Behavior Modification and Needs

In many companies, managers struggle to improve or motivate employee actions or behaviors to get desired results. Many managers turn to organizational behavior modification. Behavior modification is used in organizations to shape individual behavior though the use of positive and negative consequences. Organizational behavior modification relies on several factors including, the law of effect, alternative consequences, schedules of reinforcement, and understanding human needs, to successfully operate.The law of effect states that a person tends to repeat behavior that is accompanied by a favorable consequence. For example, if an employee is recognized and encouraged for going above and beyond for a customer, the employee is more likely to repeat this action. For the law of effect to remain effective, a manager needs to recognize what the employee see’s as major consequences, and must be able to respond in a way that the employee will see the connection between their actions an d the consequence.An employee doesn’t always have to learn from personal experience. The theory of social learning suggests that employees are likely to learn by observing the actions of others and understanding the consequences that others are experiencing. Through the law of effect, the employee is able to connect the relation of; good actions equal good consequences, therefore motivating the employee to act in a positive way. Once a manager has indentified the employee’s behavior, the manager needs to decide on the alternative consequences he/she wants to apply.Alternative consequences include: positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, punishment, and extinction. The key to alternative consequences is to make the consequence contingent on the employee’s correct behavior. Through the use of these consequences, employees and managers will be able to accurately assess the result or planned result of an action. Once a manager monitors an employee’s b ehavior and learns how often or how well the employee is performing, the manager can determine the type of consequence to be applied.Once a frequency has been established the manager can create a standard, or a baseline, against which employee improvements can be made. A manager will then decide of continuous reinforcement or partial reinforcement is called for. Continuous reinforcement is when reinforcement accompanies each correct behavior by an employee. Partial reinforcement occurs when only some of the correct behaviors are reinforced. Scheduling reinforcement allows a manager to stay consistent in expectations and consequences.Though the behavior modification model is popular amongst organizations, many have criticized it’s functionality from a human needs perspective. Human needs are a driving force in individual decision making. The behavior modification model focuses on the nature of the items that may motivate a person. However, a manager cannot observe or monitor a person’s needs. Because of this, it is important that a manager understand employee needs when using the behavior modification approach

Does Source B support the evidence of source C about the suffragette campaign

In this essay I am going to be discussing whether or not source B which is an extract from a book written in 1907 called Woman or suffragette supports the evidence given from source C which is a cartoon drawn by Bernard Partridge in 1906 about the suffragette campaign and the writers and artists opinions on the suffragettes. Firstly I am going to point out that source B which is a primary source was written by a woman and it is against women getting the franchise to vote. The thing that is very ironic about this is that at the time it seemed all women wanted the vote and wouldn't stop at anything to get it but this one woman â€Å"Marie Corelli† didn't think that women should have the vote and that all women should just leave the men to all the important things. Source C is another primary source and it is contempory to source B. The reason why this is important is because it helps towards showing that all of the people sort of had the same ideas about women's suffrage. In source C it shows a sensible woman and what seems to be a lunatic woman. The lunatic woman was looked upon as the suffragette and she has one fist clenched and in the other hand she a flag which says female suffrage but it looks as if it is falling apart and wearing down as if they are destroying the whole purpose of campaigning for the right. Also the main reason why these sources could not be used in too much in depth study is because both sources are bias towards their own cause. Source C is obviously just trying to make the suffragettes look bad so that it makes the suffragists look better. Source B however seems to be bias towards the men and is trying to point out that women are naturally incapable of being as mature as the men. In conclusion I think than source B most definitely supports source C for one main reason. This is because they are both trying to get the point across that they don't think women are going to get the vote and the main reasons for this are the suffragettes. One reason though why I begin to think that these source may disagree with each other is because one of the sources (Source B) believes that women will never get the vote because of the way the women are raising their children. Whereas in Source C the main reason why this source thins women will not get the vote is because of the techniques used by the suffragettes for example the main quote used on the poster is â€Å"you help the cause? Why, you're its worst enemy!† this quote shows the hate that the suffragists had for the suffragettes and their opinion of what their actions are doing to their main cause.

