Leaves a lot to be desired

Charleston, South Carolina area. But excluding all of its faults, my paychecks have never been late and I have yet to be laid off, which lay-offs are not uncommon in the DoD world. V. T. Malcolm – Leaves a lot to be desired I work for V. T. Malcolm, we are a Department of Defense contractor out of Charleston, SC. Our main corporate office is in Chesapeake, VA, we also have offices in CA and FL. Our main specialty is communications. There is a Joke at Malcolm, â€Å"that for a technology driven Communication Company our inter-company communication is antiquated at best. † My so-called rise in the companyI have worked there for four years and all four years I have had â€Å"supply specialist 2† as my official title. Titles do not mean much at Malcolm. In those four years I have held the positions of; shipping and receiving clerk, warehouseman, forklift operator, forklift trainer, safety officer, tool room clerk, tool room supervisor, inventory specialist, building maintenance, warehouse supervisor, production supervisor, government tool specialist. My rate of pay has increased a dramatic seventy three cents from my starting date. There are no bonuses for non-managerial staff.If my valuation is up to snuff and the moon is in the right orbit I have been lucky enough to get a Cost Of Living Adjustment of twenty-five cents for my yearly raise. Other than that we receive no other improvements in pay or incentives for our work. It has been written multiple times in emails and said in meetings to â€Å"be done with your work and you will be rewarded with more work†. This has been explained that you need to do you work as soon and as good as possible and your â€Å"reward† for this hard work will be more work. Meaning if they feel that you are not up to speed or quality on your org there is a possibility you could be furloughed.At V. T. Malcolm they do not fire workers, but they do furlough. The idea being behind this is if you are fire d you can collect unemployment almost immediately, which Malcolm has to pay into, however if you are furloughed there is a six week waiting period (hoping that they call you back to work) enacted by the unemployment department before you can begin collecting unemployment. During this time Malcolm figures you cannot go that long without a paycheck, so they are hoping you will find another Job so they do not have to pay any extra towards your unemployment check. These are Just a few ways in which they feel they motivate workers to work.A sliver of management style Now when I first started at Malcolm they would do an â€Å"all-hands† meeting approximately every six to eight week in which the general manager would basically give us a â€Å"state of the company' update and finish it with a grilled hamburger and hotdogs lunch with a couple of sides and a drink. About a year and a half ago we had a steak lunch with baked potatoes and all the dressings. Starting a week later we had a massive layoff of approximately half of our working force. Since that point we had one lunch meeting in which we were, for lack of a better term, told that we are doing k but things are looking up.That was over six months ago and things are not looking great. There is a large contract that is going to run dry by the end of the year if we do not get replacement contract there will be a layoff in that department. In the department that I am currently in we have approximately six contracts currently at work. However three of them are not large and do not last for more than a few months. One is in the beginning stage and is contingent on a lot of things happening t the beginning and from what I understand we are struggling to keep up to the deadlines.One is in full swing and it is also struggling to keep up. And the last one is the one I am on, it is scheduled to end September 30th of this year. As we sit right now it is well known that we will not be able to complete it successfully by the end of contract. There is currently sitting a possibility that the contract could be extended if we can show that we can do the work and meet the deadlines, but at this point with the amount of work left to do and the amount of employees currently assigned to the contract it will be very unlikely to happen.Individual Management Style I have given you all this information to give you an idea of what it is like where I work. Now management wise, I will begin with myself, and tell you how I work with my employees. I am the immediate supervisor for four employees currently. I recently had one move to a different project and the other left the company for a better Job. I have an employee who is degreed but is currently working at a low end laborer Job go for an interview on Friday for a position that is within her area of study.So there is a distinct possibility soon to have only three employees which will make it interesting n ending this contract successfully. I try to be a very people orientated manager. I have an open door policy with my employees and encourage dialogue flow both ways. I want to know when something is working and when something is not working. I ask them often if they need anything from me, if there is something I could do or get for them to make their Jobs easier. If the time is available for me and the workers are at a certain point where I can step in then I get in the warehouse and work with them.On Fridays I bring in donuts in the morning, knowing which specific ones employees prefer and try to have them available. I do what I can do to have a good working relationship with the employees. I have had personal one on one meetings with the employees to get to know them better and tell them a little about myself. I tried to find out what their fears at work are and what they feel about the work they are doing, what I can do to help them, and what motivates them.When I get emails regarding them or that concern them in any way I make it a point to either post the email or at least go to the ones involved and let them know exactly what was said so there is complete open dialogue. Now if there is something negative happening guarding one of my employees from higher up the hierarchy and I am made aware of it, depending on the situation I may make the employee at least partially aware of what is happening (I would want to know if the roles were reversed, and try to keep that in mind). Group Management Style Unfortunately this type of interaction between supervisors and employees stops with me.My immediate supervisor has yet to come to my warehouse and check on me and the production rate since I took over from Just being a warehouse manager to both the warehouse manager and production manager which has been a little over a onto. When I go to his office for help or guidance I receive short curse-filled answers, when he is there, or get told how busy he is and that he couldn't possibly do (whatever it is I ask of him) now but maybe later in the week he might have a chance, he will get back to me. Which doesn't happen I usually have to get the answer else wards or make it up myself.This is the response I receive from the project manager as well (for him it is usually by email for he is impossible to locate in person). I recently sent an email to the project manager breaking down all the tasks we have until the end of the contract (September 30th) as per time it will take to do them in man hours and material needed and compared that to the employees I have at my disposal, their amount of man hours left till the end of the contract and asked for a specific number of more employees to be able to complete this Job successfully by the end date.He then did not address the email I sent him but sent out a department wide email asking what resources we need to complete the tasks at hand and gave a sooner closing date. I then adjusted my numbers