HND 人力资源2
1Explain the validity of one process and more content theory of motivation and assess their applicability to scenarios that exist within Scotia Airways.
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Theory：Human needs can be classified into 5 levels, which can be portrayed in the shape of pyramid. In different stage of life, people will show their different urges to different levels of needs. Normally speaking, the main power of motivation usually comes from the most imperious needs level at present.It includes basic or physiological needs, safely and security needs, social needs, self-esteem needs, self-fulfilment needs. Basic or physiological needs is water sleep sex etc.Safely and security needs is security of body, of employment,of property,etc.Social needs is friendship, family.Self-esteem needs is self-esteem confidence,etc.Self-fulfilment needs is creativity, morality,etc.The high level is Self-fulfilment.Middle level are social needs self-esteem. Lower level are basic or physiological and Safely and security needs.
The thing that can motivate staffs is the thing that they want to get. In this case when the investors first decided to set up Scotia Airways, they had a clear idea that business travel was a growth area. They set about appointing a management team whose experience and expertise was firmly grounded in the budget aviation market,it offer more chance about job and meet security of employment due to Future opportunities seem likely as the EU and UK government relax
their control over the licensing of airline provision. Scotia Airways has been able to re tain the
management team that were
brought to the business in 1996. The vast majority of staff have also remained. It is the security of the employment and of friendship.The targets for scale of provision, passenger volume and market
share are determined by senior managers, and middle and junior managers and employees
then populate the details into the plan. It is benefit for staff acquire the satisfaction of achieve. So based on the above, Scotia Airways meet lower level needs and middle
level needs, but don’t meet higher level needs.
Vroom’s Expectancy Theory : It states that an individual tends to act in a certain way, in the expectation that the act will be followed by a given outcome, and according to the attractiveness of that outcome. Vroom maintain that high levels of effort lead to high performance and high performance will lead to the attainment of reward.If the reward is desire outcomes, staff will have effort again. High motivation consist of high expectancy ,high instrumentality and high valence. But Scotia Airway don’t use this theory.The investors in Scotia Airways have set an ambitious programme for expansion over the next 5 years to include long haul destinations. Some
members of the management team and many workers are concerned that the
change in strategy will change the ethos and culture of the business.Because of this expansion plan as outcome is not positive for the individual, not a personal desire and does not reflect the above relationsh ip, so staffs’ views are not uniform.
2Given the range and complexity of challenges faced by the management of Scotia Airways, summarise methods that could be implement to improve job performance and justify how each provides added value to the organization.
In this case, The investors in Scotia Airways have set an ambitious programme for expansion over the next 5 years to include long haul destinations. Some
members of the management team and many workers are concerned that the
change in strategy will change the ethos and culture of the business.They meet the resistance of expansion and revolution.Other problem is coordination between branches.
So the following manner can solve these problem.
Team-working：The interdependency relationship that exits in a org that will facilitate improved performance, especially in service industry.Team-working in favor of the outbreak of the potential to help the company's development.
Empowerment：Authorizing staff to make decisions on such as resource allocation, operating problem solving and during customer interaction will improve the efficiency and quality of working.Advisable authorization in favor of self-management subsidiaries and reduce force of higher manager.
Training：Every employee should have appropriate training before or during working. This is much more important when an org is newly developed or in the process of expansion.When the expansion of revolution, training staff to unify their thinking.
Target-setting：A series of determined SMART targets to motivate and
control employees.Setting objective.The objective should be SMART-specific,measurable,attainable,realisitic,time-specific. It is good for unity.Endeavoring the same objective is conducive development of company.
3Explain why the introduction of teamworking is fundamental to the achievement of the goals of Scotia Airways and identify the main costs and benefits they may encounter as result.
The main value of team is their ability to assemble and empower employees to coordinate together, and use their talents to improve the organization. In teamworking, organisation will be clearly structured, and more fully participating in decisions and planning how work will be performed. It also benefits the employee's motivation and job satisfaction.
Teamworking always can improve coordination/communication, staff development, conflict management quality and productivity.
This is a virtuous cycle. For example, Members cooperate with each other in the team,and it improves coordination/communication ,because better coordination/communication can get better efficiency, it can improve quality and
efficiency. Good coordination also is good for improving staff development. When staffs achieve goals, they will happy together. It helps to reduce conflict management.The last result is that company’s productivity get improvement largely.
But, team also takes some problem.
