During
the era of market economy which is the one occurring most frequently in the contemporary world,
seeming to be the most balanced way of managing the market, it is crucial to
work with the highest efficiency possible and not to waste the resources. In the firms and corporations of
all kinds such efficiency depends primarily on the people who work in it. That
is why there originated the need to investigate ways of managing the employees
and making them do their best.
Before the 19th century
there were virtually no theories of managing a company. More likely than that,
the owners of these depended on their intuition and business talent. For this
reason majority of companies were smaller ones, easier to control. Their owners
usually managed them and worked there along with their employees at the same
time. As the transport and production was very time-consuming, the company
focused only on a limited area on the market and the competition was therefore
not really big.
Nevertheless, these conditions
changed soon. The companies and their production increased as the time went and
so did the demands on their leaders. Therefore, towards the end of the 19th century
there sprung a necessity to get occupied with this issue and to create a conception of
the most suitable ways of management. Some elements were taken from the areas
that have already concentrated on this before, for instance the army and the
governance theories. This is how a discipline called “management” came to existence.
The founders and pioneers of modern
management are mainly: American Frederick Winslow Taylor (21. 4. 1864 –
14. 6. 1920) and German the
economist, sociologist
and philosopher Max Weber (20. 3. 1856 – 21. 3. 1915). Taylor’s ideas were embroidered by
a French economist Henri Fayol. This period before the Second World War is
called the classical management.
Henry Ford and Tomáš Baťa belonged
to the significant enterprisers of the first quarter of the 20th
century. They were the first ones to practically enforce some of the modern motivational
strategies which made their employees care for the prosperity of the firm
because their salaries and standard of living were derived from it. The main
features of their management were: sophisticated structure of the firm and
divided responsibility.
The
next stadium of management development took place between the 1940s and 1970s. This period saw a
significant humanization of working conditions and the social essence of
the employer-employee relationship was taken into account. The management of that time was
strongly influenced by Chester Irving Barnard’s (1886 – 1961) book Functions of the
Executive. Unlike in the case of the first period when the management was focused on
abiding the rules and the individual invention was more-less undesirable, this
period generously evaluates the personal involvement of the employees in the life
of the firm. It is also here where adapting of the firms to the conditions around
started. The firms are no longer isolated units, but they need to respond to the outer stimuli
of the market.
The
third period started in the 1970s and lasts hitherto. Some authors divide
it into several
phases but the differences between them are not so significant. Respected and momentous specialists are
Drucker, Peters and Waterman. The process of further specialization, division
of labour and competences carries on. The directors of bigger firms employ
capable managers who dispose other managers who manage smaller units. Human
resources management separated from the management as an independent
branch that demands
other specialists. Also this underwent certain development. Through the personal administration-
the evidence of the employees’ activity and passive fulfilling of various
duties- we get to the most advanced personal activity- the human resources
management
The main of my Bachelor Thesis is to
elaborate documentation serving for development of
knowledge and abilities in the area of human resources management and pedagogy.
From the professional point of view, this process consists of transferring an electronic study text into
questions and answers so that a specialist becomes fully familiar with the
theory of the given field during work with these questions.
I
have divided the Bachelor Thesis into five individual parts. The first part
focuses on theory of human resources management in terms of questions and
answers and provides answers to important questions of the given issue. The
second part is oriented only
on an e-learning test from all the chapters. Each question includes four
possible answers, but only one of them is correct and marked with three dots.
The third part deals
with methodology of education and the fourth part deals with integration
of English language, classification of language skills, types of teaching
according to knowledge level and age of students and the CLIL method. The last
part deals with benchmarking, its definition, origin,
divisions and also specific benchmarking measures in terms of the Xerox Company and
benchmarking in schooling and education.
I believe I will manage to approximate the area of human resources and
pedagogy to students so
that they can use this text efficiently for their studies.
Functioning
of all organizations and companies, regardless of their financial and technical situation, depends
on people's performance. It is in fact why they achieve their goals and are
able to beat the competition. That is why it is absolutely crucial to recognise the potential
of the employees as quickly as possible and utilize this knowledge maximally.
And this particularly is the essence of human resource management. This phrase
describes the management of labour force, the help provided in order to direct
it in the right way, to adapt and adjust it, control the outcomes and
relationships within
the firm and also satisfaction and education. In a word, this activity
concerns the employees, their
job description and everything that could affect it.
Most
of the people would never bother themselves with optimal employment without an
outer stimulation. The employee has to be appropriately motivated to do so, he
should see a purpose in his job and he should be proud of his results. For the
modern firms the effort to
reach this state is vitally important. Naturally, it is not really
possible to translate the
job into some kind of paradise into which everyone comes with enthusiasm and
where he feels happier than at home. Nevertheless, the task of the manager is
to create an environment where the lowest possible number of obstacles in
smooth fulfilling of the
duties is present. He has to discover and destroy such obstacles whose
essence is sometimes not even
clear to the employee.
For
proper functioning of the company it is important to link skilled workers with appropriate job description.
It is the worker with essential knowledge and skill for the particular job who is
demanded. However, this works also vice-versa. The modern human resource
management does not concern only adapting the workers but also finding a
perfect activity for particular personnel. The objective is to find a perfect
balance with the employees not
being nor underestimated nor overloaded. Practically, we can find cases of a
member of the firm hierarchy who is not able to perform his job for various
reasons. It is therefore essential to prevent the employees from being mislead
by their limited opinion or attitude and to enable him perform also jobs
different from those familiar to him.
It
is also important to be careful with the timetable of the firm and thus
aspire to make the team’s work
maximally effective. For instance, if the deadline for fulfilling a task is too easy to be met, the
company needs to cover expenses for a time that is not used effectively and it
is therefore good to consider possible shortage of working hours or to demand
more.
However,
a human being is not a machine that has to do its best regardless of its needs. It is therefore
important to heed the relationships within the employees, the teamwork and cohesiveness. It
will result into bigger loyalty of the employees. Such an approach leads to better
results than an absolutist approach which reduces the employee to a medium for achieving
the management’s goals. Especially, in smaller firms it is possible or maybe
even essential to heed a personal and friendly relationship between the
management and the employees.
Also
the question of education is closely connected to the human resource
management. A good directorate looks after maximally professional approaches of
the staff and is never able to content itself with the contemporary state. It
always attempts for
improvement. Therefore, it is profitable to use a part of the resources for
further education of the team and for sending it to various courses and
trainings. Experience proves that these activities not only educate the
employees but it also enables them to relax and forget the routine for some
time, to establish new contacts and refresh them so that they return
with new energy and enthusiasm.
The
employee has to know and follow not only the laws of a particular state but also of the company as well as
its rules, regulations and the basic rules of decency. Nonetheless, this is
also valid for the management whose members have to set example. In the case of breaking these
rules the company threatens its good reputation which can be fatal in the market economy. Such
behaviour does not always leak all the way through to the public, but it does
not pay off inside the company. If for instance the employer breaks some of the
employees’ rights it leads to loss of their satisfaction and thus effectiveness
and efficiency. Finally, it can result in loss of some members of the
team. The search for new ones and their
consequential educating makes the firm instable and it endangers its
competitiveness and position on the market. [5, s. 17]
Two
subjects participate in the human resource management- the managers/bosses and
the human resource departments. These departments help the managers with
leading the employees towards efficiency. We can divide the human resource
management activities into three types:
1)
strategic
It concerns creating
conceptions and strategies. These have to submit to the overall strategy and
the priorities of the company.
2)
advisory
It focuses on discovering the problems and
finding the best solution possible. The human resource department and the boss
participate on this one equally. Apart from finding a solution it can also
reorganise the employees’ arrangement and allocation or plan their further education.
3)
operative
Now we are already impinging
the operations connected with this problematic. For instance, it involves
accepting new or dismissing old employees. The biggest share and the major role in this case belong to
the bosses. [6,
s. 12-21]
In
the human resource management of today it is just its strategic part that
has a great importance. If
the firm would not be willing to get adjusted to the market it would not
survive for a long time. Therefore, it has to heed and think about the
strategy that ideally
involves also most of the predictable changes. Obviously, in this point it is impossible to isolate
the human resource management strategy from the overall strategy of the firm
any more. They need to for a whole for
they correspond with each other very closely.
In
this respect we can see certain naivety in the management of some companies.
That is because they are blinded by the actual vision of profit. The bosses or
the owners sometimes even prefer their own financial backing over the situation
of their firms and
employees who often find themselves just at the bottom of the preferences.
