Communication With Colleagues And Factors Affecting Working Relationships Management Essay

First students will identify the principles of objective setting e.g. translating customer requirements and organization objectives

A work objective is a mutually understood agreement about a specific work outcome that a staff member is expected to achieve during performance management cycle.

Objective setting is one of the first processes which will highlight a number of key items an individual needs to accomplish, to make the contribution on for which he/she will be accountable. Based on the principle of linkage the objectives will be based on the plans and budgets of the business unit where the manager is employed. The objectives may well be refined during the year to take into account any new objectives which were not anticipated when objectives were originally set but which might arise during the year.

Setting objectives allows staff to understand exactly what his/her role and responsibilities are.

SMART work objectives focus on outcomes rather than activities and allows individual to measure their own success. Work objectives should be SMART and considered:

Specific

Is it clear and well defined

Is it clear to anyone that has a basic knowledge of the work area

Measureable

Know if the goal is obtainable and how far away competition is

Know when it has to be achieved

Achievable

Agreement with all the stakeholders what the goals should be

Is there a realistic path to achievement

Realistic

Win the availability of resources, knowledge and time

Timely

Enough time to achieve the goal, is there a time limit

Not too much time, which can affect work performance

Staffs are encouraged to draft their work objectives following the SMART principles.

Objectives of staff include:

Setting objectives in consultation with the supervisor allows staff the opportunity to express the way the job gets done, raise concerns or ideas about what is to be accomplished.

Sharing the load increases the staff member’s commitment and motivation to achieve the agreed objective.

Ensures that the staff member understand what the expectations and standards are.

Clarifies what the priorities are and allows them to allocate their time and resources effectively.

Provides a clear understanding of how work will be measured and evaluated, enabling the staff member to assess their own performance and make any improvements where required.

Key components of work objective:

Conditions- set the situation/environment which the staff member requires to work within.

Acceptable levels of performance- performance are acceptable in term of quality, quantity and timeliness

Analyze effective means of communications with colleagues and factors affecting working relationships, working politics and diversity issues

Efficient communication is defined as the exchange of ideas, messages or information by speech, signals or writing which is done thoroughly, perfectly and timely.

Successful companies and organization know that helpful communication is essential for their success. Improve communication will raise confidence, encourage inspiration and increase output (productivity).

Communication is central to the entire management process for four primary reasons:

Communication is a relating process of management. Communication is the way managers conduct the managerial functions of setting up, organizing, staffing, directing and controlling.

Communication is the primary means by which people gain and substitute information. Decisions are often dependent upon the quality and quantity of the information received. If the information on which a decision is based is poor or incomplete, the decision will often be incorrect.

The most time-consuming activity a manager engages in is communication. Managers spend between 70 to 90 percent of their time communicating with employees and other internal and external customers.

Information and communication represent power in organizations. An employee cannot do anything beneficial in a work unit unless he/she knows what is to be done, when the task is to be proficient and who else is involved. The staff members who have this information become centers of power.

The ability to communicate well, both orally and writing, is a critical managerial skill and a foundation of effective leadership. Through communication, people exchange and share information with one another and influence one another’s attitudes, behaviors and understandings. Communication allows managers to establish and maintain interpersonal relationships, listen to others and otherwise gain the information needed to create an inspirational workplace.

Methods of communication

The average methods of communication are speaking or writing by a sender and listening or reading the receiver. With one party speaking and others listening called verbal communication.

Nonverbal communication consists of actions, gestures and other aspects of physical appearance that combined with facial expressions can be powerful means of transmitting massages.

Oral communication skills

Managers prefer to rely on oral communication because communication tends to be more complete and thorough when talking to person. In face-to-face contacts, a person can judge how the other party is reacting, get immediate feedback and answer questions and it also permits the chance to see the nonverbal communication.

However, verbal communicating has its drawbacks. It can be incompatible, unless all parties hear the same message. And although, oral communication is useful for transmission the viewpoints of others and promotion an openness that encourages people to communicate, it is a weak tool for implementing a policy or issuing directives where many specifics are involved.

