Critical Evaluation of HRM and Organisation Behaviour Theories Coursework - 2

Critical Evaluation of HRM and Organisation Behaviour Theories Frameworks - Coursework Example The paper explains that human resource management is a broad spectrum of professional mandate that has to do with anything that deals with the handling of people (human resource). As far as the people are concerned, human resource management caters for â€Å"compensation, hiring, performance management, organization development, safety, wellness, benefits, employee motivation, communication, administration, and training†. Human resource management has been given a theoretical framework by the Business Ball whereby it is related to the psychological contract. It is said that â€Å"The Psychological Contract' is an increasingly relevant aspect of workplace relationships and wider human behavior.† This means that human resource management is considered a necessary phenomenon not just because of the fact that it is needed to lead to the growth and development of an organization but then because it is needed to be in place to protect the basic relationship that needs to exis t between the human workforces in the organization.   This makes human resource management an aspect of organizational management that is needed to have a more permanent basis. It is in this regard that human resource management has always been discussed along with the lines of organizational behavior – because the organizational behavior has a more permanent stake in all organizations. Organizational Behavior has been explained as â€Å"the study and application of knowledge about how people, individuals, and groups act in organizations† (Clark, 1998). This means that organizational behavior can lead to a better comprehension of the type of human resource management that should be in place at a workplace or a given organization and this is the reason why the two concepts are always treated hand in hand. Assumptions underpinning the way in which HRM and organizational behavior theories and frameworks have been propagated Rank (2011) notes that human resource management and organizational behavior has existed with humankind since time immemorial. The only difference is that these two phenomena of management have been through a lot of changes and transitions. The good news is that handling of both human resource management and organizational behavior has been improving with time. There is indeed exists a chain of assumptions underpinning why and how theories and framework of human resource management and organizational behavior all came about. Rank (2011) attributes the conception of the two theories and framework to the emancipation of human rights such that the need to promote the well-being and welfare of all people - regardless of whether they are employees or employers was deemed necessary.  