Until they are able to earn enough money, the development, improvement and
position of the firm does not interest the owners. Such approach is not only
selfish but also totally
in contraction with entrepreneurial rules. Those who manage the firms
should be primarily responsible. A real enterpriser often chooses decisions
profitable for the firm over those that would be lucrative for him and he
always attempts to improve.
The
biggest potential for such improvement is again found in the human resources.
When creating human resource strategies it is also mainly about stating the
tong-term goals that concern job description of the employees and further
expansion. [5, s. 25-28]
An
important branch of human resource management is accepting and dismissing the
employees. As already mentioned, these belong into the operative ones.
Firstly, it is necessary
to create a file of activities and tasks that are to be fulfilled by the coming
employee. Then, we need to make sure that the environment for this is suitable.
If not, we need to guarantee improvement. If the environment makes it necessary
it is also important to arrange a concept of flexibility and communication
between the other departments or
employees of the firm. Today, considerably a huge number of employers tend to bypass the
specification of the nature of the job using various formulations so that they
could utilize the employee according to the momentary need of the firm in the
future. This appears to be very profitable. However, it is important to realise
that it is unfair towards the staff and
additionally it makes the selection of the employees considerably harder. It is natural that the more
concrete demands we state, the easier it is for us to find a suitable employee
for this particular job. Nonetheless, the level of concreteness is derived from the nature of the job and its
contemporary but also possible perspective.
Once
we have a job it is necessary to occupy it in the most effective way possible.
In order to achieve this, there is organised recruitment that has to guarantee
that we will find the most suitable candidate. We can obtain the new employee
from two sources:
1)
inner
sources
It concerns a selection
among the employees already being part of the company.
2)
outer
sources
We obtain employees from outside-from the job
market
Being
an employer, we need to state demands. A candidate expresses his qualities in
documents that are often demanded by the firms- his professional CV, acknowledgement of
accomplished education and a reference of his former employers. In most of the cases when a personal
investment is needed, a candidate is also asked for his motivation letter.
There
are many sources to recruit employees from and they are often combined. The
firm can look up former candidates in its archives, promote the job on some
public places, address educational institutions or employment agency, depend on
hired agency, promote the job in media or recruit potential candidates on the
internet.
(So-called e-recruitment)
Based on the information gained from the
candidates they can be divided into three groups:
1)
very
suitable
The best candidates we wish
for. Unfortunately, we do not always manage to contract them; therefore, there
exists a second group.
2)
suitable
Although they do not possess the qualities of
the members of the first group they would be probably able to
handle the job.
3)
unsuitable
Candidates we reject for
some reason- often a lack of qualification.
Another step of
the procedure is the selection procedure. The number of its rounds can vary,
but it is usually given. Firstly, you examine the information gained from the candidate. An interview
follows for the case that it is necessary to add some information. Then comes
test of the candidates’ abilities (can be carried out in different forms). Then
comes another interview, checking the information and references and finally
the selection. It is in interest of the firm that it decently announces the
failure to all the
unsuccessful candidates. It is possible that it will need to contract one of
them at some point, but he will not be willing to after a bad experience.
Recently
(mainly in the case of big and wealthy firm that can afford it), a wide usage
of personnel agencies that organise the whole procedure has sprung. It is not
rare that the widespread of their activities concerns also the selection of the
employees and the supervision of them during the
process of adaptation after the selection. In this way, firm is deprived of all
the inconvenient activities of this type.
It
looks like an impossible task to the managers to motivate the employees. There
are many tutorials and theories concerning this issue. However, it is crucial
to use only the one approach
that is requested by the situation and not to apply it on everyone equally. In
this respect, a certain foresight and empathy is needed. In order to handle
this task properly, we need to know the motivation profile of the employee.
The
motivation profile of the employee is a certain part of his psychological
profile and, to a certain extend it is possible to find it via psychological
tests. Each man is driven by different goals and values and these reflect his
motivation in work.
One
of the theories relies on the hierarchy of needs formed by a famous
psychologist Abraham Maslow. The five basic needs of each man have to be
satisfied in this standing: physiological needs, need of being certain and
secure, need of fellowship, need of acknowledgement, approval and the need of
self-realisation. If we translate these needs into the job environment and put
down the possibilities how to satisfy them, we get some kind of list of motivation
means. For instance, we can satisfy the need of security and certainty by
selecting an appropriate insurance for the employees, obtaining lockable
dressing rooms so that the employees do not have to worry about their stuff,
etc. Everyone could picture a concrete realisation.
Another
theory is the theory of justice. It says that the amount of premiums (in any form) is not the only thing
that the employees care for. They are also very sensitive with the fair
distribution of premiums. It ought not to happen that two equally effective
employees will be rewarded for the same work differently.
The
theory of inner motivation states, that determination and enthusiasm for working depends mainly on three basic
factors: meaningfulness of the work, responsibility and awareness of the
outcome that is a result of the effort made.
Considerably
new theory is so-called complex theory of motivation. While the previous theories presumed a
rationally-based motivation, the new complex theory involves also more-less
irrational behaviour. The crucial term here is “self-concept”. It refers to
self-perception of a man. Due to this theory, everyone has the need to improve
his image constantly. Self-concept produces two kinds of motivation:
1)
inner
(self-motivation)
Self-motivation is based on inner processed of
a man and on self-perception based on his achievements. This point of view does
not even have to match with the employee’s environment’s opinion. Although
other can see him as a successful man, he may
not consider himself to be one. It depends on his scale of values and goals.
2)
outer
Outer
motivation is the result of need of respect and approval from the environment.
As
already mentioned, each employee is motivated by something different. The ratio
between the inner and the outer motivation is also different in each person. It
is up to the manager or
the boss of the company to be able to understand his employees and “ring the right string”.
The process of evaluating the employees is
usually reflected in three components of their performance:
1)
effort
We
evaluate the employee’s interest in his job and his willingness to fulfil it
properly.
2)
competition
We evaluate the skills and
talents of the employee and his successfulness in fulfilling given tasks.
3)
job
and organisational requirements
This
part depends mainly on the firm. It has to provide its employees with proper
conditions for fulfilling the job.
The
evaluation can be either formal or informal. The formal one usually takes place
with certain regularity. The recommended frequency is once a year. It can have
both the form of written
or oral evaluation. Its results are usually put down. The evaluator is usually a colleague or the
employee himself. Usually, the combination of these is used because more
sources bring more objectivity and accuracy.
The informal evaluation takes place
during usual contact on the workplace and it is part of everyday
interaction between the employees. Also the manager ought to express his
opinion informally from time to time. Both positive and negative remarks often
function as significant motivation means. If the informal evaluation proceeds
trouble-freely, the formal one seem to be an old-fashioned hangover. The reason
is that it can be a stressful event that is feared by the employees and too
negative evaluation expressed in formal way can have devastating impact on
them.
From
evaluation (but not only) is derived the rewarding. It can have the common form
of salary or a form of various employment benefits such as meal tickets,
etc. As awarding is an
important motivation means many firms still raise the ratio of non-stationary parts of
the salary. Their value depends on the work done. This motivates the employees
to work harder and better. However, this mean should not be overused for too
flexible and unstable salary can stress the employee and take away his
confidence. Too big differences between the salaries of colleagues can also
cause unhealthy jealousy and rivalry on the workplace.
It
is obvious that if you do not have a capable employee it is a pity to let him
stay on a constant level and not to enable him to improve himself and broaden
his horizon. After a few months, even he himself would not be happy in the
work. If we do the same work all the time and do not learn anything new, the
job becomes a boring routine
which we do not rate positively. Therefore, it is appropriate to take
care about new stimuli.
