Tuesday, August 25, 2020

Advantages Or Disadvantages Of Internet

The PC was a key development which turned the world over. Some contend that it is a gift while others demand that regardless of the considerable number of products it realized with it, it is a curse.Computers are important in all circles of life. In any case, the PC has an immense range of programming which is advantageous for both youthful and elderly folks individuals. Little youngsters can appreciate messing around on the PC while starting to get the hang of perusing and composing. It is a lot more secure that having kids messing about in the roads since there is a high danger of somebody being harmed. PC examines are multiplying in our schools in light of the fact that the PC has gotten so significant all through our lives.In business, the PC, is an unquestionably a genuine gift. Aside from being increasingly sorted out these days one can likewise expand his business and adverts all through the world with internet business. Making a site is simple and modest to support. One can l ikewise work from the ware of his home just as doing shopping and having the items conveyed in a short time.It has become natural for us to visit with companions and associate through systems. One can speak with his family members abroad simpler and it is far less expensive than calling abroad. For understudies it is a genuine pearl. PCs are an immense wellspring of data. There is programming, for example, reference books which are extremely valuable while doing an examination for school. Additionally, one can likewise invest less energy looking futile in books.It is likewise an adage that PCs have their negative viewpoints too. Being situated on the seat before the screen for quite a while can prompt back issues further down the road. One can even harm the wrist. Another disservice is that offspring of the PC time are lazier than the ones preceding. They are not gutsy at all and are raised with the mindset of living without torment or any effort.Many youngsters are fixated on gamin g and some become squanderers as time passes by on the grounds that they purchase a lot of games and overhauls for their PCs. On the web there isn't sufficient information insurance and having kids riding the net all alone is awful. Guardians must know about the potential damage their kids might be presented to and they should be PC proficient to support their own children.Life without PCs is inconceivable and over the long haul the PC is helpful. Despite the fact that it has some negative impacts, it should be used appropriately with legitimate oversight and information so all the advantages of the PC are misused.

Saturday, August 22, 2020

Greener Forms of Generating Electricity

A force station is an office which is utilized to create electric force. iAt the focal point of about all force stations is a generator, a pivoting machine that changes over mechanical vitality into electrical vitality by making relative movement between an attractive field and a conduit. In Bosnia there is a great deal of hydro power plants, the greatest ones are: Grabovica, Jablanica, Salkovac, Visegrad and so forth. There are three distinct kinds of intensity plants, warm force plants, hydro power plants and sun based force plants. So as to make our lives and the lives of our posterity better, we have to research and plan new greener methods of changing over mass measures of vitality into power. Sunlight based force plants utilize an unending force, which is the sun. Bars from the sun hit mirrors which convert the suns vitality into power. Around, each 7. 2 hours, 3. 6kWh power is created. Sun oriented force is spotless and green and it can give enough vitality. In any case, the drawback to this sort of intensity is that it isn't modest. Building a solitary reflection of 3. 8 meters by 1. 6 can cost up to $60. 00. These mirrors are best in class which catch the suns light, and transform it into vitality. Warm force plants are awful for the earth since they add to a dangerous atmospheric devation by consuming petroleum products. These force plants are still being used today, since they give a ton of vitality and coal is modest, so it very well may be singed in enormous amounts. Most houses today are provided either by warm or hydro. Warm is terrible for the earth and since the mechanical upset kicked in worldwide temperatures have been rising. Another sort of intensity is wind power. Wind turbines are rotating gadgets that get give vitality utilizing the air. This kind of innovation isn't to be sniffed at as wind force can once in a while give more vitality than consuming coal. There is a drawback to this also. Remaining green and utilizing wind controlled turbines can cost a ton of cash. Remaining green and putting resources into these thoughts will matter later on. By consuming abundance non-renewable energy sources we are making green house gasses which are warming up the planet, along these lines obliterating a great deal of situations. (2) In Bosnia, the greatest hydro power plant creates around 170. 00 cubic meters of water that arrive at paces of 60 km for every hour. This is sufficient water to top off around 100. 000 Olympic pools each day. Hydroelectric stations have been ready for action for around 100 years, and since been researchers have been scanning for an approach to gather the vitality better. The principle thought behind these force stations is to change over the vitality of streaming water into the progression of electrons or power. Most hydroelectric stations use either water redirected around the characteristic drop of the stream, for example, a cascade or rapids. Notwithstanding this a damn is likewise worked over the waterway to raise the stream to make the drop expected to give a power. Water in the more significant level is gathered in the store, which streams into the funnel called the pen star which conveys it down to a turbine water wheel at the lower water level. The water pressure increments as it streams down the pen star, it is this weight and stream that drives the turbine which is associated with the generator. Inside the generator is the rotor which is spun by the turbine. Electro magnets are joined to the rotor situated inside loops of copper wires called a starter. AS the generator rotors turn the magnets, a progression of electrons is made in the loops of the starter. This produces power that can be ventured up in voltage through the stations transformers and sent to this transmission lines. The accompanying water the returns down the waterway. A large portion of our vitality originates from the turning of the rotor of the AC generator in power stations like Nuclear force stations, warm and hydro power stations. An AC generator is a gadget which changes over mechanical vitality into power. The working of an AC generator depends on electromagnetic enlistment which expresses that at whatever point the motion going through a circuit changes, an EMF is initiated in it and a present starts to stream. The bearing of this is given by Lenz's law or Flemings right hand rule. Lenz's law which is all the more normally utilized states that the bearing of the initiated current is, for example, to contradict the very reason delivering it. (1) In our homes we utilize open electrical circuits which is significant likewise with them we don't utilize direct flow. If we somehow managed to utilize direct flow a lot more flames brought about by power would occur and apparatuses would not work well and they would straightforward wear out. We need electric circuits for everything, they are what keeps our apparatuses running securely. Today utilizing warm force plants is a major issue as it influences numerous variables. Nations in the EU need to follow certain lead with regards to control plants. For example Nuclear force plants must have the correct materials, financing and so on, warm force plants must have channels, can't created to numerous nursery gasses and so on the waste that comes out of these plants are regularly dumped into the waterways or seas, this slaughters a great deal of marine untamed life which nearby ranchers rely upon. These force plants likewise influence our condition; the two of them can help and devastate our condition. The waste delivered in power plants is regularly tossed out in the backwoods, or lakes and oceans. Then again sunlight based and wind force can help with nature by giving a perfect method to get vitality.

