Cultural Diversity-Race and Ethnicity 4 Essay

†¢ What information about race and ethnicity in the United States has helped you better understand or relate to specific minority groups? I would have to say that I have learned a lot of information by taking this cultural diversity class. I know that there are minorities in the United States, but I was unaware of many of the discriminations that have happened over the years. I have always thought that we were all equal and that is how I have raised my children. We may come from different backgrounds, have different colors of skin and speak other languages, but we are all people living our lives and trying to become successful. I can now see the challenges that many minority groups have to face in the United States and understand why there are so many different programs available to the minority. o Have you learned something new about your own cultural history? I am about ? Native American and I learned many things about the Native American gaming laws and how that all works. It is interesting to see how the government has stepped up and showed the Native Americans that we want them to be successful and allowed them to produce these successful casino and resorts. I did not realize that many of the casinos are on Native land and there to help the Natives and there reservations. I have never researched much about where I come from or anything about my background, but it was nice to see that there are things that are offered for the wrongs that have been done in the past. I found that the Natives do not hold a grudge and are using what is offered to them to earn money and employee there Natives. Many of them still live on the reservation and are able to work right there on the reservation. †¢ Trends in immigration will continue to shape the face of the United States. What will this face look like in the year 2050? In 2050 I see that there will still be a small amount of discrimitnation in the United States, but there will be many minority groups that have multiplied and will continue to go to college become doctors, teachers, lawyers and so on. There will be no difference in our society as to who is going to help us when we need a doctor or even who is going to teach our childrens children. I feel that if they are taking the time to learn out language and go to school and earn a degree then they should be considered a part of our country and not have to live with discrimination. I know that we cannot change the way people feel and act, but we can start by accepting others ourself and respecting all of the people no matter the race. †¢ How might the country best prepare for the changing race and ethnicity of its current and future citizens? I feel that we need to accept all race and ethnicity into our country. I see that we can learn many things from other people that we may not have thought of ourselves. I feel that we need to educate our citizens so they can see what they are going to expect in the future of the United States. We cannot change who we are or where we come from, but we as citizens can show you why there is no reason to treat any race or ethnicity different from our own. There needs to be education to our children and our future to teach them that we accept all races and ethnicities and they are what form us as a community and society.

Douglas MacArthur Essay

Is Douglas MacArthur a true American hero? Just who is this man that is so famous in our American history books? Douglas MacArthur, who eventually trained at West Point was born in the year of 1880 to a military family. His dad was Lieutenant General Arthur MacArthur Jr. , a man that raised a son who looked up to him as his own hero since he received the Medal of Honor. Douglas MacArthur also looked up to his grandparent, who was in politics which gave his grandson direction being so close and familiar with important men who influenced our nation. Douglas MacArthur who lived in various places during his lifetime before serving in many wars, such as World War II. Little Rock, Arkansas and San Antonio Texas were just a couple of places he resided before becoming famous for serving in France as a Chief of Staff member who was assigned to the forty-second Rainbow Division where he was promoted to Brigadier General where he was later given the title â€Å"Division Commander. † He was a leader who wanted his men on the forefront of fighting and went down in history as a man who loved to fight. I admire Douglas MacArthur for his strong views and being a man who was a strong leader instead of a follower. He was a influential person who will always be admired, respected and talked about in history classes across a strong America. A place that Douglas MacArthur firmly believed should be fought for.

Forensics project Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Forensics project - Essay Example Other applications entail investigating whether there was a breach of network within an organization. In the technical aspects of the investigation, digital forensics has several sub-branches that relate to the digital devices that have been in use. They include the network forensics, mobile data computer, and forensics data analysis (Oriyano & Gregg, 2011). Apart from the provision of direct evidence relating to digital crimes, digital forensics has vast applications in authenticating documents, confirmation of alibis, identification, and determining the intent of the breach in the information. To sum it, all digital forensics entails the preservation, extraction, and analysis of the evidence relating to digital content for appropriate legal actions. The field concerns with apprehending criminals who use digital technology in committing crimes. Some of the crimes committed through digital technology include hacking of emails to retrieve important information, retrieving information from the government agencies and institutions in an illegal manner for personalized use or terrorism (Oriyano & Gregg, 2011). Gone are the days when criminals used excessive force to get what they want. They have shifted to the use of technology in wiring money to their accounts especially from banking institutions without the use of force. Digital forensics is of relevance to these cases and helps in averting such crimes (Marcella & Guillossou, 2012). In this project, Digital Forensic Evidence Files will be investigated using the Forensic Toolkit that is available within the Lab. The evidence files have been collected from the suspect’s computer. The files for investigation are true images retrieved from the hard drive of the computer (Marcella & Guillossou, 2012). Three files are available for investigation namely, Thumb drive. E01, Mantooth.E0, and Washer.E01. The files under

A 300 words evaluation of the recommendations for American airlines Essay

A 300 words evaluation of the recommendations for American airlines - Essay Example We have found that acquiring Jet Blue is a good strategic option for American Airlines because cost of the project is $787 whereas; discounted cash flow is $848. The payback period is only 2.76 years and after this period; American Airlines will cover its costs and will incur positive cash flows. Moreover, ROCE is 0.3830 which means that after acquiring Jet Blue, the company may earn significant return on its total capital employed. Second, American Airlines should give more focus on hedging fuel prices because if fuel prices increase, it will incur a profit of $836 million and if fuel prices decline then it may incur a loss of $836 million. However, in consideration to previous fuel prices trend, a 10 percent increase in fuel prices is expected. Third, hiring a training company is a very good recommendation because company may improve its teamwork performance, crew coordinator, customer services and ultimately the revenues. Acquiring Jet Blue should be the first, hedging of fuel prices should be second and hiring a consultant should be third on priority list because company is already hedging prices and it needs to be get more aggressive in it and hiring a consultant does not incur that much efforts therefore, they are on second and third. We have assumed that Net worth of JetBlue is 12 percent3 of its assets which means that if its assets in 2009 were $6554 million then its net worth is $787 million. This will be the cost of the project for American Airlines. To project the net revenue, the growth rate of 1.68 has been used. It has been calculated by subtracting the net revenue of 2008 from net revenue of 2009 and dividing it by the net revenue of 2008. I have assumed that average revenue generate per year will be about $285 million, which has been calculated by (155+416)/2. In 2008 and 2009 the cost of fuel has increased by 10 percent. The current hedging fuel price of American Airlines is $2.48 per gallon

Concept Synthesis Paper on Personal Nursing Philosophy Essay

Concept Synthesis Paper on Personal Nursing Philosophy - Essay Example These concepts also provide a framework for the purpose of analysis, to compare the perspectives of different nursing theorists (Fawcett, 2000). Thesis Statement: The purpose of this paper is to identify, discuss and document the basic four domains of nursing metaparadigm: patient, nurse, health and environment. One’s own perspectives regarding two other practice-specific concepts for one’s rural emergency department setting will be identified, discussed and documented. Propositions or assumption statements that connect the concepts will be listed. Nursing philosophy explains the meaning of nursing phenomena through analysis, meaning and logical argument. Nursing philosophies provide direction for the discipline, forming a foundation for professional scholarship, leading to new theoretical understanding and professional application (Marriner-Tomey & Alligood, 2006). Most philosophies of nursing are â€Å"statements of beliefs about nursing and expressions of values in nursing that are used as bases for thinking and acting† (Chitty, 2004, p.230). Most philosophies of nursing are formulated using the concepts of people, environment, health and nursing as the main foundations. Around three decades ago began a period of major developments in nursing theory, â€Å"characterized as a transition from the pre-paradigm period to the paradigm period† (Marriner-Tomey & Alligood, 2006, p.6). Paradigms are abstract philosophical concepts which form the basic parameters and framework for organising a discipline’s knowledge. Nursing theory explains patterns and relationships found in nursing phenomena and activities. Theories are developed to describe the many aspects of nursing towards promoting a normative standard for nursing practise, through nurses’ study and evaluation of the theories (Sitzman & Eichelberger, 2004). All aspects of nursing such as practice, administration, education, research and further theory development form the

Research Proposal Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words - 4

Research Proposal - Essay Example In the world of medical practice and health care, there are many complex issues than ordinarily meet the eye. The provision of care facilities involves issues to patient and subsequently to the relatives is very important. A very important tool for making sure that this has happened is the correct use of counseling. These are integral to both the well-being of both the patient and the health care provider. This paper shall endeavor to dwell upon certain areas of influence in the same realm, and help institute certain working parameters for professionals. Centuries ago, while the science of medical care was in its technical evolution stage, the prime area of reference was only the administration of health care. However, in today’s world, where the scientific world has come of age in its standing vis-Ã  -vis disease care and prevention, subsidiary issues have emerged that are considered to be of prime importance in the domain of health care. The changes in society and life all around the world have brought about considerable changes in the lifestyles of humanity. Similarly, the profession of health care has seen its development through the ages, and many additional factors like counseling concerns need to be understood better. Ethical science has always found it difficult to decide, about the extent of the information being provided to the patient. Essentially, if one would put oneself in he shoes of the patient, then one would like to receive every bit of information that is related to the medical condition. However, when one looks at the issue from the perspective of the clinician, then the need can be appreciated of withholding some information from the client, for the latter’s benefit. Where does the line of morality and ethics come here, and from where the jurisdiction of science starts, is the focus of this research. There are and always have been two

The most important causes of the Protestant Reformation Essay

The most important causes of the Protestant Reformation - Essay Example One of the most important reasons for Protestant Reformation was religious one. The greed to money, drunkenness and fornication became constant companions for Church representatives. The great degradation of the priesthood's and monks' morality took place. Not all priests kept the vow of celibacy, thus they were engaged in sexual intercourse. Such a phenomena was spread not just among the ordinary priests, but also among the papacy. In addition, corruption in Church was common-spread. Popes skillfully played on the religious feelings of ordinary people taking advantage of their ignorance and lack of knowledge of the Scriptures. That is why the sale of indulgences was introduced on various occasions. Finally, there were some doctrinal reasons for reforms (Hillerbrand, 34). It was caused by Church teaching about salvation, which changed rapidly comparing to the early Christian and biblical views. Instead of preaching the gospel that Jesus Christ atoned for the sins of the people and ga ve them the gift of forgiveness and eternal life through faith, the priesthood introduced the indulgences, using which the enter to the kingdom of God was being sold. In addition, some social and economic reasons for the Reformation existed. While the biblical texts, as well as works of Augustine, various pamphlets, leaflets began to spread widely among intellectuals and ordinary people, the discontent grew, because people, while reading the Word of God and comparing it with what the priests taught, found contradictions.

