Enhancing Organizational Skills

Introduction

Human resources are one of the most important resources for an organisation. To perform well in the organisation, all the peoples or human resources need to acquire some vital knowledge about a different topic. In this report, the development and understanding process of some of the most important organisational skills are analysed. To perform well in an organisation the employees must be concerned about the effective use of the communication process. The communication process has a great impact on the organisational structure. In the second part of this report, the benefits and limitations of teamwork are analysed. The process of implementation of the remote working process in an organisation needs huge development in the field of telecommunication technologies. These things are discussed in the report along with the proper leadership styles which are appropriate for remote working. Finally, the role of the HR department in the workplace is discussed in this report.

Learning outcome-1

1.P1. The benefits of effective communication to the organisation.

Communication is considered as a process of exchanging information, ideas, thoughts, and experiences to different parties known as speakers and listeners. To communicate any type of information, there needs a medium (Guffey, Loewy and Griffin, 2015). There are different types of communication mediums that are used by humans to exchanges their information. Communication is very important in both personal and professional life. In the context of an organisation, communication plays the most important role to carry forward all types of orders and instructions to the different levels of the organisation. In Century Ltd, they are suffering from various types of organizational problems for lacking effective communication. So, the process of communication must be changed by top-level management to make the growth of their company sustainable. There are lots of benefits of effective communication in an organizational context.

An effective communication process provides the actual information to its related parties in the shortest possible time. In the process of effective communication, both the parties involved in that process must have to deliver accurate information. Accurate information can enhance the efficiency of communication. So, the role and responsibility of the organisation can be performed by the employees efficiently (Johnson and Bayless, 2012).

Effective communication helps the members of an organisation to build a good relationship with each other and share their views and knowledge about the organisation on a timely basis. As a result, all the members become capable of making their important business-related decision on a timely basis. This also accelerates the operational activities of an organisation.

Effective communication also helps the members of the organisation to practice ethical code of conduct. Because the effective communication process helps to disclose every short or detail information about the employees of an organisation. As a result, they cannot do anything unethical or illegal. This process increases their morale. It is not only important in professional life but also helpful for the employee's personal life.

Effective communication process provides clear massages to the different level of the organisation. It helps to identify the role and responsibility of the workers in the office. An effective medium is used for the process of effective communication. By using that effective medium, all the important massages can pass through different levels of the company very smoothly. It increases the decision-making ability of the peoples in the organisation.

The company needs to keep a good relationship with employees and customers. By implementing the process of effective information exchanging system, the effective relationship among the employees, different outside stakeholders like customers can be made. It will increase the sale of products and services to the customers. Thus, effective communication is very necessary for all organisations.

1.P2. An analysis of the policies and procedures that are used to enhance communication within the organisation.

Communication is one of the integral parts of an organisational process. In an organisation, there are lots of decisions need to be taken in a single day. The top-level managers deliver orders and plan to the middle and lower-level managers to perform the organisational task (Russell, 2010). By maintaining an effective communication process, an organisation can become successful in achieving their goals and objectives. So, the management of a particular organisation should maintain the policies and procedures of effective communication. For example, the communicational policy of respecting the thought of other employees. It is a mandatory policy which must have to maintain by all the employees of an organisation to ensure successful communication.

Different organisations apply different types of policies and the procedures of communication. Policies mean standard that is maintained by the organisations regularly. The most used policies and procedures of communications are the clear statements about communicational purpose, detail responsibility about the communication of different level of the organisation. The method of communication is another important policy because it is the base on which the success or failure of the communication relies. The management of an organisation imposes communication policies to facilitate better communication which paves the way for better business performance. At first, the organisation management must find the best way of dealing with media about their business operation. For example, an organisation must have to develop a clear policy regarding the purpose of communication and consultation. In accordance with this policy, the management of an organisation must select the methods of communication for internal and external communication. A proper organisational policy about communication can help an organisation to do its operational task more easily and as first as possible. For example, the employees can use protocols for email, can use newsletters, posters, cascade to enhance the communicational process within the organisation. These types of communication procedures can be applied in all the levels of the organisation. These are free of cost and very fast, so these procedures of communication will be much beneficial for the organisation. When the top-level managers deal with different types of media, they should show good respect to the employees and other managers so that the outsiders get good information about the company and its harmonious relationship with members. An organisation can develop communication policy by which the general employees of that organisation can directly communicate with the top-level management. For example, the management may develop “The Whistle-Blowing Policy “which can help the top-level management to know any type of unfairness within the company. Again, can develop the policy regarding “The period of Silence”. This policy can save the reputation of the company. The policy of disclosure of any organisational fact can also be controlled by developing “The Policy of Disclosure”.

