Helen's Business Assessment - Assignment Example

Name: Professor: Institution: Course: Date: Helen business is thriving because of the energy that drives people in small entrepreneurial businesses because they have a lot of enthusiasm to work hard and let business grows. One of the challenges faced by small business entrepreneurs is how to maintain the energy that is present when they start their businesses. Helen started her business with a lot of passion and currently the major hindering obstacle is on how to maintain the same energy and expand to other horizons and states. This option of expansion has been analyzed by researchers as an area zone that requires strategies when expanding in different geographic horizons, scope, scale and resources. The opportunity to grow comes up when the small business has performed well and there is room for expansion as highlighted in Helens business whose annual turnover was over $ 1 million in 2005. Some of the forces that benefit would Dutiful Daughters as has been observed in other small businesses are the beauty of advertising using latest form of technology to reach to other customers and clients globally. Telecommunication is a cheaper option of marketing and any business with the objective of becoming global eventual reaps from the availability of internet services. This is a valuable recommendation made for Dutiful Daughters to start a website where by people can visit their site and learn on exactly what they have to offer to their clients. The Organisation will however have to incur a cost of maintaining the website but the due to the volume of work and benefits of increased clients the cost is minimal. (Rehan, 2011) To maintain professionalism and still expand to other areas requires training the employees on the vision and mission of an Organisation and they should own them so that they can engage the customers and clients the way the founder had envisioned. Business relationships are formed between clients by spending quality time with clients, becoming friendly and sharing interests with them as we have substantiated from the case study on how Helen has been handling her clients from the onset whereby by she visited their homes and paid special attention. When you know somebody better and trust them the relationship beginnings to grow and deepen which increases the customer base which is evident with Helen’s case. When a relationship is sour it means that there is distrust and you probably dislike the person. (Jennifer, 2011) The growth and expansion of any business without losing the personal touch depends on three major elements which are trust, like and know. This is simple concepts which sound not complicated but the implementation process is what matters. Just by focusing on marketing only, using flyers, use of business cards and advertising is not enough to retain the initial enthusiasm of the business venture and lot of important focused points are left out. When a business leader focuses on the Marketing option to build relationships then it’s a potential step towards getting potential customers to know, trusts and like you. People like dealing with people they trust, like and know. (Jennifer, 2011) To get the client know you, Helen requires marketing her business and what she offers for help. In her initial strategy Helen visited the homes of the aged which spread the word round but as a result of business growth into the global context a different direction is the best option. Apart from forming a website there are forms of communicating to potential clients such as giving talks, article writing, networking through forms such as face book, professional networking like LinkedIn, newsletter writing highlight the plight of the old people and just through blogging in the internet. Dutiful daughters should improve make their website more attractive to potential clients by adding testimonies of clients who have been frequent clients, pictures taken of the home and employees attending or serving the clients. The website should provide in detail the services offered to the clients and areas of coverage within cities with pictures of contended clients together with their families. Through this forms the customers will know that Dutiful daughters exists which is the first step. The other method that can be applied offline is by press releases and social networking. Customers who wish to advantage of the cheap options of advertising can learn of the existence of Dutiful daughters and because Helen is concerned of increasing the expenditure of the Home then this form of marketing is the better option for application. When good services are created whose content is of great value, the Marketing concept becomes viral and people want to venture into your services. (Jennifer, 2010) Majority of people dislike dealing with people that they don’t like. Research has proved that its not possible to find unpleasant people who still maintain their businesses and continue getting potential clients though they are rude to their clients. This is because the rate at which a bad word spreads is ten times more than a good word. Customers are more likely to spread the bad experience more than the good service offered. By concentrating on serving her customers better and getting the good word to spread then Helen will have no problem in maintain a repeat customers have many options because competition is very high today as a result of the emergence of telecommunication and some of the ways to get people to like you is following up on their issues, being engaged totally