Scenarios week 4 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Scenarios week 4 - Essay Example The situation presented in the case of Glenbrook South High School is normal in most schools, where students with demonstrable capabilities end up failing their exams. After the results that Joanie gets, despite having spent time delivering the content as effective as she could, there is need to come up with a plan that can facilitate effective learning, application of the content and responding to questions in an exam situation. Firstly, in order to facilitate effective learning, Joanie can consider diversifying the teaching and learning style that she uses. One of these ways is to let students do the teaching. (Mwenda, 2012). For instance, a student can be assigned a single theme and allowed some time to carry an in-depth research then come and share the same with the rest of the class. In essence, learners grasp more what they have actively participated in than what has been imposed on them from the teacher. (Mwenda, 2012). Secondly, Joanie can consider engaging the class in group work through discussions and simulations. By doing this, learners will have an opportunity to bring out what they initially thought was right when it was wrong. (Mwenda, 2012). In addition to this, the levels of confidence will be built as the learners correct each other in addition to having the freedom to share what they could have dismissed as irrelevant ideas. Further to this, low achievers can have an opportunity to learn how their well performing colleagues manage to do it. (Mwenda, 2012). In order to have the learners improve in their performance in exams, there are a number of considerations that can be included in Joanie’s teaching plans. Firstly, since the questions that the students failed were to do with memory or remembrance, a catchy and memorable plan should be in place. For instance, apart from being given a chance to read the text on their own, the teacher can organize a video show or an acted presentation of the text in order to have the students remember

Just Desert Essay Example for Free

Just Desert Essay â€Å"Just Deserts† is simply defined as the morally reassuring allocation of happy and unhappy, virtuous and the vicious characters respectively and are usually at the end of a narrative or dramatic work. (Liberman, Peter 2006). Just desert is an idiom coined by Thomas Rhymer in 1968 from the word just and desert. Just is being honorable and fair in one’s dealings and actions whereas desert is what one deserves rightly. However there are many arguments from those who are in favor and those who are against â€Å"Just Deserts†. Those in favor argue that people who work hard deserve the fruits of their labor while whose who break the rules deserve to be treated in the same way that they voluntarily choose to treat others that is if you behave well, you are entitled to good treatment from others. The central idea they put forward is that the offender gains unfair advantages through his/her behavior and punishment will set that imbalance right/straight. Citizens should enjoy the benefits of the rule of law and anyone who seeks those benefits without willing to make the necessary sacrifice of self restraint wants to be a free rider by helping himself to unfair advantages and the society/state needs to prevent this to preserve the rule of law. This is because in the event of wrong doing one who merits certain benefits loses them while one who doesn’t deserve them gains them and therefore punishment removes the underserved benefits by imposing a penalty that in some sense pays for the harm inflicted by the offense. Just desert aims to restore both victim and offender to their appropriate positions relative to each other justifying the punishment is a warranted response to past events of injustice or wrong doing and acts to reinforce ruler that have been broken and balance the scales of justice. They believe that since conflict often involves violence and many involve genocide, racial discrimination, rape, murder and torture. The perpetrators should be brought to justice and this is only accomplished through international courts or tribunals that carry out war crimes adjudication. Consequently they feel that retributive justice gives those who violate human rights law or commit crimes against humanity their â€Å"just deserts† and that punishment will reinforce the rules of international law add that it denies those who have violated those rules any unfair advantages. However, there are those who are against â€Å"just deserts† completely since they are convinced that there is a tendency to slip from retributive justice to an emphasis on revenge which is a matter of retaliation they feel that revenge will only focus on personal hurt involved and will typically rotate around anger, hatred, bitterness and resentment. Such emotions are very destructive since they lead to overreaction and therefore the resulting punishments can be excessive and might cause antagonism. In addition, punishments which usually dictated by revenge will automatically not satisfy the principles of proportionality or consistency (Rachels, James. , (1997). This is because vengeance leads to punishment and vary according to the degree of anger provoked. This will ultimately mean that wrongs that do not provoke anger will receive no response while those acts that provoke a great deal of anger will on the other hand provoke and overly intense response. These responses which are dictated by emotions usually may lead to reciprocal acts of violence. This are normally thought to occur mostly in regions where there were past injustices done to the locals who re otherwise living together in harmony and if punishments which are dictated by vengeance are given resentments of past injustices may motivate people who otherwise live peacefully engage in torture and slaughter of neighbors identified are members of groups who committed past atrocities. This will provoke devastating inter group violence in the form of mass killing which further leads to more harm and downward spiral of violence. Overly harsh punishments brings/evokes feelings of hatred, increases the level of harm done, additionally, in an atmosphere of heightened violence, the room for forgiveness and apologies is closed or very little. In this event many of those who oppose â€Å"just deserts† believe that the victims should not seek revenge since this will in turn make them new victimizers but instead they should forgive the offenders and in the end cycle of the offence is discontinued. Furthermore, they feel that forgiveness does not and will not take the place of justice or punishments, nor does it rule out giving the wrong doer his/her â€Å"just deserts†. In summary, both arguments for and against â€Å"just deserts† suggest that punishments should fit the errors that is like cases be treated alike and that the wrong doer wholly deserves blame and punishment proportionate to the harm inflicted. However, thou against feel that formal institutions with trained judiciaries are best equipped to carry out just retribution and that such institution can effectively bring the offenders to justice by giving them punishment they deserve. They continue to say that truth and reconciliation commissions play an integral role especially trials for war crimes can convert the desire for revenge into state managed punishment that is proportional and fair. However, they warn that incases of large scale violence such trials are ineffective but propose restorative justice through reparations and compensation. References: Gragg, Wesley (1992). The practice of punishment towards a theory of restorative justice (New York, Routledge, 15. Liberman, Peter 2006. An eye for an eye public support for war against evil doers. International organization Rachels, James (1997) â€Å"punishment and Desert† in ethics in practice, ed Hugh Lafollette Malden, Massachusetts: Blackwell Publishers,

Sex education Essay Example for Free

Sex education Essay 1. Sex education can help to prevent many atrocities. Abandoned babies. Abortion. Malnutrition and starvation. 2. Teenagers will become more careful of their own body. Anatomy lessons (included in sex education) will make teenagers aware of potential hazards. STDs. Prevent a possible infertility. 3. Some parents think sex education should be taught at home, in family. Teachers take a special course on how to teach their students properly. Some teenager might be scared to talk to their parents about sex. Conclusion: â€Å"The opposition we find is mostly based in misconceptions, and instead of force them to accept sex education, we should focus on refute their misbeliefs by showing them the correct information. † For many years, sex education has been one of the most controversial issues in education, but since the law was passed, the opposition has drastically decreased along the country. Even so, from time to time I hear astonishing anecdotes of parents who send their children to a private school to avoid sex education. Personally, I think that it’s perilous to let them resolve things on their own, because in the future, their children will suffer the consequences of lacking of these vital lessons. I strongly believe that -because of the astounding benefits I’ll expose below- sex education should be taught in every school. The first, and probably the most important advantage of sex education, is that it can prevent many atrocities. This can sound pretentious to someone, but allow me to explain why it is not an exaggeration. In the last years, the number of girls who die in clandestine abortion centers in growing alarmingly. Ignorance and despair are a deadly combination that can lead to tragedy. Many (if not all) of these deaths can be prevented by sex education, since all the healthy ways to avoid an unwanted pregnancy are taught in class (and even some schools give condoms for free in case the student doesn’t have money). But that’s not the only example! What if it’s too late to prevent the unwanted pregnancy? When a baby is abandoned, it’s the most obvious assumption to think that it was because the mother wasn’t able to raise it, or because she simply didn’t know what to do. Well, sex education also teaches what to do and who can help in case of it. Sadly, some babies die before they are found, and this can be avoided by a mother who knows that there are specialized institutions where she can leave her baby safe. In other words, sex education forestalls death. Secondly, sex education not only forestalls death, but it also protects life. It has anatomy lessons, which leads me to the next point: Teenagers will become more careful o f their own body. You will think one thing has nothing to do with other, but as it was stated before, education gives the opportunity of decision. For example, a teenager who is fully conscious of his own body will be more careful with it than someone who is not aware of the potential hazards of sexually transmitted diseases. But that’s not all, sex education also prevents a future infertility, since the anatomy lessons remark that the unhealthy habits (like smoking, or drinking alcohol) have dreadful consequences for the body. Finally, I’ll try to vanish one of the biggest fears of some of these parents: what teachers would say to their children. Most of these adults think it should be taught at home, in family, but I’ll insist that it’s better for a student to learn at school. Why? Well, when the law was passed, teachers had to take special courses on how to teach their students properly. Some parents are sure they know everything, but they are wrong. On the other hand, their children might be fearful of asking for advice to someone of their own family, and might prefer to expose their doubts and feelings with a teacher. Taking to consideration all of the points exposed above, I trust the little opposition we find in parents can cease, since as I said before, is mostly based in misconceptions. So instead of force them to accept it, we should focus on refute their misbeliefs by showing them how sex education is taught by an  specialist that took a course on how to help to prevent atrocities, and make teenagers aware and careful of the their own body.

