Provide adequate background to the Retail Supervisor job at Warwick Essay

Provide adequate background to the Retail Supervisor job at Warwick Castle - Essay Example rmance standards to be achieved, Working conditions and possible hazards, Number of employees performing the job and to whom they report to, the machines and equipment used on the job. As far as the job description contains sufficient information it should not give too much detailed information of how the work is going to be performed so that it can remain useful when that type of job acquires minor changes. This includes the job title, the department, the reporting relationship, a job number or code. A good tittle should closely approximate the nature of the work content and will distinguish that job from others. The job analysis date is placed on the job description to help in identifying job changes that would make the description obsolete. It is recommended that to place an expiry date on the document because this practice ensures periodic review of job content and minimizes the number of obsolete job description. This part helps to locate the job in the organization by indicating the job immediately below or above it in the job hierarchy. It also gives an idea of the vertical relationships of work flows and procedures. Person specification is a written record of the requirements sought in an individual worker for a given job. It refers to a summary of the personal characteristics required for a job. It is a statement of the minimum acceptable human qualities necessary for the proper performance of a job. Items included in the job specification are factors that can be shown to be job related such as educational requirements, experience, personality traits and physical abilities. It is important as it keeps interviewers attention on list of necessary qualification and assists to determine whether candidates are essential qualified. The description below entails a person specification for a retail supervisor job at Warwick Castle. The supervisor should also be a true role model, able to coach his team effectively to achieve success-this should be done by

Slavery In France Essay Example for Free

Slavery In France Essay The issue of slavery has been a major point of debate in the history of man. The rights of African slaves during the Enlightenment and the French Revolution created controversies arose over the issue of slavery. People living in France during the Enlightenment and revolutionary times had debated that slavery was needed in order for France to avoid an economic shock, slavery should end, slaves needed rights, and slaves were better off being slaves than free. Men hadargued that slavery was needed in order for France to stay afloat. A delegate from Bordeuax had stated in a speech in the National Assembly that the abolition of slavery and the slave trade would mean the loss of our coloniesthe colonies bring in an annual income of more than 200 million livres. (Doc 10) Being a delegate, he would most likely try to do his best to persuade the National Assembly for the people he is representing. On the same issue, Antoine Barnavem, a french orator, also reports to the National Assemblys Committee on the Colonies that France has reached this level of prosperity thanks to our colonies. Barnave also states that if the colonies would someday gain independence, France would have to prepare a backup plan to lose them without an economic shock and without a disturbance to our political existence. (Doc 14) War also seemed to affect the number of slaves brought by French ships, shown by a bar graph that stated the number of slaves delivered had gone up by eight times as much in a time period of less than 100 years (Doc 11). On the other side, others had stated that slaves had rights like any other man, and that slavery should be abolished. Louis de Jaucourt, being a philosophe, uses the views of many others to state that slaves should be treated like regular humans. He states that we can not take away fro ma person that natural dignity which is liberty. (Doc 1) Jean-Jacques Rousseau, a philosophe like Jaucourt, dislikes slavery, debating that seeing one-fourth of my fellow humans changed into beasts for the service of others, I have grieved to be a human. (Doc 3) Jacques Necker likewise states that slaves have been made a barbaric object of trade. (Doc 8) Count Mirabeau believed that slaves deserved their rights, saying that I demand to know how the twenty White people here from the colonies can be said to represent the people of color from whom they have received no authority. (Doc 9) Maximilien Robespierre, a major radical, also shares the view of these men, believing that slaves should be free men no matter what cost and that he does not share any interest of the colonies, whether they help France stay up or not. (Doc 15) Voltaire had commented that slaves are what satiate the needs of luxuries from the folk of France, things unknown to our ancestors. Finally, Olympe de Gouges stated that the color of ones skin should not differentiate the two. Why destroy natures work? The remaining folk had tried to debate that slaves are better off than living back in their homeland. A delegate from the Owners of Property in the French Colonies of America Residing in Bordeaux had stated that the French have saved the slaves from the cruelest slavery and had stationed them under a kind of humane government where they live without fear for tomorrow. (Doc 13) The assumption that slaves would think this with the feedback theyve given makes for an uneducated point. Guillaume Raynal agrees with the delegates statement, commentating that the colonies that the slaves are working on have a climate that White people are incapable of working in, and that to make the best of this precious soil, it has been necessary to find a particular species of laborers. (Doc 6) The slaves are simply being seen as tools for the fields, controlled by the government. Louis de Jaucourt stated that masters who acquired new slaves were obligated by law them instructed in the Catholic faith. In return, this had convinced Louis XIII to authorize this horrid commerce in human flesh. This practice was only used to simply boost the number of Catholics in the world. DDenis Diderot, a philosophe, asks Why did the Christian powers not consider that their religion was fundamentally opposed to black slavery? He answers this in saying that the nations that condone slavery needed slaves for their colonies, plantations, and mines. The unfortunate blending of slavery and a nations economy creates an unstable situation of morals and brutality.

Comparing the Theme of Self-Discovery in Demian and Siddhartha Essay

   Literature reflects many aspects   of human nature.   It can be seen as a collection of mankind's thoughts.   The intangible is transformed from brainwave patterns to ink patterns.   What leads to the writing of literature varies from author to author.  Ã‚   In the case of Hermann Hesse, it was his personal experiences in life.   In the novels Demian and Siddhartha, Hermann Hesse was influenced by Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung, both psycho-analysts.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   A personal crisis, which caused Hesse to undergo psycho-analysis with Dr. J.B. Lang, led to the writing of Demian in 1919.   His fascination with Eastern cultures and his trip to India in 1922 directly resulted in the creation of the novel Siddhartha.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The fundamental theme of self-discovery is evident in both novels.   Self-discovery involves developing the mind,   experiencing life, obtaining wisdom, learning about oneself, coming to an understanding and acceptance of this, and by the end, discovering one's identity.   This theme of self-discovery was important to Hesse because he experienced similar events in life.   He was born in Germany in 1877 and raised in a Protestant household with expectations to follow in the footsteps of his forefathers and become a missionary.   He did not wish to do so, partly because he was interested in Eastern religions.   This personal crisis of the questioning of fundamental beliefs deeply affected Hesse.   In Demian he writes, "There is only one true vocation for everybody - to find the way to himself." (Hesse, Demian, 1989, p.120)   Through his struggles, he found that the road to self-discovery could only be experienced firsthand and could not be e... ...ld Literature. New York: Funk & Wagnalls, 1972.    13. Timpe, Eugene F. "Hesse's Siddhartha and the Bhagavad Gita". Comparative Literature, V.22 No.4 , 1970.    14. Walter, Soreil. Hermann Hesse The Man Who Sought and Found Himself. London: Oswald Wolff, 1974.    15. Wast, R.W. (Ed.). Modern German Authors New Series. (Vol.2).    16. Benet's Readers Encyclopedia Third Edition.   Toronto: Fitzhenry & Whiteside, 1987.    17. "Hesse, Hermann". The New Encyclopedia Britannica Micropedia, (Vol. 5),   Ã‚  Toronto: Encyclopedia   Britannica, Inc., 1990, p. 899.    18. "Nirvana". The World Book Encyclopedia, (Vol.14).   Ã‚  Toronto: World Book, Inc., 1987, p.332-333.    19. Twentieth Century Authors. New York: The H.W. Wilson Company, 1942.    20. The Works of Hermann Hesse. Toronto: The Publishing Company Ltd., 1980.      

Market Research Report Energy and Sports Drink Market Growth in Asia Essay

The changing consumer preferences, demand for functional beverages, increasing awareness towards healthy lifestyles and growing urban population in Asia would be the major factors that would drive the market in coming years. An increasing awareness towards healthy lifestyles has led to a transition in the taste and preferences of people in Asia. The young urban population has been the target customer for energy and sports drink brands in this region. The energy and sports drinks are majorly consumed by professional sports people, gym goers and by working professionals and students that require a special beverage in order to boost their energy and stay active. â€Å"The increasing participation of the health conscious people in sports and fitness activities has greatly impacted the growth trend of sports and energy drink market in Asia. The young population aged 25-35 years represents a potential group of customers for the energy and sports drink manufacturers in the region. † – According to the research report ‘Asia Energy and Sports Drink Market Outlook to 2017’ by Ken Research. The increasing media exposure towards sporting events on television has captured the attention of people, which in turn has encouraged the youth to adopt sports as a profession or as a hobby. This has impelled the growth of sports drinks in Asian countries over the last few years. Sports drinks market in Asia is dominated by famous brands such as Gatorade, Powerade and Pocari Sweat. Red Bull majorly has dominated the energy drink market in the region. Red Bull has effectively maintained a strong distribution channel in various countries in Asia such as in India, China, Japan, Thailand and in South Korea. The energy and sports drink market is anticipated to be driven by the growing trend of health and fitness is expected to create significant demand in Asian countries. The consumer expenditure on food and non-alcoholic beverages is expected to surge in the region owing to the rise in disposable incomes of the people. The rising awareness about fitness and health benefits among the people in the region will encourage more people to join fitness and sports clubs which will drive the demand and consumption of energy and sports drink in the coming years. The report provides detailed overview on the energy and sports drink market in Asia and help reader to identify the ongoing trends in the key segments of the industry and anticipated growth in future depending upon changing industry dynamics in coming years. The report will aid industry consultants, food and beverage service companies and marketing companies and other stakeholders to align their market centric strategies according to ongoing and expected trends in future. For More Details Please Click On Following Link: http://www. kenresearch. com/agriculture-food-beverages/beverages/asia-energy-and-sports-drink-market-research-report/429-104. html http://www. kenresearch. com/press/news-asia-energy-and-sports-drink-market/211. html Related Links: http://www. kenresearch. com/agriculture-food-beverages/beverages/japan-energy-and-sports-drink-market-research-report/432-104.html http://www. kenresearch. com/agriculture-food-beverages/beverages/south-korea-energy-and-sports-drink-market-research-report/433-104. Html http://www. kenresearch. com/agriculture-food-beverages/beverages/india-energy-and-sports-drink-market-research-report/431-104. html http://www. kenresearch. com/agriculture-food-beverages/beverages/thailand-energy-and-sports-market-research-report/434-104. html http://www. kenresearch. com/agriculture-food-beverages/beverages/china-energy-and-sports-drink-market-research-report/430-104. html.

