Four Basic Ways a Divisionally Structured Firm Could

There are four basic ways a divisionally structured firm could be organized. What are these four ways? Give an example of each. The four basic ways a divisionally structured firm could be organized are 1) by geographic area. An example of this would be any organization with similar branch facilities located in widely dispersed areas; 2) by product or service. Huffy is an example of divisional structure by product; 3) by customer. Book publishing companies often organize their activities around customer groups as college, secondary schools and private commercial schools; and 4) by process.An example of this is a manufacturing business organized into six divisions: electrical work, glass cutting, welding, grinding, painting and foundry work. Each division would be responsible for generating revenues and profits. Compare and contrast restructuring and reengineering. Restructuring involves reducing the size of the firm in terms of number of employees, number of divisions or units and num ber of hierarchical levels in the firm’s organizational structure. Restructuring is concerned primarily with shareholder well-being rather than employee well-being.In contrast, reengineering is concerned more with employee and customer well-being than shareholder well-being. Reengineering involves reconfiguring or redesigning work, jobs and processes for the purpose of improving cost, quality, service and speed. Whereas restructuring is concerned with eliminating or establishing, shrinking or enlarging, and moving organizational departments and divisions, the focus of reengineering is changing the way work is actually carried out. Reengineering is characterized by many tactical decisions, whereas restructuring is characterized by strategic decisions.

Social obligation of business

There were arguments that obligation of business is to maximize long term profit for shareholders In a sustainable way, while others call them to Involve more to social responses. Each judgment has its own reasons which this research sought to analyze. Based on that, certain social obligations of business will be addressed with evidences, showing their necessary of being more responsible to social outcomes. Key words: corporate social obligation, shareholders, corporate profit, social responslblllty Introduction There has been a long debate on the role of business in society.Some people agreed with argument of: â€Å"The social obligation of business is to sustainably maximize long-term profits for shareholders. Nothing more. Nothing less† . However, others judge: â€Å"Business has a key role to play in combating issue like climate change, since the traditional response of many environmentalists and governments (namely, to encourage behavioral and attitudinal change amongst the general population) Is not enough in itself to ultimately produce desired environmental outcomes† .Different Judgments have their own reasons based on appropriate grounds. My view Is that business should ensure long term profit and stable operation while promote applying CSR practices into their daily operation for better performance. Companies today are confronting intense pressures to address social concerns and it is undeniable that socially Irresponsible businesses may lose their competitive advantage . Corporate Social Responslblllty (CSR) Definition Since 1920s, the concept of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) started to be discussed.However, due to the Great Depression economics and World War II, business leaders did not discuss about it seriously until the 1950s. The definition of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) varies between businesses and possibly changes at certain time points, depending on their visions and goals. There are so many definition for CSR . However, the most general definition for it is that â€Å"CSR is about how companies manage the business processes to produce an overall positive impact on society† . Appllcatlon CSR now a day has been a popular term in different businesses.However, it seems corporations pay more attentions to these activities than those of small and medium size, who usually blame that they do not have time and money to follow these luxury' practices. In all effort, the UN Global Compact guideline on ISO 260000 had been developed to help enterprises of all sizes to globally approach and practice CSR strategies. CSR application is not required by law, while business profits and social obligations are always difficult choices for management, CSR strategies are most of time considered for implementation, as the business trend is to contribute good thing and more responsible to society.We will analyze each situation in the next paragraphs, to understand better on why sometimes it is hard making decision. Corporate Social Responsible OR corporate profit? It is argued that social obligation or social responsibility was defined as the obligation of business to meet its economic and legal responsibilities and no more . This viewpoint is based on the notion that business organizations were set up with aims to provide goods and services to society, and enterprise were operated primary on profit motive.Many scholars agreed upon this point of view, including Milton Friedman (1970), as mentioned in his article in the New York Times Magazine . This belief has been maintained for many years not only by Friedman but also other usiness executives and scholars. It is true that the primary social obligation/social responsibility of a business is to bring benefits to its owners and shareholders who invest a significant amount of money there. Consequently, fulfilling the economic responsibility is the initial obligation of a business, it should also obey the laws and regulations of the so ciety while running its operations.Social matters are not the concern of business people, these problems should be resolved by the unfettered workings of the free market system (Friedman, 1970). In cases where corporate profit nd social benefit aligned, CSR might not be considered and therefore irrelevant. Or in other cases where corporate profits and social welfares are opposite, then the profit will be taken into consideration, as business management will always want to prioritize shareholder's interest.

Dance Communicates Via the Human Body Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Dance Communicates Via the Human Body - Essay Example It offers undergraduate and post-graduate programmes in contemporary dance artist training and professional development (Laban website 2006). As for SDDC, since it was formed by Siobhan Davies in 1988, it has been Britain's flagship independent dance company (Siobhan Davies Dance Company website 2006). The company is primarily a dance production outfit, but it also focuses on professional development of dancers. Thus, SDDC holds activities such as workshops and masterclasses aimed at the higher level dance, music and visual arts students, educationalists and professionals (Siobhan Davies Dance Company website 2006). While the institutional nature of Laban and SDDC is not identical, the development of these companies illustrates that their general policy and direction are the same. For the past decade, both Laban and SDDC embrace the policy of enriching dance language through the diverse mix of performance (Laban website 2006, Siobhan Davies Dance Company website 2006). For instance, Laban encourages students to perform works that are experimental and defy traditional definitions. The Laban Theatre also presents work by companies as varied as The Cholmondeleys, Featherstonehaughs, Henri Oguike and Societas Raffaello Sanzio (Prospectus Introduction 2006). With regards to SDDC, it has moved away from presenting work in proscenium-arched theatres to different spaces. For example, since Plants and Ghosts in 2002, SDDC has used non-conventional performance areas such as an aircraft hanger, a gallery and a warehouse (Working with our audiences n.d.). The respective direction of Laban and SDDC also demonstrates a trend within British contemporary dance companies to encourage collaborative effort between different art forms and to design dance movements based on interactions across disciplines and passions. Recently, Laban and Trinity College of Music - two very distinctive specialists in their respective art forms - have merged to form Trinity Laban. Laban and Trinity relocated to the same quarter in South East London to facilitate conversations and collaborations between students of the two art forms (Prospectus Introduction 2006). In SDDC, works such as In Plain Clothes (2006), Bird Song (2004) and White Man Sleeps (2004) are clearly creations that attain new height due to Davies's exemplary choice of artistic and technical collaborators. Consider also, SDDC's successful commissioning of artists from different disciplines, including author Caryl Churchill and sound artist Max Eastley, to engage in extended periods of intensive r esearch with the company dancers (Working with our audience n.d.). In the realm of enriching the discourse about contemporary dance, British modern dance companies have embarked on sharing and extending their discoveries within and beyond the profession (Prospectus Introduction 2006). Consider, for example, Laban's ambitious programme of reaching out to the greater community and enriching the debate on dance through its varied publications. Laban regularly publishes the Dance Theatre Journal, which is UK's leading dance journal covering reviews on current thinking in dance and related art. Discourses in Dance, another journal published by Laban, has an international audience. It explores the rapidly expanding academic discipline of dance studies by addressing issues such as testing new methodologies and examining dance in relation to critical theories, cultural studies and cognate disciplines.     Ã‚  

Performance Analysis of M&A in UK banking sector (2nd STAGE) Essay

Performance Analysis of M&A in UK banking sector (2nd STAGE) - Essay Example As a matter of fact, the studies with regards to mergers and acquisition activities in the UK banking sector offers assorted conclusions. Altunabas and Ibanez describe about the bank mergers between the years 1992 and 2001 to lead on average in order to improvise the accounting profitability (Altunaz and Ibanez, 2004). Many empirical evidences have been provided which are evocative of the restrained opportunities for cost savings from bulk mergers in the banking commerce. Moreover, a little improvisation in the profit efficiency is also reported, but not in terms of cost efficaciousness with position to cross-border deals only. According to Cooke, most of the research analyses on mergers and acquisitions have been focused on the organizations which have been undergo a merger and many studies have seen a common condition marking the post-merger period (Cooke, 1986). Therefore, this paper targets the investigation of the influences of the M & A operations on accounting profitability me asures with reference to the UK banking sector over the period 2003-2007 by with the help of examining several performance gauges, thereby, distinguishing the part of transformation in presentation due to the M & A itself. According to Heffernan, banking can be construed to a wide range of financial institutions and organizations to the large money-centralized commercial banks and this paper describes about it in detail (Heffernan, 2005). The UK banking sector witnesses itself to be the third largest in the world after the United States and Japan, and is also a major international hub for investment and private banking (DeltaQuest, 2009). The banking sector of UK has an authoritative international recognition which is