Human Resource Planning National University Of Sciences & Technology

HUMAN RESOURCE PLANNING NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCES & TECHNOLOGY, PAKISTAN ARQUM NAVEED Abstract Human Resource Planning (HRP) is a difficult topic to discuss, particularly at the time of increasingly disruptive business environments causing far more disturbance, which increase the tension between the need for planning and the difficulties of prediction. Although a difficult subject, the underlying purpose is straightforward, HRP is referring with having the right people at right place and with right skills.The intensions of this document are to check the nature of, and to what extent companies are able to manage this complexity. For this document, different firms have been used in order to identify if there are any firm-specific differences regarding HRP traditions. Results from our investigation of the studied firms shows that the degree of stability in their respective firms, in terms of employee turnover and economical fluctuations, clearly affects the way in which they appro ach HRP. Key-words Human Resource Management, Strategic Planning, Human Resource Planning. 1.Introduction Organizations are under increasing pressure to find ways to implement their strategies in a fast changing business environment, in which planning lifecycles tend to shrink to reduce the ‘time-to-market’ intervals. At the same time, organizations are putting more and more emphasis on adjusting the organization and employees in their attempt to achieve business goals . â€Å"HRP is usually seen as an essential feature of the ideal-type model of human resource management, even if it does not always appear to be given high priority in practiceâ€Å"(Rothwell, 1995).The issue of efficient planning for people was brought up before the introduction of human resource management. One possible explanation was presented by Storey (1995), who presents that as the developing business environment forces organizations to plan effectively and efficiently for the people resources, the rapid changes in the business environment also makes it difficult for organizations to plan with accuracy. In the light of this we want to investigate to what extent organizations plan for HR in today’s business environment. 2. Human Resource Planning – Concept ClarificationAs in many areas of personnel management, there is confusion about the precise meanings of the terms used to describe the human resource planning functions. According to Taylor (1998), â€Å"The main distinction is between those who see the term ‘human resource planning’ as having broadly the same meaning as the longer established terms ‘workforce planning’ and ‘manpower planning,’ and those who believe ‘human resource planning’ to represent something rather different. † According to Bramham (1994), â€Å"There is a big distinction between the two terms.He argues that ‘manpower planning’ is essentially quantitative in natu re and is concerned with forecasting the demand and supply of labour, while ‘human resource planning’ has a far wider meaning, including plans made across the whole range of personnel and development activity. These activities include soft issues such as motivation, employee attitudes and organizational culture. † The opposite opinion is that, the term ‘human resource planning’ is simply a more modern and gender-neutral term with essentially the same meaning as ‘manpower planning. Both are concerned with looking ahead and using systematic techniques to assess the extent to which an organization will be able to meet its requirements for labour in the future (Taylor, 1998). They are thus undertaken in order to assess whether an organization is likely to have ‘the right people, with the right skills, in the right places at the right time’ (Ibid). According to this definition, human resource planning is a relatively specialized sub-disc ipline within the general activity undertaken by personnel managers. There are different views of the specific meaning of HRP.We argue that it is more than a quantitative approach, as we believe that issues such as employee retention, attitudes and motivation are essential features for having the right people, with the right skills, in the right places at the right time. Thus, we agree with Bramhams’s view that HRP has a wider meaning, encompassing â€Å"soft† HR issues and it is the one that is accepted for the purpose of this text. 3. The Evolution of HRP Since the origins of the modern industrial organization, human resource planning has been a management function (Walker, 1980).Division of labour, specialization, organization of management into levels, work simplification, and application of standards for selecting employees and measuring their performance were all principles applied early in industrial management (Ibid). Planning for the staffing of work to be don e is not something that has become popular in recent years. This is something that has grown to become what it is today. The relatively sophisticated techniques available to management today are outcomes of a long period of evolution in practices, which started decades ago with simple, pragmatic, short term planning.The techniques used by management tended to fit contemporary conditions and events (Storey, 1995). During the first part of the 20th century, for example, the focus in manpower planning was upon the hourly production worker. The aim of improving efficiency through work engineering and early industrial psychology applications was consistent with the need to improve productivity and introduce greater objectivity to personnel practices (Ling, 1965; Merril, 1959; Yoder; 1952). During the Second World War and the post war years, the focus intensified on employee productivity.There was also greater concern regarding the availability of competent managerial personnel, as there was a talent shortage in combination with significant demand for goods and services. New technologies and interests in behavioral aspects of work also added complexities to the manpower planning task. In the 1960’s the demand for high talent personnel increased due to high technology programmers, rapid corporate expansion and diversification. In order to handle this increase, manpower planning practices were focused on balancing supply with demand, particularly demand for managerial, professional and technical personnel.According to textbooks written during the later part of the 