International Water Conflict Essay Example for Free

International Water Conflict EssayWater is one of the most precious commodi hooks for kind-hearted beings. To some, it is the truly lifeblood of the world. From time immemorial, the availability of irrigate has hardened the rhythms of daily life in many regions. The critical importance of piss to the survival of the human race can be seen in the earliest civilizations whose emergence and sustenance were closely tied to its pissing system distribution systems. Many authors have located the importance of peeing in different religious observances. In Hindoo and Buddhist traditions, the rivers of the earth, including the Indus, the Ganges and the Brahmaputra, originate from the mythical Mount Meru, the living place for the gods. In the Christian tradition, the waters originate from the Garden of Eden, and that divides the world into greatest streams the Nile, the Tigris, the Euphrates, the Indus and the Ganges. Islam in any case chip ins water its due importance. The holy book Koran describes that every living thing is made from water. As Caponera points out, it seems that in the Koran, the most precious creation later on humankind is water.There is a water crisis today. Water is not only a commodity, it is synonymous with life. All life on earth is dependent on water. If water is life, its possession bestows power. Water has crucial economic value, and it is a subsistence resource. Also, water has an emotional and symbolic value for certain countries and communities. The scarcity of water is increasing world(a) and its prime(prenominal) is continuously deteriorating. Water shortages reduce food production, aggrandize poverty, amplify disease and force people to migrate.The scarcity of water also undermines the states capacity to govern. approximately half of the worlds commonwealth lives in international river basins. Sharing of the international rivers can therefore be a serious object of contention surrounded by riparian nations. For the las t few years, water war has been a topic of widespread debate. However, wars over river water atomic number 18 likely only under a squeeze set of circumstances, as there ar also more examples of water cooperation than water competitiveness among countries.Nevertheless, the increasing scarcity of water raises doubt about the sustainability of these accommodating agreements over the international rivers. Water scarcity is in particular severe in Asia, Africa and the Middle East, owing to population growth, urbanization and industrialization. Whether the water crisis intensifies the dispute over the divided up waters or whether it can be turned towards sustainable cooperative management of river resources, depends on many interacting processes.In this book (International strife over water resources), after analyzing the real sharing mechanisms of the major(ip) international river systems in these regions, argues that the real solution lies in a comprehensive approach to river ba sin management. The scarcity of water is increasing worldwide and the quality of the water is continually deteriorating. The growing global water stress poses a threat to the survival and prosperity of present and succeeding(a) generations. The gap between the needs of the growing population and the diminishing sweet-smelling water resources is widening every day.In the arid and tropical regions, where countries possess a very limited supply of water, it is not difficult to perceive the consequences. Water, a key necessity of life, can also cause friction between communities and countries, particularly in climatic zones where it is hard to come by. The over- growing of water resources dexterity result in an acute shortage. From this perspective, it will be impossible for all the social actors to perch comfortable with the present or future prospects of the availability of the resource.These actors will work purposefully and consciously for their own interests. Increasing competi tion can potentially destruct the existing social arrangements for water distribution in the society. Newly organized actors with conflict behaviors might emerge in the future or the incompatibilities between existing actors might grow in societies with a weak administrative structure and laden with ethnic and social dichotomies. Scarce water resources can potentially cancel conflicts between the state and its internal groups.The development of water resources by the state by building dams, irrigation infrastructures, or industries in a particular region might be perceived by the local population as ontogenesis for the interest of others. Regional parties whitethorn be activated or environmental groups may be formed to challenge the actions of the state. If a particular group is involved in exploiting more than its perceived share of water with the backing of the state, then this inter-group conflict may escalate into conflict between the exploited group and the state itself.As di scussed earlier, the produceion of cock-a-hoop dams for the efficient use of water resources has created tension between the state and a group of its own citizens in the past few years. The growing demand for irrigation and energy activates the state agencies to plan and build mega hydro-projects, which displace large population and inundate vast areas. In many places, the project affected population takes up of the struggle against the state. The list of mega dams that have witnessed this sort of k without delayledge is very long.The major ones include Sanmenxia and Three Gorges in China Madur Oya and Mahavali Project in Sri Lanka Mangla, Nanela and Tarbela in Pakistan Kaptai in Bangladesh Arun in Nepal Akasombo in Ghana Kossou in Ivory swoop Tana and Athi in Kenya Itaparica and Tucurui in Brazil Kainji and Niger Dams in Nigeria Ataturk and Keban in Turkey Lam Pao and Nam Pong in Thailand Kedong Ombo and Batang Ai in Indonesia Upper Pampanga in Philippines Manantali in Mali Sav ajina in Colombia Brokopondo in Suriname Caracol and Netzahualcoyotl in Mexico and Nam Ngum in Laos.India, currently in the forefront of dam construction, deserves a separate list of its own. The Indian hydro-projects that have recently led to protest movements by the displaced people are Pong Dam, Subarnarekha Project, Nagarjunsagar Project, Srisailam Project, Lower Manair Dam, Upper Krishna Projects, Tehri Dam, Narmada Projects and Ukai Reservoir Project. Sometimes disagreement over the development and sharing of water resources may bulge with competing groups inside a state, but the states perceived favour of a particular group brings the state as a party to the conflict.Similarly, if the water source exploitation is perceived as the states intentional act on a particular region or people, a group identity may form, leading to conflict with the state. The construction of dams for hydropower generations in the northern part of Sweden to provide energy to the industries and factor ies in the South has become an area of disagreement between the Sami people of the North and the Swedish state. The Samis, who live in the forests in the Arctic Circle, accuse the state of favoring city dwellers at the cost of their livelihood and welfare. tear down though this dispute has not change into a violent separatist movement, the reactions to similar issues in South Asia have been quite different. Disagreement over the sharing of river water from the Indus river system has been one of the major causes of violent secessionist movement in the Punjab province of India in the 1980s and 1990s. This Sikh-dominated province has been traditionally provided with a water supply from the Beas, Sutlej and Ravi Rivers.The demands of the downstream provinces of Rajasthan and Haryana persuaded the Indian government to construct canals and divert 60 per cent of Punjabs water and energy to those Hindu-majority regions. This became one of the major motivations for the Sikh Party (Akali Dal ) to ask for autonomy in the 1970s, which subsequently transformed into an thorough violent secessionist movement in the 1980s and 1990s. On the other side of the border, the dispute over the sharing of the same Indus river system water has also vie a critical role in a major separatist movement in Pakistan.The Pakistani part of Punjab, which is economically and governmentally the most stiff province in the country, takes advantage of its upstream location and consumes most of the waters of the Indus river system through the help of barrages and dams, ignoring the demand of the downstream Sind province. The perceived close tie of the federal government with the Punjab province has escalated this conflict between the Sind province and the Pakistani government. The link between sporty water resources and international conflicts can be investigated at least in two different dimensions.First, in an interstate conflict, the deliberate targeting of water storage facilities may be dir ectly responsible for inducing water scarcity or reducing the water quality of the opponent. Thus, water scarcity becomes part of a military strategy and military behavior. The British Royal denude Force damaged a few German dams in the bombing runs of 1943. Dams and dykes were destroyed during the Korean and Vietnam wars by the US bombing. Iran claimed to have hit a hydroelectric station in Iraq in July 1981, as part of the Iran-Iraq War. Dams, water storage and conveyance systems were targeted by the warring sides during the 1991 Gulf War.Allied forces even had thought of a plan to shut off the flow of water to Iraq by using the Ataturk Dam in Turkey. Armies in Yemen (in the 1994 war) and former Yugoslavia (1991-95) used the water storage facilities as targets to create problems for their adversaries. In January 1993, the Serbian militia seriously damaged the Peruca Dam in Croatia. There are cases where in fact a human population is held hostage to political and military leaders. Manipulation with such basic human supplies in times of war should be an urgent issue for international humanist law, and it certainly would be unacceptable under conditions of peace.However, the aim here is to concentrate on a second dimension of the relationship the likelihood of changes in fresh water resource supply to cause or contribute to the emergence and/or escalation of conflicts among states. As discussed before, there has been a general decline in the measuring stick and quality of global fresh water resource. This leads us to consider scarcity of resources as a cause of conflict, in conflict theory language an incompatibility between already existing parties. A common starting point in the analysis of many inter-state conflicts has been sought in the desire of the leaders of states to stupefy territory.In the post-Second World War period, it has become unfashionable and immoral to conquer territories of others. Nevertheless this has happened repeatedly, for instanc e, in the Middle East, in South and Southeast Asia and lately in Europe. Huth characterizes territorial dispute as one of the enduring features of international politics. But, why do states fight for each others territory? As Toset, Gleditsch and Hegre explain, territory can be a symbol of self-determination and national identity, but it can also be a proxy for tangible resources found on the territory.Thus, access to water supply can be a motive of waging war. Under special circumstances it is a possibility that scarcity of fresh water resources may give rise to serious armed conflict. Water is not transported across large distances, as is the case with oil or minerals, for instance. In the post-Second World War period, political actions are taking place more in order to satisfy the demands of the majorities of a country. (Barrett, S. 1994, p. 24) This means that stronger nations might be more in need of earthy resources on the territory of other states, to meet the growing needs and desires of the home population.In this way, development might be seen to require the acquisition or exploitation of a larger share of jointly owned fresh water resource. The water on the surface of the earth is naturally organized within river basins. The river basins are the fundamental units of the fresh water world and the central feature of the ecology of the planet. Moreover, the river runoff is the most important source of available fresh water for human consumption. However, the rivers do not follow the political boundaries nearly 260 rivers flow from one country to another.More than 40 per cent of the worlds population is directly dependent upon the fresh water from these international rivers and about two-thirds of these people live in developing countries. The use or misuse of water in the upstream countries affects its quantity and quality in the downstream countries. Downstream nations can affect the flow of water by building large-scale dams, with effects spilling over the borders. The International Water steering Institute in Colombo projects that in 2025, 3 billion people will be living in countries facing water stress.Water tables are increasingly falling in every continent. Many developing countries already face serious problems in meeting rapidly growing water demands. In order to meet such demands, further pressure is being placed on these blue water resources, this over-exploitation resulting in acute shortages. Faced with such scarcity, water has increasingly become a source of social tension, bringing further competition and creating conflict which, together, have the potential to destroy the existing arrangements for water distribution.Even though such tensions are omnipresent, they tend to be more complex and difficult where international rivers, lakes and aquifers are concerned. The Centre for Natural Resources, Energy and Transport (CNRET), now a defunct UN unit, brought out a Register of International Rivers in 1978. In that it listed 214 internationally divided rivers and lakes 57 in Africa, 40 in Asia, 48 in Europe, 33 in North America and 36 in South America. The CNRET study has become dated because of significant changes in international geopolitical borders and names of countries and rivers in the last 25 years.The names of some countries and rivers have also changed in this period. The disintegration of the Soviet Union, Yugoslavia, Ethiopia and Czechoslovakia has helped to increase the number of internationally shared rivers and lakes, and also the number of basin countries. For example, the Volga River is now international, and the Aral Sea is shared by at least four independent states. The re-unification of Germany and Yemen has made the Weser basin and the Teban basin national, bestow to a decrease in the number of international fresh water resources.

