Human Resources

Organizational Behavior (OB) is one of the important branches of people management in an organization. There have been many developments in the field of OB over the last several decades. Considering other branches of people management, OB distinguishes itself from other branches as it is concerned with the application of psychological theories for managing people at work. Organizational behavior is the study and application of knowledge about how the people or the individual behave in the organization.

It deals with a system approach that the organizational behavior includes a wide range of topics like human behavior, leadership changes and the management style. However, the social value structure has a complex set of human relationships which interacts in many ways. In an organization the group or the social system includes the entire individual in the organization and their relationship with each other.

This paper discusses four important aspects of organizational behavior theory such as Groups and team development; Motivation; Individual differences and perception; and Learning at work. The essay takes a descriptive approach where all the four topics are discussed in detail in the context of people management in an organization. Group and team development Group is considered as the most important element in an organization. It means the collection of people who interact daily with one another to achieve predetermined objectives.

It act as a tool in achieving the objectives of an organization, that is it helps in improving the performance of the members involved in such groups, creating a better environment for working, improving the creativity of the members, facilitating to take better decisions, and through ensuring proper control over the members of the group of organizations. Altogether these will directly contribute to the success of an organization. On other hand a team is a small group of people having different capabilities and who work together to produce something so as to achieve the objectives of the organization.

The group and team development processes helps the group or team to perform the work in a systematic way so as to create a better work force, quality work and productivity. So the group development research has developed various models to examine how the new groups form and work together. But they fall under two categories, namely; five stages model developed by Tuckman model and Heresy and Blanchard’s situational leadership model (Halverson, 2008). The Tuck man model explains about the team development and maturity ability relationship establishment and leader change the leadership style.

He begins it with a directing style and it moves through coaching, then participating, finishing delegation and ultimate detached. Under situational model it explains the ideal development of a team from immaturity through a maturity under which the management style develops from a relatively detached task. Motivation Motivation is an important function which is to be performed by every manager in an organization. It is the duty of manager to get the work done in a well manner for this he should motivate the employees.

To motivate the employees he should first of all understand their needs, so that they can accomplish it by providing necessary motivation. Motivation can be in the form of monetary terms or non monetary terms. Whatever be the form it aims at fulfillment of the objectives of the organization. Thus motivation means the process of inspiring the employees by satisfying their needs so as to get the work done in a well manner so as to accomplish the desired objectives. To explain the human behavior in terms of human needs many theories where evolved, together they were called as Content Theories.

To say Maslow and Hertzberg’s models explained that human beings are engaged in certain activities to satisfy their needs. They also provided answers to the questions like what motivates a person. Apart from Content theories, process theories were evolved like Uroom’s theory that explained variables those results to motivation and also the relationship between these variables. But Maslow’ Need Hierarchy Model is considered as an important theory that explained the basic needs required by the people.

So it is understood that the management can perform job effectively through motivating the people to work for the accomplishment of organizational objectives (Miner, 2005). Individual differences and perception The individual differences and perceptions are the important model of Organizational Behavior. An individual difference explains how people working in the same organization are similar and differ with one another in terms of behavior, feeling and thinking. For example the workers in a same organization may be different from one another in terms of intelligence or personality or any other characteristics.

It is a fact that the some characteristics can be seen similar among the two individuals where as some characteristics can be different among those individuals. To say sex, culture, age is same among some groups of people, but it is also matter of questioning the individual differences (Hentschel, 1986). So through analyzing the individual differences it is able to understand in what ways the people are same and different. On other hand individual perception means an intellectual process whereby how the individuals organize and understand the meaning of the information derived from the environment.

Like individual differences the individual perceptions also differ from one individual to another. Classical Test Theory of the individual differences disregard individual reply model and estimation a person’s whole expressions size by gauging the performance on small example of words. language are seen as casual replicates of each other and thus human being differences in total expressions size are predictable from experiential differences on these smaller model. The test theory developed to description for sampling dissimilarity inside domains can be widespread to account for differences between provinces (Mullins, 1999).

Totally the individual difference address that developing an sufficient descriptive classification of how the group is diverge and applying dissimilarity in the dissimilar situation to forecast differences and ultimately for testing the imaginary explanation of the organization and dynamics of individual difference. Learning at work The learning in work is defined as a comparatively enduring a change in performance potential occurring because of the consequences of past understandings.

It is a conclusion from actions and they must be distinguished from it, for instruction can happen without behavior being exaggerated. It is better to say that a person can learn that a confident garage is open twenty four hours a day without this influencing his visible behavior until and unless he wants petrol at night. Hence the learning is a modification in behavior prospective rather than in behavior itself. This type of revolutionize cans take place for many reasons. There are number of different theories that explain how the group learns at the work.

However it presents a meticulous way of learning of an individual and to distinguish everybody doesn’t learn the way that other does. To say Burns theory explained that the learning as a comparatively permanent change in behavior, including both apparent activity and the domestic process. He measured as the learning might not apparent itself in visible performance until sometime after the working progression in an organization. The other one named Sensory Stimulation theory stated that basic principle for a successful learning occurs when the senses are encouraged.

By stimulating the senses, particularly the visual wisdom, the learning can be improved. However the theory deals, if multi senses are encouraged, superior learning takes place. The inspiration through the sense is achieved through a superior variety of colors, quantity levels, strong declaration, fact accessible rituality, use of a multiplicity of techniques and media. Finally the theory of Holistic Learning theory stated that basic foundation of an individual personality consist of many essentials like intellect, sentiment and all require commencement if learning is to be more successful.

Ultimately the cognitive – Gestalt approach by Burn states that individuals have dissimilar needs and they have affairs at different places at dissimilar time and they will be a prejudiced elucidation in various circumstances. Conclusion Organizational behavioral theories have immensely grown over the last few decades because of the research and studies in the field of human resource management. The theories discussed above are not exhaustive. However, they all are interconnected and for the organization development and human resources improvement, these theories are of much helpful.

References

• Coffield, Frank, 1998, Learning at work, The Policy Press Halverson,
• B. Claire and S. Aqeel Tirmizi, 2008, Effective Multicultural Teams: Theory and Practice, Springer Hentschel, Uwe,
• Gudmund J. W. Smith, and Juris G. Draguns, 1986, The Roots of perception: individual differences in information processing within and beyond awareness, Elsevier Miner,
• B. John, 2005, Organizational Behavior 1: Essential Theories of Motivation and Leadership,
• M. E. Sharpe Mullins, J Laurie, 1999, Management and Organizational Behavior, 7th Edition, Financial Times Pitman

The organization that I will describe today is where I work, at Applause’s. Here we have a vertical structure that consists of the owner, general manager, four managers, and all employees directly below them. The owner has complete control and say over everything that goes on in the restaurant. The general manager receives information on how to run and operate from the owner and relay that information down to the four members of management directly below him. Their Jobs are to collect information from the general manager and use that to complete their tasks and engage the employees under them.

Each member of management has their own crew that they run, create schedules for, and help when problems arise. There is the kitchen manager who runs the kitchen crew and oversees the kitchen employees schedules, the food prep, and cleaning. There is also the bar manager who creates bartender schedules and training, as well as liquor costs and control. The staff manager creates schedules for the hosts and servers, controls the flow of the seating and dining experience, and ensures that the customers are happy.

Finally the fourth anger is the assistant manager who can help out all managers with their duties and has basically the same responsibilities as the others but without a direct pool of employees. If business gets poor he will be able to assist every area of the restaurant. This form of organization varies from a horizontal structure because, although there are several managers on one level and all employees on one level, all employees report to a separate manager who resolves any issues, problems, or conflicts.

There is no confusion as to who to report to and information is kept organized and accurate because there is only one person to report to. A horizontal structure in my company would have several managers for each section of the restaurant. There would be two or more kitchen managers, staff managers, bar managers and assistant managers. Although the assistant manager helps out with everything in the restaurant, there is still only one manager for each area of the restaurant.

Another form of organization would be a functional form of organization where the organizations “are specialized and grouped according to business unction’s and the skills they require: production, marketing, human resources, research and development, finance, accounting, and so forth” (Bateman & Snell, 2011). The company I work for is similar to this form because all areas of the restaurant are separated into several areas where one person runs, maintains and regulates what goes on in that area.

The only real downside of this type of organization is if it were in a very large company. Information and workloads may become too great for one person to handle. In this case, information can get lost and radioactivity can slow because of management becoming over worked. As the book states, “this type of structure may be most appropriate in smaller business settings and if the business becomes fragmented it may have difficulty bringing new products to customers and responding quickly to customer needs” (Bateman & Snell, 2011).