1960’s, manpower planning was viewed as a system linking the organization with its environment (Patten, 1969; Vetter, 1967). Walker (1980) argues that the most common view of manpower planning at that time, which also dominated the literature until the 80s, was that â€Å"companies forecast their needs for manpower into the future, forecast their internal labour supply for meeting these needs, and identify the gaps between what will be needed and what will be available. Further, manpower planners develop plans for recruiting, selecting and placing new employees, provide for training and development and anticipate necessary promotions and transfers (Burack et al, 1972; Geisler, 1967; Henemann et al, 1968; Wikstrom, 1971). The 70s came with new legislation, court decisions and governmental regulations. Management attention then turned to affirmative action planning and other aspects of compliance. While many companies adopted the techniques that had been introduced by leading companies during the previous decades, ther experimented with new tools such as career planning, activity analysis, and reshaping of work (Walker, 1980). The majority of companies, however, were mainly concerned about the compliance with the significant new regulations governing discrimination, safety and pensions. Generally, it was an unsettled decade, during which managers had to deal with the energ y crisis, uncertain costs and profits, the slowing of business expansion and the increased concern regarding women’s liberation and reverse discrimination (Bramham, 1994).However, according to Bramham, it was during this time or decade that â€Å"manpower planning† was broadly being termed â€Å"human resource† planning and became widely established as a staff activity in major business and governmental organizations (Ibid). The term â€Å"human resource planning† implied a scope broader than just supply-demand balancing or quantitative forecasting. Human resource planning shifted focus from being a quantitative approach, although recognizing its importance, to a more comprehensive view of the process encompassing both needs forecasting and program forecasting (Ibid).During the 80s and early 90s, human resource management researchers and professionals tended to place greater emphasis on employee attitudes and on the development of personnel strategies to search for the enhancement of positive employee feelings and commitment (Zeffane and Mayo, 1994). Generally, these strategies lacked sufficient concentration on the need to control the flow of personnel within and across organizational boundaries (Walker, 1989). According to Richards-Carpenter (1989), this meant that human resource planning took a backward step in priority placing within the overall human resource management system.However, due to the increasingly uncertain socio-economic climate during the 90s, it was anticipated that the HRP function was to become the focal activity, as it was increasingly becoming an essential function across the organization (Zeffane and Mayo, 1994). Damm and Tengbland (2000) argue that in the future, the role of the HR personnel is to provide and develop an attractive organizational environment in which the individual feels inspired to grow and develop his/her competence.Furthermore, they say that individual organizations will not necessarily b e responsible for the individuals’ competence development; it is rather the individuals’ responsibility to make sure that they develop their competencies in order to attract future employment relationships. The ultimate situation is when the individual feels that the organization provides the best resources available in order for them to grow and develop their competencies.Damm and Tengblad also argue that two very important future working areas, for individually focused personnel work, will be guidance consulting and employee brooking. There will be a need for people who work with professional career service to assist the individuals with their career planning if the individual will be responsible for their own careers. In a labour market that is increasingly characterized by time limit employment rather than life long contracts, there will be a constant requirement to link competence demand with competence supply.The employee brokers can assist in the process of iden tifying the different potentials and overlapping between demands since they have a better overview than the individuals have. This could mean that it will still be necessary with employees working with personnel-related questions; however, much of the â€Å"strategic personnel work† will not be as important since individuals will be responsible for their own competence development (Damm and Tengblad, 2000). 4. The Contemporary Purpose of HRPThe effective HRP can help anticipate potential future difficulties while there is still a choice of action. Forward planning should enable the organization to develop effective personnel strategies related to such activities as recruitment and selection, training and retraining, management development and career progression, transfers and redeployment, early retirements, salary levels, anticipated redundancies, and accommodation requirements. Bramham (1987) presents a more detailed view of six basic objectives, which are quite similar to those mentioned by Mullins (1996) that is thought to onstitute the purpose of HRP. The first objective and a major purpose behind the use of HRP is to give an organization a broad, forward-looking insight into not just the number of employees, but also the type, skills, and attributes of the people that will be needed in the future. HRP provides the information on which recruiters base their activities and it reveals what gaps there are between the demand for and supply of people with particular skills (Bramham, 1987; Storey, 1995; Mullins, 1996).The second objective aims to reveal what training and development activities need to be undertaken to ensure that existing employees and new recruits possess the required skills at the right time. The longer and more specialized the training is, the more significant accurate HRP is to the organization’s effective operation (Bramham, 1987). Manpower costing is listed as the third objective and explains how HRP assists in cost reductio n by aiming to work out in advance how organizational operations can be staffed most efficiently.This is of even more importance when new ventures or projects are considered