Saturday, August 1, 2020

ClearSlide

ClearSlide INTRODUCTIONMartin: Hi, today we are in San Francisco in the ClearSlide office. Hi, Al, who are you and what do you do?Al: So I am Al. I am the co-founder of ClearSlide and I am an entrepreneur, a lifelong entrepreneur.Martin: Cool!Martin: Tell me about what is your background? What did you do before you started ClearSlide and what is ClearSlide by the way?Al: So I have been an entrepreneur all my life. I came out here to San Francisco in 97 and right out of the school I started the company. So I started Evite which is an online invitation product, it was popular in the days. And really since that I have started a number of companies, ClearSlide being the most recent. so I have never really worked for a company that I didn’t start myself.Martin: What is the connector between those different companies?Al: I think for me; I am excited about companies where using technology to communicate with people. There is a lot of technology that is just for technology sake so a faster hard drive or just to make the technology better. But I am very passionate with connecting to people and the way that you can use technology to tell their story and communicate with your friends, your colleagues what have you. That is something I see as very valuable and it is a thing I can get passionate about.So Evite was about getting connected with your friends offline and create parties, and ClearSlide is about communicating with your customers but in both cases it is people that are connecting and talking together.Martin: When did you have this “Aha” moment “Ok, I want to start ClearSlide”?Al: It was funny actually. So I started with Jim, my co-founder and we had worked together at Evite so we had known each other for about fifteen years. And we started with a different idea actually. We were selling something to advertisers, a media product and we found it very hard to tell our story with these media advertisers. You call them up and they say, “You have 5 minutes to pitch me. That’s it.” They give you very little time, it is kind of very competitive market. And we found that nothing, no technology let us tell the story the way that we wanted to or that was really compelling and so we initially created ClearSlide for our own use. A way to tell our story and we started using it with customers and we found that they were more interested in the way we were presenting. They don’t like actually our product but they ask, “What is that? What did you just use? That was kind of interesting.” And that happened two or three times in a row and we said, “Ok, what is this?”What we discovered was in the space of sales sales communication a lot of work could be done around the back office of storing data by your customers but not actually making that conversation better. And so we decided to shift gears and focus on that.I found too that most of the times the best startups are things you want to use yourself and a need that you discover that if you want t o use it and be the customer of your product you can really understand and be passionate about it. Same with Evite, the same with ClearSlide as well, it was something that we needed.Martin: Did you change the name from your old idea to the new?Al: We did. It was ShieldMedia before. We changed that very quickly to ClearSlide.Martin: And did you have some other investors in before?Al: No, no. So we have been working and it was early so three or four months in and we just started to get the product going so we actually didn’t get that investors in yet.Martin: And then what was the next three or six months looking like?Al: That was just very interesting. We had this ShieldMedia product and we had ClearSlide and it was important for Jim and I to really prove that there were customers willing to buy ClearSlide. So, I have been involved in business before where it seemed like a promise but there was not actually anyone that really wanted to pay you. We set ourselves a goal to find 5 peop le willing to give us money. So this was our goal and Jim arranged some conversations with customers and we went to pitch 5 customers in one day. What we did is we call them up and said, “Hey, here is our product. We are going to be doing a Beta in about a month but if you are interested we need a credit card right now.” And we had 5 out of 5, 100 percent in 24 hours.We didn’t have anyone to put the credit cards so we were just writing them down on paper. But we proved ourselves that there were people willing to put money behind this. And so for the next three to six months we just worked on building the product and talking to customers and just Jim and myself. I have been involved in business before where we raised money pretty early. But we really wanted to prove to ourselves that we can get customers that want to pay for it. I was just us working away for about nine months before we raised any money and by then we really had customers and we had enough revenue we could run profitably actually and then we said, “Hey, this is really the time to scale the business.”Martin: Imagine, I was one of those 5 potential clients. You are pitching to me and you need to convince me that I should not wait like for six months or nine months when you have your really good product ready but I should buy it now.Al: Part of that was to say a couple of things.One was to say, “Listen, we are looking for people to help guide the product and we are looking for feedback from you. Your feedback is going to be instrumental for what we build”and that is interesting for them because they can early be able to guide it.The other thing was kind of a ticking clock when we said, “I need that right now and we are only going to be about ten slots in this beta program and so I need a decision right away”. And that urgency drew up a lot in as well.Martin: So this really mean well in the next two hours or one or two-week time?Al: In that initial point it was on the call. Jim di d most of these pitches and it was basically a full pitch. We had a prototype to show, we walk through the product, walk through our vision because we are trying to do but if you wanted I need it (the answer) now. It worked.Martin: So you had 5 potential customers. What was the next step?Al: We had credit cards and we spent the next month or two building the product so we built it an early, early version and we said to those first customers “Hey, it is available, just to get you in” And In the early days we focused on person to person training, so we call them up and say, “Hey let me get you into the product. Let me show you how it works.” And we spent with each individual user to show them how it works which is time consuming but you also can hear what is working and what is not working, what they need and what they don’t need. That created a lot off product feedback early. We just did that over and over and over again.So in the first couple of months we probably spoke to hundreds of customers just Jim and just the two of us. Hundreds of companies and hundreds if not thousands of users and just over and over again you get them into the product and get them to use the credit card and you learn quickly what they are really reacting on.I think the other issue, sometimes entrepreneurs have a product, but that willingness to pay means that they (customers) actually value. Sometimes people say, “I like it, it sounds good” but then they actually pay you and so asking for the money early you are able to kind of really gauge what they really value, what they see as interesting. So yes, we were just doing that over and over again.Martin: How did you find the first customers and made them sure?Al: Early on we knew that these are sales teams and so we were thinking “Hey, who do we know that are head of sales?” Fortunately, in our previous history we were connected to some folks that were head of sales. And sometimes it was the folks in our network, in J ames network particularly. But other times it was just cold calling. It was just identifying someone who we knew would be a good prospect and just reaching out.Martin: At what point of time did you say, “Ok, maybe we should raise some external funding”?Al: It was interesting. So about nine to ten months in we have hired our first employees. We initially thought we have the budget for one, but we were really stretching to hire two. It was well on my first few sales wraps. And we spent a few months and Jim really trained them and we could develop the product or work with them and once we found that they were also having success, meaning that we were able to reproduce the success we had then we were like “Wow, this Is working. We just need to add more people to it.” And at that point we said, “Hey we should raise. We had something repeatable, scalable that resonate with customers. Let’s raise some money behind it”.Martin: And how long did the fundraising process take you? Al: It probably took about two days, a couple of days.Martin: Two days!Al: Partially though there is a lot of preparation that goes into it. So, first of all it is everything you have done for the company but also those two days were all about researching the best people to talk to, having connections. There are a couple of weeks of preparation before it, so make sure you are talking to the right people and have the right messaging and everything is kind of really tight. And then really in our first or second meeting, where was I and Aydin (our seed investor9, and it was about a five minutes in and he said, “I want to invest. I want to lead this round” And I said, We haven’t even shown you what we do yet,” and he was like “I have seen enough.”At that point we said, “Wow, somebody is really excited”. We met a few other people that were great investors but didn’t really click as quickly as Aydin did and so he let a round and we met with a couple of other people. SO i t was only a couple of days.Martin: I would have assumed that it was more similar to the sales experience in the first place So you got the two days.Al: That is right! I have found that when raising money,it is important to have a tight window because investors want to see momentum so it is helpful to keep it really fast.BUSINESS MODEL OF CLEARSLIDEMartin: Al, let’s talk about the business model of ClearSlide. What are the typical customer segments that you are targeting and what is exactly the value proposition that you are delivering to them?Al: We target sales and marketing teams primarily in enterprise companies. So anything from a couple of sales reps to a thousand of sales reps, for example Comcast. Generally, the verticals are any enterprise team, but we are heavy in media and technology but also in healthcare and financial services, kind of traditional enterprise teams.The value proposition is basically to make you more productive. We are there to help in your conversation s with your customers, to make those go better but also to give you insights to what happened both for the sales rep and for the sales leadership to understand: Is my message working? Is my approach working? Can I improve things or as a company could we have better messaging to improve things? So we spent a long time on insights and analytics to drive better results behind the scenes as well.Martin: So does that mean that you are integrating with other kind of sales funnel management tools? Or is it that you are providing the sales on a management level as well?Al: We are doing it with CRM primarily which keeps the data from your customers. But we found that we really take over ones the sales rep starts to work with an account. So early in the funnel you have marketing tools that are targeting the customer figuring who the right customer is but they haven’t actually started the conversation. So once the conversation starts we can take over.Martin: Good, and can you also describe w hat the ClearSlide product looks like?Al: In the product is a few main features or functions.One is around speaking to a customer and that is called live pitch and you can use it over the phone and in person. We have both web technology and mobile technology so when you communicate you can use all your collateral power points or PDFs, your video files and present it to the customer.We also have e-mail pitch which is for sending content collateral. So after meeting I might send you a deck. And what I do is I send you a link and you will be able to visit it in a web browser or on your mobile device. When you do I get insights that you opened it and you spent time on slides, what was most interesting to you.Those are really the two key interaction