Case Study on Hr Planning Essay

It is the country†s best recognised energy brand. Centrica is a multinational company, with businesses in many countries. Centrica was formed in 1997 and consists of eight separate energy-related businesses, ranging from the supply of gas and electricity to consumers and organisations in the UK and Europe, to storage of gas for other providers, and drain and pipe work maintenance. The UK energy market is highly dynamic. Customers look for the best deals and are increasingly prepared to switch suppliers. In 2007, 900,000 customers switched energy providers. An energy company needs to show it is not just competitive on price, but that it can also provide the right levels of customer service to attract and retain customers. British Gas does not only supply gas but also deals with the installation and maintenance of domestic central heating and appliances. It provides a maintenance and breakdown service for electrical white goods and home wiring. Through the Dyno brand, British Gas also offers drain clearing services, plumbing and home security services. To deliver these services, British Gas needs high calibre staff. It employs more than 9,000 trained gas engineers to install and maintain central heating and gas appliances. This case study explores how British Gas manages the recruitment and selection of new employees. Page 2:  The role of human resource management Managing a successful large business involves acquiring, developing and maintaining a wide range of resources. These resources include materials, buildings, land, equipment, technology and, crucially, people. Any organisation needs good employees who have the right skills to achieve the company†s aims and objectives. Human resource management (HRM) is the business function that focuses on the people aspects of an organisation. It ensures the efficient management of people in the business. It is responsible for ensuring that an organisation has the right people to deliver its overall business plan. Meeting customer needs Centrica, the parent corporation of British Gas, has to deliver long term profitability. Its shareholders expect the business to show a return on their investment by making profits, now and in the future. British Gas needs to contribute to these profits. This means consistently meeting the needs of its customers with competitively priced products and services that give good returns to the company. Residential consumers across the country are the core customer base of British Gas. These customers expect top-class service at keen prices. If British Gas does not meet this standard, the company may lose business to competitors. To ensure customer satisfaction, British Gas engineers must have the technical skills to undertake work to the required standard and the people skills to deliver good customer service. Through its engineer recruitment team, the British Gas Academy must therefore ensure that the company attracts and retains the best engineers. This involves several complementary tasks. It requires planning to assess the future needs for skilled employees at British Gas. It requires a recruitment and selection programme to bring new people into the business. It requires a training operation to equip new recruits and existing employees with the right skills. Retaining people Importantly, British Gas must also ensure that it retains its best people. It is much more cost effective to retain trained and highly skilled staff than recruit and train up new people. British Gas seeks to retain people by offering a mix of financial and non-financial benefits. As well as good pay and a pension scheme, the company provides employees with the opportunity to buy shares in Centrica and it offers a great place to work and high-class training. Page 3:  Training As an expanding business, British Gas needed to increase its workforce to meet customer demand. At the end of 2002, British Gas established the British Gas Academy. The Academy has helped to develop and refocus training facilities to handle the extra training requirement in recruiting an additional 5,000 employees into the engineering workforce. * British Gas runs an intensive apprenticeship programme. This is delivered in training centres. Trainees should expect to qualify by year five. All domestic gas engineers become fully acquainted with the latest computer-aided diagnostic technology. There are also traineeships, which provide a way for new recruits to learn about the gas industry and gain relevant skills and qualifications. British Gas provides technical training for all its engineers throughout their careers. This ensures that its employees are kept up-to-date with new information and technologies to enable them to provide the best service possible. Training does not simply focus on technical skills and knowledge. Most employees have direct contact with customers, so it is important that they have good people skills. Awareness training is provided for employees across British Gas through an online learning package. Another programme is improving staff†s cultural awareness, particularly to support the growing international operations at British Gas. Page 4:  Workforce planning Workforce planning is the process of assessing a company†s current and future labour needs. The British Gas Academies must consider not just overall employee numbers but also the skills that will be required within the business. Workforce planning also involves managing any training and recruitment process to ensure the organisation has the right staff in place. Managers at British Gas conduct a programme of forecasting to predict how much the UK market for domestic gas engineering services will grow. This helps the company decide how many additional engineers it will need in the future. British Gas makes detailed forecasts of its demand for engineering personnel for one year in advance and makes more general estimates for a further two years into the future. Factors affecting workforce planning At British Gas, workforce requirements are driven by two different demands. First, there are contract customers that have service agreements with the company. Second, there are customers who call for one-off assistance if they have a specific problem. Demand for both these services has grown. In the last three or four years, the need for engineers has expanded accordingly. This has meant that it has had to recruit more staff. There are several other factors that influence workforce planning for British Gas. Engineering skills need to be constantly updated. Health and safety issues are also critically important in the gas industry. Health and safety regulations are changing all the time and EU regulations must also be considered. Apart from regular formal