The training and development that William Hill use

This task requires me to explain the training and development that William Hill use and methods that they use to manage the performance of staff linked in with the five main motivational theorists:

F.W Taylor

D. McGregor

A. Maslow

E. Mayo

F. Herzberg

F. W Taylor had a very simple view of what motivated people at work – money. He felt that workers should receive a ‘fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work’, and pay should be linked to output through piece rates. A worker who did not produce ‘fairs day work’ would face a loss of earnings and exceeding the target would lead to a bonus. Taylor’s message for business is simple – allow workers to work and managers to manage based on scientific principles of work-study.

D. McGregor believed that there is two types of workers and due to their difference two types of managerial style needs to applied.

THEORY X

THEORY Y

Workers are motivated by money

Workers are lazy and dislike work

Workers are selfish, ignore the needs of organisations, avoid responsibility and lack ambitions

Workers need to be coerced and directed by management

Workers have many different needs which motivate them

Workers can enjoy work

If motivated, workers can organise themselves and take responsibility

Management should create a situation where workers can show creativity and apply their job knowledge

A. Maslow suggested that ‘classes’ of needs could be placed into a hierarchy.

The classes of needs were:

PHYSIOLOGICAL NEEDS – wages high enough to meet weekly bills.

SAFETY NEEDS – job security, safe working conditions

SOCIAL NEEDS – teamwork, communicating, affiliation with colleagues

ESTEEM NEEDS – recognition for doing a job well, self-respect

SELF-ACTULAISATION – promotion due to realising full potential, self-fulfilment.

Maslow argued that needs at the bottom of the hierarchy are basic needs because they are concerned with survival for instance at work an employee is unlikely to be concerned about acceptance from colleagues if he or she has not eaten for six hours. The rest of the needs have to be met in work in order for you to be motivated.

E. Mayo concluded during an experiment called the Hawthorne Effect that changes in conditions and financial rewards had little or no effect on productivity. Increase in output was mainly due to cohesion and communication which workers in groups developed as they interacted and where motivated by the interest shown in their work by researchers. Management must also work and communicate with informal work groups, making sure that their goals fit in with the goals of the business. One way to do this is to allow such groups to be part of decision making. Workers are likely to be more committed to tasks that they have some say in.

F. Herzberg attempted to find out what motivated people at work by using indicators that caused strong dissatisfaction or satisfaction.

After six month in employment William Hill will send a confidential letter to the new recruited employees to come in for a day to have a meeting regarding a report of their progress. This is more of a developmental issue to aim in maintaining and managing good performance. This can be seen as an appraisal meeting but it is just mainly to see what training they have and if it can be improved to enable them to reach their personal goals and develop within William Hill so corporation objectives can be reached. So it is very important that William Hill have a training programme that is intergraded in the business so they can expand easily due to having flexible and correctly skilled workers also once trained there is a very much a possibility for promotion due to confidence displayed from developing their new learnt skills.

Within this sheet a great deal of information is obtained for training and questions asked on how they are developing in course of six months. Areas, which are used to determine the training needs, are questions such as – in what way could your performance be improved? also in which way might the job be made more workable/constructive/productive? This approach in training is linked with Mayo’s theory because once communication and feedback is asked of employees it enables them to feel involved with William Hill because it appears to be that they are contributing in what changes will take place also they are have reached Maslow social needs from communicating to different levels of the hierarchy and being involved with William Hill so productivity should increase due to self motivation of feeling appreciated.

If recommendations are made by the employee then it will aid William Hill in noticing that it could be the lighting or social conditions which needs to be improved for new employees to perform well The first part of the progress sheet deals with questions such as, how committed to William Hill, how do you work in a team and relationship managers. Different managers have commented this on your particular sheet prior to the meeting and if you beg to differ you also have the chance as an employee to contribute with your evidence on how well you have achieved the above. Nevertheless theorists such as Herzberg believe that relationships with managers and peers do cause dissatisfaction within the work place and only the job itself will only motivate employees but theorists such as Mayo and Maslow believe that team working or group work creates a great deal more motivation also asking their opinion when it comes to decision making because it allows them to stay committed to William Hill due to so much attachment.

From this meeting you are probably moving to Grade 2 of Cashiering, which means higher earnings per hour, and your job is very secured. This relates to Taylor’s view that if you work hard enough you gain financial rewards also you have met Maslow physiological and safety needs because you have now wages to pay your bills but also gain job security because of the competence displayed by the new employee.

The Performances Review takes place of appraisal in William Hill and this is a meeting for existing staff (especially Cashiers) that has been in the organisation for more than a year. Targets are set in order to see if progression is successful if not alternative approaches have to be taken and in what band their reward full into.