Organizational commitment of employee

Organizational commitment of employee The theory relating to employee commitment to his organization has received increasing popularity as it will help the company to retain more staff and thereby increase in performance, productivity and profitability. Commitment of staff is important for several reasons, it will ultimately reduce employee turnover. Highly committed employees will tend to work for efficiently than less committed employees with more job satisfaction. Commitment of employees is a better indicator of effectiveness of an organization. Organizational commitment can be referred to as an individuals identification with and involvement in the specific company. It can be characterised by a minimum of three indicators such as Acceptance of the company goals and values. Secondly ability and willingness to contribute considerable effort to attain that goals and values and finally strong desire to continue with the company. The nature of the job is playing a vital role in organizational commitment. Though several studies are conducted relating orgainzational commitment and Job design employee productivity and performance many aspects of the subject are still not covered. Attitude of employees or the motivation to work in relation with job satisfaction and organizational commitment are important in the field of human resource management and organizational behaviour perspective. Employee attitude has a direct impact on all aspects of business. Organizational commitment concentrates on total interest of the employee towards the organization rather than work. There is a relationship between organizational commitment and job satisfaction, commitment leads to job satisfaction however most studies treat commitment and satisfaction differently. Managers and consultants across the globe believe that a company cannot achieve it aims and objectives without enduring commitment from all staff of the organization. Employee motivation is a key element that determine the degree of commitment towards work. This include all the elements that create sustain and channelize human behaviour to a particular direction called work. Motivation is assumed as a good thing one cannot feel to be a good situation if one is not motivated enough. Organizational behaviour is a large concept of management that studies how people act in an organization. Management can use scientific theories regarding behavioural practise to effectively improve their relation with employees and improve overall objectives of the organization. Organizational behaviour is an interdisciplinary subject that include ideas and research from human behaviour and interaction. Organizational Commitment Organizational commitment is a bond which linking its employees to the company or organization. In United States employees are less committed to organizations than in Japan or elsewhere in Asia. It is common that some employees shows much commitment and acceptance to the goals and values of the company and they also shows a strong desire to maintain the membership in the organization. Meyer and Allen (1997) call this form of commitment to the organization affective commitment. Another group of employees displays characteristics of normative ways of commitment (Wiener,1982). According to Wiener this groups of staff does not show or develop a very strong emotional attachment or commitment to the organization. How ever employees who has higher levels of these types of commitment continues to work hard and with good productivity. This is because of a total influence of their cultural, philosophy, family and organizational ethics than direct their behaviour. A third section of employees remain in the organization not because of any loyalty or commitment to the organization but because they have no other alternative job available or if they invested too much in the company that they cant leave. According to Meyer and Allen this take the form of tenure, status, retirement benefit, and some other form of benefits. The third form of organizational commitment presented orig inally by Becker in 1960 is referred to as continuance commitment. Meyer investigated some of the factors leading to the decision of an individual to join in an organization and their resultant commitment. The more the employee can match his qualities and skills with the job and its environment the better his job satisfaction and the better his commitment as well. A number of studies shows that organization commitment can predicts many variables such as absenteeism, organizational citizenship, performance and turnover. A primary aspect of organizational commitment can be extra role behaviour. This means employees go beyond their job specifications and done some thing extra. Most of the managements appreciate initiatives by the employees, this shows their commitment and positive attitude to the company. But few of the management professionals argue that job descriptions can effective describe all the aspects of the work of an employee. Organizational commitment resulted in more positive outcomes, it reduces absenteeism and it improves and promotes job satisfaction. Many firms changing from simple work systems to highly motivating high commitment work systems that needs high discretion, motivation with less supervision from management. It involves more roles to employees so that their creativity and working efficiency would improve, this leads t o high performance and job satisfaction. While studying about organizational commitment various factors should be taken in to account. Some of this factors include age, gender and longevity of services of the employee, and Human resource management practices followed within the organization and organizational characteristics. Strategies of motivating Employees Salary: Salary can be one of the most successful factor influencing motivation and job satisfaction. For using salary as motivation factor managers must consider several factors such as job rate, personal allowances, length of service, performance, personal traits etc. Incentives: Money has the power to attract and retain. Giving various types of incentives will keep staff motivated and better committed to the organization. Basically every staff is working for some sort of financial benefit, so the monetary benefit paid to the employees should be adequately cover their standard of living and competitive enough in the industry otherwise employee turnover will be higher for the company and the existing employees will not be motivated, instead frustrated employees cause reduced commitment to the organization. So management must take sufficient interest and care to maintain their employees with good pay and incentives it will help to improve organizational commitment. Staff training : This is an important motivational factor for all the organizations It is an indispensable strategy for motivating employees. This will give information with latest development and technologies in their respective field of work. So that the employees will feel confident and equipped with new strength to work more effectively and scientifically, ultimately it will increase motivation and productivity. Information and communication: Availability of information regarding the consequences of ones action on others help to keep employees motivated. Local and national culture and its influences on attitude towards work positive attitude towards work leads to resilience It means the strength to quickly relieve from adverse conditions or failure. If one person is viewing failure as a learning opportunity rather than blaming themselves or others they can soon come out of the failure and be able to successful in a short span of time. Optimism: Through optimistic approach one can attain success in life and profession. You will be able to influence the world and there by becoming successful in whatever you doing. Because of these features every employees should develop an optimistic approach to whatever he is doing in the organization. It will help to develop organizational commitment and better motivation. Confidence: Confidence coming out of optimistic approach. If you are confident you believe in yourself and are ready to undertake new challenges. Confident employees is an asset to the organization and they will help to improve motivation not only to themselves but also all the people related to them with their work so the entire organization will keep motivated and better performance will be the result. Creativity Positive attitudes are key to forward thing and there by innovation. Without all these qualities no one will be able to try and implement new business ideas. Conflict resolution: In modern world every person is going through lot of interest conflict with one another. Conflict resolution is one of the major qualities needed to survive. A positive attitude towards ones work and company will increase a workers efficiency to conflict resolution. Emotional intelligence: It is the ability or skill to manage ones emotions and to control behaviour. Emotional intelligence include personal competence such as self awareness, self regulation and self motivation and social competence such as social skills and social awareness. Achievement drives: Positive attitude towards work also increase achievement drive. Motivation: Motivation and positive attitude towards work go hand in hand. Management Philosophy and Organizational Commitment in Retail Industry: In India there a more than 100 very big retail malls are operating and a number of retail centers are under development. The developers are not worried about the retailers and they are not doing anything towards the promotional side of these malls, but in many other countries especially in Europe this is not the case. As a result the branding, marketing, budgeting and the financial side of running profitably of these retail centers professionally has much scope in developing countries. The retailers are simply treated as a means of exploiting cash for the development of properties and townships instead of treating them as integral part of such centers. The space available for business is also in an increasing trends so lot of possibilities for new and existing retails organizations to come and explore the vast expanding markets. They can make better results if they focus on scalability, vision and by making a better brand development. The major challenges facing by most of the retailers are narrow margins, high cost in terms of rent and operating expenses, unpredictable and unreliable supply chains, competitive pressure etc. These factors affect not only their profitably but the very existence as well. As retail industry grows this competition become more vigorous so that management of retail sector needs much professional skills and qualifications. Professional retails managers can come to this and there are immense scope for them. They must have the ability to understand these business challenges and also have the ability to manage all the aspects of the business. The type of customers who usually visit these type of shopping malls include focused buyers and impulse buyers. Focused buyers spent little time inside as compared to impulse buyers. Their shopping will completed quickly as they know what to buy. But in the case of impulse buyers they spend more time for window shopping. Shopping centers with entertainment zones and or promotional activities have more impulse buyers. The management of these shopping centers become critical to attract impulse buyers as they can do lot towards promotional activities so that customers will be attracted. Managing retail centers is bit different from event management or simply facility management. The key elements which are taken in to account include Positioning, Zoning, promotions and marketing, facility management such as footfalls, ambience, infrastructure and finance management. Lack of market research is a major problem for retail management. With regard to the nature of the retail labour market it is highly not organised. Many people with good educational qualifications and job experience are available to place in retail management. The success of a retail section is highly depending on the sales personnels. A sales man must know about each and every aspect of the item he going to sell to the buyer. What type of customers they are going to serve and what they want and what are their expectations and the market competitions and prices and the alternative products available as substitutes. It is important to know about the alternative products as well otherwise the sales personals would find sometimes difficult for the buyers to convince about their products. Labour market for retail management is also depend on demographic trends and seasonality, population and unemployment etc. Unemployment is a major factor determining the availability of labour for the retail market. If the unemployment is higher more workforce is available to deploy in retail sectors. People will accept generally any types of job as a means of livelihood if they have no other job. But if the unemployment rate are low it is difficult for the retail sales sector to attract enough number of staff with low cost and in good time. This is because people with education and skills will prefer to work in more better sectors of employment and with good companies having some sort of brand value. Population is also a major factor affecting the labour market. The age group of population is very important , where in a society the percentage of population with more youngsters have more availability of personnels not only to retail sector but also for any sectors of the labour market. Demographic changes and the availability of labour market imbalance is often a complex issue. Migration of population to different regions within the country and to foreign countries affect the labour market. With regard to retail labour force this change is is significant. If more and more people are migrated to certain regions of the country in some parts of the country there will be unemployment and in other side there is labour shortages as well. This is also true with inter country migration as well. For this reason many countries bring some sort of regulation for migration. So that they can protect and regulate their labour market according to the needs of their respective economies. Seasonality is also affecting the labour market to a great extent. Seasonality of demand is the key which determining the demand of labour force to any industry. In tourism industry this factor plays a major role. All the countries affected by this factor, in seasons with high flow of tourists the market needs more and more employees. The retail sector is also not exemption for this. Retail management is responsible for running retail outlets and thereby managing targets and profits of a company. It is the duty of the retail manager to ensure that effective sales promotional activities are carried out at minimum possible costs. Retail managers are also responsible for customer satisfaction as well because they are the people who have first hand information about customers. They are ensuring that staff are fully meeting the companys standards. Managing the store include many important points to taken into consideration. The store manage will need to learn not only how to select the most ambitious candidate but also how to train them and keep them motivated and controlling every aspects of the job. Depending on the size and structure of the business the company management can allocated different functions such as marketing, logistics, information technology, customer service, and human resources to the retail