Employee Involvment and Communication

Defining ‘employee relations’…

According to Bratton & Gold (2007), employee relations refers to ‘an assortment of employer initiatives for improving workplace communications, for engaging employees either directly or indirectly in decision making and for securing employee compliance with management rules through disciplinary action’. There are a few different ways in which employers may choose to improve communications and engage employees in decision making. The three main strategies which can be applied to achieve this are known as ‘employee involvement’, ‘employee participation’, and ‘employee voice and partnership’.

Explanation of the difference between ‘employee participation’ and ‘employee involvement’…

Employee participation

Employee participation derives from a pluralist approach and gives employees the right to consultation on matters likely to affect the economic status of the employer or any proposed changes that may affect their employment status. This technique makes it possible for employees to have an input in some of the decisions which are made however it is often supported by some form of rules or legislations.

Employee involvement

Employee involvement describes the process of creating opportunities for staff to have an influence on decisions that are made and any other aspects that affect their jobsAccording to Heathfield (2010) ‘Employee involvement is not the goal nor is it a tool’. Rather, it is an ideology adapted by managers which believes that it is valuable for staff to contribute to continuous improvement and the ongoing development of their personal performance and that of the company. ‘This involvement increases ownership and commitment, retains your best employees, and fosters an environment in which people choose to be motivated and contributing.’ (Heathfield, 2010)

Employee involvement is about a management desire to encourage individual employees to be committed to the organisational values – more a unitarist approach.

Different categories of involvement include:
· Sharing information
· Consultation
· Financial participation
· Quality improvements
· Individuals
· Community

Many organisations are now using social networking sites as a means of involving their staff, both for existing staff and potential recruits. Go online and find examples of how this works. What sort of information is provided? Which social networks are being used?

The latest and most innovative approach to employee involvement through technology is via social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, Bebo and LinkedIn. These sites encourage employee involvement as they enable them to voice their opinions and thus be more involved in the decision making process. These sites can be used to create a page dedicated to an organisation which is run by an allocated administrator who is responsible for dealing with all aspects of the website. This includes things such as considering ideas put forward by employees, addressing recruitment matters, advertising, team briefings, company newsletters and publications, company videos, company intranet and extranet.

Social networking sites can be used as a tool to improve efficiency of the recruitment process also. Companies can create a page with a system for applicants to apply for vacancies and applicants can also use the network as a resource to answer any questions or queries which they may have.

Another beneficial aspect of social networking sites for managers is that they can potentially examine the character and personality of possible candidates by seeing what they are like outside of the work environment.

Overall, social networking sites can be highly beneficial for organisations in a range of different ways when utilised effectively. They enable managers to monitor staff, improve communication, promote employee involvement, improve motivation, advertise, allow employees a say in decision making, and recruit new staff. In conclusion i feel that employee involvment is more effective than participation as involvment increases motivation and plays a part in maintaining a high standard within the workforce.

References:

1) Heathfield, S (2010) Employee Involvement [online] Available from: http://humanresources.about.com/od/glossarye/a/employee_inv.htm [Accessed 1 May 2010]

2) Wiki Answers, (2010) What is the difference between employee participation and employee involvement? [online] Available from : http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_difference_between_employee_participation_and_employee_involvement
[Accessed 1 May 2010]

Reward

Consider your own organisation or one with which you are familiar – how does it reward employees? Does it differ for different groups – how and why? How is ‘fairness’ or ‘equity’ ensured?

Tesco believes in rewarding and benefiting its staff where deserved. According to Tesco-Careers (2009), as well as competitive salaries at all levels, in every area of the business, they also offer a whole package of other ways to help staff make more of their money, safeguard their future and look after their health. These kinds of incentives motivate employees to work harder thus increasing productivity and maintaining competitiveness.

Tesco also provide employees with the opportunity to gain a share of the company’s profits which is a huge incentive for employees at all levels. The amount is determined in proportion to the individual’s salary meaning that the lower the salary, the less the amount of profit shared; the higher the person’s salary, the greater the amount gained. Although this implements fairness in this scheme, it also has an aspect of unfairness as certain individuals receive more reward then others. Alternatively, this could be justified by the fact that there is a much higher level of pressure and responsibility involved in doing a higher paid job.

