leading to too few or too many applications for the

job.


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Attention may not have been given to packages offered by competitors

and other local companies when they are recruiting. A shortage of

applicants could mean that the competitors have offered more to people

than our own company, meaning that the package wasnt generous

enough. Failure of media chosen to attract candidates

Reasons for ineffective selection:

Inadequate attention to the type of person best suited for a particular job.

Insufficient priority given to the organizations needs by the interviewers.

Inadequate advertising of the vacancy, thus restricting choice.

Lack of attention paid to the way the job and skills required to do it have

altered.

Badly taken interviews.

Evaluate: selection is based on predictions, predictions about the ability of

the person chosen to perform well in his position. Predictions are based on

the information of the candidate from the application form. Although the

application form provides essential background details, it is impersonal.

Research has revealed that interviews can be very unreliable guides to future

job performance.

How would an organization determine how successful a recruitment

and selection process has been?

Assessment can be done looking at the following criteria:

Return rate of application forms sent out

Number of suitable candidates identified

Cost of methods

Effectiveness of recruitment methods employed

Number of candidates retained after six months.

Selection process assessment:

Staff turnover if less than good

Progression and development rates of staff

Exit interviews


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Level of absenteeism

Errors and complaints

Grievance and disciplinary incidents

Evaluating: cost-benefit analysis can be done to assess the effectiveness ofthe selection process. The cost of the selection process itself can be matched

with the benefit that employee will be giving to the organization for years to

come. This is actually difficult to do in reality and involvement of the

training costs into this makes it more complicated.

Effective recruitment

Human resource planning: a strategy for the acquisition, utilization,

improvement and retention of an enterprises human resources.

Four main phases:

Auditing: the current personnel, strengths and weaknesses etc

Forecasting: the amount of personnel that need to be employed to

meet planned requirements

Planning: to fill the gap between what we have and what we need to

meet the plan. Policies to recruit train and develop the labor force

indicated in the forecast.

Controlling: measuring the effective utilization of human resources

and its contribution towards achieving corporate objectives.

Planning the recruitment process:

It is important for organizations to be aware of what has worked in the past

and try to develop a system that is well designed and which will work

Process of recruitment:

Four processes:

Job analysis, Job description, person specification and internal and external

recruitment

Job analysis: since the R&S process is time consuming and costly, it is

important to precisely define the job requirement and the type of person

required. Defining these requirements is called job analysis.


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Evaluation: although precision is required but Watson noted that the job

analysis relied too much on judgment to identify key aspects of a job,

because there are also other things that determine success.

Job description: is based on the info from job analysis, and covers the

purpose, duties and relationships of the job and the physical, social and

economic factors that affect it.

Person specification: profile of the kind of person who would be a good

match for the job. Organizations are increasingly using competencies to

create a specification of the characteristics sought for the position. This is

because stereotypes of the ideal person may be contained within personnel

specifications.

Internal and external recruitment:Decision must be reached as to whether the organization is seeking a recruit

from within or from outside.

Advantages of internal recruitment:

Acts as a source of motivation and increase in morale of the workforce

Selection is easier. Data is already available.

Saves considerable time and cost

No learning curve

Problems: jealousy and ill feeling created among people who were notselected.

Advantages of external recruitment:

Essential if company is facing specific skills and expertise not available.

Necessary to inject new blood into and enterprise. New people bring new

ideas and different approaches.

External methods chosen such as television, internet, press, advertisements

etc. should deter people who do not meet the requirements without

discouraging those who have much to offer but do not quite match the job

specification. Before using external recruitment, internal candidates should

be given consideration.

Methods of external recruitment:


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Government employment services: provides the firm with a reservoir of

potential employees according to skill and specifications.

Recruitment consultants: assist firms in selecting the best staff to fill

particular vacancies. All the work of recruitment process is done, only

the final selection is to be done.

Recruitment advertising: choice is to be made on the most appropriate

media bearing in mind the cost and the coverage and the future image of

the company. A company must decide what to say and how to say it.

National press: used when skilled or semi skilled workers are required.

Or when managers or some senior technical staff is needed.

Advantages Disadvantages

Regular publication, so space avail

Layout is attractive

Wide circulation

Overseas coverageStatus of paper may enhance

companys reputation

Approximately 95% off the

circulation is wasted

Advertisement has a short life

Competitors offering may be moreattractive

National press is expensive

Local press: is best suited for lower management positions.

Advantages Disadvantages

Much cheaper than national press

Company known so shorter

advertisement needed

Longer life than nationalcounterparts

Contributes to good public relations

May not be enough people with

requirements

Circulation limited and issued at a

weekly basisQuality of layout is very variable

Specialist journalist: specialist journalists may be employed. This will

reduce cost and readership will be homogenous. Small circulation will

mean that cheaper advertising costs will have to be incurred.

Disadvantages will be that this will attract competitors. Specialist

journalists give very small spaces to job advertisements. Circulation can

also be slow.

Other forms include: television, radio and internet.

Job application form includes:

Personal details, address, age, family background.

Education and experience

Present employment terms


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Social and leisure interests

Usefulness of application form:

It eliminates totally unsuitable candidates. Useful when the ratio of

applications to vacancies is high. It speeds things up. Acts as a preliminary to selection interviews. Act as a particularly good

guide for inexperienced interviewers.

Application forms of today ask questions relating to the candidates

motivation towards applying. Drawback of this is that selection is done

on the basis of literacy than job ability or potential.

Evaluation: Attempts have been made to link the characteristics of

applicants in the application form with the characteristics of successful job

holders. If a correlation is found then this can be used as a basis of selection

and recruitment. However such a method takes time and usually requires a

fairly large sample of job holders. It can also produce statistically significant

but nonetheless worthless information.

Job description and person specification

Purpose of job description: broad statement of the purpose, scope, duties

and responsibilities of a job.

A job description is a formal document that specifies the tasks, details,

responsibilities, sets authority limits, distinguishes accountability andoutlines the organizational relationships that the job entails.

Purpose of person specification: is an interpretation of the kind of person

most suitable for the job. It contains a list of attributes that the ideal

candidate would possess and by which candidates for the job can be

measured. This document can be used to help produce a suitable short list.

This also helps in selection, promotion, standards, training and evaluation.

Devising a job description includes:

Identification of the job: job title, the organizational structure and the

number of people doing the job.

Purpose of the job: identifying its objectives in relationship to overall

objectives.

Position in the organization: indicating relationship with other jobs and

chains of responsibility.


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Duties: identifying specific tasks. Difference of particular job from other

jobs in the organization

Responsibilities: a statement outlining the responsibilities for the resources,

e.g. staff, budgets.

Physical conditions: hours of work, overtime, unsocial hours. Office

conditions, hazards etc.

Social conditions: the type of group the employee will be concerned with.

Grade and salary: details of rates for the job, increments, piece work,

bonuses, commission and fringe benefits.