because it provides information on which to base vital decisions (Bramham, 1987). The fourth objective presented by Bramham (1987) is redundancy. HRP is an important tool in the anticipation of future redundancies and therefore allows remedial action to be taken, such as recruitment freezes, retraining, and early retirements so as to reduce the numbers involved. Another advantage associated with HRP, presented as the fifth objective, is collective bargaining.In organizations with a strong trade union presence, HRP provides important information for use in the bargaining process. It is particularly significant when long-term deals are being negotiated to improve productivity and efficiency. In such situations, the information provided by HR forecasts enables calculations to be made concerning how great an increas e in pay or how great a reduction in hours might be conceded in exchange for more productive working methods and processes (Bramham, 1987).The sixth and last objective presented as a purpose of HRP deals with the planning of accommodations, such as future need for office space, car parking, and other workplace facilities. Such considerations are of great importance, especially to organizations expecting fast expansion or contraction of key operations. As with the other five objectives described above, HRP also here aims at controlling costs over the long term by forecasting the future (Bramham, 1987). 5. External and Internal Influences on HRP 5. 1External Influences on HRPA lot of things have changed from when HRP first gained widespread popularity. The stability of the smooth sailing years, as Champ (1995) refers to the age of US corporate domination between 1948 and 1973 is gone. Today’s dynamic environment, filled with global competition and business discontinuities, defi ne the arena in which HRP must flourish. The need for analysis of changing scenarios, therefore, has to be an integral part of the HRP process (Rothwell 1995). The first step in HRP is usually the â€Å"environmental† scan.If this review has not already been carried out in some depth as part of the formulation of corporate strategy, consideration of critical trends may be a major contribution, which the HRM function can make to the organization (Institute of Personnel Management 1992). The growing internationalization of business in the face of changing patterns of world trade, the emergence of new competitors and new markets and changes in the older industrialized countries, all have some impact on the labour markets of even the smallest firm trading in national market (Taylor, 1998).Most larger and medium-sized companies are, however, likely to be trading internationally (Rothwell 1995) in some way and will need to understand the labour markets in those countries, if they a re to recruit staff abroad or if they expect to send their own staff to work there. The whole issue of international management development has major implications for strategic planning and for human resource forecasting and implementation. Evidence so far suggests that there are many inadequacies in both planning and implementation of management mobility, and that there is a widespread reliance on ad hoc use of expatriate managers (Ibid. 995). International and political issues are clearly closely linked, the move towards greater European unity, the unification of East and West Germany, the opening of Eastern Europe, The World Trade Centre bombings etc. , are just a few examples of events with implications for business planning. The political complexion of a government tends to affect the type of economic policy in place, the attitude to full employment, trade union and employee rights, as well as the level of support for private or public sector enterprises.External political fact ors, especially the broader social and regulatory legacies of industrial relations, provide a socio-political context in which managerial strategies have had to develop, and by which they have been conditioned (Lucio and Simpson 1992). At a time of economic recession in particular, the costs of worker protection policies can be very costly for companies. An awareness of population trends is critical in understanding labour markets, and national population statistics are readily available.Rothwell further states that planning to take account of demographic trends is not often done early enough. Also, a lack of advance planning tends to increase labour costs, as firms have to increase wages and salaries in order to retain staff or poach them from other firms. Public policy emphasis on training, the co-ordination of a plethora of national vocational qualifications, and the setting of national education training targets all mean that some aspects of estimating external competence supply will be improved.Data on graduate qualifications are readily available, but interpreting likely trends in supply and demand is complex (Pike et al. 1992). Demand-side factors stem mainly from business strategy, but need to take account of other skills that may be needed; for example in physical environmental awareness and the implications for products or processes and energy use; or in marketing, in concepts of relational marketing, customer education and general supply chain management. If mergers or acquisitions are expected, is new expertise needed to handle that?Or if organization structures are changing to create flatter organizations or new internationalized business market divisions, are there skills available in managing networks, managing projects or managing cross-culturally? Firms that use competence-mapping techniques may be able to provide data relevant to HRP, but where these activities are done by different people and/or at different locations, such linkage cannot be made (Rothwell, 1995). Consumer attitudes tend to be surveyed more regularly than those of employees, but shifts in employee preferences are perceptible, often on a generation basis.The generation of people born in the 70s and 80s are more individualistic, less likely to accept authority, expecting to have a say and be given a choice, and also to be putting more emphasis on quality of leisure and family life. The priority perks for those in work are those related to health and to education and training. Employees are also less likely to remain with one employer. These attitudes are found particularly among â€Å"knowledge-workers†, and may be modified over-time by experience of recession and widespread white-collar unemployment (Rothwell, 1995).If a major difference between HRP and manpower planning lies in its emphasis on motivating people (Bramham 1989), understanding the starting point and The incorporation of both individual and organizational needs is therefore the majo r challenge for HR planners and should be reflected in the application of the planning process to the ways in which people are employed (Ferner and Colling 1991) 5. 