Interviews & Team Briefing

Assignment 1
9/15/2011 International Institute for Professional Development

Aishath Inaya

Interviews & Team Briefing 2011 Introduction of interview

Interview is defined as the act of selecting the right person for the right job from the list of potential candidates. For selecting employees a professional interview has to be organized. In Human Resource Management interview is defined as a somewhat formal discussion between a hirer and an applicant or candidates, typically in person, in which information is exchange, with the intention of establishing the applicants suitability for a position. People seek interviews with their bank manager or their doctor, they are interviewed for a job or for promotion, and at work they may have an annual 'appraisal interview'. Some are interviewed as they apply for Social Security or other benefits, and others may be interviewed by a journalist or a market researcher. These different encounters all have as defining characteristics a certain formality and an asymmetry. Participants' roles are specified, in that one person is the interviewer and the other is the interviewee (although in practice more than two people may be involved) and each has a fairly clear idea of the type of behavior which is expected. The objective is for the interviewer to obtain and interpret information from the interviewee in order to make a decision or take some action. Let us look particularly at interviews in personnel selection, where an official of an organization has to decide which candidate to select for a job from among a number of applicants. Such interviews are often criticized on the grounds that different interviewers can reach different conclusions about the same candidate, and a number of experiments have examined the ways in which interviewers can be 'calibrated' so that they reliably form similar impressions. One approach has varied the degree of structure imposed upon the interview, in terms of the requirement to obtain certain kinds of information and to draw inferences only about prespecified attributes or likely behaviors. Results indicate that increased structure yields significantly greater uniformity between interviewers. Similar outcomes can be achieved through training schemes which aim to make interviewers aware of possible biases and which stress the need to identify goals and important issues in advance. For example, the 'seven-point plan' encourages interviewers to define job requirements carefully and to obtain information about candidates in terms of physique, intelligence, aptitude, attainments, interests, disposition, and circumstances. Although reliability can be enhanced in these ways, there remains the question whether interviewers can validly predict subsequent work behavior. A major research problem is the difficulty of establishing acceptable measures of 'good' or 'bad' behavior in an occupational role. Limited measures of skilled performance or of output levels may be available for some manual jobs, but professional and managerial work is much less open to quantification, and it is in those areas that interviews are particularly widespread. This problem, of adequately measuring the behavior we wish to predict, is endemic in all areas of personnel selection, and is often referred to as 'the criterion problem.
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Interviews & Team Briefing 2011

However, despite the commonly expressed doubts, selection interviews are here to stay, if for no other reason than that they provide an opportunity for the candidate to ask his own questions and to reach his own conclusions about a potential employer. The interpersonal processes at work during an interview are subtle, complex, and fascinating. Consider the ways in which an interviewer will search for and integrate information about the applicant. Research has established clearly that people form impressions of each other through the application of previously established expectancies or 'inference rules'. Evidence that a person has a certain characteristic (anxiousness in the interview situation, for example) sets up a network of inferences about other characteristics. These networks are sometimes referred to as 'implicit theories of personality', and perceivers apply their own implicit theories to even the most limited pieces of evidence. Indeed, some people take pride in 'summing him up as soon as he comes through the door', whereas others may devote their energies to fighting a similar form of stereotyped perception, where extensive inferences are drawn from single cues such as 'black', 'female', or 'handicapped'. In general terms, manifested features have been found to make their greatest impact during short encounters, when other evidence is meager. Thus many perceivers initially take the wearing of spectacles to imply intelligence and thoughtfulness (see halo effect). Conventional wisdom has it that 'first impressions count', and research has looked in detail at this question. It seems that the initial impression is tested through subsequent investigation. However, there is often a predisposition in an interviewer to obtain negative information, material which suggests that the candidate should not be selected. This is understandable in the light of the interviewer's regular need to reject most of the applicants, but it is important for the 'first impressions count' thesis. This needs to be refined to suggest that an early negative impression is readily reached and is difficult to change, whereas an early positive impression is less easily made and is liable to be overridden if negative evidence becomes available subsequently. One interesting research finding bears upon this issue. There is typically a significant positive correlation between the proportion of time during which the interviewer talks and the probability that a candidate will be offered the job. This may be interpreted in terms of an early implicit decision by an interviewer which tends to make later questioning redundant and perhaps suggests that the desirable candidate should be encouraged through conversation to maintain his interest in the vacancy. The skills of interviewing extend to coordinating the interaction through verbal and non-verbal cues at the same time as gaining and integrating a variety of items of information. Recent research has placed emphasis on the non-verbal cues which contribute to impression formation and management: they may be relatively unchanging as with general appearance, clothes, facial expression, and so on or they may be dynamic as in eye contact, bodily movements, or loudness of speech. How can people learn to be good interviewers? We all have relevant experience, talking with and acquiring information from others, and there is a tendency to feel that we are quite competent. But experience without detailed feedback is often of limited value: we need to learn with some precision about the effects of our actions and impressions so that we can improve upon them. This requirement has been the basis of recent experiments in interviewer training, and powerful

