Creation of the Dream Job - Assignment Example

?Creation of the Dream Job of Becoming a Special Education Needs Coordinator Create a job and specifications for your dream job. Beresford & Bransfield (2006) have noted that there is emerging interest in developing partnerships in health and social care and other affiliated institutions. One area of concern that necessitates partnership working is the provision of services for individuals with learning disabilities since each person in society is considered valuable regardless of his or her abilities. Multidisciplinary work is getting to be a common thing right now because professionals benefit from working with others from different fields. With individuals with special education needs, such multidisciplinary/ multi-agency working becomes advantageous because the collaboration among professionals directly focus on the needs of the individual. To avoid conflicts between the professionals in a multidisciplinary setting, it is essential to have a key person to coordinate each one and ensure that target goals for the individual with special needs be met. In the United Kingdom, this person has the title of the Special Education Needs Coordinator (SENCO) (SENCO, 1997). In other countries, this title is also known as a case manager or simply a social worker assigned to the case. Hughes & Rycus (1998) explain that when an individual with a learning disability avails of multi-agency services, a social worker helps him source the services he needs for his disability in the medical and educational systems. Communication and cooperation among various professionals and agencies ensue in addressing the individual’s needs. Joint work by representatives of different agencies has been proven to accelerate the progress of interventions of young people with learning disabilities and ultimately contribute much to their well-being. Educators, therapists, psychologists, speech pathologists, physicians, social workers and even government officials join hands in the care and education of these young people to ensure their optimum growth and development. The ideal SENCO worker needs to have a college degree in Special Education, Social Work or Psychology so that he or she is knowledgeable with the needs of the clients who have special education needs. The SENCO should also be adept in networking and collaboration skills, since he or she will engage in interpersonal interactions with people from various disciplines. Good communication skills is a must. The SENCO has the following job description: Contacts prospective professionals to be part of the Multidisciplinary Team Screens and hires therapists Meet with team members individually and as a team, if necessary Communicates and coordinates with each member about the programs they are doing with the client Organizes schedules of both the client and the various professionals working with him Collects and collates reports from each team member Evaluates performance of each team member Organizes team management conferences Furnish general report about client’s progress 2. Design a compensation and benefits package related to your dream job. Every worker dreams of having a salary that is fair and compensable for all his efforts. It is logical and acceptable to receive a salary that is commensurate to the tasks involved in one’s job. As a SENCO, salary considerations should include the skills necessary for the individual to carry out the aforementioned tasks and that would be both professional and personal skills. The salary is not the only compensation sought by workers. A good compensation and benefits package specifically for a SENCO could include the following: Reasonable remuneration Social security Medical Insurance Travel allowance Sponsorship to Training Seminar-Workshop/ Conferences Sick and Vacation Leaves Option for flexi-time Option for tele-commuting especially with coordination and clerical tasks Provision of gadgets and other equipment for easy communication and coordination (ex. Laptop, tablet computer, mobile phone, internet connection) Provision of car (for being transported from one professional to another) Retirement package Annual bonus Of course, the longer one stays in a job, the more skills and knowledge are derived, so that would further increase his or her market value, making him or her deserve more remuneration and benefits. 3. Rationalize your compensation and benefits package. Be sure to include the research and considerations that went into the design of the compensation and benefits package. Research has shown that pay satisfaction and the need for career growth are two of the most important predictors of job satisfaction (Gyanmudra and Vijaykumar, 2007). Individuals who are satisfied with the pay they get and the opportunities for professional advancement find that the costs of leaving their jobs would be greater so they develop positive attitudes towards their jobs and appreciate it for what it gives them. The compensation and benefits package of a dream job should consider not only the economic needs of the worker, but also his health and security needs and incorporate opportunities for professional growth. Investment in personal and professional growth of workers such as provision of regular trainings and participation in seminars or enrolment in courses shouldered by the company not only increases a worker’s knowledge and skills, but also his market value. It also redounds to the benefit of the company in the long run. For example, Albert Marten of IKEA says, “Our CEO and founder says there is nothing more important than people development because people are our connection with our customers” (Whitehead, 2006, n.p.). In their company, spending 50 to 100 percent more on training their employees boosted sales as customers were observed to return for all their home furnishing needs because of the improved customer service they got. The training benefit given to their workers have come back to the company in terms of profit. A good compensation and benefits package conveys to the worker that he is a valued member of the company, thus, he deserves nothing less. This is enough motivation for the worker to do his best in performing his tasks. 4. Imagine this is the only position of its kind in the organization. From this perspective, design a performance appraisal program to assess your job performance. Several things may ride on the success or failure of one’s performance appraisal – the perception of co-workers and superiors of one’s credibility, future performance at work, and even the personal and professional relationships among employees. For some, it may spell his or her retention in the company, a promotion or a transfer of department or position. For management, the evaluation of organizational and employee performance allows them to check that strategic business objectives are valid, being successfully communicated throughout the organisation and being achieved. Appraising and managing performance are critical management responsibilities and vital part of the organisation strategic management process. For a SENCO, performance appraisal should come from the people he or she works with, and these people come from different perspectives since they belong to various disciplines. Each person may give his or her own evaluation of the SENCO’s performance in his or her job and if set goals have been met for the client, since he is the main focus of their work. The parents of the client may likewise be asked to evaluate the SENCO in terms of his or her professional and personal demeanour in the delivery of his or her duties. Finally, a self-evaluation of the SENCO him/herself should also be included in the performance appraisal package. 