Promotion prospects: detail about future prospects or transfer.

Key difficulties: difficulties encountered by the job holder.

Devising a person specification:

The seven point plan of Rodger:

Physical make-up: height, good health, pleasant appearance, clear speakingvoice.

Attainments: qualifications, computer language skills, ability to operate

machines.

General intelligence: good memory verbal n numerical skills, problem

solving skills.

Special aptitudes: drive cars, ability to type quickly or speak foreign

languages.

Interests: interest in practical work and socializing. Extra-mural activities

Disposition:ability to work in a team, to solve problems himself (manage

with little supervision), is able to motivate others and get them to comply

with his instructions.

Circumstances: availability for working irregular hours

Munro Frasers five point plan:

The impact on others

Qualifications

Brains and abilities

Motivation

Adjustment

Combination of both plans:

First impressions (speech, manner, first impressions are very important )

Qualifications and education

Intelligence and special aptitude


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Experience

Interests

Personal circumstances ( age, health, along with mobility and local ties)

Personality (disposition, adaptability, leadership)

Motivation (what motivators does the job contain?)

Job analysis:

Purpose: is the total process of investigating and evaluating jobs, during

which the facts concerning each job are systematically recorded.

It is the method or technique of obtaining the facts about a job, for the

purposes of:

Job evaluation

Defining job requirements

Training

Job analysis is a vital preliminary to any recruitment activity and involves

three main aspects:

Analytical study of a job to determine accurately the work done

Achieving an understanding of the work in relation to the other tasks in

the organization

An identification of the qualities required of the job-holder

Job evaluation: compares jobs by using formal systematic procedures to

determine wage and salary differentials. It develops data for developing

basic pay structures but cannot determine what the pay levels should be. It is

the job that is being evaluated not the person doing that job. There are two

methods of job evaluation:

Non analytical methods:

1. Job ranking: determines the relative position of each job in

comparison with all other jobs though without indicating the extent

of differences between jobs at different levels.

2. Job classification: similar to job ranking. Except instead of ranking

jobs and then devising grades, the grades are pre-determined andthe jobs are then evaluated and allocated to a grade identified by a

number or letter.

Analytical methods: include point rating and factor comparison. Both of

these systems are based on the assumptions that jobs can be broken down


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into factors. Points are awarded to each factor in points rating, but in

factor comparison they are not awarded to each factor; instead jobs are

compared with each other on the basis of common factors.

Analytical methods allow a finer distinction between jobs.

Selection methods

Selection testing:

Intelligence testing: general IQ tests that involve some kind of task or

problem designed to gauge levels of reasoning, understanding, memory and

speed of thought.

Aptitude testing: measures some inborn potential of a certain kind. E.g.

dexterity, mechanical abilities, numerical abilities

Competence tests: also called attainment tests. It is a test of all the skillsthat the candidate had acquired in the past.

Personality tests: these are usually lists of mcqs designed to find out what a

person really is. By comparing answers with a stencil is it possible to

categorize the personality of the person as emotionally unstable,

submissive, dominant etc.

Medical examination: these exams aim to eliminate candidates with health

problems which might affect attendances at work or endanger the health or

safety of colleagues.

Group selection methods:the candidate is included in a certain group and

made to work in the group in order to test his performance with the influence

of others.

Assessment centers: these are centers where groups of six to ten candidates

are brought together for one to three days in intensive assessment. They are

presented, individually and as a group, with a variety of exercises, tests of

ability, personality assessments, interviews, work samples, team problem

solving and written tasks.

Purpose: assessment centers gather information about the managerial

potentials in candidates and also help in giving a basis for promotiondecisions. Assessment centers use a combination of many techniques which

gives them superiority over other methods.

Advantages and limitations of testing


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Advantages: the advantages of selection tests are that they are standardized,

objective, and accurate when well validated by examiners, precise and can

be administered in groups.

Limitations:

There is not always a direct relationship between a persons ability in the

test and ability in job because of the artificial test conditions.

It is difficult to exclude bias from tests. Some groups, women or

candidates born overseas are less successful at completing tests.

They measure what the candidate can do, rather than will do

They are time consuming

They provide more precision than is usually necessary.

People involved in process of selection:

The employees, due to their knowledge of the type of work to be carried

out. Disadvantage of this is that it makes the manager appointing the

employee responsible for any faulty selection.

Centralized senior management. This way decision is based on the behalf

of the entire firm and due to more experience better decisions will be

made

Selection board: divides the responsibility among a lot of people. More

heads counts for more experience.

Importance of the selection decision: The organization could be prosecuted if the selection process was not

carried out properly and the external applicants leave with a clear

intention that they were unfairly treated in the interview. They could tell

others, friends and colleagues, which could tarnish the image of the

organization.

High staff turnover could result due to poor selection. This could have a

cumulative effect on the remaining employees.

Low quality of work done by poorly selected candidates could result in

fall in quality and de-motivate the previous highly qualified andexperienced workers.

Extra training is required where recruits are selected for jobs that are

above their level of skills or ability.

Recruitment in excess of future needs could lead to redundancies.


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Termination of employment for inappropriate recruited people causes

problems, such as trade union disagreements, downgrading of the

organizations image.

If employees subsequently leave, it is a waste in terms of time, cost and

resources. Organizational development, such a expansion, can be constrained

because of poor recruitment and selection

Criteria for effective selection

Discrimination: if all the candidates in the selection tests score 100% then

the test has failed to discriminate between candidates. As a result questions

that are too easy and those that are too difficult should be excluded, as it

very important to discriminate candidates from one another.

Reliability:The method of selection must be reliable.

If the environment conditions during the selection tests are noisy, this might

hinder the abilities of some candidates or might help others. Therefore the

process must be standardized to suit.

Factors such as mood, health and personal circumstances of the candidates

can influence the ultimate decision.

The selection process should be diverse and not focused on one or two

aspects. This will result in a candidate chosen with good specific skills but

poor general skills. So there should be more sampling of the content.

The selection interview: third stage of the selection process. Formal

discussion where an employer assesses an applicant for a job

Purpose:

Find best person for the job

To clarify the career prospects of the job and the job itself to the

candidate

Make the candidates feel that they have been given fair treatment in the

interview

To confirm and expand the info given by candidates in their application

forms

To assess the personality and motivation of the candidate

Evaluate suitability

To agree the terms of employment


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Process:

Face to face interview: (one on one)

Cost effectiveDecision relies heavily on one person

No pressure on the candidate, relax

Group interviews:(task awarded to

group)Personal qualities such as tact,

dominance and persuasiveness can

be identified.

