Your first steps in the business world

While writing my last blog, I like to say that we have come a long way. We have seen various sorts of motivation, stress at work, bullying bosses, etc. So we can point out that the  employee-employer relationship is a far-reaching subject. 

For my final blog, I will concentrate me on new employees who are just landed in the labour market. In several years we will be one of those, stressed out to go to our first day at work. Hopefully we will already have made a good impression in the job interview. Unfortunately, it isn't always the boss who takes those interviews. Therefore, you have to stand out and impress your boss. In the first weeks you probably will be cautious and a silent listener, however, sometimes you must be creative and speak up to impress your  leader.

As ann-sophie already wrote, it’s important to be yourself. If you pretend to be someone else, your boss will not appreciate it.

To conclude, if you are polite and professional, you will make it to the top.

Tine Damman

http://talentegg.ca/incubator/2010/02/09/how-to-make-a-good-first-impression-on-your-new-boss/
http://www.londonukjobs.com/articles/impress-manager/

From new member to the "in-group"

In some previous blogs we learned a bit more on how employees look at their employers. I am one of those traditional people who associate a leader with the male gender as shanna mentioned. But that doesn't exclude that I would not  want to work for a female boss. I do think that they are more comprehensive and supportive. This is of course my opinion on how i look to leadership. But how do employers look at their employees?

 I would like to tell you more about that subject by explaining the leader-member exchange theory (LMX).
This theory looks at the interaction between supervisors and their subordinates. First as new member of a team, the boss will evaluate your abilities and talents. Eventually when you gained the trust and respect of your leader, you will belong to the "in-group".
I might say that it is a good thing to belong to the in-group because you will have more responsibility and probably more chance to be promoted. As an "out-group" member you will have to work hard to become an in-group member.
So you better make a good impression on your boss if you want to join the in-group.

Tine Damman

http://changingminds.org/explanations/theories/leader_member_exchange.htm

How to make big impression on your potential future employer

I think we all agree that the relationship between an employer and an employee has changed. Today the employees have a ready tongue and the labour union helps them to bargain for better working conditions. This is a positive thing from the perspective of the employee because that prevents them to be abused or even bullied! Nevertheless, it is the employer who has to foresee difficulties in the future by picking out the employees who match with their vision.

In the previous blogs we accentueted on the employer. But what can be done to make the employee more attractive on the labour market?

An everlasting good impression is very important. I don't think that I have to draw extra attention to the fact that a perfect resume is essential to archieve that. Leave of course the improvised skills out because they could come back to bite you. Being creative is another great tip. So never copy and paste but link your skills to the specific vacancy.

There are 101 tips on the net but I think the most important tip is to be yourself!

Ann-sophie Buyse

http://www.emc.com/collateral/article/100-job-search-tips.pdf

http://jobsearch.about.com/u/ua/findajob/jobsearching.htm

http://www.careerbuilder.com/Article/CB-703-Job-Search-Top-10-Online-Job-Search-Tips/

 

Bully boss

Your boss can bully you, as Yaël talked about in her blog. But your boss can also be a “bully boss” (a little jeu de mots). What’s the difference, might come to mind. Well, if your boss bullies you, he is mobbing you. But a “bully boss” is a tyrannical boss.

We’ve talked about engaging your staff, but I can imagine that when your boss is a tyrant, that’s not quite motivating. But why is a bully boss a bully boss?

A study conducted by Chen and Nathanael Fast, published in the November issue of Psychological Science, provides an answer to my question.

Personal power, coupled with a feeling of imperfection, can make a boss jeer at those with less power. The problem, according to research based on interviews with more than 400 persons, is that deep down inside, the swine knows he or she is a loser.

But what to do when your boss is a despot? Because he’s insecure, using light flattery and affirming the boss's strengths once in a while, might make him more secure and thus less despotic. An other way to help yourself through the day is to seek emotional support from friends and family as well as co-workers who are in the same situation.

The article can be found here:

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/DyeHard/boss-bully/story?id=8872662&page=1

Shanna Danneels

How to report a boss who is bullying

I was shocked when I read today's newspaper 'Het Nieuwsblad'. There was an article about a man who had been bullied nine years long. It made me realize that not everything on the workfloor is going the way it should. And I  think we also have to bring up that dark side. Because what does an employee have to do when his boss is a bully? How should he react in that kind of situations? What is the best plan to combat a bullying boss? Here are a few tips.