Human Resource Management in UK Hotel Industry

Human imaginativeness perplexity in UK Hotel Industry1 IntroductionHuman imaging Management is a consistent and productive approach towards the circumspection of charterees who ar placed assets to the musical arrangement. And managing pickful mercifuls requires a constant balancing amid meeting the gentle aspirations of the people and meeting the strategic and financial privations of the business. Hence strikinging the HRM to a greater extent than explicitly to the strategic goals to improve the business and foster innovation and flexibility, and so serves the over both purpose.Through trump out possible use and application of HR policies in the ecesis, trueness can be encouraged thus leading to break in procedure, improve staff billet and lower labour turnover, this is the ideal aim of the benevolentss resource makes which has been solicitd to neglect the fact that HR specialists and line managers give up a major(ip) impact on how these HR policies ar i mplemented at the hotels and whether all the HR practices be universally applicable.Human resource management is the techniques businesses compound to maintain an effective extendforce to meet operational requirements. It is the organisational function that deals with issues tie in to people practically(prenominal) as allowance, hiring, administration, brass build upment, employee motivation, wellness, benefits, safety, conference, implementation management, and prep ardness. Human resource practices implemented in an governing atomic number 18 used for recruitment, selection raising and culture, fix management, performance appraisal etcetera Human Resource Management strategically manages people and litigate place surround and culture. Effective HRM practices enable employees to contribute in effect and productively towards the attainment of the organizations goals and objectives facilitates overall company mission.HRM practices are one of the carry of commun ication for an organization with its employees it consists of the actual programs, processes and techniques. It conveys as to what the organization desires as valuable and book appearances. The performanceers on reception of such a message build up their own distinct perceptions and through a self-assessment (evaluation) process subsequently shape their attitude and behavior. For instance, if an organization implemented a pedagogy program for their workers, it give develop workers k presentlyledge, clevernesss and capability, and thus cultivate better employee shipment due to contented experience with the organization just, such correlation may at times be tawdry or unpredictable i.e. plane though some employees may think this didactics as useful and own the execution of organizational HRM practices, but on the contrary, other workers may break the program as non-effective and look out it as a trouble that hamper their regular work timetable, hence this may work in an unintended representation by bringing down their rejoicing with the organization and negatively effect their commission. This is the truly reason why employees individual opinion plays as a vital intermediary in the association between organizational HRM practices and the real disclosure of employees outlook and behaviors. because, from this point of view, one can argue that HRM practices in its dominating effect alter an employees affective commitment, by first touch upon their perception of organizational HRM practices and consequently further alter or read their wound up commitment towards the organization. Thats why, by the room of implementation of elevatedschool-commitment HRM practices, i.e. intensive educate and out result, soaring direct of fee, promotion from within, socialization, etc. convince the employees that the organizations purpose is in compliancy with their insight, and it impinges upon them to reciprocate with advanced commitment and stronger deference to devote and put in for the organization.Therefore this research result try to establish a correlation between HR practices and their set up on employee commitment. The HR practices that will be examined in the research will be Selection and enlisting Process, planning and Development programs, act management, Reward management and industrial labour relations. These are some of the main HR practices followed by the hotels aiming for the to a greater extent(prenominal) pull team. But the researcher is interested in knowing whether these HR practices really result in more committed employees. And if these HR practices really result in committed employees then is it universally applicable in all countries of the world or all fictitious characters of industries. These are some of the questions that have encouraged the researcher in conducting this research.1.1 Research AimThe aim of this oratory is to examine the HR practices implemented in UK hotels and their impac t on employee commitment.1.2 ObjectiveThe objectives of this research were to-Examine the current HR practices prevalent in UK hotels.Evaluating these current HR practices against the existing literature to find out whether they match or not.Evaluating the factors leading to employee commitment and how many factors coiffe by conducting HR practices in the company.2 lit review2.1 Philosophy of Human Resource ManagementHuman Resource Management is slip its traditional stance from mortalnel, administration, and transactional roles, which are being increasingly outsourced. HRM is now focusing more and more towards adding prudishty and value to the strategic exploitation of employees and that employee tuition programs impact the business in tangible monetary value. This new approach towards transmutation in HRM involves strategic direction and HRM metrics and measurements in tangible call to bore the effect of these practices. Some of the HRM practices studied in this project a re selection, benefits, training, performance feedback, communication systems, standard operating procedures (SOPs) and employee participation. David E. Guest (1987) says that human resource management is the turncock for attainment of the managerial objectives in the organizations that have accepted the need for the optimal utilization of human resource to chance upon matched advantage and stay executable in their businesses.The primary objective of HRM is amalgamation of companys mission and goal with the HR practices. David E. Guest argues that formulation of a comprehensive corporate strategy is a major factor that decides the continuing business success of any organization.For matured managers human resource planning is not just a fundamental component of strategic planning, but somewhat flows from it. This holds especially true in todays place setting where the act of the process of adjusting to throw warrants an escalating level of individual and group participation, for the seamless integration of human resources into the strategic plans.HRM also focuses to attain employee commitment, this involves classification of the type of commitment requisite e.g. attitudinal, behavioral. Commitment of an employee can be at different levels it could be towards the organization, to his bloodline, for individual occupational group advancement and numerous such like things. Commitment in an employees context can be defined as approval of enterprise mission and goals, and could be reflected in behaviour adopted by him/her that furthers these goals. David further proposes that theoretically the combination of organizational commitment and job related behavioral commitment constitutes a game story of employee satisfaction, motivates them for high performance, longer tenure with their organisations and prepares them to willingly accept changes.The third gear goal of strategic HRM is to exercise flexibility and adaptability, which basically translates into the ability to manage change and innovation and to react swiftly to transforming market demands and changes. Thus arises a need for a HRM policy which is hearty to change at all levels of the organization, an arrangement which is operable not bureaucratic, structural and adaptable, with an absence of rigid job divisions and with capable of functional flexibility i.e. whippy skills and motivation to move from one assignment to another. Promoting these is possible tho according to David if the employees at all levels exhibit a high power point of organizational commitment, their trust towards the organizational policies and have high levels of intrinsic motivation.Attaining and maintaining total tint is the fourth goal of HRM. This highlights the importance of policies and practices to recruit, development and retention of skilled and flexible employees, and the formulation of realised performance standards and performance procedures. This can be further separate into two bro ader goals i.e. building a integrated organizational culture and achieving and maintaining competitive advantage through the dynamic use of human resources.Guest (2002) has argued that the effect of human resource management practices on overall performance of a squiffy will depend upon response of the employees to the implemented HRM practices therefore the impact will be more or less a translation of the perception of HRM practices by the employee. Wood (1999) and Guest (2002) have tasteed upon the need to build a competent, committed and highly involved work force is the one necessary for best implementation of business strategy. Huselid (1995) discovered that the effectiveness of employees is directly related to the impact of HRM practices on behavior of the workforce. Patterson et al (1997) while arguing about the effect of human resource management practices on business performance have said that HR practices in selection and training influence performance by providing ta ke away skills. HR practices have a potent impact on performance even if it just measured in terms of overall productivity.Huselid (1995) stressed that the sufferance of best practices in selection will lead to inflow of best feel of skill set ultimately will result in adding to the value towards the skills inventory of the organization. He also highlighted the role of personnel training as an date of selection practices through which the organizational culture and employee behavior can be integrated with the organization goals to produce irresponsible results. Cooke (2000) has included competence and effectiveness as the vital ingredients of performance apart from competitiveness and productivity. She further amplifies training as the tool to grow intimacy and skills and as way of improving individuals performance (efficiency and effectiveness). Singh (2004), whose interpretations are more pertinent in our cultural context, says that compensation is a appliance that aligns t he behavior of employees with the wholes business strategy. William et al, have argued that Career planning is a tool that work in sync with the strategy and future HR needs of the organisation and encourages employee to attain their individual goals for in the flesh(predicate) development. By encouraging employee involvement, the firm will acquire from add in efficiency of theemployee due to improved commitment of the employee. fiscal participation schemes are more beneficial for the organizations than the associated cost (Summers Hyman, 2005). In high growth attention use of best HR practices result in a stronger association with firms productivity (Datta et al, 2003).Wright et al (2003) have said that if proper performance management system is in place and is complemented by a just compensation system that is linked with the performance management system an employee will exert all-weather effort to improve his performance.Similarly to improve performance the need is to d istinctly define the jobs.Job definition is combination of job description and job specification. It intelligibly outlines duties, responsibilities, working(a) conditions and expected skills of an individual performing that job (Qureshi, 2006).Ichniowski (1995) while perusal productivity of steel workers have argued that harmonizing HR practice System positively effects employees performance.Sels,2006 Collins (2005) in a postulate of similar character targeting bittie business have also argued that efficient HR practices affect employee productivity to a corking extent.Meyer and Allen (1997) indicated that HRM practices have been considered to be valuable and effective tools for elevating organizational commitment, especially affective commitment. However, there are some other perspectives also on this repress De Coninsk and Stilwell (1996) argued that what directly influences employees affective commitment is not the actual practices itself, but the employee perceptions of justice of practices that affects organizational commitment. Ogilvie (1986) found that, even with personal and work characteristics controlled, employees perceptions of two characteristics of HRM practices, namely, the accuracy of the deservingness rating system and the fairness of promotions, contributed to the prediction of commitment. Gaertner and Nollen (1989) also found that employees commitment was related to the perceived HRM practices, including internal promotion, training opportunities, and employment security. Ostroff and Bowen (2000) make use of meso hypothesis to explain that the implementation of HRM practices helped to amplify workers identification with their organization through employees mental contracts.Therefore, just as what the above mentioned scholars stated, the HRM practices itself cannot have impact on employees commitment, it is after the implementation of the HRM practices