Some
companies organise educating events randomly, due to its need. Nevertheless, a
plan given in advance seems to be more effective. It saves time and energy
because it is only a
patching up a hole to organise such event just as late as the need for it
appears. It is much more efficient to prevent these needs and stick to some
given plan regardless of its
lack of concreteness. There are several methods of educating, in the internet
age so called- e-learning is
widely spread. It can be combined with personal tuition with a lecturer. [10,
s. 37-45]
The
truth is that it is not easy to work with people. Individuality and different
character, different style of thinking and reacting which is partly derived
from the position in the firm are probable. That is why the boss finds himself
in an uneasy situation
that requires the right way of communicating with particular employees
and thus setting up a smooth
relationship with each of them. Nonetheless, this requires a lot of empathy,
also communication experience counts for advantage. One of the modern
management approaches is called coaching. The term indicates that the boss
finds himself in a role of
couch whose task is to advice and guide rather than to order. It is crucial to
get to know the employee quickly and adjust the way of couching him with
respect to his personality. The point is that if the boss makes some
communicating mistakes during the first encounters with the employee it will be
extremely difficult for him to improve the broken relationship. And even though
he manages to find a way to his subordinate it does not
necessarily mean that he has won. People can change under the influence of unpredictable events and it
is therefore necessary to constantly renew the relationship. Despite each
individual being an original difficult to be classified, the people in charge
can divide the style of management according to the features and characters of
the employees into four types:
1)
command
style
In most of the companies
there are unfortunately individuals who are not interested in their work at all
as well as in the existence of the firm. They do not feel the need to learn
anything new and they often do not fulfil their job satisfyingly. Obviously,
these employees are rather undesirable for the firm. However, there are jobs
that do not require any initiative. These can be usually controlled only by
strict orders and high voice. However, even in this case it is good to try to
change their attitude so that we could utilize a different approach next time-
less inconvenient for both sides.
2)
consultation
style
This style can be applied on employees who are motivated, but who lack some skills.
This can be a case of newly-coming member of the team. They will not probably
be able to help themselves left alone, but with appropriate couching there is
potential for their improvement. On the other hand, the manager needs to
recognise in time if the employee posses the potential to improve and to fulfil
the job satisfyingly.
3)
participatory
style
This
style is suitable for experienced employees who are familiar with their job and
would manage to carry it out without supervision. We need to be proud of such
specialists. They are capable, they have the potential but they may not be
motivated. They
should be motivated by their superior. But it is necessary to prevent
them from feeling like you are boasting or talking too much about a job they
are specialized for.
4)
delegation
style
We apply this style on
employees that are blossoms of the firm. They are usually the highest officers with
a huge responsibility and authority. The relationship with them is crucial so we need to cherish
it. We only rectify them and do not show our superiority at any circumstances. We only apply
as much authority as needed. We do not want such people to leave and join the
competition.
The
aim of managers should be evolving the employees in such way that they get to the state where the
delegation style is applicable. They also need to choose the style due to the
difficulty of given tasks and the position of a particular employee. If for
instance an experienced employee is to be redeployed to do a completely
different job he virtually becomes a newcomer (even though his experience can
ease him the adjustment) and it is necessary to apply different
style, probably the consultation one. [7, s. 33-44]
A
good manager has to have a high emotional intelligence. It is the ability to understand and to control own emotions
and moods and with the help of empathy understand also emotions of other
people. A person with high emotional intelligence is able to show sympathy to
other people and to feel even the slightest communication signals or changes in moods. Thanks to
social skills he can also influence or even manage other people’s emotions. For
such person it is very easy to get his team exactly where it needs to. (Obst
and collective, 42)
This
kind of intelligence does not have anything in common with classic IQ. Often it
is even vice-versa- geniuses with high IQ have very low emotional intelligence
and are not able to negotiate with people or even manage them.
The
job market of today is all about specialisation and more and more complicated
jobs, demanding on intellectual investment of employee- know-how. The knowledge
employee is every key employee and a carrier of know-how who is not
negligible at any
circumstances.
Following
the mass expansion of the internet there sprung a new trend of e-learning, the
internet education. This type of educating indeed calls for learning a foreign language as it is
very easy to find articles, sources and media of all kind in all the world languages on the
internet. The great advantages are the accessibility, time independence and
independence of the students, great number of cheap textbooks or completely free stuff
and the consequential financial modesty of studying. The internet becomes one
of the main sources for the teachers of English searching for didactic
material.
In
the section Appendices there is appendix n. 1- an example of electronic
test at EPI Kunovice.
The following list focuses on pages suitable
and beneficial for tuition of English. The thematic literature can
help readers of this thesis with finding other information about the issues
that this thesis concerns, meaning human resource management, pedagogy,
benchmarking, etc.
Czech literature:
·
KUBEŠ, M. 360stupňová zpětná vazba jako
nástroj rozvoje lidí. Praha : Grada, 2008. 147 s. ISBN 978-80-247-2314-3.
·
BRANHAM, L. 7 skrytých důvodů, proč
zaměstnanci odcházejí z firem. Praha : Grada, 2009. 250 s. ISBN
978-80-247-2903-9.
·
LAUFER, H. 99 tipů pro úspěšné vedení lidí. Praha
: Grada, 2008. 162 s. ISBN
978-80-247-2445-4.
·
D’AMBROSOVÁ, H. Abeceda personalisty.
Olomouc : ANAG, 2007.23 s.
ISBN 978-80-7263-395-1 (2007), 978-80-7263-441-5 (2008), 978-80-7263-512-2 (2009).
·
DYTRT, Z. Dobré jméno firmy. Praha : Alfa
Publishing, 2006. 137 s. ISBN
80-86851-45-1.
·
ŠULEŘ, O. 100 klíčových manažerských
technik: komunikování, vedení lidí, rozhodování a organizování. Brno
: Computer Press, 2009. 314 s. ISBN
978-80-251-2173-3.
·
TURNEROVÁ, J. Cesta ke skrytému bohatství
neziskové organizace: rozvoj lidských zdrojů. Praha
: Spiralis, 2007. 104 s. ISBN 978-80-903015-5-9.
Foreign literature:
·
LENDI, ALEX O. Das
1-8-Prinzip: Motivationen und Maximen für das Management. Zürich : Versus, 1995. 160 s.
ISBN 3-908143-32-2.
·
SEWELL, R. The 12 pillars of business
success: how to achieve extraordinary performance from teams of ordinary
people. London : Kogan Page, 1996. 256 s. ISBN 0749420057.
·
KRAINES, G. Accountability
leadership: how to strengthen productivity through sound managerial leadership.
Franklin Lakes, NJ : Career Press, 2001. 221 s. ISBN 1564145514.
·
PRITCHARD, CHRISTOPHER W. 101 strategies for
recruiting success: where, when, and how to find the right people every
time. New York : American Management Association, 2007.
209 s. ISBN 0814474071, 9780814474075.
·
FINK, G. Absorption and application of management knowledge. Bradford, England : Emerald Group
Publishing, 2005. 81 s. ISBN 1845448111
·
LAWLER, EDWARD E. Achieving strategic
excellence [elektronický zdroj]: an assessment of human
resource organizations. Stanford, California : Stanford Business
Books, an imprint of Stanford University Press, 2006. 143 s. ISBN 0804753318
Czech literature:
·
SOUKALOVÁ, R. Benchmarking jako
informační zdroj o konkurenci = Benchmarking - the information resource
about competition. Zlín : Univerzita Tomáše Bati ve Zlíně, 2005. 49s.
ISBN 80-7318-247-5.
·
JIRÁSEK, J. Benchmarking a konkurenční
zpravodajství: souměření pro soupeření. Praha : Profess
Consulting, 2007. 120 s. ISBN 978-80-7259-051-3.
·
KARLOF, B. Benchmarking : jak napodobit
úspěšné: ukazatel cesty k dokonalosti v kvalitě a produktivitě. Praha
: Victoria Publishing, 1995.135 s. ISBN 80-85865-23-8.
Foreign literature:
·
KOH, SIAU CHING L. Benchmarking
the management of operations and information systems. Bradford, England
: Emerald Group Publishing, c2007. 155 s. ISBN
9781846633829.
·
PETERS, RALPH W. Maintenance benchmarking and best practices: a profit- and customer-centered approach.
New York : McGraw-Hill, 2006. 566 s. ISBN 0071463399
·
GUNASEKARAN, A. Performance measures, benchmarking and best practices in new economy: an international
journal. Bradford, England : Emerald Group Publishing, 2006. 224
s. ISBN 1845449088.
Czech literature:
·
PODLAHOVÁ, L. 1+100 osobností pedagogiky a
školství v českých zemích. Olomouc
: Univerzita Palackého, 2001. 254 s. ISBN 80-244-0313-7.
·
HÁJEK, B. Nástin metodiky vedení zájmové
činnosti. Praha : Univerzita Karlova v Praze, Pedagogická
fakulta, 2007. 65 s. ISBN 978-80-7290-265-1.
·
HELUS, Z. Základní teoretické a metodologické
problémy pedagogické diagnostiky.
Praha : Ústav školských inf. při min. školství, 1979. 179 s.
·
VOGEL, W. Jak se učí učitelé?: tipy a
triky pro každodenní život učitelů. Plzeň
: Fraus, 2009. 111 s. ISBN 978-80-7238-851-6.
