Human resource management Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 1

Human resource management - Assignment Example The HR manager might view flexible working schedules to maximize productivity throughout an 18 hour cycle. Thus, scheduling labour to meet goals sees the exploitation of talent in the same way that tangible resources are exploited. The soft model of HRM is more people-centred and deals with creating motivational strategies, coaching, or mentoring to achieve high levels of employee commitment and trust. Soft HRM policies consider employees emotional capacity and psycho-social needs and then integrates policy formation objectives with these principles in mind. In soft thinking, the employee is a method to achieve competitive advantage through commitment-building (Armstrong 2008). IR is primarily concerned with the relationship between union bargaining and employees (Elvander 1998). Storey (1992) recognises fundamental shifts from IR to HRM based on key dimensions of practice, policy and specific business goals. Whilst HRM often includes strategies that are people-centred, IR is more tr ansactional in nature, delivering rewards that are highly contingent on performance. The HR school of thought is more unitarist in nature, whilst IR is more pluralist. Storey (1992) sees negotiation as a primary aspect of line management activity in IR with HRM more of a facilitating role. Specific norms demand compliance in IR theory whilst HRM focuses on building policies and practices around vision and mission. In personal experience, the strategic role of line management is to recognize contingencies where the organisation must have practices aligned with needs for organisational performance. Strategic HRM for line management is to identify a best practice model and continue to create strategies aligned with efficiency. Strategic HRM views all organisational divisions and practices to be an amalgamation to achieve best practice, productivity and profit. The implications to employees are diverse training to recognise inter-dependencies and higher demands for performance to achiev e long-term goals related to business strategy. Flexibility in the workplace Personal experience describes a flexible model that involves changing contracted hours and periodic placement to perform job responsibilities in order to provide childcare. Under this model, the employee required 30 weeks of employment and must have had no negative assessments associated with periodic performance reviews. This model provided opportunities to replace the traditional Monday-Friday schedule with Saturday working in exchange for a weekly day off and also implementing telecommuting resources for those in service roles. Flexible models provide opportunities for building employee satisfaction and can be implemented according to business needs, such as customer service output expectations or when the business intends to expand its service to include weekend consultation for clients. Thus, it has competitive advantage capabilities and also the ability to create a more productive workforce. Armstrong (2008) identifies that flexible working concepts provide the ability to create a better skilled employee population, such as what occurs in job sharing. When employees are able to experience other divisional roles, they become more fluent in practices and procedures that can, in the long-term give the business more competitive advantage. A disadvantage to flexible working is the ability to determine whether pay is competitive to the labour

Shoplifting is a crime born of poverty Essay Example for Free

Shoplifting is a crime born of poverty Essay Shoplifting means someone involve stealing from the shop during business hour. Shoplifting is an old problem for merchants. There are lots of reasons to shoplift, range from very poverty and satisfy the desires or mental illness. Although there are lots of anti-shoplifting devices in place and the increase in police patrols and offers the retailers guidance on preventive measures, the rate of shoplifting in the world is still increasing. According to the Home Office crime statistics, there was a 10 percent increase in shoplifting in United Kingdom in the year of 2009. According to the Global Retail Theft Barometer research (2009), total global shoplifting in 41 participating countries costs economic lost for around $114,823 billion. Therefore, shoplifting is a serious problem not just in the United Kingdom. The statistics from the Home Office and the research form the Centre for Retail Research showed that the shoplifting is being a serious problem in contemporary society, and this essay is going to discuss, is shoplifting is a crime born of poverty. If not, then what is the reason for people to shoplift? For the issue of shoplifting is a crime born of poverty, there are several factors that may related to the increase of shoplifting and the argument of shoplifting is a crime born of poverty, such as high unemployment rate, Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs theory, underclass and the relationship between capitalism and crime. Against the issue of shoplifting is a crime born of poverty, there are several factors against the argument, such as peer pressure in adolescent, drug addict, psychological elements or other adolescent psychological factors. The rest of the essay is going to analysis all the factors either for or against. According to Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs theory, this is a theory in psychology and proposed by Abraham Maslow in his 1943 paper A Theory of Human Motivation. Figure1: Maslows Hierarchy of Needs His theories parallel many other theories of human development psychology and focuses on describing the stages growth in humans. He presented his theory in a pyramid and defined the stages with Physiological, Safety, Love/belonging, Esteem and Self-actualization needs to explain the pattern that human motivations pass through. The base floor of the hierarchy  represented basic human need, which are breathing, food, water, sex, sleep, homeostasis and excretion. These are necessary for human to survive in order to achieve the upper level of human wants. Moving on to the next part, which is safety needs and it included security of body, employment, resources, morality, the family, health and property. This part represents a civilization of human beings, which they are chasing for a better living standard. Then next part is Love or belonging needs, which are friendship, family and sexual intimacy. After that, Esteem needs included self-esteem confidence, achievement, respect of others and respect by others. The last part is self-actualization needs, which included morality, creativity, spontaneity, problem solving, lack of prejudice and acceptance of facts. This is the ethical and spiritual level that Maslow believed. Taking Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs as an accurate portrayal of individual evolution, we could apply that to the evolution of human society, which included economically, socially and politically. Therefore the argument of this essay can be clearly explained. If a person lives without food, water and homeostasis, he may not be able to reach the upper levels of the pyramid, which included morality, safety and self-actualization. Therefore, he will commit crime like shoplifting or theft to get what he needs to survive. Most of the humans’ lacks of physiological needs are in poverty. Thus shoplifting can be said as a crime born of poverty in Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs theory. Secondly, the relationship between capitalism and crime is a factor that makes shoplifting a crime born of poverty. Capitalism is an economic system that favours private ownership. In other words, capitalism is a system of economics under which ownership of and investment in the means of exchange, distribution and production. Therefore, most capitalism countries have the problem of inequality, which mean the gap between the rich and the poor. According to urban dictionary, capitalism is an imbalanced mechanism for distributing power where the rich and powerful get richer and more powerful, the poor get poorer. According to BBC News (2009), United Kingdom is a capitalism country, the gap between the rich and poor is very serious in UK, and the richest fifth of the population had an income 16 times greater than the poorest fifth. According to the National Equality Panel (NEP) report (2008), United States and United Kingdom are in the top 10 of inequality countries, which mean the gap between rich and poor  is very big. The rate of shoplifting in United State and United Kingdom are increasing, which means inequality will make poor people committed crime. In capitalism countries, when the gap between rich and poor become wider, the rate of crime will increase. Because capitalism is an idea that rich peoples use money to buy goods then sell to gain money but poor people don’t have money to buy goods in order to sell to gain money, so they committed shoplifting and sell the things that they stole in order to survive. Thirdly, Murray (1990) explained that there are three main characteris tics of underclass, which are illegitimacy, violent crime and economic inactivity. Shoplifting is an activity, which is economic inactive. Murray (1990) has also explained that the morally weak underclass that is unemployed is usually involved in crime and drug addiction. By analysis, the Murray research, the crime committed in shoplifting which is unemployed. According to The New York Times (2012), a single mother committed shoplifting and sells the goods in order to survive because the government had passed the 1996 welfare reform law. This case showed that there are people shoplifting because of poverty. Then, some people committed shoplifting because lack of clear purpose in life. These kinds of people often under unemployment, therefore, they live below poverty level. According to the research done by Mcshane, Lawless and Noonan (1991), 70 apprehended shoplifter aged between 18 and 88 compared to 70 undergraduate non-shoplifters, they found that shoplifters were most likely to live in poverty, to be socially isolated and not to aware psychological stressors th an those who do not shoplift. This research showed that people who live long-term under the poverty level lacks the purpose in life. Therefore, the research done by Mcshane, Lawless and Noonan (1991) proven shoplifting is a crime born of poverty. Finally, according to the UK Office For National Statistics (2012), the unemployment rate in United Kingdom was last reported at 8.3 per cent and it rose steadily. The unemployment rate has explained that the reason people shoplift is because of economic. Although the government have unemployment benefit, there are lots of people who are unemployed but do not meet the requirement to get the unemployment benefit. Therefore, shoplifting in United Kingdom still increases. The study of Ray and Briar (1988) included 200 court records and 382 self-reports and showed that shoplifters were more likely to have lower family income, be unemployed  believe that economic need causes shoplifting. However, there are lots of people who shoplift to satisfy their desires and some of them might pursue excitiement by shoplifting. Shoplifting is a psychological issue for a group of people. According to the articles National Association for Shoplifting Prevention (2006), the single largest psychological factors in around one-third of shoplifters are experiencing depression. Geyer (2001) also explained that most of the shoplifting offender is due to psychological factions. Therefore, most of the shoplifters committed shoplifting because of psychological issues more than because they are poor. Besides, according to Tonglet (2002), the decision to shoplift is influenced by social factors, pro-shoplifting attitudes, opportunities for shoplifting and perceptions of low risks in being caught. He described that shoplifting is consumer misbehaviour. BBC News Magazine (2012) also described that there is a new wave of middle-class shoplifter is targeting some high-end delicacies from stores and supermarket to have a lifestyle that they could no longer afford. The society believed that this development is caused by the ec onomic recession. On the other hand, teen’s problem is also a very important factor of shoplifting. According to the National Crime Prevention Council (2006), there are 25% of people committed shoplifting between the ages of thirteen and seventeen. The following essay is going to analysis and explain the reason that people shoplifting apart from poverty. Adolescent shoplifting is a nationwide rising problem. According to Moschis, Dena and Anthony (1990) experiment, they have surveyed 1692 teenagers from age 10 to 17 investigating shoplifting behaviour, family occupational status, rule breaking behaviour and perceived reasons for adolescent shoplifting. The result showed that shoplifting rate between the age 10 and 15 rose steadily and declined between the age 15 and 17. Moschis, Dena and Anthony (1990) concluded that there are few reasons explained that why teens shoplifting, such as chasing for excitement, peer pressure and attracting attention. For the reason of chasing for excitement, most of the teens got lots of time when they were bored and didn’t have anything better to do, they will pretend shoplifting to gain excitement. For the reason of peer pressure, it is playing a very important role on adolescent shoplifting. When their peers get a pair of expensive name brands shoes or clothes, the others will try to keep up with their peers and wear the latest. Other than that, electronics  also very popular, such as mp3 player, console, phone and other small expensive items. Most teens want to get the best and the latest leisure fashion and electronics to compete with their peers so they are faced with the lack of money to satisfy their desires, they may turn to shoplifting. Steven Gerrard said, â€Å"Being a young lad it’s hard not to give into peer pressure. I stole to fit in. I grabbed a few pens paper from Woolworths made a dash for the door but the security guy grabbed me.† Steven Gerrard is an England soccer hero, he confessed that he stole pens and nabbed by cops when he was in his early teens. This case strongly influenced that shoplifting isn’t a crime born of poverty. At last, the parent attention, many parents were very busy in their work in contemporary society so they will lack of care of their children. The child will do something in order to attract their parents’ attention. The second component that people committed shoplifting is drug users. According a study of Arrestees (2005), the study confirmed that shoplifting was the most frequent crime amongst drug users. This group of people shoplifting showed that they need to shoplift in order to fund their drug habit. Drug users usually resell the things that they steal or attempt a cash refund. The study also showed that alcohol is also a main component in shoplifting. According to BBC News (2012), most cases of shoplifting by what psychologists describe as â€Å" non-professional shoplifter â€Å", and most of them shoplifting to feed their alcohol addiction. Both drug addict and alcoholic people committed shoplifting in order to feed their drug and alcohol addiction not because of they are poverty. Thirdly, Kleptomania is an impulse control disorder, major depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder or bipolar disorder. Although there are very few of shoplifters fall into this category, this type of shoplifters has a psychological compulsion to shoplifting to satisfy their desires. They will commit shoplifting whenever the urge hits. According to Tasman (2011), he explained that people with Kleptomania often report the shoplifting act and they feel of pleasure after committed shoplifting. This kind of people shoplifting is because of mental illness, most of them did not think themselves as a crime after committed shoplifting. But in contemporary society, the law enforcement agencies treated them as normal crime. As a conclusion, to discuss whether or not shoplifting is a crime born of poverty, as it has countless factors causing  people to shoplift and lots of factor proved that shoplifting is born of poverty. Almost all of the reasons that support the argument are around economic and policy, such as the unemployment rate, the unemployment welfare, capitalism and the economic depression. In another word, if the government are to carry out well policy, the shoplifting rate will decrease. Therefore, the government plays a very important role in decreasing the rate of shoplifting. On the other hand, most of the shoplifters committed shoplifting not because of poverty, there are several factors that makes people shoplift, such as Kleptomania, psychological factors, peer pressure, teens’ problem and drug users. All of the academic researches and government reports showed that most shoplifting cases are influenced by the shoplifter’s psychological factors more than poverty, such as the Steven Gerrard’s case, the reason for him committing shoplift was not due to poverty. This is why it may seem fair to say, shoplifting is not a crime born of poverty, it is a crime born of psychological factors and government policy. After all, the study of crime has been the core subject matter in criminology. There are no definite answers as to why people commit certain crimes neither has the causation been found for criminal activities. Different schools of criminology proves that there are no definite answers in the understanding of crime. References Appelbaum, A. and Klemmer, H. (2012) Shoplifting. Menninger Perspective, 5 (3), p.16-19. Bbc.co.uk (2012) BBC News Why do well-off people shoplift?. [online] Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-16469928 [Accessed: 1 May 2012]. Bbc.co.uk (2010) BBC Mark Eastons UK: Is inequality iniquitous?. [online] Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/markeaston/2010/01/is_inequality_iniquitous.html [Accessed: 1 May 2012]. City-journal.org (2008) The New York Timess Welfare Myopia by Heather Mac Donald City Journal. [online] Available at: http://www.city-journal.org/2012/eon0416hm.html [Accessed: 1 May 2012]. Cox, D. et al. (1990) When Consumer Behavior Goes Bad: An Investigation of Adolescent Shoplifting.. Journal of Consumer Research, 17