that triggered employees own perceptions and then assess whether the practice i s considered fair or favorable to them and consequently influence their attitudes and behaviors. Therefore, if the HRM practices that an organization implements permit the employees to acknowledge it as highly committed, consequently, this will lead to reinforced trust and concurrently generate high emotional attachment with his/her serviced organization.Despite several experiential studies that have established a affinity between HRM practices and organizational commitment, however, such a connection grabms to be a little too straightforward (Paul Anantharaman, 2004 Ulrich, 1997 Wimalasiri, 1995). Ostroff and Bowen (2000) projected that it was the psychological bond of an individual that merge how an organizational HRM practice influenced employees mind-set and behavior. This also entails that HRM practices may conjointly bullshit employees organizational commitment obliquely, and must go through by means of individuals psychological alteration system.Guzzo and Noonan (1994) said thatAn organizations HRM practices influenced employee commitment since they are communications from the employer to the employee. How employees interpreted and made sense of their organizational HRM practices affected their psychological contract with their employer and, ultimately, their commitment to that employer.Zucker (1983) also pretend that the organization members attitudes and behaviors are subjective and are governed by organizations ordained communication of common understandings. Term common understandings denoting what were considered the beguile, essential and meaningful behaviors within an organization. Basically, the official organization communication of common understandings will direct its members to alter their own personal attitudes and behaviors so that they can match organizational expectations and requirements.2.2 Human resources practicesHRM propose that there is a universal one best way to administer people. By assumptive a best practice method it is argued that organizations will attain improved commitment from people leading to better organizational performance, top levels of service character reference and eventually boost in efficiency and profitability, Usually couched in terms of bundles, the HRM practices that are offered in support of a high commitment and performance example are generally fairly consistent. A range of HR practices which are suggested as being of the essence(predicate) to organizational strategies aimed at securing high-quality service are-2.3 Recruitment and SelectionOne of the main and more or less basic HRM practice is of Recruiting and selecting staff with the assort attitudinal and behavioral characteristics. The process of selection is AIMED at picking out the most probable expectation from a bunch of applicants who best suites the needs of the organisation. According to Vlachos the person who is most suitable is chosen establish on his educational and/or professional qualifications and t he focus of the whole process is to decrease the cost for the organisation and employ such employees who have merit and talent and can maximize the profits. A variety of considerations in the selection process should be employed to assess the work values, interpersonal skills, personality and problem-solving capabilities of likely employees to evaluate their service orientation. To maintain the high degree of competitive advantage an organisation requires capable and skillful personnel (Liao Chu 2006). Huselid (1995) has established that organisational productivity and high degree of performance is dependant upon the selection of the appropriate person, which is also a way to reduce employee turnover. Michie and Sheehan-Quinn (2001) recognized a positive link between hiring employees, and the creation of the appropriate culture for organisational growth. Cho, et al. (2006) established a positive and considerable connection between HRM practices adopted by a firm and the non-homoge neous recruitment selection techniques implemented like the recruitment resource, screening test, behavioral tests interviews i.e. structured and unstructured to improve the fiscal performance. Therefore, it made compulsory for the organisations to attract measure up candidates and recruit them for survival and growth.2.4 Performance AppraisalPerformance appraisal has attracted an immense degree of interest. Levin (1986) identified uses of performance appraisal, like potential analysis which assesses the performance of the employee in past, need for training, remuneration expectations- salary, employee merit appraisal, suggestion for and by the employee, employee life history development etc. Thang (2004) in his study has shown as to effect of suitable HRM related finality on how well employees are performing their jobs.Performance appraisal is a constant procedure rather than a once a year fatigue. It is an official arrangement where periodical assessment of an individuals o r teams performance for a particular proposition task is carried out and a feedback is given on the same. Stone (2002) said that in order to survive in a highly competitive milieu a firm must focus on improving its performance. In addition, in the fast changing surroundings, tighter finances, downsizing and demands for enhanced responsibility and accountability on the part of the employees and thus result in more emphasis on performance appraisal in order to enable the management to attain the organisational objectives. To achieve optimum performance requirements performance related remunerates target those who meet the expectations of the organisation (Stone 2002, Cho, et al. 2006, Chand Katou 2007). breeding in regard to employee salary, training needs, compensation, promotion as well as employee development, transfer and employee feedback is provided by performance appraisal (Huber 1983). Appraisal systems have also locomote away from conventional top down approaches to appr aisal in more modern and pertinent terms such as guest evaluation, team-based performance, the appraisal of managers by subordinates and peer review. Generally, all of these performance appraisal methods should focus on the quality objectives of the organization and the behaviors of employees required for maintaining these.Performance appraisal has both administrative and individual development focus and organizations sincerity towards performance appraisal goes a long way in developing commitment and trust among people. Overall attitude towards HRM department is a significant predictor of organizational commitment. This aspect of HRM practice refers to how people see their HRM department, with respect, with disdain, with indifference and so on. It refers to the fact that the acceptance of dissimilar HRM practices depend largely on the overall image of the HR department.Hospitality industriousness needs to bank on the commitment of a well-trained, multi-skilled workforce in order to achieve a competitive position, especially in terms of providing high quality customer service. This suggests that hotels need to adopt HRM organisational practices that enhance the motivation of employees and improve organisational effectiveness.2.5 Reward ManagementHuselid (1995) asserts that compensation and employee merit are directly related and finally contribute towards the firm outcomes. Compensation by its definition means all hirements in terms of property and all commodities provided in kind i.e. instead of financial to recompense employees. The reward system was organized to attract and motivate so as to keep employees. more(prenominal) so, employee influence was tailored on controlled authority and decision making. The expectancy scheme (Vroom 1964) suggests that rewards, that can be comprehended as a form of direct and substantiative recompense packages, have the ability to manipulate employee work enthusiasm. Thang (2004) suggests that to achieve concert eff orts from the employees to fulfill the organisational goals compensation and reward can be used as effectual tools. On the same lines, Wan (2008) argued that compensation should be measured depending on employees performance not on the basis of position or seniority in the organization.Pay practice is one of the tools of human resources management practices which manage plight, salary, pay and benefits etc. for the employees.Reward management has got an important role in HRM. A high level of pay and remuneration in comparison to that of rivals ensures the attraction and retention of high-quality employee, however this may impact negatively on the companys overall labor expenditures. to a fault by connecting pay with performance, the company can educe desired standards of performance as well as specific task orientation from employee (Noe et al., 2006). Generally, pay practice is very significant for the organizations and firms which can attract employees to apply for the job as recruitment. magnetic pay practices play a major role in attracting talent and are very helpful during the recruitment process. Similarly for the employees this means that they are required to show a continuously high level of commitment and performance in order to keep their jobs.Pay packages also have a degree of connection with the job satisfaction of an employee. Ting (1997) asserts that the job satisfaction can be gauged by the pay structure. He further explains two different type of effect of pay practices on job satisfaction first is the satisfaction with pay itself and second is the satisfaction with financial prospects in the future. There is a decrepit interest of these two things which are correlated with job satisfaction. Thus, it is pertinent to understand the birth between job satisfaction and pay practices which eventually materializes in terms of high productivity. Efficiency wage theories also suggest that paying higher reinforcement can often result in increas ed efficiency. There are three main channels that are addressed in these theories that improve productivity, as described by Katz, 1987. Firstly it means that the harder the employees of an organization work higher will be the punishment for someone who is caught shirking and higher will be the probability of losing job of the employee getting caught. Thus higher wages means an increased effort on part of the employee due to the enhanced probability of losing job in a high performance environment. In other words, wage and pay practice are directly responsible for employees productivity and turnover. Secondly, a higher wage translates directly into workers loyalty towards organization thus improving employees efforts. Also it is a pertinent deduction that higher wage structure plays considerable meat of restraint on the employees to turnover their jobs. Thirdly, in more tangible terms higher wages are responsible for diminution firm employee turnover and recruitment costs.2.6 teac hing and DevelopmentTraining and development (TD) is a very important tool of HRM (Vlachos 2008). According to Li, et al. 2008 Training is the set of activities which prepare the employees to attain needed skill sets and to deliver more efficiently in their current jobs. In the environment of todays business an employee is needed to cope with various pressures and are required to keep their skills and knowledge current to stay competitive. Tai (2006) asserts that more adaptability, ability, flexibility, motivation, maintenance of skills and efficiency are greatly enhanced by proper training and development of employees.According to Vlachos training and firms performance are indirectly related. In most of the manufacturing industry, the prevailing training programs are mostly unstructured on the job is the most preferred mode. Bartel (1994) in her study found a positive and significant relation between training and labour productivity. Guidetti and Mazzanti (2007) found that high p erformance and training activities are positively associated. It is also affected by labour flexibility in various directions. Apospori, et al. (2008) in their study of southern European countries have discovered the impact of training on firms performance. Equipping of service level staff enables them towards service orientation.Training is the planned effort that facilitates the acquisition of job related knowledge, updating of skill sets, and impacts the behavior of an employee. In the implementation of HRM tools training is an important factor responsible for productivity. higher(prenominal) productivity observed in firms is a direct outcome of training programs.High-Involvementpractices such as autonomy, team collaboration, and training are helpful in reducing employee turnover and enhance productivity. Untrained workers tend to change job more often. An increase in high-performance work practices converts into decrease in turnover (Bradley, Petrescu Simmons, 2004).Training pr ograms are particularly helpful when an employer is experiencing a high degree of employee turnover more so during the times of economic uncertainty. Even during the times when the business is lucky an organization should proactively earmark their investment for on the job training and other training programs balancing the cost of training with the perceived benefits of productivity. On the other hand, a trained worker has got the required skills and knowledge and can be a candidate for job turnover. Therefore, job satisfaction is crucial factor to retain the employee from shifting his jobs. Bradley, Petrescu and Simmons (2004) explained that job satisfaction can be effectively imoproved by creating on-going learning as well as training in workplace moreover