Identifying the ideal self

Identifying the ideal self Page | 1 Contents Introduction 1. Identifying my Ideal Self 2. My Real Self 3. Feedback From Others 4. My Learning Agenda Conclustion References Introduction My name is Gavin le Roux and I am currently the Parts Manager at Hatfield VW Braamfontein. I have been employed in my current company almost 6 years, been a Parts Manager for the past 9 years and been in the Parts environment for over 13 years. I have many goals and aspirations, both personal and within my department, many of which I have achieved and excelled at and some which I am still working towards. One of my major goals is to become a Dealer Principal, and for me to be able to peruse this and be successful in achieving this I will need to become a more effective leader. So how do I become a more effective leader? Well first I to identify my Ideal Self which is the person I would ideally like to be and invasion myself to be, and to take the necessary steps and actions to work towards becoming that person. Second would be to understand myself better by means of acknowledging who I currently am, my core values, causes of my behavior. Thirdly I would need to gather honest feedback from others as to attain my current positive and negative behaviors. Lastly would be to populate a personal growth learning agenda to identify key growth areas. 1. Identifying my Ideal Self As a Manager at my company I have vision to both grow my department and myself. In being able to be successful at this I need to identify my Ideal Self, which is the person which I ideally desire to be. I have spent some time reflecting on where I currently am and what I have achieved at my company and where I would to take my department and myself to. During this process I have identified both strengths and weaknesses and have identified key characteristics and traits which I would require to master in being able to achieve in being my Ideal self within my company. These characteristics and traits are as follows: To be an effective and successful leader To be enthusiastic and have a positive attitude To support my team at all times and with all aspects Have excellent Interpersonal skills To be confident To communicate effectively with my team Inspiring Through these values I believe I can grow both my department and myself and be able to take my team and department to the next level and also reach my personal goals within the company which is to become a Dealer Principal. I want to leave a legacy behind me in my company and be known as the leader that took his department from zero to hero. A leader that set solid foundations, had great vision and implemented strategies to achieve his visions, a leader who was innovative and continually contributed to the growth of his department. Growth in my department will not come from me alone, but from me and my staff as a unit. For me to be able to get my staffs support and buy in I first need to master myself and understand myself in depth before I can master others and become a successful leader. The next step is achieving the necessary changes to myself in being able to get closer to being my Ideal Self is to apply Personal Mastery. Personal Mastery is the ability to see where I am as a person at present vs. the Ideal person I want to be, and to continually work towards improvement in being that person. As I have already identified my key traits in being my Ideal self within my company, Personal Mastery will now assist me in my journey towards continuous improvement towards applying my desired traits. It’s all about self-discipline and taking responsibility to implement the necessary changes. â€Å"People with a high level of personal mastery are acutely aware of their ignorance, their incompetence, their growth areas. And they are deeply self-confident† (Senge, 1990). In addition to Personal Mastery, Emotional Intelligence (EI) is another tool which will assist me in my journey to getting closer to my ideal self as it will assist me with the ability to deal effectively with my team. Daniel Goleman describes emotional intelligence as managing feelings so that they are expressed appropriately and effectively, enabling people to work together smoothly toward their common goals. Emotional intelligence is the ability to perceive emotions, to access and generate emotions to assist thought, to understand emotions and emotional knowledge, and to reflectively regulate emotions to promote emotional and intellectual growth (Mayer Salovey,1997) The ability to understand, interpret, and respond to the emotions of my staff will be a huge benefit for me in being a more effective leader. I am going to integrate my results from my Myers-Briggs Type indicator (MBTI) Personality report into EQ to illustrate my stronger areas and areas I need to focus on in terms of EQ. My MBTI results listed me as an ISFJ (Introversion, Sensing, Feeling, Judging) Personality. My Strong areas in relation to EQ are: I notice what needs to be done to help people, I am sympathetic, tactful, and supportive to others in need and I notice and do little things that help others feel good. Now looking at key components in EQ, Empathy is vital in understanding the others emotions and being able to handle them in accordance to their emotional reactions. I accept responsibility beyond the call of duty and follow through until my work is completed. This relates back to a key factor in EQ Motivation, which is the passion to work for reasons beyond money or status and to peruse goal with energy and persistence. My areas which I would need improvement on in relation to EQ are: When I am in a crisis, I find it difficult to remain calm and composed. I find it hard to hide my distress and worry until the situation is resolved. EQ is very much about self-awareness and self-regulation, I need to train myself to be more in tune with my moods and emotions, to control them better and be able understand them and use them more effectively. I am an Introvert and am hence reserved, quite, private. EQ requires Social Skill for the ability to manage relationships and build networks. Understanding Emotional Intelligence will play a key role in helping me grow as a leader. 2. My Real Self â€Å"Waking up to who you are requires letting go of who you imagine yourself to be.† (Alan Watts) I’ve learnt we as people often hide parts of our core personality behind a mask in an effort to cover-up our flaws and insecurities. We’ve been brought up in a world where people around us are like mirrors, reflecting distorted images of who we are and these distorted images are actually of their own brokenness and pain. This unfortunately submerges our true self beneath the surface. As soon as we try to reveal our trues self we are quickly judged and this pushes our true self even deeper under the surface and we replace it with a more acceptable self, a fake. I’m going to use a few tools to give you a look into my Real-Self or alternatively worded as my â€Å"True-Self†. First tool is the â€Å"My Ice-burg† concept which is based on an iceberg floating in the ocean with part of it above the waterline and the rest of it below the waterline. Above the waterline my mask, my cover-up to the world and also my conscious mind. Below the waterline is my True self, which has been suppressed over time by numerous factors, and this area is also my unconscious mind. I have identified myself as illustrated below: I need to allow all of which lays below the water line to surface and to face it head on to be able to unleash my true self. â€Å"Our true self is here now, but it has been pushed beneath the surface by the hands of time and pain and fear† The second tool is Life Positions which is based on views and beliefs about ourselves and others. There are 4 basic Life Positions and Franklyn Ernest (1971) created the diagram below to illustrate these positions: Franklyn Ernst (1971) After spending some time trying to be brutally honest with myself in identifying where I am positioned in this grid, I found myself to be between two quadrants which are â€Å"I am OK / You are OK† and â€Å"I am OK / You are not OK. So why between two quadrants? Well, I see myself as someone who is quite happy with both myself and others, I feel very much in control of my own life and don’t rely on others to achieve this, I have high standards and I don’t always look at others as having lower standards for themselves. In short I’m very much happy go lucky. Now, on the other hand I can also be find myself sometimes blaming others and wanting to be right and being firm. This is why I find myself to be between two quadrants, as I see mixed traits in my Real Self from both â€Å"I am OK / You are OK† and â€Å"I am OK / You are not OK. 3. Feedback From Others 4. My Learning Agenda Conclustion References Anon., n.d. [Online] Available at: http://www.mountain-associates.co.uk/life_positions.html Anon., n.d. [Online] Available at: http://www.becomeselfaware.com/the-importance-of-knowing-your-self.html Anon., n.d. [Online] Available at: http://www.mytowntutors.com/2013/10/sigmund-freud-the-tip-of-the-iceberg/ Flanagan, D. K., n.d. [Online] Available at: http://drkellyflanagan.com/2013/01/18/the-secret-to-finding-your-true-self/ [Accessed 23 March 2013]. McCarthy, D., n.d. [Online] Available at: http://www.greatleadershipbydan.com/2010/01/top-12-development-goals-for-leaders.html [Accessed 03 April 2014]. mmolloy, n.d. [Online] Available at: http://www.mytowntutors.com/2013/10/sigmund-freud-the-tip-of-the-iceberg/ [Accessed 28 March 2014]. Montenegro, O., n.d. [Online] Available at: http://thethreestrategies.com/full-free-online-version/section-i-accountability/chapter-1-whats-your-excuse/mapping-the-archetypes/ [Accessed 26 March 2014].