Most important abilities for effective oral communication are:

Active listening- listening is making good judgment of what is heard and requires paying attention, interpreting and remembering sound stimuli. Effective listening is active and effective listeners do the following:

Build eye contact

truly hunt for information

maintain silent

interpret the message you heard

Ask explicatory questions

Avoid making disturbing gestures

Positive feedback- when providing feedback, managers should do the following:

Focus on exact behaviors rather than making general statements

Keep feedback cool and goal tilting

Offer feedback as soon after the action as possible

Ask questions to ensure understanding of the opinion

Direct negative feedback toward behavior that the recipient can control

Written communication skills

Written communication has quite a few compensation. First, it provides a record for transfer and takes notes. Second, written communication is an inexpensive means of providing matching messages to a large number of people.

Writing skills are often difficult to develop and many individuals have problems writing simple, clear and direct documents.

The following are some strategy for effective written communication:

Plan for preparing each message: plan, organize, write, edit and revise

sketch the message with the readers in mind

Give the message a brief title and use subheadings where suitable

Use easy words and short, clear, sentences and paragraphs

Back up opinions with data

Avoid elaborate language, euphemisms and commonplace expressions

review main points at the end and let the reader know what he must do next

Boldness is the most effective communication style. Self-confident people ask for what they want while regarding the rights of others and themselves.

Those who have knowledge and ability to work within an increasingly diverse society will be in the best position to gain employment. Cultural knowledge and awareness, multi-lingual ability and a true skill in working with people from other cultures will be sought after.

If employees have concerns about how work relationships may affect their business, they should consider developing HR politics to deal with any potential issues (eg: concerns of favoritism or avoid conflict issues).

Employment law protects employees against unwanted conduct from fellow employees on the grounds of age, disability, race, religion and belief. Having up-to-date policies on harassment and having staff regularly trained in equal opportunities, rights and responsibilities will help to reduce the risk of harassment occurring in the first place. It will also help evidence that an employer took steps to prevent such harassment occurring.

If an employee does raise a complaint about inappropriate behaviors by a fellow colleague, this should be dealt with properly with a full investigation and in accordance with statutory legislation and guidance. If you do believe that an office relationship is affecting the work of employees involved, don’t be afraid to deal with those concerns as you would usually deal with other conduct or capability issues. However, ensure that you deal with both parties consistently.

The principal reason for being at work is to work.

Use appropriate regulations and codes of practice, standards of behavior in the industry and working cultures

Rules of behavior: the adoption of a code of conduct is a step toward improving the ethical culture in today’s business world.

The implementation of a code of conduct is a basic step in the attempt to improve the ethical culture in today’s business world and, more exclusively, to prevent unethical and fake behavior within the organization. It is of utmost importance that the organization officially commits itself to this viewpoint by documenting it in a code of conduct and taking responsibility toward the general public for obedience with the code over time.

The international policy alert on corporate governance that followed the financial scandals at the outset of the millennium has placed a growing emphasis on the importance of these codes. Most often, the code includes thematic issues such as compliance with laws and regulations (including those concerning harassment and discrimination in the workplace), avoiding conflicts of interest, the safety of assets and information, limits on gifts and entertainment, and the general behavior expected of employees

Organizations can gain several benefits when they stick on to a core set of ethical values personified in a code of conduct, including:

Greater motivation among company staff. Although many employers have yet to fully recognize the meaning of staff spirits

A established respect for the law. When hyraces management makes a formal promise to endorse an ethical company culture, the subject becomes of better implication and, as a result, the company’s personnel pay more awareness to observance with the laws and regulations affecting the organization

Defense of the company’s status or brand. In the eyes of the consumer and the common public, companies are in charge for the activities undertaken by all of the partners with whom they deal, including customers and suppliers. A company culture based on firm ethical standards contributes to preserving and improving the company’s reputation.

Improved business relationships. A clearly defined ethical culture is a useful way to choose business partners with which long-standing ties are desired.

Exact codes have been produced at national and international levels to increase clearness and corporate ethics, and inspire public belief.

The benefit stemming from the acceptance of either an individual or combined code of conduct is clear for any organization–enhanced ethical standards.

The acceptance of a code of conduct by an organization enhances the quality at the top that executive management professes and lives. It is a very important element in improving the ethical standards of the organization and minimizing fraud.

Adopting a common code of conduct can present several advantages, including:

Accomplishment of the most related code. The sharing of principles by a large number of companies ensures a shared decision on the most suitable and relevant principles.

Organization of behavior. The acceptance of a shared code of conduct brings regularity to behavior within the business sector. Possible clients, recognizing greater lucidity and professionalism, develop greater trust in the participating companies and their products.

