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APPLICATIONS AND INTERVIEWS
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
In different countries, different conventions apply to the process of job application and interviews. In most parts of the world, it's common to submit a typed or laserprinted CV (curriculum vitae — British English) or resume (American English). This contains all the unchanging information about you: your education, background and work experience. This usually accompanies a letter of,application, which in some countries is expected to be handwritten, not wordprocessed. A supplementary information sheet containing information relevant to this particular job may also be required, though this is not used in some countries.
Many companies expect all your personal information to be entered on a standard application form.
Unfortunately, no two application forms are alike, and filling in each one may present unexpected difficulties.
Some personnel departments believe that the CV and application letter give a better impression of a candidate than a form.
There are different kinds of interviews: traditional one-to-one interviews, panel interviews where one or more candidate are interviewed by a panel of interviewers and even 'deep-end' interviews where applicants have to demonstrate how they can cope in actual business situations. The atmosphere of an interview may vary from the informal to the formal and interviewers may take a friendly, neutral or even hostile approach.
Different interviewers use different techniques and the only rules that applicants should be aware of may be 'Expect the unexpected' and 'Be yourself^,
Progress interviews are interviews where employees have a chance to review the work they are doing and to set objectives for the future. Such interviews usually take place after a new employee has been working with a company for several months, and after that they may take place once or twice a year.
In different countries, and m different trades and different grades, the salary that goes with a job may be only part of the package: extra benefits like a company car or cheap housing loans, bonuses paid in a 'thirteenth month', company pension schemes, free canteen meals, long holidays or flexible working hours may all contribute to the attractiveness of a job.
Read this article. What are your reactions to it?
EMPLOYEE LOYALTY IN SERVICE FIRMS
NEW YORK
Hotel, shop and restaurant chains, which employ thousands of people in low-paid, dead-end jobs, are discovering that high labour turnover rates resulting from the indiscriminate hiring of “cheap” workers can be extremely costly.
Cole National, a Cleveland-based firm which owns Child World, Things Remembered and other speciality shops, declared a «war for peoples in an effort to recruit and keep better staff.
Employees were asked: What do you enjoy about working here? In the past year, have you thought about leaving? If so, why? How can we improve our company and create an even better place to work? Employees replied they wanted better training, better communications with their supervisors and, above all, wanted their bosses to «make me feel like I make a difference». Labour turnover declined by more than half; for full time sales assistants, it declined by about a third.
Marriott Corporation, a hotels and restaurants group, has also decided to spend more money on retaining employees in the hope of spending less on finding and training new ones. In one year, it had to hire no fewer than 27,000 workers to fill 8,800 hourly-paid job slots.
To slow its labour turnover, Marriott had to get a simple message accepted throughout its operating divisions: loyal, well motivated employees make customers happy and that, in turn, creates fatter profits and happier shareholders. Improved training of middle managers helped. So did a change in bonus arrangements.
At the same time, Marriott became more fussy about the people it recruited. It screened out job applicants motivated mainly by money: applicants which the company pejoratively described as «pay first people». Such people form a surprisingly small, though apparently disruptive, part of the service-industry workforce. Marriott found in its employee-attitude surveys that only about 20% of its workers at Roy Rogers restaurants and about 30% of its workers at Marriott hotels regarded pay as their primary reason for working there.
Many middle managers in service industries are more comfortable coping with demands for more money than with demands for increased recognition and better communications. They will have to change their ways. Surveys say that when 13,000 employees in retail shops across America were asked to list in order the 18 reasons for working where they did, they ranked “good pay” third. In first place was “appreciation of work done”, with «respect for me as a person» second.
FRANCHISING
Suppose you have a friend who wants to run his/her own business. He/she has little experience or capital (perhaps £10,000-^15,000). What advice would you give your friend?
Franchising is a means of marketing and distributing goods. The franchisor, normally a large business, supplies the franchisee, usually an individual, with products or services for sale to the public. The franchisee pays for the right to sell the product or service in a certain area, and also makes annual payments—known as royalties—to the franchising company.
This type of business has always been popular in the United States. It developed particularly in the 1950s and 1960s when there was a boom in fast-food restaurants such as McDonald's and Kentucky Fried Chicken. Now about one-third of all retail sales in the US are through franchised outlets, and there are about 500,000 enterprises operating in this manner.
The system is spreading quickly throughout the world. In Europe companies using franchising include: Wimpy International (fast-food); Dayvilles (ice cream);
Budget Rent-a-Car (car hire); Pronuptia (wedding dresses); Ziebart (car rust-proofing). Other countries are beginning to follow Europe's example. China is producing and bottling Coca-Cola under a franchise agreement with the American company.
It is not surprising that franchising is growing fast. If it works properly, it has advantages for both sides. The franchisor is able to expand his business without reducing his capital or borrowing money. In fact he gets additional capital from an outside source—the franchisee. Another advantage is that the franchise holders will probably be hard-working. This is important, especially in fast-food outlets where the hours of opening are long.
