Human

Management exists in business and human organisations; it is the act of getting people together to achieve a common desired goal and objective through co-ordinating activities. You need structure for this to occur successfully. Henri Fayol is a Classical Theorists along with others such as Max Weber and Frederick W Taylor; they hold a rational approach towards management and organisations.

Fayol felt that management could be studied, he believed management was a non-contextual ‘technical’ issue, their approach is ‘prescriptive’ there is a structure to how a manager should behave in order to produce efficiency; emphasis was placed upon the need for bureaucratic structures and processes. In contrast to Fayol’s ideas the Human Relations School believe in informal structures and a less scientific approach, they are more interested in the psychological processes rather than the classicalist’s physiological interests.

Fayol’s views are considered idealist and unrealistic of what a manager in reality can achieve. It is believed that strategic planning and strategy cannot be carried out and fail together, they are an oxymoron as planning is about analysis and strategy about synthesis, its believed for this reason that the process has failed so often (Henry Mintzberg 1994).

Planning, organising, co-ordinating and control are four words that have dominated management since Fayol’s introduction of his theory in 1916 yet according to Mintzberg, who followed and studied what managers actually did, the conclusion from his research found these words tell us little about what managers actually do, they are simply vague objectives managers have when they work which although ideal in actuality they cannot be achieved.

He suggested in reality managers often attempt, and frequently fail, to sequence their roles logically in the pursuit of their objectives. Planning where a manager’s job is concerned is unrealistic because they work at a fast pace where they respond to the needs of the moment, acting on natural instincts. This approach is necessary to respond to the pressures of the job successfully. Luthens, Hodgettes and Rosenkratz published a study in 1988 of ‘Real Managers’ showing what activities they carried out on a day to day basis.

Findings revealed that effective managers spent 45% of their time on routine communication such as paperwork and exchanging information where successful managers spent 48% of their time networking; socialising and interacting with outsiders. Effectiveness was judged on subordinate satisfaction and the performance of the managers unit where success was measured by the speed of career progression. This study concludes that it is who you know not necessarily what you do that is fundamentally important for success which contradicts to the classical theorist’s view that believed you got promoted by skill alone.

On the other hand, they found a small fraction of ‘Fayolistic’ practise to be important in both the success and effectiveness of managers, for the success of a manager there is a 13% fragment of traditional management which involves the manager planning, decision making and controlling. This is a modern study carried out in 1988, which supports the fact that the classicalist theory is still relevant and present in modern business. Mintzberg doesn’t disagree with Fayol’s ideas and principles he believed them to be important but he recognised the reality of what a manager should do and what they can physically do being different.

It is important to clarify the time difference between the two approaches. Fayol and Mintzberg’s theories have a 60 year age gap; clearly this is significant where the results are concerned. Fayol’s approach may have suited the ‘zeitgeist’ of the time, his research was carried out between the 1860s-1940s where America held an oppressive, controlling atmosphere but is inappropriate when looking from a modern perspective due to historical change and the advance in many areas of business.

Mintzberg’s presentation of a manager can seem slightly chaotic and unorganised, in comparison to Fayol’s ordered, structured manager; some people might question whether Mintzberg’s manager would be an effective one. Mintzberg researched what managers did but this doesn’t necessarily mean that their practise was correct therefore we cannot criticise Fayol on Mintzberg’s theory alone. Furthermore, a lot of theories about management and organisation revolve around what a manager should do for effective management rather than what does in reality happen, so Fayol is not alone in his idealistic views.

This assignment requires me to research on a company of my choice. After doing so, I need to look at a particular department in that company, which is the Human Resources department. Within Human Resources Department I will be describing the staff skill profile. I have chosen to research on Barclays Bank. History of Barclays: Barclays is a UK-based financial services group, with a large international presence in Europe, USA, Africa and Asia. It is engaged primarily in banking, investment banking and investment management.

Barclays is one of the largest financial services companies in the world. It has been operating for more than 300 years with 25 million customers and 118,000 employees in over 60 countries. I have chosen Barclays Bank because it has been trading for more than 300 years in the heart of London, the financial district. The Barclays name did not come associated with the business until 1736 when James Barclays joined the partnership. Private banking businesses like this one were commonplace in the 18th and 19th Centuries.