training to close skills gaps to ensure engineers stay up to date with technical matters, British Gas can alert engineers about technical changes via field radio or text messaging. Engineers can work all their careers in the field until they retire. Qualified engineers may spend up to 10 years gaining their skills, qualifications and experience. They have valued practical skills that are needed to deal with equipment and customers. However, British Gas also needs suitable people for promotion to higher roles, such as management jobs. It needs managers to plan, organise and co-ordinate the teams of engineers. It therefore needs to attract and recruit a wide range of people into the organisation. Page 5:  Recruitment As part of its workforce planning, British Gas implements a diversity and inclusion strategy using tailored action plans. This means it actively seeks new recruits from a wide range of backgrounds. The need to recruit a diverse engineering workforce is seen as critical by British Gas. It plans recruitment to ensure it has a socially inclusive workforce. This is important as it will enable British Gas to reflect the diversity of its customer base. For example, it is useful to have employees from different nationalities and backgrounds to communicate with customers that do not speak English as a first language. Recruiting more women engineers may help to attract female customers. British Gas has won a national award from the Council for Registered Gas Installers (CORGI) for its efforts to encourage and attract women into the engineering workforce and into plumbing and associated trades. To dispel the myth that only men can be good engineers, British Gas runs a Georgina and the Dragon campaign for children. What British Gas’ recruitment programmes  have achieved  is demonstrated by various awards during 2009: * British Gas  won awards from the Local Employment Partnership in the East Midlands. The awards for â€Å"Unlocking Talent†Ã‚  and the  Ã¢â‚¬Å"Outstanding LEP Achievement Award†Ã‚  recognise  the company’s recruitment work with the LEP and Jobcentre Plus in the region. * British Gas has been named in the 2009  Sunday Times’s 20 Best Big Companies to Work For. * The British Gas Academy won an award from Women into Science and Engineering (WISE). The award – Investor in WISE  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ rewarded the efforts British Gas makes  to promote science,  engineering and construction  to girls and young women. Advertising British Gas tries to appeal to a varied and diverse audience when promoting its apprenticeships. To advertise opportunities widely, British Gas uses specialist Sky channels like Parliamentary Projects TV, which focuses on careers, and Passion TV, which is aimed at the black community. In print media, it uses women’s magazines, publications targeted at ethnic minorities such as The Muslim Weekly as well as other careers directories for the same reason. Other channels include radio, newspapers,  British Gas website  (www. britishgasacademy. co. uk) and a DVD for schools. Recruiting gas engineers of the right level is important. Candidates for a British Gas apprenticeship must be at least 16 years old, and have a minimum of four GCSEs at grade C or above or equivalent (e. g. NVQs). However, they need more than academic qualifications, they must be able to show some aptitude for customer service, such as being able to listen to customers and understand their requirements. Application British Gas uses an online application form. To help British Gas decide an applicant’s suitability, this includes a value-based questionnaire. This requires responses to a series of statements about attitudes to work. There are 90 statements in all, and an applicant’s overall responses are rated green, amber or red. The colour reflects the attitudes the applicant has about work and people. This helps to show which roles a person is best suited to. British Gas does not take applicants with red ratings further as they may not show a ‘fit’ with the company requirements. However after an initial screening, green and amber applicants are invited to an interview and assessment centre for the final selection process. Here, candidates must show evidence of qualifications, ID and driving licence. Page 6:  Selection At the British Gas assessment centre the emphasis is very much upon ‘core competencies’ and ‘life skills’. Life skills are personal skills that are likely to affect the customer experience when someone is working in the field. British Gas engineers needs to show courtesy and politeness, for example. These are personal qualities that have a direct impact upon customer perception. Core competencies involve team working, interpersonal skills (such as dealing with people), motivation and responding to change. These are crucial skills that can affect the way an individual fits in and works within an organisation. Candidates attend the centre for a half-day assessment. This has three elements. The total scores from the three-part assessment help British Gas to decide who receives a job offer. Candidates are notified of the outcome within 14 days. All candidates can receive feedback. For those candidates offered a job, British Gas provides the usual job benefits including a van from the outset and a competitive starting salary. The new recruits then go on to benefit from the comprehensive programme of training through its Academy. This ensures that they are given the best start in their new careers. It also builds employee motivation and commitment to the company. Recruiting and selecting staff is an expensive process. By following a robust selection programme in this way, British Gas is able to ensure it gets the right people with the right skills. It also means it maximises the benefit from its investment. Page 7:  Conclusion Recruitment and selection at British Gas is driven by the need to maintain the competitive position of the company within the energy market. Domestic gas customers demand the very highest standards of service. They can be assured that British Gas engineers have high-level skills and expertise through its careful specification of entry qualifications followed by top quality training. British Gas also assesses the personal attributes of staff through role play and questionnaires as these influence customers’ perceptions of the service and the company. Great care is taken in determining the organisation’s future staffing needs. This drives the recruitment and selection process to ensure British Gas is seen as offering dynamic and exciting career paths for people of all backgrounds. By developing and nurturing its people, British Gas ensures that new recruits have the right qualities to help the business to compete.

