Performance Management

Managing Performance

Armstrong and Baron (2004) famously stated that performance management is a process which contributes to the effective management of individuals and teams in order to achieve high levels of organisational performance. As such, it establishes shared understanding about what is to be achieved, and approach to leading and developing people which will ensure that it is achieved’.

Bucks New University measures student’s performance in a variety of ways. Tutors have to measure and manage students to ensure that their performance stays on the track. It often happens that students are distracted from university work due to the fact it is time in their life when people want to go to parties, meet with friends. This is why lecturers must follow all the time students’ achievements and results. The most important feature of this measurement is the feedback given on the assignment. The lecturers assess my performance with a feedback sheet which is attached when given results back. After student becomes aware of improvement if it is needed and advices how he could better perform. Other aspects for measurement are attendance and overall performance of the module/year. My personal tutor hasn’t assessed my performance due to the fact I haven’t had the need for any contact with him during my first year.

According to the Sunday Times (2008) an effective mentor should possess:

·         Listening skills

·         Team working skills

·         Good communication skills

·         Work experience and great knowledge

·         Enthusiasm to help while mentoring

·         Outgoing personality

·         Patience

In my opinion my mum has been a mentor to me even she still is nowadays. From the childhood, then education period and now during studies I have always consulted her when I wasn’t sure about what to do, which choice should I make. She has a great talent to easily encourage me to do the best step for me. I think she is a person whom experience I would like to achieve in the future. I feel she has got many of the features of the mentor. She is patient and open minded. She has always given my guidelines in the right direction. She has affected my life because she has taught me all the skills and knowledge I possess now.

Reference list:

Mullins, L. (2010) Management & Organisational Behaviour. 9^th ed. Harlow: Prentice Hall.

The Sunday Times (2008) Entrepreneurs: a mentor can tune your skills [online]. Available from:

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/entrepreneur/article3778514.ece [Accessed 3 May 2011].

Selection

Selection

The organisation which I have chosen is Tesco PLC.

‘We aim to make the selection process thorough and challenging for a number of reasons. Firstly, to make sure we employ only those people who are right for the role and, just as important, who will fit in with Tesco culture. And secondly, to make sure that you start out on the right career path, so you get the most out of the training and opportunities’.

(Tesco, 2001)

The first stage for the selection is a Psychometric Test. The applicant is asked to take this test after they have screened his application form, and if they have identified him as a candidate with the right potential. Psychometric Test is a series of questions that allow employer to gain a better understanding of candidate’s strengths and weaknesses, attitude and aptitude for verbal and numerical skills. The main advantages of this selection method are that it adds objectivity to selection process and increases predictive validity of selection decisions. It also measure factors that cannot be assess through application form or interview. One the other hand Psychometric Test discovers only general data about the person, a deeper research is essential to make decision whether candidate is suitable for the post.

The second stage of selection is an interview with a Tesco senior manager, structured around person competency framework. The main reason for the interview is that the organisation can interact with the applicant face to face. The positive aspects of this method are that it can assess some person attitude to job, problem solving and communication skills (by open and situational questions). It shows if candidate is enthusiastic for the job, confident and has some knowledge about an organisation. The negative features for interview are that interviewer makes assumptions and snap decisions about the applicant. It is quite artificial and very stressful situation largely for the candidate.
The last stage of selection for Tesco applicants is an assessment centre. A mixture of group and individual exercises assessed by the teams of selectors. The benefit of this method is that it is the most comprehensive overview of an individual’s strengths and limitations than any single selection method. Assessment centre is more objective than an interview alone which can depend on just one person interpretation and also decision makers can reach and share quick decision. It’s a long process to fit into one day of assessment.

One year ago I took part in an interview for the post of a shop assistant in Poland. The interview wasn’t structured and the interviewer asked me too many needless questions, for instance about my family, which I had found unrelated to the topic. This artificial situation made me feel quite stressed and I was just waiting when it would be finished. I think that I gave my feelings to employer and that could be the main reason to reject my application. I think there was no earlier studying of my application form to determine the areas for the investigation, and the interviewer might had made some assumptions about my personality. Unfortunately, the interview was not very effective, it just wasted time for both parties.

As I am a member of staff of the TRS 24/7 Recruitment Solutions I would rather say that the organisation has quite poor methods of selection. To improve the TRS’ selection process I would strongly recommend them to:

·         Always ask for the applicants CV. It provides employer more specific with person details, previous work experience, education and qualifications.