Whenever appraisal is carried out it requires a positive approach from all participants because employees dislike criticism of their performance at any level and William Hill human resource department know this and try to operate such schemes with openness and honesty. The scheme is not ran to strictly because if it was it would limit the response of employees who will see it only as a method of not rewarding them if targets are not achieved because this is counter productive and will cause considerable unrest amongst workers and managers. A combination of feedback mechanism s will be extremely valuable in strengthening the manager-employee relationship. Regular feedback is essential because it stimulates personal development, while specific feedback acts a motivator by adding new responsibilities to work that can become mundane once it has been repeated for long periods without change.

This approach relates to Maslow esteem needs because this system allows employees gain self respect from achieving the targets set by them last year also recognition is given because new targets will be set due to attainment of the last ones. Herzberg also related his studies with the understanding that sense of achievement received from meeting your targets will motivate you also it gives you a chance of promotion for instance as a Cahier in William Hill to move up grades. However even if you have not met targets Herzberg believe that you still are motivated by having another chance for improvements because managers have to recognised that you have made an effort in obtaining tour targets because human beings are not faultless and situations do occur during the period identified which will affect the intended targets.

Many appraisal schemes are linked to the annual reward system and success can be recognised by pay increases, promotion, a higher job grade or other benefits, e.g. bonus. Theorist such as Maslow believes that this just a basic need and needs to be fulfilled in order to progress within his hierarchy to obtain levels such as esteem needs. Also it can be seen that the reason why employees do accomplish targets from McGregor’s point of view is due to the fact money is the reward which will be given at the end and those that are motivated by money are theory X workers who really lack any real ambitions but just want more money.

In order for William Hill to know if development of each staff is occurring an Assessment for Sales and Service every once a year. This is like an observation and tick sheet with evidence done by managers to see if different areas such as skills, knowledge and behaviour are being demonstrated or developed fully for instance on the sheet it ask, ‘always introduces linked sale items when the customer will benefit.’ This does contribute to your appraisal meeting and it takes note of every area which indicates your strength as an employee which in Maslow and Herzberg studies understand this that recognition is being given from recording these advancement made and then reach other levels of needs such as self-actualisation or promotion with in William Hill.

However, managers may find themselves with the unenviable task of discussing poor performance or development. That is why Herzberg say relationship with your managers cause de-motivation and make the job dissatisfactory. Even Taylor believed that workers should left alone and no involvement with managers because in order to meet company’s objectives production still has to be continued and managers interfere with this process. The main aim here will be to gain a change in attitude or standards of behaviour. Most of this can be remedied by training in the skill that is weak, making the employee see how relevant their job is to the rest of the team and these actions will be agreed between the two parties and recorded as the outcome, so they can still develop by knowing what they have to remember what they have to do on the shop floor.

Competency Framework is an analytical method will be used for performance. It allows mangers to fully understand what the employee can do. This would be used for Store Managers, Deputy Managers, and Area Managers. Analysing whether they are really performing the job to their best would be an asset to the company because many customers rely on their skills and judgement if adequate can improve sales if not it can decrease it that is why this sheet is mainly to know if William Hill employees are putting customers first. Again it is another tick sheet but correspond more to higher levels in William Hill’s organisation because statements which consist of the competency sheet are ones like this – supports others in achieving outstanding customer service also creates a culture that sees customer satisfaction as the route to achieving profit.

If they are performing this to their best then overall the store sales will increase which means a nice meaty bonus for Managers and Taylor sees that this will motivate staff and further more increase production because the reward is financial but Mayo contradicts this saying because the whole store is working as a team brings motivation to employees because they feel like one big family working together in order to improve sales. McGregor will also see this as a Theory Y approach because they all appear to be working to their best because they are satisfied with the job not will be paid.

This Competency Framework will allow Managers to progress possibly to higher positions such as District Managers because it shows exactly what their strengths are and skills they have developed for them to be an outstanding role model. A theorists which agrees to this as motivating will be Herzberg because Managers efforts are being recognised and will give the job much more satisfaction and they know that maybe they have reached their full potential which relates to Maslow self-actualisation needs, the last level because hey have been promoted to a top position within William Hill and have developed a great of skills in order to a very competent employee.

If employees are to meet their targets, William Hill have to realise that these targets must be realistic and achievable and organisation must provide suitable resources to enable them to complete tasks satisfactorily. Staff can easily complete tasks they are competent in performing but, to aid motivation, new tasks can be added to the existing skills and an allowance must be made when occurs. The human resource department should use a method of creating fair individual or team gaols and the SMART model could do this:

Specific – use clear language to describe exactly what is required

Measurable – identify numerical targets and outputs which can be counted and assessed.

Agreed – agree these with the employee so that they take responsibility for their own output.

Realistic – set targets that are attainable for each individual according to their skills and competencies.

Time-related – state specific dates when targets must be achieved and will be measured.

This way they can assure that all employees meet targets and gain their just reward. This allows them not only to fill part of William Hill because they realise that the company is recognising their effort from training and progression but allows relationship with managers and employees to improve because more communication takes place and employees that they are developing form obtaining new skills and responsibility.