managers. The work of a retail manager can include the following; Motivating the sales team to maximise sales Managing stock which include deciding and controlling re ordering levels and thereby ensuring sufficient commodities are available all the time. Analysing sales amounts and there by forecasting sales. It will help top management to fix targets for the future. Staffing issues such as interviewing and selection. Conducting performance appraisals and reviews and prepare reports. Provide organization training and development Effective use of information technology within the store to record sales trends and customer behaviour Organising special events and promotions to maximise sales Collect data regarding trends in markets and customer initiatives and analysing competitor activities. Make frequent visits to sales floor updating and resolving any relevant issues Take initiative in changes such as new schedule in working hours in accordance with seasons and customer needs. Take care of health and safety and related issues. Updating colleagues on market information and business performance. Promoting a business locally by doing liaison activities with local authorities and organizations Respond to customer complaints and suggestions. Customer satisfaction and in store experience: measuring customer satisfaction is key for a successful retail management. Customer satisfaction can be measured in terms of repeated sales, and better relations with customers. Consumer satisfaction is a response, it may be emotional or cognitive in relation to a particular product used, expectations or consumption experience which happens in a specific time. Labour Turnover Staff turn over is an ongoing problem in any industry resulting in implication over employee morale, production, organizational policies etc. Unfortunately in many of the companies in retail industry the Labour turn over is very high. In order to reduce staff turn over it is inevitable to identify factors leading to job frustration and low morale and resulting in low organizational commitment there by increasing employee turn over.The main factors affecting the labour turn over are demographical trends includes population and immigration etc. seasons, economic conditions, environmental factors, political factors national and state and local political influences are a considerable factors affecting labour turn over in any business. All these factors are inter related and organizational culture may directly or indirectly affect staff turn over. Pay and other benefits: In developing countries the salaries in retail sector is very low. The nature of the labour market is largely non organised and lack of effective legislations to ensure workers well being is also a major factor towards this. In developed countries minimum wages is ensured by law so that employment opportunities for every body is fair and justifiable. As for example in United Kingdom with legislation of minimum pay Act every one get the legal minimum wages for working in every sector. Truly speaking the sections most benefited from this legislation is the workers in retail sector and other people who working in the agricultural sector etc. Training and development: There is a large need for training and development in retail sector. Large chunks of the staff are given little or no training at all. A reason may be high employee turnover, because if companies are investing good sums in training and development and if the employees are changing frequently it is a loss of money for the organization. An Analysis of Management Practices and commitment In China As elsewhere in the world in China also organizational commitment is characterized by an attitude of attachment to an employer and organization. There are many factors contributing to then development of organizational commitment and the influence on job attitude. Some antecedents to commitment can be split into personal characteristics and factors arising out of situations. Personal characteristics include age, gender and employment tenure. Second set of factors include company specific situations such as working environment, management attitudes, remuneration packages and all other factors affecting motivation and work of an employee. Because of the increase in production and industrial facilitates in china there is much to explore about the similarities of studies that conducted in the western countries in relation to China. Gender: Chinese people have much egalitarian attitude towards women in the work place compared to European countries and America. After the cultural revolution both men and women are expected to play equal roles in work and society. Since China is a more communistic approach there are limitations to change employment. That means in China situations are not easy for workers compared to Europe. There is more social anchoring in China. As a result of this egalitarian and communistic society there is limited skill transferability, increased commitment to work, lowered educational and technical skills opportunity and sufficiency. Age and Tenure: In studies concentrated on the United States revealed that age and the member of years service in a particular company can influence the organizational commitment. As one person gets older the relocation tendencies get reduced and while personal investment and attachment to the organization gets increased. So the more tenure one employee has with his organization the more will be his organizational commitment to the company. In China age would cause lower number of work alternative, more anchoring in community, low attractive for re location, low educational skills development and transferability, and therefore continuance commitment would be more. Educational: Researchers have found that people with higher education would have more commitment. It is found that workers having high levels of qualifications may have higher expectations and they are more committed to their occupation at the same time they have more scope to choose other jobs and they can easily relocate compared to employees with lower qualification their continence commitment may be low. Chinese valued education highly, In a traditionalistic communistic society each person contribute in accordance with their skills and qualities. Higher levels of education also reflect in greater degrees of behavioural commitment as well. In modern Chinese society there is greater mobility and opportunities to move around in private sectors. Situational Factors: Situational factors are the second major component of organizational commitment These factors include components that connected to the work and employees experiences and specific features of their organization. There are many organizational characteristics that can positively influence commitment. For example the more better an organization can present the achievement of its goals and objectives the degrees of commitment it can attract from its employees. The organizational effectiveness questionnaire will demonstrate the achievement of the objectives of an organization in the views of the employees and their anticipated commitment to the organization. I modern China as well a organization with good achievement and positive relationship with employees have a relatively higher degree of employee commitment. Leadership Behaviours Those work experiences that occurring while working in an organization related with na role in decision making or collecting thinking can have an effect in organizational commitment. Leadership behaviour and participative decision making have an impact on organizational commitment. Leadership behaviour include behaviour connected with productivity, managerial aspects such as planning, co ordination, discipline, clarification and problem solving etc. It is expected that these types of behavioural pattern will be predictive of organizational commitment. Management practices and Organizational Commitment in Korean Culture. Korea share common oriental culture with its neighbouring states whilst maintaining its own identity. Their unique culture combined with the geo political environment of the Korea resulted in a specific management culture different from their counterparts in other countries. Since the 1960s Korean companies achieved a good deal of economic growth and their management style played a major role in this regard. Everybody connected to the organization owners, top executives, managers, supervisors and workers are all integral part of the process and they al perform well their assigned duties. The unique feature here is performance. Regarding the external system of the organization the support from government is important. No organization can perform long term without suitable government policies. In Korea particularly the role of government is prominent and in return for this the government is expecting some favours from the industry. For economic growth the government and industry acts as supplementary and complementary relationship. Efficient use of human resource is key to success. Korean people are peace loving by nature and hard working. Koreans hate bloodshed and violent demonstrations. There were some incidents of violence but compared to the rest of the world in Korea this type of incidents are rare. This is a feature of the Korean culture and many of their specific charcetiscs and Korean management system and their culture are inte related. Japan occupied Korea from 1910 to the end of world war II so some of the management systems of Japan also influence Koreans. The features of Korean management system also include consensus decision making, Life time employment, very strong loyalty and commitment to the employer, personalistic approach, male domination, harmony etc are also can be seen in Japanese management system. The hierarchical order of power within the organization are also sharing common characteristics with Japanese management style. In Japan a decision is not taken until every one agrees to the agenda, this is consensus in decision making according to Japanese culture. This is similar to Korean concept as well. For example a project proposal drafted by a lower division employee is circulated throughout the company hierarchy and reviewed and suggestions are included according to consensus. The company president affix his signature only after all this process so that there is no room for ambiguity and the project proposal aims and objectives and advantages are clear to everyone and the document will be a legitimate one. To implement such a project will be very easy, the co-operation from all levels of employees are guaranteed and the proposal will be a success. The life style Koreans had practised was different from the rest of the world till the 1960s. Their geographic territory is surrounded by big powers like China, Russia and Japan. Because of this reason their military power was not developed because most of the times they were under the umbrella of China. There was no use to develop huge logistic systems for military activities which will help merchant also to flourish. So the business and trade were also not developed and the people depend on agriculture largely for lively hood. The business class did not have much interests in the country because there was no scope for them in a much agricultural society. But after 1960s Koreans gained much improvements in their industrial and business sectors and the management style followed by Koreans also got much popularity. Japan on the other hand was a military power in the past as well so also they had relations with another countries than Korea. Organizational Commitment and Job Practices in Japan In Japan the commitment to the organization is more because of Japanese culture and their willingness and dedication to work. Employees turn over figures shows that in America the turnover rate is almost double when compare Japanese workers. This because in Japan The commitment to the organization is more. An employees commitment is characterised by at least three factors. They are willingness to hard work, desire to remain with the organization, a strong belief and acceptance of the organizations goals and objectives. Because of these commitment in organization is more with Japanese workers their productivity is also very high compared to their U.S counterparts. In Japanese culture education is highly valued. For getting a job in a reputed company in Japan the candidate must studied in top rated colleges and universities. This is the case with prestigious companies other candidates who did not able to secure admissions in top rated colleges usually satisfied with small and medium sized firms which cannot offer comparatively higher amounts of salary and other perquisites. Another prominent feature of Japanese management is permanent employment or life time employment. Permanent employment covers only minority of the total work force that work for big companies. Usually employees are recruited directly from campuses and after the probationary period employees are not usually dismissed except on serious misconduct. The candidates can continue in the company for their entire career. This is a specific feature found in Japanese companies but in Eorpoe or America this type of management practices is not general. Since most of the companies practising life time employment inter company mobility is not possible for professional managers because most of the roles are promoted by the company internally. So the selection of most talented employees becomes critical. In Japanese system of management rather than individualism collective behaviour and decision making and team spirit is important. Individual interests should he subjugated to group in order to maintain tem spirit. The concept of quality circle used to enchance productivity and quality widely used in Japanese companies is an example of tem spirit oriented approach. Active Company Unions are also a prominent feature of Japan. Company union is different from trade union in this case the company is closely related with the union and company has much influence on the union. Company unions are independent and not affiliated with trade unions. The proposers of company unions are claiming that they are mores closer to the employees in their problems and they are solving the problems keeping in mind of the companys profitability and at the same time protecting the employees interests as well. Where as trade union are more dangerous and influenced by politicians with vested interests behind them. Strikes are usually rare. Every employee of the company have to join the company union. In some countries for example in the United States company unions are outlawed by the government. Opponents of company unions are in opinion that company unions are actually a shield against trade unions while they claim that they are protecting the employees interests they actually standing for the company first so the genuine interests of employees may be ignored. Managerial Style in Japanese companies give much importance for the bottom level. Every levels of management is open to suggestions from their subordinates. Middle level management collects and evaluates feed back from lower levels and pass it on to the top management. Managers are getting their hands dirty to understand the trouble with working in low levels and acquire the skills and problem solving capacities. Informations are always passing from top level management to lower levels and vise versa. So that every one in the company is keep updating with what is happening with the company at all times. It is key to the company for maintaining commitment and motivation among the employees and attaining higher productivi