Teamwork may have an unintended effect of fermenting hostility toward the managerial goal of making the teams fully self-managing. The conflicts between individual and team objectives.For example,Some members of the management team and many workers are concerned that the change in strategy will change the ethos and culture of the business.
Teamworking is not an one-day work, it will cost a long period of training.When company expand, it must adopt more team. But a good team must been trained ,it has to lots of spending.
Supervision should be applied in every stage of team process.In this case, a lot of things are decided by only Rosa.Because some team process don’t apply, it isn’t good to authorize.At another aspect,it increase management’s cost.
4Identify three factors that could impact upon team cohesion and performance within Scotia Airways and assess their potential impact.
These can improve cohesion selection of appropriate supervisor, team size, trust and effective delegation
Selection of appropriate supervisor: A successful always have wise leader. The wise leader can release the potential power of team at the most. In this case, Rosa Dallevic is in overall charge, assisted by her long-term colleague, Azim Ishtiaq. She has also
employed the same personal assistant, Katrin Wright, since she joined Scotia
and this has helped promote consistency and continuity. They are sensible leader. Rose also a strong and decisive manager. Though they don’t create some value directly, staffs have enough enthusiasm and motivation due to appropriate supervisor.
Team size: The size is the smaller the better normally. In this case Scotia Airways has been an increase in staffing levels, an
increase in budgets and an increase in capital investment. It currently employs executi ves and managers in marketing, finance, HR and flight operations with operational and administrative staff within each department. To expand the size appropriately is benefit to allow company adapt the trend in the future when company expands. Team always consist of simple people.In team they can release their ability better. I f team size is excessive ,it will take force in finance and also isn’t good to management.In this article, Scotia Airways don’t have the performance of team. They can make improvements in this aspect.
Trust: Trust is good for improve team cohesion and performance. If a team discredit each other ,it will disband quickly. In this case, A culture of trust has been emphasised and developed by both the management and workers and this has served to enhance the effectiveness, efficiency and overall performance of the business. It will boost Scotia Airways ‘s staffs’ enthusiasm when trust has been a culture in company.
Effective delegation:It helps higher managers better administrate company.If higher managers deal with all things, he will be tired and have more error-prone. Therefore, it is important to delegate effectively. In this case, The targets for scale of provision, passenger volume and market share
are determined by senior managers, and middle and junior managers and employees
then populate the details into the plan. It promotes efficiency.
As far as I’m considered these strategies can improve cohesiveness and performance, learning from mistakes and listening to others.Learning from mistakes can shortcoming and avoid the same mistakes in the future. Listening to others can get information that we don’t have, sometime ,we get inspiration from the words of others.
hnd_人力资源管理outcome1
1. Human Resource Management was introduced as a term to reflect how organisations achieed the best from their employees. It was reconised that the best way to compete in an ever-increasing worldwide market was to have highly motivated people. Human Resource Management refers to the practices and policies you need to carry out the personnel aspects of your management job, specifically, acquiring, training, appraising, rewarding, and providing a safe, ethical, and fair environment for your company’s employee s. 2. （1） Human resources management is said to incorporate and develop personnel management tasks, while seeking to create and develop teams of workers for the benefit of the organization. Personnel management is often considered an independent function of an organization. Human resource management, on the other hand, tends to be an integral part of overall company function. Personnel management is typically the sole responsibility of an organization's personnel department. With human resources management, all of an organization's managers