THE ASSOCIATION OF BUSINESS EXECUTIVES

DIPLOMA PART 2
HRM(Dip)

Human Resource Management

morning 7 December 2005

1 Time allowed: 3 hours.

2 Answer any FOUR questions.

3 All questions carry 25 marks. Marks for subdivisions of questions are

shown in brackets.

4 No books, dictionaries, notes or any other written materials are

allowed in this examination.

5 Calculators are allowed providing they are not programmable and

cannot store or recall information. Electronic dictionaries and
personal organisers are NOT allowed.

6 Candidates who break ABE regulations, or commit any misconduct,

will be disqualified from the examinations.

7 Question papers must not be removed from the Examination Hall.

 Answer any FOUR questions

Q1 High Performance Working (HPW) is the name given to a

collection of human resource management policies and
practices which, if applied systematically, can enable an
organisation to achieve impressively superior results. Yet,
according to a recent report, there are barriers to
overcome if you want to achieve the successful
implementation of HPW and maximise the gains it can
bring.

(a) What do you think are the human resource

management policies and practices that could deliver
the benefits associated with High Performance
Working? Give reasons for your views. (15 marks)

(b) What are the likely barriers that could prevent many
organisations from applying HPW practices? (10 marks)
(Total 25 marks)

Q2 The critical role of immediate, front-line managers in

delivering HR has been neglected up to now [but]
Increasingly these employees are seen as one of the
critical resources in the delivery of performance.
[Sustaining Success in Difficult Times, CIPD, 2003]

(a) Why might front-line managers be so important in

the delivery of performance? (10 marks)

(b) What can and should organisations do to ensure that

their front-line managers perform their role
effectively? Illustrate your answer, where you can,
with examples. (15 marks)
(Total 25 marks)
Q3 Listening to the radio, you hear a commentator say that
People in the future will have to acquire different skills to
enable them to cope with sudden labour market shifts,
the disappearance of some jobs and the creation of
others.

(a) What is the evidence from recent developments in the

labour market that could provide some support for
this claim? At the same time, what is the evidence
that could be produced to suggest that the skills
required by people in the future will not need to be
different? (15 marks)

(b) To the extent that different skills will be required by

people in the future in order to make themselves
employable, what do you think these skills will be,
and why will they be needed? (10 marks)
(Total 25 marks)

Q4 Our organisation needs to optimise its performance in a

highly competitive environment, and so we should
concentrate on the development of our core competents,
that small group of highly-talented employees probably
no more than one per cent of our workforce who are the
key to our future, claims a senior manager at a meeting
called to consider the future direction of learning and
development in your business.

(a) What are the advantages, and the disadvantages, of

concentrating a companys training and development
resources on these core competents in the way
suggested above? (15 marks)

(b) Assuming that an organisation does want to focus

attention on its core competents, what steps can it
take to ensure that these individuals are fully
developed and utilised? (10 marks)
(Total 25 marks)
Q5 Many organisations with strong corporate cultures go out
of their way to recruit and select people who will fit in
with their declared values. Some observers have criticised
this approach, arguing that it leads to cloning, it
undermines constructive dissent, and actually renders
such organisations less equipped to address any problems
they may encounter in the future.

(a) What are your views on this issue? (15 marks)

(b) How can organisations with strong cultures create

human resource practices which help to ensure that
they remain flexible and dynamic? (10 marks)

In answering both the above questions, where possible

give examples to illustrate your argument.
(Total 25 marks)

Q6 Read the following brief scenario, and answer the

questions beneath:

David comes to work on time, takes an hour for lunch and

leaves precisely at 5 p.m., when the days work officially
finishes. Because the office is a no-smoking environment,
he regularly disappears to the car park in order to enjoy a
cigarette. He does the work set for him, albeit slowly, but
neither generates work nor volunteers for extra work. In
short, he appears unmotivated. Nobody has complained
about him, but his behaviour is starting to cause
resentment among his colleagues.

(a) What actions do you believe Davids manager should

take in order to deal with the situation described
here? Give reasons for your views. (10 marks)

(b) What steps could the organisation as a whole take in

order to ensure that such situations do not arise in
the future? Again, give reasons for your views. (15 marks)
(Total 25 marks)
Q7 Dave Ulrichs model for human resource management is
based on the argument that the human resources
professional needs to fulfil four roles: Strategic Partner,
Change Agent, Administrative Expert and Employee
Champion.