St. Valentines Day Massacre :: American History

The 1920's was a decade marked with lawlessness. There was plenty of money to be made, and after the National Prohibition Act, everyone wanted a piece of the action. Two gangs went head to head for control of the lucrative illegal alcohol business. One group was led by George "Bugs" Moran, and the other, by Al "Scarface" Capone. Both sought to rule this business at the cost of the other. This confrontation climaxed on a chilly February morning in 1929. In an empty warehouse in Chicago, seven men were executed by a firing squad. This event became known as the Saint Valentine's Day Massacre. Control of the profitable liquor trade sparked the gang wars that littered the late 1920's with bodies. Chicago was their battleground. The opposing forces were the North Side Gang, led by Dion O'Banion, and the West Side Gang who had John Torrio as its frontrunner ("Seven Chicago Gangsters"). Torrio had ambitious plans. He sought to unite the gangs of Chicago into one powerful association in which he would have full control. However, Dion O'Banion did not fall into place as one of Torrio's pawns. In 1924, O'Banion betrayed the powerful Torrio. Shortly after, O'Banion was gunned down at his flower shop, which he used as a front for his operation. Believing Torrio was behind the assassination, the North Side gang struck back (Wilker 36-37). This was the beginning of the gang wars that lasted for five years. Even though Torrio initiated this conflict, it became too much for him. The increasing level of corruption and bloodshed came back to him. After being wounded buy a North Side gunman, Torrio handed over his operation to his successor. His replacement's name is synonymous with the words ruthless and bloodthirsty. Taking Torrio's place was the infamous Al Capone. With Torrio out of the picture, The North Side Gang began to focus their attention on Capone. He became their chief target (Wilker 37). The two gangs continued to fight throughout the 1920's. In 1929, "Bugs" Moran was in control of the North Side Gang. Every move Capone made for advancement Moran reacted with a counter strike. The North Side gang repeatedly hijacked liquor going to Capone and even bombed six saloons that Capone was supplying (Kobler 238).

The Boondocks :: essays research papers

Aaron McGruder is an African American cartoonist. At only twenty-six years of age, he is best known as the creator of Boondocks, the popular comic strip that is currently featured in over two hundred and fifty newspapers throughout the United States. Boondocks, which â€Å"stars two amusingly surly African American kids who live with their grandfather in a white middle-class suburb† is known for mocking issues that range from entertainment news (such as Whitney Houston), to political news (like the Bush administration). His most recent subject, however, may prove to be too controversial even for this strip, which is famous for it’s satirical attitude.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Within two weeks of the September 11th attacks, McGruder had addressed the national crisis addressing Americans’ â€Å"blind, unquestioning faith in our almost elected leaders.† This particular plot cost McGruder Boondocks’ place in New York’s Daily News and caused The Dallas Morning News to move the strip to another section of the paper. McGruder, however, remains unaffected. He states that he will continue to address these issues because as he says, â€Å"†¦you can’t remove the impact of this incident from any aspect of life.† Apparently, this includes the funny pages. Aaron McGruder is an African American cartoonist. At only twenty-six years of age, he is best known as the creator of Boondocks, the popular comic strip that is currently featured in over two hundred and fifty newspapers throughout the United States. Boondocks, which â€Å"stars two amusingly surly African American kids who live with their grandfather in a white middle-class suburb† is known for mocking issues that range from entertainment news (such as Whitney Houston), to political news (like the Bush administration). His most recent subject, however, may prove to be too controversial even for this strip, which is famous for it’s satirical attitude.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Within two weeks of the September 11th attacks, McGruder had addressed the national crisis addressing Americans’ â€Å"blind, unquestioning faith in our almost elected leaders.† This particular plot cost McGruder Boondocks’ place in New York’s Daily News and caused The Dallas Morning News to move the strip to another section of the paper. McGruder, however, remains unaffected. He states that he will continue to address these issues because as he says, â€Å"†¦you can’t remove the impact of this incident from any aspect of life.† Apparently, this includes the funny pages. Aaron McGruder is an African American cartoonist. At only twenty-six years of age, he is best known as the creator of Boondocks, the popular comic strip that is currently featured in over two hundred and fifty newspapers throughout the United States.

An Employee Perspective Essay

This error communication situation confuses employees’ performance and motivation. Moreover, let the job feedback become useless and destroy the employee relationship. Therefore, this assignment is to find out the problem of H&M’s Job Feedback by using employee perspective. Moreover, enables employees to become more loyal to the company while they also work toward achieving their long-term career goals. Keywords: Performance & motivation, Brainstorm, Job Feedback, EPAC Introduction & Background Feedback is an anomaly. People have a general sense that feedback is good to give and receive. Therefore, Immediate feedback is critical when we are learning, especially when we do not know what we do not know. Equally important are the attitude of the sender and recipient and the individual providing the critique (London, 2003). A good feedback will provide positive encouragement because they want to convey their genuine interest. When employees feel leadership has their best interest at heart, they are inclined to make corrections and more likely to modify their behavior. Most people want to perform well and they want to know when they are doing something incorrectly. They want constructive a positive feedback by the leader, and they appreciate criticism when it is present in a positive manner. Therefore, feedback is an essential ingredient of an employee development program because people use information about themselves to formulate their career goals, get better performance and motivation. H&M believe in being straightforward and apply the open door principle, which gives employee the right and opportunity to discuss work-related issues directly with management. However, in H&M Hong Kong, employee cannot search any good feedback to provide positive encouragement for their job, this situation shows very critical in the area of Part-time sales Advisor in Hong Kong. Managers are using less time to being seriously to the employee of Part-time sales Advisor. It is because the manager thinks they will not work as a long-term staff (less loyalty) and the role of Part-time staff is less important than the full-time staff. Manager tends to give less time to encourage them by using constructive feedback but Destructive feedback. Destructive feedback is abusive. Although the word â€Å"abusive† may seem extreme as a description of workplace behavior, it occurs, and can be destructive to employees’ performance, careers and self-esteem (Bassman 1992). Therefore, H&M Part-time employees are less receive any comment by their managers. Nonsensically, according to the HR Data of H&M at 2009, there are over a half (55%) of employees are Part-time in H&M around the world. mainly work as Part-time Sales- Advisor. Therefore, if the managers in Hong Kong keep ignore and use less time to encourage them by using constructive feedback.

Greenland Essays - Geography Of Greenland, Greenland, Free Essays

Greenland Essays - Geography Of Greenland, Greenland, Free Essays Greenland Greenland The geography of Greenland is quite ironic considering its name. Greenland is Located in the northern part of North America. It is between the Arctic Ocean and the North Atlantic Ocean, northeast of Canada. Greenlands area is approximately 2,715,600 square kilometers. Its area is slightly more than 3 times the size of Texas. It is the largest island in the world. It is also primarily by the Davis Strait and Baffin Bay and from Iceland on the east, by the Denmark Strait. Greenlands terrain is flat to a gradually sloping icecap. It covers everything but a narrow, mountainous, rocky coast. Its climate has cool summers and very cold winters! During the summertime in the southern part of Greenland, the average Temperature is 48 Fahrenheit. The climate of Greenland is generally dry. People have lived on Greenland for about 5, 000 years, the earliest belonging to what are called the Independence I, Saqqaq, and Independence II cultures. Greenland is the source of many weather changes in the Northern Hemisphere. Their natural

Halloween essays

Halloween essays Trick or treat, scream children on October 31. Trick or treat, what is does that mean? Halloween has not always been about handing out candy and playing jokes on people. In fact, Halloween has changed in numerous ways over the years. Halloween first originated from a Celtic fire festival called Samhain, or summers end, that represented the New Year beginning on November 1. The Celts believed that when a person died they went to Tirnan Og, the land of eternal youth and happiness. The Celts believed that turning points, such as the turning of one year into the next, were magical events. The Celts believed that time and space came to a halt, during Samhain, thus allowing the dead to mix with the living. With this belief, the still-living, not wanting to be possessed, put out fires in their homes. This would make their house undesirable to the spirit. The extinguishing of the hearth fires symbolized the dark half of the year. The re-kindling from the Druidic fire was symbolic of the returning life that was hoped for in the spring. (Rupert, 2004) There are many inaccurate Christian teachings about Halloween and the Celts. For instance, Christian literature teaches us that Samhain was the Celtic God of the dead that was worshipped by the Druids with dreadful bloody sacrifices at Halloween. When in fact, Samhain was not a god and is defined in McBains Etymological Dictionary of the Gaelic Language says that Samhain means summers end. Many Christian organizations teach that Halloween originated as a satanic festival, which has yet to be backed up with evidence. There is also no evidence that the Celts ever dressed in costumes on Halloween. There were many significant changes in the middle ages that made Halloween that way it is now. When the Romans conquered Celtic lands in the first century A.D., there were drastic changes to fire festival. ...