Steve Wozniak (Co-Fonder of Apple) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Steve Wozniak (Co-Fonder of Apple) - Essay Example His father was an engineer from whom he was influenced to innovate newer things. His succeeding creativity and creation was the basis of modern computer race that the present generation is experiencing at its best (Cohen, 2011). 2.0 Life and Education Since childhood, he was devoted to electronics items. He had completed the high school education in the year 1968 from California at ‘Homestead High School’. He started the college education in the University of Colorado, and subsequently changed the university; and in the year 1971, Steve Wozniak got admission in the University of California in the city of Berkeley with major in Engineering. At that time, he started to team up with Steve Jobs to create ‘Blue Boxes’ which permit individuals to ‘make long distance call’ (A&E Television Networks, 2011) & (National Inventors Hall of Fame, 2002). 3.0 Family Background Steve Wozniak belongs to a simple family background. His father was an engineer in th e Lockheed Martin, a security and IT organization of the US and his mother was a housewife. When he was only seven years old, his family was transferred to Sunnyvale at California. He got vast knowledge about electronics and other scientific areas from his father. Because of his huge potential and curiosity in inventing electronics materials, Steve Wozniak’s parents had given him electronics sets which included things such as lights, switches and timers. The most vital knowledge he gained from his father was information about transistor, logic circuit and idea about creation of basic gates (AND, OR) which were useful for development of his experience in the field of electronics (Hyman, n.d.). 4.0 Obstacles There were many obstacles that Steve Wozniak faced in his way of creation. He always endeavored to achieve peak position in his creation. After getting employed in the Hewlett Packard for making calculators, he realized it is a type of computer and subsequently knew about t he chip and how it works. Finally, he got an idea of making computer with that chip. As Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak did not have enough money to buy computer, they had developed their individual computer named Apple I, which was a prototype. The plan of making Apple I was generated from designs of TV and typewriter. Wozniak was a member of ‘Homebrew Computer Club’. Both Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs together met with technology sorcerers from the ‘Homebrew Computer Club’. In order to raise the money required to make computer, Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs had sold many of their precious assets. By selling the scientific calculator of HP brand and ‘Microbus’ of Volkswagen both had gathered 1300 USD. The money was not enough for making computer which made them to request credit from the home electronic suppliers and consequently arranged their first product line (Srivastava, 1996). The Apple Company was established in the year 1976 by Steve Woznia k and Steve Jobs. They had faced several arguments because of the name ‘Apple’. The first creation of the company was ‘Apple I’ which was sold at 666 USD. Quite rapidly the ‘Apple I’ stroke in the market and they got an order of 50,000 USD. By evaluating the demand of ‘Apple I’, Steve Wozniak had upgraded it and developed ‘Apple II’

Stigma of mental illness Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Stigma of mental illness - Essay Example People who suffer from a mental illness not only â€Å"struggle with the symptoms and disabilities that result from the disease† but they also â€Å"are challenged by the stereotypes and prejudice that result from the misconceptions about mental illness, and as a result of both, people with mental illness are robbed of the opportunities that define a quality life: good jobs, safe housing, satisfactory health care, and affiliation with a diverse group of people† (Understanding the Impact of Stigma on People With Mental Illness, P.Corrigan and A.Watson, 16) Mental illness is perceived by society as an indulgence or a sign of weakness. Surely the affected person has brought it upon himself to live this way. It leads the sufferer to feel shame, to feel isolated and be socially excluded, to be discriminated against and be faced with stereotypes that are difficult to overcome. Even self-stigmatization can result which includes low self esteem, so the affected person not only feels stigma from society, but from themselves as well. (Stigma of Mental Illness and ways of Diminishing It, P. ... So why, as a society do we not attempt to educate ourselves about mental illness and why do we allow the stigma to continue? As a society, our beliefs are largely affected by the media; everything we think, believe, or discriminate against can be drawn from the media and its messages. Media is such a powerful tool and if used properly, can be a wonderful resource, but so often, the messages we receive are flawed. The Canadian Mental Health Association has compiled the results of many reports into its paper Mass Media and Mental Illness: A Literature Review (Dara Roth Edney, 2004). They found that the media repeatedly portrays people with a mental illness as being incapable of both developing opinions and speaking on their own behalf, as being unstable, unpredictable, disheveled, helpless, and appearing lost and confused, to lack comprehension and as being unproductive failures. The media also makes it appear that violent crimes committed by people with a mental illness are common and that the general public has reason to fear them. Imagine if it was you or a loved one battling a mental illness and having popular culture discriminate against you in this way. How would you feel and how would you want the messages that media sends us to change? While the majority of our media messages are negative in nature, there have been small steps taken to try to change the views of society. The television program Monk and the movie As Good As It Gets are both examples of stories that revolved around characters with a mental illness. Unfortunately these are just two examples in a medium that produces thousands of products each year. For society to fully accept the mentally ill as people and not as people with a problem, the media needs to step up

Frontier Airline Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Frontier Airline - Essay Example The airline has thus faced a number of challenges. First, it has been difficult finding and training adequate number of staff, especially pilots and technicians. Tin general, there are a shortage of qualified staff and the turnover of employees is quite high. Secondly, the airline has had its business disrupted as a result of labor strikes by employees. Most of the workers are represented by unions, and therefore cases of labor strikes are common. Thirdly, there has been an increase in the labor costs in the United States. Given that labor costs make up a significant percentage of the total operating costs, the airline has been pressured to increase salaries and benefits for the workers. This has in turn increased the operating costs significantly. Forth, the airline relies on a single manufacturer for all of the regional jets. One of the major risks is the inability of the manufacturer to provide the required parts and services in good time. Finally, since the airline is affected by the common stock, the price of this stock may flu ctuate as a result of the actions of other partners, competitors or the economy in general. In addition to the above internal challenges, there are external factors associated with the airline industry in general. First, the airline faces competition from other regional airlines operated by major airlines. In addition, some of these airlines offer low fare prices, making it difficult for the airline to attract higher passenger numbers without reducing fare prices. Secondly, the airline industry has generally been affected by a number of labor strikes. Therefore, the new collective bargaining agreements entered into by different carriers generally help to increase industry wages which in turn affect the airline. Thirdly, the recent economic problems experienced in the United States and around the world have impacted the airline’s operations. There has been a

High Employee Turnover Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

High Employee Turnover - Essay Example These expenses are especially felt for lower paying jobs which turn out to be jobs that have a high employee turnover. Some of the expenses involved include advertising for the past, payments being done to the leaving employee, interviews for candidates and subsequent training. This is, in addition to, lose of productivity during that period the employee leaves and replacement with another employee. This paper explores employee retention as a measure of decreasing high turnover by focusing on the methods of assessment and selection, individual and organizational learning, and organizational transformation to find a resolution to the crisis. Methods of assessment and selection According to Carsen (2005, 2) employee retention starts with the application process which precedes recruitment. The applicants start by looking at the agency, and this is followed closely by the initial impressions of the employee during the orientation process, in addition to the subsequent assignments, the em ployee is given, performance ratings, any awards or promotions and off course the overall working conditions. All the above play a role in determining whether an employee decides to leave or stay during that short period. Therefore, the pre-employment assessment forms part of the solution to this trouble of high employee turnover as well as improving employee performance. It is essential that the employer objectively defines and quantifies the behavioral DNA that compels success on the job. This is to mean that the employer has to match the candidates who come for interview against a traditional performance profile for each of the positions that are to be filled in the company. This can be done by correlating the behavioral DNA of the present employees in a company against their performance data to determine the performance profile of the individual. This profile, thus, captures the behavioral and cognitive attributes that are unique to a certain position, and, thus, used to separat e the productivity leaders who will be capable of transcending the other employees. Subjective competencies are deemed an unsuccessful way of coming up with required traits of a particular position, therefore, a flawed way of filing vacant positions in any organization. This is because of absence of tangible correlation between the subjective competencies and the actual success of persons in that position (Carsen, 2005, 33). It is, thus, important that employers use objective competencies to measure the actual behavioral and cognitive traits required for the success of a certain individual in the given position. This means this benchmark of success should be leveraged so that it forms the objective model for the employer in evaluating candidates for specific positions. Therefore, it is important that the assessment strategies be developed having in mind the clear understanding of the knowledge, skills, abilities and characteristics that have to be measured for qualification to a par ticular position (Ongori, 2007, 50). The managers should also ensure that the method of evaluation being used in the process can be connective to, and effectively appraise the requirement being assessed. After a careful assessment of the applicants, hiring should be done on recommendation basis, which falls into four categories. These are recommended which is taken as the strongest match as compared to the others which are 'recommended

What were the major characteristics of the urban culture that Essay

What were the major characteristics of the urban culture that developed in late nineteenth-century America - Essay Example Earlier, in the ages of slavery and racial isolation, diversity was far away from the limelight of urban cultural life. But the urban cultural scenario in the late nineteenth-century inculcated diversity to its core by showing acceptance without considering one’s culture, ethnicity, race, color and gender. Besides, diversity is the base of the urban culture of America. The African Americans, people from different parts of Asia makes the American society more diverse. The urban culture that developed in late nineteenth-century America helped the society to be well prepared for further development in following centuries. Another important characteristic of the urban culture that developed in late nineteenth-century America was ward politics or importance gained by local politics in national political scenario. As the urban society was more diverse, ward politics helped the diverse population to gain representation in national politics. Besides, restrictions upon voting franchise, like qualification on property and tax were lifted. This helped the people to participate in local, state and national levels without any pressure from the side of major political parties. Popular culture of simply ‘pop culture’ is one of the major characteristics of the urban culture that developed in late nineteenth-century America. Popular culture originated in 19th century and developed in 20th century. The urban culture in the 19th century provided enough space for popular culture to express emotion, views, ideas and perspectives of lower class people. Still, popular culture deeply influences urban culture in America. Summing, the unique characteristics of urban culture in late nineteenth-century America added a lot to its development in following centuries. The racial, lingual and cultural diversity in the urban culture was helpful to inculcate innovation to the core of American society. Besides, ward politics in local

War of 1812 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

War of 1812 - Essay Example Similar to the War of Independence (1775-1783), the war of 1812 was a result of conflicts between the Great Britain and the USA over spheres of influence and power on the American continent. During the War of Independence, the Thirteen colonies overthrew the British rules and established a new state governed by the American people. During the revolutionary years, the Declaration of Independence was promulgated (1776). Nations desiring to achieve these beneficial ends will agree, therefore, that no part of the American union ought ever to be subjected again to foreign rule2. The American Revolution and the war of 1812 changed international relations and opened new opportunities for international trade. The American government received a chance to trade with the rest of the world and supply cotton, tea and other goods to the Old world. Spain did not fear the rising power of the independent United States as it had when the colonies were an extension of British imperial power3. Both wars had similar battles and military strategies applied by the US Army leaders. The main military confrontations took place in Quebec, Massachusetts, Great Lacks and New York. The result of the wars was that fforeign trade improved economic conditions of the United states and increased the state budget.

