ACCA F1 Accountant in Business - 2010 - Study text

Подождите немного. Документ загружается.

Answers to practice questions

49 Increasing a group size

The main effect of increasing a group from an established team of three to a new

size of nine is that the old team is effectively brought to an end and a new team is

put in its place.

Since there is a new team with new team dynamics, it will have to go through the

stages of formation and development identified by Tuckman – forming, norming

and storming, before it can start performing. Since three of the new team members

have been doing the work for some time, the team might succeed in getting through

these stages fairly quickly – although much will depend on how the team members

get on with each other.

The larger team might eventually become more effective than the previous team of

three. This is because they are more likely as a group to share the ‘essential’

characteristics of team members for an effective team – as identified by Belbin.

However, the nine team members need to adopt their appropriate roles, and this

will only happen if the team comes together as a positively-minded group.

50 Participation

A participative leadership style is one where the leader (manager) involves all the

members of his or her ‘team’ in decision-making. There are differing degrees of

participation, from consulting with team members to allowing team members to

make the decisions themselves. A key element of participation is that the team

members are able to contribute ideas and suggestions in a way that makes them feel

that they are contributing to the decision-making process, and that their ideas and

opinions are respected.

A participative style of leadership is therefore most likely to be effective in

motivating employees in situations where the employees are able to contribute to

decision-making and enjoy involvement in the decision-making process. This is

most likely to happen where:

 the employees have skills or experience that they can bring to the decision-

making process, and

 decisions have to be made regularly which are ‘non-standard’, so that thought

and judgement have to be used in arriving at the final decision.

This type of situation often arises in development project work and entrepreneurial

activities, and in small teams of experienced or well-educated employees.

A participative style of leadership is unlikely to work in situations where the work

is standardised and repetitive, and employees need relatively few skills and little

training to do their work. This type of situation arises in highly-automated

production operations. (You might argue that it also arises in some aspects of

accountancy work!).

Paper F1: Accountant in business

456 Go to www.emilewoolfpublishing.com for Q/As, Notes & Study Guides © EWP

51 Pay as a motivator

There are different views about the extent to which the prospect of higher pay

(through higher basic pay, bonuses, promotion or other forms of reward) acts as a

motivator to individuals to put in more effort to their work, or to try to achieve

performance targets.

Herzberg argued that pay is perhaps more likely to be a hygiene factor rather than a

motivator factor. Individuals need to feel that they are being paid fairly, and will be

dissatisfied if they believe that their pay is unfair. Maslow argued that pay is

important because it can satisfy needs at some levels (including status needs), but

cannot satisfy the highest-level need for self-actualisation.

Many organisations, however, use reward systems and bonus systems, and obviously

believe that these systems do motivate individuals to perform better. This is because

money can satisfy many of the needs of individuals, particularly needs in their private

life. If the money rewards are high enough, many individuals will probably be

motivated to achieve the targets or performance levels they need to reach in order to

obtain the rewards that might be available. Pay is therefore a significant element in

many ‘process’ theories of motivation, such as those of Vroom and Handy.

52 Calculus

Handy’s motivational calculus is a ‘process’ theory of motivation. Handy argued

that there are several factors that affect whether an individual will be motivated at

work.

 The individual’s needs. An individual works in order to satisfy certain needs.

These needs vary from one individual to another. The nature of an individual’s

needs can vary and the strength of their needs can also vary.

 Rewards and the satisfaction of needs. Another key factor is whether the

individual considers that the rewards or potential rewards from working will

lead to the satisfaction of those needs. Work may provide rewards that satisfy

needs wholly, partially or perhaps not at all.

 The link between effort and reward. A third key element in Handy’s calculus is

the individual’s perception of whether putting in more effort at work (being

more motivated) will have an effect on results, and whether achieving these

results will lead to the rewards.

53 Needs theory

McClelland developed motivational needs theory. He argued that individuals have

three needs that can be met by working: a need for achievement, a need for

authority and power and a need for affiliation with other people. All individuals

have these needs to a greater or lesser extent, but one of the three needs is likely to

be dominant in his or her character.

The most successful individuals in work, and the individuals who make the best

managers, tend to be individuals whose need for achievement (‘n-ach people) is

strongest.