They must follow the procedures of effective communication to exchange important information throughout the organisation. In modern times, email is one of the most important and widely used communication media (Schein, 2014). Email is the fastest and most widely used media of organisational communication. In each and every day, an organisation has to deal with a huge amount of emails. These emails are used by them for maintaining their communicational process with both the internal and external parties. The company must use protocols and other security systems for their mailing system. For example, the organisation can make a contract with technology-related service provider companies for making the whole mailing service safe and sound. They can use anti-virus software to make the whole system safer and secure. It can enhance the communication flow in the organisation. Staff briefings are the process by which the managers can exchange direct information to the employees in a face to face communication process. In this procedure, the manager can form effective groups or teams by directing the employees properly. In briefing time, the employees can deliver information, asked questions for getting new information and easily participate in the decision-making process. This process enhances the efficiency of communication and makes an important role in the process of decision making.

The managers and the employees can open some common platforms for enhancing the communication process like establishing an email group. A very important communication-related policy is to help the employees to improve their skills in communication. For example, in the modern-day organisation, the use of posters, bulletins, and newsletters are increasing day by day. Those processes are used for increasing efficiency in dealing with lots of people at the same time. In an organisation, the cascade communicational process can be used. This process can help upper-level managers in sending information to lower-level employees. For example, in an organisation, the management can use an internal telephone network which will be developed with very small code. So, upper-level management can quickly communicate with the employees by using those specific codes of the telephone number. In these ways, the managers can save their time which may use to guide the employees separately. It can make them able to communicate with each other on a regular basis. The organisation may have the policy to arrange regular basis meetings to the different levels of the organisation to plan about something and take the important business-related decision. Again, they may have the policy to use different types of modern technology-based communication mediums to ensure the proper expression of information throughout the whole organisation.

1.P3. The relevant legislation of communication within an organisation.

Generally, the purpose of communication is very common in every type of organisations. But different types of companies can use different types of rules and regulations to exchange information at various levels of the organisation. There are some common legislations which are used for communication within an organisation. Again, the organisations can make their own legislations particularly for the benefit of their information exchanging process. Both of those legislations are important to make the process of communication effective.

One of the most important legislation in the context of communication within the organisation is the Data Protection Act, 1998(Thill and Bovée, 2015). This act was developed by the parliament of the United Kingdom in 1998 to provide protection to the data stored in the personal computer system or other mediums like the data stored in the paper. According to this act, the personal data and the data related to an organisation are very important assets. Data are also very vulnerable so it must be protected in good form. This act provides a legal right to the owners of the data to use those and keep control over their data. In an organisation, there are thousands of relevant and important data that are exchanged among the members of the organisation. Those data must not be shared with the outsiders because it can make the organisational strategy weak. By implementing this act, the organisation can ensure data protection to each of its levels. As a result, it can maintain its most important and useful information safe for future use.

In this modern era, every organisation uses more electronic media of communication rather than print media. The electronic media can be riskier so extra protection must be ensured in this context. An organisation can use the artificial and manual base for securing the information which is passing through the electric media. The proper use of electronic media will ensure the efficiency of communication. Every member of the organisation should get excess in the database of the organisation freely. This freedom of getting the information must be ensured by the company. Freedom of Information Act, 2000 is another important act regarding communication. It ensures the right of excess to the public opened information by all the employees of an organisation. Every employee has the right to use the reserved information of that organisation. When he gets this freedom of excessing his required organisational information he will be encouraged more to participate in the operational process of the company. Another important activity is the Equality Act, 2010 which ensures eradication of discrimination in the organisation process and builds a harmonious relationship among all the members of the organisation through communication. The equality act can ensure equal opportunity for each and every employee of an organisation in the process of communication (Daft and Lane, 2015). At the time of meetings, all the managers must get equal opportunities to express themselves. It will make the process of communication more efficient and will provide the managers to take part in the decision-making process of the company.

1.P4. The ways by which organisational structure impact on communication method.