UPS: Business Strategy

The United Parcel Service has been in business since 1907. Over 100 years of delivery services must be a result of a certain method of management and business that has allowed them such success over time. What type of structure do they use within the workplace to manage the flow of packages? What promotion system do they use and how does it affect employees' commitment to work? What type of organizational design does UPS use to manage its employees?These are all questions I would like to answer in terms of UPS' management structure to determine how they eve been successful for so long. Table of Contents 1. Title Page – Page 1 2. Abstract – Page 2 3. Table of Contents – Page 3 4. Section 1: UPS Enterprise – Page 4 5. Section 2: Management Functions – Page 6 6. Section 3: Analysis – Page 12 7. References – Page 13 8. References (Count. ) – Page 14 Section 1: UPS Enterprise Starting as a small messenger company in 1907, UPS, short for United Parcel Service, has grown into a massive publicly traded company today.Their management structure today consists of a management committee to oversee the entire company. The committee consists of the usual CEO, SCOFF, and COO (Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer, and Chief Operating Officer). Beneath each of them is a tree of management. UPS employs a Human Relations department which deals with ethical decisions for the company and how employees will be treated. They also employ engineering department which determines the flow of packages every day (UPS, 2014). They determine what the manning needs to be for each building to run efficiently every night.They also determine how many packages each building needs to process every day in order to run efficiently and effectively. The operations management section is clearly the muscle of the operation. They are the ones who determine how they are going to get the plan set by the engineering department completed. Th e operations department has many tiers of management stretching all the way down to the front line of package handlers. UPS also practices hiring from within as many of UPS' Coo's have started all the way from the bottom of the company.Some logistics regarding the company begin with the fact that UPS employs approximately 407,000 people across the world, with 348,000 of them within the United States (Statistics Brain, 2014). UPS has grown to offer many different methods of package shipment. Today they offer services such as Next Day Air, 2nd Day Air, Ground and even Sonic Air. Next Day Air being their primary source of revenue among the other methods of shipment. Sonic Air is a method not known to many because of its extremely high cost.Sonic Air allows you to ship to anywhere in the fastest time possible at an extremely high cost. UPS has gained a very large share of the market with approximately 7. 9 million customers using their services daily to ship over 15 million packages dai ly across the world. UPS has developed new improvements frequently with their $53. Billion revenue every year. UPS' world headquarters is in Atlanta, Georgia, with many other regional headquarters around the world in each of the major continents (UPS, 2014). UPS has created a operational layout which resembles their management layout.They use major hubs across the world to process the majority of the packages, which are then loaded onto trucks and distributed to smaller hubs to be delivered to the communities. UPS and Feeds are strong competitors, both ruling the courier service industry. The companies do have their differences though, as Feeds is not a unionized company. UPS is a larger company, although Feeds does operate through the air far more than UPS, but UPS has a stronger ground presence. According to revenue statistics, UPS brings in about $53. 1 billion per year compared to Feeder's $42. Billion, which translates to $5. 9 and $3. 7 billion in profits respectively. Feeds a lso employs approximately 100,000 people less than UPS yearly, which factors into the profits. Overall, UPS has the higher market share, holding a 46%-50% share of the entire domestic market, compared to Feeder's 49% market share on express packages only. In essence, Feeds specializes in express shipments to make a profit, while UPS does everything to include ground and air shipments (Differ, 2013). UPS focuses heavily on businesses as primary clients.UPS actually has a program for all employees which allows workers to get contracts from any businesses around to use UPS' services. Gaining a contract makes UPS money and is an incentive for employees because UPS will pay them a portion of the contract. Overall, UPS is the most dominating force in the courier services industry in the world, making them a very successful business. Section 2: Management Planning is of the utmost importance at UPS, it is the difference between a failing company and success. The United Parcel Service emplo ys industrial engineers at every hub across the world.Their Job is the do all the behind the scenes work to maximize profit and create the most efficient workplace possible. They also incorporate other departments within the company which all account for certain aspects of the success the company has had. Departments such as Finance, Marketing, Industrial Engineering, Operations, and Human Resources are some of the primary reasons for the company's continued success. Financially, UPS is one of the more successful companies in America, and is the most successful in the courier services industry.Financial analysts with UPS have made the company very â€Å"liquid†, meaning they have high flexibility. They are gaining working capital and assets faster as they continue to pay off debt. This working capital goes towards the development of innovations to better the progress and efficiency of the company. From 2005 to 2010, UPS was gaining working capital at a gaining rate of 28% per year. According the financial model, UPS is running a system hat focuses on runs largely on existing equity and splitting the remaining capital on debt and liabilities.They continue to invest profits on working capital to better the company as a whole (Shah, 2010). UPS does focus on marketing in some regards, although they let their products do the marketing for them the majority of the time. UPS does more than Just ship packages, they also develop products such as Barbados scanning systems which get the UPS name out. They have made themselves accessible across almost any medium possible. You can reach UPS via phone, internet, in-person, through UPS drivers, at strutting centers, and retail locations. Having the company so readily accessible really promotes the use of the company for shipping needs.They price competitively, which gives them an advantage with consumers because they are so easily accessible compared to competitors (Shah, 2010). Industrial Engineering is the brain of the operational side of UPS. Millions and millions of packages come through UPS' hubs every day, without Industrial Engineers working behind the scenes it would be nothing more than a giant flow of packages. This department analyzes the intake of packages for each of their respective hubs. They allocate how many workers need to work on each shift for the hub to be efficient and come out positive based on how many expected packages.They also plan for the expected amount of packages for each shift. They have to take into account all of the factors in this determination. Holiday times are the toughest for this department. Often they have to hire â€Å"seasonal† employees to add additional man hours for the holiday flow, called â€Å"peak season†. In 2013, UPS had a major strategic planning failure during the holiday season due to lack of man power. The engineers at the head of he company failed to make correct predictions about the flow of packages that would be coming th rough the system that holiday season.UPS planned to hire an additional 55,000 employees that holiday season, while also leasing an additional 23 airplanes to accommodate next day air shipments in order to make â€Å"before Christmas day' delivery promises (Leonard, 2013). Clearly this was under planned as Christmas day rolled around and many packages were still stalled in the hubs across America forcing managers of the hubs to work hours on Christmas day and Christmas Eve, which are normally holidays for UPS employees (Banker, 2013).This goes to show how important the Industrial Engineers in UPS actually are to the company. They are paid to make the overall operations plan every day of the year, which are then carried out by the operations managers. The operations side of UPS is the muscle of the entire organization. This the department that has to perform in order for the company to be successful. These are the workers that consumers deal with on a daily basis. Planning for this d epartment is done mostly by the Industrial Engineering department, although they can deviate from the plan as necessary.One thing the operations depart works on with planning s how many managers they think they will need in order to get the most from their hourly work force. Integrating airline, ground, and warehouse operations is key to the success of the mission of UPS. Customer service is the greatest advertising tool that UPS has, and the operations department is in control of this as they are the ones out and about working on the front lines. Finally, UPS utilizes a Human Resources department for planning that deals with hiring employees.With UPS' vast network of employees, it is the HER department that is key to keeping these employees happy and satisfied enough to continue to work art for the company and keep the turnover rate low. Once the II department determines how many employees will need to be hired for peak seasons, it's the HER department that is in charge of hiring t hose employees in time for the season. Planning for the HER department is integral for the happiness and productivity of employees. Organization I think UPS has done a brilliant Job in the way they have designed the company to manage itself.Instead of having one large chain of command, UPS has one CEO, but many different departments and many different levels. UPS has its large hubs, which all compete against each other. Hubs like Chicago and Louisville are some of the largest. These hubs flow millions of packages through them every single day, but they wouldn't be able to do that if they didn't have smaller hubs throughout the country. The design allows for the packages to flow into the major hubs throughout the country, and then they distribute them by freight to the smaller hubs, which then load them on to package cars and deliver them out to houses.UPS also utilizes a Human Relations department which takes care of all their recruitment procedures as well as other areas such as sa fety. Finally, they use an engineering department which goes all the behind the scenes work for UPS (Drake, 2012). They project how many packages each building will receive that day and take all things into account such as holidays and what not. They also determine how many people need to be hired to maintain efficiency and effective working methods. These three departments work as their own entities, but collaborate to reach the main goal.When working with the design of the company managers need to consider the fluidity of their design. Because UPS focuses largely on timeliness, their organization for the company needs to also maintain a fluid design which allows for the packages o easily flow through the system. I think UPS has maintained this type of design through the departments which they have installed in the organization. All departments work together but separate, which allows them to do their own work but unloads some of the work from other areas and allows each area to pu t more focus into what they do.Knowing someone who used to work for UPS, I can tell you they are very precise and fluid with their design. He worked in the management side of operations. Every day the engineers would show up in the morning to plan the day for the afternoon shifts. High level managers for the afternoon shifts would come in after lunch and begin to put the plans into action. Following them, the lower level managers would come in to prepare for the day after being briefed by their managers. Hourly employees were given a specific â€Å"start time† for each day when they would show up to work.They also had a â€Å"downtime† which dictates when the building should be completely done sorting packages into their correct destinations. If everything worked correctly, the building would be efficient for that night. The fluid motions of the company are what keep them successful and efficient. One thing I thought was interesting is that the department who plans out the routes for the delivery drivers try to plan routes that use as many right turns as possible, eliminating the wait at stop lights as much as possible. This kind of planning and organization is key to the success of the company.Leadership UPS practices promotion from within to maintain motivated employees. One longstanding principal within UPS management is that promoting the workers that are already within your company is the way to keep the company in good standing. It always gives employees something to strive for and look forward to. The current CEO, Scott Davis, was originally absorbed by UPS when they bought out his previous company. He worked his way up to being a UPS CEO, although he did not start all the way at the bottom like many leaders within the company.One thing UPS does to push employees to stay with them is they offer health insurance to all part time employees who have been with them for over a year. In this day and age, something like that is extremely hard to come across. They also offer $1 5,000 in tuition assistance for part time employees, thus encouraging student to get their degree. All of this is the season they choose to promote from within. They invest a lot of time and money into their lower level employees so that they can get their education and begin to move up the UPS employment ladder.They strongly believe in filling gaps in upper management with employees who already know the system and have been at the level of those guys beneath them (UPS Earn & Learn, 2014). Motivating current employees to do better creates a sense of pride within the company, which in turn creates better leaders. Communication between the leaders of the company comes once again from the management committee that UPS uses. Orders start from the top of the organization and trickle down through the management structure until it reaches the front lines.One issue that UPS has with conflict resolution is that the company is highly unionized. UPS uses a syste m of â€Å"write-ups† for hourly employees. Safety has developed a set of rules that need to be followed by each employee while working, and if those rules are not followed, the manager of that employee must right the person up. The issue with this is that the union can almost always get that persons job back if they end up getting fired because of unsafe working. Directly from a UPS manager, I know that the only thing a person can be fired for and not brought back is fighting or stealing.Above this, disciplinary action becomes more regulated by UPS than unions. Managers are not part of the union and therefore cannot get their Job back if fired from misconduct or poor management. UPS and Teamsters consistently work out collective bargaining agreements for hourly employees which state the terms of raises and the guidelines of employment. For example, if an employee is fired by UPS management, they have 10 days to file a grievance with the union to get heir Job back or the term ination becomes final and there is nothing the union can do anymore.This type of disciplinary action for hourly employees can cause issues in the workplace, as many employees know they have a very slim chance of losing their job no matter their performance. Control Control is something that every department in the company has to be aware of because they all work separately but together as a whole. Human resources controls the morale of the employees, while operations looks to control the efficiency and work ethic of the work force. Some control tools which UPS utilizes is the advantage of am work. One department can take an issue and pass it on to another department to work on.This allows work to remain focused on the right topic rather than dealing with something that is not commonly dealt with in that specific department. Section Ill: Analysis In summary, UPS as a whole uses a structured departmentally system to govern their company. They believe in promoting leadership from withi n and encouraging new employees to better themselves so they can progress with the company. It seems that UPS has created a system that is concurrent with their massive success over time. I believe UPS will continue to stay in business for a long time if they continue to treat their employee's right and manage the way they do now.Keeping things separate but working together seems to be a working concept as each of the hubs function as their own entity in the big picture of things. I cannot think of any recommendations for the company to use at this time, as I believe they are doing things right. One thing that I do believe is an issue is the unionized workforce that can really lag their production because of employee's mindset. However, I know this is something that cannot be taken away by UPS management and cannot be fixed easily, so I think they have done a great Job of working around it.