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Interviews & Team Briefing 2011

procedures are now available. These have as their core the use of feedback about performance, often through the replay of videotaped practice sessions. In this way, trainees are able to chart and improve their performance over a series of practice interviews, assisted both by their tutors and by their fellow trainees. Behavior category systems are often applied to generate profiles of an interviewer's style in a way that points up strong and weak points, providing in a striking manner the feedback that is necessary for learning.

Types of interviews
In employment - related interview there are five different types of interviews. They are: 1. Exit interview 2. Informal interview 3. Job interview 4. Microsoft interview 5. Webcam interview. 1. Exit interview: An exit interview is typically a meeting between at least one representative from a company's human resources (HR) department and a departing employee. (The departing employee usually has voluntarily resigned vs. getting laid off or fired.) The HR rep might ask the employee questions while taking notes, asks the employee to complete a questionnaire, or both. 2. Informal interview: The informal interview is an interview with a single student or a small group. Questions are not preplanned as in the structured interview. This type of interview was used in the PBS series, A Private Universe. Some managers will meet with job seekers on an informal, nothing ventured - nothing gained basis, simply to keep them aware of locally available talent. Though under-utilized, people with good networking skills will often be able to place themselves in situations where they are effectively being interviewed - even though the prospective employer might not even realize it. 3. Job interview: A job interview is a conversation which occurs between a potential employer and a job applicant. During the job interview, the employer hopes to determine whether or not the applicant is

Aishath Inaya

Interviews & Team Briefing 2011

suitable for the job, while the applicant tries to learn more about the position while also impressing the employer. As a general rule, a job interview is an important part of the process of applying for a job, and it may range in formality from a casual conversation to a series of serious discussions with an assortment of people working within the company. 4. Microsoft interview: The Microsoft interview is a job interview technique used by Microsoft to assess possible future Microsoft employees. 5. Webcam interview: Time is the most precious commodity we have. With hours wasted by managers and personnel staff interviewing inappropriate candidates Recruiters needs to find a way to screen local, national or international candidates effectively and cost-efficiently. There are some other types of interviews, but it may not relate to employment interviews. They are: 1. cognitive interview 2. Telephone interview 3. Investigate interview 4. Ladder interview 5. Mock interview 6. Parent teacher interview When you are conducting a meeting, there will be some points to be kept in mind when conducting a meeting. Following are some points to be kept in mind:  Make sure that your job advertisement invites potential candidates for the interview.  Give a brief description of the organization and say what it does.  Dont make generalizations be specific.  Always welcome to the candidate with positive approach.  Treat the candidate politely.  Begin on time, clearly stating the meeting objective and your intentions to stick to type, time, topic, and agenda.  Obtain agreement on the agenda items and times for each item.  Consider having a time keeper, rather than letting topics exceed time limits.  Use action language to assign responsibilities  Always close the interview with the positive approach.