An improved status of the sector. As customers distinguish a greater qualitative level of products and services and greater social responsibility, their approval may increase. The entire business sector benefits from this image and, with time, this enables the development of individual companies’ reputation and brand.

A strong incentive to comply. The verity that the code of conduct has been agreed upon by participating companies–and that the multi-company working group formed to develop and maintain it will, normally, act as an independent body to oversee its compliance–results in strong incentives for the companies to adhere to it.

Information sharing among members. The creation of a mutual team of companies results in sharing information and experiences and may enhance awareness of other vital aspects of corporate authority, such as compliance with new rules and international standards.

TASK 2

Identify factors affecting performance of a team (good or bad) and incorporate the relevance of attitudes and values.

To improve a team’s success, it is first necessary to understand the factors that impact its performance

In order for teams to function efficiently they must manage how they work together and how they interrelate with the rest of the organization.

Five factors become the focus of attention for the manager, who wants to raise team performance:

Environmental Influences – the crash of the organization and the outside world on team performance.

The organization sets the circumstance in which the team operates. The policies, actions and systems within an organization can either sustain or delay a team’s efficiency. An excellent example is the impact an organization’s reward system has on teamwork. Organizations often reward only individual input

Goals – what the team is to accomplish

a team exists when members have liability for accomplishing a common goal. An effective team is aware of and manages:

The amount to which goals are clear, understood and communicated to all members

The amount of ownership of team goals

The level to which goals are defined, quantified and deliverable

The point to which goals are shared or similar

The size of goal conflict or variance

Roles – who does what on the team

Do all members understand what they and others are to do to complete the task? Do they know their entity tasks and limits of authority? In new teams time should be spent discussing and major roles and tasks. As the team develops it is representative for individuals to build potential and assumptions of others which are rarely recorded anywhere. These should be discussed and settled upon.

Variance may occur as a result of differing prospect among team members. Overlapping roles can create conflict, especially when two or more team members see themselves as in charge for the same job.

Employees’ loyalty to their work teams and to the organization can pressure turnover, enthusiasm to help co-workers and team presentation.

Factors affecting commitment:

Approval with management.

Resource-related task conflict: the skill of employees to way in the tools they need to perform the job as requested.

Task interdependence: the quantity to which team members rely on one another to entire work assignments.

Interceder conflict: the level to which employees accept at variance orders or requests from superiors or co-workers, or order that clash with company rule, ethical standards or officially permitted requirements.

Agreement with co-workers.

Work Processes – how members work together

once teams know what they are going to do and who is to do it, they must decide how they will work mutually. Representative considerations are:

Decision making – how will each of the team members contribute in decision making. Communication – what should be communicated within the team, to whom, by what technique, when and how often? Meetings – what is the team trying to achieve, what subjects are to be enclosed, who is in charge for the subject, and how will the conference be conducted, who should attend? Management style – the leader and the team have the same opinion, the most suitable style to meet the circumstances and the leader should be open to receiving feedback from the team.

Training, discipline, management system

Relationships – the excellence of communication among team members

as team members work together, dealings often become stressed. Individual members must have ways of resolving issues to make sure good working relationships continue. Sometimes relationship problems occur because of a difference in values or a personality or management style clash. Team managers may need to play an active role in times of conflict. The more energy that is siphoned off because of bad feelings, attitudes or strong emotions, the less energy is available for the team’s task.

Motivation, performance appraisals, feedback.

Ways of dealing with poor performer:

aim setting- agrees exact, logical goals and date to review the performance.

Training- suitable training, if possible on the job

manage

Reorganizing

Management- improves the lucidity of communicating the task, monitoring systems.

Job role- transfer to more suitable task or section or do over the job

Values are viewpoint held so strongly that they change the performance of an individual or an organization. Identifying the values of individuals, teams and organizations reduces conflicts, increases capacity withholding, improves effectiveness and productivity, and energizes any group working together toward common goals.

Unusual values that motivate an individual to take action includes a enthusiasm to discover order and analyze or a search for information to gain return on investment of time, assets and money to add balance and agreement in one’s life to remove hate and conflict and to help out others to reach position and to use that position to manipulate others.

ii. Discuss the importance of recognizing achievements and factors supporting in improving performance and organizational culture, values and structure.