A History of Mengeles Gruesome Experiments on Twins

A History of Mengele's Gruesome Experiments on Twins From May 1943 until January  1945, Nazi doctor Josef Mengele worked at Auschwitz, conducting pseudo-scientific medical experiments. Many of his cruel experiments were conducted on young twins. Notorious Doctor of Auschwitz Bettmann/Contributor/Getty Images Mengele, the notorious doctor of Auschwitz, has become an enigma of the 20th century. Mengeles handsome physical appearance, fastidious dress, and calm demeanor seemingly contradicted his attraction to murder and gruesome experiments. Mengeles seeming omnipresence at the railroad unloading platform called the ramp, as well as his fascination with twins,  incited images of a mad, evil monster. His ability to elude capture increased his notoriety and gave him a mystical and devious persona. In May 1943, Mengele entered Auschwitz as an educated, experienced, medical researcher. With funding for his experiments, he worked alongside some of the top medical researchers of the time. Anxious to make a name for himself, Mengele searched for the secrets of heredity. The Nazi ideal of the future would benefit from the help of genetics, according to Nazi doctrine.  If so-called Aryan women could give birth to twins who were sure to be blond and blue-eyed,  the future could be saved. Mengele, who worked for Professor Otmar Freiherr von Vershuer, a biologist who pioneered twin methodology in the study of genetics, believed that twins held these secrets. Auschwitz seemed the best location for such research because of a large number of available twins to use as specimens. The Ramp Mengele took his turn as the selector on the ramp, but unlike most of the other selectors, he arrived sober. With a small flick of his finger or riding crop, a person would either be sent to the left or to the right, to the gas chamber or to hard labor. Mengele would get very excited when he found twins. The other SS officers who helped unload the transports had been given special instructions to find twins, dwarfs, giants, or anyone else with a unique hereditary trait like a club foot or heterochromia (each eye a different color). Mengele was on the ramp not only during his selection duty but also when it was not his turn as a selector, to ensure twins would not be missed.   As the unsuspecting people were herded off the train and ordered into separate lines, SS officers shouted Zwillinge! (Twins!) in German. Parents were forced to make a quick decision. Unsure of their situation, already being separated from family members when forced to form lines, seeing barbed wire, smelling an unfamiliar stench - was it good or bad to be a twin? Sometimes, parents announced they had twins, and in other cases, relatives, friends, or neighbors made the statement. Some mothers tried to hide their twin, but the SS officers and Josef Mengele searched through the surging ranks of people looking for twins and anyone with unusual traits. While many twins were either announced or discovered, some sets of twins were successfully hidden and walked with their mothers into the gas chamber. About 3,000 twins were pulled from the masses on the ramp, most of them children. Only around 200 of these twins survived. When the twins were found, they were taken away from their parents. As the twins were led away to be processed, their parents and family stayed on the ramp and went through selection. Occasionally, if the twins were very young, Mengele would allow the mother to join her children to ensure their health. Processing After the twins had been taken from their parents, they were taken to the showers. Since they were Mengeles children, they were treated differently than other prisoners. Though they suffered through medical experiments, the twins were often allowed to keep their hair and allowed to keep their own clothes. The twins were then tattooed  and given a number from a special sequence. They were then taken to the twins barracks where they were required to fill out a form. The form asked for a brief history and basic measurements, such as age and height. Many of the twins were too young to fill the form out by themselves, so the Zwillingsvater (twins father) helped them. This inmate was assigned to the job of taking care of the male twins. Once the form was filled out, the twins were taken to Mengele. He asked them more questions and looked for any unusual traits. Life for the Twins Each morning, life for the twins began at 6 oclock. The twins were required to report for roll call in front of their barracks, regardless of weather conditions. After roll call, they ate a small breakfast. Then each morning, Mengele would appear for an inspection. Mengeles presence did not necessarily cause fear in the children. He was often known to appear with pockets full of candy and chocolates, to pat them on the head, talk with them, and sometimes even play. Many of the children, especially the younger ones, called him Uncle Mengele. The twins were given brief instruction in makeshift classes and were sometimes even allowed to play soccer. The children were not required to do hard work or labor. Twins were also spared from punishments, as well as from the frequent selections within the camp. The twins had some of the best conditions of anyone at Auschwitz until the trucks came to take them to the experiments. Mengeles Twin Experiments Generally, every twin had to have blood drawn every day. Besides having blood drawn, the twins underwent  various medical experiments. Mengele kept his exact reasoning for his experiments a secret. Many of the twins that he experimented on did not know the purpose of the experiments, or what exactly what was being injected into or otherwise done to them. The experiments included: Measurements:  The twins were forced to undress and lie next to each other. Then, every detail of their anatomy was carefully examined, studied, and measured. What was the same between the two was deemed to be hereditary, and what was different was deemed to be the result of the environment. These tests would last for several hours.Blood:  The frequent blood tests and experiments included mass transfusions of blood from one twin to another.Eyes:  In attempts to fabricate blue eye color, drops or injections of chemicals would be put in the eyes. This often caused severe pain, infections, and temporary or permanent blindness.Shots and Diseases:  Mysterious injections caused severe pain. Injections into the spine and spinal taps were given with no anesthesia. Diseases, including typhus and tuberculosis, would be purposely given to one twin and not the other. When one died, the other was often killed to examine and compare the effects of the disease.Surgeries:  Various surgerie s were performed without anesthesia, including organ removal, castration, and amputation. Death:  Dr. Miklos Nyiszli was Mengeles prisoner pathologist. The autopsies became the final experiment. Nyiszli performed autopsies on twins who had died from the experiments or who had been purposely killed just for after-death measurements and examination. Some of the twins had been stabbed with a needle that pierced their heart and was then injected with chloroform or phenol, which caused near-immediate blood coagulation and death. Some of the organs, eyes, blood samples, and tissues would be sent to Verschuer for further study.