Aishath Inaya

Interviews & Team Briefing 2011

Introduction of Time Briefing

A regular briefing session by a manager for a team, useful for the rapid communication of information to all the members of the team, and also for keeping the manager aware of the feelings and problems of the team. Team Briefing is a powerful method of enabling communications up and down the management structure of any organization with a number of management levels. Team Briefing was developed by the British Industrial Society (now called the Work Foundation) during the mid20th century, particularly the 1960's, and introduced in the mid 1970's. This is a guide to how Team Briefing works, with samples of the Team Briefing documents. Team Briefing provides a consistent and measurable process for conveying strategic and operational information, and answering feedback questions, throughout an organization. Team Briefing ensures that staff at all levels receives information that is relevant to them, which is a mixture or corporate and local issues. The Team Briefing system is capable of being monitored by someone given responsibility to do so, including the satisfactory feedback of answers to questions at all levels. The Team Briefing model is flexible provided the essential principles are retained. So it can be called something else by the adopting organization. The documentation can, and ideally should, be adapted and personalized for the adopting organization. Team Briefing is not meant to replace normal essential day-today communications between team leader and staff - day-to-day communications should continue as normal (assuming 'normal' means they're happening - if not, then they must). Many companies today think that email and mobile phone communications can solve all of their communications problems, but they can't. Team Briefing works because it's face-to-face, which is essential for all sensitive communications.

Team Conflict:
Due to their nature, virtual teams is subject to some specific conflicts that require constructive resolution for the virtual team to be effective. Several issues that could potentially create

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Interviews & Team Briefing 2011

conflicts on a virtual team will be examined, as will some resources for avoiding these conflicts. The first issue involves scheduling and time commitment. Another cause of conflict that can arise, common to all teams but magnified by the way a virtual team works, is the issue of trust among team members. The third area that will be examined is the potential for misunderstanding and miscommunication that exists when nearly all team contact is via the written word. A look at conflict that can surround the virtual teams decision making processes will follow.

Why Do Conflicts Arise?

In an organizational process, the management has many aspects to consider for a workplace to be harmonious and successful. One of these things that should not be left unattended is any presence of conflict. Conflict happens when individuals or groups do not meet their needs and when they do not find satisfaction to their own wants or self-interest. Conflict can be internal when the conflict is only within the individual; it is external if it is between two or more individuals or between groups. Some people are not aware of the need and react negatively toward the situation unconsciously. Some people know what they want and would work hard at achieving such goal even to the point of going through conflict. Situations that are triggered by fear, force, sense of fairness, and funds create conflict. In any type of circumstance, even in a workplace or organization, conflict is inevitable. When there are differences in background and orientations among employees in working toward a goal, conflict arises. It is the differences of many aspects such as values, attitudes, needs, expectations, viewpoints, and personalities that cause conflict in an organization. But despite the inevitability of conflict, it can be minimized and even resolved when properly dealt with.

Following are the conflicts that can arise in a team

1. Unfair Workload: In this area of conflict the part of the team feels that they are doing a greater share of the work. Part of the group revolts and does not except the policy and norms of the teams. 2. Inferiority Complex:
It is a sense of personal inferiority arising from conflict between the desire to be noticed and the fear of being humiliated. Here a part of the group feels they are excluded from team participations and

discussions.

3. Personality clash: Dealing with employee personality clashes, also known as peace keeping, has become a huge part of middle managements job description. The role of being mediator within an organisation, now takes up a huge 18 percent of managers time.

Aishath Inaya

Interviews & Team Briefing 2011

A personality clash is something that happens when one persons values and morals are violated by another person. We dont clash with everyone, as we can tolerate some differences and can even enjoy those differences. However, the change comes when we are offended and feel violated by another persons views, attitudes and behaviours as they clash with our own. Managers have doubled the amount of time over the past 10 years that they now spend on peace keeping. This could be due to many factors including: immigration, cultural ideals, a change in values and morals. Here a part of the team members have conflict with each other, simply because they have differences of opinion.