Total Quality Management Essay -- TQM essays research papers

Total quality Management, can be defined as ensuring all departments within any company is focused on achieving customers needs and organisational objectives, ensuring continuous improvement of all organisational processes, including employee participation, teamwork and leadership. If we break down total quality management even further total can be defined as: involving all, elements, participants, and resources with in the Company. While quality is producing or providing products or services of high quality, meeting customer requirements. And finally management must ensure quality is achieved and managed. With out full management co-operation, total quality management will never be successful. For any company to be successful the customer or suppliers whether they are external or internal for example a work colleague, satisfaction must always be seen as the first priority. To enable this, high quality products and continuous improvements in processes must be produced to mainta in a loyal customer base. Any company wishing to achieve success must establish a quality management system, which in turn will produce quality products and services, rather than just identify flawed products or services. With a quality management system it helps any company to achieve its goals and objectives by providing consistency and satisfaction in terms of processes, resources, and equipment and collaborates with all actions of the company. With a good quality system in place, it will reduce waste, lower costs, involve employees, raise moral and meet customer expectations. For a quality system to not function correctly will be down to poor leadership from managers by not giving a clear direction, departments not working together or accepting ... ...ment total quality management, tools and techniques are required. The tools being Pareto analysis, cause and effects diagrams, stratification, check sheets, histograms, scatter charts and process control charts, with examples of techniques being bench marking, cost of quality, quality function deployment, failure mode effects analysis and design of experiments. After using these tools and techniques, any company will need to establish whether there has been a degree of improvement, to deal with this they must utilize self-assessments or conduct regular audits. In conclusion total quality management is a management system used to continually improve all areas of company operations. If companies adopt any of the total quality management guru?s theories, , or even the lean principles, they will enhance the company, its workforce but most importantly its customers.

Can consumers’ scepticism be mitigated by claim objectivity and claim extremity?