I do not feel like the marketing department has anything to do with how the company’s organizational structure because it is a chain restaurant. Therefore marketing is done at another location and does not interfere with how this branch is run. The name goes for the finance area, although they are pretty tight on the financial aspect so I feel like a vertical structure was chosen to save money. If they had a horizontal structure they would need to spend additional money on extra employees and or managers.

Human resources’ is also an area I feel is not affecting how the structure of our branch is run. However operations do affect how the structure is set up. Our shifts and workload is directly affected by the business that comes in. If there is a lot of business we will all have plenty of shifts and be able to work enough to make accessory money. If business gets poor enough all employees will be cut and management will take over and do our Jobs. I always hear the managers’ talk about labor costs to sales and when sales are low people are asked to leave to save money.

I think that by having a vertical structure the restaurant saves the most money because people and managers not only have one division of employees but are crossed trained in order to save money when needed. When looking at geographic, organizational, customer based, product, marketing channels, and personalization organizational design, these help determine which structure best suits the company I work for because we base the work we do (how much and for how long) entirely on sales and revenue that the company brings in.

When you get into the human recourse and marketing area of the company the Jobs are stable and not reliant on sales. The organizational structure that we have is based off of customers. The larger part of the company would have maybe a horizontal structure when we get into marketing and there might be several managers controlling this rear because the demand for new food, advertisements, and ways to save money are a never-ending need which means that many brains are needed and that they will pay more people to work these Jobs which means the need creates the organizational structure of a horizontal structure.

Because the actual restaurant is also customer based it means that based on sales, the structure is determined by the customer. If sales are high we can have more people on shift. If sales are low they have to ask people to leave and cut shifts so a vertical organization is ideal because each anger knows how to perform the employee tasks and can take over if necessary.

Also by having a vertical organization the company is saving money on the restaurant level because they do not have to hire multiple people to do one Job. In the end the company I work for, on the restaurant level has adopted a vertical form of organization which I feel is the best option because it saves money by adapting to a customer needs based environment. One manager monitors and controls many employees.

Abstract The research sets out to evaluate the impact of employee motivation, Leadership and fellowship and the organizational culture of Dilemma Travel Sir Lankan with regard to employee performance and gaining competitive advantage in its respective market. This research enables me to highlight my time working at Dilemma Travels and to identify problems with regard to the proposed topics and to recognize possible solutions within the frameworks of Human Resource Management.

Dilemma Travel Sir Lankan Dilemma Travels is one of Sir Land’s leading destination management companies which boasts over 35 years of experience. Formerly which is known as Hem Tours, and in 2009 Hem Tours merged with Dilemma Travel Thailand. Their main focus is to provide customize quality driven travel experiences to their valued customers in the world. Their service Includes representing tour operations, handling frequent travelers and group Inclusive tours, transport services etc.

From an Internal point of view they value employees need to learn and grow to reach desired heights and to fulfill career aspirations. To support this Dilemma Travels Sir Lankan provides recognized training programs, career guidance for new employees to develop inherent capabilities and acquire new skills. With an understanding of the fact that continues learning is essential for professional growth for an individual and corporate level the management Invests considerable amount of resources of employees for them to develop their competencies.

The recognition provided for the talented employee group working at Dilemma Travels, handsome rewards, compensation packages that challenges the highest in the country, attractive annual performance bonuses, medical insurances and weekly fitness programs for eligible employees are some of the motivations boosters used by the company. With this level of Importance and considering the current state of Dilemma Travels and their operations with regard to their culture, leadership and the level of motivation provided for employees the difference between current practices and possible improvements must be addressed.

Problem Statement Considering the current working standards of Dilemma Travel Sir Lankan it is evident that the majority of the younger employees have considerable room for expansion to better themselves as professionals. But in recent years these professionals seeking other opportunities opt to leave the company In search of career progression. This Issue has given me the motivation to find out the reasons behind this Issue. With this in mind I conducted the research in order to find out the route causes contributing to this problem.

This study will show the level of motivation and employee satisfaction within Dilemma Travel Sir Lankan which will enable me to identify said problems, if there are any with regard to the given criteria. If identified to formulate solutions or to give recommendations accordingly. 1. What forms of motivation are available to employees of the Dilemma Travel Sir Lankan? 2. What factors motivate workforce most in the Dilemma Travel Sir Lankan? . What role(s) does motivation play on employees’ performance in Dilemma Travel Sir Lankan? 4. What is the correlation between motivation and employee performance in the Dilemma Travel Sir Lankan?

Understanding the importance of employee motivation Increased Productivity: With motivated employees from an internal or from an external source shows passion for work which in turn provides better performance. If motivation is provided employees will work hard to set and reach goals. Companies that offers challenging jobs must provide a framework that lets the employee know that the management rusts their abilities to perform which gives them confidence to complete their given tasks. This sort of attitudes of the work force brings forth increase productivity which is very beneficial for an organization. Bimodal Bath, 2011) Improved Employee Morale: In order to boost employee morale continues motivation is necessary. A work force with high morale is ready to take up any challenge without any issue. This high surface team created in the employee’s mindset provides added values for an organization with less absenteeism and employee conflicts. (Bimodal Bath, 2011) Increase Loyalty: Increased loyalty is gained by an organization with employee motivation. Recruiting and training new staff is an expensive task for any company therefore a loyal work force is essential to gain a good reputation in the market and to reduce this added expenditure. Chowder, M. (1997),) Better Creativity: The passion towards their Jobs enables employees to express their views and ideas freely. This fact gives them the assurance and the understanding of their important position within the organization so that they can contribute more towards the betterment of themselves that further brings benefits for the company. Enhancing the creative factor is therefore essential and the manages have to design a motivational structure and a leadership style that facilitates employees in providing new suggestions, ideas and methods of expansion with regard to delivering cost effective performance. (N.

D. Baboon, 2011) Individual growth and Improvement A motivated workforce takes up new tasks regardless of how challenging it might be and would provide best efforts in completing them. For this reason further learning and training programs are essential. The environment created within an organization tit regard to completion is also an added motivational factor for employees to increase performance. All these factors comes together in forming expertise within a workforce of an organization. These experts and their efforts must be carefully evaluated and appreciated by given the appropriate appraisal and promotion opportunities.

Criteria 1: Out of 40 employees, questionnaire has been distributed to 10 males and 10 females as per table 1. 1 below. 1. 1 IP -Increased Productivity MIME -Increased Employability IL -Incrementally SC-Better Creativity GIG -Individual Growth and Improvement years. Most of respondents are found from the age of 18 – 24 range and there are no employees found above 45 years from study area. Table 1. Present the age distribution of employees. 1. BC-Better Creativity 18 years to 24 years category shows tremendous growth of productivity, morale, loyalty, better creativity and individual growth and improvement comparing to other age categories. This category represents teenagers and very young crowd of the company who are mainly working in the operational level and at a trainee level. And according to Abraham Moscow in his Hierarchy of Need, those within this category are preoccupied with higher order needs such as esteem and self-actualization, having had their lower order needs taken care off (Moscow,1943).

Criteria 3: A motivated person has the awareness of specific goals which must be achieved in specific ways; therefore he/she directs its effort to achieve such goals (Nell et al. , 2001). Motivated person has more energy to achieve their specific goals than denominated person. In Dilemma Travel Sir Lankan after observing along the staff categories (Table 1. 3), I have noticed some changes between senior level, tactical level and operational level employees. When productivity and employee morale is considered operational level employees’ progression is higher than others.

Tactical level employees’ shows low values in all the categories. At the same time senior level member are showing progression in individual growth and improvement than others. 1. 3 While assessing above situation, we can identify lack of progression in tactical level employees. This means there are some difficulties in that level and there is less opportunity to move forward from tactical level. Factors that Motivate Employees at Work While considering motivational factors which we discussed earlier, the following is an overall assessment with regard to the employees of Dilemma Travel Sir Lankan.

According to Herrings (1959), Hygiene factors relate to satisfaction at work and also e suggest that managers can give their employees more authority to their Job and offer them direct and individual feedback in order to motivate and help employees to connect to their work (Wartime,2007). Productivity, morale, individual growth and improvement are higher than other factors. This means most of the employees are performing well and at the same time they are able to do the work with minimum supervision. On the other hand employee loyalty and their creativity have gone down.