Why You Should Give Free Content To Your Readers

Why You Should Give Free Content To Your Readers Give it away give it away give it away give it away now. Give It Away, Red Hot Chili Peppers Thats four suggestions, in a row, to give something away. Surely the Chili Peppers are onto something you can apply to your blog. If you do a search on with the word free, you get a fair number of results. What are our blog giveaways and other free stuff  here at ? WordPress plugins Headline creation tools Email newsletters and courses calendar training An endless number of infographics, e-books, and worksheets Craziness. But not really. Why You Should Give Free Content To Your Readers #blogging via @JulieNeidlingerThe Power Of  Blog Giveaways Free content builds goodwill, and people love to share free stuff with their friends and followers on social media. Free content is portable. E-books and other downloads are portable. Youre not demanding that people stay on your site to read and access them. Regularly creating free content keeps you familiar with the act of being a creator. Jay Baer wrote about giving content away, and one reason he believes it is necessary is startling: Your audience expects it  now. By not having blog giveaways  on your site, you stand out in a negative light. Freebies have become so prevalent that even if it could be proven to be a negative tactic (which it really isnt), youd still have repercussions if you didnt offer something. #Blog giveaways are  so prevalent, its negative  if you dont give something away for free.4 Ways Blog Giveaways Will Help You Grow Your Audience Start by figuring out what your reluctant readers might need to convince themselves to open their wallet and buy. Chris Garrett, over at Copyblogger, discussed what blog giveaways  will do for you: 1. Build your network. Free content, such as an e-book that knocks peoples socks off, is how you build your network. This happens in two ways. First, your blog giveaway is so amazing it starts getting shared. Second, you mention others in your e-book and pretty soon they are sharing it. 2. Prove youre an expert. You can say youre an expert until youre blue in the face, but sooner or later readers are going to expect you to back it up. Your blog posts do most of that work for you, but if you can offer free resources that supplement and expand on those posts (e-books, worksheets, etc.), then youre giving readers the proof they need before trusting you enough to buy what youre selling. 3. Compare yourself to your competition. Ever noticed how blog copy within an industry starts to sound the same? Its easy enough to be inspired (i.e. copy) others in an industry, but if you create unique resources, you set yourself apart from the competition. 4 ways #blog giveaways help grow an  audience: networking, expertise, comparison, doorway.4. Create doorway content. Giving away something of value is how you get your readers hooked. Just as pro guest bloggers advocate doing your best writing for your guest posts instead of saving it for your blog, you need to do the same for your blog giveaways. It has to be addictive. However, if your best content is free, be sure that any content you sell isbetter. In other words, free content cant be junk, but if youre going to create content and put a price on it, it has to be even better. These reasons are particularly important for new bloggers, or bloggers who are still working at getting a serious readership. You have to show that you have the chops. Once you build a name for yourself, you dont have to give as much away. People already know what you offer is going to be good. 4 Types Of Blog Giveaways That Really Work What might you give away?  Knowing what to give away isnt a trick, but the answer is going to vary for each blogger. 1. Something fun that arrives regularly. Theres a reason subscription services have become popular- people are signing up for boxes to be delivered each month with things like makeup, food, or toys for their dog. We like a little surprise to look forward to. You can do the same with your freebies. Designers, consider giving away a monthly printable design pack. I regularly look forward to several designers who send out links to fun print-cut-assemble projects each month. 2. Something that promotes continued education. Marketers, provide training resources that are actually unique and not a rehash of everything out there already. Writers, give your readers writing help- from writing prompts to handy guides for fleshing out a plot. Give away something fun, educational, reputation-building, and ongoing. #blogging3. Something that gives you a reputation. While on a quest to find or create the perfect weekly planner, I stumbled upon the chronodex. Developed by Patrick Ng, the chronodex was his answer to planning. Its become hugely popular among planner fanatics, and a search on the chronodex will reveal people sharing their versions and how they use it. All of this from something Ng gave away for free. That chronodex created a positive reputation for Ng for those obsessed with planning and organization. If he were to begin selling additional expansions to his chronodex, Ive no doubt people would pony up the money. (Ng does not charge. He gives everything away.) 4. Something you can continue to build on. That chronodex? That is a free item that people look forward to every year because it naturally needs to be re-issued annually. If you can create blog giveaways  that you can build on, you create a loyal audience. You can also create items that can be purchased that add onto the original giveaway. Ng continues to provide updates, and he also highlights how other readers have been putting his chronodex system to work in their lives. He is turning something he gave away for free into a movement. How Much Is Too Much? Some are going to argue this point, butits possible that you can give away too much. The reason there is disagreement on giving things away is because some bloggers are approaching it purely from the viewpoint of marketing, while other bloggers are actually trying to make their living off of content. For example, a blogger who is building a reputation for being a marketing expert might think giving everything away is a great idea. They are focused on establishing a reputation, and the more valuable content they have out there, the better. A blogger who is building a business creating knitting patterns and instructions cant exactly do that. They need to sell the patterns. So how many blog giveaways  is too many? When might you pull back on giving away content? 1. You are trying to make a passive income. If, for example, you are hoping to make a passive income in which you will sell documents, content, downloads, etc., you need to be careful that what you give away doesnt have a negative impact on your sales. In this scenario, you ought to be giving away good content that shows you have the skills and potential for even better content, but you should not be giving away your best content. Thats for sales. 2. Youre using exclusivity as a driver for sales. Lets not forget about the power of exclusivity.  Exclusivity makes people want something, and it works in two ways: Not everyone gets in.  We like to know that we are part of a small group that made it in. We like knowing there are people who are not receiving this special knowledge because it makes our chances of success better. Think of a football game. When you are sitting in a crowd, standing up gives you a better, exclusive view. If everyone stands up, though, your view is no longer special. We like being part of what is special and exclusive both for how it makes us feel (important) and because we get a better view (imminent success). This requires a product that is so good, so clever, so desirable, such a status symbol, that people are frantic to get in on it. Everyone gets in, but only through specific channels.  While no one is turned away, they have to meet certain standards or requirements in order to participate. This helps weed out those who arent as dedicated, willing to pay, willing to work, and so on. It makes the group who has succeeded at getting in know that everyone else is as serious as they are. This requires a product that is excellent, people have to be able to find it easily enough, and you have to have a method for keeping control of how it spreads (think DRM). We like #blog giveaways to feel  something  special,  exclusive, and important.If your sales model is exclusive training for members, you simply cant give everything away, even for an email address. 3. You built a strong reputation and want to bank on that. There is room for a shift in how much you give away over time if your goal was to build a reputation before reigning in your freebies. After a while, it might be time to ask a bit more for your free content. After a while, you might take that popular freebie and put a price tag on it. For example, Copybloggers famous blog post on how to write magnetic headlines now redirects not to the easy-access blog post, but to a section of their site in which they encourage you to sign up for their other exclusive content. That content is still free, but by using the same URL and pointing it to a landing page which funneled readers directly into a sales funnel, they made that popular content work a little harder for them.  It isnt as easily accessible. They now want an email address, and they expose you to the sales pitch of a landing page. Give away enough to prove your other content is worth the purchase. Give away enough to give your customer a chance for small success using your program or content so they trust you enough to make a purchase. Dont give away the cow. Give away about 98% of the cow. That remaining 2% is what will get someone to buy. When it comes to content, people will pay for certain things: Exclusivity. People will pay for the opportunity to be part of something others arent. Sounds cruel, but its true. Detailed guidance. People will pay for detailed how-to instruction that helps them get their job done. Nothing vague, please. Be specific, and give people the know-how to achieve a concrete result. Custom content. People will pay for content created specifically for them. Instead of a generic report on how to get more traffic, theyll pay for a custom report that takes their specific situation into account. Great experiences. People will pay for the opportunity to experience something worthwhile.

The Wenchuan Earthquake in Sichuan Research Paper

The Wenchuan Earthquake in Sichuan - Research Paper Example Telecommunication towers fell and a number of landslides followed the incident with hundreds of students and children trapped in their schools. â€Å"Two chemical factories in Shifang were destroyed, spilling 80 tons of toxic liquid ammonia, officials told Chinese state media.† (Hooker and Yardley, 2008, para. 4). Nature showed up its worst against mankind and the country incurred huge losses of life and economy as a result of the act of nature. What remains to be explored is whether nature has been unfriendly towards humanity or there is some personal involvement of humans in bringing about such harshness in the attitude of nature towards it. Nature itself issues warning signs to man before the arrival of disasters. It is man who has been more often than not ignorant. The ignorance shown by man often leads to disastrous consequences. This paper aims at evaluating this statement in relation to a case study of the earthquake of Sinchuan. (Smith, 2008) has described how nature tends to warn mankind of upcoming calamities in his paper titled â€Å"Rumor and the Sichuan Earthquake†. As the name of his report implies, Smith has explained how nature causes animals to exhibit warning signs to humans when they expect an earthquake, yet many of us fail to realize the gravity of the matter and ignore the statements of those who realize the matter considering them rumors. Nature tends to protect its inhabitants through natural processes and animals’ apparent curiosity is one of the wonders of nature meant to help out the humans. Days before the earthquake broke out in Sichuan, animals were noticed to behave in an awkwardly fashion. Animals belonging to various species were seen running away from the city. Referring to the history of cases when mankind has benefited from the predictions of animals, Smith explained how animals helped people evacuate the area when they sensed the earthquake in Liaoning, which broke out on the 4th of February in 1974.

