AO2/A03 How Steve Brankin manages people, finances and resources with in Asidua Essay

AO2/A03 How Steve Brankin manages people, finances and resources with in Asidua In Asidua the management of people, finances and resources under Steve are central to business success. He undertakes this huge managerial task in a number of ways. Interviewing Steve gave me a great insight into these methods. Managing People Recruitment, Retention and Training of Employees. Employees in Asidua have to go through a short listing process and a job interview. Jobs are advertised on their website, Asidua.com kike the example in appendix 1 showing the job vacancy for an â€Å"Experience NET Designer†. Steve will also make sure that this job is advertised properly so people capable of doing the job can apply. Another method of recruitment overseen by Steve is the advertisements of job vacancies at career fairs for example the UUJ Engineering and IT Careers Fair which is held at Jordanstown University. (See appendix 2) at this event Asidua meet prospective graduates and placements to discuss future opportunities with Asidua. This is an excellent way of recruitment as Steve can see the level of employees that have just come out of higher education. This fair at Jordanstown is the perfect place for this as it would appeal to a number of high performing graduates. Advertising in relevant places for example, Universities and schools. On the Asidua website they offer graduates at Queen’s a scholarship worth up to  £25,000, which includes at least eight weeks paid summer work between each academic year, a guaranteed paid industrial placement in year three and after completion of industrial placement, the opportunity for paid part-time work during the academic year. (See appendix 3) This creates a positive corporate image for Asidua as it show they invest in education and Asidua believe it is important. It also means Steve can employ people straight out of university as they will understand Asidua’s aims and the graduates will be trained through the scholarship. Allocation roles and responsibilities to all levels of employees After advertising these posts, Steve starts the application process. For every job within Asidua completes a Job Description, Person Specification and a Job Outline, all these are part of the application process. Applicants use these to see whether they are suitable for the job, and whether certain qualities are met by the applicants. (See appendix 4 application form) Looking at the application it shows that employees within Asidua have high level of expertise and experience due to the large amount of space left on the form for information. The application form specifically asks about the applications’ personal interests professional organisations they have been involved in and it also asks them to mention skills they have gained. For all these sections there is a large box to fill out, this shows us that Steve is looking for people that have high expertise and also that they have an interest or a passion for something. This large amount of information is an efficient way of short-listing people suitable for the job in question. The applicant Curriculum Vitae is also further help in the application process. The Job Description shows the Job Outline and Personal Specification for an Experienced NET Developer in Asidua. You can download these from the Asidua website and they provide lots of information for the applicant. Looking at the Job Description it clearly shows that a lot is expected of the person applying. Asidua offer lots of employment benefits, for example a 5% bonus per annum, pension scheme, annual leave, salary sacrifice scheme (childcare vouchers), flexible working, sick absence, death in service and health insurance. These working conditions are very high are going to make staff very motivated and this is why Steve has these in place, and this is why in March 2011 Asidua became the first employer to be shortlisted twice for the prestigious University of Ulster Placement Employers of the Year Award. (See appendix 6) Being awarded this shows Steve strong managerial skills. Form looking at the Job Description it is clear that Steve isn’t just interested in their qualifications he pays great attention to their personal attributes, requiring employees to be open-minded, flexible, have good communication skills and being able to work as part of a team. This shows that Steve wants his employee’s qualities to create a very effective and profitable work force. Motivating and developing staff Once all this criteria has been met, it is very important that Steve keeps the motivating of staff at high levels. This is mainly done by investing in employee’s development at Asidua, making sure that they are all keeping strong communication to maintain morale. Methods of training that Mr Brankin will use will encourage employees to update their regular skills in a regular basis which will lead them to enhancing their overall performance. There are several motivational theories that we can look at. One of them is Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs and Elton Mayo’s Theory. (See appendix 7 and 8) Mr Brankin doesn’t plan to motivate his staff under these theories, Human Resources will manage these. However many of the policies in these two theories may been shown, as long as they are relevant to Asidua when situations arise. By looking at these theories we can see how Steve as put them into practice in Asidua in many different ways. Strong communication within Asidua are how informal events such as their breakfast club, sports events and Christmas dinners. Employees will feel a sense of community when they are a part of these things. This shows that Mr Brankin and