and sent him back an mail asking for the adjustment, Justifying th e reason why and attached the previous email to the one that was sent out for all to see with the hopes that some good will come of it.In a later email that I was cad on he briefly mentioned that he is requesting additional help in areas needed but we need to strive to complete this contract with what we have since that is the task that we were originally given and at this late stage the â€Å"Calvary' may not arrive in time. But at the end of each email he writes â€Å"motivate your people to be done with the work that they have and they will be rewarded with more work†. I liken that to telling someone in captivity to each your slop (even though the dogs refuse to eat it) and we will give you more.From my perspective on an upward trend this is where the management skills end and threats and intimidation begins. Then the department head always has a bad attitude and is in a hurry to be going somewhere. I have tried to have conversations with this man and it always ends with him telling me we are working on getting more contracts but right now he's not even sure if he will have a Job come tomorrow. That is the last thing you want to tell your employees!! Next as a general manager for the Charleston division's level this man is more concerned about the aesthetics of the place then how the place is actually running.We may not have working toilets (true story) but he was very upset that our lawn service was a day behind on cutting the grass. When the air conditioning was out in the building besides the one he works in there was a 10 day delay in getting it fixed due to cost? But when it went out in his building and the part was going to take two days to get delivered, he paid extra to overnight it and have it installed the following day. Which by the way while waiting for the part he went home because it was Just too hot to work.The place was 80 degrees. My warehouse hits 80 by eleven am and is usually hovering between 94 to 97 degrees by the time we go ho me. Of course we have no air conditioning and during the summer we have two small heaters. I had to â€Å"acquire† individual space heaters for the workers to get them close to being warm enough to do their work. Corporate Style Management Finally at the corporate level, well basically if you are not in the corporate office you are an annoying little ant that keeps getting in the way.Once a year we have awards sent out for â€Å"outstanding† workers. It always works out the same, one award for San Diego, one award for Pensacola, one award for Charleston, and the rest for Chesapeake. All of the events and recognition on our company web site goes to VA. We have even had pictures of work that was done by workers in Charleston, at Charleston locations mislabel as VA Jobs. And even though there were corrections sent into the main office about that fact a re-print, correction, or update was never publicized acknowledging the mistake.All of the current events are about VA, lo cally e have volunteered at charity events and those have been overlooked to write about how the CEO ran a marathon (not for a charity, Just for his own good). The one time the CEO came to Charleston for an â€Å"all hands meeting† it was to tell us that we were doing good and keep up the good work and that VA thanks Charleston for supporting them. Even though at that moment in time Charleston had the highest amount of revenue coming into the company including all North America entities. When you get that kind of support then you question why moral is as low as it has almost ever been?I think you have answered your own question. V. T. Malcolm used to not be like this from what I hear from the â€Å"old-timers† even as short of a time as seven years ago Malcolm valued their employees. Bosses used to take pride in what their workers did and in reflection workers took pride in what work they put out. After being sold four times and this final one to a holding company out of England I think workers are Just too shaky in their Jobs and bosses are too concerned with their Jobs and the bottom line to care what happens to the company.The consensus is that the company will be broken apart and sold piece by piece to the highest bidder. And that leaves everyone's Job in a state of limbo. Management is either too self-absorbed or too nervous as what's going to happen next that all management training (if any) has been thrown out the window and it is simply look out for one's own good. Meanwhile we are bidding and receiving Jobs we are not even remotely qualified for, but get them because we are the lowest bidder.Which means we have to cut costs (usually on the working man, not the overpaid administration) and thus we have multiple mistakes by workers who are making barely above minimum wage so they don't care what kind of product they put out. So we transfer everyone around hoping to make a change but we still have low skilled, low paid workers doing Jobs th at are scrutinized by government employees (usually paid a lot higher) and thus the product is rejected and our management cannot figure out why they are receiving such low quality work.So I have a couple of theories; first you get what you paid for, meaning low paid workers gets low quality work. Second, when the only time you check the work is when it has already gone through your customers Quality Assurance program and failed miserably, that leaves a bad taste in the SQ rep and they will be expecting poor laity work from your company so things will fail even if they are within passing range. Finally issues like this start from the top down and if you want good work you have to hire good workers and support them.Poor management breeds poor workers. I believe it is time for a shakeup at Malcolm from the top down. 1 . Set Goals, setting clear and concise goals lets you know exactly what you expect and where you expect to go. 2. Prioritize, what tasks to I need to do to achieve my go als, how does this task help me complete my goal, and what extent does this task help me achieve y goal. By choosing which one of those your tasks falls under it helps you achieve your goal quicker and easier. 3. Keep a task list and use the above guidelines to help prioritize those tasks. . Schedule tasks; this helps keep them in control and gives you a guideline to follow 5. Focus on one task at a time; trying to do too much at once gets confusing an leads to frustration, failure, and ultimately giving up. 6. Minimize distractions; we are used to multitasking today but if we can concentrate on one thing and do it to the best of our abilities we will succeed. 7. Overcome Procrastination: simply stop being lazy 8. Take breaks; Even superman took a break every now and again. 9. Say â€Å"No† – when you feel overwhelmed Just say no.There are times where you Just can't do it all. 10. And finally Delegate Tasks; you have people who work for you and you hired them to do mor e than make copies and get your coffee. Use their skill set and ease your load a bit. (William) These are all things that Malcolm supervisors need to learn. Add these in with people skills and V. T. Malcolm is set for success. We put out a good product usually. We need good people working for us. To get good people working for you, you need to have good management.Management that trust and uses their employees to the fullest. Management at its lowest form is managing people. You don't manage people by scare tactics and bullying them. That is something that most people learn in high school. Management is a bit like water once the flow starts downhill it usually trickles all the way to the bottom. References William, D. K. (n. D. ). Http://www. Lifelike. Org/articles/productivity/lo-proven-time- management-skills-you-should-learn-today. HTML. Retrieved from http:// www. Lifelike. Org.