What is Nutrition Essay Example for Free

What is Nutrition Essay OBJECTIVES: 1. Identify and discuss factors that affect food choices. (Course objective 1) 2. Define: nutrition, nutrients, essential nutrients, non essential nutrients, kilocalorie 3. Identify the six classes of nutrients utilized by humans and describe their basic functions in the body. (Course Objective 4) 4. Describe the steps of the scientific method. 5. Describe the following components of research studies: experimental group, control group, placebo, double-blind placebo-controlled study 6. Discuss the types of research studies and methods used to acquire valid nutrition information. (Course objective 2) 7. Differentiate between reputable and non-reputable sources of nutrition information. 8. Differentiate between the various methods used to assess the nutrient status of individuals and population groups. Discuss the pros and cons TEACH YOURSELF THE BASICS: What Drives Our Food Choices? 1. Identify at least five factors that influence our food choices. Taste,enjoyment, culture, environment, social reasons, and popular trends. 2. Discuss examples of at least three of the factors identified in question 1. Taste is considered the number one factor when it comes to choosing foods. Foods that are salty and sweet are among the top choices. Culture plays an important role in choosing food. Foods that are easily available to a group of the population are more likely to be eaten over foods that are rare to the location. Someone from China may have different choices than someone from Italy. Social trends also have a role to play in choosing food. What family and friends eat and foods considered popular may be chosen over other foods, despite health concerns. **Make sure to read â€Å"The Take-Home Message† for this section (Pg. 7) What is Nutrition? 1. Explain how the focus of the study of nutrition has changed over time. Nutrition began a few hundred years ago as a science relating nutrients to diseases and its affects, but today is used as a way to promote good health and long life by healthy eating. ​** Make sure to read â€Å"The Take-Home Message† for this section (Pg. 9) What are Nutrients? 1. List the six categories of nutrients found in foods and in the body. Carbohydrates, Lipids (fats), Proteins, Vitamins, Minerals, and Water 2. Which nutrients provide energy? Carbohydrates, lipids, and proteins. Alcohol also provides energy but is not considered a nutrient. 3. When we use the term â€Å"calorie† to describe the energy content of food, are we actually referring to the word â€Å"calorie† or are we referring to the word â€Å"kilocalorie†? Explain. Kilocalorie, not calorie, is the correct term when referring to the energy content of food. Calorie is a much smaller unit of measurement. 4. How many kilocalories are provided in a gram of carbohydrate? Protein? Fats? Carbohydrates and Proteins have 4 kilocalories and Lipids or fats have 9 kilocalories. **Make sure to read â€Å"The Take-Home Message† for this section (Pg. 13) What Are the Primary Roles of the Individual Nutrients? 1. For each of the 6 classes of nutrients, briefly describe their primary role in the body. Use the table below to guide you. Macronutrients include carbohydrates, proteins, fats and water. Carbohydrates are the body’s Mai’s source of energy. Proteins provide the building blocks, or amino acids, for tissue in the body. Fats are also a source of energy but in a more concentrated form. Water makes up a majority of the fluids in the body, as well as its tissues. Micronutrients include vitamins and minerals. Vitamins help regulate metabolism and use other nutrients, while minerals assist in body processes. 2. List some food sources for carbohydrates, lipids and proteins. Carbohydrates include bread, cereals and nuts. Lipids include butter and oils. Proteins include meat and dairy. 3. Classify the vitamins according to whether they are water soluble or fat soluble. Water soluble vitamins include vitamin C and the 8 B-complex vitamins. Fat soluble vitamins include A, D, E, and vitamin K. 4. Give examples of major minerals and trace minerals. Major minerals include calcium and magnesium, while Trace minerals include iron and zinc. **Make sure to read â€Å"The Take-Home Message† for this section (Pg. 16) What is Credible Nutrition Research? 1. What are some questions you can ask yourself to evaluate the credibility of published nutrition information (in print or on the internet)? Was the research findings published in a peer-reviewed journal? Was the study done on animals or humans? Is this the first time I have heard this? Do the study participants resemble me? 2. Describe the steps of the scientific method. Scientists observe the natural world, ask questions, and put forth or submit an explanation, called a hypothesis, bases on what they observed. Next they test this hypothesis to determine if it is correct or not. After testing or conducting an experiment, it can be determined if the hypothesis is supported or not by the findings. If supported, the findings can be published. If not supported, the scientist then must revise or redo the hypothesis. 3. Why is a double-blind placebo-controlled study considered the â€Å"gold standard† of research? This study is the gold standard because all variables are the same and controlled for the groups with no bias toward any group or researcher. 4. How does sample size affect the credibility of research results? The sample sizes must be large enough so that any differences in the study are related to treatment and not just chance. **Make sure to read â€Å"The Take-Home Message† for this section (Pg. 21) What Is Nutrition Assessment and What Does It Involve? 1. Briefly describe the different methods for assessing the nutrition status of individuals. Which one is the â€Å"best† method? Explain your reasoning. Anthropometric data is used to determine body size or composition. Data gathered is compared to reference standards, which can help determine risk factors for developing disease. Biochemical tests assess nutrient levels in body fluids, how fast nutrients are excreted through urine, and metabolic by products of nutrients found in urine. Clinical tests inspect the body for over or under nutrition by inspecting hair, nails and lips. Dietary intake can be measured by interviews and questionnaires to reveal lifestyle habits. The most important of the four would be anthropometric due to its ability to evaluate for disease such as diabetes. **Make sure to read â€Å"The Take-Home Message† for this section (Pg. 27) How Do We Assess the Nutritional Status of a Population Group? 1. How are nutritional assessment methods for a population group different than those which would be used for an individual? For a large population national surveys are used to determine nutritional status. How Does the American Diet Stack Up? 1. Summarize how the American diet compares to dietary recommendations. Americans eat too much protein, sugar, sodium, saturated fat and not enough fiber, some vitamins and minerals. **Make sure to read â€Å"The Take-Home Message† for this section (Pg. 30) What’s the Best Dietary Strategy for Health? 1. Is the following statement true or false: A variety of whole foods will meet everyone’s nutritional needs and there should be no need for nutritional supplements. Explain your ​answer. False. Some individuals have diet restrictions or higher nutrient needs such as a pregnant woman or someone who is lactose intolerant. **Make sure to read â€Å"The Take-Home Message† for this section (Pg. 31) VOCABULARY: Nutrition: The science that studies how nutrients and compounds in foods nourish the body and affect body functions and overall health. Nutrients: Compounds in foods that sustain body processes. There are six classes of nutrients: carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, minerals, and water Essential Nutrients: Nutrients that must be consumed from foods because they cannot be made in the body in sufficient quantities to meet its needs and support health. Nonessential Nutrients: Nutrients that can be made in sufficient quantities in the body to meet the body’s requirements and support health. Energy Yielding Nutrients: The three nutrients that provide energy to the body to fuel physiological functions: carbohydrates, lipids, and protein. Kilocalorie: The amount of energy required to raise the temperature of 1 kilogram of water 1 degree centigrade; used to express the measurement of energy in foods; 1 kilocalorie is equal to 1000 calories. Macronutrients: Organic nutrients, including the energy-containing carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, and water that the body needs in large amounts. Micronutrient: Essential nutrients the body needs in smaller amounts: vitamins and minerals. Water Soluble Vitamins: Vitamins that dissolve in water: Generally cannot be stored in the body and must be consumed. Fat Soluble Vitamins: Vitamins that dissolve in fat and can be stored in the body. Major Minerals: Minerals needed by the body in amounts greater than 5 grams; Aka Macro minerals. Trace Minerals: Minerals needed by the body in amounts less than 5 grams; Aka Micro minerals. Peer Reviewed Journal: A journal in which scientists publish research findings, after the findings have gone through a rigorous review process by other scientists. Observational Research: Research that involves systematically observing subjects to see if there is a relationship to certain outcomes. Experimental Group: In experimental research, the group of participants are given a specific treatment, such as a drug, as part of the study. Control Group: in experimental research, the group that does not receive the treatment but may be given a placebo instead; used as a standard for comparison. Placebo: An inactive substance, such as a sugar pill, administered to a control group during an experiment. Double-Blind Placebo-Controlled Study: An experimental study in which neither the researchers nor the subjects in the study are aware who is receiving the treatment or the placebo. Nutritional Genomics: A field of study of the relationship between genes, gene expression, and nutrition. Registered Dietician: A health professional who is a food and nutrition expert; RDs obtain a college degree in nutrition from an American Dietetic Association (ADA) accredited program, and pass an exam to become a Registered Dietician. Malnourished: A condition that results when the body does not receive the right amount of essential nutrients to maintain health; over nourished and undernourished are forms of malnutrition. Malabsorption: A problem associated with the lack of absorption of nutrients through the intestinal tract. Medical Nutrition Therapy: The integration of nutrition counseling and dietary changes based on individual medical and health needs, to treat a patient’s medical condition. Quackery: The promotion and selling of health products and services of questionable validity. Body Mass Index (BMI): A measurement calculated as height divided by weight squared; used to determine whether an individual is underweight, at a healthy weight, or overweight. Overweight: For adults, having a BMI greater than 25. Obesity: For adults, having a BMI greater than 30. ​Here are a few examples of reliable nutrition and health websites. †¢ American Dietetic Association: www.eatright.org †¢ Centers for Disease Control: www.cdc.gov †¢ Food and Drug Administration: www.fda.gov †¢ National Institutes of Health: www.nih.gov †¢ U.S. Department of Agriculture: www.nutrition.gov †¢ American Cancer Society: www.cancer.org For additional resources, animations, and news stories over topics from this chapter, click on â€Å"Chapter Contents† on your Blackboard page, then click on â€Å"Chapter 1.†