·         Carry out the interview which will be more formal. It is very helpful tool for the selection to gather more information about the candidate. The questions can be developed from the CV.

Selection holds many dissimilar methods in order to generate a good source of information about an individual.  First and foremost to have a successful selection, the recruitment process has to be done effectively so as to filter the best candidate through.

Reference list:

Unknown. (Unknown) Job [online]. Available from:

http://reviews.in.88db.com/images/stories/job.jpg [Accessed 2 May 2011].

Unknown. (2001) Tesco [online]. Available from:

http://www.tesco.com/recruitment/html/careers/selectionprocess/selectionprocess.htm [Accessed 2 May 2011].

Recruitment

Recruitment

The on-line recruitment site I have chosen is www.monster.co.uk. It is really user friendly and accessible site, with a clear layout even for those who have never used this kind of website before. Monster site offers personal insight into jobs we are interested in. The layout allows searching for the job by specialising the industry and specific job role they are looking for. It is really helpful option due to the fact we are targeted at the desire post.

Monster website allows people to create a perfect CV, there are also some examples and advices how to improve the CV or the Cover letter. There is also an option for the Advanced
Job Search where we can specify in detail desire by typing Location, Company, Industry, Category (e.g. Accounting/Finance), Job Type, Career Level and Education Level. Next it is showing a list of jobs for seeking area. We can also stay connected to the latest jobs, events and career advice from Monster by adding this page to favourites on for example on Facebook or Twitter.

Not only is it a page to look for some jobs but also the forum where people can discuss job issues.

Monster site contains also big variety of articles on the such topic as Career Development, Job Interview or Workforce.

Merseyside Fire Service’s recruitment campaign is the one which has recently interested me. Merseyside Fire Service is the statutory fire and rescue service covering the county of Merseyside in north-west England and is the statutory fire fighting and rescue service responsible for all 999 fire brigade calls in Sefton, Knowsley, St. Helens, Liverpool and Wirral. They were trying to recruit more ethnic minority and female fire-fighters. To achieve the goal Merseyside inter alia hold awareness days to give people an idea of the entry standards needed. They also advertised vacancies through agencies who specialise in attracting women and ethnic minorities. Their performance turned out to be successful due to the fact they noticed 100% increase in workforce representation of both groups. Moreover, three females and six from minority groups initially started job.

I feel that this recruitment campaign caught my interest because the stereotype for a fire fighter is a man and organisation was predominantly aiming at women and ethnic minority. Secondly I liked also the fact that Merseyside is one of the few organisations drawing attention to the issue of equal opportunities and diversity management at work.

There are many advantages and drawbacks of online recruitment, these most important ones are:

Advantages:

      it is less stressful way of applying for the job for applicants, as they do not have face to face contact with an employer

      the recruitment process is available for people 24/7

      extremely quick process to go through

      easy to access for all willing to find a job

      low cost for the organisation

Disadvantages:

      too many candidates for one vacancy

      not everyone might have access to the Internet

      sometimes some technical problems can occur (error)

      negative aspect for the company because they cannot see who actually is filling the application, sometimes people can provide untrue information just to get the job

      the elderly are often disqualified due to having difficulties to fill the online application while they could turn out to be experienced and reliable workers

To conclude recruitment is known as all activities directed towards locating potential employees. Employers by recruitment want to obtain a pool of suitable candidates for the post. As a process it is a major cost for the organisations but they have to take part in it to be seen as using fair procedure.

Reference list:

Unknown. (2011) Merseyside. Fire & Rescue Service [online]. Available from:

http://www.merseyfire.gov.uk/aspx/pages/careers/recruit-charter.aspx [Accessed 1 May 2011].

Unknown. (2011) Monster [ online]. Available from:

www.monster.co.uk [Accessed 1 May 2011].

Unknown. (Unknown) Woman fire-fighter [online]. Available from:

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjszpIsXHQnEiJ9vcVPvDywBmCESOT98qVeDr95VMpXKBNtJUotPi-UCRjZh1j8AJoW0KNOo2nO1YHlAmIJGtDFhK_I9dyBfAkik2qGmlWLOvm9uzNBCNA7jZDGmABe5eakjw_s2-AEvzo/s1600/Woman+Firefighter.jpg [Accessed 1 May 2011].