Communication is considered as the blood circulation of an organisation. There are different parties who are directly related to the process of communication in the context of an organisation. There are different format or structure of organisations (Cook, 2014). So, all the organisation cannot use the same type of communication system or process. Different types of organisations need different types of communication methods. Most of the traditional organisation has used the tall organisational structure. In the context of tall organisational structure, the organisational orders flow from the upward to the downward part of the organisation. In tall organisations, there are different levels which are separated by the employees' rank and qualification. So, the communication method will be either upward or downward in the context of the tall organisation. In these upward and downward communication methods, all the information is moved from the top level to the down level of the company or from the down to top-level in the company. These methods are very useful because all the information can pass through a formal approach so there will be very little chance of making any types of errors. But these type of communication methods are very time consuming and there are remaining different types to loopholes in the communication methods.

In some organisation, the flat organisational structure has remained. In the flat organisational structure, all the employees of the company are working on the same level just providing separate types of services in accordance with their responsibility. So direct face to face communication method will be used in the flat organisation. It has so many advantages that it can help the employees to make proper and quick decisions. The organisation can become very dynamic by using these types of communication method. But the secured information cannot pass in this method because they may know to all.

The regional organisational structure is another type of organisational structure in which an organisation may have different offices in the different regional area. This type of organisational structure needs long-distance communication method. In the long-distance communication method, different types of high-quality modern technologies are used such as telephone, fax, Gmail, video conference and other multimedia resources. This organisational structure has a huge impact on the performance of the employees. By using those long-distance communication methods, the managers of those regional offices can easily communicate with the main office and other regional offices. But the security and huge expense are two major disadvantages of these communication methods which will negatively impact the organisational performance. Remote office presents almost the same type of organisational structure like the regional offices. For remote offices, long-distance and high-quality communication media must have to use. Because in this way the management of the company can ensure better supervising over the whole organisation. Dotted line reporting is the method by which all the parties of an organisation are involved in such a communication method that will increase the harmony of their relationship. The main advantage of dotted line reporting is to ensure a good relationship among different parties. But it cannot be used all the time.

All of those organisational structure has a huge influence over the communication methods they have used. The organisation has selected only those communication methods which are good for them. The main reason for selecting a particular communication method is to serve the organisation as good as possible. It helps in the decision-making process at the same time can ensure good relationship among the human resources of an organisation.

1.M1. An analysis of the impact of new technologies on the organisation's systems and practices.

Communication is one of the most vital ingredients for any organisational process. So, every organisation works for improving the communication process within their organisation (Nakeya, 2018). The invention of modern technologies for communicational purposes provides the organisation lots of assistance to develop its business process and to make the whole operational process smoother. There are different types of communication technologies which are used in modern organisations for accelerating the operating activities. In modern times, email is highly used for official activities. Email is a service which can provide instant communicational services for the employees of an organisation. It is very easy to use and can be used for so many purposes. The telephone is another important technology which is used for the communicational purpose in an organisation. Almost every organisation has used telephone services for internal and external communication. Social networking is also a new communication technology which is widely used for modern days official activities. The social media are used as the largest market place for many business organisations. There are different types of social media networking sites like Facebook, Twitter and so one which is used for connecting with the general peoples so that an organisation can expand its market place. Video conferencing is one of the most widely used communication technology which has provided so many advantages to the organisations in remote working and gelding meeting in any situation.

All those modern communication technologies are a huge amount of advantages can make the organisational work faster. Those technologies can reduce the work pressure, time and cost of transferring important information across the whole organisation. In this way, the decision-making process of an organisation is getting more efficient. An organisation can deal with outsiders like suppliers and customers easily with modern communication technologies. By using proper information about the external environment, an organisation can find new resources to expand their business. The use of technology like electronic and online banking services has improved the financial transaction process of an organisation. Those technologies are very much useful in the decision-making process of the organisation. With the help of technologies, top-level management can easily pass all the detail instructions to all the levels of the organisation (Frater, 2018). In an organisation where the communication process is smooth, all the employees can participate in the process of achieving the goals of the company on a timely basis. But the modern technologies of communication can increase the risk of data lose. The increasing rate of cyber-crime has made this process more vulnerable. Again, some technologies need a huge amount of costs which may not possible to ensure by small and medium organisations.

Learning outcome-2

2.P1. The benefits of teamwork to individuals and organisations.