Answers to practice questions

54 Blake, Mouton and McGregor

McGregor suggested that there were two management styles, Theory X and Theory

Y. Theory X managers were authoritarian leaders, and McGregor suggested that

these individuals focused on the requirements of the job and had little concern for

the concerns of their subordinates. Theory Y managers are much more concerned

about the needs of their employees, and seek to involve them in decision-making.

Blake and Mouton argued that managers need not be either job-focused or people-

focused. They can show high or low concern for the needs of the job and high or low

concern for people. For example, they can show:

 high concern for both the job and for people

 low concern for both the job and for people

 a high concern for the job and lower concern for people

 a high concern for people and a lower concern for the job.

In practice, many managers show a medium level of concern for both aspects.

55 Stages

The stages in the recruitment and selection process are as follows, after a job

vacancy has been identified.

 Job description. Prepare a job description, setting out details of the job such as

the tasks and responsibilities of the job, its location, the rate of pay for the job

and so on.

 Person specification. Prepare a person specification, setting out the

characteristics or personal qualities that the job holder will require in order to do

the job well.

 Advertise the job vacancy. The vacancy should be advertised, and applicants

invited to apply. The advertisement may be placed directly in an advertising

medium such as a newspaper, magazine or journal, or it may be advertised

through an external employment agency. Alternatively, the job may be

advertised internally within the organisation, on the intranet web site or in the

organisation’s in-house magazine.

 Application form. Applicants should submit their applications on an application

form (or possibly in the form of an application letter). This provides some

information about the applicant, and may be used as a first screening device –

for example to reject applications immediately in cases where the applicant is

clearly not suited to the job.

 Selection process. This may take the form of interviews, or tests, or a

combination of interview(s) and test(s).

 Selection decision. The preferred applicant is selected. A short-list of acceptable

candidates may be drawn up, in the event that the preferred applicant turns

down the offer.

 Offer procedure. The preferred candidate should be offered the job, subject to

satisfactory references. When the job offer has been accepted, unsuccessful

applicants should be notified and thanked for their interest in the vacancy. On

Paper F1: Accountant in business

458 Go to www.emilewoolfpublishing.com for Q/As, Notes & Study Guides © EWP

acceptance, a formal contract of employment should be prepared by the

employer.

56 Application forms

Recruitment

Application forms are used in the recruitment process to enable individuals to

submit an application for a job. It is the first communication from the applicant to

the employer, and provides the employer with a basic amount of information about

the applicant – including contact details.

Application forms are convenient for an employer because they require all

applicants to provide the information that the employer requires.

Selection

Application forms are used in the selection process.

 They are often used for an initial screening of job applicants. When there is a

large number of applicants, the information provided on application forms is

used to identify the individuals who should be interviewed and those

individuals whose application should be rejected without interview.

 The information on an application form can be used as a basis for asking further

questions at selection interviews.

57 Seven point plan

Information Category

The candidate has a university degree in chemistry.

Attainments

He plays football for a local amateur team.

Interests

He has been learning to speak German for several years, and has

passed some formal examinations in the language. It is his

intention eventually to work in Germany or for a German

company.

Disposition

He can speak German with reasonable fluency.

Special aptitude

He has a certificate in Information Technology, which he

obtained after attending a course of evening classes at the local

college.

Attainments.

Also disposition

He is currently looking after his aged mother, since he is an only

child and his father is dead. This means that he cannot be away

from home for an extended period; for example, he cannot go on

business trips that require overnight stays.

Circumstances

58 Ineffective interviews

The potential consequences of ineffective interviews might be any of the following.

Answers to practice questions

 Failure to identify any suitable candidates for a job.

 Offering the job to an individual who is not suitable, and who will do the job

badly.

 Offering the job to someone who is adequate, but not the best from amongst all

the applicants who were interviewed.

 Offering the job to the best candidate, who rejects the offer and takes a job

somewhere else.

In strategic terms, ineffective interviewing means that the organisation will not have

the best quality of employees that it would have had if its selection processes had

been more effective. This will affect the efficiency and effectiveness of the

organisation in the long term, and reduce its competitiveness.

59 Discrimination

Direct discrimination is treating an individual less favourably than others,

consciously or otherwise, because of that person’s sex, race, religious beliefs,

disability or even age or sexual preferences.

Indirect discrimination occurs when a condition of work applies equally to

everyone, but one group of individuals is much more likely to be able to meet the

condition than another group. For example, it might be a condition of having a job

that the job-holder must be over six feet tall. This condition will favour men over

women, because many more men than women are over six feet.