Free Essays on Mid-Life Crisis

Midlife Crisis Bob just turned forty. He has trouble relating to his kids, and wonders if his life has any meaning anymore. His wife of twenty years has just divorced him, and he can’t seem to fight the bouts of depression that attack him, especially at night. There is a common name for this widespread problem. Bob is having a mid-life crisis. As we learned at the beginning of our course, the most common view among psychologists currently is the life-span development perspective. This is why I decided to work with a topic that would most likely not have been studied 40 years ago. What exactly causes this problem, how it affects the relationships a person has with others, and whether it only affects men are all issues to be discussed from a look at some articles in several accredited psychology magazines. The first article is â€Å"Mid-life Crisis: Helping Patients Cope With Stress, Anxiety, and Depression†. The article presents a fictional case report of a person the psychologists call John who cannot seem to escape from the â€Å"sandwich† of problems associated with his adult children and the needs of his aging parents. It also recommends methods of treatment for health physicians to treat the depression associated with this syndrome. John’s family life apparently has been complicated by several factors. His wife died at an early age, leaving him a widower for several years. His children are not successful. His new mother-in-law has been taking away his and his wife’s intimate time by interrupting them with rants caused by her progressing Alzheimer’s disease. To top it off, he has begun to seek the help of sleeping pills to help him get the rest at night he cannot seem to find. The article states that, â€Å"[E]ven when environmental str essors seem to explain a patient’s depression, it is important to search for underlying medical conditions† (Samuels, 1997). Common medical conditions that would present th... Free Essays on Mid-Life Crisis Free Essays on Mid-Life Crisis Midlife Crisis Bob just turned forty. He has trouble relating to his kids, and wonders if his life has any meaning anymore. His wife of twenty years has just divorced him, and he can’t seem to fight the bouts of depression that attack him, especially at night. There is a common name for this widespread problem. Bob is having a mid-life crisis. As we learned at the beginning of our course, the most common view among psychologists currently is the life-span development perspective. This is why I decided to work with a topic that would most likely not have been studied 40 years ago. What exactly causes this problem, how it affects the relationships a person has with others, and whether it only affects men are all issues to be discussed from a look at some articles in several accredited psychology magazines. The first article is â€Å"Mid-life Crisis: Helping Patients Cope With Stress, Anxiety, and Depression†. The article presents a fictional case report of a person the psychologists call John who cannot seem to escape from the â€Å"sandwich† of problems associated with his adult children and the needs of his aging parents. It also recommends methods of treatment for health physicians to treat the depression associated with this syndrome. John’s family life apparently has been complicated by several factors. His wife died at an early age, leaving him a widower for several years. His children are not successful. His new mother-in-law has been taking away his and his wife’s intimate time by interrupting them with rants caused by her progressing Alzheimer’s disease. To top it off, he has begun to seek the help of sleeping pills to help him get the rest at night he cannot seem to find. The article states that, â€Å"[E]ven when environmental str essors seem to explain a patient’s depression, it is important to search for underlying medical conditions† (Samuels, 1997). Common medical conditions that would present th...

Chicago Referencing †Citing an Edited Book (Proofread My Paper)

Chicago Referencing – Citing an Edited Book Chicago Referencing – Citing an Edited Book With Chicago referencing, citing an edited book or a chapter from a collection of essays isn’t quite the same as referencing other books. There’s also a difference between the two formats used in Chicago referencing (author-date citations and the footnote and bibliography system). In the following, we run through both. Author-Date: In-Text Citations The Chicago author-date system requires giving the author’s surname, the year of publication and relevant page numbers in parentheses for citations: Ricoeur is â€Å"attuned to plurality† (Langsdorf 2002, 41). With an edited book, it’s usually the author of the chapter that you should cite. The only time to use the editor’s name in citations is when citing an edited book in its entirety. Author-Date: Reference List In the reference list, the information required for a chapter from an edited book is: Author Surname, First Name. Year of Publication. â€Å"Title of Chapter.† In Title of Book, edited by Editor Name, page range. Place of Publication: Publisher. For instance, the paper cited above would appear as: Langsdorf, Lenore. 2002. â€Å"The Doubleness of Subjectivity: Regenerating the Phenomenology of Intentionality.† In Ricoeur as Another: The Ethics of Subjectivity, edited by Richard A. Cohen and James L. Marsh, 33-55. Albany: State University of New York Press. If referencing the volume as a whole, cite the editor(s) in place of the author(s): Cohen, Richard A., and James L. Marsh, eds. 2002. Ricoeur as Another: The Ethics of Subjectivity. Albany: State University of New York Press. Note that when a book has more than one author/editor, it’s only the first listed whose names are reversed. Footnote and Bibliography: Footnote Citations In the footnote and bibliography system, superscript numbers are used to indicate a citation (e.g., 1, 2, 3). In the footnote, the information to provide for a chapter from an edited book is: n. Author Name(s), â€Å"Chapter Title,† in Book Title, ed. Editor Name(s) (Place of Publication: Publisher, Year), page number(s). In practice, this would appear as follows: 1. John van den Hengel, â€Å"Can There Be a Science of Action?,† in Ricoeur as Another: The Ethics of Subjectivity, ed. Richard A. Cohen and James L. Marsh (Albany: State University of New York Press, 2002), 73-74. As above, cite the editor(s) in place of the author(s) when referencing an edited volume as a whole. Subsequent citations of the same source can then be abbreviated to just the author/editor surname, chapter title and page numbers: 1. John van den Hengel, â€Å"Can There Be a Science of Action?,† in Ricoeur as Another: The Ethics of Subjectivity, ed. Richard A. Cohen and James L. Marsh (Albany: State University of New York Press, 2002), 73-74. 2. Richard A. Cohen and James L. Marsh, eds., Ricoeur as Another: The Ethics of Subjectivity. (Albany: State University of New York Press, 2002), viii. 3. van den Hengel, â€Å"Can There Be a Science of Action?,† 80. Footnote and Bibliography: Bibliography In the bibliography, the information required for a chapter from an edited book is similar to the first footnote, but with different punctuation, a complete page range and the first listed author/editor’s name reversed: van den Hengel, John. â€Å"Can There Be a Science of Action?† In Ricoeur as Another: The Ethics of Subjectivity, edited by Richard A. Cohen and James L. Marsh, 71-92. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2002.

People Development Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

People Development - Essay Example t and uninterrupted process that expands, communicates and facilitates the prospective path, core competencies and principles of an organization, and assists to construct a perspective of understanding. Performance management attempts to find out who or what provides valuable performance with regard to organizational strategy and goals, and guarantees that performance is effectively and efficiently accomplished. Thus, performance management is an integrated scheme that guarantees that the following are instigated and performed: (a) goal-setting of the organization, team and individuals; (b) performance evaluation system; (c) incentive policies and designs; (d) training and development policies and schemes; (e) communication, performance feedback and mentoring; (f) individual planning for career advancement; (g) systems for monitoring the value of performance management mechanism and processes (Tovey & Uren 2006). Even though the critiques of performance management do hold reliable proof as to the loopholes of the system, other experts assert that the constructive features of performance management considerably overshadow flawed features. Alternatively, an investigation of the constructive features as suggested by pioneers of performance management system is indispensable. The following are the claimed advantages of an efficiently monitored and executed performance management system: (a) enhanced employee job performance; (b) prospective employees for development are classified; (c) planning for potential human resource needs is expanded; (d) organizational goals are attained; (e) boosted morale; (f) superior customer satisfaction; (g) an unambiguous connection between performance and compensation is realized; (h) a competitive leverage is acquired; (i) enhanced quality of management (Armstrong 2000). The knack for managing and leading employees and encouraging them to perform at their best does not arise effortlessly, nor is it stagnant. A superior performance