are often involved in some manner, and a chief goal may be to have managers of various departments develop the skills necessary to handle personnel-related tasks. a.Emerging of Personnel Management/Social justice Evolution of Personnel management started in 19th century. During the 19th century’s governments began to feel pressure from the working class masses who started to question and defy the power of the aristocracy. This was called the social reform. The working class began to form workplace combinations and trade organizations to provide a collective voice for their rights. The fist Trade Union Conference held in 1868. The personnel function arises from the work of nineteenth century social reformers. b.Grouth in PM 1914-1939/Human bureaucracy The exact growth of personnel management started during First World War. Include the supply of welfare officer made mandatory by government and the title labour manager or employment manager came in the year 1920 in engineering industry and other industries where the factories was very importanty to handle absence、recruitment and so on. Second world war increased the importance of having personnel department In the early twentieth century, personnel began to move away from its primary focus on welfare. This was a period in which large-scale industrial organisations began to emerge. Personnel as a specialism started to take shape, with responsibility to look at areas such as organisational design and staffing. Some social scientis ts’ studies promoted the development of PM. For examples: Frederick Taylor and Elton Mayo c.Consent by negotiation During the 1950s and 1960s, the personnel function widened its role in organisations to include a bargaining role. Industrial relations became a key personnel role. The statutory duty placed on nationalised industries required them to negotiate with unions representing employees. University courses began to appear for personnel specialists. Personnel management perform different function such as Collective bargaining role, Implementation of legislation role, Social conscience of the business role, Growing performance improvement role. d. Organisation and integration
HND人力资源管理导论Outcome
“Escape to Wild”是一家成功的公司，专门通过邮购和小型的零售专营店来销售户外休闲服饰。它作为一家私营公司小规模的经营了超过15年的，一直到六年前，一位经理被聘请来扩展公司业务。首先，公司增加了邮购目录上的商品数，并且用了更大的仓库来存放和配送货物。四年前，“Escape to Wild”开了第一家自己的零售专营店，到现在，已经有了10家零售专营店，并有计划再多开五间店。两年前，公司建立了自己的网站，实现了网上购物，这部分的业务发展迅速，还带了了很多海外的订单。这位新经理上任以来，公司员工已由原来的20人发展到300人，业务也变得更大更复杂，持续需要加强员工来源已经成为这家户外服饰专营公司最强烈的需求，需要更多的员工是这家公司的当务之急。 “Escape to Wild”公司没有明确的人力资源部门。部门经理们根据自己部门的职责招聘新人，负责确定他们的薪酬水平。薪酬管理业务已经外包，员工培训一般是临时组织的，财务主管负责处理员工的合同和特殊情况，例如产假和加薪。 在这个快速发展的时期，公司已经开始将更多的精力投入到服务正在增加的客户群中。到目前为止，公司中员工的关系比较良好，但是，公司的现状表明是时候建立规定和程序从而能用更系统的方法去解决人力资源的问题。 在最近的公司管理层会议上，部门经理们不断的抱怨说他们花了太多的时间在处理一些日常的行政问题上，而这些问题明明都可以由人力资源部门来解决，如果公司能有一个这样的部门。不断增加的员工数量使得财务部门花大量的时间来处理与人事相关的问题。同时，部门经理们也会因为工作描述，招聘和甄选的实际操作，以及员工的薪酬待遇等问题产生矛盾。一个管理层的人员最近参加了一个关于员工法案的研讨会，法律
HND人力资源管理_outcome4
Contents 1.0 Introduction 2.0 Findings 2.1 Current Organizational Structure 2.1.1 the Characteristic of Hierarchical Structures 2.1.2 Span of Control 2.1.3 Departmentalization 2.1.4 Communication Patterns 2.1.5 the Chain of Command 2.2 Future Organizational Structure 2.2.1 the Characteristic of Hierarchical Structures 2.2.2 Span of Control 2.2.3 Departmentalization 2.2.4 Communication Patterns 2.2.5 Chain of Demand 2.3 Contingency Approach that help determine the Future structure 2.3.1 Task 2.3.2 Technology 2.3.4 Size 2.4 Relationships 2.4.1 Line Relationship 2.4.2 Functional Relationship 2.4.3 Staff Relationship 2.4.4 Lateral Relationship 2.5 Authority, Responsibility and Delegation 3.0 Conclusion 4.0 Reference
2018年度人力资源状况分析报告
2018年度人力资源状况分析报告 为了更好地完善公司的人力资源制度改革，帮助公司人力资源管理走向规范化、标准化、职业化，通过有效管理，更大程度提升调动员工工作积极性。本次人力资源分析主要采用了问卷调查、员工行为观察、员工代表沟通交流、整理汇总历史资料等方法，通过这些方法基本清晰公司人力资源管理的现状，并对公司在人力资源管理各个环节中出现的问题进行了重点分析，形成了以下报告： 第一部分 公司的人力资源现状 一、 集团总部人力资源结构分析 (一) 集团总部现有员工119 人，其中，高层管理人员11人，占9.24%,中层人员 24人，占20.2%,基层84 人，占 70.6% (二) 不包括基层后勤辅助类岗位的总部员工现有107人，其中男、女比例如下 (三) 高层队伍结构分析 ◆ 高层队伍的年龄结构良好，平均年龄44岁，年富力强，学历结构较合理，全日制第一学历均在大专及以上，资质上有6人（占55%）持一级建造师证，职称上36%为高工，18%为中级，18%为助工，28%没有任何职称。 ◆ 高层队伍的结构缺陷主要是 ● 73%的高层是从事项目施工和项目管理出身，司龄10年以上，缺乏专业的企业管理方面的训练，在11名高层中只有2名是在2012年通过社会招聘引进的，有一定现代化企业管理经历。 ● 高层人员的职称和资质匹配度不足以应对企业发展需求 (四) 中层队伍结构分析 ◆ 中层队伍的平均年龄是38.7岁，年龄结构如下：
◆ 中层队伍的工龄结构分析：现有人员中54%是在2010年改制后通过社会招聘引进的，优势在于这批人即拥有一定的新知识和新技能，又有较好的工作经验，同时劣势是缺乏对建筑行业的认知。其余在改制前入职人员，其在中恒工作时间均超过10年，企业忠诚度较高，同时缺乏的是专业的职业化训练和素养。 ◆ 中层队伍的第一学历结构分析：本科占29%,大专占 46%，中专以及下占25%。通过函授或其它在职教育形式，90%大专及以下学历的员工有提升，获得大专及上学历，同时还有二名中层获取MBA 硕士学历。 ◆ 中层队伍的职称和资质结构分析：职称上8%为高工，13%为中级，17%为助工，62%还未获得任何职称。资质上有8位（33% ）中层获得一级建造师。缺陷是：职称和资质持有率太低，有待提升。 (五) 基层队伍结构分析 ◆ 基层队伍的平均年龄是30.6岁，具体占比如下： ◆ 基层队伍的第一学历结构如下： ◆ 基层队伍工龄结构分析