Gingko Biloba Essay -- Herbal Supplements Papers

Gingko Biloba Introduction We, as consumers, are always trying to find new products to buy in which to improve ourselves. In modern-day American culture, improving oneself has become synonymous with feeling younger and healthier. Gingko biloba extract is one of the popular herbal supplements being marketed to mainstream consumers as a "smart" and "anti-aging" drug (http://www.stevemorow.com/food.htm) which will work to help to increase their overall brain functioning in the normal population, as well as, those who suffer from mental impairment due to aging. Gingko biloba extract has also been labeled an anti-aging drug due to its antioxidant properties, its supposed free radical scavenger properties, as well as its reported increases in people’s overall mental functioning. You see advertisements for it on television, as well as, the Internet making a large number of different kinds of claims of Gingko biloba’s benefits. The claimed benefits range from increasing overall brain functioning in norma l people to people with mental impairment, to being a mood enhancer (http://www.televar.com/alpha/biloba.html), to helping with such slight conditions as cough and asthma, to helping increase circulation in patients suffering from painful vascular diseases to actually having "slimming" applications (http://www.mmpinc.com/WHATS.HTM). If all these claims are true, then Gingko biloba extract sounds like a "mulit-cure"drug for the entire population. This paper will attempt to reduce the confusion associated with the large number of claimed benefits of taking Gingko biloba by explaining what the research literature has to back up these claims. I had a hard time myself keeping track of all the reported claims. At this time, Gingko bil... ...esearch, 4(2), 89-93. Taillandier, J., Ammar, A., Rabourdin, J.P., Ribeyre, J.P., Pichon, J., Niddam, S., Pierart, H. (1986). Treatment of cerebral aging disorders with Gingko biloba extract. A longitudinal multicenter double-blind drug vs. placebo study. Presse Medicale, 15(31) Sep. 25, 1583-7. Vettorello, G., Cerreta, G., Derwish, A., Cataldi, A., Schettino, A., Occhionorelli, S., Donini, I. (1996). Contribution of a combination of aplha and beta benzopyrones, flavonoids, and natural terpenes in the treatment of lymphedema of the lower limbs at the 2nd stage of the surgical classification. Minerva Cardioangiologica, 44(9), 447-55. Warot, D., Lacomblez, L., Danjou, P., Weiller, E., Payan, C., Puech, A.J. (1991). Comparative effects of gingko biloba extracts on psychomotor performances and memory in healthy subjects. Therapie, 46(1) Jan-Feb, 33-6.

A Political and Cultural History of Jamaica Essay examples -- essays r

Situated just south of Cuba in the Caribbean Sea, Jamaica is well known as a popular tourist spot and the birthplace of reggae music. Populated initially by native Arawak Indians, who gave the island its name, â€Å"land of wood and water (Jamaica).† However, this beautiful land’s almost pristine beauty was shattered by outbursts of violence surrounding the 1980 political elections. This fighting was sparked by the people’s mistrust of the ruling socialist party at the time. The reasons for this fighting and this mistrust are not simple, they are intrinsically tied to the island nation’s history from the beginning of its colonial period five hundred years before. The island was first discovered by Christopher Columbus on his second voyage in 1494 and became a colony of Spain in 1509. They founded the town now known as Spanish Town and it was the capital of the island until the 1800s. Under the Spanish, the native Arawak Indians died out because of slavery and disease, and Africans were brought in to work in their place. The Spanish ruled the country until 1655 when Sir William Penn of the British captured the colony by force. It was later tuned over legally under the Treaty of Madrid in 1670(Jamaica). Once the British gained control of the island, development was swift. The industries of sugar cane and other agricultural resources were increased, thus creating a larger demand for African slaves. Due to this explosion of growth in the late 17th century, Jamaica became one of the largest slave trading centers in the world. The slave trade was conducted out of the city of Port Royal, made famous for being a hideout of the pirate Blackbeard, until the city was destroyed by an earthquake in 1692. The destruction of Port Royal led to th... ...arty). The nation of Jamaica has had a rich cultural and political history. From the island’s days as a colony up until today it has proven that its people are resilient, passionate, and have an extremely high level of national pride. IT has been shown that the violence that marred the election of 1980 was not due to the government’s brief flirtation with communism, but with more underlying issues. It has been shown that the history of the island has been impacted by several instances of similar violent outbursts resulting from a public feeling of frustration with the rulers at the time. From the time of Bustamante on into the 80s and 90s, the balance of power has shifted because of severe public dissatisfaction with the party in power. It is unknown whether or not this cycle will continue, but as of today, the threat of violence in Jamaica is a very serious one.