Film Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 2

Film - Essay Example Strangelove to directly confront many of the most dangerously held beliefs of its American audiences is not only that it does so in comic manner, but that the form of comedy is muted. In fact, future generations could well be forgiven for reading the film as a straight drama. Every scene in Dr. Strangelove is filmed and edited and acted with the utmost seriousness. Despite being one of the funniest movies ever made, actors are not allowed to give in to the temptation either foreshadow the joke or even deliver a "punch line." Despite the fact that the eminently talented physical comedian Peter Sellers stars in three different roles, he is never allowed to mug for the camera. In other words, Dr. Strangelove is a comedy, but it is a comedy based on dramatic irony. One need only watch the far more earnest film that broaches almost exactly the same plot, Fail-Safe, to see how important this approach has been to making Dr. Strangelove a classic, while relegating the dramatic interpretation to merely being a great, but little-known movie. It may only have been possible to fully explore the true extent of the nuclear nightmare through the distancing that comedy naturally allows, but Stanley Kubrick wisely chose not to make anyone in the movie to act as though th ey were making a c comedy. One of the brilliant elements of Dr.

Research methods - Literature review Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Research methods - Literature review - Assignment Example The tone of the article also supports that he is addressing the literate class. In addition, the literature review presented is well referenced using footnotes, a factor that ascertains that it is scholarly. The author explores the balancing and bandwagoning, as the two options that states have during conflicts. Schweller seeks to highlight the factors that motivate states to settle for any of the two alternatives. His thesis is very evident that balancing and bandwagoning are not opposites, and a range of different factors motivates states adopting either of them. The goals of balancing and bandwagoning are different as well, with states opting for bandwagon to gain something, while the purpose of balancing is ensuring that values are protected (p. 75). From the literature review, it becomes evident that many scholars have not focused on exploring the issue of bandwagoning effectively. The author highlights that other authors who have tried to explore this topic previously have misconceived the concepts of bandwagoning. The literature review highlights that rewards are of central significance to states that opt for bandwagoning. It emerges that other reasons also prompt states to consider bandwagoning as the preferred option. The theory of the balance of interests is more realistic in explaining bandwagoning (p. 100). Schweller believes that the topic of bandwagoning has not been explored as it deserves. This is because the balancing theory that has often been used in explaining this concept seems insufficient. Moreover, the goals of bandwagoning have not been explained in details as required. He discerns the need for the development of new theories that can effectively explain the concept (p. 105). In his literature review, he focuses on filling this gap. He does this by reviewing the balancing theory, and explaining the reasons that prompt states to opt for bandwagoning. He

Without topic Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Without topic - Essay Example type of a fallacy is highly common among politicians who, rather than commenting on the issue at hand, try to blame the other party in order to create hype especially among the media. This successfully distracts the opponent as well as the audience and media from the question or issue at hand. These personal comments might even affect a voter`s opinion about the opponent`s political position. One recent example of this fallacy is when President Obama, during his speech, said that â€Å"Gov. Romney "would ask the middle class to pay more in taxes to give another $250,000 tax cut to people making more than $3 million a year. Its like Robin Hood in reverse. Its Romney Hood" (Scott Neuman, Web). It is clear that President Obama is trying to discredit this opponent Gov. Romney by saying that he would introduce such a system in which the people belonging to the middle class would be taxed higher and people who are rich would benefit. This statement might turn the middle class people against Gov. Romney. As a response to this statement, Gov Romney said that, â€Å""Weve been watching the president say a lot of things about me and my policies, and theyre just not right. And if I were to coin a term, it would be Obamaloney† (Scott Neuman, Web). This is a clear example of an Ad Hominem fallacy as both the opponents are trying to damage the reputation of each other in order to gather high voted from the public. They tried to comment on the policies and even gave each other names like Romney hood and Obamaloney. Analysis of Argumentum Ad Logicam is a type of fallacy in which a person creates a disagreeable argument before disclosing the actual argument as it is easier to defeat the real case. It is also known as a straw man fallacy as a person creates a sketch of the opponent in his mind (straw man) in order to counter the opponent`s argument. An example of this fallacy is president Obama`s recent statement against Gov. Romney in which he says that, â€Å" "Were certainly not

Business law Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Business law - Coursework Example Most contracts generally pose no major problems as they address the simple interchange of goods from the seller and cash from the buyer. However, there are contracts that could get complicated and pose serious consequences. The chances of this happening are therefore minimized if the parties contracting understand the concept of what they are agreeing to, the rights, the obligations and the how to foresee potential problems. Under law, a contract is a legally binding promise or set of promises between two parties (Young, 2010), in this case Simon and Lady Gaga. However, there are certain contracts that must, by law be in writing. Examples include insurance contracts or contracts that involve the sale of land. Verbal contracts have one main shortcoming. Whenever there is a dispute over the terms of the contract, it may be very difficult to prove the terms and conditions on which the contract was founded. Parties may deliberately or accidentally forget what they had agreed to. In such a situation, it would be Simon’s word against Lady Gaga’s in the case of a breach. It would therefore be advisable for Simon to enter into a written contract. The foundation of the law of contract is based on a wide body of equity and common law. In order for a contract to be legally binding, there are several requirements that must be met. These were developed under the principles of the common law (Fray & Frey (2001). They are: agreement, consideration, intention, capacity, and legality. These are the requirements on which my advice to Simon is based. Agreement The law considers the distinct aspects of an agreement in a contract. These aspects are two and they must be present for any contract to be considered binding at law. They are offer and acceptance (Richards, 2007). Simon must make an offer that Lady Gaga will clearly and unmistakably accept. The offer would be an indication by Simon that he intends to be bound in a contract with Lady Gaga if she does accept it . In this case Simon is the offeror. a) Invitation to Treat The offer must however be clear and not just an invitation to treat. An invitation to treat would just an indication that he would be wiling to negotiate an offer on the terms of a contract for Lady Gaga to perform in the show. Simon would thus be the one to accept the offer for it to be legally binding. Similar views were held in the case of Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain V. Boots Cash Chemist (Southern) Ltd (1953) 1 QB 401. In this case, the legislation required that there must be a pharmacist present whenever there is a sale of a drug at a self-service store. The question that rose was whether the sale took place when the customer took the drugs from the shelves or at the counter on checkout. It was ruled that the sale actually occurred at the counter when the customer offered to buy the drug at the stated price and the owner accepted the money. This meant that the display was just an invitation to treat and not an offer to sell. b) Counter offer The contract is established when the acceptance has been made. It is therefore important that one is able to identify when the acceptance has actually been made. This is because when Simon makes an offer to Lady Gaga, she may choose to accept it, reject it or try to negotiate for a better deal. For the acceptance to be effective it has to be clearly

Without topic Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Without topic - Essay Example type of a fallacy is highly common among politicians who, rather than commenting on the issue at hand, try to blame the other party in order to create hype especially among the media. This successfully distracts the opponent as well as the audience and media from the question or issue at hand. These personal comments might even affect a voter`s opinion about the opponent`s political position. One recent example of this fallacy is when President Obama, during his speech, said that â€Å"Gov. Romney "would ask the middle class to pay more in taxes to give another $250,000 tax cut to people making more than $3 million a year. Its like Robin Hood in reverse. Its Romney Hood" (Scott Neuman, Web). It is clear that President Obama is trying to discredit this opponent Gov. Romney by saying that he would introduce such a system in which the people belonging to the middle class would be taxed higher and people who are rich would benefit. This statement might turn the middle class people against Gov. Romney. As a response to this statement, Gov Romney said that, â€Å""Weve been watching the president say a lot of things about me and my policies, and theyre just not right. And if I were to coin a term, it would be Obamaloney† (Scott Neuman, Web). This is a clear example of an Ad Hominem fallacy as both the opponents are trying to damage the reputation of each other in order to gather high voted from the public. They tried to comment on the policies and even gave each other names like Romney hood and Obamaloney. Analysis of Argumentum Ad Logicam is a type of fallacy in which a person creates a disagreeable argument before disclosing the actual argument as it is easier to defeat the real case. It is also known as a straw man fallacy as a person creates a sketch of the opponent in his mind (straw man) in order to counter the opponent`s argument. An example of this fallacy is president Obama`s recent statement against Gov. Romney in which he says that, â€Å" "Were certainly not

The History of the Siege of Lisbon by Jose Saramago Annotated Bibliography

The History of the Siege of Lisbon by Jose Saramago - Annotated Bibliography Example The author questions the reason why the proofreader alters the story and includes the word not which changes the whole story. Barosso’s article is about the interview of Saramago about his novel the history of the Siege of Lisbon. The interviewee conducted the interview some days before Saramago was officially crowned the Nobel Prize for Literature. The interviewee focuses on the biography of Saramago and gives us deep insight in what actually happens in life. Borosso also goes ahead and finds out the reason behind the passion behind the literature for the Portugal man. When Saramago was asked about what he would do when he wins the coveted prize, he replied, â€Å"I will not take on the duties of the Nobel as would the winner of the beauty contests, who has to be shown everywhere†¦ I don’t aspire that kind of throne, nor could I, of Course†. The interview reveals how Saramago is a down to earth person but most astonishingly he says he does not miss Lisbon especially after he sought refuge in another country due to controversies surrounding his writings. Saramago confesses that he is a person who doesn’t complicate his life. This is a primary source of reference which is very useful in building up a thesis. It is an interview of the author of the novel. The interview also contains some of his real life experiences which can play a major role in building up the thesis of my research. In addition to this the excerpts from the interviews can also be in strengthening my research objectives and questions. When Evans visited Palestine he decided to pose and talk to Saramago concerning what is happening in Palestine. He interviews Saramago concerning what was actually happening in Palestine in reference to his novel the History of the siege of Lisbon. The interviewee is keen to extract information about what he thinks is happening in Palestine is relevant to what he wrote some times back.

Impact of Trade on East Asia and South Asia Essay Example for Free

Impact of Trade on East Asia and South Asia Essay East Asia and South Asia was similar in that it promoted economic development in both regions and transformed port cities of both regions into cosmopolitan centers, but differed in that it helped with the establishment of Buddhism in China while it helped with the establishment of Islam in India. The impact of trade on East Asia and South Asia was similar in that it promoted economic development in both regions. In East Asia, the Grand Canal, a series of connected waterways, linked together north and south China. As northern and southern China traded rice and other food crops, the larger economy of China improved and grew. In South Asia, northern and southern India traded spices, metals, and specialized crops that were not available throughout India. As northern and southern India traded, the south prospered and experienced a surge in economic development. Trade promoted economic development in both East Asia and South Asia because they both traded within their region and outside of it, obtaining profit and wealth, along with goods. The impact of trade on East Asia and South Asia was similar in that it transformed port cities of both regions into cosmopolitan centers. As China traded, Arab, Persian, and Malay merchants settled within its region. The merchants settled in port cities, such as Guangzhou and Quanzhou, which turned into cosmopolitan centers. As India traded, Muslim, Jewish, and other merchants began to dwell within the subcontinent. The brokers became residents at port cities, such as Calicut, which developed into cosmopolitan societies. Trade transformed port cities in both East Asia and South Asia into cosmopolitan centers because they both had thriving commercial centers where merchants moved to in search of business opportunities. The impact of trade on East Asia and South Asia differed in that it helped with the establishment of Buddhism in China while it helped with the establishment of Islam in India. Buddhism diffused into China along trade routes. Merchants set up Buddhist communities in China, such as Dunhuang, helping it gain a foothold in society. Islam spread into India as merchants traded and settled in the region. As they settled in cities, such as Cambay, they spread Islam into Indian society. Trade helped with the establishment of Buddhism in China, but helped with Islam in India because Muslim merchants traveled to South Asia due to its trade centers and relative proximity, while Buddhist merchants traveled to East Asia in search of trade opportunities outside of India. From 600 to 1450 CE, the influence of trade on East Asia and South Asia was similar in that it encouraged economic growth in both areas and helped with the development of port cities into cosmopolitan centers in both regions, but differed in that it promoted the establishment of Buddhism in China while it promoted the establishment of Islam in India.