Narcissism and toxic leadersheip Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Narcissism and toxic leadersheip - Essay Example (Pfeffer, 2012) One of the most recent examples of such leadership behavior is that of the Gen. Petraeus who was disgraced and has to resign from the position of CIA Head. It is argued that those in power tend to often forget about others and pursue their own goals and become action oriented. Petraeus was also considered as one such leader who believed that rules are not for them and that they are special and invulnerable. However, the fact that Gen. Petraeus was removed from his position because he acted on his impulses and engaged in activities which were considered as unethical from a leader of his position and power. This paper will discuss the personality of Gen. Petraeus as a Narcissistic leader and what impact he had on his organization, explore as to whether followers were contributing towards this toxic vision and what organizational checks and balances were in place to control his behavior. One of the key requirements of working in an organization like CIA is the extreme confidentiality as well as the secrecy. As per the existing procedures, CIA officials are required to maintain both these aspects of doing their job. It has been argued that the overall behavior of Gen actually compromised the national security because he was not only a four start General in US army but also fought important wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. He was accused of having unacceptable extramarital affairs with his biographer Paula Broadwell who was studying his leadership behavior during US’s war in Afghanistan and Iraq. Self-Centered model of leadership can result into negative outcomes for the organizations especially if leaders are not productive. A relative alternative of this approach is character centric leadership style which can offer leaders a relative and practical advantage over others. However, for Narcissist leaders, character

The effectiveness of cancer prevention and treatment in UK Essay

The effectiveness of cancer prevention and treatment in UK - Essay Example Despite many years of public health research initiatives, the incidence of colon cancer has not declined for over ten years in the UK. Nevertheless, the mortality rates for colon cancer have declined appreciably over the past half century; today, more than 50% of patients with colon cancer live for at least 10 years after diagnosis. Moreover, research studies have provided strong evidence that patients diagnosed at the earliest stages of disease have a greater than 90% chance of long-term survival. These data indicate that public health measures directed at increasing the detection of colon cancer at earlier stages of disease would positively influence current mortality rates for this disease (Jepson et al, 2005). The rationale for developing a screening and prevention program for colon cancer in the UK involves the fact that this type of cancer is known to progress slowly and is curable in its earliest stages (du Toit, 2006). The presence of polyps in the colon is an important risk factor for the development of colon cancer. The screening and diagnostic technologies currently available afford a practical and useful diagnostic screening tool for population screening on a large scale. The biology of this type of cancer lends itself to a population based screening approach as the source of malignancy is the slow transformation of the benign tumor to an aggressive transformed state over a period of years. Early detection by screening for the presence of polyps comprises a reasonable and rational approach to cancer prevention. The Dukes diagnostic criteria for colon cancer staging and grading are used to identify the clinical course of disease as it progresses through designated stages (A-D). A i s the earliest stage which is associated with a 93% cure rate; however, only 9% of patients are diagnosed at this stage, Conversely, approximately 25% of patients are detected at stage C, a significantly more advanced

Detail-level technical architecture- Information technology Research Paper

Detail-level technical architecture- Information technology - Research Paper Example The overall system/farm encompasses system process and people (Shelly, & Rosenblatt, 2012). System process involves rules and procedures that must be followed when the system architecture is executing its operation to give out the most optimal solution (Object Management Group, Inc, 2012). On the other hand, people include; system architectural personnel, information system managers, Information Technology specialist and information security personnel’s who are responsible towards ensuring that the overall information system is running properly as intended (Wang & Wang, 2012). The technological infrastructural aspect may help adopt farm to address system security issues as well as problems attributed to organization governance because it integrate the entire system which allows system administrators to identify the potential problem and develop the most optimal solution (Lang, 2008). The Integrated Architectural design may help Adopt-A-Farm to operate virtually in a more effec tive and efficient manner (Dennis, Wixom & Roth, 2009). For proper analysis of the technical architecture artifacts, the following four divisions may be vital for the purpose of this analysis. The first division entails contextual level analysis, under this level, business visions, missions and drivers are integrated together and documented in a manner that provide the overall architectural design with a clear guideline on what is to be achieved (Schuck, 2007). Moreover, the guiding architectural principles are put so that it can be possible to identify the most urgent priorities and their effects on the operations of Adopt-A-Farm Business (Compton, W. D., & National Academy of Engineering, 1988). Additionally, contextual stage entails data collection and compilation which further provide a blue print for the overall architectural framework (Boucher & YalcÃŒ §in, 2006). Conceptual level analysis is the second division for technical architectural design. Under this level, the

Gentiva Health Services assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Gentiva Health Services assignment - Essay Example The adoption of differential costing would greatly help the company. Differential costing helps evaluate the difference in total costs and expected revenue. This information is necessary in choosing where to invest or not to invest. In addition, it will help evaluate the incremental benefits resulting from an acquisition or a disposition. In a situation when the company requires closing down a new firm, the company would be able to weigh the detrimental costs likely to occur as a result of the closure. Gentiva is on the verge of making several decisions to remain relevant and stable in the current economic demands. Since differential costs involve the assessment of costs and revenues arising as a result of taking a given alternative, the company needs to employ the method to reach the best decisions. In turn, the company will be able to cope with the proposed law to cut health services and hospice care.The effects of the health care reform on the providers of health services are clea rly evident. The reform requires that costs of health services be reduced by at least 3.5% every year.   This implies reduced returns for services offered by Medicare companies. Due to the health services reform, Gentiva is on the move to diversify its operations. The company aims at capitalizing on the provision of Medicare services to the robust ageing American population. Chances are high that there will be several incidences of disease with the ageing population. Other likely effects include employment lay-offs.

Detail-level technical architecture- Information technology Research Paper

Detail-level technical architecture- Information technology - Research Paper Example The overall system/farm encompasses system process and people (Shelly, & Rosenblatt, 2012). System process involves rules and procedures that must be followed when the system architecture is executing its operation to give out the most optimal solution (Object Management Group, Inc, 2012). On the other hand, people include; system architectural personnel, information system managers, Information Technology specialist and information security personnel’s who are responsible towards ensuring that the overall information system is running properly as intended (Wang & Wang, 2012). The technological infrastructural aspect may help adopt farm to address system security issues as well as problems attributed to organization governance because it integrate the entire system which allows system administrators to identify the potential problem and develop the most optimal solution (Lang, 2008). The Integrated Architectural design may help Adopt-A-Farm to operate virtually in a more effec tive and efficient manner (Dennis, Wixom & Roth, 2009). For proper analysis of the technical architecture artifacts, the following four divisions may be vital for the purpose of this analysis. The first division entails contextual level analysis, under this level, business visions, missions and drivers are integrated together and documented in a manner that provide the overall architectural design with a clear guideline on what is to be achieved (Schuck, 2007). Moreover, the guiding architectural principles are put so that it can be possible to identify the most urgent priorities and their effects on the operations of Adopt-A-Farm Business (Compton, W. D., & National Academy of Engineering, 1988). Additionally, contextual stage entails data collection and compilation which further provide a blue print for the overall architectural framework (Boucher & YalcÃŒ §in, 2006). Conceptual level analysis is the second division for technical architectural design. Under this level, the

Answer Case Study Question Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Answer Case Study Question - Assignment Example It would also be appropriate for the firm to reserve enough funds for speculative purposes so as to grab any investment opportunities that may come up the countries where they start up their new branches. Funds to cover any calamities that may arise are also vital for the firm. The company should put into consideration the cost of labour in the countries where they plan to start branches. There are countries where the trade unions and government policies place very high minimum wages for labourers making the cost of labour high. There are also countries where the governments provide some amount of money for the unemployed. In such countries, people tend to only accept jobs that pay beyond certain amounts. These issues make cost of labour relatively high and the company should not invest in such countries. Availability of raw materials required by the firm for its production process is also an important factor. In countries where the raw materials are readily available, production will be much cheaper compared to countries where the raw materials have to be outsourced from elsewhere. In outsourcing raw materials, transportation costs and custom duty are incurred thereby increasing the cost of production. Where the resources are relatively scarce, the forces of demand and supply tend to raise their prices increasing the cost of production. The firm should also consider the economic status of the countries where they plan to start new branches. Countries facing recessions have low per capita income translating to lower purchasing power of its citizens. This may bring about low demand for goods and services leading to the company making losses due to poor sales of its products. In counties with stable economies, the chances of making profits are much higher hence more attractive for firms planning to go global. The company should also consider the level of technology in the various countries.