methods either in-person or over the phone or e-mail. But there is also a whole suite on analytics and insights where you can understand both is the customer interested but also you can roll that data to the sales team. So you can say which c ontent is working best, which sales reps are being the most productive. We are actually working on predicting type technology where based on all the data we have we can predict which deals are likely to close or not close so we can help leadership understand what is really happening and be able to manage to coach the team.Martin: Al, how is the revenue model working?Al: So that is one of the great things, at ClearSlide we use SaaS in general. It is a very simple model. It is basically per user. It is a subscription model so enterprise SaaS model where we charge per user per year such type pricing. And it depends on various things with the different packages with pricing but it basically scales up based on the size of your team.Martin: Is it really like on a per year basis or on a per month basis?Al: When we quote a customer we will say on a monthly basis, here is your cost per month. but generally, most of our contracts have an annual commitment or multiyear commitment. When we star ted actually in the early days we were more month to month as we started to get the business growing, but at this point it is mostly annual or multiyear commitment.Martin: Can you give us some insights in the organization? What is the typically the functional split so to speak of the people working here?Al: In ClearSlide, two biggest teams are sales and technology. Our sales teams are spread across three offices in the US â€" here, New York and Seattle. We are thinking about international offices as well. We are both inside sellers which sell over the phone and field sellers which sell in person so it is really based on the size of the deal. If it is a larger deal it really makes more sense to meet in person. If it is smaller, we can settle it over the phone.And then on the technology side we have a lots of development talent, operational talent, IT. Because our product is pretty broad into the technology we offer we do both mobile web, we do analytics and insights, we also do conve rsion and we do gmail plug ins, our plug ins. There is a lot of technology behind the stack, there is lots of different types of developers and technology people in the company. That was all wrapped into our technology team.At that point those two teams are roughly similar in size. So I’d say 40 percent of the company is in the sales and 40 percent is in the technology engineer teams and then about 20 percent is in our support functions.Martin: You seem to have a lot of experience in terms of sales. What are the most important ingredients for a great sales pitch to really close it?Al: To close it?Martin: For real in two minutes or five minutes.Al: I think the biggest thing is to show value. A lot of times people will show the product and show features but it is really important to show the value that you provide to that person. What we often have found is that sometimes sales folks start to a cookie kind of approach and they don’t modify or the type of person they are selling to . If you are talking to VP of sales or CMO or head of finance or CEO those are all very different roles and those roles care about different things. As you begin to customize your approach based on who you are pitching to and the kinds of challenges that they are facing.For a VP of sales rather than talking about e-mail pitch you might talk about how the challenges in scaling a team, how you are hiring the right people, or if you have one sales rep that is productive how do you replicate that across other sales reps. Those are the challenges, those are the things he deals with every day. And so we start with those and show benefits against those and then show the value, then show the actual product behind that as well. But you have to get really emotionally connected to the challenge or the problem that you are trying to face. And so that is probably one of the biggest insights.I think simplicity is key. If you are able to pitch it in two minutes or three minutes and have it be effe ctive than that’s where you get to start. You can always make it longer if they want to dig in but you will have to be able to sink the idea in the early days.Martin: So currently the story of ClearSlide sounds to me like very straightforward. Any roadblocks along the way that you needed to shift around?Al: I think one of the challenging things for us was trying to figure out the right customer segment and how we sell to it along the way. In the early days we were selling to teams of five or ten or twenty and now we found success at 1000 or 2000. And the way you sell to a thousand-person team is very different than the way you sell to a small team.And so one thing that is challenging about the business it has been the breath of customer base and to sell over the phone SMB (small mid size business) it is a lot of different skills and a type of organizational approach and the selling approach is very different along the way. So we were kind of fine tuning that and it has been chall enging.I think there are always people along the way as you grow. Initially as an entrepreneur you try to get that product fit. Once you get that then it really becomes about scaling the people organization and it is really about building the best teams, getting the right people. There are always times when it works or it doesn’t work as you grow and as you grow quickly those things can be challenging at points. I think those two are probably the biggest ones.Martin: Can you elaborate on how are you currently acquiring or doing the sales for larger customers or the smaller customers?Al: How are we breaking in?Martin: Yes, because you said that your sales approach is different between those two segments.Al: The biggest thing when you sell to small companies is the users, the sales reps and the decision maker are very close. They might sit in the same office. It might be a small company of 10 people and there might be 10 reps using the product and their manager is right there and ha s a credit card. And it is a more simplified approach or a faster approach. It can be more driven by the users using the product.In a large company, there may be many levels in between the user and the budget owner. What that means is that you have to sell on multiple levels and you have to be able to get users using it but also get a senior leader understand the budget reasons for doing it and the risks and the rewards and the benefits to that level. So what we have found is it is a sale where you have to at multiple levels and do bottoms up selling and also top down selling where you want to break in high and go low or go low and break in high. If you do those both well everyone up and down the chain is a supporter.We have had situations where we don’t do that well, where maybe the users like the product but the leader doesn’t know why it is valuable or vice versa the leader likes the product but the users don’t know why it is valuable. And that will create friction because you don’t get buy in across the organization. A lot of times the approach needs to have a multiple layer approach for to work effectively.Martin: Imagine, you identified the budget owner and you are pitching him so that you convince him. At some point having this really in parallel for me It is quite hard because you first need to get it into their hands and if the budget owns says, “Yes, now you can do it, then you have some kind of staging: signed off by the budget owner, pushing through all the organization, penetrating the users, and making sure that they are using it. And then have this kind of dual track approach. Or do you see this in another way?Al: It hopefully starts that way. If you start high and go down is also a great place to start. The problem can be if you can’t get the attention initially and maybe after starting low you can get attention high.The other thing we found is even if you get the decision makers initially excited we have seen a lot of buyer approac h these days where they are very collaborative and even though the leader might like it they really want to see that their team has adopted it and likes it: So, I am interested, but you have to prove to me that my team will use it and use it well and I am going to see value from it.”So we often do these trials or pilots program to say let’s get a hundred users using the product and will report back up both back up to the user but also what is the value. Here is some deals we have closed with ClearSlide, this is the value that we drove. And once you meet that you really need everyone on board and those leaders will be looking for feedback from their teams in terms of how effective it was.Martin: What is the typical time of having such a trial period because for you showing some tracktion and usage?Al: It varies. It can be anywhere for smaller companies it can be a couple of weeks and for larger companies it can be a couple of months I’d say. And then showing the value really de pends on sales cycles. Sometimes they will sell very quickly in which case you have got short deals, in other cases the sales take longer so you can show pipeline. Here is the customers that have been moving the pipeline and here is how we have generated a value.Martin: Then basically you are doing an A/B test, so here is how you performed before and now look at the sales pattern and the closing rate and so after using our tool it is like that. So here is the value.Al: Exactly. We show the team how they used to sell or that team and some other teams. What has been great is once you have sales that have gone through the process then they know the value of ClearSlide. So sometimes at that point they just buy it because it has been proven to them. But if you try to show credibility then these are some of the steps that we go through.Martin: And are you seeing a lot of recommendations or referrals because if you are like you said targeting some sales department of company A and some of the sales reps is leaving the company, taking this experience to another company and then having something like inbound sales?Al: Absolutely. One that is specific for sales is they are tend to be very word of mouth driven and they very much get credibility value what the other co-workers use or what the other colleagues use or have used in the past. We have very often seen that work very effectively. Actually our program is here to track when users leave companies and where they go so we can then sell to the new company as well. We find that to be very effective.ADVICE TO ENTREPRENEURS FROM AL LIEB In San Francisco (CA), we meet Co-Founder Board Member of ClearSlide, Al Lieb. Al talks about how ClearSlide was founded, how the current business model works, as well as he provides some advice for young entrepreneurs.INTRODUCTIONMartin: Hi, today we are in San Francisco in the ClearSlide office. Hi, Al, who are you and what do you do?Al: So I am Al. I am the co-founder of ClearSlide and I am an entrepreneur, a lifelong entrepreneur.Martin: Cool!Martin: Tell me about what is your background? What did you do before you started ClearSlide and what is ClearSlide by the way?Al: So I have been an entrepreneur all my life. I came out here to San Francisco in 97 and right out of the school I started the company. So I started Evite which is an online invitation product, it was popular in the days. And really since that I have started a number of companies, ClearSlide being the most recent. so I have never really worked for a company that I didn’t start myself.Martin: What is the connecto r between those different companies?Al: I think for me; I am excited about companies where using technology to communicate with people. There is a lot of technology that is just for technology sake so a faster hard drive or just to make the technology better. But I am very passionate with connecting to people and the way that you can use technology to tell their story and communicate with your friends, your colleagues what have you. That is something I see as very valuable and it is a thing I can get passionate about.So Evite was about getting connected with your friends offline and create parties, and ClearSlide is about communicating with your customers but in both cases it is people that are connecting and talking together.Martin: When did you have this “Aha” moment “Ok, I want to start ClearSlide”?Al: It was funny actually. So I started with Jim, my co-founder