Teamwork or group work is a very significant issue in the context of an organisation. It is also important for enhancing the individual's ability making a decision on the most complex situation. Teams are formed to achieve some common goals and objectives. So, it can be said that teamwork is a collaborative effort of some individuals to achieve some common goals and objectives. Most of the time teams are formed to do tasks in a more effective and efficient manner (Stewart and Powell, 2014). It offers greater diversity and provides the opportunity to accumulate lots of individual knowledge, experience, and expertise to achieve success in a common job. Team works improve synergy among the group members. They can share their personal experiences with one another. As a result, their personal skills can be improved and remain a good harmonious relationship within the team. It is also working for improving motivation among the team members. In the team, all the members have some qualities and experiences which are used to achieve the common objective. As a result, the team members can gain more confidence among them and that confidence can motivate them to perform their own responsibilities in the team.

Team works can help to improve the sense of belonging in the group. A sense of belonging is an important need for human beings. The individual workers of an organisation can easily know about the sense of belongingness in the team. All the team members must have to work in line with the process of achieving the main vision of the organisation and the sense of belongings can make it possible for the company. One of the main reasons for forming a team is to achieve something with efficiency. By teamwork, the members of a team can achieve efficiency to do something and this efficiency can make them experts to do their individual jobs. Another important benefit of teamwork is that working in a team can increase the creativity of the individuals. They can jointly make a decision about totally new problems and it enhances their creativity. By working jointly in a team, the members can learn how to use their own creativity to make the organisational process efficient. Teamwork helps the members to utilise an individual’s own experiences and expertise which can help them to achieve new ideas and concepts. It can ensure the spontaneous participation of all the employees in the process of organisational activities. Finally, the whole process of teamwork can increase the opportunity for personal development. All of the team members have some vital qualities and expertise which they share with the team. In this process, the other team members can successfully learn that expertise from other team members and develop their personal qualities. So, it is important for both the individuals and the organisation.

2.P2. The reasons for which teams might fail to meet their objectives.

Teams are formed to achieve some common goals and objectives by accumulating team members' personal experience and expertise. The main reason for making a team is to achieve the objectives in the most efficient and effective manner. Though there are many benefits of forming and working in a team, there are some reasons for which the team might fail to achieve their goals and objectives. Communication is one of the most crucial reasons for which the teams may fail to achieve their jobs. In a team, the effective communication process is a must needed activity because without it nothing can be achieved in a team. There are different types of communication barriers that may hamper proper communication within a team (Burns, 2012). Choosing the vague language, improper communication channel, time-consuming process of exchanging information can create different problem in the team, thus making the team effort fail. The absenteeism rate of an individual is very bad for a team. If some members who have a vital responsibility in the team remain absent in many meetings then that team cannot achieve success. Absenteeism may occur in different types of bad situations when working in a team. Many of those situations lead to personal conflict among team members. Personal conflict is a very dangerous thing for a group because it restricts them not to share information or experience with other team members. As a result, the team members cannot make a good impact on the team for the lack of detailed and necessary information. So, the purpose of forming a team will be ruined.

The formation of a team is also important. Imbalanced team formation can make conflict in the team. A team must be formed in line with the activity’s organisation. So, the team members who can perform well to achieve all the activities to achieve the goals of the company should include in the team. When the management has failed to do that, the imbalance occurs. It may create problems in the segregation of roles and responsibilities among the team members. To make the teamwork successful, proper briefing about the team goals and plans must have to exist in teams. When there remains poor briefing of planning, uncleared massages about team goals, then that team will become unsuccessful and cannot achieve success. For the lack of monitoring, the team members may do unethical activities and they can ignore their responsibility of the teams. As a result, the purpose of forming a team cannot be achieved. For making a team successful the team leader can play an important role. If he cannot make proper briefs about the objectives of the teamwork among the members then the team may fail to perform its responsibility. Each and every step of teamwork need to be monitored and reviewed. If the monitoring and reviewing process is insufficient then the team may fail to achieve success. The leadership style within a team is also important. Participative leadership style can ensure members' participation but an autocratic leadership style may demotivate the team members to achieve their goals and objectives.

2.M1. Evaluation of the impact of leadership styles on teamwork.

