Effective people, Communication and Information

17. Visits

21. References

23. Arrange interviews

33. Conduct the interview

44. Make the decision

46. Convey the decision

51. Make the appointment

53. The process as a whole

D)        An outline of the retention process

Keeping staff is really important, this is known as staff retention.
When a business has spent a lot of time and money in their staff it needs to make sure that they are going to stay with the organisation and work to the best of their ability. If an employee joins a business and then decides to leave quickly the business will have to pay recruitment costs again and retrain another member of the staff.

Step 1: Recruit to retain!

Use behaviour based interviewing (see last quarter's issue). Ensure that all interviewers are "in-sync"; that is, they're reading off the same sheet of music. Look at the competencies that will be needed to reach strategic goals, and then hire people who posses those competencies. Use indicator assessments to help you better screen candidates and ensure that the job fit is correct. Realistically preview jobs; neither overselling nor underselling benefits the interviewee or the organization. And, don't forget reference and credential checks. In certain positions, full background checks may be needed. Carefully evaluate each position, especially when one becomes vacant. Is a replacement truly needed? Are there better ways of structuring positions? Look for employee input as well as management input. How does your organization stack up against the competition? If salaries, benefits and other "maintenance" factors aren't keeping up with the market, the other areas don't matter. Consider getting outside market surveys for comparative data.

Step 2: Make everyone a part of the family

Set up orientation programs that embrace new employees. Look at orientation as a long-term process, not just the first day or week of employment. Use your orientation process to build employee involvement and commitment. That means making it interactive from the beginning, and involving all parts of the organization. Use a buddy system for that critical introductory period time (or some other time parameter). It's nice to have a buddy to explain the ropes and to have someone to have lunch with. Check back regularly with new employees to "see how it's going". Find out if what was described during the formal orientation day is indeed what they're experiencing at their worksite. Don't wait for the resignation that triggers an exit interview to find out what caused an employee to leave. Don't wait for the exit interview to find out where the organization has some opportunities for improvement. Use both formal and informal systems. For example, "Pulse Check" interviews done at three or four months after hire date can give a standardized indication of what's going well and where improvements can be made. Culture and climate surveys provide indicators, and focus groups can provide in-depth information on specific areas. "MBWA", Managing By Walking Around, is a great way to get up close and personal with employees. It gives you first hand information, and allows you to view the workplace "as it is", rather than your perception from your office.

Step 3: Develop current and future competencies

Skill development is for everyone - old and new employees alike. Proactively assist employees in setting goals that link their development to the organization's overall goals. Provide opportunities for both the short term and long term. Reward and recognize employees based on results achieved pertaining to that skill. It isn't enough just to learn it. Determine tangible results based on mastering the skill. If you don't already have a mentor program, consider this for every employee. Mentors can help to guide and develop every employee, and the relationship is invaluable in raising the comfort level of employees and the productivity standard bar in the organization. Managers are critical in retention efforts, so think about what you're doing to develop yours. Employees don't leave companies; they leave their managers! Make your managers are ones that employees will stick to like glue! But be forewarned, management development is an individualized, long-term commitment. It's not a few programs that the organization mandates every manager must attend. Use a variety of tools and methods for developing employees. Assessments, web-based training, classroom instruction, team learning and on-the-job training are just a few of the methods. Each person is different in how they take in and process information. Find out what works best with each person, and then capitalize on it.

Step 4: Learn from the past with an eye on the future

Even with the best work environments, employees do leave for a variety of reasons. Find out why your voluntary terminations resign by conducting structured exit interviews. Then, use that data to make positive changes in your workplace. If recurring themes come up, verify them with existing employees. Ask employees to form teams to develop recommendations to improve those areas. As for involuntary terminations….study them carefully. Are there trends? Do certain supervisors have a higher than normal percentage of involuntary terminations? What are the reasons? How can these be avoided in the future? By implementing principles of the Four Building Blocks, you can build a strong process for holding on to your employees. This, of course, is by no means exhaustive…but it's a good start!

Task 2.1

Describe the main employability, personal and communication skills required when applying for a specific job role. You must draw up a list of the requirements for that post, and describe the attributes you already possess or expect to possess by the end of the course.