Achieving performance can:

assist to identify troubles and their causes

advise likely solutions to problems

elevate questions about assumptions and policy

push to imitate on where you are going and how you are getting there

offer with information and imminent

support to act on the information and insight

Amplify the probability that you will make a optimistic development difference

Seven steps to improve individual performance:

Select the aim: set up priority areas for action.

Define expectations: targets and principles.

Define performance measures: the foundation upon which development to achieving the target can be monitored.

Plan: the development programmed.

Act: apparatus the improvement program.

Monitor: appraisal progress and analyze comment to make sure the target or typical is achieved.

Enlarge the process: continue the expansion programmed as necessary.

Skills required to develop performance management include communication including listening, briefing, training, coaching, mentoring etc.

Significance of performance success:

appraisal progress

classify problems in planning and/or accomplishment;

Make adjustments so that you are more possible to “make a variation”.

Benefits of managing performance

Function lucidity

make sure individuals are focusing on right priorities

Recognizing individuals that make major assistance

effort to sequence setting up and career management

Baseline for staff management

important communication

Reduction in complaint, persecution and disciplinary matters

Organizational culture

The most observable level is behavior and artifacts. This is the visible level of culture, and consists of behavior patterns and outward manifestations of culture: perquisites provided to executives, dress codes, level of technology utilized (and where it is utilized), and the physical layout of work spaces

At the next level of culture are values. Values underlie and to a large extent determine behaviour, but they are not directly observable, as behaviours are. There may be a difference between stated and operating values. People will attribute their behaviour to stated values.

To really understand culture, we have to get to the deepest level, the level of assumptions and beliefs. Schein contends that underlying assumptions grow out of values, until they become taken for granted and drop out of awareness.

Organizational cultures are created, maintained, or transformed by people. Organizational values express preferences for certain behaviors or certain outcomes. Productive cultural change will occur if leaders correctly analyze the organization’s existing culture, and evaluate it against the cultural attributes needed to achieve strategic objectives. Consequently, leaders must first possess a clear understanding of the strategic objectives for their organization and identify the actions needed to reach those objectives.

Culture is deep seated and difficult to change, but leaders can influence or manage an organization’s culture. It isn’t easy, and it cannot be done rapidly, but leaders can have an effect on culture.

TASK 3

Identify types of performance measures and discuss how to measure the performance effectively

Performance is measured in terms of:

Efficiency, which quantifies the outputs and inputs of an organization.

Effectiveness, which determines the relationship of an organization’s output to what an organization is intended to accomplish.

Quality, it examines how output is created.

Suitability, which evaluates the time, involved producing an proper output.

Performance measure is used for:

Superior decision-making: it provides managers with information to carry out their management control functions.

Performance assessment: it links in cooperation entity and organizational performance to aspects of personnel management and motivates community employees.

responsibility: it fosters responsibility on the part of managers

Service delivery: Improvements in public service performance

Public contribution: clear reporting of performance process can inspire the community to take a superior interest in and provide more back-up for government employees to provide quality services and

Improvement of civic discourse: it helps to make public discussions about service delivery more truthful and detailed.

How to measure the employee performance effectively:

Goal management- without a doubt describe and develop employee with their roles, duties and responsibilities.

Employee appraisal and assessment- reduce paperwork using computerized online process.

Performance appraisals- reduce paperwork and improve opinion excellence and completions.

360 feedbacks- optimize your team’s capacity to create a spirited advantage.

Profession and succession planning- manage profession and succession planning to make sure you have the right skilled employees in the appropriate jobs.

Identify causes of effective performance and underperformance

Reasons for effective performance measure:

To assess how well is community agency performing. To estimate performance, managers need to settle on what agency made-up to achieve. To prepare a clear, logical mission, scheme, and objectives. Estimate process consists of two variables: organizational performance statistics and a benchmark that creates structure for analyzing that data.

To manage how can managers make sure their inferiors are doing the right thing. These days’ managers do not control their employees without thinking. However managers still use method to control, while allowing some space for liberty in the workforce.

To Budget financial statement is basic tools in getting better performance. Underprivileged performance not forever may change after applying budgets cuts as disciplinary manners. good organization is strong-minded by observing performance- output and result achieved

To Motivate Giving people major goals to accomplish and then use performance measures- including short-term targets to focus people’s thinking and work, and to provide interrupted sense of achievement.

To Celebrate By achieving definite goals, people increase wisdom of personal success and self merit. Celebration helps to get better performance because it brings concentration to the agency, and therefore promotes its capability it attracts resources.

