Running Head: EMPLOYABILITY SKILLS

Unit 23: Employability Skills

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 Table of Contents
Employability Skills.................................................................................................................2

LO1: Be able to determine own responsibilities and performance........................................2

1.1, Developing set of own responsibilities and performance objectives..........................2

1.2, Evaluating own effectiveness in accordance of the developed performance

objectives...........................................................................................................................4

1.3, Recommendations for improvement...........................................................................4

1.4, Motivational techniques for improving the quality of performance...........................5

LO2: Be able to develop interpersonal and transferable skills..............................................7

2.1, Developing solutions to work-based problems...........................................................7

2.2, Variety of styles for communication at various levels...............................................8

2.3, Effective time management strategies........................................................................9

LO3: Understand the dynamics of working with others......................................................11

3.1, Roles played by people in the team for achieving their shared goals.......................11

3.2, Analyse team dynamics............................................................................................12

3.3, Alternative ways to attain team goals.......................................................................12

LO4: Be able to develop strategies for problem-solving.....................................................13

4.1, Evaluating tools and methods for developing solutions to the problem...................13

4.2, Appropriate strategy solving the problem................................................................13

4.3, Potential impact on the business of implementing the strategy................................15

References...............................................................................................................................16
 Employability Skills

LO1: Be able to determine own responsibilities and performance

1.1, Developing set of own responsibilities and performance objectives

Being an employee,the following are developed set of my duties in a health and social

care practice. Being a worker or an employee in the health and social care practices, certain

obligations are meant to be established by many different people. These responsibilities must

be (Klassen, and Vereecke, 2012. pp.103-115):

 Performing duties withby the standards set by OSHA and other safety

standards that are working in the hospitals.

 Complete understanding of health and safety practices in the organisation.

 Reporting any wrongdoing or any other hazardous activities that are

performedby the masses.

 Taking responsibilities of protecting own self from any related harm from

many different activities that are performed during work.

 Further, as an employee of the health and social care institute, I also have the

responsibilities to take care of other people around me which includes the

colleagues and other office members while they are effectively carrying their

duties. And,

 Maintaining the records for assignments and other activities that are

performed with and other people inside the organisations.

For every employee, the development of employee performance objectives is

necessary. This is because the developed performance objectives help the employees in
attaining the required working objectives. The performance objectives of the employees in

the health and social care settings can help them in working with the alignment of the

business strategy. It had been discussed that the performance objectives should be established

about the acronym of SMART. The S of SMART describes the specificity of the

performance objective. The M of the SMART characterises the measurability of the

performance of the employees' performance. The A of SMART describes the achievability of

the developed performance objectives. Moreover, R of SMART describes the reality of the

established performance objectives. T in SMART describes the time factor for the

performance objectives (Tofade, Khandoobhai, and Leadon, 2012. p.68).

Moreover, it had been discussed by different researchers that the development of the

performance objective for the current position in health and social care. These performance

objectives are based on the four primary factors of; knowledge of work, quality of work,

dependability, and initiative. The developed performance in the light of above-established

objectives is listed below.

 Working on an eight-hour shift for providing health and social care services

for many individuals who are coming in the institute during the shift time.

 Monitoring the mentor in work that can be useful in receiving the actual

training.

 The education is critical for improving the carrier, therefore, acquiring any

work-related knowledge in the first year of work.

 Developing a working strategy that can benefit the sales growth of 25% in

organisational services within a year duration of its management.

1.2, Evaluating own effectiveness in accordance of the developed performance objectives

The evaluation of self-developed performance objectives is easy because the

performance objective had been established after clearly understanding the work

responsibilities. The first performance objective is based on the schedule of work. That is, the

eight hours of work shift can help me in providing the efficient performance of my duties in

the health and social care sector. Moreover, the services provided in the health and social

care within eight hours. Further, the eight hours shift can be performed during any slot of

time for delivering the effective performance of duties. During that eight hour shift shown in

the health and social care sector, the employee can learn many different things through the

department heads while working through various departments. This can increase the

employee learning factors through different processes performed in the health and social care

institute (Tung, Baird, and Schoch, 2011. pp.1287-1310).