.                                                                                                

The description should include:

1. A job role you would like to apply for in an organisation in order to help you to prepare the information requested by the human recourses manager.

2. Give examples, describe the following skills required for your selected job role:

1. Employability skills
2. Personal skills
3. Communication skills

3. Describe how your employability, personal skills and communications skills match the selected job role.

.                                                                                                

A.        

I’m going to use the job role that I used in Task 1.

This is the profile that I needed to apply for the job:

‘We are looking for a Junior Legal Counsel for the TNT Express legal department at the TNT Head Office in Hoofddorp.

Your profile

• National and/or international law degree
• Around 2 years of post graduate experience as in-house legal counsel of an international company or as a lawyer in a prominent international law firm, most preferably with transport experience
• Fluent in English, both written and spoken
• Strong communication skills
• Flexible and responsible attitude’

B.

Employability skills

Employability skills are a range of skills that will allow a person to perform different jobs well. These are essential to be able to work effectively in a modern workplace. You can subdivide employability skills, I explain them below.

Suitable qualifications.

For different types of jobs there are different types of qualification required. Egg. Professional careers such as accountancy, human resources and marketing employers will often look for candidates with problem solving and critical skills who have at least A- level.

To work at TNT as Junior Legal Counsel you need a completed education business economics and you need National and/or international law degree.

Experience in similar job roles.

If you have done a similar work in a organisation, it should indicate that you can do this again in a other organisation. When you are applying for a job, you should thing about what experience you already have and if some of those experiences also can be successful in the new role. If you already worked in the same industry, you should make this very clear in your CV and letter of application because such experience could be very valued for the prospective employer.

Experience of specific industry.

If you can show that you have worked in a specific industry before, you should demonstrate this when you are applying for a job. If you already have worked in the same industry, employers do not have to train you again.

TNT would appreciate experience. This means that a person is able to handle the functions that are described in the advertisement.

Knowledge of services and products.

To improve your chances by obtaining for a job if you can demonstrate a sound understanding of the products or services the company provides, so product knowledge is essential, especially if you want to work in a customer service role.

TNT provides services. TNT has a website with a lot of information about all their insurances and services they provide, so you can read about the product you sell.

Effectiveness in meeting personal and team’s or departments targets. Meeting targets is essential for every business’s success, and employees must be able to meets targets too. If there is worked for targets in your previous jobs too, you should be able to explain how successful you have been in your job-interview or letter of application.

TNT asks for someone who is not going to be stressed out at the end of the deadline. Planning and making schedules are necessary.

Ability to observe and raise professional standards of production or service delivery

Employees  who are able to work consistently with the standards of the organisation will be appreciated by the organisation, which aims are to improve the standards by suggesting and the implementation of better ways of doing the job are even more successful. Candidates who can describe or demonstrate how they have done this in previous posts will undoubtedly improve their chances of being employed.

It’s not very useful to immediately wanting to improve standards by suggesting and implementing thins at once. When you are new, you first need to observe the company.

Personal skills

Certain skills will be beneficial regardless of the job or career that you pursue and these transferable personal skills make a candidate attractive to a new employer.

Hardworking and patient.

Someone who gets a lot of work done is bound to be valued, if those workers spend much time with answering their mobile phones & surfing the Internet during working hours will not make a good impression. So have a good handle against the distractions of modern life. Patience is also required in many jobs, especially if you are dealing with members of the public!

It’s not only TNT who needs people that are hardworking and patient. Every manager would like these skills. It’s good for the organisation.

Good interpersonal skills.

Interpersonal skills can enable us to get working along with other people, promoting good relationships at the workplace and enable us to do the work better or more efficiently. Some people are naturally good to get on with others and encourage colleagues, but it is possible to learn good interpersonal skills. If you think your skills in this area could be lacking it worth it will be active to them; these opportunities will make you more employable and will also allow you to do a better job. Some interpersonal skills are very simple, such as smiling. A cheerful smile can split up barriers and encourage someone to listen and speak to you, remind yourself to smile because it is a good is beginning for improving tour interpersonal skills!

TNT asks for good communications skills, you need foot interpersonal skills for this.

Able to work as part of a team.

Interpersonal skills will be crucial to your ability to work effectively in a team of people, but a series of skills and other considerations are also important.