the Human Resources Department are using the correct methods similar to Elton Mayo’s theory, which clearly focuses on working conditions that are not affecting employee’s motivation. It is the employee’s interaction that gives them a sense of recognition. Setting clear objectives and receiving feedback A manager such as Steve Brankin uses close supervision, carefully dictating how his employees complete their jobs. The understanding that employees dislike work and responsibility and the only reason they are there is for the financial reward. Giving employees praise is a positive and effective  way to get employees working. Asidua do this by appraisal/performance management schemes. This enables objectives and training needs to be agreed at the start of the performance review cycle and reviewed as appropriate in the year. Steve has said in our questionnaire that feedback is an ongoing basis, and it is formally documented at the mid way point and at the end of the cycle. Another way Asidua set objectives is by setting task specifically suited to the employees skills, knowledge and experience, by doing this employees within Asidua will be given task that they are interested in and it means they will be completed to the best of the persons abilities. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs has been ignored in Asidua as Steve Brankin uses it to look at the management in Asidua. He uses this theory as it has the idea that needs are essential for employee’s motivation. Physical of basis needs are met within Asidua with, salary, shelter and warmth. The second main need is security, which employees within Asidua will also feel as they will be working in great conditions and the employees have job stability. Mr Brankin shows employees that the business is under his management and proves that Asidua are investing in their employee’s long-term employment. Staff development Staff development is very important in Asidua; this is because of employee’s long-term employment, which creates a sense of community within the business. Employee’s relationship is excellent in Asidua as they are all well known and this can lead to high levels of motivation. The cost of recruitment is lowered because of this as there are a lot of stages that need to be taken into consideration for example short-listing. So the better developed Asidua’s staff are the less employment is needed to replace past employees. Resolving conflict and maintaining morale Sense of belonging is important in Asidua. Steve puts a large emphasis on  the management style, the â€Å"open door† policy. This means that employees can openly and freely talk about their problems or concerns they may have or that may arise between employees, but all these issues can be resolved through training that managers receive to deal with these problems. Asidua have a Grievance and Harassment policy, this is where employees can report issues more formally. Opportunities with Asidua for employees to make decisions meet Maslow’s Hierarchy about self-esteem. Steve’s democratic management style means that this is being strongly met. Also employee’s decisions are listened to and not just thrown away. An example of this are the weekly meetings held in Asidua with Asidua with Mr Brankin and his employees. They also have the opportunity to feedback online, with different online forums. Employee’s opinions are valued, and they are a major part of the decision making process. Looking at how employees within Asidua are given freedom to carry out their own ideas, this shows that there is an extensive amount of training provided for the employees wanting to carry out their own projects or to press into the area that interest them the most. This management allows employees to keep their morale high as they have the freedom at work to do the things that interest them. Managing finance Steve’s management of finance is very important, just like any other management in Asidua it is clearly a very important factor of the whole business. Money that the business has and earns has to be distributed correctly thought out all the departments within Asidua. Without the correct finance management Asidua go into bankruptcy which is something Steve doesn’t want to happen to his company. When Steve is managing finance, decision making is crucial, the financial systems used within Asidua helping him make these important decisions. Forecasting Forecasting gives Asidua a way to manage its finances in a way that they can see future revenues and expenditures. It looks at three main sections: Receipts which Asidua expect to receive from sales. The payments of Asidua such as monthly costs including the rent and rates of their main business sites The net in/out amount of cash being overall difference between receipts and payments given an indication of how much money id left over by the end of the month. All this is vital to Steve so he can make sure any expected cash surpluses are used effectively and can also predict any future problems. Mr Brankin can then work to fix the problem so that they don’t get forced into liquidation. This method of forecasting means that business are able to evaluate any liabilities which need to be met and use the budgets from the facilitate the budget seen from this to facilitate Asidua in setting targets and then been able to measure performance against this by looking at variances which may arise in forecasting Steve can make important strategic decisions if from looking at Asidua’s cash flow forecast it can be seen that their assets will not be able to meet liabilities this will cause Steve to make immediate action showing this method is extremely useful for him in the financial decision making process. Cash flow management Cash flow