Thursday, November 28, 2019

Assited Suicide essays

Assited Suicide essays The man who, in a fit of melancholy, kills himself today would have wanted to live had he a week.(Voltaire) In the U.S. assisted suicide has become all too common. Mr. Jack Kevorkian, otherwise known as Dr. Death, might be the reason for this unethical uprising. Assisted suicide in those who fear they are too old, mentally unstable, or suffering from an incurable illness, doesnt solve any problems. Suicide isnt the proper way to deal with anything. Assisted suicide is morally wrong, illegal, and unjustifiable. Assisted suicide is in my opinion, illegal. I always thought that suicide meant people killed themselves. If thats the case than wouldnt assisted suicide be murder? Taking someone elses life isnt acceptable in any way or for any reason. Assisted suicide was legalized in Holland. In 1990 in the Netherlands, a total of 11,800 assisted suicides took place. The scary part is that only 5,859 of the patients actually consented. Thats a frightening fact. That fact could be true in the U.S. if assisted suicide was ever legalized. If legalized assisted suicide could turn into mandatory murder. In addition to being illegal, assisted suicide is also amoral. People like Jack Kevorkian or anyone for that matter shouldnt encourage causing another humans death. There is no possible way to ever justify taking a life. Anyone, who is religious and knows the Ten Commandments, knows that one of them clearly states Thou Shall Not Kill. Even if you arent religious Im sure you were taught that killing another human being is wrong. Regardless of the reason for wanting to die, helping someone die is still killing them. I was raised to believe that taking a life was wrong and I still hold true to those beliefs. The desire for suicide is a strong indication that the physical and emotional suffering of the patient have not been adequate...

Sunday, November 24, 2019

Ciscop Systems essays

Ciscop Systems essays Great job opportunity for highly skilled computer technicians which may land you in a multi-million dollar career. (Vass, 16) That was what I read on the magazine just a couple of weeks ago. I thought that it was another one of the authors jokes. He thinks that all great jobs are taken by highly educated people, which I think he doesnt think I fit quite well in. So I thought that that was all a joke, but I was wrong. Late that night I was surfing the net looking for a site to work on for my term paper and I found Cisco Systems. I was reading it and thought everything about Cisco Systems seemed to be basic stuff that I already know. So I kept on pondering around the internet, surfing, figuring things out about Cisco Systems. My mind seemed to brighten up, filling up with information which I know, told me that Cisco Systems was not just for geniuses. Cisco Systems is the worldwide leader in networking for the Internet. Cisco's networking solutions connect people, computing devices and computer networks, allowing people to access or transfer information without regard to differences in time, place or type of computer system. (http://cisco.com/warp/public/750/corpfact.html, 2 March). In my knowledge of Cisco Systems job opportunities, the career seems to be the most influential, most generous, and most integrity-driven company in history. The Company's past success is due in large part to building a world class senior management team that has been able to effectively evaluate competitive, marketplace, and global economic challenges and then move quickly to take advantage of these market opportunities, which I know that I truly am capable to take part in and give them a boost in. Future success shall be determined by how I and this team continues to execute goals for success, together if and when I am employed with. The Cisco Networking Academy Partnership Program is de...

Thursday, November 21, 2019

Multi-Stakeholders Issues Assessment for Global Organizations Essay

Multi-Stakeholders Issues Assessment for Global Organizations - Essay Example The two detrimental events have been key contributors to this change. In the beginning of 2000s, eruption of corporate scandals such as Enron, WorldCom, and Tyco advocated the idea that multi-national corporations and corporate executives care little for ethics, in their pursuit of profit and wealth generation. In 2008, the global financial crisis erupted and rippled across the world, due to a wide convergence of factors in the real-estate market and secondary financial markets, causing economic collapse of many countries, state and private organizations. This crisis, initially affecting the banking industry, not only scaled to a broader economic and geographic spectrum, but also widened the chasm between Wall Street and Main Street triggering wide-spread anti-capitalism and anti-MNCs protests. In spite of their substantial differences, both of these intra and inter-company crises have at least few characteristics in common. Both crises exemplify that managerial behavior and decision -making has high risk and potential to impact a broad range of people all over the world (Clement, 2005). These crises have been major blows to the public trust in business as an institution. In addition, these financial and economical catastrophes also accentuate that the pursuit of corporate goals can be, without difficulty, unsettled by the actions and behavior of unexpected groups and individuals (Parmar, et al., 2010). These issues, driven by change, interconnectedness and globalization, indicate a need for managers and academic scholars to re-evaluate the conventional ways of conceptualizing the responsibilities of the firm and role of a manager within the company. This essentially gives rise to the need of evaluating and effectively managing needs of all stakeholders for the organization. The concept of corporate objectives focused towards a broader and diverse set of stakeholders has been studied by a number of scholars and practitioners for the past few decades. Among many ideologies, â€Å"stakeholder theory† or â€Å"stakeholder thinking† has developed as a fresh narrative to analyze and manage three interconnected business challenges — the challenge of understanding how value is created and operated, the challenge of linking ethics with capitalism and the challenge of supporting managers with tools to address the first two challenges. This essay highlights and addresses the â€Å"stakeholder approach† to tackle challenges related to business ethics, corporate social responsibility and value creation. Upon the understanding of what stakeholder approach reinstates, the essay analyzes the dilemmas, issues and recommendations in its practical applications for managers. The Stakeholder Approach The stakeholder approach in the context of strategic management was first proposed by R. Edward Freeman in 1984 (Freeman, 1984). Contrary to the customary understanding of corporate strategy, which fundamentally associates the term â⠂¬Å"stakeholder† with the owners, investors or shareholders of the organization, Freeman defined a stakeholder more broadly as â€Å"Any group or individual who can affect or is affected by the achievement of the firm’s objectives†. This was the first time that an academic study related to

