Personality

Nature Vs. Nurture

The nature approach to shows that peoples personalities are inherited and passed down from their parents; it also says that the environment in which that person is surrounded by does not effect their personality. On the other hand, the nurture approach shows that someones personality depends on their surrounding environment. It says that the environment has a big impact on the persons personality; much more than is inherited from their parents. (Mullins, 2010)

The nature approach believes that peoples personalities are given to them by their parents. This ties in with the nomothetic approach which believes that personalities are fixed and can't be changed. The nomothetic approach is based on a persons characteristics that can be measured. The nomothetic approach believes that an individuals personality can be measured by measuring 'common characteristics' that relate to a persons personality. This approach believes that once peoples characteristics have been measured, the individual can then be put into a group of people with similar characteristics. (Martin, 2005)

In contrast to the nature and nomothetic approaches to personality, the nurture approach believes that a persons personality is identified mainly by the surrounding environment which has a massive effect on the persons personality. The nurture approach ties in with the idiographic approach to personalities. The idiographic approach opposes the nomothetic approach and believes that tests can't effectively measure someones personality and believes that each individuals personality is unique and can be adapted to the persons surroundings. This approach shows that peoples personalities are also open to change depending on social and cultural influences. This makes peoples personalities very difficult to measure as there are too many factors that could influence a persons personality. (Martin, 2005)

I believe that nature is a strong influence on someones personality, but nurture is the most dominant influence. I believe that the base of someones personality is handed down to them by their parents which forms the base of their personality. The rest of an individuals personality is then formed by the nurture aspects. The environment from which they live in then continually affects and alters their personality. Ive illustrated my view of nature and nurture in the form of a plant.

Personality Test

I completed an online personality test at www.shldirect.com. This online personality test asks you around 172 questions about yourself. These questions are specifically designed to work out your personality; the results from the questionnaire then go on to tell you a list of jobs that are suited to you and a list of jobs that are not suited for you.

After completing the questionnaire, the results were as follows;

SHL Great 8 Competency areas
	1	2	3	4	5
Leading and Deciding
Supporting and Cooperating
Interacting and Presenting
Analysing and Interpreting
Creating and Conceptualising
Organising and Executing
Adapting and Coping
Enterprising and Performing

The questionnaire results show that I'm competent in most of the 8 areas, but am lacking in 'Supporting and Cooperating' and 'Organising and Executing'. The Jobs that the questionnaire results suggest would be good for me are the following:

Example Roles where these behaviours are important:
- Managers/Supervisors - Judges - Company Directors	- Surgeons - Politicians - Military Officers

Personality Test Findings

The personality test has shown that I have quite a rounded set of strengths including enterprising and performing with only a couple of areas that aren't as strong; interacting, presenting, organising and executing. I believe that the personality test is accurate as the strengths and weaknesses that it has outlined match the strengths and weaknesses that I believe I have.


Conclusion

I believe that the arguement with nature vs. nurture will never be resolved. Everyones personality gets effected by different things and I believe that everyones personality is different. Personality is a balance between aspects from the nature; passed down from their parents, and nurture; the way they were brought up and the environment they were brought up in. The argument nature vs. nurture will never be resolved becuase peoples perceptions are always different based on their own personality.


Bibliography

Martin, J. (2005) Organisational behaviour and management. 3rd ed.

Mullins, L.J. (2010) Management & Organisational Behaviour. 9th ed.

Reward

How does John Lewis reward its employees?
The John Lewis Partnership is well known for its extensive employee benefits package ranging from their annual bonus, to ticket subsidies, pensions to paid holidays; their large range of rewards appeal to everyone. The John Lewis Partnership offer all of these benefits to all of their employees. This guarantees that they are treating all of their employees equally; whether they work full or part time.

Pay
John Lewis base their basic pay on the current market rate for the selected job. On top of their basic rate, John Lewis offer all staff members performance related pay. Employees get their performance reviewed once or twice a year and their pay is adjusted according to their performance. This means that employees of John Lewis get pay that relates to their performance within the business. (John Lewis, n.d.)

For example, if an employee at John Lewis works really hard and contributes to the business regularly then at their annual pay review they will be able to get paid a higher wage due to their high contribution. This review also gives employees the chance to fully discuss the pay decision.