The nature of work

IntroductionThe nature of work is altering at whirlwind velocity. Job emphasis is defined as the harmful physical and emotional responses that occur when the demands of the occupation do non fit the capablenesss, resources, or demands of the worker harmonizing to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health ( NIOSH ) . This type of emphasis can take to hapless wellness and hurt. Stress is a misfit between a worker ‘s demands and capablenesss, and what the workplace offers and demands. The National Health and Safety Commission ( NOHSC ) identified emphasis as the most important psychological jeopardy in the workplace, impacting both mental and physical wellbeing of people. Work-related emphasis is the natural reaction of people to being put under intense force per unit area at work over a period of clip. Some people are motivated by the challenges that their occupation demands and when get the better ofing those challenges there is a sense of relaxation and achievem ent. It is when the force per unit area of work demands becomes utmost and stretched out, that people see that there is a menace to their well-being or involvements and that is so they start to be subjected to unpleasant emotions such as fright, choler or anxiousness. Stress is non a disease or hurt, but it can take to mental and physical ailment wellness. Stress is one of the major OHS issues facing workers in Australian workplaces. The ACTU conducted a study in 1997 receiving over 12,000 responses that showed:One in four people took clip off due to emphasize at work.The most nerve-racking conditions at work reported were direction issues including deficiency of communicating and audience ; increased work load ; organisational alteration and restructuring ; and occupation insecurity.A scope of symptoms including concerns, continual fatigue, choler, and wakefulness.Over half of the respondents nominated better direction, including more communicating and audience, as a solution to em phasize at work. Other solutions included less workload, public presentation monitoring, better work organisation, more preparation, occupation security, and better calling chances.Stressors are events or fortunes that lead to person feeling that physical or psychological demands are about to transcend his or her ability to get by. There are legion types of stressors. These stressors can be because of the type of occupation such as displacement work and menace of force. Another stressor can originate because of the manner the occupation is organized, this can include physical factors ( inordinate heat, cold, noise ) and physiological factors that can impact the organic structure ‘s balance ( shift work, unequal restorative clip, etc. ) . Stressors can look because of the unrealistic deadlines because inordinate work demands. They can besides develop because of personal factors ( wellness position, relationships, get bying with hard state of affairss ) .SIGNS AND SYMPTOMSStress is a complex issue and no two persons will be affected in the same manner. Stress can be thought of as a â€Å"bucket† theoretical account. The pail theoretical account suggests that emphasis and weariness consequence when a individual ‘s reservoir of personal resiliency is drained faster than it is replenished. Interesting work, supportive relationships, and good wellness make full the pail, and hard on the job conditions, emotionally run outing work, extra work, and troubles at place can run out the pail. Some marks and symptoms that one needs to watch out for if they start to experience stressed is that employees feel dying and their bosom rate velocities up because of the deficiency of control over the work load sums. There are physical, psychological and behavioural symptoms that directors or anyone in control of the organisation needs to be cognizant of. The physical symptoms include concerns, tummy jobs, eating upsets, sleep perturbations, weariness, and chronic mild unwellness. The psychological and behavioural symptoms include anxiousness, crossness, low morale, depression, intoxicant and drug usage, and isolation from colleagues. If employees are exposed to these stressors for long periods of clip they can turn into chronic wellness jobs. The physical conditions can progress into high blood force per unit area, bosom disease, shot, diabetes, asthma, and immune system disfunction. The psychological and behavioural symptoms can come on to serious depression, self-destructive behaviour, domestic force, intoxicant and substance maltreatment and burnout.SOURCES/CAUSES OF JOB STRESSHarmonizing to Aetna, there is one school of idea, differences in single features such as personality and get bying with manner are the most of import in foretelling whether certain occupation conditions will ensue in emphasis – in other words, what is nerve-racking for one individual may non be a job for person else. There are different occupation condition s that may take to emphasize. These occupation conditions include design of undertakings, direction manner, interpersonal relationships, work functions, calling concerns, and environmental conditions. The design of the undertaking is anything that provides small sense of control to the employee, heavy work load, and long work hours, feverish and everyday undertakings that have small built-in significance. Another occupation status that leads to emphasize is the manner of direction. The direction manner could be due to hapless communicating in the organisation, deficiency of family-friendly policies, and a deficiency of engagement by workers in determination devising. Interpersonal relationship can do an employee emphasis because of the undermentioned possible factors: hapless societal environment and a deficiency of support from coworkers and supervisors. Having excessively many work functions is another occupation status that could do an employee emphasis. This can go on when the e mployee is have oning excessively many chapeaus, holding excessively much duty, or unsure occupation outlooks. Another occupation status that can do emphasis to an employee is career concerns. The deficiency of occupation insecurity, chance for growing, or rapid alterations in which the workers are unprepared. The last occupation status that can do emphasis is the environment. The environmental conditions such as crowding, noise, air pollution or ergonomic jobs are conditions that human resource is traveling to hold to take into consideration. The causes of emphasis ( frequently called stressors ) can be many and varied, and can happen as a consequence of combinations of more than one stressor. The PEF have a list of other stressors that can do