HND人力资源管理 outcome3
Contents 1. Introduction 2. Findings 2.1 Managerial Work 2.1.1 managerial activities 2.1.2 managerial role 2.2 Mechanisms that could measure managerial performance 2.3 Behavioral theory of leadership 2.4 Transformational theory of leadership 2.5 John Adair's Action Centered Leadership 2.5.1 The reasons why ACL may prove to be important 3. Conclusion 4. Reference
1. Introduction Scotia Airways is located next to Glasgow International Airport. My report will assess the main features of managerial work and explain the main roles and activities of managers. And I will describe the value of two mechanisms that could be used to measure managerial performance and justify how each could be used to assess managerial performance and identify and explain a behavioral theory of leadership and transformational theory of leadership. At last I will analyze how theories of leadership could be used to improve how managers lead staff through this change. 2. Findings 2.1 Managerial Work Management is all about running an organization in a steady state, ongoing administration, organizing structures, establishing systems and processes, controlling in particular by financial means. It can also be defined as the effective use and coordination of resources such as capital, plant, materials and labor in order to achieve defined objectives with maximum efficiency. 2.1.1 managerial activities Managerial activities can be described as following: forecasting, planning, organizing, commanding, coordinating and controlling. Forecasting means the manager can predict future events. Planning When managers are making planning, it required that the plan to meet anticipated demand. The board of directors express their hopes of the company, and their requires to the company, and then the managers analysis the external environment and the condition of the company. Making planning based on the analysis result. If the plan can get agreement from the board, the managers will convey the goals to every department an d staff. If the plan can’t get the agreement
HND人力资源管理outcome1
Individual Report F84T 34 Managing People and Organisations Outcome 1 NAME: u SCN: CLASS：
Contents Introduction (2) Section 1: Relationship between goals, objectives and policies (2) Section 2: Differences between the formal and informal organization (3) Section 3: Open System Theory (3) Section 4: Different stakeholders (4) Section 5: Effective control strategy (5) Conclusion (6) Reference (6)
Introduction The purpose of the report is what to understand more fully the organization management. I learned company's departments’ work together in order to achieve the company's goals. This report has five sections which are relationship between goals, objectives and policies，differences between the formal and informal organization，open System Theory, different stakeholders and effective control strategy. Section 1: Relationship between goals, objectives and policies The relationship between goals, objectives and policy facilitates to the effective management. Goals and objectives provide the desired results, and the policy is guiding people how to do. Feasible policies can help the realization of the aims and objectives of better. Goals: Goals are long-term. Consumer goals are to provide to the customer the demand of consumers.Shangri-La Hotels maintain a high quality of customer service. This is the Shangri-la Hotel's consumer goals. Product goals are to provide customers with high quality product. Craig insisted on selecting the freshest fruits and vegetables this is the Shangri-la Hotel product goals. Service goals are to provide customers with high standards of service. The Shangri-la Hotel promises when customers need the waiter, waiter arrive within five minutes to the customer side. This is the Shangri-la Hotel's service goals. Objectives: Objectives are short-term. Objectives are more specific than the goals; it can determine the specific direction. Objectives can help an organization determine a number of factors such as the time factor and the causal factors. The Shangri-la Hotel promises when customers need the waiter, waiter arrive within five minutes to the customer side. The Shangri-la Hotel maintained a 3-star Michelin chef. These are the Shangri-la Hotel's objectives. SMART make objectives more effective more efficient concrete. Kitchen staff training date is by May 1999. Waiting staff to attend table within 3 minutes.
