Kallipolis: the City of the Ideal

Around the time of 380 BCE, a philosopher by the name of Plato wrote one of his most famous works: The Republic. Within the text of this dialogue, Socrates and his fellow conversationalists discuss a morally and socially sensitive issue: what, per se, is justice? Throughout the work, there were several definitions ranging from â€Å"the power of the strong† to â€Å"rewarding good and punishing evil. † To help bring clarity to their discussions, Socrates proposes that in order to discover justice as a concept, they must apply it holistically as opposed to an individualistic, circumstantial criteria.In order to accomplish this, the group imagines what the ideal city would be like. In this ideal place, there would be three classes of people (producers, auxiliaries, and guardians) which would told they have have a corresponding metal which makes up their soul. Bronze for the producers, silver for the auxiliaries, and gold for the guardians. Each class would be determined b y individual merit in accordance with what tasks they best perform. For example, if a man is best at digging ditches he will dig ditches for the rest of his life.Additionally, the members of one class can only produce children with members of the same class. The citizens of this city (a total of around 30,000 individuals) would all share wealth, food, and shelter communally. Several core virtues such as wisdom (through the guardians), courage (through the auxiliaries), and moderation (through all classes dwelling together peacefully) will be emphasized to help preserve justice. Socrates emphasizes that the goal is to make a city as good as possible so that the populace is as content as possible.The end-goal is not just to make one person as happy as possible. As a pupil of Socrates, Plato's construction of this ideal city, named Kallipolis, was much more than hypothesizing about mortar and stone. For Plato, Kallipolis was meant to reflect two drastically different things on two tota lly different levels. On the baser level, Kallipolis' inclusion of human virtues just as justice and moderation mirrors the individual. On the other side, Kallipolis also represents the entirety of the cosmos with its realm of infinite possibly and wondrous ideals.To Socrates and Plato, this city was a sociopolitical organization which allowed citizens to achieve their potential, serve the state, and live according to the absolute truths which govern our existence. Unfortunately, the ideal Kallipolis is just that: an ideal. It may be all well and good to construct an ideal city in the mind, but unfortunately this utopian system lacks a firm foundation in reality. Kallipolis is a utopia: an imagined society put forward by its author as better than any existing society, past or present.Specifically according to Plato, Kallipolis is not just a better city, but rather is the best city. This makes creating Kallipolis impossible because there was nothing to from the real-world to model it self after. This is what makes construction of a place like Kallipolis to hard to even pragmatically imagine. It is not that obscure for one to even assume that in actuality, Plato never meant for Kallipolis to be a reality, but rather to have it serve as a goal for other poleis or nation-states to model themselves after.Plato planned for the society described in his Republic to not just be a utopia, but to rather be the best utopia, making this ideal even more difficult to properly realize. If one were to look into his work, one would certainly see that Plato never advocates revolution or legislation to bring his Republic into existence. On the contrary, Plato knew that Kallipolis was an impossibility and that the Republic would only live on in the minds of those who read his works.His message was that if all individuals (be they king, peasant, or representative) were just, the ideal city would exist. Thus, people must strive on their own to better themselves if they ever wish to b ring about a better society overall. This is the beauty of Plato's theorem: it is impossible for this utopia to fail because this city is only actually meant to exist as the hypothetical dream of an aging philosopher. Because of this, Kallipolis was able to evade some of the stubborn realities existent on Earth.The purpose for this city is not necessarily to exist, but rather to be the ideal which the contemporary cities (such as Athens or Sparta) and the ruling bodies (the people or the aristocracy, respectively) may be judged. Instead of looking at other countries, cities, and nations which dwelled in the real world to compare one's city to, Plato thought it would be best if a city was compared to the ideal, Kallipolis. Even in modern times, Kallipolis is a suitable standard concerning how a society made of of many different factions can live harmoniously.Personally, it is my viewpoint that this city is just for a community, but unjust for the individual. For this, I would not wan t to live in a governing system such as this. It is reasonable to assume that Plato's city might not be so â€Å"ideal† in the 21st century world of digitalized information and civil liberties. Through a primitive eugenics program, avid informational censorship, and telling a â€Å"noble lie,† Kallipolis' people do not so much choose what they wish to accomplish as much as they are conditioned to perform what tasks must be done.The individual rights of the people are cast aside for the sake of the â€Å"greater good† in a very utilitarian system which contains a harsh pragmatism in its application. One needs to look no further than Nazi Germany, Socialist Russia, Fascist Italy, or Communist China to see the problems with this worldview and the mindset it supported. The end game for Plato's Republic is not so much to have citizens who ponder life's deeper meanings, but to rather have mindless drones performing the tasks they were instructed to do.Yet even with th ese numerous infractions against the core of humanity, the ruling body of Kallipolis is incredibly legitimate. The guardians (who are more than qualified for their positions) rule both effectively and efficiently for the sake of the nation-state. Overall, they provide the proper protection for their people and preserve their well being. The guardians attempt to honor the welfare and well-being of all citizens by promoting justice, striving for class harmony, and defending their people within the walls of their ideal polis.However, the flaw lies not in the people themselves, but rather in the system they were placed into. After all, such a sense of loyalty to homeland is desirable, but the system's cost to individuality and free will is simply too much. All Men have certain rights ordained to them at birth by nature (or whichsoever deity a people worships) which include a right to life, a right to liberty, and a right to property. Socrates' and Plato's Kallipolis strips away its citi zens' rights to such things, such as when it dictates an individual's lot from the beginning.First, a person's life will be channelled into one of three categories. Second, (and based on the category) that person will instructed only on what they will be doing the rest of their lives. Finally, he or she will share all personal possessions with others, losing a sense of identity one moment at a time. Kallipolis, with all of its peaceful and harmonious benefits, eliminates certain rights which were made self-evident long before Socrates or Plato ever lived. The elimination of those rights is unacceptable and ought not be tolerated.