Case Study: Mother Dairy Milk

Case Study: Mother Dairy Milk Mother Dairy Milk Case Study On Mother Dairy Abstract Mother Dairy is looking to take advantage of the opportunity which are in galore available for all milk manufactures. Mother Dairy-Delhi was set up in 1974 under the operation flood programme. it is now a subsidiary company of National Dairy Development Board (NDDB). Mother Dairy sources its entire requirement of liquid milk from dairy cooperatives. Similarly, Mother dairy sources fruits and vegetables from framers/growers associations. Mother dairy also contributes to the cause of oilseeds grower cooperatives that manufacture/pack the Dhara range of edible oils by undertaking to nationally market al dhara products. Of the three As of marketing-availability, acceptability and affordability, Mother dairy is already endowed with first two. Hence no efforts are needed to make it acceptable. Its availability is not a limitation either, because if the ample scope for increasing milk production, given the prevailing low yields from dairy cattle. It leaves the third vital marketing factor affordability. How to make milk affordable for the large majority with limited purchasing power? That is essence of the challenge. Current theories of strategy and organization suggest that Mother Dairy benefit from related diversification and tight coordination of the multidivisional structure. This Project aims to probe into this issue by using theoretical framework of strategy, structure and performance. three issues will be addressed by us: a) What strategies and structure does Mother Dairy adopt in a constantly changing and turbulent developing economy? B) Do the influences of Mother Diary have interaction effects with environmental conditions? C) How does Mother Dairy make its competitor not to grasps its market in the gurgaon area? Introduction â€Å"Mother Dairy† is the single largest brand of milk in Delhi, India as well as in Asia, marketing about 1.9 million litres of milk per day.Mother Dairy commands 40% market share in the organised sector in and around Delhi, primarily because of consistent quality and service what ever be the crisis-floods, transport strike, curfew etc. Mother Dairy, Patparganj, Delhi, is presently manufacturing selling around 8.5 lakh litres of tonned milk through bulk vending shops. Mother Dairy, Delhi is an IS/ISO-9001:2000 and Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points (HACCP) and IS-14001:1996 Envoirnment Management System (EMS) Certified organisation.Mother Dairy was the first industry in country to implement ISO-14031(Envoirnment Performance Evaluation) project. The comany’s Quality Assurance Laboratory is ISO/IEC-17025:1999 certified by NABL (National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratory), Department of Science Technology, India.This provides assurance to the consumer in respect of Quality and Safety of products manufactured and marketed by Mother Dairy Background of Mother Dairy The main reasons for the low yield are:  · Lack of use of scientific practices in mulching. Inadequate availability of fodder in all seasons. Unavailability of veterinary health services. Indian Dairy Products The term Indian Dairy Products refers to those milk products, which originated in undivided India. Flow Chart of Conversion of Milk Into Traditional Indian Dairy Products sMilk Cultured Condensed Acid Precipitation Shrikhand Ghee Lassi Kadbi Misti Doi Rabri Kheer Kkoa Paneer Sandesh Chhana Rasgoola Pantoda Rasmalai Burfi Pedha Kalakand Gulabjamun Major Players There are virtually 15 major Dairy Cooperative Federations in India, namely: Andhra Pradesh Dairy Development Cooperative Federation Ltd (APDDCF) Bihar State Cooperative Milk Producers Federation Ltd (COMPFED) Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd (GCMMF) Haryana Dairy Development Cooperative Federation Ltd. (HDDCF) Himachal Pradesh State Cooperative Milk Producers Federation Ltd (HPSCMPF) Karnataka Cooperative Milk Producers Federation Ltd (KMF) Kerala State Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd (KCMMF) Madhya Pradesh State Cooperative Dairy Federation Ltd (MPCDF) Maharashtra Rajya Sahakari Maryadit Dugdh Mahasangh (Mahasangh) Orissa State Cooperative Milk Producers Federation Ltd (OMFED) Pradeshik Cooperative Dairy Federation Ltd (UP) (PCDF) Punjab State Cooperative Milk Producers Federation Ltd (MILKFED) Rajasthan Cooperative Dairy Federation Ltd (RCDF) Tamilnadu Cooperative Milk Producers Federation Ltd (TCMPF) West Bengal Cooperative Milk Producers Federation Ltd. (WBCMPF) National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) is the central cooperative board of the country and was created to promote, finance and support producer-owned and controlled organizations mentioned above. Two main players – Amul of GCMMF and Mother Dairy of NDDB – is the leading brand in India. Our main focus is to analyze the strategic move of NDDB for mother Dairy from top to bottom. Thus we are going to concentrate on the progress of Mother Diary and NDDB for their future strategies. Historical Background of Mother Dairy MotherDairy is the single largest brand of milk in India as well as in Asia, marketing about 2.2 million litres of milk per day. Mother Dairy commands 40% market share in the organized sector in and around Delhi, primarily because of consistent quality and service – whatever be the crisis floods, transportstrike, curfew etc. Mother Dairy, Patparganj, Delhi, is presently manufacturing selling around 8.5 lakh litres of tonned milk through bulk vending shops. Mother Dairy, Delhi is an IS/ISO 9001:2000 and Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points (HACCP) and IS-14001:1996 Envoirnment Management System (EMS) Certified organisation. Mother Dairy was the first Dairy in the country to implement ISO-14031 (Envoirnment Performance Evaluation) project. Thecomanys Quality Assurance Laboratory is ISO/IEC- 17025:1999 certified by NABL (National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratory), Department of Science Technology, India. This provides assurance to the consumer in respect of Quality and Safety of products manufactured and marketed by Mother Dairy. The National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) commissioned Mother Dairy in the first phase of Operation Flood in 1974. Considering the success of Dairy industry NDDB established Fruit Vegetable Project in Delhi in 1988 with SAFAL as its umbrella brand. With a view to separating the commercial activities from developmental activities, the NDDB merged Mother Dairy and the Fruit Vegetable project into a wholly owned company named Mother Dairy Fruit Vegetable Ltd (MDFVL) in April 2000. This becomes the holding company of Mother Dairy India Ltd (MDIL) – a marketing company and Mother Dairy Foods Processing Ltd (MDFPL) – a processing company. MDFPL is a multi unit company, with units at various locations in India. Mother Dairy, Delhi is one of the units of MDFPL. The company is a highly trusted house hold name for its wide range of milk products like Milk, Flavored Milk, Ice-Cream, Dahi, Lassi, Table Butter, Dairy Whitener, Ghee etc. The application for the award is being made for Mother Dairy, Delhi unit. Mother dairy has taken up the concept of Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) wholeheartedly. The number of employees involved in KAIZENS and the no. of KAIZENS per employee are very encouraging. Mother Dairy is a member of CII-TPM Club and the KAIZENS done by Mother Dairy employees have been selected and presented in 2nd ,3rd ,4th and 5th National Kaizen Conferences held from time to time during the last three years. Our TPM efforts have resulted in increase in MTBF and decrease in MTTR, quality improvement, Cost reduction and reduction in accidents. Mother Dairy has received Best Productivity Performance award for three consecutive years starting from1987-88 to1989-90 and again from1995-96 to1997-1998 from National productivity Council and a commendation Certificate for Rajiv Gandhi National Quality Award, National Energy Conservation Award 2004, Oil and Gas Conservation Award 2004, Indian Innovation Award 2004 and Safety Initiative Award 2005. Over the years, Mother Dairy has not only served the daily need of milk of the consumers of Delhi, it has also extended its milk to other States like Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh Gujarat and is expanding its wings rapidly to serve the masses. Strategically located Mother Dairy booths across Delhi and NCR make it convenient for you to pick up your daily requirement of Milk, Flavored milk, Butter, Dahi, Lassi, Cheese, Chaas†¦.mouth watering Ice Creams. The focus is on key markets for each of the categories. In the curd category, they have been in Delhi for a while now and launched in Mumbai. They hold a 60 per cent market share in Delhi, but it is too soon to gauge where we stand in Mumbai. Objectives and Business Philosophy of Mother Dairy The main stakeholder of Mother Dairy was the farmer member for whose welfare it existed. Unlike other organizations, their objective is not to maximize the profit. They are more interested in giving the best price for the farmers for their milk than in making a large profit. Thus they look at the price given to their suppliers as not a cost but as an objective. Mother Dairy had, as its main objective, â€Å"carrying out activities for the economic development of agriculturists by fficiently organizing marketing of milk and dairy produce, agricultural produce in raw and/or processed form and other allied produce†. This was to be done through: Common branding Centralized marketing Centralized quality control Centralized purchases and Pooling of milk efficiently Mother Dairy had declared, as its business philosophy, the following: ensure that milk producers and farmers regularly and continually receive market prices by offering quality milk, milk products and other food products to consumers at competitive prices and; uphold institutional structures that empower milk producers and farmers through processes that are equitable. The biggest strength of Mother Dairy was the trust it had created in the minds of its consumers regarding the quality of its products. NDDB, and its brand Mother Dairy, stood for guaranteed purity of whatever products it had produced. Adulteration was simply not done in any of its products. In India, where such trust was hard to come by, this could provide a central anchor for Mother Dairy’s future business plans. For more than 40 years Mother Dairy helping to create a national network has been adapted and extended to other commodities and areas. Their constant effort to learn and to enrich experience is central to their approach and capacities. In times to come, Mother Dairy shall strive to become a leading player in the food industry in India. Strategies Implemented 1. Focused Approach Mother Dairy wants to get into bigger markets and have bigger shares in those markets. The cooperative is also expanding its product portfolio further to match rival offerings – particularly those of Amul. For the first 22 years of its existence, liquid milk was the only dairy product that Mother Dairy offered. It was in 1996 that it came up with ice-creams. But the real spurt came about four years ago, when it introduced curd, flavoured milk, lassi and mishti doi. It introduced butter a year-and- half ago; ghee and UTH milk a year ago; and cheese, about 10 months ago. And under its frozen foods and vegetables brand Safal, besides the introduction of corn and mixed vegetables, it has come out with frozen potato-based snacks in a few months. So while the product portfolio has been growing, Mother Dairy has plans for reach out to newer markets but the strategy here is more product-specific. In liquid milk, it will initially concentrate only on four markets Delhi, its home ground; the Junagarh region and Ahmedabad in Gujarat; Mumbai, which it entered a few years ago; and Hyderabad, where it moved in a little more than a couple of years ago. They have no plans to go everywhere with liquid milk. Whats the need to get into those markets that already have strong co-operative brands? Their objective of getting into newer locations is not to make Mother Dairy larger, but to ensure that there is a large viable distribution network and consumer brand to take care of surplus milk. In Mumbai, where the liquid milk market is close to 40 to 42 lakh (4 to 4.2 million) litres a day, only about 20-22 lakh (2-2.2 million) litres a day is in the organised market and that too is highly fragmented with a number of smaller players with shares of about 10,000-20,000 litres a day. Mother Dairy claims a share of 170,000 litres a day, with the biggest player, Mahananda, selling about 800,000 litres a day and Aarey and Amul about 250,000-300,000 litres a day each. In Hyderabad, Mother Dairy claims it has a 15 per cent market share of the approximate 9-10 lakh (900,000 to 1 million) litres a day of the organised market. These are still early days in the two markets, but we are looking at 10-12 per cent growth in the overall fresh milk segment. 2. Wider Spread However, as far as other dairy products are concerned, Mother Dairy plans to expand across the board. Other than milk, for most state federations, dairy products are still a small part of their operations. So they are taking their products to regions across India, where they see enough market potential. In ice creams, it was only a bit more than two years ago that Mother Dairy entered its first market outside Delhi UP and Punjab. Today, its extended its operation to Haryana, Jaipur, Mumbai and Kolkata as well. Next year, it plans to go south to Hyderabad and Bangalore. In the case of butter and cheese, its present across north India, Mumbai and Kolkata, and has plans to enter Bangalore by year-end. In UTH milk, it has entered Mumbai and the milk-short areas of West Bengal and north-east. For ghee, although the current focus is the northern region, it has plans for a nationwide presence. As far as Mother Dairys non-dairy products are concerned, edible-oil brand Dhara has already has nationwide presence. 