and we had worked together at Evite so we had known each other for about fifteen years. And we started with a di fferent idea actually. We were selling something to advertisers, a media product and we found it very hard to tell our story with these media advertisers. You call them up and they say, “You have 5 minutes to pitch me. That’s it.” They give you very little time, it is kind of very competitive market. And we found that nothing, no technology let us tell the story the way that we wanted to or that was really compelling and so we initially created ClearSlide for our own use. A way to tell our story and we started using it with customers and we found that they were more interested in the way we were presenting. They don’t like actually our product but they ask, “What is that? What did you just use? That was kind of interesting.” And that happened two or three times in a row and we said, “Ok, what is this?”What we discovered was in the space of sales sales communication a lot of work could be done around the back office of storing data by your customers but not actually making that conversation better. And so we decided to shift gears and focus on that.I found too that most of the times the best startups are things you want to use yourself and a need that you discover that if you want to use it and be the customer of your product you can really understand and be passionate about it. Same with Evite, the same with ClearSlide as well, it was something that we needed.Martin: Did you change the name from your old idea to the new?Al: We did. It was ShieldMedia before. We changed that very quickly to ClearSlide.Martin: And did you have some other investors in before?Al: No, no. So we have been working and it was early so three or four months in and we just started to get the product going so we actually didn’t get that investors in yet.Martin: And then what was the next three or six months looking like?Al: That was just very interesting. We had this ShieldMedia product and we had ClearSlide and it was important for Jim and I to really prove that there were customers willing to buy ClearSlide. So, I have been involved in business before where it seemed like a promise but there was not actually anyone that really wanted to pay you. We set ourselves a goal to find 5 people willing to give us money. So this was our goal and Jim arranged some conversations with customers and we went to pitch 5 customers in one day. What we did is we call them up and said, “Hey, here is our product. We are going to be doing a Beta in about a month but if you are interested we need a credit card right now.” And we had 5 out of 5, 100 percent in 24 hours.We didn’t have anyone to put the credit cards so we were just writing them down on paper. But we proved ourselves that there were people willing to put money behind this. And so for the next three to six months we just worked on building the product and talking to customers and just Jim and myself. I have been involved in business before where we raised money pretty early. But we really wanted to p rove to ourselves that we can get customers that want to pay for it. I was just us working away for about nine months before we raised any money and by then we really had customers and we had enough revenue we could run profitably actually and then we said, “Hey, this is really the time to scale the business.”Martin: Imagine, I was one of those 5 potential clients. You are pitching to me and you need to convince me that I should not wait like for six months or nine months when you have your really good product ready but I should buy it now.Al: Part of that was to say a couple of things.One was to say, “Listen, we are looking for people to help guide the product and we are looking for feedback from you. Your feedback is going to be instrumental for what we build”and that is interesting for them because they can early be able to guide it.The other thing was kind of a ticking clock when we said, “I need that right now and we are only going to be about ten slots in this beta p rogram and so I need a decision right away”. And that urgency drew up a lot in as well.Martin: So this really mean well in the next two hours or one or two-week time?Al: In that initial point it was on the call. Jim did most of these pitches and it was basically a full pitch. We had a prototype to show, we walk through the product, walk through our vision because we are trying to do but if you wanted I need it (the answer) now. It worked.Martin: So you had 5 potential customers. What was the next step?Al: We had credit cards and we spent the next month or two building the product so we built it an early, early version and we said to those first customers “Hey, it is available, just to get you in” And In the early days we focused on person to person training, so we call them up and say, “Hey let me get you into the product. Let me show you how it works.” And we spent with each individual user to show them how it works which is time consuming but you also can hear what is wo rking and what is not working, what they need and what they don’t need. That created a lot off product feedback early. We just did that over and over and over again.So in the first couple of months we probably spoke to hundreds of customers just Jim and just the two of us. Hundreds of companies and hundreds if not thousands of users and just over and over again you get them into the product and get them to use the credit card and you learn quickly what they are really reacting on.I think the other issue, sometimes entrepreneurs have a product, but that willingness to pay means that they (customers) actually value. Sometimes people say, “I like it, it sounds good” but then they actually pay you and so asking for the money early you are able to kind of really gauge what they really value, what they see as interesting. So yes, we were just doing that over and over again.Martin: How did you find the first customers and made them sure?Al: Early on we knew that these are sales teams and so we were thinking “Hey, who do we know that are head of sales?” Fortunately, in our previous history we were connected to some folks that were head of sales. And sometimes it was the folks in our network, in James network particularly. But other times it was just cold calling. It was just identifying someone who we knew would be a good prospect and just reaching out.Martin: At what point of time did you say, “Ok, maybe we should raise some external funding”?Al: It was interesting. So about nine to ten months in we have hired our first employees. We initially thought we have the budget for one, but we were really stretching to hire two. It was well on my first few sales wraps. And we spent a few months and Jim really trained them and we could develop the product or work with them and once we found that they were also having success, meaning that we were able to reproduce the success we had then we were like “Wow, this Is working. We just need to add more people to it .” And at that point we said, “Hey we should raise. We had something repeatable, scalable that resonate with customers. Let’s raise some money behind it”.Martin: And how long did the fundraising process take you?Al: It probably took about two days, a couple of days.Martin: Two days!Al: Partially though there is a lot of preparation that goes into it. So, first of all it is everything you have done for the company but also those two days were all about researching the best people to talk to, having connections. There are a couple of weeks of preparation before it, so make sure you are talking to the right people and have the right messaging and everything is kind of really tight. And then really in our first or second meeting, where was I and Aydin (our seed investor9, and it was about a five minutes in and he said, “I want to invest. I want to lead this round” And I said, We haven’t even shown you what we do yet,” and he was like “I have seen enough.”At that poin t we said, “Wow, somebody is really excited”. We met a few other people that were great investors but didn’t really click as quickly as Aydin did and so he let a round and we met with a couple of other people. SO it was only a couple of days.Martin: I would have assumed that it was more similar to the sales experience in the first place So you got the two days.Al: That is right! I have found that when raising money,it is important to have a tight window because investors want to see momentum so it is helpful to keep it really fast.BUSINESS MODEL OF CLEARSLIDEMartin: Al, let’s talk about the business model of ClearSlide. What are the typical customer segments that you are targeting and what is exactly the value proposition that you are delivering to them?Al: We target sales and marketing teams primarily in enterprise companies. So anything from a couple of sales reps to a thousand of sales reps, for example Comcast. Generally, the verticals are any enterprise team, but we are heavy in media and technology but also in healthcare and financial services, kind of traditional enterprise teams.The value proposition is basically to make you more productive. We are there to help in your conversations with your customers, to make those go better but also to give you insights to what happened both for the sales rep and for the sales leadership to understand: Is my message working? Is my approach working? Can I improve things or as a company could we have better messaging to improve things? So we spent a long time on insights and analytics to drive better results behind the scenes as well.Martin: So does that mean that you are integrating with other kind of sales funnel management tools? Or is it that you are providing the sales on a management level as well?Al: We are doing it with CRM primarily which keeps the data from your customers. But we found that we really take over ones the sales rep starts to work with an account. So early in the funnel you have marketi ng tools that are targeting the customer figuring who the right customer is but they haven’t actually started the conversation. So once the conversation starts we can take over.Martin: Good, and can you also describe what the ClearSlide product looks like?Al: In the product is a few main features or functions.One is around speaking to a customer and that is called live pitch and you can use it over the phone and in person. We have both web technology and mobile technology so when you communicate you can use all your collateral power points or PDFs, your video files and present it to the customer.We also have e-mail pitch which is for sending content collateral. So after meeting I might send you a deck. And what I do is I send you a link and you will be able to visit it in a web browser or on your mobile device. When you do I get insights that you opened it and you spent time on slides, what was most interesting to you.Those are really the two key interaction methods either in-pers on or over the phone or e-mail. But there is also a whole suite on analytics and insights where you can understand both is the customer interested but also you can roll that data to the sales team. So you can say which content is working best, which sales reps are being the most productive. We are actually working on predicting type technology where based on all the data we have we can predict which deals are likely to close or not close so we can help leadership understand what is really happening and be able to manage to coach the team.Martin: Al, how is the revenue model working?Al: So that is one of the great things, at ClearSlide we use SaaS in general. It is a very simple model. It is basically per user. It is a subscription model so enterprise SaaS model where we charge per user per year such type pricing. And it depends on various things with the different packages with pricing but it basically scales up based on the size of your team.Martin: Is it really like on a per year basis or on a per month basis?Al: When we quote a customer we will say on a monthly basis, here is your cost per month. but generally, most of our contracts have an annual commitment or multiyear commitment. When we started actually in the early days we were more month to month as we started to get the business growing, but at this point it is mostly annual or multiyear commitment.Martin: Can you give us some insights in the organization? What is the typically the functional split so to speak of the people working here?Al: In ClearSlide, two biggest teams are sales and technology. Our sales teams are spread across three offices in the US â€" here, New York and Seattle. We