Developing yourself as an effective HR Practitioner Essay

Briefly summarise the CIPD Profession Map (i.e. the core professional areas, the specialist professional areas, the bands and behaviours) In this report I will summarise the CIPD Profession Map which is made up of Ten Professional areas, Eight Behaviours and Four Bands. The two core Professional Areas Insights, Strategy and Solutions – This area of the map concentrates on developing an understanding and prioritising the direction of the organisation. Leading HR – Shaping and driving themselves and other employees to deliver a valued service to the organisation. The Professional Areas are made up of Organisation Design – This area of the map concentrates on shaping the organisation structure to the business needs. Organisation Development – This area of the map concentrates on developing skills and training of all employees to build a strong team. Resourcing and talent planning – This area of the map concentrates on identifying and developing talent within the organisation, seeing where the need is for new talent within the organisation, making sure the survival of the business continues to grow. Learning and Development – This area of the map concentrates on developing employee’s knowledge and skill in all levels of the business. Performance and reward – This area of the map concentrates on recognising performance and experience of all employees by rewarding them. Employee Engagement – This area of the map concentrates on insuring employees engage with each other and their work at different levels through the organisation. Employee Relations – This area of the map concentrates on keeping accurate records, supporting employees at all levels and rewarding employees in performance. Service Delivery and Information – This area of the map concentrates on delivering accurate information to the customer within an agreed time frame within an agreed cost. Eight Behaviours Curious – New ideas wanting to update technology and training needs. Decisive Thinker – Being able to analyse information and identify solutions. Skilled Influencer – The ability to influence customers in the direction of organisation needs. Personally Credible – Delivers and builds HR expertise to add value to the organisation. Collaborative – Cooperation between departments making positive contribution to the organisation. Driven to Deliver – Being able to deliver a service on time within budget by prioritising agreed tasks and goals. Courage to Challenge – Being able to challenge by specking skilfully when confronted with challenging situations. Role Model – Respected by other employees by using integrity and tact being able to deliver a solid service. Encourages others to act in the same way. The Bands are made up of four levels – Starting at Band One – Entry Level. Focusing on being accurate and flexible on collecting and providing data to the customer. Band Two – Advisory Level. Leading and advising individuals and teams, understanding issues when they arise and resolving them quickly and professionally. Band Three – Consultant Level. Addressing and leading all HR challenges providing ideas and solutions, analysing risks. Band Four – Leadership Colleague / Coach. Coaching and leading, developing strategies and plans for the customer needs. Comment on the activates and knowledge specified within any 1 professional area, at either band 1 or band 2, identifying those you consider most essential to your own (or other identified ) HR/L&D Role. I will select one Band and one Professional area which I consider most essential to my current employment. Band 1 and Service Delivery and Information as the Professional Area. In my employment I have to have a clear idea of what the Line Managers and Senior Managers want me to deliver. As listed in Band 1, Listening to them and asking the right questions understanding their needs, getting a time frame on when they want it to be delivered is essential. Its gives me a clear picture of what information I have to collate using the technology provided this saving time when delivering the information to them. Keeping the channels of communication open is essential in case of delays or other customer complaints that arise. Activity 2 2.1 Understanding customer needs (including examples of 3 different customers and 1 need for each, and explain how you would prioritise conflicting needs) In this activity I have chosen three customers, Staff, Line Managers and Senior Managers with reference to my own role I will identify their needs and prioritise conflicting needs. Staff – Pay Queries If a member of staff comes to the HR Department with a Pay Query the HR Department must deal with the query within an allotted time. In the Company I work for this time is 48hrs from the time of receiving a pay query. The next step of the process is to talk to the Line Manager to identify where there might be a problem, if this is to do with hours. This will then be passed on to the Payroll department to be rectified, the member of staff will be notified by email or phone call of the progress of the query. If this cannot be resolved by theses means the employee and the line manager will be asked to come to a meeting to discuss the query. Not resolving pay issues in an agreed time frame, can lead to low moral within your employees and give a negative response to the HR Department. Line Managers – Performance At the Company I work for the HR Department is requested by the Line Managers to be responsible for monitoring performance of all employees and reporting back to them if an employee falls below the agreed target. This has to be done daily and weekly depending on what department the employee is from, to keep the continuity of production flowing and reducing problems later on. Without the HR Department doing this as requested by the Line Managers the quality and productivity could be dropped if this is not monitored. This is essential for the business to produce good quality produce for the external customer thus reducing customer complaints. The HR Department would have to prioritise this service. If an employee has been identified that has fallen below the set target, they will work alongside with the Line Manager and agree what course of action should be taken i.e. Would the employee benefit from more training and what type, bearing in mind this would be an extra cost (has a budget been put in place for retraining employees) has the  employee performance dropped due to other circumstance, this would all have to be investigated. The employee would then be invited to attend a meeting with their Line Manager and a member from the Hr Department to discuss this. Senior Managers – Labour and Budgets At the Company I work for the Senior Managers puts together a Labour and Budget plan at the beginning of the year, for the amount of staff they will need each month. This plan is then given to the HR Department to recruit the right amount of staff on budget within the agreed time frame. The HR Department would have to prioritise this plan if they did not it would have a detrimental effect on the business no employees no product no business. The conflicting needs of all the different customers at any one time would have to be prioritised in order, for example Senior Managers requesting information would normally come first over other customers. Line Managers would then come second leaving the Employee last, but is this right does this mean the employee is less regarded in the organisation. No this should not be the case no matter what position you are in. It’s about prioritising what needs to be done first, not what level you work at. This may mean extending your delivery time within an agreed time frame with other customers, keeping channels of communication open with them until you can deliver the service to them. 2.2 Effective communication (include examples of 3 different communication methods and the advantages and disadvantages of each) Daily / Weekly Meeting The advantage of having a daily or weekly meetings is that a manager from each department usually attends a meeting discussing what will be happening or if there have any problems that need to be aired with other colleagues. This keeps communication following. The disadvantage of this, is another colleague would have to cover the manager’s work, while doing their own. Putting pressure on themselves to deliver their own work. Also information may not get passed down to other workers or the information may get distorted causing problems later on. Skype The advantage of using Skype that you can conduct meetings or interviews  with other sites and conduct interviews this would save on travel costs. The disadvantage of using Skype is if you are in an area with a poor signal. Newsletter – Monthly Advantage – A monthly newsletter is a good way of communication to employee’s especially to the ones that don’t have a company email or attend a regular meetings on what is happening in other departments on different sites. At the company I work for our newsletter is divided up into four section on what is happening and what is going to happen this usually starts with Operations Directors talking about what’s happening on their sites. It then moves on to Hello’s & Goodbyes announcing who has left and who has joined the Company and what department and position they are in. As well an email being sent out about a new employee starting this gives other employees a chance to know new faces. A Birthday or Celebration section has also been added. The last section is about Who Are We getting to know an employee each month. These newsletter is attached to the payslips monthly. The disadvantage of printing individual newsletters is the Cost depending on how many employees you have this could be high, the alternative is to place this on a notice board for all employees to see. 2.3 Effective service delivery (include: delivering service on time, delivering service on budget, dealing with difficult customers, handling and resolving complaints. The way to build and maintain an effective service delivery fast and professional, is to have a set procedure in place of: Who does what Has a time frame been put in place to respond, are you in receipt of all information to deal with this Request / Complaint. If you receive a complaint are you appropriately trained to deal with difficult customers. Keep the channels of communication open to all customer needs by the ways of a Phone Call, Email or a Letter or invite them to a one to one meeting. This all helps to keep the customer informed and make them feel valued. Interview the customer, identify key bits of the complaint, do you need to interview anyone else. All these factors need to be addressed to avoid a lengthily drawn out process. Any delay could prevent the Company from having  a successful result. What is it going to cost, is it within the budget. The key is to keep the channel of communication open, inform customers straight away of changes that may affect them. If there is a complaint react straight away. Bibliography ACAS. Workplace relations the key to better UK productivity – Sir Brendan Barber. Available at: http://www.acas.org.uk/index.aspx?articleid=5169 Accessed (25 February 2015) ACAS. Top tips for better management. Available at: http://www.acas.org.uk/index.aspx?articleid=2966 Accessed (12 February 2015) CIPD. CIPD Profession Map. Available at: http://www.cipd.co.uk/cipd-hr-profession/profession-map/ Accessed (21 December 2014) Martin, M and Whiting, F (2013) Human Resource Practice. 6th Edition. London: Chartered Institute of Personal and Development.

Improve Your English †Learning Outside the Classroom Essay

Today we’re going to look at ways of improving your English outside of classes. First of all, whatever you learn in class needs to be revised. Many English students learn things in class, and then forget it the next day. A good rule to follow is if you spend an hour learning something, you should spend another revising, and another practising. People often forget what they learnt yesterday! Also, it’s important to keep a record of everything you learn. I would keep a book for the classroom, and a vocabulary book as a minimum. It’s also a good idea to have a little book for the mistakes you make, or maybe different books for different types of English. You could have a book especially for slang for example. Of course it’s good to read outside of the class. Newspapers, books, e. t. c. are good. Again keep a record of what you learn so that you don’t forget. Should you learn every word? It depends on your level of English and your ambition. If you’re a lower level learner then you could perhaps try one of the special level books we keep in the school. But always be aware of the type of thing you are reading and adapt your learning to that. If it’s a technical book, don’t learn all the English, but choose words which you think you will need. Then we have listening. When you are studying listening you have to worry about two things- the vocabulary and your ear. You need to learn words of course, and by doing this you’ll improve your passive vocabulary. Generally, words which you hear are more important than words which you read. This is because we use a greater variety of words when we read than when we write. When you watch a dvd or do any kind of listening, keep an internet dictionary on your computer so that you can easily look words up. Internet dictionaries are great for this purpose. I recommend using BBC iplayer. Socialise. It can’t always be easy making native English speaker friends, but it is possible. Try to share interests and do things like sports with English speakers. However, it’s also very easy to make friends with other students, and some (but not all) will want to speak English a lot like you. For this you can use the ICE social programme. Avoid staying in groups of one nationality because they usually don’t want to speak English. Of course one of the best things you can do for your English is find a native English speaker as a lover! Buy a grammar book. I recommend the Blue Murphy book. It’s called intermediate but it’s quite advanced. The green book is really for proficient learners. Remember- a bit of English every day is better than a lot on one day.

Strategies and Resources for Success Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Strategies and Resources for Success - Coursework Example ges that an online learners may anticipate may be like: how to build on the existing base of knowledge and how to evaluate the multifaceted online resources. In addition it might be very difficult for them to find an appropriate comparison groups that can help them in solving data collection problems and even in the interpretation of the program maturity impacts. This paper seeks to evaluate the challenges that the online learners may anticipate when undertaking their online studies and to give strategies that they can use to ensure that they succeed in their learning experience. One of the challenges that the online learners are experiencing is lack of the self-discipline that is needed to devote enough time to class in courses that may not have regular time schedule to meet the synchronous online (Ottenbacher & Harrington, 2010). Setting and following the specific study hours is one of the factors that can work for online learners. For example evening hour can be designated for reading the lessons and the weekend can be used for doing the writing assignment. It is very important to note that designating specific hours to read, completing the assignments and even post dialogues to other learners may be very helpful. Professional online learning requires resources like the technology, materials and even time. All these resources are dependent on the availability of funds. How these resources will be prioritized so that they can be in line with the professional needs may greatly affect the quality, access and effectiveness of the experience of the educators. When the learners are committed to ensure equity in the allocation of these resources and they have thoughtful consideration of their priorities, the intended outcome for both the learners and the educators can be achieved. Interactions of most students commonly take place through online threaded discussions that gives the instructors and the students’ time to interact in a synchronous manners. This may