Further, the attained education and skills through the BTEC level 5 learning will help

the employees in performing their business activities most effectively.Also, the developed

performance objective of achieving the additional knowledge that can help in enhancing the

career. Further, the developing performance objectives can quickly assist in the attainment

and performing the assigned duties. All of the designed performance objectives can

efficiently assist me in achieving the assigned activities during employment. Still, there is a

room for improvement.

1.3, Recommendations for improvement

Even though we are performing the work withby the developed performance

objectives; yet, different things can be recommended for improving employment practices.
The first of the recommendation is in connection to determining the importance of working

in a team. The employees in the health and social care institute can quickly develop a team

that can help the number of patients in attaining the desired level of health. Another

recommendation for improvement in the performance objectives is to learn different new

techniques of working in the organisation. Moreover, the proposal for improving the

performance objectives is about understanding the roles assigned to various members who

are working for the betterment of different patients. The understanding of different functions

performed by different people in the health and social institute can help in understanding my

position in the organisation (Álvarez-Chávez et al., 2012. pp.47-56).

1.4, Motivational techniques for improving the quality of performance

The motivation of the employee holds signifying important because these are the employees

who have o serve the customers and hence their satisfaction and motivation is integral to the

organizational performance. Following are the key motivational tactics which could be

implemented.

1. Promotion of team based environment

2. Offering pay for performance reward

3. Offering work life balance

4. Promoting organizational effectiveness, values and ethics

5. Provision of support and offering opportunities of growth

6. Provision of feedback
When selecting the most adequate and suitable motivational strategy, it is important
for the management to review the motivational theories and identify their suitability
for the organizational culture so that optimal strategic outcomes could be gained.
Following is the list of motivational theories.

 Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

 Hawthorne Effect
 Hertzberg’s Two Factor Theory
 Three- Dimensional Theory of Attribution
 Expectancy Theory

Expectancy Theory-

Expectancy Theory is consisting of the following three elements

Expectancy
Instrumentality
Valence

According to this theory, an individual is likely to behave or act in specific way when
he//she will be motivated to select a behavior over the other behaviors based on the
individual’s expectation about the consequence of that behavior. In simple words,
this theory states that motivation behind behavior selection is determined by
desirability of its outcomes.

Hertzberg’s Theory

This theory of motivation is also referred to as the two factor theory of motivation and
these two factors are the motivators and hygiene factors. According to Hertzberg
there are some factors which contribute to stratification on the job whereas some
prevents the dissatisfaction. This Dual-Factor Theory is based on core concept that
the Motivator factors as well as Hygiene factors are equally important for impacting
the level of motivation and employees’ behavior.
Motivators are the factors that contribute to the job satisfaction and increase the
level of motivation of the employees to work harder. For example, the motivators
could include Recognition, sense of achievement, responsibility, meaningfulness of
work. On the other hand, the Hygiene Factors lead to prevention of dissatisfaction
and lack of motivation such as Salary, Benefits, company policies, physical work
conditions, status, interpersonal relations etc.

Extrinsic and intrinsic motivation

The theory of intrinsic an extrinsic motivation can also be applied. The extrinsic
motivation is the monetary rewards to boost the performance. On the other hand, the
intrinsic motivation is the non monetary rewards such as recognition, promotion,
awards, etc.
LO2: Be able to develop interpersonal and transferable skills

2.1, Developing solutions to work-based problems

A key workplace problem in today’s work place environments is the interpersonal conflict

which is almost inevitable due to the increased diversity of the staff. The employees are

belonging to different cultural backgrounds, due to which it is hard to develop coherence in

teams. In addition to this, the conflicts also occurring due to the difficulties in understanding

each others’ languages, and non verbal clues. In such problematic conditions, organizations

could use the cross cultural training programs to enable the employees to avail opportunities

of diversities instead of compromising the quality of performance.

Another major problem faced by the modern corporation is the dissatisfaction of the

employees. For responding to this problem, the best initiative is changing the leadership

strategy. The 21st century corporations have to follow the transformational leadership which

is based on ongoing monitoring, support and promotion of employees instead of using

transactional leadership to shape positive behaviours through punishment or reward.