This will affect the company growth indirectly hence employees searching better opportunities for their career development opt to leave the company. Dilemma Travel Sir Lankan” should take necessary actions to build up employee loyalty and their creativity. The Rennin’s Liker Theory could be adopted in such instances where it mainly focuses on high performing managers changing their perspective and addressing key motivating factors which enables these frustrated employees to change their own perspective and helps them to be accepted in a ‘supportive’ group.

Findings Forms of motivation available to workers The motivational packages given to the workforce at Dilemma Travel is considerably inadequate. This situation is substantially worse in the operational level. At the actual level it shows similar trend as to the operational level. The senior management however are entitled to professional allowances, entertainment allowances, as some of the added incentives available to them. The room for improvement and career progression is considerably poor at the tactical level.

Employees at Dilemma Travel Sir Lankan confirm that if the working environment is conductive they will be motivated to give better performance. Some of them perceive efficient work. As stated by Herbert (1959) the hygiene factors effects and concentrate on workplace satisfaction. Employee Job Performance: The Role of Motivation Motivation being crucial factor as presented by Robert (2005) a manager’s Job is to ensure the work done through employee is possible.

With regard to Job performance the evidence show that encouragement is crucial and conferred to the workforce who will help them to expand and deliver. Reward for Good Work Done At Dilemma Travel Sir Lankan monitory rewards in the forms of overtime allowances and in form of bonuses are provided as preferred forms of motivation. According to Broom (1964) “people are motivated by how much they want something and how likely they think they are going to get it” It is advisable for the management to reward employees by understanding their desires and structuring their incentives accordingly.

Leadership and fellowship Effective leadership is a personal role that requires the blending of motivational, strategic and management skills to align focus, energy and drive whilst creating a culture which encourages individual thinking and attainment. Ultimately leadership is about pushing ideas and thoughts forward, bearing responsibility and aspirations to bring out the confidence of others. Leaders are required to have greater project leadership and influencing skills than in the past.

Summary of some key leadership skills: Managerial – keep track of progress against targets and take action on slippage Trustworthy – speak honestly and openly and expect the same from others Aware – understand each individual’s abilities, limitations, motives and drivers Influential – use vision, argument and important stakeholders to sway opinion Visionary – know what needs to be achieved and how to go about achieving it Inspirational – create and bring to life an image of how things can be ASCII (1998) have narrated that ‘Managing People’ a Critical Role for Every Manager, ND when it comes to managing people, all managers must be concerned to some degree.

The leaders at Dilemma Travels must focus on the following, Transparent and innovative system of recruitment and induction of employees. Better and extensive training facilities and chances. Programmed / designated on Job training and courses. Strategies implemented to provide mental relaxation within the environment. Audit and control system is standardized. The ‘time management’ in private organization is implemented. Working under innovative concept of efficiency / effectiveness. Flexibility in ideas and procedure implementation. New Technology is given preference. Effective and prompt means of communications are used. Personal welfare and efficiency of employees leads to better out put. 16. Probability of misuse of power.

At Dilemma Travels, the leaders are mainly chosen by the qualities and traits approach which states certain people have inherited characteristics or personality traits therefore limited training is provided for the managers with regard to managing people. This poses a number of drawbacks as situational factors and employee behavior within the organization is ignored. Almost all of the managers eve an autocratic behavioral style of leadership that often neglect employee input towards decision making. Many tactical level staff believes that a democratic approach by the managers would be beneficial for employee motivation and for the organization as a whole. An argument can be made for an autocratic method at the senior managerial level where quick decisions must be made and team agreement is not always necessary for a successful outcome.

With Linen’s three participatory leadership styles conclude that the most effective style is democratic and extensive alternative styles lead to revolution and denomination. Understanding the situation and formulating contingencies are some key skills that a leader should consider. The three types of forces (situation, follower, and leader) that were identified by Attainment and Schmidt in 1958, understood and used properly could benefit the managers at Dilemma Travels. The main problem that I see is the lack of training provided to the people who considered being leaders of the company. The level of action centered leadership that is needed mainly in the operational and tactical levels of the organization is inconsistent that forces employees to show denominated behavior to work with different managers.

When assessing the qualities with the transformational method a leader is able to examine and search for the needs and motives of others while seeking a higher agenda of needs. Acting as the change agent and a visionary a transformational leader is capable of inspiring people and with a clear vision is able to inject enthusiasm and energy. At Dilemma Travels it is ideal to adopt this method of leadership as transformational leaders show integrity, and they know how to develop a robust and inspiring vision of the future. They deviate people to achieve this vision, they manage its delivery, and they build ever stronger and more successful teams.

However, managers must often need to adapt different styles to fit a specific group or situation, and this is why it’s useful to gain a thorough understanding of other styles as well. A method must be developed at Dilemma Travels in order to provide this knowledge to the managers with a structured training programmer that will enable them to use these theories for the betterment of the organization. Organizational culture – the “personality’ of an organization that guides how employees think and act on the Job – is central to the values, beliefs, inter-personal behaviors, and attitudes to stakeholders that determine how the organization does its Job.

Culture is a key factor not only in achieving organizational goals, but in attracting and keeping desirable employees, creating a positive public image, and building respectful relationships with stakeholders. In his seminal 1992 work entitled Organizational Culture and Leadership, Edgar H. Scheme, Professor Emeritus in the Sloan School of Management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, offered a definition of what he called “an empirically based abstraction”. “Organizational culture”, he said, is “a pattern of shared basic assumptions that was learned by a group as it solved its problems of external adaptation and internal integration.

Culture is important because it shapes: What the organization considers to be “right decisions” What employees consider to be appropriate behaviors and how they interact with each other within the organization How individuals, work groups and the organization as a whole deal with work assigned to them The speed and efficiency with which things get done The organization”s capacity for and receptiveness to change The attitudes of outside stakeholders to the organization In short, an organization”s culture can be supportive of – or hinder – the implementation of new initiatives and the achievement of its overall goals. Does the organizational culture at Dilemma Travels need a change?

As highlighted by the study many employees at Dilemma Travels are unhappy with the working conditions and the environment. To solve this issue the best possible way is to start at the core framework of the organization which is its culture and move on to the leadership styles and employee motivation. When an organization is faced by a changing marketplace or regulatory environment, or has identified the need for a shift in strategic direction, the implementation of a new technology, or the introduction of new processes, the established culture may impede progress unless it, too, is changed. For that reason, the success of major organizational change initiatives are almost always dependent on internal cultural change” Edgar H. Scheme. Circumstances change Stakeholder expectations The demographics of the organization change New technologies are deployed A proactive method must be adopted at Dilemma Travels in order to bring this hanged. A step-by-step top down approach could be beneficial for the organization in this regard. Design and Build phases of implementation Visioning session(s) with key stakeholders and consultation assessment (performance against plan) Leadership coaching & action planning Team renewal (team-building) Change readiness Identification & enrolment of change agents within the organization Identification of impacts of new technology & processes on individuals agent training Employee Workshops Implementation stage Executive briefings on the initiative Change leadership plan Communication plan

Orientation session for project team members Training plan for team members Change leadership training Team building sessions Leadership alignment The deliver and operate face Workforce transition support including related HER policies & programs training performance evaluation compensation reward and recognition career development and planning Skills gap analysis Change The management should ensure that communication process should flow in all directions, upward, downward, in parallel to reach outsiders results. For the operational level staff providing added rewards along with their monthly alarm would be an ideal method to increase motivation. The poorly structured working schedule for all the level of employees is another issue that needs to be addressed. Identifying employees living condition, traveling methods, non-work related commitments and responsibilities an arranging possible methods to create a better scenario is another contributing factor to increase motivation.

Creating new Job opportunities which will help the current employees with regard to career progression is one of the essential steps that could be taken to keep the expertise within the company Leadership needs assessment for improvement. For improvement of behavior skill and traits of personality to perform better leadership roles. Positive reinforcement methods must be taken with regard to new innovative ideas. At the present stage an employees efforts to contribute new ideas to a certain department or the company itself is constantly met with an indulgence but a pathetic approach by the senior management. (Negative Reinforcement) This contributes to discouragement of making further suggestions and may even consider of leaving the job.