Explore Hardy's use of Nature in Tess of the D'Urbervilles Coursework

Explore Hardy's use of Nature in Tess of the D'Urbervilles - Coursework Example Tess of the D’Urbervilles (1891) portrays the life of an innocent girl, Tess and details the path of her life to the tragedy and destruction. The writer justifies his presentation of the protagonist by giving the subtitle, ‘A pure woman faithfully presented.’ The life of the pure woman is symbolized with the purity of nature. The nature, as in other novels, remains to be a strong force and motif in this novel. The suffering of Tess is pictured as corresponding to the changes in nature and vice versa. So the affirmative relationship with the protagonist and nature makes the readers to call Hardy as the nature lover just like William Wordsworth, the renowned nature poet. The present paper tries to analyze how Thomas Hardy explored the change of nature in his novel Tess of the D’Urbervilles. Hardy could make use of the involvement of nature with the ups and downs in the life of the protagonist. Tess represents the purity of nature. In the May Day dance Tess is presented as the most beautiful and pure in the ceremony. She became the major attraction of the program. This ceremony is linked with the peasantries’ pagan rituals and culture which is highly associated with the nature. The innocence of peasantry is again associated with the accident when the horse was killed. She feels the responsibility on herself. The death of the animal has become a stink into the conscience of the lady. This marks for the beginning of her tragedy. The innocent girl, Tess Durbeyfield makes her way of tragedy to Trantridge where she was seduced by Alec d’Urbervilles and hence follows the problems in her life finally making her a murderer. In all the flux of her life nature responds with her as a close associative. So nature acts as an integral part in the novel, Tess of the D’Urbervilles. The life of Tess is reflected in the nature surrounded her. She feels carefree and happy at Durbeyfield. Chapter two of the novel describes the village o f Marlott as in the lap of nature. The novelist says that the village of Marlott lay in the Vale of Blackmore and it is â€Å"an engirdled and secluded region, for the most part untrodden as yet by tourist or landscape- painter, through within a four hours’ journey from London.1† This depicts the psychological nature of the protagonist symbolizing purity and beauty. She enjoyed being in the lap of nature at this time. The Club walking or May Day dance that they had conducted at this villages also is the epitome of the enjoyment in the mind of the protagonist. The nature depicted in the Chase where she was seduced by Alec shows the pitfalls in the nature. The agony and sorrow of the protagonist is compared with the sorrow of the animals and birds at the place. Hardy describes the situation as, â€Å"She could hear the rustling of the branches as he ascended the adjoining slope, till his movements were no louder than the hopping of a bird, and finally died away2.† The writer here asks about her guardian angel that why it has deserted the innocent woman to be seduced by a vagabond. The novel states that the nature too is over darkened at this night by the seduction of this innocent girl. But the writer in no way establishes that her purity is lost. She still represents the nature with its purity and beauty. The death her newborn baby seems to be affected in the nature by projecting the sorrow it carries through the birds and trees. The life of Te

Science Meets Real Life Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Science Meets Real Life - Essay Example By using the precepts of the scientific methods, it follows that critical thinking in essence is employed. This is not limited to the study of science but to all other disciplines which delves on sought-after solutions to problems. Through the testing and answering of personal questions which leads to plausible answers scientific thinking is used. This is in essence thinking correctly and coming up with reliable answers in most aspects in life. The process of scientific thinking and critical thinking is one and the same in practice and theory. It may only be within the grounds of who uses what wherein the difference lies but both are used by human beings regularly (Schafersman, 1997). Upon arriving at home and finding out that the light would not turn on begins the process of scientific inquiry. Faced with the recognition of a change within the surroundings of the house, the initial progression within the method was conceived, the acknowledgement of a problem. Simple logic suggests that one should exhaust efforts to locate and solve the problem. The mature thing to do is to remedy the dilemma sensibly and not be infantile about the situation. When a problem arises, it only becomes aggravated when not dealt with the utmost perception of common reason. In this case the problem encompasses a number of things. The fact that the lights would not turn on is the main problem. Second, it is already well within the night and I would be hesitant about calling a handyman for reasons that include, one, I would assume it is already past their working schedule and two, I have some confidence I may be able to solve the problem myself. Another problem that comes with it is that the problem is located in part of the house which is dark and would therefore be a further complication on the matter at hand. On this stage the most conceivable thing to do is to go back in memory and think of the most relevant details

Week 6 D-1 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Week 6 D-1 - Essay Example With regard to pathogenicity, Ebola virus refers to an aggressive pathogen, which leads to high immunosuppression in humans and nonhuman primates. The pathogenicity of Ebola is homogenous across species of the disease since the species associate with hemorrhagic fever outbreaks. Apparently, the Ebola virus enters host cells via mucous membranes, skin replication, and endocytosis (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2015). The Ebola virus affects different host cells, blood coagulation, and immune defense system. As such, the Ebola virus causes significant immunodeficiency that usually results to fatalities. Ebola has a high virulence. Indeed, World Health Organization confirms that the disease can lead to a 90 % case fatality rate (Kloc, 2014). Ebola virulence rate depends on its host factors like cellular enzymes that split fundamental Ebola viruses (Pozos, n.d). Nevertheless, virulence is always multigenic since Ebola has different stains (Pozos, n.d). This is evident where Ebola had a 90% fatality rate in Sudan and just 1% in Uganda. However, its low infectivity mitigates the high virulence rate (Kloc, 2014). This relates to the fact that pathogens that kill hosts have limited time to spread. As such, the need to establish balance between Ebola’s virulence and infectivity may lead to a global pandemic (Kloc, 2014). Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2015). Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) Information for Clinicians in U.S. Healthcare Settings. Retrieved from

Talent identification and development in the UK. Long Term Athlete Essay

Talent identification and development in the UK. Long Term Athlete Development (LTAD) - Essay Example Most parents want their children to be active throughout their life due to the belief that physical education may enhance self-esteem, fitness, and teamwork in a child’s development. According to Spinks et al (2002, pg. 265), identifying sport potential at an early age, ensures that players receive specialized coaching to accelerate the talent development process. With increased need to develop and nurture young talented players, it is essential to determine the key elements of talent identification, for instance, in football. The authors also argue that talent may be genetically determined, complicated in structure and subject to environmental conditions. Moreover, the aim of talent identification is to increase the probability of selecting a future elite player at an early age. According to Stanford ( 2005, pg 63), LTAD model mainly insists that training, competition and retaining programmes should be set in relation to an individual’s development rather than age. Optimal windows of trainability should be identified and used while the structure of competition programme should be reviewed to optimize the ratio between competitive events and training; moreover, the overall system, needs to be aligned and integrated. Long Term Athlete Development (LTAD) Model The LTAD model on sports focuses on bringing out the best out of a talented player. For instance, in this case, the main discussion revolves around football. There are key issues that should be considered when deciding on the talent identification and development of a player including: 1) the type of talent that could either be uni-sport or multi-sport talent, predictors of talent depending on weight and height, endurance and psychological factors, which include intelligence, decision making and sk ills. 2) The management should be able to choose a talent identification and talent development programme for football. 3) They should be able to identify the key factors in talent development in that particular sport. According to Hylton and Bramham (2007, pg 223), the LTAD model is a form of long-term scheduling of an athlete’s performance in sport. This model describes an athlete’s six-stage development, which includes fundamentals, learning to train, training to train, training to compete, training to win and active for life. Football as a sport Football (soccer) involves a multiplicity of skills, for instance, some are basic like running, others are goal oriented like scoring and while others are technical like passing, receiving and dribbling. In addition, characteristics of elite team players consist of different categories such as mental, technical, physical, tactical, and social factors. Mental category is associated with confidence, motivation, anxiety contro l, and concentration. Technical factors include skills such as passing, dribbling, receiving, and defending while physical qualities include flexibility, strength, power, and endurance. Moreover, tactical aspect usually includes pressurizing, creating space, and support, and finally, social factors include leadership and cohesion (Reilly, 1997, pg 201). Nevertheless, basic skills are assumed to be developed by a process of maturation, while the other skills have to be learned through practice or experience. In

QUANTITATIVE METHODS IN BUSINESS & MANAGEMENT Coursework - 1

QUANTITATIVE METHODS IN BUSINESS & MANAGEMENT - Coursework Example Wales had a small representation in the study with only 5 percent. The pie chart below further illustrates the representation by state. The age of the respondents is shown in the table above. The age ranges from 18 years to 97 years. There were those who also did not know their age were grouped as DK/Ref/NA/. The highest number of respondents was of the age 65-97 years. The age between 18-24 had 12.1 percent representation. The pie charts before shows the age representation of the respondents. The above table shows the marital status where most of the respondents are married or living as married with 62.3 percent. There were also another 21.2 percent of those who said they never been married. Widowed were 6.8 percent while those who were separated or divorced had 9.7 percent. The table above shows the views of the respondents on issues of Censorship of films and magazines is necessary to uphold moral standards. 17.8 percent and 43.2 percent of that respondents said they agree and strongly agree respectively. There were only 12.6 percent of the respondents who disagreed while 3.7 who strongly disagreed. There were 21.4 percent remained neutral while 1.3 percent did not answer. This question was about readership of the newspaper in UK, from the statically data above, most of the people in UK stay with paper with those with no paper being 60.4 percent. Tabloid has a readership of 25.9 percent; broadsheet had 13.1 percent while those who read other paper had 0.5 percent. This means that most of the people do not read newspapers. However, among those who read it go for tabloid compared to broadsheet. The above question wanted to know the opinion of people of UK what the government should do between spending and tax. Most of the people wanted the government to keep spending and taxes to be at the same level with 54.5 percent which is more than half of the respondents. There another group of people who felt that taxes and spending