·
BEDNÁŘOVÁ, J. Školní zralost: Co by mělo
umět dítě před vstupem do školy. Brno
: Computer Press, 2010. 100 s. ISBN 978-80-251-2569-4.
Foreign literature:
·
COULBY, D. Beyond the national
curriculum: curricular centralism and cultural diversity in Europe and the
USA. New York : Falmer Press, 2000. 132 s. ISBN 020313219X,
0750709731, 0750709723.
·
DEVILLAR, ROBERT A. Cultural diversity in
schools: from rhetoric to practice. Albany : State University of
New York Press, 1994. 401 s.
ISBN 0791416739, 0791416747.
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LYNCH, J. Education and development
: tradition and innovation. Introductory volume, A human rights
analysis. London : Cassell, 1997. 148 s. ISBN 9780304334971.
Choose the best definition of the term "human resources”:
...financial resources of the employees
...the employees and their potential
...needs of the employees
...the employees as a means of the firm’s
success
Human resource work involves mainly:
...administration
...accepting and dismissing
employees
...trans-management
relationships
...managing human resource
What basic types of human resources are there?
...social, strategic,
consultation
...operative,
administrative, consultation
...strategic, consultation,
operative
...strategic, operative,
psycho-social consultation
The goal of modern human resource management is to:
...set up optimal
connection between the employee and his tasks
...find an executor for
strictly stated tasks
...adjust the tasks so that
they fit the employee
...keeps the employee
satisfied at any cost
The ideal, most desirable employee for the manager:
...is very specialized
...fulfils exactly what he
is asked to
...is a specialist in his
profession but he is curious about the overall functioning of the firm
...works until deeps night
with no complains or claims on extra-salary
If we find out that the employees manage to
fulfil their tasks long before the deadline:
...we tell them to
slow own
...we overload them
with pointless time-consuming tasks
...we cut their
salaries
...we start to consider
the possibility of shortening the hours or assigning new tasks
The firm’s main
interest is to:
...force the employees to perform the best
performance possible so that the firm profits
...make sure that the employee is safe and is
aware of that
...take care of the employees’ moods and
customize to them
...make sure that the employee is satisfied and
motivated if possible
Schooling, training workshops and courses are:
...good and
convenient for the firm if well chosen and timed
...waste of time and
money for the firm
...boring
...good choice at any
circumstances
If we find out that an
employee breaks the firm’s rules:
...we immediately dismiss him
...talk to him firstly, if the inconvenience
reprises we act more strictly
...make sure that the firm’s good reputation is
not in risk
...make sure that such behaviour is not
possible to appear again
The firm’s reputation:
...is a good thing, but not
essential at any cost
...is not important
...in fact does not exist,
there are many firms and no one understands it all
...is important and the
employees and management have to take care of representation
Human resource activities include for instance:
...the firm’s
helpline
...consulting
personal stuff with an employee
...resolving various
complication on the workplace
...psycho-somatic
consultation
Human resource
activities do not include for instance:
...accepting and dismissing new employees
...fulfilling long-term and difficult tasks,
also called “operations”
...financial backing of all the health
surgeries of the employees
...planning further educating of the employees
The manager plays a crucial role in the case
these human resource activities:
...strategic
...operative
...consultation
...all of them
Why is the strategy so important in today’s human resource management?
...because enterprising is
similar to chess game
...because the market
changes quickly and the company needs to be ready for the changes
...because choosing a right
strategy can remedy much
...because it is given by
law that a firm needs to have a strategy
If the prosperity of a
firm decreases it is good to:
...dismiss some employees, thus lowering the
expenses
...sell two thirds of the firm’s possessions
...go into bankruptcy and escape over the ocean
as soon as possible
...try to maintain the firm functioning form
the firm’s or you own reserves
If the firm’s boss
finds out that the economic situation is very bad and bankruptcy is coming, he should:
...try to save everything possible and decently
announce it to the employees
...hide the evidence as long as possible- it is
in fact good for the staff
...try to get as much as possible from the firm
and then emigrate
...go to a very long holiday, maybe it will be
resolved on its own
When setting up a human resource strategy the
main point is:
...an exact plan for
the employees’ retiring
...finding new
employees, their job description and further expanse
...coordination of
particular departments so that their activities are closely connected
...paying off
premiums and benefits
When creating new job opportunity it is best to:
...create the job’s
specification in such way that we can find a person of concrete qualities but
not being tightened by too big concreteness
...create a job with
specific and clear job description so that the employee is not confused
...create a job with
formulated very generally so that we could use the employees for every
operation needed
...create a job which
allows the employee to do nothing and receiving a high salary for it
What does the term
“inner resources” mean in the human resource management?
...financial reserves for sour times
...the firm’s employees, potential candidates
for redeployment
...the oil reserves lying deep beneath
...resources that every man possess
How can the firm
receive new employees from the outer sources?
...it inserts an advert into newspaper or other
media
...addresses the employment agency
...uses a personal agency
...all of the previous are correct
A reference of the
candidate’s former employer:
...does not interest us
...is not needed because it is not true mostly
...is required but to given much value
...is required because we can get to know the
candidate more
What is the e-recruitment?
...recruiting new
employees on the internet
...buying military
stuff on the internet
...a new form of
education on the internet
...a web page of a
firm certifying the authenticity of art works
Why do we need to
reject a candidate politely and decently only?
...it influences the firm’s reputation and we
could need the person once
....because all the firms do so
...because we do not want to cause them
psychical damage which they could consequently use to sue us
...because each firm is required to do so due
to its inner rules
What is the motivation profile of an employee?
...the introduction
of a motivation letter
...a part of
psychological profile that tells us what motivates the employee
...a motivation
letter in one sentence
...employee’s
internet profile where he confesses to his goals and wishes
Is it possible to motivate everyone the same
way?
...yes
...no
...in 98, 5% of cases
yes
...cannot be said
Which of the following
needs is the most crucial for people due to Maslow’s pyramid?
...need of feeling safe and secure
...need of feeling of appurtenance
...need of approval
...need of self-realisation
What is the main
message of the theory of justice?
...people should be fair otherwise they will be
punished
...if the boss is unfair the employees will
dethrone him
...the employees are sensitive with the height
and fair distribution of premiums
What are the three
motivating factors according to the theory of inner motivation?
...meaning of the job, the workplace
atmosphere, responsibility
...responsibility, amount of premiums and the
colleagues’ approval
...meaning of the job, paying taxes in time,
hi-fi set on the workplace
...meaning of the job, responsibility,
awareness of the effort’s outcome
What is self-concept?
...a concept of self-confidence proportionally
influenced by the hours finished in work
...a plan for building houses nearby shelf seas
...the person’s self-perception and his need of
having his own image constantly improving
...a concept of human resource management
changes in the firm for the following decades
Outer motivation is a
result of a need of:
...perfect harmony all around
...respect and approval from the environment
...remedying injustice done by our ancestors
...not being too remarkable on the workplace at
any circumstances-it does not pay off
What are the elements of performance?
...effort,
competence, job and organisation environment
...effort,
incompetence to execute the job, IQ of the employee
...effort, moral
acting, a time spent at lunch by the employee
...effort, dignity,
teamwork
What the formal
evaluation is?
...evaluation of any form (money, benefits,
paid holidays)
...regular evaluation of the employee formally
...evaluating regular and on-time arrivals to
the workplace
...evaluation of elegance and fluency of the
way the employee fulfils his tasks
Is the informal
evaluation a good means of reminding the employee of his advantages and lacks?
...Definitely. The employee is under smaller
pressure and the result comes immediately
...Definitely not. The formal form is the best
way.
...Rather not. The manager should wait for the
right time for the formal evaluation
...Definitely not. We do not talk about such
things with the employee- we could lose out authority.
What is education the
employees good for?
...they will learn to understand their own
feelings
...we will be able to assign them more tasks
consequently
...we will be able to raise their salary
consequently
...we will be able to broaden their skills and
thus profiting the firm and satisfying their desire for improvement.
Is it better to have
education plan or to organise the event randomly according to the situation?
...both have its advantages and
disadvantages-we cannot say unambiguously
...it is always good to organise a rough
education programme we are able to develop
...it is much better to organise the events
randomly because it brings more freedom
...it is undesirable to have too educated
employees- no such events!
What is the essence of
the command style of management?
