Table of content

Terms of Reference………………………………………………………… 3
Introduction………………………………………………………………… 4
C.C.T.U. Employment Resource Centre Brief History……………………. 5
Ownership and the size of organisation……………………………………. 6
Employment Resource Centre Hierarchical Relationship Chart…………... 7
Services provided by the Employment Resource Centre…………………... 8
PEST Analysis……………………………………………………………... 11
Communication…………………………………………………………….. 13
Conclusion…………………………………………………………………. 14
Bibliography……………………………………………………………….. 15

Terms of Reference

As a part of the FETAC course we are required to do a research on the organisation we had Work Experience in are familiar with.
The purpose of this project is: ✓ To investigate and analyze the organisation and the industry that organisation belongs to ✓ To outline the environmental factors that might affect the organisation ✓ To describe the structure of the organisation ✓ To describe the ownership and the size of organisation ✓ To describe the internal and external communication within this organisation
It has to be submitted to Business Administration Tutor - Eimear Hynes on 23rd March 2010.

Introduction

The Congress Centres Network, formerly the ICTU Network of Unemployed Centres, came into being during an era of mass unemployment in 1980’s. The Centres were established to provide support, resources and a range of services to the growing numbers of unemployed workers, many of whom were trade union members. Centres also served as campaigning organisations on issues around unemployment, poverty and social exclusion.
From the very start Centres have been closely associated with local Trades Councils who have been largely responsible for their establishment, management and development. Along with unions’ representatives and community activists, Trades Council continues to play a pivotal role in the work of Centres.
As the economic and social climate in Ireland underwent rapid change in the 1990’s, Centres had to adapt quickly to new circumstances in order to remain relevant and viable. As a result appropriate service provision has become even more important. In particular, many Centres excel in the areas of IT training, up-skilling, re-skilling and job seeking supports.
Over the years Centres have become firmly embedded within their local communities and provide a very valuable link between the Trade Union movement and the wider community. In the past few years the Congress Centres Network has undergone major structuring and reorganization to maximise the collective strength and voice of Centres, and to build its capacity and sustainability to meet current and future challenges. At the core of this strategy has been the strengthening and development of the link between Centres and the wider Trade Union movement.(

C.C.T.U. Employment Resource Centre Ltd

Brief History
In the mid 1980’s I.C.T.U. (The Irish Congress of Trade Unions) and FAS signed an agreement whereby FAS agreed to support The Centres through the Social Employment Scheme. It was left to Local Councils of Trade Unions to sponsor and manage these Centres.

The Employment Resource Centre in Cork City, opened in September 1988, is one of 32 such centres throughout Ireland established under the auspices of the I.C.T.U. as part of the trade union movement’s historic commitment to assist worker in all possible ways.
Its first premises were located on Kyrll’s Quay. 12 years later Employment Resource Centre relocated in a purpose built building at 13, North Main Street, Cork City. There are just over 3,000 sq. ft of floor space, currently divided as follows: ✓ Reception ✓ Staff Room ✓ Administration Offices x 3 ✓ Canteen ✓ Information Office ✓ Classrooms x 4 ✓ Computer Rooms x 2 ✓ Computer Administrator Office ✓ L.E.S Office ✓ Job Club Office
The finish to the building is of very high standard. All the rooms are appropriately furnished and equipped.
In the Employment Resource Centre there has been considerable continuity in the management of the Centre, with both trustees and several members of the Board having been with this project since the beginning in 1988.

Ownership and size of Organisation Foundation chart
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Trade Unions exist to improve the conditions of workers, including their less fortunate members who are not employed. The purpose in setting up a C.C.T.U. Employment Resource Centre Ltd was to help unemployed and other disadvantaged section of Irish society in any way that is within centre’s capacity and to demonstrate to unemployed people, to employees and the public in large their belief that the vast majority of unemployed people have the capacity and desire to take part in economic activity and so enjoy all the benefits that other people in society take for granted.

The Employment Resource Centre is a Charity type of organisation, sponsored by community groups. It is not-for-profit organisation and its only objectives are to provide a non-institutional, confidential and friendly atmosphere with free services to disadvantaged, displaced, unemployed, stay at home parents, retired persons and foreign nationals, to provide part time work opportunities for long-term unemployed people in a variety of settings, and to offer training in areas mutually beneficial to the worker, in as much as offering a path into full time employment, and to assist development of community.

The Cork Council of Trade Unions consists of three elected officers – President, Secretary and Treasurer with delegates from all affiliated Unions.
The management of the C.C.T.U. Employment Resource Centre is devolved on the Board of Directors, which is made up of: Chairman – Director, six Directors and Secretary.
The staffing of the Centre would be as follows: ✓ Canteen/Cleaner – 4 ✓ Information Services – 3 ✓ Reception – 2 ✓ Secretarial Services – 2 ✓ Supervisors Secretary – 1 ✓ Bookkeeping Secretary – 1 ✓ Fundraising/PR – 1 ✓ Tutors – 9

Employment Resource Centre Hierarchical Relationship chart

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Services provided by the Employment Resource Centre

Employment Resource Centre is providing a range of services to tens of thousands of unemployed men and women every year. These services have evolved over time according to the needs of the users. Services offered presently include advice on social welfare and employment rights and other entitlements, assistance in job-seeking, personal counselling, a range of educational and career related classes, computer studies, English as a foreign language and a number of leisure subjects. There is also a Customer Canteen. Information below describes in details all the offered services.