Supervision & leadership skills Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Supervision & leadership skills - Essay Example A) According to Charles Handy and his "motivation calculus theory", successful performance of any organization is based on "needs", "results" and "effectiveness" (Handy, 1993). The study of motivation calculus is concerned, basically, with why people behave in a certain way. Applied to Apple Corporation, motivation calculus can be described as the direction and persistence of action. The "needs' include individual characteristics, internal and external environment, and influences. It is concerned with why people choose a particular course of action in preference to others, and why they continue with a chosen action, often over a long period, and in the face of difficulties and problems. This type of communication provides additional channels of communication and provides a means of motivation, for example, through status, social interaction, variety in routine jobs, and informal methods of work. According to Handy, results imply the role of additional efforts and outcomes. In Apple, additional efforts help the company to increase revenue through continuous optimization of production. Handy relates motivation to 'psychological' rewards such as the opportunity to use employees' ability, a sense of challenge and achievement, receiving appreciation, positive recognition, and being treated in a caring and considerate manner. The main problem in Apple is that employees and Executives have a completely different vision of company's culture and climate. Nevertheless, new direction proposed by John Scutley was aimed to shift organization from transition period to stability (Gibbs, Beer, 1991). The effectiveness means that the results are achieved. In order to be effective Apple tries to be responsive to external environmental influences. Apple operates within a dynamic environment and it requires a structure and culture that are sensitive and readily adaptable to change. Culture is a major factor in the appropriateness of management's methods of motivation. In addition to arrangements for the carrying out of organisational processes, management has a responsibility for creating a climate in which people are motivated to work willingly and effectively (Handy, 1993). John Adair developed an action-centered leadership approach which states that the effectiveness of the leader is dependent upon meeting three areas of need within the work group. The need to achieve the common task, the need for team maintenance, and the individual needs of group members (Robbins, 2004). The needs create three overlapping circles. Sculley tells that "We are trying to understand what works on a small scale that can work on a large scale. Mostly we have not succeeded here yet" (Gibbs, Beer, 1991). So, without an explicit statement of strategy it becomes more difficult for expanding organisations to reconcile co-ordinated action with entrepreneurial effort. In Apple, a sense of belonging to the organization is very important. It is built upon the loyalty essential to successful industrial relations. When Apple was a relatively small company, the sense of belonging was created by managers through ensuring that the workforce is: informed, involved, sharing in success. Hotlinks discussion showed that there was a great necessity to implement a change in order to increase "revenue goals". When changes were introduced, many employees felt that they: "are in a transition now, because we have lots of new people. Thus there is a need to balance structure with flat organization and

Peoples Republic of China Essay Example for Free

Peoples Republic of China Essay Different countries have different societal structures, cultural norms and ways of forming relationships. China has strong traditions and moral values, borne out of a long history. Food In China, food is an important part of life. The official Language of China is Mandarin. In the Chinese culture there are a vast of Morals and Values that range from humility to respect and are very important in the Chinese culture. There are two main religions in the Chinese culture. Taoism, also known as Daoism, is based on the teachings of the Tao Te Ching, which was written  in China in the 6th century BC. The emphasis is on finding spiritual harmony within the individual. Buddhism is the dominant religion in China. This began in India 2, 500 years ago and follows the teachings of the Buddha, The Enlightened One. In China, Mahayana Buddhism is particularly common. In this form of Buddhism the path to liberation involves religious ritual, meditation and devotion. The social structure of China is a hierarchical and formal social structure. For example, in the family, children are expected to respect their elders with the eldest  family member commanding the greatest respect In the Chinese culture family is defined as mother, father and children. When the female child marries she then is a member of her husband’s family and is no longer considered as a member of her family that she was born into. Therefore the family then consists of Mother, father, son and daughter n laws and children. The oldest male in the family has he most status. This person is considered to be the oldest and the wisest therefore has the most status. In the Chinese culture success is determined by purpose. The definition of purpose is the  reason for which something exists. Meaning, â€Å"Why are we here? † In the Chinese culture they strongly believe in a creator. The creator defines there purpose for them. Amy stated that â€Å"Every moment of every day, I live my life according to what I believe†. Every decision is based on a set of values that guides her in determining the direction she is to go. When asked if she considered her parent to be successful. Her response was yes. She feels as though her parent’s success is measured by what their purpose was. Her mother purpose was to be a house wife and  take care of the home and her father’s purpose was to work and to provide for the family. Education in the Chinese culture is very important. It starts when the child is very young and in the home. In China, parents are the first educators of their children. Therefore, family education is the most basic and important education model of their culture. Given the importance of family education, parents put more and more effort in educating their children and helping them grow as persons. Amy stated that her parent always demanded that she get good grades in school. She had to attend extra classes to help her achiever higher grades and she was continuously involved in numerous activities ranging from art, dance or musical classes. She stated that she didn’t have much of a say in choosing her classes or clubs that she was a member of. Her parents made all of these decisions for her. Chinese parents tend to care so much about their children’s studies that they don’t ask them to help in any other daily tasks. The primary requirement for children is to study hard, do well in exams and graduate from reputable universities so that they could have careers. The reason for this on one hand is children’s own good, as in a populated and highly competitive society like the Chinese, good academic scores can probably guarantee a bright future; on the other hand, it is a traditional value orientation that parents will be respected if their children have great achievements in society. Therefore, Chinese parents are willing to self-sacrifice and give up their own time, hobbies and interests in order to provide better conditions for their children. In the Chinese culture breakfat is the most important meal. Most Chinese persons start  there day out woth a bowl of Congee, which is like a watery rice that can be seasoned just to give it more flavor, it can be sweet or salty or even spicy and, sometimes, with vegetables, meat or mushrooms if the person chooses. Another typical food that the Chinese people eat for breakfast is Crullers, they call them also the â€Å"deep-fried-devils† and they are basically twisted strips of dough that been deeply fried in oil, they are very popular in the street stands. The Crullers always are eaten with congee. In China, food is an important part of life. Sharing a meal is the common way to socialize in the same way that We may go to a bar or pub for a drink. In the Chinese culture they have a strong waste not, want not . This means they can make a meal out of just about any combination with rice or noodles. In the Chinese culture ricer and noodles are like bread to our culture. It’s a common part of every meal. I asked Amy if racism existed in China and she told me no. I asked her ‘what do you think of black people’ or ‘what do you think of Japanese people’, and the answers that she gave me were very racist responses. In my opinion her responses showed me that racism against black people may be the strongest form of racism in China. I asked her how would her family react if she had of married a black man. She stated that she would probably get disowned. She said this is because most black people are known to have very little status or money unless they are basketball players or entertainers. Now the racism against Japanese People in China is just as bad. Some children in China are taught hate songs against Japanese people in elementary school – and history books in China that deal with Japan focus almost exclusively on the terrible things  Japan did around World War II, ignoring much of Japan’s recent history. This project opened my eyes to the differences among cultures. I didn’t truly understand why some of my coworkers that were Chinese acted the way that they did. For example; Amy would never give a direct answer especially of the answer was no. This was because in her culture it was not a common thing to say no, and when one did say no it meant that the relationship was now ended. She would always say, I’m not sure or maybe. This then protected her from having to end out working relationship. She also was not very affectionate. In her  culture displays of affection were seen as disrespectful. I can remember a time when we had got some great news within out department and she was sitting next to me. I immediately reached out and hugged her because she was the main person that worked on the project with me. I felt a little weird after the embrace because I felt as though I violated her space. But after doing this research on her culture I now understand why. I started out in this class not understanding what I would truly learn from this. But after the assignment I have learned how to effectively communicate with coworkers of the Chinese culture.