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

Military Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 1

Military - Essay Example advanced capabilities, the need of an amphibious force has come under media scrutiny in the recent times because a full-fledged amphibious operation has not been conducted ever since the end of World War 2 (only small scale operations have been conducted). Additionally, the cost of maintaining an amphibious force is also very high (Mullen, 2008). However, the amphibious force provides some specific advantages to the military power, given the volatile relationship that the United States has with several nations across the globe. This study takes a look at some of the reasons because of which United States still needs the capability to conduct amphibious operations. Most of the operations that are conducted in the modern day are of a joint nature, where all the branches of the military collaborate to achieve the mission. In any joint operation, the presence of an amphibious force provides a certain edge (Forbes, 2012). For instance, because of the advancement in technology related to military aircrafts and artillery, most countries anticipate air-raids and ground operations and therefore, do not pay enough attention to protects it littoral area (area which is near to the shore of a water body). Such areas are often only protected by a small coast card and small navy units deployed in certain points. In such cases, an amphibious attack can prove to be successful because the hostile nation will not be able to defend the littoral region against the strong and powerful amphibious attack of the US military. Even if the littoral area is defended by the forces, the amphibious force has the capacity to respond in a rapid manner and this provides the military with a strong forward presence (Speller and Christopher, 2001). One of the main tactics of a joint operation is to disperse the forces so that the hostile military is not able to focus on one particular region and respond in a strong manner. In such a scenario, the amphibious force proves to be a strong point

Sunday, November 17, 2019

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

Management - Essay Example Internal forces of business environment include: strategy, employees and its own culture. External forces of business environment include government, climate, political and economic conditions. Business environment is of utmost importance to an organization and a manger has to work while monitoring the external and internal sources of business environment and either change or continue its operations in accordance to the changes in the business environment to remain successful and increase profitability of the organization. If managers are able to keep a watch on its business environment, they can benefit from opportunities available in the environment, they can counter the threats and weaknesses that are available in the internal and the external business environment and further enhance the strength of the business. For example: Managers need to continuously monitor the changes in the demographics of the country in which it is operating in so it can adjust its marketing and human res ource activities accordingly and benefit from opportunities. ... People may have a desire to purchase a good or service, but their desire does not create a market. A market is created with a customer can be qualified as able to make a purchasing transaction. Customers are only qualified to make a purchase if they have an existing need that needs to be satisfied, have the ability to make the purchasing transaction, have monetary resources to conduct the transaction and have the power to complete the transaction. Contemporary society consists of connections between human beings; market is a network that creates such connections by connecting buyers and sellers. When humans of the contemporary society interact with each other, they achieve wellbeing and the conditions of their life increases. Markets provide individuals with goods and services to satisfy their needs which help in improving the conditions of individuals and leading to well being of the society. Works Cited Weimer, Arthur M. Business Administration: An Introductory Management Approach. Homewood, Ill: R.D. Irwin, 1966. Print. Paper 2 One of the major elements in the marketing mix is the place of distribution of product. Distribution is regarded as the procedure through which a good or service is made available for the consumers to consume by a manufacturer or business making that product or service (Longenecker 200). The activity of distribution can be conducted through direct and indirect methods. This form of transfer of products from the manufacturer to the consumer is conducted through one of the options of channels available to the producer. Channels are referred to as organizations that are dependant on other organizations and all these organizations combine

