ACCA F1 Accountant in Business - 2010 - Study text - Emile Woolf Publishing
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Chapter 10: Recruitment and selection
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Diversity assessment
A diversity assessment is a formal review of the structure of the work force and its
management, to check whether or not there is an appropriate mixture of people
from different backgrounds and with different cultural and religious views.
For example, a diversity assessment might find that there are very few women or
very few men from a particular racial or religious background in senior
management positions. Measures for correcting this imbalance can then be
considered – for example by asking why the imbalance has arisen and then taking
measures to deal with the problem.
The management of diversity is particularly important for multinational companies
that employ individuals from many different countries.
Diversity policy
Many companies and other organisations have a formal diversity policy. The
purpose of a diversity policy is partly to incorporate anti-discrimination law within
formal policy. In addition, a diversity policy makes it clear to employees that the
employer regards itself as a fair employer who will promote diversity in all aspects
of employment policy – recruitment and selection, promotion and career
development, training and so on.
Example
The Royal Bank of Scotland has commented on its ‘Managing Diversity’ policy as
follows. These comments indicate the potential benefits of such a policy to an
employer.
‘”Managing Diversity” is a more effective way of dealing with equal opportunities
issues. It emphasises the business and personal benefits that accrue from valuing the
differences between people, rather than just complying with the law. Organisations
that grasp the additional business opportunities generated by managing diversity
effectively are far more likely to enjoy sustained competitive advantage than those
who do not.’
The Bank went on to specify some of the benefits of a diversity policy.
The employer has a wider ‘pool’ of potential recruits, from which it can try to
attract the most talented individuals.
In an increasingly diverse society a diversity policy is essential for attracting the
best employees and in many cases maintaining the goodwill of customers.
The motivation of employees is increased if they feel valued by their employer.
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Example
The Age Diversity web site, a UK government website, has provided the following
comment by South Wales Forgemasters in its age diversity policy.
‘Older workers bring a degree of maturity to the work place. There is a degree of
hands-on knowledge one gains from age and experience - so there is an advantage
in having someone a little older to do this particular work. In anything we do in
terms of human resources we never think about age at all. Older workers are often
reliable, more committed, take less time off, are generally more financially stable
and with less worries, have fewer personal problems and come to work because
they enjoy coming to work. All of these qualities are very important.’
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Paper F1
AccountantinBusiness
CHAPTER
11
Individual effectiveness and
effective communication
Contents
1 Making employees effective
2 Personal development plan
3 Time management
4 Coaching, mentoring and counselling
5 Effective communication
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Making employees effective
Methods of making employees effective
Information technology and personal effectiveness
1 Making employees effective
1.1 Methods of making employees effective
When employees are recruited and selected, the employer does not expect them to
be fully effective in their job from the day that they start work. The individual
employee, the employer and the employee’s colleagues all have a responsibility for
making the employee more effective.
There are various ways in which an employee should be made more effective. The
methods that will be described in this chapter and the chapter that follows are:
equipping the employee to be effective
personal responsibility for improvement: a personal development plan and time
management
providing personal support to the individual, through coaching, mentoring and
counselling
other methods of training and development
performance appraisal schemes.
1.2 Information technology and personal effectiveness
The effectiveness of an individual is improved by providing him or her with ready
access to information technology – computers and communications.
Many business activities and operations are now performed by computer
system. Computers improve the speed, processing volume and accuracy of
individuals using them.
Some managers and employees are given portable/laptop computers that give
them continual access to computer technology. They can therefore work when
they are out of the office, at home or when travelling.
Access to the internet and e-mail allow employees to communicate and obtain
information at any time. With portable computers, mobile telephones or
personal organisers, they are able to communicate at any time and from any
place, by voice, or by data or image transmission.
IT therefore gives employees access to information, communication systems and
processing power.
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Personal development plan
Definition of a personal development plan
Aims of a personal development plan
Preparing a personal development plan
Analyse the current position
Establish goals for personal development
Prepare and agree action plans
2 Personal development plan
2.1 Definition of a personal development plan
When an employer has a formal system for the personal development of its employees,
targets for an individual’s development can be established as a personal development
plan, in writing (or held on computer file). This plan should be reviewed and updated
regularly.