First of all determine how your boss is bullying and above all make sure that you are certain that what he is doing is really abuse. Secondly it is a good idea to keep some kind of diary. Write down the date of the abuse and also the names of your co-workers who were witnesses. After that you have the possibility to make an appointment with a psychologist and talk about how you feel. Afterwards you should contact a superior of your bullying boss and make an official complaint against your boss using the reports you made. Explain how the behaviour of your superior is emotionally harming you. Prepare yourself to a possible official interview. If you feel that you aren't able to work for him anymore, consider a relocation to another department or a whole new employment in another company.

http://www.ehow.com/how_7175476_report-boss-bullying.html

Yaël Claeys

Labour union; a keyword in the relationship between an employer and employee

If an employee wants to achieve something, he would better not stand alone. People already realized this in the 18th century. When the industial revolution forced women, children, rural workers and immigrants to work in groups in terrible circumstances, the need for a labour union association grew.

At first, this was prohibited by the law because the employer, who wanted to exploit their workers to maximize their benefit, feared insurrection and rise in costs. However, the chance to get punished (in some counties, there even was a risk to be executed) did not stop the attempt to assemble.

In these days it was a bar struggle to improve the working conditions, economic status an political power of these employees. Today the employees stands strong, they take it for granted that they can demand higher wages, more flexible working hours etc.The employee in not afraid anymore of the employer but it is the other way around. I think that nowadays the need to stike it to big.

Ann-sophie Buyse

http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-union-la.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trade_union
http://ezinearticles.com/?The-History-of-Labor-Unions&id=1119684

Stressed? Your boss's gender may be to blame

I think mentioning the influence of a female boss was a great idea. Nowadays people do a lot of research on what the employees think of their female boss. 

Scientists from the University of Toronto have done a study, based on data from a 2005 national telephone survey in which they looked at the degree of stress in three situations: one male boss, one female boss or the combination. Their study has shown that women who work for a female boss have to deal with more stress than those who work for a men. Admirably those results aren't valid for men. Male employees experience the same stress level, whether they work for a male or a female. 

The findings are contrary to earlier studies which suggest that demographic similarities between a boss and his subordinate advance the harmony at the workfloor.

Study author Scott Schieman brought up some possible explanations for this contradiction. First  he points at the stereotype that a male leader is "normal". What he means is that we find it quite reasonable for a man to be "aggressive"  while we expect a woman to be more sensitive. A second possible explanation can be found in the nature of the job itself.


Yaël Claeys

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/3064811/Women-find-working-for-female-bosses-more-stressful.html

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26630258/ns/business-personal_finance

Female leaders

While I was doing my research about good leadership, I wondered why there is so much fuss about female leaders.  Do they approach leadership differently? Are men better leaders?

In order to find answers to my question I started searching the web and I found the article: “Women and Leadership: Delicate Balancing Act”, written by Hilary Lips for Women Media. She has done research about the topic and came up with a few differences.

First of all she noticed that employees (male and female), for example in a meeting, reacted differently to what  female leaders said, although they used the exact same words as the male leaders. The employees responded with nods, attention and smiles while the men where talking and looked the other way or frowned when the women were speaking.

The second observation was that women have to temper their competence with warmth and friendliness in order to be liked and to be influential. Men, on the other hand, can be strict without losing their authority. Also promoting their own abilities and accomplishments can be dangerous for women, because they run the risk of disapproval. And again, men can promote themselves if they do not overdo it.  

She also gives other examples, but I believe you get the picture. Traditionally, people associate a leader with the male gender. I guess we, women, are seen as mothers, as people who take care of others and who aren’t able to have great visions about business or leading others to the top. Bullshit if you ask me… Hopefully one day soon, we’ll be able to call ourselves equal to men in every way!

Shanna Danneels (hard-core feminist for one day)

http://www.womensmedia.com/lead/88-women-and-leadership-delicate-balancing-act.html

Situational Leadership

We've already talked about the importance of the employees to keep a company going. In addition to this topic we've summed up some ways to motivate them because employers want full engagement and that isn't self-evident. Furthermore we've also focused on the importance of employers itselfs.