Equal opportunities and diversity

Equal opportunities and diversity

Equality

The equality relates to giving equal attention for all people disregarding sexual orientation, religion, belief, disability, marital status or age. Equal opportunities are connected with legislation intended to outlaw discrimination. The government gets involved in protecting individuals at work against discrimination in employment (either it its direct or indirect discrimination).

Diversity

According to Mullins (2010 p151) ‘diversity focuses on the multiplicity of differences among people – on the variety of people as heterogeneous groupings. Individual differences are the basis of diversity.’

The concept of managing diversity admits that the workforce is composed of diverse population of people and that the diversity consists of visible and non-visible differences which including background, age, sex, race, personality, work style and disability. Using all this differences the organisation will create a productive environment where organisational goals are met, people feel valued and their talents are fully utilised.

Equality plays key role in ensuring that everyone is treated fairly and is equal, whereas diversity is looking for a great variety of people and for individual to feel respected and recognised.

Age legislation came into force on 1^st October 2006 which covered all discrimination on the grounds of age. Now it is against the low if the employer discriminates the potential or existing employee because of his age. No matter if the person is in his middle twenties or in his seventies they should both be given the same equal opportunity as everyone else.

An employer while rejecting application should make sure and be careful that the reason for the rejection is not connected with the age of the potential employee.

There are many stereotypes related to the age. The typical one for the young people is that they are believed that they have lack of work experience. Most of them while seeking for the job is just after university graduation and do not have too much practical knowledge. The other one is that the youth is not so much responsible, and likes to go on the parties a lot, what can caused in being late and bad mood at work the next day of the party; affecting organisation in bad way.

The older people, especially while talking about physical task they seem to be quite slow and it takes them more time to do the same task as it would be done by someone who is younger. They can also be regarded as not being flexible with new employers. It can be difficult for elders to change their habits from previous work and start in the completely new environment with new principles. On the other hand there are also some positive aspects of the work of the elderly for instance they are really reliable workers who are strongly committed to perform the task.

Organisations can change these attitudes for instance by giving to the elderly the tasks which do not require so much effort from them, and for the youth to give them work experience they need.

The organisation I have chosen is B&Q. It is a British retailer of DIY and home improvement tools and supplies. Not many people know that B&Q is a founder member of the Employers Forum for Age. It is crucial to B&Q culture to respect their people diversity which is central to the company success.

‘We believe that a diverse workforce creates a mix of talents and that makes us a successful business.’

(B&Q, 2011)

The B&Q so far has removed the retirement age more than 15 years ago. It means that workers are allowed to continue with the company until they decided themselves it was time to leave the company. They are listed in The Times 'Top 50 places where women want to work' for four consecutive years’. It shows the company is in demand with equal opportunities for women. The B&Q workforce spans a huge age range from 16-96, approximately a quarter of the staff is over 50. Their workforce reflects 55/45 gender split. More than 1,200 of their employees speak over 60 different languages, with many being multilingual. They were well ahead of the 2004 Disability Discrimination Act (DDA), for instance they changed their store layouts, introduced induction loops and Braille signage in customer toilets. Moreover they provided E-Learning in place for all employees on 'Respect for People'.

These are some of the B&Q policy goals in relation to equal opportunities:

• ‘Eliminate discrimination and promote equality of opportunity in employment regardless of age, gender, colour, ethnic or national origin, culture, religion or other philosophical belief, disability, marital or civil partnership status, political affiliation, sexual identity or sexual orientation.’
• ‘Provide structured training for staff at all levels to help everyone understand and embrace the value that the diversity of our people brings to the business.’
• ‘Ensure that our working practices are sufficiently flexible to enable our staff to balance the demands of work, family and leisure time.’

(B&Q, 2011)

Summing up equal opportunities and diversity nowadays have to be taken into account by the employers due to the legislation. The people who have achieved the biggest success in the area of equality are women, elderly and young people. Most of the stereotypes about these groups are incorrect as show on the example of the B&Q which has many workers of different ages including much older plus the workforce reflect almost fifty-fifty gender. Many organisations are improving equal opportunities and managing diversity in order to meet the rules regulations which allow a wider range of people from different backgrounds to be working together and be successful with the diversity among them.

Reference list:

Mullins, L. (2010) Management & Organisational Behaviour. 9^th ed. Harlow: Prentice Hall.

UCU guidance. (2006) Age Regulations 2006. Available from:

http://www.ucu.org.uk/media/pdf/9/t/ageregs_guidance_1.pdf [Accessed 9 May 2011].