...we have to refrain from ordering, we should
only guide the employees
...we use directive orders and clearly
formulated tasks
...we insert info into the computer in Java
language and it will resolve it consequently
...we are very strict and rude with our
employees
On which employees do
we apply the consultation style on?
...on those who need a consultation with
psychologist
...in those who need to consult their personal
life and do not have whom to talk to
...on those who are motivated but need to
consult their job description
...on those whose results do not comply with
their effort
What is the essence of the participatory style of management?
...we guide the experienced
employees in such way that they are motivated but not limited by our guidance
...we guide the
inexperienced employees in such way that they get to know the firm quickly
...we guide the
inexperienced employees in such way that they are able to do along without our
guidance
...we guide the experienced
employees in such way that they start to search for new job immediately
How do we use the delegation style of management?
...we make sure that our
employees do not behave too closely
...we guide the responsible
employees using this style, we do not behave authoritatively
...we guide all the
immature employees using this style in order to assimilate them
...if any employee starts a
fight we consequently use only the delegation style to guide him
What is the most
important aspect of the emotional intelligence?
...empathy
...IQ
...inability and unwillingness to judge other
people quickly
...panic fear of spiders
How can we divide
pedagogy?
...theoretical and experimental part
...prenatal and post-existence part
...theoretical and practical part
...archaic and modern part
What the education
process is?
...process of educating
...process of fermentation
...process of ripening of fruit
...process of a student re-orientating from one
type of education on another one
What two ways can we use to practically examine
the education process?
...examining the teachers’
or the students’ opinion
...objective and subjective
way
...theoretical and practical
way
...to join the students during
the lessons or to assist the tutor
What is another name
for the objective way?
...observant
...reciprocal
...tertiary
...integrally variable
What is the subjective
way significant for?
...is does not depend on the students’ opinion
...it is not distorted and is always correct
...it is too detailed
...it examines the subjective opinion of the
students
How can tuition be
characterized?
...it is a set of activities, communicational
interaction or sequence of activities divided into periods of time
...it is terrorizing of the students performed
by the tutor
...it is a complex process of suppressing
individuality and rebellious behaviour of the students
...it is a decomposition of stuff studied into
the tiniest pieces possible
How can we divide
communication interaction during the tuition?
...into lexical and spoken
...into lexical and creative expression
...into verbal, lexical and psychokinetic
...into verbal spoken, verbal written,
non-verbal
Which two
possibilities are there to describe the education environment?
...inner, outer, intermediate
...physical and psychosocial
...excitatory and calm
...harmonious and conflicting
Choose the right
statement:
...the class atmosphere is totally independent
on the atmosphere of the school
...there is no atmosphere in the class- this
term concerns only meteorology
...the atmosphere in the class is partly
dependent on the school’s atmosphere
...a real tutor cannot be too tolerant with the
students’ state of mind
Psychosocial
environment:
...can be perceived differently by different
students
...is the same for everybody
...is a classroom
...is only an assumption yet not proved
The language skills are divided into:
...learned and inborn
...receptive and productive
...direct and indirect
...writing and reading
What are the receptive
skills?
...reading and listening
...writing and listening
...writing and reading
...speaking and skipping the rope
What are the
productive language skills?
...listening and speaking
...speaking and writing
...sleeping and listening
...listening and reading
Finish the statement:
“A child learns best by listening and repeating if...”
...it is bored by reading
...it is mentally disturbed
...it is travelling
...it is too young and cannot read or write
For young students it is
good to learn foreign language:
...for a long time at once, long breaks are
contra-productive
...mainly by playing and singing
...by sitting tests
...with the help of throwing a ball into a
basket
The CLIL method can be
characterized as:
... Continental Lithosphere International
License
...a new way of leading a firm
...studying specialized subjects in English
...a method of refreshing the students’ memory
What are the main
advantages of the CLIL method?
...students study a foreign language and get info
about a concrete subject at the same time
...students are not so stressed as in case of
other methods
...students are immediately familiar with the
staff
...tutor learns along with students
What do the students
of English have to be aware of?
...that even the British queen speaks English
...that most of the words are pronounced
differently than written
...that the pronunciation is completely the
same as in French
...that many English words come from German
One of the advantages
of e-learning is:
...education programme organised by the
ministry of education
...many means of learning and studying is
available for free
...free ware in our computers is not illegal
...many detailed historical data
What the benchmarking is?
...systematic decaying of
competition firm from inside
...systematic comparing with
competition in order to improve
...random comparing with
competition in order to gain more profit
...detailed examination of
competition in order to get its orders
Benchmarking can be:
...both external and internal
...very dangerous
...competitive or charitable
...long-term or short-term
Benchmarking was
firstly used by the American company:
...Ford
..Ford
..Microsoft
..Kawasaki
...Xerox
Choose the kind of
benchmarking that does not exist:
...competitive
...fictional
...procedural
...strategic
Internal benchmarking
is mainly:
...comparing the former and contemporary
situation of a firm
...comparing all the managers, directors and
bossed having worked for at least 3 years
...comparing particular elements or processes
of one firm
...comparing all defective products with the
good ones
Procedural
benchmarking:
...is closely focused on a particular process
...is widely focused on all processes
...is focused on competition that lost its
position but still can be dangerous in future
...is focused on periods and processes of great
flourishing of the firm
Functional
benchmarking can be also called:
...general
...genetic
...archaic
...labiodentals
How are the benchmarking phases lined up?
...planning, evaluation of
data, collecting data, making the results into practice, final report
...planning, collecting
data, evaluation of data, making the results into practice, final report
...planning, collecting
data, sending date to all firm departments, making the results into practice, final report
...planning, collecting
data, evaluation of data, final report, making the results into practice
Benchmarking is:
...applicable only in case
of competition between firms
...an exact opposite of
marketing
...applicable not only in
case of competition between firms
...impracticable in the
Czech environment
How is called the American organisation that
specializes on benchmarking in higher education?
...NACUBO
..NABUCO
..NA KUBU
..NABOKU
The goal of
benchmarking in schooling is mainly:
...improving the state schools over the private
ones
...improving and comparing standard of
individual schools
...to compare Czech schools with the American
ones
...to introduce as many extra-curriculum
activities as possible
What can be the
advantage of the benchmarking process in education?
...the truth always wins
...improving the standard of schools and
comparable knowledge of graduates
...incomparably more infrequent breaking of
curriculum
...increase in the standard of state schools
thus dramatic decrease in education expenses
The
science engaging with education-absolutely essential activity for men- is
called pedagogy. This term was firstly used in the ancient Greece-the word paidagógos
referred to slave who was taking
care of his master’s son and accompanied him on him way to the school. Later, this word
became used in Latin to describe teacher or tutor.
The term pedagogy is understood by laymen
differently than by specialists. Laymen usually understand it as a kind of set
of manuals of teaching for teachers. This conception is very restrictive and
inaccurate. Unfortunately, neither the specialists are able to agree on one single accurate definition
of pedagogy.
Firstly,
we can remind ourselves of one old characteristic from The Short Pedagogical
Dictionary, written towards the end of the 19th century: “Pedagogy
is, just as well as every other
science, two sides. Either it provides rules of upbringing in a complex measure, or it concerns
only a specific area of practical ideas as a result of experience and advices. In the
first case, the pedagogy is a theoretical science, in the second, practical and
utilized”. In this case we divide pedagogy into the theoretical and practical
part. In the following decades the theoretical point of view was widely
referred and the practical one was neglected. However, if we separate them like
this, it leads to alienation of
these two and theory does not correspond with practice. Theory is consequently impracticable in a
real world. This is reflected by opinion of many specialists as well as laymen.
They think that pedagogical practice is much more important and beneficial than
theory.
The
conception of pedagogy varies today from author to author. V Jůva concepts
it in the book “Úvod do pedagogiky”
like this: “Pedagogical theory as a generalized reflection of educative
phenomena and rules and at the same time as a tool helping to rationally draft ,
organise and secure education of the young and the adult.”
From
the foreign sources it would be appropriate to quote for instance German
encyclopaedia Handbuch Schule und Untererricht. It says: “The word pedagogy is
used in dual meaning: firstly,
it describes concrete educational approaches (education as reality), secondly,
it describes a science about education (education a task). In reaction to this
difference it was suggested to differentiate terms “educators”- the ones who
execute the practice and
“specialist in pedagogy”- the theoreticians who investigate education.
Generally,
the trans-pedagogical connection can vary according to states and cultures and
even inside one state. Usually there is evident difference between tuition in
villages and in cities in the way it is applied and accepted. [8, s.