to the client to meet their likes and dislikes and being honest. In the process of expansion Dutiful daughters should constantly maintain their word as per their mission and vision and watch the business that it does not die and dry up. Dutiful daughters should touch base with clients, refer them and check in on their status often to maintain the relationship. Sharing information that is helpful to the clients who bring their parents for homecare is helpful and the clients will begin to like you. The clients are people too, just by being dedicated to the business are essential to increase the relationship value to a personal level. Trust is a factor that glues a customer to constantly value your services. Whatever Helen says she will offer to her clients should be followed to book such as offering recreation and social activities. Referrals and testimonials from other clients is proof enough to any new potential customers. By responding to clients needs its motivational enough for them to respond by trusting you. The customers should be treated the same way that you as an individual should be treated and the promises made should be realistic to meet their expectations. The clients thus put their problems and needs for the provider of services to handle on their behalf. Trust is described as tool that is powerful enough to keep and get clients. Employees are usually valued as the most important asset in a Company second from capital. Arthur & Hall (1996), describes career development as having no boundary and employees should have no limits to achieve their objectives and goals. Dutiful daughters’ employees will be encouraged and supported to pursue external training, including exams, relevant to their areas of specialization in order to embrace change and innovation. These external training programs should be based on results of staff performance evaluations and training needs assessments, and must, as a rule, be such as are expected to contribute to enhanced productivity at work. Coaching is defined as allowing individuals to face their own roles and responsibilities. This ensures that they achieve their goals and improve on their job performance which trickles down to the Organization. (Werner &Desimone, 2009). Social networks involves connection with a group of different experts with deferring careers who support an individual with various aspects of information such as job opportunities, job performance, career progression, business ideas, job promotion and income generation. (Van Emmerik et al., 2007). On the job development is a very important element to the staff member’s growth and development. Dutiful daughters should embark on coaching the staffs who do not have the qualifications of care giving such as volunteers. Any Company that is ready to face competition as a result of change management and innovation should enhance the skills and responsibilities of the employees through on-the-job development which is generally cost effective. Care givers are workers who are qualified to handle and provide specialized care to the elderly people or disabled without supervision. The position entails the employee or care giver to be professional and enthusiastic about their job. They are also held responsible for the physical and psychological development of the clients. The tasks that a care giver has a duty to fulfill are dressing, bathing and feeding the elderly. Making their beds is also part of the task, performing laundry activities, cooking for them according to their recipes because the elderly are usually health conscious and suffer from ailments that come with old age, maintaining a healthy and environment that is safe and have the ability to respond to accidents and emergencies through provision of first aid. Interview panels need to focus on the attributes of a care giver which may be broken down into specific behaviors that are directly related to the job role and position. Initiative is an attribute that shows how well an employee can handle special assignments and be initiative enough to develop new working ways. Achievement oriented helps set clear goals and the applicant is not deterred by challenging work. Flexibility is also essential such that it’s easy for somebody to accept other people ideas and adapt to new plans submitted before them. Care givers should also demonstrate professionalism while executing their duties. Integrity is a requirement that is emphasized for any job position because trustworthy and honesty are key attributes that alleviate any work conflicts. Supervision is no longer emphasized because employees are mature people who can work independently without supervision when objectives and responsibilities have been assigned. Decisiveness is a strategic approach required for decision making with a clear direction of forming long term goals. Paying attention to detail is necessary in order to spot areas where errors exist and ensure that accuracy has been maintained. Finally service orientation displays the level of client service and information provided should be timely. (Melborne, 2011) The common skills required by the majority of recruiters for any kind of job position are leadership skills, writing skills, negotiation skills, management, Organisation, team building, problem solving, analytical skills, presentation skills, teaching and general computer literacy skills. (Melborne,2011) Some of the basic training and educational requirements are at least a two years diploma course in college education or care giving training course. Since nurses are the most