Prominent African-American Mathematicians

Jesse Ernest Wilkins, Jr. exemplifies and is addressed as one of America’s admirable unorthodox mathematicians. He was portrayed as the University of Chicago’s youngest student at the tender age of thirteen. Wilkins proceeded to his education there, earning his bachelor, master and doctorate degrees in mathematics. When he finished his Ph. D. at 19, he was recognized by the national press as a â€Å"negro genius. † (http://www. blackpast. org)Jesse Ernest Wilkins taught at the Tuskegee Institute (1943-1944) prior returning to the University of Chicago to contribute to the Manhattan Project (1944-1946). He then entered industry, advancing to high positions at: American Optical Company (1946-1950), United Nuclear Corporation (1950-1960) and General Atomic Company (1960-1970). He also earned bachelor and master degrees in mechanical engineering from New York University (1957, 1960). In 1970, Wilkins became the Distinguished Professor of Applied Mathematical Physics at Howard University.He was remembered as being very inspirational to his students and for starting Howard’s Ph. D. program in mathematics. (http://www. blackpast. org) J. Ernest Wilkins is a member of various professional societies and has been awarded several honors in his distinguished career including: President of the American Nuclear Society (1974-1975), Council Member of the American Mathematical Society (1975-1977) and Outstanding Civilian Service Medal by the U. S. Army (1980). He has published numerous papers in mathematics, optics and nuclear engineering.His greatest contribution to scholarship is the development of mathematical models to explain gamma radiation and his subsequent work on developing a shielding against gamma radiation. (http://www. blackpast. org) A fifth grade gifted program provided accessibility to William A. Massey to the introduction of Euclidean geometry and number systems of differing bases. His interests in drawing and graphic arts assisted him to comprehend the application of perspective and proportion. In seventh grade, William A. Massey executed an exam involving a type of abstract reasoning.He excelled and exceeded far beyond his classmates on the same exam. Essentially, from that moment, he apprehended the aspiration of becoming a mathematician. (http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/William_A. _Massey) William A. Massey’s authentic comprehension of mathematics as a researcher initiated as a college student at Princeton University. He specialized in abstract algebra and number theory while acquiring real, complex and functional analysis. He maintained his scientific interests by taking physics courses all four years, as well.William A. Massey was awarded an aggressive Bell Laboratories fellowship that was established to increase the number of minority Ph. D. ’s in the sciences, which paid for his acquisition of the doctorate of philosophy in mathematics at Stanford University. (http://en. wikipedia. org/wi ki/William_A. _Massey) William A. Massey has made many original contributions as a mathematician by developing a theory of â€Å"dynamical queueing systems†. His research on queueing networks led to new methods of comparing multi-dimensionalone.One of William A. Massey most cited papers progresses an algorithm to find a dynamic, optimal server staffing schedule for telephone call centers with time varying demand and ultimately led to a patent. An additional highly cited paper initiates a dynamic model for the offered load traffic of wireless communication networks. (http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/William_A. _Massey) In 1925 Elbert Frank Cox was allocated the Doctor of Philosophy degree in mathematics from Cornell and he is the first known Black to receive the Ph. D. in Mathematics in the United States; ultimately, in the world.In September 1925, he accepted a teaching position at West Virginia State College. Elbert Frank Cox remained there four years and in 1929 moved to Howa rd University. Cox remained at Howard until his retirement in 1965 and served as chairman of the Mathematics Department from 1957-1961. In 1975, the Howard University Mathematics Department, at the time of the inauguration of the Ph. D. program, established the Elbert F. Cox Scholarship Fund for undergraduate mathematics majors to encourage young Black students to study mathematics at the graduate level. http://www. maa. org/summa/archive/Cox_EF. htm) While Elbert Frank Cox did not live to see the inauguration of the Ph. D. program at Howard, it is comprehended by various individuals that Cox accomplished plenty to initiate such possibilities.He assisted to build up the department to the point that the Ph. D. program became a practical next step. He gave the department an extensive deal of credibility; primarily due to his personal prestige as a mathematician, due to the fact od exemplifying and exhibiting first Black to acquire a Ph. D. in mathematics, because of the nature and kin ds of appointments to the faculty that were made while he chaired the Department and because of the kinds of students that he attracted to Howard to study mathematics at both the undergraduate and graduate (master's) levels. Cox's portrait hangs in Howard's Mathematics Common Room as a consistent reminder of his contribution to the Mathematics Department, the University and the Community of Scholars in general. (http://www. maa. org/summa/archive/Cox_EF. htm)

