Enterprise Week

During Enterprise week, one of the events that I attended was Yasmina Siadatan's business event. Yasmina spoke about herself and her family owned restaurant that she owns in Reading names My A'La carte. She also spoke about The Apprentice programme, how she survived with the pressure of Sir Alan Sugar and the friendship and bonds with the other contestants.
As Yasmina won the challenge and landed the amazing opportunity to work for Sir Alan Sugar she told us how the she managed to stay focused in order to achieve this role, and what it was like to in the board room, with Sir Alan grilling every one and potentially worried about getting fired.

I feel that this has inspired me allot, as Yasmina is a inspiration to all women. Not only does she own a business herself, that is doing well, it is also in the same town as myself and the location is in a remote small village which inspires me to do anything and everything i set my mind too. I started my course Business Finance, to prepare me for the business world so that one day i will be able to become and entrepreneur just like Yasmina was before she entered the BBC programme Apprentice. She shows that hard work and dedication can help you go any where in life, as long as you set your mind to it.

Yasmina represents all women in the UK, who are coming in to the business world, as this is usually perceived as the "mans" role. She has shown that to be a successful as an entrepreneur, you can be a female!.

Conflict

Conflict could be in any place, between any one this could be in the work place, in an educational establishment or at home. Conflict could be in form of an argument, disagreement or a general clash in ideas or interests between individuals, groups, families or a professional, e.g. teacher vs student.
"the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph" Thomas Paine

I have been in a situation in 6Th form, where myself and a group from my class had to work together in order to make a product in Business that would make a certain amount of money, that would be profitable to large companies such as Sara Lee, Super drug etc. As a group we all had to work together and brain storm ideas for what product we wanted to make and market, that would also sell at school in order to raise the amount of money set for the coursework project. Two members of my group were very opposite to each other their thoughts, ideas and interests were different, yet they were both extremely strong minded.
Because of this factor, they were always unable to agree to an idea, and the rest of the group would always suffer. As a result, the two members would constantly argue with each other, sometimes would not speak to each other and we were not able to produce a product to sell and failed the coursework, achieving a grade F.

Sources of power

French and Raven (1959) state that the different sources of power are,

• Coercive power: This is the power to make somebody do something that they do not want to do. This could be be bullying them, physical or verbal abuse and harm. People will also often threat others in order to show power and authority. This is usually the work of dictators, governments sociopaths etc. An example of coercive power would be Saddam Hussein, as he was a dictator, and those who did not believe in his regime or were against him, would be brutally beaten or even murdered.
• Reward power: We all work in order to support basic needs such as food, water, shelter and bills etc. But reward power is what each individual perceives as their reward for making money or doing something good, helping each other etc. Buying a new pair of shoes could be a reward for hard work, working or educational work etc, where as for some a reward could be as simple as a high grade. An example of this would be any teachers/ lecturers, this is because they work all year in order to educate their class students. The reward for some teachers may be for their students to achieve high grades and pass their subject.
• Expert power: This is when one has the education, knowledge, expertise and ability that somebody else may need. They are able to help others and provide others with knowledge is a certain area. It is usually large scale such as in big companies. An example of this could be the London undergrounds trade union as they push the workers and lead them to believe that they are under paid and need to make a stand in order to be heard.
• Legitimate power: "legitimate power is that which is invested in a role" Changing minds.org. Those of high roles, which people will look up to and respect have legitimate power. People will abide by their authority, and their role in society. An example of this would be the police all around the world.
• Referent power: This type of power is usually people that are in "the lime light". People that are not just everyday people living every day lives. Referent power is when we try to be like a certain person, we act like them and hope that by following them on a daily basis they will rub off on us. An example of this would be any celebrity well known such a Rihanna. All young girls will hope that they can dress like her, sing like her and ultimately be her.

French and Raven (1959) have described all the the types of power that we face in the world, and on a daily basis. Power is all around us and from this conflict can occur.

References

• Unknown. (2011) 'French and ravens forms of power' [online]. Changing minds. Available from: http//changingminds.org/explanations/power/french_and_raven.htm [accessed 24 January 2010]

Leadership

Manager's V Leaders!

The differences between management and leadership are managers are the main control of the business. They're role is to plan the day to day work of their employee's, to co-ordinate their staff, implement policies such as company policy, fire and health hazards etc. They aim to achieve results within the store/department or organisation. On the other hand, leaders are there to motivate the team, bring new ideas to help the running on the business and inspire the team to generally succeed and occasionally take some of the work and pressure off of the managers (depending on the nature of the business and work).

(Lecture notes, week 5 Leadership).

Blake and Mouton Leadership Grid (X &Y)

After extensive research on leadership and managerial methods, Robert Blake and Jane Mouton (1960), made a graph named managerial grid or leadership grip. The graph illustrates two different types of measurement, concern for people (y axis) and concern for production (x axis). Concern for people demonstrates peoples personal development needs and showing them importance. Where as the concern for production axis talks about, keeping the job about the job and getting the work done.

