Wednesday 30 November 2011

Work Order.

Work Order
Ticket No 001

Bob brown is the head of construction department. He uses his computer to for a number of work related tasks including writing assignments, recording the results and grades of students using excel tracking. Liaising with staff, students and external contacts like examining bodies, building supplies and potential customers.

Problem Description:

When Bob Brown opens Microsoft outlook he cannot see his personal folder, which is where he stored all emails. Came E-mail was not opening correctly, noticed it this morning when he was looking for his files, he then stumbled across an error box message when try to access he files.

To do:

Ask the following questions to the user:

What is the problem?
When did the problem occur?
Did you attempt to back up your files?
Did you attempt to search your email folders in Microsoft Outlook?
Did you search the recycle bin?
Did you run a file search?
Does anyone else have access to your email?
Have you downloaded or installed any new programs recently?

Possible causes:

PST files may be lost or deleted
Microsoft Outlook may be corrupt
Microsoft Outlook may need an upgrade
Computer may have a virus
Computer or Microsoft Outlook account may be compromised
Files may have been saved in the wrong place.

Solution:

Check the recycle bin for the lost PST file.
Run a search for the lost PST file.
By using the “Outlook recovery” tool, you can attempt to repair any corrupt files.
Scan the computer for any viruses/threats
Have the user (Bob Brown) Change their Microsoft Outlook password










Job Reference
Company Name:
Great Cambridge College
Company Address:
Science Park Campus, Queen Bushes Road, Cambridge, CB4 2QT
Contact Name: Bob Brown
Contact Phone No: 01223 762985

Location: Cambridgeshire
Contact Email: BluhBlue@Gmail.com
Department: IT
Job Title: Construction Manager
Time job raised:
Date job raised:

Category:
Status:

Priority:
Asset no:

Friday 25 November 2011

Organisation, Teamwork and

Organisation, Teamwork and
Creativity.

Organisation is important to Employees because in the fast paced working world, Organisation skills are essential to keeping up with the heavy workload that employees are given. Being organised allows you to be more productive in the workplace, it minimizes clutter in your desk helping to keep things Organised. Lack of organisation skills can also result in the loss of important documents, forgetting meetings/scheduled appointments. In the workplace people are often faced with needing the work on different projects at the same time with different aims/objectives/deadlines, and being disorganised will often result in getting confused between the tasks, which in turn may cause harm to the company the employee is working for.

Teamwork is also important for employees because, when learning in the workplace, people tend to learn faster when they are in a team this is because when everyone is thinking together as one unit, they are less likely to get day dream/fall asleep. Also, with teamwork and brainstorming ideas are likely to be more fluently when brainstorming with a team. Teamwork also promotes better people skills and a more overall friendly atmosphere in the workplace, making everything easier for everyone. Teamwork also promotes healthy competition, when people are working together and all giving input they are naturally wired to want give the most input and will push themselves more. And with healthy competition. And Employees are more likely to get noticed and promoted.

Creativity is valued by all companies and organizations, that being said any employee is creative will be more valued. This is because Ideas can cut cost productive, create profit for companies. If someone is always contributing ideas, they are sometimes going to be good ideas. Having the confidence to throw ideas out there, without the fear of being wrong/laughed is something that is valued by companies. If an Employee’s creative ideas bring success to a company, they are likely to get more recognised and appreciated and overall viewed as more of an asset.

Thursday 24 November 2011

Barriers to effective communication

Barriers to effective communication


1: Language/culture

One barrier to effective communication can be a language/culture barrier. It is difficult to communicate with people that of a different ethnic background because some sayings/gestures have different meanings. For example, smiling for someone with an Asian background may be offended or feel patronised, on the other hand someone from America would more likely to take this as a compliment, when in the UK, some people find smiling in public awkward/weird. Also, the obvious problem that people may not understand another language that well, and someone might feel uncomfortable speaking another language. This can be overcome by being understanding and respectful to someone from a different ethnic background and being careful about how you act and behave. Another solution is to use a translator.


