Bespoke course design for Veolia

Employability and Skills Week

Guest Lecture Series

Enterprise Coaching supports start-up of Polish restaurant

On the right tracks with Silverstone

02 04 1008 11

Business Magazine

In this edition....................................................................Bespoke course design for Veolia.....02

NBS Corporate Partnerships and Consultancy.....03

Employability & Skills Week.....04

Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTP) explained.....05

Tapping into talent.....06

Enterprise Coaching supports start-up of Polish restaurant.....08

In Focus - Tim Peacock.....09

Hosting the Bank of England’s regional presentation.....10

Emotional strain of ‘service with a smile’.....11

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Published by Northampton Business School. T. 01604 892036 E. businesswise@northampton.ac.uk

Editors: Hayley Hunter and Michelle Smith. Design: Stampwww.northampton.ac.uk

Every effort has been made to ensure that all of the information contained in this edition of BusinessWise is correct a the time of going to press. Please note that The University of Northampton accepts no liability for the accuracy of statements in this and other marketing publications.

Welcome from the

Executive Dean

We are proud of the strong links we have with industry and commerce and are delighted to present you with the latest edition of BusinessWise which focusses on the many ways we work with employers from a wide variety of sectors.

The Centre for Employability demonstrates our commitment to ensuring graduates meet the future needs of employers by embedding employability throughout the curriculum. To complement this the opportunity of work based learning enables students to gain valuable skills from placement and internship opportunities. We highly value the contribution of employers and would like to thank all those who have given their time to deliver presentations and in doing so enhancing the student experience. In addition a wide range of organisations have offered students valuable skills such as hosting mock interviews and providing feedback on CV construction.

We continue to develop corporate partnerships which enable businesses and organisations to benefit from the skills of academic staff and graduates; furthermore we provide bespoke executive education programs and consultancy services nationwide. Northampton Business School is increasingly becoming a vibrant and exciting, truly international business school with students, business clients and partners from around the world.

Dr. Ian BrooksExecutive Dean, Northampton Business School

@ianbrooks6

BusinessWise - Business Edition Page 2

Corporate

Bespoke course design for VeoliaWorking with John Sinclair, Deputy Dean of the School of Applied Science, Linda Lee-Davies from Northampton Business School met with Campus Veolia at Veolia Waste Management to negotiate their management development needs. Linda designed a modern blended Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) delivery that was paperless which respects Veolia’s environmental ethic. As a result 42 new post graduate part-time DMS students were enrolled. Linda and Emma Wynne have inducted and delivered the first five modules in Altrincham, Wolverhampton and London to carve the way forward with this new way of paperless teaching

and are keen to involve and train others to do the same.

Directors and staff from Campus Veolia have provided very positive feedback, commenting that this new method is refreshing and very different to their experiences of other University courses elsewhere. They have also found our staff to be cutting edge in terms of current, practical business knowledge in addition to benefitting from our own research publications.

Linda Lee-Davies says. “This is definitely the way forward for part-time professional students. We must react quickly to their

needs and design products that flex to their schedules as well as stimulate them to apply theory to their own working environment. We provide a lot of electronic formative feedback and communications for these students who work all over the UK and often abroad for Veolia and have managed to keep to our 48hr response service level promise to them. This was our suggestion which appealed to Veolia along with our own mix of commercial/academic experience.”

Treading the boards at The Castle TheatreThe Executive Director of The Castle Theatre in Wellingborough approached Northampton Business School regarding a search for quality, senior board members to contribute to the arts community. We were able to supply a range of quality CVs from academic colleagues as well as some of our local MBA alumni. The Castle’s first recruit was Linda Coles, Lecturer in Leadership & HR who was instantly praised for her quick contribution regarding HR matters.

Linda Coles was then joined by Chris Gaskill of The Ambulance Service and Morgan Baxter from Nationwide Building society, both previous NBS management students. Shortly after this Adrian Pryce, Lecturer in Business and Economics joined the Board providing strategic inputs and rounding off a very strong team.