their study indicates that training increases satisfaction levels of an employee which in turn enhances employee motivation and commitment. Therefore it is argued that acquisition or knowledge or training has a positive impact on job satisfaction.2.7 Traditional and Recent HR Practices in Hospitality Industry hold on and Mayhew (1999) in their study regarding the personnel problems in the tourism and hospitality industry some of them areas follow low pay, no fixed hours and shift. Poor career growth, seasonal employment informal recruitment methods lack of good HR practice high attrition rate and retaining employees. Riley et al. (2000) to recognize the reality of traditional and poor HR practices, he said that determining factor for HR policies and practices in tourism and hospitality industry is the key economics. Riley et al. says that it carries a very important meaning in tourism and hospitality industry, as in this service sector there is every thing which is intangible.According to (ILO, 2001 6).Employers and the organizational representatives consider employee turnover in the industry as not the major issue according to them it is the part of working they have not pictured that what are its caus es and reasons, retaining staff is costlier than hiring new for them. When the organizations will realize that poor HR practices like low pay benefits, lack career opportunities, work life imbalance are the main reason employee turnover. That day the organizations will be successful in real terms.The inability of the businesses and the industry to recognize the most glaring issues can be attributed to the hostility and opposition from employers associations in the industry such as British Hospitality Association (BHA), to governmental endeavor such as the minimum wage and working time directive. BHA is still disturbed of these initiatives despite support from other quarters who favor these initiatives (Lucas, 2004).It is to a great extend clear from the above researches which supports the fact that tourism and hospitality industry is a poor employing sector. Kelliher and Perrett (2001), Kelliher and Johnson (1997) have clearly said that the dominant paradigm has tended to stress the negative aspects of working in the hospitality sector.It is not surprising to see a long history that supports the fact that hospitality remains a poorly employing sector. Kelliher and Perrett (2001) did an analysis of a designer restaurant. These types of ventures were supposed to be implementing sophisticated HRM approaches as they aimed at building competitive advantage. Although the restaurant had adopted a more modern and sophisticated approach towards, training and development and focused on an advance(a) strategy there was little real evidence that human resources were seen as a source of competitive advantage (p. 434). Instead, the HRM approaches adopted by the restaurant were much more reflective of immediate environmental constraints, such as the difficulties in recruiting and retaining staff.In short, any number of reasons for poor HR practices in the tourism and hospitality industry. Economic determinism, the predominance of SMEs, a low-skills base, employer antipat hy to a more imperfect tense approach to HRM, labour market characteristics, organizations ensuring best fit HRM practices to support a high volume, low-cost strategy all are plausible reasons for a view of HRM which is not necessarily premised on high-skills, high-wages and a high-quality route to competitive advantage. That said, it would be evenly wrong to paint a wholly pessimistic picture.Hoque (2000). On his work of good practice in the hotel sector, says that the hotels have started victorious the issues seriously and have come up with good HR practices for the employee commitment. He further says that argues that arguments which give a picture of the industry as backward and un strategic is now outdated, hotels have started taking it seriously as there main aim is customer satisfaction which is possible only through strong employee commitment. In fact, he says that the management has pass very serious regarding the practices and polices of HR .The hotels have started exp erimenting with innovation approaches, quality sweetener of HRM polices and practices. The hotels industry has started paying well, have revised appraisal system, proper training programs for employees skills development, schemes for proper balance between work and life, special advantages to women, job rotation, employee empowerment, performance based pay, teamwork etc. the implementation of all these polices and practices helps in gaining employee commitment and customer satisfaction.The focus of hospitalityHuman Resource Management in UK Hotel IndustryHuman Resource Management in UK Hotel Industry1 IntroductionHuman Resource Management is a consistent and productive approach towards the management of employees who are cherished assets to the organization. And managing resourceful humans requires a constant balancing between meeting the human aspirations of the people and meeting the strategic and financial needs of the business. Hence linking the HRM more explicitly to the strat egic goals to improve the business and foster innovation and flexibility, thus serves the overall purpose.Through best possible use and application of HR policies in the organization, commitment can be encouraged thus leading to better performance, improve staff attitude and lower labour turnover, this is the ideal aim of the human resource practices which has been argued to neglect the fact that HR specialists and line managers have a major impact on how these HR policies are implemented at the hotels and whether all the HR practices are universally applicable.Human resource management is the techniques businesses incorporate to maintain an effective workforce to meet operational requirements. It is the organizational function that deals with issues related to people such as compensation, hiring, administration, organization development, employee motivation, wellness, benefits, safety, communication, performance management, and training. Human resource practices implemented in an organisation are used for recruitment, selection training and development, reward management, performance appraisal etc. Human Resource Management strategically manages people and work place environment and culture. Effective HRM practices enable employees to contribute effectively and productively towards the attainment of the organizations goals and objectives facilitates overall company mission.HRM practices are one of the channels of communication for an organization with its employees it consists of the actual programs, processes and techniques. It conveys as to what the organization desires as valuable and appropriate behaviors. The workers on reception of such a message build up their own distinct perceptions and through a self-assessment (evaluation) process subsequently shape their attitude and behavior. For instance, if an organization implemented a training program for their workers, it will develop workers knowledge, skills and capability, and thus cultivate better empl oyee commitment due to contented experience with the organization however, such correlation may at times be misleading or unpredictable i.e. even though some employees may think this training as useful and recognize the implementation of organizational HRM practices, but on the contrary, other workers may see the program as non-effective and view it as a trouble that hamper their regular work timetable, hence this may work in an unintended way by bringing down their satisfaction with the organization and negatively effect their commitment. This is the very reason why employees individual view plays as a vital intermediary in the association between organizational HRM practices and the real disclosure of employees outlook and behaviors. Therefore, from this point of view, one can argue that HRM practices in its dominating effect alter an employees affective commitment, by first impinging upon their perception of organizational HRM practices and consequently further alter or transform their emotional commitment towards the organization. Thats why, by the means of implementation of high-commitment HRM practices, i.e. intensive training and development, high level of compensation, promotion from within, socialization, etc. convince the employees that the organizations purpose is in conformity with their insight, and it impinges upon them to reciprocate with advanced commitment and stronger deference to devote and put in for the organization.Therefore this research will try to establish a correlation between HR practices and their effects on employee commitment. The HR practices that will be examined in the research will be Selection and Recruitment Process, Training and Development programs, Performance management, Reward management and industrial labour relations. These are some of the main HR practices followed by the hotels aiming for the more committed team. But the researcher is interested in knowing whether these HR practices really result in more committed employees. And if these HR practices really result in committed employees then is it universally applicable in all countries of the world or all types of industries. These are some of the questions that have encouraged the researcher in conducting this research.1.1 Research AimThe aim of this dissertation is to examine the HR practices implemented in UK hotels and their impact on employee commitment.1.2 ObjectiveThe objectives of this research were to-Examine the current HR practices prevalent in UK hotels.Evaluating these current HR practices against the existing literature to find out whether they match or not.Evaluating the factors leading to employee commitment and how many factors come by conducting HR practices in the company.2 Literature review2.1 Philosophy of Human Resource ManagementHuman Resource Management is shifting its traditional stance from personnel, administration, and transactional roles, which are being increasingly outsourced. HRM is now focusing more and more towards adding quality and value to the strategic exploitation of employees and that employee development programs impact the business in tangible terms. This new approach towards revolution in HRM involves strategic direction and HRM metrics and measurements in tangible terms to gauge the effect of these practices. Some of the HRM practices studied in this project are selection, benefits, training, performance feedback, communication systems, standard operating procedures (SOPs) and employee participation. David E. Guest (1987) says that human resource management is the tool for attainment of the managerial objectives in the organizations that have accepted the need for the optimum utilization of human resource to achieve competitive advantage and stay viable in their businesses.The primary objective of HRM is amalgamation of companys mission and goal with the HR practices. David E. Guest argues that formulation of a comprehensive corporate strategy is a major factor that decides t he continuing business success of any organization.For matured managers human resource planning is not just a fundamental component of strategic planning, but somewhat flows from it. This holds especially true in todays context where the accomplishment of the process of adjusting to change warrants an escalating level of individual and group participation, for the seamless integration of human resources into the strategic plans.HRM also focuses to attain employee commitment, this involves classification of the type of commitment required e.g. attitudinal, behavioral. Commitment of an employee can be at different levels it could be towards the organization, to his job, for individual career advancement and numerous such like things. Commitment in an employees context can be defined as approval of enterprise mission and goals, and could be reflected in behaviour adopted by him/her that furthers these goals. David further proposes that theoretically the combination of organizational co mmitment and job related behavioral commitment constitutes a high degree of employee satisfaction, motivates them for high performance, longer tenure with their organisations and prepares them to willingly accept changes.The third goal of strategic HRM is to exercise flexibility and adaptability, which basically translates into the ability to manage change and innovation and to react swiftly to transforming market demands and changes. Thus arises a need for a HRM policy which is favorable to change at all levels of the organization, an arrangement which is practical not bureaucratic, functional and adaptable, with an absence of rigid job divisions and with capable of functional flexibility i.e. flexible skills and motivation to move from one assignment to another. Promoting these is possible only according to David if the employees at all levels exhibit a high degree of organizational commitment, their trust towards the organizational policies and have high levels of intrinsic motiv ation.Attaining and maintaining total quality is the fourth goal of HRM. This highlights the importance of policies and practices to recruit, development and retention of skilled and flexible employees, and the formulation of established performance standards and performance procedures. This can be further subdivide into two broader goals i.e. building a integrated organizational culture and achieving and maintaining competitive advantage through the dynamic use of human resources.Guest (2002) has argued that the effect of human resource management practices on overall performance of