The franchisee gains from the arrangement as well. Franchisees are usually interested in business, but do not have much experience or capital. They want to work for themselves, but are afraid to take too many risks.
To purchase a franchise, they may have to pay £20,000 or £30,000—part of which they can borrow from a friendly bank.
For their investment, franchisees buy the right to use the trade name of the franchisor, and they get advice about running the business. Also the franchising company will provide them with training, materials and equipment. They will be able to take advantage of the company's specialized knowledge and its ability to buy in bulk. Finally, the franchisor will very likely be promoting the brand name of the business with national advertising.
The franchising system gives people the chance to set up in business without taking great risks. If they choose their franchise wisely, they will have the opportunity to make a small fortune.
MANAGEMENT FUNCTIONS
Management plays a vital role in any business or organized activity. Management is composed of a team of managers who have charge of the organization at all levels. Their duties include making sure company objectives are met and seeing that the business operates efficiently. Regardless of the specific job, most managers perform four basic functions. These management functions are planning, organizing, directing, and controlling.
Planning involves determining overall company objectives and deciding how these goals can best be achieved. Managers evaluate alternative plans before choosing a specific course of action and then check to see that the chosen plan fits into the objectives established at higher organizational levels. Planning is listed as the first management function because the others depend on it. However, even as managers move on to perform other managerial functions, planning continues as goals and alternatives are further evaluated and revised.
Organizing, the second management function, is the process of putting the plan into action. This involves allocating resources, especially human resources, so that the overall objectives can be attained. In this phase managers decide on the positions to be created and determine the associated duties and responsibilities. Staffing, choosing the right person for the right job, may also be included as part of the organizing function.
Third is the day-to-day direction and supervision of employees. In directing, managers guide, teach, and motivate workers so that they reach their potential abilities and at the same time achieve the company goals that were established in the planning process. Effective direction, or supervision, by managers requires ongoing communication with employees.
In the last management function, controlling, managers evaluate how well company objectives are being met. In order to complete this evaluation, managers must look at the objectives established in the planning phase and at how well the tasks assigned in the directing phase are being completed.. If major problems exist and goals are not being achieved, then changes need to be made in the company's organizational or managerial structure. In making changes, managers might have to. go- back and replan, reorganize, and redirect.
In order to adequately and efficiently perform these management functions, managers need interpersonal, organizational, and technical skills. Although all four functions are managerial: duties, the importance of each may vary depending on the, situation. Effective managers meet the objectives of the company through a successful combination of planning, organizing, directing, and controlling.
MANAGEMENT AND HUMAN RESOURCES DEVELOPMENT
Managers perform various functions, but one of the most important and least understood aspects of their job is proper utilization of people. Research reveals that worker performance is closely related to motivation; thus keeping employees motivated is an essential component of good management. In a business context, motivation refers to the stimulus that directs the behavior of workers toward the company goals. In order to motivate workers to achieve company goals, managers must be aware of their needs.
Many managers believe workers will be motivated to achieve organizational goals by satisfying their fundamental needs for material survival. These needs include a good salary, safe working conditions, and job security. While absence of these factors results in poor morale and dissatisfaction, studies have shown that their presence results only in maintenance of existing attitudes and work performance. Although important, salary, working conditions, and job security do not provide the primary motivation for many workers in highly industrialized societies, especially at the professional or technical levels.
Increased motivation is more likely to occur when work meets the needs of individuals for learning, self-realization, and personal growth. By responding to personal needs — the desire for responsibility, recognition, growth, promotion, and more interesting work managers have altered conditions in the workplace and, consequently, many employees are motivated to perform more effectively.
In an attempt appeal to both the fundamental and personal needs of workers, innovative management approaches, such as job enrichment and job enlargement, have been adopted in many organizations. Job enrichment gives workers more authority in making decisions related to planning and doing their work. A worker might assume responsibility for scheduling work-flow, checking quality of work produced, or making sure deadlines are met. Job enlargement increases the number of tasks workers perform by allowing them to rotate positions or by giving them responsibility for doing several jobs. Rather than assembling just one component of an automobile, factory workers might be grouped together and given responsibility for assembling the entire fuel system.
By improving the quality of work life through satisfaction of fundamental and personal employee needs, managers attempt to direct the behavior of workers toward the company goals.
THE JAPANESE WORKER
Is it better to stay with one firm throughout your working life or to change firms from time to time?
In Japan, there is a close relationship between the worker and his company. Employees work hard and do hours of unpaid overtime to make their firms more efficient. If necessary, they give up weekends with the family to go on business trips. They are loyal to their organizations and totally involved with them. For example, many of them live in company houses, their friends are people they work with, and in their spare time they do sports and other activities organized by their
employers.