Successive interviews: (one after the

other)

Costly, tiring for the candidate

Balanced/better decision is made

Panel interviews: (in front of 6-7

people)

Sharing judgments

Time consuming and too much

pressure on the candidate, cannot

relax

Limitations and faults:

Time consuming or shortage of time awarded to candidates per interview

Bias is a considerable damage to effective selection

Poor interview due to lack of skills of interviewer and ignorance of

question techniques

First impressions are formed and the rest of the interview process is

based on that (halo or horny effect) Cloning- interviewers tend to appoint similar type of people on every

occasion

Interviewers fail to distinguish between verbal skills, intelligence and

education

Prejudice interviewer may believe that women or a certain age of

people are unsuitable

Lack of preparation proper type of questions are not made, procedure is

not followed

Importance or advantages to the selection interview:

Advantages

Meeting in theflesh

Impression bioinfo

Two way exerciseImp public

relations


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The learning process:

Learning is the acquisition of a new skill, new knowledge, a modified

attitude or a combination of all three. Learning is a result of experience.

The learning curve: the pace of learning or progress changes with familiarity

this is learning curve. The shape of the learning curve depends on the type of

work or task and the individual.

Learning theories:

The role of management

Learning company: an organization that facilitates the learning of all its

members and continuously transforms itself

The role of the management in a learning organization is to encouragecontinuous learning and acquisition of new knowledge and skills and

transform these into actual behavior, products and processes.

In order to enable learning:

Members should be encouraged to contribute in the policy making

decisions as part of the learning process


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Information should be seen as a resource exploited by all members

Members should learn how the accounting system works

Employees should be encouraged to see the diversity of rewards (not

cash)

Employees should have contacts outside the organization, should impartthe knowledge they learn from such contacts

Mgt should foster climate that by itself encourages the employees to

learn

Mgt should provide learning courses, seminars etc

Retention, training and development

Human resource development: is a process of enhancing and building the

skills, knowledge and attitudes of employees

Internal training and development methods for individuals:

Internal training and development methods for groups:

Lecture method: lectures provide an economical and easy way of passing

information to people. (Is of no use if aim of training is to change attitudes

or develop job or interpersonal skills)


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Discussion methods: secures interest and commitment, shapes attitudes and

underlines the difficulties of group problem solving

Case study methods: involves solving a problem. It underlines the view

that there is no one best solution to any particular problem.

Role-playing: projection of trainees into a simulated situation and how

would they handle themselves in that situation

Business games: simulates realistic situations, such as mergers and

takeovers, in which groups compete with one another and where the effects

of the decision taken by one group may affect the others.

T-group: involves leaving the groups to their own devices. The group itself

has to decide what to do. They eventually form a cohesive group, appoint aleader and resolve the conflicts within the group. They exercise

communication, interpersonal skills and learn to understand group dynamics.

Effective training and development:

Benefits to the organization:

Provision of trained personnel

Improvement of existing skills

Increased employee knowledge

Improved job performance

Greater staff commitment

Increased value of the organizations human assets

Benefits to the individual:

Increased motivation

Individual goals equate with the organization

Needs and aims to develop abilities and talents satisfied

Newly acquired skills for future use

Training Gap: difference between the knowledge and skilled required by

the specific job and the knowledge and skill already possessed by the

employee is called job training analysis. This is revealed in job analysis.


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Training in an organization:

Training gap: the difference between the knowledge and skill required by

the specific job and the knowledge and skill already possessed by the

employee is call training gap. This is revealed in job training analysis.

Factors indicating need for training:

Level of absenteeism, labor turnover and grievances.

Government legislation and influence

Organizations performance

The future policies of the organization

Evaluating the training:

At the end of training, the organization should ask itself, was the training

effective? Was it worthwhile? Had the employee transferred the learning to

the job? What was the trainees reaction? Have there been any reductions incosts, increase in outputs and quality as a result of the training?

Evaluation is not simple. It is a highly problematic affair. Organizations

cannot afford not to do it.

Five levels of evaluation: (Hamblin)

Identifyingtraining and

development

needs

Training

planning

Implementingof plans

Follow up-how

successful is

the training

program


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Training: to provide the training, assessment of inputs and methods

involved.

Reaction: test reaction of the trainees to the training and their feelings

about how enjoyable and useful it has been.

Learning: the knowledge and skill learned because of the training

Implementation: the extent to which the trainees have applied their

training on the job.

Changes in organization: functionality of the training in terms of

organizational output.

Ultimate value: measure of training in terms of how the organization as

a whole has benefited from the training in terms of greater profitability.

Sources of info that provide data for evaluation are:

o Observation

o Informantso Data collection methods such as objective tests, attitude scales, rating

scales, questionnaires and interviews.

What can managers do to develop the staff?

Managers plan for succession in order to ensure the successful future of the

organization. This involves head hunting, training entrants direct from

university and planned recruitment and selection methods. They must take

into account the future needs of the organization and try molding the future

managers as such.

How can managers ensure effective succession?

Management development programs can be used to ensure effective

succession:

Student sponsorship: students with potential attend university sponsored

by his future employer with an undertaking that he will join them on

qualification.

Professional and technical qualifications: this ensures that the

employees are well trained and have developed their skills.

General management development: business schools speciallydesigned to provide managers with the business skills to their abilities.

Internally organized management development: good management

training can be obtained in multinational companies by being seconded to

a variety of departments to learn how to run them.

Evaluation of training programmes:


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Training programs are difficult to evaluate because the changes in behavior

could have been caused by something other than training course. Sometimes

it is difficult to measure because of the time involved. If training is to be

effective, it is important that the criteria used in the classroom or course

situation resembles the working environment. In other words management

development may be improved using situational approach, where objectives

and methods match the characteristics of the organization.

In-house or external training?

In-house is training provided to the employee while he is performing the job.

External training is one that is provided away from the workplace. However

there is no distinguishing line between which one is better. Wherever the

training takes place, it should provide the organization with results.

Competence Assessment:Competences are the critical skills, knowledge and attitude that a job-holder

must have to perform effectively.

Behavioral competences include the ability to relate to others

Occupational competences cover what people have to do to achieve the

results in the job

Generic competences that apply to anyone, e.g. adaptability, initiative

Development-led competences are linked to training and development

programmes to develop people to a level of performance expected at work.

Process:

Establishing the elements of the competence activity

Establish criteria of performance (set standard)

Check the actual performance

Compare the actual performance with the already set standard that was to

be achieved

Corrective action taken for deviation from standard

Assessment:

Assessment is carried out informally in some organizations. But now, many

organizations have decided to formalize the assessment process and use it to

improve performance, assess training needs and predict the potential of

employees.


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For this purpose appraisal techniques are used:

Employee ranking: employees are ranked on their overall performance.

This method is prone to bias although it is very simple to use.

Rating scales: graphic rating scales consist general personal characteristics

and personality traits such as quantity of wok, initiative, co-operation and

judgment.

Description/report: this is a qualitative method of assessment where the

manager writes brief description of the employee under a number of

headings.

Staff Appraisal:

Staff appraisal is carried out by managers and supervisors to discuss the

work of their subordinates. Every individuals performance is evaluated and

from these future developments in terms of promotion, further training etc is

concluded.

