Managing People in Organisations

This module covers various topics related to managing people in organisations such as recruitment methods, selection methods, diversity and inclusion, skills training and development, performance management, academic writing, referencing, and motivation and rewards. Each week includes questions and answers with relevant theory and empirical evidence to support the points. The module aims to provide a reflection upon the learning developed from the seminar activities and class discussions.

Module Title: Managing People in Organisations
1

Table of Contents
Introduction...........................................................................................................................................3
Week 2..................................................................................................................................................4
Week 3..................................................................................................................................................5
Week 4..................................................................................................................................................6
Week 5..................................................................................................................................................7
Week 6..................................................................................................................................................8
Week 7..................................................................................................................................................9
Week 8................................................................................................................................................10
Week 9................................................................................................................................................11
Week 10..............................................................................................................................................12
Week 11..............................................................................................................................................13
Reference list.......................................................................................................................................14
Appendices..........................................................................................................................................15
2

Introduction
This workbook provides a reflection upon the learning developed from the seminar activities
and class discussions.
The workbook includes ten (weeks 2-11), each includes one or two questions with each
answer in the region of 100 words per question.
3

Week 2: Recruitment methods
1. Explain why line managers adopt the rational approach to recruitment?
You should cite relevant theory to support your points and illustrate them
with empirical evidence using Harvard referencing.
Rational approach for recruitment helps in identifying the best talent for the organisation.
In this employers develop a pool of the suitable applicants. Rational approach is based on
the job design and job descriptions and also about the person specification. Line managers
manage the employees and make the best utilisation of the resources to carry out
organisational functions (Khayerzahed, Teimouri and Barzoki, 2021). As in the rational
recruitment managers can easily covers the stages which are pre-screening where they
check the mental ability and integrity of the candidate. Thus with the screening line
managers can easily view the resume and competencies so that it will give them idea to
whether to hire candidate or not. Thus if they find that the candidate is suitable for the job
role then they conduct a interview for it. Thus by using this approach line managers are
able to find the best talent who fits better to desired job role.
2. Describe the differences between a job description and person specification?
You should cite relevant theory to support your points and illustrate them
with empirical evidence using Harvard referencing.
Job description refer to the systematic arrangement of the data which describes the roles
and tasks that involves the knowledge, skills and capabilities and other characteristics
traits. It helps the person to carry out the job role. This document mainly describe what
work required to perform, it should contain the company’ information as what benefits,
culture and structure they offer to employees. On the other hand person specification define
as knowledge, skills and attribute which makes the person to perform their job duties. As
per the rodger plan it is essential to have general intelligence and interest in person to do
job. Thus the major difference is job description is the overall purpose to do main task
while person specification is someone’s ability to perform that role effectively.
3. List three ways to encourage diversity when recruiting candidates?
You should cite relevant theory to support your points and illustrate them
with empirical evidence using Harvard referencing.
Psychometric testing: This activity is often developing to give the equal right to the
potential candidates to assess their abilities, skills and knowledge. It helps in developing
the understanding regarding candidate’ personality, thus with this recruiter can hire the
candidate who suitably fits for the job and it also helps in building diverse teams (Scerpella
and et.al 2021).
Audit job ads: Most effective approach for encouraging diversity, to be more inclusive for
using the language, that helps in attracting the different background candidates.
Encourage the referral from employees: Current workforce can be a good option for
getting new hiring for the job posts, thus it helps in making the organisational environment
4

more productive.
Thus other ways can be recruit team must require to have knowledge about the cross
culture so that they promote the diversity during recruiting practices.
5