In an instance, by comparison if an employee is encouraged to assisting in the placement by providing new ideas (Positive Reinforcement) would benefit and generate better ideas. When considering distribution of rewards the management must understand that each employee idea of an ideal incentive would be different from another. It is prudent for the management to reward workers according to their hearts desires than providing them with something that may not please them. Which intern creates a denominating factor believing that they are not properly compensated for their efforts The research shows that many employees of Dilemma Travel Sir Lankan would

The Real Mary King’s Close Is 5* visitor attraction in Edinburgh and It is located In the heard of Edinburgh Old Town. The tours are running underground, beneath buildings of Royal Mile. There is an alley of the streets and spaces right there. The close was very busy and most vibrant street in asses. 2) Planning the staff team Staff planning Is concerned with optimizing the use of the organization’s human resources, now and in the future. To predict workload in the ARMS, it should be considered the number of visitors from previous years.

The ARMS was planning initially 60,000 visitors per year. Since that time the visitor number has increased to 190,000 visitors per year due to new marketing campaigns and promotion of the visitor attraction itself. When planning the staff team the following should be considered: a) Manpower requirements The entertainment Is an essential component of tours provided In the ARMS. Most of the tour guides working for this visitor attraction are actors. They can easily identify with characters of person presented while on the tour.

The members of staff working in the ARMS are: Manager under Manager Marketing Manager Supervisor Tour Guides Retail Staff Cleaners Many roles are carried out at head office of the Continuum Group. B) Budget availability Whatever the objectives of the visitor attraction, its main financial management framework will be its budget. When planning the staff team, the type of contract and number of employees hired has to be within the allocated budget for the payroll. The current allocated budget for payroll within ARMS is over IEEE,OHO per year. This may Increase due to the Increase in visitor number to the attraction and the demand. Mime basis in the ARMS. The rest are employed part-time or on zero hours contracts due to the economic recession and to cut costs. ARMS increases temporary and part- time contracts for a high season in the summer and during the Edinburgh Fringe Festival (August-September). C) Essential skills and qualifications, experience required To gain a Job in visitor attraction is essential to have experience in customer facing environment and excellent verbal communication skills in English. To have a degree is desirable but it depends on the position applied.

A manager does need some degree whereas the tour guide should have at least interest or understanding of Edinburgh history. The other skills required for the Job in the ARMS are: Positive Attitude Good interpersonal skills Ability to work within a team Ability to use own initiative Ability to work under pressure Able to remember and recall facts Foreign language skills but it is only the advantage ) Use of person specification criteria and Job description in the recruiting process The personnel specification is a description of the human characteristics required by the Job holder and is derived from the demands of the Job description.

Many organizations use a framework to prepare personnel specifications and two widely used are Aleck Rodgers 7 point plan and John Munroe Framer’s 5 fold framework. 3) The function of a Job description Once the Job has been designed a Job description can be produced. This is essential, not only as part of the recruitment process but also to help with training, reward systems and staff appraisals. The Job description provides the employee with a clear outline of their duties, responsibilities and most important contributions needed from a position.

The example of Job description for a tour guide is attached in an Appendix 1. 4) The function of a person specification The person specification focuses on the type of person who might be the ideal Job holder. It may include the personal attributes and qualities, training and skills, experience in similar post would be also beneficial. The requirements for person specifications are likely listed in order to their priority and classified as ‘essential’ or ‘desirable’ for the specific Job. The example of personnel specification is attached in an Appendix 2.

The Continuum Group is unique in operating a group of cultural attractions commercially. Their main objective is to maintain the high quality of their customer service to achieve a growth of visitor number and to make a profit for them and their partners. Continuum Group owns and operates a number of leading visitor attractions in the UK and welcomes about 1 million visitors per year. (Scion, 2014) The ARMS is one of the tourist attractions that belong to the Continuum Group. The ARMS is an award-winning heritage attraction which provides underground tours to ore than 150,000 visitors a year.

In the ARMS, the manager duties include leading and developing team of staff who influences every aspect of the customer experience to bring the stories of the hidden street to life, helping ensure that this truly special place continues to run smoothly and focus on managing all the on-site visitor attraction activities. (Guardian News, 2014) The tour guides working in ARMS are talented actors and interpreters. They have to be knowledgeable of the site attraction, to provide customer service in a high level of standard, be able to interpret he customers, and be working under the Health & Safety conditions while on the tour. ) The Individual’s Contribution Individual’s roles As mentioned above, the management approach adopted at the visitor attraction is really important. The approach taken will influence the staff attitudes and Job satisfaction, and therefore will have a direct impact on the visitor experience at the attraction. Successful attractions tend to be those which are effectively managed. It is significant that the attraction has experienced professional managers across all aspects of the operation.

Attractions without such management are often weak in nee or more areas, including marketing, financial control, management of people and strategic planning (Swarthmore, 2002). The role of guiding is an important part of ARMS. Tour guides are employed to lead a group of visitors and provide them with an informative, entertaining and historic insight into a specific tour. The guides’ performance influences the visitor experience and their demand on the attraction. Individual employees can play a very important role in helping a business achieve teamwork and operations success.

The business needs to realism that any person who works for the organization has their own motives and needs and that the individual will fulfill the business needs if it also meets their individual needs. Teamwork There are several within an organization. Some of them are listed below: Reduction of risk of failure while working in a team, the burden is not falling on an individual’s shoulder Division of work – each person, who works in a team, execute any task of assigned work with the best possible aptitude. The division of work also assure the work is done on time. Team. The individual put the maximum efficiency on the work they are the best in or have knowledge and skills to do it. Team building Very often organizations use team building activities or events to build motivation and support at the workplace, improve communication, increase morale, improve productivity or Just break the ice to help get to know each other better within a team. In the ARMS, the management team uses social functions and occasions as a source of team building for employees – Halloween party or Christmas night out.

Retaining staff loyalty It is important to retain staff loyalty within organization. It helps to motivate employees to work for the benefit of the team and the business itself. It also helps to educe recruitment costs and training which has to be provided to new staff. Some of the methods include investing into the employees: To give the opportunity to employees to enhance their professional skills by training and development To help them improve their skills and allow them to rotate between different roles within the workplace to avoid stereotype forcing them to leave the organization. Entrepreneur, 2014) 7) The Recruitment and selection process Many personnel practitioners of organization spend a great deal of their time engaged in the activities associated with the recruitment and selection of staff. The response practitioner has to be knowledgeable about the wider issues involving recruitment and selection decisions, such as legislation and good practice, and the range of recruitment sources and selection methods, as well as being skilled in interviewing and assessing potential employees.

Examples of poor practice in recruitment and selection decisions which result in unnecessary costs to the organization are: Making mistakes – failure in redesigning by making changes in new vacancy 0 will have cost implications because the Job has not been designed to suit current needs and possibility of potential savings has been ignored. Recruiting the wrong person may result in their leaving or being dismissed in the short term or requiring more training than was assuming in the long term.

A hurried attempt to meet an advertising deadline in local paper 0 it may result in incorrect copy which misleads potential applicants or discourage them from applying. (Malcolm,2005) The steps from recruitment, selection to final induction are listed below: Produce Application Packs Design the Job descriptions Design the personnel specifications Assist in short-listing Arrange the interviews/tests Correspond with candidates Check their references Maintain records

Devise induction programmed 8) Investing in Human Resources Human resources are a long term asset of any business, especially when it comes to strategy. The amount of money spent on employees and their learning can be seen as helping the employees to learn better skills that will help the business achieve its goals with more efficiency. The goal of human resources should be to bring the employees skills out and use them to the business best advantage. Human resource management is concerned with obtaining organizing, training, motivating and rewarding the people needed by the organization. Malcolm, 2005) The organization can gain a competitive advantage over less progressive competitors by developing its human resources to improve employee skills and increase their loyalty to the organization. (Yahoo, 2014) Human resources should be about the development of both fundamentals of management as well as corporate values. This means that any investment in human resource management should achieve both of these goals. A) Customer care training The ARMS is an attraction owned by the Continuum Group which has had a set customer care strategy.

The Continuum Group uses the same customer care policy for all owned attractions around the I-J. Staff at the ARMS adopted the basic and clear set of standards outlined by this policy. It is used well every day at the visitor attraction to achieve a high level of customer care and maintain customer satisfaction. Every aspect of the customer care policy is vital to the success of the Real Mary Kings Close which is outlined in this report. The ARMS participates in the following two customer service training programmed: One Hundred Thousand Welcomes It is a customer service training programmer in Scotland.