Unknown. (2011) B&Q [online]. Available from:

http://www.diy.com/diy/jsp/corporate/content/environment_ethics/ethics/respect.jsp [Accessed 9 May 2011].

Unknown. (Unknown) Business diversity [online]. Available from:

http://postgradgogetter.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/business_diversity_469779.jpg [Accessed 9 May 2011].

Unknown. (Unknown) Equality [online]. Available from:

http://blog.pappastax.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/equality.jpg [Accessed 9 May 2011].

Teamworking

Teamworking

The time when I was working in a firmly successful team was once when I was working for the TRS 24/7 Solution as a waitress. I was a member of a team which consisted of four people. We were serving the dinner in one of the hotels. I believe our team was consistent in relation to the theory of Belbin’s Team Roles (1993). I feel like I was playing role of the Team worker, I was trying to make sure all are involved and promote team spirit. My supervisor took the position of Shaper and Co-ordinator (Chairperson). For Shaper he did this by using strong opinions instructions to ensure all workers are focused on the task; he would be frustrated by inaction. For the role of Co-ordinator he was helping the team to focus on goals, he controlled and got best out of people. The third person was a Specialist. The man had been working for the agency more than ten years so he was quite experienced in the service requirements of the hotel. He acted as a source of knowledge if anyone had any questions. The last person was an Implementer (Company worker). He turned ideas into action and got things done without the need for deliberation.

The main purpose of my team was to satisfy customer needs. There were no complaints and we were praised by the guests as well as by the manager. I strongly believe our team was successful in task due to the fact each member of the team was firmly committed and motivated to succeed and also there were four different types of people playing roles and sharing all responsibilities.

In my opinion the group, which I worked in for the Motivation assignment, wasn’t really effective. I would say it was rather satisfactory. I think we only managed to reach 2^nd stage which is Storming. We progressed through the first stage which is Forming. The team formed a group of four people which were in some way anxious, wary and unsure. We were busy finding who the other people are. Members were keen to establish their personal identities in the group and made a personal impression. There was the potential lack of focus and clarity around the purpose of the group and uncertainty about the task ahead and its terms of reference. In the beginning there was uncertainty in the environment, we were a bit confused about what to pay attention to and what exactly are our aims and shared goals.

Storming stage is a period of disagreement, frustration and potential confrontation but every group must go through it. There was a potential conflict because members felt more confident to challenge each other, and to express their views more openly. There was some frustration at an apparent lack of progress. The storming stage was really important as it led on to significant changes in creativity and innovation.

I think we were just about to reach the 3^rd stage of the team development which is Norming. But we did not succeed due to the lack of communication and motivation. We were not so well organised and our orientation of the task that was set wasn’t reached.

The two companies which I have chosen as those whose teamwork has been identified as a major contributory factor to their success are Office Angels and Luminus.

The Office Angels holds teamworking in the highest regard because it is a major contributing factor for this company to succeed. One of the main motivator for the employees is the chance to earn a holiday of a lifetime to go abroad.  Another motivating factor for the staff from the secretarial and office support is that they are rewarded for innovation and sales performance. Staff are really keen on completing the tasks.

‘Employees feel a strong sense of family within their teams, giving 86%, the top positive score nationally, for this statement. They believe colleagues care about each other (87%), say working together gives them a buzz (82%) and that team-mates are fun (89%).’

(The Sunday Times online, 7 March 2010)

‘Senior managers regularly visit the firm's 80 branches and even work on the sales floor. Clubb says: We try to make ourselves visible, and I want to be able to connect with the teams, so as part of our strategy we have just an operations director and manager, two steps between a branch and myself.’

(The Sunday Times online, 7 March 2010)

One of the reason for the Luminus company being successful as a team is that all employees are meeting together every month for a conference where are celebrating all business achievements and birthdays.

‘An 83% positive score, ranking the organisation second, shows staff find their work stimulating. Employees feel a strong sense of family in their teams, with a positive score of 84%, don't think profit is the only thing driving the firm (85%, second nationally), and they say the housing provider is run on strong principles, giving a 91% score which beats every other company.’

(The Sunday Times online, 7 March 2010)

There are lots of discussions in the companies about teamworking but only few people can really understand how to create and develop a successful team. Being a member of the team is a result of feeling part of something what is larger than you. People have to be conscious that personal success is dependent on the success of others, so they contribute their own skills to reach the common goal.

Reference list:

Mullins, L. (2010) Management & Organisational Behaviour. 9^th ed. Harlow: Prentice Hall.