Week 3: Selection Methods
1. What are the problems with using selection interviews to identify the best
candidate in relation to reliability and validity as a selection tool?
You should cite relevant theory to support your points and illustrate them
with empirical evidence using Harvard referencing.
Problems with the interviews involves the unfamiliarity with the job, focus on negative
data and premature decision lead to challenges that cause obstacles in hiring the best talent
for the company. As for the reliability factor it is important to select the method which is
consistent not to use random method, it would be beneficial if there is proper structure and
multiple rates that helps in enhancing the reliability in interview otherwise lack of
preparation and act as nonchalant reduce the reliability. Selection method should be
relevant or validates to predict the working behaviour, as it is important to design the job
description by utilising the organised job analysis and other person specification, it helps in
recruiting the best talent out of the candidates.
2. What are the advantages of using a competency framework to design selection
interview questions?
You should cite relevant theory to support your points and illustrate them
with empirical evidence using Harvard referencing.
Competency framework helps in concentrating on the behaviours of the applicants rather
than focus on their personal abilities (Barney and et.al 2021). Competency based
interviews helps the recruiter to see far beyond the applicants who just talks and provide
the set of list which creates the basis profile to measure the knowledge of the applicants in
compare with other candidate. It promotes the transparency for hiring therefore it guides in
reducing the personal discretion from the decision making and lead to better and
diversified selection process. Thus with this recruiter can easily analyse the candidate’s
ability to suitably fit for the job role, also with this recruiting team can easily test the skills
and knowledge of the candidate as whether they are fit for the job or not.
6

7

Week 4: Equality, Diversity and Inclusion
1. A friend suggests that George should implement mandatory diversity
training. Based on your reading of the Dobbin and Kalev (2016) article, do
you agree with George’s friend?
Provide specific examples from the article to back up your point why you
agree/why you do not.
As per the article it is evaluated that the businesses are more concern with the diversity
after suffered a lot from law suits and penalties. As based on the article dobbin and kaley
suggests that organisation uses the same tools and training for recruitment, performance
rating thus it making situation even worsen. For an example organisation need to empower
the employees and employers to contribute towards developing the company’s culture by
enhancing the interaction among the diverse groups that are targeted recruitments. It helps
in developing the inclusive work place environment to provide the equal growth
opportunity to all. However, diversity training option is good but corporation need to focus
on employee participation in training and to promote the social accountability that makes
the work place culture more diverse.
2. Please recommend to George two alternative diversity management
interventions, that academic research has proven to be effective.
You should cite relevant theory to support your points and illustrate them
with empirical evidence using Harvard referencing.
Diversity management intervention refer to the organisational actions to promote the
diversity and inclusion among the employees that are from distinct backgrounds. Two
diversity management interventions are multicultural teams and workers network group. In
a multicultural team all members have their unique way to complete the work and to keep
communicate with other team mates (Turner, 2019). Everyone has their own preferences
and specific knowledge which leads in better decision making, thus in organisation if such
teams are found then there is assurance of healthy work place culture and highly innovative
and goal oriented team. Another intervention can be employee network group where the
workers comes forward and together performs on the basis of their shared identity, it
promotes the supportive environment and beneficial in bringing the people together to
carry out any task irrespective of its complexities.
8

Week 5: Skills, Training and Development
1. What are the challenges which Covid 19, has created for adult learners’
employability in the labour market?
The loss in on the job learning was one of the due to covid-19 was the main problem. As it
is known that due to Covid-19 and lockdown, learners were encouraged to engage in
virtual learning and many of them took undue advantage of this type of learning, Tutors
were not able to concentrate on each and every student and also they were asked to give
online papers. many of the students cheated in exams and gained higher grades. It affected
their learning (Antony, 2018). Due to covid-19, companies were not able to run their
business in an effective manner so they were required only skilled and experienced people.
They did not want to take risk by hiring adult learners or fresher. So, on the basis of this, it
can be said that Covid-19 affected labour market as well as adult learners’ employability.
2. Why is coaching by line managers important for the performance of their
teams?
What benefits does conducting induction for new joiners have for
organizations?
9