MBA student helps Age UKAge UK approached Northampton Business School with a vacancy looking for someone to act as a consultant in restructuring the fundraising strategy for them. Wendy Hoult a final year MBA student volunteered to take this opportunity and use the final consultancy report towards her change management module and provide Age UK with the modern strategic thinking we teach. The CEO of Age UK is delighted we were able to fill this quickly and with such a high calibre candidate.

Wendy commented “This has been a great opportunity for me to give something back to the community and at the same time work towards my MBA. Being able to see other organisations at work; understanding their objectives, strategies and principles, links the theory of the MBA with real life.”

Wendy Hoult

Linda Lee-Davies commented on both these projects “For NBS - being a driving force at the heart of the community in which the University sits is important and how delightful - to have senior, capable staff, students and alumni channel their efforts and even their course work into local and national social enterprise.”

Following a push by NBS Corporate to transfer academic knowledge into the local business community, four Corporate Partnerships have been set up in the last six months. Client liaison, recruitment and re-gearing some internal processes to accommodate commercial needs resulted in establishing a successful method of ensuring businesses and academics work closely together while providing good level employment for our students.

Linda Lee-Davies comments –“ Northampton Business School has some very talented academics with real business experience of great value to the business community. Furnishing them with an opportunity to do this has been as much a pleasure as seeing our talented students secure high quality work experience to set off on their career.”

Ross Thompson is completing a marketing audit for Autopa on a consultancy basis giving a post graduate student Monika Bhatia some work experience at the same time. Presented to the Board, the results will be incorporated in the Strategic Plan.

Gil Ogilvie-Johns has started a six month consultancy contract to embed a new and proactive marketing strategy with an emphasis on developing social media as a key tool to enhance customer relationships for Working Transitions. Having helped recruit a post graduate student – Parag Shah and set the direction for research for the company, Gil will also be ensuring Parag benefits from increased employability using this direct work experience.

Kardi Somerfield has finalised the contract for a new marketing consultancy project for a year with a newly graduated student who starts 2012 off with a new and exciting role.

NBS corporate partnerships and consultancy

Leadership by inspiration and motivationNBS Corporate Training with Northampton Borough Council

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Corporate

Cobblers satisfaction surveyHot on the success of the economic impact study carried out for Northampton Saints Rugby Club. Alan Seymour (Sports Marketing) and Ross Thompson (Business & Economics) have been commissioned to undertake a similar survey, this time focussing on customer satisfaction at Northampton Football Club (Cobblers). The field work involving student interviewers is being carried out in January and February after which Alan and Ross will analyse the data and present their findings to the client.

Hugh Davenport and Linda Lee-Davies were invited to address 120 managers from Northampton Borough Council in the presence of CEO, David Kennedy in the splendid surroundings of the Great Hall in the Guildhall. The topic of leadership by inspiration and motivation was requested. In an energetic session which included juggling, illustrating how important it was to gain and balance willing effort from followers and understand them, managers were able to differentiate basic administration from real leadership abilities. Feedback was very positive and both Linda and Hugh have been invited back to provide input into future training programmes.

Renée Bullock, Human Resources & Organisational Development Manager from Northampton Borough Council said “I wanted to take this opportunity to express our thanks for the inspirational and motivating session yesterday. The feedback has been very encouraging. Delegates left yesterday with a skip in their step and a smile on their face. I have had a number of emails expressing the fact that the session moved them to think differently about their roles.”

Consultation presentaion to Autopa

Throughout the week we are organising a series of activities including:

• Working in the Creative Industries- Thursday 23rd February 2012, 11am – 2pm. Host a stand and talk to our students about working in the creative industries, provide hints & tips on networking, self employment, run a workshop, or discuss any volunteering or work experience opportunities you may have.

• Professional Part Time Jobs Fair – Friday 24th February 2012, 11am – 2pm. Are you looking to employ current students within a professional part time job? Do you have opportunities in or near to Northampton?