This annual pay review ensures that all employees are treated fairly compared to their contribution to the business. The annual pay review also ensures quality because you are paid according to the effort and work you put into the business. If you work hard and contribute a lot to the business, your pay increases.

Bonus
The John Lewis partnership give all their employees; both part and full time, a bonus once a year. This annual bonus is a portion of the profits that gets given to employees as a percentage of their annual pay and is based on the success of the partnership businesses. (John Lewis, n.d.)

John Lewis offer this bonus to all of their employees; whether they work full or part time. This ensures that they are treating all of their employees the same and fairly. The bonus is offered as a percentage of the employees pay to ensure that the bonus is paid out fairly; if you work more, the higher your bonus. This promotes both fairness and equality.

Pension
John Lewis offer a final salary pension scheme for employees who have at least 3 years service. The contribution section of the partnerships pension scheme is available for employees that have less than 3 years service. This means that all employees have the chance to receive a pension once they retire. (John Lewis, n.d.)

John Lewis offers all its partners with more than 3 years service a final salary pension scheme without requiring a contribution from the employee. By offering it to every partner with more than 3 years service, John Lewis is promoting fairness because all partners get the opportunity to have a final salary pension scheme. If John Lewis only gave the opportunity to some groups of employees then this could be seen as unfair.

Discount
Every employee of the John Lewis partnership is entitled to a discount from both John Lewis and Waitrose after 3 months service. This promotes fairness in the workplace as all employees are entitled to the discount scheme; if only some employees were eligible for the discount scheme then it could seem unfair to the employees who dont receive the discount. (John Lewis, n.d.)

Ticket Subsidies
John Lewis offers their employees 50 per cent off their tickets for various shows and events. This subsidy on tickets is available to both full and part time employees of the John Lewis partnership. This also promotes fairness as all employees are eligible for the ticket subsidies supplied by John Lewis. (John Lewis, n.d.)

John Lewis offers ALL of its employees the same rewards. Both part and full time staff receive the same benefits package. This promotes equality within the business and ensures that it is used throughout the business. If John Lewis was to split its employees into groups and then offer different rewards to different groups, then employees may see this as unfair.

Chief Executives
Chief executives tend to receive large bonuses irrespectively of how well their business has performed. Below I have written out the arguments for and against Chief executives receiving large bonuses.

For

Against

A chief executive of a business could perform really well, but this could be cancelled out by external factors affecting the performance of a business such as the financial climate. This means that the business could still under perform even though the chief executive has worked really hard to try and maintain the performance of the business. The chief executive may have put in a lot of extra time into the business to make sure its performance isn't affected as much.

If a business under performs; their finance will be tight and they should not spend large amounts of money giving bonuses to their chief executives.

Bibliography
John Lewis (n.d.) Benefits [online]. WaitroseJobs. Available from: http://www.waitrosejobs.com/your-career/benefits.htm [Accessed: 10th April 2012].

Selection

Selection Methods

Online Assessment
One selection method used by John Lewis is an online assessment. John Lewis use this online assessment as their first stage of the selection process. The online assessment has two sections; one section asks applicants detailed questions about them selves, and the second section sets up situations which are related to the job role and ask applicants what they would do in the situation and why.

The first section of the assessment gives John Lewis more information about the applicant. The second section of the assessment shows John Lewis if the applicants are suitable for the job role. This helps John Lewis to narrow down the number of applicants they receive and makes sure that all the applications that go through to the next stage are suitable for the job role. This means that John Lewis can accurately narrow down the number of applicants and ensures that all applications that go through to the next stage of the selection process are suitable for the job and have the correct characteristics.

John Lewis uses this online assessment as the first stage of their application process. Online assessment is used as their first stage of their recruitment process because it only allows a small number of applicants through; who are suitable for the job role. This makes John Lewis' selection process a lot more successful because only applicants that are specifically suited to the job role get to go through to the next level of the selection process.

Pros	Cons
It can narrow down the amount of applications accurately by using a detailed set of questions. Online assessment is cheap as it is done over the internet and does not need constant attention from staff and can be used when needed. It can increase the number of applicants applying at the beginning of the selection process as it can be reached by a wide variety of people.	It could be seen as discriminatory as it is conducted online and not everyone has access to the internet. If John Lewis don't ask the applicants the correct questions then they might not get the right feedback from the assessment.