Investigation to find out whether changing Essay Example for Free

Investigation to find out whether changing Essay Air resistance is a force that acts upon any object falling through the air. It slows the rate of descent on an object with any surface area. Scientific research has found that by altering the objects surface area, the amount of air resistance either increases or decreases, changing the rate of descent. Newtons third law states that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. My helicopter will fall to the ground because of the gravitational pull of the Earth. In reflection to Newtons law, the opposite force in the case of my experiment will be air resistance. As gravity is pulling my helicopter to the ground, air resistance is pushing up onto my helicopter, slowing its rate of descent. The rate of gravity is always the same, as the gravitational pull from the Earth is the same, so the factor in this case, which affects the rate of descent, is air resistance. Newtons second law of motion states that the acceleration an object experiences multiplied by the mass of the object is equal to the net force acting on the object. Thus, if a given force acts on two objects of different mass, the object with the larger mass will have a lower acceleration. In the case of my experiment, the rate of descent on my helicopter, multiplied by the mass of my helicopter is equal to the total amount of forces acting on it. If the forces acting on my helicopter give a net force which is zero, then my helicopter will not accelerate, it will continue moving at a constant velocity. The forces on an object falling at terminal velocity are balanced. Terminal velocity occurs when the weight of an object is balanced by the drag. Drag depends on the speed of an object- the faster it moves the greater the drag. Therefore, if one of my helicopters is moving faster than another, then it will create more air resistance. Drag also depends on the shape of an object. A streamlined object will travel much faster than another object, and they have a lower terminal velocity. We call the force of gravity on something its weight. Weight (N) = mass (kg) x gravitational field strength (N/kg) The gravitational field strength on Earth is around 10N/kg. Astronauts on the moon tried an experiment suggested by Galileo. They dropped a feather and a hammer at the same time, and they landed together. Newton also tried this experiment, dropping a coin and a feather first in air, then in a vacuum. In the air the coin landed first, but in a vacuum, they landed at the same time. The feather and the coin have a similar surface area, so when they begin to fall they should have about the same amount of drag. As they fall the air resistance on the feather soon increases to balance its weight, causing it to travel at terminal velocity. The coin, on the other hand, is heavier, so it continues to accelerate, and probably hits the ground before reaching terminal velocity. The drag force (air resistance) is always in the opposite direction to the motion. The force of gravity is equal and opposite to the drag force. I predict that by altering the surface area of the wings on my helicopter, I will be able to change the rate of descent by increasing and decreasing the air resistance of the wings. I think that if I increase the surface area of the wings, the amount of air resistance will increase, and my helicopter will take longer to reach the floor. If I decrease the surface area, there will be less air resistance, so my helicopter will travel faster. I also think that whilst doing my experiment, I may find the terminal velocity of one of my helicopters. Method: Make a helicopter out of a piece of paper. Make the wings 11cm x 3cm each, and the base 10cm x 3cm, leaving a 1. 5cm gap from the edges of the wings, like the one shown here. Fold one wing forwards, and the other backwards along the dotted line. Measure a height of 2m from the floor. Make a mark on the wall so that you know where to drop your helicopters from. Stand so that the first helicopter is level with the mark on the wall, and get another person to stand on the floor with a stop clock. Let go of the helicopter and time how long it takes to hit the floor. Record your results in a table. Repeat with the same sized helicopter 3 times, and then cut 1cm off the length of the wings. Repeat the experiment until the wings are 1cm long. To keep my experiment fair- I will use the same helicopter throughout my experiment to ensure accurate results. I will also mark a point on the wall so that I can drop my helicopters from the same height every time. Results: Analysis: My results dont show a linear pattern, the average times go down in steps, but this may have been caused by experimental errors. More of my average times are above my line of best fit than on or below it. Evaluation: I think that my experiment was fairly successful, as from my results I can see that my prediction is usually correct- reducing the surface area of the wings decreases the time it takes to get to the floor, because of the reduce in air resistance. If I was to do this experiment again, I would make another helicopter in a different way, because I think that that my results may have been in a more linear fashion if the helicopter spun more in the air.