a firm will depend upon response of the employees to the implemented HRM practices therefore the impact will be more or less a translation of the perception of HRM practices by the employee. Wood (1999) and Guest (2002) have stressed upon the need to build a competent, committed and highly involved work force is the one required for best implementation of business strategy. Huselid (1995) discovered tha t the effectiveness of employees is directly related to the impact of HRM practices on behavior of the workforce. Patterson et al (1997) while arguing about the effect of human resource management practices on business performance have said that HR practices in selection and training influence performance by providing appropriate skills. HR practices have a potent impact on performance even if it just measured in terms of overall productivity.Huselid (1995) stressed that the adoption of best practices in selection will lead to inflow of best quality of skill set ultimately will result in adding to the value towards the skills inventory of the organization. He also highlighted the role of personnel training as an accompaniment of selection practices through which the organizational culture and employee behavior can be integrated with the organization goals to produce positive results. Cooke (2000) has included competence and effectiveness as the vital ingredients of performance apar t from competitiveness and productivity. She further amplifies training as the tool to grow knowledge and skills and as way of improving individuals performance (efficiency and effectiveness). Singh (2004), whose interpretations are more pertinent in our cultural context, says that compensation is a mechanism that aligns the behavior of employees with the firms business strategy. William et al, have argued that Career planning is a tool that works in sync with the strategy and future HR needs of the organisation and encourages employee to attain their individual goals for personal development. By encouraging employee involvement, the firm will profit from increase in efficiency of theemployee due to improved commitment of the employee. Financial participation schemes are more beneficial for the organizations than the associated cost (Summers Hyman, 2005). In high growth industry use of best HR practices result in a stronger association with firms productivity (Datta et al, 2003).Wr ight et al (2003) have said that if proper performance management system is in place and is complemented by a just compensation system that is linked with the performance management system an employee will exert unrestricted effort to improve his performance.Similarly to improve performance the need is to clearly define the jobs.Job definition is combination of job description and job specification. It clearly outlines duties, responsibilities, working conditions and expected skills of an individual performing that job (Qureshi, 2006).Ichniowski (1995) while studying productivity of steel workers have argued that harmonizing HR practice System positively effects employees performance.Sels,2006 Collins (2005) in a study of similar character targeting small business have also argued that efficient HR practices affect employee productivity to a great extent.Meyer and Allen (1997) indicated that HRM practices have been considered to be valuable and effective tools for elevating organiz ational commitment, especially affective commitment. However, there are some other perspectives also on this subject De Coninsk and Stilwell (1996) argued that what directly influences employees affective commitment is not the actual practices itself, but the employee perceptions of fairness of practices that affects organizational commitment. Ogilvie (1986) found that, even with personal and work characteristics controlled, employees perceptions of two characteristics of HRM practices, namely, the accuracy of the merit rating system and the fairness of promotions, contributed to the prediction of commitment. Gaertner and Nollen (1989) also found that employees commitment was related to the perceived HRM practices, including internal promotion, training opportunities, and employment security. Ostroff and Bowen (2000) made use of meso theory to explain that the implementation of HRM practices helped to amplify workers identification with their organization through employees psycholog ical contracts.Therefore, just as what the above mentioned scholars stated, the HRM practices itself cannot have impact on employees commitment, it is after the implementation of the HRM practices that triggered employees own perceptions and then assess whether the practice is considered fair or favorable to them and consequently influence their attitudes and behaviors. Therefore, if the HRM practices that an organization implements permit the employees to acknowledge it as highly committed, consequently, this will lead to reinforced trust and concurrently generate higher emotional attachment with his/her serviced organization.Despite several experiential studies that have established a relationship between HRM practices and organizational commitment, however, such a connection seems to be a little too straightforward (Paul Anantharaman, 2004 Ulrich, 1997 Wimalasiri, 1995). Ostroff and Bowen (2000) projected that it was the psychological bond of an individual that unified how an or ganizational HRM practice influenced employees mind-set and behavior. This also entails that HRM practices may conjointly manipulate employees organizational commitment obliquely, and must go through by means of individuals psychological alteration system.Guzzo and Noonan (1994) said thatAn organizations HRM practices influenced employee commitment since they are communications from the employer to the employee. How employees interpreted and made sense of their organizational HRM practices affected their psychological contract with their employer and, ultimately, their commitment to that employer.Zucker (1983) also suppose that the organization members attitudes and behaviors are subjective and are governed by organizations official communication of common understandings. Term common understandings denoting what were considered the appropriate, essential and meaningful behaviors within an organization. Basically, the official organization communication of common understandings will direct its members to alter their own personal attitudes and behaviors so that they can match organizational expectations and requirements.2.2 Human resources practicesHRM propose that there is a universal one best way to administer people. By assuming a best practice method it is argued that organizations will attain improved commitment from people leading to better organizational performance, top levels of service quality and eventually boost in efficiency and profitability, Usually couched in terms of bundles, the HRM practices that are offered in support of a high commitment and performance model are generally fairly consistent. A range of HR practices which are suggested as being important to organizational strategies aimed at securing high-quality service are-2.3 Recruitment and SelectionOne of the main and most basic HRM practice is of Recruiting and selecting staff with the correct attitudinal and behavioral characteristics. The process of selection is AIMED at picking out t he most probable candidate from a bunch of applicants who best suites the needs of the organisation. According to Vlachos the person who is most suitable is chosen based on his educational and/or professional qualifications and the focus of the whole process is to decrease the cost for the organisation and employ such employees who have merit and talent and can maximize the profits. A variety of considerations in the selection process should be employed to assess the work values, interpersonal skills, personality and problem-solving capabilities of likely employees to evaluate their service orientation. To maintain the high degree of competitive advantage an organisation requires capable and skillful personnel (Liao Chu 2006). Huselid (1995) has established that organisational productivity and high degree of performance is dependant upon the selection of the appropriate person, which is also a way to reduce employee turnover. Michie and Sheehan-Quinn (2001) recognized a positive li nk between hiring employees, and the creation of the appropriate culture for organisational growth. Cho, et al. (2006) established a positive and considerable connection between HRM practices adopted by a firm and the various recruitment selection techniques implemented like the recruitment resource, screening test, behavioural tests interviews i.e. structured and unstructured to improve the fiscal performance. Therefore, it made compulsory for the organisations to attract qualified candidates and recruit them for survival and growth.2.4 Performance AppraisalPerformance appraisal has attracted an immense degree of interest. Levin (1986) identified uses of performance appraisal, like potential analysis which assesses the performance of the employee in past, need for training, remuneration expectations- salary, employee merit appraisal, suggestion for and by the employee, employee career development etc. Thang (2004) in his study has shown as to effect of suitable HRM related decisi on on how well employees are performing their jobs.Performance appraisal is a constant procedure rather than a once a year fatigue. It is an official arrangement where periodical assessment of an individuals or teams performance for a particular task is carried out and a feedback is given on the same. Stone (2002) said that in order to survive in a highly competitive environment a firm must focus on improving its performance. In addition, in the fast changing surroundings, tighter finances, downsizing and demands for enhanced responsibility and accountability on the part of the employees and thus result in more emphasis on performance appraisal in order to enable the management to attain the organisational objectives. To achieve optimum performance requirements performance related rewards target those who meet the expectations of the organisation (Stone 2002, Cho, et al. 2006, Chand Katou 2007). Information in regard to employee salary, training needs, compensation, promotion as we ll as employee development, transfer and employee feedback is provided by performance appraisal (Huber 1983). Appraisal systems have also moved away from conventional top down approaches to appraisal in more modern and pertinent terms such as customer evaluation, team-based performance, the appraisal of managers by subordinates and peer review. Generally, all of these performance appraisal methods should focus on the quality objectives of the organization and the behaviors of employees required for maintaining these.Performance appraisal has both administrative and individual development focus and organizations sincerity towards performance appraisal goes a long way in developing commitment and trust among people. Overall attitude towards HRM department is a significant predictor of organizational commitment. This aspect of HRM practice refers to how people see their HRM department, with respect, with disdain, with indifference and so on. It refers to the fact that the acceptance of various HRM practices depend largely on the overall image of the HR department.Hospitality industry needs to rely on the commitment of a well-trained, multi-skilled workforce in order to achieve a competitive position, especially in terms of providing high quality customer service. This suggests that hotels need to adopt HRM organisational practices that enhance the motivation of employees and improve organisational effectiveness.2.5 Reward ManagementHuselid (1995) asserts that compensation and employee merit are directly related and finally contribute towards the firm outcomes. Compensation by its definition means all payments in terms of money and all commodities provided in kind i.e. instead of financial to recompense employees. The reward system was organized to attract and motivate so as to keep employees. More so, employee influence was tailored on controlled authority and decision making. The expectancy theory (Vroom 1964) suggests that rewards, that can be comprehended as a form of direct and indirect recompense packages, have the ability to manipulate employee work enthusiasm. Thang (2004) suggests that to achieve concerted efforts from the employees to fulfill the organisational goals compensation and reward can be used as powerful tools. On the same lines, Wan (2008) argued that compensation should be measured depending on employees performance not on the basis of position or seniority in the organization.Pay practice is one of the tools of human resources management practices which manage wage, salary, pay and benefits etc. for the employees.Reward management has got an important role in HRM. A high level of pay and remuneration in comparison to that of rivals ensures the attraction and retention of high-quality employee, however this may impact negatively on the companys overall labor expenditures. Also by connecting pay with performance, the company can educe desired standards of performance as well as specific task orientation from employee ( Noe et al., 2006). Generally, pay practice is very significant for the organizations and firms which can attract employees to apply for the job as recruitment. Attractive pay practices play a major role in attracting talent and are very helpful during the recruitment process. Similarly for the employees this means that they are required to show a continuously high level of commitment and performance