• Meet the Employer- Host a stand in our Library Foyer & speak to our students about the opportunities that you may have available when they graduate.

If you would like to support us during Employability and Skills Week, please do not hesitate to contact the University’s Careers & Employability Service on 01604 89 2727 or email careers@northampton.ac.uk

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Employer collaboration

Employability & Skills Week 2012 builds on the success of the 2011 Event.The purpose of the week is to encourage all our students to consider their employability skills in terms of their future employment and for them to meet a host of organisations to discuss the professional and future opportunities on offer.

What is happening?

A week packed full of activities & workshops designed to help students to start to think about their future career. Is this something you could support us in achieving...?

JOIN US FOR

EMPLOYABILITY

& SKILLS WEEK

Monday 20th- Friday

24th February 2012

We look forward to working with you...!

CV improvement workshopsThe Careers and Employability service offered a series of CV improvement workshops to NBS students preparing to apply for placement opportunities in the coming year.

The workshops enabled students to:

• reviewCV’snottouchedsince secondary school;

• eliminate the common mistakes that placement and graduate recruiters regularly comment on;

• focus and target applications, tailoring them for each placement role applied for;

• expand the number of employers, sectors, placement roles and geographical locations applied for.

The workshops explained how students could ensure CV’s and cover letters match and mirror the core values and beliefs of the organisation they were applying to and to emphasise the importance of prior research of the organisation.

Other topics covered included correcting common errors such as grammar, spelling, punctuation and sentence construction, reflecting on the conversational nature of a CV; in other words, a written dialogue with someone who has neither met you or knows nothing about what you have achieved.

The session also helped students to think through the range of placements they could target. To think through what they might be asked to do during their year out and how they might reflect on this

period of personal growth and professional development upon their return to university.

For many, it was perhaps the first time anyone had confronted and challenged them to really think through what it was they wanted to achieve from their ‘Investment’ of time and money, and the scope of their future ‘Return on Investment’.

For others, it meant a complete re-evaluation of the sectors, employers, roles and even the location of their placement. In essence, many students really expanded the number of possibilities and pathways open to them; a truly fantastic result.

Overall, the sessions sought to tease out many of the typical errors recruiters consistently comment on and to provide support and constructive feedback to the students looking to secure their placement.

Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTP) is a UK-wide programme which enables businesses and organisations to benefit from the skills of academic staff and graduates. There are many benefits of knowledge transfer and using the case study of Tingdene Homes we can see how a KTP benefits the company, the associate (student/graduate), the academic and Northampton Business School (NBS).

Benefits for the CompanyKTP projects critically analyse current business processes and researches and advises on better ways of delivering the product or service. An Associate and an Academic see processes from the point of view of “what can be” rather than “what has always been”. This fresh perspective often leads to significant improvements which have bottom line impact for the company.

Ian Wilkins, Managing Director of Tingdene approached NBS to formulate a strategy and commented,

“The uniqueness of the KTP programme has afforded Tingdene the synthesis of not only a highly motivated graduate but also the intrinsic academic support of the University. Together we challenged our production principles; long term Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) were re-evaluated and ultimately this helped formulate a manufacturing vision for the future.”

Benefits for AssociatesWorking under the supervision of the Academic, the project provides the associate with experience of a fast-track, highly visible, strategically significant project which is an excellent way to start their business career. Such a career development process would take years in a normal job role. Jose Garza-Reyes was Tim’s associate on the Tingdene KTP

“I can positively say that my experience on the Tingdene KTP was a major factor in my recruitment to the post of Lecturer in Manufacturing

at Derby University, when the project finished” Jose Garza-Reyes

Benefits for the AcademicEngagement in such projects refreshes the academics awareness of current business issues and challenges. It makes academics keep their own skills up-to-date and their research focus relevant. It provides real business case studies for use in the classroom. When students want contacts to collaborate with, to do research dissertations, academics have a network available. They also gain real life field case material for their own research and future academic papers. Benefits for Northampton Business School Maintaining practical contact in the business community enables NBS to see what the business community needs. Tim Peacock, Senior Lecturer – Business and Economics, has been able to add BA Events Management and MSc Management (International Logistics) to NBS’s programme portfolio in recent years. These have come as a direct consequence of keeping actively in touch with local business.

Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTP) explained

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Employer collaboration

Employer engagement is of enormous importance to Northampton Business School and its students. It is through the interaction with employers and employees that students are able to develop their work-based skills and become ready for the world of work.

It’s not just the students who benefit from this collaboration. As an employer you will be tapping into a pool of enthusiastic, energetic people who are passionate about their subject area and will form tomorrow’s workforce.

There are plenty of ways local businesses and business leaders can engage with the University of Northampton’s Business School:

As a Visiting LecturerDeliver a presentation to students on your business, current organisational issues or career paths in your business or sector. The time commitment is one 50 minute session to include the presentation and questions/answer session.

As an interviewer in a Mock Interview ProcessAct as an interviewer to enable students to practice and develop their interview techniques. The time commitment is

three hours for a series of interviews plus preparation reviewing CVs before the interviews.

As a host organisation for a student visitProvide a short visit to your premises for students to help them understand your organisation, processes and operation. Time commitment is three+ hours per event.

As a provider of work experience opportunitiesProvide a one week/40 hour work experience in a functional area related to undergraduate studies within the Business School. Time commitment is five working days/ 40 hours plus preparation for each work experience opportunity.

As an employer of students as part-time staffProvide opportunities for students to undertake work in your organisation up to a maximum of 15 hours per week.

As a provider of a short summer internshipProvide a 12 week, full-time internship during the summer months (June – September) based on a real job or project.

As a provider of a 12 month, full-time placementProvide a full-time, 12 month placement. Each role to be based on a real job and/or project.

Julia Schumacher - Ambassador & Business Partnership Manager at Northamptonshire Enterprise Partnership

“Engaging directly with the students at Northampton Business School is the perfect way for employers to influence the attitudes and capabilities of young people, this type of engagement encourages students to become more enterprising and helps them to understand the importance of employability in the work place. Employers such as Avon, Barclaycard, Carlsberg, Mercedes as well as many smaller local companies have willingly given their time to take part in activities such as lecturing, conducting mock interviews and offering work placements, a rewarding experience for the employer and vital for the personal and professional development of the students.”

If you would like to get involved or find out more contact Helen Ure – Academic Consultant, NBS Centre for Employability Helen.ure@northampton.ac.uk

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Employer collaboration

How you can get involved

Tapping into talentMatthew Pouncey a final year BA Management student is the President for the Bright Futures Society at the University of Northampton and was keen to tell BusinessWise readers about the Society.

“Bright Futures is a non-profit graduate recruitment specialist and is the UK’s leading career-focused student led society. The society aims to promote and enhance graduate employability to the students of the university by bringing them into direct contact with top graduate recruiters from a wide range of sectors and by providing them with the best preparation for getting their graduate job and succeeding in the world of work. We provide employers with the chance to present, meet and work with our students. If you are thinking of hiring graduates in the future it is an ideal opportunity to promote your company or job role, network with students, academic staff and other organisations. Companies such as KPMG, AON, Deloitte, IBM, Nestle, Rolls-Royce and a wide range of SME’s are already partnered with Bright Futures.”

Gwenyth Barker from IBM comments “IBM has a great relationship with Bright Futures, for the key reason that they provide bright, high performing, confident students into the Graduate Employment market, by equipping them with key employability skills including: commercial awareness, leadership, negotiation and client focus. The events that are run between IBM and Bright Futures are always guaranteed a good audience and are always well worth the time, effort and financial sponsorship. As a Graduate Recruiter, Bright Futures provides the ideal pool of potential applicants for our Student and Graduate schemes. It’s a relationship well worth investing in.”