Thai Elephants and Its Significant

The elephant, the giant size animal with enormous power and gentle heart, is a living creature that have special place in Thai’s heart. It has been the icon of Thai tradition, culture and royal power through centuries since the old Siam. The thousand and thousand years of relationship between Thai people and elephants are even recorded and can be found abundantly on the pages of Thai’s historical book. Because of their long association, it surely can be said that Thailand is to elephants and elephants is to Thailand. The elephant has been an integral part of Thailand’s history and culture through both good time and war time. It is a symbol of tradition, history, royal, fortune and superstition. According to Buddhist legend, Queen Maya of Sakya, Lord Buddha’s mother, was dreamed that a divine Bodhisattva on white elephant touched her side. Later she became pregnant. This is why elephants are place in high esteem and reverence to Thai people, and white elephants are representing as high dignity and majesty. Therefore, the white elephant was a national emblem on Siam’s national flag. Moreover, the elephants are on Thai’s stamps, Navy flag, Bangkok Metropolitan Administration, coins, architectures, Buddhist art, temples and many more. The country annually celebrates the 13th of March as Elephant Day. In general, elephants are the largest land animal that exists now. They are great in size with enormous strength, intelligent, and gentle creature. Elephants are highly socialized animals. They live in forests, grassland and scrub with their family herds and friends. The life span of elephants is closely equal to human beings, approximately 70-100 years. The elephant’s gestation period is between 18 to 22 months. Elephants become sexually mature at the age of 16 as their early teens. A mature male elephant of age 20 is usually stay in pairs or a group of three. There is a hierarchy in elephant, the dominant adult male elephant with experience and strength is established and gain respect from their younger elephants in the group. The older female with years of accumulated knowledge is respected by the female members. The prime life of elephants that reach the peak of their physical power is between the ages of 25-40. They begin to slow down after the age of 40 and set in approximately at the age of 55. They normally live for 80 years or more. Elephants are herbivorous. They enjoy a variety of vegetation like bamboo, grasses, trees, plant leaves and fruits. A mature elephant can consume up to 200-300 kilograms of food and 60 gallons of water a day. Elephants are the kind of animal that love affection and attention. They have a gentle hearts and value friendship. Thai elephants have shared history with Thai people in traditional and cultural ways since the days of old Siam. Historically, elephants were people main transportation, labor and warfare. Based on historical recorded, elephants are supreme importance in the battlefield. The most renowned elephant war was 300 years ago between Thai and Burma. They were used as the main source of army with fully plate amours. In elephant dual, commanders would sit on elephants’ backs and combat adversaries. In the battlefield of the late 17th century, there were as many of 20,000 war elephants in Siam’s army. There were four renowned war elephant in Thai’s history as follows: the battle between King Ramkhamhaeng and Khun Sam Chon during Sukhothai era, Chao Aye Phraya and Chao Yee Phraya in early Ayuthaya era, Queen Srisuriyothai and Pharachao Prae, a Burmese commander in Ayuthaya Era, and King Naresuan and the Burmese Crown Prince in Ayuthaya Era. Recently, the films called ‘Srisuriyothai’ and â€Å"King Naresuan† were made. War elephants were included as an important part of the movies. The importance of Thai elephants is not only for the used in battlefields. Elephants are also the prestige animals to Thai’s Kings, specifically white elephants. A white elephant is a symbol of royal power. It features King’s power and monarch by numbers. It is believed that the more white elephants held to the King, the more King’s power in the adversaries. However, a white elephant is rare and is registered as the private property of reigning Monarch when they once found. It represents auspicious and the king’s prestige. White elephants are known as Royal elephants. It is noted that H. M. King Bhumibol also has stables of white elephants. The white elephant was also featured in the Siam national flag until the country had changed the name to Thailand. In the old days when the nation was not occupied with wars, elephants became the use of beast of burden. With their great size, enormous power and talent, elephants were capable as best carrier for heavy matters and human’s transportation. Not long ago, elephants are used for the forest work where machines are not determined as best equipments. The labor of elephants is preferred as they would not devastate even small crops. In fact, they were required years of training start from the age of 4 and were trained by two mahouts for about twenty years, and then put to work in the timber industry. Working elephants have a career of about 50 years and then set free as their retirement at the age of 61. Their daily tasks were the extraction of heavy teak logs, haul logs, carrier and mountaineer. The working elephant is capable of lifting up 700 kilograms of log with tusks and dragging the load of 1. 5 tons. Elephants have work schedule and future career just like we do. Due to the ban of logging industries from Thai’s government in 1989, the elephants’ situation came to the downside. Thousands of them were thrown out of work. Moreover, the deforestation and the decrease of forest surface due to the big increase in human population affected the habitat loss of elephants. Many elephants died from starvation. The number of poaching for elephants’ body was also increasing continually. The above causation led to the dramatic drop in numbers of elephants in Thailand over the past hundred years. In the early 20th century, there were the numbers of approximately 300,000 elephants compare to the numbers of approximately 3,000 elephants that extinct today. Thai elephants are in the severest situation. Nowadays, several projects and conservation are constituted to preserve wild life elephants. The project of bring elephants home is to support elephants in Thailand as well as their mahouts and families who depend mostly on elephants for survival. These organizations are trying to gather as many numbers of elephants in the area, training them, and recruiting them new jobs. Elephants are reemployed mainly for tourist’s entertainment. The elephant show is what they are currently doing in the Thai Elephant Conservation Center in Lampang, the Elephant Nature Park in Chiang Mai and the Khao Yai National Park for example. Elephants will be train to entertain tourists. Thanks for their innate intelligence, elephants can do various kinds of sports and games such as drawing picture, playing football, dancing, racing, trekking, logging, and caravan. They love games and music. The elephant show attracts great numbers of visitors from Thai and foreign countries. However, there are some elephants sent to the forest and mountain to learn how to work. No matter how elephants have always been loved to Thai people, there are numbers of elephants have been sent abroad recently. According to news, Thai government had export 8 elephants to China. Another eight elephants were export to Australian zoos in 2006. It is claimed that elephants were sent for research and development purpose. Australia bought 8 elephants for a breeding program of endangered species. However, there were controversy and protest from animal rights activists before the elephants’ journey to new home. Last year, one of the eight elephants gave birth to a new male baby born elephant at Sydney’s Taronga zoo. And there are two female elephants on gestation. The shrinkage of forest areas in Thailand seems to be initial problems to the current situation of Thai elephants. 70 percent of the forest areas disappeared in less than a century. Even though, logging was banned in 1989. There is still ongoing illegal logging. The forest devastation affects elephants’ habitat and inadequate food for survival. Daily high consumption of elephants threatened the owner and themselves. This situation leads the problem of elephants roaming in the city street for money by their owners. Nevertheless, there are more problems that threaten the numbers of elephants and put elephants in endangered species. Illegal poaching for elephants’ live capture, tusks, calves, ivories, meat and other part of the body for trade and medical use are definitely severe threats as it can also distort sex ratios in the population and affect reproduction. Moreover, there is the conflict issue between human and elephants on the protected areas. When human population have been increasing, forest areas have been destruction for farms, settlements, and other facilities to serve human needs. Starved elephants enter the new protected areas that used to be their forests and hunt for food on human’s crops and other agricultural plants. They cause damage to human’s properties. Later, human try to protect their farmlands from the invaded elephants. Sadly, the protection is resulting in elephant’s capture, poison, electrocution and shooting. There are many research and report done by conservationists to reduce the impact and mainly to preserve the giant living creature from the soon extinct. Currently, Wild elephants in Thailand are on the protected species under the Protection of Wildlife Conservation Act 1992. But it doesn’t seem to be enough action according to the reducing numbers of elephants. The population of wild elephants is decreasing continually whereas the population of domesticated elephants is increasing. Therefore, wild elephants should be put on endangered species list. This is to protect them from poaching and commercial purpose. Same as domesticated elephants that are currently under the Beast of Burden Act, they should be considering remove from the Beast of Burden Act and replace with the Protection of Wildlife Conservation Act 1992. Restriction of the ownership transfer should be considering as well. It can protect future trading. Regular elephants’ Medicare, food and veterinary are necessary and need to be provide by government or organizations to solve the loss problem. It is because the nurture cost for elephants is relatively high and most elephants’ owners are poor, then they could not afford the high cost. It is time to put elephant’s monitoring in systematic. The record of birth, transfer, breeding and death should be strictly report to keep the most accuracy track on elephants’ situation. The one widely seen problem of elephants is the mahout’s roaming elephants on the city street. It should be strictly ban to protect elephants from sickness and accident. Also, Mahouts should be provided with appropriate jobs, therefore they would not bring elephants to the city street. New elephants’ habitat is important and need to be processed in suitable areas. It is suggested by Thai Elephant Research and Conservation Funds, TERF, that Thai need new elephant law. The law should be in serious condition and long term conservation for both wild and domesticated elephants. At present, wild elephants in Thailand are protected under national law and the CITES treaty which involve the prohibition of ivory trade. It is obvious that Thailand’s long national emblem of power and peace is in severe condition. The modernization of the country that replaces the old traditional way of living may favor Thai people in 20th centuries. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem to be the same favor given to elephants. The awakening is needed to preserve the living magnificent and generous animal of the country’s liberated heroes from the extinction. How Thai can be proud with the loss of national emblem. Next generations of the next would not delight to see their unsung hero through the historical text books or elsewhere. Elephants, friends of ours, need abruptly attention and great concerned. Elephant is to Thailand and Thailand needs elephants. It is not only for the history, but it’s for the future of the nations and eternity.

McDonalds or Tesco Essay

Explain the limitations of market research in terms of helping the development of a marketing plan for either McDonalds or Tesco (M2) Tesco uses primary type of research to gather information about its customers, competitors and the environment. Tesco collects information that has not been collected before and uses both internal and external primary research methods. Internal research includes: Tesco’s customer data whereas external research would include: questionnaires and surveys, experimental introduction of a new product, interviews and focus groups. Tesco is likely to use secondary research data to help determine what type of primary data is required to be precise and not to waste time and money on gathering data that has already been gathered before. Other types if methods used by Tesco are qualitative and quantitative research. Qualitative research is used when wanting to find out more about customer’s needs, personal experiences and background by asking open qu estions such as; asking what products they buy most often at Tesco and what their preferences. Tesco also uses quantitative research which includes Tesco’s sales, percentage of customers choosing the same answer in a quantitative questionnaire and can later be analysed. Market research is very beneficial for a business such as Tesco, however it can sometimes be a difficult process as there are a few limitations that affect Tesco’s marketing plans. Every marketing research has the potential to be wrong therefore Tesco should plan its research techniques are very expensive and are not affordable to certain businesses therefore Tesco has to make sure that the cost of the research matches it quality. Another limitation of marketing research is reliability, which shows how reliable the information collected is and whether the information would be the same if collected from a different group of people. Tesco should target the most suitable groups of people to question in order for the information to be effective and beneficial for the organisations marketing plans, such as; to improve customer service at Tesco has to make sure that the information gathered is accurate as people might answer randomly out of laziness and the end result would end up being inaccurate, causing Tesco to carry out another research, costing them both time and money. Tesco collects its customer’s information for organisational purposes, however there is an act that protects the use of customer’s personal information by the business; Data Protection Act 1998 which controls how personal information is used by organisations. Tesco needs to ensure that the information on this data is: †¢Kept up to date and not kept longer than necessary †¢Not transferred to any other country without adequate protection †¢Processed in accordance with the ‘’data subjects’ (the individuals) rights This act is very beneficial for the customers whereas Tesco will be sued under this act in an event of loss of information or in case where customer’s information is accessed by inappropriate individuals or organisations. This would have a great impact on Tesco as it holds information of millions of customers and the amount of money Tesco would have to pay each customer would be a very large amount, leaving Tesco in loss and affecting its Marketing Plans such as: expansion. Tesco wouldn’t be able to hold customer interviews as they have customers in a lot of countries in Europe. This would take up a lot of their time as they wouldn’t be able to get the opinions of all their customers. Although Tesco aim to provide an excellent customer service, they cannot achieve this by using this type of research. Surveys could be a bad idea too as they can be costly to create a questionnaire, but once set up can used for a large sample. It could also lead to Tesco not actually getting their surveys back from customers. It takes time to create a survey/questionnaire which is then is slower when trying to get as many back as you possibly can. Lastly focus groups wouldn’t be of any use for Tesco as they do not need people to taste anything or try certain objects. Setting up a focus group can be very expensive and needs to take place in a specific location. Often a focus group is observed through a one-way mirror, which would take up a lot of Tesco’s time trying to find a location that has these things. The information gathered for market research is very useful and reduces the chances of the business making the wrong decision. Before coming up with a marketing play Tesco must always conduct research in order to have an ideas of whether the plan is an appropriate thing for the compa ny.