The five different leadership or (managerial) styles that were found were:-

• The Impoverished manager: This type of manager has a lack of concern and interest for the company, their boss, the work in hand and also the staff. The manager has not commitment to their work and does not care about the well being of its staff.
• Authoritative Management: These managers are allot more focused than the impoverished manager. They make sure the job is done, and they are very good at delegating jobs to their employee's in order to achieve results.
• Social Management (country club): They are very similar to authoritative managers but they believe that to be calm and humble will push and motivate staff to work harder. they rarely critisise or shout at their staff, as they feel that staff will work harder and results will still be achieved.
• The middle of the road manager: This manager, as stated in the title is very in the middle of the social and authoritive manager. They are happy to work with their staff, ease off on them and compromise, but they still expect high results in the business.
• The team manager: The managers of the business should all try to follow this type of style believed by Blake and Mouton (1960). They believe that all staff should be self motivated for themselves and for the wellbeing of the company that they work for. This should be done via working in a team and alone, whilst respecting eachothers decisions.
  

My current manager at T Mobile; I feel that her style of leadership would fit into the middle of the road type of management. This is because she always strived to be friends with the team and build personal relationships with every body. She takes everybodies personal development close to heart and works very hard in ensuring that we all are reaching our full potential and in our preffered job roles. On the other hand, she is still very concerned in the running of the store, e.g. are we hitting our individual targets, are we contributing to the stores targets for the month and quarterly.

Sir Alan Sugar

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6923678.stm

Mr Sugar born and brought up in a council house in Hackney, London. He started working at the age of 12, and continued after school. At the age of 21 he opened his own business named "amstrad" (1968). This was electronics company selling Hi Fi's and computers, by the age of 40 he was worth 600 million. Sir Alan Sugar, owner of many different businesses and also a television programme, The Apprentise is described in the article as "abrasive, opionated and hardworking". Regardless of the many electronic flops that Sir Alan faced in 1990, he was still very persistent in making money and a name for himself and then brought the footclub club, Tottenham Hotspur. I would say that their approach to leadership is similar to the authorative management style, as he is a very persistant man who does not give him. his motivation towards making money has made him one of the wealthiest men in the UK.
Further more, judging by the appretise programme of BBC1, he was very authorative towards the candiates on the programme. He set all challenges locations etc for the groups to do every week, and he also decided who he would "fire" and who he would keep at the end of a challenge. Sir Alan was very specific in what he wanted, and did not settle for anything but the best.
I belive that he is a stronge leader as he is an example for people in the UK that, regardless of where you were born and brought up, in what condition or your educational status. With hard work, commitment and dedication you can achieve what you set your mind and heart to do. He is inspirational to any body like myself who would like to start a business and his strive to become the best makes me workharder to reach my goals.

In conclusion, it is clear what managerial style Blake and Mouton (1960), set for all mangers to follow but, it is hard for all managers to follow the team management style as every person and business is different. It links to motivation as everybody has a different reason for why they work at that chosen organisation and what they want to acheive from the role. This then links to how they treat their staff every day and the work of the business.

References

• Lecture Notes, Week 5, Leadership
• Unknown. (2011) 'Blake and Moutons managerial grid' [online]. Management study guide. Available from: http://www.managementstudyguide.com/blake-mouton-managerial-grid.htm [Accessed 23 January 2011]

Organisation Culture

Within T Mobile there are people of many different nationalities, religions, back grounds and interests. However there are many visible aspects of culture within T Mobile. When you walk into a t Mobile store regardless of the area or region they are all the same. The atmosphere they have adapted is very relaxed, calm and "cool". All stores play the same up to date pop/ RnB Music and it is very noticeable that all staff talk in a polite but not too formal manner.
T Mobile staff all wear the same uniform which is the black polo shirt with the logo or the fleece. The management also dress the same as their employee's rather than dressing in a more formal manner than separates them from their staff.

Four types of culture's Handy, 1993

Organisational culture is "The collection of traditional values, policies, beliefs and attitudes that constitute a pervasive context for everything we do and think in an organisation".
(Management and Organisational behaviour, page 828)

Power culture

• This is usually found in small self owned businesses. These types of organisations rely solely on trust within the organisation and personal communication in order to work well. The control of the organisation is left to the middle person decided by the owner. An organisation that uses the power culture is Headmasters, Hairdressers.

Role culture

• This is usually a government organisation, Handy (1993) describes role culture as "pillars", and this is dependant on strength of those higher up in the organisation (the senior staff, management). These staff are usually those within departments such as finance or marketing etc. The management bellow will then delegate work and communication within the pillar to staff below them. The position or "title" that you hold is more important that your individual character or personality. Government such as Reading Borough council use this culture.

Task culture

• Handy (1993), describes this as a business that is development orientated, which means the culture will change. The task culture and structure of the business is linked together by a "net". Those who are very skilled and are higher up are praised but task culture brings together those with many different sources and supplies. Which means unlike in role culture, those higher and lower in the power scale are able to work together, including other departments. An example of this would be the Matrix organisation.

Person culture

• This culture is based highly on the individual and the structure works around the individuals. The employees of the business can decide how the business runs and the day to day work. Employee's within the business will work together to do their own thing. This could be in sharing equipment, helping each other etc. Each individual is responsible for their own power. An example of this is Shoo smiths- Attorney Law firm Reading.