are thinking about international offices as well. We are both inside sellers which sell over the phone and field sellers which sell in person so it is really based on the size of the deal. If it is a larger deal it really makes more sense to meet in person. If it is smaller, we can settle it over the phone.And then on the technology side we have a lots of development talent, operational talent, IT. Because our product is pretty broad into the technology we offer we do both mobile web, we do analytics and insights, we also do conversion and we do gmail plug ins, our plug ins. There is a lot of technology behind the stack, there is lots of different types of developers and technology people in the company. That was all wrapped into our technology team.At that point those two teams are roughly similar in size. So I’d say 40 percent of the company is in the sales and 40 percent is in the technology engineer teams and then about 20 percent is in our support functions.Martin: You seem to have a lot of experience in terms of sales. What are the most important ingredients for a great sales pitch to really close it?Al: To close it?Martin: For real in two minutes or five minutes.Al: I think the biggest thing is to show value. A lot of times people will show the product and show features but it is rea lly important to show the value that you provide to that person. What we often have found is that sometimes sales folks start to a cookie kind of approach and they don’t modify or the type of person they are selling to. If you are talking to VP of sales or CMO or head of finance or CEO those are all very different roles and those roles care about different things. As you begin to customize your approach based on who you are pitching to and the kinds of challenges that they are facing.For a VP of sales rather than talking about e-mail pitch you might talk about how the challenges in scaling a team, how you are hiring the right people, or if you have one sales rep that is productive how do you replicate that across other sales reps. Those are the challenges, those are the things he deals with every day. And so we start with those and show benefits against those and then show the value, then show the actual product behind that as well. But you have to get really emotionally connected to the challenge or the problem that you are trying to face. And so that is probably one of the biggest insights.I think simplicity is key. If you are able to pitch it in two minutes or three minutes and have it be effective than that’s where you get to start. You can always make it longer if they want to dig in but you will have to be able to sink the idea in the early days.Martin: So currently the story of ClearSlide sounds to me like very straightforward. Any roadblocks along the way that you needed to shift around?Al: I think one of the challenging things for us was trying to figure out the right customer segment and how we sell to it along the way. In the early days we were selling to teams of five or ten or twenty and now we found success at 1000 or 2000. And the way you sell to a thousand-person team is very different than the way you sell to a small team.And so one thing that is challenging about the business it has been the breath of customer base and to sell over the ph one SMB (small mid size business) it is a lot of different skills and a type of organizational approach and the selling approach is very different along the way. So we were kind of fine tuning that and it has been challenging.I think there are always people along the way as you grow. Initially as an entrepreneur you try to get that product fit. Once you get that then it really becomes about scaling the people organization and it is really about building the best teams, getting the right people. There are always times when it works or it doesn’t work as you grow and as you grow quickly those things can be challenging at points. I think those two are probably the biggest ones.Martin: Can you elaborate on how are you currently acquiring or doing the sales for larger customers or the smaller customers?Al: How are we breaking in?Martin: Yes, because you said that your sales approach is different between those two segments.Al: The biggest thing when you sell to small companies is the u sers, the sales reps and the decision maker are very close. They might sit in the same office. It might be a small company of 10 people and there might be 10 reps using the product and their manager is right there and has a credit card. And it is a more simplified approach or a faster approach. It can be more driven by the users using the product.In a large company, there may be many levels in between the user and the budget owner. What that means is that you have to sell on multiple levels and you have to be able to get users using it but also get a senior leader understand the budget reasons for doing it and the risks and the rewards and the benefits to that level. So what we have found is it is a sale where you have to at multiple levels and do bottoms up selling and also top down selling where you want to break in high and go low or go low and break in high. If you do those both well everyone up and down the chain is a supporter.We have had situations where we don’t do that we ll, where maybe the users like the product but the leader doesn’t know why it is valuable or vice versa the leader likes the product but the users don’t know why it is valuable. And that will create friction because you don’t get buy in across the organization. A lot of times the approach needs to have a multiple layer approach for to work effectively.Martin: Imagine, you identified the budget owner and you are pitching him so that you convince him. At some point having this really in parallel for me It is quite hard because you first need to get it into their hands and if the budget owns says, “Yes, now you can do it, then you have some kind of staging: signed off by the budget owner, pushing through all the organization, penetrating the users, and making sure that they are using it. And then have this kind of dual track approach. Or do you see this in another way?Al: It hopefully starts that way. If you start high and go down is also a great place to start. The problem can be if you can’t get the attention initially and maybe after starting low you can get attention high.The other thing we found is even if you get the decision makers initially excited we have seen a lot of buyer approach these days where they are very collaborative and even though the leader might like it they really want to see that their team has adopted it and likes it: So, I am interested, but you have to prove to me that my team will use it and use it well and I am going to see value from it.”So we often do these trials or pilots program to say let’s get a hundred users using the product and will report back up both back up to the user but also what is the value. Here is some deals we have closed with ClearSlide, this is the value that we drove. And once you meet that you really need everyone on board and those leaders will be looking for feedback from their teams in terms of how effective it was.Martin: What is the typical time of having such a trial period because for yo u showing some tracktion and usage?Al: It varies. It can be anywhere for smaller companies it can be a couple of weeks and for larger companies it can be a couple of months I’d say. And then showing the value really depends on sales cycles. Sometimes they will sell very quickly in which case you have got short deals, in other cases the sales take longer so you can show pipeline. Here is the customers that have been moving the pipeline and here is how we have generated a value.Martin: Then basically you are doing an A/B test, so here is how you performed before and now look at the sales pattern and the closing rate and so after using our tool it is like that. So here is the value.Al: Exactly. We show the team how they used to sell or that team and some other teams. What has been great is once you have sales that have gone through the process then they know the value of ClearSlide. So sometimes at that point they just buy it because it has been proven to them. But if you try to show credibility then these are some of the steps that we go through.Martin: And are you seeing a lot of recommendations or referrals because if you are like you said targeting some sales department of company A and some of the sales reps is leaving the company, taking this experience to another company and then having something like inbound sales?Al: Absolutely. One that is specific for sales is they are tend to be very word of mouth driven and they very much get credibility value what the other co-workers use or what the other colleagues use or have used in the past. We have very often seen that work very effectively. Actually our program is here to track when users leave companies and where they go so we can then sell to the new company as well. We find that to be very effective.ADVICE TO ENTREPRENEURS FROM AL LIEBMartin: Al, you have started so many companies directly after university. What have been the major learnings for you that you would like to share with first time entreprene urs about really starting and building companies?Al: I’d say one big lesson I have learned is that in terms of ongoing process oftentimes an entrepreneur will have an idea and launch the idea whenever the initial phase is. Sometimes that works well, fantastic, sometimes it doesn’t but then ok, it didn’t work. On to the next thing, right, I am not going to do this. And what I have found is that it is very much iterative optimization type of approach where you have to get out there, try something, see what works, listen to customers very well and then adjust quickly based on that and keep that loop between the feedback you are getting and your product very tight and fast. If you do that effectively you can get better quickly and things can go in a positive direction.I have found that actually one of the biggest drivers of success is the ability to iterate in ongoing way, in a way that really listens to the customer needs more so than anything else.Martin: And what other type of learnings did you have, especially with problems and situations that are most likely to occur when you are an entrepreneur?Al: One of the things for starting entrepreneurs is as companies go through different stages the needs of the companies change and the needs of the kinds of people change, and even the way you spend your times changes.As an example, in two-person company it is all about trying to figure out your vision and the product that you are trying to build and that is all that really matters. Then when you are five or ten and fifteen or twenty, a hundred or two hundred things change and the needs change. One example is what I found is at about 50 people you can know everybody and everybody knows everybody else. There is not a lot of need of process or system and those sorts of things. Once you get 60 or a hundred those things start to break down. Someone gets hired and everybody: “Who is the person that.” And you start to have needing processing more efficiently the channels of how things go through.I think to be sensitive to what your needs are right now the way you need to spend time as an entrepreneur or co-founder, or your team needs to spend time it can change very quickly. And if you are looking for it you can be effective, but if you are not you can get caught behind it and something that was working two weeks ago sometimes isn’t working anymore.Martin: And how did you feel once you have crossed like 50-60 people coming to your office and say, “Actually, I don’t know these people. Is this my company?”Al: I think it started happening around 100-150. Particularly when you are going quickly. Jim and I and other founders definitely wanted in the early days to interview everybody. So up until 50 or a hundred we had interviewed everyone or at least knew it was part of the process. And then there was a point at which you stop doing that.It is tricky too when you do sessions around the vision of the company and we have meetings where we tried to connect with all new people but sometimes on those meetings you go around and you would ask: How long have you been working here?, and they would say: Four months. And you are like “How have we not met yet?” It is a weird feeling for sure once you come across that stage.Martin: Al, thank you so much for sharing your knowledge. It was a pleasure.Al: It was a pleasure to meet you. Thanks for having me.Martin: Thanks, awesome!