20-27]
Many
specialists have focused on examining the process of education since the ancient times. However, as education
is very complex action taking place on more levels where there are many crucial
factors, it is very uneasy to describe and explain it easily. If we start
examining and analysing it, it is possible to act in two ways:
1)
objective,
observation way of examining
We
examine education according to stated methods and approaches in such way
that the research is
objective and does not influence the process. Nonetheless, reaching this can
prove to be very difficult as it is well known that the objects changes when
observed. If the process’s
participants know that they are being observed they for sure start to behave
differently. For instance they will try to work better so that the research
shows them as more capable.
2)
subjective,
perceptive way of examining
Teaching
is described according to the participants’ opinions and attitudes. If can be
carried out in the form of questionnaire or different written expression- personal
interview, etc. The truthfulness of various forms can vary considerably.
Participants can often
be influenced by mistrust or fear of confessing their feeling. This is
true mainly for
questionnaires and written expression when the participant is not asked
directly. Gaining the information by the form of direct interview can be
inconvenient for
the addressees but it prevents distortion of the info. What is more, the
interviewer can judge not only the responds but also the way the addressee
answers-for instance if he does not want to answer some question or he
expresses himself in a blur way.
Education can be characterized according to the
following qualities:
1)
Set
of activities
Educating
is always a set of activities that are carried out both by the tutor and the
student. Tutor records into the class register, writes on the board, tells the
stuff to the class, admonishes if there is unrest, assigns tasks, etc. Student
obviously has to perform certain activity too and we cannot say that his
involvement is less significant. They influence the educating process as well
as the tutor. Even if they only sit in at their desk it can be regarded as
certain activity.
As
tutor and students interact and influence each other during the lessons and
communicate together, it is possible to call the educating process a social
interaction. That is why many researches focus concretely on communication and
interaction, their rules and qualities.
2)
Communication
interaction
It
just could not work without communication between participants. This
communication can be divided into more groups
a)
verbal spoken
This kind of
communication is probably the most frequent one. It concerns a spoken
expression- all the ideas expresses by words by tutor or student.
b)
verbal written
Written expression is
also used frequently but it should not outnumber the first one because it is
much more time-consuming and the amount of information a man can express in a given time interval is
lower in this case. In is carried out in the form of written exercises or tests
usually.
c)
non-verbal
Non-verbal
communication and its value are considerably limited in the lessons. Its information value
is the lowest of the three kinds of communication so it just accompanies the
spoken expression of tutor or student. Tutor can for instance use gestures
during tuition, student on the other hand pussyfoots nervously during
examination, etc.
3)
Sequence
of activities divided into time intervals
Dividing
lessons into time intervals is typical and essential for planning the students’
approach and organisation of stuff learned. The school year is divided into
semesters and half-semesters.
Half-semester can be divided into months, weeks and days. Days are divided into lessons and
lesson is divided according to planned activities. Lesson consists of various
phases whose course and character depend mainly on the tutor and his own style
of organisation. He can divide the lesson into units of speaking, working on exercises, demanding
communication from students, etc. From the student’s perspective the lesson is
divided into active phases when he performs some activity and passive phases
when he only listens. There are also many researches concerning the
organisation into time units.
4)
Tuition
as a process focused on the content
Each
kind of tuition can be characterized according to the staff treated. In the
case of school education the main
thing is to divide it into separated subjects and these are divided into thematic
areas.
5)
Action
in a special environment
Environment
where people educate themselves are always unique in some way.
a)
physical environment
Physical environment
is formed by overall characteristics of the space in which tutor and students find themselves.
A typically educational environment always contains essential stuff such as
desks, blackboard, windows, etc.
b)
psychosocial environment
This environment
concerns relationships between people who participate in the tuition, their
traits and mutual interaction. This environment is one of the most examined
aspects of educating. According to some specialists it is by far the most
important factor that
derives the educational process’s quality. Therefore, it is appropriate to
focus on it in detail.
The
psychosocial environment is an environment where we get to meet other people.
It is an abstract term, not a particular spot. For most of the people it would
be very difficult to define it. Usually it is associated with terms as
interpersonal tension, mood, atmosphere, etc. The interesting thing is that it
is very subjective and so two people in the same room can find
themselves in a different psychosocial environment.
As
for researches concerning the class’s climate we have to take the students’
opinions and ask everyone in particular for his feelings due to subjectivity of
the problem and. Decisive are the majority’s opinions. Another unit in this
research is the tutor. If we confront his opinions and responds are with the
students’ we can get considerably significant differences. These are mostly the
source of communication problems and obstacles within the
tutor-students relationship. Very significant specialist who investigated the
school environment and atmosphere is Barry J. Fraser. In his book Classroom
Environment he unravels a lot concerning this issue.
So
what are the factors influencing the atmosphere within the class? It was found
that is depends mainly on following points: communicating and teaching style of
the tutor, space for the students to participate on the tuition, tutor’s
expectations, overall climate
and rhythm of the school the examined class belongs to. [8, s.
309-353]
As
many people struggle with their lack of language skills at advanced age, it is necessary to
incorporate tuition of a foreign language into education. In most of the cases, English is the
most useful. Due to deepening of globalization and deriving special terms from
English, this language is profitable virtually for everyone nowadays even if he
does not really need it for his job. Tuition of English does not have to
be a question of
lessons spent concentrating on the language today, but it can also be used
within framework of inter-subject relationships. As many terms from different
branches of science comes
from English, it is possible to explain its origin when explaining of Incorporation of
English into education can be done is several ways:
1)
receptive
It
concerns skills used to collect information (receptor=receiver). Therefore this
means reading and listening to the foreign language.
2)
productive
Another
component of language skills is the one the student actively participates on and produces some set of
information using the foreign language- writing and speaking
It is natural that the structure and content of
the tuition has to be adjusted to the student’s age and forwardness. If we
speak about teaching children progressively since a young age, it can be
divided onto following stages:
a)
learning
by listening
It
concerns mainly children attending primary schools, mainly the first and second
grade or infant schools. As these kids usually cannot read and write they learn
the foreign language only via listening to it and repeating what they hear.
Usually, they get to learn only isolated important words or short phrases.
Ordinarily, the tutor teaches them the colours’ names, to count, to name animals, etc.
Learning in form of various games or singing English songs is obvious. It is
speculated that this kind of learning is not really benefit in learning to a foreign language because
the kid is not very enriched by a few hours a week of repeating the words
he does not even understand after the tutor. Nonetheless, it is a base that can
be picked up on later and is generally is more fun for the kid. At this point
it also encounters with a different pronunciation of the language for the first
time. However, it does not
insist on it very much.
b)
learning
to write
When
the child learns to write it is possible to teach it the differences between
writing in the foreign
language and the native one and it can be taught the basic principles. Namely
with English it is necessary to learn that the words are usually written and
pronounced differently. Grammar is not very stressed at this point.
c)
learning
the grammar
Later
on, the child is able to understand the grammar rules, use it and transfer it
into differe2nt examples without being directly told to.
d)
learning
of all language’s aspects
Later,
the child is taught all the important aspects of the foreign language
simultaneously. Student realises partial linkage and is able to seek analogy
and differences from his native language on his own.
Recently,
the CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) Method is used when
learning a foreign language. It means teaching particular subject in the
foreign language. Practically- history taught in English on the Czech schools.
The main aim is to teach
the student the subjects plus develop his foreign language skills.
Teachers
using the aforementioned method are usually specialists in the subject rather
than in English. They need to be able to use the language fluently and
flexibly. They often come from bilingual environments. This way cannot be
applied in schools where the
students have not developed enough skill concerning the foreign language.
Nevertheless, if the method is applicable, it is usually profitable, too. It
broadens the
inter-cultural knowledge and communication, develops the language skills
rapidly, saves time necessary for teaching the language and it sets up a
positive relationship between
the subject and the language and thus intensifies students’
self-confidence concerning usage of the language. [16]
Although this English word becomes to be known
even in the Czech Republic, many people would still not be sure of what it
means. As it describes a compound, we can separate the word into parts “bench”
and “mark”. The word “mark” describes simply a mark. In connection with “bench”
it refers to a bench mark or a solid point. Therefore the connection with benchmarking
is obvious. It describes certain comparing two or more elements with some
standard (=the solid, orientation point).
There
are many accurate definitions of benchmarking. According to Expert and Valuation Institution,
benchmarking is characterized as “monitoring and evaluation a firm via comparing it with
different firms in order to find reserves, thus increase efficiency and
productivity of the firm.”