Assessment Centres
Another selection method used by John Lewis is an assessment Centre. John Lewis uses an assessment centre as the second stage of their selection process. At the assessment centre, recruitment staff ask the applicants to undertake several tasks relating to the job and asses their ability.

One of the tasks that the recruitment staff at John Lewis gets the applicants to do is to 'Sell a Product'. They give you a product and ask you to sell it to the group; pretending to sell it to a customer. This gives the recruitment staff more information about the candidate and shows them how the candidate will act in a situation that is likely to arise in the job.

Another activity that the recruitment staff at John Lewis ask candidates to do is to work in teams to think of ideas that can be used within the business to make it more successful. This shows the recruitment staff at John Lewis how the candidates act when working within a team. This relates to the job because they will be working within a team if they get the job.

John Lewis uses these assessment centres as the second stage to their selection process to further narrow down the number of applicants for the job. The assessment centre gives John Lewis the chance to see how well the applicants work with each other to complete tasks such as team building or going through an exercise that will show John Lewis how the applicant will react in a situation that is likely to arise from the job. This gives John Lewis a more detailed idea of how suitable each of the applicants are and ensures that only suitable applicants go through to the next round; narrowing the amount of applicants even further.

Pros	Cons
Gives a clear indication of how the candidate will act in a similar situation whilst working with a customer. Shows the recruitment staff how well the candidate can work within a team.	Assessment centres are expensive as they require several members of staff at all times.

Interview
The third selection method used by John Lewis is an interview. This stage of the selection process allows John Lewis to ask specific questions to each candidate and helps the recruitment staff at John Lewis to make a justified decision on who to employ.

This final stage of the selection process allows John Lewis to decide which applicant(s) they are going to employ with justified reasons. John Lewis uses interviews as the final stage of their recruitment process because it allows them to see in detail which candidates are best suited for the job. If interviews were used at the start of their selection process, it would become very time consuming and would also cost a lot of money.

Pros	Cons
Gives a very clear view of how suitable an applicant is for the job. Indicates further how the applicant will act whilst on the job.	Interviews cost a lot of money as they require several members of staff and they also take up a lot of time.

Interview
I was invited to an interview by an employer after I applied for a job online. The employer didn't give any indication about the interview or how it was going to be ran. The interview consisted of several stages; the first stage was a group interview. To save both time and money, the employer ask a group of the applicants into a room at a time to be interviewed by several interviewers.

The interviewers asked a series of questions to the group. They then assessed each individual in their contribution to the discussion and their answers. This was not an effective way to interview applicants because all it showed was who was more dominant within the group; It bared no relevance to the job role. This meant that the interview was not effective because it wasn't relevant to the job vacancy that they were trying to fill. This meant they might of employed the wrong applicant that wasn't the best applicant for the job.


The Co-operative
The Co-operative allow people to apply for jobs online, but dont ask thorough questions to the applicants. They only ask 9 questions; 5 of which are questions directly related to you, and the remaining 4 about your previous experience and why you would like to work for the Co-operative. (The Co-operative, n.d.)

By only having 5 questions that ask the applicants about their views, experience and knowledge, The Co-operative is not using its online application process effectively. Online application proccesses tend to be cheap to run and can vastly narrow down the number of applicants that go through to the next stage of the selection process.

If The Co-operative was to use its online application process more effectively, it would be able to narrow down the number of applicants effectively; ensuring that all applicants that get through have the right skills and suitable for the job role. This would also save the Co-operative a lot of money as online assessments are generally cheap to run as they automatically sort through the applications and only allow applicants through who are suitable for the job role.


Conclusion
In this ecenomic climate, employers are trying to get the best people suited to the job, whilst trying to save money in their reruitment process. This means that employers are now resorting to online applications which vastly narrow down applicants before they even meet them. This makes their recruitment process a lot more effective and also saves them a lot of money. If employers dont addapt their recruitment process to the climate they're in then they could potentially waste a lot of time and money on a recruitment process that doesn't effectively narrow down the amount of applicants.


