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Human Resources Homework Final Oleg Andreev (Revised)
Human Resources Homework Final Oleg Andreev (Revised)
My development story started at Acord Plus private school of English where management was very low
on teachers. I had some acquaintances there and they recommended me to the HR as a good candidate for
an eventual English teacher position, as I was attending the college at an English department and spent
two years in California.
During the first month I felt great about the new job and I believe I quickly jumped from D1 level to D3
or D4 as I was very confident about what I was doing and felt like Im performing very well. The
following month happened to be much more challenging. The management gave me one more group,
which by the way was an advanced level group. Preparing the lesson for two groups simultaneously
wasnt easy, taking into account that I was attending college as well. During this period I started to feel
desperate as I understood that I havent been performing as good as I was expected. (so this is where D2
steps in) The advanced group turned out to be a bitter task for a beginner, as I had to be very careful on
my speech, pronunciation as well as on my grammar. The group was good so I felt responsible to
demonstrate that theres a professional in front of them. There was nothing as stressful as running for the
first time ever the course of advanced English.
I was so disappointed that I was counting every single minute until the end of the course. The worst part
was that I couldnt tell management this issue as they would have considered that Im not a good teacher
or the task is too tough for me.
At the time when I thought theres no way it could be worse the management gave me three groups. So I
was waking up at 6:30 am and coming home at 11 or 11:30 thus studying for university and preparing
these three lessons during the night or on the bus.
It was a hell of a month so I couldnt sustain more and went to the management with a request to give me
one or maximum two groups a month. They agreed so I continued teaching one or two groups.
As time passed I got my confidence back, I started to perform much better within advanced groups as I
absorbed that necessary experience. After half a year I became fully professional with any kind of groups
I learned tips and tricks of teaching and presenting the subject. I was happy about the job, as students
started to obtain very good results. It was a signal for me that its my merit and that my hard work is not
in vain. This is where I got back on track on the D3 or D4 level.
The management had a mentor leadership style, which was not appropriate for a beginner. Their biggest
mistake was that they unleashed a huge load of work on a newbie(despite the fact that I had lectures at the
university at that time as well), they also gave me an advanced group at the very beginning which wiped
out all my confidence.
Oleg Andreev
Homework #2 Feedback
For this task I chose my course-mate Naila Aghayeva. After the feedback session we both
understood that we have Problem-Solving skill as we like to provide solutions, manage the
situations at hand and see the possible opportunities and means that you can remove a specific
obstacle that hinders the possibility to achieve a result. Both of us can effectively resolve
complex problems that require substantial, in-depth analysis, we can quickly identify key issues
and find ways to condense large amounts of information into a useful form as well as
anticipates the consequences of difficult situations.
The hardest part was to go into some quite personal questions about previous or current job
experience, we both had to be very careful when providing feedback in order not to make
the feedback personal but lets say technical, regarding a behavior.
I liked that theoretical elements concerning feedback turned out to be very true and practical.
In this manner I confirmed the necessity to be as specific as possible as when I was giving a
more general feedback about her communication or leadership as a whole, she couldnt
really perceive the right way my idea, so we have to be very specific.
For me the most useful take away was that you have to know
how to receive a feedback and to know how to react when someones expresses his/her
opinion regarding my behavior or specific skill, I have to turn off my emotions and think of
it as a technical element and not something personal.
Also I improved my constructive critique tolerance, as I understood that a negative feedback
is also fruitful tool in human resources management.
Oleg Andreev
Homework #1 Competences for a new hire
Oleg Andreev
Homework #1 Competences for a new hire (part II)
Homework # 4 Strategy
Acord Plus goal is to offer optimal conditions for the students to get maximum results. We
know that the best school of foreign languages Acord Plus is the most suitable way to learn
English, French, Spanish, Russian and many other languages.
At the same time The School takes seriously the need for external
Engagement, recognizing the strong track record and further potential of Modern Languages
research in regard to opportunities for Knowledge Exchange and engagement with the core
goal to provide best service available on the market. We feel committed to provide best
learning facilities as well as native speakers as our astonishing teachers staff.
The process of change where I was involved as a member of the company happened at my
previous job at Acord Plus Private School of English.
The top management decided to switch to a completely new marketing strategy where all the
teachers and managers had to be involved.
New marketing strategy included:
1. New improved website with facebook plugin and direct online contact with every
teacher.
2. Facebook page
3. YouTube ads/Google search ads/
4. Facebook shares three times a day of relevant content on a special teacher facebook
profile
5. Friend requests to all students and photo tags when taking pictures with the group
6. Likes of every shared relevant content by the other teachers or managers
The need of change of the marketing strategy indeed came as a result of these three factors
described in Beckhard-Harris change model. Therefore, specific conditions have to be met in
order for the change to occur.
These conditions are:
1. Dissatisfaction (D) with the current state (of whatever the focus of change might be),
and,
2. A clear and shared Vision (V) of a preferred future
3. An acceptable First Steps (F) Roadmap to achieving the Vision, and the product of D x V
x F is greater than the existing Resistance (R) to change among those whose support is
required for successful implementation.
Dissatisfaction occurred when new competitors entered the market and slowly started to take
over the client base. The top management had to act fast and smart. They hired a consulting
company that developed a good marketing plan in order to keep business on track.
The Vision was shaped by the need to get the companys customer base back and be
competitive on the market as well as improve profits as a result of a better service
The first steps occurred the board management set up a meeting in order to come up with a
decision of future development which has been followed by the decision to hire business
consultancy company.
Resistance was quite high, however as the formula of change possibility shows D*V*F>
resistance has to be lower than the common value of other three elements.
To adapt and implement the new strategy, as a teacher was pretty difficult as we (the
teachers) didnt perceive the marketing as our job obligation and didnt see how it makes a
difference. However, the management was very strict about the new policy and were
enforcing the new facebook rules.
At first it was weird and I was sometimes forgetting to post content and perform all this job
on facebook but management supplied their bonus system with add-ons to the salary if you
perform job on facebook with commitment.
After two months of implementation of new strategy and of bonus system we(the teachers)
became accustomed with marketing part of the job and even found self-posting software.
In the end companys approach turned out to be very successful and now its one of the
leading schools on the market.