By TNT  you’re going to work in  a central team of 4 lawyers assisted, teamwork is really important.

Negotiation.

Another useful skill for a worker is the ability to negotiate effectively. Negotiating deals with a subject with a view to some agreement or a common ground. At the beginning of the negotiations concerned parties usually have very different opinions about what should be done so that the art of negotiation is to find common ground that both parties can agree on - making it a 'win-win' situation. Negotiation is the process of consent and may therefore be useful for resolving conflicts between members of staff, agreeing personal or departmental objectives, agreeing the financial resources and interviewing, especially for new employees. It may also be useful to personally negotiate salary increases and better working conditions.

TNT don’t need someone who can negotiate very well.

Interview skills.

Interviewing skills can be useful in some contexts. Being able to interview clients or customers actually encourages the sale or improving relationships with customers will be useful for many organizations. Moreover it will be a plus for the effective identification of the best candidates in the interviewing of potential new employees or dealing with situations for the assessment of the current members of the staff.

TNT like  to have them but for this advertisement it’s not necessary.

Communication skills

Formal and informal communication

Formal communication includes board meetings, letters, formal reports and presentations. With formal communication you need to use specific formats and follow acceptable rules and conventions.

Informal communication doesn’t follow any prescribed conventions or formats and often happen spontaneously.

Because TNT ask for a responsible attitude,  you need to use clear communication to everybody so that everyone can understand what you are doing.

Non-verbal/verbal communication methods

Non-verbal communication involves written communication. Mostly common methods are letters, memos, reports, invoices, flow charts, publicity material, email, text messaging and web pages.

Verbal communication involves those using the human voice such as presentations, interviews, meetings, telephone calls and video conferencing.

Listening

There is a difference between listening actively or passively. Many people only listen passively. They hear the words that are spoken but don’t think about what is being said.

TNT: Listening to customers and to employees.. it’s all important, always!

Seeking clarification

A good communicator will always respond and seek clarification if there is any element of doubt. It avoids confusion.

Responsiveness

Not everyone that presents will be able to respond to the needs of their audience. Sometimes those needs aren’t obvious. It’s important that you keep respond positively and appropriately to them will improve your communication.

Inviting commitment to shared goals

Much business communication, especially from managers, is about trying to get staff to help, lead or support planned projects. The ability to win people over is valuable.

TNT: While your job isn’t that one of the manager, you are partly manager of the workforce. You also need to try to get staff to help, lead and support your plans.

Body language

How one person touches another communicates a great deal of information: Is a grip gentle or firm, and does one hold the other person on the back of the upper arm, on the shoulder, or in the middle of the back. Is the gesture a push or a tug? Is the touch closer to a pat, a rub, or a grabbing? People have different areas of personal intimacy, and this refers not only to the sexual dimension, but also the dimension of self control. Many adolescents are particularly sensitive to any touching that could be interpreted as patronizing or undue familiarity. Even the angle of one's holding another's hand might suggest a hurrying or coercive implicit attitude, or on the other hand, a respectful, gentle, permission-giving approach.

TNT: Adapting communication techniques to audience requirements.

A skilled presenter will adapt the presentation to suit the people that are listening.

C.

At the moment I’m not remarkable for the job by TNT post. I don’t have experience and I definitely don’t have any international work experience at all.  And further I’m a student right now, I don’t have certifications. This are to much things I don’t have, so they will probably look for somebody else.

TNT post ask for the next following profile:

• National and/or international law degree
• Around 2 years of post graduate experience as in-house legal counsel of an international company or as a lawyer in a prominent international law firm, most preferably with transport experience
• Strong communication skills
• Fluent in English, both written and spoken  
• Flexible and responsible attitude’

The first three points are not of application, I have to few experience for strong communication skills, you have to feel and train that point, so I can work on that.

My English isn’t fluent yet, but it’s good, I can rescue me when people talk English to me. For the rest I’m a flexible and responsible person, so this would be my strongest point.

Task 3.1

Outline electronic and non-electronic methods for communicating business information using examples for different types of audience.

The term ‘user’ in this criterion means the intended recipient of the information.

Methods of written communications

Today there are many ways of communicating in business situations – written and verbal, electronic and non-electronic. The diagram below shows methods you could choose from.