2.2, Variety of styles for communication at various levels

Within any organisation, there are a variety of communication styles through which

active communication can be performed. Communication styles can be described as the

techniques that govern the basics of sharing ideas between the two or more persons. Within

the organisation, there are four basic styles of communication that are followed for making

effective communication among different levels of the organisation. The passive

communication style is also known as the indirect communication style. In the indirect or

passive method of discussion, the individuals make their communication withf the provided
facts. That is, the communication between shareholders and the management of the

organisation (Daim et al., 2012. pp.199-212).

In the aggressive or direct communication style, the individuals prefer to share the

information on a one-to-one basis that can lead to blaming, criticising, and praising each

other's work. This type of communication style is taken place among the top management

and working executives of the organisation. In the aggressive or open communication style,

the communication is performed most conveniently. This type of convenient talking is shown

between the members of the same working group for sharing their emotions and feeling

about the work. In last, the communication style that takes place in the various business

levels is said to be reserved communication style. In reserve communication style the two

persons who are communicating among themselves and not letting any other third party

interfere in the process of communication in any manner. The whole discussion is kepta

secret between the two parties who are making their contact (Daim, et al., 2012. pp.199-212).

2.3, Effective time management strategies

The process of effective time management refers to different approaches and skills

that are developed for helping every individual in performing his or her work entirely in a

limitedamount of time. Organisations and different individuals follow time management

practices for increasing their level of work efficiency. Various organisations, like the health

and social organisation of mine, do perform effective time management practices for

improving its productivity. These time management strategies are an organisation,

prioritisation, elimination, and monitoring (Wysocki, 2011).

 In the organisation strategy, it is said that effective time management practices are not

to be done when the effective organisation of events is not performed by the management of

the company. The process of organisation in time management helps the companies in

planning those activities which are needed to be completed. The planning process for the

events is performed by developing a to-do list. This to-do list helps the organisations and

many individuals in prioritising their work activities withby their priority. The prioritisation

of the organised working activities helps the managers in doing those activities that had great

importance. This prioritisation process in the time management is performed by numbering

the developed to-do list from one (01) to ten (10) where 01 is the highly prioritised activity.

This prioritisation strategy also leads the managers towards another approach of time

management, which is the elimination strategy (Williams, and French, 2011. pp.308-322).

In following the elimination strategy, the activities with less priority are eliminated

from performance, and the focus of the organisation is shifted towards that activity which is

greatly prioritised. Last but not least, the developed to-do list, after prioritising and

eliminating, is closely monitored by the organisational officials so any deviation can be

identified at the very same moment and can be rectified easily (Williams, and French, 2011.

pp.308-322).
LO3: Understand the dynamics of working with others.

3.1, Roles played by people in the team for achieving their shared goals.

For identifying the roles played by people in teams for achieving their shared goals,

Belbin had discovered nine different positions in his study. These roles were developed after

understanding the behavioural tendencies of the team members when they are working in a

team. He distributed these nine roles of people in the group into three main categories;action-

oriented roles, people-orientedroles and thought oriented functions. The action-orientedtasks

in the team are described as shaper, implementer, and completer. The people-oriented roles

includecoordinator, team worker, and resource investigator. The thought oriented functions

are categorised as a plant, monitor, and specialists’ role (Hu, and Liden, 2011. p.851).

The shaper role is for those people in the team who have a positive attitude when they

are faced with challenges. They had excellent communication skills that help them in

motivating other team members in solving their problems. The implementer role of people in

the teamassists them in enforcing the plans developed by the shaper role. The completers in

the group have an excellenteye for details in their assigned project. They want to complete

their project without any errors or mistakes. The co-ordinator role for people in the team are

the people who had excellent listening skills and they significantly delegate the work. The

team workers are all the team members who perform their duties a most effectively for

solving the teamwork. The resource investigator role helps the team in achieving their work

activities within provided resources. The monitor role in the group is for the people who are

critical thinkers. They usually critically analyse the situation in hand. The specialists’ people

in the team are those people who had a certain speciality of work among team members. The
plant's role in the teamis to bring different original approaches to the working of the group

(Gittell, Seidner, and Wimbush, 2010. pp.490-506).