Friday, November 15, 2019

Evolution of Storage Media Technology Within the Data Centre

Evolution of Storage Media Technology Within the Data Centre AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE EVOLUTION OF STORAGE MEDIA TECHNOLOGY WITHIN THE DATA CENTRE TO SUPPORT THE I/O REQUIREMENTS OF MODERN APPLICATIONS. Chandan Chandapura Ramesh (x14111306) Abstract Technology has always played a tremendous role in evolution of data storage media from the very starting punch cards to the present flash drives and from kilobytes to terabytes. The evolution of storage included from the standardization of storage devices i.e from large trunks of kilobytes storage media to very small microchip having the great storage capacity of gigabytes. However, in this paper we will look into evolution of storage devices from magnetic tape, magnetic drum, DRAM, FLOPPYs , CDs, DAT, DDS, MOD, , Micro drive, Multimedia Card SD card, Cloud backup solutions. Finally, in this article about evolution about storage devices, we will look into an assessment providing solutions for tiered storage solutions and its development with reference oracle, netapp tiered storage solutions and storage based on present storage trends. INRODUCTION As the time passed by, along with the time technology too has evolved in every step of life from basic needs to the advanced mode of humanity. Concurrently, the evolution in technology of computers has played a prominent role for humankind. Therefore, as the storage medium has also played a major role in computer architecture. Zetta. (2015) say as the computers evolved the storage mediums too had evolved, it all started from punch cards to present storage mediums like those that flash drives to SSD, companies have started to be relied on cloud backup solutions supported by data centers. As per the need of todays Business strategies the requirement for data storage has increased tremendously compared to past five years and to mitigate the costs over storage of data, it has been segregated and designed as structured, semi-structured and unstructured data and they have been stored. As the data is considered officially as corporate assets, there has always been attacks that are more vulnerable. Therefore, data hardening has been a big challenge but still many third party companies have been working towards its excellence. Few measures which have been considered under the improvisation level are SAN, Fiber channel over Ethernet (Fcoe), Internet protocol, Converged Network Adapter (CNA) etc. The storage network technology in the datacenters has been developed into many different configurations, which are DAS (direct attached storage), NAS (Network attached storage), SAT (Storage area networks). In further section we will look this structures with much more details. BACKGROUND: After looking into all the prospective over the storage media briefly will have a detailed discussion over each storage model and it evolution. Magnetic tape: PCMag digital group. (2015) say it was the first few recording mediums used to record music. The data recorded was actually in sequential format. It was manufactured by a ferromagnetic material the disadvantage of these tapes was they would be contaminated if they were not rolled and packed tightly. The tracks on storage device were running parallel to each other, which is called as parallel recording. In computing magnetic tapes are used to store auxiliary type of information. An excellent example for the computer system, which used magnetic tape, was UNIVAC. It had the capacity to handle 128 characters per inch so they were widely used in computers in earlier days. Magnetic drum: Webopedia. (2015) it was direct access storage device, which was metallic cylinder, which was coated by a material called magnetic-iron-oxide. The tracks recorded on the cylindrical device were stored in channels and it was capable of holding 200 tracks were the drum used to rotate at 3000rpm. But still it had a drawback which is that they were not able to store too much of data. DRAM (dynamic random access memory): it is a medium that is been used store the memory temporarily and it is been used widely in todays computer systems. It is made up of small capacitor and transistors. Dram has many cells and each cell is equal to a Bit. The elements on Dram are organized in rows and columns. Todays computers use these cells in megabyte modules. FLOPPYs: Riaz, Rashid et al (2015) say it is portable computer storage disks were data could be handled easily. They are more fragile, low at cost. It was highly dispensable for the people working on their personnel laptops and other processors. It poses a capacity of 250kb to 1.6 mb so it varies on the size of the disk. CDs, DAT, DDS, MOD, Multimedia Card, Micro drive, SD card were the next generation storage medias. CD-ROM was highly used to save and retrieve the data immensely on the systems. DAT was the digital recording table, which was actually released by the Sony in 1987. The main advantage is the data is recorded digitally rather that in analog style. But when compared to CD the performance of DAT is higher and advanced. Micro drives or so called flash drives are portable storage drives used to transfer small amount data very fast and efficiently and so on still the storage media has always been improvising till the present holographic storage formats and still going on giving out the services. Evolution of technologies in Data center storage services: Until now, we had brief discussion of different storage technologies in common IT infrastructures. SIEMON. (2015) say as the time has passed by evolution of DATA center has taken place in parallel. However, it was much more advanced as the data stored in the data center is considered as the corporate assets. so to store data securely different storage models have been introduced they are SAN, Fiber channel over Ethernet (Fcoe) , internet protocol, converged network adapter (CNA) under doff rent configurations like DAS (direct attached storage), NAS (Network attached storage), Further, in this paper will briefly look into every step of these evolution strategies. SAN (storage area network): [6] it is a high-speed network for the storage devices, which would be connected to the servers. The main advantage of SAN is it provides great assistance in backing up the data and disaster recovery. SAN uses fiber optic cable so that the data transfer rate from one location to different location will be high. Fiber channel over Ethernet (Fcoe): [6] it provides a great solution for the organizations possessing parallel network infrastructure issues. Fiber channel gives a high-speed data transfer protocol serially and standards for enterprise grade storage solutions, the transfer rates can be up to 10gbs. Fiber channels operate at great speeds like 4,16, 32 gb/s , but generally in IEEE 802.3ae standards the distance supported for 10GB Ethernet is 10km. so it is highly privileged in datacenters. Internet protocol:[6] it is group or singular drive which are combined together but they are not part of storage network but considered to be more over the internal storage media on personnel laptops. NAS (network-attached storage): [6] offers high-level storage solutions in file sharing services because the architecture is directly connected to LAN. However, because of these characters in NAS it synchronizes hardware storage resources into network, so it can be used to develop multiple networked services and by doing this storage utilization is very efficient. So based on the above technologies the storage solutions have been improvised but still there many technological labs still working on improvement on the performance, reliability and so on. Storage Media Solutions: In this paper will further discuss and present an assessment on tiered storage media solution on any top two companys depended on any context of the data at any particular time. We will be taking Netapp tiered storage solutions and Oracle tiered storage solutions. Tiered storage solutions: TechTarget (2005) the storage solutions are to segregation of data based on the company-defined policies to reduce the cost effectiveness of the data. The segregation may include different categories like performance, usage, security and so on. [6] Tiered storage consists few different tiers like tier 1, 2 and 3 data. Tier 1 includes highly sensitive data so data isolation is main aspect hence they are stored in expensive media solutions. Tier 2 data will consist of type two classified files so the storage media expense is reduced. In Tier 3 it consists of unclassified data the expenses are very less as the data is stored in in less expensive media. Oracle Tired Storage Solution Service: Oracle optimized solutions (2015) the main aim of oracle tiered solution is to provide highly efficient scalability and flexibility for the data. An always-new data storage trend was needed for better storage efficiency. As the data grows there was an opportunity arising for new wave lengths, Based on this aspects oracle offered optimized tiered solution to protect data as well, lower cost for storage and massive scalability. [3] providing Oracles disk and tape storage systems for better performance than many other storage media Introducing Oracle Storage tek modular tape gives a high throughput at lower cost and Oracle e Hierarchical Storage Manager provides configurable file system view and policy based management and data protection. They predicted that reduced deployment provides additional savings. Reduced data risk due to pretesting, ensured access and data integrity. They provide higher quality of the data availability and integrity. Oracle applies all the tiers for the data s torage solutions based on the client requirements. Oracle’s StorageTek T10000D offers outstanding bit error rate. it predicts that it offers 12.6 times better TCO than EMC isilonn soln. Netapp Tired Storage Solution Service: NetApp (2012) has great views towards the optimizing storage efficiency and performance. The main solution they give is, the right data at the right time at the right cost. Netapp provides a very different and unique way of solution for storing the data with an automated way of approach. The virtual tier provides a real time response to most of the demanding applications, ability to consolidate the data others tiers whenever required, conducting data cloning and SSD technologies. Basically provides reduced power -cooling storage. The developed flash technology in the [2] storage tiers of Netapp has helped in increasing the efficiency of the storage solutions. The key advantage of Netapp services provided for storage infrastructure will be the self-managing data-driven service layer. It helps mitigating the costs based on the performance for the classification of the data. The major feature to help the performance of the workloads would be the Netapp Flash Cache PCI-e-based modules. The workloads are like the file service workloads and OLTP workload etc†¦ Conclusion: In this paper, we initially discussed about the evolution of the storage media as the time it was integrated including the storage architecture. We even took a brief review about two companies’ providing storage services which are oracle tier storage solutions and netapp tier storage solutions. we actually had a view how both the companies mitigate the storage structure difficulties and provide a wide range of solutions for the clients which is a good prospective towards the development. The tiered storage solutions of each different vendors are competitive which indirectly supporting the development of the storage technologies. The tiered storage solutions describes the different levels of the storage entities set-up with different clients based on the value of the data. So we conclude telling that the development of storage solutions has to be much more improvised based on the requirement and developments. Bibliography: 1) Memory information. [Online] Available from: http://www.memoryinformation.com/dram.htm [Time accessed 2:38 am, date 4/6/2015] 2) NetApp (2012) â€Å"NetApp Virtual Storage Tier† [Online] 2012 Available from: http://www.netapp.com/us/technology/virtual-storage-tier/ [Time accessed 12:32 am, date 7/4/2015] 3) Oracle optimized solutions (2015) â€Å"Maximize Storage Efficiencies for Sharing Data Oracle Optimized Solution for Tiered Storage Infrastructure† [online] January 2015 Available from: http://www.oracle.com/us/solutions/oos/tiered-storage-infrastructure/tiered-storage-infra- bus-wp- 1911879.pdf [Time accessed 12:39 am, date 7/4/2015] 4) PCMag digital group. (2015) â€Å"ENCYCLOPEDIA† [online] 2015 Available from: http://www.pcmag.com/encyclopedia/term/46499/magnetic-tape [Time accessed 2.08 am, date 4/6/2015] 5) Riaz, Rashid. Floppy Disk.How Products Are Made. 1994.Encyclopedia.com.10 Apr. 2015 Available from: http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Floppy_Disk.aspx [Time accessed 2.48pm, date 4/6/2015] 6) SIEMON. (2015) â€Å"Data Center Storage Evolution†. [Online] 2015. Available from: http://www.siemon.com/us/white_papers/14-07-29-data-center-storage-evolution.asp [Time accessed 1:18 am, date 4/6/2015] 7) TechTarget (2005) â€Å"Tiered storage† [online] September 2005 Available from: http://searchstorage.techtarget.com/definition/tiered-storage [Time accessed 8:45pm, date 10/4/2015] 8) Webopedia. (2015) â€Å"magnetic drum† [online] 2015 Available from: http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/M/magnetic_drum.html [Time accessed 2.18 am, date 4/6/2015] 9) Webopedia. (2015) â€Å"SAN-storage area network† [online] 2015 Available from: http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/S/SAN.html [Time accessed 8:27 pm, date 6/4/2015] 10) Wikipedia (2015) â€Å"Digital Audio Tape†. [Online] March 2015. Available from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Audio_Tape#References [Accessed: 8:10 pm, date10/4/2015] 11) Zetta. (2015) â€Å"The History of Computer Storage†. [Online] February 2015. Available from: http://www.zetta.net/history-of-computer-storage/ [Time accessed 4/5/2015, 11:35 pm] 12) Goda, K.; Kitsuregawa, M., The History of Storage Systems,Proceedings of the IEEE, vol.100, no.Special Centennial Issue, pp.1433,1440, May 13 2012 doi: 10.1109/JPROC.2012.2189787 URL:http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=arnumber=6182574isnumber=6259910 13) Knowles, Mike, Survey of the storage evolution,User Group Conference, 2003. Proceedings, vol., no., pp.362,367, 9-13 June 2003 doi: 10.1109/DODUGC.2003.1253418 URL:http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=arnumber=1253418isnumber=28042 1