Letter

Although they might be seen as relatively ‘old fashioned’, vast number of letters are still sent by organisations every dat. This is not only because they are simple and quick to produce but they also provide a written record of correspondence that can be useful in the event of a dispute.

Memorandum

This is an internal form of communication. It’s meant for short messages. The difference between a letter and a memorandum is that a memo doesn’t have a complimentary close and memos are not normally signed. They always have a title and a lot of them use bullet points.

Audience: Memos are used inside the organisation.

(E-)Fax and multifunctional equipment.

With a fax machine that includes more features you can print, SMS, fax through a telephone line or through Internet.

Audience: Many organisations use faxes. A fax is easy to send someone a unique copy of something that is signed. Within a few second the other one receives it.

Nowadays, you can also fax with your telephone or with Internet.

Report

A report can also be published online (electronic). All the important data and information can be summarized in a report.

Audience: Managers need to write reports for their organisations. Students need to write reports for teachers.

Invoice

An invoice or bill is a  document issued by a  to the .

Audience: It’s a confirmation for the ‘recipient’. Used in business.

Flow charts

Diagram illustrating a process that involves a number of steps and a series of decisions.

Audience: People who buy a product may find difficulties when they need to wire it. When something isn’t working you can use a flow chart. Almost for everything you can make a flow chart.

Screen based communication

Communication in business increasingly uses technology and much of this is based around screens. Computer screens are used for email and Internet communications; mobile phone screens are used for text messaging; and TV screens have been used for advertising for many years but communication through TV sets is becoming increasingly interactive with new digital technology.

Email

Email is a powerful communication method for modern organisations. It’s quick, easy to use and very cheap. It gives the sender and the ‘user’ a written copy of the message, which is useful for reference.

Audience: Email can be a relatively informal means of communication, so it’s not suited for people who want to send someone a very formal business message. Email is often used for people that need to communicate within the organisation itself and regular customers. Email is often used by younger customers and business managers. Younger people like the informal ways of email.

SMS

The abbreviation stands for ‘short message service’. It’s been used in many creative ways by organisations.

Audience: Short messages can be sent between employees, as a replacement for memos and email. It can be used for different kind of audience, travelling members of staff, such as sales people, can be kept up to date with important developments.

WWW

The world wide web has helped to bring business and their potential customers much closer and improves

Communication. It provides detailed information via websites.

Audience: Recipients that find this method helpful may be the customers that have access to the World Wide Web. It’s easy to view a website 24/7 and it’s easy for business to update it. For every one that has access to the Internet, the world wide web is a very useful way to communicate.

Telephone calls

These are very useful for fast communication. Modern telephone facilities can allow conference facilities so that a number of people can be involved in the same conversation. Mobile phones will increase further as the services that are available on mobile phones expands.

Audience: People who need to make appointments prefer a phone call instead of other methods. Email can be a second way to let someone know what time you have an appointment. Customers find it convenient when they have had contact through a telephone conversation.

Digital broadcasting

Email can be accessed, products purchased, opinions expressed and choices made at the touch of a button.

Audience: Digital TV viewers and radio audiences can now communicate with the broadcast provider via interactive services.

Video conferencing

Video and audio communication through computer or TV screens between two or more parties usually over a broadband Internet connection using webcams. Think of ‘Skype’

Audience: For people that have meetings over the Internet. It is also used by many people that are many miles apart from each other and want to speak to each other face to face.

PowerPoint presentations.

With PowerPoint you can make presentations using different kind of methods in one. You can put videos, pictures, text and sounds all together to make a presentation that fits with the audience that is watching it.

It can also be a visual aid to support your verbal presentation with non-verbal communication methods.

Audience: PowerPoint is used by different groups of audience. It’s used a lot by companies that are gathering. It’s used for sales, marketing etc..

Task 5.1

Select information from three sources and manipulate it, adhering to legislation, for business purposes. The three sources are:

1. Take from the EUROSETS – Dutch trading service (DTS) the share prices of the first 10 companies for 14 days.

Make a table of the outcomes of the Dutch shares and present a clear graph for a group of interested buyers.

2. Take from the internet or company advertorials of the mobile phone call price plans from different service providers.

Make a table of the outcomes of these plans and present a clear graph for a group of housewives, showing them which could be the best choice for them.