3. Product Differentiation While Mother Dairy still may not have a product portfolio as large as Amul, which is also expanding across the country in a big way and is a much bigger player, its doing its bit. Mother Dairy says the idea is not just to enter new markets, but to do well in those markets which mean bigger market shares in the different product categories in whichever market it is present. The drivers will be value created through quality of the offerings as well as innovations in products. This will, of course, be backed by relevant marketing and promotion campaigns.Mother Dairy are bringing in mass Indian flavours which are building up in terms of absolute percentage of contribution. Their attempt is to make the taste experience in ice creams as familiar as possible so as to increase consumption. Take the case of curd. It started off very slow but today, Mother Dairy claims its growing at close to 60 per cent year-on-year in Delhi. Here again, the Indian flavour formula seems to have worked. While curd from an MNC player is probably based on international formulation, they formulated it to taste as close to home-made curd as possible. If the offering fits well with the Indian consumer, the resistance is lower and acceptance more. 4. Smart Marketing On the marketing front, Mother Dairy says its trying to take its product campaigns and communications to a higher platform. For instance, in the case of milk, the campaigns do not talk about the obvious benefits milk is good for health, it has calcium and so on but rather it targets children and are created around ideas such as The country needs you, grow faster. As far as products such as butter, cheese and ice creams go, the campaigns have been created around taste. For butter again, the focus is on children. Here, Mother Dairy has dared to go different. Since 60 per cent butter is consumed by kids, the company wants them to sit up and take notice of its butter. Makkhan Singh, a sturdy jovial cow (a cartoon character) has been made its brand ambassador. While Mother Dairy has been carrying out school programmes games and activities – involving Makkhan Singh in Delhi, it has plans to take such activities to Mumbai and Kolkata as well. It also runs a gaming website on the character to attract children. Its cheese for children again. A couple of months ago, Mother Dairy carried out a retail activity: Cheese khao superhero ban jao, where kids buying cheese at a retail outlet were invited for a photo op dressed as superheros through Polaroid cameras; and the framed photograph was presented to them. The activity was carried out in about 150 outlets in Delhi and Mumbai, with about 20,000-25,000 snaps being taken. Cheese was also something that helped the company bond better with its retailers. In November 2005, retailers in Delhi displayed banners proclaiming, Cheese ke saath bees ki cheez, a proposal that said if a consumer buys Mother Dairy cheese, the retailer can offer him anything worth Rs 20 from the shop which worked better than offering something free with the product, which the consumer didnt even needs. The exercise resulted in better ties with retailers. A positive response made Mother Dairy to repeat it in Kolkata as well. Clearly, Mother Dairy has aggressive plans. But, strong regional brands and other co-operatives will continue to give it tough competition. Perspective Strategies applied by Mother Dairy Mother Dairy maps the future of dairying in India, setting realistic goals for Strengthening Cooperative Business, Production Enhancement, Assuring Quality and Creating an Information and Development Research. The plan was realised with the successful completion of the Operation Flood Programme and has been developed by the State Milk Marketing Federations and the Milk Producers Cooperative Unions in consultation with the Dairy Board. The goals and strategies to meet them have been drawn by its actual implementers Federation and Unions and supported by NDDB. 1. Strategy for Strengthening Cooperative Business: Recruit, train and motivate increasing numbers of women to work for Mother Dairy to achieve significant improvements in dairy husbandry, as they primarily shoulder animal. husbandry related responsibilities in rural India. Consolidation and growth in milk and milk product marketing, promoting better equity for regional cooperative brands and developing qualified and skilled manpower. Education of producer members, opinion leaders and trained professionals to be expanded and strengthened. Empower local leaders, strengthen societies and equip their staff and members with the skills and information they need. Persuade the State and Central Governments to remove the shackles on cooperative laws so dairy can compete on equal terms with other forms of enterprise. 2. Strategy for Production Enhancement: Improve the production potential of indigenous breeds of cattle such as Sahiwal, Gir, Rathi and Kankrej and breeds of buffalo such as Murrah, Mehsana and Jaffarbadi through appropriate selection programme. Cross non-descript cattle with Holestein Friesian in areas with adequate feed and fodder and with Jersey in resource-poor areas. Increase the production and use of high quality feed appropriate to local conditions. Increase production and availability of green and ensiled fodder. Encourage unions, NGOs and cooperatives to put common property area under improved pasture and fodder tree. Expand first-aid coverage through village level societies Increase vaccination of animals against HS, BQ and FMD Develop Mastitis and Brucellosis control strategies 3. Strategy for Assuring Quality: Identify and address quality related problems at every stage from the producer at the village cooperative, to the dairy plant and the process of final delivery to the consumer. Facilitate improvement of hygiene, sanitation, food safety and operating efficiency in the dairy plants and sensitize dairy personnel to product quality aspects as per international standards. 4. Strategy for Creating an Information and Development Research Link large cooperatives, Unions, Federations and NDDB in a national network that collects, adds value and disseminates information Ensure availability of analytical information for Policy Planning and Decision Support Mother Dairy has different plans for its dairy business, which includes flavoured milk, lassi, curd, butter and cheese besides its toned milks. Each of these products has a regional stronghold, with a shelf life of 10 days. However, the company is looking at alternatives that would increase the shelf life and allow the products to be distributed in other parts of the country as well. In the ice cream segment, the company has been able to capture 15 per cent of the market, and hopes to increase it to 20 per cent by 2008. On MDILs marketing strategies while the company does a lot of innovative advertising and on field activities, it spends 3-4 per cent of the turnover on marketing. All categories were experiencing a growth of 30-40 per cent per annum, and that the turnover was growing at 15-17 per cent every year. Mother Dairy had clocked a turnover of Rs 1,800 crore in 2005-06 and was looking at clocking Rs 2,200 crore in 2006-07. Diversification Moves by Mother Diary After becoming a pan-India player recently, dairy chain Mother Dairy, a subsidiary of the National Diary Development Board, is now eyeing a turnover of one billion dollar in the next two years. Following expansion of their business in other cities and with the launch of new products, they are expecting to cross one billion dollar turnover by the end of FY 2009. The dairy chains topline has been growing at a rate of 22-25 per cent per annum and is expecting a turnover of Rs 2,700 crore this fiscal. Mother Dairy will be the second dairy chain in the country after Amul to cross the one billion turnover milestone, if it achieves the target. For over three decades, Mother Dairy restricted its presence mainly in the National Capital Region in the fresh milk and other milk products segment. This year it went for a market expansion across the country. They have a plan to capture all the top six markets in the milk and milk products segment in the country. It has recently entered the fresh milk market in Hyderabad and simultaneously made foray into curd, ice-cream and lassi segments in Mumbai market. Mother Dairy markets dairy products such as fresh liquid milk, ice-creams, and other milk products. It also markets Dhara range of edible oils and the Safal range of fresh fruits and vegetables and fruit juices. Mother Dairy are present by and large in most of the big categories; now it is more about foraying into niches and value-added versions in the same categories. For instance, they have been in the curd and ‘lassi’ categories for around five-six years, but they have now forayed into probiotic curd and ‘lassi’. Advertisement and Promotion by Mother Dairy On the marketing front, Mother Dairy says its trying to take its product campaigns and communications to a higher platform. For instance, in the case of milk, the campaigns do not talk about the obvious benefits milk is good for health, it has calcium and so on but rather it targets children and are created around ideas such as The country needs you, grow faster. As far as products such as butter, cheese and ice creams go, the campaigns have been created around taste. For butter again, the focus is on children. Amul butter may be selling the most, but the advertising and promotions are almost always targeted at adults, points out an analyst citing Amuls popular Utterly-Butterly campaigns. Here, Mother Dairy has dared to go different. Since 60 per cent butter is consumed by kids, the company wants them to sit up and take notice of its butter. Makkhan Singh, a sturdy jovial cow (a cartoon character) has been made its brand ambassador. While Mother Dairy has been carrying out school programmes games and activities – involving Makkhan Singh in Delhi, it has plans to take such activities to Mumbai and Kolkata as well. It also runs a gaming website on the character to attract children. Equity and empathy are being built for the brand, the values for which it stands, and the various other Mother Dairy products, which draw their core values from Mother Dairy milk. Its cheese for children again. A couple of months ago, Mother Dairy carried out a retail activity: Cheese khao superhero ban jao, where kids buying cheese at a retail outlet were invited for a photo op dressed as superheros through Polaroid cameras; and the framed photograph was presented to them. The activity was carried out in about 150 outlets in Delhi and Mumbai, with about 20,000-25,000 snaps being taken. It claims that the exercise resulted in better ties with retailers. A positive response made Mother Dairy to repeat it in Kolkota as well. Clearly, Mother Dairy has aggressive plans. But, strong regional brands and other co-operatives will continue to give it tough competition. It will not be a cakewalk anymore. Mother Dairy and Its Programme for Management of Change Mother Dairy looked at all its operations, strengths and weaknesses as well as opportunities available, and came to the conclusion that it had to become more customer centred (rather than merely being farmer or supplier centred). This required paying close attention to the customer needs and quality. Mother Dairy realized that it was not enough that Mother Dairy itself was wedded to these ideas; the entire supply chain had to conform. Hence it launched a â€Å"Total Quality Management† or TQM to ensure the high quality of the products from the starting point (the village farmer who supplied milk) right through the value chain until it reached the consumer. This meant the need for the involvement of farmers, transporters, factory personnel, wholesalers and retailers, each of whom had a role to play. What began as a TQM movement radually became a movement for management of change in the entire value chain. Mother Dairy’s Management of Change (MOC) initiative was launched in six areas: cleanliness of the dairy co-operative societies, planning and budgeting of the dairy cooperative society, artificial insemination service, quality testing and milk measurement by the dairy co-operatives, animal feeding and management practices and self leadership development. Analysis and the Result of The Case The strategy implied by Mother Dairy was that it wanted to increase its market share by providing the best quality to its consumers and building trust with the customers in the long run unlike other organization, there objective is not to maximize profit. Their strategy involves paying the best price to the farmers then making a large profit. Thus there objective is to give the best price to there suppliers. Few common strategies adopted by them is as follows: Common branding Focused approach Product differentiation Smart Marketing Product enhancement and assured quality etc Recently to increase its market share it has introduced several new products positioned against its competitors like amul. Some of the items are ice-cream, lassi, curd, mishti doi etc. The modus operandi includes providing the best quality and taste which is almost a substitute to the home made products. So the mother dairy is trying to get more familiar taste and come closer to the consumers directly. In case of the marketing of the mother dairy products as in the case example of marketing of cheese, in which they have targeted a age group. They are much targeted to a particular age group especially kids and a younger people who are in the growing age. End Notes Mother dairy plans to increase its market share with the introduction of new products and enhancing its market outside delhi to other places. Mother dairy has launched its ice-creams ,curd ,probiotic curd, sweet curd etc. to increase the market share. The advertisement strategies used by Mother dairy is also unique and better than its competitors. A specific age group is targeted and effort is made to sustain that age group of customers. Also profit is the least important motive of it but customer satisfaction is the main roots of their growth. . Bibliography 1. http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2004/12/31/07hdline.htm 2. http://www.rediff.com/money/2006/jul/04spec1.htm 3. www.nddb.org 4. www.motherdairy.com 5. http://www.fnbnews.com/article/ articled=19121 6.http://www.icmrindia.org/casestudies/catalogue/Business%20strategy2/National%20Dairy%20Development%20Board-Dairy%20Cooperative%20Movement.htm 7. Empowerment Case Studies: National Dairy Development Board 8. www.indiadairy.com 9. Opportunities and Challenges in the Indian Dairy Industry – Dr. K. G. Karmakar and Dr. G. D. Banerjee