Briefly indicate what each of these roles is about, (15 marks)

and why each should be considered so important within

the human resources function. (10 marks)
(Total 25 marks)

Q8 For the purposes of this question, you should imagine

that you are the newly appointed Human Resources
Manager for the head office of a multinational bank. The
Chief Executive has become very critical about poor
chairmanship at meetings and inadequate presentations
at company briefings and other events. In an effort to
change things, he has asked you to produce two posters
that will be prominently displayed in all meeting and
conference rooms. One will be titled Ten Commandments
for Successful Meetings and the other will be Ten
Commandments for Successful Presentations.

Indicate what you believe should be the contents of these

two posters, giving reasons for your views.
(Total 25 marks approximately half for each poster discussed)
 Diploma Part 2

Human Resource Management

Examiners Suggested Answers

Note: These answers are produced in the form of key points which students
would be expected to incorporate into their answers if they were to be awarded
satisfactory marks. It would not normally be acceptable for actual examination
answers to be written in this way, though the Examiners do require answers to
be presented systematically, with each part of the response clearly headlined
and recommendations (if any) properly signalled.

Such is the nature of Human Resource Management that it does not lend itself to
answers that are either definitively right or treatments that are universally
wrong, because many of the views expressed on this subject can be defended
as legitimate, provided that (a) there is some evidential basis on which such
views are founded, and (b) the HRM practices described are convincingly
associated with the achievement of relevant corporate goals and purposes.

INTRODUCTION

The rationale for Human Resource Management is that if HRM policies and
practices are properly designed and applied in an organisation, then the
organisation will be more likely to (a) recruit people who will fit the desired
culture, (b) motivate them not only to perform their roles adequately but also to
undertake discretionary behaviour of the kind which will bring benefit to the
organisations results, and (c) retain its people over long periods of time,
thereby gaining the advantages that arise from continuity, continuous learning
and occupational experience. In other words, Human Resource Management
may be about people, but it is emphatically not just about people welfare, job
satisfaction, and people benefits. Human Resource Management, properly
understood, is actually about turning all employees into contributors so that
individually and collectively, through their own efforts and those of the teams
or functions to which they belong, can make an added-value difference to the
business.

So Human Resource Management does not regard people as ends in

themselves, but rather as the means through which the ends corporate
purposes can be fulfilled. It follows therefore that dispensing benefits to
people in the form of higher pay, financial bonuses, free or subsidised
housing, trips abroad, promotion, upgrades, training courses and so forth
can only be justified if these benefits help to produce a positive pay-off, in the
form of reduced labour turnover, higher productivity, better customer service,
or enhanced profitability.

Understanding this philosophy is crucial to success in Human Resource

Management, not only in the examination but also for those who choose a
career in human resource management. All the tuition in preparing candidates
for the ABE examination should endeavour to convey the message that effective
people management is a means for securing organisational performance, not
an end in itself. And all the following Specimen Answers should be read with
the same philosophy in mind.
Question 1

High Performance Working

Note: Although High Performance Working (HPW) is a technical term, describing

the bundle of HRM practices that enables organisations to deliver superior
results through people, candidates for this examination did not need to be
familiar with the technicalities in order to address the question. More broadly,
Question 1 was about the kinds of policies and practices that organisations
should use if they want to stimulate, motivate and energise their employees
and this is a perennial theme for the HRM specialist/practitioner.

The HRM policies and practices that could deliver the benefits of HPW

HPW, as the title suggests, is concerned with the strategies, policies and
practices deployed by organisations in an effort to secure the engagement,
commitment and loyalty of their employees. HPW therefore goes beyond the
mere requirements of the employment contract the fulfilment of the strict
guidelines provided in job descriptions, for example and concerns itself with
so enthusing people that they are prepared to go the extra mile, to supply
positive discretionary behaviour, and to act in ways that help the organisation
to attain its goals.