Wednesday, November 13, 2019

Goldings View of Man and War Exposed in Lord of the Flies :: Lord Flies Essays

Golding's View of Man and War Exposed in Lord of the Flies "...Ralph wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of man's heart" (Golding 223). An author's view of human behavior is often reflected in their writing. The novel, Lord of the Flies, by William Golding is an example of a literary work that demonstrates the author's view of man, as well his opinion of war. Golding's Lord of the Flies is highly demonstrative of Golding's opinion that society is a thin and fragile veil that when removed shows man for what he truly is, a savage animal. Perhaps the best demonstration of this given by Golding is Jack's progression to the killing of the sow. Upon first landing on the island Jack, Ralph, and Simon go to survey their new home. Along the way the boys have their first encounter with the island's pigs. They see a piglet caught in some of the plants. Quickly Jack draws his knife so as to kill the piglet. Instead of completing the act, however, Jack hesitates. Golding states that, "The pause was only long enough for them to realize the enormity of what the downward stroke would be" (Golding page #). Golding is suggesting that the societal taboos placed on killing are still ingrained within Jack. The next significant encounter in Jack's progression is his first killing of a pig. There is a description of a great celebration. The boys chant "Kill the pig. Cut her throat. Spill her blood" (Golding page #). It is clear from Golding's description of the revelry that followed the killing that the act of the hunt provided the boys with more than food. The action of killing another living thing gives them pleasure. The last stage in Jack's metamorphosis is demonstrated by the murder of the sow. Golding describes the killing almost as a rape. He says, "Jack was on top of the sow, stabbing downward wherever pig flesh appeared ... Jack found the throat, and the hot blood spouted over his hands. The sow collapsed under them and they were heavy and fulfilled upon her" (Golding page #). In this case it is certain that the boys display animal savagery. Because they have been away from organized society for such a long time, the boys of the island have become Golding's view of mankind, vile, destructive beasts.

Sunday, November 10, 2019

Consumer Behaviour-Travel and Tourism Essay

I want to do this! What’s This? .. . suitcases image by Alexander Ivanov from Fotolia. com Many factors influence travel and tourism consumer behavior. As of 2010, the global travel industry contributed 9. 2 percent of the world’s total gross domestic product, according to the World Travel and Tourism Council. People travel for work, to visit family and friends and for pleasure. When it comes to making choices about where and how to travel, multiple factors influence travel and tourism consumer behavior. Global Economy. Travel is often seen as a luxury, and when people are earning less or worried about earning less, they may eliminate travel from their budgets. As the world economy struggled in 2009 and into 2010, the travel industry suffered along with other businesses. According to the World Travel and Tourism Council, global travel and tourism was down nearly 5 percent in 2009, specifically due to a struggling economy. Still, as the economy bounces back, the tourism industry will as well. The World Travel and Tourism Council predicts a 3. 2 percent growth in the travel and tourism industry in 2011. Internet and Social Media Consumers have instant access to reviews and opinions about travel spots and accommodations around the world, as well as airlines, car rental agencies and other related travel companies. More and more, people turn to the Internet to research potential trips and seek out bargains. Thus, the Internet and social media can influence consumers’ travel choices. According to The Digital Letter, reviews on sites like TripAdvisor â€Å"can make or break a destination. † Prospective travelers can read reviews and find out if others found the hotel to be clean and the staff courteous, or if the â€Å"service [they will] receive is worthy of [their] time and money. † The Digital Letter points out that travelers can learn everything they want to know about a destination in a matter of minutes on sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Google. While a business’s website can also play a factor in consumer choice, if independent online reviews aren’t consistent with the company’s claims, travelers are likely to make a different selection. Personal Budgets Even with a bad economy, some people still need or want to travel. In 2010, savvy travelers have many ways to find deals online and cut their costs before heading out the door. Airlines offer online specials for discount flights and last-minute trips, and companies such as Kayak exist solely to gather the best travel deals on the Internet into one place, so shoppers can compare prices. Travelers no longer need to rely on the standard price for transportation or accommodations. They may now make their travel choices based solely on price. .