Advantages of the systematic appraisal technique: (formal)

Enables picture to be drawn, outlining the training needs, strengths and

weaknesses

Allows managers and subordinates to plan personnel and job objectives

in the light of performance

It is also used to assess the level of reward for an individuals efforts

Appraisal encourages two way communication, through which a

subordinates strengths and weaknesses and reasons for them may beevaluated

Appraisal is ideal for assessing potential, it permits succession planning.

Barriers to effective appraisal:

There have been some negative effects of appraisals.

Criticism had a negative effect on goal achievement. Subordinates generally

reacted defensively towards criticism during appraisal interviews.

Too often appraisal is seen as personal criticism session, and therefore staff

become very suspicious and un-cooperative.

Any appraisal scheme is doomed to failure and will cause frustration

among staff if:

Appraisal procedures are not made clear to everybody


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If no one takes them seriously. Full support at all management levels is

required

Potential appraisers have little or no experience of interviewing

If the scheme is seen as unfair, and does not appeal to the staff

The facts are not recorded

Conducting the appraisal interview:

What is a business looking at when it conducts appraisals?

The appraisal system is inextricably linked to its control structure. It clarifies

specific jobs, assesses competence, uses feed back and reward to improve

performance. The major justification of appraisals is improving individual

performance. But what the organization really intends is gathering data to

aid in making administrative decisions concerning pay, promotion, careers

and work responsibilities.

How is individual performance increased?

Individual performance is increased due to feed back and the discussion of

development and training needs. Appraisals are interpreted by the employees

as feedback. This can have a potentially strong impact on the employees

self-esteem and self-belief.

Planning the interview:

Problems:

Time consuming if u appraise everyone. Problems if u appraise only afew people

How do u decide who should appraise?

The interviewee may be given delusions of grandeur.

There might always be some people who arent satisfied with the process

Preparation:

In preparing the environment and atmosphere is very important. Planning

too many interviews in one day is not good. Neither is holding them at

inconvenient times. Interviewee should not feel intimidated by the setting ofthe interview. Constant interruptions should be avoided.

Conclusion and aftermath:

Summing up of the recommendations made, the whole discussion and

decisions should be done. And after the interview the manager should

inform the employee of the results of the interview w.r.t to agreed action


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plans on training, promotion etc. any future developments and changes that

will be made.

Management skills used in process:

Importance of feedback:

The importance of feedback lies in the fact that it is difficult to maintain or

improve performance in the absence of feedback. Feedback is sought

because without feedback learning is impossible. Feedback can also have a

motivating effect by providing recognition to work done which in turnprovides the incentive to sustain and improve performance levels.

Positive and negative reinforcement should be used judiciously. Punishment

for poor performance without explanation and correction discourages the

learner and creates feelings of guilt and failure. Helpful or constructive

criticism however, is more likely to be beneficial.

Joint problem

solving

problem &

suggest

solution

Tell & listen

Listen to job

holders

perception

Tell and sellPersuade or

convince

employee

MGT

SKILLS


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Individual skills and development:

Organizations want to ensure that the goals and objectives of the

employees meet the goals of the organization itself.

Development is concerned with the changes in attitude, behavior and

potential.Management development:

Management development (Torrington & Hall) can be distinguished from

management training in four ways:

It is a broader concept, more concerned with developing the whole

person rather than emphasizing the learning of narrowly defined skills

It emphasizes the contribution of formal and informal work experiences.

The concept of management development places greater responsibility on

managers to develop themselves than is placed on most employees to

train themselves.

Managers are developed as much for the job they will be doing as for the

jobs that they are doing.

Management review: the aim of the management review is to forecast

future management requirements. It is used to ascertain the number of

management positions in the organization. E.g. by grade (key executives),

by function (sales department, distribution), by management change

(retirements, transfers).

Management appraisal:


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The role of the employee (career management):

Employees should have a firm commitment to succeed.

Objective of the employee should be to ensure growth

Role of the organization is to provide the employee with the job that

involves challenging, stretching goals so that growth maybe achieved The result of this will be more effort and hence increase in confidence

and self esteem (psychological needs) if proper feedback is received.

The career growth cycle:

Mentoring:

Is a process where one person offers help, guidance, advice and support to

facilitate the learning and development of another. Mentoring includes

sharing experience, encouraging others to see opportunities for development

and questioning the person where necessary. Pointing out problems and

suggesting alternative solutions.

Who mentors?


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People with sound knowledge and understanding of the company and

business. People who have experience and sound understanding of the

business activities.

Advantage:

It enables learners to focus on their own experience and allows failure to be

tolerated and used as a learning tool. The learner benefits by learning from a

role model. This helps in increasing self confidence. He gets access to

sources that are not usually available which aids in providing greater clarity

of development goals and insight into senior management roles.

Advantages to the organization include: mentoring breaks down barriers that

can deter individual progress, thereby supporting implementation of change.

It develops staff for more senior roles and introduces self managed learning.

Lastly, it aids in developing skills outside the usual sphere of practice.

Individual and group behavior:

Organizational culture is the set of norms, attitudes and values that exist

throughout an organization and the basic assumptions and beliefs that are

shared by members of an organization, the way things are done.

THE KEY ELEMENTS OF ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE

A set of norms and

values

Symbols and symbolic

action used to develop

and nurture the values

and norms

Set of shared values/dominant

beliefs that defines the

organizations priorities

Organization

al culture


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The above three areas are all interlinked to one another:

Symbols and symbolic actions are used to nurture the norms. E.g. the

organizations logo and slogans or the activities of an executive visiting the

factory floor to speak to the employees.

Shared values and beliefs specify what is important and need to be shared by

everyone in the organization. Shared values and beliefs have to be strong

enough to develop norms of behavior or informal rules.

Norms suggest what is appropriate or is not. They guide peoples behavior.

Strong or weak culture?

Strong culture is marked by the organizations core values being both

intensely held and widely shared.

A weak culture lacks uniformity and has limited commitment.

(peters and waterman) it is important to see whether a strong culture is

always desirable.

The content of the culture must match the objectives and the environment

of the organization.

A strong culture will only work if the company wishes to innovate and is

operating in a dynamic environment.

A strong culture will always be difficult to change than weaker one,

certain loyalties might restrict change. Problems can clearly arise in a merger/takeover situation where two

different cultures might clash.

Advantages of strong cultures:

Strong cultures increases commitment to the organization and the

consistency of behavior of its members.

Having a clear mission and agreed values removes ambiguities and can

replace the need for more formal controls.

Strong culture (appropriate culture) can be a crucial factor at determiningthe performance of the organization and the individual

Types of cultures:

Power culture:

One major source of influence and power (owner/manager)


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Influence spreads out from the central power source along the strings

(lines)

The rings represent the center of activity.