Should chief executives still get their bonuses even if the organisation that they have led has underperformed?

Ever since we entered the global economic recession, opposition has been stronger than ever mainly, due mainly to the number of high-paying firms bailed out with taxpayer’s money during the crisis.

Arguments for:

· P People underestimate the responsibilities a Chief Executive has to take on and sometimes bonuses act as a form of compensation for the time, stress and commitment they have to put in to make the business successful. If they weren’t given these large financial incentives I am sure it would be very difficult to find anyone willing to stand up to the challenge and sacrifice so much of their existence for the sake of the company.

· If a chief executive can prove that he/she has taken all the measures they possibly could have to meet their targets then they should be awarded a bonus for their efforts as opposed to their actual outcome.

· Arguments against:

· By rewarding chief executives with absurdly large bonuses despite there being evidence of underperformance, the organisation sends out a wrong and immoral message to its staff. I believe that one should not be rewarded if they fail to achieve their own goals and or company objectives as by rewarding staff when it is not deserved, they feel as though there is no need to push them further. As a result their attitudes towards work become relaxed as regardless of whether or not they meet their obligations, they will still receive large cash bonuses. This relaxed attitude leads to a reduction in individual efforts which have adverse effects on performance and therefore a negative impact on productivity, profitability and many other aspects.

· According to the International Monetary fund (2010) large bonuses encourage bank executives to take excessive risks, something which has contributed greatly to the financial crises.

· Executives who receive large cash bonuses are usually overpaid to begin with. So in a time of economic recession where money is scarce and the ordinary working class people are struggling to make ends meet, it doesn’t seem morally fair to be rewarding executives with ridiculous bonuses when they are to blame for the mess.

·

Identify three financial and three non-financial ways of rewarding a teacher at a primary school

Financial rewards:

· Reward teachers with cash bonuses based on any improvements made on students performances over set periods of time.

· Providing teachers with more paid holidays measured against performance standards and attendance.

· Providing corporate vouchers for external/extracurricular activities and efforts aimed at benefiting students.

Non-financial rewards:

· A recognition award which acts as a motivational incentive to say thank you for their hard work such as a teacher of the month/teacher of the year award.

· Teachers who gain improved results within their class are given recognition by appointing them as mentors to less experienced teachers who could benefit from their expertise and personal experience, making them feel more valued therefore increasing motivation and acting as an incentive.

·

Of the rewards and incentives listed above, the one which would motivate me the most is the second bullet point under non-financial rewards which states that teachers receive a recognition award by making them mentors to teachers who could benefit from their expertise and personal experience. The reason that I feel this would motivate me the most is that I would gain a sense of leadership, responsibility and would feel more valued in my job as I would be looked up to by others as a role model. This is motivating as it encourages one to push their own boundaries, help others and be more responsible.

Conclusion

In my opinion reward is a vital tool in maintaining strong employee relationships and interest amongst employees, as well as keeping a workforce motivated and determined to push the boundaries of their potential. The form of reward can differ through many different ways, methods and approaches depending on a variety of factors. From my observations of this topic I have recognized that a successful reward scheme is more achievable through a combination of both financial and non-financial incentives, rather than just one.

References

International monetary fund (2010), Should Bankers get their Bonuses? [online] Available from: http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fandd/2010/03/kaplan.htm [Accessed 25 April 2010]

Training & Development

Training and development is a key aspect for both individuals and organisations in order to expand operations, personal development and to improve performance. According to Mullins (2008) The purpose of training is to improve knowledge and skills and to change attitudes. Training and development is beneficial in many ways as it employees motivation as they feel better equipped to do their jobs, increases the level or performance, adopts new technologies and methods and reduces employee turnover (McNamara 2010).