Universities: Breaking Down Walls

Do colleges and universities need to change to accommodate students once excluded from the university? This is a powerful question that society needs to know the answer to and the universities need to address. This is also a complicated question that has many facets that need to be addressed. Universities need to accommodate people with the willingness to learn and become educated. The university can†t think that the privileged are the only people that deserve the education they offer; the university has to think on a broader scale and include the once excluded. If this problem were looked at from a financial standpoint, it would hurt the universities, but if this problem were looked at from a social standpoint, it would benefit society as a whole. Mike Rose is a great example of what can happen if the university put some faith in the under-privileged student. The son of an Italian immigrant family, he was placed within the vocational school system. Though placing him within the vocational school system was a mistake due to a clerical error, he played down to expectations beautifully. From those days within the vocational school system to the University of California, Los Angeles were he is now the Professor of Education is a huge testament to the power of education and where it can take someone in life. Education surpasses all boundaries, and education takes someone as far or as high as they want to go, Mike Rose is a shining example of this. Mike Rose also mentions a key aspect of education, which is the support his professors throughout his college and/or entire educational experience. Without help, guidance, and support from your professors, the student, will at times more often than not will feel that education doesn†t want to embrace your efforts, and that is why the support offered from your professors is such a vital part of the education process. Rose also uses great vivid examples in his passage that pertain to the importance of education and shows why it shouldn†t be excluded from anyone willing to accept the challenge of receiving it. The idea of getting an education is the driving force behind anyone and everyone that gets an education. Take for example, Mike Rose†s uncle who came to America from Italy. He came here with nothing, not even an education, and he had to figh(literally) for everything he got, even his education. He was embarrassed in school for not understanding anything that was taught and not being able to read or write, but he overcame these adversities and eventually taught his mother how to sign her name and helped her with everything that she needed from reading flyers to announcements of sales to legal documents. Finally, he took care of all the writing she needed done. This is just one of the many stories Rose used and I use it to show that if education and/or the university embraced Rose†s uncle in his endeavors instead of shunning him, then it would†ve been a much easier transition for him and a richer experience for him and the many others like him. This is an all to familiar place for the underprivileged, but there is a heartfelt story from a brilliant scholar and that person would be Bell Hooks, who came from a poor family that was high on values and family. Hooks decided early on that she wanted more for herself in the was of education, but knew it would be a difficult task to accomplish. When she left her home in the South to pursue her education at Stanford, her parents warned her of the traps and pressures out in the world, but she stood firm with her decision to go to California for schooling. When Hooks arrived at Stanford, she realized that there was a whole other world out there, away from her home in the South. Hooks was tested many times throughout her college experience to change her values to that of the aristocratic values that the university was pushing onto the student body. But Hooks maintained her values that her parents, family, and surroundings had instilled in her, and she moved on to be an educator, not just an educator but also someone that cared about the student†s education. Hooks moved on from Stanford to Harvard and eventually started to lecture all over the country; she even wrote books in a non-academic format so that people of all educational levels could read and understand her message. To look through her eyes the university appears to be a dismal, wrenched place that caters to an affluent, upper class, and white society. Also would you take notice that the university frowned upon black on black relationships and supported a powerful white-supremacist structure. The reason for this outlook is that through her experiences the universities pampered the privileged and didn†t pay attention to the underprivileged. And when the university did let an a underprivileged person walk among them, the university would try to corrupt that individual and have tem change their values to values that were more suited for the university. The aristocratic faculty of the universities would urge people to cut ties to your past and change your values, but all in all, that†s not the way to accommodate the once excluded students; that†s a way to include them but reform them to the university†s way of thinking and to the values the university wants instilled in those individuals. To truly include the underprivileged the universities would have to let them be free: free to think, free to criticize, and free to be themselves. The universities aren†t willing to do that foe the mere fact that they lose their control over the student body. For the university to truly accommodate the once excluded the university would have to change not only its curriculum but also its view on people. It would have to look at a person as just that a person, not as this one†s privileged and this one†s not. Universities have to understand that a person willing to learn is a person worth educating. So in the end the answer to the question do colleges and universities need to accommodate the once excluded students the answer would have to be yes, if the once excluded student is willing to learn.