in order to keep their jobs.Pay packages also have a degree of connection with the job satisfaction of an employee. Ting (1997) asserts that the job satisfaction can be gauged by the pay structure. He further explains two different type of effect of pay practices on job satisfaction first is the satisfaction with pay itself and second is the satisfaction with financial prospects in the future. There is a venerable interest of these two things which are correlated with job satisfaction. Thus, it is pertinent to understand the relationship between job satisfaction and pay practices which e ventually materializes in terms of higher productivity. Efficiency wage theories also suggest that paying higher wages can often result in increased efficiency. There are three main channels that are addressed in these theories that improve productivity, as described by Katz, 1987. Firstly it means that the harder the employees of an organization work higher will be the punishment for someone who is caught shirking and higher will be the probability of losing job of the employee getting caught. Thus higher wages means an increased effort on part of the employee due to the enhanced probability of losing job in a high performance environment. In other words, wage and pay practice are directly responsible for employees productivity and turnover. Secondly, a higher wage translates directly into workers loyalty towards organization thus improving employees efforts. Also it is a pertinent deduction that higher wage structure plays considerable amount of restraint on the employees to turno ver their jobs. Thirdly, in more tangible terms higher wages are responsible for reducing firm employee turnover and recruitment costs.2.6 Training and DevelopmentTraining and development (TD) is a very important tool of HRM (Vlachos 2008). According to Li, et al. 2008 Training is the set of activities which prepare the employees to attain needed skill sets and to deliver more efficiently in their current jobs. In the environment of todays business an employee is needed to cope with various pressures and are required to keep their skills and knowledge current to stay competitive. Tai (2006) asserts that more adaptability, ability, flexibility, motivation, maintenance of skills and efficiency are greatly enhanced by proper training and development of employees.According to Vlachos training and firms performance are indirectly related. In most of the manufacturing industry, the prevailing training programs are mostly unstructured on the job is the most preferred mode. Bartel (1994) i n her study found a positive and significant relation between training and labour productivity. Guidetti and Mazzanti (2007) found that high performance and training activities are positively associated. It is also affected by labour flexibility in various directions. Apospori, et al. (2008) in their study of southern European countries have discovered the impact of training on firms performance. Equipping of service level staff enables them towards service orientation.Training is the planned effort that facilitates the acquisition of job related knowledge, updating of skill sets, and impacts the behavior of an employee. In the implementation of HRM tools training is an important factor responsible for productivity. Higher productivity observed in firms is a direct outcome of training programs.High-Involvementpractices such as autonomy, team collaboration, and training are helpful in reducing employee turnover and enhance productivity. Untrained workers tend to change job more often . An increase in high-performance work practices converts into decrease in turnover (Bradley, Petrescu Simmons, 2004).Training programs are particularly helpful when an employer is experiencing a high degree of employee turnover more so during the times of economic uncertainty. Even during the times when the business is flourishing an organization should proactively earmark their investment for on the job training and other training programs balancing the cost of training with the perceived benefits of productivity. On the other hand, a trained worker has got the required skills and knowledge and can be a candidate for job turnover. Therefore, job satisfaction is crucial factor to retain the employee from shifting his jobs. Bradley, Petrescu and Simmons (2004) explained that job satisfaction can be effectively imoproved by creating on-going learning as well as training in workplace moreover their study indicates that training increases satisfaction levels of an employee which in tu rn enhances employee motivation and commitment. Therefore it is argued that acquisition or knowledge or training has a positive impact on job satisfaction.2.7 Traditional and Recent HR Practices in Hospitality IndustryKeep and Mayhew (1999) in their study regarding the personnel problems in the tourism and hospitality industry some of them areas follow low pay, no fixed hours and shift. Poor career growth, seasonal employment informal recruitment methods lack of good HR practice high attrition rate and retaining employees. Riley et al. (2000) to recognize the reality of traditional and poor HR practices, he said that determining factor for HR policies and practices in tourism and hospitality industry is the key economics. Riley et al. says that it carries a very important meaning in tourism and hospitality industry, as in this service sector there is every thing which is intangible.According to (ILO, 2001 6).Employers and the organizational representatives consider employee turnover in the industry as not the major issue according to them it is the part of working they have not realized that what are its causes and reasons, retaining staff is costlier than hiring new for them. When the organizations will realize that poor HR practices like low pay benefits, lack career opportunities, work life imbalance are the main reason employee turnover. That day the organizations will be successful in real terms.The inability of the businesses and the industry to recognize the most glaring issues can be attributed to the hostility and opposition from employers associations in the industry such as British Hospitality Association (BHA), to governmental initiative such as the minimum wage and working time directive. BHA is still apprehensive of these initiatives despite support from other quarters who favor these initiatives (Lucas, 2004).It is to a great extend clear from the above researches which supports the fact that tourism and hospitality industry is a poor employing sector. Kelliher and Perrett (2001), Kelliher and Johnson (1997) have clearly said that the dominant paradigm has tended to stress the negative aspects of working in the hospitality sector.It is not surprising to see a long history that supports the fact that hospitality remains a poorly employing sector. Kelliher and Perrett (2001) did an analysis of a designer restaurant. These types of ventures were supposed to be implementing sophisticated HRM approaches as they aimed at building competitive advantage. Although the restaurant had adopted a more modern and sophisticated approach towards, training and development and focused on an innovative strategy there was little real evidence that human resources were seen as a source of competitive advantage (p. 434). Instead, the HRM approaches adopted by the restaurant were much more reflective of immediate environmental constraints, such as the difficulties in recruiting and retaining staff.In short, any number of reasons for poor HR pra ctices in the tourism and hospitality industry. Economic determinism, the predominance of SMEs, a low-skills base, employer antipathy to a more progressive approach to HRM, labour market characteristics, organizations ensuring best fit HRM practices to support a high volume, low-cost strategy all are plausible reasons for a view of HRM which is not necessarily premised on high-skills, high-wages and a high-quality route to competitive advantage. That said, it would be equally wrong to paint a wholly pessimistic picture.Hoque (2000). On his work of good practice in the hotel sector, says that the hotels have started taking the issues seriously and have come up with good HR practices for the employee commitment. He further says that argues that arguments which give a picture of the industry as backward and un strategic is now outdated, hotels have started taking it seriously as there main aim is customer satisfaction which is possible only through strong employee commitment. In fact, he says that the management has become very serious regarding the practices and polices of HR .The hotels have started experimenting with innovation approaches, quality enhancement of HRM polices and practices. The hotels industry has started paying well, have revised appraisal system, proper training programs for employees skills development, schemes for proper balance between work and life, special advantages to women, job rotation, employee empowerment, performance based pay, teamwork etc. the implementation of all these polices and practices helps in gaining employee commitment and customer satisfaction.The focus of hospitality

Whole School Approach To Behaviour For Learning Education Essay

Whole School Approach To Behaviour For Learning Education EssayB4L is a concept that has been developed by dint of a review of effective doings management strategies. It has been set that B4L is a result of a multitude of influences and not merely the desire of a prentice to move and unwillingness to learn. B4L identifies the link between bookmans social conduct and conduct and the way in which they learn. The convey will cogitate on policies and practice to grow B4L. question has determine the importance of motivating learners by amend breeding, making acquire enjoyable in reducing behavioral trim downs and promoting B4L. Schools with good or outstanding teaching al more or less always have outstanding behavior. The most triple-crown schools set expectations of round to deliver lessons that were varied and interesting, this has proven to increase attendance as hale as reduce the incidence of unacceptable behaviour in lessons. The study identifies the importance o f consistency within the application of policies, it as well as identifies a number of areas for advancement to abet B4L including the rewards governance and use of detentions. Further research identifies the link between outstanding teaching B4L. Every opportunity to reward praise students should be taken, through verbal communication and point wholeocation. It is important that any policy in place is agreed and embraced by every last(predicate) ply to ensure that it is delivered consistently.IntroductionThe fatality to manage behaviour has long been an issue within schools. With the push on raising attainment, the development of Special Educational Needs (SEN) provision and the increase in policy, to be inclusive of all learners regardless of their academic take or their social behaviour. It has been identified that 20% of all SEN learners have Social Emotional behavioural Difficulties (SEBD) (Department for Children, Schools Families, (DCSF) 2009).The schools policy sets out mettlesome expectations of students, We expect students to reflect this in their appearance, attitudes and behaviour. We know we are moulding the citizens of the future and will encourage them to care for one an oppo presente, be open, fair, honest and just. We want them to have a sense of pride in being part of our school community. (Appendix 1).Further to this the schools vision is to raise securement by ontogenesis a culture where skill is at the heart of the school community. To achieve this vision the school identifies whole school priorities for 2010/2011 including improving behaviour and attendance. It also stated that the school will focus on incorpo evaluate Social, Emotional aspects of Learning (SEAL) practice in the classroom, which has been identified as an important key in ontogeny learners emotional intelligence (Goleman, 1996 cited in Capel, Leask Turner 2009, p.141) providing learners with the skill set to monitor and repair their behaviour independen tly.It was weely identified in the School Development excogitate that Behaviour for learning (B4L) is a targeted area for improvement (Appendix 1). This was reinforced as a high priority area during staff confrontations and subsequent correspondence from the boss Teacher. Issues that arose were the use of mobile phones MP3 players within lessons, consistency in the application of sanctions and use of rewards (Appendix 2). It is interesting to flyer that these both encompass the teacher and the learner identifying the diversity of the issues. It would be interesting to further enquire as to whether the use of mobile phones within lessons is a B4L issue or a sign of disengagement due to other factors. Understandably there is a c stick out link between the quality of learning, teaching and behaviour, and therefore raises the question Can behaviour be improved through improving the quality of learning teaching? The school clearly identifies that there is a need to reinforce their policies on B4L. through and through initial placard or so the school it was interesting to note the overall behaviour of students totalring both in and out of lessons, there was frequent use of inappropriate language, fighting and a earthshaking littering problem. During lessons students oft refused to do any take shape, persistently had their mobile phones out and there was signifi natest level of unrequired talking during lessons. This posed the question Is the school being pro-active in managing behaviour for learning or re-active to