Power culture is found in small entrepreneurial organizations and its

structure is best pictured as a web Size is a problem for power cultures; the web can break if it links too

many activities

Role culture:

People describe their job by its duties not by its purpose

There is emphasis on hierarchy and status

Role cultures offer a predictable rate of climb up a pillar

Role cultures are found where economies of scale are more important

than flexibility and where product innovation is less important thantechnical expertise.

Task culture:

People describe their job in terms of the results they are achieving.

The structure of the task culture can be represented as a net

Task culture is found where there is team work is established to achieve

specific tasks.

Person culture:

Exists to satisfy the requirements of certain individuals

Small highly participative environment where individuals undertake all

the duties themselves. (barrister in chambers)

Person culture is represented as a cluster of stars

Anthony and handy:

Anthony devised the management levels and superimposed Handys culture

model associating each management level with a type of culture.

Management levels superimposed on cultural model:


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Psychological factors effecting individual behavior:

For each individual there are many factors that effect behavior and

performance at work:

Motivation levels (may be different for different things)

Perception (how does the employee perceive the situation according to

its priority and importance) Attitude (refers to persistent feelings and behavior tendencies directed

towards specific persons, groups, ideas etc.

Personality-influences an individuals behavior and performance

Synergy:

Synergy describes the phenomenon in which the combined activity of

separate entities has a greater effect than the sum of the activities of each

entity working alone. One person cannot do it all, but a team can combine all

the main areas of skill and knowledge that are needed for a particular job.

Synergy operates not just by reducing the time taken to carry out the task in

proportion to the number of people working on it, but has the effect of

improving the quality of the work of participants by better organization and

an improved flow of ideas.


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(note: synergy however does depend upon a common purpose if the

members of the team do not have a common purpose they cannot move

forward)

Team management:

A team is a formal group working together with a common objective. It has

a leader and a distinctive culture. Characteristics of teams include:

They share a common goal

They enjoy working together

They have a shared commitment to achieve the goals and objectives

They are diverse individuals

They have great loyalty to the project

Team members must have an over-powering reason to be working together.

They must need each others skills, talent and experience in order to achieve

their mutual goals.

The importance of a team lies in the fact that as an organizations projects

get more and more complicated, only a combined effort of diverse skills can

work out the problem. Projects by definition require very high job

performance. As a result projects must use a diverse team of specialists.

Team building:

Team building is the process of removing obstacles that prevent team fromworking effectively and planning how to improve the overall performance of

the team. However before team building there has to be recognition that

something must be done to form a team. The team members could

themselves feel this need. This process can be inward looking, with the team

members examining and evaluating the ways in which they work and react

with each other. The outward process would involve the team leader setting

out to focus the teams effort on real, existing problems facing the group.

Building blocks (Woodcock):

Woodcock adopts a practical approach to team building. He argues that to

build an effective team, you must first identify the blockages to team

building and then decide on the building blocks to be used.

Possible blockages include:

Inappropriate leadership


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Unclear objectives

Insufficient openness and confrontation

Ineffective work methods

Low creative capacity

Identifying building blocks:

Appropriate leadership

Clear objectives and agreed goals

Openness and confrontation

Good communication

Individual development

The role of the manager:

The role of the manager in team building is to satisfy task, group andindividual needs. (Adairs action centered leadership model)


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The composition of successful teams: (peters and waterman)

The number should be small. Inevitably each member will then represent

the interest of their section.

The team should be of limited duration and exist only to resolve the

particular task. Membership should be voluntary.

Communication should be informal and unstructured.

The development of teams: (Tuckmans theory)

setting objectives, planning tasks.

Allocation of responsibilities and setting

performance standards

Coaching, counseling,

development and

motivation.

Communication, team

building, motivationand discipline

TASK NEEDS

INDIVIDUALNEEDS

GROUPNEEDS


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There are different stages that to team development, each stage requires a

different measure to move it to a higher level of team effectiveness. The

stages are:

Forming: initial stage-group is no more than a collection of individuals

who are seeking to define the purpose of the group.

Storming: members compete from chosen roles within the group. If

successful will have forged a stronger team with greater knowledge of

each other and their objectives.

Norming: this stage develops the norms under which the group will

operate. The norming stage will establish how the group will take

decisions, behavior patterns, level of trust and openness.

Performing: once this final stage has been reached, the group is capable

of operating to full potential, since the difficulties of adjustment,

leadership contests etc, should have been resolved.

Dorming: if a team remains for a long time in the performance phase,there is a danger that the group will gradually lose its ability to make

good decisions. The group may have illusions of impregnability and a

negative attitude towards competing projects. The members will feel that

the group is flawless and will have an unwavering belief in the group and

its decisions.

In order to escape this fate, the project manager should encourage open

discussion about the doubts and objectives. Appoint a devils advocate to

question the groups decisions and motives.

Evaluating team performance:

Team performance can be measured through:

1. efficiency

2. effectiveness

3. team member satisfaction

Efficiency and effectiveness are related. The team could be effective in

accomplishing its goals, but it may not be efficient in its use of machinery or

manpower.

If there are no objective measures (sales figures, components made per hour)

to measure a teams performance, a subjective measure should be used. One

way is to observe and rate the teams performance against some sort of

criteria. Another is to interview all who may have a view about the team and


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its performance. A third is to administer a pre-prepared questionnaire to

team members and their managers.

Draw backs of subjective measures:

Observing teams performance is very time consuming and requires adegree of participant observation, which may not be available.

Interview data is qualitative and unless obtained in a very structured way,

does not lend itself to comparison.

Many questionnaires purport to measure team performance, however

they assume equality of importance of the items measuring team

performance, regardless of the purpose or activities of the team in

question.

Objective setting:

Planning helps organizations to define its purposes and activities. It enables

performance standards to be set so that results can be compared with the

standard to help managers to see how the organization is progressing

towards its goals.

Plans:

Plans must be flexible to cope with the changing environment.

They should be based on clearly defined objectives

They should be precise, practicable and simple to understand.


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Objective setting: (Drucker)Drucker maintains that there are several factors that should be considered

when setting objectives:

Objectives are commitments to action through which mission of the

business is to be carried out.

Objective must be operational. That is capable of being converted into

specific targets

A number of objectives are required to manage a business adequately.

Primary objectives of an organization include, profit maximization,productivity, market share, finance and physical resource needs, customer

satisfaction etc.

When the profit objective is considered, three things come into context,

growth, going concern and profit making.


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All three objectives are interlinked. In order to survive the company has

to make a profit. However survival can never be the sole objective of any

company, as organization would want to reach a certain minimum

performance level better than just hanging on. Besides no shareholder

would agree to this. Customer satisfaction in Drucker;s view is that, unless companies reach a

satisfactory level of customer satisfaction, they will close down.

Logically taken, customer satisfaction will increase as the quality of the

product improves and its price falls. It can be argued therefore that

customer satisfaction and profit are incompatible corporate objectives.

(the optimization of one is a virtual guarantee of low performance of the

other because they pull in different directions).