Reception
Tens of thousands of individuals are visiting the Centre to make use of the general reception facilities such as local information, CV typing, job application form and letter typing, as well as use of photocopier and fax machine.

Job Club
C.C.T.U. Employment Resource Centre can provide relevant work experience to participants in order to assist in their employment opportunities in the open labour market. To help achieve this a “Job Club” has being established within the project in order to put the workers in contact with vacancies that become available through FAS agencies as well as through the business and corporate contacts that Centre have developed through the years. Since Job Club opened its doors in November 1999, it has been a lifeline for hundreds of people. Research shows that its success rate has been excellent, with a progression rate of 99% of its course participants choosing various areas of employment. Job Club offers three-week courses which include CV preparation, identification and refresh of working skills, improvement of job-seeking and interview skills, communication skills as well as self-confidence and assertiveness skills.

Social Welfare and Information
The Social Welfare and Information office provides an open door policy which is free and confidential. The only exception made is clients who belong to a Trade Union or when client may need to seek a legal representation. The Information office helps clients to deal with other agencies such as Department of Social and Family Affairs, Health Service Executive, Department of Enterprise Trade and Employment, FAS, LES, Cork City Partnership and First Employment Services and provides general information on queries like university grants, revenue, domestic violence, unmarried couples, maintenance and legal aid to name a few. It also helps clients to fill in forms from different departments and attends Social Welfare appeals with clients as well as advice clients on the legislation rights in Irish Labour Laws redundancy, unfair dismissal and unreasonable behaviour by the employer etc.

Canteen
The canteen in Centre is a social focal point. It has approx 20 regular customers, those would be people who for what ever reasons have fallen on hard times. The other customers would be students of all nationalities waiting to commence class or finishing class. The canteen offers free tea and coffee, free newspapers and board games.

Classes
Research shows that the provision of classes in subjects such as Computers, English as Foreign Language (EFL), Spanish, German, French etc. which may be of limited value to the students, but increased their moral and self-esteem. Some participants are recruited from ranks of users of the Centre and some participants may and do become users at the end of their C.E period. C.E. stands for Community Employment and it is an employment and training programme which helps long-term unemployed people to re-enter the active workforce by breaking their experience of unemployment through a return to work routine. The programme assists them to enhance and develop both their technical and personal skills which can then be used in the workplace.
The CE programme is sponsored by groups wishing to benefit the local community, namely voluntary organisations and public bodies involved in not-for-profit activities. This develops the idea of the Centre being a service to the unemployed by the unemployed.
Computers
The Centre has two computer rooms catering for seven students in each room and team of six tutors. The Centre offers Beginners Computer Classes and European Computer Driving Licence (ECDL). Evidence shows that there is a great demand for Beginner’s classes, because at any time Centre has at least 20 – 30 people on waiting list with waiting period of not longer than a month. Since April 2007 the Centre is FETAC accredited and the FETAC Level 3 course on offer at present is Beginners Computer Course. This course includes modules such as Word Processing, Spreadsheets, Database and Internet and E-mail. There is also a demand for the ECDL course as the Centre has at least 30 candidates waiting for a place on this course. For this course it is necessary to have a good basic knowledge of the Word Processing application. This course includes seven modules: Theory, File Management, Word Processing, Spreadsheets, Database, Presentations and Internet and E-mail.

Language Classes
Employment Resource Centre has on offer a range of language classes such as English as a Foreign Language, German, Spanish and French. The EFL classes are offered from the beginners’ level to advanced levels. Other languages are offered from beginners to intermediate levels.

Division of Services

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PEST analysis
Political Factors
Political factors are how and to what degree a government intervenes in the economy. Specifically, political factors include areas such as tax policy, labour law, environmental law, trade restrictions, tariffs, and political stability. Legal factors include discrimination law, consumer law, antitrust law, employment law, and health and safety law. Political factors may also include goods and services which the government wants to provide or be provided and those that the government does not want to be provided. Furthermore, governments have great influence on the health, education, and infrastructure of a nation.[1]
The political and legal factors that may affect C.C.T.U. Employment Resource Centre are, firstly, any statutory government changes regarding community and voluntary sectors, and, secondly, any government changes of labour law may also affect the Centre. The legal factors that regulate Centre activities are discrimination law, employment law and health and safety law. Under the health and safety law every year Centre must provide a training for its employees in areas like safety workplace, safety awareness, computer risk management, first aid, fire fighting and fire prevention.