It gives the staff the ability to deliver excellent customer service, benefiting the staff, visitors and the company. There are two types of programmer provided – one for the management staff and one for front of house staff. Welcome Host Customer Care Training It is a customer service training programmer which helps staff to obtain new customer service and improve communication skills as well as the knowledge of local services. Expectation. They receive a recognized certificate in the end of the training. Both of these training programmed are significant to the success of the ARMS operation.

The members of staff are given the best knowledge of visitor needs and requirements and how the staff themselves can exceed the expectations of every suitor within the ARMS. B) Investors in People It is a specialist in leading and managing people and its mission is to help to achieve objectives through the staff of the business. In 2008 there were almost 40,000 organizations currently working with Investors in People. It is supported by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (IBIS). The ARMS received a bronze award from Investors in People and was also a finalist in the Scottish Thistle Awards in 2010.

The awards from the service training programmed are very important for the ARMS to show they do the right things, provide the excellent customer service and now what their customers need and want. 9) Training Induction training Before new employee becomes a tour guide, the special induction training program is provided by ARMS. Each new employee must be accompanied by an employee during the tour. New tour guides are provided with detailed scripts to learn in addition to a booklet which contains historical information needed for the tours.

They shadow five tours with general public and then are assigned a buddy. All training provided for new staff is given on site. The new tour guides are then expected to expand their tour in their own way and input their own extra information to make the our as interesting as possible. Product knowledge Product knowledge is a key to the success of the attraction at ARMS. The tour guides should be able to give an in-depth description on the close and how life was when it was used, as well as being able to answer many questions by visitors.

Health & Safety training As part of the Health & Safety regulations, all staff has to go through special training program before they start to work at the visitor attraction. This training is provided only once, however all employees should repeat the training while working at the attraction to keep the highest level of the customer service. The first aid training is provided only to the management team and they get certificate in the end of the training. This training is not provided for tour guides and it should be changed.

The tour guides are responsible for the visitors during the tours taken underground therefore the fast first aid would be necessary. 10) Training programmed and their benefits Benefits to the organization visitors, to know their expectation and needs By providing relevant training to the employees, it increases the customer satisfaction. Visitors would willing to visit attraction where know they do not waste a time and money. Enhance the reputation, people will speak about the attraction and recommend to friends and family. The image of the attraction will improve too.

Investing into employees means their loyalty to the organization Benefits to the employees The training programmer can motivate the staff to learn new things, to improve and to develop their skills Training makes the employee that they are part of organization “family’ With training provided, the tour guide can provide excellent customer service to the visitors while on the tour. They can be consequently rewarded by weekly award called “The Magic Award” by their colleagues or by customers’ feedback revived as “Service Excellence Nomination”. 1) Implications to the organization of poor training Low staff aptitude, skills and product knowledge No staff motivation Lack of improvement over time The staff leaving the company 0 poor quality of service 0 bad reputation – the customers’ negative feedbacks for tours, tour guides and attraction itself, by mouth 0 less number of visitors to the attraction 0 losing the customers now and in the future 12) The function of Staff Appraisals The organization is able to assess how each member of staff is working by conducting he staff appraisal.

The staff appraisal is an opportunity to evaluate the performance of employees at least once per year. It is managed through a discussion between staff members and management. These discussions provide agreements about objectives and the achievement of targets. The aim of the appraisal is to evaluate the work and priorities the individual employee’s future duties and development needs. The organization can identify its underachieving employees and either give them special attention to improve their performance, or begin the process of replacing them (eh, 2014)

The staff Rota is a list of employees who are working on any given day, week or month. Planning the amount of staff needed to be able to handle the daily and weekly workload of any business is essential. This can be achieved by using a planning Rota to make sure enough staff are available to cover the necessary work, but the business needs to be careful to make sure enough staff are included on the Rota as not enough employees on hand could have bad financial impacts on the business. The purpose to make staff Rota in advance is important for full time employees to give them statutory hours as stated in their contract and to cover holidays.

It is also important in high seasons (Summer, during the Fringe Festival) when the number of visitors increases, so the organization hires a seasonal staff and make staff Rota in advance, firstly to expand the tours and secondly can see the flowing visitors number by number of staff on a day. 14) Ineffective roster If the staff roster is not planned and made in advance it could have impact to the employees but mainly to the customers. While less staff is working during the shift it is more stressful, the employees can provide less effort on the customer service and customers are dissatisfied.

It is bad reputation for the attraction and it loses the customers now and in the future. The planning of staff Rota also helps to minimize the harmful effects of long shifts and reduce proceeding mistakes. 1 5) Conclusion As said in the beginning of the report the human resources are important in the business as they affect the operation of the attraction, the staff and the customers. The organization should put more effort on recruitment process and consecutive selection of staff to avoid unnecessary cost and mistakes. In the ARMS, the Health & Safety and First Aid training should be considered before new employees start their bob.

Furthermore, It explains the human resource actively of McDonald’s assistant Ltd and ending with an appropriate conclusions and recommendations that can improve the HARM strategy, HRS activities and the role of the HRS function within McDonald’s restaurant Ltd in order to achieve increased organizational performance. Introduction According to Armstrong M, (2003) human resource management is a strategic and coherent approach to the management of an organization’s most valued assets: the people working there who individually and collectively contribute to the achievements of its objective with the great efficiency.

The aim of HARM is to help the organization to achieve success with the help of people. HARM strategy Is an approach for making decisions on the plans of the organization. These plans are concerned with the employee relationship and its recruitment. Training development, performance management, rewards and employee strategies. The basic activities followed by HARM are that of providing services to internal customers. These include central management team leader, line managers and employees.

The services covering all the aspects of HARM Like human resource planning, recruitment and selection, employee development, employee rewards, health and safety management, employee relations and welfare. McDonald’s Restaurant Ltd. McDonald is the no. L fast food chain in world. It ranks among the top 10 most widely recognized brands around the world. The McDonald’s brand name Includes the name of Ronald McDonald, the Clown and Golden Arches. It has a worldwide chain of around 30,000 fast-food restaurants that prepare, package and sell a menu of ready to eat foods.

McDonald’s restaurants offer a substantially uniform menu for breakfast and daytime differently. Ray Crock was the first person who opened the McDonald’s restaurant In 1955. On the day of opening McDonald’s made a sale of $366. 2. In 1965 McDonald’s became a opened in Canada. In 1979 the happy meal for kids, compete with toy was introduced. By November 2003, McDonald’s had decided to discontinue its development of non-McDonald brands outside the United States. For the fiscal year ended Decembers, the company generated the revenues of $17,140. 5 million.

Human resource Strategies of McDonald’s restaurant Ltd According to Henry and Pettier (1986) Strategic human resource management has four meanings: The best use of planning. An approach to the business and management of personnel system based on an employment policy and manpower strategy. Matching human resource management activities and policies to some explicit business strategy. Seeing the people of the organization as a strategic resource for the achievements of competitive advantage. “Specific pattern of decisions and actions that managers take to achieve superior organizational performance. (Hill and Jones, 2001) The aim of strategic human resource management is to provide strategic capability by ensuring that the organization has the skilled, committed and well-motivated employees that needs to achieve constant competitive market. Strategic human source management should maintain a proper balance between soft and hard elements. Walker (1992), states that strategic human resource management as, the means of aligning the management of human resources with the strategic content of the business.

The main approaches to the development of human resource strategies as: 1) Best Practice Model 2) Contingency (Best fit) Models includes: 3 different schools of thought Strategic choices in terms of business life cycle of firm Strategy/structure configurations (“Lecture notes 2”) Best practice model The idea that a particular bundle of HRS practices have the potential to contribute to improved attitudes and behaviors, lower levels of absenteeism and labor turnover, and higher levels of productivity, quality and customer service, ultimately generation higher organizational performance and profitability. “Marching ton & Wilkinson, 2002: 177”) Comparison of McDonald’s HRS practices with the components of Best Practice HARM model: (Refer appendices 1) Employment security: To retain the best staff in the organization McDonald’s is paying high rate of pay to the staff plus employee meal discount card to every staff member and everyday free break-meal to every staff member. Selective hiring: more than 40% of staff in McDonald’s is promoted internally instead of taking directly from outside.

As I used to work in the kitchen at McDonald’s but now I am improving bit by bit. Proper training and classes are providing to the staff member for a particular designation. Self managed teams: every crewmen in McDonald’s works with the team spirit. A member of head of department takes 3 rounds a month to check the position of a particular store. This will in turn motivates the employee to work in a more efficient way and encourages the teamwork. Teamwork provides them with a chance to learn ewe skills and develop a sense of respect for each other.