In regard to effectiveness of coaching, provided by line manager, it can be said that they
have number of coaching skills that make them able in improving team performance. It is
found that line managers give informal coaching. Initially, team members may face
problems because line manager might call meeting during lunch break. But it is being done
for making team members flexible. For making team members able to adapt changing
situations and working under any situation, coaching by line managers is important.
Overall, it can be said that it can increase flexibility, decision making and problem solving
skills (Book, Gatling and Kim, 2019).
There are number of benefits that new joiners can take by engaging in induction such as:
decreasing turnover, new joiners can know all about their company like policy, the kind of
work that they do and ways in which they perform functions. It can make new employees
feel safe, secure and comfortable that can increase staff retention rate.
Week 6: Performance Management
1. Please copy and paste a fully completed table assessing the performance
review practices that you have experienced in your current job role.
Performance management refer as the activity and collection of the processes which aims
to motivate employees and to improvise their performance in order to accomplish
organisational goals. It promotes the employee engagement and it is the broad concept of
the HR practices, to review team members performance and give them performance
appraisal based on their work.
Employee name= XYZ Department= Marketing
Review time= 1 Date of review= 21-4-2022
Overall performance Goals achieved Core values
I always work with the
discipline that makes me to
lay out work with
maximum productivity.
I have achieved almost
80%b of goals.
My work ethics and good
reflection is best core
values for the company.
I am well organised and
dedicated with my work,
that makes me to efficiently
work with the team
Organisational always sets
the higher goal, thus 80% is
the biggest achievement
I represent the good job
ownership, team spirit.
2. Identify one area of performance review in your current job role that is weak
and explain why this is a problem.
You should cite relevant theory to support your points and illustrate them
10

with empirical evidence using Harvard referencing.
Having a better appreciation for the work always plays an significant role, but there are still
areas which further need to enhance or develop. As the area which is fin as weak is
inexperience with dealing with the software and new technologies. As before technologies
and software were not in use, but now demands are changing all work is mainly done
through the technologies. It is important to have the technical skills in order to operate with
software to ease the job processes (Baran and Sypniewska,2020). As for the marketing job
post it is important to have the knowledge about the technologies and software for the
better marketing activities. Thus for developing or improvising this, organisation need to
conduct some trainings and program to develop the technical knowledge.
Week 7: Academic writing, referencing and plagiarism
1. What have you learnt about academic writing that will do differently as a
result of your learning from today’s lecture/seminar?
11

Academic writing is the formal language which is used scholarly and in universities. It
always begin with the introduction. It consists of different types which are essay, thesis,
research projects and proposal etc. It allows the one to think analytically as it involves the
collecting and analysing the information that helps in developing the knowledge and
concepts. As it helps me in developing the ability to analyse the report appropriately which
can be once learned but it will stay forever. As during module I have learn about the
workbook and essay, where workbook aims to respond the series of question, involves the
content page and numbering or subheadings so that questions can be answered. I learn that
Essay aims to respond to proposition, it mainly not have the headings and throughout
writing it follows the same flow.
2. What have you learnt about plagiarism OR referencing that will do
differently as a result of your learning from today’s lecture/seminar?
Plagiarism refer as showing or presenting the other’s work as ours, it is cheating as without
consent if one shows other’s work as their own thus it is often considering as crime. I have
learnt that student usually plagiarise when they are showing lack of interest towards
lecture, they don’t properly understand the topic and have no fear regarding consequences.
I learn that it can be done with two ways as in intentional students copied their friends
work and cut paste the work, and in unintentionally they carelessly paraphrase (Setiyani,
and et.al 2019). Referencing refer as acknowledging sources process, by referencing the
source it is like demonstrating the depth of research to reinforce the sentence. If one fails to
reference correctly then it leads to plagiarism accusation. Thus I am to do my work
properly without plagiarism and to source and site the reference that will shows breadth of
my research.
12