Objectives looked upon as constraints that need to be satisfied: (Cyert

and March)

Cyert and March propose a consensus theory that suggests that

organizations do not have objectives, people have objectives. It is

believed that personal objectives tend to emerge as corporate objectives.

Consensus view: the consensus view takes into account the interests of

all important stakeholders groups and seeks to set objectives that will

satisfy several groups rather than a single primary stakeholder group.

Coalition theory: takes the consensus theory into consideration by stating

that decisions are made within a business to try to satisfy the aspirations

of different groups that make up the coalition. The business is seen as asatisfier rather than as a maximiser.

Organizations today are looking towards profit optimization rather than

profit maximization. Profit optimization is maximization subject to

constraints.

Bowen proposed a social audit that would establish the needs and

expectations of the various stake holder groups. This social audit should

be carried out according to ranking. The dominant coalition will

determine the organizations prime objectives, so it has to be satisfied

first.

Methods to measure achievement of objectives:

A key number of performance indicators will be set, either by the manager

or by mutual agreement of the management and the employees. Thereby, the

actual performance achieved will be reviews frequently against the

performance objectives.


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Performance can also be measured in terms of effectiveness (the degree to

which objectives are accomplished) and efficiency (the use of resources in

attaining objectives).

Effectiveness: is a measure of the match or mismatch between what an

organization produces (its actual outputs) and what it should be

producing (defined in terms of organizational goals).

Efficiency: is a measure of the resources used in producing the

organizations actual outputs.

Authority, Responsibility and Delegation:

Fayol defined authority as the right to give orders and the power to exactobedience.

In general terms we can say that authority is the right to exercise power,

responsibility is an obligation placed on a person and delegation is the act by

which a person or group of persons possessing authority transfers part of that

authority to a subordinate person or group.

Types of authority:

Formal: where an organization bestows the authority upon the individual by

means of their job title.

Technical: where the authority arises due to personal skills or specific

knowledge or training.

Personal: where a person is simply popular or recognized as being efficient.

This type of authority is not given by the organization.

Note that it is quite possible to have authority without power. Authority is

with the post holder and not with an individual.

Responsibility: responsibility is an obligation owed and therefore cannot be

delegated. No superior can escape responsibility for the activities ofsubordinates, for it is the superior who has delegated authority and assigned

the duties. It does follow however that once a subordinate has accepted the

assignment and the power to carry it out, the subordinate is responsible to

the superior for doing the job, but the superior remains responsible for

getting the job done.


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The span of control or span of management refers to the number of

subordinates reporting directly to one person. The scalar chain refers to the

number of different levels in the structure.

Narrow span of control:

Tall organizational structures Advantages are close supervision and control and fast communication

between subordinates and superiors.

Disadvantages are high costs due to numerous levels and undue delays

because information has to be carried through several levels.

Wide span of control:

Flat structures

Superiors have to delegate and ensure that clear policies are laid down.

The disadvantages include the possible loss of control and the need for

high quality managers, as their workload tends to be so high that

bottlenecks may occur.

Optimum span of control:

There is no ideal span of control although an optimum span of control may

depend upon: the nature of the work. The more repetitive the work, the

greater the number that can be controlled. It may also depend upon the

ability, competence and skills of managers and subordinates.

Line relationship: line relationships on an organization charts exists between

a senior and a subordinate. Authority flows vertically down through thestructure e.g. from the managing director to managers, section leaders,

supervisors and other staff. It enables managers to allocate work, direct and

control subordinates and to delegate authority.

Functional relationship: this exists when a specialist is designated to provide

a service that the line manager is compelled to accept. The specialists

authority comes by delegation from a common superior.

Choice of structure:

The type of structure depends chosen depends upon:

1. The degree of specialization within the organization;

2. The number of levels of authority deemed desirable;

3. The amount of decentralization permitted.


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The small business structure:

Advantages include quick decision making and short lines of control

However it is very dependant on the capabilities of the owner/manager.

Functional structure:

Advantages are that employees can be much more effectively controlled and

coordinated.

Specialized departments can provide clear promotional and staff

development.

Disadvantages are strong in the fact that a department may focus only on its

own goals, which may not necessarily be the same as those of the

organization.

Product structure:

This structure establishes each product as an integrated unit within the

framework of the company. As the organization expands so does the product

line, each product line or group has its own specialist of accounting

personnel, technical etc.

OWNER OR MANAGER

EMPLOYEES

PRODUCT - A SERVICE - B

MANAGING DIRECTOR

PERSONNEL PRODUCTION ACCOUNTING MARKETING

H.R.M PROD CONT FINANCE SALES


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The advantages are more focus of attention on product performance and

profitability. It also encourages growth and diversity of products.

The disadvantages include, the difficulty in maintaining centralization of

services such as accounting and R&D economically. Success is dependant

on the ability of the people in charge of the product.

Geographical structure:

With a geographical structure the enterprise is organized by regions or

countries.

Advantages:

The organization can identify and respond quickly to local companies.

Profitability for each region can be clearly assigned and delegation is

encouraged.

Disadvantages:

It is difficult to satisfy customer needs on a local level

Matrix Structures:

The matrix structure usually combines a job based group with a project-

based structure. So employees from various departments form a group to

achieve a specific target. The project ream usually has a manager to whom

the project team answers.

THE MATRIX STRUCTURE

MGT DIRECTOR

SOUTH MGT MID REG MGT NORTH MGT INTER MGT


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KEY: THE X represents points of intersection

Advantages:

It provides greater flexibility and coordination of tasks and people

It is motivational in that it requires greater employee participation and

control

Disadvantage:

Can cause difficulty in the lines of control, these may become ambiguous

and conflict with each other e.g. a team member may be answerable to both

the team manager and to his functional superior and this may cause

confusion and stress.

The bureaucratic approach: (Max Webber)

The bureaucratic model places great emphasis on formal relationships,

where communication upward to the superior is discouraged; orders aregiven obeyed, sometimes without question. Initiative and personal

involvement with the allocated tasks are minimized.

Bureaucracies should have:

Clearly defined duties and responsibilities for all organizational members


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Hierarchically arranged staff with each member reporting to a superior

and responsible for subordinates.

The authority of all seniors is confined to official duties and they are

motivated by a sense of duty.

Socio-technical systems approach: (Trist and Bamforth)

This system places emphasis on the interrelationships of subsystems and

multiple channels of interaction. It follows that altering a technical system

would inevitably cause changes at the social level.

Systems theory suggests that management should not concentrate on

motivating staff, they should concentrate on improving the system, people

can adapt to a new system.

Mechanistic and Organic structures: (Burns and Stalker)Mechanistic: a system that operates like a smooth machine, with order,

clear definitions, stability and rigidity providing the main sources of

strength. The mechanistic style is more appropriate for stable environments.

The mechanistic type of structure gains its strength from the ability to resist

pressure to change.