The system of lifetime employment creates a strong link between the enterprise and its workforce. It covers about 35% of the working population. Generally, when a person joins a firm after leaving high school or university, he expects to stay with that firm until he retires. He has a secure job for life. Therefore, he will not be laid off if the company no longer needs him because there is no work. Instead, it will retrain him for another position.
The pay of a worker depends on his seniority, that is to say, on the years he has been with the firm. The longer he stays there, the higher his salary will be^ When he is 30 or 40 years old, therefore, he cannot afford to change jobs. If he did move, he would also lose valuable fringe benefits. Promotion depends on seniority as well. Japanese managers are rarely very young, and chief executives are at least 60, and very often 70 years old. The Japanese have a special way of making decisions. They call it the consensus system This is how it works. When a firm is thinking of taking a certain action, it encourages workers at all levels to discuss the proposal and give their opinions. The purpose is to reach consensus (general agreement). As soon as everyone agrees on the right course of action, the decision is taken.
Because of this method, a group of workers, rather than one person, is responsible for company policies. One advantage of this is that decisions come from a mixture of experience from the top, the middle and the bottom of an enterprise Another advantage is that junior staff frequently suggest ideas for change. A disadvantage, perhaps, is that decision-making can be slow.
MALAYSIAN TAKEOVER
What is a takeover bid? Why do some bids succeed and others fail?
The Guthrie Corporation owns rubber, tea and cocoa plantations in Malaysia. Until 1981, it was British-based, being owned mainly by British shareholders. These were either big institutions,. like investment trusts and insurance
companies, or small private investors. However, one morning in September, ownership of Guthrie suddenly changed hands. In the space of four hours, a Malaysian Government agency, Permodalan, bought control of the business. People say it was the fastest takeover in the history of the London Stock Exchange.
This is what happened. The Malaysians already owned 25% of the corporation. They used the London stockbrokers, Rowe and Pitman, to increase their stake in it. They began the day by offering to buy 5% of the company's shares for 901 pence each. The market price was then 662 pence. The big investors jumped at the chance to sell at such a favourable price. By lunchtime, Rowe and Pitman had spent £72 million and obtained 25.5% of the plantation group's shares. At the same time, Permodalan managed to buy a further 10% of the shares from Malaysian shareholders. Since it now had a shareholding of well over 50%, it controlled the Guthrie Corporation.
After making its successful bid, Permodalan offered to buy the remaining shares in the company. A month later, Guthrie's directors recommended shareholders to accept the offer, though they thought the price of 901 pence did not reflect the true value of the business. They explained that only a small number of shares would remain in independent hands, so the market for those shares would be limited. Their price would probably fall below 901 pence.
Everyone in the financial world was surprised at the speed of the takeover. Newspapers described it as a 'dawn raid' on the Stock Exchange. Most people admired the way in which it had been planned and carried out; However, some criticized the bid. One person said 'It is wrong that people can get control of a business so quickly without informing the majority of the shareholders'.
Why did Permodalan take over Guthrie? First, the Malaysian Government wanted to have control of important resources such as rubber and cocoa. Secondly, it was worried that the corporation was moving further away from South-East Asia. In recent years, Guthrie had diversified its business activities, buying companies in other parts of the world. For example, it had just invested $68 million in the American company, Page Airways. Permodalan decided a takeover was necessary to protect its already large investment in Guthrie.
MULTINATIONALS AND THI THIRD WORLD
Big foreign companies—like Coca-Cola and Ford—have set up subsidiaries many developing countries. How can the subsidiaries benefit these countries? this kind of investment always useful? (Explain your answer.)
Multinationals are large international companies which produce goods in sever countries. Some well-known ones are Ford, Shell, Coca-Cola, Sony, Akzo ar Unilever. Their turnover is huge, being greater in some cases than the nation income of countries such as Switzerland or the Netherlands. Because they are :
big they attract a lot of attention. Usually their business methods are careful watched by foreign governments.
People are particularly interested in their activities in poor and develops countries. They ask the question: How have multinationals improved the economies of these countries? In reply, a manager working in a multinational w
say something like this:
'Well, for a start, we provide the capital which poor countries need for the economic growth. The point I'm trying to make is that our capital, together wit local savings, finances their industries. Another thing, we share our technolot, with local business—we introduce our scientific and technical methods to ther ' And they increase the productivity of their workers.
Don't forget also that we produce a wide variety of goods. And let's face it, v employ thousands of people all over the world. No one can accuse us of n paying good wages. So, I think you'll agree, we're responsible for raising livir standards.'
Critics of multinationals do not accept such arguments. They say that the big corporations are not major suppliers of capital. In Latin America, for example, multinationals have mostly used capital provided by local banks and investors, and have not brought in capital from the United States and Europe. Because of this, there is a shortage of money to finance local businesses. Foreign firms have taken the lion's share of the available capital.