To Promote How can public managers encourage supporting superiors, legislators, stakeholders, journalists, and citizens that their agency is doing a good job. Performance process can be used to: confirm success justifying supplementary resources earn customers, stakeholder, and staff loyalty by showing results and win credit inside and outside the organisation. Indirectly endorse capability and value of government in general.

To Learn Learning is mixed up with some method, of analysis information provided from evaluating business performance. Benchmarking is a traditional form of performance quantity which facilitates learning by providing assessment of organisational performance and identifying possible solutions for improvements.

To Improve What exactly should who- do in a different way to improve performance? In order for company to measure what it wants to improve it first need to identify what it will improve and develop processes to achieve that.

Underperformance- every time failing to deliver key aspects of the role

Causes of underperformance

in poor health health

Personal problems

Relationships at work are difficult

Lack of support

pressure

Change

harassment

Workload

In the immoral job

Poor supervision

Procedures are ineffective

Poor equipment

Unclear idea about the aim

Lack of understanding of the task

ability

unlikely targets

iii. Discuss benchmarking processes, appraisal process and establish the methods to manage the underperformance.

Benchmarking processes- is the process whereby an assessment of an act or performance is measured by some means like measurement of time, value or quantity.

Benchmarking is not a single event. It is an ongoing process for finding improved ways of doing things. The basic steps are:

Identify what needs to improve in your services

Find organizations with best practice in the relevant areas

Partner with those organizations to learn from their experiences and share your own experiences

Gain an understanding of strengths and gaps in your own practices

Develop options for improvement

Develop a business case and/or an implementation plan, including an evaluation plan

Implement the change

Review performance

Identify further opportunities for reform.

Types of benchmarking:

There are three types of benchmarking: internal which is focused on the processes of a single company, external which examines processes outside of a company’s direct industry and competitive, which examines processes at firms within the same industry.

The internal benchmarking process allows a company with a number of services that operate the same supply chain processes to compare and contrast the ways in which the process is performed in those facilities. If a company benchmarks the processes around inventory accuracy, shipping accuracy and storage density, the results of the assessments of the facilities can help a company to improve on those processes at all of the facilities.

External benchmarking can create significant improvements. The exterior benchmarking process takes a company outside of its own industry and exposes them to different methods and measures.

For companies that are not performing as well as their competitors they may want to make out the reasons why their processes are not well-organized. Consulting and research firms can perform competitive benchmarking studies that will identify the strengths and weaknesses of their processes based on those of their competitors. The company can then produce improvement plans based on the results of the competitive benchmarking.

Components of benchmarking

Financial benchmarking- this involves a financial analysis of the operations that are assessed.

Performance benchmarking- this can compare the efficiency of performing a task in one company location to another or to a competitor.

Product benchmarking- this technique compares the product of one company against another, or comparing between facilities in the same company.

Strategic benchmarking- this system observes how other companies compete.

Practical benchmarking- this is measured to be fixed benchmarking where a company will benchmark a single process at a location or a number of locations to recognize where efficiencies can be made.

Appraisal process

Appraisal is “a statement or opinion judging the worth, value or condition of something” (Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English: 1995)

1. Measures and standards

Strategic thinking

practical job knowledge

Written communication

Setting standards

Writing and setting objectives

Prioritizing

Identifying competencies

2. Communicate expectations

verbal communications

listening

negotiating

reaching agreement

3. Plan

leadership

planning

decision making

problem solving

organizing

budgeting

4. Monitor, assist and control

problem solving

observing

coaching

counseling

instructing

controlling

training

giving feedback

5. Appraise

observing

recalling

evaluating

written communication

judgment

information analysis

6. Feedback

verbal communication

listening

compassion

problem solving

planning

negotiating

compromising

clash resolution

reaching consensus

7. Personnel decisions

decision making

leadership

prioritizing

personnel practices knowledge

strategic thinking

8. Develop

organizing

setting up

training

coaching

counseling

creativity

monitoring

Managing underperformance

enquiry

Informal and formal discussion

Time to improve

Monitoring- offer training, support, instruction etc

Active listening

Plan suspiciously

look forward to emotion

outline a follow up meeting

identify the development required

Evaluate what the employees enjoys about the job

make sure quality and method are positive

Be loyal

deliberation of option action before dismissal

provide instance