High compensation contingent on organization: Performance reward system in McDonald’s is totally appraisal based not HTH performance based. In McDonald’s doing night shifts only can reward the creamers. Training to provide a skilled and motivated workforce: McDonald’s trains their creamers extensively on all food safety and food handling process. Trainees work shoulder to shoulder with crew trainers. They give proper knowledge from front counter to the grill area.

Ray Crock, the founder of McDonald’s believed that ” if you take care of your people the business take care of itself” Sharing information: From my personal experience in McDonald’s, I observed that the lowest level of employee like working as a crew member in the dinning area or the Hence the basis of above theory we can say that the McDonald’s is not following the best practice model completely. Best-Fit (Contingency) Models: There are three different schools of thought under best-fit model Business life cycle model: Generally there are 4 different stages of organizational development I. . Start-up, growth, maturity, decline. This model shows the critical human resource activities at different organizational or business unit stage. It is related to the human resource function like recruitment, selection and staffing, compensation and benefits, employee training and development and employer relation. During the Christmas time McDonald’s employee a lot and lot of number of employees to increase their sale. McDonald’s is trying to control the labor cost by employing part time labor like me.

For employees training and Development Company introduced lot of training programs. Proper classes are given to every crewmen extensively on all food safety and food handling process.. (Refer appendices 2) Strategy/structure configuration According to this model McDonald’s is focusing on quality, service, and cleanliness. McDonald’s thinks by providing good services, quality, and cleanliness, they can achieve 100% customer satisfaction.. (Refer appendices 3. Resources: Employee selection in McDonald’s is done with great care and in a systematic manner. The company arrange induction program so that every one can familiar with in the organization and its working style. Learning development: Special programs are designed to give the best possible start to the employees. The managers in the McDonald’s gain real-life work experience and re also able to apply that knowledge in corporate sector. Employee relation: In McDonald’s every employee tries to maintain better relationship with each other.

Some times there is an informal communication between the staff, which increases the motivation of the employees to work efficiently in the company. Reward system: Attractive salary packages, free life insurance to employee after 3 years, employee discount card and free meal to every employee during their shifts are offered to retain our services and us. Between the employees and the management and results are driven in forms of profit. McDonald’s trains their creamers extensively on all food safety and food handling process.

Trainees work shoulder to shoulder with crew trainers Conclusion After discussing the above models it shall be concluded that McDonald’s is still growing. The company keeps discovering new markets, product and services. The company human resource strategies are really in favor of its employees. Company provides a lot of benefits to its employees. The company focus on the quality, services and cleanliness. Human resource management is seen as an integral part of the overall organizational structure.

Recruitment and selection policy of the company is fine. McDonald’s provides a lot of benefits to the employee which help to motivate the employee in working. At the end, on behalf of my personal experience I would like to conclude that McDonald’s has implemented its human resource strategies and integrated it with corporate strategy in an appropriate manner, which is reflected in their success. Answer 2 HUMAN RESOURCE ACTIVITIES The basic activities followed by Human resource management are that of providing services to internal customers.

These include central management team leader, line angers and employees. The services covering all the aspects of Human resource management like human resource planning, recruitment and selection, employee development, employee rewards, health and safety management, employee relations. I am summarizing McDonald’s human resource activities in the following three areas: Performance management Motivation and rewards Human resource development 1 .

Performance management Performance management can be defined as a strategic and integrated approach to delivering sustained success to organizations by improving the performance of the people who work in them and by developing the capabilities of teams and individual contributors. (“Armstrong and Barron, 1998”) organization, individuals and teams by understanding and managing the performance of staff with in an agreed framework of planned goal. Performance management by McDonald’s McDonald’s thinks that the performance feed back is an ongoing process.

The sooner the problem is communicated to the employee the sooner it can be addressed and corrected. If the supervisor in McDonald’s believes and employee isn’t meeting expectations for his or her Job then it’s the supervisor responsibility to give the feed jack until performance is up to standard (“Data provided by Mr.. John Manley, Store manager, Cross Chipping, Coventry”) The methods for checking the performance of McDonald’s employees are as follows: Performance review (PR) Observation check list (COOL) Performance review: in McDonald’s every after 6-month there is an interim performance review of every employee.

After Judging the performance the supervisor can rise the pay of the employee and can give the promotion to the employee as he can promote crewmen to a Training scrod. Observation checklist: COOL is another method of Judging the performance of the employees. Observation checklist can be taken at any time depending upon the crewmen and a manager. Due to this COOL managers can Judge the employee performance and give remarks for his performance. This helps the staff to get the promotion. In McDonald’s consistent underperformed or repeated under performance is tolerated.

If an employee hasn’t met expectation in terms of performance results within the last 18-months, he or she may be terminated or put “on notice” and give a 30 day action plan to improve his or her performance. According to McDonald’s Performance management is a difficult task. Firstly, they think there might be chances of misjudgment. Second, it is very difficult to set the objectives of each Job so that the performance of each employee is Judged. Third, it is time consuming process, and, lastly, there might be a conflict between development and reward outcomes.

But in spite of these difficulties Performance management also help McDonald’s first, to increase the motivation of employee. Second, it increases the competitive spirit between the employees. Thirdly, it helps in continuous feed back, and, lastly, it helps McDonald’s to select people for development. What is motivation? A motivate is a reason for doing something. There are two types of motivation as originally identified by Herbert, Amasser & Sanderson (1957). Intrinsic motivation: The self-generated factors that influences employee to move in a particular direction.

These factors include the feelings that the work is important. Extrinsic motivation: What should be done to motivate employee. This includes rewards, such as pay rise, praise, promotion and punishment. Hence reward is the main part of motivation. The various rewards provided by the McDonald’s to motivate its employees are as follows: GAP buster Bonus: In GAP buster Bonus scheme, a mystery shopper take three rounds in a month, using the overall average of all three monthly visits, top 20 winning restaurants in each region will be identified and announced as the winner.

All hourly paid employees like me in the winning restaurant will receive a bonus of 50 p for every hour worked during the pay period for which the bonus is paid. Free life insurance after 3 years: every employee working in McDonald’s get the 3 years free life insurance. This reward motivates the employee to work with their full efficiency. Employee discount card: Each and every employee in McDonald’s gets a discount card. On behalf of that card any employee can get the meal at a half price. Free break-meal to employee: Every day to every employee of McDonald’s get a free meal on his break.

This would really motivate the employee to work with their full Free car to store manager: A free car is provided by the McDonald’s to the every store manager. Store manager’s doesn’t need to pay the car insurance even. The car schemes provided by the McDonald’s is really encourages the store managers to work hard with their full efficiency. Customer Satisfaction Review (CARS): It is the annual observation by the top-level management of McDonald’s. Once a year, on the Founder’s day all office employees leave their desk, put on a uniform and work in a restaurant for a day so that they can remember in what business they are. “Gilmore F, 1999”) 3. Human resource development Human resource development is concerned with the development of learning, team and organizational performance. The key elements of human resource development are: Education: In McDonald’s the store manager of every store takes regular classes to provide general information to its employees. Book like quality reference guide (GREG) provided to every employee to increase the knowledge of staff members. After going through this “GREG” book anyone can apply for the exam of training scrod.

Learning: The more and more employee work, more and more he get the experience. After having experience in McDonald’s staff members can learn a lot of things. The working speed of every staff member is increased bit by bit as more as they will get involved in work. Development: After getting the practical and theoretical knowledge, there is a growth of person’s ability and potential. In McDonald’s crewmen can apply for training scrod, after having the theoretical and practical knowledge. Training: McDonald’s provides training to its employees and the employees of its independent franchisees.

The management-training centre of McDonald’s is Hamburger University, with a faculty of 30 resident professors. The extensive training provided at this training centre includes basics of their operations and business. Almost 65,000 managers in McDonald’s restaurants have graduated from Hamburger University till date. McDonald’s also manages ten international training centers, including Hamburger Universities in England, Japan, Germany and Australia. McDonald’s trains their creamers extensively on all food safety and food handling process. Trainees work shoulder to shoulder with crew trainers.

The general conclusion drawn from the above analysis is that McDonald’s is using the best of its human resources and making optimum use of it. In McDonald’s managers support their team members rather than dictate to them. The manager Judges the performance of creamers and helps them in their promotion. Fast food is becoming an increasingly competitive sector. McDonald’s should differentiate itself with new formats and new menu items. Rewards provided by McDonald’s to its employee help it to motivate its employee. But if McDonald’s gives time-to-time promotion to every employee, it would be very beneficiary to motivate its employee.