Friday, November 8, 2019

Performance Management †HR

Performance Management – HR Free Online Research Papers Performance Management Abstract The paper seeks to show that Effective Performance Management has become the core of Human Resources and is revitalizing, reenergizing and rejuvenating HR. The challenges faced by the present day organization are broadly discussed under the effectiveness of its performance management systems, which ultimately acts as a catalyst for employee engagements and their effective performance. This paper explores through its findings a new performance management system for improving overall organizational performance in general, through inventing new dimension for effective individual performances in specific. A framework is developed for the implementation of effective performance management in any organization. This paper is explicitly directed towards various parameters for energising human resources and serves interesting food for thought for the future managers dealing with performance management. Introduction Performance management, as pertaining to human resource management (HRM), is the process of delivering sustained success to organizations’ by improving capabilities of individuals and teams. It supports the philosophical principle that people and not capital provide organizations’ with a competitive advantage. However, performance management presents severe challenges in terms of practical implementation. Previous studies have largely failed to overcome many of the organizational constraints on its successful implementation. Overcoming barriers to change is especially important given their close relationship to the fulfilment of the psychological contract and related HRM systems (reward, development, etc.). The psychological contract construct consists of the existence of a â€Å"soft† set of expectations held by the employee, which have to be organized and managed. Within the relationship defined by these constructs, the employer and the employee inform, negotia te, monitor and then re-negotiate (or exit) the employment relationship. Thus, if the employee feels that a performance management approach breaches or violates their psychological contract expectations this can lead to an irrevocable breakdown in the employment relationship. Careful implementation of performance tools is therefore crucial to their success as contributors to organizational development. Performance Management as a core of HR Performance appraisals, performance reviews, appraisal forms; whatever we want to call them, let’s call them gone. As a standalone, a performance appraisal is universally disliked, after all how many people in any organization want to hear that they were less than perfect last year or how many managers want to face the argument and diminish morale that can result from the performance appraisal process. If the true goal of the performance appraisal is employee development and organizational improvement, we consider moving to effective performance management system. There has been a paradigm shift in the focus of HR from the early days where craftspeople organized guilds using unity to improve working conditions. Companies in today’s era focus on performance of employees which in turn helps the organization’s performance. No doubt that effective performance management has become a core of HR. Performance management to support organizational change The ultimate competitive asset of any organization is its people, thus organizations should develop employee competencies in a manner aligned with the organization’s business goals. This can be achieved through performance management systems, which act as both behavioural change tool and enabler of performance management system improved organizational performance through being instrumental in driving change. This can then be institutionalized through organizational policies, systems and structures. Performance management aims to emphasize and encourage desired and valued behaviours, thus is a key tool of communication and motivation within organizations seeking a competitive edge through strategic change and control. A visionary performance management then becomes a system for translating organizational intention and ambition into action and results, delivering a strategic goal, such as behavioural change. The system also brings focus to organisational change and development, particularly regarding competencies. When competency profiles support company goals, they become instrumental in developing the human resources necessary to deliver business goals. As a result, performance management system is an important tool for communicating priorities and for providing feedback to stimulate employees to meet the new expectations. Role and importance of effective performance management system Changing individual employee behaviour lies at the heart of organizational change programmes. This is because they ignore or violate established change psychology principles. Senior management can assume that because they are ready to pro-actively embrace change, their employees will be equally pro-active. However, imposing action on employees who are not prepared results in conflict. Typically, only 20 percent of employees in organizations are prepared to take positive action in response to change initiatives. More than 70 percent of new strategic initiatives fail for this reason.4 Thus, to be successful in shaping behaviour, performance management systems must achieve acceptance by those being â€Å"managed†. Modern organizations need to respond more effectively to changing external and internal environments, and organizational learning has become an important strategic focus. By anticipating and responding to changes in the environment through proactive learning interventions, some organizations are evolving into learning organizations. Nonetheless, the question of how to best transform behaviours through organizational learning and development remains. In reality, many change initiatives fail because either organizational culture is not ready to change at that time, or because they do not anticipate the impact of change on human systems. Initiatives in the latter category typically result in resistance and ultimately failure of the change initiative. As mentioned earlier, one method that organizations can use to affect employee competencies in a manner aligned with the organization’s change is to develop robust performance management systems. Analysis of performance management in terms of key result area KRA’s refer to general areas of outcomes or outputs for which a role is responsible. The KRA’s should be clearly defined. Once, the KRA’s are defined the individual can chart a process to achieve the KRA’s. KRA’s are also known as Key Work Output’s (KWO’s). An effective performance management system can facilitate change and innovation by both demonstrating their relationship with the overall strategy, and by supporting and monitoring the progress towards achieving the ultimate goal. It is therefore a crucially important tool for communicating priorities and for providing feedback on employees’ contributions towards achieving organizational goals. The purpose of the performance management system is to ensure that the work performed by employees is in accordance with the established objectives of the company. Employees should have a clear understanding of the quality and quantity of work expected from them and simultaneously receives ongoing information about how effectively they are standing as to the standards/benchmarks. Opportunities for employee development are identified and employee performance that does not meet standards is appropriately addressed. Moreover an operative performance management system consists of a process for communicating employee performance expectations, maintaining performance management dialogues and conducting annual performance appraisals. It is a procedure for encouraging and facilitating employee development and resolving performance pay disputes. Performance management system serves a strategic purpose because they help link employee activities with the organization’s mission and goals. It serves as a basis for employment decisions to promote outstanding performers, to train, transfer or discipline others, and to award merit increases. Data regarding employee performance can serve as criteria in HR research. They can help establish objectives for training programs. Finally, performance management system allows organizations to keep proper records to document HR decisions and legal requirements. A research conducted on BSE listed companies revealed the four key result areas that are critical for any performance management system and how each of these areas which has a number of dimensions, can be measured by key performance indicators. The four key result areas are as follows: I. Developing external relationship: The PMS should consider the three key performance indicators while considering employee performance to achieve the KRA of developing external relationship: firstly, contractual agreements i.e. managing policy and procedures for agreements which are implemented and reviewed annually and handling major research contracts renewed with stakeholders. Secondly, to create new strategic alliances such as its success can be measured by reviewing annually the number of competitor or collaborator analysis undertaken and new collaborations established and developed and finally to develop lines of communication such as quarterly reviewing, the visits made by the shareholders and information about research and education activities provided to stakeholders in written and electronic format. Communicating this Idea to employees and evaluating their commitment levels through structured parameters will help in achieving organisational objective. II. Building organisational capabilities: Similarly, PMS has to also consider dimensions such as to attract and retain the right people i.e. to review