An effective way to grasp an understanding of what is required to create a successful training and development program is by having a go at constructing your own mock example of a training schedule. In this case, we have been asked to plan and design a one week induction program for new graduate entrants for a retail chain. It is anticipated that these graduates will be store managers by the end of their two year training programme. A number of issues must be addressed and considered before the programme begins such as; what will the induction week include? Where should the training take place? How to evaluate its effectiveness?

All graduate entrants should have a clear and thorough understanding of what is expected of them in their journey to becoming store managers. It is vital for them to become familiar and comfortable with their working environment from the very beginning as well as building solid and professional relationships within their departments and with colleagues. Also it is important that they grasp the organisational culture of the company as they must live and breathe what they represent for as long as they work there.

I feel that the most suitable way to begin an induction week for graduate entrants is with an inspirational and informative speech from the management team as I feel that this is an effective way of motivating employees at an early stage. It is also important for the graduates to get to know their managers from the get go as it enables them to develop a comfortable and stable communication. Therefore I feel that a question and answer session should also be included within this opening speech to clear up any doubts, concerns or queries.

I also believe that an induction week should include elements of fun which can be combined with constructive activities to make the learning process more enjoyable. For example games which can be used to get to know co-workers and other staff and establish relationships. As the graduates are likely to have little or no experience in the jobs they’re entering, it would be a wise decision to get them to shadow someone who already has the knowhow. By doing this, they will begin to grasp an understanding of the way things should be done. Once they gain this brief understanding of their jobs it is in both the companies and the trainee’s interest that they attend an extensively thorough and professional training programme which prepares them before entering their job or area of expertise, this section of their training should include a variety of activities. It is also extremely important that the graduates feel comfortable and confident which is why I feel that this induction week should encourage them to ask as many questions as they can and they should be reminded of this as much as possible.

It is also vital that the success of the training is evaluated. One way this can be achieved is through response questionnaires which are designed to evaluate and assess the whether or not the training fulfilled its goals and was successful. Another way this can be achieved is through one to one appraisals which discuss each individuals feelings on the training they receive. These appraisals should encourage graduates to be honest and provide managers with the necessary feedback to improve and make adjustments to their future programmes. As well as appraisals, managers can evaluate the success or failure of their training and development programmes by assessing and managing performance levels. For example analysing the productivity of an individual or department and trying to understand how this may have been influenced by the training they received. The evaluation stage is absolutely crucial as it encourage management to constantly improve its efforts and techniques of developing its staff.

Conclusion

Training is essential for every business in order to stand a chance in surviving. The reason it is so important is that it provides organisations with competitiveness. Without training its staff, a business would simply be obliterated by its competition as those who train their staff and focus on personal development have a far more significant, capable and effective workforce.

References

1) Business Balls (2010), Training and Learning Development [Online]. Available from http://www.businessballs.com/traindev.htm [Accessed 17 April 2010]

2) CIPD (2010), Learning, training and development: highlighted resources [online]. Available from: http://www.cipd.co.uk/subjects/lrnanddev/ [Accessed 17 April 2010]

3) McNamara, C. (2010). Employee Training and Development: Reasons and Benefits [online]. Available from: http://managementhelp.org/trng_dev/basics/reasons.htm [Accessed 17 April 2010].

Managing Performance

According to Armstrong & Baron (2005) performance management is a process which contributes to the effective management of individuals and teams to achieve high levels of organizational performance.

Managing or measuring performance is a crucial aspect of running any successful organ;ization. It provides employees with guidance and develops the necessary attitudes and skills required to achieve organizational objectives. Another reason it is so important is that it identifies any factors which may be limiting the progression and development of performance allowing for managers to take adequate and strategic action. This enables the organization to improve both its performance and efficiency and helps them to ensure that they learn from any mistakes they may have made.

Another beneficial feature of successful performance management is a mutual understanding amongst employees of what must be done in order to attain a high level or performance and efficiency. As a result this motivates employees to maintain a higher standard of performance which in turn assists the organization in achieving its objectives.

There are many different ways in which one may choose manage performance. For example, mentoring; a process of personal development through sharing knowledge and support, probation; a period of time which is given to the new employee in which he/she must prove that they are suitable and responsible enough for the job.