Improving Job Quality in the UK Labour Market

Improving Job Quality in the UK Labour Market The prospects for improving job quality at the lower end of the labour market in the UK pay Introduction Frederick Engels once wrote that labour is the prime basic condition for all human existence, and this to such an extent that, in a sense, we have to say that labour created man himself (1934). A person’s job helps define who they are. The level of income, time spent working, and the quality of the job, highly influence a person’s life. As Sweet and Meiksins say: â€Å"work occupies most of our waking hours; it is a crucial part of identities and influences life chances.† (2008, p. 1) As it has always been, employers are mostly looking for hardworking, well-educated people with particular sets of skills. These days education has become the Alpha and Omega of employment as Daniel Bell puts it: â€Å"If capital and labour are the major structural features of industrial society, information and knowledge are those of post-industrial society.† (1973, p. 211) With the rise in the number of people with higher education, one would expect a rise in higher, well-paid jobs. But in the UK, the situation is quite different. Not only is there a lot of low skilled service sector jobs with low wages, which result in poverty, but there is also growing pay inequality. The worst off are those on the lower end of the labour market who receive a pay of the bottom 20-25% and hold low-skilled jobs which are routine and semi-routine, and require no qualification. The most common job among these is that of the sales assistant. The number of these kind of low-wage workers in the UK is a staggering 20.6% (OECD 2011). This kind of inequality brings health and social problems. Studies show that more unequal countries have worse health and social problems such as lower life expectancy, higher mental illness and obesity, more teenage births and infant mortality, more homicides, etc. (Wilkinson and Pickett, 2009). This is quite a logical deduction to make, since a big part of an individual’s life is his/her job, and dissatisfaction with one’s job – which is directly linked to the dissatisfaction with one’s income – greatly influences the physical and psychological health of the said individual. Changes in the new economy In recent years, there has been a shift from the old economy to the new. These terms were thought up and are used by Sweet and Meiksins in their work – Changing countours of work. There they state that the old economy represents the various ways of assigning and structuring work that developed in the wake of the Industrial Revolution through to the mid-20th century. It included systems which were built around mass production, gendered divisions of labour, unionized labour, etc. The new economy brought about changes. For one, good jobs that require a limited education are disappearing, which forces a big group of people to take on menial, low-paid jobs with little prospects for future advancement. This system partially stems from Frederick Winslow Taylor who introduced his philosophy at the beginning of the 20th century. He argued for the separation of ‘thought’ from ‘execution’, which resulted in the creation of legions of deskilled jobs and the decli ne in the individual worker’s ability to control the conditions and rewards of work. (2008, p. 10). This fit perfectly into the abiding cultural belief that some should be owners and others workers. This popularized the idea that inequality in the workplace is actually desirable in a capitalistic system. (Sweet and Meiksins, 2008, p. 11) The belief that workers are indolent and cannot be trusted is directly responsible for the creation of the so-called McJobs – a.k.a. jobs on the very low end of the labour market. Wikipedia defines a McJob as a low-paying, low-prestige dead-end job that requires few skills and offers very little chance of intercompany advancement. The quality of these types of jobs is extremely low. The deliberations of the European Commission show that there is a propensity for the representatives of governments to assert that all parties would gain from job quality improvements. Francis Green states that wage rate is a key indication of a job’s quality, and claims that for the pay to be fair, it should be related to a worker’s contribution to the performance of the organization. (2006, p. 111) Green claims that there are no specifically economic reasons to look forward to long-term improvements or any other trend in the perceived fairness of material rewards. In the mid-20th century countries in transition would experience rising inequality, followed by a later equalizing trend. A lot of countries experienced declining income inequality for most of the 20th century, which started to rise again after the 1970s. (2006, pp. 119-20). This could be construed as a realistic standpoint, but it could also be called unnecessarily pessimistic. Although trends are not promising, this issue is one yet to be tackled. Concerns over wage inequality Public debates and policy discussions are brimming with concerns over inequality of wages. Despite the increased importance of tax credits as a source of household income growth over the past decade, pay still remains central to maintaining adequate living standards for most low to middle income households. (Pennycook and Whittaker; 2012, p. 4) It has widely been agreed that by far the best single measure of income inequality is the Gini coefficient of concentration. (Chen, Tsaur and Rhai; 1982, p. 473). With the Gini coefficient, 0 marks that everyone has the same income, and 1 that the richest person has all the income. In the UK this number is 4 which is well below what one would hope for. OECD shows that the gap between the rich and the poor has widened in the past decades. The incomes of top earners in the UK have risen much faster than for everyone else. The richest people have an income of about 10 times that of the poorest. Since the 1990s there has been a rise in people reporting high incomes, and also, high income taxes dropped. (2014) Groups that are most likely to hold low paid jobs are women, part-time or temporary workers, young workers, and workers in relatively low-skilled occupational groups such as Elementary Occupations (cleaners, security guards, catering assistants, leisure workers) and Sales Customer services (Pennycook and Whittaker; 2012, p. 5) What causes wage disparities? Over the past few decades, the UK, as well as other countries, has gone through significant changes. It underwent rapid technological progress and was more closely integrated into the global economy. When talking about the issue of income inequality, a lot of people tend to recognize globalization and technological advancement as the main culprits. They affected the job market by bringing high skilled workers greater rewards than the low-skilled ones, thus widening the gap between their respective earnings. Technological progress also penalized those who did not have the necessary skills to adapt and use technology effectively. (OECD; 2011, p. 28). This tended to have the worst effect on the people in low social positions which caused the gap between the well-off, who could afford the time and money to tackle the changing demands, and those who got stuck doing work that was becoming less and less appreciated. Alongside these changes, minimum wage also declined across many countries, as did the share of union members among workers. A lot of policies and institutions also made significant changes which contributed to higher employment, but also wage disparities. (OECD; 2011, p. 30). A lot of people found employment in factories, the service department and other low-skilled jobs which were in abundance, but had low wages and no prospects for the future. Some other things that encourage inequality are: privatization, subcontracting, deregulation, welfare to work policies, and neo-liberal policies. Possible solutions Britain’s reliance on an extensive pool of low-skilled, low-paid labour is not predetermined. The particular incidence and composition of low-paid work in any given country is the result of unique patterns of production and employment and these patterns are influenced, in part, by policy choices. Reducing the share of workers who are low paid is not a political objective that can be easily addressed by legislative levers. It is therefore not surprising that many policymakers have been justifiably reluctant to intervene in the market, preferring instead to correct market inequities through remedial redistribution (Pennycook and Whittaker; 2012, p. 39). But the redistribution systems in reality did little to reduce inequality. (OEDC; 2011, p. 92) Reforming tax and benefit policies would help soften the problem of inequality, by getting more people into the labour force, while making sure they stay in jobs paying good wages is essential. (OEDC; 2014). Government help and transfers also have an important role of making sure that low-level income households don’t fall further down into poverty. The reform of the tax policies for high-income individuals, whose job and income is generally more stable, would also help the redistribution of wealth and social mobility. However, these reforms would have to be thoroughly examined, and well thought up. The key would be ensuring that the poorly represented groups, such as young people, women and immigrants, have access to jobs with prospects for advancement. Another key point would be to allow low-paid individuals additional job-related education and skill-acquirement by incentivising companies to invest in their ‘human capital’. Due to the high demand for high-skilled individuals, especially in the newer fields of technology, marketing, and such, in the long haul, one of the possible solutions would be better government-supported education in these deficit fields for children of low-income families. This would create better social mobility, and at least a small boost in economy. The Welfare Reform Act 2012 introduced a wide range of reforms to the benefit and tax credit system (Universal Credit). Under the current system a working-age individual with low earnings and no disabilities may be entitled to receive payments from one or more of three main benefit groups; unemployment benefits and social assistance; the Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit and Tax Credits. Different benefits within each of these three groups are internally coordinated and roughly based on the same framework, while there is close to no coordination across the three benefit groups, leading to a rather erratic incentive structure. Under Universal Credit, the main means-tested benefits, except the Council Tax Benefit will be pooled into one single benefit with generous earnings disregards and one single rate of benefit withdrawal against income (taper rate). At the same time, support for childcare through the benefit system is made accessible for parents regardless of how many hours a week they work. Stated goals of the Universal Credit reform include giving people incentives to work, diminishing complexity, reducing relative poverty and containing the rising cost of welfare dependency (Andrà ©, C.et al. 2013). This act is important for this discussion because, what is hoped to be achieved in the long run is giving people incentives to work. Combined with some of the measures mentioned before, this would also allow people, who are now in a vicious circle of not having enough money for up-skilling, and not enough skills to make money, to break free and start climbing the proverbial social ladder – better jobs and better pays. Some say that the greatest priority is bound to be employment security. Macroeconomic and financial stability is the prime job quality policy at the moment. It is the job of government to try to ensure stable macroeconomic conditions, which, despite efforts, has not worked out recently. This recession has hit the lower end of the working class the hardest, but recessions have in the past always ended and, despite climate change we can expect a renewal of growth over the next few years, which will gradually reduce job insecurity again. Francis Green’s analysis of recent trends in Britain implies that the three urgent ongoing issues for policymakers to address are skills, autonomy and effort. (2009. pp. 28-29.) Conclusion Jobs are a very important part of who a person is. It is one of the ways we define ourselves. Job satisfaction is one of the principal issues in the overall life satisfaction of an individual. The quality of a job is directly linked to wages. In recent decades, due to various reasons which include globalisation and technological advancement, there has emerged a trend of rising disparity of wages in the UK. The incomes of top earners in the UK have risen much faster than for those receiving low wages. The demand for high-skilled workers is rising, but 20% of people still work in low-paid jobs with no intercompany prospects. This wage inequality is the object of much public and political debate. Although every part of the government asserts that solving this inequality and improving job quality would be better for everyone, this is not a political objective that can be easily tackled by legislature. This is why many policymakers have been justifiably reluctant to intervene in the marke t, preferring instead to correct market inequities through remedial redistribution. Some of the ways in which the inequality could be softened are the reformation of tax policies for high-income individuals and households, benefit policies for low-income households, better education and skill acquiring opportunities, ensuring employment security and stabilizing macroeconomics and finances. These changes will have to be made gradually and carefully, but nothing in the economic research suggests that this wage disparity is necessary and cannot be avoided. References Andrà ©, C.et al. 2013. Labour Market, Welfare Reform and Inequality in the United Kingdom. OECD Economics, Department Working Papers, No. 1034, OECD Publishing Bell, D. 1973. The Coming of Post-Industrial Society. New York: Basic Books. Chen, C.N., Tsaur, T.W. and Rhai, T.S. 1982. The Gini Coefficient and Negative Income; Oxford Economic Papers, New Series, (34/3) pp. 473-492. New York: Oxford University Press Engels, F. 1934. The Part played by Labour in the Transition from Ape to Man. Moscow: Progress Publishers. Green F. 2006. Demanding work: The Paradox of Job Quality and Affluent Economy. Princeton: Princeton University Press. Green, F. 2009. Job Quality in Britain. Praxis, issue 1, November, London: UK Commission for Employment and Skills. OECD, Jan. 2013, Income Distribution and Poverty at the OECD [Online] Available at: http://www.oecd.org/social/inequality.htm [Accessed: 18 January 2014] OECD. 2011. Divided we stand: Why inequality Keeps Rising, OECD Publishing. Pennycook M., Whittaker M. 2012. Low Pay Britain. London: Resolution Foundation. Sweet S. and Meiksins P. 2008. Changing countours of work. Newbury Park: Pine Forge Press. Wilkinson, R.G. and Pickett K. 2009. The Spirit Level: Why More Equal Societies Almost Always Do Better. London: Allen Lane