Certainly it is evident that organisations can be efficient, systematic and

well-managed, without producing a committed, engaged and high-performing
workforce. The best, even world-class businesses will typically have a well-oiled
personnel infrastructure in place: they will have processes for recruiting, for
selecting, for inducting, for training and developing, for rewarding and
recognising achievement, for taking action when discipline is required, and so
forth. But these businesses will have more: they know how to keep their people
motivated, how to make their people feel involved and valued, how to generate
real support from their employees.

There are several different models for HPW, and two of them are presented
here for purposes of critical evaluation and analysis.

In his research for the CIPD, Professor John Purcell [Understanding the people
and performance link: unlocking the black box, CIPD, 2003] listed eight factors
associated with high-performance working. These factors were found (in
varying degrees) among the best-performing companies within his sample of
case-study organisations:

Opportunities for career growth

Challenging work
Influence over how the job is done
(Lots of) Training
Working in teams
Sensitivity to work/life balance
Bosses who show respect
Managers who lead
Similarly, Professor Jeffrey Pfeffer [The Human Equation, Harvard Business
School Press, 1998] identified a number of characteristics which were common
across the high-performing organisations in his own research:

Employment security
Careful recruitment
Teamwork and decentralisation
High pay with an incentive element
Extensive training
Narrow status differentials
Lots of communication

Although there are differences between these two recipes, there are also many
similarities. Both researchers emphasise teamwork, training, communication
and job design. They each understand that to get the best out of people
requires a combination of hygiene and motivator elements: high pay and
work/life balance on the one hand, and leadership and job satisfaction on the
other.

The likely barriers preventing some organisations from applying HPW practices

There are several reasons why organisations may be reluctant or unwilling to

apply HPW policies and practices. They are summarised below.

1. A joint report by the Engineering Employers Federation in the UK and the

Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development [Maximising employee
potential and business performance: the role of HPW, EEF/CIPD, 2003]
outlines two of the typical barriers:

Resistance to change within organisations where the existing culture

has become inflexible and
Existence of mistrust between management and employees

2. Additionally, many organisations may remain ignorant about High

Performance Working, or may not believe the research evidence to support
it (they may think that such evidence is biased in some way or has been
produced by so-called researchers who have already decided in advance
what their conclusions will be).

3. Another possibility is that some organisations believe they are already HPW
environments, and therefore take the view that HPW arguments are not
appropriate for them.

4. Again, even if the organisation acknowledges the benefits of HPW, and

would like to make it happen, it may lack the persistence, capability and
determination to enable it to do so, plus the leadership from the top to
drive HPW forward.
Question 2

The role of front-line managers in delivering performance

Reasons why front-line managers are so crucial

Line managers apply most policies and practices related to people

management. This has become much more pronounced in recent years with
the shift towards individualism in the employment relationship and the trend
towards devolving the application of HRM to the line.

The distinction between policy and practice is crucial here. A policy on, say,
performance management is likely to be clear-cut and written down, but the
practice of performance appraisal the crucial doing bit is much more
behavioural. In this arena we need to look at wider issues, like organisational
culture and the respect shown to people. If we ask employees for their views on
a policy, such as performance appraisal, what influences them is not the
existence of an elegant policy but the way it is applied to them by their boss
which may be very different.

The extent to which line managers and team leaders give a proper priority to
their people management accountabilities is discretionary, and reflects what
they are allowed and encouraged to do. Often managers will complain because,
in their view, good people-management skills are not rewarded or even
recognised in their firm. This may be because senior managers do not give a
lead and/or because they reward other behaviours, especially those that are
easy to quantify, like budget compliance or wastage rates or employee
absenteeism and turnover.

Ways in which organisations can ensure that front-line managers perform their
role more effectively

Some of the solutions to the problem are themselves suggested by the answer
to the first part of Question 2 given above.

1. Recruitment and selection of front-line managers. These positions need to

be filled by individuals who have strong people-leadership capabilities and
attitudes, so recruitment and selection systems may need to be modified to
ensure that these competencies are properly emphasised.

2. Training, development, reward and recognition for front-line managers.

Newly appointed managers (and also those already in post) should be
trained and developed with regard to their people skills, but this on its own
wont be enough. In addition, the performance management system applied
to managers should give high priority to the people dimension.

3. Performance review for managers. When managers themselves are being

evaluated and assessed, their seniors should set an appropriate example by
focusing on their people-related results.