How does the university measure your performance? What role do your lecturers take in the process and your personal tutors?

Our lecturers role in the process of measuring our performance stems from a quantitative approach; a method which uses numbers as the basis of its evaluation. The way that our lecturers choose to do this is by using our grades as an indication to how well we are progressing. For example, if I gain a grade such as 40%, this indicates that I am barely scraping through and there is much room for improvement. However if I gain 70% or higher (First) then both us and our lecturers become aware that we are achieving highly and are on course for excellent results.

On the other hand, our personal tutors tend to take a more qualitative approach to performance management. They tend to be more hands on in their style as it is their job to show an interest in the students thoughts and opinions of what and how they are doing, rather than measuring our performance based solely on figures. During our one to one meetings at the end of each term for example, we have a brief discussion which assesses my progress. During these meetings we are asked questions concerning our own interests and how we feel things are personally going for us. I feel that this is a more effective and fair approach to measuring performance as it combines both qualitative and quantitative aspects to generate a successful, accurate and motivational outcome.

Read the article from The Times on mentoring. What skills do you think are required to be an effective mentor?

A mentor is someone who provides help, support and guidance to others with the intention of developing them in different ways that improve and assist them in performing to the best of their ability. Mentors usually already have extensive experience and understanding of their area of expertise and tend to use this in teaching others. According to Stone (2008) mentoring is a bit like having a board of non-executive directors.

On the other hand, an effective mentor doesn’t necessarily have to be an expert in their particular field or industry, it is much more important for mentors to be open-minded and honest, as honesty is what builds trust between the mentor and the mentee.

Overall I feel that mentors are vital influential tools for both individuals and organizations in order to expand and grow. By having a mentor we are encouraged to do better and think about the outcomes of our actions before doing things rather than making irrational decisions.

Identify someone from your college/uni, school, work, social life who has been a mentor to you. How have they affected your life?

Throughout my life I have been fortunate enough to have had various different mentors to support me and offer their experience. During high school I had a mentor who inspired me to be more motivated and dedicated to being successful and encouraged me to achieve highly academically. I have also had a mentor during college who encouraged and inspired me to do my best through difficult times. However the mentors who have been there since the very beginning of my life and are still here for me to this day are my family.

My parents have always been there to offer guidance and advice through both good and difficult times and have been the most significant mentors/role models in my life. They have influenced me to have a positive outlook on life through their own experiences and have encouraged me to do my very best at whatever I choose to do and focus on moving forward. They have passed down their knowledge, expertise and philosophy of life to me so that I am able to have a better quality of life then they had growing up. It is for these reasons that I believe my parents have encouraged me to have an optimistic attitude and have had an extremely positive effect on my own life

Conclusion

From what I have learnt about managing performance this week, I understand its importance in personal development and achieving goals and objectives. By monitoring employees performance managers are encouraging self development which results in increased productivity. Another beneficial aspect of performance management is that it sets clear targets which are incentives for employees to work harder in return for reward.

Reference List:

1) Armstrong, M & Baron, A. (2005). Managing performance: Performance management in action. London: Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.

2) Stone, A. (2008). Entrepreneurs: a mentor can tune your skills [online]. Available from : http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/entrepreneur/article3778514.ece [Accessed 2nd April 2010]

Equal opportunities and invlovment

Explain the difference between equality and diversity

From my understanding equality is something that all individuals are entitled to which allow us to have the same rights and privaleges as everybody else, meaning that we all should be treated fairly with equal respect and value. On the other hand, diversity describes the individual qualities and characteristics that set us all apart and make each and every one of us different and unique. For example, appearance, ethnic background, skills, interests, eye colour etc...

Margaret Mountford, who used to be Sir Alan Sugar’s advisor on “The Apprentice” stated that women should only be appointed to senior positions on merit. There should be no positive discrimination. Review the article below and state 3 arguments for and against her views.