Approaches for Organisational Management

Approaches for Organisational Management Introduction: Human resource management is a strategic and rational approach towards the management of the organisations most esteemed assets, the people who normally work inside the organisation independently and collectively contribute to the accomplishment of its goals organisational success progressively depends on the abilities, knowledge and skills of the employees mainly as the help to establish a set of core competencies that distinguish an organisation from its competitors. In modern market place human resource management plays an important role for the existence of modern business organisation. However, the role of HRM strategies is massive for development of the business through organisational success. Different approaches to HRM to aid the development of business strategy: The meaning and nature of HRM has aggravated much debate (for an overview see Legge, 1995).Sisson (1990) Distinguished HRM by explaining four distinguishing features, that is the assimilation of personnel policies with business planning; responsibility From specialists to line managers responsibility has to be shifted; uniqueness in the management of employee relations and an emphasis on securing employee dedication and initiative. Guest (1992, p.42) argues that HRM is designed to produce, Strategic integration, high commitment, high quality and flexibility and that, Strategic integration refers to the ability of the organisation to integrate HRM issues into its strategic plans, to ensure that the various aspects of HRM cohere and for line managers to fit in an HRM perspective into their decision-making. Hendry and Pettigrew (1986) contrast that strategic HRM is featured by four fundamentals: the use of planning; the design by a coherent approach and management of workforce systems underpinned by some philosophy; business approach is coordinated with the HRM actions and policy; and considering the people of the organisation as strategic resources in the accomplishment of competitive strategy. Human resource requires in an organisation will vary at different stages in the business life cycle and so HR policy choices need to be personalized to the appropriate stage (Kochan and Barocci,1985; Lengnick-Hall and Lengnick-Hall, 1988). Sisson (1994) suggests that it was the pursuit of competitive advantage in the.There is a number of different approaches in HRM to aid the development of business strategy. It can be professed as social ethics, reminding the senior management about their social responsibilities.HRM department spent most of time functioning on personal welfare problems. The main concern of HRM is the control of personnel as well as reduces the absent rate of employee, work force budgeting and headcount. In other way of HRM helps to develop the business, likewise, to adapt the company with the change and strives to have positive influences by using social science applications to man agreement problems by via job redesign, job satisfaction scheme and techniques of communication. Sometimes HRM deals with job recruitment, transfer and termination by the request from manager. Moreover, human resource management concerned strategic business planning, developing long-term human resources plan and industrial relation strategy. HR planning and acquisition Organisation design structure Organisations strategy Training development Compensation Management Organisation Performance Management Management of employee relations HR mobility management HR toolbox management Figure: Human Resource Management system The key success of any business organisation is human resource. So HRM use these human resources effectively to meet the strategic business objectives of the organisation. Necessity of alignment between organisations corporate strategy and objectives and its human resource strategy: In perfect world, the business and strategic organisational plan are the translated form of organisational mission and goals. According to the principle of alignment, to achieve corporate goals in every aspects of an organisations activities have to be incorporated and pull together. The performance of the people within the organisation depends on the achievement of strategy and vision which in turn calls for high level of motivation and dedication among employees. The organisational mission, goals and values is reflected by the performance of the employees and their excellent performance relies on the opportunities how much they are getting from the business. In an organisation different functional area like: marketing, manufacturing and human resource, after formulating corporate and business level strategy managers need to translate strategic precedence into these areas. This contains all the different aspects of business but predominantly have to be comprehensible between the requirements of organisations strategy and HR policy. There are two types of fit that HR policy and practices require to attain: a) Internal alignment b) External alignment Internal Alignment: In internal alignment managers must have to make sure that their HR practices are all associated with one another within the organisations to set up a formation that is reinforced mutually. From organisations point of view the whole variety of HR practices-job design, training, staffing, performance appraisal and compensation must have to be focused on the same personnel objectives. External Alignment: The link between business strategies and key initiatives in human resource are mainly focused by external alignment. The processes required in order to assess the effectiveness of human resource strategy and its impact on overall corporate strategy: Diagram: Typical strategic recruitment process Dynamic Environment Recruitment requisition Position analysis Vision Position description Strategic business plan Human resource strategy Human resource plans and policy Recruitment process Position evaluation Key stakeholders Budget check sourcing Dynamic Environment Pool of applicants Selection process Source: Nankervis A, Compton, R, Braid, M, 2005, Strategic Human Resource Management (6th edition), Cengage, South Melbourne. Recruitment: A major concern is a recruitment and retention of staff; especially where the pool of availability of workforce is limited. However, due to the requirement of high skill personnel, a shortage of prospective recruits exists in an organisation. The decision of staffing has been formalised by the HRM department at head office. Organisations provide work for people in different position to achieve their own goals. Most of the organisations have vacancy at different time around the year and they need to be filled them on time to continue their work effectively. For recruit and select the best person for the vacancy organisations have to follow certain processes. The personnel decision process helps the organisation to make a decision about the person to who is going to appoint. It makes sure that it will be fairly treated with all the individuals who are going to apply for the post. All the candidates are evaluated on the basis of related skills and behaviours. The outputs of every decision affect the working lives of employees, whose requirements must be met. The organisational productivity increasingly depends on these employees because of hiring right person for the job. The human resources decisions based on the following seven steps: 1. Getting job oriented information through job analysis. The process of identifying tasks, duties and responsibilities is job analysis. Once it has been completed, job analysis leads to identify the knowledge, abilities and skills required to do the job that is job description. After that, organisations will continue through job specification. 2. Identify the measures of job success: There is way of measuring job success called criteria and that is measured through organisational psychologist. 3. Identify predictors and measures 4. Determining the relationship between and predictors job success 5. Developing a recruitment strategy 6. Implementing the selection process 7. Determining the worth of selection system An organisation basically follows two strategies for recruiting suitable qualified individuals. These are- Internal recruitment An Organisation first tries to fill an open position internally through current employees inside the organisation by advertising. External recruitment There are wide range of strategies for recruiting people from outside the organisation like-giving advertisement at newspaper by providing information about job requirements, job duties and responsibilities. The other way of recruiting is through internet. It will create problems for them who dont have the access the internet. Large organisations visit campuses of universities of technologies to recruit their candidates is known as campus recruitment. Sometimes organisations employ human resources recruitment agencies and their services are to provide the whole recruitment process. These are not on low-cost. The least costly external recruitment technique is employee referrals technique. This is a technique by which ask to someone in current employees about they have someone who is interested for this open position. The main advantages of external recruitment are that helps to get new ideas and skills into the organisation. Sometimes it does create problems for them because they dont have knowledge about the new environment and culture. Employees need to spend more time on that. Selection: The process of choosing appropriate candidates for the organisation when it has received applications for open jobs is known as selection. This is the final steps of recruitment process. It is the combinations of eight basic steps. Recruiting candidates Carrying out application form Screening test Checking of reference Arrangement of psychological test Arrange interview for selection Medical check up Making an offer to successful candidates There are some additional terms which used by the organisational psychologist during the process of selection. These are-job selection ratios, realistic preview of job and cut-off. Retention: It is very important and ongoing issue. Its a serious problem when an organisation will have to face continuously for the estimated future. An organisation always wants to retain employees in short of supply and they want to have alternatives. Organisations always keep going on developing their own plan to retain employees by conveying responsibility. The main base of retention job description, recruitment, selection and orientation. Mainly retention focus on job satisfaction and fit with the organisational culture and the strategies based on this should focus on maximising three types of satisfaction. These are personal, professional and social. If organisation fails to recruit right person for the right track then organisations has to suffer and employees has to suffer as well. For example; hidden cost incurred by the management to fix that problems. For that reason organisation has to loss their productivity. From the employees point of view-they have to face problems due to not h aving proper skills in specified job. They have to spent more time and energy on finding new position. Overall they become frustrated. Communication, recognition and future orientation are the key attributes for successful strategies for retention. There are different types of retention strategies based on organisational situations-strategies based on compensation, strategies based on work environment and strategies based on career orientation. Strategy based on compensation: There are some organisation focuses on compensation such as IT firms. Strategies based on work environment: Most of the organisations focus on internal environment of the organisation or the culture of the organisation. Strategies based on career development: some companies focus on retention strategies through career development. Training, Learning and Development: Training plays an important role for the development of all employees which responds to individuals and helps to achieve organisational requirements by improving performance and understanding (Armstrong, 1992).Considering with the strategic direction, how the organisations core competencies of employees can be identified and advantages taken from environmental factors. From the training and development terms, this can implement the classical training cycle and business planning come close to determining training needs (Mayo and Pickard, 1998). Organisation objective Planning Evaluating Delivering Figure: Business objectives within the training life cycle (winter, 1995). The training strategy is a system that determines the competencies required for the organization in the future and how it can be achieved. Organisations need these training strategies for different perspectives like- -To increase the productivity through expenditure on capital improvements -To increase the productivity through spending on developing human capital Different methods of training for people: Generally there are two types of training methods. a) On-site training methods 1) On the job training: In this training method, trainees get training under the direction of someone and encouraging them to gain knowledge and observe more and more from the existing experienced employees. Though its formal training so every employee get some initial knowledge from it. 2) Job rotation: This training method allows people to move in different department of the organisations. Through this job rotation employees develop skills in different section more than they would get from staying in one department. 