Organic: this type of structure offers flexibility. Emphasis is on goal-

achievement rather than conformity to hierarchy and rules. Organic style

was more consistent with unstable environments. The organic type gains itsstrength from its ability to respond promptly to change.

Principle of correspondence:

The principle of correspondence states that in every position, authority and

responsibility should correspond. A person who has authority without

responsibility is unaccountable. Similarly, to assign responsibilities without

corresponding authority is asking for trouble.

Difficulties can arise when an individual has the responsibility for some

aspect of work but lacks the authority associated with it.

Standard setting and Performance Management:

The performance management process provides an opportunity for the

employee and performance manager to discuss development goals and

jointly create a plan for achieving goals.


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THE PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT PROCESS

The planning process should take into account the emerging environment

changes e.g. government, economy, competition, fashion trends, technology

etc.

Standards of performance:

Standards of performance are written statements describing how well a job

should be performed. They are developed collaboratively with employees

whenever possible. The performance standard provides a bench mark againstwhich to evaluate work performance. The performance standard defines how

well each function or task must be performed in order to meet or exceed

expectations.

Criteria for work performance:

Performance evaluation is a process of assessing, summarizing and

developing the work performance of an employee.

Ratings should be given to the type of performance e.g. outstanding, above

expectations, met expectations, below expectations and clearlyunsatisfactory.

The supervisor will use this criteria to rate the employees performance. The

ratings and performance standards will be reviewed so that there can be

fairness in the evaluation process. The results of this will be through

constant feedback and constructive criticism on the part of the employee.

Strategic plan and annual plans

Job description and essential functions

Standards of performance

Performance observation and feedback

Performance development plan


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After all evaluation and feedback is done. The manager may identify needs

and create a plan for employee education, training and development if

required.

Performance indicators (standards):

Standards should be:

Consistent with organizational objectives

Realistic i.e attainable

Specific describing exactly what actions the employee is expected to

accomplish

Challenging recognizing performance which is above expectations or

outstanding

Dynamic as organizational goals, technology, operations etc. standards

should evolve

Other things include: margin for error should be specified, and should any

conditions under which the performance is expected to be accomplished.

Developing standards:

There are two ways to develop written performance standards:

The directive approach: where the performance manager writes the

standards in consultation with management and employee relations

The standards are then shared with the employees affected for theirinformation and to elicit any questions.

The collaborative approach: in which employees work with the

performance manager to develop standards for their positions.

However in the end the decision of the appropriateness of the standards lies

with the performance manger.


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Working with people INTERPERSONAL SKILLS

Interpersonal skills can sometimes be called interactive, face to face or

social skills. They involve inspiring, motivating, leading and controlling

people to achieve goals, which are often poorly defined.

A manager or supervisor who develops skills in dealing with others, gets

action and is influential and effective.

These skills include:

Cooperation: to make contacts and work with others to solve problems

Enthusiasm: to persuade, negotiate and propose new possibilities/solutions.

Perseverance: to keep going back to the same people to raise the same

issues if they remain unresolved.

Flexibility: to adjust to fit in with other peoples ideas or constraints.

Effective management practice: (REDDIN)

It is essential for the job of management to be judged on output rather than

by input, and by achievements rather than by activities. Organizations tend

to confuse efficiency with effectiveness. Efficient managers seek to solve

problems and reduce costs; effective managers seek to produce creative

alternatives and increase profits.

Mintzbergs model of managerial skills

He noted three basic management roles, grouped into three areas:

INTERPERSONAL role leading.

This role arises from the managers formal position within the organization

and the consequent authority which arises from it.

He suggests three categories:

Figurehead: Because of the formal authority and position in the

organization, the manager acts as a focus both internally and externally,but this is not necessarily a formal leadership role. Often in reality the

manager is simply a figurehead.

Leader: Brings together organizational and individual goals and needs,

especially through motivation, hiring and firing.


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Liaison: Maintains a network of relationships within and especially

outside the organization. A substantial amount of management time is

spent fulfilling this role.

INFORMATIONAL role administrating.

This role arises because managers have access to and contact with all staff

and many contacts outside the organization.

Monitor: The manager monitors the environment by receiving

information (internal and external) and transmitting it to others. A great

deal of information may be of an informal nature.

Disseminator: Passes on factual and value information to the

department.

Spokesman: Acts as the spokesman for the organization by providing

information about the organization, both internally but especially

externally.

DECISIONAL role fixing.

This role is the most crucial and arises from the managers position of

formal authority, which means that he or she has unique access to

information. Consequently, the manager is the only person able to take

decisions which arise from and affect the department.

Entrepreneur: The manager makes decisions about changing what

happens within the organization or department by initiating action and

encouraging change, especially in a changed environment.

Disturbance Handler: Has to make decisions about events because

these events are often outside his or her control. Has to react to

unpredictable situations. Thus it is important to be able to reactas well as

plan.

Resource Allocator: Central to the organization, the manager has to take

control of the allocation of scarce resources and determine the direction

of the organization.

Negotiator: Negotiates inside and outside the organization and at the

same time commit resources. A great time user. These three basic


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management roles are not all embracing and change depending upon the

managers position in the organization.

Interpersonal influence: (Fleishman)

Leadership behavior is defined as an attempt at interpersonal influence

directed through communication processes towards the attainment of goals.

You have got to influence people to be a leader

You have got to do this through the communication processes that exist,

or create a process to do it.

The ultimate idea is to influence people towards the attainment of goals.

Consideration: reflects the extent to which the leader is likely to have job

relationships characterized by mutual trust, respect for subordinates views

and consideration of their feelings.

Initiating structure: is the extent to which leaders are likely to define andstructure their roles and those of their staff towards goal attainment.

Evaluation: a leader could be high on consideration and low on structure or

vice versa. Employees see leaders as only those individuals who were high

on both consideration and structure. In terms of group cohesiveness, if the

leader was high on both, then the group tended to be more cohesive.


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How would u control staff? What are the ways of gaining commitment

from staff?

Managers control staff from two reasons: first, the goals of the individuals

may not be consistent with those of organization as a whole. Second, social

class conflict the use and them feeling lead managers to place little trust

in the loyalty of their subordinates.

Commitment: managers have realized that tying employees economic

benefits and interests to their performance can control them much better.

Employees themselves become committed to the organization.

Aggressive and Assertive behavior

Aggressive behavior involves:

Standing up for your own rights but doing so in a way that you violate

the rights of other people.

Ignoring or dismissing the needs, wants and feelings of others

Expressing your own needs, wants in inappropriate ways.

Aggression: is some form of attack. It may be verbal or physical. Frustrated

employees may attack their supervisors or kick a machine that has broken

down. Verbal aggression can take such forms as shouting, name calling,sarcasm and swearing.

Assertive: assertive people stand up for their own rights in such a way that

they do not violate another persons rights. They express their needs, wants,

opinions, feelings in direct, honest and appropriate ways.