Customer service in Halifax Essay Example for Free

Customer service in Halifax Essay Customer service Customer service is any part of the service that customers receive from the staff of the business. It is also a way in which the organisation deals with its customers. Businesses need their customers to buy their products or use their services in order to survive and make a profit. The way that they treat their customers is therefore very important. Many businesses have a policy of customer service, which involves putting the customer first in all situations. Customer service involves: * Making sure the product range is available to the customer * Making sure the product is safe and reliable * Providing information about products and being able to give advice * Making sure the product range can be delivered if necessary * Providing credit facilities where appropriate * Providing after sales service guarantees It should be the aim of every business to provide the highest level of customer service. There are laws, which provide protection to customers buying products. Businesses should know what their obligations are under these laws.it will help them maintain a high level of customer service. Why customer service is important in Halifax Customer service is important to Halifax because it brings in profit (the more customers the more the profit). The customers provide income to Halifax. Halifax does so much advertising and looses money but because it provides good customer service, the money lost is replaced. Customers are also a source of market research information Customers ensure the survival of the business Because of good customer service, Halifax spends less effort dealing with customer complaints. Customers are relined and refrained in Halifax because they are treated well and are made to feel good and safe with their money and properties. Halifaxs image is improved This is because everyone knows that it provides good customer service. My friend told me how good Halifax is and I was attracted to go and open up an account with them the next day. I also told my boyfriend about it that also went and opened up an account with them. To build customer loyalty All Halifaxs customers are loyal to it and they keep on using more of its services. They enjoy them. Increase competition It is only natural that where there is an attractive market, competitors will seek to obtain profitable businesses. The newcomer may sometimes even have an advantage due to the fact that he may have benefited from the experience of the long established supplier. As the newcomers start from scratch, they can use the latest equipment, techniques and systems and can select staff to fit the image they wish to create. Good customer service also gives Halifax a competitive advantage over other banks or building societies. Better informed customers Customers know a great deal more about Halifaxs services than they used to, partly because of the competition and partly due to the extensive studies conducted by consumer groups, and Halifax staff. A great deal of information is also available over the Internet. The emphasis put into competitive advertisements also makes customers more aware of the aspects they should examine. Halifax is a very good example where public pressure has forced regulations ensuring fuller disclosure of costs and more realistic estimates of benefits. Product similarity From the customers point of view, who I interviewed, it is difficult to distinguish many of Halifaxs services from those of their competitors. They often use the same services perform the same tasks in a very similar way. As an example, I could look at the personal computer industry, where a large number of computers can utilise the same software programs. One of the few ways Halifax can differentiate thereselfs from there competitors is by means the image for customer care that they build up and the reputation for customer support that they have earned over time. Rinsing demand for improved support With the choice of supply sources now available to Halifax customers they know that they are in a buyers market and they are therefore demanding improved support from the Halifax they have selected. In general it has been shown that with a higher living standard, customers are willing to pay for improved support. For instance customers in the past may have been willing to wait for a week or two for a telephone to be installed whereas now they expect it to be done in as many days. Life cycle costs As many products are technically more soficicated, customers have become more dependent on the continuing support from Halifax to keep their services in operation. They are increasingly looking at the life time costs and Halifaxs ability to support their services efficiently throughout the life of that service. When a customer buys a car for instance, he will want to know how good the maintenance service is what the costs are likely to be the fuel consumption and the resale value after a certain number of years. Training the frontline This is important because it means good customer service in Halifax in a way that when all staff are trained, there will be good communication between the staff hence providing good customer service. Training helps Halifax maintain good service in different departments. For example technology, promotional, health and safety, money wise. Managers in Halifax identify training needs for internal customers and provide suitable training events. Halifax is aware that well trained internal customer service provides good external customer service. Identification of the situations that require staff to have contact with customers A customer is a person who requires a product in exchange for money or who uses a service. Staff can have contact with customers through so many ways these are: By phone This is normally used when one of them (customer/staff) needs to ask a question and get a quick response.because both the staff and customers cannot see each other, it is unable to observe the other persons body language. Though this happens, customers are not left waiting. The member of staff says what he is doing and how long he will be. The customer is always being informed of the actions taken. Music is often played to customers kept waiting in order to give them something to do, i.e. listen to music. The staff make sure they do everything they can to make the customer feel valued. Through letters This is used when a permanent record is needed. Eg.where a letter head showing the Halifax logo adds credibility to the company. Sentences are always kept short in the letters. The subject is always introduced at the beginning of the letter so that the customers know what the letter is about. Through Internet This is used when you can not get someone on the phone. The email is given an effective tittle, which makes the reader want to open it. They are not typed in capitals because the reader may think that the member of staff is shouting. Face to face This is done when the customer is on the premises. Usually when delivering bad or good news. Also when a permanent record is not required. Or when documents have to be handed in for opening new accounts. Through fax This is used when speed is required and the information is not confidential. This applies to letters. Staff always contact customers about: * Details about the new extra services introduced * Their bank accounts * Their mortgages * Their complaints * Opening bank accounts * Overdrafts * Foreign exchange purchase transfer * Withdrawal or payment * New service products etc Ways in which Halifax meets the needs of its customers Halifax is a successful firm because it identifies who its customers are and what their needs are quickly. Needs of internal customers Needs of external customers Sick pay To make a purchase Holidays Need to obtain information about a product Pension Company cars To make a complaint Staffs discount To maintain ethical standards Working conditions e.g. Safe environment Specials needs like the deaf, blind, old, physically handicapped, or with children. Job security Food Decent wages or salary. Christmas presents and bonus/ end year party Staff facilities e.g. room, gyms, toilets. Training. Training of internal customers in all aspects of their jobs ensures that external customer needs are catered for, whereas good staff relations or industrial relations, effective communication and good company policies ensures the satisfaction of internal customer needs. Internal customers These are members of staff who rely on other members of staff to help them do their jobs properly. In Halifax, internal customers feedback is included in performance reviews. Halifax is now making input a formal part of a 360-degree feedback process, in which employees, peers and the manager all evaluate the performance of managers. In addition. Halifax talks to its internal customers during meetings and asks them about their needs and finds out how it can serve them better. Always giving you extra as long as the employees do it for their customers, theyll do it for the employees. Theyre looking to develop the best motivated and best rewarded team in the business, so the employees should expect plenty. Training, sales support, personal development, opportunity, great incentives you name it, Halifax goes that extra mile to make sure the employees have everything they need for a rewarding career. And that, of course, includes a benefits package they find hard to beat by anyone, anywhere. It covers everything theyd expect (good salary, generous holidays) and plenty that they wouldnt, such as bonuses and incentives, share schemes, discounted mortgages and plenty more all adding up to a total rewards package to match their total commitment. The following are part of Halifaxs human resource policies: Pay (plus bonuses) Generous Holiday Entitlement Shares Colleague Products Money Purchase Pension Life Assurance Flexible Working Flexible Benefits Recognition Our commitment Support when it counts Academy Pay (plus bonuses) Halifax starts by giving employees a highly attractive basic salary. They have bands, but theres a lot of flexibility. So theyll take into account the nature of the role, as well as the employees skills and experience. On top of this, everyone has the chance to earn more by putting in extra. So employees can earn a bonus for individual, team and company performance. Reach or exceed the employees targets for example, and the employees can expect to receive between 10% and 30% of salary extra! Nice. Generous Holiday Entitlement The employees receive between 22 and 30 days paid holiday a year, depending on their role and length of service. Shares Halifax group wants employees to share in their success (they like smiling people). They wont go into detail here, but there are various schemes where employees receive either shares or share options. Its hugely popular. Largely because it can be hugely profitable for Halifaxs colleagues. Colleague Products Halifax is the UKs number one for savings and mortgages, and have plenty of other products too, such as insurance and healthcare. All of which are available to employees at attractive, discounted rates. External customers These are individuals and business customers who buy or use the goods and services provided by an organisation. With staff who can speak a wider range of languages, Halifax and customer service has improved. They monitor holiday costs constantly to give customers a better deal. Plus, they can give customers a guaranteed minimum 5% discount on a wide range of brochure-priced holidays and charter flights! Halifax also meets its customers needs by giving eye contact, explaining transferred telephone calls to customers and colleagues, being genuine and sincere, knowing about their products or services, knowing about its policies, treating customers as individuals, and minimising queuing times. Home delivery For home delivery, orders placed in a branch or over the phone before 2.30pm Monday to Friday are usually delivered to the customers home address by 12 noon the next bank working day (excluding Saturdays). Orders placed on Saturday or Sunday are usually delivered by 12 noon the following Tuesday. All home deliveries are by Royal Mail Special Delivery. There is a charge of à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½5 for all home deliveries. Home delivery is not available for orders placed online. Always giving extra to customers with particular needs Halifax group is committed to providing all their customers with excellent service, whatever type of relationship they have with them. They do their outmost to help all customers with special needs. Their cash machines are generally installed at a lower level to make them easier to reach, and the newer machines have been adapted for the visually impaired to use. Halifax has around 800 branches in the UK, most, of which are open plan to make it easier for customers to find their way around. The majority have a reception desk, with seating provided. And their staff are always on hand to discuss specific needs or answer queries. Wheelchair users Getting in and out of Halifaxs branches is usually easy, with level or ramped access from pavements. And, wherever possible, doors are automatic. Call Assistance At some branches steps are unavoidable, so a Call Assistance bell system was installed, so that a member of staff can be called. Servicecall Some branches are fitted with the Servicecall system, so that customers with a Servicecall transmitter can alert staff of