Acting Black and Acting White in Racist America :: Racism Race Essays

Acting Black and Acting White in Racist America Several years ago, four New York City police officers were acquitted after their trial for the murder of an African immigrant. Bill Bradley is quoted in Newsweek (March 6, 2000): "I think that it shows that when racial profiling seeps so deeply into somebody's mind, a wallet in the hand of a white man looks like a wallet, but a wallet in the hand of a black man looks like a gun." My nephew, David, who is African American, is beginning to expereince teasing about doing well in school and "acting white." He will end up, as have his mother and our other two African American siblings, learning to act black in certain situations and white in others. People live in quite similar and yet vastly different Umwelten. In this reflexive paper I intend to explore for myself some ideas about the Umwelten of inner city, lower SES African American families (I taught in inner city Washington, D.C.) and white American suburban middle class families. Different Umwelten can lead to vastly different ways of thinking about what it means to be successful in life and, thus, how parents raise and what they desire for their children. The conversation my sister and I were having did not end with thoughts about David and his hardships in school. We discussed reasons children would tease other children for valuing schooling, and what the teasing says about parents' and culture's educational beliefs. My sister decided that she could not imagine any parents who would not want their child to get an education and, if they had the opportunity, to go to college. (Implied in this sentence is, of course, the assumption that every person has the opportunity to go get that "education.") I was aghast. Aren't we both liberal people brought up together in the same liberal household? Yet my sister seems to have some limiting views that I do not share (at least not consciously). First, "education" means graduating from high school and the opportunity to go on to college. Second, every parent would want and value this education for their children. Third, this would mean that the opportunity for this education was available to all children and their parents know it. Here I saw a glimpse through a slice of the rhizome that is my sister's mind, where her interpretants for the signs of "opportunity" and "education" are different from mine, and where they lead to different connections than these interpretants do for me. Acting Black and Acting White in Racist America :: Racism Race Essays Acting Black and Acting White in Racist America Several years ago, four New York City police officers were acquitted after their trial for the murder of an African immigrant. Bill Bradley is quoted in Newsweek (March 6, 2000): "I think that it shows that when racial profiling seeps so deeply into somebody's mind, a wallet in the hand of a white man looks like a wallet, but a wallet in the hand of a black man looks like a gun." My nephew, David, who is African American, is beginning to expereince teasing about doing well in school and "acting white." He will end up, as have his mother and our other two African American siblings, learning to act black in certain situations and white in others. People live in quite similar and yet vastly different Umwelten. In this reflexive paper I intend to explore for myself some ideas about the Umwelten of inner city, lower SES African American families (I taught in inner city Washington, D.C.) and white American suburban middle class families. Different Umwelten can lead to vastly different ways of thinking about what it means to be successful in life and, thus, how parents raise and what they desire for their children. The conversation my sister and I were having did not end with thoughts about David and his hardships in school. We discussed reasons children would tease other children for valuing schooling, and what the teasing says about parents' and culture's educational beliefs. My sister decided that she could not imagine any parents who would not want their child to get an education and, if they had the opportunity, to go to college. (Implied in this sentence is, of course, the assumption that every person has the opportunity to go get that "education.") I was aghast. Aren't we both liberal people brought up together in the same liberal household? Yet my sister seems to have some limiting views that I do not share (at least not consciously). First, "education" means graduating from high school and the opportunity to go on to college. Second, every parent would want and value this education for their children. Third, this would mean that the opportunity for this education was available to all children and their parents know it. Here I saw a glimpse through a slice of the rhizome that is my sister's mind, where her interpretants for the signs of "opportunity" and "education" are different from mine, and where they lead to different connections than these interpretants do for me.

Involvement Of K+ In Leaf Movements During Suntracking :: essays research papers

Involvement of K+ in Leaf Movements During Suntracking Introduction   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Many plants orient their leaves in response to directional light signals. Heliotropic movements, or movements that are affected by the sun, are common among plants belonging to the families Malvaceae, Fabaceae, Nyctaginaceae, and Oxalidaceae. The leaves of many plants, including Crotalaria pallida, exhibit diaheliotropic movement. C. pallida is a woody shrub native to South Africa. Its trifoliate leaves are connected to the petiole by 3-4 mm long pulvinules (Schmalstig). In diaheliotropic movement, the plant’s leaves are oriented perpendicular to the sun’s rays, thereby maximizing the interception of photosynthetically active radiation (PAR). In some plants, but not all, his response occurs particularly during the morning and late afternoon, when the light is coming at more of an angle and the water stress is not as severe (Donahue and Vogelmann). Under these conditions the lamina of the leaf is within less than 15 ° from the normal to the sun. Many plants that exhibit diaheliotropic movements also show paraheliotropic response as well. Paraheliotropism minimizes water loss by reducing the amount of light absorbed by the leaves; the leaves orient themselves parallel to the sun’s rays. Plants that exhibit paraheliotropic behavior usually do so at midday, when the sun’s rays are perpendicular to the ground. This reorientation takes place only in leaves of plants that are capable of nastic light-driven movements, such as the trifoliate leaf of Erythrina spp. (Herbert 1984). However, this phenomenon has been observed in other legume species that exhibit diaheliotropic leaf movement as well. Their movement is temporarily transformed from diaheliotropic to paraheliotropic. In doing so, the interception of solar radiation is maximized during the morning and late afternoon, and minimized during midday. The leaves of Crotalaria pallida also exhibit nyctinastic, or sleep, movements, in which the leaves fold down at night. The solar tracking may also provide a competitive advantage during early growth, since there is little shading, and also by intercepting more radiant heat in the early morning, thus raising leaf temperature nearer the optimum for photosynthesis.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Integral to understanding the heliotropic movements of a plant is determining how the leaf detects the angle at which the light is incident upon it, how this perception is transduced to the pulvinus, and finally, how this signal can effect a physiological response (Donahue and Vogelmann).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In the species Crotalaria pallida, blue light seems to be the wavelength that stimulates these leaf movements (Scmalstig). It has been implicated in the photonastic unfolding of leaves and in the diaheliotropic response in Mactroptilium atropurpureum and Lupinus succulentus (Schwartz, Gilboa, and Koller 1987). However, the light receptor involved can not be determined from Involvement Of K+ In Leaf Movements During Suntracking :: essays research papers Involvement of K+ in Leaf Movements During Suntracking Introduction   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Many plants orient their leaves in response to directional light signals. Heliotropic movements, or movements that are affected by the sun, are common among plants belonging to the families Malvaceae, Fabaceae, Nyctaginaceae, and Oxalidaceae. The leaves of many plants, including Crotalaria pallida, exhibit diaheliotropic movement. C. pallida is a woody shrub native to South Africa. Its trifoliate leaves are connected to the petiole by 3-4 mm long pulvinules (Schmalstig). In diaheliotropic movement, the plant’s leaves are oriented perpendicular to the sun’s rays, thereby maximizing the interception of photosynthetically active radiation (PAR). In some plants, but not all, his response occurs particularly during the morning and late afternoon, when the light is coming at more of an angle and the water stress is not as severe (Donahue and Vogelmann). Under these conditions the lamina of the leaf is within less than 15 ° from the normal to the sun. Many plants that exhibit diaheliotropic movements also show paraheliotropic response as well. Paraheliotropism minimizes water loss by reducing the amount of light absorbed by the leaves; the leaves orient themselves parallel to the sun’s rays. Plants that exhibit paraheliotropic behavior usually do so at midday, when the sun’s rays are perpendicular to the ground. This reorientation takes place only in leaves of plants that are capable of nastic light-driven movements, such as the trifoliate leaf of Erythrina spp. (Herbert 1984). However, this phenomenon has been observed in other legume species that exhibit diaheliotropic leaf movement as well. Their movement is temporarily transformed from diaheliotropic to paraheliotropic. In doing so, the interception of solar radiation is maximized during the morning and late afternoon, and minimized during midday. The leaves of Crotalaria pallida also exhibit nyctinastic, or sleep, movements, in which the leaves fold down at night. The solar tracking may also provide a competitive advantage during early growth, since there is little shading, and also by intercepting more radiant heat in the early morning, thus raising leaf temperature nearer the optimum for photosynthesis.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Integral to understanding the heliotropic movements of a plant is determining how the leaf detects the angle at which the light is incident upon it, how this perception is transduced to the pulvinus, and finally, how this signal can effect a physiological response (Donahue and Vogelmann).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In the species Crotalaria pallida, blue light seems to be the wavelength that stimulates these leaf movements (Scmalstig). It has been implicated in the photonastic unfolding of leaves and in the diaheliotropic response in Mactroptilium atropurpureum and Lupinus succulentus (Schwartz, Gilboa, and Koller 1987). However, the light receptor involved can not be determined from