Ali Mundell from Accenture comments “We decided to start a mentoring scheme last year - Simon Reichwald [Director, Bright Futures] and myself worked on that and we got lots of applications from really outstanding candidates through the mentoring programme.”

If your company would like to be involved with Bright Futures events or find out more pleaseemail northampton@brightfutures.co.uk

Final year students on our Business Computing Systems degree compete every year to develop a website for a local charity. This year the charity is Home-Start Wellingborough and District. The live consultancy project, enables students to put all the skills of management and software design, development and testing that they learn in their Business Computing Systems degree, into practice. The students work with an organisation to define, plan and manage an active project from client specifications. Working with actual customers, real deadlines and specific user requirements, adds value to final year students helping them compete in the current competitive environment.

Home-Start offers support, friendship and practical help to parents with young children in local communities throughout the UK and the students are designing a website tailored to their particular needs.

The students not only have to fulfil their academic requirements but the successful student(s) continue to work with the charity to deploy their site and provide initial guidance in implementing the live version.

The live project proves invaluable to students wanting to develop into professionals. Live projects expose students to new challenges and allows them to experience the demands

of real business environments. The hands on experience has a positive impact on the way students approach their work, while supporting social enterprise.

The advantage of the Business Computing degree over a standard Computing degree is that it develops professional, commercially focused graduates equipped with the requirements of today’s businesses. The course develops students and those already in the business environment to enhance their skill to improve job security or give them the required skills to take the next step up the ladder.

The course is designed with embedded experience to increase employability of those new to the job market and also helps to improve job security and promotional opportunities for those already within the market place. Working with different companies inspires a professional attitude and gives the students an insight and understanding into real business processes and ethical behaviour.

In addition to the Home-Start Charity, students are also working with other industries such as catering, private tutoring, multi faith chaplaincy, therapy and social enterprise.

Competing to develop Home-Start website

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Employer collaboration Speaking up - Masters in IT Service Management

Susan Bailey and Debbie Alexander of Northampton Business School were selected from 100s of applicants to speak at the 2011 itSMF UK Conference. Their presentation ‘Mastering ITIL’ emphasised the need for universities, industry, professional bodies and training organisations to work together and to see the importance in the merits of all that they offer.

It stressed the importance of supporting staff in their personal development journey and highlighted that exemptions could be given where there is an overlap. For example, the university offers exemptions for part of their MSc IT Service Management (ITSM) for those with ITIL qualifications. From an employability standpoint, the Information Science Field’s innovative strategy of underpinning their learning outcomes with the Skills Framework for the Information Age (SFIA) adds real value to students studying for the MSc in ITSM.

The University of Northampton won the Innovation award for the Masters in IT Service Management when the course was launched. Susan Bailey commented “Employability, globalisation and entrepreneurship are key drivers at Northampton Business School. Our ITIL and Prince2 qualified staff, along with our accessibility to professional qualifications gives students the best opportunity to thrive in a global marketplace.”

The inaugural itSMF Conference will be held at the University of Northampton on 19 July 2012 and will incorporate a graduation ceremony for NBS students. @infoscienceNBS

Enterprise Coaching is a European Regional Development Funded (ERDF) project delivered by Northampton Business School. The aim of the project is to encourage enterprise amongst the communities of Corby and to promote self-employment. The project employs Enterprise Coaches to work on the ground, engage with disadvantaged communities and offers coaching to 16 to 24yr olds, the long term unemployed, those on incapacity benefits, lone parents, disabled clients and women.

Enterprise coaching offers individuals the opportunity to attend different

workshops depending on their circumstances. These are designed to raise confidence, generate business ideas and introduce the concept of enterprise to clients covering the key elements needed for business start-up.