their arrival. Lifts Where branches have split-level banking halls, Halifax provides internal ramps or wheelchair lifts. Low-level counters and counter queuing rails Lower level writing surfaces are increasingly being provided at the counter. All branches have counter queuing rails, often with lower level writing surfaces. Other banking options To help make it easier for all their customers to manage their finances at their convenience, they offer a number ways to access Halifax as well as via other large network of branches across the country: Online Customers can apply for a Halifax Current Account online. Then once it is registered for telephone banking they can do their banking online via Halifaxs website 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Click www.halifax.co.uk for more details. They also offer a Share Dealing service online, and applications for other products such as Personal Loans, Credit Cards and Travel Insurance can be made via the web site. Telephone Halifax Direct is a 24-hour telephone Current Account service. Customers can use it for everything from checking their balance and ordering a statement to arranging an overdraft. Arrangements can also be made for customers to pay bills and transfer money to other Halifax accounts. All Halifax customers can telephone Halifax direct for other services, for example a Personal Loan or travel money. Customers who are hearing impaired, can contact Halifax Direct using textphone on 0845 732 3436 Contact Halifax They have undertaken an extensive disability awareness programme to help staff overcome the barriers which people who have a disability face. To help them continually improve their services, if you would like to make any comments about their site or the services they offer customers with disabilities, they request the customers to use this form. Philomena Gray, Disability Manager by e-mail: JayneO[emailprotected] or at:Halifax plc Trinity Road HALIFAX West Yorkshire HX1 2RG How Halifax deals with customers complaints Once Halifax is prepared for any potential problem a customer may have brought to them, their next step is to use the companys complaint system the company has in place for dealing with complaints. Halifax deals with complaints in many different ways. This can be done through: 1. The telephone 2. Face to face 3. In writing: typical written communications involve providing information on the services provided, prices of mortgages, statements of accounts and safety procedures. Because Halifax actively seeks and encourages complaints, they are able to understand and meet the needs of their customers. If a customer is dissatisfied and is unable to express that dissatisfaction, Halifax will never see that customer return. What is worse, the customer may also persuade potential customers not to stop within Halifax too. Customers with bad experiences were twice as likely to tell others about it as those with a positive story to recount. Customer complaints are viewed as opportunities to improve a service offered rather than problems ignored. The causes of the complaints are dealt with the and lessons learnt. Customers making complaints are seen as contributors to the process of improving customer services rather than awkward individuals who enjoy making life difficult for staff. By respecting customers and treating them accordingly Halifax is able to monitor and improve the quality of service offered. Many products arise because the law has been broken. There is a large number of laws that try to protect the customers. Halifax tries not to break the laws. The major consumers laws include; The descriptions Act 1978, which makes it illegal for Halifax as a business to give misleading descriptions of their services and products. The consumer safety Act 1978, which make sit illegal to sell goods, which may be harmful to customers. The consumer protection Act 1987, which makes it illegal, amongst other things, for a business to claim that its prices have been reduced when they have not. It also makes suppliers responsible for any injury that results from defective goods. The consumer credit Act 1974, which requires Halifax to have a specific licence because it offers credit otherwise they will be committing an offence. If the law has been broken, customers can take Halifax to court. This may cause the business money and give it a bad reputation. That is why they make sure that they do not break the law. Halifax also makes it certain that customers are happy with the services they provide. Details of all customers complaints are recorded. This is done so that there is a record of what action was taken in case the customer wishes to take the complaint further. Recording the data also allows staff and management to use it for capturing customer details. The nature of complaint and the service involved is recorded and quite often the name and address of the person complaining is recorded. Halifax has a special service desk for dealing with customer complaints, and also specially trained staff. When customers approach with a complaint Halifax staff make sure they: * Listen to them carefully * Reassure them that their complaint is being taken seriously * Decide on an appropriate action * Apologise if the business is responsible * Record the details of the complaint * Record the action taken Checking that customers complaint is valid Halifax wont take customers complaint seriously if its something, which is not their fault. For example, if your current account has no overdraft facility but you regularly overdraw the account, you cant really complain if Halifax charges you for doing so. If, however, charges on your account push the balance into the red, it should not charge you for being overdrawn. Halifax deals with complaints about something in relation to: * Customer expectations not met * Late delivery * Incorrect information * Waiting/queuing times * Attitude of staff * Faulty service products * Statement errors What happens next? If a customer complaint is something Halifax has the power to deal with, they will usually start by seeing if they can help the customer to resolve matters in an informal way. One of their staff (usually called a caseworker) will take a fresh look at the facts and let the customer know how they think the customer could reach the agreement. This approach is often called mediation. If a customer has a problem, Halifax can always help They aim to offer customers the best possible service, but there may be occasions when customers feel they have cause for complaint. If so, Halifax will always try to resolve the problem quickly and to your satisfaction. If the customer is unhappy with their response, he/she can take his complaint further through their complaints procedure outlined below. Following Halifaxs complaints procedure does not affect a customers legal rights. 1. Where the customer first makes his complaint Halifax aims to resolve customers concerns within 24 hours. Sometimes it may take longer to look into the matter fully. If this happens, they will let the customer know within five working days who will reply. The people a customer first raise the matter with are often able to help, but there may be occasions when a specialist area needs to be involved. If the customer doesnt know who to contact, they can: * Call Customer Relations on 08457 25 35 19 * Textphone Customer Relations on 08456 00 17 50 (if you have a hearing impairment) * Write to them at: Halifax plc Halifax Customer Relations Trinity Road Halifax HX1 2RG They will then arrange for the right person to look into and respond to the customers concerns. 2. Customer Relations In the unlikely event that the customer remains unhappy, he /she can ask for his complaint to be referred to a Customer Relations manager for further review. If the customer is still not satisfied he can, at this stage, ask the Financial Ombudsman Service to help, or for service-related complaints about Halifax Estate Agencies Limited, the Ombudsman for Estate Agents The Halifax supports fully and is a member of both the Ombudsmen Schemes. These are impartial and conduct independent investigations. Ombudsmen addresses For most complaints about Halifax products and services customers can contact: The Financial Ombudsman Service South Quay Plaza 183 Marsh Wall London E14 9SR Phone: 08450 80 18 00 email: [emailprotected] Website: www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk For complaints about Halifax Estate Agencies Limited: The Ombudsman for Estate Agents Beckett House 4 Bridge Street SALISBURY SP1 2LX Phone: 01722 33 33 06 email: [emailprotected] Website: www.oea.co.uk Types of customer records Halifax uses Market research The final method of monitoring customer service satisfaction is through market research. Market research is a formalised method of obtained feedback and information from customers or potential customers about services that are available or soon to be made available. In Halifax, obtaining feedback from customers is essential in learning how to improve the service offered. The process helps Halifax to understand: * The nature of the service from the point of view of the customer. * What the customers are wanting. * What the customer thinks of the organisation. * What will make the customer feel valued? * What sort of initiatives the customers would appreciate. Halifax is able to show that business decisions are supported by information and evidence gained through research. Therefore through market research, Halifax is able to identify customers opinions about: * Interest rates charged. * New and existing services. * After sales service. * The quality of customer care provided by Halifax. Business decisions about these issues can then be made based upon the results of the research. Halifax sends out customer service questioners to 200,000 customers every six months, asking for their opinions on their branch. In addition, mystery shoppers posing as potential customers visit and phone the branches to ask for advice. Each quarter, every branch in Halifax network receives two visits and two phone calls from the mystery shopper, who then fills in the research form and marks the branch on factors such as courtesy, speed, and phone handling techniques. All the results are included into a customer service index for each Branch. The findings are also published internally or all to see, with awards for those branches with the best achievements. The market research I undertook about Halifax provided some interesting results. I decided to measure how much customer satisfaction dictated future buying intentions. The research divided the customers into one of three groups: * Those with problem that had been resolved * Those with a problem that had been recently dealt with * Those whose experience of the bank had only been positive As was predictable, the customers who remained dissatisfied were the ones least likely to buy any more of the building societys services. However, surprisingly, those customers whose problem had been dealt with quickly and efficiently were more likely to use Halifaxs services again in the future than customers who had never experienced a problem. 80% of the customers were happy and 20% were not happy. Among the unhappy customers some of them did not visit the branches often nor use Halifaxs machines. Customers responded positively to open, polite and helpful advice provided by Halifax, even if the outcome was not what the customer was seeking, e.g. applying bank charges. Findings similar to Halifax have emerged from other customer attitude surveys undertaken across a range of businesses. The results of my surveys indicate that by keeping the customers happy, the organisations will retain existing business and will increase future revenue from existing customers. It is essential that a manager act upon any feedback gained through market research. Customers who provide feedback through market research are usually given recognition by Halifax. I also found out that when Halifax do their market research through the surveys, they thank their customers for their time and effort. This is in the form of a card, letter, or telephone call. A number of methods are used by Halifax to find out what the customer thinks of and wants from the service. These include: * Postal questioners. * Personal interviews. * Telephone interviews. * Consumer panels. * Customer feedback forms. Complaints records In Halifax, recording customer complaints and implementing changes to ensure that the customer is not dissatisfied for the same reason again are ways to monitor customer satisfaction. Customers are provided with a system where they feel comfortable about recording a complaint. Only by doing so can Halifax ensure that they are fully meeting the needs of all their customers. When Halifax is dealing with customer complaints, they normally take the customers details. This normally helps them to be able to contact the customer when necessary and to know who they are dealing with. Customer Surveys Customer surveys are used to get inside the customers mind and learn what they are thinking about Halifax. Surveys can determine customer satisfaction, complaints, compliments and questions. Halifax likes to know what their customers are thinking because it helps them improve or tailor their services. Feedback can be a great source of information. Customer surveys can sometimes be a core competency of Halifax. Surveys can be administered online, in person or even via phone. Surveys should be constructed to pull the most valuable data from employees