Teams are formed to achieve a common objective by accumulating the experiences, expertise, and knowledge of more than one individual. But in every teamwork, there should have a team leader who will guide the team members in the process of achieving their goals (Zigon, 2011). The leadership style of the team leaders may have a great impact on the overall performance of the team. There are different types of leadership styles which are used for controlling teamwork. In most of the organisations, the democratic leadership style is used. The democratic leadership style is the most widely used leadership style. In this leadership style, all the employees are provided with equal opportunity for taking the decision for an important business-related purpose. It creates internal motivation for the employees. Autocratic leadership is another form of leadership style which is rarely used in modern organisations. It is the opposite form of democratic leadership. In this leadership style, the lower-level employees have got no right in the decision-making process of the organisation. The top-level management has become responsible for the decision-making process of the company (Annett, 2012). Laissez-Faire leadership style is also used in many organisations. In this leadership style, the management has built a good relationship with the employees and they have their trust in the employees. As a result, the management has provided lots of independence to the employees for operational purpose. Transformational leadership is another commonly used leadership style. In this leadership style, the management has tried to empower lower-level employees to increase their decision-making ability.

All those leadership styles have a huge amount of advantages and disadvantages in the context of an organisation. The democratic leadership can improve the employees' performance which is good for an organisation. But the employees can misuse their power which can create misery for an organisation. The autocratic leadership style is relatively bad for an organisation as it demotivated the employees. But in certain circumstances, this leadership can be beneficiary to the organisation. Laissez-Faire leadership can be good for an organisation where the employees are loyal. They can think about the organisation as their own. As a result, the organisation will perform better. But if the employees have become unethical then the organisation cannot perform better. Transformational leadership can create new leaders from an organisation.

2.D1. The application and effectiveness of teamwork in the context of Vodafone Plc.

Vodafone Plc is a UK based telecommunication and technological product producer and distributor (Vodafone.co.uk, 2019). It is a multinational company which has a huge customer base across the whole world. Vodafone Plc can be benefited by the application of proper teamwork in their organisational context. In this organisation, the management has provided assistance in forming teams. The teamwork has significant importance in the context of Vodafone. The management of Vodafone has provided lots of opportunities for building up new teams to manage different types of important and crucial business task. The top-level management of Vodafone Plc has used different types of leadership approaches in the organisation. Same criteria are used for the managing purposes of different teams. For example, the UK office of Vodafone Plc can develop a new team of some expert managers to open their business operation in an African country like the Gambia. It is the tradition of Vodafone Plc is to develop a team by following the Belbin’s 9 team role strategy. According to the guidance of this strategy, the top-level authority leading by the CEO of Vodafone has made the team in which different employees are selected with different quality for achieving the organisation’s purposes. The Belbin’s team strategy has developed by consisting of 9 diverse roles. In every team of Vodafone has consisted of one shaper who try to shape the group in a proper way. The team leader has contributed to the roles of the other like plant organising, resource investigating, co-ordinating, monitoring etc. The team leaders are performing the role of resource allocation and monitoring the whole work. It has faced different types of advantages and disadvantages by using Belbin’s teamwork theory. By using this theory, most of the teamwork in Vodafone has become successful. But the main disadvantage about it that sometimes the team leaders may find a shortage of expert employees or team members for different areas. The most senior or experienced person is selected as the team leader who has used different types of leadership theory like McGregor’s two-factor theory. Not only for this purpose, for all the special purpose the management of Vodafone has tried to build a team than doing alone. They believe that this process can make a good organisational environment and help the company to grow. In Vodafone, top-level management has provided huge importance in keeping a good relationship with the employees. Teamwork has played a significant role in training up new employees of the Vodafone. Each and every year, the management of Vodafone has recruited lots of fresh employees who carry very little experience with them. Vodafone has provided the advantage of teamwork so that the new employees can know about their job roles from the senior members in that team. To maintain the effectiveness in teamwork, team coordination is too much important (Alexander, Dijst and Ettema, 2010). So, the management of the Vodafone has controlled and monitored the team activities, so that the teams can achieve their intended success. For this way of ensuring team effectiveness, the Vodafone has become one of the fastest-growing mobile phone company in this world.

Learning outcome-3

3.P1. The implication of different ways in which people work remotely.

In the modern era, the balance between personal life and professional life is one of the most discussed issues. So many organisations provide the opportunity of working remotely. Remote working is considered as working outside of the workplace or office. It is also considered as the process of working from home. It is a very popular term among the employees because they get more time to give their families as well as performing the responsibilities of their organisation. Mostly the employees of an organisation work through modern telecommunication technologies or via the internet. This process of working remotely can help the employees to maintain a good balance of their working life and personal life.