annually so as to identify and resolve gaps in the performance of the leaders and provide and implement strategic, analysis based advice performance management system for all staffs. Secondly, the system fosters a value driven culture which includes code of conduct developed around share values, rewarding employees and implementing a recognition system to reinforce culture. Finally, it creates a supportive structure and systems which includes implementation of most effective organisational structure, reviewing annually the policies, systems and procedural documented. This KRA will finally contribute towards enhancing skill based performance for quality work. III. Taking a selective and focussed approach: The PMS should check the employee’s work focus which can be measured by reviewing annually the service level agreements and how these agreements are benefiting the key stakeholders. In the light of this KRA the employees are able to meet up to the expectations of their job description and accordingly see and evaluate their respective performances as a transparent system. IV. Maintaining quality research, service and education output: The last key area helps to ensure relevance to the organisation’s mission by consistent work with strategic direction and available skills. Performance management can be measured through milestones achieved. Also, it measures work impact which can in turn be measured through new knowledge that is being published or presented, identification of changes to policies or practices and finally customer satisfaction which can be measured with the help of surveys conducted. This will contribute towards managing talent in the organisation and exploring opportunities for potential employees and also for succession planning. BARRIERS TO IMPLEMENTING EFFECTIVE PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS7:- 1. Organizational Barriers – Variations in performance within systems may be due to common causes or special causes. Common causes are faults that are built into the system due to prior decisions, defects in materials, flaws in the design of the system, or some other managerial shortcoming. Special causes are those attributable to a particular event, a particular operator, or a subgroup within the system. 2. Political Barriers – Political considerations are organizational facts of life. Appraisals take place in an organisational environment that is anything but completely rational, straight-forward, or dispassionate. It appears that achieving accuracy in appraisal is less important to managers than motivating and rewarding their subordinates. Many managers will not allow excessively accurate ratings to cause problems for themselves. 3. Interpersonal Barriers – Interpersonal barriers also may hinder the performance management process. Because of a lack of communication, employees may think they are being judged according to one set of standards when their superiors actually use different ones. Furthermore, supervisors often delay or resist making face-to-face appraisals. Rather than confronting substandard performers with low ratings, negative feed-back, and below-average salary increases, supervisors often find it easier to â€Å"damn with faint praise† by giving average or above-average salary ratings to inferior performers. Performance Managers Performance managers can improve on a performance measurement system, as objectively as possible, upon discussion with the line managers. They need to clearly define the role for each position in the organisation, and communicate the positions to the new entrants respectively. They may formulate a reward system that is in tune with industry standards, and companys retention and performance strategy, and take local and overseas opportunities as factors of consideration. As facilitators of training and development activities, they may identify their teams’ individual training needs which may involve technological, behavioural or cross-cultural contents. As career counsellors, they may develop different career paths technical or managerial, and attempt to satisfy the needs of the employees. â€Å"The Indian IT industry has set an exceptionally high standard with regard to workplace and employee practices. With the continued growth and rapid evolution of the industry, as well as the changing aspirations of its young workforce, IT companies small or large will have to constantly look at innovation to excel as employers,† said Kiran Karnik, president, Nasscom, in a statement. Small and medium-sized IT and business outsourcing companies are constantly looking at adopting best practices such as innovative performance appraisal system, individual career development programmes and recreational activities, to make themselves more attractive to employees in a fiercely competitive market, says a survey on exciting emerging companies in India conducted by the National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom). At the BPO company, which has seen its attrition rate coming down to 8% from 28% last year, employees are encouraged to post their feedback anonymously, which is taken up by teams that can address it the best. By creatively designing the total reward package towards more short-term incentives and benefits, and linking the package to performance, companies can ensure that they get higher productivity without hefty increases in salary costs and minimise attrition costs at the same time. The general parameters for the measurement of employees’ performance in BPO’s are: Speed i.e. process performance, Accuracy and Productivity of each process, Although the measuring parameters are different for employees at different level, but the general classification of the above mentioned parameters for â€Å"Customer care Executives† and â€Å"Team leaders† are as follows: Average Call Value (the sales made or the revenue collected etc.) Time and cost per call Average Handling Time (talk time and after call wrap up) Adherence to Schedule (availability to take calls etc.) Percentage of abandoned calls Discipline Attendance According to a recent survey – â€Å"The Pay for Performance can be as much as 22% of the salary.† Thus, good performance is highly rated in the IT and BPO industry. Recommendations for effective performance management:- 1) Senior management should show commitment – The process of performance management within the company lacks participation and benefits none without active senior management support and leadership. 2) Employee resistance should be kept minimal – PMS is made for aligning the goals of employee and the organization, thus, effective performance management system is only going to be effective when employees understand the importance of performance management system in their own careers. 3) Training infrastructure and capacity building programs – Surprisingly, given the level of resources provided for the rollout of the new performance management system, employees at every level of the organization appear to lack the necessary knowledge and skills required for their particular contribution to the system. 4) Benchmarking – Effective performance management can only be sustained when the performances are compared with the standards set in the organization and as this is done on a continuous basis, this leads to improvement of performance and brings it closer to the benchmark set by the organization. 5) 3rd axis measurement – If performance is to be measured on a two axis system, organizational goals and employee performance for these goals respectively, then a 3rd axis also needs to be measured which is employee’s personal goals, because then only performance can be measured in true terms. Conclusion: We conclude the research by stressing effective performance management is a key tool of communication and motivation within organizations seeking a competitive edge through strategic change and control. The framework for performance management system design has its core element as improving individual performance in accordance with the organization’s performance, keeping in mind employee’s personal goals. Overcoming barriers to change through winning the psychological battle of employee involvement by effective performance and evaluating parameters has become the need of the hour. The KRA’s that determine the effectiveness of a PMS are, Developing external relationship Communicating this Idea to employees and evaluating their commitment levels through structured parameters will help in achieving organisational objective. Building organisational capabilities This KRA contributes in enhancing skill based performance for quality work. Taking a selective and focussed approach and maintaining quality research – This KRA provides a transparent system for evaluation of employee performance in terms of job description. Service and education output – This KRA contributes in managing talent in the organization. The afore said KRAs as discussed in full length are only suggestive in nature .The final implementation may be based on some primary research over the aforesaid parameters so that its contribution may ultimately result into epitomizing performance for establishing a cognitive environment. References:- 1. think.exist.com 2. Mei-I Cheng De Montfort University, Implementing a new performance management system within a project-based organization -A case study. 3. about.com/humanresources. 4. trackers.in 6. Wayne F. Cascio and Herman Aguinis, Applied Psychology in Human Resources Management – sixth edition/ (CH-5) P-85 7. ibm.com/services/strategy/industries/chemicals. 8. pwc.com/ng/PwC Nigeria – HRS brochure. Research Papers on Performance Management - HRThe Project Managment Office SystemOpen Architechture a white paperIncorporating Risk and Uncertainty Factor in CapitalBionic Assembly System: A New Concept of SelfAnalysis of Ebay Expanding into AsiaDefinition of Export QuotasPETSTEL analysis of IndiaStandardized TestingComparison: Letter from Birmingham and CritoMarketing of Lifeboy Soap A Unilever Product