HND 人力资源2
1Explain the validity of one process and more content theory of motivation and assess their applicability to scenarios that exist within Scotia Airways. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Theory：Human needs can be classified into 5 levels, which can be portrayed in the shape of pyramid. In different stage of life, people will show their different urges to different levels of needs. Normally speaking, the main power of motivation usually comes from the most imperious needs level at present.It includes basic or physiological needs, safely and security needs, social needs, self-esteem needs, self-fulfilment needs. Basic or physiological needs is water sleep sex etc.Safely and security needs is security of body, of employment,of property,etc.Social needs is friendship, family.Self-esteem needs is self-esteem confidence,etc.Self-fulfilment needs is creativity, morality,etc.The high level is Self-fulfilment.Middle level are social needs self-esteem. Lower level are basic or physiological and Safely and security needs. The thing that can motivate staffs is the thing that they want to get. In this case when the investors first decided to set up Scotia Airways, they had a clear idea that business travel was a growth area. They set about appointing a management team whose experience and expertise was firmly grounded in the budget aviation market,it offer more chance about job and meet security of employment due to Future opportunities seem likely as the EU and UK government relax their control over the licensing of airline provision. Scotia Airways has been able to re tain the management team that were brought to the business in 1996. The vast majority of staff have also remained. It is the security of the employment and of friendship.The targets for scale of provision, passenger volume and market share are determined by senior managers, and middle and junior managers and employees then populate the details into the plan. It is benefit for staff acquire the satisfaction of achieve. So based on the above, Scotia Airways meet lower level needs and middle
HND 人力资源 案例 中文 翻译
Section A Barbour Brown有限公司是一个工程顾问公司，由David Barbour和Neil Brown在14年前建立，位于一个大片农村地区中的主要城镇。最初，该公司仅仅专注于国内的工程项目，例如道路和下水道的铺设，由于当时的私人房屋建设迅速发展。 80年代，Neil和David都为一家在那个城镇中有办事处的大公司（Floyd and Fleming有限公司）工作.David做过分支经理，而Neil,一个有企业家精神的年轻人，参与了结构发展的部分，之后在中东地区工作了两年。1989年Floyd和Fleming公司决定撤除分支办事处并集中经营他们在城市里的工作。 Neil最近从中东地区工作归来，享受了做自己老板的自由和灵活。他和David讨论了合伙继续在那个小镇经营工程咨询服务的可能性。David有在当地工作的经验，他意识到小镇里有足够的小型工程，来维持公司运营。他还有足够的储蓄和资产，可以用于管理买断。Neil 同样有国外工作所得的储蓄。有了这些资源，这两个人有足够的资本来买下当时Floyd和Fleming公司的办公室。他们制订了一项经营计划来保证额外用于买断的资金。用来支持这项创业的筹资，从银行贷款和苏格兰发展机构的拨款中获得。以五年内不得在中央地带接受和执行工作为条件，管理买断被同意了。 1990年新的Barbour和Brown工程有限公司开张了。公司团队包括David, Neil和其它两位合格的工程师组成：Jack,一个志存高远的毕业生；James一个30岁却还未获得资格认证的工程师。另外还有两个合格的技师和一个学徒技师 Section B 在接下来的14年中公司稳定地发展，主要集中于核心的国内工程业务。公司通过从事当地的工作来发展，由于Neil和Brown坚信内部投资的原则，他们总是支持当地其它公司的发展。为此他们让当地的承办人，保险经纪人和会计来给他们提供服务。实际上，只要可能，他们推荐John Colbert工程承包公司来从事建设工作已经成了一条不成文的规定。Neil Brown和John Colbert曾经是大学期间的校友并且一直是好朋友。可以依赖John的公司提供的服务，成为了获取合同的一个重要优势，因为这不仅在设计阶段，也在建设阶段增加了该公司保证高质量服务的能力。 该公司的主要目的是提供高质量的服务，因此员工具备最先进的技术尤为重要。这使得该公司可以尽可能高效地提供高规格设计。员工被激励去升级他们的技能，当他们获取资格认证的时候，会发给奖金。当地的学院被用来培训那些学徒，但是由于培训需求的缺乏，费用正
hnd人力资源管理outcome
h n d人力资源管理 o u t c o m e SANY GROUP system office room 【SANYUA16H-
Individual Report F84T 34 Managing People and Organisations Outcome 4 NAME: SCN: CLASS:
Contents Introduction (2) Section 1:The Structure at Present in Shangri-la Hotel (2) Section 2:An Appropriate Form of Re-Structure for Shangri-la Hotel (3) Section 3:The Influence of Task, Technology, and Size on the New Structure (5) Section 4: Line, Staff ,Functional and Lateral relationships within the New Structure (6) Section 5: Authority, Responsibility and Delegation within the New Structure (7) Conclusion (8) Reference (8)