recommended care givers a certificate in health care and a degree in Nursing are requirements for professional care givers. People with experience of child care and challenged physically are also likely to seek employment in elderly homes. Others include retired teachers, baby sitters, nurses, and volunteers from religious churches who are willing to spend time with the elderly, counselors and other elderly people who still have the energy to assist in daily chores and are willing to lend a hand. College students who want to make money to pay for tuition are also potential employees. The competences and skills expected of care givers are proper health care and hygiene, working ethics, use of tools and equipments such as wheel chair, use of materials such as gauze pads, catheter, bed sheets, towels and linen. The employees should be conversant with mathematics and measurement, excellent in terms of time management, process ageing, and emergency treatment of first aid and diet requirements. The care giver should possess self esteem and interpersonal skills because they will be handling people of diverse backgrounds often. The characteristics of physical attributes of the care giver include the mental and physical ability, having worked for the physically challenged or in hospitals, commitment to work, possess character that is good and moral and a person who is patient because the elderly have the tendency to behave like children. (Patricia,2011) A care giver should be caring and a sense of humor helps dealing with the clients physical and emotional needs. The competencies include documentation of medication management and assisting the elderly to take their medication. Communication skills should be excellent so as to have rapport with the clients, their families and the rest of the care givers. Where insurance or Government is paying for the customers the care provider should be trained in order to provide excellent professional care. This is a legal requirement which can also come from the on-the job training. Where there are care givers without certification training is available in hospitals or health care agencies. The health care provider has to be subjected to continuous drug testing, attending and passing CPR classes, infection control, back ground checks and continuous referencing. Other checks include domestic and HIV testing. Training on how to effectively and efficiently help the patients or client on how to be mobile is a requirement. For those who have a driving license they can be held responsible for transporting clients. (Patricia, 2011) Recruitment of a caregiver can be done through an agency of hiring privately. If recruited privately the provider is responsible to interview the employee and check on their qualifications. The option of agency is expensive because you have to pay for the services but the beneficial factor is that the recruited care giver competencies are current as pertains to the market. Helen has a responsibility to also interview the caregiver in order to interact and get to know them better. It’s usually recommended that the agency has knowledge of the employees that it provides for accountability purposes. The selection criterion is used to describe in detail the knowledge, skills, experience and abilities that are required for a job. The selection criteria process is divided into qualities that are either desirable or essential. (Paul, 2011) The applicants who possess essential qualities have a high chance of being employed and those who have the desirable qualities have an added advantage to get the job. The most important concepts that the recruitment should focus on are the tasks that the caregiver handled in their previous areas of employment, secondly is the specific situations that the applicant demonstrated their qualities and skills. Third is the actions that the applicant carried out and exactly how they carried out them. Finally is to ask the applicant the results that they achieved after carrying out their roles. (Eugene, 2011) The responses required from the interviewee depend on the exact position that had been applied. Different Companies and the recruitment panel often ask different questions, for instance some organizations will only focus on experience while others focus on the qualifications and working skills. In conclusion, to stay ahead of competition Helen will have to be ready to invest in marketing, developing employees in terms of training and development, be abreast with the latest technology, ensure that the clients get the best of service without compromising on the quality and develop a strategy of retention of employees to alleviate expenditure incurred in recruitment. As recommended recruitment of an Accountant is recommended who will deal with financial management as well as sourcing for donors and in addition an Administrator to handle all the daily activities and recruitment of staff is essential. References Arthur MB and Hall DT and Lawrence (1996), Handbook of Career theory. Cambridge University press, Cambridge Eugene (2010); Recruitment Guidelines · 463 Oregon Hall · 5210 University of Oregon . Available at Retrieved on 9th September 2011 HR-University of Melbourne (2011); Examples of selection criteria ;The University of Melbourne ABN: Retrieved on 9th September 2011 Jon M. Werner and Randy l. Desimone, (2009). Human Resource Development, 5th Edition- University of Wisconsin Jennifer Davey (2011): Get Clients, Keep Clients: The 3 Must Know Elements; Attard Communications, Inc. Retrieved on 9th September, 2011 from Read More