Bibliography

The Co-operative (n.d.) Apply Online [online]. The Co-operative. Available from: https://careers.co-operative.jobs/careers/advanced.aspx [Accessed: 10th April 2012].

Recruitment

Monster.co.uk
As soon as you go to monster website, you immediately notice how easy it is to use and navigate through the site.

On the homepage of the website there are two input boxes; 'I'm looking for...' and 'location'. This makes the website incredibly easy to use and shows you exactly what to do to search for the jobs you want to apply for. Once you've entered your information into the homepage, your immediately taken to your search results. You can then use the checkboxs next to each of the job listings to apply. Overall the Monster website is very easy to use to apply for jobs.

The layout of the Monster website is incredibly easy to understand. At the top of the homepage is the input boxs to take you to your search results. At the very top of the homepage is the navigation bar; which includes 'Home', 'CV', 'Jobs', 'Career Tools' and 'Advice' as well as the links tot he sign in page and help pages. This means that as soon as a user goes to Monster.co.uk, they know exactly where to go to get the information they need. This makes the website very effective, accessible and easy to use.

e-Recruitment Campaigns
John Lewis run an e-recruitment campaign which helps them to employ their employees and narrow down the number of applicants.

This campaign interested me because they have several stages to the online application. The first section asks you to enter all your details and askes whether you would need assistance getting to an interview if you get through to the next stage of their recruitment process. The second section goes on to ask you a series of questions. These questions are related to the job and often describe a situation that could occur whilst working for John Lewis. They give you several answers and ask you to choose one.

By the end of the second section, they know whether your suitable for the job or not. This is where the applicants get split. Those who are deemed not to be suitable for the job are rejected from the recruitment process. Those who pass and are deemed suitable for the job and taken to another web page to book an interview at John Lewis.

This recruitment campaign caught my interest as I went through the process and found it very effective. The questions they used to narrow down their applicants don't seem specific at first, but when you think through the question and have a look at the answers they get you to choose from, you can see that this is a very direct question and relates heavily to what they would expect from an employee at John Lewis.


Aptitude Testing
I completed an aptitude test on www.shldirect.com, and I would not be keen if similar tests were used as a recruitment tool before gaining an interview for several reasons;

• Although it would give your potential employer a good idea of your different abilities, they may not be relevant or accurate. This is because your in different surroundings when you take the test to when you may be required to undertake similar tasks whilst at work. This difference in surrounding may alter how well you work.
• Although this is a timed assessment of your ability to undertake different tasks and problem solving exercises, it is still possible to cheat. You would be able to ask someone else to take the assessment for you so that you get to go through to the next stage of the recruitment process. This is why I don't feel like an aptitude test should be the only recruitment tool employers should use to narrow down applicants before an interview.
• The test would not provide the employers with enough information about the applicant to dismiss them from the recruitment process as the applicant may have other experience, skills, or qualities that might make them more suitable for the job; so it would be unfair to remove them from the recruitment process based solely on the aptitude test results.

The aptitude test would give the employer a good idea of the skills that the applicant has, but doesn't give them any more information about the applicant such as experience, or other skills or qualities that the aptitude test did not concentrate on. This is why I would not be keen if similar tests were used as a recruitment tool before gaining an interview; instead they should be used along with an interview to asses whether or not an applicant is suitable for the job.




Bibliography

Monster (n.d.) Home [online]. Monster. Available from: www.monster.co.uk [Accessed: 01 March 2012].

SHLdirect (n.d.) Home [online]. SHLdirect. Available from: www.shldirect.com [Accessed: 01 March 2012]

JohnLewis (n.d.) John Lewis Jobs [online]. JohnLewis. Available from: http://www.jlpjobs.com/jobs/john-lewis-jobs.htm [Accessed: 01 March 2012]

Equal Opportunities and Diversity

Equality
Equality is giving everyone within an organisation the same opportunities as each other. This means that every employee should have the same opportunities as one another. This means that every employee should have the same chance to benefit from any opportunities that arise in the workforce, such as a promotion. (Mullins, 2010)

Diversity
When you have a diversity within an organisation, you have a range of differences that differentiate people within your organisation from one another. This could be through their gender, age, religious beleifs or ethnic origin. Diversity can be both good and bad for organisations. Diversity can be split into three different types: social, informational and value. (Mullins, 2010)