behaviour that has now reached undesirable levels?Behaviour management is often flagged as an area that initial Teacher Education (ITE) students looking at they would expediency from having greater support in when entering the profession of teaching (Buell et al., 1999 cited in Powell, S, Tod, J, 2004). This has been met by the expectations set by the Teacher Training Agency (TTA) via the crack to Teach, the new standards and requirements for Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) (TTA, 2002).B4L is a concept that has been developed through a review of effective behaviour management strategies. It has been identified that B4L is a result of multitude of influences and not merely the desire of a learner to misbehave and unwillingness to learn. It is important to identify the theoretical principles behind the way in which learners manifest themselves in terms of behaviour (Powell, S, Tod, J, 2004). B4L identifies the link between students social conduct and behaviour and the way in which they learn.Recent national policy has travel away from a punitive system where students were punished for doing something incorrectly, known as being reactive, and are now working towards understanding what causes learners to be off business and display undesirable behaviour, pro-active, as supported by Weare (2004 cited in in Capel, Leask Turner, 2009, p.141) who suggested that a punitive near tends to worsen or create the problems it is intended to eradicate. punishment alienates children from their teacher and does nothing to build up trust which is the foundation of bloods. National policy now promotes the inclusion of a greater diversity of learners in schools irrespective of level of achievement or social behaviour (Department for Education Employment (DfEE), 1999). It is important for schools to recognise this and develop strategies to promote B4L as over 20% of SEN nutriment are learners with SEBD (DCSF, 2009). SEBD learners by spirit basis display undesirable behaviour unless managed in a confirming way, so would it not be deemed unacceptable from an tuition professionals view for a learner predisposed to display measly behaviour, to fall victim to punitive actions? It is therefore important for schools to have a well-structured B4L policy that coincides with the SEN policy.In order for schools to develop an effective policy they must be able to identify the complexity of factors that influence behav iour and clearly identify what is considered an unacceptable level. Do schools have a standard response to unacceptable behaviour with clear sanctions regardless of the severity of the behaviour witnessed? The Elton report (1989) defines misbehaviour as such that raises have-to doe with to teachers. This clearly has bounds as it is dependent on the individual teacher and within the context of which it occurs. This can cause numerous issues within schools as inconsistencies can bring up due to teachers individual views of unacceptable behaviour, as reported by Ofsted (2006). Ofsteds (2008) report identified the importance of all staff sharing clear expectations of pupils. The report showed that the most successful schools had strong senior leaders that supported staff through training. They also had clear behaviour policies instated that are implemented consistently by all staff, which clearly proves that by providing clear instruction of policies to staff and the consistent appl ication of them is fundamental in controlling negative behaviour in schools.Disruptive, challenging, anti-social, emotional behavioural stickyies (EBD) are widely used terms by teachers to describe a students behaviour (Capel, Leask Turner, 2009,). These however do not clearly identify the actual behaviour and the causation. It is important for teachers to not merely state that a child is being disruptive but record what they were doing to be disruptive and why. In order to be proactive rather than reactive staff need to have dialogue with the offender to discuss what happened, who was affected and acknowledge the learners views. This falls within the restorative approach and is essential in developing a learners emotional intelligence. Far too often learners are punished and do not know exactly what they were doing wrong or resolve the underlying issue.It is difficult to define unacceptable behaviour on a National whole school level due to the perceptions, tolerance threshold, and experience management approach of teachers. These inconsistencies can lead to confusion amongst pupils and lead to teachers being pin pointed as being strict and inconsistent in affinity with the rest of the school, which can cause tension and ultimately a divulgedown in student-teacher relationships (Weare, 2004 cited in Capel, Leask Turner, 2009, pg141). It is therefore essential that schools adopt a well-structured monitoring and inform policy which relates to the observable actions of pupils. The Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) (2001 cited in Capel, Leask Turner 2009, pg145) generated a list of 15 behaviours by which pupils emotional and behavioural actions could be defined, these were sub-divided into three categories learning , conduct and emotional. Ofsted (2008) identified persistent low-level disruption as the most common form of poor behaviour.There is an abundance of research on behavioural management strategies. However behaviour still remains an area of concern for schools. It was also raised as an issue for newly qualified teachers (NQT) who expressed that they would benefit from additional support in behaviour management in preparation for teaching (Powell, S, Tod, J, 2004). In response the Behaviour Management Review Group (2004) conducted a review into the theoretical explanations of behaviour, in order to enhance teachers understanding of the causal factor of behaviour. By providing teachers with a theoretical framework to manikin their management strategies around, Initial Teacher Trainees (ITT) will not feel the need to continually find new strategies to cope with behavioural issues. The review highlightinged the complexity of learning behaviour and the change factors of societal, family and school environments that influence pupil behaviour basing their model on Bronfenbrenners Ecological clays Theory (1989 cited in Powell, S, Tod, J, 2004) (Appendix 3) . This obviously highlights a barrier to addressing B4L, a s teachers do not have input option during all environments. It is therefore important that schools need to develop and maintain relationships with students, parents carers, which was identified in the Ofsted Report (2009), as still needing some improvement. The abstract framework used within the review by the Behaviour Management Review Group (2004) identified the importance of relationships in shaping learning behaviour. The model identified the relationship of a learners with others, the curriculum and themselves. When observing a learners behaviour a teacher must consider if the curriculum is relevant in the learners eyes, does the learner feel they can achieve what is asked of them? Does the learner have a strong relationship with their teacher and peers? This is supported by Evans et al, (2003 cited in Capel, Leask Turner, 2009) who suggested the key to promoting a positive(p) learning environment by improving learning behaviour is characterised through the development of positive relationships and developing an appropriate emotional climate in the classroom. It is in all teachers interest to take responsibility for B4L focusing on developing positive relationships with learners.Several reports have identified the importance of motivating learners by improving teaching, making learning enjoyable in reducing behavioural issues and promoting B4L. Schools with good or outstanding teaching almost always had outstanding behaviour. The most successful schools set expectations of staff to deliver lessons that were varied and interesting, this has proven to increase attendance as well as reduce the incidence of unacceptable behaviour in lessons. Schools reported improved attitudes towards learning and an improvement in monitoring students achievement (Ofsted, 2001 2006 2008). Ofsted (2008) go along to acknowledge the need to improve behaviour as 28% of substitute(prenominal) schools displayed no better than satisfactory behaviour.Other contributing factors to improve B4L included consistent acknowledgement of achievement and use of a reward system to promote positive behaviour. Often schools do not provide consistent administration of reward systems and it has been seen that often teachers cease to use reward systems past Yr7 and very rarely into Key stage 4 (Ofsted, 2001, pg26). This was identified within the study school during a staff meeting where senior management had gathered information during student council raising the issue that older students still liked receiving reward points, where it had been presumed by staff that it was no longer effective.The study will focus on the schools menstruum policy on behaviour for learning and how this is implemented on a daily basis. Through a review of the schools current policy and staff views the study will hope to identify areas for improving B4L providing recommendations for the future. The study will focus on current school issues including inappropriate use of mobile phones, rewa rd system and sanctions.MethodologyThe research will aim to identify the current issues within the school surrounding B4L schools current strategies to improve B4L. To gain an in-depth review of the schools current B4L issue the study will focus on the implementation of B4L strategies through direct informal observation. This allows a high degree of validity by monitoring the focus in its setting of actual use. The limitation of this is that actual situations may be skewed due to the presence of the observer and it is therefore important for observation to occur over a period of time so those being observed become less aware of the observers presence. To promote this the observer should not become heterogeneous or drawn into the social interactions with those being observed. A solid limitation to observation is that the observer will have to interpret what they witness without confirmation from the subject. This limitation will be reduced by following observations with unstructur ed interviews as used by Frederikson, et al (1996) which allows subjects to express a more detailed lamentness into the topic. Data across the school will be analysed to identify any trends in negative behaviour. A view of the whole school approach towards behaviour will be obtained through analysis of the current policies along with statistical data from the Schools Information Management System (SIMS). Further to this, interviews will be ordered with lead staff on B4L.Over a period of a week a number of lessons were observed and followed up with informal discussions with the teacher. The observations were focused on identifying the levels of engagement of students, any behavioural issues and how they are addressed by the teacher and level of teaching learning. Through further discussions post-lesson, staff members were asked on their views of the lesson and how they feel the students level of behaviour impacted on the learning. In addition to this the reward policy was reviewed and the application of it was observed in lessons. The main purpose of this study was to review living policies on improving B4L including behavioural and reward policies and the consistency of their application.FindingsWhole SchoolThe schools Ofsted report (2009) identified that students behaviour was not always as good as it should be with instances of boisterous behaviour. Inspectors found behaviour to be satisfactory overall, but variable. The report stated too many lessons lack challenge and do not take sufficient account of students individual capabilities or encourage independent learning. They also far-famed that the quality of marking and feedback was varied across the school. The report went on to suggest that teaching was not challenging on a whole school stage did not provide students with the opportunity to make progress, develop self-assertion and develop the skills to work independently. This could contribute to poor B4L as the lack of development of learners emo tional intelligence can restrict learners from being able to monitor and improve their behaviour (Goleman, 1996 cited in Capel, Leask Turner 2009, p.141). The report continues to identify that teaching can be too directed and does not take into account the differing abilities of learners the school necessitate to ensure that lesson activities consistently challenge students of all ability groups to make better progress and develop their independent learning skills, especially at Key floor 4.Behaviour PolicyIn the prototypic instance the school has a well-structured behavioural policy with the aims of providing a caring and secure environment by promoting positive behaviour, regular attendance, self-discipline and respect for others. It clearly states that consistent, yet flexible implementation of the policy by all is essential. This goes on to refer to special considerations for vulnerable groups such as SEN. This initially raises the issue of how flexible the policy should be whilst trying to remain consistent.As identified by the school as a high priority target, the policy states mobile phones MP3s can be confiscated when it disturbs the learning environment. The policy goes on to set out five expectations that should be maintained at all times (Appendix 4, Pg2). The policy has a clearly structured sanction system and identifies methods for recording