Impact of People Management on GBN Magazine's Performance

This report provides an in-depth analysis of people management practices within Global Business News (GBN) magazine. It begins by examining the organizational structure and culture of GBN, highlighting how these elements influence employee performance. The report then delves into the impact of personal differences among employees and explores the effectiveness of various leadership styles, including autocratic and participative approaches, in mitigating these differences and fostering a positive work environment. The report also assesses the benefits of flexible working practices and the application of motivational theories, such as Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs and Herzberg's Two-Factor Theory, to enhance employee morale and productivity. Furthermore, the report emphasizes the importance of ethical practices and policies within GBN to ensure a fair and supportive workplace. Overall, the report offers valuable insights into how GBN can optimize its people management strategies to improve employee performance and achieve its business objectives.

PEOPLE
MANAGEMENT

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
ACTIVITY 1....................................................................................................................................3
1.1................................................................................................................................................3
1.2................................................................................................................................................4
2.1................................................................................................................................................5
2.2................................................................................................................................................5
ACTIVITY 2....................................................................................................................................6
3.1................................................................................................................................................6
3.2................................................................................................................................................6
3.3................................................................................................................................................7
3.4................................................................................................................................................8
3.5................................................................................................................................................8
ACTIVITY 3....................................................................................................................................9
4.1................................................................................................................................................9
4.2..............................................................................................................................................10
4.3..............................................................................................................................................10
ACTIVITY 4..................................................................................................................................11
5.1..............................................................................................................................................11
5.2..............................................................................................................................................11
5.3..............................................................................................................................................12
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................13
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................14

ILLUSTRATION INDEX
Illustration 1: Organizational Structure of GBN Magazine.............................................................5

INTRODUCTION
People management is the role of managers of an organization to make employees
developed by providing proper training so that they can be motivated to render effectual services.
This concept comes under HRM which includes managing activities of personnel in such a way
that the desired outcomes can be gained in less cost. This report is based on various activities of
Global business News (GBN) magazine which is a company that publishes magazines across the
world. Purpose of this study is to understand the impact of structure, culture, personal differences
and management styles of GBN magazine on its employees' performance (Braun, Kunzmann and
Schmidt, 2010). This study will give knowledge to the reader about flexible working practice of
this firm which affects its functioning. It will reflect different motivational theories which should
be applied by the management of GBN magazine to increase its productivity and profitability.
ACTIVITY 1
1.1
Organizational structure is a technique that involves activities such as task allocation,
supervision and coordination that need to be performed to accomplish the goals and objectives of
firm. Global Business News (GBN) magazine follows tall organizational structure to run its
business in effective way. Structure of GBN includes different departments at distinct levels. It
involves publisher of this magazine at higher level who is responsible for all activities performed
by the employees of firm.
Management at this level have both negative and positive impacts on the working of
workforce. Positive in terms that they are supervised by superiors and negative in terms that they
are bound to do work that is delegated by their supervisors. In this company, editor comes after
publisher (Decker, Riley and Siemer, 2012). He/she is a person who delegates work related to
news that is finding the sources from where news for magazine can be collected, type of news to
be gathered, etc. Different levels of management help a company to run in a smooth way along
with reducing the burden from both management and employees.
Tall structure of GBN magazine assists in creating a healthy culture at workplace. It also
helps in maintaining effective communication and leadership which in turn helps in increasing
the profitability and productivity of firm. This structure has a positive impact on functioning of

employees at GBN magazine (Jarvis, 2011). It increases employee’s morale which will result in
better performance of employees and workers of this organization.
1.2
Organizational culture is a system which shares the values, assumptions, beliefs and
norms which shows the way in which people behave at workplace. Through attitude and
behaviour of individuals, one can judge the culture of his/her workplace. GBN opts power and
person culture to run its business effectually. Under this, whole power to run a business is held
by one or few numbers of people. Person culture facilitate employees to work with freedom and
being a part of company (Kapferer, 2012). It can have both negative and positive impacts on the
performance of workforce.
An organization where people at workplace are considered as an integral part of business
activities prove to be helpful in the growth of it. Therefore, GBN follows both power and person
culture which involves participation of both employees and employers in each and every activity
of enterprise. A firm need to form such culture which is favourable in order to fulfil the needs
and wants of personnel. GBN needs to eliminate such factors which influence the behaviour of
people at work and have negative impact on their performance (Kerzner, 2013). Positive
Illustration 1: Organizational Structure of GBN Magazine
(Source: Sallis, 2014)