Social diversity relates to differences in demographics such as an individuals age and race. This type of diversity is known as a surface level diversity. This means that this type of diversity describes the make-up of the particular group. (Mullins, 2010)

Informational diversity relates to the differences in background between the group which relates to education and knowledge. This type of diversity is also know as a surface level of diversty along with social diversity. (Mullins, 2010)

Value diversity relates to the differences in the individuals attitudes, personality and values within the group. This type of diversity is known as the deep level of diversity. (Mullins, 2010)

When dealing with diversity within a group or organisation, you need to understand the differences within the group, respect an individuals differences and identify individual needs for each individual within the group. (Mullins, 2010)


The difference between Equality and Diversity

There are several differences between equality and diversity.

The main difference is that equality is trying to get the employer to offer the same opportunities to all members of staff. Diversity on the other hand is trying to get employers to identify an individuals differences from the rest of the group and is trying to get employers to identify the different needs for each individual. (Mullins, 2010)

Diversity tries to persuade the employer to treat each employee differently relating to their individual needs and differences from the rest of the group, where as equality is trying to get employers to treat all employees the same and offer them the same opportunities as eachother. (Mullins, 2010)


Age Legislation - Impacts on Employers

• With the new age legislation, employers will have to deal with a more diverse workforce. The age range within the group will increase and employers will have to arrange their team to fit in a wide range of ages.
• Employers may have to adapt their working environment to make it suitable for a wider range of people with different ages.
• Potentially employers will have to keep staff working for longer because people aren't forced to retire at 65. This means that employers will have a lower staff turnover, saving the employer money on recruitment costs.

Stereotypes

Younger People

Older People

Young people aren't good at working: A stereotype about young people is that they dont like working so will do anything to get out of working. Young people aren't as experienced as old people: Another stereotype about younger people is that they dont have any experience about working. Young people less relble: A third stereotype of young people is that they're not reliable enough to keep a job. People beleive that young employees are less reliable than older people because of their social lives and the way they act.

Old people are slow and weak: A stereotype about old people is that they're slow and weak and are uncappable of working. Old people are less reliable: Another sterotype for old people is that they're not as reliable because they may forget information or might lose their hearing, strength or other things that may prevent them from functioning properly.

One idea as to how organisations can attempt to change these attitudes is by treating all of its staff as the same, no matter what age they are. This will help to promote equality and help to chnage the attitudes towards younger and older workers.

Another idea is to actively promote their recruitment process to all age groups. This will attract different ages and will show people that anyone can, no mater what age they are, are capable of working effectively.


Marks & Spencer - Equal Opportunities
Marks & Spencer are feel very strongly about equality within the workplace from the start, right through to the end of their employees career. Marks & Spencer contantly promote equal opportunities within their workforce and provide all of their staff with information about their equal opportunities policy along with information as to what you can do if you feel that these policies aren't being carried out properly. (M&S, n.d.)

Marks & Spencer always promote their equal opportunities and ensure that ebveryone who works at M&S receives the same treatment from the moment they join Marks & Spencers, till the moment they leave; regardless of age, colour, disability, gender, race, sexual orientation, hours of work, marital status, national origin, political opinions and religious beliefs. (M&S, n.d.)

Conclusion
Businesses need to consider both diversity and equal opportunities when dealing with their employees. Businesses need to get the balance right to make sure their employees feel like they're being treated fairly. If businesses get the balance between diversity and equality wrong, then employees may feel like they're not being treated fairly; which could lead to a decrease in performance and productivity.


Bibliography

M&S (n.d.) Equal Opportunities & you [PDF]. MarksandSpencer. Available from: http://corporate.marksandspencer.com/documents/how_we_do_business/equal_opps_policy.pdf [Accessed: 27th February 2012].

Mullins, L.J. (2010) Management & Organisational Behavior. 9th ed.