2: Technical background noise

Another barrier to effective communication would be Technical background noises. For example, a fan in the background, or a computer monitor may distract someone from listening to lecture. Even if the distraction is subconscious it can still be a barrier to communication. Another example of this is phones going off. A phone going off can distract everyone in a classroom and distract the teacher/presenter because they may lose their thought process and have to pick it up again which may take some time. Another type of technical noise is where a phone call disconnects, this is a barrier of communication. This can be overcome by turning off all phones/monitors during presentations/lectures. It


3: Physical background noise

Another type of background noise, (and another barrier to effective communication) “Physical background noise” is people talking, it is so easy to start subconsciously start listening to someone’s conversation without realising. To stop this barrier to communication it is important to make sure no one talks during important lectures and to minimise background noise as much as possible. This can be overcome by telling students/listeners to be quiet during presentations/lectures.



4: Information overload

Another barrier to effective communication is information overload. This is someone who is teaching/presenting gives too much information at once for the students to handle. This is because too much information in a short space of time does not allow someone to absorb the information well enough. A way to stop this is to be careful about how much information you are presenting to the audience. This can be overcome by highlighting the key points then slowly elaborate from the key points, this will result in the audience slowly absorbing the information.


5: Lack of interest

Another barrier to effective communication is lack of interest. This can occur in schools when students lack interest in what they are being taught. A student will often lose interest because they have no interest in what’s being said. To overcome this all that can be done is, the student has to force themselves to listen; to self-motivate themselves. This can be overcome by making the information that you are teaching fun, for example making the presentation interactive, and maybe even keeping the audience engaged by asking them questions.


6: Presentation may crash

Another barrier to effective communication is that the presentation may crash. This can be embarrassing and cause you to panic during your presentation, and you may stall. To overcome this potential embarrassment, bring paper notes with you as a sort of “Plan B” if your presentation crashes.


7: Poor timing

Another barrier to effective communication is Poor timing. This is a social awareness skill that is important in communication. An example of Poor timing is saying something inappropriate like asking for a month off for your honeymoon just after your boss got divorced. To overcome this you must simply think before you speak.
8: Psychological noise

Another barrier to effective communication is psychological noise. Psychological barriers refer to peoples state of mind in the work place. These can be influenced by the weather, for example if working outside, one may be distracted by the sound of wind blowing on the trees or grass. This can be overcome by working inside and working areas which are not at all affected by the outside world. It can also be influenced by personal problems such as health, relationship problems, kids and other home issues. These can be overcome by separating work from personal issues, this can only be done with self-discipline.

9: Attitudinal barriers

Another barrier to effective communication is attitudinal issues. This refers to the internal problems between individuals at the work place. If staff do not get along and have personal conflicts/grudges, this will inevitably result a barrier to communication between employees. To overcome this, it is important to keep your personal life and work life separate, and not to let your emotions get in the way of effective communication.


10: Poor proofreading

This barrier to effective communication can occur when someone has poor proofreading skills, if someone makes an error in their proofreading for someone else’s work, the person may misunderstand what is meant by the proofreading symbol., this will result in a barrier to communication. To overcome this barrier to effective communication you should make sure to learn your proof reading marks to avoid making mistakes. You can learn these here: http://www.interactivetraining.co.uk/proofreading-symbols.html

Thursday 10 November 2011

Specific/General attributes & Attitudes

Specific attributes
General attributes
Attitudes:
Security:

Security is important in the workplace because offices and businesses can often be targets for theft, kidnapping, terrorism, unlawful entry and other crimes.  It is important that all businesses, whether it be a government office or a retail store, have a strong level of security to minimise crimes. Some offices will have strong security, such as identity cards used for opening doors and accessing certain parts of the building. Colleges will use identity cards to minimise members of the public who are not students entering the campus. Almost all retail stores will have some level of CCTV which is used by the police or security teams to catch criminals and use as evidence to convict the criminals.  Some colleges and other offices will have a security team that’s job is to stop crimes from occurring in the workplace. Security teams are in their right to use reasonable force against anyone they suspect of committing a crime in the workplace. 