The problems of trying to classify culture into one of Handy (1993) four cultures is that, these cultures are to be followed severely. And every organisation/business is different. Needs and work may change. Which means that businesses culture will gradually change. Departments may start to work closer with managers, seniors may communicate on an higher scale and employee's may have a bigger say in how the business is run etc.

In conclusion Handy (1993) shows businesses and organisations rules on how they should be run. These cultures Power, role, task and person culture. Businesses should follow these guidelines, although every organisation has a unique culture with unique staff and every ones wants and needs are different.

Reference

Mullins, L. (2010) Management & Organisational Behaviour. Essex: Pearson Education Limited

Improving Staff Performance

The difference between content and process theories are as follows.
content theory explain the main and detailed reasons as to what motivates and individual at work. This theory looks at an individuals needs and strengths . The content theory focuses on needs and what motivates them. However, the process theory looks at the different variables that make up motivation. the process theory analysis the actual process of motivation.

T Mobile motivates their employees by their commission and bonus schemes. For every sale that a sales consultant makes, they receive commission as well as their basic salary at the end of the month. Also, if the consultant hits all their targets every quarter they receive a quarterly bonus which is additional to their salary and commission. The company also has a talent pool scheme which enters the top selling consultants and creates recognition for them which leads to promotions.
Further more, every T Mobile store, and every team has different ways to motivate their staff. This could be team meals, or high seller incentives such as going home early or gifts.

T Mobile strongly relates to Vroom's expectancy process theory, highlighting motivation in the work place. Vroom's three key variables affect how the company and the staff deliver to each other.
First key variable (Valence), every employee has a different outcome for their careers in T Mobile. Some people may be working their temporarily whilst looking for a more preferable job, some maybe working their whilst studying, where as others maybe working to build a career within management or other departments within the company.
Second key variable (instrumentality), the first level outcome is whether or not the employee is meeting company's and store standards e.g. hitting individual, store and quarterly targets. Second level outcomes tie into the first level, if the employee is working towards company standards and are willing to learn more and receive incentives and commission etc.
more over, the third key variable (expectancy), the company expects one thing from every employee and this is to hit a certain amount of targets individually and towards the store. where as employee's have different expectancy. Some strive to work hard in order to make more commission and money, and some aim to work hard and in order to be recognised and promoted.

Staff and different organisations have different ways and theories of keeping their staff motivated and keep performance up. Every individual has a different motive for their performance and for their careers within the company they work for.




Unknown. 2010 Great Business resources 'Victor Vrooms Expectancy theory' [online]. Business Mate. Available from:
[accessed 22 January 2011].

Motivation

Motivation
The theory that most relates to myself is Maslows Hierarchy of needs. Maslows theory suggests that people (individuals) always want, want and want more. and wanting more starts from what you already have. he claims that these needs are based on level of importance, (hierarchy of needs). These needs are, Physiological needs, safety needs, love needs, esteem needs and self actualisation.
I feel that this theory most relates to me as, these are all basic needs. Although these steps do not necessarily need to be followed in order, they most relate to my life as i live at home with my parents so food, water shelter, clothing and a place to sleep is all a norm to me and is an every day essential to me. Relating to me still living with parents, is the next level, safety. I always feel stable and safe at my parents house, and I am also in part time employment, so I feel that I am financially stable. Furthermore, the next level love, attending university has socially opened many new doors for me as I have met new people, made new friends etc.

This then ties into self esteem, as starting work and attending university has opened new doors for me and made me more of a confident person, whether this is in meeting new people, approaching different situations or people or even trying new things. I feel that by the end of university, and promotions at work this will lead me to the final stage, self actualisation. Only then will I feel that I have pushed myself to my full potential.

My motivation for starting my degree course was money. In the future I aim to become a successful business owner and always be financially stable. The course Business Finance seemed like the best option for me as it will help me open and business and manage my finances which in this day and age is very crucial. My motivation for the whole length of the course will always be the money that i could make to help my parents, the dream that i have to become an entrepreneur and the happiness of my parents to become succesful.

Two years ago, I was in part time employment at Orange the mobile network. There many times where i felt very DE-motivated and felt that i did not want to sell anything, even making commission did not push me to try. this was due to the lack of encouragement, poor management, communication and motivation skills given to me by my store manager. This relates to Alderfers modified need hierarchy model, (existence needs,relatedness needs and growth needs) and the Expectancy theory. This is for the reason that, I didn't not feel that my manager recognised my existence, nor did he try to build a relationship with or show concern for my personal development within the company. which led to my lack of effort at work, no concern for rewards or expectancy of any type of reward.

My lack of motivation only changed when new management was brought in place. The store manager was friendly, motivating, brought in incentives and games, cared about our personal well being and development and also thrived to succeed. Which then leads to McClellands achievement theory, (the achievement, power, affiliative and avoidance motive). If i could do things again i would not let managements lack of motivation, bring me down and always think of the incentives ahead of me, for myself.

Motivation can be in anything in everyday life. There are many different theories and way that motivate individuals, but motivation always comes down to yourself.