Flexible Working

The opportunity to have flexible working hours has always been around because sometimes unpredictable circumstances arise that requires employees to take leave or change their shift pattern. But now flexible working is becoming more and more popular and more people are seeking flexible working hours in their jobs. This gives them the chance to do other things, such as looking after relatives young or old, having extended holiday leave and taking a break from their working career. (Stredwick and Ellis, 2005)

More employers are now offering their staff flexible working as the normal nine to five routine is becoming less popular. Employers offer their staff flexible working in the form of job sharing, annualised hours, term time and home working, extended leave and short-term working and other ways that increase the flexibility of the employee. This gives their employees more flexibility between their working and private life. (Stredwick and Ellis, 2005)

John Lewis
John Lewis gives their employees the opportunity to take a 12 month leave from work. This gives the employees the chance to have a break from their career and have a secured job when they return after their 12 month leave. (BITCDiversity, n.d.)

This benefits the employee as they can take a year break from their career to do other things in the knowledge that their job is secured for them when they return to work. This means that the employee can either take a long holiday and relax for a year before continuing with their career or move on to do other things. (BITCDiversity, n.d.)

This benefits John Lewis because they believe that after their 12 month leave, the employee will be more motivated when they return. This would increase their productivity and help them become better at their job.


McDonald's
McDonald's run a family flexibility scheme. This is where family members, working at the same McDonald's restaurant, can switch shifts with one another without prior notice. (BITCDiversity, n.d.)

This benefits the employees of McDonald's because it allows them to switch with another family member if they need time off. This increases their flexibility and allows them to have the ability to fit in their private life as well as their working life. (BITCDiversity, n.d.)

This scheme benefits McDonald's because they would see a reduction in the amount of absentees within the workplace because employees can swap with other family members without prior notice.


BT

British Telecom offers teleworking. Teleworking is where you can work from the comfort of your own home. This means that you can work from home and fit your work life arround your private life. (BT, n.d.)

This scheme benefits the employee because it gives them a chance to plan their work life around their family/private life. Working from home would, for example, mean that mothers or fathers can pick their children up from school and save money on childcare and students would be able to plan arround deadlines.

This would also benefit British Telecom becuase they would see a reduction in the amount of time off their employees would require; increasing their productivity. This would mean that BT wouldn't have to find as many new staff to cover for people when they need time off.

Forms of Flexibility

Numerical Flexibility
This is where a company or organisation increases or decreases its headcount to meet customer needs. This is most common in retail as companys tend to employ more temporary staff before christmas to deal with the increase of customers. (Reilly, 2001)

Advantages to Employer	Advantages to Employee
The employer can reduce the number of employees when they're not needed; Helping to reduce costs. Gives the employer the ability to employ more staff during peak times to help with an increase of business.	More flexible working for example, students, as they can be employed out of term time and then return to their studies.

One disadvantage of numerical flexibility is that constantly increasing and decreasing head count means that the recruitment costs are increased because the employer is contantly looking for new temporary staff. This could be very expensive for the business.

Another challenge caused by numerical flexibility is that the line manager will have an increased work load as they will have to organise the increasing and decreasing work force and plan ahead to make sure the business is runng effectively.


Functional Flexibility
This is where employers train their staff so that they are multi-skilled and can switch between jobs. This is also common at supermarkets where employees may be require to fill up stocks, work on the tills and other jobs that are required.

(Reilly, 2001)

Advantages to Employer	Advantages to Employee
The employer can employ less staff because their current staff can undertake a variety of different jobs; this will save the employer money. If someone is off sick, or on holiday, the employer would have a wider range of employees to ask to cover the required shifts as each employee has a variety of skills.	The employee will have more job satidfaction as they will be able to complete various different tasks and will be highly trained.

One disadvantage of functional flexibility is that training costs could be quite high as every employee needs to be trained to do a variety of different jobs. This could lead to very high recruitment costs.

Another challenge that line managers would have to overcome would be the work overload. By reducing the amount off staff and increasing the jobs that staff members can complete may cause employees to become overworked. This would reduce their productivity.


Financial flexibility
This is where the pay and rewards employees receive differs between groups. For example, part time workers may not get the same benefit packages or pay as full time workers. This can also be in the form of performance related pay.

(Reilly, 2001)

Advantages to Employer	Advantages to Employee
The employer could save money by not offering the same benefits package to all employees.	Employees could receive a benefits package that is more suited to their needs rather than having the same benefit package as all the other members of staff.

One challenge that might arise from financial flexiblity is a split between the workforce. The workforce might split between different pay and might not get on with each other. This means that they wont work as well as a team as they might have disputes between one another.