Effect of SHRM on Mergers and Acquisitions

Effect of SHRM on Mergers and Acquisitions IS STRATEGIC HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT AN EFFECTIVE TOOL FOR MERGER AND ACQUISITION PROCESS, IN TERMS OF KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS AND EFFICIENCY? Introduction First chapter of my dissertation will talk about the back ground of the proposed dissertation topic. This back ground discussion will lead our focus to the actual problem area. As the main actors of my discussion are human so the related topics back ground, like HRM, strategic HRM, and integration of SHRM with overall business strategy and the new role of SHRM especially in the process of mergers and acquisitions, will be focused. Later discussion will focus on aims and objectives of my research and will also explain the dissertation structure. Background Business world is so dynamic especially in current era when organizations face lot more complicated challenges and strict competitions. To cope with new challenges, organizations employee new management tools, methods and philosophies. These tools and philosophies help management in gaining competitive advantage to survive in the business world. Among these philosophies, strategic HRM is one, which helps businesses to survive and gain competitive advantage in current dynamic environments. To learn more about the role of Strategic HRM, first we need to know what strategic human resource management actually means, as we know till that point that this a management philosophy helping organizations in facing new challenges in ever changing environment. The concept of Human resource management is not new. It is on the business horizon from last 100 years discussed and debated in different forms, shapes and names but the actual human resource management can actually be traced back in 1960s when the importance of employer and employee relationship was more focused. Improved education and skills actually developed the concept of Human resource management over the years. This development took a new turn when in 1980s HRM became the integral part of business strategy and was named as strategic human resource management. That field of business management is actively involved in all business decision and plans related to relations of employee and organization. The involvement of SHRM in restructuring and developing organization can be seen in the shape of different tools and methods adopted by organization like decentralize decision making, flattened hierarchies, training etc. This involvement is much needed during Merger and acquisitions process where SHRM can help this process in terms of knowledge, skills and efficiency. To allocate resources accurately ,like employing right people with right skills and knowledge, organizations need to bring in the SHRM at the time of strategy development not at middle or later stages. Introducing SHRM at start of strategy making will help organizations to achieve their goals and objectives of proposed merger or acquisition. Organizations need to manage their human resources very systematically and strategically to gain competitive advantage. SHRM provides organizations an opportunity to align and integrate peoples resources with strategic management. This integration and alignment will ensure that right people, working on right places with right tool, implementing right policies to gain overall goals and objectives of the organization. The popularity of SHRM is growing day by day as an effective tool to do effective business. In this growing popularity human resources are treated as the available talents and energies of people who are available to an organization as potential contributors to the creation and realization of the organizations mission, vision, strategy, goals and objectives which helps organizations in order to improve the business performance. Jackson and Schuler (2000) My research dissertation will try to establish a link between SHRM being an effective tool in MAs process in terms of a knowledge, skills and efficiency contributor. This link can be seen in the statement given by Narasimha,S. (2000) as Strategic HRM take a different colour when we view them as contributing to organizational knowledge stocks. So it is apparent that SHRM is capable of doing much more than the traditional HR in achieving business goals and objectives. Reason to Choose This Dissertation Topic As my dissertation revolves around SHRM so the main reason of choosing this topic is to establish a link in between organizational development and the role of SHRM. My focus would be the areas where SHRM can play a critical role in developing organizations especially when organizations decide to acquire or merge with some other organizations for number of reasons like to increase the share holders value, expansions , strategic alliances, access to new markets, elimination of competition etc. Usually organizations face swerve problems when they go through these MAs processes, so my main aim is to focus on what should have been done in advance of this process, during and after the process to make such deals successful. Top management plans, middle level management execute the plans and general employees do what they asked to do, to ensure the success of business plans. In my dissertation I will focus on how SHRM approaches and models can be effectively implemented and executed and how these models maintain the consistency in achieving business goals and objective not only today but in future as well. Another area of my focus would be provision of knowledge and skills by SHRM to the organizations, efficiently. These are new tools and techniques that can have a great effect in the times of mergers and acquisitions and require active involvement of both sides to achieve set goals. Another field in which I would be looking into to establish my research is performance management. My research will try to identify the Importance and criticalness of implementation of this system into the organization as this implementation is not easy as claimed by Elaine, D. P. (2009, Pg.3) Performance management is known as the Achilles Heel of human capital management, and it is the most difficult HR system to implement in organization. This system is all about defining, assessing and refining the work outcomes and attitude of employees. This effective system of performance management should give organization a leading edge as compare to their rivals. There are other related issues which need to be addressed like maintaining quality of services with the help of emerging techniques and strategies. Quality in service can be attained by training and development of the employees. Besides that they need good salary and good designations, which can lead employees towards better performance. SHRM have capabilities to address this issue in very systematic way. Organizations always goes through different phases and some time they need to even face situations like redundancies, re-structuring and some time even closures of businesses. But on the other hand organizations establish strategic alliances and mergers to grow. In this situation HR mangers have to address issues like relocation, new designations, changing nature of job duties, obstacle is changing culture and arranging new training and development programmes. The most sensitive amongst is cultural change which can have really bad effects on business success if not addressed properly. To address this problem area, SHRM can provide solutions like recruiting right people with right talent, knowledge and skill. Actually it is HRMs strategic approach which can motivate employees for quality of work and development of company by designing most appropriate HR policies. If some one wants to know the working environment and culture of an organization then he should study it HR policies. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES The aim and objective of my dissertation is to find out how strategic human resource management (SHRM) can play a vital role in terms of knowledge , skills and efficiency during and after mergers and acquisitions (MAs) process. How the integration of strategic management ( SM ) with human resource management (HRM) can improve and maintain the competitiveness of future preferences of the organizations, especially MAs. How useful it could be if we use SHRM as a tool in MAs process to benefit the knowledge, skills and efficiency much needed in this process. If we look at the dimensions of human resource management (HRM) , two type of dimensions are more apparent, Functional and strategic. Operational issues come under functional HRM and overall company progress and performance is linked with strategic HRM. Majority of Managers involved in MAs are always confused of understanding and implementing the strategy which has been developed over the time. SHRM will focus on the strategy and planning of human resource requirements which are needed on a certain period of time and will ease the difficulties of mangers especially in MAs. This approach will focus on the number of personnel needed along with the behaviour and attitude which can produce best results. This integration will eventually increase the effectiveness of organization in terms of knowledge, skills and efficiency. The study on this subject provides the information that 80 percent of acquisitions were not gone through well or total failure. How can this commonly practiced business strategy end in complete disaster? Can involvement of SHRM can provide sufficient knowledge, skills and efficiency that such disasters in MAs can be avoided. Even 80 percent of such deals end up in disasters; still such MAs are taking place everyday. There are many reasons of these failures, the most important amongst them is little or poor human side involvement especially strategic human resource management. When two firms merge or one big firm acquire the small one, actually the two different working cultures come side by side. The new culture may be the totally a new one or may be part from one firm and part from other merged firm. Bothe higher managements and middle level managements have different level of skills, knowledge and expertise. Most of the mergers fail when these two different cultures collide. My research will identify that can strategic human resource management provide such assistance which can manage the human side of MAs in most effective way that it can provide knowledge, skills and efficiency to the process. LITRATURE REVIEW Introduction To conduct my research I need to take a deep dip into the pool of related information. The information which will provide the base for my research and will give me a deep insight of the work already done on this or related problem area. The information which would be reviewed in this section of my research will come through books, articles, journals and critical reviews. Mergers and acquisitions are very common and favourite mode of restructuring and growth as stated by Andrew and Milledge ( 2006, pg.2 ) According to him, 1980s was the era when almost half of the U.S. businesses restructured themselves. In this wave of restructuring, more than 80,000 companies engaged in merger of acquisition. The extent of popularity of this practice can be imagined with this but most of the mergers and acquisitions were totally or partly flopped due to one or other reason. Why such a huge activity is not well planned, why most of the mergers and acquisitions ends up in disasters. Is there something wrong with the finance side or poor management is the cause of this failure or may be human side of involvement in the process has been neglected. My research will encompass that how an effective human side of involvement in the process can get better results in terms of knowledge, skills and efficiency. The basic aim of this research is to find out various views, ideas and concepts of mergers and acquisitions, causes of their failures especially when strategic human resource management is not actively involved in the process. Along with, the research will review all the SHRM models and their critics, their role in mergers and acquisitions process and how SHRM can provide knowledge, skills and efficiency in the process. As vast data is available on the issue so the research would be narrow down into few headings as below. What is merger and Acquisition? Need of mergers and acquisitions. Main causes of failure of MAs. What is Strategic human resource management? Different approaches and models of Strategic HRM How SHRM can be an effective tool in MAs process in terms of knowledge, skills and efficiency. What is merger and Acquisition? Most of the businesses are bound with one sold principle, either they have to grow or leave the market. Growth ensures returns to shareholders, generate profits and gets market share from competitors. On the other hand the businesses without growth lose their market share, lose customers and ultimately they disappear from the market leaving great losses for the shareholders. Mergers and acquisitions actually play a very significant role in strengthening the companies or in case of weak business or entrepreneurs, provide chance to avoid exclusion from the businesses as quickly swallowed by the strong business. MAs are very important for a balanced and healthy economy. Corporate history have seen different roles played by MAs, like greed is good role, when corporate businesses buying companies in hostile environment and destroying them and todays fresh trends in which MA take place for growth and competitive advantage. Since mid 2004 this activity is mostly based on macroeconomic needs of recovery. (Sherman, et al (2005 ) Merger When two companies or businesses combine in to one unit, its called merger in which only one company survive and the merged company comes to an end only to exist. The surviving company or business is called acquirer which gets all the assets along with all liabilities. Usually in this process large companies are always acquirer or buyers and smaller companies are target but some time businesses with same size and capabilities, both try to cease to exist and they form a new company. Though these mergers take place with mutual agreements, still merger statistics are treating large companies as buyer and smaller as target. (Gaughan, Patrick A. (2005) J. Reuvid (2007) describes merger as a transaction in which both companies agrees to combine and form a new business entity which will issue new shares and on the other hand cancelling all the old individually issued shares. Mergers usually give an impression of equal share of both parties involved in the merger but quite often one company actually enjoys dominance in term of equity and majority in board of directors. Usually big businesses are predator and smaller ones are known as victim in all most all transitions. Mergers can face three kinds of scenarios or situations which are beautifully explained by Weston, J.Fred (2001) in his book Mergers and Acquisitions. According to W.J.Fred the first category is synergy or efficiency in which the efficiency level with combined operation is greater than the sum of efficiencies produced by these two businesses individually. The second category points out the situation when bidders overpay due to Hubris and the value of business remain unchanged. Third category talks about the situation when total value of business is decreased due to mistakes made by mangers or agencies. All these three situations lead the business towards new directions. Acquisition Mergers and acquisitions are the terms usually used simultaneously. In mergers two companies join together to do business under single business entity but in acquisition, business purchases the other business entity as whole or part of it as explained by Sherman, Andrew J. et al (2005). They claim that companies do it for many reasons like in 2005 Proctor Gamble acquired Gillette company, Inc. to expand its access to consumer products and some companies acquire other businesses to get access to foreign markets. Usually acquisitions occur to obtain financial or strategic goals. Stanley F, Reed ( 2007 ) defines acquisition as a process by which assets or stocks or both of an organization or business are bought by other organization or business. After acquisitions the buyer becomes the owner of stocks and assets and the target or acquired company lose their ownership. Its kind of generic term which explains the transfer of ownership. Its more common then mergers as theres no occurrence of successive mergers. Need of Mergers and Acquisitions Why businesses engage in mergers and acquisitions, what are the main reasons, what are the forces working behind this activity which been very popular in last 2 decades? For almost all businesses the ultimate objective is maximizing profit. Keeping in mind this objective studies shows that traditionally there are two causes of why businesses go for mergers and acquisitions. First one is financial in which prime objective is increasing the share holders value and second one is based on managerial motive which focuses on knowledge, growth, sale, performance etc. Studies on this subject shows number of reason behind these MAs and the factors involved behind this activity, all will be analysed from various perspective. MAs are borderless as explained by Sturgess, B. ( 1989 ) in Booming International Mergers and acquisition . Sturgess describe that mergers and acquisitions can be of local nature or it can go across borders. He explains that local firms can go abroad to acquire foreign businesses or foreign businesses who merge or acquire domestic business. These MAs can provide short term finances to companies as described by Fluck and lynch (1999). If the firm is unable to finance profitable projects due to one or other reasons they go for MAs to acquire these funds required to finance the big project which will eventually increase shareholders value. The managerial motives under which mangers try to increase their powers or gains and address other issues like maximizing growth, increasing sale volume etc has been explained by Napier, N.K et al (1989) in Communication during mergers: the experience of two banks very elaborately. Apart from the traditional motives the academic, researchers and other people involved in this process has begun to think other reasons and causes of MAs brought in by the rapid changes in the business over the time. One of them is Angwin (2001) who states that the firms go for MAs to avoid the fear of being taken over or being destroyed by other large firms. To exist they simply want to be merged or acquired by other firms where they can remain operational and in the market. The other reason what he describes is as public motive in which companies merge or been acquired to increase the performance and shareholders value which allow them to gain all competitive advantages to remain active in the todays competitive markets. Some time companies reach to their maturity with becoming more bureaucratic, leaving fewer opportunities for the individuals. According to Lenvinson (1970) MA can help such companies by bringing new ideas, enriched working culture, attitude and fresh knowledge. If such companies will not address there obsolescence on time then they will lose their competitiveness and soon will vanish from the market. Vermeulen and Barkema (2001) also claim that MA can be very helpful in bringing up up-to-date knowledge and techniques in the businesses to survive in the market in long run. The new knowledge can be of in different field of operation in which company is not engaged yet but in near future this might be the key knowledge in surviving in business world. All the causes and reasons behind merger and acquisitions can be categorised into seven heads and are known as theories of mergers and acquisitions. These theories can be easily understandable with the help of a diagram as below and can explain the facts which are active behind almost all MAs. Efficiency theory explains mergers as the way of getting synergies into three main heads which are financial, managerial and operational. For example if we look into the financial head then we consider that the financial efficiency after merger should be greater than the sum of individual financial efficiencies. But this theory has been criticised by Montgomery and Sing ( 1984 ). They claims that in any efficient capital market such synergies like financial synergy cannot be achieved then how businesses can go for mergers only on this ground. According to monopoly theory the businesses go for mergers and acquisitions to improve and increase the competitiveness but this competitiveness may not be achieved as criticised by Revenscraft and Scherer (1987). He claims that the monopoly theory is comparatively weaker than efficiency theory due to the unfavourable results on businesses. According to Trautwein, F. ( 1990 ) Raider theory is basically a form of acquisition in which a takeover bid is made to gain the control of shares. Theoretically its not a complex theory as frequently cited in business literature claimed by Thomas Straub ( 2007 ) in Reasons for frequent failure in mergers and acquisitions. He states that this form of MAs is regarded as peoples outcome in which these peoples or raiders attempt to get some of the wealth of shareholders for which they have made bid. Next comes the valuation theory In which Trautwein, F. ( 1990 ) claims that mergers and acquisitions are carried out by top management, the people who have more accurate and true information about the real value of the business. This information is more authentic than the information taken from the investment or stock market. According to the empire building theory the managers are more concerned to maximize their use and thats the only aim in their mind and thats why they plan a merger or acquisition. The process theory try to explain mergers and acquisitions as the result of decision made by the management which may not be rational as management did not considered the alternatives and have not done any deep analysis. Without a deep and thorough analysis management cant reach on a decision of that critical nature. The economic disturbances like recent credit crunches actually modify and reshape the behaviours and expectations of individual, individual who made the decision of mergers ad acquisitions. So with the change of economic environment many firms go for alternatives and amongst these alternatives MAs is more popular thats why the business engage in this critical manoeuvre. Trautwein, F. ( 1990 ) Main causes of failure of MAs Most of the researches and reports shows that almost 60% MAs end up in disaster. There are plenty of reasons of these failures and some are explained by Robert F. Bruner ( 2009) in his books Deals from Hell: MA Lessons that Rise Above the Ashes. He summed up these reasons in six main heads. People involved in these deals were unable to take quick and prompt decisions and actions as they were unable to clearly understand whats happening. The reason of there confusion is that the deals are so complicated and shows a blurry picture. Problems of one department or area would travel to other parts of business as flexibility was at its lower level. Problems were not cordoned off and it effects the whole environment. Some weak decisions and choices were made by management which exposed the risks of the emerged firm. Te new firms cant avoid exposed risks which caused a failure. These choices or decisions were either deliberately or mistakenly made. The decision makers were prejudiced by the pasts successes, cost effectiveness, over optimism and pride which led them towards wrong choice or activity. Companies were not doing businesses as usual. Errors and problems were common and business environments were lacking of something of important nature. The operational teams collapsed or became ineffective. The reasons behind this collapse or ineffectiveness were existence of different working culture of acquirer and target, problem related to political issues and to much stress on operational team individuals. All these problems broke down the operational teams which resulted in failure. On the other hand Gerhard, P ( 2002 ) claims that the main factor of failure of MA transactions are overestimates of revenue , cost synergies and post-transaction integration efforts which are too slow and having low capacities and are not aggressive enough to address these areas effectively. He explains that these causes are the main problem with MAs which leads these transaction in disaster or some time in total failure. What is Strategic human resource management.(HRM) The concept of HRM was developed in USA in 1960s and 1970s with initial academic work done by different authors and then it spread around the world and been adopted by almost all organizations around the world. Brewster (1994, pg.1) The concept of Strategic human resource management or SHRM can be traced back in in1980s and has been distinguished from traditional personnel by virtue of the way in which the former ignored , but the later embraces strategy Guest (1993, Pg.213). This integration of strategy make it distinctive from all personnel management forms as concluded by Purcell ( 2001, Pg.59) In following words. The integration with strategy is central to all models of HRM and virtually all authors are agreed that this is the distinctive feature of HRM, compared with personnel. Under this concept the HR strategies are integrated with business strategies to achieve the organizational goals. Under this integration, the strategies developed and implemented, lead the organizations t o achieve the set goals and objectives very effectively. Its a conceptual approach, in which strategists find an ideal point where in long run human resources should be and how to get there. It also explains how a more strategic approach can be adopted by the members of HR on daily basis to monitor that the HR strategies are assisting overall business strategy and they are adding value in it. Armstrong, M ( 2008 ) Earlier concept of SHRM was developed from the two models presented by Harved Business School in 1980 in which business strategy has been integrated in HRM. These two models are known as Harved Matching Model and Harved Framework Model. This was the first time when Mission, Organisation Strategy and HRM were identified as the key player in the success of business. Later on these key players were integrated together to give the right tack to an organisation which leads towards success, effectiveness and competiveness. (Jain, P. (2005) The activities which directly or indirectly influence the individuals behaviour to formulate and implement strategically, what ever business needs. As it is a conceptual framework in which individuals are directed strategically to achieve the set goals in most effective way. Schuler R. S (1992) defines SHRM as all the activities affecting the individuals behaviour in an attempt to develop and put into the practice the strategic requirements of the organisation. This academic Schuler, R.S et al ( 2001 .pg 127 ) further explains that by strategic we mean that HR activities should be systematically designed and intentionally linked to an analysis of the business and its context. Its a combination of two concepts, HRM and strategy. HRM models are used by focusing on strategy and these models are integrated with businesss overall strategy as explained by Armstrong, M ( 2006 ) in his Handbook of Human Resource Management Practice. This concept deals with the key philosophies of strategy like strategic intent, competitive advantage, strategic fit and strategic capability etc. He further explains that Strategic HRM is an approach which leads businesses to formulate and implement policies, programmes and practices related to employment relationship, resourcing, performance management, reward etc. These policies and decisions are made on the overall intentions and plans of organization. Some academic claims that HRM and strategic HRM are almost identical concepts as Mathis Jackson (1985 Pg.3-4 ) define HRM as the strategic planning and management of human resources for an organizationHRM is more broadly focused and strategic in nature. Four meanings of strategic HRM has been described by Hendry and Pettigrew (1986 ) as The use of planning , A rational way to the design and management of personnel systems which are based on an employment policy and human strategy along with philosophy. HRM activities are matched with overall organisational strategy. To achieve competitive advantage ,human resources are viewed as strategic resources The definitions and statements which explain SHRM, given by different authors and researchers, clearly shows the growing need and importance of strategic HRM in business world. Day by day businesses world is becoming more complex and competitive and strategic HRM can play a vital role in ensuring competitiveness as Jain, P ( 2005 ) claims that today the human resources are viewed as the potential contributors in the achievement of organizational goals with the help of available energies and talent these people have. These resources should have four qualities to maintain their competitiveness as suggested by Boxhall, (1996). These suggested qualities are That they must increase the value of activities. Rarity and uniqueness must be established. Hard to copy And hard to be replaced by other alternatives like technology. The people are the assets to the organizations and these assets should be used strategically to achieve competitive advantage and business goals and objectives in long run. Strategic HRM addresss some of the critical issues in organizations which deal with the change in culture, structure and knowledge management and how it can be used effectively. Theses changes can increase the organizational effectiveness and performance. It provides efficient way of matching activities and resources to the future requirement of the organization. It Guides how peoples skills and abilities can be developed over the time and how the change can be managed. Human capital requirements and development of process capabilities are focused under strategic HRM. Different approaches and models of Strategic HRM Human resources play a critical role in the successful achievement of goals and objectives of an organization. The vital importance of managing human resource and strategically deploying these resources can be well understood by the statement of the Managing Director of British Chrome and steel in 1998. He stated that There is no other source of competitive advantage! Others can copy our investment, technology and scale but NOT the quality of our people. Steve, B. ( 2000 ,pg 222 ) As the importance is apparent so these resources should be controlled effectively to get the maximum results. To find out how these resources can be used so effectively and strategically different gurus and academics of this subject have presented couple of theories, frame works and models. These Gurus and academics have also described how these approaches and models of strategic HRM can be developed and implemented though implementation of these HR strategies is not that easy as HR mangers need to realize the Strategic human resource requirements not only in numbers but also attitudes, behaviours and commitments. Alan, P. ( 2007, pg.271) These models and approaches can be categorised into two types: General and Particular approach to the practices of strategic HRM. Universality, Contingency and Configurational , are the thr