According to my research Barclays partnership was one of 20 banks that joined together to form a new venture in 1896. At the beginning of the 19th century, Barclays had 180 branches, mainly in the East and South East. To date it has expanded its branch network rapidly by taking over other banks and “amalgamating” in 1918 with London. The development of today’s global business did not begin in earnest until 1925, with the merge of three banks – the Colonial Bank, the Anglo Egyptian Bank and the National Bank of South Africa, to form Barclay’s International Operations.

Barclays global expansion gained added momentum in 1986 with the creation of an investment banking operation. Barclays Bank PLC. Registered in England. Registered No: 1026167. Source: Company House Definition of Human Resources in my words: In my own words the purpose of the Human Resources department is to recruit the right people with right skills for the job. Human Resource department is responsible for recruiting the staff. It is the responsibility of the department to ensure that they select the right people for the job.

Human Resources department also have to follow the some rules and regulations set by the government. Human Resources have to ensure that they select the people on their ability not on their colour of skin or ethnicity. Human Resources Department in Barclays: After doing research on Barclays Human Resources department, I came to know of a number of different things in relation to recruitment and the selection of the employees. Barclay’s recruit people on the ability they have, not on their religion, or ethnicity. This is the reason in my view that Barclays is ahead of all its competitors.

Whenever Barclay’s recruit people they make sure that every one is given the chance to apply for the job. They do not recruit people from one community. When they advertise a vacancy they make the “Job Description” clear, this is to ensure that the only those people apply for a job who have this qualification. For example, a degree in Finance. I found it very interesting to read the profiles of all their staff on their website, www. barclays. co. uk. All the staff working for Barclays is very happy and motivated towards their job. I believe motivation plays a very important role for the job.

One example I could give is that if the staffs is not interested in the job, or others in the workplace are not enthusiastic and positive, then the employee will feel unmotivated and negative. The end result would be staff of the business would be doing the ineffective job. The Human Resources Department in Barclays ensures that they select the right candidate for the job. They do this by interviewing the candidate for the job; sometimes they also give tests to assess the ability of the staff, to ensure that the staff will be able to do the job.

Managing Human Resources: The most important resource in any business is its people. Without people a business cannot run at all. In businesses all the activities are carried out by people, in spite of technology still some activities cannot be done without people. People are the key for business success. For example, in retail company such as Marks and Spencer, if there were no employees/people to fulfil the day-to-day duties of the store, then there would be no business, resulting in no profit.

Few role and responsibilities of the Human Resources Department: In small businesses, the owner of the business completes many of the tasks. It is up to him/her to decide how much he wants to spend in his business; he does not need to ask any one whenever he wants to do anything in his business. It is up to him/her recruiting as many people as he wants or as few people as he want. For companies like Barclays all the activities should be done by following the Law of the United Kingdom.

For example in small business if the owner of the business does not want staff, he easily can say to them from next week you do not need to come to work without giving them any valid reason. Whereas in big businesses this cannot be done, because there are some laws being passed which businesses have to follow before they make staff redundant. In large organisations employers as well as employees have the right and responsibilities toward the job where as in small business mostly employers have more right then their employees simply because they are the owner of the business.

The John Lewis name first appeared in London in 1864 in Oxford Street, soon to emerge as the capitals most important retail district. From the start, the approach of the little draper’s shop was quite distinctive. The owner was determined to guarantee to his customers not only that his prices were the most competitive. So well did this formula succeed with the shoppers of the age that by 1905 the small shop had grown into a large department store and Mr Lewis was poised to Double the size of his business through the acquisition of an ailing rival, Peter Jones in Chelsea, in the fashionable south-west of the capital.

The first Mr John Lewis takes the credit for the initial commercial success. However it was his son, John Spedan Lewis, who conceived the philosophy that a job in his company would be quite different from working anywhere else. Spedan Lewis’s guiding star was a personal vision of ‘fairness’. He thought it unfair that the owners of a business should derive so much more benefit than the workers. The real advantages of the ownership, he believed, should go to those who gave there time and labour to the business rather than those who had supplied the capital.

In 1914 he had the opportunity to start putting his principles into practice when his father agreed to give him control of the Peter Jones business. The young Spedan promised his staff that when the shop became profitable they would share in those profits, the first step in his long-term plan to turn his emplyees into partners. He fulfilled the promise just five years later when every member of staff received the equivalent of five weeks’ extra pay. Ten years later he created a trust to take over the assets of the company and run it as a partnership.

Under the terms of a second trust in 1950, he relinquished his controlling interest in the much-expanded business. Since 1929 the purpose of the business has been the happiness of those who work in it. There are no outside shareholders whose interests have to come first. The canny Mr Lewis fully anticipated the dangers that might lie ahead. The structure he bequeathed to the partners was built around a carefully planned system of checks and balances.