Another challenge that faces the line manager is how he splits his workforce. He will have to work out a way to split his workforce to make sure everyone is treated fairly and to make sure that everyone gets the benefits they require to maintain their motivation.


Locational Flexibility
This is where employees are employed to work in one place but can be asked to work in a different location. This can also include homeworking; where employees can work from home. (Reilly, 2001)

Advantages to Employer

Advantages to Employee

The employer can choose which location they want their employees to work in. This would enable the employer to delegate his workforce to locations that require more staff due to increased business and away from locations where all the staff arent always required. The employer wouldn't have to employ as many staff because they can just relocate some staff from other areas of the business. This would reduce recruitment and training costs.

The employee benefits from locational flexibility because they can have the option to work from home. This helps the employee with their work/life balance. THe employee would also be able to apply to work in a location closer to their home. This would reduce the employees commuting costs.

One challenge the line manager might face when using locational flexiblity is that employees might not want to change their work location because it maybe unsuitable for them or it might increase their commuting time/costs.

Another challenge that line managers might face would be that staff begin to feel isolated. Especially when working from home, staff can feel isolated from other work colleagues due to the lack of face to face communication. This may reduce the employee's productivity.


Temporal Flexibility
Temporal flexibility is where employers alter the work hours of their employees to enable more efficient use of their labour force. This can be done by increasing or decreasing their current staff hours on a temporary basis to deal with an increase or decrease in business. (Reilly, 2001)

Advantages to Employer	Advantages to Employee
The employer can save money by asking their staff to work longer hours instead of recruiting more temporary staff to cover the work load. They have the ability to deal with an increase in business with little organisation.	The employee can have the opportunity to increase their working hours.

One challenge that may arise from using temporal flexibility is that staff might not want to increase or decrease their working hours. This means that the employers would have to find someone else to cover the workload; costing them time and money.


Problems that may arise
One challenge that effects the line manager with any of the different forms of flexibility is the increased work load for the line manager. Whatever form of flexibility a line manager chooses to implicate with its workforce, will result in an increased workload for themselves. Organising any form of flexibility would take a great deal of organisation from the line manager.

The line manager would also have to deal with the day to day issues that are caused by the different forms of flexible working; increasing their workload further.

Bibliography

BITCDiversity (n.d.) Flexible Working John Lewis Partnership [online]. BITCDiversity. Available from: http://www.bitcdiversity.org.uk/best_practice/exemplar_employers/flexible_working/case_studies/jlp.html [Accessed: 23rd February 2012].

BITCDiversity (n.d.) Flexible Working McDonalds Restaurants Ltd [online]. BITCDiversity. Available from: http://www.bitcdiversity.org.uk/best_practice/exemplar_employers/flexible_working/case_studies/mcdonalds.html [Accessed: 23rd February 2012].

BT (n.d.) Benefits [online]. BT. Available from: http://www.btplc.com/Careercentre/WhyjoinBT/Benefits/Benefits.htm [Accessed: 21st February 2012].

Reilly, P.A. (2001) Flexibility at work: balancing the interests of employer and employee.

Stredwick, J. and Ellis, S. (2005) Flexible Working. 2nd ed.

Conflict

What is conflict?

Conflict within a group is where a task or outcome can not be accomplished or completed due to peoples disagreement. Conflict can arise due to several different reasons including a difference in culture, gender, personality style, or people being too stressed out or over worked. (Diamond, 2011)

Conflicts can potentially lose businesses money and/or waste their assets or stock. If a conflict occurs between staff, then they wont be working effectively or efficiently so the business could suffer. Team leaders need to be able to reduce conflict as much as possible in the workplace to ensure that tasks get carried out effectively and efficiently; if they don't, then tasks may go unfinished.


Whilst studying my A-Level business course we were asked to complete a group piece of coursework with two of our classmates. At first it was going well and we worked effectively to complete a couple of tasks within the coursework. After a while we began to get different ideas as to what we should include in the coursework assignment.

To reduce the conflict within our group we had a meeting and discussed as a group what we should include in the coursework. We put our points forward and we eventually decided to collaborate all of our ideas that we all thought were relevant into our coursework. This meant that we can include all of the information that each person thought was relevant.