so that Halifax can later use that data for the betterment of the company. Savings and Debit cards When opening up savings or bank accounts, the staff records your personal details and keep them for further reference. At times this is used to contact customers to participate in surveys, to take advantage of new offers, etc. Internal Complaints When the employees make a complaint, Halifax also takes down their comments and again their details. Personnel records The personnel department keeps records of all employees on the payroll. This includes personal information (name, date of birth, address) as well as details of rates of pay, tax, and national insurance number. The records are confidential and should not be accessible to unauthorised personnel. These records are taken during recruitment. Recruiting When recruiting, managers take employees details for further reference. This helps them to know how much they deserve to be paid to know their retirement age, etc, which can be utilised by the firm to provide good internal customer service. The customer service provided in Halifax and improvements In Halifax, The desire to improve and be the best helps motivate staff by providing them with a challenge. It gives employees the opportunity to suggest ideas, use their initiative and participate in the development of the organisation. Excellent customer service provides a focus for all staff to work towards and results in increased job satisfaction for the employees, as well as increased customer satisfaction. Excellent standards in Halifaxs customer service can only be achieved by having a system that enables them to constantly review and improve the service offered. What is an acceptable standard for a customer today will not necessarily be an acceptable standard tomorrow. Constant improvement is essential. Because Halifax is an organisation seeking to improve the quality of customer service offered, it set quality service standards, which are: * Clearly explained * Realistic for employees * Easily measured Having clearly defined standards and a process to monitor those standards gives employees a goal to work towards. 1. Providing information Staff in Halifax provides customers with information, by letting them know what the business has to offer. The information provided is mostly through leaflets and focuses on: *Lost or stolen cards. * Mortgages * Bank Accounts *Loans * Savings and investments *Insurance * Share dealing. The problem to some members of staff is that they provide wrong information to customers. This happens when they are not sure of the answers to the questions being asked by the customers. Halifax improves this by re-training the staff who have the duty of dealing with customer enquiries. They also provide leaflets containing information of the services they offer. 2. Giving advice Customers often expect advice about the services they know little about Halifax. This is likely to happen with mortgages. When people want to open up accounts from Halifax they expect to receive clear instructions and advice on how to use and maintain them. When a business or an individual goes to the bank, they expect that the staff will know a great deal about banking and that sound advice will be given. But in some cases it does not happen. This is because the member of staff gives wrong advice about the service provided and sometimes it leads to the customer changing him/her mind about opening up an account with Halifax. For example when I wanted to open up an account with Halifax, I was told to bring both my parents passports back with me. I was really shocked by that and was wondering why every Bank does not ask for that. Anyway I suddenly gave up because the passports where with the home office. After three months, I called Halifaxs head office to ask them why I needed my parents passports to open up an account yet I had my own passport. The lady on the phone said that it is not right and I should go back to them and tell them that. I spoke to the manager and she said that it is all right for me to use my own passport since I am seventeen. This is why Halifax should train the members of staff going to give customers advice and ensure that they have good knowledge of the service product and procedures. Halifax gives advice on What is the suitable account, loan or action? What is the best mortgage? What is the cheapest way to pay for mortgage? How to use the accounts and cards. How to store and look after the cards. 3. Tailoring the service to what the customer wants Halifaxs staff ensure that customers get what they really want and are satisfied with the services. They know that is what will make them come back again. So staff work out very carefully what customers want and need. They know that customers want to be served quickly and efficiently but sometimes the queue is too long because some tills are not utilised. This really annoys the customers and makes them to leave and maybe pay the money to another account they have in a different bank. Halifax should improve this by letting another member of staff cover for the other if they have gone for their breaks and by making sure that any member of staff who is off sick is covered by using staff who do shift work. 4. Providing credit facilities Halifax accepts payment in a variety of ways for example cheques, cash, account transfers. This makes payment more convenient for customers. In the 1990s, Halifax has been facing a great deal of competition and one way of attracting customers is to offer better credit packages than competitors. Actual details of credit terms have therefore become highly variable and now Halifax is trying so hard to provide the best deal. Halifax is required by law to publish the APR and this does allow some basis for comparison. APR (Annual percentage rate of interest). This shows the actual rate of interest that borrowers must pay on average over the full period of the loan. But in some cases, some customers do not receive their interests which cause complaints and this results to the business loosing customers if the others hear about ones complaint. This is normally caused by errors on the computers, which they use to automatically offer interest to an account according to its type. So to improve this problem, Halifax management and staff should make sure that the machines are checked regularly to prevent unnecessary errors like that. 5. Credit They also offer credit cards to allow customers to buy goods and services and pay for them when they receive their statements from them, usually at the end of the month. When a customer uses a credit card to pay for an item the shop demands its claim for payment back to the Halifax that then pays the shop. Because Halifax must wait for payment from the customer, they usually charge the shop for the right to let customers use the credit card. This explains why the major supermarkets and a growing number of major stores are now offering their own credit cards. For some credit cards, a high rate is charged which makes Halifax lose its customers. They have improved this by putting the rates at a lower charge in order to attract more customers. 6. Administration This is the management of services that help to support the smooth running of department. Every department in Halifax carries it out. These general administration functions might include; 7. Reception This includes greeting people visiting a specific branch, dealing with their enquiries, and taking outside phone calls and connecting customers to right departments. It is also known as the customer service department. When customers come in the branch to make enquiries, in most circumstances there is a long queue. This really annoys customers in that they will complain and give pressure to the member of staff attending to them which will lead to her making mistakes and giving wrong or incomplete information to the customer she is serving. This can be improved by letting the members of staff who are available (not doing any work at that moment) to help out on the reception. This helps Halifax to deal with customers courteously and promptly. 8. Security Ensuring the security of the building property and staff. If there is no security in Halifax, peoples money will not be safe hence loosing customers because all they want is security and trust from the building society. To improve this, CCTVs are installed in the building to keep track of all that is going on in the premises. Most people who come into the Halifax and find it untidy and dirty get the wrong impression and neglect opening up accounts with them. This has been improved by arranging for outside contractors to clean the building, and cater for staff. The clerical work of making records managing records, filling, photocopying. Organising meetings, keeping minutes. Ensuring that internal communications (within the department) operate smoothing. Ensuring the department staffs arrive on time, have the facilities they need and have been paid. Each department will operate in a slightly different way, so it is highly that different departments will have some administrative tasks that are unique to that department, e.g. The human resources department will have to ensure that it has a complete and accurate database of all employees, with contact addresses and telephone numbers. 9. Providing an efficient service This is done when keeping appointments, Replying to enquiries within the shortest time possible, Fast, efficient and friendly service, helping and assisting the customer, answering all telephone calls within five seconds and following the basic principles when communicating with customers on the telephone. Sometimes all this is not done by the employees. They become rude to the customers and act like they have been forced to do their work. They do this by being very slow when serving on the checkouts and not speaking loudly and clearly on the phone. 10. Ensuring that replies to requests for information are with the customer within a reasonable period of time e.g. three days. Documentation is always up to date and accurate. Letters are addressed personally, well typed and without spelling errors. 11. Dealing with customer complaints Sometimes customers complaints are ignored or forgotten about because the member of staff has too much work to do which makes the customers loose interest in Halifax. This can be improved by setting up a Procedure for dealing with customer complaints and problems and since sometimes the procedure is not followed, they should improve this more by establishing a customer service department in each store, appointing a member of staff to be in charge of customer services, Communicating effectively with customers and ensuring that customer complaints are dealt with to the satisfaction of the customer. 12. Reliable systems, facilities and procedures Sometimes when customers come into a Halifax branch to open up an account, they find that the phone or computer does not work. This annoys them and either walk out or complain to the staff, which will disorganise the other services. That is if the customer makes a scene. This is improved up setting up quick and efficient technology with good backup, making sure that customer facilities are kept in good working order, by understanding of procedures by all employees The financial sector is a fast moving and rapidly changing environment. Many of these organisations rely on call centres to handle the huge numbers of enquiries received. Unfortunately high staff turnover is a major problem within many branches, so recruitment of the right candidates as quickly as possible is essential. Recognising the need to make quick recruitment decisions, that are valid, objective and more cost effective, Halifax Plc developed a new recruitment process, which met their criteria. Some years ago the Halifax implemented a competency-based application form, using job relevant competencies that are scored through a standardised procedure, and found they could make initial selection decisions quickly, confidently and objectively. For this project the Halifax saw the need to review their competencies in the light of organisational changes. They reviewed their initial selection process, to ensure that the competencies to be used were still appropriate given organisational changes, and the increased organisational emphasis was on business related competencies. The first stage involved reviewing a number of job roles to identify the key job tasks. The results from this early stage were used to develop a telephone checklist. The checklist is used as an initial sifting mechanism, aimed at ensuring that applicants are aware of job demands before they are sent the application form, thus reducing the administrative burden. Before the final structured application form was written a concurrent validation was conducted on a trial group of current job incumbents to identify the key competencies. It was found that specific competencies from the application form correlated highly with managers ratings of performance, additionally these competencies also correlated highly with the Customer Contact ability test scores of job incumbents. This suggested that people with higher scores on the competency based questionnaire and the ability tests are far more likely to perform better in the job than those applicants who perform poorly on the competency based application form. The Halifax is just one example of where Structured Application Forms have been used successfully. 