Adel Foster works for Enterprise Coaching and was approached to help a Polish born Corby resident set up a Polish restaurant with his brother. The Enterprise Centre has provided support in understanding the English language, legislation and culture and in more practical aspects such as visiting potential properties, estate agents

and local councils as well as helping to research web sites and develop marketing materials, providing a truly bespoke level of support to the client. Adel is proud to say that the restaurant Gospoda U Braci is now open for business serving Polish food to the people of Corby and delivering it to their doors.

Visit them at: 95 Occupation Road, Corby

@enterprisecoac1

Enterprise & You: Latest cohort of students from HMP Wellingborough successfully complete business start-up course

Kate Broadhurst, Enterprise Development Project Manager from Northampton Business School was pleased to attend the ceremony in December for the latest cohort from HMP Wellingborough to be awarded with their certificates for completing an NBS business start up module.

NBS has been running the course in collaboration with HMP Wellingborough since 2008 and the latest group represents the 14th cohort of students to successfully pass the module and receive their certificates. The course, which runs in the prison over a series of 14 sessions, covers a range of topics including marketing, networking and financial forecasting and results in the production by each student of a business plan and accompanying personal development plan. For this group of students these often make for interesting reading as they explain how the students hope to take their lives in a new positive direction on release from prison and start their business.

Giving local businesses a boost!Business Boost is a newly launched, innovative consultancy service based within Northampton Business School. The service aims to provide local small and medium size enterprises with flexible, short term and cost-effective business support solutions.

Business Boost offers a range of support options tailored to the clients’ needs including marketing and PR, web design and optimisation, market research and insight reports.

Kate Broadhurst, NBS’s Enterprise Development Project Manager is currently looking to recruit NBS students who, if successful, will have the opportunity to engage in activity that enhances both student experience and future employability.

“By recruiting high quality NBS student consultants, each paired with an experienced academic mentor, Business Boost is targeted at local businesses that may otherwise be unable to access commercial consultancy services”.

To find out more about the service and the current opportunities please contact: Kate Broadhurst, Email: kate.broadhurst@northampton.ac.uk

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Enterprise development

Enterprise Coaching supports start-up of Polish restaurantGospoda U Braci

In F cusTim Peacock joined NBS in 2002. Tim’s area of interest are Operations, Supply Chain and Logistics. He is particularly interested in the application of Lean Management concepts to business processes. He feels there is great satisfaction to be gained from looking into a process within a business and making it more efficient and effective. The satisfaction is made greater if the ideas that have led to the improvement have come from the people within the business being freed up to have their ideas listened to and adopted, a challenge in itself.

Prior to joining NBS he spent time working as a consultant and it is probably this that leads to him being keen to engage with business, through knowledge transfer work

and delivering corporate courses. Tim is one of several colleagues in the Business School who engage in such collaborative work.

His recent involvement in Knowledge Transfer Partnerships have been with a work-wear company from Northampton and park home manufacturer, Tingdene Homes, from Wellingborough.

He is interested in the multi-dimensional benefits of knowledge transfer; to the company, the associate, the academic and the Business School.

It is Tim’s aim to further develop NBS’s links with the Logistics industry. He hosts the Northamptonshire County Committee

meeting for the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CILT) in NBS. James Tombling, a BA Management student, has been elected to the committee as a student representative. Once a year companies from the industry give a talk to business students on the career opportunities that exist within the Industry, these links are proving fruitful. Avon Cosmetic’s Karim Jiwani tells us the number of students applying for placements has risen greatly since working with NBS. Nick Bithell HR Manager from Knights of Old has been able to appoint one of our recent graduates to work in Payroll in the company as a direct result of the links with NBS.

Tim Peacock

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Northampton Business School entered three teams into the IBM sponsored Universities Business Challenge (UBC), we are delighted that one of the teams won its group and got through to the semi-finals, to be held in March 2012. They will be one of 80 teams in the semi-finals from the original 304 who entered. The semi-finals will be a one day event and look like they will be held at Lloyds Bank Regional Office in Solihull.