4. Performance criteria for people. The measures for people-related results

should go beyond productivity and other quantitative dimensions (such as
absence), and address higher-level outputs like examples of positive
discretionary behaviour, going the extra mile and so forth.
5. Top-down leadership and role modelling. At all times, organisations must
support the skills and capabilities of their line managers, and should by the
actions of their top-level people, indicate the values to which they expect
their managers to subscribe.

Question 3

The acquisition of new skills to meet the labour market demands of the
future

Evidence from the labour market for change and stability

Evidence that supports the argument for new skills in the foreseeable
future

Clearly the major point to make in this context concerns the rapid
progression of technological change, leading to the elimination of some
skills and their replacement by others.
An equal issue concerns the disappearance or slow/rapid decline of some
industries (e.g., cycle manufacture in the UK) and the emergence of new
ones (e.g., call centres).
In several instances, the nature of a national economy has altered as work
has shifted away to other parts of the world because of a more globalised
approach to the organisation of industry. Thus shipbuilding has moved
from the UK to countries like Japan and Korea.
Because of economic liberalisation, Japanese car manufacturers have
commenced operations in the UK (notably Honda, Toyota and Nissan), and
this has had an enormous impact on the nature of the UKs car industry, to
say nothing of manufacturing businesses in other sectors.

Evidence that suggests that skills in the future will not be distincitively
different from those already required

The rate of change in any economy tends to be much slower than the more
radical observers of society predict and so many jobs continue to enjoy
impressive levels of demand even if one might have expected them to
decline or disappear.
Some of this persistence is attributable to resistance to change in the
economic environment: if organisations have invested in a training,
learning and development infrastructure for their people, they may be
reluctant to adapt it to any radically different set of circumstances, even if
there were evidence to justify such a change.
Also, individuals entering the labour market may be influenced in their
career and vocational choices by their elders, who to some extent are likely
to reflect past requirements rather than those apparent today or for the
foreseeable future.

The skill requirements of the future in the employability arena

Recent research from Jobcentre Plus in the UK shows a remarkable

consistency in the skills that employers seek from potential recruits.
 According to this survey of 4500 UK employers, interpersonal and
teamwork skills are the most critical capabilities required, closely followed
by verbal communications and motivation and flexibility.
This appears to be the case not only among vacancies in service industries,
but also for manufacturing and production environments, and among
technical roles (e.g., vehicle drivers).
What is interesting about these findings is that for each type of occupation,
whether new or old, whether manual or non-manual, similar skills are
required. Interpersonal and team-work skills, plus motivation and
flexibility, are considered critical for almost every job and these are the
skills that can be learned and often require a commitment from the
employer to encourage a culture of teamwork which in turn will motivate
employees.
The implications are clear: that if individuals want to prepare themselves
for future entry to the workforce, they should set about acquiring these
fundamental competencies.
Thus the more technology-based skills may still be useful, but are rarely
sufficient in themselves.

Question 4

Training and developing an organisations core competents

Pros and cons of concentrating resources on core competents

Advantages

By concentrating on the companys core competents, the business can

focus its training/development resources on an extremely limited number
of people (some research has suggested that the proportion of core
competents in a workforce can be as low as 0.1 per cent).
By their very nature, the core competents will be eagerly sought after by
competitor employers, and singling them out for special treatment is one
way of making it less likely that they will defect.
The core competents will be even more motivated to deliver tangible
benefits if they know they are (by comparison) privileged.

Disadvantages

The remainder of the workforce is likely to be very demotivated, especially

those who consider that their own development needs are being ignored or
under-valued.
The creation of an apparent elite can be counter-productive, especially if
the members of the elite (or some of them) become arrogant thus
impairing the likelihood that they can secure co-operation from others.
Should any of the core competents group become disillusioned, or be
tempted away from the organisation, then filling the gap may become
prohibitively difficult particularly if those outside the core competents
elite have been under-developed and have therefore become under-
equipped.
There is always the danger that some members of the core competents
group have been wrongly selected, and do not therefore fulfil their early
 promise and there is the converse danger that some individuals who
should have been members of the core competents elite have been
specifically excluded, perhaps for reasons for jealousy and interpersonal
conflict.