Adult Development and Substance Abuse

This research paper has been compiled through comprehensive collection of information from five different sources.   The area of substance abuse and its impact on the development progress of an individual has been explored.   This covers the range of personal capacity from social to economic spheres.Serious effects have especially been observed at the work place where by unlike the great need of talent competency required by the advance in technology and globalization, substance abuse is pushy behind the role of individuals in the economy.IntroductionThe substances in question are used for recreation purposes in some instances and for medical purposes in some other instances.   The moderate uses of some of the substances are therefore beneficial to the user while some should never be used at all.Continued and the over usage of these substances consequently becomes dangerous to the health of the user and consequent performance capacity of the user.   Examples of the substance in question with respect to this paper include â€Å"marijuana, hashish cocain or crack, sedatives, tranquillizers, stimulators, analgesics, tobacco†, among others (Finn & Hall, 2004, 34).The abuse in question refers to the use of those substances in the following ways:-Not for medical use, meaning when the user of the substance uses a substance with medical use, but against the purposes; on a personal prescription and without the doctor’s prescription.   The substance may also be used in prescription that are higher than what the doctor has prescribed in terms of quantities or frequencies (Frone, 2006).Effects of substance AbuseWhen a substance is wrongfully used in a way such as the one described above here, the substance becomes illicit whose effects includes impairment which has been found to occur frequently.   In the process of substance use and impairment, gender has been proven to play a vital role.   As regards gender men have been proven to be victims o f abuse and impairment more than women.   Women are only victims in most of the circumstances when there is a secondary factor leading to substance abuse.   Race does not play any factor in drugs abuse.   Education and age are very significant factors of abuse having been proven to posses an inverse variation.The â€Å"executive cognitive functioning of the individual and executive cognitive impairment is related to substance abuse† (Frone, 2006, 89).  Ã‚     The most prominent effects of substance abuse is exhibited in individual in the form of â€Å"anti-social characteristics and social deviance which are expressed in the form of anger, depression temperament, antisocial personality, conduct problems† among others (Frone, 2006, 89).Substance abuse has been observed to be promoted by the individual’s high levels of tendencies to respond to rewards and extremely low levels of tendencies to respond to punishments while disregarding social norms.   Th e abuser of the substance tends to be attracted to the salient more current and instant rewards and ignore the less salient future concurrent effects (Gallop, Crits- Christoph, Ten Have, Frank, Griffin & Thase, 2007).With regards to alcohol abuse excessive drinking is out of excitement associated with the habit.   The drinker imagines that pleasure is derived when poisoned by alcohol.   Alcohol problems tend to be principle causes of social deviance rather than alcohol use.   To become excited alcohol use is more prevalent than alcohol abuse (Gallop, Crits- Christoph, Ten Have, Frank, Griffin & Thase, 2007).Time is also important when it comes to alcohol abuse.   The responsibilities expected of an individual are interfered with when alcohol is taken at the wrong time.   Heavy alcohol intakes are bound to create alcohol problems.   The use of alcohol to excessive extremes affects the individuals self control.   Peer groups are also very influential towards the bad beha viors of alcohol abuse (Jackson, O’Neill & Sher, 2006).History of the family with respect to alcoholism also plays a significant part in areas of measures of seeking for excitement, Social deviance, alcohol related problems and reduced   fluency in speech expression.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The intelligence quotient of the alcohol abuser is also drastically lowered.   The health of the affected person deteriorates, the levels of productivity decreases and the safety of the respective person is greatly undermined (Finn & Hall, 2004).The current global economic position requires people to be effectively competent in their respective talents.   This goal is defeated by the abuse of these substances.   The substance when abused poisons the user and this is intoxication.  Ã‚   The abuse has some adverse negative effects on the functioning of the brain of the affected individual which is impaired.   The impairment brings about some absurd behaviors and some changes in the indiv idual.As the individual develop the habit of use of a substance, the body system devises some tolerance to the effects of the substance in which case the individual adapts to the use of the substance.   The body is in a position to cope with some specific doses of a substance.   The use of the substance beyond this adapted dose is tantamount to the abuse of the substance.The abuse is specifically detrimental to the workers who extend the impairment to their workplace. In the work place, the quality of work is negatively affected by substance abuse.The environment at work develops adverse physical and psychological attributes as a result of illicit drugs by employees (Wiesner, Windle, & Freeman, 2005). The abuse of drugs is bound to generate stress at work.   The extended use of illicit drugs in turn is responsible for very poor productivity levels at the work place.The personality of the individual is also adversely affected, with the individual acquiring some personality trai ts which are guided by the specific type of substance dependence.The personality traits exhibit some similar characteristics across substances that are usually abused High degrees of negative emotionality are directly related to alcohol use disorders, â€Å"high extraversion and low levels of conscientiousness† (Grekin, Sher & Wood, 2006, 79).On the other hand the extended use of cannabis sativa creates some â€Å"low extra versions on one hand and a high degree of openness to experience on the other hand† (Grekin, Sher & Wood, 2006, 77).     Ã‚  The personality of any individual has some positive correlation with the antisocial behavior and the abuse disorder associated with the use of a specific drug.There exists a significant association of personality and substance dependence and the ability to control behavior of negative consequence to the society.   The most affected group in the society by substance abuse ranges from adolescence to the early adulthood, an d a single behavior factor is very influential towards alcohol dependence, dependence on drug and the ‘antisocial personality disorder which is externalizing in nature’ (Frone, 2006,198).The abuse of these substances have been observed to yield such bad behaviors as skipping school, running away from homes, cases of shoplifting, thefts, at work, all these being considered to as deviant and aberrant behaviors.   These behaviors have been mostly observed in men more than in women, and therefore  Ã‚   gender is very significant in novelty seeking and substance abuse.The abuse all result to depression which in turn results to job stress and poor productivity.   This creates some high degrees of boredom at the job, the variety of skills deteriorates, and autonomy becomes significantly low.   There has been reported a linear corelatiship between binge drinking and the job stress, also the abuse of drugs and heavy drug use are positively correlated with stresses at the job (Jackson, O’Neill & Sher, 2006).This in turn results to psychological problems at the work place which is a contributor to risky health environment which is a result of† aversive work conditions† (Frone, 2006, 123).  Ã‚  Ã‚     Some of these conditions include noxious environments, insecurity in the job, being treated in an unfair manner, poor pay lack of benefits and promotions in the work among others.   All these become dangerous work conditions.In conclusion, the substance use Disorders have therefore been seen to have negative affectivity.   Some personality traits have also been found to be differentially correlated to the dependence symptoms associated with the use of alcohol, drugs and tobacco.With respect to abstinence from the abuse of these substances, gender has also been found to be very significant with men being found to have higher oscillations between use and abstinence as compared to women.  Ã‚     Time required for the transitio n between substance abuse and abstinence is very important as the transition cannot be achieved overnight.   This is quite important since the process goes through relapse to recovery.ReferencesEmily R. Grekin, Kenneth J. Sher, and Phillip K. Wood (2006), Psychology of Addictive Behaviors: Personality and Substance Dependence Symptoms, Vol. 20, No. 4, 415–424Kristina M. Jackson, Susan E. O’Neill, and Kenneth J. Sher (2006), Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology: Characterizing Alcohol Dependence, Vol. 14, No. 2, 228–244Margit Wiesner, Michael Windle, and Amy Freeman (2005) ,Journal of Occupation Health Psychology: Work Stress, Substance Use and Depression Among Youth Adult Workers, Vol. 10 No.2, 83-96)Michael R. Frone (2006), Journal of Applied Psychology: Prevalence and Distribution of Illicit Drug Use in the Workforce and in the Workplace, Vol. 91, No. 4, 856–869.Peter R. Finn and Julie Hall (2004), Journal of Abnormal Psychology: Cognitive Abi lity and Risk for Alcoholism, Vol. 113, No. 4, 569–581.Robert J. Gallop,Paul Crits-Christoph, Thomas R. Ten Have, Jacques P. Barber Arlene Frank, Margaret L. Griffin, Michael E. Thase (2007), Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology: Differential Transitions Between Cocaine Use and Abstinence for Men and Women, Vol. 75 No 1,95 -103.