Passive: or non assertive people do not respect themselves. They do not

stand up for their rights at all because they assume that other people are

more important. They express their thoughts and feelings in such a self-

effacing way that they invite other people to ignore them.

Assertive Aggressive Passive


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Short, clear statements

that are to the point.

Distinctions between

fact and opinion.

Constructive criticismwithout blame or

assumptions

Questions to find out

others wishes, opinions.

Excess of I statements

Boastfulness

Opinions expressed as

facts

Threatening questions Sarcasm and other

putdowns

Blame put on others.

Long and rambling

statements

Frequent justifications

Apologies

Self put-downs Imuseless or Im hopeless

Phrases that dismiss own

needs, e.g. its not

important really.

Advantages and Disadvantages:

Assertion has the advantage of being influential (people understand what

you want and what you stand for), because it is consistent while beingrespectful. No one can manage properly without saying no, causing

disappointments and confrontations. If these situations are handled in a way

that show respect for the right of the other person, the risk and pain is

reduced.

Managers are aggressive when they feel threatened or insecure. Aggression

usually damages the aggressor in two ways. First, it prevents the exercise of

constructive responses such as problem-solving and a positive approach to

the situation. Second, aggression is generally answered with aggression.

Passive behavior has the disadvantage of being stressful. Denying your

needs does not make them go away and the behavior will lead to build up of

anger, hurt and stress.

COMMUNICATION

Communication is the interchange of information, ideas, facts and emotions

by two or more persons.

Upward communication: provides management with feedback from

employees on results achieved and problems encountered. It creates a

channel from which management can gauge organizational climate and deal

with problem areas, such as grievances or low productivity.

Lack of upward communication is likely to result in:

Early warning of troubled areas is not received.


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Benefit of creative ability in subordinates is lost.

Participation of employees is limited

Control becomes difficult

Introduction of change is difficult.

Downward communication: instructing relating to the performance of the

department and policies for conducting business are conveyed downward

from managers to employees.

Lack of downward communication is likely to result in:

Poor awareness of corporate objectives

Poor understanding of working instructions

Poor morale of junior managers because they are not consulted about

changes which affect them or their working conditions.

(Katz and Kahn) purposed of downward communication

To give specific task directives

To give info about organizational procedures

To tell subordinates about their performance

To provide ideological type info to facilitate the indoctrination of goals

Such info can help clarify operational goals, provide a sense of direction and

give subordinates data related to their performance.

Too much emphasis on downward communication can create problems.

People will become reluctant to come forward with their suggestions and

may be averse to taking on new responsibilities. There is also a risk of

management getting out of touch with their subordinates. For these reasons

it is important to stress on upward communication.

Lateral or horizontal communication: refers to communication between

people or groups at the same level in an organization.

Reasons for lateral communication:Task coordination: department heads may meet periodically to discuss how

each department is contributing to organizational objectives

Information sharing: members of departments may meet with the members

of another department to explain some new information or study.

Problem solving: members of a department may meet to discuss how they

will handle a threatened budget cut.


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Conflict resolution: members of one department may meet to resolve a

conflict.

Lack of lateral communication often leads to:

Divisions in management teams Lack of coordination

Rivalry between sections and departments

Lack of advice from different departments

Communication models: senders initiate the communication process. When

the senders have decided on their meaning, they encode a message and select

a channel for transmitting their messages to receivers. To encode is to put

into words. The receiver upon receiving the message decodes it and provides

instant feedback. Feedback is very important, without this the whole purpose

of communicating the message is lost.

Within the communication process it is also important to note the problem of

noise. Anything in the environment that impedes the transmission of the

message is significant. The effective communicator must ensure that noise

does not interfere with successful transmission of the message.


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The importance of effective communication: (BARNARD) (managers)

Effective communication is necessary for:

Management decision making

Interdepartmental coordination, all departments must be synchronized to

perform the right actions at the right times and cooperate in accomplishing

the organizations goals.

Individual motivation and effectiveness so that people know what is

expected of them.

Barnard stressed that communication should be central in the organizations

structure. A formal communication system enables managers to perform

their roles.

Reasons for ineffective communication:

Sheer amount of information in the modern world

Developing of preconceived ideas (process of making sense of theinformation is not done in isolation from out past) of what is actually

being received.

Acceptance of messages that reinforce our understanding of the world

and reject other messages.

Different perceptions of different senders lead to varying perceptions and

expectations of the information received.

ATTRIBUTES OF EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION:

Timely Accurate, complete and to the point correct info, otherwise wrong

conclusions may be drawn. Message should be brief rather than verbose.

Directed to the right people

Understandable clear presentation

Steps taken to ensure effective communication:

Two way communication adopting feedback

The use of more than one communication network

Restricting the number of links in the chain the shorter the distance

between the sender and the recipient the less number of breakdowns.

Ensuring clarity sensitivity to recipient in terms of (perception,

experience, awareness and intelligence).

Patterns of communication: (SHAW 1978)


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For centralized information: CIRCLE AND ALL-CHANNELS

For de-centralized info: WHEEL, CHAIN AND Y.

Consultation:

The wheel is always

the quickest way of

communicatin

The circle is the slowest way

of communicating. The levelof satisfaction of individuals

is lowest in circle

The level of satisfaction

is medium in wheel

For complex problems it is the

most likely process to reach the

best decision. Level of satisfaction

is fairly high. Under time pressurethis restructures to become a

wheel or disintegrates


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Consultation implies willingness to listen while reserving the right to make

the final decision, with or without the agreement on both sides. True

consultation is the process where, on a regular basis, management genuinely

seeks the views, ideas and feelings of employees before a decision is taken.

Advantages:

Improved quality of decisions, as collective knowledge is gathered from

the people that are most affected by the decisions.

Better cooperation between managers and employees. Employees will

even accept those decisions that they do not like as their views have been

taken into account.

Increased efficiency of the entire organization by involving employees.

Improved industrial relations by allowing managers and their

subordinates the opportunity to understand each others views and goals.

Disadvantages:

It so commonly happens that managers already reach their decisions and

then perform the act of consultation. Their minds are then closed to

alternatives. It is just a mere formality that they fulfill. The employees in this

situation will feel cheated (an insulting charade of guess whats on my

mind?). There will be resentment on the part of the employees which might

lead to non-cooperation.

It also happens that the final decision taken by the managers does not

include any of the ideas put forward by the subordinates. Subordinates mayfeel not truly involved.

COUNSELLING (British association of counseling)

people become engaged in counseling when a person occupying, regularly

or temporality, the role of counselor offers or agrees to explicitly offer time,

attention and respect to another person or persons temporarily in the role of

client.

Values: non judgmental attitude (create openness and trust), respect for the

client (regardless of age, color, education), confidentiality and acceptance of

the whole person (with their strengths and weaknesses, destructive and

constructive attitudes).


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Skills:

Does not advise or make specific suggestions, but uses a non-directive

approach.

E

The Recruitment and Selection Process

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