Sunday, May 10, 2020

Comparison of Aristotle and Thomas Hobbes Essay - 1044 Words

The foremost difference between Aristotle and Hobbes, and in turn classical and modern political philosophies’, with regard to a good life and happiness is that of normative judgments about the good life. While Hobbes rejects normative judgments about the good life and discusses human actions without attributions of moral quality, Aristotle offers the exact opposite. In Ethics, Aristotle differentiates between good and evil actions along with what the best good, or summum bonum, for all humans while Hobbes approach argues that good and bad varies from one individual to another with good being the object of an individuals appetite or desire, and evil being an object of his hate and aversion. In addition, Aristotle makes it clear that†¦show more content†¦Accordingly, whatever the excellent person finds pleasurable, should be considered the standard for judging individuals moral quality, as stated in the following passage: In fact, however, the pleasures differ quite a lot, in human beings at any rate. For some things delight some people, and cause pain to others; and while some find them painful and hateful, others find them pleasant and lovable†¦But in all such cases it seems that what is really so is what appears so to the excellent person. If this is right, as it seems to be, and virtue, i.e., the good person insofar as he is good, is the measure of each thing, then what appear pleasures to him will also really be pleasures†¦and if what he finds objectionable appears pleasant to someone, that is not at all surprising: for human beings suffer many sorts of corruption and damage. It is not pleasant, however, except to those people in these conditions. The previous passage shows then that the appetites or desires of corrupted people should not be taken into account while discussing the moral quality of an individuals’ actions. Aristotle’s definition of mean, which is having certain feelings â€Å"at the right times, about the right things, towards the right people, for the right end, and in the right way†, clearly states that there is only one right answer to any moral dilemma faced by anShow MoreRelatedJohn Locke And John Stuart Mill s On Liberty Essay1748 Words   |  7 Pages Political philosophers such as, Aristotle and Plato have more of an ancient conception of liberty and the role the individual plays in society and to the state. Whereas, Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, and John Stuart Mill have developed a more modernized conception of liberty and the role of the individual to the state and society. Plato’s work the Republic, and Aristotle’s works of literature Nicomachean Ethics, and Politi cs will be contrasted against Thomas Hobbes’ Leviathan, John Locke’s Second TreatiseRead MoreThe State Is The Pinnacle Of Civilization1600 Words   |  7 Pagestheorists more specifically Aristotle and Thomas Hobbes. At least one thousand years separates these two thinkers, but both have postulated the formation of the state and its contribution to different entities one being the relationship between the individual. Each of their works, Politics and The Leviathan outline differing viewpoints on the formation and the purpose of the state and its importance to politics and government. The highest form of human civilization for Aristotle is the city-state. 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If a man lies, Socrates might have said, he does so because he does not understand the benefits of telling the truth. Five: Inspired philosophers in his own time and in later times to pursue the truth through rigorous analysis of available, facts, opinions, and so on. Two of the most important philosophers in the history of the world, Plato and Aristotle, both esteemedRead MoreBranches of Philosophy8343 Words   |  34 Pagesmoral philosophy, is concerned with questions of how persons ought to act or if such questions are answerable. The main branches of ethics are meta-ethics, normative ethics, and applied ethics. Meta-ethics concerns the nature of ethical thought, comparison of various ethical systems, whether there are absolute ethical truths, and how such truths could be known. Ethics is also associated with the idea of morality. Platos early dialogues include a search for definitions of virtue. †¢ Political philosophy

Wednesday, May 6, 2020

Leadership and Management in Further Education Free Essays

Abstract The aim of this assignment is to carry out a study into the support that managers at College X receive to enable them to feel a sense of satisfaction and value in their contribution to the college and its performance. The assignment reviews academic literature, on formal and informal mechanisms of support including induction, probation, performance management reviews, appraisal, and staff development together with informal methods such as peer support. The reviews, together with the use of primary research, seek to identify if the support offered to staff in college X enables them to feel as valued as the students, the education and training of whom is the core business of the institution. We will write a custom essay sample on Leadership and Management in Further Education or any similar topic only for you Order Now Analysis of the primary research has revealed that the College Executive together with the Governing Body is committed to ensuring effective support is available to managers in an integrated and meaningful way. In so doing ensuring that the performance of the individual and the college continually develop and improve. The main recommendations are that the performance management reviews and staff development support are firmly embedded into the college culture. This will ensure that strategic and operational level managers possess the skills required to effectively respond to the internal and, more importantly, external changes demanded of them whilst enabling them to develop a sense of achievement and job satisfaction. 1. Introduction 1.1 Rationale Further Education Institutions (FEI) have been charged by Welsh Assembly Government (WAG) through DCELLS and Estyn to ensure and make as their main priority that effective learner support mechanisms are in place to enable the learner to learn and succeed in a nurturing, safe and supportive environment. The research for this module will focus on the parity College X bestows on its managers, in respect of its responsibility to nurture and support them to achieve satisfaction in a similar way to its learners. In particular the use of formal and informal support mechanisms: their availability, deployment and level of effectiveness. The term ‘mechanisms’ is used to encompass the College policies and procedures that guide the manager and their teams to work effectively, the processes such as feedback on the performance of managers and the development and recognition required to create a sense of a job well done. According to Locke and Lathen (1976 cited in Tella, Ayeni Popoola) ‘job satisfaction is a pleasurable or positive emotional state resulting from appraisal of one’s job or job experience’. Estyn suggest that ‘Effective college leadership also requires that staff at all levels with leadership and management roles make an important contribution and understand, and are committed to their job roles’ ( Estyn 2010 p 33) in order for this to happen the use of support, training and feedback are required. Support and feedback are ‘essential to the working and survival of all regulatory mechanisms found throughout living and non-living nature, and in man-made systems such as education system and economy’ (Business Dictionary seen 23.3.2011) so should be key to the continual improvement in the institution. 1.2 Research Aims To identify the effectiveness of the support mechanisms available in College X and how these impact on the performance of both strategic and operational level managers to positively increase their work effectiveness and sense of job satisfaction. To analyse the informal and formal methods of feedback, recognition and reward available to all managers to meet the needs of the institution, their personal needs and that ‘support and challenge them to do their best’ (ESTYN 2010 p 35). To examine the use of staff development as a tool for supporting continual improvements in the performance of strategic and operational managers and ultimately the performance of College X. 1.3 Research questions What types of mechanisms are available in the college and to what extent managers are aware of and use these to give and receive support To what extent does the senior management team create and maintain an environment that encourages individuals to feel valued by the institution How does the use of feedback and recognition impact on the improvement of personal performance and accomplishment How effective are staff development opportunities to support the strategic, operational and personal effectiveness of managers 1.4 Research Objectives To identify the types of support available to all strategic and operational managers and their effectiveness in creating job satisfaction. To analyse the effectiveness of the performance feedback managers receive from their superiors. To assess the level of understanding managers have about their individual performance and its contribution to the college performance. To evaluate the effectiveness in the provision of support offered through the use of learning and development opportunities. To identify the processes by which outstanding performance is recognised. 1.5 Delimitations This research is practice based and has used College X as the only institutional focus. Should other researchers wish to use the information or primary evidence questions, anonymity and confidentiality must be assured. 1.6 Ethical Issues/Permission Permission was sought and granted by the Deputy Principal who has overall strategic responsibility for all staff development, performance management and quality. Full consent was given by participants in respect of collecting evidence through primary sources. Anonymity and confidentiality was assured by the author and the use of an electronic survey ensured only information on the responses was collected and not that of the respondent. No ethical policies or institutional regulations have been breached during the research of this assignment. 2. Literature Review Whilst there are many management and psychological theories relating to job satisfaction and the concept of the positive effect of supportive relationships, the size of the body of literature available limits the author to use only some of the major theories as a starting point. The identification of what support is and how it effects job satisfaction is key to the content of this investigation, Soonhee suggests ‘†¦that participative management that incorporates effective supervisory communications can enhance employees job satisfaction’ (Soonhee p1 seen 24.3.2011). The use of management texts, theories, reports and web based materials together with College X’s policies has resulted in a greater understanding in the assumption that ‘†¦management support is seen as a key variable in the psychological well-being of employees.’ (Weinberg Cooper 2007 p160) and therefore need effective mechanisms by which they can support and be supported. Support can be given formally through policies and, as suggested by Everard and Wilson, ‘Recruitment, appraisal and training are three activities which should not be seen in isolation from each other but as part of a comprehensive approach to developing a proficient, well motivated and effective staff†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ (Everard Wilson 2004 p 93). Informal and emotional support and feedback ‘may increase individuals confidence in their ability to deal with the challenges that confront them’ (Wainwright Calnan 2002 p 64) and ‘a well done or an objective signed off as completed can enhance the motivation to perform well in the future’ (Torrington Hall 1995 p318). ‘More and more companies are realising that while they cannot offer a cradle to grave security blanket, they have a responsibility to create an environment that nurtures the individual’s ability to grow and thrive’ (Couillart Kelly 1995 p 255). Maslow’s ‘hierarchy of needs’ addresses an individual’s base needs such as safety and security. In a work environment these can be clean work areas, positive personal relationships and sufficient work time. The use of effective supervisory support can increase ‘self esteem’ needs through recognition, attention and confidence building. And the creation of ‘self actualisation’ can to some extent be achieved through the encouragement of individuals to be creative, demonstrate and utilise their innovativeness. Oldham and Cummings in 1996 (cited in Soonhee p 1 seen 24.3.2011) ‘†¦found that employees produce the most creative outcomes when they work on complex, challenging jobs and are supervised in a supportive, non-controlling way’. To some extent Maslow’s classifications are similar, to the hygiene and motivation factors of Fredrick Herzberg’s two factor theory. As with Maslow, certain basic needs or Hygiene factors such as salary, status, working conditions, policies and psychological support have a direct effect on how a person functions within an institution. Herzberg’s motivational factors are therefore ‘†¦ those aspects of the job that make people want to perform and provide people with satisfaction e.g. achievement at work, recognition and promotion opportunities’ (Kaur Kainth p 7 seen 25.3.2011). Recognition and reward should also be stimuli of job satisfaction, Steers and Porter in 1991 ‘†¦identified the distinction between Intrinsic and Extrinsic rewards – extrinsic arising from an individual’s own sense of satisfaction and from financial benefits (pay, health support) and intrinsic – between the individual and system wide rewards such as pride in the organisation’ (Steers and Porter cited in Gess 1994 p 87). However within the current financial Further Education (FE) environment, extrinsic factors may be limited by college accountability for the use of publicly funded finances. Couillart and Kelly state that ‘whether held implicitly or explicitly, consciously or subconsciously each person has adopted a unique mental system of rewards. And whether informally consistent or not, that reward system is what motivates one on a day to day basis’ (Couillart and Kelly 1995 p 241). This suggests that employees can develop extrinsic and intrinsic rewards though their own and their institutions Mission, Values and Vision. Torrington and Hall suggest that ‘planning the training, development and resources necessary for employees to achieve their objectives is imperative. Without this support it is unlikely that even the most determined employee will achieve the performance required’ (Torrington Hall 1995 p 317). Managers, like students need the opportunity to learn and become proficient in the acquisition of new skills. Therefore, a key function of management is to ‘†¦ develop an ability to help individuals recognise their needs for development and facilitate the professional and personal development needed’ (Murgatroyd Morgan 1992 p 146). The use of formal support mechanisms such as Performance Management Reviews (PMR) enable line managers to guide their subordinates to undertake development however ‘†¦ a systematic and structured approach to identifying individual needs implies that there should be an equally structured approach to responding to those needsà ¢â‚¬â„¢ (O’Connell 2005 p 175). Policies are another form of support available to the manager. Mullins suggests that they ‘†¦clarify the roles and responsibilities of managers and other members of staff and provide guidelines for managerial behaviour’ (Mullins 1985 p 301). Thus they enable a manager to be supported by institutional procedures and respond quickly without having to consult superiors as to the actions they take. This is a form of empowerment and implies a level of trust which has ‘been identified as one of the keys to successful management and indeed positive relationships at work’ (Weinberg Cooper 2007 p 162). The use of informal methods of support can be equally successful in developing job satisfaction, ‘supportive peer relationships at work are potentially more available to the individual and offer a number of benefits’ (Torrington Hall 1995 p 429) including ‘†¦ accessibility, empathy, organisational experience and proven task skills’ (Cromer 1989 cited in Torrington and Hall 1995 p 429). Peer and team meetings also allow managers ‘†¦ to have their say in an impartially led session, thus permitting emotion to be expressed’ (Weinberg Cooper 2007 p 170) Summary The use of formal and informal support enables the manager to work effectively as an individual, as part of a team and organisation. The need for College X to continue to develop responsive support mechanisms that parallel those given to learners is imperative. Senior managements need to ensure that whist the support mechanisms such as appraisal and staff development are in place, the basic physical and psychological needs of security, safety and satisfaction are addressed. 3. Research Methodology 3.1 Research design The use of a case study based on the real working application in College X is the most effective method of undertaking this small scale research. It presents an opportunity to focus on relevant aspects of the formal and informal mechanisms used to support managers at both strategic and operational levels ‘†¦ with a view to providing an in-depth account of events, relationships, experiences or processes’ (Denscombe 1998 p 32). The research methodology centres on the involvement of managers and the mechanisms by which they are supported and how these affect levels of effective performance and job satisfaction. The primary sources of evidence come from a focus group, semi-structured interviews and the use of an electronic survey. The use of the qualitative responses from the focus group and semi-structured interviews contribute to the main bulk of the findings. Each group or individual was interviewed in privacy without the line-manager present to allow for a free and frank discussion, was shown a diagram illustrating the interaction of support systems (Appendix 1). All responses are anonymous and no information from the research sources was distributed or discussed with other participants. Focus Group The use of a focus group with six middle/operational level managers enabled the views of both academic and functional areas across the college to be identified. The managers were specifically selected, as they all have very different job roles and specifications within the college, and were therefore able to reflect on the different types of support they needed and received in respect of ‘clarity of performance goals and standards, appropriate resources, guidance and support from the individual’s manager†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢(Torrington Hall 1995 p 316). Each manager selected contributes to different facets of the strategic plan and where possible each has a different line manager so a possible correlation could be identified in respect of how management techniques and personality affect the support given – no formal measurement tools were used to identify this quantifiably. The participant’s views were given freely and no prompts were given by the interviewer, t his allowed for a free discussion to take place. The results of the discussion are noted in bullet point form in the appendices. Semi–structured interviews Semi-structured interviews were held with the Human Resources (HR) officer; one of the two Vice Principals (VP); two of the four Faculty Directors (FD) and Clerk to the Corporation (CC) (Appendix 3). The findings from the interviews give an insight to the way support and job satisfaction is seen from the perspective of the Governing Body (GB) and how this is cascaded through the College Executive (CE) to the strategic and operational management levels. The questions used for the VP and FD were the same as those used in the focus group (Appendix 3), primarily to identify if there were any differences in the perception of support and job satisfaction across managerial levels. The HR officer (HRO) interview (appendix 4) identified formal college policies and processes in respect of support and job satisfaction. The HRO is currently tasked with reviewing the PMR and is therefore aware of some of the issues being researched. Electronic questionnaire The electronic survey (Appendix 5) was sent to twenty four cross college managers at operational and strategic levels after interviews to prevent prompting. Twenty responses (83%) were returned. As the group of respondents is small, actual numbers not percentages are used. The questions have been formulated as statements to identify the level of understanding felt by the participants, in relation to whether they agreed or disagreed; there is no neutral response as all participants have involvement with the college support mechanisms. The questions used were arranged in sequence from induction through to job satisfaction because ‘†¦ order inconsistencies can confuse respondents and bias the results’ (Mora 2010 p1). Summary The use and responses from the primary research methods enable the author to identify some of the positive aspects and potential issues of management support within College X and to what extent they have in providing a level of job satisfaction to its managers. This together with the literature review will enable a greater understanding of the mechanisms used to ‘respond to the new needs of employees and the environmental changes of the organisation†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦and that which executive leaders and managers should confront to facilitate participative management’ (Soonhee seen 24.3.2011). 4. Findings ‘When a Master governs, the people are hardly aware that he exists. Next, best is the leader who is loved. Next, one who is feared. The worst is one who is despised. If you don’t trust the people, you make them untrustworthy. The Master doesn’t talk, he acts. When his work is done, the people say â€Å"Amazing: we did it, all by ourselves!† (Lao Tzu, translated by Mitchell 1999 p16) The findings of the primary research and literature review seek to identify if the support mechanisms used by the college do in fact enable its managers to gain a feeling of satisfaction or achievement in their job roles without impinging on their sense of autonomy. Formal Support College Policies College policies available on the intranet should give managers instant support in respect of specific issues and procedures. However, to address them they are not always aware that policies exist or how to use them. When a policy is introduced training should be given which as one interviewee responded is â€Å"meaningful and enables line managers to have a clear understanding of the support offered†, this in turn allows them to take ownership, and, for example, no middle managers interviewed were aware the college had a Stress Management Policy, a vital document which would have been useful as several of them have current issues with â€Å"stressed staff†. Induction and Probation College X provides all managers with a range of policies and processes that should offer effective cycles of support through the ‘†¦ three key aspects of effective performance – planning performance; supporting performance and reviewing performance†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ (Torrington Hall 1995 p 317). Formal approaches to the giving of support provide a balance that encourages managers to feel confident and trusted to make the right choices within the confines of college procedures and ‘†¦yet underline the feeling that there is not a stigma in asking for help’ (O’Connell 2005 p174). When participants were asked about the formal processes of induction and probation the responses showed that although the processes were informative and well organised, there were limitations in the effectiveness of ensuring a new post holder felt adequately prepared to undertake their job effectively. These responses may in part be due to the lack of formal standardisation in the way line managers (LM) conduct the induction of new staff. Each adapts the process to suit their sections perceived priorities. Some have very supportive methods e.g. one manager gives new staff a memory stick with guidance to policies and procedures and a list of frequently asked questions. HR arrange a termly focus group to help new appointees, and these according to the HRO could be more timely as they often fail to be of use especially to new managers who have to react to rapid change usually brought about by external demands. The personality of the LM also affects induction and probation, several of the interviewees said their LM had been extremely supportive and that a â€Å"good working relationship had been established†, this was illustrated in the questionnaire responses to question 5. The use of probation periods should allow an open platform for discussion however managers found difficulty discussing negative aspects partly because of fear of grievances being taken out against them. Where there is a conflict of interest, HR will try to match up managers who have the right approach for that subordinate. Performance Management Reviews and Appraisal PMR and appraisal should be the formal drivers of support in an institution, ‘an effective appraisal should not produce surprise: it should be an honest summative statement †¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ (Tranter 2000 p 152) which ‘†¦ offers a number of potential benefits