There are different ways by which the employees can work remotely. At first, the workers may do their job from their home. Mainly remote work is meant working from home. In this way, the employees connect with their colleagues or boss through telephone or another medium of communication (Barker and Gaut, 2015). In this way, an employee can work for more than one office. Many large organisations have more than one office. They need many employees to their each and every regional office. Working in a regional office is also considered as remote working. The workers who are working in a regional office can connect with their main branch or headquarters by using different long-distance communication channels like telephone, email, fax, and other mediums. All the orders and directions they get from the top-level management are carried by the employees in the regional offices and they have to make feedback to the managers.

Another important way of remote working is working through virtual equipment. The virtual office is a very popular concept nowadays. With the help of different telecommunication services like video conferences, audio conference the management of an organisation can arrange meetings at any time. It can help them to get informative direction from expert persons. The global working concept is relatively new in this area. Here the workers are working globally from different parts of the world. Many multinational companies provide this opportunity to their employees mostly their non-regular employees.

For proper implementation of remote working huge investment in technology mainly telecommunication services are important. The implementation process of telecommunication technologies removes the communication challenges of remote working. The communication barriers can be the most crucial obstacles in the implementation process of remote working. So, it must be removed for the successful implication of remote working. The employees may feel lonely in the context of remote working. This can make employees demotivated. So, the organisation must ensure proper motivation to reduce their loneliness. In large multinational companies, regional employees may work in different time zones. So, it is the responsibility of the managers to remove the barrier of different time zone and ensure flexibility for the regional employees. Again, the managers need to behave differently with their different cultural background employees. It can help them to motivate those remote workers. To reduce the conflict of cross-cultural communication, the organisations can develop a proper ethical code of conduct for all their regional offices. In the process of remote working, the management may face problems in proper management the time schedule. An irregular time schedule may decrease the workflow of the organisations. To reduce these problems, the organisations can maintain an online-based time schedule which will support them to get the right feedback from the employees at the right time.

3.P2. The common working practices used by the employees who are working remotely.

There are many ways or working practices by which the employees can work remotely. Working remotely is much dependent on the implementation of modern communication technology. So, to achieve success in remote working the organisations need to fulfil all the technological requirements. First of all, the strong broadband internet connection needs to be established. If the broadband speed is not up to the mark, it will cause difficulties in achieving success in remote working. For strong telecommunication services, the good speed of the internet is a must. Then the organisation should establish an online platform by using different long-distance communication software like Skype or hangout to develop a good connection with the employees. In this way, all the workers from the remote place can work smoothly.

There are some other ways by which the employees can perform well in the context of remote working. Teleconferencing is the most popular way of remote working. By teleconferencing, the managers can arrange meetings with their employees at any time (Gilsdorf, Vik and Vik, 2013). The physical appearance of the employees and the managers are not important in teleconferencing, so it is very helpful in remote working. The webinar is also considered as one of the widespread remote working tools. By webinars, the organisation can arrange web-based seminars. It is a video conferencing software by which presentations, the workshop can be arranged online. Flexible time means that the employees get time flexibility in working in an organisation. That means they must not work for a fixed hour rather than they only need to achieve their targets. This is a huge opportunity for the employees to make a balance between their personal and professional life. The practice of flexible hours can ensure the satisfaction of the employees and successful remote working practice in the organisation. Regular meetings can be arranged by teleconference in which all the remote workers must participate in the decision-making process. There are some tools like email, telephone calls which are also used as popular remote working practices. By using those model tools, the management can easily and quickly reach its employees which helps them to supervise them in the most efficient way.

3.P3. An analysis of the leadership styles which are suitable for remote working.

The role of the leaders is very important for operating an organisation. Leaders are the persons who are playing the role of directors. They set the goal of an organisation and direct the employees, motivate them to achieve that particular goal (Hellriegel, 2016). There are different types of leadership styles. A single leadership style is not suitable for all kinds of organisations. So different types of leadership styles are used to maintain the operation of different organisations. Remote working is a very popular modern concept. Here the physical appearance of the employees is not important rather than the employees can do their jobs from their home. So, to achieve success in the context of remote working, the organisation should follow special types of leadership style (Nickson, 2016).

McGregor’s theory X and Y can be considered as a proper leadership style for remote working. In this theory, there are two types of employees working in an organisation (Montana and Charnov, 2015). If the employees are neglecting their job roles and responsibilities, dislike their work or work environment, then the theory X can be applicable to them. According to theory X, these types of employees need rude behaviour or punishment to improve their working capabilities. They dislike their work and relatively lazy. So proper and direct supervision is a must for them to keep them in the working process. In the contrast, if the employees like their job roles and responsibilities, think the organisation as their own and love their work, then theory Y type of leadership style may apply to direct and motivate them towards their job. By using the theory X and Y, the management can guide their employees who are working in remote offices or from their homes. Specific guidelines about the rewards and punishments make them aware of their role.