Introduction The purpose of this report is to examine the understanding of management structure in the organization and its application. There are five sections in the report: management structure before merger; management structure after new development; contingency approach and its variables after merger; different relationships within the new structure; relevance of different relationships with new structure. Section 1:The Structure at Present in Shangri-la Hotel At present, flat structure is used in the management of the hotel. Hybrid management structure is used. Craig used the centralized and line approach to manage the restaurant .Ailsa used the decentralized and team approach to manage the hotel. In the hotel, all of the work was divided into four types according to different products or services: chambermaids, reception, kitchen staff and waiting staff. Flat structure: it means that a business has few vertical level of management and a wide span of control. As a result, the relationship between manager and subordinate will be closed, the flow of information will be quick, and it will save administrative expenses. However, because of wide spans, the communication between the same level department and employees will be difficult. In the case, for example, in the kitchen, there were only two levels: Craig, the manager; kitchen staffs and waiters. Craig directly gave the subordinates their different tasks. So it was a flat structure. Centralization& Decentralization: the centralization means that the important decisions are taken by the top management and the other levels implement the directions that top manager gives. In the case, Craig mainly used the centralized approach. For example, all his subordinates must follow the menu made by Craig. And Craig made decisions by himself and allocated tasks to kitchen staff and waiters. It should be a centralized approach. Decentralization means top manager delegates authorities to all levels of management. In the case, Ailsa used this decentralized
人力资源管理hnd Outcome4 原文+翻译
Outcome 4: Assessment task 2 Supplement to the case study The merger David and Neil had their usual Friday meeting. This week the main area for discussion was the business’s need to re-structure. This issue had increased in priority when Neil explained that John Colbert Civil Engineering Contractors had approached him about a merger. John Colbert Senior was about to retire and the firm believed that continued success and growth could best be accomplished by creating a business that would cater fully for both the design and development of civil and structural engineering projects. One main reason behind this was that more and more clients wanted cost savings that could be derived from the synergy that would result from dealing with one organisation for design and development. Although both firms had reputations for high quality work, increasing competition and the need to make efficiency savings was making it more and more important that the two businesses looked to new possibilities for managing and developing. Over the past four years the two firms had worked together on a number of projects and they were about to start work on two major developments: the new leisure complex and the office block for the Scottish Executive, the latter of which was only secured as a result of the close working arrangement of the two firms. John and Neil were also aware that successful completion of this project could lead to more Scottish Executive projects. Currently John, a chartered civil engineer, employed two teams. Each team comprised a team leader, digger driver and three qualified builders. When working on large developments the two teams would work on site together, but be responsible for different aspects of the site development. For instance, in road development, one team would concentrate on road production whilst the other team concentrated on bridges or pathways, depending on the design specification. Neil agreed with John that, from a business perspective, a merger of the two companies could be beneficial in a number of ways: The merger would primarily be beneficial because the engineers would have the formal authority to manage the construction staff. At the moment, as designers, there was an informal acceptance that the design engineer was in charge of a given project on site. A merger would help clarify this relationship. John’s firm was based out of town and, in addition to the space for his equipment, he had a large office that would cope with the additional staff from Barbour Brown. In the past, engineering consultants had always preferred to be based in town centres. This was mainly to allow clients easy access to the engineers. As a result of new technology and computer networks, design communication tended to be done through phone calls and email. It was very rarely that clients visited the offices. When meetings were essential, these tended to take place either on site or at the client’s main office. The building that housed the offices of Barbour Brown was in a prime town location that could be