Work attitude:

It is important to have a positive work attitude in the workplace. It is important to have Pride in the workplace. Pride will allow you to do more than just the minimum in the workplace, it helps you go out of your way to achieve.  However, it is important not to confuse pride with arrogance. When one has too high opinion of themselves it may come across as arrogant. Belief is also important in the work place. Believing in yourself is crucial, it will make you appear more confident and will allow others around you to feel more comfortable and thus work better. After all, if you don’t believe in yourself, no one else will! Finally, passion is an important attitude in the workplace. If you don’t genuinely feel passionate about what you do, it won’t drive you through the hard times. A pay check isn’t enough to motivate you to do the best you can possibly do, without passion you won’t have a reason to get up in the morning and go to work.

Health and safety:

Health and safety skills are mandatory in the workplace. The law forces companies to strictly abide by the health and safety policies. This is due to the health and safety act of 1974, the aim to ensure the safety and health of all employees and clients in the workplace. It also includes catering for people who have disabilities such as  making doors, stairs passageways etc accessible for people will disabilities.
Being trained in health and safety is a tick in the box for any employee because it means the employers won’t have to train you in health and safety
Organisation:

Organisation skills are important to Employees because in the fast paced working world, Organisation skills are essential to keeping up with the heavy workload that employees are given. Being organised allows you to be more productive in the workplace, it minimizes clutter in your desk helping to keep things Organised. Lack of organisation skills can also result in the loss of important documents, forgetting meetings/scheduled appointments. In the workplace people are often faced with needing the work on different projects at the same time with different aims/objectives/deadlines, and being disorganised will often result in getting confused between the tasks, which in turn may cause harm to the company the employee is working for.

Teamwork:

Teamwork is also important  for employees because, when learning in the workplace, people tend to learn faster when they are in a team this is because when everyone is thinking together as one unit, they are less likely to get day dream/fall asleep. Also, with teamwork and brainstorming ideas are likely to be more fluently when brainstorming with a team. Teamwork also promotes better people skills and a more overall friendly atmosphere in the workplace, making everything easier for everyone. Teamwork also promotes healthy competition,  when people are working together and all giving input they are naturally wired to want give the most input and will push themselves more. And with healthy competition.  And Employees  are more likely to get noticed and promoted.

Creativity:

Creativity is valued by all companies and organizations, that being said any employee is creative will be more valued.  This is because Ideas can cut cost productive, create profit for companies. If someone is always contributing ideas, they are sometimes going to be good ideas. Having the confidence to throw ideas out there, without the fear of being wrong/laughed is something that is valued by companies. If an Employee’s creative ideas bring success to a company, they are likely to get more recognised and appreciated and overall viewed as more of an asset




Tolerance:

Tolerance is crucial in the workplace because you might not always like who you are working with. However it is important to separate your personal opinions from business, because allowing personal issues to get in the way of success in the workplace is will hinder you.

Integrity:

Integrity is very important because not being honest in the workplace. It is very important to build a trust with colleges. If proven, of even suspected of not having integrity, people will view you differently and it will hinder your career .

Leadership:

Leadership is an important part of the workplace, because there will always be people that will look for leadership.  If you are seen as a team leader, you are responsible for the success, and failure of a task. It is important as a leader to maintain consistent and strong. If it appears that you have lost control of a situation, and lose your nerve, it will negatively  affect those around you and their work efficiency. It is also important as a leader to listen to advice of those around you, and not seem like a “control freak” while at the same time, sticking to your decisions. If you don’t find the balance between being too controlling and being a push over, people will lose respect for you and not view you as a real leader.
Self-motivation:

Self-motivation is important in the workplace because you need a reason to get up in the morning and go to work. One way to self-motivate yourself is to set yourself goals and go out of your way to achieve them. Ask yourself, why am I doing this? Where do you want to be in 5 years? And How am I going to get there? If you can answer those questions with passion and honesty, you are self-motivated.

Dependable:

Employers want consistency, and reliability. You are no use to them of you are not punctual, or not there for them when you need them. It is important to put your career first at times. If you are consistently dependable, you will be much more appreciated than people who take the day off when they are feeling a bit ill from the night before.

Communication skills.

It is important to be in sync with your colleges’ in the workplace because if you are not able to communicate with people you will not be able to get your idea/point across. At times, in some jobs you will have to deal with people who have poor communication skills. You may have to speak over the phone, or speak in a different accent/language.  But if you have good communication skills you can use them to understand what people are trying to convey.