Week 8: Motivation and rewards
1. Identify the main pros and cons of “Payment by Results” (PBR).
You should cite relevant theory to support your points and illustrate them
with empirical evidence using Harvard referencing.
Payment by result define as the variable element that is represented with some objectives
that are use for measuring the work done. It offers the benefits to the employees as it boosts
their morale, which helps in introducing the innovation level also forwards the message of
good performance. It aims to meet the demand of the employees and also connected with
rewards that helps in attracting or retaining the potential staff. Along with various benefits
it has cons too which are it usually demotivates the other employees if they are not
rewarded with PBR. Generally it gives the major impact over the organisational financial
asset, as introducing such system cost more and also create negative environment where
people only thinks that employees can only motivated with the money.
2. Identify at least three of the more significant components of financial reward
other than salary. Argue the benefits and drawbacks of each of them.
You should cite relevant theory to support your points and illustrate them
with empirical evidence using Harvard referencing.
13

Pension schemes: These are the costliest factor in remuneration, it gives two type of
benefits which are defined benefits that is used when the risks are taken by the employers.
Another benefit is defined contribution which is when the risks are taken by the employees.
Its drawback is that employee do not have control over their money or it is difficult to
access that money.
Share schemes: It define as the way for sharing the company’s ownership with the teams,
as company can proceed to reward people with more equity. It has benefit to the employees
as in future they can easily buys the shares. It helps in motivating and recruitment or
retention process for the employees (Parent and Lovelace, 2018). This scheme has
drawback which is found as there is little connection among the efforts and rewards.
Personal security: It can be insurance and other job security benefit that are given to the
employees. It’s main advantage is that it helps in retaining the potential staff as well as
culture remain goal oriented and highly motivated. Its cons can be organisation might have
major impact over their financial asset.
14

Week 9: The psychological contract and employee engagement
1. Present a reliable definition of Employee Engagement.
You should cite relevant theory to support your points and illustrate them
with empirical evidence using Harvard referencing.
Employee engagement define as harnessing of the organisational members, as workers are
determined towards their job role and produces the great results. In engagement people
usually employs and also represents themselves as a cognitively, emotionally and
physically for their job role performance. Another term can be individual’s involvement
and their great satisfaction towards the work. For the company it is important to provide
the better and safer work place environment that ensures the better connectivity of the
employees within the organisational resources. Thus company can proceed to conduct
timely rewarding activities for the performance appraisal it keeps the employees feel
connected and enthusiastic towards their work.
2. Identify at least three of the benefits of Employee Engagement to
organisations.
You should cite relevant theory to support your points and illustrate them
with empirical evidence using Harvard referencing.
15

There are many benefit which the employee engagement offers to the organisation as it
reduced the staff turnover as well as it increases the business productivity. It improvises the
attendance, of the workers are motivated then it often reflects in the best services so it
helps in improvising the customer satisfaction within the business. Other benefits it offers
as better qualitative work as if the employee feel engaged then it is obvious that they put
their extra efforts into work which gives better and desired results.
Healthy work place culture When employees are engaged with organisational resource
then they efficiently communicate with other, thus knowledge sharing and positivity is
found in workplace culture (Sugianingrat and et.al 2019).
Workers are innovative Engaged employee continually grows and lead to generate the new
ideas that gives innovation in the services.
Week 10: International differences in organisations and management
1. What are the challenges of leading in global firms?
Growing industrialisation of companies offering products and services into the global
market.as they are new in global market which means several challenges are encountered
for the business. In top of that cultural challenge is the main hindrance which the global
firms face. It is obvious that every country has their own culture and custom, thus for the
global firm they face challenge in the market to sell their product, as well as if the culture
is not inclusive then it often leads to conflicts among employees. Other challenge is
different leadership styles, for an example if the UK manager follows the transformational
leadership and US manager follows the democratic leadership style then it creates the
chances for conflict which affects the business performance. Other challenge can be tariffs
and export fees, it can be expensive for some countries.
2.
List the reasons for expatriate failure in global firms?
16