A personal development plan can be defined in the following ways.
A personal development plan is a formal action plan for an individual, setting
out a wide range of development targets and opportunities for the individual,
including formal training requirements. The personal development plan should
link the employee’s need for development to the needs of the organisation.
A personal development plan is a structured and supported process undertaken
by an individual to reflect upon his own learning, performance and/or
achievement and to plan his personal, educational, training and career
development.
The individual himself has the main responsibility for preparing and using a
personal development plan, which can be kept throughout his time of employment
with the employer. The individual’s boss should provide support and assistance, by
discussing personal development action plans for the individual, including training
requirements.
Personal development record
A personal development plan has some similarities with a personal development
record, which is simply a record that is kept over time by an individual of the work
he has done and the experience he has gained, together with the specific training he
has received. Professional accountancy bodies require their qualified members to
maintain such a record, as evidence of their continuing professional development
(CPD).
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2.2 Aims of a personal development plan
A personal development plan differs from a personal development record, however,
because it should provide a regular assessment by the individual of his training and
development needs, and action plans for meeting these needs.
The aim of a personal development plan may be summarised as follows. It enables
an individual to:
recognise the learning that he has acquired (with written evidence, such as
records of training courses attended) and monitor his own progress.
review, plan and take responsibility for his own learning and development, the
aspects of his work and personal development where he is strong
recognise and define his own training and development needs, in consultation
with his boss
understand his personal strengths and weaknesses, and prepare action plans for
development, to address his weaknesses (for example through training) or
demonstrate and make use of his strengths (for example through work
assignments or projects).
2.3 Preparing a personal development plan
There are three steps or stages in preparing a personal development plan. These
steps might be taken by the individual and his boss together, although both should
carry out their own analysis of the individual’s strengths and weaknesses, and
development needs, before they begin their discussions.
Step 1: analyse the current position
Step 2: establish goals for personal development
Step 3: prepare and agree action plans
An employer might have a standard format that individuals should use to maintain
their personal development plan, and provide personal development plan software
to simplify the task of maintaining the record..
2.4 Analyse the current position
The first step in preparing a personal development plan is to analyse the current
position. This involves an analysis of the job and the requirements of the job, as well
as the individual’s strengths and weaknesses. The analysis should include looking
at the following:
The skills that the job holder will require in the future to do the job. This is
important when the nature of the job and the job requirements are expected to
change.
Weaknesses of the individual in the current job. One way of doing this is to carry
out a ‘faults analysis’, which is an analysis of what mistakes the individual
makes regularly (with a view to agreeing measures with the individual to deal
with the problem.
What parts of the job the individual likes doing and does well, and what parts
he/she does not like doing and does badly.
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One way for the boss to analyse a subordinate’s skills is to prepare a ‘personal
SWOT analysis’ for the individual. SWOT stands for strengths, weaknesses,
opportunities and threats. A SWOT analysis can be prepared as a 2 × 2 table,
showing ‘likes and dislikes’, and weaknesses and strengths.
Individual’s performance in this aspect of the work
High Low
Strength of the
individual’s liking for
certain skills and
aspects of his work
High
Likes the work and does it
well
Likes the work but does it
badly
Low
Dislikes the work but does
it well
Dislikes the work and
does it badly
If the individual’s boss prepares a personal SWOT analysis, it can be used as a basis
for discussing the individual’s future personal development. For example, if the
individual agrees with the analysis that the boss has provided, there might be a
discussion about how the job can be altered to give the individual more work that
he likes doing and does well, and to take away work that he dislikes and does
badly. It should also be possible to discuss ways of helping the individual to
improve his skills in the work that he likes doing but currently does badly.
2.5 Establish goals for personal development
The second step in preparing a personal development plan is to establish goals for
the individual’s development in the current job. These goals should be to eliminate
weaknesses or deficiencies in current skills and to set targets for personal
development.
It may also be appropriate to consider future changes that will occur in the job and
the work that the individual will be required to do, in order to decide whether any
new skills training is necessary.