Developing and utilising an organisations core competents

Once the core competents have been identified, they may be given special
project assignments to resolve as team members.
Some of these projects can be artificial and deliberately manufactured for
training/development purposes, but others may be genuinely related to the
organisations declared needs, e.g., to improve its competitive position, to
investigate the potential transfer of its customer-service processing
facilities to low-cost economies, and so forth.
They should be required to undertake a series of rotational assignments in
different parts of the business, so that they become familiar with, and
acquire the skills linked to the successful performance of each function.
They may be encouraged to acquire external management/business
qualifications.
Core competents should be given exposure to senior-level thinking
through acting as personal assistants to the Chief Executive.
Accelerated opportunities for growth should be supplied.
To ensure that core competents learn how to work with others, and
achieve results in a teamwork environment, they ought to be required to
perform as line managers with clear accountabilities for continuous
improvement and transformational change.
Should the business be large enough, some core competents can be made
responsible for specific business units, especially those which require a
turnaround strategy.

Question 5

Organisations with strong cultures

Does a strong culture encourage cloning?

Examples of organisations with a strong culture include Mars, IBM, First

Direct, Singapore Airlines, and virtually every Japanese company,
especially such enterprises as Honda and Nissan.
All these organisations pay a great deal of attention, in their recruitment
policies, to the identification of individuals whose attitudes, attributes,
competencies and capabilities fit the direction that the company wants to
pursue. Generally, too, these organisations believe that it is preferable to
select for attitude and train for skill.
A strong culture means that the organisation presents a unified face to the
world which may be very attractive for its suppliers and customers (who
then know what to expect). It also means that a kind of pre-selection sifting
takes place, as potential candidates for jobs in these organisations will
decide not to apply because they intuitively recognise that they would not
be appropriate.
Undoubtedly, a strong culture can be dangerous if it leads to inward-
looking attitudes, complacency and mutual reinforcement for existing
practices even though (to external observers) these practices are outdated
 and should be discarded/replaced. This is what happened in recent years
to such companies as Marks & Spencer, Sainsburys and Laura Ashley.
However, to accuse strong cultures of cloning is to go too far. Normally, in
such cultures there are permitted routes for dissent, and different views
are acknowledged. Even in such a strong culture as McDonalds, too, room
has been found for local autonomy (indeed, without it the company would
have faced great difficulties in Muslim countries).

How can a strong culture create HR practices which ensure that the
organisation remains flexible and dynamic?

The organisation can deliberately promote two-way communication with the

outside world, in order to ensure it stays in touch with its customers, its
competitors and its marketplace. This can be done by, e.g., sending teams
of people out to assess competitors and to seek best practice innovations
from elsewhere, and by periodically inviting external speakers and
consultants into the organisation.
Within a strong culture there are normally opportunities for engaging
maverick individuals, e.g., by creating internal consultant and change
agent roles for them.
The business should encourage the development of a learning organisation
culture which encourages individuals to, for example, obtain professional
and management qualifications. The process of doing so will automatically
assist in the assimilation of new thinking and innovative practices from
elsewhere.

Question 6

Problems with a member of staff

Actions to be taken by Davids manager

1. An informal discussion (arranged and led by the manager) would be an

acceptable way to proceed, in order to tease out:

How David feels about his work

What would have to be done in order to make his work more
intrinsically satisfying (assuming that it currently isnt)
Whether there are any internal (organisational) or external (private)
factors that are contributing to Davids present behaviour
The extent to which the current behaviour patterns have been
endemic in Davids approach to his employment, or whether they have
gradually emerged (if the latter, then the possible causes of any
change)

2. In the discussion, it will be necessary for the manager to make clear that
Davids attitudes are causing some resentment among his colleagues, a
resentment that could ultimately be disruptive to the work flow and
productivity of the entire unit. Much depends on whether David is the sole
smoker: if he is, then others may dislike the fact that he can disappear for
minutes at a time, whereas they have no equivalent freedom.
3. The outcomes from any face-to-face meeting between David and his
manager should comprise the following:

A managerial commitment to take action about the amount of

responsibility currently exercised by David, to find ways of making his
work more satisfying, and so forth.
Davids commitment to conduct himself in a more socially responsible
fashion so far as his immediate colleagues are concerned. This can be
facilitated by the manager with the aid of appropriate people in the
work environment.
It is essential that there should be commitments (of a contractual
nature) on both side, recorded properly in writing, with progress-
reporting dates, because in part the responsibility for the existing
state of affairs resides with the manager.