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/career_and_jobs/article6830916.ece

After reading the article on The Times online it is clear to see that Margaret Mountford is a strong believer that women should not receive special treatment in that there should be no positive discrimination. For example, she believes that women should not receive higher position jobs simply because there must be 50% of women on the board, they shouldn’t not just be there to make up the numbers. According to Mountford (2009); “Women should stick at it, hang on in there. In the professions, certainly, women can get to the top. But they don’t always want to. You can’t complain that you are not on the board if you decide you want to leave the mainstream, have a few years off, then come back and not work the hours.”

To some extent I would agree with this opinion, however there are certain aspects of her argument in which my attitudes and beliefs do differ slightly. I totally agree with her belief that women should not be appointed to higher positions simply based on the fact that they want to reach targeted numbers to achieve equal opportunities. I believe that rather than encouraging equality this is likely to result in a lack of skills and inequality, for example a man may be better qualified to do a job than a woman applying for the same job, however if a woman gets the job over the man just because the organisation feel inclined to recruit an equal number of women to men, this would be unfair on the male candidate who deserved the job more. On the other hand, if a woman is better equipped to do a job and a more suitable candidate overall, I feel that the better candidate should receive the job, I believe that this would be a better and more fair basis on which to determine equal opportunity.

Age legislation came into force in 2006, as an employer what impact might this have – brain storm some ideas. What stereotypes do we tend to hold about younger and older people? Suggest two ideas as to how organisations can attempt to change these attitudes.

When new legislations are passed, they tend to have some sort of implication or effects on organisations. The age legislation came into force in 2006 and according to the Office of Public Sector Information (2006), it covers employment and vocational training. The age legislation ensures that people are not discriminated based on their age, therefore eliminating the possibility of prejudice for example; if two people of different age groups apply for the same job the age legislation makes sure that both are treated fairly.

Visit two organisational websites to benchmark practice in relation to equal opportunities and detail the most innovative practices.

B&Q

According to McCarthy (2010), ‘From products and working practices to store layouts and training, B&Q continue to promote equality of opportunity in everything they do, so there are no barriers for anybody who wants to be part of the B&Q team.’

B&Q also have a strong belief that a diverse workforce is the key to company success as this creates a wide variety of different talents, expertise and experience. For example, more than 1,200 B&Q staff speak over 60 different languages with many being multilingual. (McCarthy Recruitment, 2010)

According to DIY.com (2010), B&Q say that one of their main policies is to ‘eliminate discrimination and promote equality of opportunity in employment regardless of age, gender, colour, ethnic or national origin, culture, religion or other philosophical belief, disability, marital or civil partnership status, political affiliation, sexual identity or sexual orientation.’

Tesco

One similarity which I noticed between B&Q and Tesco’s practices in relation to equal opportunities is their recognition of the benefits of a mixed-age workforce. By using this approach, Tesco has been able to identify the fact that older employees are more loyal and less prone to absenteeism and have used it to their advantage. According to Tesco (2005) they were one of the first companies to positively encourage the recruitment of the 50+ age group.

Other ways in which Tesco has made efforts to improve its diversity and equal opportunities are by increasing the proportions of:

· Female store managers and senior team members.

· Store managers and senior team members of ethnic groups

· 45-54 year-old store managers and team members.

(Tesco, 2005)

Conclusion

In my opinion equality is a major contributory factor to staff motivation therefore it is vital that managers provide employees with as much opportunity for equality as possible so that they are stimulated to work harder. Diversity is also vital in creating a highly skilled workforce with a broad variety of attributes.

References

Diy.com, (2010) Environment [online] Available from: http://www.diy.com/diy/jsp/corporate/content/environment_ethics/ethics/respect.jsp [Accessed 17 April]

McCarthy Recruitment, (2010) B&Q [online] Available from: http://www.mccarthyrecruitment.com/retail-employers/featured/b-q [Accessed 17 April 2010]

Tesco (2005), Tesco corporate responsibility review 2005 [online] Available from: http://www.tesco.com/csr/f/f2.html [Accessed 17 April 2010]

Times Online, (2009) Hang in there, Margaret Mountford of The Apprentice tells women [online] Available from: http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/career_and_jobs/article6830916.ece [Accessed 17 April 2010]

Selection

Work sample tests this is used Psychologically to test the employee-selection and assess an individual's ability to learn the required skills and to perform the tasks associated with a particular job. Also called trainability test...