behaviour of individuals will show effectiveness of organizational culture. So, attitude of
individuals towards work entirely depends on the culture of enterprise.
2.1
People at workplace brings number of differences that include unique personality,
abilities, perception, skills and knowledge, etc. At the time when a new employee enters to an
organization, his/her behaviour and attitude will affect the working of firm. So, it is necessary to
understand the characteristics of individuals that affect the performance of other people within
company. GBN magazine includes large number of employees. Personal differences generally
occur in large organizations where number of workers are more.
It is the responsibility of management at GBN magazine to identify impact of personal
differences among employees (Lalsing, Kishnah and Pudaruth, 2012). These differences are
related to different age groups, gender, abilities, personality, perception, etc. All these
differences have positive and negative impacts on the performance of individuals at GBN. For
example, when youngsters will be hired by this magazine then aged group of people would feel
uncomfortable while working with them due to advanced knowledge and skills acquired by
them. It will affect the performance of such group of people. Personality of an individual also
affects his performance.
2.2
Management at GBN magazine is facing all above problems regarding to differences. It
needs to be removed by establishing an effective management system. It is required to adopt both
autocratic and democratic style of leading personnel within organization. Effectiveness of these
styles are discussed as under in order to reduce personal differences: Autocratic: It is such method where only higher level of management makes decisions
about various activities of the firm. Here, management will decide all functions which
employees need to perform. After that, person will do such work which is allotted to
them and will complete it within specified time period given to them. This will not make
them feel about the difference among them.
 Participative: It helps person to interact with others in organization. This type of
management style includes every employee in the process of decision making. It will help
GBN to create a healthy working environment at workplace (Lloyd-Jones and Rakodi,

2014). It enables in making good human relations which in return reduces differences
among all individuals in company. Rewards need to be provided to such employees who
maintain strong working relations with others within GBN. Eagerness of receiving such
awards will create enthusiasm and positive environment at GBN magazine.
ACTIVITY 2
3.1
Autocratic and participative Leadership style have direct impact on the functioning of
company. Here, for GBN, it is very much important to increase productivity and profitability of
company. It needs to adopt different leadership styles to overcome the problems like employee
turnover, heavy workload, decrease in employee relations, heavy absenteeism, etc. A successful
leader will analyse the problems of personnel at workplace and use various methods to remove
the same (Small, Darcy and Packer, 2012). An effective leadership style will affect the following
activities of GBN magazine in the following manner: Employee’s Morale: By using autocratic leadership style, management can clearly
establish difference between employees and employers. These leaders make decisions
without taking participating of employees. It leads to decrease employee’s morale which
will result in high absenteeism, low employee retention, etc. Productivity: By using participative style of management, a leader gets engaged with the
employees to perform their best to accomplish the targets of company. It helps in
decreasing errors and wastage along with improving customer’s satisfaction level. These
leaders practice team building for promoting awareness of organizational culture among
people. It ultimately helps in the improvement of productivity and growth of GBN.
 Decision making: Decision making process may be improve by democratic or
participative style of management (Sallis, 2014). In this, employees are engaged in
developing new business ideas for GBN magazine for the betterment of company.
Through this, new and innovative methods will be assessed to increase the productivity of
this magazine.
3.2
Environment of a company needs to be flexible in nature. It is because; a flexible
environment will help the firm in making changes whenever it is required. According to this,