He laid down the principles on which the pay for each member of the partnership should be calculated – from the chairman down to the newest junior entrant. In parallel to the executive management, he appointed to positions of authority an independent team, whose function would be to act as a corporate conscience and safeguard the interests of all the partners – to ensure that the voice of every one could be heard by the management. The vindication of Spedan Lewis’s vision has been nigh on ninety years of growth culminating in the enviable commercial success of today.

The company, which began the twentieth century with one shop, entered the twenty-first with a chain of twenty-five department stores and a food division, Waitrose, with more than a hundred and thirty branches. Some parts of the business have been added by acquisition, some commissioned and built specially – and all ultimately paid for by the prudent reinvestment of Partnership funds. The figure gives a broad overview of the number in the organisation who already possess certain broad categories of skills The skills available?

It is helpful to identify the current skills held by the John Lewis members and see if any are transferable because certain skills can be transferred to other jobs in John Lewis Skills analysis? John Lewis needs to be sure it has the right number of people available at the right time but also with the right skills. John Lewis, therefore, need to assess their present supply of skills across their workforce and to identify the sort of skills they will require in the future Performance results? John Leis gather information about the level of performance of various categories of current employees.

This information is then collected in a quantitative form. In addition, information is collected that is of a qualitative nature. Promotional potential? Internal promotions will change the availability of existing resources. It is useful to John Lewis to know how many employees have the skills and attitude for promotion to more demanding roles. It is also important how many employees are suitable for training for promotion. Staff turnover? John Lewis needs to look at staff turnover so that they can predict these future losses of staff members so that they can begin to recruit more members of staff.

Also it gives an idea of when promotion will be due upon existing members. Age distribution and length of service? John Lewis can see how different members are achieving by looking at how long they have been there and how old they are. They can see if members of the older generation perform better than the younger generation. What is Human Resources Planning? Human resources planning is concerned with getting the right people, using them well and developing them in order to meet the goals of the organisation.

In order to meet the organisations aims successfully it is necessary to identify the means of using people in the most effective way and to identify any problems that are likely to occur (for example in recruiting the best people), and then coming up with solutions to the problems identified. Overview of John Lewis HR Planning John Lewis Human Resources is excellent. They know what they are doing and they do run effectively. Due to the fact that there Human Resources Planning has been eunning effectively it has helped to give the company a turnover of i?? 3,517. 6m.

John Lewis can be tough on there members but it helps to make John Lewis a more profitable place. They know when certain people need promotion. I feel that sometimes certain members will never go anywhere in the company because of managers higher ranked staff will giec certain members bad appraisals because they do not like certain people when infact that certain member should be on some sort of management scheme. John Lewis Human Resources Planning keeps control of sickness, absentees, leave, employing new members to John Lewis, and looking at members for promotion.

Proper record keeping is a must for every organization, and one of the vital information which all companies should properly and securely keep and maintain is employees’ records. This can be done via maintaining a personnel file (Truesdell, 2004). Managers use personnel file to find or scan biographical data of their employee. It can help the managers in an employee’s assessment. According to the Office of the Human Resources of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the following are the information which a manager can retrieve from the personnel file:

Impact of employment law The image of hotel occupations as reputable and professional employers needs to be ensured by the combination of government policy and industry association campaigns and HRM practices appropriate to the social circumstances. These hotel managers must operationalize the imperatives which include the definition of service product and the production processes so that there will be appropriate HRM systems that will retain, attract and reward professional service providers. The role of professional bodies

Hospitality management face risks, as the industry itself is evolving in form and direction. New tourism, such as eco-tourism and mass tourism lead to massive impacts too. Hospitality managers and owners must realize how their industry impacts the political, social, cultural and environmental surroundings of their local communities, thus must be sensitive and responsive to necessary planning, representation and implementation procedures that will prevent ill effects on these sociological components.

In tourism and hospital management, owners and manager, even the local, national government and professional bodies need to think of the tourists’ concerns and issues. Now is the time to dwell on issues on the other side of the fence, the issues and concerns of local communities who offer tourism and hospitality services. The hospitality industry is not just about foreigners or local tourists. It is also about building positive and life-affirming relationships between different cultures and ethnic origins. Conclusion

Indeed, decision-making especially in the area of Customer service recovery in the hospitality industry is crucial because this “is vital to maintaining customer and employee satisfaction and loyalty, which contribute significantly to a company’s revenues and profitability” [Tax and Brown, 1998, para 1]. Service recovery is about a company learning from a service failure, or turning service failures into opportunities to improve performance. If service providers will learn the service encounter cyclical model, a manager may get some tips when is the best time to do service recovery strategies.