to both the individual and the organisation’ (Mullins 1985 p 639). The PMR used in College X is currently under review as the GB feels there should more analysis of data and dovetailing of appraisal and staff development in the process, a view shared by several interviewees. The CE also recognise that the current provision/policy is not fit for purpose mainly because of the ‘one for all’ documentation which does not reflect the range of activities, duties and responsibilities staff. The questionnaire responses for 6 and 7 identify that PMR is not universally seen as a positive and constructive experience although it gives a positive sense of well being and satisfaction. The current PMR is an annual process; all interviewees felt this was ineffective as it was â€Å"difficult to remember and recognise performance across the year† and the idea of a phased or continual review based on both quantative and qualitative data would be more effective. There were however concerns that constant review could result in the ‘Big Brother’ effect and managers would lose their autonomy. The HRO tasked with reviewing PMR suggested â€Å"there is a need to incorporate appraisal and general performance into the Performance Policy†. As a result of the suspension, managers felt they have had to self evaluate relying on externally set performance indicators; these include Tribal Benchmarking, External Audits, Quality Development Plan (QDP) and the Self Assessment Review (SAR). Formal feedback is essential, as suggested by Herzberg for increased motivation and ‘†¦ for finding ways of challenging and renewing the work of a team so that it can continuously perform at increasingly high levels and transform its work from being acceptable to outstanding’ (Murgatroyd Morgan 1992 p 151). Therefore to ensure managers are challenged and perform effectively the development of a new policy tool is seen by the GB as key to ensuring adequate support is identified and appropriately given. The responses for question 12 indicate that almost half the respondents do not receive the encouragement and challenge to explore learning and new skills that could positively influence their job satisfaction. Appraisal is an effective method of communication, especially in relation to strategic objectives and innovation; it can act as a sounding board for managers to propose the changes needed for team and personal performance, Interviewees, especially at senior levels, felt this mechanism was important however the â€Å"lack of opportunities due to workloads could be frustrating because of the limited time to talk – this is not a criticism, just that everyone is busy†. All interviewees felt a sense of loss because of the suspension as they felt it was as important a means of support for their teams as it was for them. PMR enables the work and innovation of managers to be formally recognised, and the CE and GB encourage feedback of good practice to be formulated as resolutions which are rolled out across the college. Middle managers (MM) questioned felt that although work was recognised by their LM but they felt disheartened when it was not always passed on the senior management. According to HR there should be a formal and consistent vehicle to notify staff of a job well done. The GB do send letters congratulating staff and commendations are minuted. O’Connell suggests ‘†¦we valued the ‘individual’ member of staff and thereby made him or her ‘feel valued’ (O’Connell 2005 p 157). At a recent prize giving ceremony the Principal thanked staff publicly for their hard work as ‘senior management need to recognise, celebrate and reward quality improvements’ (Torrington Hall 1995 p 303). This act made all managers feel proud to be a member of the college. Staff Development and Training (SDT) ‘The job holder is uniquely placed to understand his or her needs, although support and training are likely to be necessary†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ (Wood, Barrington Johnson cited in Goss 1994 p 75). All managers in the college participate in development and training much of which is self motivated. One interviewee commented that they had received more SDT in the first six months of working at College X than they did in their previous employment of twelve years. The GB fully support staff development and have taken the decision to keep the SDT budget high for 2010-11. However they want the college to develop a more synergised approach to SDT by linking the needs of the strategic plan directly to PMR. Question 9 implies that there does need to be more focus on SDT via the PMR, thus supporting the GB’s strategic direction. Interviewees of all levels stated that no external development opportunity was rejected however there appears to be little evidence of how reports on training effectiveness and its methods of utilisation within the college are recorded and distributed, one suggestion for this was the use of SharePoint. SDT targets are set for each unit or school in the college. Most managers felt there was little initial training in operational management skills. It has been proposed that when the new PMR policy is introduced all new management appointees should have to undertake formal training in leadership and management skills, in line with Institute of Leadership and Management (ILM) criteria. Informal Support The majority of interviewees agreed that â€Å"their peers gave them a sense of companionship and support that really helped them in the college†, however others felt isolated due to the nature of the post. The introduction of a mentoring programme could alleviate this by ensuring all managers have the same level of security and collegiality. FDs felt they rarely meet as a group and when they did â€Å"it tended to be due to crisis management, but it does allow us time to talk†. Informal and flexible support that was not rigidly monitored, i.e. an open door policy gave the majority of interviewees and questionnaire participants a sense of positivity and support. All participants emphasised the need for Away Days – planned time when ‘†¦ effective teams will stop working †¦ and review the quality of their ways of working (Murgatroyd Morgan 1992 p 145) enabling those involved to reflect as a group on past performance and develop new initiatives. The concept was introduced by the CE as an opportunity to involve all managers in the development of the college strategic plan. The most recent event enabled the CE and GB to give managers a strong sense of psychological support and security in troubled transformational times and established a shared mission, vision and values (Appendix 6). Summary Through examining key issues it is evident that a well structured management support system is necessary in order for those involved to feel confident and valued and fulfil the performance targets set internally and externally. The development of the new PMR, appraisal and induction processes together with a more integrated approach to SDT should enable managers to function to greater effect. The CE and GB are clearly aware of the need for proactive rather than reactive systems. The last staff satisfaction survey had a disappointing response of only 23.5%. Hence, the GB tasked the Principal, HR and Chair of the HR Committee to identify ways of increasing participation in future, as it is a key indicator of how the college is viewed as well a measure of job satisfaction amongst its employees. Effective PMRs, development and training, attention to the emotional and physiological needs of being valued, trusted and empowered should therefore create ‘†¦ confidence, loyalty and ultimately improved quality in the output of the employed’. (www.emeraldinsight.com seen 23.3.2011). Conclusion The aim of this assignment was to identify the effectiveness of the formal and informal support mechanisms available to all managers of college X. And if the psychological, social and development needs of employees are supported to the same extent as that of its students. From the results of the primary research it is evident that the available support does enable managers to carry out their day to day job roles. However this is not consistent across the college and the experiences of managers varies greatly, as one interviewee said â€Å"if you open me up I will have the college name through me like a stick of rock† illustrating the feeling of well being and genuine job satisfaction created by good support†. However at the opposite end of the spectrum, another commented â€Å"there is no incentive – when you do introduce something innovative someone higher usually takes the credit and gets recognition†. Students have a plethora of support including; course tutors, learning coaches, counselling and financial support. To some extent this research does suggest that the majority of managers do have comparable support from their superiors, use of HR expertise and staff development. It is not sufficient to just have those resources, it is how their effectiveness contributes to the improvement in performance of the managers they support. Managers at all levels receive feedback on strategic or operational targets and indicators that is the priority although much of the feedback is ‘ad hoc’ and not recorded although many managers liked this informal approach. Ensuring feedback is regular and consistently applied coupled with finding the appropriate time and arena is proving to be a more difficult aspect to resolve. The autonomy given to managers by the CE permits them to carry out their duties in a way they see fit, as one interviewee said â€Å"I’m paid to do the job, not continually ask what is to be done†, another commented â€Å"trust is absolutely a positive aspect, although there is no direction from my line manager, I feel empowered†. Trust and value in the individual’s judgement is seen by the majority of managers as implicit for the mature and positive work environment at college X. The current support mechanisms are suggested by interviewees, as somewhat inadequate and outdated in respect of the feedback and development they need to undertake the roles and performance demanded of them in the fast changing climate of FE. Fletcher suggests that ‘†¦ all systems have a shelf life – perhaps changes are required to the system to renew interest and energy †¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ (Fletcher cited in Torrington Hall p 327) and it is evident that the GB and CE are pro-actively committed to creating an environment where all supportive systems are integrated, have meaning in their relationships and recognise positive contributions from the individual employee and their effect on the performance of the institution as a whole. 4. Recommendations At the end the focus group and interviews, all participants were asked what changes they would like implement so as to create a more supportive work environment which promotes job satisfaction. Many of these concur with the findings of the research undertaken. Develop a system of mentoring and continue more effective induction and probation periods, which is timely and enables new managers to have first hand guidance and support in respect of college procedures and procedure thus enabling them to undertake their duties effectively from the very start. Improve lines of communication in respect of the recognition and distribution of good practice by developing greater use of peer groups so that managers of all levels do not work in isolation benefit from the support of others. And increase the use of ‘away days’ to inform, give direction and feedback to strategic and operational managers thereby engaging everyone in the improvement of performance in college. The anonymous data and findings collected for this research should, with the permission of all interview and questionnaire participants contribute to the current review of the PMR and appraisal processes. Introduce effective methods of development and training to ensure all managers are aware of and confident in the use of procedures identified in college policies, this has been identified by the GB as a priority. Establish through a skills audit or needs analysis a programme of management training for the next academic year in relation to actual issues such as conflict training, people management and motivational skills thereby ensuring their subordinates are effectively supported and managed. Develop a system that enables the information and knowledge gained from development and training events is available for circulation amongst managers and appropriate measures are introduced to ensure value for money and positive outcomes in performance. Use the findings of this report to act as a foundation for further research and literature review in preparation for dissertation. References Couillart, F. J. Kelly, J. N. (1995) Transforming the Organisation. New York. 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