5. Rationalize your performance appraisal program. Be sure to indicate the research and considerations that went into the design of the performance appraisal program. Cheatle (2001) sees performance appraisal as an essential tool in Human Resource Management. Traditionally, it has been associated with assessing the performance of individuals against the organization’s set objectives to ensure that they are making the contributions required of them. In recent years, this has evolved to include goals such as systematically developing individuals to make sure their contributions are maximized while being fulfilled in their jobs, that they have adequate skills required to develop in their roles in the organization, and to aid the retention of these individuals in the organization. Cole (2002) categorizes appraisal into informal and formal. Informal appraisal is the continuing assessment of an individual’s performance at work by his superiors, while formal appraisal is the more rational and orderly assessment done in some systematic or planned manner. Informal appraisal is the ongoing observations of the superior regarding employee’s efficiency at work, personality, and ability to deal with co-workers. An example is how the SENCO relates to the people he or she deals with with respect to the needs of the client. Observations may be unobtrusive, so the SENCO continues to behave naturally. This kind of appraisal may reflect the individual’s authentic performance level. The formal performance appraisal system has served as the primary means for managing employee performance. By tradition, it was an administrative duty performed by managers and superiors and is one of the main functions of the Human Resource department. It is viewed as an annual ritual that entails quick accomplishment of an evaluation form and then the responses are used to catalogue all the negative information collected on the employee over the previous year (Noe, et al, 2000). Schraeder, Becton and Portis (2007) offer other specific benefits associated with formal performance appraisals. One is to facilitate communication. Performance Appraisals are tools that provide feedback to and from employees. Such feedback may guide the worker in his career path and the management in making decisions related to the worker. It has been suggested that performance appraisals can help reduce employee uncertainty while promoting more effective communication between supervisors and subordinates (Spinks, Wells, and Meche, 1999; Wells and Spinks, 1999). On the other hand, failure to provide feedback can have negative implications for workers, and keep them in the dark as to what step to take next. The communication received through performance appraisal feedback is important in encouraging employees to continue with the positive things they have been appraised with or to guide them to fill in the gaps in their problem areas. Since SENCO works with various professionals, performance appraisals can enhance his or her focus by promoting trust. The existence or lack of trust among the members of the team affects performance (Argyris, 1964). Distractions such as behaviors, thoughts or issues reduce task performance and ability to focus on activities that contribute to the achievement of organizational goals. Performance appraisals, properly structured and applied, can be used to help minimize environmental distractions (Mayer and Gavin, 2005), promoting an increased level of trust within the organization. Another benefit of PA, according to Schraeder, Becton and Portis (2007) is goal setting/reinforcement of desired behavior or performance. Knowing what the organizational goals are creates certainty on an employee’s job-related expectations (Pettijohn et al, 2001). At the same time, performance appraisals help set goals for the SENCO himself. Such collaborative effort in goal setting is desirable because it results in greater acceptance and satisfaction with appraisal results (Cawley, Keeping and Levy, 1998). References Argyris, C. (1964) Integrating the Individual and the Organization, Wiley Beresford, P. & Branfield, F. (2006) Developing inclusive partnerships: user-defined outcomes, networking and knowledge ?a case study, Health & Social Care in the Community 14 (5): 436-444 Cawley, B.D., Keeping, L.M. and Levy, P.E., "Participation in the Performance Appraisal Process and Employee Reactions: A Meta-Analytic Review of Field Investigations,"Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol. 83, pp. 615-633. Cheatle, K. (2001). Mastering human resource management. New York: Palgrave. Cole, G. (2002). Personnel and Human Resource Management (5th ed.). London: Thomson. Gyanmudra and Vijaykumar, T. (2007) Predictors of motivation And job satisfaction Among development functionaries, The Icfai Journal of Public Administration,Vol. 3 no. 4 Hughes, R. C., & Rycus, J. S. (1998). Developmental disabilities in child welfare. Washington, DC: CWLA Press. Mayer, C.M. and Gavin, M.B. "Trust in Management and Performance: Who Minds the Shop While the Employees Watch the Boss?" Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 48, No. 5, pp. 874-888. Noe, R. A., Hollenbeck, J. R., Gerhart, B., & Wright, P. M. (2000). Human resource Management: gaining a competitive advantage (3rd ed.). Boston: McGraw-Hill. Pettijohn, L.S. ,Parker, R.S., Pettijohn, C.E. and Kent, L. "Performance Appraisals: Usage, Criteria, and Observations," The Journal of Management Development, Vol. 20, No. 9/10, pp. 754-771. Schraeder, M. Becton, J.B. and Portis, R. (2007) “A Critical Examination of Performance Appraisals: An Organization's Friend or Foe?”, The Journal For Quality & Participation. Spring2007 Special educational needs coordinator (SENCO) (1997), Retrieved on May 17, 2013 from: special educational needs coordinator (SENCO) - Special Educational Needs, Code of Practice for Special Educational Needs (Revised Spinks, N. , Wells, B. and Meche, M. "Appraising Appraisals: Computerized Performance Appraisal Systems," Career Development International, Vol. 4, No. 2, pp. 94-100. Wells, B. and Spinks, N. (1999) Organizational Communication: A Strategic Approach, 5th edition. Dame Whitehead, J. 2006. Furnishing IKEA with HRO, HRO Europe: December 2006/ January 2007. Retrieved on May 27, 2013 from http://www.hroeurope.com/Magazine.asp?artID=1571 Read More