3) Apprenticeship: Apprenticeship is a particular form on the job training though which a particular level employees used to get information about skilled trade (Goldstein Ford, 2002).For example; different company like:-electrician,plumber,carpenter,pipefitter,sheet metal worker etc. Is used this approach. b) Off-site training methods 1) Classroom lectures: Its one of the common methods of job training. It can provide large number of information at a time and easy to deliver it to the large no of trainees at a time. 2) Instruction in the form written material or forms based on computer. 3) Computer based training (CBT): Its a way training by which trainees can communicate and transfer and get information from instructor through computer, television etc. (Goldstein Ford, 2002).Its distance learning. Development of HR: Human Resource is the framework for employees can develop their personal and organizational skills, knowledge, abilities. Human resource development include; employee training, employee career, development, performance management and development, coaching, mentoring, succession planning, key employee identification. Understand the organizational needs and future demand as well as future capability, and know what talent it has available to it. And prove, as far possible, a career challenge to individuals that helps them to meet their aspirations. In developing the organization, personal development also important for the organizational improvement, because a individual persons are the set of organizational power mean resources. In bellow there the method of development: Individual Support- Organizational Interest- Dialogue Accreditation Organizational Mapping Performance Management Career-counselling Succession planning Appraisal discussion Career-planning Secondments Career discussion Personal plans Manpower/skills planning Development centres Mentoring Training prioritisation Vacancy management Learning resource centres Retention Strategies Self-managed learning 360 degree feedback Potential assessment Managerial coaching External coaching High-flyer development Flexible working Training facilities getting to grips with the needs of a job quickly, and by improving the knowledge and skill of worker it allows the employee improved quality, and enhance of skill based on the employee could lead to their job enrichment with benefits to both the person and the organization. Motivational impact of training in a manifest when staff feel a sense of reorganization when sent on training course, and after been trained they are motivated to acquire new skills, particularly when rewards follow the acquisition and use of skills. Identification with organization could be fostered when a better understanding of mission statements and corporate objectives is achieved through training. Strategies for positive employee relation: Employees are the stake holder of the organisation and cant be compared with task, functions, process or products. Emotional support and personal considerations are required for them to understand them. Its very complicated to draw up employees inventory and arrange them in warehouse in a systematic way. Any decisions regarding this will attempt a negative impact on them and may cause a break down in operations. So it is very important for the organisation to identify and value those differences and always give importance on the achieving positive and fruitful employee relations. The main concern of employee relations strategy: How to minimise the conflict by maintaining employee relations through building stable and cooperative relationships. How to achieve employee commitment though involvement of employee involvement and communication processes. -How to develop interest in employees towards the achievement of organisational goals. Strategic direction. The approaches of human resource management towards employee relations: To drive them for commitment: To get all the employees with the organisations by winning their heart and minds and make sure a fruitful return on training and development. A emphasizing on mutuality: getting the letter across that we are all together in this. A shifting of collective bargaining in the organisation to individual. By using of employee involvement techniques. Through applying total quality management (TQM) To use human resources more effectively sometimes increase flexibility in working environment, including multi skilling By giving more importance on team work Once organisation has established it is very difficult to change the organisations culture, this means to change the employee relationships culture is also difficult. The organisation will become more successful when senior management think employee relationship strategically in employee perception rather than rival organisations. It can be achieved simply by aiming to recruit and retain more effectively and by developing employee relationship strategies to increase the overall satisfaction of employees though chances (like feeling interest in job, job security, positive completion, and influence them performance) and decrease the dissatisfaction Performance management: Performance in an organisation cannot be defined but it can be measured. Its measurement of muti-dimentional construct depending on variety of factors (Bates and Holton, 1995). Bernadin el al (1995) concerned that Outcomes of work should be defined as performance because it creates a strong linkage with organisational goals, customer satisfactions and economic contributions. It is about managing of the organisation in the perspective of internal and external environment. There are different stages of performance management showed in figure 2.1: High performance Improved performance Low performance Start year Agreement of performance During year Monitoring and review against agreement End year Review of main performance Figure 2.1: Different stages of performance management Performance management involves continuous review of performance against organisational objectives, requirements and plans and the performance agreement, enhancement by implementation and developments line-up for the next. Business strategy, employee development and total quality management (TQM) are main processes in the business that should be linked with the performance management for achieving business performance (Hartle, 1995). Basically the force for vertical and horizontal integration is performance management.Vertical integration: Vertically It can be achieved in two ways. Firstly, it facilitates the coalition of strategies and plans of the business with individuals and teams. There targeted aims are those that support the success of corporate goals.secondly, the organisational core values and capabilities should take place through vertical integration as well as values adopted and the level of potential achieved by individuals. Valuing peopleHorizontal integration: It is the association of performance management and human resource strategies that deals with valuing, paying, relating and developing people. Organisations effectiveness can be increased through the impact of performance management. The effectiveness of the organisations can be improved by adopting with various processes of managing, motivating and developing people through successful integration with performance management. It shows in figure 1.3: Developing people Performance management Paying people People involvement Figure 1.3: Performance management as a central point for integrated HR activities Reward: The main purpose of reward is to increase job performance, productivity, meet the customer expectation and to hold recognition. In other way- To achieve the goal To accomplish the task on time To take out boring from work place To promote the employee to work To meet the higher and lower order needs Strategies for reward: All employees are in the reward strategy for example: line managers, stake holders. All the employees work hard with skills and effort in return they get salary and other performance bonus from employers. Its also good relationships developed between employees and employers through good working environment and excellent communication. In broader sense strategic aims include: To introduce a more incorporated approach to reward management and encouraging the employees through continuous personal development. To develop flexible approach. To reward people according to employees contribution. To make a clear specification about what behaviour will be rewarded and why. Reward management: According to Contingency theory applied to reward: Different reward strategies are required for organisational diversity and cultures. Different reward strategies and its usefulness vary according the organisations policies and practices. Business strategies may take forward the business strategy inside the organisation. The interrelationship between the employees and managers will influence the strategies at different levels in the organisations. Performance related pay should depends on the way motivation of employees Initiatives for specific rewards: It depends on the examination of present circumstances in the organisation and need of evaluation of the business and its employees. Examples of some possible initiatives: The establishment of contribution pay scheme through replacing of present methods of contingent pay The initialisation of new grades and pay structure The substitution job evaluation scheme with more clarified scheme that shows values and needs of the organisation. The improvement of flexible benefit system The arrangement of announcement and training programmes to tell all the employees about the reward policies and practices. Development of Reward strategy: Development of strategy: In todays organisation is facing fast changing economic environment, technological advancement and globalisation. Organisations have to cope up with these changes. The close fit between business strategy and HR strategy actually help to reach their desired target. From the business point of view, it has to take account on trend such as concentration on core business, market segments, get maximum values from reward system, and give more importance on flexibility. They have to change the old system with the best practices to meet these requirements. The design of reward system must need to be fair and need to operate consistently to recognize individuals needs. There are many steps for developing strategies: Determine the main issues for business strategy that affects the reward and policy To find out crucial success factors for the business and need to think implications for human resource and reward strategies. Need to keep in eye on old reward strategies and identify any change require for that to adapt that with new changes of the organisations. To identify the implications for HR plans to establish future needs. Discuss with the consultant about how to develop reward strategies Consider external factors like policies of government, income tax regulations, peoples pay and pressure from local or international. Conclusion: At the end we can conclude the importance of human resource management strategies in an organisational context by summarising the needs that for effective running of the business HRM is essential. It is not possible to run the organisation without engaging human resource management. Human resource management need to be active in order to maintain all the section within a short time. Moreover, human resource management helps to enhance the productivity of an organisations people through hiring right person at right place at time by making good strategies. HRM also motivate their employees through various ways like pay and reward. This is way how human resource management helps in achieving the overall performance of the organisation through developing strategies and implementing them effectively towards the organisational success.

The Hippopotamus: Endangered Species Report :: essays research papers fc

The Hippopotamus: Endangered Species Report Jason Wapiennik Mr. Trippeer, Biology January 6th, 1997 The ban on elephant ivory trading has slowed down the poaching of elephants, but now poachers are getting their ivory from another creature, the hippopotamus. For the poacher, the hippo is an easy target. They stay together for long hours in muddy water pools, as many as eighty-one can be found in a single square mile. This concentration is so big it's only second to that of the elephant. Poachers kill the animal, then pick out the teeth and sell them for as much as seventy dollars per kilo. This is a very cheap price. Elephant ivory sells for as much as five-hundred dollars per kilo. The reason the price-per-kilo is so slow is because hippo ivory is very brittle compared to the much stronger elephant ivory. Elephant ivory is no longer at the biggest risk for poaching; hippo ivory is. Eastern Zaire once had one of the largest hippo populations in the world, around 23,000 hippos. According to a count done in 1994, this number has now dropped to 11,000. The 1989 ban on elephant ivory is the main cause attributed to the exponential rise to hippo ivory trade. "European and African activists are petitioning advocacy groups, including last week's annual Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species in Florida, for a ban on hippo poaching. But they say they're a long way from putting an end to the slaughter." (Howard & Koehl) The hippopotamus is an enormous amphibious animal with smooth, hairless skin. Hippos can be found in Liberia, the Ivory Coast, and a few can also be found in Sierra Leone and Guinea. Hippos used to be found anywhere south of the Sahara Desert where they could find enough water and plenty of room to graze. Now, due to poachers and predation they are confined to protected areas, but they can still sometimes be seen in many major rivers and swamps. Hippos need water that is deep enough to cover them, but it also has to be very close to a pasture. They must wallow in the water because their thin, hairless skin is vulnerable to overheating and dehydration. Hippos were once thought to sweat blood. Actually, hippos secrete a pinkish colored oil that helps them keep their skin moist in the hot African climate. Hippos are herbivores. They prefer the short grass of African plains to any other possible food. They normally eat up to eighty-eight pounds of this grass nightly, which they mow away a large patch at a time with their twenty-inch

Alice Walkers In Love and Trouble Essay examples -- Alice Walker Love

Alice Walker's In Love and Trouble Stories from In Love and Trouble, like other Alice Walker’s works, are the portrayal of black women. I would interpret the term â€Å"black women† as women who have gone through all sorts of hardship and struggles, but not all women in the world or only those with black skin. I strongly argue that Walker’s characters are better represented as women who suffer the way African American women do, than as women with black skin. I will justify my argument by referring to specific examples from two short stories in the book, namely Roselily and Everyday Use. The characters in In Love and Trouble are not represented by all women because not all women carry as many burdens as the characters in the book. One group of women excluded is the white. As Clenora points out African-American women suffer from â€Å"a tripartite form of oppression- racism, classism, and sexism† (192). All black women in the book have to bear the triple burden. Living in a white-dominant society, they are oppressed by the white. Their race also leads to their poverty. Being in a male-dominant society, they are abused by their husbands who are themselves abused by the white. â€Å"These women [are] simply defeated in one way or another by the external circumstances of their lives† (Washington 89-90). In Roselily, Roselily is also a victim of the triple burden. Although there is no direct description of how she is oppressed by the white, it is implied: â€Å"She can imagine God, a small black boy [my emphasis], timidly pulling the preacher’s coattail† (4). In Roseliliy’s imagination, God has black skin, which is a sharp contrast to the traditional white God image in the Western world. The black God image shows her ques... ...tudies.† Phylon 49.1 (Spring-Summer 1992): 33-41. Christian, Barbara T. Introduction. Everyday Use. By Walker Alice. New Jersey: Rutgers U, 1994. 3-17. Clenora, Hudson Weems. â€Å"The Tripartite Plight of African-American Women as Reflected in the Novels of Hurston and Walker.† Journal of Black Studies 20.2 (December 1989): 192-207. Hui, Fung-mei, Sandra. â€Å"Race and Gender in the Works of Maxine Hong Kingston, Alice Walker and Toni Morrison.† Diss. U of Hong Kong, 2004. Walker Alice. In Love and Trouble: Stories of Black Women. Florida: Harcourt, 1995. Washington, Mary Helen. â€Å"An Essay on Alice Walker.† Everyday Use. Ed. Christian, Barbara T. New Jersey: Rutgers U, 1994. 85-103. Weston, Ruth D. â€Å"Who Touches This Touches a Woman: The Naked Self in Alice Walker.† Critical Essays on Alice Walker. Ed. Dieke, Ikenna. London: Greenwood, 1999. 153-61. Alice Walker's In Love and Trouble Essay examples -- Alice Walker Love Alice Walker's In Love and Trouble Stories from In Love and Trouble, like other Alice Walker’s works, are the portrayal of black women. I would interpret the term â€Å"black women† as women who have gone through all sorts of hardship and struggles, but not all women in the world or only those with black skin. I strongly argue that Walker’s characters are better represented as women who suffer the way African American women do, than as women with black skin. I will justify my argument by referring to specific examples from two short stories in the book, namely Roselily and Everyday Use. The characters in In Love and Trouble are not represented by all women because not all women carry as many burdens as the characters in the book. One group of women excluded is the white. As Clenora points out African-American women suffer from â€Å"a tripartite form of oppression- racism, classism, and sexism† (192). All black women in the book have to bear the triple burden. Living in a white-dominant society, they are oppressed by the white. Their race also leads to their poverty. Being in a male-dominant society, they are abused by their husbands who are themselves abused by the white. â€Å"These women [are] simply defeated in one way or another by the external circumstances of their lives† (Washington 89-90). In Roselily, Roselily is also a victim of the triple burden. Although there is no direct description of how she is oppressed by the white, it is implied: â€Å"She can imagine God, a small black boy [my emphasis], timidly pulling the preacher’s coattail† (4). In Roseliliy’s imagination, God has black skin, which is a sharp contrast to the traditional white God image in the Western world. The black God image shows her ques... ...tudies.† Phylon 49.1 (Spring-Summer 1992): 33-41. Christian, Barbara T. Introduction. Everyday Use. By Walker Alice. New Jersey: Rutgers U, 1994. 3-17. Clenora, Hudson Weems. â€Å"The Tripartite Plight of African-American Women as Reflected in the Novels of Hurston and Walker.† Journal of Black Studies 20.2 (December 1989): 192-207. Hui, Fung-mei, Sandra. â€Å"Race and Gender in the Works of Maxine Hong Kingston, Alice Walker and Toni Morrison.† Diss. U of Hong Kong, 2004. Walker Alice. In Love and Trouble: Stories of Black Women. Florida: Harcourt, 1995. Washington, Mary Helen. â€Å"An Essay on Alice Walker.† Everyday Use. Ed. Christian, Barbara T. New Jersey: Rutgers U, 1994. 85-103. Weston, Ruth D. â€Å"Who Touches This Touches a Woman: The Naked Self in Alice Walker.† Critical Essays on Alice Walker. Ed. Dieke, Ikenna. London: Greenwood, 1999. 153-61.

Reviewing the Homepage of Prestons Website :: Prestons Websites Showrooms Essays

Reviewing the Homepage of Preston's Website In the following report I will be reviewing the homepage of Prestons website, www.Prestons.co.uk. Prestons is a showroom situated in Colne, who deals with cars such as BMW and MINI. I will be explaining the content, layout and purpose of this webpage, and any improvements which I think could enhance the current company image. Content The homepage of Prestons website consists of both images and text. The main images drawn to my attention are: a red eye to show RedMammoth who is/ are the producer (s) / designer (s) of this website. Alongside that, is a picture of one of the latest models of BMW, the BMW x5, which is silver. Due to the fact that Prestons also deals with the sales of MINI, there is a picture of a silver MINI. Prestons also deals with Hillendale Land Rover’s; this is shown on their homepage, which is illustrated with a picture of the latest model of Landrover’s which is the Range Rover Vogue. The last of the images on this webpage is a Platinum Privilege card, which represents group information. To show what each image is there is an arrow pointing to each image and besides each arrow in the font Arial, size 9.5; it says what each image is representing in grey text. Beneath each image, there is a contact number for each link which is being represented by each picture except for underneath group information. There is a symbol for a telephone next to each number. The number is in the font Arial size 12. The largest piece of text within this homepage is PrestonsGroup which is again written in Arial but size 16. The font Arial has been used all throughout this homepage. The slogan â€Å"EXCELLENCE IN EVERYTHING WE DO† is written beneath PrestonsGroup in uppercase lettering, size 12. Prestons address is shown in white size 11. The rest of the text within this page is also in white. Beneath the address written in size 12 is the email address of Prestons. There are four different columns for the different purposes of this homepage i.e. a column for BMW, a separate column for MINI etc. No particular colour scheme has been kept throughout this homepage except for the images of the cars which are all silver, and each of the four columns are coloured differently. The RedMammoth column is in red, the BMW column in light blue, the MINI column in grey, the Hillendale landrover column in green and the group information column in dark blue. In each column there is a brief note as to what each one links

Transitional Leadership

Transition Leadership: Managing Change In Your Organization in today’s deregulating and increasingly competitive business environment, organizational change is becoming inevitable. Today’s successful organizations are experiencing transitions in the areas of technology, process re engineering, mergers, and organizational restructuring in order to remain competitive. However, although these areas impact employees at all levels of the company, senior management often overlooks this fact.Therefore, it is imperative that company management understands the impact of organizational change on employees and manages these effects accordingly. By doing so, organizational leaders minimize the negative impact change has on productivity and performance. This paper will focus on the activity of successfully leading employees through significant changes brought about by new technologies and process changes and will focus on three areas of transition leadership. First, the discussion c onveys the impact that change has on an organization’s employees.Second, an overview and discussion of transition leadership and its role in managing organizational change is given. Finally, ways to effectively manage employees through these reactions to change is presented. By understanding the elements of organizational change and its impact on employees as well as the appropriate ways of managing people through these revolutions, organizational leaders will be better prepared to address the challenges that are inherent in major business transitions. The Impact of Change on People Frequently, information technology professionals overlook the impacts of technology changes on people.Almost any change to technology will have an impact on business processes, which will directly impact the day-to-day jobs of individual employees. As a result, changes to technology require attention to the impacts that they have on both process and people. The practice of Organizational Change Ma nagement (OCM) focuses on ensuring that the people side of change is addressed appropriately. OCM is the process of aligning the organization’s people and culture with changes in business strategy, organizational structure, technology, and business processes.OCM is important because, at the most rudimentary level, all change involves some degree of loss whether it is loss of stability, loss of expertise, loss of relationships, or loss of understanding. People often try to avoid the experience of loss by resisting change. Resistance can come in different forms and be expressed with different emotions such as anger, frustration, fear, etc. Due to the tendency for change to elicit an emotional response, any large-scale change initiative will likely remove the employees’ focus from the business to transition-related issues.This shift in focus will likely disrupt the productivity of the business. Many technology implementation/business process redesign efforts fail because they overlook the impacts that change will have on the people in the organization. An organization that ignores the importance of OCM could experience the following risks: increased resistance to new technology, decreased quality and customer service, high turnover and absenteeism, difficulty recruiting and retaining high performers, and damaged internal and external brand equity.On the other hand, an organization that implements a technology/business process transformation with integrated OCM will experience the following benefits: realization of the business transformation objectives, higher return on technology investments, retention of high performers, maintained and improved productivity, improved employee satisfaction and morale, and increased discretionary effort. Transition Leadership Given the impact that change has on employees, it is clear that managers must learn to proactively manage employees through the many changes that are inherent in most organizations.In geospatia l environments, managers and other key stakeholders often focus on technological and process changes that will make their businesses competitive in the 21st century. These issues are important, but the changes ultimately will not be implemented successfully without the cooperation of employees. Only through effective transition leadership are employees able to effectively cope with and accept the changes they are presented with. Ten Characteristics of Effective Transition Leaders The role of transition leader is an often overlooked but important aspect of management.There are several characteristics that make up a good transition leader. Here we identify the main characteristics that are needed in a successful transition leader. In general, there are 10 characteristics of effective transition leaders: †¢ Gains support from and confidence of others. Change is not accepted and work cannot be done without the buy-in of key stakeholders. For this reason, it is imperative that trans ition leaders gain the support and confidence of other key employees in the organization. †¢ Listens and collaborates effectively.No matter how good a manager is, people will not follow without a sense of ownership in the organization. One of the key ways to secure this ownership and trust in employees is through listening and collaboration. †¢ Takes accountability. As with any effective manager, successful transition leaders take accountability for their own work as well as that of the entire organization that he or she manages. †¢ Provides constructive feedback to others. Transition leaders also provide constructive feedback to employees and colleagues. This type of feedback enables employees to be more effective in adapting to and accepting change. Builds relationships with customers, peers, and project team members. Effective transition leaders are also successful in building relationships with customers, peers, and project members. This alliance building enables leaders to effectively delegate and gain the buy-in from key resources, which further enables change within the organization. †¢ Inspires and motivates. In order to manage change effectively in the organization, transition leaders need to have inspired employees and stakeholders. †¢ Communicates openly, early, and often.Since change is such a complex and fearsome idea for most people, it is important for transition leaders to open the flow of communication. This holds true on a day-to-day basis as well (and especially) during times of change. †¢ Provides clear direction. In order for the organization to get to where it needs to be, employees and stakeholders have to understand where they are and where the organization is going. With this in mind, transition leaders need to clearly communicate the organization’s vision and goals to stakeholders and clarify individual roles and responsibilities within that context. †¢ Models the way for the team.Successful t ransition leaders do more than just delegate work and build relationships. They also lead by example in order to build credibility and trust. †¢ Creates opportunities for small wins. The change involved in large scale and complex IT implementations often appears insurmountable to employees. Therefore, it is important to frequently reward and recognize team members to help boost morale and to keep change initiatives from failing due to a burned-out staff. These 10 characteristics of a good transition leader ensure that change is implemented successfully and that major obstacles and resistances to change are minimized.The Roles of Transition Leaders In addition to these characteristics, transition leaders must play a number of roles in order for organizational changes to be successful. Since transition leaders are responsible for directly influencing the outcome of IT and process change implementations, successful change requires that transition leaders assume different roles. In general, transition leaders have four primary roles: catalyst, system and process helper, solution giver/gatherer, and resource linker. The first and arguably the most difficult role that a transition leader faces is that of Catalyst.While many organizations are content with the status quo, it is the transition leader’s responsibility to create and communicate the need for change within the business. This involves instilling a sense of urgency and purpose for the change and overcoming organizational inertia. In addition, this role entails acknowledging areas of resistance and addressing them appropriately. Change will not happen successfully if key stakeholders do not realize and understand the need for change, and it is the responsibility of transition leaders to make this need evident.The second role of a transition leader is that of a System and Process Helper. Once the need for change has been recognized by the organization and change initiatives are created, it is the t ransition leader’s responsibility to ensure that the organization is assimilated into the process and IT changes that ensue. This involves understanding the process and IT changes, the impact these changes have on jobs and policies, and effectively communicating these changes to the individuals impacted. The tasks performed by the System and Process Helper helps permeate the required change throughout the organization.The third role that a transition leader plays is that of Solution Giver and Gatherer. This role is needed to identify and resolve issues that may hinder the success of the implemented change. In particular, the Solution Giver and Gatherer will promote the use of an issues resolution mechanism, provide solutions that benefit the entire organization, and assist in the development and implementation of solutions. In addition, an important element is the need for leaders to listen to suggestions and provide feedback and recognition when appropriate.As discussed abov e, effective transition leaders communicate, provide feedback, and celebrate small wins, which is important to inspiring and motivating project teams. The final role of a successful transition leader is that of Resource Linker. This role involves the more traditional management like delegating tasks, and most experienced managers are capable in this arena. In short, the Resource Linker brings people and resources together, recognizes resource constraints, leverages skills and resources across site locations, and acts as a communications link between resources.This role is important, but it is the three roles described above that most managers overlook when implementing change initiatives. How To Manage People Through Change When incorporating change in an organization, it is useful for transition leaders to understand how change impacts people and how to minimize the negative reactions to change. All successful change initiatives follow a similar pattern or sequence. The first step consists of â€Å"unfreezing† the current way of doing things. This is the phase in the project where the burning platform for change is realized and the vision for a new way of operating is created.The second phase of change begins when it is time to begin energizing the workforce by involving more and more people in the change process so as to begin building ownership over the final outcome. This is also the point where it is critical to identify and secure early project wins. Ensuring that the right resources are provided for achieving early milestones will ensure that the project is perceived as a success. The third phase of the change process consists of building the infrastructure (i. e. , job and organization designs) required to make the change successful.For example, if the technology changes are intended to automate processes that were previously done manually, changes to job designs will be required. The final phase consists of a series of activities aimed at measu ring results and identifying lingering gaps and issues that need to be addressed in order to achieve the project’s intended benefits. While the above phases outline the sequence that change initiatives normally follow, there are three corresponding phases that describe the psychological experiences that people have when affected by change. These come from William Bridges’ book Managing Transitions (1991).The first phase is called â€Å"Letting Go. † This is the time when employees will begin to understand that things are changing, and that in the near future they will be challenged with letting go of the old way of doing things. This may include letting go of old ways of working, relationships, feelings of competence, etc. The second psychological phase, the â€Å"Neutral Zone† is the difficult period when the work is done to implement change and the transition from the old way to the new way begins. Trying to handle implementation and balance the transit ions may make this period the most difficult period of change to manage.The last psychological phase is what Bridges refers to as the â€Å"New Beginning. † This occurs when changes have been fully implemented and expectations for people to change the way they work are realized. Each of the phases described above consist of many people-related challenges, and there are many specific strategies for helping to manage people through these phases. Some of the important critical success factors for managing change are the following: †¢ Identify potential barriers or risk factors that will inhibit success, and create action plans to address them appropriately. Use written and face-to-face communication to help people understand the what, why, and how of change. †¢ Identify opportunities to involve large numbers of employees in the change process; research shows that there is a correlation between involvement and commitment. †¢ Seek to understand and manage individual and team level resistance.†¢ Listen to your employees, acknowledge their losses, show empathy, strive to reduce their stress levels. †¢ Recognize and reward behaviors that support achievement of intended goals. †¢ Systematically analyze the impacts change will have on corporate policies, individual jobs, and organizational structure. Ensure that employees receive sufficient training and the other on-the-job resources necessary to raise people’s level of confidence. By addressing and incorporating these success factors into their management toolkits, effective transition leaders greatly increase the likelihood that their change initiatives will be successful. Conclusion Transition leadership, while often viewed as a â€Å"soft† or â€Å"touchy feely† issue not appropriate to geospatial managers, is clearly a relevant and critical issue to managing the changes that are inherent in organizations today.Even the most robust GIS package with the highes t benefits potential is meaningless if employees and key stakeholders do not effectively accept and adapt the changes to their everyday lives. By embracing the understanding of the impact that change has on employees, the role of transition leaders, and how to manage employees through change, managers will ensure that the changes stick and the anticipated benefits are realized.