4. What should NOT happen.

There is no justification for taking disciplinary action against David,

because he has not committed any offence that could justify such
draconian measures.
A formal appraisal would also not be legitimate (though the brief does
not indicate whether the company has an appraisal system or not: if it
does, then clearly it is not working, or the manager is not taking it
seriously).
The smoking breaks are not the key issue, but are probably just one
of the factors that alienates Davids workmates.

Steps to be taken in order to prevent a recurrence in the future

1. Many features of this situation arise from the weak management practised
by Davids manager. There has been (apparently) little attention given to
ways of encouraging higher levels of motivation from David, or to
monitoring his performance, or intervening at an earlier stage to ensure
that the matter does not get out of hand.

2. As a result, the organisation needs to take the following steps:

Re-emphasise to all managers the necessity for them to monitor their

immediate subordinates closely and continuously, and take action if
necessary.
This may involve some manager training, and certainly will imply
more careful attention to the recruitment and selection of managers in
the future, to ensure that they will be prepared to address people
problems and not shy away from them.
Managers should also be required to engage in regular two-way
communication and coaching with their people: encouraging an open
culture will help to pre-empt scenarios like Davids, where it seems
that an employee has become demotivated.

3. In addition, if there is not one already, the organisation should introduce a

formal performance review (appraisal) process, itself scrutinised by the HR
function, and with objectives focusing on personal development and
continuous improvement.
4. The arrangements for smokers may need to be revisited. In many UK
organisations, smoking is prohibited anywhere on company premises
(including car parks), largely on health grounds but also because it is
inequitable to permit smokers to leave their place of work whilst not setting
up comparable arrangements for non-smokers.

Question 7

Ulrichs four roles for HRM

Nature of the four roles

Strategic partner:

The HRM function should act as a partner in strategy execution, not in the
making of (business) strategy, but in ensuring that it is developed and put into
effect. The HR function should define the organisational architecture, carrying
out audits and renovating those aspects of the organisation in need of repair. In
short, the HR function plays (or should play) a significant part in creating the
systems and processes that help deliver organisational success.

Change agent:

According to Ulrich, HR should act as an agent of continuous transformation,

shaping processes and a culture that together improve the organisations
capacity for change. He argues that the HR function needs to help the
organisation embrace and capitalise on change, as well as transform vision
statements into practical workplace realities.

Administrative expert:

The HR function and the HR professional act as experts in the way that work is
organised and executed, and deliver administrative efficiency both in terms of
the HR function itself and for the whole organisation, typically through
information technology. This happens in call centres and shared service
operations that deal with the transactional aspects of work such as salary
administration and personnel records.

Employee champion:

HR needs to act as a voice for employees both in representing their concerns to

senior managers and in working to improve their contribution, their
commitment and their engagement. Ulrich suggests that the HR function
should be held accountable for ensuring that employees are motivated and
willing to work beyond contract, to demonstrate discretionary behaviour that
goes beyond the strict requirements of the job description. This envisages a
major role for the HR function in assisting line managers to achieve employee
engagement.
Why each is important within the HR function

Strategic partner:

Ulrich only visualises the HR function as a strategic partner in the sense that
it assists with the execution of strategy, and not its design. Marchington and
Wilkinson (Human Resource Management at Work, CIPD, 2005, p. 136) are
quite scathing about this stance: if the business partner is (only) an architect
within an already constructed building, perhaps he or she will be confined to
doing little more than choosing the right wallpaper! For many senior HR
practitioners, the ultimate goal is to occupy a central position in the
formulation of strategy, and to ensure that the performance and contribution of
the people in the organisation is placed at the forefront of any strategic
initiatives emerging from the company or business as a whole.

Change agent:

Theoretically, the role of HR as a change agent the grit in the corporate oyster
is an enticing prospect, but the reality may be rather different. Conventionally
a change agent is a person or unit which does not actually execute change or
play a major role in the strategic decision-making process, but which oils the
wheels of change, as it were. Seen in this light, the prospect of becoming a
change agent is less attractive.