emphasis. They include engaging freezings ; contingent work ( parttime or impermanent ) , quality plans and these can take to emphasize. These include non-existent calling ladders, high demands, work load, clip force per unit areas, understaf fing and violence/harassment. Short-run emphasis may do a individual cognizant of being challenged and motivated. This is â€Å"some emphasis is good for you† consequence. Prolonged consciousness of non get bying can take to harm for both the individual and the organisation. This can ensue in immediate safety jobs, depression, burnout, bosom disease, and self-abusive behaviours ( such as intoxicant ) .Stress FROM Making THE JOBMost stressors can be grouped into one of three countries ; emphasis from making the occupation, emphasis from work relationships, and emphasis from working conditions. Stress from making the occupation can be attributed to insistent work, excessively much to make with excessively small clip, excessively much or non adequate preparation, demotion, confusion of precedences and excessively much duty. Poor colleague relationships, favoritism, deficiency of communicating between employer and employee, and negative civilization can be the beginning for emphasis from work relationships. St ress from working conditions can be rooted in the physical danger or the menace of the occupation, hapless physical working conditions, restructuring, and inflexible work agendas or fickle hours.JOB STRESS AND HEALTHJob emphasis poses a menace to wellness of workers and to the wellness organisations. There are possible wellness jobs that if exposed to excessively much emphasis can increase the hazard for. The early warning marks that one possibly sing excessively much emphasis. These marks are concerns, sleep perturbations, trouble concentrating, short pique, disquieted tummy, occupation dissatisfaction, and low morale. If these early warning marks go unnoticed so there are more serious jobs that can originate. These jobs include cardiovascular disease, musculoskeletal upsets, psychological upsets, workplace hurt, self-destruction, malignant neoplastic disease, ulcers, and impaired immune map. As degrees of emphasis addition, so excessively can consumption of intoxicant, coffin nail s and prescription/non-prescription drugs.WHAT CAN Be DONE ABOUT JOB STRESSThere are some different attacks for covering with emphasis. They are stress direction and organisational alteration. With stress direction there are plans that teach workers about the nature and beginnings of emphasis, the effects of emphasis on wellness, and personal accomplishments to cut down emphasis. Employee aid plans ( EAP ) are initiated to better the ability of workers to get by with hard work state of affairss. EAP ‘s provide single guidance for employees with both work and personal jobs. Stress direction preparation could significantly cut down emphasis symptoms and is cheap to implement. Stress direction has two disadvantages: the good effects on emphasis symptoms are frequently ephemeral ; and they frequently ignore of import root causes of emphasis because they focus on the worker and non the environment. The 2nd attack for covering with emphasis is organisational alteration. This attack is the most direct manner to cut down emphasis at work. It encompasses the designation of nerve-racking facets of work and plan schemes to cut down or extinguish the recognized stressors. The advantage of this attack is that it deals straight with the root causes of emphasis at work. This attack can be slippery for directors because it means altering work or production agendas, or alterations in the construction of the organisation. As a general regulation, actions to cut down occupation emphasis should give top precedence to organisational alteration to better working conditions. The practical attack to covering with job-related emphasis is to unite organisational alteration and emphasis direction to forestall emphasis at work. Pull offing jobs around emphasis and weariness requires the same accomplishments and behaviours as pull offing any other employment relationship jobs:The parties need to pass on, work together, and happen a solution that both find satisfactory ;Deal with jobs before they escalate ;Make sure that you have all the facts, speak the issue through with the all involved, and place the implicit in job ;Have a 3rd party nowadays so that they could assist do certain that all issues are understood by both parties and all likely solutions are taken into history ;Employers who need aid can confer with an Employers ‘ Organization.WHAT LAWS APPLYStress becomes an occupational jeopardy if it adversely impacts on safety and wellness in the workplace. Employers have a responsibility to supply safe systems of work, information, preparation and supervising and to confer with and collaborate with employees. Employees have a responsibility to take sensible attention of themselves in the workplace a nd to collaborate with the employer on safety and wellness affairs. Occupational Safety and Health Regulations 1996 requires employers, where operable, to follow a systematic attack to identifying, measuring and commanding jeopardies at work ; employers should place factors in the workplace that cause emphasis, reexamine the likeliness that the emphasis would do hurt or disease, and if the hazards are important they should set controls in topographic point to minimise emphasis.HOW ARE THE RISKS ARISING FROM STRESS ASSESSEDAs of today, there is no nonsubjective manner to mensurate the degrees of emphasis in the workplace, but there are advisers that can mensurate the beginnings of emphasis and set into topographic point subjective steps for the workplace. These solutions will differ based on the size and elaborateness of the organisation, resources available, and the different types of emphasis faced within that organisation. Minimizing emphasis can be cheap. The employer, chief cont ractor, freelance individual, or anyone with control in the work topographic point, it is their duty of measuring the sum of emphasis within an organisation. This involves taking action to forestall turning force per unit area in the workplace, placing force per unit areas that could do high, durable degrees of emphasis, placing those that might be affected by these force per unit areas, and make up one's minding whether to take preventive action to forestall turning force per unit area. It is of import that there is early intercession if emphasis is identified.STRATEGIES FOR SOLUTIONSIf the company is in a brotherhood so employers need to acquire the affected members to work together with brotherhood representatives to turn to the ground ( s ) for