This will give a good indication on how well the person is doing individually and states his abilities. This could be used to gain skills from the test and, any people use this and the results form it to know where they need to improve however those that will panic may loose about as this test requires composure and calamity...

This is used when the senior roles are given and candidates must have a clear insight of the company, this is something that would happen before taking the test and the person would actually do the test to the best of their ability, people with certain learning difficulties may also lose out unfortunately, just as those who lack composure.

This method is a great way to define how well one is working however the actual bad part about it is some people with disabilities may not gain as much from it.

Formal interview are the constancy of limited questions to a group of people or to be frank, applicants.

The three selection methods are:

CV handling, then it is interview process and after that will be the references,
The pros and cons for it are various some are distinguishable, for example, a

CV will not allow the recruiter to see the person put his skills in to practice however it will show a good view of what sort of person they are embarking with,
Interviewing someone will allow the employer to see a rough estimation of the worker however the worker will be on his best behaviour therefore making some deceptive acts.

Referencing is another part that has plus points and negative points at the same time, the thing with referees is that they are always going to be biased if they know the person personally; however the good point is that they cannot lie and point out actual skills.

When interviewing one person in the university it showed me how effective a personality test could be, despite this there is a slight doubt in my mind that they are 100% accurate, they states that the personality test are very useful for some people but others really could be misjudged as they were in their own personal experience, therefore they were displeased with the overall result but wouldn’t mind a retest like myself in the future.

When being interviewed the panel of directors who are actually scouting to recruit one of the people applying will be making the most out of what they are doing, why/ because they will focus on every aspect of what their candidates are displaying and they will effectively decide who is most suitable.

Interviews are all about confidence, they define how well a person’s reacts to situations that are tense, also shows a person’s confidence and composure, the confidence of a person is a huge part in an interview as the interviewer will look for this in the job, therefore I think that the confidence factor plays a huge part.

I was interview for a job and I was asked many questions related to what I will be doing in the specific job role, however when I was trained I was noted as a confident person throughout, it’s not only the experience that they would look for but more like the personality as well, this would be the key influence in a person getting the job, also the manner in which they present themselves.

Because I was confident there was a good interview which I had completed, this was because I had answered the questions in a confidence manner without rambling on and on, I really took confidence from this and I felt that it was a good chance to learn for the future, I showed clear understanding of the interviewers questions and confidence was the key; as always.

Personality Tests allow people to be indicated in to what type of person they are, they can give people a great opportunity and show them paths down roads they were never aware of before however it could also limit their chances in some cases.

The problem with personality test is that they can sometimes be very harsh to the person, especially if they are incorrect like my test results were slightly, however the best thing to do in that situation is ,make the most out of all the questions that are asked and hopefully they will be fully correct.

In future I would recommend for a more eased out interview that allows some people to be less intimidated by the people who are asking them why they think they are worth the job, also personality tests are sometimes very misleading and could crush a person’s hopes, therefore I think that in the future it would be a great idea to conduct more easier interviews, perhaps r9le plays of a situation the candidate may have to deal with in the working world. .

References:

CIPD (2010). Selection Interviewing [Online] Available from: http://www.cipd.co.uk/subjects/recruitmen/selectn/selnintvg.htm [Accessed 5 April 2010]

Walsall Council, (2010). Recruitment Process [Online] Available from: http://www.walsall.gov.uk/index/jobshop/recruitment_process.htm [Accessed 5 April 2010]

Recruitment

The internet has become one of the worlds most popular mediums for organisations to do their recruiting on due to a number of different reasons which will be disucussed later in this blog. One of the most popular and well established on-line recruitment websites is www.fish4jobs.co.uk. At first glance the layout of the home page seems slightly chaotic however after a closer look it becomes apparent that the accessibility of information on the website is fairly easy, convenient and well thought out. There are a number of different options of ways which users can search for jobs. For example the ability to browse by job title, location, or sector means that the website is catered to different preferences. They take their service to the next level by providing people with help and tips on how to write a good CV, as well as ensuring that your CV is circulated to all of their recruiters who are looking for people with your particular skills. Also found on the home page is a brief section listing the most recent available jobs, a feature which is useful as it enables candidates to be informed about the latest jobs in their area allowing them to stay up to date with their job hunt.