The organisation can use the theory of empowerment. According to this theory, the leaders want all of their employees must join in the process of decision making for their organisation. In the context of this leadership style, the leaders provide a sufficient portion of power to the employees to perform their own roles and responsibilities. According to Goleman's six leadership styles, leaders can perform six types of roles in an organisation (Machado and Davim, 2016). They may perform visionary roles in which they can move their subordinates towards an intended goal. They can coach their employees so that the employees can learn their roles directly. For remote workers, they can perform the role of affiliation in which they can help them directly when necessary. Another one is the democratic leadership style in which all the members are equally treated. The last one is commanding. In the context of remote working, they can command their employees to do the right thing at the right time. So, it is also an important leadership style for remote working. The last one is Adair's leadership style which is called the action centred leadership model. In this leadership style, the management provides a separate action plan for individual workers, teams, and tasks. It can be used as a situation-based leadership style which is good for remote working. In the context of remote working, the remote workers are remaining in a long-distance position from their managers. As a result of this, they cannot be monitored properly. But the implementation of Adair’s action centred leadership can help the organisation to overcome this problem.

Learning outcome-4

4.P1. The ways which can be used by the HR department to provide support and monitor people within the workplace.

The HR department of an organisation is performing their jobs to manage the human resources of the organisation. They do all the related tasks for the workers starting from their recruitment process to their promotion and development process (Valentine et al., 2015). The HR managers ensure that all the policies and procedures relating to workers and their working conditions are properly implemented in the workplace. This will ensure a better work environment in an organisation. One of the most important tasks of HR managers is to perform different activities relating to the development of the employees. They prepare different guidelines for maintaining discipline among the employees. It is a very important issue to keep all the employees exactly in their work. It will ensure better efficiency of work in the organisation. The role of HR managers is very important to deal with the disciplinary issues which will work for mitigating conflicts among the employees. For different reasons, conflict can occur among the employees which are considered as the biggest obstacle against the sustainable growth of the organisation (Tarique, Briscoe and Schuler, 2016). The HR department can advise the managers about the way of negotiation with the employees. They are the only responsible personals who are working for the proper recruiting process of the organisation. The HR department is the responsible party which is working to provide job descriptions to the workers. They provide the opportunity to train the employees and work for their development. The process of transmission of the employees is also handled by the HR department. HR managers have played a significant role in making different types of contracts with customers. they do different types of contracts with the employees like bonus contract. In performance-based bonus contracts, the managers have set a bonus plan for the employees based on their performance. The HR managers are responsible for doing contract and observing the employee’s performance on behalf of the organisation.

The HR department has another important responsibility in the organisation which is to set some principles for the employees. They set the working time for the employees at the same time they are handling the flexi-time of the workers along with their regular work time. Those principles can ensure the success of the employees and also helps them in behave proper ways to achieve the goals and objectives of the company. They are responsible for monitoring the personal issues of the employees like their pregnancy vacation, other vacation period and so on. The development and promotional activities of the employees are one of the most concerned issues for the HR department. The HR department plays an important role to protect the data from any third parties. As a result, the important employee’s related data can be preserved safely. Finally, they are working for maintaining a friendly work environment and keep well balanced in the personal and professional life of the employees. In all the above ways, the HR department can provide support and monitor the employees in the workplace.

4.P2. The policies and procedures which are used for supporting and monitoring people in the workplace

Managing people at the workplace needs proper policies and procedure where the HR team is efficient to manage the workforce and create values for them. The major policies are such as Health and Safety Act at Workplace 1974, Equality Act 2010, Data protection Act 1998 and there are other legislations which are Human rights Act 2019, non-discrimination policies and the Minimum Wage Act 1948. These policies are effective at the workplace in order to manage the workers at the organisation, in which he HR tam is also efficient to lead the employees towards achieving future success. The Health and Safety at Workplace Act 1974 is appropriate for managing the safety and security of the employees, where the employees are working under CCTV cameras. There is popper safety of the employees, mainly for the female members as well as there is emergency exit and other safety measures at the workplace. Continuous monitoring of the workplace and safety measures is hereby beneficial to manage the staff at the workplace. There is also fire extinguisher for any emergency situation which provides safe workplace to the staff for working efficiently. On the other hand, the organisational leaders in the recent years try to provide insurance coverage for the employees as well as accidental death claims which further create values for the employees, where the staff members feel valued at the workplace and they are secured under proper insurance coverage. These benefits create the workplace safe, where the workers can perform with security.