3. Use the present figures of your self to make a table of you absenteeism and present it in a clear graph. You must present this to the team leader of IBS to make a plan how to make up for these hours, so that you are sure to get 850 hours of school this year.

5.1.1.

Exchange rates of 10 companies 14 days long.
The purple colour means that this company has a place in the top 3 that day.

Advice for buyers:  
Air France KLM is the best choice on long term. When you want to sell your share quickly, you might loose money because it’s most logical that KLM is going to decrease in prices because now they are very high.

When you want to sell your shares when they are increased a lot, you should buy AEGON now. They have the lowest rates so that means they have the cheapest share price.

 

The purple colours mean that those are the three most increased prices of that day.
Advice for buyers on day scale:

For example: On 3rd of April Air France – KLM had the highest share price of that day compared to the other companies.

5.1.2

A group of housewives wants to buy a cell phone. They want to make a good deal. Their budget is around £ 25,- a month.

Orange        

T-mobile        

Vodafone                

For £25

For £30

When you look at the bar graphs, you see a big difference between the providers. I think housewives make more use of calling then they send text messages, so we are looking for a price plan that offer a lot of free minutes but also text credits. In the tables you can see that Vodafone Best Of Both and Orange Dolphin offer a lot of text credits. T-Mobile Relax offer more free minutes then text credits, but you see it’s less then the 2 other providers. On the next page I will calculate what you can use in one day.

 

Orange Dolphin 25 offers 100 minutes to call. If you calculate how many minutes those are per day it would be:

100 : 30 =  3,3  minutes

When you calculate the amount of text messages per day it would be:

200:30= 6 text messages

 

T-Mobile Relax 25 offers 150 minutes to call. If you calculate how many minutes those are

per day it would be:

150 : 30 = 5 minutes

When you calculate the amount of text messages per day it would be:

100 : 30 = 3 text messages

 

Vodafone Best of Both 25 offers 225 minutes to call. If you calculate how many minutes those are per day it would be:

225 : 30 = 7,5 minutes

When you calculate the amount of text messages per day it would be:

250 : 30 = 8 text messages

 

 

Orange Dolphin 30 offers 200 minutes to call. If you calculate how many minutes those are per day it would be:

200 : 30 =  6,7  minutes

When you calculate the amount of text messages per day it would be:

300:30= 10 text messages

 

T-Mobile Relax 30 offers 250 minutes to call. If you calculate how many minutes those are

per day it would be:

250 : 30 = 8,3 minutes

When you calculate the amount of text messages per day it would be:

100 : 30 = 3 text messages

 

Vodafone Best of Both 30 offers 300 minutes to call. If you calculate how many minutes those are per day it would be:

300 : 30 = 10 minutes

When you calculate the amount of text messages per day it would be:

500 : 30 = 16 text messages

 

What you can spend a day:

 

When I look at table of what I can spend in one day, I would say that Vodafone is the best choice for a housewife. T-Mobile Relax and Orange Dolphin do not fit of the wants of housewives.

 

Vodafone Best of Both 25 provides the most suited plan. Housewives don’t need that much text messages and the minutes to call by the Best Of Both 30 are not much more than by the Best of both 25. So this is cheaper and they offer enough free minutes to call their friends while they are cleaning the house and they give the opportunity to send a nice amusing text message to their man who is at work..

That’s why I suggest Vodafone Best of Both 25.

 

5.1.3

 

My absence data’s are:

This year is just started. The total hours till now are 71 hours, so that would be hundred percent. I make my graph into hours and per cents of absence/presence. My graph of absence would give you the following information:

I don’t need to consider how to make up hours. I had a registered percentage of only 1% absence. This means if I go on like this, I have nothing to worry for and everything is going well.

Task 5.2

Present the information from P4, task 5.1, using three different methods.

This should also include the hand outs for the audience.

I already showed two methods of how you can present the information.

Namely in a table or in a stave graph. Now I’m going to show the share prices in a line graph.

Sources

BTEC national business book 1 ||  2nd edition

Task 1.1                 Page 3 till 10

Task 2.1                Page 16 till 20

Task 3.1                 Page 21 till 23

Task 5.1                 Page 24 till 32

Task 5.2                 Page 33

Sources                Page 34