job-related emphasis. The first thing that needs to go on is that the job needs to be documented that includes worker studies, jeopardy function, analysing bing employer informations such as hurt and illness logs or tracking staffing form s. If direction coaction is possible, the brotherhood, affected worker, and direction can come together to place cardinal stressors and develop plans to cut down emphasis. This is normally done through wellness and safety and labor/management commissions, preparation and educational plans. Schemes may include affecting workers in occupation and workplace design, holding input on displacement agendas, and/or developing a workplace force bar policy or plan. If direction is non collaborating, the brotherhood can execute its ain run by keeping equal group meetings, registering mass grudges, or prosecute in public consciousness run.Directors ‘ AND EMPLOYERS ‘ RESPONSIBILITIESAs a director and employer you have certain duties and have a responsibility to look after your ain wellness every bit good as the wellness of your employees. The Health and Safety Executive ( HSE ) suggests that you carry out a hazard appraisal to happen out whether you are making plenty to forestall emp hasis, and has identified seven factors for measuring work-related emphasis jeopardies:Culture of the organisations,Demands such as work load and exposure to physical jeopardies,How much control people have over the manner they work,Relationships,How organisational alteration is managed and communicated,Whether the single understands their function in the organisation and whether the organisation ensures that the individual does non hold conflicting functions, andSupport and preparation from equals and line direction for the individual to be able to set about the nucleus maps of their occupation.DecisionStress can impact everyone. Work organisations need to develop a workplace civilization that recognizes that occupation satisfaction factors such as flexibleness, liberty, security, acknowledgment, ownership, engagement, and engagement are every bit indispensable as stable industrial dealingss. Employers in such organisations should hold no uncertainty that wellness, safety, security , and morale are inextricably linked to employee satisfaction, productiveness, and client satisfaction. Stress should non be portion of a occupation to the extent that it causes physical or mental unwellness. The solution is good direction on both sides.

Supporting Good Practice in Performance and Reward Management

Supporting Good Practice in Performance and Reward Management 3PRM Activity 1 Performance management Performance Management is both a strategic (about broad issues and long-term goals) and an integrated (linking various aspects of the business, people management, individuals and teams) approach to delivering successful results in organisations by improving the performance and developing the capabilities of teams and individuals.Two main purposes of performance management are; * To help the employees in identifying the knowledge and skills required for performing the job efficiently as this would drive their focus towards performing the right task in the right way, which in turn helps work towards the business objectives as their tasks are generated and focussed around the organisations goals. Promoting a two way system of communication between the supervisors and the employees for clarifying expectations about the roles and accountabilities, communicating the functional and organisat ional goals, providing a regular and a transparent feedback for improving employee performance and continuous coaching and development. The most important stage and component of any performance management process which forms the basis of performance is Appraisals.Appraisal systems are a formal method of monitoring and reviewing individuals’ performance. This is important as they enable the individuals to gain a clear picture of how they are doing and to identify areas where they may need additional support or training. They also ensure that the work of the individual is focussed towards the overall objectives of the organisation and whether they are on track to meet their objectives they have been set. There are three main components of performance management; Planning – This is done in form of appraisals. Performance planning is jointly done by the appraisee and also the appraiser in the beginning of a performance session. During this period, both the manager and staf f decide upon the targets and the key performance areas which can be performed over the next year. * Monitoring – Regular monitoring of performance is one of the key component to performance management it is usually done in the form of informal appraisals and these should also occur though regular contact and one to ones.It gives an opportunity to monitor the achievements of objectives for staff, keeps a check on how the individual is getting on in relation to the tasks, identifies any problems which can prevent the individual from achieving their work objectives. * Review/evaluating – Managers should be giving feedback on a regular and continuing basis. This is the stage in which the employee acquires awareness from the appraiser about the areas of improvements and also information on whether the employee is contributing the expected levels of performance or not.The employee receives open feedback and along with this the training and development needs of the individua l is also identified. The appraiser adopts all the possible steps to ensure that the employee meets the expected outcomes for an organisation through guidance, mentoring and representing the employee in training programmes which develop the competencies and improve the overall productivity. This stage also is an opportunity for strengths to be identified and how these can be utilised to support the business objectives further. Motivation and performance managementThe relationship between motivation and performance management is a close one, they work along each other. Motivation is the key to an individual's degree of willingness to exert and maintain their efforts towards the organisational goals. Motivation levels are likely to have an effect on performance. If an individual has high motivation, it is likely to increase their performance. Although this may not always be the case. Here is a list of some of the things that motivate individuals; * Money * Reward schemes * Sense of ac hievement * The environment * Professional Development * Benefits Etc. There are many motivational theories here I will explain two of them. Herzberg’s two factor theory of motivation at the workplace shows the difference between two factors of motivation. The two factors being satisfiers, which are the main causes for job satisfaction (motivation), from hygiene factors which are the main causes for job dissatisfaction (demotivation to stay in the job). Examples of motivating factors are achievement, recognition, responsibility and the work itself. Hygiene factors include: working conditions, salary, relationship with colleagues, supervision, etc.An organisation needs to influence satisfiers through performance management using range of tools such as: job descriptions, supervision, performance appraisals, continuous development/training, rewards and career development. Maslow’s theory of motivation is called the â€Å"hierarchy of needs†. Maslow believes that pe ople have five main needs in the following order of importance; 1. Physiological – the need to eat, drink, sleep, reproduce. 