Petr
Pernica characterizes it in his book more extensively but also more accurately:
“Systematic comparing of a company with the best companies in a certain area
or in different areas
(external benchmarking) or systematic comparing of individual companies,
branches, departments, distribution centres, stores, etc. within the company
(internal benchmarking). It provides information about productivity of the best
ones, shows their detachment, identifies progressive goals that have to be
achieved in the interest
of evening up with the best ones’ level and beating them, finally, it
leads to planning moves that have to be undergone to achieve this.”
The
shortest and probably the most understandable definition come from Robert C.
Camp: “Benchmarking is searching for the best approaches in enterprising that
lead to excellent outcomes.”
Whole
benchmarking stands on an old motto of Chinese general Sun-c: “If you know your
enemy and you know yourself, you do not have to worry about hundreds battles.”
Probably
the first company to use benchmarking in its modern appearance is American company Xerox.
The
history of benchmarking goes back to 1938 when a lawyer and an inventor Charles
Carlson produced historically first photocopier. He spent the next five years
offering his invention to investors and companies because no one believed in
him. Finally, he managed to sell it. Later on, a company called Haloid bought
all the rights and started to produce photocopiers according to Carlson’s model
and registered under register trademark Xerox. Enthusiastic with success, it
renamed on Xeror in 1958. In the sixties thanks to high gains it started to buy
many companies of a similar kind. Its profits reached several billion and
constantly rose. Along with the firm’s expansion also various controls and
procedures came and thus considerably slowed down the speed of deciding and it
resulted on big delay in the products’ development.
At
the beginning of the eighties Xerox started to be more vulnerable to
competition of American and Japanese firms. Analytics are convinced that mainly
the Xerox managers failed and were not able to guide the firm strategically and
they ignored new competition whose influence on the market rose (e.g. Canon or
Sevin). The expenses of Xerox
and therefore the price of its products were too high but the quality
was comparable to
competition’s which did not remain unnoticed by customers. Between 1984 and
1994 Xerox’s ratio on sales of photocopiers decreased from 86% to 17%. Profits
lowered along with this.
In
1982 David T. Kearns was appointed new boss and he decided to look around and
examine the competition to find some hope. He found out that the Japanese firms
are able to produce the same products spending 40-50% of Xerox’s expenses.
Therefore they could have made it to the top. Kearns quickly started to stress
the necessity of cutting expanses and founded new programme of controlling
quality. Its part was benchmarking. The firm recovered from the crisis and
gained its customers back quickly. Xerox has become a perfect example of how to
use benchmarking practically and established a standard inspiring many
companies even today.
Benchmarking
presented by Xerox is therefore characterized as a long-term process of
analyzing, understanding and adapting to the best approaches and events
found within and outside
of the firm and their consequential translation into practice in own
environment for purpose of improving capability and productivity of the
company.
Organisations can apply one or more kinds of
benchmarking.
1)
strategic
benchmarking
The
strategic part of this discipline is focused mainly on improving overall
productivity of a company via
detailed understanding of long-term strategies that helped the best subjects to
success in both. Mainly the key competences are stressed, development of products and services and
innovative approaches of these companies.
2)
competitive
benchmarking
Here
we focus on comparing various companies and their position on the market
according to productivity and efficiency of its key products and services. In
the case of applying this kind it is always about firms or organisations coming
from the same areas. It is referred to as the most difficult kind of
benchmarking.
3)
procedural
benchmarking
Focuses
on concrete processes and operations regarding the firm’s functioning
compared to the best ones in the field.
The condition is a kind of co-action or shared traits with the compared subject.
However, this is not a competition necessarily.
4)
functional
(generic) benchmarking
It
is used by companies when comparing themselves with companies from different
areas if they think some approaches are adaptable and applicable of them.
According to the source we gain the data and
information for comparison from, we recognise these kinds of benchmarking:
1)
internal
benchmarking
As
indicated by the title it regards comparing within the firm. It therefore
concerns particular parts, departments of the firm or its activities. This is
true mainly for bigger companies that profit from using this kind of
benchmarking as it is generally not so difficult to compare within a small
company and its therefore does not have to use the benchmarking
procedure. It is useful mainly in the case of particular departments of the
firm being located in different places- here the conditions and efficiency can
vary rapidly.
2)
external
benchmarking
External
benchmarking is an exact opposite of the internal one- it compares various
aspects of different companies. This kind is much more frequent that the
internal one.
3)
international
benchmarking
It
focuses on comparing the company with another one from a different
country. As it is more
expensive and time-consuming due to the distance and other obstacles, it is used mainly by companies
that do not find a suitable benchmarking partner in their country.
A typical benchmarking in its standard
appearance represents a five-part procedure.
1)
planning
The
planning part includes identification, demarcation and documentation of
concretely chosen item of our interest- areas of activity. Also a correct
subject has to be chosen in
order to compare correctly and tools of research, way of recording, etc. have
to be stated.
2)
collecting
data
This
phase is mainly practical. It concerns the research itself and collecting data
to be compared. It is mostly done via questionnaires. Also personal visits and
examining the processes
by direct observing are appropriate. We do not only examine the sample society,
but we collect data using the same way also in the firm we want to improve.
3)
data
evaluation
After
enough data is collected, their evaluation has to come. We focus on finding key
areas of success of our sample subject and its confrontation with our firm’s
data.
4)
final
report
Detailed
reports about results of evaluation and high-lightening of the most important
areas and activities follow. Results are discussed both inside the firm and
with the sample organisation. It is possible to state goals and plans for
improvement and its timing.
5)
making
the results into practice
Final
and the most important phase depend on our ability to use the gained results
and learn something from them. We have to introduce certain action and thus
make sure that the most efficient tools of our sample subject are accepted in
our firm and direct this adaptation in the best possible way. To what extend
was this phase successful will be proven by statistics about increase or
decrease of productivity and efficiency of the firm.
The
core of the Xerox’s benchmarking process was in fact identical with the aforementioned
process structure that is accepted today. However, necessary to add that the Xerox way was
very well structured. The company systematically searched for holes in its own
activity via learning from its most dangerous competition.
On
the field of marketing there were for instance identified five most important
factors having share on success: customer marketing, gaining a customer,
processing an order,
service of a product, billing and finance collecting, financial management,
estate management, commercial management, human resource management and
information technologies. These ten areas were later divided into 67
sub-processes and each of them became an area to improve in.
The
information about competition and their production approaches were gained using
all available methods- from management databases, from press announces and articles, even by hiring
professional consultative agencies.
After
conscientious preparations the firm started to apply the competition
benchmarking. Nevertheless, after some time prove to be inappropriate because
for some areas of the processes there were not found suitable benchmarking
partners who Xerox could learn from. Therefore it started to practice the
functional benchmarking, thus searching for a partner not on the basis of same
production interests but on the basis
of concrete activity that needed to be improved.
The
most significant result was brought by research of storing and marketing system
of Mr. L. L. Bean who was a supplier of sports products and outdoor wear. The point was that Bean
evolved a special computer programme that made the orders fulfilling much more
effective. The programme put the orders in such way that the shortest route was
to be travelled in the storeroom when searching for the product. This rapidly
accelerated the orders fulfilling. It drew attention of Xerox manages and made
them implement similar system by evolving own system with exactly the same
goal.
Gradually,
Xerox adopted the most effective approaches of
well known firms such as American Express, Ford, Honda, Toyota,
Hewlett-Packard, Fuji a DuPont. Very beneficial areas for Xerox to learn from
were for instance the system of billing and accountancy, improving and
controlling quality, supplying, investigation researches or effective manufacturing.
The
biggest advantage of introducing benchmarking for Xerox was the great increase
in the number of satisfied customers which rose nearly by 40%. The number of complains and reclamations dropped
down by 60%. The firm started the year 1992 with a fantastic balance of 90% of
satisfied customers. The product’s quality increased as well as tempo of processing
reclamations. The expenses lowered and so did the number of mistakes in
accountancy and billing. Xerox became the first company to win all the three prestigious awards
for quality of products- Japanese Deming Award, American Award of Malcolm
Baldrige and European Quality Award Jaffries. [17]
The
phenomenon of benchmarking is not applicable only in business, but also in the competitive struggle
between firms and companies. It was found that it is also highly profitable
when improving quality of teaching methods and the overall school and its employees’
management. Mainly in the last fifteen years it started to be used with the attempt to compare
namely the universities’ quality.