This was a truly cross-cultural team, with student participants from Sweden, Lithuania, China

and Africa. The team members are:• DominykaZemaityte

• MichaelDarko-Mensah

• MarcusHolmberg

• SizweSabawu

• XiaotingZhu

Some of the competencies they have developed through participation in the UBC include:• Analyticalskills

• Commercialawareness

• Influencingskills

• Leadership

• Planningandorganising

• Cross-culturalteamworking

• Results-drivenapproach

• Financialawareness

• Problemsolving

• Managingthecustomer relationship

The team commented “We enjoyed working in a culturally diverse group. Even though we possess different beliefs and values we managed to cooperate effectively as a team. Some of the teammembers from our group were more entrepreneurial and had a tendency of being willing to take more risks and pursue a

more aggressive approach, while others possessed a higher uncertainty avoidance which resulted in more detailed calculations and deeper discussions. This resulted in a blend of an aggressive strategy based on detailed plans, where individual details had been taken into consideration. During this experience we learned new ways of thinking by interacting with members from various cultures.”

We wish the team all the very best of luck for the semi-finals and look forward to reporting on their progress.

NBS team through to semi-final of Universities Business Challenge

Visiting lecturers

We would like to take a moment to thank some of the visiting lecturers who have given up their time to share their knowledge and experience with NBS students.

Brian Capon, British Bankers Association speaking to the Business Environment students.

Debbie Galton, Fundraising Manager from the Hope Centre speaking to 1st Year Business Environment students talking about the use of PESTLE factors in the 3rd sector.

Girdana Buccini and Allan Fraser-Rush guest lecture for the Fashion marketing students.

Leicester City Football Ground visit with Martin Steer for Events Management students.

Dr. Eleni Michopoulou, Lecturer in Travel & Tourism, School of Culture and Lifestyle, University of Derby, Buxton speaking to students on the International Resort & Spa Management module about ICTs in Tourism.

Kate Russell, local employment law barrister re-visiting HRM students.

Thanks to you all

Hosting the Bank of England’s regional presentationNorthampton Business School was delighted to host a Regional presentation by The Bank of England which attracted senior managers from across the East Midlands to hear Alastair Cunningham deliver a presentation on the UK Economy. This talk was evidence of the continuing good relationship between NBS and the Bank. In the recent past we have also welcomed here other Bank of England Agents and Deputy Agents, a Deputy Governor and even the Chief Economist himself. Each has delivered a fascinating talk and on each occasion a lively question and answer session has followed.

Their presentations on the UK and world outlook for inflation and growth were of course couched in careful terms and presented spreads of likelihoods and possibilities rather than fixed forecasts. Reading some of the public pronouncements from the Bank and from members of its Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) however, we can see some pictures emerging:

The ‘headwinds’ (to use the Governor’s term) to be feared were mainly inflation and lack of competitiveness. That is now shifting ever more so that deflation and lack of markets are becoming the potential danger. Let’s not be surprised if another two, three or four months of the current trends do not lead to some more Quantitative Easing (QE) – maybe another £25 billion.

There are continuing reports (from other than the banks) that Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are finding it hard to raise capital and/or to borrow. In light of this brake on economic growth, perhaps the Bank might like to impose conditions on the extra money from QE – loan it directly to SMEs rather than allow it to sit on banks’ balance sheets.

However, one great advantage this country currently enjoys is our financial stability. This allows us to borrow at relatively low rates, especially compared to certain Eurozone countries. It is unlikely the Bank would do anything to jeopardise that highly beneficial state of affairs.

BusinessWise - Business Edition Page 10

Guest lectures

Guest Lecture SeriesThe guest lecture series offers a wide range of external speakers from industries who share their experiences in a one hour lecture. These lectures are open to all members of the community, employers, students and staff and are free to attend. If you would like to register for any of the events listed please visit: http://nbsuninorthants.eventbrite.com/

9th February 2012Tom Lloyd, Management Writer and Author‘China’s Management Revolution’

8th March 2012Richard Mintern, Chief Operating Officer – The Monarch Group‘From shop floor to COO’

15th March 2012Michael Jones, Founder of Michael Jones Jewellers, Northampton‘New capitalism - or not so new? A local case study’

All events are held at Northampton Business School and start at 6pm with light refreshments and the lecture will begin at 6.30pm with time for Q&A at the end concluding at 8pm.