To prevent future conflicts within the group we looked at each individuals skills and worked out who was going to undertake each task to make sure that we could get the best possible outcome without any further conflicts.

French and Raven's different 'Sources of Power'

French and Raven believe there are 5 sources of power that people adhere to; Coercive, Reward, Expert, Legitimate, and Referent power. These different sources of power are the reasons why people obey the instructions of the people who possess one or more of these 'powers'.

(Levy et al., 2010)

Coercive power:
Coercive power is when someone can control someone else because they are believed to have the ability to punish people who do not comply. (Lee-Chai and Bargh, 2001)

For example, police have coercive power as they have the power to arrest and detain people who do not do what they say. If people do not comply with a police officers instructions then the police officer can punish them. This gives them the power they need to complete their job.

Reward Power:
People obey instructions from people with reward power because they feel like they will benefit as the instructor has something to reward them with. This is most commonly found in the workplace as employers can reward employees financially for undertaking work. (Lee-Chai and Bargh, 2001)

For example, an employee in Sainsbury's would obey instructions from their manager because they get financially rewarded for working. If employees did not obey the instructions of their manager, then they might get disciplined, then leading to their dismissal. This means that if the employee doesn't do the work that is asked of them then they will not receive their financial reward.

Expert Power:
People obey instructions from people with expert power as they believe that they have more experience, skill or knowledge of the subject. This is commonly found with architects. People employ architects to help them build a building or structure as they have the desired skill, knowledge and experience to help them complete their build. (Lee-Chai and Bargh, 2001)

An example of someone with expert power would be architects. Architects get employed by people to help them build a building or structure. Architects have expert power as they are more experienced, they have more skill, and more knowledge than their client. This gives them power over the client as they know the subject a lot more than the client does.

Legitimate Power:
People with legitimate power can control others because they are believed to have the right to give orders to others and expect compliance and obedience. Legitimate power often comes with the job role or title rather than the person themselves. This means that legitimate power can vanish if the person loses their job role or title. (Lee-Chai and Bargh, 2001)

An example of someone with legitimate power is the CEO of a business. They hold this formal, official positions and often get their power through the organisational structure. People believe they have the right to demand as they created the business and are at the centre of the organisation structure.

Referent Power:
Referent power is often acquired through the persons appeal, admiration, charm and charisma. People gain referent power through respect. Referent power can be easy to acquire and you may not have to do anything to get it. As well as being easy to get referent power is also easy to lose; as soon as people lose respect for someone, they lose their referent power. Someone with referent power looking for long term power would need to combine referent power with another source of power as referent power isn't a reliable source of power. (Lee-Chai and Bargh, 2001)

An example of people with referent power are celebrities. Through peoples respect for celebrities, they are able to influence people about the decisions they make such as the brands or products they buy.

Recent News Stories

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) conducted a report looking into work related stress, what the causes are, and how it effects Britain's businesses.
This news article explains the findings of the report conducted by NICE. The report goes on to say that more than 13 million working days a year are lost because of work related stress, which equates to £28.3bn a year lost by employers.

The report also shows that "Bad managers were the single biggest cause of problems" (BBC, 2009) This relates to conflict between different roles in a business. According to Mullins, one source of conflict is between peoples roles in the business as this is often gives people different perspectives; causing disagreements.(Mullins, 2010)



Conclusion

Team leaders in a business need to keep conlict to a minimum to make sure the business runs smoothly. If conflicts within the workforce aren't addressed properly then the business could lose money, stock, or assets. For team leaders to effectively sort out conflicts, they need to be able to control their employees; this means they need power. All of French and Ravens sources of power are effective in their own way and all ensure power over subordinates.


References:

BBC (2009) Tackle Work Stress, Bosses Told [online].BBC Available from: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8343074.stm [Accessed: 15th January 2012]

Diamond, A. (2011) Conflict in the Workplace: Causes and Cures.

Lee-Chai, A.Y. and Bargh, J.A. (2001) The use and abuse of power: multiple perspectives on the causes of corruption. illustrated ed

Levy, D.A., Parco, J.E. and Blass, F.R. (2010) The 52nd Floor: Thinking Deeply about Leadership.

Mullins, LJ. (2010) Management & Organisational Behavior. 9th ed.