Wednesday, November 6, 2019

Giordano assessing ways to expand a retail business Essay Example

Giordano assessing ways to expand a retail business Essay Example Giordano assessing ways to expand a retail business Paper Giordano assessing ways to expand a retail business Paper Successful global players have to create a virtuous cycle of self-reinforcing benefits that will give them the ability to redefine the economics of the retailing industry and, ultimately, to establish strategic control around the world. Many specialty retailers have established solid cross-border positions by building and transferring global brands. Clothing chains like Gap and Zara are following in the footsteps of veteran cross-border operators like IKEA, Hennes Mauritz, and CA. Retailers have attempted to expand across borders in the traditional way replicating domestic business systems and retaining full ownership, an approach that tends to be costly and slow to yield value, will be fail because they have not invested sufficiently in intangibles. Ways to expand across borders for Giordano Choosing sliver Giordano can leave manufacturing to other companies; a few outsource logistics; and some franchise store operations. As the advancement of technologies has proved, a globalizing economy drives more and more companies to specialize in ever smaller business slivers. In globalizing environment, Giordano will have to make more careful choices about slivers to own, which to control without owning, and which to off-load entirely. The choice depends on cash flow and capital requirements, risk, competitive advantage, and the importance of a sliver to a companys retail proposition. Gap, for instance, owns most of its slivers including product development, assortment planning, and branding which create enormous value for the company and probably couldnt be executed more satisfactorily by any partner today. Another example, Carrefour owns its assortment-planning sliver, but it relies on its vendors to develop and brand most of the products it sells. Both Gap and Carrefour tend to own the stor e operations sliver. On the other hand, McDonald sells it to franchisees because the company can do so without relinquishing control. : Giordano might able to make different choices in different market environments. For example, the company can have multiple ownership and operating structures such as franchises, joint ventures, and wholly and partly owned subsidiaries to reducing risk, in emerging one. Giordano will have to decide whether owning or off-loading their sliver is more likely to enhance their access, scale, and expertise and hence to raise returns for expand geographically. Get comfortable partnering Leading globalizers in industries have shown how to enter partnerships without losing control of the business. The concept of forming joint ventures or other kinds of partnerships have established. For example, Amazon.com are exerting themselves to build alliances with companies like LiveBid, Drugstore.com, and HomeGrocer.com to get leads, enhance their distribution systems, and build brand equity in new markets. But as the industry fragments into smaller slivers, these companies will have little choice but to entertain the idea if they want to endure and thrive. Giordano able to create a relationship with the global departmental stores like Sieyu, Isetan, and others for selling its products. As retailers get better at managing relationships and as stronger local partners emerge, the trend to form cross-boarder partnerships will accelerate. Such partnerships will become ticket to the global game. Invest in intangible assets Brands and reputation A global platform is built on powerful brands. Global brand need to create from a distinctive value proposition: benefits that appeal to consumers at a price they like. As the company move from a country to another, they must tailor their value propositions to address different consumer preferences, but without stretching their brands too far or destroying attractive profit formulas. Strong brands should have clear personalities that are relevant to consumers and reinforced at every possible point of contact with them. Strong brand requires presence; the brand must be made totally visible in the marketplace. Traditionally, retailers have used their store networks to do this, but the emergence of the Internet and global film, television, and magazine vehicle now makes it possible to do so more rapidly and efficiently. Proprietary technology, know how, and tools Retailers have to exploit know-how and technology for competitive advantage. Retailers invest only 1 to 3 percent of sales in IT and are therefore missing opportunities to improve customer access, to raise their service levels, and to develop critical global business efficiencies. For example, Carrefour now successfully exports tailored versions of its business model, including operations and accounting systems, across geographies. Giordano should make it possible for customers to try on clothing over the World Wide Web like Lands End. People, talent, and skills To support globalization efforts, Giordano will have to develop their skills: managing partnership, building global brands, renewing concepts, and managing people. Upon entering a market, the Giordano companies should have a team of local retail experts and corporate entrepreneurs. When the local operation has matured sufficiently, the company moves its entrepreneurial managers onward to newer markets, and the local team takes over the management of the store. Over time, such practices make people a true intangible asset and source of competitive advantage. Keep expenses and capital requirements low The physical complexity of retailing and local market conditions can drive up costs. Giordano have managed by their need for capital relatively low by franchising or renting rather than owing stores. They might able to consider creating turn key store operations that can be off-loaded to local partner, which would bear the capital costs of owning sites while reaping the benefits of world wide branding and economies of scale. But retailer capable of generating very high sales per square foot might find that it still makes sense for them to own stores, at least if they can sustain a lower capital-to-sales ratio. In the fashion industry, a high degree of complexity is a necessary cost of doing business. Indeed, manufacturing to a lot size of one is already a reality in fashion in a location. However, Giordano should keep complexity under control, allowing for it only when it makes a perceptible difference to the ultimate consumer and the consumer is willing to pay for it. The company s hould avoid changing the basic fabrics every season every new model, and limit the proliferation of variants to the product segments where the market is willing to pay for the extra choice. Rethink product development to cut time to market For fashion companies, getting this process under control has always been a must. Leading companies are rethinking their underlying product development technology to cut development time by up to 70 percent. At present, development can be a lengthy process in some of the short product life industries. In fashion, it ranges between 3 to 4 months. If your new fashion collection is not out in time for the trade shows, you go out of business.