Additionally, Equality Act 2010 is implemented in the workplace, where all the members irrespective of their gender, cultural diversity and preferences are treated equally at the workplace. Equality can be managed through this act, where the HR management team also tries to implement the non-discrimination policies, so that it is possible to remove discrimination related to class, ethnicity, language gap, cultural diversity, age, organisational position and gender. Hereby, the equality is managed by the leaders of the firms where the management team focuses on developing harmony and managing cultural diversity efficiently at the workplace. The employees are feeling valued at the workplace, where equal treatment and fair opportunities further encourage them to perform better in long run. There is also data Protection Act 1998 and recently the implementation of General Data Protection Act 2018, which are effective to protect the information and personal data of the employees. It is necessary for the HR department to protect the personal data and information to manage the employees with security. In this regard, the employees are ensured that, there data will be protected under the above mentioned act and they cam share their information safely with the organisational representative. In addition to this, the Human Rights Act 2019 is also implemented in the workplace, where the HR department does not allow forced labour and they try to fulfil the rights of the individual. They protect the human being and manage accountability and integrity while hiring the people at the organisation. Additionally, the Minimum Wage Act 1948 is also effective, where there is effective wage rate in the country, which needs to be managed by the organisation.

For successful empowerment and mentoring the workplace, the experienced employees can share their experiences with the new employees of the organisation. It is regarding as the way by which intensive support can be provided to the employees. Mentoring can accelerate the growth of the organisation as it is very much supportive of the employees. Mentoring can ensure the highest level of engagement (Torrington and Hall, 2013). The employees who are highly engaged with their job can easily provide their best for the organisation. It is a perfect way to support and monitor the performance of the employees in an organisation. The management of an organisation not only provide feedback on the previous performance but also provides future guidelines for the employees. In this way, the process of performance appraisal can support the employees. The appraisal is another way by which the performance of the employees can monitor by the management. The management can provide continuous support to the employees in this way (Machado and Davim, 2016). There is different way like Management by Objectives (MBO), 360-Degree feedback, behaviourally anchored rating scale (BARS) etc to review and appraise the performance of the employees. Hence, the policies of supporting the employees and the procedure of monitoring the workforce are effective to encourage them and maximise their performance in long run (Tarique, Briscoe and Schuler, 2016). According to this legislation, the HR department aim to develop the salary structure and remunerations for the employees which would be beneficial to hire the employees and provide them opportunity to earn adequate amount as per their working hours. These are the major policies related to human resource management, where the employees can get proper remunerations they can fulfil their rights and get proper workplace to work efficiently. Additionally, there are other procedure to manage the workers which are managing transparency and accountability at the workplace as well as maximisation mutual respect and trust so that he staff members can develop strong relationship and enhance their performance cooperatively (Ivancevich and Konopaske, 2013).

4.D1. The impact of legislation on employee relationship management in the context of different organisational context.

There are different types of legislation that are maintained by organisations for maintaining a good relationship with the employees. All the organisations whether large or small have to follow all the necessary legislations for maintaining the growth of the company. Those legislations have a great impact on employee relationship management. There are several legislations which can help an organisation to maintain good relationships with the employees. The impact of Equality Act 2010, Rehabilitation of Offenders 1974 and the Data Protection Act is very significant in the recruitment process of an organisation. An organisation can make its recruitment process more effective by applying these acts to its recruitment process. It affects the sustainable growth of the organisations. The Employment Rights Act 1996, the Fixed-term Employees Regulation 2002 have a significant impact to manage conflicts in the organisations. By managing conflict of being organisation these laws can help the top-level management. All these acts are helping the management to improve their relationship with the employees.

Conclusion

In summary, the role of communication within an organisation is very important. So, the related policies and procedures of communication must be obeyed by the employees of the organisation. The modern communication technologies should be used for making the communication process smooth. Working in a team is very essential for achieving a common goal because in a team the members can bring their personal experience, expertise, and knowledge to achieve their goal in the most efficient way. Though remote working is a new concept for many organisations, it is very popular with the employees because they can make a good balance between their personal and professional life. Finally, the role of HR managers is very important to support and monitor the activities of the employees within an organisation.

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