2019, 2 TO REVIEW

(a) The differences between the terms training and development are:

Training is where new employees are being taught new skills and knowledge that is

required for the job while development is where the senior employees are developing

their skills and knowledge to perform their job at a more efficient rate.

(b)(i) Recruitment – the h.r.d uses this function to find and hire the best and most qualified

candidates for the job/ task in a short period of time and while doing so there are five

stages that the recruitment plan has to follow; The Job Analysis, The Job Evaluation, The

Job description, The Job specification and The Job advertisement which would be used to

carry out this function.

(ii) Selection – this is where the h.r.d is picking individuals who have the required skills and

qualifications to perform the task/ job. This also helps the h.r.d to see the difference

between the qualified and unqualified applicants by applying different techniques.

(iii) Compensation – this is where the h.r.d is trying to develop a better pay structure that

would be better suited for the job offering. This is also where employees can receive

financial or non-financial compensation for the work that they performed. These

compensations may come in the form of wages and salaries, allowances, pension funds

and health insurance.

(c) Three ways in which an organization can benefit from on-the-job training.

1. New employees will be paired with an experienced worker that will act as their adviser

for them while they carry out the job/task and the new employees will learn skills just

like an ordinary employee.

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2. The new employees can understudy the more experienced employees in an attempt to

learn about the task being performed which will help them to develop new skills to

perform the task more efficiently.

3. The organisation can involve the new employees by transferring them to different

sections of the organisation in which can help them to learn the other parts of the job and

their responsibilities.

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2021, 2 (CXC)

(a) One way in which each of the following could help President King to increase student

numbers is:

(i) Strategic planning:

1. Gives direction to the operations of the College: Preparing a strategic plan will assist

President Janice King to create the path that the College needs to follow in order for it to

achieve the goal of increasing student numbers.

2. Helps the college to reduce operating expenses: Lower operating expenses will free up

resources to allow the college to spend more to improve quality systems for students.

Better quality systems will lead to improved student satisfaction. Satisfied students will

promote the College to their family and friends increasing student numbers.

3. Identify challenges to goal achievement: Strategic planning will assist President Janice

King to identify the challenges that could prevent her from achieving the goal of

increasing student numbers. With this information, she and the management of MB

College can develop strategies to overcome these challenges so that student numbers can

be increased.

4. Provides the basis for evaluating results: Use the pre-set goals as a measure of

determining the level of goal achievement over time. This would help with implementing

correctional (control) strategies for missed timelines. The management team can thereby

keep the College on track to achieving the targets.

(ii) Motivation:

1. Adopt a more participative management style: This will give workers a voice in the

decision making of the College. Motivated workers will likely provide better customer

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 service to students which will lead to customer satisfaction. Satisfied customers/students

will promote the college to family and friends and thus increasing student numbers.

2. Offer financial incentives to workers: This can be done based on their productivity.

Increased productivity can lead to increased profits. Increased profits can be used to

improve customer/student satisfaction scores. Increased customer/student satisfaction will

entice to enrol at the College.

3. Provide better resources for teachers: As a school administrator, keeping teachers

motivated is an important part of his role. Providing the resources needed for teachers to

work effectively will have a positive impact on the teaching and learning process. This

will help to give the college a good reputation for providing quality education.

Accordingly, more school leavers will be attracted to the college, hence increasing

enrolment.

4. Motivated workers feel more empowered: Empowered workers do not need close

supervision. They will therefore likely extend themselves to solve student problems.

When students get their issues resolved quickly they will like the school environment and

become advertisers for the college among friends and family.

5. Motivated workers provide better customer service: When workers are motivated, they

will like their work and work environment. They will like the students. Their interaction

with students will therefore lead to high student satisfaction. They will not leave the

college and they will invite their family and friends to attend MB College.

6. Motivated workers work harder: When workers put out more effort to work they will

accomplish more work in a shorter time. This will reduce operational costs so the college

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 can lower school fees. This will make it more attractive for students and potential

students to attend.

7. Adopt flexible student payment plans: Offer flexible payment options that make

education costs more manageable for students and families. Payment Plans help make

education more attractive and affordable. This helps to bridge the growing gap between

available financial help for potential student and the growing tuition cost. The College

could provide flexible domestic and international options such as credit and debit card

payments. Easily set up, manage, and track traditional and on-demand payment plans.