A training plan should be agreed, setting out the desirable training for the
individual to receive.
2.6 Prepare and agree action plans
The third step in preparing a personal development plan is to draw up an action
plan for the next few months (or one year at most). This will specify what measures
should be taken for the development of the individual in the period covered by the
plan. The most urgent training should be provided first, and so should have a high
priority in the action plan.
The next time that the individual discusses personal development with his or her
boss, the action plan from their previous discussions should provide a basis for
review and an assessment of the progress that has been achieved.
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Example
A simplified version of a personal development plan, as it might be updated at a
review stage, is set out below.
Page 1 Current assessment
Skills Skills required for
the current job
Current ability Gap
Personal
Technical
IT skills
People skills
Management
Page 2 Action plans
Skills Objective Plan for achieving
this objective
Time frame for
achieving the action
plan
Personal
Technical
IT skills
People skills
Management
Page 3 Action plan review
Skills Objective of
previous plans
Progress achieved Assessment
Personal
Technical
IT skills
People skills
Management
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Time management
Ineffective use of time
Barriers to effective time management
Planning and prioritising time
Delegating and time management
Controlling the work environment
3 Time management
3.1 Ineffective use of time
Most individuals use their time ineffectively, both at work and in their private life.
Ineffective use of time at work can also affect an individual’s private life, if work
that has not been done in the office has to be done instead at home in the evening or
at weekend. Common excuses for ineffective use of time include the following:
getting distracted by something unexpected that happens at work
having to deal with a large number of e-mails
not allowing enough time to get a job finished
wasting time on unimportant matters.
The need for individuals to manage their time, so as to make effective use of their
time, is well-recognised. (For example there are numerous training courses in time
management.)
The management writer Peter Drucker once wrote: ‘Time is the scarcest resource of
the manager. If it is not managed, nothing else can be managed.’
The Pareto Principle (80:20 rule)
It has been suggested that the Pareto Principle or 80:20 rule probably applies to the
use of time at work. This is the principle or rule that the most important 80% of
items require only 20% of the total effort or cost.
In the context of time management, the 80:20 rule is that 80% of the important work
we do takes up only 20% of our time.
Put another way, this would mean that we spend 80% of our time on only 20% of
the work we do that matters.
3.2 Barriers to effective time management
Many individuals use their time ineffectively because they are disorganised.
They do not plan their time or prioritise their work effectively.
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As a result they spend too much time on trivial matters.
They do not control the use of their time.
They do not delegate enough.
They do not control their work environment.
3.3 Planning and prioritising time
Individuals should plan the work they are going to do each day and each week or
month. It often helps to keep a diary, to record key dates (such as dates for
meetings) and work schedules for tasks that have a set completion date.
It is impossible to plan the use of all time in advance, because urgent and
unexpected matters arise that have to be dealt with. However, some future time can
be allocated to planned work, and individuals should protect this planned time so
that it is not taken up with unplanned matters.
Individuals should also learn to distinguish between matters that are important and
those that are unimportant, and should give priority to work that is important.
Important tasks can be prioritised, to ensure that they are completed by the time
required.
It is also useful to keep a record of how time has actually been spent each day, in
order to recognise how much time has been wasted or used ineffectively, and how.
This can help individuals to learn from their past mistakes.
Urgent and important matrix
Some writers on time management have suggested that an urgent and important
matrix might help individuals to plan and prioritise their time more effectively.
Tasks can be put into one quadrant of a 2 × 2 matrix, indicating their urgency and
importance.
One side of an urgent and important matrix represents the urgency of an item of
work – urgent or not urgent. The other side of the matrix indicates the importance of
the work – important or not important.
Importance
Not important
Important
Urgency
Urgent
Urgent but not important
Important and urgent
Not urgent
Not urgent and not important
Important but not urgent
The matrix can be used by an individual to assess how he or she is using time.
Tasks that are important and urgent must take priority. They are often
unexpected tasks arising from an unforeseen event, calling for a ‘fire-fighting’
response.
Time spent on tasks that are not urgent and not important is time wasted.