The Sunday Times, (2010) The Times Top 100 companies to work for. Luminus [online]. Available from:

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/career_and_jobs/best_100_companies/article7030218.ece [Accessed 7 May 2011].

The Sunday Times, (2010) The Times Top 100 companies to work for. Office Angels [online]. Available from:

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/career_and_jobs/best_100_companies/article7030219.ece [Accessed 7 May 2011].

Unknown. (Unknown) Teamwork [online]. Available from:

http://www.litmusrecruitment.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/Teamwork-300x268.gif [Accessed 7 May 2011].

Personality

Personality

According to Mullins (2010) personality is as ‘an individual’s unique set of characteristics and tendencies which shape a sense of self, and what that person does and the behaviour they exhibit’. There are various theories, debates and approaches to personality. One of them is centred on whether personality is inherited (nature debate) or developed in response to environmental conditions (nurture debate). Some approaches argue for the mix of both genetic end environmental influences.

Some people believe that personality applies to more than one person, that it is determined only by environmental factors. But after studying the issue we can notice that personalities are not the same. For instance if we will take into account twins, children which are born on the same day, and who are brought up in the same environment, show diverse and different behaviour and traits. As a matter of fact there is also contrast between personalities of siblings, who were born to the same parents and grown up in the same environment but still depict inimitable personalities, which vary not only from each other but also from the parents. It is fairly difficult to assess which factors outweigh personality if it is whether nature or nurture influences. In my opinion nurture is the dominant influence, because I feel like all individuals are unique and they are susceptible to the changes in their behaviour caused by situations in life (environmental circumstances).

Personality studies may be divided into two main approaches: nomothetic and idiographic. Nomothetic approaches tend to view social and environmental approaches as a minimal and view personality as resistant to change, consistent and inherited. It is claimed that it is possible to predict the ways in which personality types would behave given certain circumstances. This approach transfers methods used in natural sciences to the social world. On the other side idiographic approach require going beyond the study of pure psychology to and understanding of societal context in which the person lives. It is connected with understanding motivation, career development and team relationships. Personality development is believed as a process that is open to change. Individuals respond to the environment and people around them, the dynamic of the interaction is seen as a critical part in shaping personality.

I took a ‘Big personality test’ from the given website and my results are as following:

I scored low for the Openness which is sometimes known as ‘Openness to experience’. Low score means that I tend to have a less broad range of interest and I usually stick to what I know rather than being overly enthusiastic about trying new things. It means I have got traditional and realistic way of thinking and because of that people sometimes can view me as a conventional person. People with low-to-medium Openness may therefore be less likely to believe in things like conspiracy theories. It says I have got narrow range of interest and may find that generating lots of imaginative ideas is not my big strength with which I would totally agree.

For Conscientiousness I got high score which means I am rarely distracted, hard-working, self- controlled and good planner.  In general conscientiousness describes how dependable, organised and hard-working a person is likely to be. This may be the reason why, of all the personality traits, conscientiousness is the most consistent indicator of job success. People with score like mine tend to be extremely dependable and organised. It is likely that my life is well-planned and my approach things in a thorough manner. At work, I approach tasks methodically and thoroughly, with everything in its right place. Some studies shown the more conscientious an individual is, the more disciplined they are likely to be about exercise and diet.

My result for Extroversion is 3.4 out of 5 which means is medium score. Extroversion is characterised by positive emotions and the tendency to seek out pleasure-stimulating or risk-taking activities. People with scores like mine are likely to be comfortable meeting new people and will usually enjoy social occasions. I am likely to have a generally positive outlook on life and may display a greater gift for leadership.

My result for Agreeableness is high; 4 out of 5. Agreeableness measures how sympathetic and considerate a person is likely to be. My high score means that I am likely to find it very easy to get along with other people. I am sensitive to the feelings of others and people find it easy to warm to me. As a ‘people person’ I will be very comfortable in situations that require teamwork.

Neuroticism relates to a person’s response to threatening or stressful situations. For this trait my score is medium (2.8 out of 5). I am likely to be comparatively level-headed about perceived threats, but I can find myself worrying when faced with uncertainty or unfamiliar situations. In addition, there is evidence to suggest that neuroticism, when combined with high scores in personality such as conscientiousness, as in my case, can result in a powerful work ethic and will to succeed.