Selecting Employee

Learn how to select and hire the best employees for your open positions. Selection and evaluation techniques are explored that help you pick among qualified candidates. Employee selection processes are critical to hiring a superior staff. Learn to improve your employee selection methods. 10 Tips for Hiring the Right Employee Top Ten Tips for Selecting and Hiring the Right Employee Hiring the right employee is a challenging process. Hiring the wrong employee is expensive, costly to your work environment, and time consuming. Hiring the right employee, on the other hand, pays you back in employee productivity, a successful employment relationship, and a positive impact on your total work environment. Hiring the right employee enhances your work culture and pays you back a thousand times over in high employee morale, positive forward thinking planning, and accomplishing challenging goals. This is not a comprehensive guide to hiring an employee. But, these are key steps to hiring the right employee. 1. Define the Job Before Hiring an Employee Hiring the right employee starts with a job analysis.  The job analysis enables you to collect information about the duties, responsibilities, necessary skills, outcomes, and work environment of a particular job. The information from the job analysis is fundamental to developing the job description for the new employee. The job description assists you to plan your recruiting strategy for hiring the right employee. Job HiringEasy Search & Posting: AyosDito Free Job Posting, No Sign Ups! www. AyosDito. ph Interview Strategy GuideGet a Free interview strategy for HR professionals. hr. mcleanco. om/interview-guide Employment ScreeningInternational Background Checks No hidden fees or minimum orders 2. Plan Your Employee Recruiting Strategy With the job description in hand, set up a recruiting planning meeting that involves the key employees who are hiring the new employee. The hiring manager is crucial to the planning. At this meeting, your recruiting strategy is planned and the execution begins. Teams that have worked together frequently in hiring an employee can often complete this step via email. 3. Use a Checklist for Hiring an Employee  This checklist for hiring an employee will help you systematize your process for hiring an employee. Whether it's your first employee or one of many employees you are hiring, this checklist for hiring an employee helps you keep track of your recruiting efforts. The checklist for hiring an employee keeps your recruiting efforts on track and communicates progress to interested employees and the hiring manager. 4. Recruit the Right Candidates When Hiring an Employee You can develop relationships with potential candidates long before you need them when hiring an employee.  These ideas will also help you in recruiting a large pool of candidates when you have a current position available. The more qualified candidates you can develop when hiring an employee, the more likely you are to locate a qualified potential employee. Read on to discover the best ways to develop your talent pool when hiring an employee. 5. Review Credentials and Applications Carefully The work of reviewing resumes, cover letters, job applications, and job application letters starts with a well-written job description.  Your bulletted list of the most desired characteristics of the most qualified candidate was developed as part of the recruiting planning process. Screen all applicants against this list of qualifications, skills, experience, and characteristics. You'll be spending your time with your most qualified candidates when hiring an employee. And, that is a good use of your time. 6. Prescreen Your Candidates The most important reason to prescreen candidates when hiring an employee is to save the interviewing and selection committee time.  While a candidate may look good on paper, a prescreening interview will tell you if their qualifications are truly a fit with your job. Additionally, in a prescreening interview, you can determine whether their salary expectations are congruent with your job. A skilled telephone interviewer will also obtain evidence about whether the candidate may fit within your culture – or not. 7. Ask the Right Job Interview Questions The job interview is a powerful factor in hiring an employee. The job interview is a key tool employers utilize in hiring.  The job interview questions asked are critical in magnifying the power of the job interview to help you in hiring the right employee. Interview questions that help you separate desirable candidates from average candidates are fundamental when hiring an employee. Job interview questions matter to employers. Here are sample job interview questions. 8. Check Backgrounds and References When Hiring an Employee Effective background checks are one of the most important steps when hiring an employee. You need to verify that all the presented, sterling credentials, skills, and experience are actually possessed by your candidate.  The background checks must include work references, especially former supervisors, educational credentials, employment references and actual jobs held, and criminal history. Other background checks when hiring an employee, such as credit history, must be specifically related to the job for which you are hiring an employee. 9. Extend a Job Offer The job offer letter is provided to the candidate you have selected for the position. Most frequently, the candidate and the organization have verbally negotiated the conditions of hire and the job offer letter confirms the verbal agreements about salary and benefits.  The more senior the position, however, the more likely the job offer will turn into a protracted negotiation about salary, benefits, employment termination, bonus potential, severance pay, stock options, and more. 10. Use Effective Employment Letters These sample employment letters will assist you to reject job candidates, make job offers, welcome employees, and more when hiring an employee. Use these sample employment letters to develop the employment letters you use in your organization when hiring an employee. New Employee Orientation: Employee Onboarding New employee orientation is the process you use for welcoming a new employee nto your organization. New employee orientation, often spearheaded by a meeting with the Human Resources department, generally contains information about safety, the work environment, the new job description, benefits and eligibility, company culture, company history, the organization chart and anything else relevant to working in the new company. New employee orientation often includes an introduction to each department in the company and training on-the-job. New employee orientation frequently includes spending time doing the jobs in each department to understand the flow of the product or service through the organization. Tips for a Better New Employee Orientation When we orient new hourly (non-exempt) employees, we provide a standard HR couple of hours on policies, procedures, company history, goals, culture, punching in and work rules. We give a company tour and hourly employees then train and cross-train on the job. Managerial and salaried (exempt) employees participate in an orientation that is custom-designed for them. It includes the above information that is received by all employees. Additionally, their orientation may last one to two weeks and it enables them to meet the whole organization, their direct reports and more. They should leave this orientation with a clear picture of the organization, its challenges, its goals and their opportunity to assist with progress. It is challenging to make sure salaried employees have the chance to do the orientation while also beginning their new job. Neither can be put on hold. My current new director spent the morning helping to write an RFP for a potential customer rather than attending his scheduled meetings. This is okay, but I don't want his orientation to get off track. It provides fundamental information he needs to succeed in this organization. From an HR perspective, this may not be ideal for making sure he gets the organization overview, but it is ideal for helping him integrate quickly into the working business of the company – and that's the point. Right? The best orientation I have ever known was instituted at Edgewood Tool and Manufacturing. Every manager who hired a new employee was required to write a 120 day orientation for the new employee. It involved one action a day. Actions included meeting the Director of Quality, calling on a customer and having lunch with the CEO. You can bet that new employee was thoroughly welcomed and integrated into the organization after 120 different orientation events. Orientation and Training of New Employees New employee orientation effectively integrates the new employee into your organization and assists with retention, motivation, job satisfaction, and quickly enabling each individual to become contributing members of the work team. New Employee Welcome Letter-A welcome letter to a new employee who has accepted your job offer confirms the employe's decision to accept the position. The welcome letter helps the new employee feel wanted and welcomed. Depending on the goal of your new employee welcome letter, these sample welcome letters will give you a template. See sample welcome letters for new employees. Onboarding-Onboarding is the process of acquiring, accommodating, assimilating and accelerating new team members, whether they come from outside or inside the organization. Effective onboarding of new team members is one of the most important contributions any hiring manager or HR professional can make to long-term success. Onboarding done right drives new employee productivity, accelerates results, and significantly improves talent retention. Yet few organizations manage the pieces of onboarding well. Purposes of Orientation Employers have to realize that orientation isn't just a nice gesture put on by the organization. It serves as an important element of the recruitment and retention process. Some key purposes are: * To Reduce Startup Costs: Proper orientation can help the employee get â€Å"up to speed† much more quickly, thereby reducing the costs associated with learning the job. To Reduce Anxiety: Any employee, when put into a new, strange situation, will experience anxiety that can impede his or her ability to learn to do the job. Proper orientation helps to reduce anxiety that results from entering into an unknown situation, and helps provide guidelines for behavior and conduct, so the employee doesn't have to experience the stress of guessing. * To Reduce Employee Turnover: Employee turnover increases as employees feel they are not valued, or are put in positions where they can't possibly do their jobs. Orientation shows that the organization values the employee, and helps provide the tools necessary for succeeding in the job. * To Save Time for the Supervisor: Simply put, the better the initial orientation, the less likely supervisors and co-workers will have to spend time teaching the employee. * To Develop Realistic Job Expectations, Positive Attitudes and Job Satisfaction: It is important that employees learn as soon as possible what is expected of them, and what to expect from others, in addition to learning about the values and attitudes of the organization. While people can learn from experience, they will make many mistakes that are unnecessary and potentially damaging. The main reasons orientation programs fail: The program was not planned; the employee was unaware of the job requirements; the employee does not feel welcome. Employee orientation is important – orientation provides a lot of benefits, and you can use feedback to make your orientations even better. Use Training and Development to Motivate Staff Building Your Employee Training and Development Program Want to keep your staff motivated about learning new concepts? The quality and variety of the employee training you provide is key for motivation. Reasons for employee training range from new-hire training about your operation, to introducing a new concept to a workgroup to bringing in a new computer system. Whatever your reason for conducting an employee training session, you need to develop the employee training within the framework of a comprehensive, ongoing, and consistent employee training program. This quality employee training program is essential to keep your staff motivated about learning new concepts and your department profitable. Essential Components of Employee Training Programs A complete employee training program includes a formal new hire training program with an overview of the job expectations and performance skills needed to perform the job functions. A new hire training program provides a fundamental understanding of the position and how the position fits within the organizational structure. The more background knowledge the new associate has about how one workgroup interrelates with ancillary departments, the more the new associate will understand his or her impact on the organization. Another aspect of a comprehensive employee training program is continuing education. The most effective employee training programs make continuing education an ongoing responsibility of one person in the department. This is an important function that will keep all staff members current about policies, procedures and the technology used in the department. New Hire Training A solid new hire training program begins with the creation of an employee training manual, in either notebook format or online. This manual acts as a building block of practical and technical skills needed to prepare the new individual for his or her position. In order for the department to understand current policies and procedures, a manager must ensure the department manuals or online employee training are kept current. This includes any system enhancements and / or change in policy or procedure. In addition, keep the user in mind when designing training manuals or online training; keep the employee training material interesting for the learner. Use language that is not â€Å"corporate† and include images and multi-media. Much of this employee training and reference material belongs online these days in a company Intranet. But, if your organization is not ready to embrace the online world, keep the manuals up-to-date and interesting. When possible, in computer training, incorporate visual images of the computer screen (multi-media screen capture) to illustrate functions, examples, and how tos. On the Job Training Another form of new hire training includes having the new associate train directly next to an existing associate. Some call this On the Job Training (OJT) or side-by-side training. This type of employee training allows the new associate to see first hand the different facets of the position. Also, OJT allows the new hire the opportunity to develop a working relationship with an existing associate. This type of employee training reinforces concepts learned in the initial training and should be used to reinforce and apply those same learned concepts. Continuing Education in Employee Training A continuing education program for a department is just as important as the new hire training. When training a new associate, I have found that they will only retain approximately 40 percent of the information learned in the initial training session. Therefore, a continuous effort must be placed on reminding the staff about various procedures and concepts. This continuing education can be formal or informal. (The author’s preference is always with a more informal approach. ) The formal, or traditional approach, to employee training often includes a member of management sending a memo to each associate. The informal, and often more appealing approach to a visual learner, is to send a one-page information sheet to staff. This information sheet, called a training alert, should be informative and presented in a non-threatening manner. Therefore, if the policy or procedure changes, the informal approach would better prepare the department to receive this presentation. New Employee Training – Is It Worth The Investment Getting off on the right foot Many companies provide some sort of introductory training or orientation for most of their new employees. It may take the form of an older employee assigned to show the new employee â€Å"the ropes. † Or it may be left to the HR department or the individual's new supervisor to show them where the coffee pot is and how to apply for time off. Many organizations, especially in government and academia, have created new employee training that is designed, exclusively or primarily, to provide mandated safety familiarization. Yet some companies in highly competitive industries recognize the value in New Employee Orientation (NEO) that goes much farther. They require several weeks or even months of training to familiarize every new employee with the company, its products, its culture and policies, even its competition. There is a measurable cost to that training, but is it worth it? Let's look at some of the issues. Some Background Facts The technology in the workplace is changing very rapidly and companies that can't keep up will drop out of competition. A survey by the Ontario (Canada) Skills Development Office found 63% of the respondents planned to â€Å"introduce new technology into the workplace that would require staff training. A third of the respondents included â€Å"improving employee job performance† and â€Å"keeping the best employees† as desired outcomes. The American Society for Training and Development (ASTD) reports that less than $1500 per employee was spent for training in 1996. The largest part of that (49 percent) was spent for technical and professional training. Only two percent was spent for New Employee Orientation and three percent on quality, competition and business practices training.