This will help to retain current students and attract potential students to the college.

8. Offer students better customer service: Great assistance and advice provided by the

college to the students and public will have positive impact on increasing potential

customers. Customer satisfaction is an advantage of good customer service. When

customers are happy, they will recommend the college to others through word of mouth

or social media reviews. This could increase the market share of the college. Satisfied

customers are also less likely to leave a negative review.

9. Provide opportunities for online classes: Learning in the digital space by via the internet

is now a growing trend. Potential and current students can gain the skills needed to

succeed in the global economy from the college online anytime, anywhere. This will

increase enrolment of students who would want to work while study. There is increase

benefit to the student in term of saving on book and supplies. In addition to saving on the

basic supplies when online class is an option, students also save money on lunch and

travel costs. This will give motivate potential students to enrol, hence increasing the

college’s numbers.

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(b)(i) Specific: A goal that is specific tells exactly what President King will want to achieve.

The organization’s goals must be clear and not ambiguous/confusing.

For example, the strategic goal would have said “increase profit by 25% for each year”.

This specific amount given to the goal makes it more feasible to be achieved since the

President would know what specific targets the College is working towards.

(ii) Achievable

President King would have to evaluate the resources of the College to determine if the

goals that are set can be met.

For example, if a goal says “increase student numbers by 90% in one year” and there are

no extra classrooms to house students, then that goal is not achievable. By examining the

physical capacity of the College it would be clear that the goal cannot be achieved.

(iii) Time-bound

A specific time period needs to be set for achieving each goal. This would include the

start date and end date.

For example, a goal would have to say “increase student numbers by 50% in 12 months

or by September 2022”. If there is no time line for achieving the goal, it cannot be

determined if it has been achieved or when it has been achieved.

(c) A discussion on how three beliefs that President King is likely to have about workers

could help MB Business College achieve its goal of increasing student numbers:

1. People are disciplined: Self-control is important to workers at MB College. They do not

like to waste time when they have duties to be done. Self-control will lead them to make

sacrifices in order to achieve work targets.

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2. People are generally responsible/seek out responsibility: Workers at MB College seek

out responsibility they will work harder. They will also produce better quality work when

they are given responsibility. In addition, they enjoy their work better. They tend to feel

empowered once they have responsibility to do their work. The work of responsible

workers is more likely to achieve organizational goals.

3. People are self-motivated to achieve organizational goals: Workers have an internal

drive to set and achieve goals. They see the achievement of organizational goal as

important to their own success in life. People will work even if managers do not motivate

them to do so. When organizational goals are achieved, the workers of MB College will

be happy because they view organizational goals as their own goals. They will not rely on

financial or external motivation but focus on the goals of MB College and design/execute

the activities to achieve same.

4. People will apply their creativity to their jobs: Generally, the staff members of MB

College are creative. Therefore, they will want to demonstrate their creativity in helping

the organization achieve its goals. When they apply their creativity to their jobs, the

organization will be more successful, this helping MB college to achieve its strategic

goals.

5. Work is a source of satisfaction for persons: President King believes that people want

to work. They work because they enjoy working. Even if the work environment is not

very worker-friendly, workers will still work hard in order to achieve the organization’s

goals.

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2022, 3 (CXC)

(a)(i) A conflict is a disagreement over important issues between two or more parties. The

disagreeing parties may differ in values, morals, attitudes or needs.

A conflict is defined as a disagreement that exists between two or more individuals. It is

almost inevitable that conflict will develop in the workplace, since there are many people

with varying personalities and opinions. A conflict usually develops because people may

disagree with the goals, perceptions and principles of the organisation. In the workplace,

disagreements may occur between management and subordinates or among subordinates.

(ii) A team is a collection of persons working together to achieve the same goal(s). Members

of the team cooperate with each other, are committed to team development and shared

decision making.

A team can be defined as the interaction of two or more people, in an interdependent

way, to achieve a common goal or objective.

(b) Three factors that could hinder teamwork at the firm are:

1. Lack of effective communication: The Americans believe that the Creetians do not care

about the success of the business. However, the Creetians deny that to be the truth. The

communication between the Americans and the Creetians is not effective, since each is

giving a different view of the work performance of the Creetians. Nevertheless, there is

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 no attempt to discuss the issues so that common understanding is achieved. In addition,

management personnel do not encourage feedback from the production workers.