Interaction Framework Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Interaction Framework - Essay Example Therefore, the main parts of the Evaluation Action Cycle include perception of the world, interpretation in accordance with expectations, and assessment of goals and intentions. Device assessment means one can select a computing device such as a cell-phone to achieve numerous functions. A cell-phone’s main function is to enhance communication between two users in different geographical zones (Shawn, 2012). Consequently, there’s an urgent need of mapping through geospatial techniques that analyses methods of representing how data moves from one point to another. Additionally, evaluation of geographic datasets will assist in application and other Mobile Geospatial Computing that enables users to perform basic applications and operations (Shawn, 2012). Therefore, when mapping from intention to physical movement on the device, cell-phones remain helpful in geographic zones especially when used by the novice. Used by the novice is often complicated because of inability to understand between system state and their interpretation of that state in the dissemination of data to assist in communication (Shawn, 2012). On the same note, failure to adhere to network and surface analysis means the novice cannot distinguish mapping operations and superseding receptions. Gulf of Execution is vital in interface design because it assists in the representation of diverse perceptions and interpretations of data flow. Therefore, permission of allowable actions and intentions implies that the use of systems at the workplace must follow a particular procedure and channel that eases communication (Federici & Scherer, 2012). Similarly, provision of system or other artefact will broaden the representation that is important in bridging the human-computer interaction. User interface display is equally integral in the steps that include interface, perception, interpretation, and evaluation when

A Most Undisciplined Profligate Crew Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

A Most Undisciplined Profligate Crew - Essay Example hich went against the organizational structure is the fact that this second professional section of the army was based on requirements and crass materialistic thoughts. Management of the army was also not strong as we can see that there was a huge communication gap between the Continental Army officers and the legislatures of New Jersey. The dysfunctional attributes of the Continental Army also comes into focus when we see the difference in protest and opinion among them during speaking against the legislatures. George Washington was also right to think that the people working in the army did not actually realize the purpose they are serving. The Pennsylvania Militia mutinied in the year 1780. The main cause of their mutiny was very much similar with that of the protests which were shown by the Continental Army in the year 1779. Winter in Pennsylvania is ruthless and it becomes very hard to stay alive in that state without proper protection. Very much like what happened to the Continental Army soldiers in the northern region, here the Pennsylvania soldiers were suffering to a huge extent because winter had set in 1780. They were facing the lack of supply in food and clothing without which surviving the winter would be a myth. Morristown is one of the coldest regions in this state and this is why the soldiers spending days here suffered the most. On the other hand, the mutiny which was led by the Continental Army soldiers also added to the fuel. Their success against the President of the country and drawing attention of the legislatures inspired the other regiments to protest for their demands. Their march towards Princet on was a symbolic protest against the negligence from the government. US government promised many facilities to the soldiers when the country was lacking people to join the army, but in reality those facilities were not given properly. Both the officers and soldiers of the Continental Army were promised many things while joining the brigade. In