Breast Feeding vs Formula Essay -- Comparing Breast Feeding and Formu

Breast-feeding is nutritionally, emotionally and physically superior for a mother and her child. â€Å"Human breast milk is not standard nor is it interchangeable with cow’s milk. It is a dynamic fluid that changes in composition to meet the needs of the baby as it grows† (â€Å"Giving your Baby... Diet.† par. #10). Breast milk contains growth factors and antibodies which stimulate the growing baby and protect it from illness such as diarrhea, ear infections, rashes, allergies, asthma, skin problems, pneumonia, respiratory illness and other serious illnesses. Breast-feeding also improves a baby’s chance of remaining healthy. These antibodies are not found in formula. They can not be sustained. Breast-fed babies are also neurodevelopmentally more advanced than those fed formula. This is because the ingredients found in breast milk promote brain development. (Neifiert, pars. #5 ) Breast-feeding is the preferred method for feeding babies because it offers many benefits for both mothers and babies. There are many advantages for babies who are breast-fed. Babies can digest breast milk easily because the proteins and curds in it are softer than those in cow’s milk. The proteins in breast milk destroy harmful bacteria and help protect a baby against infection (Giving your Baby... Diet.† par #20). A breast-fed baby will have loose bowel movements that are easy to pass. Manufacturers do attempt to lower the curd tension in formula so that it will act as breast milk does. They do this by producing formula that has a higher whey content than cow’s milk. But it is impossible to exactly replicate human milk. Because of the gentleness of breast milk in a babies system, constipation is rare in breast fed infants. Another advantage for breast-fed ch... ...e. 19 May 2003. http://proquest.umi.com/pqweb? Georgieff, Michael K. â€Å"Taking a Rational Approach to the Choice of Formula.† A Thomson Healthcare Company. Aug. 2001: 48 Health Reference Center-Academic. Lansing Christian School Lib. , Lansing MI. 19 May 2003. http://www.infotrac.galegroup.com. â€Å"Giving Your Baby an Ideal Diet.† A Thomson Healthcare Company. 2001: 79. Health Reference Center- Academic. Lansing Christian School Lib. , Lansing, MI. 13 May 2003. http://www.infortrac.galegroup.com. Gupta, Sanjay M.D. â€Å"Of Brains and Breast Milk.† Time. 20 May 2002: 92. Neifert, Marianne. â€Å"The Advantages of Breast-Feeding.† McKesson Health Solutions LLC. 2001: 15. Health Reference Center – Academic. Lansing Christian School Lib. , Lansing, MI. 13 May 2003. http://infotrac.galegroup.com. Sheehy, Maura. â€Å"Breast-Feeding 911.† Parents. July 2001: 149-150.