Service recovery strategies are necessary to “recapture a customer following a dissatisfying experience by resolving problems. The key to service recovery is speed” [Spake, 2005, p. 12].

References

Bianchi, R. (2002). “Conceptualising the relations of place and power in tourism development. ” Tourism, Culture and Communication. New York: Cognizant Communication Corporation. Bugnicourt, J. (1977) Tourism with no return. Development Forum. Geneva: United Nations. Church, Y. ; Makens, . C. “The Travel Industry. ” Westportcom: AVI Publishing Company. Good Practice in Human Resource in Hospitality Industry. Retrieved Jan. 24, 2008 at: http://www.hotel-online.com/News/PR2004_3rd/Jul04_CompanyValues.html

As business organisations move further into the twenty-first century, Sims (2002: 13) asserted that it is becoming absolutely clear that the effective management of an organisation’s human resources (HR) is a major source of competitive advantage and may even be the single most important determinant of an organisation’s performance over the long term. With the integration of HR issues with business issues and of human resource processes with management processes, it is only logical that the HR staff function should be integrated with the business organisation, rather than being a separate entity.

Companies are radically restructuring the HR function and redefining its roles. According to Gunnigle, Heraty and Morley (2002: 2), the objectives of integrating it with business strategies include reducing overhead expenses, focusing time and resources on activities that add the greatest value to the business; reducing attention given lower value activities, aligning staff more closely with the business, as part of the management team at each level and addressing important people-related business issues more effectively.

For a sole trader who wishes to grow the business through engaging the services of additional people, it is of foremost importance that the business owner review his or her recruitment and selection policy and all the associated documentation including job descriptions and personnel specifications, application forms etc. as any changes in a step in the process will have a knock on effect in the next stage, if he or she desires to comply with the existing laws on human resource management especially in the area of selection and recruitment.

Compliance with law of human resources organisational procedures is vital because there can be considerable risk of making mistakes, pursuing risky strategies, and putting the enterprise at considerable potential liability for not understanding adequately what these laws, standards, and codes require of the business (Briscoe and Schuler 2004: 192). At its most basic, organisations have different recruitment and selection procedures, depending on their need of personnel and their available resources.

For a sole proprietorship, the employer must find individuals with the requisite knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform adequately the activities required, as there are only a few people to contribute to the success of the organisation as a whole, therefore each and every individual’s contribution to the business can make or break the venture. Sisson and Storey (2000: 12) argue that it is only through effective human resource management (HRM) planning at this stage that adjustments and refinements are made, transforming an organisation’s workforce to meet the projected future needs of the organisation.

According to Hitt, Miller and Colella (2006: 31), the selection process is concerned with identifying the best candidate or candidates for jobs from the pool of qualified applicants developed during the recruitment process. Kaplan and Norton (2001: 42) concurred that at the heart of any effective selection system is an understanding of what characteristics are essential for high performance. With regards to screening the applicant’s educational background, it will be advisable to use educational accomplishment as a surrogate for or summary of the measures of an individual’s abilities.

As for the skill qualification, as the organisation will move inevitably towards more teamwork and team-based operating systems as a result of additional people, it is desirable to put more emphasis on hiring individuals with the skills necessary to function effectively in a group situation. The rationale for this practice is that current team members are well placed to assess a given individual’s ability to fit in and become an effective member of the team.

Before the decision to convert to foreign production, Lo was already facing both strategic and execution faculties at the company’s headquarters. In attempts to counteract the difficulties, Lo planned to institute a balanced scorecard management system to combat four of five challenges: unclear business strategies, weak execution, difficult performance assessment, and weak management systems. With means to prevent the same happenings at the three foreign factories, Lo had the Idea to Implement the same balanced scorecard at the department level (the three factories). . What was the Value proposition for Magic to push for the implementation of the Balanced Scorecard? With understanding of what direction the company was trying to follow s the market trend Into outsourcing production, the value proposition for Magic to Implement the Balanced scorecard Is In constructing an Integrated structure and logic of strategy formation management in order to build a more comprehensive strategy formation mechanism. This would allow the company to run more smoothly from a manager to worker stand point.