The effort of always appearing friendly and cheerful with customers can leave staff feeling emotionally exhausted and cynical according to new research led by The University of Northampton.

The research was presented to the Annual Conference of the British Psychological Society’s Division of Occupational Psychology in Chester by psychologists from the University of Northampton’s, along with colleagues from the Autonoma University of Madrid and the University of Southampton.

Dr Cristina Quinones-Garcia from Northampton Business School led the research, which asked 199 customer service employees to complete a questionnaire measuring the extent to which they were required to simulate emotion in their jobs? Questions also covered the amount of effort they had to put in to achieve this, and the extent to which they were emotionally exhausted and cynical because of this?

The results showed that people who felt they had to make a greater effort than most to simulate cheerfulness were significantly likely to be left feeling both emotionally exhausted and cynical.

Dr Cristina Quinones-Garcia commented: “This study has two practical implications. The perceived effort of candidates should be evaluated at the recruitment stage as this could help identify those individuals who are more vulnerable to burnout.”

“Organisations should also have mechanisms in place to help employees build resources that support them with the emotional labour they have to carry out when dealing with customers.”

Dr Cristina Quinones-Garcia was interviewed on the BBC World Service, BBC Radio 5 live and BBC Radio Northampton and appeared in the Daily Mail online discussing the research further.

Over the last few years the University has developed closer working relationships with a number of major employers in the area including the well-known international racing circuit at Silverstone.

Staff from Northampton Business School have developed a supportive arrangement with The Chief Executive of Silverstone Circuits Limited, Richard Phillips and have benefited from this relationship in a number of ways:

• Visits by NBS Postgraduate students to the new £30m ‘Silverstone Wing’ project during its construction phase with presentations from the Chief Executive and fellow directors covering marketing, operations, future strategy and development plans.

• The top 25 operation management students were hosted at Silverstone giving them the opportunity to look at their circuit operations, traffic management, plans for the future, other development options, and track design features. The top student for 2011, Charles Nyame, was presented the Silverstone Operation Management Prize by Richard Phillips.

• A number of NBS staff are currently involved in using Silverstone as the basis of case studies which helps students put

theories into practice in an exciting and relevant way. To date three case studies have been drafted covering business strategy, digital marketing and general marketing. Two other case studies covering operations management and finance are still in production.

The National Centre for Strategic Leadership in partnership with the Chartered Management Institute forms part of the Silverstone High Performance Centre which was born out of collaboration between Silverstone Circuits and partner Educational Institutions. Its aim is to provide access to the highest standards of advice, guidance, development and innovative thinking around achieving and developing ‘high performing’ teams across all business sectors throughout the UK and internationally. The national centre will host think-tank activities, team retreats, board development programmes, professional qualification programmes and will support the achievement and ongoing development of the UK’s growing cohort of Chartered Managers. The Business School is represented on the NC4SL Board by Professor Simon Burtonshaw-Gunn.

BusinessWise - Business Edition Page 11

Research

Emotional strain of ‘service with a smile’

On the right tracks with Silverstone

Lost AlumniThe University of Northampton is currently in contact with over 45,000 of our alumni. However, some of our former students have lost touch and we are keen to find graduates to update them on our latest news whilst finding out how they have progressed in their chosen careers and informing them about future developments and forthcoming events.

If you are not receiving correspondence from us, you might be one of our missing Alumni. Please get in touch, simply contact us at The University of Northampton and become part of this thriving network of people linked to the University and each other.

Call 01604 892518Email alumni@northampton.ac.ukVisit www.northampton.ac.uk/alumni