McDonald’s is increasing its revenue by giving proper training to its employee. Training improves the efficiency of the employee and helps McDonald’s to increase its profits. As earlier, I said McDonald is the no. L fast food chain in world. But still there are some chances of improvement in McDonald’s restaurant Ltd. The recommendations to improve HARM strategy, HRS activities, and the role of the HRS function within the McDonald’s in order to achieve increased organizational performance are as follows: McDonald’s should focus on adding more customers to existing restaurants, rather than Just adding more restaurants.

This would really help McDonald’s to increase its revenue. One of the main weaknesses of McDonald’s is lack of product innovation. McDonald’s last break-through product launch was chicken Nugget in 1983. So McDonald’s should add some new items to its menus which customer want. As a result of working in McDonald’s the employees are not multi skilled. Due to that the labor cost of McDonald’s is very high. McDonald’s should train his or her employee in a multi skilled way, which help every employee to work in the kitchen and on the front counter as well. McDonald’s must be flexible with its employee.

When ever the employee ask for off or changing the shift to study, the managers should understand them and solve their problem. This would really help to motivate the employees. There must be a commitment between a manager and an employee. The most of the crew members in our store are not satisfied with the pay and reward system. McDonald’s should increase the pay of its employee and give some time-to- time rewards to every employee. Praise is also a good motivator to the employees. McDonald’s can enhance the taste, adding variety and extending value menus to its food.

Section one: Introduction to SEMCO I don’t want to know where Semco is headed. It doesn’t unnerve me to see nothing on the company’s horizon. I want Semco and its employees to ramble through their days, to use instinct, opportunity, and ingenuity to choose projects and ventures. ” – Ricardo Semler, CEO, Semco Semco was established in 1953 by Austrian engineer Antonio Curt Semler. Company started with manufacturing of centrifuges for vegetable oil industry but soon owing to development in naval area it sown its seeds in manufacturing of variety of equipments like hydraulic & load pumps, axles,etc.

In 1980’s when Ricardo Frank Semler, founder’s son took over, company explored various other segments & started manufacturing industrial refrigeration equipments, air-conditioners, food processors & mixers for chemical & mining industry. In 1990’s company moved into innovative service area. ERM Brazil (Environmental consultancy), Cushman & Wakefield (real estate consultancy), Semco Johnson controls (facilities in industrial sector), are the classic examples of companies efforts to establish network across the globe. Year 2000 onwards Semco extended its arms into electrical and civil maintenance services by forming Semco Manutencao.

It formed partnership with Pitney Bowes & marked its existence in postal and document management solutions. Semco venture also entered bio-energy market and formed BRENCO (Brazilian Renewable Energy Company) in 2006. (web1) Purpose of Study To study standard organizational design & structure, theoretical models of human resource planning in terms of recruitment, retention, success planning & to compare these aspects with similar models operational in Semco organization, to define the deviations & to critically evaluate the approach used by Semco. Organizational Structure Conventional v/s “Semco Way”

Every organization has its own structure & culture. Organizational structure is basically framework which can be defined and altered over a period of time while culture cannot be altered. It is very difficult to design or change culture within the organization. Structure and culture within organization goes hand in hand. It is essential for the organization designer to classify tasks based on mainly four concepts of Function, Territory, Product & Time-Period in order to get work done in organized manner. (Torrington, 1998) “Organizations are as different and varied as the nations and the societies of the world.

They have different cultures-sets of values & norms ad beliefs-reflected in different structures & systems and the cultures are affected by the events of the past and by the climate of the present, by the technology of the type of work, by their aims and the kind of people that work in them” (Handy 1993, p. 180) best defines the organizational structure & culture co-relation. Three forms of conventional organizational structures are compared with the democratic form of Semco’s organizational structure. THE ENTREPRENEURIAL FORM OF STRUCTURE CONVENTIONAL THEME 1. This form emphasis central power. . Power is concentrated in hands of one person or a group called as ‘key entity’. 3. As the business expands this type of structure becomes unviable since too many peripheral decisions cannot be made without taking approval of the ‘key entity’, 4. This form is suitable for small and growing organizations as they owe their existence to expertise or initiative or just one or two members. 5. It is difficult if by any means ‘key entity’ leaves the organization. It would be difficult to maintain business in the event of new non potential ‘key entity’. SEMCO WAY 1.

It is a unique kind of ‘open management model’ wherein power and rights are equally distributed amongst the group members from the respective departments, but care is taken to see that it’s not misused. 2. The hierarchical signs are removed, everyone is treated equal. 3. Peripheral decisions can be made by implementing democratic way. 4. This form is suitable for developed and expanding organizations which are financially strong. 5. Even if the ‘key entity’ leaves the organization the system is in place and the process of production or delivering services is not affected. FUNCTIONAL DESIGN CONVENTIONAL THEME . Positions, terms & departments are designed based on specific activities. 2. It is most widely used & accepted form of departmentalization, since grouping tasks and employees by function can be efficient & economical. 3. It is possible for members in group to undertake similar tasks & troubleshoot similar problems. 4. Employees are not in direct contact with the clients; hence they fail to meet the customer’s expectations, except marketing product line. 5. It is effective for organizations having narrow product line, competing in uniform environment, pursuing low cost or focused business strategy. hellriegel, 2005) SEMCO WAY 1. Positions, terms & departments are designed by the owner based on functions. Labors are allowed to select wages & their own managers. 2. The employee has only four titles Counselors who are like vice presidents, Partners who runs the business units, Coordinators who are part of first level management, & Associates who are workers. 3. The factory workers set their own production quotas, come in on their own time, help to redesign the products they make & formulate the marketing plans. 4. The ompany is divided in individual business units which are self governed, managers run business units with freedom, determining business strategies without interference from the top. 5. Semco undertakes partnership with established foreign companies & give them access to customers, risk monitoring & extensive network of contacts. They seek partner who has domain in their product & services. (web 2) PRODUCT DESIGN CONVENTIONAL THEME 1. Self contained units are established. Each unit is capable of developing, manufacturing, marketing & distributing its own goods or service. . Organizations that produce multiple goods & services generally adapt this type of structure. 3. Problems arise when new product line is established or there are diverse customers or there is complexity in technological advances in functional design. Product design takes care of these limitations. 4. Company generally start with functional design & add some features in order to meet limitations of the functional design in terms of management aspects. Generally company doesn’t completely discard the features of function organization. hellriegel, 2007) SEMCO WAY ORGANISATION STRUCTURE OF SEMCO THREE CO –CENTRIC CIRCLES FIRST CIRCLE CONSIST COUNSELLORS SECOND CIRCLE CONSISTS PARTNERS THIRD CIRCLE CONSISTS ASSOCIATES 1. Semco devised a new structure which had three concentric rings. 2. The small innermost circle consisted of 6 counselors who determined general policy & strategy, and attempted to catalyze the action of those in the second circle. Each of the counselors took a six month turn as a CEO. 3. The second circle, known as partners included 7-10 leaders of each Semco division. . All remaining employees comprised the third circle, scattered within this circles are the triangles representing permanent & temporary team leaders. Marketing, sales & production managers, engineers and foreman all fell within this classification. 5. The managers work as facilitators providing workers with the tools they need make informed decisions. Managers provides training, information (financial & operations), & all other necessary support for workers to perform their jobs more effectively. (Maverick, 1993) Critical Evaluation

Semco’s organization is based on three core values employee participation, profit sharing & free flow of information. These core values are in line with the variables of socio-structural model of empowerment which are power, information, knowledge & rewards. Hence the hypotheses which were derived from the author’s understanding of the theories were easily verified. Other companies may have achieved workplace democracy in other ways by having their own pattern of working. Liberty given to the employees would benefit only if there is supervisory control otherwise it may happen that there is misuse of the available resources.

Human Resource Planning Recruitment & Retention Recruitment plays a vital role in any industry. Whenever there is vacancy, individual is recruited after he is being thoroughly evaluated. It is essential to find out how the vacancy is generated, either because someone has left the job or there is the expansion within the company. Recruiting a person just because there is vacancy owing to person leaving the job is the appropriate way but not mandatory. Employer can reorganize the work within present employees, or ask them to work overtime, subcontract the work or make it part time in order to reduce the expenses.

