Research Paper
In some of the election activities that SO provides ill include voter registration, news of upcoming elections, and information on prior elections, voting in California, Ballot measures, voting systems, as well as Publications and resources. Political reform activities include Campaign finance, Lobbying Activity and finance, plus Electronic filing information. Business programs that the organization provides are Notary public, Trademarks and Service Marks, Victims of Corporate Fraud compensation fund, special filings, Uniform Commercial Code, and various forms and fees.
Other services such as Archives provided by SO include California museums, the Minerva online catalog, and State Archive collections. The SO has many departments, with each department having their own mission statement. Although for the entire organization, the mission statement is stated as such ‘To collect, catalog, preserve and provide access to the historic records of state governments and some local governments. “(SO website) Since SO is an organization of the government, there are no other competitors in the industry giving the organization a complete advantage.
With no threat of competition the organization can Ochs on hiring and developing the best employees, which can improve the overall effectiveness of the jobs the organization performs. The effectiveness of their employees with the acquired knowledge from the improved training programs, employees will not only improve the quality of the organization but as well as the organizations that require the Sow’s activities. SOOT Analysis: STRENGTHS Promoting ethical conduct Availability of information for harassment and discrimination awareness.
Experienced workforce in tasks and major duties(Compiling, filing, and footwear skills) Management and leadership skills. Attractive & flexible employment WEAKNESSES Employee Morale and motivation is low. Lack of training for students’ skills development. No benefits such as vacation pay, medical, or dental. No opportunities for full-time promotion. Awareness training does not provide relevance to the job. OPPORTUNITIES Top tier employees can be used to construct a training program.
Create awareness and feedback more frequently Create task variety Internal hiring and promotion THREATS Budget cuts Repetition is costly for the organization. Staff turnover SOOT ANALYSIS CONTINUED: The SOOT Analysis captures the key strengths and weaknesses within the company, and describes the opportunities and threats facing Student Assistant-Lead Assistant for the Secretary of State. Strengths: A key strength for the SO is employees are required to observe high ethical standards in official relationships and on the job by depart policies. There is a general guidance employees can refer to with specific examples.
The SO also provides detailed information on sexual harassment and discrimination awareness. The SO provides a harassment free environment to effectively UN the workplace. Another distinctive strength is the SO in having an experienced workforce in tasks and major duties such as compiling, filing and software skills. There is thorough on the job training for current and potential employees who may not possess these skills. The SO has a strong management and leadership skills through the knowledge of every business form, policies, as well as background information and systems.
These skills allow management to be in the top position of leadership and management skills. Lastly, employees are offered attractive and flexible employment which an help with costs for the SO and less absenteeism and higher retention from employees. Weaknesses: Although the business has several strengths, there are some weaknesses that prevent them from maximizing their success. First, Employee morale and motivation is low due to upcoming changes for the possible budget cuts expected to occur in the summer of 2013.
These upcoming changes will make it difficult for the organization to receive positive attitudes from their employees. At the same time, trying to motivate the employees to work and perform efficiently may be much more difficult for the organization. Another weakness is there is lack of training for students’ skills and developments. Training is limited to on the job and can lead to employees not attaining personal growth, organizational culture, and declined work of quality. There are no package benefits on health, dental, and vacation pay offered to student-lead assistants.
A problem with this is it does not give employees the flexibility or keep them happy which can lead to less productivity. Also, there are no opportunities for student-lead assistants who can lead to a negative organizational culture and a high turnover rate of employees due to the lack f benefits. Finally, awareness training does not provide relevance to the student-lead’s job. Assistants are able to not only learn and perform each task accurately and do not help develop employees skills which is a weakness.
Opportunities: The SO has an opportunity to adjust the current training program with the help from top tier employees to gain feedback. This will provide a more comprehensive and accurate depiction of the work environment responsibilities. Also, the SO should create awareness and feedback more frequently to make any necessary changes in the department and allows management to See what is working and what can be improved upon. If management creates more task variety, this will lead to more worker involvement and through increased job satisfaction and a decline and employee turnover.
Last, there is an opportunity for internal hiring and promotion. This will less expensive for promotion because employees already and have the training needed, less time needed, and will show loyalty from employees to the organization. Threats: The first major threat to the SO is the proposed budget cuts. The results of these changes will drastically change the attitudes of current and new employees. Current employees would be unsure if they would be replaced and new employees would be unsure if they would have a job after the budget is signed.
These upcoming changes will make it difficult for the organization to receive positive attitudes from their employees. At the same time, trying to motivate the employees to work and perform efficiently may be much more difficult for the organization. This will result in a loss of production and money to train student assistants. Also, repetition on job training and awareness training can be very costly for the organization. These raining sessions may be considered a waste of money because students employees cannot apply this knowledge to their work and it results in a loss of production.
Last, high staff turnover is a threat to the organization and is a waste of time spent on training and affects the organizations bottom line. Inadequate wages is a result of this and employees have a lack of commitment to the organization which may lead to resentment because employees feel less appreciated. The Human Resources Management (HARM) of Secretary of State (SO) is very active and always striving to better the organization. Furthermore, they frequently try to promote in employee’s development and to improve their strategies.
The HARM encourages SO staff internal recruitment by sending emails, and providing training sessions for exams. The Secretary of State’s HARM main activities are employee health and safety, staffing, and performance appraisal and management. These activities are used to assist the organization to meet their mission with consistency and efficiency. The organization is a government service for businesses so; it does not have any competitions. While Secretary of State is trying to remain efficient and insistence, they are facing several obstacles such as, backlogs.
In addition, there are budgets cuts, probability of laying off students and training issues. Recruitment methods Running a thorough job analysis will provide a proper systematic process of gathering information for the job. SO is a governmental agency and does not have external customers, thus job analysis methods should be constructed on the demands of internal customers. In this case, the appropriate level of their relative importance, relative frequency, or essentialist to the position (Oriole 95). Clarifying the necessary Cassocks will be the next step.
Once the identification of tasks and Cassocks are completed, an accurate job description and specification may be constructed to capture the true nature of the position and avoid further confusion to current and prospective Student Lead Assistants. As a benefit future employees will be better equipped to handle the task assigned as prospective workers may be screened out if they do not fit the job specifications. Instead of hiring and putting effort to train new applicants, we recommend SO to use their internal recruitment channels. Hiring part time and full time from their student staff will benefit