Reason behind expatriate fail is there inadequate selection process which creates obstacles.
Most of the expatriate fails in understanding the culture, language and leadership styles
which cause major obstacles in expatriate assignment. Other reason can be their family
dissatisfaction regarding job location as well as loss in personal and other business network
puts the expatriate at disadvantage. Also lack of support from the host country and
disconnectivity with the home environment demotivates the expatriate which reflects in
their work. In such both organisation and expatriate suffers. Therefore it is important for
the organisation to provide support to their expatriate assignment for achieving the better
results (Tsourvaka and Yfantidou, 2018).
Week 11: Leadership style
1. Present definitions and give examples of these five concepts:
 Transactional Leadership: Also termed as the managerial leadership in
such executives depends on the rewards and punishment to accomplish the
maximum job performance from their employees. Example can be
employees are compensated from monetary benefits that boosts their
morale. Bill gates follows such leadership style.
 Transformational Leadership: In this leaders motivate and inspire the
workforce team to complete their task with efficiency. Examples can be
leaders conducts the meetings to lay out the goals and methods to achieve
them. Jeff Bezos follows this leadership style.
 Contingency Leadership: In such decision made by the leaders can be
efficient in some situation and can be non effective in different situation.
For example if leader found that employees lacks in knowledge and skills
then they adopt the directive leadership in such scenario.
 Situational Leadership: Leaders adapt the management style according to
situation to meet the requirements of employees. For an example in sport
team there is a constant changing of team rosters are found.
 Inclusive Leadership: Leaders are much aware of their own biases and
often takes the distinct perspective to inform their decision and efficiently
connect with others. For an example leader connects personally and
professionally with every employees which helps in enhancing the work
17

place culture.
You should cite relevant theory to support your points and illustrate them
with empirical evidence using Harvard referencing.
18

Reference list
Antony, M.R., 2018. Paradigm shift in employee engagement–A critical analysis on the
drivers of employee engagement. International Journal of Information, Business and
Management. 10(2). pp.32-46.
Baran, M. and Sypniewska, B., 2020. The impact of management methods on employee
engagement. Sustainability. 12(1). p.426.
Barney, A. and et.al 2021. Adapting to changes in teen pregnancy prevention research: social
media as an expedited recruitment strategy. Journal of Adolescent Health. 69(2).
pp.349-353.
Book, L., Gatling, A. and Kim, J., 2019. The effects of leadership satisfaction on employee
engagement, loyalty, and retention in the hospitality industry. Journal of Human
Resources in Hospitality & Tourism. 18(3). pp.368-393.
Khayerzahed, R., Teimouri, H. and Barzoki, A.S., 2021. Designing a model of recruitment
and selection system with talent management approach: the case of Iranian national
tax administration. International Journal of Applied Management Science. 13(4).
pp.302-321.
Parent, J.D. and Lovelace, K.J., 2018. Employee engagement, positive organizational culture
and individual adaptability. On the Horizon.
Scerpella, D.L. and et.al 2021. Using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) for Targeted
National Recruitment of Community-Dwelling Caregivers Managing Dementia-
Related Behavioral and Psychological Symptoms: A Recruitment Approach for a
Randomized Clinical Trial. Journal of geographic information system. 13(3). p.302.
Setiyani, A. and et.al 2019. The effect of work environment on flexible working hours,
employee engagement and employee motivation. International Review of
Management and Marketing. 9(3). p.112.
Sugianingrat, I.A.P.W. and et.al 2019. The employee engagement and OCB as mediating on
employee performance. International Journal of Productivity and Performance
Management.
Tsourvakas, G. and Yfantidou, I., 2018. Corporate social responsibility influences employee
engagement. Social Responsibility Journal.
Turner, P., 2019. Employee engagement in contemporary organizations: Maintaining high
productivity and sustained competitiveness. Springer Nature.
19

Appendices
The ‘Appendices’ is an optional Section only.
You have the option if you want to please include any relevant ongoing work relating to the different
sections: for example, references/screenshot to a website you visited; photos/scans of any notes you
have made; etc.
If you do include any appendices, please give a title and a number each one of the appendices:
20