Remedies for conflicts

1. Personality Clash: Here you have to ensure that team members have maximum participation. The team leader should create an environment where members can interact with each other freely. 2. Unfair Workload: Here the team leader can focus on the teams objectives rather than individual performance. 3. Inferiority Complex: Here the team leader will have to spot out the members who feel that they are excluded from team discussions and more opportunities should be provided for such members.

How to Avoid Conflicts

Though conflicts are inevitable in our lives, getting in such a situation causes stress and the amount of stress a person gets depends on the intensity of the conflict. Nevertheless, conflict is a source of stress, and when it becomes severe, stress can be destructive on an individual. While there is a way to avoid conflict especially if it is unnecessary and unproductive, do so and be practical. There are many ways to do so depending on the situations. In the workplace conflict, for example, the approach to resolving it should not be personal. A diplomatic and civil way to settle it is preferable. Avoiding Conflict by Embracing It We should all understand that we cannot avoid conflicts to occur because we deal with people every day. In the office, we socialize and deal with different personalities. We may be given individual scope of work but sometimes, there is a need to collaborate with other members to complete the task easily. At times, misunderstanding and differences in perceptions occur.

Aishath Inaya

Interviews & Team Briefing 2011

Instead of avoiding conflict, embracing it would be a lot more effective. By embracing conflict, you are avoiding it by dealing with it and handling it properly. A working individual may find it hard to accept conflict if he is being passive. Expect for such situation to happen at any time while you work with other people, but do not go looking for one. You must keep a level of professionalism by not looking for trouble. Being aggressive sometimes helps, but being overly aggressive is no longer productive. In embracing conflict, arguing with your coworkers or team members is never helpful. You can be assertive and still convey your opinion without bickering. No positive result ever comes out from bickering with people. In fact, it brings more harm to the team and the organization than achieving good results. The act of bickering is a perfect example of unprofessionalism. Listen, Listen, and Listen some more Here is a very essential skill that everyone needs to apply when engaged in a conflict: active listening. During a conflict, constant exchange of ideas happens a lot so both parties must learn the ability to actively listen. An open communication is also very important. When two people communicate, respect must be shown by listening when one is talking. And when you listen, do not just hear what is being said but how it is being said and what feelings were expressed. Listening to the other person and understanding what they feel is a way to mellow down growing hatred, anger, or other negative emotions that may hinder an amicable resolution to the conflict. In order to keep an open and healthy communication, avoid instances of verbal collision or talking at the same time. So when this happens, either of the parties must give way. Timely interruptions must also be done. If you wish to be heard and respected, set the example by not cutting someone off when he is trying to explain his side. A smooth and good flow of communication between and among employees in the workplace is less likely to create conflicts. Seek to Understand Another way to avoid or simply minimize conflict at work is learning to understand. If there are two parties engaged in a conflict, be a mediator and do not take sides. For managers, the role must be that of a peacemaker. In assessing a situation, weigh the pros and cons. Learn to understand the cause of the conflict first instead of reacting negatively. For the members at work to create an ideal working environment, cordiality and friendliness among everyone should be maintained. We cannot just have things our way all the time especially at work. We need to adhere to rules and follow certain processes. If you are in the higher management, ideally you ought to take charge of the work situations and how things are being managed. Though the use of power is good, abuse of power is another story.

Aishath Inaya

Interviews & Team Briefing 2011 Team briefing - rules for briefers
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Prepare - inform time, place, and prepare written brief and replies. Control the meetings in a relaxed informal way. Listen and understand - clarify where necessary - when others are talking. Keep communications adult to adult - never patronize or talk down. Keep good records. Always ensure questions are answered, even if you do not know the answer yourself. Always ensure that feedback is acknowledged. Never blame the company for policy or decisions. Support the team briefing process and always suggest improvements when you identify them.

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Aishath Inaya