Tan’s (2002) analysis of consumer view of advertisements is based on idea that not all commercials are believable or provide the true picture of commodities depicted therein.Tan has specifically listed for qualities of effective advertisement. First, the commercial has to be believable in consumer eyes; second, the ad needs to be credible passing message; third is that consumers need to see the product being advertised as highly desirable and therefore lead to making purchase decisions.Fourth, the commercial needs to be of greater informational value to consumers. This means that effective advertisements are the ones which provide consumers with new information that helps in decision making processes. Poor information leads to the making of wrong choices that make consumers to avoid the advertised products and even respective company’s goods again.At worst, consumers have greater influence on each other and could therefore lead to fast spreading information on how speci fic company advertisements happen to be duping consumers to purchase defective products. Such occurrence has a long term effect on respective company’s revenue and market share.Consumer watchdogs might further start investigating the accused company and cause disruption in production and marketing processes. The management would end up wasting valuable time attending to hearings with authorities instead of developing long term strategies for their businesses.In understanding that consumers are generally skeptic of advertisers’ messages, Tan has gone further to explain that products are key victims of incredibility compared to services.In other words, consumers are more likely to believe advertisements on services and less on those involving services. Marketers should in this regard make extensive use of Integrated Marketing Communication (ICM) initiatives in ensuring that advertisements are truthful and provide important information to consumers.Effective commercials a re the ones which call on marketers restrain themselves from developing ads that overstate respective products; it is better to have commercials whose messages seem to undermine product effectiveness. Consumers who purchase such products end up being awed by their effectiveness and therefore develop loyalty.ICM has a role of diluting consumer skepticism over advertisements and should be used for that purpose by marketers (Kim 2006). In fact, marketers need to be on the forefront of ensuring that messages contained in ads are completely believable. Secondly, they have to liaise with senior management to ensure the development of organizational culture that involves developing and submitting ads helpful to consumers.This is in understanding that truthful advertisements that help consumers get the right products and services is usually the first step in developing long term relationship with manufacturers (FCC 2000). Repeat business that would be generated by such positive ads could fu rther help companies generate the much important brand loyalty.In addition, consumers satisfied with the advertised products end up becoming marketing tools as they embark on influencing others in respective sphere of influence to purchase the truthfully-advertised products.Tan (2002) further observed that consumer skepticism over advertisements changes with age, with the younger populations (especially from adolescents mid thirties) being more skeptic, whereas the older population are more likely to believe advertisements. Individual companies’ marketing teams should therefore ensure that ICM techniques are used to effectively address the target market.ReferencesFCC, 2000, Truth-in-Advertising Public Forum. Available At:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   http://www.fcc.gov/Speeches/Kennard/spwek937.htmlKim, Y., 2006., Consumer Skepticism and Ad Credibility. Available At:http://www.ciadvertising.org/sa/fall_05/adv392/yeojungi/index.htmTan, S. 2002. Can consumersâ⠂¬â„¢ scepticism be mitigated by claim objectivity and claim   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   extremity? Journal of Marketing Communications. Vol. 8, pp. 45-64

Analysis of ‘The Death of a Moth” Essay

Virginia Woolf is a British writer born in 1882 and she died a horrific death in 1941. She jumped unto River Ouse wearing an overcoat filled with rocks. She committed suicide as she was depressed and has a pessimistic feeling towards life due to a mental illness she has been cursed with. She wrote ‘The Death of the Moth’ in 1942. This essay contains a wide variety of rhetorical devices that makes it intriguing. Although the essay is short, she wrote a detailed story with an underlying metaphor. In this non-fictional essay, she effectively conveys her ideas through the use of figurative language. She uses an extended metaphor in which the moth symbolizes humans in the way it lives its life. The essay entraps the reader into the outgoing struggle of our own mortality. Throughout the essay, the reader becomes aware of the tragedy that all life has to offer and that is the inevitable death. The theme is not lucid in the beginning. But in the latter part of the essay, one can deduce that the moth actually symbolizes humans and life. In the essay, she illustrates the struggle between life and death. Her purpose in writing this passage is to depict how pathetic life is in the face of death, and to garner respect for the awesome power that death has over life. Throughout the essay, death is described from many different angles. The purpose of this is to remind us of the power that death has over life. She shows us the death is certain and unavoidable. She does not convey this message with logic, but with instead with emotions, feelings, and implicit ideas. She makes us feel the death of the moth to impart us a more complete understanding of the eternal power of death. She uses several different types of figurative and literary language. As mentioned earlier, the essay is an extended metaphor. She used simile several times. For example, â€Å"†¦ until it looked as if a vast net with thousands of black knots in it had been cast up into the air. † In this simile, she describes a gathering of crows in the trees outside her window. In addition, she uses parallelism, which occurs when she writes: â€Å"That was all he could do, in spite of the size of the downs, the width of the sky, the far-off smoke of houses, and the romantic voice, now and then, of a steamer out at sea. † A good example of hyperbole is present when the author describes: â€Å"One could only watch the extraordinary effort made by those tiny legs against an oncoming doom which could, had it chosen, have submerged an entire city, not merely a city, but masses of human beings†¦ † By using such a simple creature’s struggle against death as a metaphor, Woolf creates a beautiful essay on the fragility of life. Her simplicity and detail keeps her essay from becoming overcomplicated, overly dramatic, or depressing. It was a surprisingly light and meaningful essay on an event that most people would probably overlook.