The endocrine regulation of metamorphosis in lepidoperons and anurans Essay

The endocrine regulation of metamorphosis in lepidoperons and anurans - Essay Example The order Lepidoptera is considered as being the "second largest order in the class Insecta and includes the butterflies, skippers, and moths. Members of the order are referred to as lepidopterans" (Wikipedia, 2007). This particular order has more than 180,000 species in 128 families and 47 superfamilies. Lepidopterans undergo a complete and full metamorphosis, as they go through a four-stage life cycle of egg: larva/caterpillar - pupa/chrysalis - imago/adult. When we look at the anurans, which are considered as being the most successful and diverse of the amphibians and anura is considered as being an order of animals in the class amphibian, and this includes both frogs and toads. At the present time in the world there are about 5,280 species that are considered as being in this order, and those that are living are divided into three particular suborders, which are: Archaeobatrachia, Mesobatrachia and Neobatrachia. In regards to the metamorphosis process of the anurans, the beginning is the larval stage, where it is a tadpole, and after a certain period of growth, the tadpole undergoes metamorphosis, in which the tail is lost and limbs appear.

How can interactive media encourage students from secondary schools to Dissertation - 1

How can interactive media encourage students from secondary schools to eat healthy and thus contribute to reducing the growing o - Dissertation Example The present time reflects examples of advertising that make use of the persuasive technology with advertisers using words like ‘free’ and ‘hurry’ offering them with bargains on different products and services, and attracting greater number of consumers. This is reflected in the world of internet advertising as well. With the use of different software and applications, behavior and attitude of people are being altered. Such apps include financial apps or healthcare apps as well, thereby strongly communicating their messages to the people, and proving that web sites have become the most influential persuasive technology of the present times (Tittel, 2013). Beyond the web there are other persuasive technologies that have developed and become highly effective in the present day world. This includes the use of the mobile phones that has been obtained to have significant positive effects on persuading people towards better healthcare. Over the past few years, mobi le devices have been largely used for persuasion along with bringing together government agencies, academics, as well as health care organizations belonging to the private sector, for persuading people towards better healthcare. SMS services are used for promotion of healthcare trying to persuade people to change their attitudes and behavior towards how they maintain their health. This is also possible through the use of other media like the television, radio, and other forms of communications that people in general follow in the present times (Mobile Health, 2010). Considering contemporary examples of persuasive technologies beyond the web, such as mobile devices and hence SMS services have been mentioned earlier, and other communications media like television and radio (Mobile Health, 2010), the expansion and use of the persuasive technologies have been found in marketing of businesses, in environment, in education, and in health care. Use of body-wearable sensors, technologies th at are aware of contexts and real time information exchange are what makes up the persuasive technologies of the recent times involving devices like the mobile phones and other communicative devices (Chatterjee, 2009). 2. Advantages of Persuasive Technology Over Traditional Media and People: The emergence of persuasive technologies through the use of computers, web, and other devices has offered certain advantages over the traditional media and people. These include that it is more persistent than the human beings. It offers significant ambiguity. It has the capability to manage huge amounts of information. It can make use of several modalities to influence people. It can scale with ease. Also, persuasive technologies can be taken to places where it is not possible for human beings to reach. For example, Amazon.com offers books to its customers and along with that it suggests its customers for books through different links thus allowing customers to know about books that they otherw ise never knew (Drew, 2011). The development of information and communications technology has led to greater advantages of persuasion than the traditional media and people, with such revised development being more and more demanded. The present day persuasive