Victimisation is discrimination against an individual who has brought proceedings

in a previous case of discrimination or discipline at work. For example, an

individual who has reported a colleague for racial discrimination in the work place

might be overlooked for promotion or might not receive an annual bonus when

colleagues get one.

Harassment involves abuse of an individual by work colleagues, often on the basis

of the individual’s sex, race, religious beliefs and customs, disability or sexual

preferences.

60 Wheels and circles

(a) In a wheel pattern of communication, one person at the centre communicates

directly with everyone else in the group, and the other group members

communicate only with the individual at the centre and not with each other.

A wheel pattern occurs when there is a dominant or authoritarian leader who

retains all decision-making powers.

In a circle pattern of communication, each individual communicates with two

other people, and eventually the communication links come back to the point

at which they started. For example, if six people communicate with each other:

 B might communicate with A and C

Paper F1: Accountant in business

460 Go to www.emilewoolfpublishing.com for Q/As, Notes & Study Guides © EWP

 C might communicate with B and D

 D might communicate with C and E

 E might communicate with D and F

 F might communicate with E and A, and

 A would communicate with F and B.

This type of communication pattern might be typical of some informal

communication links, so that information gets passed on from one person to

another, and eventually arrives back at the original source.

(b) In a Y pattern of communication, there is a chain of communication that splits

into two at the end. For example, in a Y pattern involving 6 people:

 A communicates with B

 B communicates with A and C

 C communicates with B and D

 D communicates with both E and F

 E communicates only with D and F also communicates only with D.

This type of communication pattern in found in an organisation with an

authoritarian and hierarchical management structure.

61 Formal and informal

Formal communication is the communication of information through formal

communications links in the organisation. Formal communications might be made

by means of reports, policy documents, official planning documents and the formal

communication of management decisions.

Informal communications are communications that are not formal. Information is

communicated informally by means of face-to-face conversations, telephone

conversations, e-mails and text messages.

Both types of communication are essential in an efficient and effective business

organisation:

 Formal communications help to provide management structure, so that

individuals know what is expected from them and know how they have actually

performed. For example, an organisation needs plans, procedures, policies and

performance reports.

 Informal communications are a feature of co-operation between individuals.

People need to communicate in a way that promotes constructive working

relationships. Informal communication is often much quicker than formal

communication channels, and also is often a more reliable method of conveying

information.

Answers to practice questions

62 Vertical and lateral

(a) Vertical and lateral (horizontal) communication are associated with

hierarchical organisations. Vertical communication flows up and down the

scalar chain, from boss to subordinate and from subordinate to boss. Lateral

communication flows between colleagues or between different sections and

departments.

(b) Very little formal horizontal communication may occur in an organisation that

is managed in an authoritarian style. This is because the manager ‘at the top’

wants to know everything that is happening, and wants to be involved in all

decision-making. Information must therefore be passed up to the top manager

so that decisions can be passed back down to someone else.

authoritarian leadership is that the communication is largely one-way

(downwards). The manager at the top makes the decisions and passes them

down, and is not interested in the views or ideas of subordinates. As a result,

subordinates may simply tell their boss what they think that he or she wants

to hear, rather than what the subordinate considers to be correct. A strict

authoritarian boss may therefore easily become detached from ‘reality’ and

unaware of what is actually happening.

63 Learning and training

Kolb suggested that there are four learning styles:

 Accommodating – feel and do

 Diverging – feel and watch

 Assimilating – think and watch

 Converging – think and do

‘Feel’ means have some experience of the thing that is being learned.

Kolb suggested that at a younger stage of their career, individuals have a particular

learning style that is best suited to them.

Honey and Mumford developed a similar argument. They identified four learning

styles that individuals might have, and a method that enables individuals to

identify what their own best learning style is. Their four styles are:

 theorist – learn by understanding the theory

 reflector – learn by observation

 activist – learn by ‘hands on’ experience

 pragmatist – learn by seeing the practical application of theory.

The relevance of these theories for training is that since individuals have different

ways of learning most effectively, training programmes should perhaps be planned

(as much as possible) to fit the individual to the most appropriate type of training

programme.

Paper F1: Accountant in business

64 Methods of training

Training programme Training method

Training staff in the customer relations department how to

deal with customer complaints

Role play

Management training for ‘high flying’ management trainees Case study

Training for accountancy examinations Lecture

Training in health and safety procedures Film

You could argue that a film would be suitable for training customer relations staff,

but probably not unless the film is supported by a lecture or talk and group

discussions.