Economical Factors
Economic factors include economic growth, interest rates, exchange rates and the inflation rate. These factors have major impacts on how businesses operate and make decisions. For example, interest rates affect a firm's cost of capital and therefore to what extent a business grows and expands. Exchange rates affect the costs of exporting goods and the supply and price of imported goods in an economy.[2]
The economical factors that influence the Employment Resource Centre are, firstly, any budgetary government changes regarding FAS as this is the main funding resource for the Centre. Within 21 years of the existence Centre has been impacted several times due to the FAS budgetary cutbacks that caused reductions in the Centre in training, staffing and purchase of materials. As the Employment Resource Centre is a Charity type of organisation it does not pay an interest rate but it can have an impact from a VAT rate as time to time the Centre needs to purchase the materials and new equipment. The impact of the recession on the Employment Resource Centre is more likely to be a positive rather than negative as more unemployed people are seeking support and that is what the Centre is all about to support unemployed. Donations and money gathered go straight to a local cause that contributes hugely to the re-integration of the unemployed to the workforce through the re-training and education.

Social Factors
Social factors include the cultural aspects and include health consciousness, population growth rate, age distribution, career attitudes and emphasis on safety. Trends in social factors affect the demand for a company's products and how that company operates. For example, an aging population may imply a smaller and less-willing workforce (thus increasing the cost of labor). Furthermore, companies may change various management strategies to adapt to these social trends (such as recruiting older workers).[3]
In the Employment Resource Centre there has been considerable continuity in the management of the Centre, with both trustees and several members of the Board having been with this project since the beginning in 1988.
The Employment Resource Centre present premises are in a purpose built building with great location, on one of the busiest city centre streets, and good visual gives opportunity the passers to become the users.
The project of the Centre contribute to enhancement of the social and economies of life of the unemployed of Cork by providing services which will boost their self-esteem and update existing skills and help them to develop additional skills in order to improve their prospects of re-entry to employment. All these services have been evolved over time according to the needs of the users.

Technological Factors
Technological factors include ecological and environmental aspects, such as R&D activity, automation, technology incentives and the rate of technological change. They can determine barriers to entry, minimum efficient production level and influence outsourcing decisions. Furthermore, technological shifts can affect costs, quality, and lead to innovation.[4]
The Employment Resource Centre has a modern telephone system with Fax and E-mail that makes external and internal communications easier and better. The Computer rooms, sponsored by the Bank of Ireland, are equipped with 12 modern computers and IBDN line for more efficient training opportunities. There are a further 6 computers for administration, secretarial services and use by the tutors.

Communication
Internal Communication
The Internal Communications take place inside an organisation. The internal stakeholders are the employees. There are many forms of contact between them.
The Internal communication tools within the Employment Resource Centre are Phone, E-mail, Fax, Memos, Reports and Word of mouth.
The phone and the word of mouth are the most common ways for the employees and customers to communicate within the Centre as its main purpose is an information exchange and these ways are fast, easy and get straight to the point.
E-mail and Fax mostly are being used to inform employees and customers about any changes in circumstances within the Centre.
The Memos are being used to leave short messages for all the staff in the Centre to inform them about upcoming meetings or to remind them their tasks.

External Communication
The External Communication is the exchange of information and messages between an organisation and other organisations, groups, or individuals outside its formal structure. This may be with the public, employers, community organisations, local authorities, job centres, careers offices, funding bodies, specialist agencies and other training providers. External communication includes the fields of public relations (PR), media relations, advertising, and marketing management. The goals of external communication for the Employment Resource Centre are to facilitate cooperation with groups such as sponsors, coordinators, participants and to present a favorable image of an organisation and its services to potential and actual customers and to society at large.
A variety of channels are being used for external communication, including face-to-face meetings, print or broadcast media, and electronic communication technologies such as the Internet.

Conclusion
The C.C.T.U. Employment Resource Centre is a Charity type of organisation that provides support for the long-term unemployed in Cork including information, advice, and training and part time job opportunities within the CE period. The objective of the Centre has always been the development of its participants.
The work programme involves the forming of an information service, a drop in canteen facility, assistance with job searching and a map of education and training services. The project is a rolling one as long as there is long-term unemployment.
The C.C.T.U. Employment Resource Centre as a work experience place was the best choice I have ever made. All the staff, starting with the Manager, are very pleasant and helpful people. They all gave me a warm welcome and great support within those two weeks. I felt there as a part of their team.

Bibliography

Interview with the Manager and staff of the Centre
Centre leaflets http://www.ictu.ie/ccn http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PEST_analysis
Arlene Douglas, (2008), Business Administration, 3rd Edition, Gill & Macmillan Ltd, Dublin

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( http://www.ictu.ie/ccn
[1], 2 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PEST_analysis

[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PEST_analysis
[3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PEST_analysis

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Canteen

Social Welfare and Information

Reception

Computers

Classes

Employment Resource Centre

Job Club

Employment Resource Centre

C.C.T.U.

I.C.T.U.

Canteen Staff/
Cleaners

Secretaries

Receptionists

Tutors

Information Officers

Manager

Board of Directors