12. Employee feedback system An employee feedback system is a structured approach to recording employees views and suggestions about the service provided and ways in which to improve that service. In Halifax, employees deal with the customers daily and therefore are able to provide useful advice and information to the employer about the views of customers and whether the service provided meets the needs of the customers. Very often, the employees can make valuable suggestions about how to improve the quality of service offered. 14. Quality review system This is a structured system in Halifax that enables an employer to determine the quality of service being offered to customers and the response of customers to that service. A check sheet or rating form can be used to identify the key areas to be audited. The manager will use the form to review at regular intervals the standard of service provided and customers responses against the criteria. An employer quality review system involves the manager being out where the customers are and seeing the activities taking place. The system involves the manager observing, examining and evaluating the quality of service offered by different employees in different sections or departments. The manager also listens carefully to customers questions, because the issues raised forms part of the evaluation of customer service. A description of any legal constraints affecting the customer service situation There are five main Acts of parliament Halifax knows and they understand the rights they should give to buyers. Most of these Acts are joined towards firms that sell products rather than service products. The sale of goods Act 1979 and 1995 One of the most important Acts today is the sale of goods Act 1979. It covers the fundamental requirements of purchasers, i.e. that goods must be: * As described which means that they should conform their description for example water proof must mean that the items do not leak. * Of satisfactory quality in relation to the price paid, the description, age of the item. * Fit for the purpose for which they are intended which means that goods must carry out the purpose they are made for, i.e. a pen must make a clear legible mark. * The goods must be for a specific purpose the buyer has made clear to the seller at the time of the sale. The supply of goods and services Act 1982 The service standards are affected by this Act. It states that all services should be carried out: * For a reasonable charge * Within a reasonable time * With reasonable care and skill * Using satisfactory materials The consumer protection Act 1987 This Act relates to price and safety. The consumer protection Act is enforced by Trading Standards Officers. It is also an offence not to cooperate with Trading Standards Officers during any investigation. Under the Act it is an offence: * To mislead consumers as to the price of goods, services, accommodation or facilities (e.g. by missing out the VAT when quoting the price) * To mislead consumers over sale prices and claim exaggerated price reductions * To supply goods which are not reasonably safe. The trade description Act 1968 This Act is designed to prevent the false or misleading description of goods, e.g.: * Selling goods, which are wrongly described by the manufacturer. * Implied descriptions, e.g. a picture on a box, which gives a false impression. * Other aspects of the goods, including quantity, size, composition, method of manufacture etc. Usually the spoken word of the seller overrides the written description of the goods as the buyer can rely on the expertise of the salesperson. However, this is obviously harder to prove if there is dispute. The consumer credit Act 1974 This is more applicable to Halifax and requires all businesses, which offer credit to have a specific licence otherwise they will be committing an offence. The Act provides for: * Customers who sign credit agreement in their own home to be allowed a cooling off period of five days. During this period the customer can change her mind or cancel the agreement without any penalties. * Customers to demand within 28 days that retailers provide details of the name and address of any credit reference agencies, which have been used to ascertain their credit worthiness. It is an offence for a retailer not to do this. * The credit reference agency to provide full details to the customer if the request is made in writing, and small administration fee is paid. Any incorrect information must be corrected if further information is provided by the customer. * Advertisements offering credit must include the title charge for credit and the APR (annual percentage rate of charge). The Act also restricts the way in which advertisements are worded and the prominence of financial information relating to charges. * Sellers must provide written details of credit terms if requested by the customer in writing or orally, either in person or on the telephone, unless such a quotation has already been provided. The Health and Safety at Work Act 1978 Not only do employees have a right to expect employers to provide a safe, working environment, they also have a responsibility to ensure the Health and Safety for existing and potential customers. The Health and Safety at Work Act requires employees to: * Take reasonable care for the Health and Safety of themselves and others who may be affected by what they do and what they fail to do. * Cooperate with employers in fulfilling their duties for Health and Safety. Employees who fail to comply with health and safety regulations may be prosecuted. The requirements basically mean that employees must not act recklessly at work. They must follow safety procedures. They must take reasonable care in carrying out their duties and employers should fulfil their obligation as prescribed in the Health and Safety at Work Act. The sex discrimination Act 1975 This Act makes it illegal for anyone to be discriminated against on grounds of gender either directly or indirectly. Even if this is done unintentionally, the organisation is still guilty. So Halifax has to comply with the provisions of this Act. Race relations Act The race relation Act is very similar to the sex discrimination Act. It makes it illegal to discriminate in the work place on the grounds of race, colour, nationality or ethnic origin. Disability discrimination Act Under this Act it is illegal to discriminate against a disabled person in the recruitment and selection process, the contract of employment and the conditions of pay, provisions of training and promotion opportunities, treatment with the workplace. Halifax is expected by law to comply with the provisions of the various Acts. The Health and safety Act 1978 affects both the internal and external customers. Implications of not complying with the provisions of the consumer laws or legal requirement are: * Costs: legal costs of going to court and compensation. * Bad reputation: Negative / Bad publicity hence loss of customers leading to the company collapsing. The roles of the employees in providing good customer service Internal customers Halifax has so many different branches throughout the UK. All of these are internal customers to the regional or head office. Staff working for Halifax are the internal customers. Managers in Halifax want to get the most out of your employees. Generally, the better their employees perform the better their department or company will do. Recruiting the right people Recruiting the right staff is a crucial component of creating the workforce profile Halifax needs to achieve its organisational objectives and they take careful planning and consideration to recruit successfully. While Halifax wants staff who can do the job theyre offering and who are interested in it, the crucial factor in choosing the right team is personality. The managers can teach them the job, but they cant teach them how to be the right person! Because managers are responsible for recruitment and selection decisions in Halifax, they are aware that hiring or losing staff can be costly, especially if they get it wrong. Smart appearance of all staff Customers will often assess the quality of Halifax by the appearance of the staff. This has been improved by providing them with uniforms which all of them have to wear and this helps the customers to recognise the members of staff easily. Politeness When employees understand and feel a part of the larger picture they provide better customer service because they feel better about their roles and understand the critical nature of their jobs to the overall success of Halifax. A positive and helpful attitude goes a long way toward having satisfied customers, and is important for a positive environment with co-workers. Employees in Halifax know that they should always be polite to customers and be very helpful. Arriving at work on time Employees make sure that they arrive at work on time because they know that if this is not done, they will lose customers hence loosing profits for they company. When they arrive on time, the branch is also opened on time. Teamwork Teamwork is an important part of building a quality Halifax. Having Halifax work like a team involves getting all of the team members to work together towards one common goal. Teamwork through employee training programs can help Halifax team achieve that goal. Teamwork helps the staff first identify the goal it is working towards, whether thats increasing sales or improving customer service. Once the goals are identified, then they can work on whatever issues may be currently preventing them from achieving those goals. After those issues are addressed, the employees can more effectively work together as a team. Team works can build communication skills and employee motivation. Both of these items contribute to a more successful team and organisation. A successful organisation means more profits, happier employees, and fewer turnovers. The results from a team building exercise can actually help Halifax perform better as a whole. Halifax can benefit by taking time and resources to help their employees achieve their goals by putting them in training program and giving them skills they didnt know they needed. Teamwork is part of an employee development program that can really benefit Halifax. Health and Safety Health and Safety policies are integral in Halifax business operation. They ensure that the law making employers responsible for the health, safety and welfare of all employees at work is followed. They also help employees to understand and accept their responsibility for their personal behaviour at work as it affects their own, and others health and safety. Good Health and Safety procedures ultimately save money and prevent lost time through injury and illness. Because Halifax has more than five employees, they have a written Health and Safety Policy and bring a published Statement to all employees attention. Employees are informed that behaviour against the Health and Safety policy is a disciplinary offence. Part of the Health and Safety procedure is to notify the appropriate enforcing authority for registration, at least one month before servicing starts. Authorities are: * Health and Safety Executive This body, besides providing information for businesses, ensure that Halifax meets the regulated standards for: * Escape routes * Storage of materials * Ventilation * Lighting * Hygiene Carrying out their duties All employees make sure that they carry out their specific duties. Managers should be able to carry out their duties by making sure that employees are happy. They can do this by: Motivation Halifax cannot succeed if their employees are motivated to do a good job. You can motivate employees in any type of work environment. Employee motivation is one of the many keys to Halifaxs success. Employee motivation can be achieved through a variety of ways. Employee training programs can be administered on a regular basis. Making an employee feel like they are an important part of Halifax also increases motivation. Appraisals In Halifax, members of staff are interviewed on a regular basis by their line manager and assessed on their performance. It is also an opportunity to discuss any problems and to determine any training and/ or training needs. Performance may be related to pay or bonuses. Care should be taken not present staff appraisal as a hostile or intimidating ordeal. Praise Managers make sure that they praise their staff when they have done well. This makes them happy and also do their job better because they know that their bosses appreciate. Training Managers in Halifax want to get the most out of your employees. Generally, the better their employees perform the better their department or company will do. In Halifax, it is not always possible to find someone who is perfectly suited to a job, with all the necessary skills and experience. They are likely to need some training. This is made even more likely by the fact that as working conditions change, due to new technology, reorganisation, expansion and so on, staff will need training to be able to meet the new challenges. Managers may also provide staff development to enable them to broaden their existing abilities and experiences and to help them achieve their potential for Halifax building society. Finally, motivated staff, teamwork, etc, ensures that employees are committed to their work. Commitment from and carrying out duties and responsibilities by all employees are the prerequisite for good customer service. Good customer service requires input from all employees, and not to be the duty of frontline staff alone.