2. Safety – the need for shelter and to feel secure. 3. Love/Belonging – the need to feel part of a group and to be accepted. . Esteem – the need to feel good about themselves and the need to be recognised for achievements. 5. Self-actualisation – the need for personal fulfilment and the need to grow and develop. Maslow's hierarchic theory is represented as a pyramid, with the lower levels representing the more fundamental needs, and the upper levels representing the growth/being needs, and ultimately the need for self-actualisation. According to the theory, the higher needs in the hierarchy become evident only after all the needs that are lower down in the pyramid are met. RewardsMost organisations use rewards within their performance management system to motivate individuals. Two main purposes they do this are; * To help at tract individuals – The better rewards that the organisation gives the more people are going to be attracted to work for them so more people will apply for jobs there. * Retain the individuals – Rewards for good performance is motivation for staff to stay with the organisation it helps make them feel valued in turn makes them work harder. Rewards are not just financial but non-financial too. Rewards can be things such as; * Pay rise/ bonus.Some bonuses are based on performance of an individual, the team or the organisation and is usually target / objective focused. * Recognition. This could be through increased responsibility, praise during one to ones, a certificate of recognition, etc. * Flexible hours and time off – This could be a generous holiday period or increased holiday to reward employees for long service. Also some organisations use flexible working as a reward. Data needed for managing performance All materials need to be prepared for managing perfor mance (appraisal meetings) these would include internal and external data, although most are internal.An internal piece of data for example would be if it was a sales organisation they would bring along the report for the percentage of sales the individual has made and this would be compared to the targets set. The comparison would show how well individual has done to meet these this would then be discussed in the next stage. Other examples would include notes agreed tasks and records of performance, achievements, incidents, reports, previous performance appraisal documents and a current job description.An example of an external piece of data would be benchmarking, where the manager would collect data from other organisations to analyse and compare the sales the individual has made, this would show how the employee's participation is developing not only themselves, but also the constitution as a whole, compared to the other organisations, earlier collected data from. Another example would be feedback from external customers or other organisations. Managing Performance The key aims of performance management are to continuously improve the performance of individuals and that of the organisation.It involves making sure that the performance of employees contributes to the goals of their teams and the business as a whole. Part of the management is to review the individuals performance whether it be good or poor performance. The aims of the meetings for performance management are to encourage and motivate not to undermine. Factors to be considered whilst managing good performance would be reward for the individuals’ performance, how to keep the individual motivated to keep up the good work and any training needs to help develop further.Factors to consider whilst managing poor performance would be thinking about how to deal with discussing the performance as these can be difficult conversations for managers, thinking about why the performance is poor and think ing about how to improve the individuals’ performance, what measures can be put in place and how this can monitored. Most organisations have their performance reviews at once a year in the form of appraisals and have 6 month reviews. Although managers should keep their staff informed of their performance and giving feedback throughout the whole year.This can be done through one to one’s or regular meetings. The purposes of the performance reviews are * to check how the team member is getting on in relation to the tasks and objectives agreed, * to identify any problems which may be preventing the individual from achieving their work objectives, * to highlight opportunities for improving work processes, * to build confidence and self-esteem within the individual * to plan future work, set tasks and agree objectives * to agree ways to support the individual in the future, * to discuss the individuals feedback and how they feel about their job.The process of appraisals App raisal systems vary in different organisations, some have standardised procedures, some have few guidelines and leave it to the manager to plan and implement. There are three main stages of an appraisal preparation, the meeting and the follow up. * Preparation – Both the manager and the individual need to prepare for the appraisal by reviewing the individuals performance including the overall performance, the quality of the work and checking if targets have been met. * The meeting – The manager needs to make sure that a suitable venue is planned and available, private and free from interruptions.Within the meeting the manager needs to set the tone which will influence whether the discussion is helpful to both manager and individual they need to make sure that the individual is relaxed. Then both the manager and individual going through the appraisal document discuss * Performance and identify areas of good performance and the weaker investigate the reasons for the weak ness and highlight the areas for improvement * clarifying, defining, redefining priorities and