3.2, Analyse team dynamics

The understanding of team dynamics holds substantial importance because it determines the

direction of teams and the behaviour or each team member. These can be referred to as the

invisible forces which operate between team members and have strong impact on how a team

behave and performs. Before reaching a well-performing team, each team passes through the

different team dynamic stages including forming, storming, norming and performing

explained below:

Forming

At this stage all team members are unaware of each other as well as the organization, there

are high uncertainties and some are anxious, whereas some are excited to perform.

Storming

At this stage, team members start pushing the boundaries and conflicts start to emerge

between the members due to their natural working styles. At this stage most of the teams fail

as the management fail to handle the conflicts.

Norming

At norming stage the employees start resolving their conflicts and differences, appreciate

each others’ skills and respect the authority of leadership. At this stage the group members

start understanding each other better and provide constructive feedback which improves

performance.

Performing
At this stage the team starts attaining the team goals and the leaders can easily delegate the

work a concentrate on developing all tem member. All team members start feeling easy about

being part of the team and those who leave do not disrupt the performance.

3.3, Alternative ways to attain team goals.

The primary thing behind establishing the team is to attain a specific goal the most

effectively. So, the primary way for achieving the team goal is to work together and reach

towards a particular result. An alternative method for a team to attain their goals is to

perform team activities in a work-specialisation manner. In a work-specialisation manner.

Each task of teamwork is assigned to the specialist member of that specific work within the

team.And he or she will complete the work on his or her specialised knowledge (De Jong,

and Elfring, 2010. pp.535-549).

LO4: Be able to develop strategies for problem-solving

4.1, Evaluating tools and methods for developing solutions to the problem

The basic method technique for solving the work-related problems in the decision-

making process that had been described by Stephen Robbins, and Mary Coulter in their book

of Principles of Management. Other than that process for problem-solving in the work-

related atmosphere, there are three different techniques of using different algorithms,

developing heuristics, and trial and error methods. Developing and implementing algorithms

in the solving problems is said to be a much-organised technique for solving the problem.The

algorithms are generally developed from the work standards, and they are developed for

solving any old problem (Öttinger, 2012). Using the heuristics is said to be another organised

technique for solving the problems. The developed heuristics can help businesses in solving

their business-related problems by learning and discovering many psychological solutions.

The drawback of the heuristics can be said as the fact that it is not helpful for solving

problems developed on a different pattern of work.The trial and error method is the most

complex and time-consuming solution for solving the problems experienced by the

organisation.Therefore it is not recommended for solving the problems experienced by

different organisations.

4.2, Appropriate strategy solving the problem

The most appropriate approach for solving problems in the organisations had been

described by Stephen Robbins and Mary Coulter in their book of Principles of Management.

The name of the plan is the decision making process. The decision-making process is based

on eight main steps (Robbins, and Coulter, 2011).

 Source: Robbins, and Coulter, 2011.

These eight steps are identifying a problem, identifying decision criteria, allocating

weights to the requirements, developing alternatives, analysing the other options, selecting

options, implementing the choice, and evaluating the decision effectiveness. The

identification of the problem is the initial step of problem-solving that identifies the intensity

of the problem. Now the opportunity of developing different alternatives that can help in

solving the issue. After forming the other options, align them withby their ability to resolve

the issue. Then decide the choice that is completely solving the problem. In last, the process
will evaluate the results gained from implementing their results (Robbins, and Coulter,

2011).

4.3, Potential impact on the business of implementing the strategy

The chosen decision making strategy is based on the eight steps including identification of a

problem, identification of decision criteria, allocation of weights to the requirements,

development of alternatives, analysis of the other options, selection of options,

implementation of the choice, and evaluation of the decision effectiveness. This decision

making strategy’s implementation is likely to have significantly positive implications of the

business. It is so because through adoption of a sequences approach to reach and respond to

the problem, the organization cannot only overcome the underlying problems, but can also

discover multiple other potential problems that it may have to encounter in the future and

stay proactive. In addition to this, such approach can help in preventing the omission of any

important information. The last step which is the evaluation of the decision effectiveness is

also likely to have positive implications as it can help in identifying the strengths and

awareness of the decision chosen which can influence the outcomes of the taken decision for

the organization and all of its import at stakeholders.

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