2. Lack of motivation: The Creetians are unhappy with the way they are being treated by

management and by the American production workers. The Americans believe that the

Creetians do not care about the success of the business even though the Creetians deny

this. The Creetians will therefore be demotivated and not be willing to work as a team

with the American production workers.

3. Lack of trust: The Creetians and Americans do not trust each other. Trust is an important

characteristic of teamwork. In the absence of trust among the workers, they will not

cooperate with each other. For example, the Americans could believe that the Creetians

will act in ways that will negatively affect them and vis versa.

4. Management decision-making: The president’s decision to replace nationals with

Americans was unilateral. The workers felt left out of the decision and do not agree that

it was a right decision. The President, however, has been unwilling to discuss the matter

with the Creetian workers.

5. Poor conflict handling strategies: The management is aware that there is a disagreement

between themselves and the Creetian workers. Overtime, management has done nothing

to engage the workers in negotiations about the disagreement. This has caused the

conflict to become worse.

6. Poor interpersonal relations: The Creetians believe that the supervisor is biased towards

the Americans. This will lead the Creetians to have a negative attitude towards the

American production workers. Negative attitudes lead to poor interpersonal relations and

poor interpersonal relations will prevent teamwork.

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(c) A discussion as to how Mr. Thomas, could use EACH of the following conflict handling

strategies to resolve the conflict among production workers at AnyWhereAnyTime Inc

follows:

(i) Smoothing: By using this conflict-handling method, Mr Thomas can emphasize the point

that both workers and management desire to make the company profitable. He could also

point out that the Creetian workers were prepared to accept management’s decision to

replace Creetians with Americans and work with the American production workers to

help make the firm profitable. This strategy used by Mr Thomas could result in the

resolution of the conflict.

(ii) Confronting: Mr Thomas can attempt to resolve the conflict using confronting by

bringing the two parties in a face-to-face encounter to discuss the different points of

view. The Americans can give their areas of unhappiness with the Creetians and the

Creetians can talk about the things with which they are uncomfortable. This will allow

both parties to understand the other’s point of view and could result in resolving the

conflict. The workers could make a demand on the management and say they would go

on strike unless the management agreed to their demands.

(iii) Compromising: Mr Thomas can invite the manager to negotiate a strategy with him and

the workers to resolve the conflict. Mr Thomas would therefore admit that workers may

have a role in the low performance of the business in Creet. He would also commit to the

workers increasing their work output to the maximum if the company would adopt

policies to make the workers feel valued and respected.

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Avoidance

There are times when a conflict does not have much bearing on the organisation and so the

manager may choose to allow the parties to resolve the issue on their own. Avoidance is

appropriate for conflicts that are trivial and not worth intervention from higher authority. The

parties may avoid the conflict because there is no chance of any of them winning or coming to a

compromise. The process needed to solve the problem may be very costly and cause undue

disruptions in work which could have been avoided.

Smoothing

The smoothing strategy is sometimes referred to as ‘accommodating’. It is where the manager

seeks to emphasise the areas of agreement but downplay the areas of disagreement. The use of

this method will see one party sacrificing his/her interests or rights in order to appease the other

party. Smoothing may not always work, as the sacrificing party is still not appeased. This method

is best suited for situations where the stakes are low or it is in the firm’s best interests to do so.

For example, an employee may sacrifice his goals so that someone else’s goals and opinions can

be undertaken by the firm.

Compromise

A compromise is where each party agrees to give up something. In this situation there will be no

clear winner or loser but a willingness of both parties to accept the solution. This method is best

suited in situations where the end result of a conflict might be very costly compared with the

sacrifice that each party will make. For example, a worker may agree to accept half the pay

increase due to him/her in order to ease the financial strain on the firm or institution.

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Collaboration

Collaboration seeks to meet the needs and satisfy the concerns of each party. This will lead to a

‘win-win’ situation where both parties leave the conflict feeling satisfied. The views of both

parties must be heard and discussed extensively to ensure that the agreement that is arrived at is

fair and mutual. Extensive discussion may render this method time consuming. This method is

particularly important when the issues or concerns are paramount and cannot be compromised or

‘smoothed’.

Confrontation

Confrontation happens where conflicting parties meet face to face and are coerced into stating

their disagreements and stances on the issue. Using this method should lead to open

communication which, in the end, should solve the problem.

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