statements will similarly be used this Mr Brankin to assist in this decision making process. This cash flow statement is the actual record of receipts and payments in the business as opposed to those which are forecasted the shows the actual journeys the cash has gone through in Asidua overtime and will be used by Steve to evaluate and compare these actual receipts and payments from the business with those forecasted in the cash flow forecast. It similarly uses a form of budget in Asidua as this record of cash flow in Asidua will allow Mr Brankin to plan any future cash flow requirements and  allow him to make sure cash surpluses are used affectively. Like forecasting if cash flow is not managed effectively the business could go into administration. Steve will also use profit and loss accounts to manage finance. Profit and loss accounts are basically a summary of the business is transaction over a given period of time normally 12 months deduction the total expenditure from the total income. It is different from cash flow statement and forecasting in the way that is produced primarily for business purposes to show Asidua’s stakeholders and potential partners in Asidua. This information is obtained by HM Revenue and Customs to solve out taxation. This account also give Steve a way to look at the business’ performance monitoring whether Asidua’s actual performance is in correspondence with budgets. Financial decision making this is similar to profit and loss accounts as it shows the businesses liabilities and assets in balance sheets. These are different as they show the value of Asidua on a particular day, the idea of this is to make sure that every day thing is balanced with Asidua. This means it must be updated constantly. However it is a brilliant method of finance management adopted by Steve Brankin. Making day-to-day financial decisions is very important. Profits and break even analysis. Giving advice on capital investment There are many different financial methods which Steve has not adopted. One of these is break even analysis. Break even is when Asidua’s total revenue is equal to their total cost, by known the point these two meet is very important for Steve as he can aim to meet this break even point. This is the number of items which have to be sold to make a profit. It can also be used to avoid making a loss. This is because any amount of product sold under this point would mean that there is a loss made and cost would not be covered. There is a margin of safety within break even analysis; this is very useful as it shows the difference between the number of goods Asidua would have sold between the break even point and the selected level of activity. This  is very practical for Asidua as it monitors how they are making a profit. When managing finance the decision of capital investment is also very important. Mr Brankin must invest time into looking at this as capital is very important factor of production. When Steve decides whether or not to invest capital into Asidua a number of factors must be thought of. For example when Steve puts forward the business plans to continue investment in Northern Ireland’s young talent, which they got three new scholars to join Asidua through their scholarship program. Those participating in the program had to go through serious high levels of application. This has its benefits as coming from this investment into the support of new IT and engineering student; this will lead Asidua to high profit and success great than the initial cost of the program. Liaising with outside agencies e.g. Inland Revenue Steve makes sure that Asidua liaises with several companies within Asidua; this is mainly done for financial reasons. Asidua have links with Inland Revenue, they bring together the direct taxes and other duties of the business. It is important that areas for example finance is handled by specialists. The investment with Inland Revenue is very effective as they provide Steve with professional financial support. Managing other resources. Stave is in charge of the information systems within in Asidua. These are crucial for a business such as Asidua to run smoothly. Information systems It is evident that Asidua and Steve use information systems and are heavily involved in them. As a company that specialise in computers they used computer aided design to manage most of their information and capture diagrams. Desktop publishing is also used in Asidua to manage information. This is used in lots of businesses and is the software to create publication documents on a computer. This allows large amounts of books to be published  and this method enhances Steve’s managerial skills for information. Linux operating systems is also used within Asidua. This operating system can be installed on a wide variety of computer devices including mobile phones. This shows that this operating system is very effective and Steve can use it in many ways. Maintenance and renewal assets Asidua’s website is one of their assets as it allows their stakeholders and those within Asidua to find out about the business, the employees, projects under consideration and events. This is an excellent way to promote the business as this is based on the high quality of the website and it is important for the business’s image. Apart from Asidua’s employees having the benefit of being able to be updated via Asidua’s public web page, the business also have an intranet system in place. This system is Asidua’s private network created for employees which enables them to find items in their website easier. This has its benefits as it motivates employees and improves morale; this asset provided by Asidua must be renewed and updated regularly under Steve’s management for success.