objectives making sure that they are specific to the organisations objectives * motivation through agreeing helpful aims and targets motivation though achievement and feedback * training needs and learning desires – assessment and agreement * identification of personal strengths * career and succession planning – personal and organisational * team roles clarification and team building * organisational training needs assessment and analysis * the individual and managers mutual awareness, understanding and relationship * reinforcing organisational philosophies, values, aims, strategies, priorities * additional responsibilities, employee growth and development * counselling and feedback * manager development The follow up is the review by the manager where they need to complete the documentation by writing up what had been discussed. Making sure that the write up is agreed and s igned by the individual. Managers need to keep continuous monitoring and evaluation on the individual throughout the year and ideally hold a review within that time. Activity 2 The hopeful outcome of the meeting was to discuss with the individual their performance over the last six months, including what went well and what hadn’t gone so well. Why things had gone well or not so well and if there was anything to improve performance or training needs.The outcomes of the appraisal with Hannah were that over the last six months as the manager I felt that Hannah has been doing well and providing a good service. Her only downfall is that sales have gone down but this was due to Hannah having a month off work with a broken leg. This was discussed within the meeting using the Appraisal form and was met with targets to be achieved. The appraisal form used was effective as it covers all areas of performance including how the individual felt about the previous six months it also covers how the manager felt they performed.It discusses what they have enjoyed most and least, quality of their work, management of workload, targets and identifies if any training is needed. These things covered are important as it lets both the manager and individual know how the individual is doing within the organisation and whether they need any further development or training. This is a motivator to the individual as they can gain job satisfaction that they are going in the right direction and helping towards the overall aim and objectives of the organisation.This appraisal system could be improved by having more input from the individual so they can have their say on what they have done and how they feel they have done which maybe the manager has not recognised. This would help the individual to feel they receive the recognition they deserve for the work they have input. SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and timely) should be incorporated to the form as the targets need to be SMART otherwise it would be unfair for the individual to set unattainable targets to meet as they won’t meet them which will affect their performance reviews.

How Muhammad Established Islam As A Major Political And Religious Force In The World Essay

While Muhammad was living with his wife Khadija, he often went to a cave outside Makkah called Hira, where he would reflect and pray. During one night in 610CE, when Muhammad was 40, he was in a cave on Mount Hira. God revealed himself to Muhammad. This was called the night of power, and it relates in Surah 95 of the Qur’an, which is entitled The Blood Clot. When Muhammad returned home, Khadija became his first believer. Then his cousin Ali, a freed slave called Zayd, and one of his closest friends, Abu Bakr, all became followers. There started one of the great religions of the world. Muhammad had a strong belief that there was only one God, the creator. He believed that all humans should be equal in their relationship with this creator. This undermined the tribes of Makkah who, especially the Quarish, rose up against Muhammad and his followers. All through his life, Muhammad fought to establish Islam, to gather followers, and to create a substantial political force. In the 22 years after the first revelation, until Muhammad died in 632CE, God delivered the Qu’ran to Muhammad, his messenger. By the time that God had finished revealing the Qu’ran, Muhammad had moved to Madinah. Hence we get Makkan and Medinan verses. The Makkan verses are usually shorter, more judgemental, and are found towards the end of the Qu’ran. After the second revelation, the night journey, Muhammad migrated to Yathrib, 40 miles north of Makkah, to settle disputes with the pilgrims from that town. He went there with family and followers in 622CE. When he arrived, he built a house, which was later to become the first mosque. He then renamed the town Madinah. This is where the central community was established. After Muhammad died, no one knew if he had named a successor. Usually, it would pass to his eldest son. In the end the leader was chosen by the Muslim community as a person of great personal integrity. This is the belief of the Sunni branch of Islam, who did not want a government, but they wanted to rely on an authoritative ruler. The Shi’a branch believes that the early history was biased against Ali, Muhammad’s cousin. When Ali did become the leader, those who believed Ali to be the true successor formed the separate ‘Party of Ali’. The Shi’a branch wanted a leader from the family of Muhammad. Islam was greatly diversified by the achievements of the first four caliph successors to Muhammad. Here is who they are and what they achieved in their rule: * Abu Bakr (632-634 CE) He and his armies conquered Arab tribes, and they went as far as the Byzantine Empire’s borders. Abu Bakr had more than a personal belief of Islam and he had a belief of political ideology. * Umar (634-644 CE) He continued after Abu Bakr and captured Jerusalem and North Africa. * Uthman (644-656 CE) After Ali turned down the caliphate, Uthman was chosen and he expanded the empire through North Africa and Eastwards to India and China. * Ali (656-661 CE) He made Mu’awiya co-caliph, a disastrous move. Two parties were formed, one supporting Ali, the other supporting Mu’awiya. Islam today is the second largest religion in the world and it is growing fast. It is significant in the modern politics. It also contributes to art, music, architecture and philosophy. The religion has grown to have over 2 billion followers. However recently Islamophobia has stepped in. Islam has been treated very cruelly by the western media in the last few years. However Islam means to surrender, or submit, and it is linked closely to another Arabic word meaning peace. Indeed a Muslim is ‘one who surrenders’.