Effects of Societal Changes in Management Practices Essay

Companies are faced with the need to uplift competitive standards through implementation of measures that take care of the demands and challenges brought about by societal changes. The changing societal trends should be accompanied by changes in management practices. The changes covers the areas of responsibilities such as strategic planning, reinforcing the values and ethical issues of the company, analytical work, training employees and the adoption of the relevant technologies which can reduce the workloads on employees. Much effort should also be geared towards the retention of the employees (Duckier, 2006). The management has the responsibilities to foresee the future labor requirements projected through the use of techniques such as environmental scanning. Information from journals, mass media, potential think tanks, public opinion surveys, research, NGOs among other sources are of positive contribution for an environmental scanning (Duckier, 2006). Demographic Changes  Societal aspects related to demographic changes include age, social class, gender, fertility rates, mortality rates and family mobility. Demographic factors include increasing life expectancy of people, immigrants into the society, aging population, baby boomers approaching retirement and generation diversity among others all of which are associated with some demands. Increased life expectancy has led to employees working longer as a result of increased healthier lives. Financial concerns further extend their working life. Ageing in population as a demographic factor, affects economic, political environmental physical as well as cultural aspects in the society and workplace. Health provision and other social services and the company’s potential to pay for them are affected by population ageing (Society for Human Resource Management, 2003). Social Changes Social Changes are mostly caused by advance in technology. In an effort to adapt the upcoming technology there arises some economic imbalance between some agents (Society for Human Resource Management, 2003). Diversity has a vast range of concept ranging from personality and work style to all of the visible dimensions such as race, age, ethnicity or gender, to secondary influences such as religion, socio-economics and education, to work diversities as management and union, functional level and classification, or proximity to headquarters. Today’s impetus behind workplace diversity is compliance and inclusion in the business. The collaboration of cultures, ideas and different perspectives brings greater creativity and innovation resulting to improved organizational performance. Today’s paradigm is integration, learning and promotion of equal opportunities and value cultural differences, using talents of all employees to gain diverse work perspective. Diversity caused by immigrants, participation of women in the workplace and the aboriginal populations causes some considerable pressures in the workplace (Society for Human Resource Management, 2003). The management is faced with the duty of training the immigrants ranging from the internal language to the internships in the workplace. The management is also entitles to recognize credentials of the immigrants of their alien countries. Disabled employees are another aspect of diversity. The number of disabled employees increases with age, while more women than men are disabled. The issue of disability in the workplace calls for the management to face accommodation issues and offer more flexible schedules for work delivery (Frederick, 1996). Ethnic minorities have become significant inclusions into the labor market making diversity brought about by culture a significant component of a global labor market. The diversity brought about by culture has therefore called for some strategic management approaches to facilitate the retention of the talents in the workplace. Culture is a significant factor in the process of talents hiring keeping and development in the organization. The process involved in management becomes acceptable and effective due to the influence of the people making applications and prospecting to join the organization hailing from diverse cultures. Culture is also a potential moderator of the relationships in the organization (Stone, Stone-Romero & Lukaszewski, 2007). Implications in management practices Implications of this societal changes in the company requires the following roles in the management practices Developing and Implementing HR plans: Management practices should focus on assignments as well as opportunities involving the required number of people, specific place and time, peoples qualifications, their growth needs, development and rewarding the employees. Competencies involving the skills and inherent knowledge of the workers are utilized for a successful performance. It involves the already existing, competencies required for the future, those that can be avoided and whether the company will hire or develop the needed talents. Behaviors reflect attitudes of employees, the organizational values, detrimental behaviors to the company, whether there is need of behavior elimination or behavior modification and the behaviors that affect the customer. Employees should work longer hours, work in a more smatter way or be more hardworking, motivation is important towards retention of the worker and the degree of reliability. Managers should also conduct a review and focus of results achieved. The results serve as a guide for required corrections and setting future paces of duty and task performance (Jones, 1991). Recruiting and Retention of Employees: In majority of organizations retention of talents acquired overtime is important for the purpose of the company’s viability and attaining a market competitive advantage. Many workers complain of lack of opportunities for advancement of their careers, unsatisfactory pay and overburdening workloads. These have been causes of adverse talents turnover. To overcome these, the company should strive to make all efforts towards retention of their qualified and skilled employees achieved through motivation. Company managers should appreciate the existing competition brought about by globalization. The impacts of retention on the performance of the company have been found to be desirable. Turnover has been attributed to adverse relationship between the task performing workers and their managerial staff. The company should thus initially identify the right talents for specific duties followed by all efforts to retain the talent. In the efforts to sustain the business, the employees should be made satisfied since â€Å"people management is the next frontier for extracting and crafting more value from company assets† (Jones, 1991, 16). The talents turnovers are never caused by issues of compensation packages and the relevant benefits entitled to the employees but rather a management issue. Three key areas requiring concentration by the company are the process of the company and the inherent structure, the developments of the people and a conducive environment of working for the employees. It is a great loss to the company in a situation where a talent is hired, internal training offered and all the necessary items required for the job offered to an employee then within a short period of performance, the employee l eaves the company for employment in another company. Any company should therefore adopt the simplest and most effective strategy of management of getting the right people, keeping these people in the company and developing the people for the benefit of the company (Social Trends 2000, Labour Market Trends, 2002). The simple strategy enhances the rest of the functions such as diversity, compensation, compliance etc. (Jones, 1991). The right choice should be made, the reasons why the people quit the company understood and make appropriate use of time to develop the potential in the people while offering opportunities for their development (Jones, 1991). Labor Productivity: The productivity of labor in any company should be cost effective. The input of labor is associated with costs which should linearly relate to the labor output value. Labor management in any business organization should be dictated by the size of the organization. For healthy cost effectiveness in labor, the existing workers should be handsomely remunerated, offered internal trainings in the work place, their skills tapped to the maximum and uplift their working morale. This essentially reduces the company’s labor costs on individual perspective and increases productivity (Social Trends 2000, Labour Market Trends, 2002). Organization Flexibility: The Company should target the profit margin while utilizing the labor resource. Much productivity should be achieved while the cost of labor should be competitive. Flexibility has been taken from the point of both financial and numerical (head count) perspectives. For appropriate coping with the flexibility in the company, both short-turn and long-term measures are at the disposal of the managerial entity of the company (Social Trends 2000, Labour Market Trends, 2002). Social Legitimacy: The citizens and nations to which the workers bear their origin are significant contributors of development and nurturing the talent inherent in these individuals. The organization employing the talents are therefore submissive to the neighboring society and the government who have the power to regulate the environment the workers are subjected to. Most companies only address the most basic and minimum responsibilities of societal concern such as health issues and safety issues. The companies are duty bound to uphold the ethical practices associated with employment issues of child labor, unionizable rights, forced labor in addition to the safety/ health issues should be accorded significant address and any complaints from employees for lack of compliance looked at (Boxall & Purcell, 2002). Globalization of the current decade has brought about competition for talents. In the circle of HRM, there exist some strategic tensions as a reality. Examples of such tension include labor scarcity and labor motivation. The labor scarcity calls for individual firms to compete actively against other companies. According to the laws advocated against forced labor any worker can terminate services in any company for an employment opportunity in another company. The ability of any company to become dominant and competitive in the market as far as labor is concerned depends to a great degree to its ability to compensate workers and avail development opportunities for its worker (Boxall & Purcell, 2002). Labor motivation creates a strategic tension as a result of the mode of relationship between the workers and their managerial staff. Both the worker and manager interact on the basis of trust element. Nobody is capable to exercise entire control over another person and in any interactions, conflict due to diversity in individual interest are un- escapable. Most businesses are based on capitalism which exhibits exploitation while the workers are more oriented towards a more pluralistic tradition. Motivation entails the level of recognition of the worker at the workplace and to what extent the tasks are seen to be interesting to the workers. The degree of trust the worker expects from the managerial staff also determines the extent of strategic tensions brought about by motivation (Boxall & Purcell, 2002). Changing Management: For the viability of the company the management should address the aspects of cost effectiveness in productivity. For flexibility within the organization and legitimacy, â€Å"employers require workers to be both dependable and disposable† (Boxall & Purcell, 2002, 17). Brilliance in performing the duties and tasks is an important component of management. Management approaches such as â€Å"Taylonism† (Scientific Management) â€Å"Human Relations Movement’ and’ Total Quality Management† (Boxall & Purcell, 2002, 18) have in the past been formulated all aimed at enhancing human resource management. The basic concept is a participative role of every employee in the company’s decision making, commitment in execution and implementation of company’s policies all of which have important bearing towards motivation of the task performing employees (Boxall & Purcell, 2002). The Theory of Performance can be adopted by managers to cope with societal changes in the work place. Boxall & Purcell, (2002) have described this theory as â€Å"High Performance work systems, HPWS (p21). It entails adding the value to each individual employee by enhancing â€Å"productivity, defect rates and the proper utilization of the factory space† (p21). In the process of improving productivity great care should be taken to avoid stressing workers. The theory aims to effectively motivate workers, to widen the company’s social legitimacy and the employees’ attitudes of the employer. Conclusion The ideal reasons as to why people in any organization perform to the standard are knowledge, expertise, skills and experience, they are beefed with the necessary motivation and incentives, and they are surrounded by a conducive working environment and are allowed appropriate channels to express themselves. The work systems of the company and the employment models of the same company are some added components of labor management acting at individual as well as collective perspectives of people’s management. Talents inherent in people in any organization play a very significant role in the company’s steps towards gaining competition advantage. Any organization requires that the existing talents are utilized with commitment of the highest order and exhibiting flexibility