behavioural infractions through SIMS. Through analysis of data on SIMS it is clear that teaching staff are thorough at recording behavioural incidents that occur during lesson with details of the incident. Some teachers used the data as a motivational tool in tutor time by sharing positive and negative points with students and setting them goals for the week. This was crabbyly effective with year 7 students who were very keen to see how many points they currently had.SanctionsThe school sanction policy followed a ladder system which identified different sanctions for the level of behaviour displayed (App endix 4, pg11). It was interesting to note that the column labelled examples of behaviour use general descriptive terms such as disruptive behaviour, persistent disruptive behaviour, disrupting the learners of other. It also groups various types of behaviour which a student may display. Many of these behaviours were identified by the QCA (2001) as either being learning behaviours, conduct behaviours and emotional behaviours and therefore individual and classic in the way they should be met. All of the responses to behavioural issues bar the premier incident result in a punitive response primarily of detentions at different levels. It is not until the fourth level when students are displaying persistent disruptive behaviour, three negative SIMS in a week in the same lesson and helplessness to attend a detention that meetings are set in place with the students and senior staff to discuss expectations. During observation of lessons the majority of incidences occur within the first t hree steps of the sanction flowchart which were often dealt with accordingly. It was however noted that not all staff made contact with parents as suggested when placing students in break lunch time detentions. On most occasion students are asked to stop what they are doing if disruptive to the lesson or asked to sit out as not to jam the other students learning. The teacher then resolved the issue with the learner, by setting clear expectations of the student, then allowing them to join back in the lesson. If continual disruptive behaviour occurred, staff then proceeds to give the students a break time or lunch time detention depending on the severity of the behaviour. It was noted that the relationship between offences and consequences were inconsistent in application by different staff and dependent upon the individual learners. Often students who were known to staff to be persistently difficult tended to be flagged up quicker for their behaviour compared to others. This often l ed to some students feeling that they were victimised by staff.During detentions in the Physical Education department students were asked to sit in an allocated area for the duration. Often this area had other students around and friends of the student in detention would come in and sit with them. It was also unclear as to the purpose of the detentions, was it time for the student to reflect on their actions or simply used to punish by taking up the students free time? intimately conversations between teachers staff were one-sided and did not necessarily allow the student to resolve or discuss their actions. It was clear that the application purpose of detentions needed to be reviewed as supported by the departments views during a departmental meeting.If students repeatedly offended they were placed on report. This involved the students achieving their individually set behaviour targets each lesson. This allowed snuggled monitoring of the students behaviour in all lessons. The t argets set on some reports were often too general and allowed flexibility in the judgement of the outcomes by teachers. The reports were profitable as they facilitated conversation with the student and teacher at the end of lessons developing relationships and providing opportunity for the student to reflect on their actions over the lesson. It was noted that often students would lose their reports or not get their reports completed every lesson with little consequence when given to tutors. This raised an issue of the unimportance and disregard of the severity of being on report by students. If students ultimately did not improve their behaviour this would lead to a behavioural support program and the risk of internal and potentially immaterial exclusion.Data AnalysisData was gathered from the school monitoring reports and SIMS (Appendix 5). Over the last three years there has been a decline in exclusions from 137 to 96 and withdrawals from 380 to 186 within the whole school. Howe ver Disruptive behaviour has returned to high levels from a dip in 2009/10 rising from 3983 up to 4424. By analysing the three areas it can be seen that although the amount of exclusions and withdrawals has accrued, this is accounted for by the contributing percentile increase of disruptive behaviour (Appendix 6).By analysing the SIMS reports for the whole school the most prevalently preserve behaviour incidents highest first wereDisruptive behaviourInadequate work completed in a lessonDefianceFailure to complete homework,TruancyRudeness to a member of staffIgnoring regulationsUse of mobile phone/ MP3 in lessonFailure to attend detentionsDangerous behaviourPersistent lack of equipmentDisruptive behaviour was by far the highest rating incident recorded, consistent with the Elton report (1989), which identified low-level disruptive behaviour as the most prevalent poor behaviour in schools. A significant number of reports of disruptive behaviour were due to talking out of turn. Disru ptive behaviour levels were consistently high through all years with a decrease in years 10 11, this could be due to the responsibility of learning shifting towards the learners as they start preparing for GCSEs, and that the learners then have the opportunity to personalise their learning programme through options.Mobile Phone MP3sSchool data for 2010/11 identifies mobile phones as the 8th ranked occurring behaviour incident within the school. Through observation around the school it was clear that the use of mobile phones and music players had reached critical level and were continually causing disruption during lessons. Many students would arrive at lessons with mobile phones in hand and headphones in ears. It was good to see that on the majority of times students were challenged and told to put away their mobile phones and earphones at the beginning of a lesson. However this did not have a lasting affect as students often returned to using their mobile phones during lessons wh en the teacher was not aware of them. Some students continued to listen to music in lessons without being challenged, clearly identifying the issue of inconsistency with the implementation of the behaviour policy. It was clear that this behaviour was being communicated back to senior management, as during briefing the head teacher reiterated the schools policy and through further correspondence with particular focus on the use of mobile phones and music players (Appendix 2). In response to this release of policy staff started to clamp down on mobile phone use in lessons, however there were issues with the length of confiscation as this was not made clear. Some staff confiscated the phones till the end of the lesson, some till the end of the day and some even for the rest of the week. Although this revision and cognizance of the policy certainly had an impact as staff soon felt empowered to confiscate students mobile phones it did not tackle the issue of as to why students were con tinually on their phones during lessons. It soon got to a point in some lessons where teachers were repeatedly taking mobile phones off the same students every lesson. Through discussions with students it was noted that students often resort to going on their mobile phones when feeling bored, disengaged in their learning or unsure of what they are doing.During a whole school meeting on B4L and the revised policy, various departments offered their views and strategies they have implemented to address B4L. The science department had set out a code of conduct with posters clearly indicating to students to put their bags and holding in a designated area. This is felt to be an issue within the school as a whole as students are continuously carrying their belongings around in lessons and have them at easy reach during lessons, where it was suggested by getting students to leave their bags out of reach has helped reduce the distraction to their learning.Reward SystemThe school operates on a house system where students belong to one of the five houses. Students can gain house points in the form of stickers to the value of 1, 5 and 10 points (Appendix 4, pg8. Each lesson students are able to gain stickers for achieving and taking part in a number of school activities. The ways in which students can achieve house points seem unobtainable on a daily basis for the majority of the school population. Through observations of tutor time students were asked to count up their points during the week, which were recorded onto SIMS. It appeared that on the whole students were receiving reasonably high amounts of points on a weekly basis including those who were known to staff as having regular behavioural problems. It appeared that the amount of points awarded were not consistent with the reward policy as students commented that some teachers were awarding high points for elementary expectations of students which according to the policy only merited a single point.During the obs ervation of physical education lessons it was apparent that the points system was not being applied as teachers expressed difficulty in physically awarding stickers during lessons due to the nature of the environment. However the staff did focus on recording positive behaviour on SIMS which the students seemed to respond to and want to achieve.Overall the observation of the reward system identified inconsistency in the administration of the house points and urgently needs reviewing and supported through discussion with staff. It was not clear within the school from a students attitude as to what the points contributed towards. There was no immediate or substantial reward for students who achieved in lessons. It was also clear that for some students particularly those who had been identified as SEN that points were awarded for demonstrating basic good behaviour which contradicts the reward policy that states, Points should not be awarded for students displaying the schools basic exp ectations as agreed by all staff (Appendix 4, pg9). The policy also states that individuals can have specific targets set to gain house points but this can only be sanctioned by faculty coordinators and year coordinators.Conclusionestablish on the findings of this study it is clear that there is need for greater consistency in managing B4L even though the school has the well-structured policies in place. During a whole staff review meeting on B4L the head teacher acknowledged that the policy is not working due to inconsistencies in application. This is current with the rewards system, application of sanctions and addressing of poor behaviour, with particular reference to transition time between lessons and break time (Appendix 2). In order to improve levels of behaviour during break times the school could focus on providing structured sports sessions. Students currently have access to the courts and facilities which are supervised by the PE staff however there is lack of structure. Through the Physical Education, School Sports guild Links (PESSCL) (2008) investigations it has been shown that by providing a range of clubs for the students, there has been an improvement in behaviour during lunchtime and afternoon lessons.Other schools have had success with students who have poor behaviour records and low motivation by providing them with the opportunity to develop their leadership skills and then run a sporting competition. This had a positive impact on the students self-esteem and attitude to learning (PESSCL, 2008). Ofsted (2000) identified that in schools where teachers agreed to follow procedures for supervision of corridors and outdoor areas between lessons, reduced behaviour incidents and increased punctuality. As identified in this study a large proportion of poor behaviour is due to the inconsistency in applying behaviour policies.Numerous studies have identified that in order to improve behaviour the school must tackle it as a whole school approach in cluding attainment, teaching and attendance Ofsted (2006 2000). Ofsted (2006 2000) also highlight the importance of providing effective teaching that is interesting, structured and works to develop personal learning thinking skills. By developing these skills students will be able to work independently and take more responsibility for their learning. It is evident that B4L is directly related to Teaching Learning practice policy. Schools that have poor behaviour have often been seen to have ineffective teaching, this is concurrent with the study school as identified in the Ofsted report (2009).Several studies have identified that good teaching can promote good behaviour, creating a positive learning environment. By providing interesting lessons with clear learning objectives, clear expectations, differentiation and recognition of individual achievement learners feel positive about their learning and consequently act in a positive manner (Ofsted 20052008).There is a need for schoo ls and teachers to be proactive in developing learning behaviour rather than simply being reactive to behavioural problems. It would be beneficial to prioritise the development of positive relationships with lear