A
great model for the Czech education system can be mainly the first benchmarking
programmes in the USA, UK, Australia and Germany where it was used much
earlier and it is not very
difficult to provide some documentation regarding particular projects.
In
the USA the comparison process was promoted mainly by NACUBO organisation, the
association of schools and associations. It collected data about processes
carried out on universities even in the sixties, although formerly not for the
purpose of benchmarking.
Benchmarking was set off in 1991. 150 colleges participated in this two-years lasting project and 40
examined areas were defined. The main aim of the project was not benchmarking
in itself, it was more about discovering the best approaches of various schooling
institutions. Each school decided to treat the gained information on its own and use only some of
it for the purpose of benchmarking. Similar attempts gradually sprung also in
other countries.
This
comparison brings along quite a lot of goals and advantages. The overall
situation in the education system could be benefiting from transparency and
balancing the amount of
knowledge needed to achieve certain degree. Nevertheless, it is not necessary
only to pigeonhole independent branches into normalized file of knowledge. A part of improvement could be also
approving some exceptions and individual programmes but only in the case of
professionally states discipline. It does not concern canning the education.
Benchmarking should serve purposes like innovation and improvement of
the process. This is preceded by a high standard that the institutions should
aim to reach. It will make the situation much easier even for the future
employers of the graduates who
will be able to easily find out which area of knowledge does the graduate have and they
will have the certainty that no part of the area is neglected which happens
quite a lot because of today’s difference between schools’ quality. Even the degrees will become
much more prestigious by this due to ascending tendency towards quality.
So
if it was managed to define and introduce some standard it can be very
useful. In the case that some school
tries to set up new educating programmes it can serve as a good source of
information. For the applicants they can also prove to be invaluable source of
information that could not be gained in a different way. [18]
The
aim of this thesis was to clarify the issue of human resource management for the reader. Also the pedagogy
and tuition of English was described. A special chapter was dedicated to
benchmarking which is closely connected with managements of companies and
associations. For all of those who need to be informed more about these topics
I listed bibliographic links to various sources.
The
management of human potential represents a crucial activity of each company’s
of association’s management. The human work and attitude to the firm derives
the overall situation of the company, its functioning, productivity and income.
The main thing to remember is the importance of the employee’s satisfaction
when managing human resources. If the employee is happy in the environment of
the workplace it is manageable for the manager to guide and lead him and the
company towards mutual satisfaction.
The
theme of pedagogy and education has in fact a lot to do with the firm’s management
as the employee must always undergo some kind of introduction course. Later he
is also sent to various re-qualifying courses and schoolings. Pedagogy in
general consists of theoretical and practical part. It is important that these
two parts are not separated or one
of them is favoured. All the manifested theories have to be certified by
practice and only after that it can be concerned as rightful. Then, if someone
learns the certified theory and tries to apply it in practice it can happen
that the practice has changes meanwhile and the hypothesis does not comply with
reality anymore. In such case it is necessary to change the theoretical presume
and examine it again. In this way
the theoretical and the practical parts always supplement each other
with is mutually profitable.
The
theme of benchmarking is irreplaceable in the modern company’s management. A
classical benchmarking is finding the best and the most effective
approaches and processes
in the functioning of competitive companies and then applying the gained
knowledge on our own firm. Therefore the key activity is observing another
subject. However, there exists also observation of inner processes within one
company, used mainly by big corporations. Nevertheless, not all kinds of
benchmarking focus on selfish principles in a competitive struggle.
Benchmarking is also vastly used education system with independent schools and
other educating institutions learning from each other.
Another
chapter dedicated to tuition of English was evolved due to huge importance of
this language on today’s job market. There are many approaches to learn it. One
of the new trends is so-called CLIL method which concerns teaching specialized
subjects in a foreign language. This approach makes the students learn dually
in fact- both the given subject and the foreign language. The thesis mentions
also favourite e-learning and internet sources aiming to teach English.
Literature
listed in the penultimate part should be sufficient for deeper understanding of
the thematic and can serve as a source for more concrete and precise
information.
STEINBACHEROVÁ, D. Portal for Teaching Knowledge and Skills in the Field of Human
Resources and Pedagogy Management.
Bachelor Thesis: The European Polytechnic
Institute, Ltd., Kunovice
Tutor: PhDr. Hana Kiliánová
Key concepts: motivation, personal placement
services, stimulation, benchmarking,
e-learning, education
The main theme of my thesis is the detailed acquaintance
and translation of specialized study text in the form of responding to
electronic tests so that the student is able to prepare himself properly for
the given subject and also examine his own knowledge during the course of the
semester.
In this thesis I investigated general pedagogy
and human resource management which is oriented on student studying this
subject. I focused on the internet development and growth and the trend of
internet tuition which comes along with it and which is one of the main sources
of study materials for students. Obviously, the text contains also a list of
thematic literature that can serve as a source of more information about this
problematic.
[1] KRATOCHVÍL, O. Pedagogika
a řízení. Kunovice : EPI, 2006. 184 s.
[2] ARMSTRONG, M. Řízení
lidských zdrojů: nejnovější trendy a postupy. 10. vyd. Praha : Grada Publishing a.s., 2007. 789
s. ISBN 978-80-247-1407-3.
[3] CLEGG, B.; BIRCH, P. Intenzivní
kurz vedení lidí - Vůdcovství,
motivace, koučování, vedení pohovoru. 1.vyd. Brno: Computer press a.s.,
2004. 268 s. ISBN
80-251-0356-0.
[4] PERNICA, P. Logistický management: teorie a podniková praxe.
1. vyd. Praha : Radix, 1998. 660 s. ISBN: 80-86031-13-6.
[5] KOUBEK, J. Personální práce v malých a středních firmách. Praha
: Grada Publishing a.s., 2007. 261 s. ISBN: 978-80-247-2202-3.
[6] MARQUES, C.; JIRÁSEK, F. Řízení lidských zdrojů. Praha
: Serifa, 2004.
[7] DAŇKOVÁ, M. Koučování: kdy, jak a proč. 1. vyd. Praha : Grada
Publishing a.s., 2008. 107 s. ISBN: 978-80-247-2047-0.
[8] PRŮCHA, J. Moderní pedagogika. Praha : Portál, 2005.
481 s.
ISBN 80-7367-047-X.
[9] VORLÍČEK; CH. Úvod do pedagogiky. 1.vyd. Praha : Státní pedagogické
nakladatelství 1979. 151 s.
[10] OBST, O. HRABOVSKÝ, M., IVANOVÁ, K., KUBÁTOVÁ, J. Základy
obecného managementu. 1. vyd. Olomouc
: Univerzita Palackého, 2006. 74 s. ISBN: 80-244-1365-5.
[11] MALACH, J. Obecná
pedagogika. 1. vyd. Ostrava : Ostravská univerzita, 2002. 88 s. ISBN 80-7042-205-X.
[12] ARMSTRONG, M.; STEPHENS, T. Management
a leadership. 1.vyd. Praha : Grada Publishing a.s., 2008. 268 s. ISBN 978-80-247-2177-4.
[13] ARMSTRONG, M. A Handbook
of Human Resource Management Practice. 10.vyd. London : Kogan Page, 2006. 982 s. ISBN 0-7494-4631-5.
[14] CAMP, R. C. Benchmarking: The Search
for Industry Best Practices that Lead to Superior Performance. Productivity
Press, 1989. 299 s. ISBN: 978-0527916350.
Internet sources:
[15] ERBEN, V. Slovníček pojmů. [online].
2006 [cit. 2010-03-25]. Dostupné z WWW:
< http://www.znalecky.cz/slovnicek-pojmu/>.
[16] VASSILIOU,
A. Content and language integrated
learning. [online]. 1995-2010 [cit.2010-03-25]. Dostupné z WWW: <http://ec.europa.eu/education/languages/language-teaching/doc236_en.htm>.
[17] JEFFRIES,
W. Xerox
– The Benchmarking Story. 1999. [online]. 2009 [cit.2010-03-25]. Dostupné
z WWW: <http://www.icmrindia.org/free%20resources/casestudies/xerox-benchmarking-1.htm>.
[18] ZÁVADA, J.; ŠEBKOVÁ, H.; MUNSTEROVÁ, E. Benchmarking v hodnocení kvality vysokých škol. [online]. 2008 [cit. 2010-03-25]. Dostupné z WWW: <http://www.csvs.cz/projekty/2006_kvalita/publikace/08.pdf>.