Critical analysis report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Critical analysis report - Essay Example In case comparison of News; Google offers facility to present our news website for analysis and we are able to offer the news directory to all the contents on website intended for Google to spider. However Bing does not offer such capabilities. As far as the speed of searching is concerned, we will find that Google is on the peak while Bing has a second place. Then in case of high usage of search engines all through the world Google is on the top and Bing gets second place. Example Image is listed below: (Dunn, 2010) and (randfish, 2010) Figure 1-Google Vs Bing –Number of Results Analysis: Source http://www.bing-vs-google.com/?q=best+mobile+set+of+2010 On the other hand Bing permits public allocation for a number of outcomes or results through search results. However Google does not offer such capabilities. After that Bing presents foretaste of the document that is like another search engine known as Ask.com. However Google does not present such beneficial capabilities. Then i n case of online video playback Bing offers video that can be viewed online inside the previews, however Google does not offer such video playback capabilities (Dunn, 2010) and (randfish, 2010). ... An example of such website is presented below: (ZambaGrafix, 2002) Figure 3- Feedback Source http://www.zambagrafix.com/egform.htm Bulletin boards/ discussion forums Another well known interactivity feature of the website is the Bulletin boards/ discussion forums. These offer fundamental places where people are able to put information request queries as well as respond to further providers on line (ZambaGrafix, 2002). Password protected private areas For effective website usage interactivity feature like Password protected private areas is really essential. In this scenario this interactivity feature offers the facility of protection that can comprise varying levels of safety and produced in dissimilar manners, through matching dissimilarities in expenditures of implementation. It as well depends on our server/ISP features. Example of such features is listed below: (ZambaGrafix, 2002) http://www.zambagrafix.com/interact.htm Figure 5- Password protected private areas Source http://www .zamba.com/znetlock.htm Website search engine This is a very important interactivity feature that offers website user a liberty and easiness regarding better contents searching and visiting. Example of such feature is listed below: (ZambaGrafix, 2002) Figure 6- Website search engine Source- http://www.utoronto.ca/ Question No 3 This section will discuss and analyze some of the highly dangerous website security/vulnerability issues, these issues are listed below: SQL Injection SQL injection is about the incorporation of SQL meta-characters in website client input parts, for instance attacker's questions are performed through the database located at the back-end. Generally, website attackers will make a

Cloud-based BPM Model Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Cloud-based BPM Model - Essay Example The organization of these activities alongside human/system factors through a systematic workflow, enable a business to gain not only an extraordinary visibility but the entire control over their daily operation (Dumas,LaRosa,Mendling and Reijers, 2013).It can be used by employees to troubleshoot anomalies in business orders or determine missing items as well. The BPM mainly revolves around the cycling processes and begins at the model phase that provides the basic approach to continuous improvement of the business processes. All aspects of the BPM are implemented in their respective phase in relation to detailed activities involved in each phase. The first cycle begins with capturing the processes in model phase that entails the purpose for analyzing current business processes. The analysis in the model results to improved version of the business process, further design, implementation and evaluation. BPM emerged not only as a management principle tool but also as a suite of softwar e solutions to overcome the deficiencies in traditional business process applications. Although the BPM has been established to be very successful, serious obstacles persist in its enterprise-scale implementation. Variable such as startup costs, resource availability and technical limitation cannot be undermined. Premises are the responsible for the installation of their own BPM. This is a challenge to business premises since the upfront outlay cost requires a lot of capital. Installation of the BPM.

Short Answer Questions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Short Answer Questions - Essay Example When one is able to clarify the values it gives an opportunity to identify the strength needed in displaying ones profession of nursing. One is able to give services with the help of both personal and profession values. Values are classified according to profession, for example the nursing profession requires patience ,love and honesty. Therefore is it important for to clarify the values in order to execute services in a more diligent way. Public figures are the people entitled to serve the public and most of them do the opposite with their value requirements. This is not the same with the those of professional figures because profession requires direct application of those values in discharging of services .Doctors are professional figures and they execute duties according to their personal and professional values. Public figures have odds in terms of value application because they do things that don’t result from the values they are expected from them. Politicians for instance have odds in terms of their values. They engage in corruption, bribery and tribalism during giving services to the public. This is totally wrong since they are leaders and they should exercise leadership values. The term professional refers to a description of an individual who is competent or skilled in a particular activity. It can also mean a person who is involved in a particular activity as an occupation. Abortion and voluntary euthanasia are important but critical issues related to life and death. They involve use of ethical issues that require legal decisions . Personal interventions are also required before making a decision on abortion and voluntary euthanasia. Abortion is a service that should be offered only under certain conditions of the patient. Legal procedure may follow where the attorney is involved. A person’s will or decision to undergo may be approved after consideration of several valid