management of GBN magazine needs to adopt such policies which can be changed or modified
when needed. There are several benefits of a flexible working practice at GBN magazine which
is discussed as under: Better teamwork: Having flexible work practices allow staff of GBN magazine to
schedule their work in a better way. Flexibility in teamwork helps an individual to work
by developing his/her ideas in achieving the common goals and targets of company. Increase in employee satisfaction: Employees who feel authorised while doing their
work, they can work with flexibility that will help in increasing the satisfaction level of
them (Human resource management, 2016). This practice helps individuals of GBN
magazine to work with full freedom and increases their job satisfaction level as well.
 More productive workforce: If GBN magazine will adopt flexible working environment
then it will help in increasing more productive workforce for company. In the present
scenario, individuals choose such place of work where he/she can work with freedom by
adopting their own plans for completing tasks.
3.3
The functioning of an organization is affected from various internal and external factors.
Motivational factor is one of them which has both positive and negative effects on the
performance of individuals (Jerome, 2013). GBN magazine needs to use different motivational
theories to motivate its employees and increase working efficiency of both workforce and firm.
There are various types of motivational theories available for an organization. GBN Magazine
needs to adopt following two types of theories to increase employees' morale:
Working environment of business has both positive and negative impact on performance
of individuals. Here, working environment of GBN magazine is influenced by motivational
theories adopted by it. Maslow's need hierarchy theory describes about five levels of needs
which a person wants to achieve and it will have a positive impact on the performance of
personnel. It directly affects the performance of individuals. First level includes basic needs of a
person which are to be fulfilled to achieve higher requirements. All others are to be satisfied for
achieving the highest level of hierarchy that is self-actualization (Schuler, Jackson and Tarique,
2011). Through this model of motivation, a person can attain several needs and wants which help
him/her to reach at high level of job satisfaction.

Another famous theory of motivation is described by Herzberg. He defines two facts of
motivation in which one is hygiene and another is motivation factor. To improve the business
performance of GBN, it needs to first identify different hygiene factors which influence the
motivation among employees at work. To solve the problem of company, first it is required to
identify actual problem. These theories improve the working of employees. Motivation can be
achieved through various reward systems such as bonus, salary increment, discount on issue of
shares, etc. It will amend the efficiency and confidence of individuals. Motivational theories
affect the working environment of business that directly influences the performance of
employees.
3.4
Ethical practices of a firm refers to the way in which a company conducts their business
on moral values. A firm needs to follow different ethical policies to improve the working
environment of GBN magazine. Culture of organization also affects the moral values of business
(Perry, Nicholas and Middleton, 2010). This company needs to set some moral or ethical values
that should be followed by each and every personnel at workplace. It helps in maintaining
professional judgement, setting up standards as well as maintaining good relationship with
suppliers and customers. Following are some policies which should be followed by this firm: Discrimination: This policy should be mentioned in the circular of company where
employees should not be discriminated on any grounds. It will make employees feel
secured and their motivation level will be increased as well. When a person is
discriminated on any basis, then he/she becomes de-motivated and if opposite of it would
happen then employees will feel highly encouraged and their job satisfaction level will be
enhanced as well.
 Salary ethics: It is the responsibility of management at GBN magazine to provide salary
to their employees. It should adopt equal pay policy within organization. An employee
should be paid according to his/her performance in the firm and if it would not so, then
motivational level of individuals will be decreased (Mackay, 2010). Therefore, this factor
plays a significant role with respect to the motivational level of people in organization.