In my opinion everything starts with a good employer, a good leader. Indead motivating your staff is crucial, but I don't think a leader who hasn't got the right attitude will succeed in encouraging his personnel.
Shanna also has refered to the crucial question that comes in our mind when we talk about 'a good leader': What is a good leader? What characteristics does he need to have? When I think about the representation of a good leader in my view, it is a leader who knows how to adapt him to a specific situation. Moreover not in every business a good leader has the same profile. In the literature they talk about 'Situational Leadership'.


A good leader needs to find the right balance between relationship orientation behaviour and task orientation behaviour, depending on different situations. To give you an idea of those different types I've posted an image of  'The 3D Theory of Managerial Effectiveness' of William Reddin.
In blue we see the basic types. The second names (after the /) in blue are the terms used by Hersey & Blanchard in their theory. The terms in green and red are the eight leadership styles of Reddins vision. The style in red shows the less effective style, in green a more effective style for the particular basic type.

I think that for this blog-task knowing that there are different types, is sufficient. For a specific description of the types I refer to
http://leadershipchamps.wordpress.com/2008/03/06/knowing-switching-leadership-styles-for-managerial-effectiveness/


Yaël Claeys

Leadership is a way to motivate and engage your staff

I agree that receiving a nice pay check and doing something that you love is quite motivating, but what about good leadership? I believe that leadership is the third way to motivate and engage your staff. History has shown us that people are able to do terrifying things to each other if a good leader tells them to. I think you all know that I’m referring to leaders such as Hitler. Please don’t get me wrong, but Hitler is a terrific example of a good leader. If you ask me, a good leader is born that way. It’s not something you can learn for example in school, no, I believe it’s something you have in you.

But what is good leadership? Why should anyone be led by you? is a paper written by R. Goffee en G. Jones in 2006 and published by the Harvard Business School Press. I believe it was professor Marc Buelens, former professor of Bedrijfskunde, who assigned his students to read this for his exam two years ago.

They believe that “the answer lies in an explicit recognition of three fundamental axioms about leadership”.

First of all good leadership is situational. This means that a good leader will always adapt his strategy to the situation. A nice example is Nelson Mandela. He was a great leader for the ANC no matter where he was, in a prison cell or in the Union House in Pretoria.

The second axiom is that good leadership is nonhierarchical. It may be possible that when you’re at the top of the hierarchy you are a good leader, but it’s not because you’re a good leader that you’re at the top. Great organizations have leaders at all levels.

The third and last observation they made, is that leadership is relational. If I put it really simple: you can’t be a leader without followers. It’s because others believe you’re a leader, that they follow you and you become a leader.

The article can be found here:

http://books.google.be/books?hl=nl&lr=&id=S8sgV2EDrfIC&oi=fnd&pg=PA1&dq=Goffee+R.+%26+Jones+G.+Why+should+anyone+be+led+by+you%3F&ots=NxQNgSFiso&sig=3MDMXOyCmxGdcjQNEw5Jl24KIgY#v=onepage&q&f=true

Shanna Danneels

How to motivate your staff

We all know that  companies  need their employees; without them it is hard to survive in a world full of competition. The question that raises is how to motivate the employees to keep up and to achieve the company’s  goals. I have already read in the previous blogs that  high wages, good working conditions, respect and job satisfaction can motivate the staff. However, is that enough?   

Every employee can be motivated in a different way. Some work for money, some for personnel fulfillment, others just love what they do. For example, I would like to work in a company whose goals are bigger than just making a profit, a company that makes a difference in this world by doing something good. I Also think that it would be nice to work in a place where you easily can blend in. 

In spite of all this, money will unfortunately always play a central role. Nowadays we can’t live without  it, but as they say, money can’t  buy happiness. 

Tine Damman

http://humanresources.about.com/od/rewardrecognition/a/needs_work.htm

What to do with suicidal employees?

Indeed, the relationship between employers and employees has had enormous changes and it can clearly lead to all sorts of strange things. The title of an article in the trends of the 7-13 of October attracted my attention immediately. It says "bury your employees".

In Korea, the number of suicides was so high that some well-know companies help their employees organize their own false funerals, living will included. Being buried for 10 minutes in a coffin- chosen by the employee in question of course- is clearly enough to make the employee see that life is valuable. Remarkable detail, the employee becomes more productive!I think that this is a kind of bizarre manner to help your employees. First the company demands too much of them, so they become depressive and then they "help" their suicidal employees with this "well-dying".
In the end, it seems that the situation is to the advantage of the employer!