65 Training and development

Training involves providing a means by which employees can acquire new

knowledge and skills. Although much training is done outside the work place, ‘on

the job’ training is also common. The aim of training is that employees should

acquire some identifiable skills.

Development is a process usually associated with individuals at a management

level (or trainee management) within organisations. The purpose of development is

to increase the experience and improve the judgement of an individual, so that the

individual is able eventually to progress to a higher level or more responsible level

within the organisation. Development is achieved largely through work experience.

An individual is developed by gaining experience of different aspects of work,

perhaps through (1) job rotation or (2) by standing in for a boss when the boss is

absent from work, or (3) by assignment to special project work or (4) secondment to

other departments.

Whereas training should have an identifiable learning objective, the aims of

development of an individual are more difficult to specify and often take longer to

achieve.

66 Effectiveness of training

Kirkpatrick’s goal-based approach to the evaluation of training identified four levels

of evaluation that can be used:

Level

Method of evaluation

1 Reaction

What did trainees think about

the training course or

programme?

Questionnaires (‘happy

sheets’)

2 Learning

Were the objectives of the Formal examination, or

Answers to practice questions

training actually met? post-course testing

3 Behaviour

Has the training improved the

way in which the employee

performs his or her work?

Appraisal of the

individual

Results

(impact

evaluation)

Do the benefits from the

training justify the costs

incurred?

Cost-benefit analysis,

possibly carried out by

the Human Relations

department

67 Job enrichment, enlargement and rotation

Job enrichment involves putting more responsibilities or opportunities into a job so

that it becomes more satisfying for the job-holder. This may involve delegating

more decision-making authority to the job-holder, or it may involve giving the job-

holder more opportunities for working with other people.

Job enlargement involves giving more tasks to the job-holder, and a wider range of

activities or responsibilities. The job-holder therefore has more things to do, but all

the different tasks are at the same level of competence and responsibility.

Job rotation means moving an individual from one job to another, in order to gain

experience of all the jobs in a department or section.

Job rotation does not involve any re-design of jobs. However, both job enrichment

and job enlargement could be objectives of a job analysis and job re-design exercise.

68 Appraisal

The three main elements of staff appraisal are:

 Reward appraisal

 Performance appraisal

 Potential review.

Reward appraisal is an appraisal of what the individual’s rewards should be. This may

involve a discussion about what the employee’s pay will be in the next 12 months, or a

discussion about bonus payments or other rewards for the year just ended.

Performance appraisal involves an appraisal of the employee’s performance since the

previous performance appraisal. The focus of attention is whether or not the employee

has achieved what was expected of him or her during the period. It may involve

comparing the actual performance of the individual against a formal target or objective.

Potential review is concerned with how the individual employee has developed

and with his or her potential for further career development in the future. The focus

of attention is on the prospects for promotion and development, and with what

might be done to improve the individual’s prospects or opportunities.

All three aspects of appraisal might be dealt with in the same appraisal interview.

However, it is often argued that the reward appraisal should be separated from the

Paper F1: Accountant in business

potential review, and possibly also the performance appraisal. If all three aspects are

discussed in the same review, it is probable that the reward appraisal will dominate the

conversation, possibly to the exclusion of the other two elements of the appraisal.

69 Competence

The competence of an employee is his or her ability to perform at an appropriate

standard. An employee is competent if he or she can perform certain tasks at a

suitable level of ability.

Competence might be assessed either by:

 identifying standards of competence or levels of competence, and then

comparing the individual’s actual performance with those standards, or by

 comparing the performance of employees with the performance of their

colleagues.

Standards of competence can be established for different aspects of work. For

example, some professional bodies with examination systems identify the levels of

competence that they expect examination candidates to demonstrate in their

examination, in order to obtain a pass mark. The required levels of competence in

different subjects and topics may vary from a basic understanding (demonstrating

knowledge) up to an ability to analyse and evaluate a fairly complex problem and

put forward recommendations.

Setting standards of competence in the work place calls for a careful analysis of jobs

and the actual requirements of the job. An employee is judged competent if he or she

can perform the tasks that are required to do the job to a satisfactory standard.

ACCA F1 Accountant in Business - 2010 - Study text - Emile Woolf Publishing

Подождите немного. Документ загружается.