Administrative expert:

Ulrich argues that success in this role can help HR to gain higher status:
improving efficiency will build HRs credibility which, in turn, will open the
door for it to become a partner in executing strategy. Of course, this may
happen, but it seems more plausible to believe that if someone becomes an
administrative expert, they will be retained in their administrative capacity
especially as truly ambitious people in an organisation will want to occupy
themselves with genuinely added-value activities.

Employee champion:

As Marchington and Wilkinson point out [see source cited above], the employee
champion is tasked with jobs that trade unions ordinarily do in most large
organisations in Britain, and the idea that HR should act as the workers voice
smacks of paternalism rather than organisational justice. It is believed, on the
other hand, that with the decline of trade unionism (certainly in the UK), there
is an emergent role here for the HR function to act as protector of employee
interests. At the same time, if senior HR practitioners want to be taken
seriously (by their businesss directors) as strategic partners, then it will be
hard for this to be attained should they simultaneously be undertaking an
employee champion role. It is not inevitable that the two roles pull in opposite
directions, but to many external observers they appear to do so.
Question 8

Ten commandments for successful meetings and Ten commandments

for successful presentations

Ten Commandments for Successful Meetings

Understand and clarify the purpose of the meeting both you (as the
Chair) and your members need to know why you are there but for some
meetings, with a long agenda, the purposes may vary as you progress from
one item to the next.
Fit your objectives into one of the classic purposes of meetings:
(i) To inform
(ii) To exchange information
(iii) To make decisions
(iv) To produce recommendations
(v) To create ideas
(vi) To persuade and influence
Prepare the agenda so that the sequence of topics is logical, progressing
from the more complex to the less important; consider whether to allow
Any Other Business and whether to insert the expected duration of each
item
Prepare the environment the room should be well-ventilated and lit;
seats should be so arranged that everyone has eye contact with everyone
else; the Chair in particular must be able to see what is going on all over
the room
At the start, introduce the meeting and, if necessary, explain the
ground rules these may be:
(i) Only one person speaks at a time
(ii) Strict adherence to the time limits for each item as specified on the
Agenda
Encourage member contributions by asking open-ended questions, by
deliberately bringing in silent members, etc
Create a balance between control and participation by cutting short
any speakers who stray from the point
Try to avoid polarised positions and voting because voting merely
ensures there are winners and losers with the result that the
organisation becomes divided
Summarise the discussion and the conclusion once it appears that
everyone has had their say
Ensure that any decisions are clearly spelt out and recorded so there
can be no scope afterwards for debate about what was agreed

Ten Commandments for Successful Presentations

Select an objective. You must know what you are trying to achieve, and
broadly there are four possible objectives for presentations:
(i) To inform
(ii) To persuade
(iii) To motivate
(iv) To entertain

Prepare. It would be silly to begin a presentation without any clear ideas of

what you are going to say and how you will say it.
 (i) First, jot down all your ideas
(ii) Then highlight all the major subject areas
Sort out your material into three major categories:
(i) A the Essential what must go into the presentation
(ii) B the Desirable what it would be nice to include if theres time
(iii) C the Disposable what isnt necessary at all
Keep your approach short and simple you will lose your audience if you
make your presentation over-complicated
Structure your presentation there will usually be a natural order that
can emerge from your key points, but there should be
(i) A clear Introduction
(ii) A middle
(iii) A Conclusion
Do not write your notes out in full audiences dont like a presenter who
simply reads from a script, so you should produce key word notes and
allow yourself to speak spontaneously around them; you will then sound
more convincing, more natural and more persuasive
Remember the audiences attention curve most people are more
attentive at the start and also at the finish, so thats when you should
concentrate your main learning points; in the middle, you need to make
your material especially entertaining in order to keep the audience awake
Ensure your body language is appropriate keep eye contact with the
audience, dont turn your back on them, use your hands to add emphasis
Support your words with visual aids but dont overdo it, and dont use
visuals just for the sake of it
Rehearse your delivery especially if its an important presentation to a
senior-level audience, and youve been given a strict time limit (nothing is
more irritating to an audience than a presenter who overstays his/her
welcome)