Ann-Sophie Buyse

http://trends.rnews.be/nl/economie/weekblad/magazines/07-10-2010/

Is the employer-employee relationship changing?

When I was looking for information about our topic, I couldn’t mind noticing that there are a lot of authors who talk about a changing relationship between the employer and the employee.

Years ago, employers used to dictate their own terms and conditions of employment, because there were few laws available to protect employees. A nice example of how it was, is given by the film "Daens". The unions and additions to the law changed all that. This was the first turning point in the employer-employee relationship.

Nowadays employers are expected to have a good relationship with their employees as Yaël mentioned in her blog. Respect is one of the keywords in our society. But aren’t we in the middle of another turning point? Aren’t employers expecting too much from their employees? Their workers have to be more mobile, have to be prepared to work flexible hours…

Is it possible to keep their employees engaged if they are so demanding? Are nice perks, a big paycheck and the right communication enough? Or do they need something more?

I think this could be a good topic for a discussion. "Is the relationship between the employer and the employee changing?" or "What is changing and how does it affect us (in a good way or a bad way)?"

Articles about this topic can be found on the following websites:

http://www.consumerelectronicsnet.com/articles/viewarticle.jsp?id=919341
http://www.workforce.com/section/hr-management/feature/how-employer-employee-relationship-has-permanently/
http://www.businessweek.com/managing/content/mar2009/ca20090331_755178.htm

Other links used:
http://www.mypersonnelfile.com/termination/employer-and-employee-relationship

Shanna Danneels

How to improve employer - employee relationship?

A good interrelation between the employer and his employees is definitely a crucial point if you want a successful business. It is clear that arguing employer and employees won't make it work.
Adversely, employers who treat their employees with a lot of respect -and vice versa- form a good foundation of a successful company. But how can you make this interrelation strong enough for the long haul? Here are some instructions to optimize the employer - employee relationship.


First of all an employer has to deal equally with all his employees. Try to motivate them with incentives and reward them for hard work. Second a boss should spend time with his personnel. Ask for their personal opinion about the way of working. It is important that they feel a great jobsatisfaction, else they won't perform optimal. Furthermore the employees should be able to work as a strong team. Organize a teambuilding to test this. 


So whatever you are planning to do, keep in mind that a group of employees who are able to work together and treat each other with respect, are the key to success!


Yaël Claeys


http://www.ehow.com/how_2108385_improve-employee-employer-relationships.html

Who is dismissing who?

Nowadays the relationship between an employer and an employee is highly provided by the law.
There are all sort of rules to prevent employees to become victims of employer abuse. The employee is strongly dependent from the employer, however, it isn't always the employee that is the victim of a breach of contract.

Employees dismiss their employers more than the other way around. I think that our generation- more than previous generations- is searching for the best working conditions, the highest wage...
Maybe this is due to more advanced knowledge of new technologies, in particularly the internet.

You can also dismiss your employer for another reason. If you really like the work that you are doing but your supervisor is treating you inappropriate, don't hesitate to talk about it with an upperlevel manager. Nevertheless you have to make sure that you have a legitimated reason such as; sexual harassment, verbal abuse,discrimination...

Ann-sophie Buyse

http://www.hg.org/article.asp?id=19477

http://www.employer-employee.com/Termination.html

What about employee engagement?

As we all know, the economic crisis still affects us, with job cuts and pay freezes we might say that employees are having a hard time. That is why good employee engagement is essential. Ruth Sunderland defines employee engagement as:”the jargon for firms' efforts to communicate and build good relations with their workforces”.

By using the right communication, the employer can motivate his staff.  There are many ways to communicate, some prefer newsletters others prefer  personal contact. Companies also need a good equality and diversity policy. For example HSBC who has a childcare scheme. This leads to a minority of mothers leaving because they have children. 
 
Although employee engagement is a good thing, in some sectors it isn’t necessary. First we have banks, telecoms and media where employee engagement plays a central role. We also have mining companies whose first concern is the health and safety of their employees instead of employee engagement.

Tine Damman

http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2010/aug/22/employee-engagement-research