It would be ideal to find out the nature of job, aspects of the job that specify type of candidature, highlight the job profile to the applicant before recruiting a candidate. There are several ways through which people are recruited. Once employers realized a need to fill the vacancy within the department or in organization, he can recruit by several means. Survey (Torrington, 1998) Investigated the method used by more than 1000 professionals when they were questioned (Torrington 1998) Table: Usage of various methods of recruitment by more than 1000 professional questioned.

Advertisement in regional press87% Advertisement in specialist press80% Advertisement in national press78% Job centers71% Employment agencies62% Recruitment consultants61% Executive search consultants36% Career Conventions35% Open days32% Recruitment fairs 32% University ‘milk rounds’21% Radio advertising17% Other forms of recruitment6% (Source: Torrington Hall, 1998) There are various selection methods available and employer needs to implement combination of those available since one method won’t suit the requirements.

Choice is generally dependent upon selection criteria for the post to be filled, administrative ease, accuracy, cost, time factor, abilities of the staff involved in the selection process etc. Interviewing is the most popular method of selection. Bio-data of the candidate is initially asked for. It is checked whether candidate meets the necessary specification and has relevant work experience in the same field, if found so he is been called for the interview or rounds of interview, where his domain is thoroughly checked either through verbal interaction or through written test.

Written test generally includes Aptitude tests, General Intelligence test, Trainability test, Personality test & Attainment test. Critical features of test use being validity, reliability, use of interpretation & context of texts. Group selection methods are also used if there are more candidates applying for one job. Three main types of group tasks were invented by Plumbley (1985) Leaderless group, command or executive exercises & group problem solving.

Also at times for critical job profiles there is factual as well as character check wherein candidate is asked to get references. Other methods include hiring a consultant or recruitment agency that would already interview the candidate and filter out the one from the masses. It reduces efforts of the employer since candidate is interviews before by the agency for the desired profile. Also sometimes candidate is asked to fill the application form and submit it, wherein entire details of the candidate are asked for.

Application form is customized per the need of profile unlike bio-data which has information which may or may not be useful for that particular job profile. (Torrington Hall 1998) Retention is generally maintained by introducing attractive policies for welfare of the employees, giving employee shares of the company at very low rate, market supplements, revising salary structure, providing with additional perks and cost to company components, depending upon the nature of appraisal received from colleagues and subordinates.

Providing employees with free medical facilities, pension schemes, and loans at affordable rates encourages employee to stay with organization. Semco has altogether different way of recruiting people and retaining them. Ricardo Semler, CEO of the company believes that workers or the Associates have the liberty to recruit their managers. In short the subordinates have the right to choose with whom they wish to work. Since everyone is treated equal in Semco, owner doesn’t interfere with the decisions taken by the subordinates.

People that are to be hired to leadership positions are interviewed and approved by all with whom he/she will be working with. Twice a year subordinate receives questionnaire that enables them to anonymously say what they think about their boss and evaluate their performance. Anyone that gets constantly bad grades at the evaluation usually leaves Semco (average is 80 out of 100) Preference is also given to friend or acquaintances of employees, but no family member is considered for job at Semco if all these ways fails then they move for head hunters & newspapers.

Semco business unit has a committee comprising everyone from different operations. Members in the committee have time off, with pay to do their work they also have job security as in they cannot be fired while they serve on committee. Semco has another salary programme called as ‘risk salary’in which about third of employees have the pay cut of upto 25% and then receiving supplement raise of 125% of normal salary if company is making profit. (Maverick, 1993) References: 1.

Torrington & Hall (1998) Human Resource Management. Edition 4. Prentice hall, Europe 2. Slocum/Hellriegel (2007) Fundamentals of Organizational Behavior International student edition, USA. 3. Semler, Ricardo (1993). Maverick! Century random house UK. 4. Semler, Ricardo (2003). The Seven Day Weekend. UK Century. 5. Hackman, J. R, & Oldham, G. R (1980). Work Redesign. Reading, MA: Addison-wesley publishing company Inc. 6. web1: http://semco. locaweb. com. br/en/content. asp? content=1&contentID=610

Evaluating a Hiring and Variable Pay Plan Include a brief summary of the situation. Effective Management Solutions (EMS) a small management consulting company divided into four areas: management systems, business process improvement, human resources, and quality improvement that are rapidly growing. The growth has expanded so quickly that, EMS has developed and is planning to execute an aggressive revenue growth plan. The goal is to obtain a 25% revenue increase each year for the next five years, in each of the four departments.

A main element of this plan is growth in the staff. The reason for this is that the majority of the entry level associates are currently working at the maximum load of hours and clients. To accomplish this plan EMS predicts it will have to hire 100 associates of which 40 will be for replacements do to promotions, and associates who leave and go to other consulting firms. The additional 60 will cover growth with the new revenue increase plan.

Knowing this will be a challenge and that the current hiring package needs to be updated to attract and keep good quality associates, EMS has tasked Manuel Rodriquez who is the one-man HR department to develop a job offer proposal, that will increase the offer rate, decrease the turnover rate of current associates and not create issues among the associates who are currently employed. Assess the attractiveness of the HVP program for both applicants and those who receive offers, deciding for whom it would be the most attractive. The hiring variable plan will be very attractive to both pools of people.

And for applicants it would more then likely increase of even applying. And for those who receive offers it would at least bring the company on par with its top competitors and increase the number of accepted job offers. More than likely it will be most attractive to those receiving offers because if all other factors are equal with the company’s competitor’s candidates will be more likely to accept the offer and have a feeling of more ownership of their career path. Predict and justify if the HVP program will likely increase the job offer acceptance rate.

The introduction of the HVP program will produce a significant increase in the job offer acceptance rate. The increased market competitiveness, applicant desirability and employees satisfaction would all not only increase the applicant pool but would also slow the outflow of employees. In addition the program would have a double benefit of an increased applicant pool as well as more accepted job offers that would drastically increase the acceptance rate. Predict and justify if the HVP program will likely reduce turnover. The adoption will also reduce turnover.

The new found ownership over their career path as well as increased earning potential will significantly boost employee job satisfaction. In addition the variable pay plan will make the companies competitors look less attractive to unsatisfied employees. Give your opinion about how current associates will react to the HVP program. Current associates will mostly respond positively to the new variable pay plan. They will be pleased with option to join the new plan in addition to keeping their current salary. This may put them in a position to earn considerably more than their new peers and employees with their competitors.

In addition they have even more earning potential because they may already train for the hot skills premium that is offered for rare skills sets. To the contrary there could be small levels of un-happiness if it seems that new employees have higher earning potential or if the security of the wages previously earned is put at risk. Suggest what issues and problems the HVP plan will create for Human Resources and for the hiring manager. The HVP plan will present several problems and challenges for Human Resources personnel and the hiring mangers.

Some of those problems include re-training/ lack of knowledge to explain the program to new and current employees, lack of resources required to implement this new complex pay schedule and meet the new strategic hiring goals, the burden of developing a consistent way for the hiring manger to evaluate hot skills premiums as well as salaries. And whose responsibility it is to update and maintain employees pay plans preferences and lastly human resources receive and resolve complaints for plan participants who chose the high risk path.

Human Resources personnel would need be re-trained, given appropriate tools or significantly revamped to handle such a substantial policy change. The may been seen as owners or experts of the new process. In addition a new method will have to be found to input, track, change, and calculate bonuses and weekly pay checks. This could include hiring additional staff, buying or over hauling existing software or out sourcing the process completely. The hiring may have issues determining what hot skills the company is looking for and which new hires possess them.

Further more additional staff will be required to screen applicants, interview candidates, conduct background checks, completely develop or revamp the employees orientation, re-structure of each individual area will be needed. In addition protocols and processes will be created and put in place to insure that hot skills premium is fairly evaluated as well as the salary offer aligns with market average. Propose and justify changes in the HVP program. While the HVP program is still in its infancy, at later stage a process could be created to standardize market components of employee’s salaries.

For one the hot skills premium and starting salary may be set to market standards or by upper management. This change would provide clarity consistency and fairness to this new compensation scheme. In addition the high risk plan could be mad less drastic so as to not cause a burden to employees in low peak times. The high risk plan as it stands may cause financial burdens to employees which could affect their productivity. References Heneman, H. G. , & Judge, T. A. (2009). BUS 335: Staffing organizations: 2009 custom edition (6th ed. ). Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill.