Wednesday, July 31, 2019

McNeal Book Review Final Essay

Abstract This paper will constitute a review of Practicing Greatness: 7 Disciplines of Extraordinary Spiritual Leaders,1 with attention given to the disciplines themselves, as well as the rationale and method that McNeal believes will lead to leadership success. The work begins with a quotation from Elton Trueblood that sets the tone for the book’s contents. Trueblood states that â€Å"Deliberate mediocrity is a sin,†2 and to be mediocre is to be without discipline. McNeal penned this work to highlight the disciplines that lead to greatness, both spiritual and in leadership. Interestingly, the listed  Ã¢â‚¬Å"Disciplines† require a course of action on the part of the reader; and this implies not being idle or in the words of Trueblood, mediocre. The â€Å"Disciplines† comprise seven chapters and are noted as follows: The discipline of self—awareness is crucial as it safeguards the leader against unhealthy views of self and needs as well as from task oriented rather than people oriented. The discipline of self—management supports the claim that great leaders are great managers, not merely of others but, primarily and chiefly, of themselves. The discipline of self—development is indicative of all great leaders. They will never stop learning and developing. The discipline of mission honors the propensity of great leaders to sacrifice themselves to great causes. The discipline of decision making sets great leaders apart from good or average leaders. The discipline of belonging characterizes great leaders’ ability to retain and nurture significant relationships that in turn nurture their lives. The discipline of aloneness celebrates great leaders’ ability and grace not only to endure the loneliness of leadership but to actually build solitude into their lives. The over-arching theme of the book, is the spiritual leader that is truly â€Å"great,† achieves that distinction not â€Å"for what they do for themselves or even as a way to become recognized as great leaders. Their end game is about expanding the kingdom of God.†3 Great leaders are cognizant of their inner selves and the signals they send to others via actions. In Boundaries, Cloud and Townsend list four boundary personalities that can derail a leaders’ ability to maintain trust and influence in those they lead. These boundaries are noted as â€Å"Complaints, Avoidants, Controllers and Non-responsives.†4 To augment the above, McNeal cites Gary McIntosh and Samuel Rima’s identification of the leaders’ â€Å"dark-side† comprised of the following characteristics: 1. Compulsive Leaders 2. Narcissistic Leaders 3. Paranoid Leaders 4. Co-dependent Leaders5 McNeal notes that â€Å"Great leaders are great managers—not just managers of projects or other people but mostly of themselves.†6 Yet they are also distributors of â€Å"blessing and encouragement†7 with their work done in humility and in a servant mentality, guaranteeing â€Å"extraordinary character  and exceptional competence developed over time.†8 The author writes with people in view first, and then delves into the varied aspects of leadership based on the disciplines listed in the contents of the book. McNeal draws from years of ministry and teaching experience to demonstrate from Scripture that biblical leadership is possible if one is committed to looking at themselves in light of what Scripture states regarding our condition. Current patterns and preconceptions must be dealt with before change can be implemented; and McNeal provides support from biblical characters who, while not perfect, heeded sound wisdom and learned from experiences so that they would be able to become prepared for what God had planned for them to do. In this regard, McNeal states that all spiritual leaders must flesh out superlatives to distinguish the essence of their call from God to ministry. Questions to be asked in this regard below, will aid the future/current leader in providing answers to questions he/she might have regarding their present ministry or avocation: a. What people or cause do you feel drawn to? b. What do you want to help people do or achieve or experience? c. How do you want to help people? d. What message do you want to deliver? e. How do you intend to serve or have an impact on the world? f. Why did you say yes to God to begin with?9 Mc Neal expounds on leadership and those who will seek to carry it out. the work is not overtly religious, yet it is balanced in the biblical references included. The illustrations of real people in real situations and with real leadership styles are instrumental in bringing clarity and focus to an exhaustive subject. The author has clearly demonstrated his objectives set out in the introduction, and has provided examples for leadership that are able to be implemented in all business applications and not merely the church only. This work is to be commended for anyone interested in not only what makes leaders great; but as well, how they arrived at the summit and are able to remain there. Two things are clear from a complete reading of this book: 1. Great spiritual leaders are committed consciously and intentionally to the spiritual disciplines 2. Great leaders feel blessed, have an attitude of gratitude and have chosen excellence before God and men. Response One major life experience that this book triggered involves the section of â€Å"Managing Expectations in The Discipline of Self-Management.10 I had recently been promoted to assistant manager at my place of employment where I was to be responsible for the implementation of new sales protocols. In reading McNeal, and in retrospect, I realize that because an understanding of self-awareness was lacking, I set expectations so high my natural and learned abilities could not stay even with them. I failed in goals I set and therefore lost confidence in my ability to manage others who worked under me. I knew that there were things which were wrong in how I was doing things; yet I could not figure it out. I arrived at the point where I felt that I would become ill anytime I had to make decisions on the job. I sat down and cried because things seemed to have no solution where it seemed, I was able to find solutions and fix things. I remember hearing a preacher once who was teaching on the wisdom of God and the finiteness of the mind of men. I took my Bible out and went to the concordance where I searched for words and phrases relating to wisdom, mind and knowledge, and I was led to Proverbs 3:5-6 which states to 5 Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. 6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths (KJV). After studying these verses, I realized that not only was I lacking understanding of self-awareness, I was lacking in acknowledging God faithfully considering his infinite wisdom and sovereignty. This was the point where I had to confess my sins of ingratitude and ignorance of God and his power and wisdom. I knew in my heart that I would have to pray and listen to God through his Word more than I ever had; and I knew that I would have to be disciplined so that I would not find it easy to revert to where I had been before in my working life without him. Reflection One question that immediately came to my mind the further I went in this book was why McNeal did not incorporate more Scripture references than he did, or at the least alluded to? The â€Å"disciplines† of extraordinary spiritual leaders, one might think, would be found in Scripture with an excursus into what these disciplines entail. Were the decision left to me, I would have  drawn especially from the teachings of Christ; and from various leaders found within the pages of the sacred text.11 In retrospect, McNeal gave considerable attention to various disciplines within the teaching (illustrating) and ministry (practical) of Christ; yet the reader would likely desire more from the author in these regards than what he did present. There were areas of this work that read more as a psychological development course than the dynamics of spiritual development as the sanctified life of the leader will become apparent within his or her duties regardless the arena they work in. In r eading and discussing this book with my husband, I feel that a sense of balance would have been achieved were McNeal delved a bit more into biblical application of the topics he presented throughout. In terms of fleshing out the ordinary from the extraordinary, McNeal provides generous circumstances and situations from his own ministry life to demonstrate that every aspect of self-awareness and development hinge upon how the person views him/her-self in light of the truth. These â€Å"truths† are the non-negotiable prima fasciae of obedience to God and his will. In terms of readability, this work does not pose difficulty in determining where the author is headed in his teaching. The main issue is that more references to biblical characters might help to balance the illustrations of modern day people within various ministry or organizational structures. Action One of the first things I aim to accomplish in my life is to focus more on God and his wisdom rather than my own. It is so easy and tempting to second guess what one should do to achieve desired results; and more often than not, I have been guilty of over-guessing what I should do to the point that I am correcting every aspect of something to the point of micro-management and monarchial temperament. In the second place, I must set aside daily and consistent times to be alone with God in prayer and meditation on him rather than myself and my needs. I realize that most issues may be solved with remembering that â€Å"he must increase while I decrease† (Jn. 3:30). The power of God is not going to be neither availed nor prevalent if one does not fully relinquish the reins of their life to him, thus following rather than leading him. The above can have no time-table for measurement, so it seems best to state that it is a daily discipline that only grows and develops  properly over a course of time never ending. My ministry now and in the future will very likely utilize vast sections of this work with a focus on the three â€Å"Self’s:† Self-Awareness, Self-Management and Self-Development. I must commit to long-term developed and sustained growth interspersed with bench-marks as a measurement to demonstrate that I am growing and ministering properly. The people I will eventually teach and lead have a right to know what will be expected of them; they also have a right to point out the missteps leaders can make. Here is where I need to be receptive to criticism and rebuke; not wearing my emotions on my sleeve, rather, considering what is being said and then praying to God for the mind to take the necessary steps to corrective action and further development. I know where I am at now, even if I have not fully figured out everything about myself. I do anticipate a long road ahead toward restructuring and complete discipline; yet I believe that â€Å"the race does not belong to the swift, but to those who will never quit† (Eccl. 9:11). Bibliography McNeal, Reggie. Practicing Greatness: 7 Disciplines of Extraordinary Spiritual Leaders. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 2006.

Tuesday, July 30, 2019

I am a leader Essay

I am naturally very friendly and enjoy talking to others, this will be beneficial during room check when girls are still awake and want to share things about their day. I am not shy and am not afraid to enforce the rules, especially the dress code, although I am a student. I am very creative and will enjoy decorating the hallway to make the girls feel welcome in my dorm. I am also and very organized and will be informative to the girls so that they will know about upcoming events each week such as dorm or campus devotionals and campus wide events. I will also remind them of certain events approaching such as clean sweep and saving energy week(s). I have been attending the Church of Christ since I was born. I now attend church at Crosswind Church of Christ while school is in session. I am extremely comfortable talking to students about their faith. I have spoken at girls devotional, been a prayer group leader at the three past retreats, was in charge of the Bible classes of Jr. Camp at MSYC last summer and will be this coming summer, and am currently the youth intern at Crosswinds COC and teach the High School girls Wednesday night class. This is an area that I feel very comfortable. I am a leader in many ways. I am holding leadership roles as officers in PKA and STEA and am a leader to the girls at my church, in my club and any one who sees my actions. I am constantly being a leader by representing the most Christ-like persona I am able to, at all times. Being in the positions that I am in make me a leader, but I try to be a positive leader regardless of what position I have.

Monday, July 29, 2019

Satelite radio vs. terrestrial radio Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Satelite radio vs. terrestrial radio - Essay Example These things grew a bit lax as time went on, and after the invention of the video cassette recorder, nothing was ever the same. Before, choices in films were very limited. Whatever was on the marquee was the entertainment for the evening. Now, not only do we enjoy greater selection, but also have the freedom to watch certain parts of a film over and over again, making sure we miss nothing. How does this compare to the differences between satellite and terrestrial radio? Although presently, satellite radio is too new to really look upon with the 20/20 vision of hindsight, we do have the freedom to speculate about the future. In his book, James Wood says that â€Å"Every new medium of information has made advances on the previous generation of technology and in so doing has established new values, created an awareness of increased potential, and thereby stimulated a greater demand. †¦we will take a look at exactly how the radio evolution has effected our society both now, and make projections about its effects upon the future.† (James Wood, Satellite Communications and DBS Systems.) There is more to â€Å"terrestrial† radio than how it is broadcast. Terrestrial radio’s disadvantages are many: it is lower in both availability (some areas which are mountainous are the most challenging) as well as sound quality, its programming provides much less variety; because it is free, it necessitates more commercials, and because it is available to the public, it is subject to much more government regulation and censorship. (Wikipedia, under â€Å"satellite radio.†) But do these disadvantages necessarily outweigh its arguable superiority to satellite radio in terms of its cultural value? Are some of them truly disadvantages? True, terrestrial radio offers less in the way of variety, but this fact may be a plus. Terrestrial radio is LOCAL radio, something that satellite radio never will be. Yes, the choices in music are less diverse, but they

Sunday, July 28, 2019

Case Study 1 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 3

Case Study 1 - Essay Example The National Cash Registered Country Club (NCRCC) started to benefit thousands of employees who became the core members leading to their development. The club later started offering some two golf courses. Award winning and the championship hosting on the PGA tour are some of the courses offered by the National Cash Register Country Club (NCRCC). The only limitation was that the club was not attracting some new members more especially the young families (Sanchez & Lazaro, 2010). The study is mainly focusing on membership study which is done as part of larger organization creativity to ensure adequate evaluation to different strategic directions that the club may wish to increase its membership. I feel to allow all group age to the club without eliminating some. As in this case, majority are always youths so they need to be given chance to participate in all events of the club. The NCRCC: Teeing Up a New Strategic Direction golf club situated in U.S is observed as the optional extra life styles. However, the McMahon Group came to specialize in the provision of research and strategic consulting to the golf club and providing full services to golf (Floyd &Hebert, 2010). Frank Vain, who was the president of McMahon Group, suggested that with the existence of NCR faced an added wrinkle since it was corporately held. The first impression of McMahon visit where they collected information’s on membership and operations together with the club specialists to discuss the trends of the industry with strategic planning committees (Petar, 2010). The board of National Cash Registered Country Club (NCRCC) hired president McMahon to help the employee with the direction and assistance of the NCRCC development board. Vain estimated historically that the NCRCC has about seven percent diffusion rate in the midst of the employees which was trending smaller which made some reinforcement to the NCRCC membership. However, the NCRCC needed to become

Journal Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 3

Journal - Essay Example The central nervous system comprises of the brain and the spinal chord. The brain is located within the skull, safely enclosed with several layers of tissues and cerebrospinal fluid, and is responsible for transmitting and receiving signals or messages via the spinal chord. The messages emitted by the brain are carried through the spinal chord by the peripheral nervous system which in turn is composed of nerves known as the cranial nerves and the spinal nerves. The brain together with the nervous system facilitates reactions and reflexes towards the external environment. The term Psychology is defined in various ways by different researchers. According to Hayes (1993) â€Å"Psychology is the scientific study of behavior and experience†. According to Angell (1973), the term psychology is defined as â€Å"Psychology is commonly defined as the science of consciousness. It is the business of a science systematically to describe and explain the phenomena with which it is engaged. Mental facts of consciousness constitute the field of psychology†. There are various perspectives on psychology such as the Psychoanalytic or the Psychodynamic perspective founded and propagated by Freud, Humanistic Perspective, Behavioral, Cognitive as well as Neuroscience or Biological perspective (Eysenck, 1994). The Psychoanalytic perspective is concerned with studying of unconscious processes which is based on the theory that the structure of the human mind comprise of ego and superego which struggle to capture the energy of the human psyche. The Humanistic perspective is based on the belief that all human beings possess unique potentials and stresses on the positive aspect of the human nature. The Behavioral theory founded by John Watson, believes that psychology is the study of measurable physical responses to environmental stimuli. The theory of Psychosexual Development which was put forward by Freud, states that a child passes

Saturday, July 27, 2019

Marco Polo's Travel Account Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Marco Polo's Travel Account - Essay Example After having analyzed Marco Polo`s travelogue in detail along with the second hand accounts on his writings written afterwards, a few patterns can be identified conveniently. These accounts suggest that the Mongolian Empire which belonged to the Kublai Khan (1214-1294) was a highly glorified one, in the sense that the architecture of the farfetched land, especially Kublai`s palace was beyond imagination, also the Mongolian culture unlike that perceived by the Westerners is a highly enriched one which escalates the senses of anyone experiencing it. Moreover, though Marco Polo had also mentioned the hardships and distance which he had to face in detail, which implies that the journey was a highly difficult one, even after they possessed the VIP pass, however on experiencing their cultures and having the experience of staying close to Kublai Khan for so long, he finally concludes that the hardships were worth it. However, those who have reflected on the works of Marco Polo have further doubted the credibility of Marco Polo on the account that neither had he learnt the Chinese language during all those years, and adding insult to injury, some of the accounts which he had presented are way too amazing to be true. "When a man is riding through this desert by night and for some reason -falling asleep or anything else -he gets separated from his companions and wants to rejoin them, he hears spirit voices talking to him as if they were his companions, sometimes even calling him by name. Often these voices lure him away from the path and he never finds it again, and many travelers have got lost and died because of this. Sometimes in the night travelers hear a noise like the clatter of a great company of riders away from the road; if they believe that these are some of their own company and head for the noise, they find themselves in deep trouble when daylight comes and they realize their mistake.† ---- Marco Polo  Travels Quoted above is an account from the Marco Polo travels, an excerpt which indicates the hardships which he and even his companions had to face on their way to Cathay. Analyzing the excerpt, like the one quoted above, one may literally experience the intensity of hardships on the way, also the feelings of helplessness and extreme hunger and isolation while there is no way back. One might even start imagining that he is rather accompanying Marco Polo on his journey, given the quality of writings produced by Marco Polo where he has poured his heart out. Since Marco Polo`s father was a great merchant who had visited Cathay early on for trade, he had the honor of having met Kublai Khan, the emperor of Cathay, and thus the emperor had bestowed the merchant with a VIP passport, which allowed them to access horsebacks and other necessities and luxuries when the Polo brothers were to accompany their father. Relying on these where he experienced an adrenaline rush all that time while he was away, having gathered both good and bad tim es with him driving on either extreme like a pendulum. However, his stay in Cathay being close to Kublai Khan was rather more of a compensation for all he had experienced during his journey, and once Kublai Khan died, the miseries of Marco Polo still continued however these miseries contributed towards the writings

Friday, July 26, 2019

DADT Policy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

DADT Policy - Essay Example To address the problem of cost for the American people with regards to implementing the DADT policy, it’s interesting to look at how many people have been discharged over the years. According to United States Government Accountability Office (GAO, 2009), there are around 620 discharged military personnel accused under DADT from 2006-2008. Most people discharged under the policy have served the military for more than two years, making it hard and costly to replace them. According to GAO (2009), it costs an estimated $193.3 million to replace the thousands of servicemen who have been discharged from 2004-09 due to the DADT policy. To consider the personal cost to those discharged people is harder. But most people working more than two years for the military must have chosen it as a career. To be sacked due to one’s sexual orientation is not only horrible but might also destroy these people’s financial situation and future job possibilities. It might prove hard to f ind a job that could match what they were deemed unfit for, and the recovery could take a long time. Both personal and administrative in implementing DADT is unnecessary and burden to all American taxpayers. The unfortunate truth about DADT is that its implementation is not aligned with what our allies believe in. Today, there are 25 countries that allow gays to serve their armed forces including Canada, Australia, Israel and the UK. Of all the original NAT countries, only the US and Turkey still have bans on homosexuals in the military in place.

Thursday, July 25, 2019

International Business Environment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

International Business Environment - Essay Example This paper will examine the European Union’s agricultural subsidy: whether it does more harm than good. According to Myers and Kent, there are several reasons why countries subsidizes agriculture: first is that governments consider it a prime responsibility to keep their citizens fed, so there is the perceived duty to support farmers and double crop production; secondly, farmers worldwide have often been included in the poorest sector of society so policymakers feel that they deserve help.(2, p. 40) All in all, the rationale behind agriculture subsidies is to ensure that there are adequate food supplies, the prices for farm products remain stable and to help the farming sector more competitive and in the process help the poor and develop rural communities. In the European Union, agricultural subsidies rake billions of dollars of expenditures each year, constituting nearly three-quarters of the annual total budget of the EU. (1, p. 339) Support for agriculture is handled by a Common Agricultural Policy or CAP. Here, the policy uses a variable levy to bring the world price of an agricultural import up to the domestic price level as well as subsidizes exports of its surplus commodities on world markets, driving down prices for other potential exporters. The diagram below demonstrates this: Agricultural subsidies such as those of the EU’s have devastating effects on the international market, especially on the poor countries. Subsidies lead to over-production that is dumped on the world market, depressing world prices; and these subsidized imports enter developing countries’ markets with lower tariffs as a result of the AoA and IMF and World Bank conditionalities. (4) It is impossible for farmers from poor economies to compete with the low prices of agricultural products and usually go out of business. Unfortunately, this destroys local and rural production as imported and considerably cheaper agricultural

Wednesday, July 24, 2019

How has Denmark influenced European policymaking in Environmental Research Paper

How has Denmark influenced European policymaking in Environmental Policy How has Denmark, in turn, been influenced by the Europ - Research Paper Example In 2009, Denmark hosted the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen under the 15th Conference of Parties (COP 15) to address the issues of global climatic change, and how this dire problem could be resolved (Denmark 2010). In similar manner, Denmark also gains a lot from several environmental policies and regulations designed and promoted by the European Union Commission as described below (European Commission 2010). 2 Denmark has been popularly regarded as an environmentally friendly society where people and Government pay serious attention to the principle of environmental protection. The Danish Government has many great environmental policies and practices that are effective and exported to other European countries for similar applications or implementations. Some of these environmentally friendly programs include but are not restricted to the following policies: (i) The Development of Industry-environment Policy:- Denmark shows the other European countries that it is possible to establish a commission that would oversee the relationship between governmental environmental agencies and the industry in a country with the hope to forming a cooperation between the two parties for the purpose of preserving the environment. What the Danish Government did in this case was to set up an investigation on how much pollution the industries caused in the country. After a thorough investigation, it was discovered that Danish industry was solely responsible for the hike in the rate of pollution. To combat this problem, the Danish Government established Pollution Ministry, which specifically makes recommendations for environmental laws, policies and regulations. This approach is effective in stemming the degradation of the environment in the sense that Danish industries are expected to give account 3 of their activities regularly to the agencies under this Ministry with the intention of solving the pollution problems completely (Wallace 26). This policy has b een reportedly copied in other European nations where pollution had become a serious socio-economic problem. It is also Denmark’s hope that this policy will be adopted by almost all European Union countries so as to establish a well-rounded environmental policy that would help Europe Union to control the extent of pollution in the sub-region. Pollution has many far-reaching implications: some of them include causing health hazards, the destruction of farmland produce and making air unfit for breathing. (ii) Creation of Ecocities:- Denmark is one of the countries in the European Union that initiated the policy of establishing Ecocities where governmental laws and regulations about environmental protection are strictly implemented or practiced in order to study the impact of such policies over a period of time (Denmark 2010). What the administrators of Ecocities do is to make sure that the natural resources are consumed appropriately, energy usage should be moderate and the fos sil-fuel sources of energy should be minimized. Water is the main natural resource that is expected to be used wisely in Ecocities. Also, there are programs that aim at creating avenues for people to go â€Å"green†, that is, adopting lifestyles that pay attention to the use 4 of energy-saving alternatives (Denmark 2010). Doing this, Denmark has encouraged other EU countries to take up the challenge of establishing similar Ecocities in their areas. Ecocities are projected to reduce the amount of

Tuesday, July 23, 2019

Independent, Mediating, Moderating and Dependent Variables Coursework

Independent, Mediating, Moderating and Dependent Variables - Coursework Example For instance, intervening variables explicate the statistical association between longevity needs and income because having money does not necessarily make someone live longer. However, the relationship between income and longevity needs might hold considering that people with higher income tend to have better medical care. A typical example of the intervening variable is the medical care. It basically mediates or intervenes the relation between longevity and income (Springer, 2014). All the correlations between predictor and mediator variables, mediator and criterion variables, as well as predictor and criterion variables are significant for the general test for mediation. For instance, parents typically transmit their social statuses directly to their children. In the same way, they effectively transmit those statuses to their children through education. Parent’s status âž› child’s education âž› child’s status. A mediating variable is vital for statistical analyses and research designs that aim to investigate how tobacco prevention programs impact or accomplish their effects on the use of tobacco. The theoretical approach to program evaluation and development mainly focuses on the action theory (Amine et al. 2012). In particular, the action theory explains how the tobacco prevention program would affect intervening variables. Similarly, a conceptual approach seeks to explicate how mediator variables are related to smoking. Tobacco prevention programs would ultimately obtain information on the intervening mechanisms; information would be very useful to the development of adequate programs (Amine et al. 2012). The information would further provide a valuable test of the theoretical or hypothetical basis of tobacco prevention efforts. Amine, Chakor, and Alaoui (2012) investigate the influence of mediating variables on the theoretical analysis of ethics, relationship marketing, and corporate performance.  

Monday, July 22, 2019

Scavenger Hunt Essay Example for Free

Scavenger Hunt Essay 1. What is the instructor’s name (spelling counts)? Where did the instructor go to college? The instructor’s name is Jane Smith. 2. What is the instructor’s email address to be used for questions and submission of projects? 3. What day(s) of each week are Chapter homework assignments always due? Chapter homework assignments are always due on Thursdays and Sundays. Furthermore, discussions are due every Tuesday. 4. What is the time deadline (hour:minutes, AM or PM) for the Portal assignments to be submitted? Homework is due at 10 PM. 5. On Canvas, under Navigating the Portal, what are the two Cautions that are listed? The portal times out after 2 hours so students need to save their homework as they go along to ensure their progress isn’t lost. Students shouldn’t use their mouse ball to scroll down the page because it may lead them to the last answer of a different section. 6. What are the days, dates, times and room numbers of all of the tests held on campus? The second exam is on Wednesday February 20th in room N201. It will be from 5:30-7:30 pm. The final exam is on Monday March 18th in room R110. It will be from 5:30-7:30 pm. 7. What are the three projects and when are they due (day, date, and time)? The first is the Data Analysis project which is due on January 26th, 2013 at 10 PM. The second project is the Correlation and Regression project due on February 16th, 2013 at 10 PM. 8. How should the projects be submitted? Be specific about the requirements. The projects should be submitted by email to [emailprotected] In the subject line, students must include their name and the title of the project. None of the projects can be  submitted through canvas. 9. What is the last day (date) to withdraw from this course with a W printed on your transcript? Please tell both the date for in-person withdrawal and the date for online withdrawal. The last day to withdraw from this course with a â€Å"W† on your transcript is February 15th, 2013 in person and February 17th, 2013 online. 10. What do you do if you can’t take a test on campus? Be very specific about the process, the possibilities for proctors, and when the test must be taken. Students who are unable to take a test on campus need to alert the instructor at least 10 days before the test, and must have a proctor and suitable location. Proctors may be part of the Bellevue College staff, clergy, etc. Under no circumstances can a proctor be a family member. Without 10 days notice, students are expected to be on campus on the day of the test. Proctored exams must be administered the day of, or before, the test is given. 11. Two quizzes will be given. What is the due date and time for each quiz and which chapters are being tested for each? From the time that you open the quiz, how many minutes to do you have to submit the quiz? The first quiz is on February 17th and covers chapters 1-13. The second is on March 17th and covers chapters 1-19. We are given 60 minutes to complete each quiz. 12. Locate the calculator instructions on Canvas for computing a normal distribution and compute the following: normalcdf(129, 148, 132, 12), rounding appropriately to 4 decimal places. The answer is 0.5075. 13. Examine the Chapter 14 Homework on the Portal. List the 4 steps involved in doing a hypothesis test? 1. State the alternative and null hypothesis. 2. State the type of test administered, such as a z-test or t-test. Then, give the value of the test statistic (T=____ or Z= ____) 3. State the P value and alpha level. 4. Use two sentences for the conclusion. In the first sentence, state whether or not you reject the null hypothesis. In the second sentence, state what the test measured. 14. What is the phone number for the Stats Portal Help Line? The phone number is 1-800-936-6899 15. Canvas contains study questions for each chapter. Locate the study questions for chapter 4 – what is the answer to #1? The answer is: r=.9314 16. How many submissions are allowed for Exercises? How many submissions are allowed for Post Tests? Two submissions are allowed for exercises and only one submission is allowed for post-tests. 17. How many points will you receive on the Scavenger Hunt if get all questions correct. How many points will be deducted for each question missed?If all questions are correct, you receive 50 points. You lose 10 points for each incorrect answer. 18. Canvas contains practice exams and answers. What is the answer to question 6 on the Chapters 1, 2 and 3 practice exam? The answer is: Mean=120; Standard Deviation=8 19. On Canvas, Navigating Stats Portal gives you helpful information about the Portal site. What should you do if you are taking longer than 2 hours to complete an exercise? You should save your answers periodically so that they do not get erased. 20. If you find that you are struggling to understand the material in this course, name four resources that BC or the instructor offers to help you be successful in the course. Four resources available are the math lab, Stats Tutors, Applets, Crunch It, and Statistical Videos.

Human Resources - how individuals are managed within an organisation Essay Example for Free

Human Resources how individuals are managed within an organisation Essay Introduction People are an extremely important resource for any organisation. To be a successful business you need to employ staff with the right qualifications skills and experience. The employees of an organisation are collectively known as its human resources, in many organisations, both public and private, the human resources department is also known as the personnel department. However, the difference in name reflects a shift in emphasis from a purely recruitment and welfare role to a greater concern about how to maximise the performance of staff. Human resource management is also an integral part of many job roles. There are many duties performed by a typical human resources department. These duties include drawing up and implementing equal opportunities and health and safety policies, staff consultation, negotiation, appraisal and staff development, as well as training, recruitment and selection of staff. They are the most important resource in the production of goods ands services. Many aspects of the employer-employee relationship are covered by legislation. However, employers are recognising increasingly that good human resource management practice, which goes beyond the letter of the law, can generate benefits for both the organisation and the individual. The role of human resources Human resource management involves managing a range of roles relating to people employed by a business including: Recruitment The personnel department must advertise accordingly and try to attract the best candidates for the job, and the recruit the best applicants. If the wrong person is recruited, and then finds the job boring or too difficult, then the business will not get the most out of its human resources. Also where employees need to be flexible and autonomous and where direct control over employees is difficult, recruitment is becoming more and more important. To make sure the best person is chosen, personnel departments must be clear about: * What the job entails * What qualities the job requires * What rewards is needed to retain and motivate employees. There are many stages of recruiting, they are: 1. Analyse what the job entails and decide what sort of person is needed. 2. Decide how the vacancy is to be advertised or announced. 3. The selection process needs to be planned and conducted in such a way as to ensure that the best candidate is successful. Training involves employees being taught new skills or improving skills they have already have. Why might a business train its employees? It is argued that a well-trained work force has certain benefits for a business. * Well-trained workers should be more productive. This will help the business to achieve its overall objectives such as increasing profits. * It should help to create a more flexible work force. If a business needs to increase production, workers then have to be trained in new tasks. * New machinery or production processes can be introduced more effectively, if the staff are trained. * It should lead to increased job satisfaction to employees. Well-motivated workers are more likely to be more productive. * It should reduce accidents and injuries if employees are trained in health and safety procedures. * It may improve the image of the company. * It can improve employees chances of promotion. How does a firm know if training is required? One method might be to use the job description to find the skills and knowledge needed to do the job. If the employees skills do not match up with the ones in the job description, then there is a need for re-training. Employees can also be asked about areas where they are not quite as confident, and think may need a little work on. This should make them more committed to training. Training needs are found at different levels within a business. Training is often divided into on-the-job-training and off-the-job-training. On-the-job-training takes place when employees are trained while they are carrying out an activity, often at their place of work. Off-the-job training takes place away from the job, at a different location. It may involve the employee being released for periods of time to attend courses at colleges or other institutions. This is by far the most popular form of training. One vital key task of HRM is to keep up to date with employment legislation (UK and EU) and to remain alert to the implications of such legislation for the firm and the workers. The main aim of such legislation is to ensure that employees rights are protected. Basic rights include: * Employees must receive a written statement of terms and conditions of employment within 13 weeks of starting work. * They must be paid the same as other people who carry out identical or similar jobs. * Working conditions must be safe and healthy. * Workers cannot be dismissed unfairly. * Employers must not discriminate against any member of staff. Employees have basic rights to: * They are expected to comply with the terms of their contract. * To do jobs with care and skill, to the acceptable standard. * Observe health and safety regulations. * Not to damage the firms property. There are many other responsibilities that then form the basis of the contract of employment. The contract is formed as soon as the employer offers a person a job and they accept it. Motivation at work For many years firms have given financial rewards in an attempt to motivate employees and improve productivity. However in the last 2 or 3 decades firms have realised that: * the chance to earn more money may not be an effective motivator * financial incentive schemes are difficult to operate * individual reward schemes may no longer be effective as production has become organised into group tasks * other factors may be more important in motivating employees If other factors are more important than pay in motivating workers, it is important for firms to identify them. Only then can a business make sure its work force is motivated. Team work The Swedish car firm Volvo is a well-known example of a company that has effectively introduced teamwork. In both its plants at Kalmar and Uddevalla, it set up production in teams of 8-10 highly skilled workers. The teams decided between themselves how the work was to be distributed and how to solve problems as they arise. It is arguable whether these practices lead to an increase in productivity, but the company firmly believes this method of organisation was better than an assembly line system a similar system is used at Honda UK but with four person teams. If the firm is always changing due to the market, which is causing it to either, expand or de-layer. Then they will have to change the work force accordingly. The case study that I will be looking at is a position as a secretary for Ratcliffe College. P1- Recruitment One of the most important responsibilities of Human resource function is recruitment and selection. The costs of recruitment, training and retaining employees are high, but the costs of selecting the wrong people or losing key members of staff can be even higher. The processes of recruitment and selection must always relate the requirement for skilled staff to the business needs of the organisation. It is also essential that potential candidates be treated fairly. When vacancies arise because existing staff move to other jobs, retire or have to leave work because of illness. Some vacancies occur because the organisation expands or is restructured. Before the organisation advertises a post, it needs to decide whether there is a real need for the position to be filled. It might consider the following alternatives: * Amalgamating one job with another * Giving existing staff overtime * Recruiting temporary staff * Increasing the use of technology or machinery * Once an organisation decides that a vacancy exists, the recruitment process begins. Internal recruitment Internal recruitment strengthens employees commitment to the company, for example Kelloggs have stated the following in their recruitment policy handbook: * Offer the job to an existing employee, as a promotion or transfer * Advertise internally, if suitable candidate is likely to available internally * Advertise externally if no suitable candidate is likely to exist internally(and display notice internally to the effect that the advertisement is appearing) Except in special cases, all vacancies should be advertised internally before external recruitment methods are used. There are a number of advantages to advertising jobs inside the business. * It gives employees within the company a chance to develop their career * There may be a shorter induction period as the employee is likely to be familiar with the company * Employers will know more about internal candidates abilities. This should reduce the risk of employing the wrong person * Internal recruitment may be quicker and less expensive than recruiting from outside the business. However, there are also disadvantages. * Internal advertising limits the number of applicants * External candidates might have been better quality * Another vacancy will be created which might have to be filled * If having investigated ways of filling the vacancy internally the business still does not appoint, then it must find ways to obtain candidates externally. External recruitment There are many ways of attracting candidates from outside the company. The choice of method often depends on the type of vacancy and the type of employee a business wants. Each method has its own benefits and problem, although it could be argued that the overall advantages of external advertising are the opposite of the disadvantages of internal advertising, for example, there is a wider number of applicants. Commercial employment agencies, these are companies that specialise in recruiting and selection. They usually provide a shortlist of candidates for a company to interview, but can also provide temporary workers. For example HMS, Alfred Marks and Kelly Accountancy Personnel. The advantage of commercial agencies is that they are experienced in providing certain types of worker, such as secretaries and clerical staff. They also minimise the administration for the employer involved in recruiting staff. Their main drawback is that they tend to produce staff that only stay in a job for a short time. Another problem for the business is the cost of paying fees to the agency. Recruitment and selection P2-Personnel Specification The first step is to prepare a job description. Before writing a job description, the job itself has to be analysed. This will identify the skills needed to perform the job and will also allow management to consider the overall effectiveness of the post and whether any changes are necessary. Clear job descriptions form the basis for preparing advertisements and for drawing up person specifications. Once individuals are in the post, job descriptions allow them to know exactly what their roles are, and what is expected of them. Before writing a job description, the job itself has to be analysed. This will identify the skills needed to perform the job and will also allow management to consider the overall effectiveness of the post and whether any changes are necessary. Clear job descriptions form the basis for preparing advertisements and for drawing up person specifications. Once individuals are in a post, job description allow them to know exactly what their roles are, and what is expected of them. When preparing a job description, it is important that the business to look to: * Describe the job accurately- if you overstate or understate the requirements of the job, you will be less likely to attract suitable applicants * Avoid discriminatory descriptions wording that implies one sex is preferable to another is unfair, illegal and unnecessarily restricts the number of people you are able to choose from. Below is an example of a job description, advertised in the local paper, for my case study. Ratcliffe College Job title School secretary Department: Administration, including Bursary Location Ratcliffe College, Ratcliffe-on-the-Wreake Salary à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½15,000- 20,000 Requirements for the job: * Enthusiastic, sociable, hard working person. * Taking care of any paper work regarding the school, and answering calls throughout the day on any matter. * Computer skills and experience of working in an office. General information * The hours per day would from 9am-5pm, 5 days a week. * There is a team of six people who deal with the administration of the school; this includes the bursar, the head masters secretary and the four secretaries. The profile of the best person to fill a job is a vital reference document to use during the selection process. It helps eliminate unsuitable candidates, guides interviewers and allows selectors to compare candidates objectively. The following are the key areas in drawing up a person specification: * Knowledge and understanding required for the job * Skills and abilities required for the job * Experience required for the job * Educational requirements The following shows a person specification: To fill the receptionist post we are looking for people with most of the following qualifications: 1. GCSEs in Maths and English, additional qualifications such as computer skills required. 2. The applicant must have had previous experience in an office environment 3. Must be computer literate, and able to use a photocopier. 4. Must have an outgoing, friendly personality, and able to communicate efficiently with students and fellow members of staff alike. Most importantly, they must be able to answer the telephone and help with any enquiries. When preparing person specifications, there are several pitfalls to be avoided. * Asking for higher qualifications than are needed, it runs the risk of passing over less-qualified staff who are likely to become frustrated in positions that fail to extend their abilities * Asking for someone with particular or extensive experience, an individual with the right aptitudes, skills and temperament may be a quick learner * Stipulating particular age requirements, tasks that are traditionally regarded as junior can often be done as well, if not better, by older staff. Similar, jobs that have been regarded as the preserve of more mature employees may be performed by able, qualified and highly motivated young people. * Defining narrow physical requirements, these must only be specified where the requirement is genuine and essential. Remember that the specification of physical attributes can lead to direct or indirect discrimination. * Basing your specification on someone who is already doing the job, no matter how good that person might be, he or she is a unique individual and no one else will be a perfect replacement. The newcomer will bring his or her own personality, values and skills. P3-Reviewing Applications Miss Puddleduck- she seems to be able to get on with people and handle situations, as we can see this from her working as a carer in an Elderly Home. She is the eldest to apply for the job and has a good amount of previous experience, which give her the skills needed, like office and computer work. Seems to be a hard work and has good communication skills, and also she has worked with children before so is a strong candidate. From her CV I see that she has three young children, This may cause a problem, as she has a live-in child minder. Mr Langer- Mr Langer sent in an application form with exceptional exam results both from GCSE and A level. He gave some job experience which all showed experience but nothing that was relevant to the job description. His letter of application was very short with not much detail. Being as he hadnt any experience in secretarial duties then I would have thought that he would have tried to impress me through the letter of application. This didnt happen but because of his good exam results I offered him an interview hoping he would have something to offer the company. Mr Langers CV was average, he had typed it out so that it looked neat, and it was set well but the contented which he needed to impress me wasnt there. Mr Langer was a very intellectual young man by the language which he had used on his recruitment forms and his given exam results but unfortunately he didnt have the relevant experience to offer this post. Miss Hill- the weakest candidate looking from her application form, but she seems to be enthusiastic over the job, but from her CV she says she likes socialising, which may be a downfall as she may need to come in any day of the week. Miss Hill has no previous experience. From the CV her GCSE grades are not excellent, however, she has passed English and maths, and has computer skills. I am not sure how well she can communicate with people of different ages, as I have no evidence that she can. However, as she is young she may find it easier to communicate with the student, but she must be able to communicate effectively with the adults as well. She also has a young child, so she may know how to get on with the younger generation in the school Miss Hill has a young child, which could mean that she will need time off work to look after it. She states that her mum could look after the child at the weekends if necessary, however, her mum may not be available in the week if the child is unable to go to playgroup. So it may cause difficulties in the future, as she may have difficulties finding someone to look after the child or she may have to take days off. P4-Contract of employment Once a business has selected an employee, the successful candidates must be appointed. Once appointed. Employees are entitled to a Contract of Employment. This is an agreement between the employer and the employee under which each has certain obligations. It is binding to both parties in the agreement, the employer and the employee. This means that it is unlawful to break the terms and conditions in the contract without the other party agreeing. As soon as an employee starts work, and therefore demonstrates that she accepts the terms offered by the employer, the contract comes into existence. It is sometimes a written contract, although a verbal agreement or implied agreements are also contracts of employment. The employment Right Act, 1996 requires employers to give employees taken on for one month or more a written statement within two months of appointment. This written statement sets out the terms and conditions in the contract. Some common features shown in the written statement are: * The names of the employer and the name of the employee * The date on which the employment is to begin * The job title * The terms and conditions of employment * Remuneration and pay interval; * Hours of work; * Entitlement to sick leave and pay (if any) * Pensions; * Period of notice for employer and employee; * Disciplinary and Grievance procedures. Certain employment protection rights cover employees that are appointed by a business. Government legislation makes it a duty of employers to safeguard these rights. They fall into a number of areas. * Discrimination. Employees cannot be discriminated against on grounds of gender, race or disability. So, for example, a business cannot refuse to appoint a candidate for a job only because that person is female. * Pay. Employees must be paid the same rate as other employees doing the same job, a similar job or a job with equal demands. They also have the right to itemised pay statements and not to have pay deducted for unlawful reasons. Other conditions which may be included are: the need for medical examinations, working from different locations, the right to search employees, the need for confidentiality and the need to obey the specific rules of the organisation. If the employer fails to provide a written statement of the main terms and conditions of employment, an employee could exercise his or her legal right to ask an industrial tribunal to decide what ought to have been in the written statement. This is then imposed upon the employer. Employers with more than twenty employees are also obliged to ensure that every employee has a copy of the disciplinary and grievance procedures. Employers have always wanted workers to be as flexible as possible. In the past this has meant paying overtime for extra hours worked, or higher rates for shift work. Faced with competition, businesses attempted to use their existing employees more efficiently. Sometimes this could benefit the employee. An example of a situation in Adams is a single woman with a child was able to work between the hours of 9 am to 3 p.m. each day while her child is at school. Working flexible hours could mean an employee may take time off for personal reasons and still work their required number of hours a week. Training would also be given to workers so they become multi -skilled able to switch from one job to another if needed. This example of job rotation may perhaps lead to the employee being more motivated. From a firms point of view, an employee that can change jobs may prevent the need to have temporary workers to cover for illness etc. and so reduce labour costs. An example of this is the workstyle initiative at Adams, where team working has been introduced so that workers can change from one process to another and do the work of others in the team if necessary. In 1985 John Atkinson and the Institute of Manpower Studies developed the idea of the flexible firm. They suggested that businesses have a core and a periphery. As a result of increasing competition, firms have attempted to make the workforce as flexible as possible, to increase productivity, reduce costs and react more quickly to change. The business would try to motivate core workers, giving them job security, and employ periphery workers only when needed. Increasingly employers looked to make plans that allow a business to respond to changes. For example, if a large unexpected order arrives, a business will need workers that can get it out on time. Using a flexible workforce enables a business to react effectively to changes that take place outside the business. Examples of workers that are used by a business includes: * Part time employees. * Temporary employees to deal with increases in demand. * Workers on zero hours contracts who are employed by the business but only work and are paid when both the business and the employee agree. * Workers who work to annualised hours contracts, where they work a certain number of hours over a year rather than in a week. * Workers who bank time, by not working when demand is slack but being asked to work that time at a later date. * Office temporary workers to cover for illness. * Self-employed workers. * Job sharing, where two workers are employed to do a full time job that in the past have been carried out by the one person. P5-My Performance in the Interview Before the interview 1. The interviewer should check that the interview arrangements are satisfactory: * Is the seating adequate? * Is the lighting satisfactory? * Is the room quiet or private? * Has it been ensured that the interview will not be disrupted? * Has access for candidates with a physical disability been checked? 2. Check through the job description and the person specification. 3. Read the application forms again, not any special questions or queries. 4. Write down the agreed questions that every candidate will have to answer, so they can make comparisons of each interviewee, this could including: * Why did you apply for this job? * Why did you apply to this organisation? 5. At the beginning of the interview every candidate should be welcomed by name and invited to sit down. 6. Begin the interview with an open or easy question, which should help the interviewees to relax. 7. The interviewer should always stay calm and uninvolved and be ready to listen 8. Keep observing the candidates. Watch for body language signal such as: * The way they sit * Arm and hand movements * Eye movements and eye contact * Voice 9. At the end of the interview the interviewer should: * Thank the candidate * Find out if the candidate has any questions or wants to add anything; * Find out when the candidate could start work; * Ask whether the candidate still wants the job * Tell the candidate how and when they will be told the result of the interview After the Interview 1. The candidates should leave feeling that they have had a fair hearing. An interviewer can ask either open or closed questions. * Open questions cannot be answered with a simple yes or no. Answering them allows individuals to express their opinions and to talk at length. Here are some examples of open-ended questions. What did you enjoy most about a particular job? Which skills do you think would be most useful in this post? How do you plan to achieve that? * Closed questions require a simple yes or no answer. It will always be necessary to ask a few closed questions, but their use should be restricted. Closed questions do not allow the candidate to talk freely, and they can make the interview somewhat stilted, with the interviewer doing most of the talking. When I was the interviewer I asked open ended questions, which allowed me to find out more about the candidate personality as well as there attitude to work. However from my colleagues point of view I was told that I was to laid back towards the candidate and to disorganise, this was because I had not gone through the CVs and the application form. This could have meant that I missed some vital information about the candidates. Also I did not write any information down about each candidate, which meant that I could not remember what the candidates where like. Which meant that I could analyse and compare the candidates. As an interviewee I was confident going for the position, willing to answer the questions, with no problems. But in doing this I had not research the position enough, as I had a lack of information about the school. Knowing this would of help me to put across my views on how I would of achieved the job successfully, and showed that I was interested in the job. I feel that during the interviews I fulfilled most of these criteria. The seating was adequate; there were two seats for the interviewers and one doe the candidate. However, there was a desk in between, it would have been better to try and create a more relaxed atmosphere, by either not having the desk at all, or sitting to one side of the desk. I was familiar with the job description and person specification, and had already prepared certain questions for each candidate. I had prepared a sheet with the questions that I was going to ask all of the candidates, a copy of this can be found in the appendix. I welcomed all the candidates by name and shucked there hand, and tried to make them feel welcome. Throughout the interview I used a variety of open and closed questions. I should have used more open than closed questions to allow the candidate to talk more. This would be one aspect I would have to change in future interviews. I thought of some follow up questions, however, could have thought of some more. I observed the candidates several times throughout the interview, which gave me a good idea of their overall body language. At the end of the interview, I allowed the candidates to ask questions, found out when they could start work, and told them when they would hear of the result. I didnt tell them how they would hear of the result, and I forgot to ask then if they were still interested in the job. After the interview I made some brief notes on the way the candidate had reacted during the interview. All these documents remained private between myself and the other interviewer M4-Local Labour Market Employment by sector Leicestershire TEC Area % East midlands % Great Britain % Agriculture Fishing 1,500 0.4 6,900 0.4 71,000 0.3 Energy Water 5,000 1.2 17,600 1.1 214,700 1.0 Manufacturing 116,700 29.4 418,700 25.8 4,060,000 18.0 Construction 13.300 3.3 70,700 4.4 987,900 4.4 Distribution, Hotels restaurants 80,000 20.1 354,800 5.0 1,319,400 5.9 Transport communication 22,000 5.5 81,100 5.0 1,319,400 5.9 Banking, finance Insurance, etc. 58,600 14.8 230,200 14.2 4,183,700 18.6 Public administration, Education Health 85,900 21.6 378,700 23.3 5,496,600 24.4 Other services 14,000 3.5 65,700 4.0 1,068,900 4.7 Total 397,000 100.0 1,623,800 100.0 22,534,900 100.0 The labour market is split up into three different labour sectors: 1. Primary these are businesses that are involved in extracting natural resources from the environment. Examples are the first two rows of the table. 2. Secondary businesses convert the raw materials from the primary sector into a form that can be used by customers. The third and fourth rows on the table are examples of this sector. 3. Tertiary Organisations provide services. The reminding rows are businesses in the tertiary sector. * Manufacturing contributes nearly 30% to GDP and employs some 27% of the workforce, goods produced range from textiles clothing through aerospace engines. However, manufacturing output within the region is forecast to fall by approximately 0.5% in 1999 before recovering in 2000. * Service Sector employment is growing faster than at the national level, but the service sector is still relatively under-represented. IT related employment, in particular, continues to expand. * Agriculture the East Midlands accounts for 10% of UK agricultural output, and employs 45,000 people across the region, rising to nearly one in five of the workforce in some areas. * Unemployment the regional claimant rate has been below the UK rate and currently stands at 3.9% compared to the UK 4.4% for May 1999. Current situation prospects Within the East Midlands, growth in services was estimated to have been stronger than the UK as a whole during 1998. However, the region saw a sharp slowdown in business services growth, reflecting the dependence of the sector on local manufacturing. Manufacturing output declined significantly during 1998, due to deterioration in both domestic and export demand, and a strong pound. Manufacturing output within the region is forecast to continue to decline during 1999, before recovering in 2000. Subdued performance is also expected in retailing distribution, and in transport communications. Overall regional GDP is expected to rise only slightly by 0.3% during 1999, with employment levels expected to remain static. Short-term changes in the GDP by sector (% per year) Manufacturing Services Other All services Fin. Bus. Services 1998 1999 2000 1998 1999 2000 1998 1999 2000 1998 1999 2000 E.M. 0.3 0.3 -3.1 1.5 0.2 1.2 4.9 2.2 1.9 6.8 -0.7 -1.9 UK -0.2 -0.2 -3.2 1.3 0.6 0.5 2.5 1.5 1.4 1.6 -1.4 -1.9 Inward investment The region has seen inward investment in manufacturing over recent years. In the first half of 1998 the East Midlands won 16 inward investment projects, which created a total of 2,240 jobs. Approximately 50% of the projects came from the USA. Other inward investment projects within the region include Toyota, the Japanese car manufacturer, which has expanded its plant at Burnaston in Derbyshire at a cost of à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½200m in order to build a second car model, the Corolla. The region has also been successful in attracting call centres, despite competition. In the future as direct banking and insurance services increase, further investment opportunities are likely to arise for the region. The East Midlands success in attracting inward investment can be explained by its central location, good infrastructure links with the rest of the country, relatively low land prices, and the quality of its workforce. Leicestershires Industrial Profile Leicestershires industrial structure has experienced a long period of change and this change is seen to continue. The manufacturing industry consists of textiles and clothing, electronic engineering, mechanical engineering, food processing, printing and publishing, and pharmaceuticals. In Leicestershire 26% of the population are employed in this sector compared with 19% nationally. The most important manufacturing industry group, in terms of output, remains other manufacturing which includes textiles and food manufacturing, currently accounting for half of all manufacturing output. The fastest growing sector was national transport and communications, with an average annual growth of 9.6% since 1992. This growth largely reflects the advantages of Leicestershire as a central location for distribution Industrial sectors Leicestershire TEC area Leicestershire county Leicester city Rutland 1999 Employee estimates Number % Number % Number % Number % Agriculture Fishing 3,100 0.8 2,700 1.2 0 0 400 3.5 Energy Water 9,200 2.3 5,600 2.4 3,200 2.1 400 3.5 Manufacturing 102,600 26.0 64,300 28.1 36,300 23.8 2,000 17.4 Construction 14900 3.8 10,000 4.4 4,300 2.8 600 5.2 Distribution, Hotels restaurants 83,000 21.1 51,100 22.3 29,200 19.1 2,700 23.5 Transport communication 23,100 5.9 16,100 7.0 6,500 4.3 500 4.3 Banking, finance Insurance, etc. 54,800 13.9 28,100 12.3 25,600 16.8 1,100 9.6 Public administration, Education Health 85,900 21.8 41,900 18.3 40,600 26.6 3,400 39.6 Other services 16,600 4.2 9,300 4.1 6,900 4.5 400 3.5 Total employees 393,200 100.0 229,100 100.0 152,600 100.0 11,500 100.0 M5 Analysing the recruitment documents I think I should have spaced out the application form a bit better and left more room for the forenames and surnames. On the application form I didnt put a space for sex, this should have been entered, as some people may see it as not giving equal opportunities. I think that it is of a good size, and the font is neither too small nor too large, however, if there had been more spaces left, then it may have been easier to read. There is not a final section asking for a supporting statement. This does not give the applicant opportunity to sell themselves. I should have put some spaces in the Employment History section for reason for leaving the job, and also how long they had been at their last job for. This would have given me some indication on how willing they are. Also if I had left space at the end of the form, there would have been space for the candidates to sell themselves, also giving me more information to base my questions on at the interview. There should have also been more space for them to fill in information about their education. In the references section there should be space to show what relationship the person given as a reference is to the candidate. As it is important for companies to enforce equal opportunities I should have had a section in the application form asking if they had a disability, what their ethnic origin is and also what colour they consider themselves (black, white, other, mixed). This should be an optional section; however, I should have included it. I also provided a sheet for the candidates to fill in just before the interview. This is where extra information could be gathered, and if any details have changed since they filled in the application form, then I could be notified of them. The appraisal documents: during the interview I made some basic notes of the candidates performance. These notes included how well they answered the questions, and their body language. I also gave them marks for their body language, their language and how appropriate it was, and how confident they were (1 being the best, and 5 the worst) In my personnel specification, I should have said more about the job so that they know more about the job and what jobs would be involved in the position. Also how to handle parents and children. Also in the job description, I should stated more about what the jobs would be involved with, like handling children from the ages of 5-18, so they need to be patient sometimes and also authoritative. M6-Strengths Weaknesses Mrs Jemima Puddleduck Her letter of application was most impressive. It was typed, set out correctly, and lots of good language was used. The recruitment documents that we received from Mrs Jemima Puddleduck showed that she was a well-educated young lady, showing she had studied both GCSEs, and A levels with excellent grades, and also well qualified. The only factor, which made me a little unsure of her, was that she had children, which I felt it might cause some difficulty about the hours she could work. Plus a degree in sports management. It was a very encouraging letter, outlining her strengths and weaknesses, and also stating any previous relevant work experience as well as any other experience to show her enthusiasm for work. Her experiences in jobs show us a very caring girl and she has taken part in work experience in very useful places. Mrs Jemima Puddleduck sent me a very short but detailed letter of application it was in written form very neat and well set out. Her work experiences have given her experience of what this position requires and I feel she would be an excellent candidate for this job. Mr Brett Langer The documents that were given to us by Brett Langer shows that he is ma very hard working person, we know this by looking at his GCSEs and A Levels. So he should then have the basic skills available to do the job successfully, with A grades in Maths and English in his GCSEs. My impression also was that he may be a little well qualified for the job, nonetheless a very promising candidate. It showed that he had some previous job experience, however, he had never worked in an office before. From the letter of application he seemed to be an all round person, being able to get on with people. We can also see this from his past work experience as a Waiter and Employee at McDonalds, this showing he should be able to get on with any sort of person and situations. The only problem is that he is going to be working on a temporary basis as hes looking for a job in the business sector, so he will only be working here until he finds a job in the business industry. Miss Tracy Hill Miss Hill is the youngest candidate applying for the position as Secretary. The recruitment documents, which we received from Miss Tracy Hill, she seems to be a nice girl but lack the personnel skills and personality for the job. There are concerns on how sociable she is, and how this may affect her work, as she may have to come in on a Saturday or Sunday. She has the basic skills to do the job with having GCSEs in IT, Maths and English. She also has no work experience in any field. She is the weakest candidate for the job, but we have decided to give her a chance to prove us wrong in the interview. Jemima Puddleduck questions 1. Will you be able to come in if there was an emergency? 2. Do you think you be able to handle the children when if they get rowdy? 3. Why have you decided to leave your present job? 4. How long would it take to hand in your notice at your present job? 5. How come you havent decided to go into the sports industry? Brett Langer questions 1. Do you know how to use the basics of computer software? 2. How long do you think you would work here? 3. Will you be able to come in if there was an emergency? 4. Do you think you be able to handle the children when if they get rowdy? 5. Do you think you would get along with the different age groups that go to the school? Tracy Hill question 1. Why did you leave school after your GCSEs? 2. Why havent you got any work experience? 3. Would it be a problem with the hours you work with a child? 4. Who will look after the child? 5. Will you be able to come in if there was an emergency? 6. Do you think you be able to handle the children when they get rowdy? M7-My performance in the Interviews To start off with I was shy, I was not sure how they would react to me, but as the interviews went on my interviewing technique improved and I started to settle down. I found that I didnt really help them to relax and settle down, which made them nervous and allowed them t make mistakes, as they didnt know how to react to me. After settling down I became confident enough to ask the candidate questions about the job and putting them in situations and asking how they would handle a particular situation. Due to this I became to laid back, I was showing poor body language; for example my arms were crossed. I also acted to casual with the candidate; I was told this from my colleagues who were also interviewing the candidate. Due to me being confident and laid back, I asked the candidate opened ended questions, which enabled my colleagues and I to get to know the candidate more intimately and what there personality was like. I also found that I was too disorganised for the interview, compared to my colleagues who where ready for the interview, as they had questions readily decided to ask the candidate. Which didnt show a good impression on the candidate and made me look silly. I also had not gone through the candidates information, which gave me a disadvantage, as I did not ask the relevant information for the job. Which lead to me not writing any information about the candidate, so it made it difficult on which candidate to pick for the job. I think that I also should have changed the tone of voice more, as I felt the candidate was finding the interview was getting to boring. Improvements 1. I should appear to be relaxed from the beginning of the interview so that they can give their best performances through out the interview. 2. I shouldnt act laid back whilst interviewing the candidate. As this gives a bad impression to the interviewee, about the way things are running in the company. 3. I should look through the application documents before I interview the candidate to have some kind of information about the candidate and question to find out more about their personality. 4. It would be more fairer to all the candidates if I took notes on each applicant, so that I can offer the job to the best person, so that I can compare them with there good and bad points and offer the job to the best person. M8 Our own design of a Contract of employment 1. Name of employer:_________________________________ 2. Name of employee:________________________________ 3. Job title: . 4. Salary: . 5. Start date: 6. Pay rate:.. 7. Amount of hours that must be completed in one week:. 8. Leave, you are entitled todays-paid holiday per annum in addition to statutory holidays. The leave is to taken at a time convenient to the employer. 9. Sick pay and allowances: .. 10. Amount of holiday entitlement: . 11. What notice is needed when you want to finish that job:.. to ensure flexibility within our workforce, you will at times be expected to work extra hours as required, but you will normally be given advanced notice of times. 12. Grievance Procedures, if you wish to raise any grievance relating to your employment, you should do so in accordance with the grievance procedure shown in the employee information binder, which can be obtained from the Personal office. 13. Pension scheme, details of the contributory company pension scheme, for which you are eligible, may be obtained from the personnel office. 14. Discipline Rules, the company rules form part of your conditions of employment. These are shown in the Employee Information Binder and it is your responsibility to familiarise yourself with these and observe them at all times.

Sunday, July 21, 2019

Prostitution in 18th Century

Prostitution in 18th Century Prostitution in Europe in the 18th century was a widely accepted in the European society despite religious leaders and the government efforts to contain it. Pornography was a flourishing business. Even poets wrote about these beautiful sexy girls. It was one of the few arenas that women could gain economic independence.  [1]  The prostitution could be classified into different classes. There those who were mistress to prominent men, those worked in urban taverns, tea parlor, bawdy houses, theatres and even on the streets. The mistresses attained social success, riches and even derived power from prostitution. Prostitutes especially from low socio-economic background were vulnerable and subjected to cruelty, sanction and reformation throughout the 18th century. Background information Prostitution has been in existence throughout human history and it is regarded as the oldest profession. During medieval times prostitution in Europe was tolerated with public bathtubs giving prostitutes channel of contact with their customers. In other places such as Victoria, England prostitution was disgraceful but at the same time accepted a necessary social and sexual outlet for men.  [2]  It was considered to be less evil if a middle-class man engages in a sexual relationship with a prostitute other than being engaged in a sexual relationship with another middle-class mans wife or daughter. 18th century was tremendous for England. It was the time it became Great Britain, lost thirteen of its colonies, launched industrial revolution and achieved parliamentary government.  [3]  It was an age when men struggled to be reasonable. Life was leisurely and everything was elegant. This created an enabling environment for flourishing of prostitution. Prostitution gave men of the middle and high class sexual gratification which they could not obtain from their partners. During this era capitalism flourished making the political class swim in riches leaving the lower class people (those who worked in industries such as textile industries) to live in abject poverty. Thus many engaged in prostitution for financial gain. As mentioned earlier, the society tolerated prostitution. England being a male dominant society, men were freer to engage in promiscuity before marriage and within marriage. They could give money to buy sex. In contrast women rarely paid money in exchange for sex on the contrary they went into prostitution for monitory gain. They desperately required financial independence but there were very few opportunities for them to achieve it. Thus prostitution was the alternative channel for them. Presence of public bathtubs in England in the 18th century where prostitutes could freely find customers shows that prostitution was widely accepted in England. Vern and Bonnie Bollough affirm that prostitutes provided men with sexual outlet before and during marriage.  [4]   Initially, poets praised prostitution, representing young prostitutes as healthy, fresh and lovely.  [5]  This shows that prostitutes were held in high social status. The role was significantly accepted in the society. Prostitutes in London could even advertise their services on card which were distributed throughout the city.  [6]  However over time, this perception changed. The society later understood that there were negative consequences of prostitution. There was increased spread of diseases, illegitimate children and poverty tarnished the initial image.  [7]  Perfect image of a mother flourished as sensibility and concern for the health overpowered the spirit of sexual experimentation. Prostitution became ridicule in public discussion. It was represented as filthy, degraded and diseased. Why prostitution flourished in England in the 18th century Several factors led to flourishing of prostitution in England and more so in London in the 18th century. London being a port city received many sailors. There were several districts in the city that provided for sailors.  [8]  One of the best known districts was Ratcliffe Highway that lay on the north of Wapping water-front.  [9]  Although subsequent kings of England made effort to keep prostitution away from London, they did not succeed much. Streets like Shareditch, Petticoat Lane, Cheapsides,s Grope cunt Lane, and Clerkenwell were very common with prostitutes. The period between 1750 and 1850 was characterized by great economic change in England.  [10]  British agricultural revolution in the 18th century was characterized by high agricultural output. This led to population explosion and people had look for alternative jobs to meet their needs and those of the population. It is this agricultural revolution that ushered in industrial revolution. During the agricultural revolution women used to work alongside their husbands in the farms. However, industrial revolution at the end of 18th century caused people to migrate to the urban areas to seek better pay in the industries.  [11]  Introduction of machinery made it difficult for women to work in industries and therefore other social duties were relegated to women. These jobs were not well paying. As a result some women ventured into prostitution in order to become economically sufficient. Industrial revolution great Britain lead to improvement of economic status of many people. There was money to spend on anything elegant including prostitutes especially by the people of the high-class. More bathhouses, theatres and alehouses were opened in London. Bathhouses mainly concentrated around Covent Garden and unlike the stews of earlier centuries they were more luxurious. Theatres and alehouses became newly fashionable coffeehouses and public tea-gardens such as the Dog and Duck in St. Goerges Fields.  [12]  Some brothels could even have a card table among the attractors of the house. Lack of strong government policies to contain the vice made it to flourish instead. Decrees to close down alehouses and theaters made prostitution to spread to other areas. The involvement of aristocrats in prostitution fueled it more. Prostitution cut across all social classes. Unlike the poor who even live entirely on the streets, elegant women practiced prostitution in Kings Place off Pall Mall or Miss Fawklands in St. James Street. The high-class prostitutes catered for wealthy men, aristocrats and members of parliament.  [13]  They did their trade in freedom without being troubled by any threat of official hindrance. High economic independence associated with women who practiced prostitution also fueled increase of prostitution in London in the 18th century. Mistresses to aristocrats and members of parliament were held in high esteem by other women in the society. This motivated other women to go into prostitution to gain economic independence. Effects of increase in prostitution on lives of the people The government of England tried very much to reduce prostitution in England and particularly in London. Laws were put in place to close down brothels and alehouses which were areas of trade for the prostitutes. Those who defied the law were convicted and jailed making their lives even more miserable. Most of the women who engaged in prostitution were teens. They never wanted to get pregnant has this would interfere with their trade. They used different methods to protect themselves from becoming pregnant. Chemicals and plant extracts such as wormwood, hyssop and fassron among others were used without much consideration of the harm they might cause.  [14]  When these methods failed they would wait until the baby is born and then kill. Some prostitutes also died in their effort to abort the fetus. All this consequences of prostitution affected their psychological well-being. This added misery to their poor state. Increase in prostitution increased incidences of venereal diseases mainly syphilis. Many died of the disease for fear of seeking treatment. This was a lot stigma attached to the disease even at the hospitals. For example the addition of wards in Lock Hospital allowed discrimination of patients and women thought to be blamable in the contraction of the disease were isolated from the innocent.  [15]  Men of high social status could not also seek treatment due to fear of tarnishing their social standing. Some of them being married transmitted the disease to their partners. Who suffered the brunt of stigma attached to the disease although innocent. Venereal diseases and the stigma attached to it cut short further the lives of the people of London already languishing in poverty. Prostitutes state of life Life was very difficult for the prostitutes especially after the initial image of prostitutes as healthy, fresh and beautiful had been marred were regarded as diseased, and disgraceful. Their social status dwindled and the society alienated them. They had caused a lot of problems in families and the society in general. Abandoned children were on the increase because they were not ready to take up responsibility of parenthood. Some left these children with their old parents who were burdened with responsibility of bring up the children. Worse still, the rise in prevalence of venereal diseases was attributed to prostitution. They became people who should be sympathized with. Slump in their social status caused them to be objects of oppression, exploitation and coercion. Life became so hard for the prostitutes. They became people who should be sympathized with and many organizations sprang up to assist them. The health status of prostitutes worsened with the spread of venereal diseases like syphilis. The sickly could no longer go out on the streets to earn money which further aggravated their health status because they could not afford treatment. With no source of income even affording food was difficult. The economic status of prostitution reduced when the image of prostitution as a noble job changed. The fact that they were no longer well tolerated by the society meant fewer clients. Clients became even fewer due to fear of contracting venereal diseases. Government policies directed to reducing prostitution in London and other cities of England saw some brothels and alehouses closed. Places where prostitutes could meet their clients freely became fewer and those that remained could not be accessible to the poor class of prostitutes. They became even poorer with very little to sustain themselves. Most of the women who engaged in prostitution were from poor background. They had little education that could have helped them to find other kinds of work away from prostitution unlike the women from high social status who engaged in prostitution on part-time. They had education that helped them to find work elsewhere. With kings decrees to close down brothels and alehouses, prostitutes from poor socio-economic class could not be able to find work elsewhere making sink further into poverty. They went on practicing prostitution in secret and of course with fear of interference by the law. On the other hand, women of high socio-economic status who practiced prostitution were less affected by laws imposed against prostitution. Even when the king gave decree of closing down brothels and alehouses those that belonged to people of high-class were never interfered with. Those who were mistresses to aristocrats and members of parliament felt secure from the law. Conclusion Prostitution in the 18th century has two stages. The initial stage is where it is widely tolerated in the society and even poets sang praises of prostitutes. They were beautiful, lovely and healthy. The provided a sexual outlet for men. Its increase was fueled by the explosion of population during the British agricultural revolution. The farms could no longer provide employment for everybody. The Agricultural revolution lead to industrial revolution that saw introduction of machinery in the industries. Women were believed to be unable of driving the machines due to their weaker body as compared to men. The society relegated other duties to women and many joined cottage industry, others became domestic servants and others prostitution. Some women opted for prostitution a means of earning money that was so much needed and it was tolerated by society. However, the image of prostitution took a twist in mid-18th century. Due to rise in prevalence of syphilis attributed to prostitution as well as increase in number of illegitimate children, society started regarding prostitution as diseased and disgraceful. The prostitutes suffered alienation from the society, exploitation, poor economic status, ill-health, and became objects of oppression and coercion.

Saturday, July 20, 2019

TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT ADVISOR :: essays research papers

Abstract The Traffic Management Advisor (TMA) is part of the FAA’s Free Flight program which has been on going for the past 12 years in an attempt to enable controllers the means in which to manage airspace and reduce delays at airports safely and more efficiently. It uses flight plan information along with environmental concerns to aide controllers in sequencing arrivals at airports and makes recommendations for traffic patterns to aide in undue congestion. The TMA has boosted efficiency of the air traffic controllers and helped in fuel efficiency and safety for the airlines, passengers and crews. The Concept of the Traffic Management Advisor   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Traffic Management Advisor (TMA) is used to aide the air traffic controllers and coordinators thru graphical map, which display alerts, when dealing with aircraft when they are on the outer meter, meter fixed, final approach and threshold for landing at an airport. The TMA schedules and sequences times for their orbits and landings at airports which take a lot of the stress and calculations away from the controllers. It also schedules their landing runways for the aircraft which helps with separation and safety of the aircraft. It does this by computing their speed and approach angles which can be seen on a live Doppler type of screen.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The TMA system relies on eight processes which include the following: 1) the communications manager which shares information between its databases, 2) the radar daemon which has a link between the TMA and the controllers computer, 3) the weather daemon which uses weather information from the national weather service, 4) the timeline graphical user interface which receives and uses information from the traffic management controllers computer, 5) the route analyzer which decides which route the aircraft will use, 6) the planview graphical user interface which uses input from the controllers and displays the information, 7) the trajectory synthesizer which determines the estimated time of arrival and the descent profile of the aircraft, and 8) the dynamic planner which determines the runway and the sequences of the other incoming traffic.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The TMA computes the aircrafts schedule and sequencing between 40 and 200 miles from the airport, even before they have reached the airports controlled airspace. All of this information comes from the aircrafts flight plan and the TMA has the ability to adjust runway assignments and the sequencing of the aircraft also due to environmental conditions or in response to the input by the controllers.

Birth Control Availibilty :: Contraceptives, Birth Control Essays

Some believe contraceptives should be available at cost to those who can afford them, available to legal adults who cannot, and/or available to students through public schools. Some religious traditions, based on their view of reproduction, oppose birth control availability for everyone. There are religious traditions that oppose women's autonomy, and as such, are especially opposed to contraceptives for women. Some who oppose sex outside of marriage believe that distribution of condoms in schools encourages adolescent sexual activity. Those who oppose abortion but not birth control often favor condom distribution to reduce pregnancies. The government is interested in preventing the spread of sexually-transmitted diseases and reducing the number of unwanted pregnancies and children who are wards of the state or supported by state funds. One reason that many students are not sexually active, is because of the lack of protection or the embarrassment of buying protection at a local dru g store. And while this would mean sex without protection to many young adults, there are a lot who would refrain from experimenting with sex because of not having protection. By putting a condom dispenser in high school bathrooms, this gives that percentage of teens nice, easy, and anonymous access to condoms. Thus possibly resulting in an increase of sexually active students. Why not leave condoms at the local drug stores, and make it as hard as possible to comfortably buy protection. The embarrassment alone, might keep a few teenagers from having sex.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Not only would putting condom dispensers in high school allow anonymous purchasing of protection, but it might also promote sex to the crowd of people that should not even know what sex is. Imagine walking into the bathroom one morning and there against the back wall is a condom machine.

Friday, July 19, 2019

I, Tituba, Black Witch of Salem Essays -- Witchcraft

"I, Tituba, Black Witch of Salem" by Maryse Conde "Witchcraft-the power or practices of witches" Webster's New World Dictionary. Witchcraft is a term which sprouts many different meanings. As stated above, it is attributed to witches. But what is a witch? Probably an evil haggish-like women who has signed a pact with the devil if we think of it in the English sense. So witchcraft must be evil doings; putting curses on people to make their life miserable, using wicked spells to transform humans to frogs etc. But does this hold true to everyone's idea of what witchcraft is.People's believes on the subject of witchcraft might differ between different cultures. Such is the case in the tragic story "I, Tituba, Black Witch of Salem" by Maryse Conde. Certain groups and individuals in the book, have contradicting thoughts of witchery."I can not describe the effect this unfortunate black cat had on the children, as well as on Elizabeth and Samuel. Samuel Parris seized his prayer book and began to recite a seemingly endless prayer."pg 44 This is how sensitive the Puritans were. Their fear of the Devil is so great, it hindered them of pleasures and entertainments since these are also elements which they believed are inherited from the Satan thus making them sinful. "Becareful, Tituba! Don't let them dance! Don't let them dance!"pg 48 Fearing Tituba would conduct a sin for the children, Elizabeth Parris exclaimed her warning. If they are so overwhelmed with the terror ...

Thursday, July 18, 2019

Effective Approach for Performance Management a Key for Company’s Existence Essay

In this very challenging world of managing organization, it is just ordinary that for some companies having to maintain their staff is sometimes impossible. Training and other forms of enhancement made people learn from the work assigned to him. But still there are times that these do not give assurance that these people will stay or even serve the service provided with them. As most western countries starting to see potential of eastern manpower due to its low cost of labor, opportunities are also another one that affects most local Asian countries which only mean that most highly skilled professional from this region are starting to see better life ahead if they go for an outside the country job. Countries like the Philippines, India, and China are just some of the top countries that when it comes to dollar gotten by their workers through overseas jobs has proved that it helps even the economy in having jobs from other country. But most of all it creates a different life and future for families who sacrifice their life away from their family, just to find work abroad, but as they said, still the sweetest thing is yet to come. For companies this is one of the biggest challenges and this paper will try to provide some relevant information and well-recommended theories on how to somehow change and how does HR professional foresee it and be able to address the issue before it happen. Human Resource Management Policies Actually, HR management involves many categories, like in terms of general and standard policies, which entails the standard operating procedure used by the company. The second one is the equal opportunity policy, which is gaining more popularity these days because the world has started to experience an increasing number of workers going abroad only to find for better opportunity for the future of their family. Third policy are involving compensation management, while the fourth focuses more on the benefits management policies, then fifth is management development and training and lastly is for record management policies. (Human Resource Policy, n. d. ). Among these lists of policies it will cover most of benefits, compensation related and management side. What are the relevant theories and approaches applied in improving performance of staffs and encourage them to work more efficiently and effectively as well. Understanding Need is an Important Aspect in Managing Performance Employees must always be a main concern in any organization In fact employees or staffs are also customers, which in most business term, that called as â€Å"internal customers. † They must be given extra attention because in true sense they are the ones that perform the duties of true service in the organization. In the modern times, if finding how best corporation and highly productive and big â€Å"bottom lines† companies, it is easy to find out that their priority to people is there like, the company provide better performance incentives, better vacation and even sometimes provided a well structured work scheduling since what the modern company needs is results and not just forcing employees to just come in to the office and waste a lot of resources. In short there should be a well organized process that the HR Management Team must do in addressing the need and concerns of the people within the organization. Importantly, companies must see employees as not just as staff that are being directed to what they need to do, encouraging them and giving them the respect they need and most especially the opportunity that for some and very few people must be given, because that is also what is happening to other company, which eventually brings the company in its downfall, and that is looking at these potentials as threat instead of making used of their abilities as talents and a tool for the success of the company. One of the most accepted initiative that company must do is to provide incentive has been there in the business for many years and even it started during the early years. For employees or staff to be recognized may still be important and needed to be given by companies, but incentive is one factor in the needs of people that really provides an extra boost of energy for many in their way of work. This was also the reason why the theory Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, which has given a clear directive to companies that people, has needs and they should not focus on customer needs but also their employees. Concepts and processes that can be discussed about motivation and how it provides impact to human being, but there is only one and most prominent approach or theory in motivation and that is the Maslow’s Hierarchy of Motivation. In this theory there are five basic needs. The first one and the most basic needs is called the physiological needs which good examples are food, water, and comfort. At this point the company must answer the basic and most important need of the employee and that is they have to be paid accordingly. Second level is the Safety needs, the need for safety and stability. One good example is for them to live in a well secured environment or community where families can be safe and away from harm, or children being send to schools that has enough and well secured environment. Third level, Social needs, this pertains to social affiliation, and good example for this one is joining in an organizational group, which helps to improve better performance. Fourth level is Esteem needs, desire for self-respect, one good example here is for company recognizing best effort on the job rendered, like in terms of award or cash bonus, which adds value for the person and will motivate them more to perform better job. As well as motivating others to perform better in their respective jobs. Lastly, self actualization needs, these are considered to be the desires for self fulfillment. At this point a good example is by company providing task to challenge the skills or knowledge of a potential employee. This is the most critical part because there are other companies that runs a political system in the company and prevents good people to be recognized and be given better challenges in their work. This is exactly what people within the organization are driven for in working their best. (Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, 2007). Performance Management Process  The different parts of performance management are as follows: (1) Establishing Performance Goals, (2) Performance Plans, (3) Observation and Feedback, (4) Evaluating Performance, (5) Rewarding Performance, (6) Recognizing Performance Problems (â€Å"Performance Gaps†), (7) Performance Improvement / Development Plans, and lastly, (8) Firing Employees. In this list, the first one is establishing first the performance goal; this is like the roadmap for the staff. The second one is for the staff to be given the plan which the company thinks in the future whether there are some important changes in his career that may take place. Observation should also be needed in order to provide some follow-ups; the next two is evaluating and of course rewarding, then recognizing them as well through awards and recognition. Find some improvement parts of the task assigned in order to improve and to raise the level of performance. Lastly, there should also be some generated policies in firing employees and should not just removing anyone from the job. (Employee Performance Management, n. d. ). Effective Management of Employee Retention Rate a Reflection of Better performance Management Staff Retention, Employee Engagement and Talent Management Strategies In the US and it might also be common to all industries most especially multi-national companies that retaining a good and highly skilled staff is hard nowadays. Since the growing competition and the usual issue if pirating good stuff from one company to another, which is sometimes, would not even take even days and then the staff, just transfer again to another company is becoming a perennial problem. In the US each day a good staff quits their employers for better job elsewhere, whether it may be better package which is very common or finding better working environment which may cause by too much pressure and demand. Approximately 200 billion USD is spending annually by the business in recruiting and replacing their employees. And this is not a good sign for the business since it incurs cost as well as organizational process dilemma which can affect performance. There are actually some key-points to address these problems and these are seven well applied practice or key factors applied by some of the well known consultancy firm that are being hired to assist companies face problem with retention of employees. First, is Better matching, this is a process on how to find better potentials within the company who maybe best to perform a specific job in the organization. It may also include preparation and training for the staff. Second, is Better Managers, here it will not only teach how managers developed or build teams but also becoming a more personalized type of manager whose main duty is to carefully addressed the issues of the staff for him to perform quality results for the company, typical mentoring and coaching are done. Better integration, at this point, it is more on how to effectively collaborate new staff with existing ones, since there are issues that comes when these types of staff work together. For Better Connection, this is teaching how employees conduct themselves effectively through better relationship from his co-staffs as well as his supervisor or manager. Better Culture, on the other hand is preparing employee in facing multicultural type of customers, how they can be appreciated and can work effectively without experiencing dissatisfaction from their customers or colleagues from other nationalities, which are very common to multi-national companies. Lastly, is Better Accountability for Turnover, this is to teach or guide HR professionals in establishing technically sound approach and best practices in understanding the need of staffs in order to eliminate issues of retaining employees as well as other concerns. High-Turnover to High-Retention, n. d. ). Referral programs can also help employees in their performance because in this way they may not only recommend someone who they know but also they earn extra in every referral they do. The following are the most common reason why these program is being uses: Lessen your recruitment spend, Increase candidate fit your company and teams, capitalize on quality and volume in your talent pipeline, Reduce employee turnover, and lastly, Create a sustainable recruitment strategy by empowering your employees to refer