Summing up, I believe that each individual is different and has got unique personality structure. There are a lot of debates being published on the various approaches to the personality. Some scientists say that personality type is fixed from the beginning; they do predictions resting on statistical study of groups. The other theorists argue that people are adaptable and they are open to change while interacting with environment. I would rather argue for idiographic approach to personality, however, my results from The Big Five Test turned out to be coherent to the reality, which might signify that personality assessment can be really useful tool for example in recruitment process at work.

Reference list:

Mullins, L. (2010) Management & Organisational Behaviour. 9^th ed. Harlow: Prentice Hall.

Unknown. (Unknown) The Big Personality Test [online]. Available from:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/mind/surveys/whatamilike/index.shtml [Accessed

7 May 2011].

Perception and Communication

Perception and Communication

 Stephen Robbins (2010) famously defined perception as ‘the process by which individuals organise and interpret their sensory impressions in order to give meaning to their environment’.

People relate to certain stimuli because of internal and external factors. Those internal ones are sensory limits (IQ, physical differences), psychological factors (personality, motivation), needs of individual and cultural differences (attitude to time, male/female roles in different cultures). External factors which affect perceptual world are for instance familiarity with an experience, intensity, size and contrast.

My incorrect perception

There have been a lot of situations in my life when my initial perception of someone was incorrect. The one which stuck in my mind concerns the person who nowadays is one of my really good friends. I got to know that person few months ago, when I started education at Bucks New University. During one of the lectures me and that guy were supposed to work together for the exercise as a group. When I looked at his face it appeared to me as he is angry that he has to work with me. Moreover the way he was going to sit next to me seemed quite ‘gangster’ what gave me to understand that probably he is conceited. When we started to discussing the topic he turned out to be very polite and even shy. He let me first to tell my point of view as a real gentleman and wasn’t interrupting, waited till I had finished. When it was his turn to say his opinion on the issue he started blushing and was stammering slightly. I didn’t expect that he will turn out to be another kind of person as I considered him to be. As I got to know later on he has got this self-confident and arrogant body language, the way of looking and walking because he was brought up in the dangerous quarter, where more of the guys have got this manner.

My perception of the guy was completely wrong. I think it was mainly caused by the stereotypes which are still quite popular these days. First of all to avoid making the judgement of a person which often can be inappropriate I will try to first talk generally with the person for few minutes and get to know about him/her more information and then decide how they are. Secondly I will stick to an idiom ‘do not judge a book by its cover’ which is famous not only in England but also in Poland. It means that you shouldn't prejudge the worth or value of something, by its outward appearance alone.

Ways in which the university can improve communication with the students:

Have a shared purpose

Firstly I think that Bucks New University can improve the communication with students by ensuring that they are well informed of the fact that everyone is working towards the same goal. The shared target is to get a degree at a desired level. The University could have a mission statement ‘we all are working towards the same goal’ and use this University’s website. I feel that this would improve communication between students and lecturers and perhaps bring them closer together and make their ties stronger.

Consider your channels

Second idea for improving communication is to look at other channels for communication such as communicating on Blackboard instead of emails. For instance if there was just a group on Blackboard for the lecture group then it would make it  much easier for students to communicate while working together and also the tutor can see that these teams are communicating. This idea means it would be like an academic version of a social network site. This means that they can access it 24/7 and they will also be able to have permanent access to each other and the lecturer.

Work collaboratively

Lastly I feel that Bucks New University should work collaboratively with students to improve the communication together. In my opinion students would be very happy to do this as they would be giving their own ideas into the discussion. The University could run some classes with students where discusses ideas on how to improve communication and they all together would put the best thoughts into action. This would make lecturers and students to work together and would give them not only a sense of belonging but also pride if the outcome was successful.

Reference list:

Clake, R. (2010) People Management [online]. Available from:

http://www.peoplemanagement.co.uk/pm/articles/2010/07/how-to-improve-staff-communication.htm [Accessed 5 May 2011].

Mullins, L. (2010) Management & Organisational Behaviour. 9^th ed. Harlow: Prentice Hall.

Unknown. (Unknown). Perception. Available from:

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4F4k4gc37Jpl20yOPtS7eMoZjPdOLEF9Q0AopgRePtBv2zm63VqGUb_wI4d6SG3rIRSNJrS7ctcGN5GygwXkgEp-kLWxeHLaq6QI2fKWe6Nf4lM8DduHitPjhnCWyTXCAAx5ZEYZKuSa6/s1600/Perception.gif [Accessed 5 May 2011].