Sunday, November 3, 2019

International business Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

International business - Research Paper Example The analysis has been done in terms of the nations’ political and economic climate, their methods of marketing and distribution and also the labor climate in the two countries. Economic and political climate for foreign business Singapore has an extremely successful and developed free market economy. It also offers a corruption free and open environment where prices remain stable and the per capita GDP growth also remain high in comparison to other developed nations. The economy’s high dependence on exports of products like electronic and information technology products, pharmaceutical and growth in financial services make it a popular place for conducting business. The nation has demonstrated a GDP growth of 7.1% between the years 2004 and 2007 (CIA, â€Å"Economy - overview:†). On the other hand Hong Kong also demonstrates a free market economy which depends highly on international finance and trade. The nation’s open economy was however greatly affected by the global economic recession which makes it a less popular place, in comparison to Singapore for doing business. The residents of Hong Kong can establish RMB denominated savings accounts, the RMB denominated corporate, and the Chinese government bonds have also been issued in the nation. Moreover, the RMB trade settlement has also been allowed in Hong Kong. The nation has a GDP growth rate of 3.8% between 1989 and 2010, however the growth gradually slowed down in the year 2009 (CIA-a, â€Å"Economy - overview:†). It is apparent that the higher GDP growth of Singapore in comparison to Hong Kong coupled with a free market economy makes it more popular for conducting business operations. Also the nation’s growth in the financial sector and high dependence on trade and finance compliments the same. Methods for marketing and distribution With improvement of the Singapore economy there has been an increasing amount of affluent consumers who are able and willing to spend and consume more. In addition to this a number of new shopping malls like the VivoCity, Ang Mo Kio Hub and Central have emerged which have further added stimulus to the retail sector since 2007. The existing shopping malls like Centrepoint, White Sands and Tampines Mall have also been revamped, with the new extensions established to accommodate more number of retailers for remaining competitive. The inflows of new retailers in the selling spaces have further attracted more consumers who have been increasingly visiting them. This had boosted their growth further in 2007 (Laposte, â€Å"Singapore†). There are two different categories of consumers in the country Hong Kong. There are the local consumers, who account for 6.5 million numbers, while on the other hand the tourists, who are avid lovers of the luxury items. The tourism sector generates greater than ten billion USD of income every year. It must be noted that tourists who come for shopping in Hong Kong are primarily Chi nese from Mainland. The distribution network comprises of many medium and small family-type enterprises which try to remain in groups. The larger stores like the Lane Crawford, Sogo or display a very upscale image while the supermarkets and the neighboring stores like Wing on, Jusco and Sincere remain more profitable for making bulk products. The second market is more dominated by duopoly by Wellcome and Park'n shop. Hong Kong also has a number of discount stores

Friday, November 1, 2019

EMR(ELECTRONIC MEDICAL RECORD) Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

EMR(ELECTRONIC MEDICAL RECORD) - Research Paper Example discussion will focus on various issues ascribed to the process of converting paper-based health records into electronic health records (Hamilton 2009). Specifically, the discussion will focus on conversion of problem-oriented paper-based medical forms into electronic health records. It is quite challenging to provide the exact period of time that is usually required to convert a paper-based health form into an electronic health record. However, there are various issues that may be taken into consideration in order to estimate the amount of time that may be consumed in this process. In my case, the process of conversion may take approximately six weeks. This is based on the fact that the process may entail scanning of the paper-based problem-oriented health forms, which are generally easy to read and record. This period is also based on the volume of paper-based health records that have been kept in the health facility overtime. Moreover, the number of persons involved to facilitate this process is taken into consideration. In the case that the health facility decides to use a different approach i.e. physically typing in the information recorded in the paper based problem-oriented medical record, a relatively longer period of time may be consumed, but this may a lso depend on the number of persons involved to facilitate the process. There are various challenges associated with converting paper-based health records into electronic health records. The first challenge that may be experienced in this case is the fact that introduction of a new data management may prove to be a challenge to the staff in the health facility. This may occur with regard to understanding of the modus operandi of information technology. Another challenge that may be experienced with the process of converting paper-based oriented medical forms into electronic forms is high resource use. To begin with, the process may require use of extra financial resources majorly used to purchase the IT