Advantages of on-line recruitment:

· One of the most obvious advantages of recruiting on-line is the sheer number of people that use and depend on the internet every day, meaning that on-line recruitment campaigns reach significantly higher numbers of people than traditional recruitment methods. The internet therefore provides a very wide range of potential candidates from all walks of life, thus increasing the chances of a successful and efficient selection process.

· As well as being beneficial for those managers who are doing the recruiting, the on-line method is also advantageous for candidates as it provides them with an easy to use and fast recruitment process. The technological aspects of on-line recruitment also mean that there is clear and prompt communication between candidates and the organization, which improves efficiency of time and avoids any unnecessary delays.

· Storing the information of all candidates is a lot less painstaking if done electronically as opposed to on paperwork. Paperwork can take up unnecessary space and be easily misplaced or lost, not to mention the time that would be wasted on endlessly searching through papers to process applications. Technology can make life a lot easier for those doing the recruiting.

· On line recruitment can also be more cost efficient as it saves money which would have been wasted on things such as advertising in local newspapers and printing costs for other traditional methods.

· A computer is found in nearly every household across the country now as people rely on the internet more to get things done.

Disadvantages of on-line recruitment:

· Although the internet can speed things up, it generates more interest and therefore more applications need to be processed which can result in too many applications. Therefore this creates a greater workload for those who must recruit the candidates.

· There is no effective way of directing a recruitment campaign at a specific minority of people which means that people with completely irrelevant skills may end up applying, this can be time wasting for those who have to process applications.

· Technical difficulties have the potential to create serious problems.

· According to eHow (2010), ‘Because of the distance involved, there might be a tendency to perform interviews by telephone instead of in person. While this might be better than relying on only a resume, the employer still may not get a good read on the candidate's personality or attitude without one-on-one interaction.’

· Despite the popularity of the internet, some candidates may prefer more traditional methods of recruitment. Therefore if a company decides to recruit solely online it may be missing out on some of the best candidates.

Identify a recruitment campaign that has really cuaght your interest. Explain why you feel the campaign has caught your interest.

In the summer of last year a new ‘Lidl’ supermarket opened in my local area of Greenford. Its recruitment campaign caught my interest due to its eye catching posters and banners which advertised that they were recruiting new staff in the weeks leading up their launch. The fact that they advertised their recruitment campaign in big bold letters meant that it was difficult to miss it, especially due to its busy location which has a very high footfall. I feel that the combination of eye catching advertising and prime location created a lot of interest as I began to hear through word of mouth that many friends of mine had applied or were thinking of applying there.

Go on to the CIPD website and read and explain what you understand by the psychological contract.

Due to the fact that recruitment is a continuous process it is important for both candidates and managers to stay up to date with what is happening and changing in regards to recruitment. According to CIPD (2010) the term “psychological contract” gained its popularity after the economic downturn in the early 1990’s. ‘It has been defined as the perceptions of the two parties, employee and employer, of what their mutual obligations are towards each other.’ (CIPD, 2010). In order to maintain this psychological contract, a great deal of trust is required between co workers. If the psychological contract is broken this can also break down trust and lead to employees feeling unenthusiastic about their work which results in a de motivated workforce. As a result the organization can suffer as employees performance are negatively impacted.

References:

CIPD, (2009). The psychological contract [online] Available from: http://www.cipd.co.uk/subjects/empreltns/psycntrct/psycontr.htm [Accessed 24 April 2010]

eHow, (2010). The Disadvantages of Online Recruitment [online] Available from: http://www.ehow.com/about_5384653_disadvantages-online-recruitment.html [Accessed 24 April 2010]