3.5
GBN magazine needs to perform corporate social responsibilities which form ethical
framework in organization. Social responsibility is the duty of a person to maintain a balance
between economy and ecosystem. In this way, organization has some morale responsibility
towards society, customers, suppliers and employees. GBN magazine needs to focus on different
areas of work which help in the satisfaction of employees. It should adopt following policies in
order to fulfil the social responsibility:
One of the major objectives of GBN magazine is to develop their employees' skills and
knowledge for the growth of business. One of the major responsibilities of company is towards
their employees (Herman, 2011). It has several roles towards their workforce such as to increase
employee’s morale, increment in salary, bonus and incentives, creating good human relations
and developing effective communication among workforce. Providing a positive and healthy
working environment within company may help individuals to work with higher efficiency
power. Therefore, these are some social responsibilities which GBN magazine needs to perform
in order to enhance job satisfaction level among them.
ACTIVITY 3
4.1
Different motivational theories should be applied by GBN magazine to motivate their
employees that will help in increasing in profitability and productivity of business. For the
development of individuals, motivational theories play a vital role.
Maslow's needs of hierarchy is one of the most common motivational theories used by
firms. In this, author describes five levels of need which should be fulfilled by the management
to enhance employee’s morale. It is because; higher morale leads to increased level of production
and working efficiency of employees. Therefore, it is necessary to fulfil all requirements of
individuals at workplace. This model tells that to achieve higher level of needs and wants, an
individual has to first achieve lower levels such as basic (physiological), safety and social needs.
After completing these, self-esteem and self-actualization come into consideration that have to
be fulfilled.
So, if a person is satisfied with all the above needs and wants then it will result in
enhancing the working efficiency of that person and will work with full dedication (Harzing and

Pinnington, 2010). Different motivational theories are to be used to boost up the confidence of
personnel. It will increase job satisfaction level of workforce by which they will work with
higher energy. Thus, motivation is very much effective in boosting the confidence and morale of
employees.
4.2
Coaching and mentoring are two different methods of providing training to employees at
workplace. Coaching is a type of off the job training method where people gained knowledge
from audio and visual teaching by an expert. Mentoring is a part of on the job training where an
individual obtains knowledge about working while doing his job. Some other uses of coaching
and mentoring are also there which are as follows: Decision making: Coaching is helpful in making various decisions at organization
because it is provided by an expert who is experienced in taking decisions at different
levels of work (Finlayson and et.al., 2011). Management at higher level also requires
training for making better decisions for the development and growth of organization.
Therefore, training in the form of coaching helps them in making better decisions for
company.
 Effective leadership: Mentoring means to guide someone which proves to be helpful in
building up a team. A leader should have the ability of leading an individual or group of
people effectually that is to influence others by his work. Through mentoring, a person
get all abilities of a leader and thus, it is useful in terms of managing people at
organization.
4.3
Training and development are such functions of management which help in the
development of individuals in order to achieve organizational goals and objectives. It includes
several benefits in relation to growth of company. Training and development program is
beneficial in the following context: Advance employee skills: A business spends money to provide basic level of skills and
knowledge to its employees through proper training sessions. It renders more benefits to
company in achieving goals and objectives. This programme helps management to
develop more skills among employees.

 To make aware of the latest technology: Firm needs to develop new technologies in
organization for the benefit of employees (Mackay, 2010). Regular training sessions need
to take place in company to make workforce aware with the latest technology within
enterprise. It can be achieved through providing IT training to management staff.
 Stay ahead of Competitors: This helps management of firm to go ahead of their
competitors. A business should continuously go on and for this, different methods should
be used to survive in the market. Therefore, classroom training in the form of staff
meetings helps management to take such decisions which are beneficial to compete with
their competitors.
ACTIVITY 4
5.1
GBN magazine needs to identify its strategies for managing people at organization. These
strategies are discussed as below: Training programme: It is one of the best methods of dealing with workforce at
organization. As GBN is a company that publishes magazine on regular basis, it is
engaged in both paperwork and online publication. It should make its workforce aware
about various latest technologies that firm is using (Perry, Nicholas and Middleton,
2010). For this, different training sessions need to be provided by company at managerial
level to offer knowledge about the way in which people at workplace will be managed. A
leader should have an ability to lead personnel at organization in an effectual way.
 Motivational strategies: It is one of the best strategies of managing people at workplace.
These theories help management to motivate their employees. In a company, when a
person is motivated through various sources then it will affect their functioning in a
positive way. People can be motivated through various sources such as performance
appraisals and reward systems like increment in salary, bonus, promotions, job rotation,
etc.
5.2
In an organization, every aspect has both positive and negative results. Therefore, GBN
magazine has some advantages and disadvantages of adopting management strategies in order to