Specifically, by Instituting the Balanced Scorecard, Lo wanted to Increase the understanding between top level management and the staff not Just in direction of tasks, but in an understanding of the strategic thinking. By improving the understanding, Lo hoped to alleviate the tasks from the top management to allow them to dedicate their time more towards strategic thinking. With this Idea of Implementation In mind, Lo designed the Implementation to take place in three phases: preparation phase, design phase, and execution phase.

Considering the current state of the company, Magic really needed the preparation phase in order for the Balanced Scorecard to be effective. Within the first phase, preparation, the company decided to subdivide It Into three additional phases to simplify the transition even more. By subdividing preparation before implementation, guessing the Balanced Scorecard, and executing the Balanced Scores card, the R;D department will be able to forecast the parameters of the balanced Scorecard to the entire company before the Implementation of it. . Assuming the Implementation of the Balanced scorecard at the department level, how can it be improved, in view of the difficulties encountered related to its implementation at the 1 OFF with any implementation of new things at any company, it will never be a perfectly smooth transition from A to B. There will always be errors, and people who do not grasp the concept. With such aids at the Balanced Scorecard and the SOOT Scorecard, the transition is more seamless.

Magic has not proposed the balanced scorecard to deal with the last of the five business challenges: unclear Product Analysis. Why and how would you deal with it? As CEO of the company, I would have a specialist team temporally Join the company as a consulting firm to grasp a better understanding of what should be done. Sometimes it takes the eyes of an outside company to make the best decisions for the company. If they come in with said fresh eyes, and the ambitions to do something good for the company, they can surely secure a proper Product Analysis that could benefit the company. Sources O’Connor, Neal. 2012. Making Balanced Scorecard Work to Implement Business Strategies at Magic Technology. Harvard Business Publishing.

Employees that work in international area face special activities as orientation and training, continuing employee development, and readjustment training and development. The orientation and training that expatriates and their families receive before the international assignment begins include work adjustment, interaction adjustment and general adjustment such as language, culture, history, and living conditions. Career planning and continued involvement of expatriates in corporate employee development activities are essential.

One of the greatest deterrents to accepting foreign assignments is employees’ concern that they will be out of sight and out of mind. If businesses are to be managed effectively in an international setting, managers need to be educated and trained in global management skills. For example, Levi Strauss has identified the following six attributes of the global manager. Those are the ability to seize strategic opportunities; ability to manage highly decentralized organizations; awareness of global issues; sensitivity to issues to diversity; competence in interpersonal relations; and skill in building community.

(Sherman, Bohlander, and Snell; 640) Organizations with employees in many different countries face some special compensation pressures. Variations in laws, living costs, tax policies, and other factors all must be considered in establishing the compensation for expatriate managers and professionals. Even the value of the U. S. dollar can be tracked and adjustments made as the dollar rises or falls in relation to currency rates in other countries. Add to all of these concerns the need to compensate employees for the costs of housing, schooling of children, and yearly transportation home for themselves and their family members.

Many multinational firms have compensation programs that use the balance-sheet approach that provides international employees with a compensation package that equalizes cost differences between the international assignment and the same assignment in the home country. Unlike the balance-sheet approach, a global market approach to compensation requires that the international assignment must be viewed as continual though the assignment may take the employee to different countries for differing lengths of time. The nature of employee and labor relations varies form country to country.

When international operations are considered, concerns related to health safety, and security must be evaluated. It is important to understand the applicable labor-management laws, regulations, and practices before commencing operations in foreign countries. With more and more expatriates working internationally, especially in the less-developed countries, health and safety issues are arising and addressing these issues is part of the human resource role.

Bibliography:

Cherrington, David J. , Laura Zaugg Middleton. An Introduction to Global Business Issues. http://www.elibrary. com HR Magazine. 06-01-1995 Internet available: http://www. ihrin. org/affiliates/index. cfm Mathis, Robert L. , John H. Jackson. Human Resource Management. Essential Perspectives. 1st edition. South-Western College Publishing. Cincinnati, 1999. Noe, Raymond A. , John R. Hollenbeck, Barry Gerhart, and Patrick M. Wright. Human Resource Management. Gaining a Competitive Advantage. 3rd edition. Irwin McGraw-Hull. Boston, 2000. Sherman, Arthur, George Bohlander, and Scott Snell. Managing Human Resources. 11th edition. South-Western College Publishing. Cincinnati, 1998.