2Internal Influences on HRP Zeffane and Mayo (1994) argue that in the context of the supply-demand equation, a range of internal factors require consideration for the purpose of evaluating existing (or anticipated) supply from within the organization.The supply side issues that HRP should address include the organization’s policy on growth from within or by means of outside recruitment; the policy on pay and remuneration, and the organization’s view on employee development. In this context, the conventional human resource plans take into consideration a series of supply side statistics, such as company growth, the age distribution of employees, skill levels, turnover ratios and the overall profile/distribution of employment across job categories.Zeffane and Mayo (1994) further state that among all these, ag e and retirement are emerging as important considerations in workforce planning in the current socio-economic climate. These factors (i. e. age and retirement) are strongly related in the sense that retirement takes place on the attainment of a certain age. Catering for age is necessary and is becoming increasingly the subject of a more elaborate mathematical modeling for workforce (Mohapatra et al. 1990). The more contemporary approaches to HRP need to consider current (and anticipated/future) changes in the make-up and aspirations of the workforce.Long-term macro-level forecasts seem to suggest that people in the future will have even greater desire for self-development and discovery (Taylor, 1998). These aspirations may trigger requirements for changes in existing corporate structures and management systems. As a result, human resource professionals and their organizations may capitalize on the advantage of potential employees who may be creative and self-motivated, but they will also face the problem of developing an environment that will attract and hold such individuals (Taylor 1998). 6.Different Types of Human Resource Planning 6. 1Succession Planning One adaptation of traditional HRP that takes place mostly in larger organizations is the development of a succession planning function. Storey (1995) argues that chief executives often see this function as the major rational for any form of HRP. While in some organizations it may be focused mainly on the few top positions, the need to consider at least a five-year-period can mean that it becomes a more significant operation, and eventually drives a whole management recruitment and development programme.According to Taylor (1998), succession planners are mainly interested in ensuring that their employer has enough individuals with the right abilities, skills and experience to promote into key senior jobs, as they become vacant. According to Jackson and Schuler (1990), succession planning differs from tradit ional HRP in the sense that the succession planning process covers a narrower group of employees but does so with a higher degree of intensity. As succession plans concern relatively few employees, they can be considerably more sophisticated the time span is also longer than that of traditional HRP.Succession plans often involve forecasting and planning the progress of individuals 20 years ahead or more (Walker, 1992, Storey, 1995). Storey (1995) argues that succession planning is most often associated with hierarchical organizations in which individuals develop careers by moving upwards and sideways over a number of years as they acquire the required skills and experience. The aim of this is to ensure that enough individuals with the potential to succeed to senior positions are available when an appointment needs to be made.Rothwell (1994) states that three candidates are typically identified for each senior post: one who is ready now and could succeed immediately if necessary; one who will be ready, if needed, in two or three years’ time and one who will be ready in five years’ time. Taylor (1998) comments, in addition, succession planners have an input into decisions about the numbers of graduates that are employed on graduate training programmers’ each year. In technical terms, succession planning involves collecting and manipulating data about individuals and tracking their performance and progress as they move from job to job over a period of time. . 2Career Planning This type of HRP is by some viewed as a more fashionable term to use than succession planning and ostensibly is more individually focused (Storey, 1995). Furthermore, like succession planning, broadly interpreted, it requires an understanding of processes that can integrate an individual’s characteristics and preferences with the implications of: organizational culture, values and style, business strategy and direction, organizational structure and change, reward systems, training and development system, appraisal and promotion systems.According to Taylor (1998), career planning emphasizes much more on the individual’s responsibility for his/her own career development. ‘Mentoring’ and ‘coaching’ systems, whether formal or informal, may be introduced to assist in this. Storey (1995) argues that common problems associated with this kind of planning are related to key people leaving, or to managers’ lack of broad experience. The requirements of different types of organizations (static; fast growing; international etc. ) for detailed planning clearly vary (Ibid).Storey further states that the need for creating ‘bridges’ between different occupations and for the identification of ‘development positions’, are both significant techniques in career planning. The predominant influence of this type of planning is that of the organization’s needs, as interpreted by particular mana gers, at certain phases of its development and it is said that career planning may be interpreted very differently by those who experience it (Storey, 1995). Storey continues to say that the ‘myths’ of the organization in this sense may also be significant: â€Å"those who decode them appropriately are those who obtain advancement. 6. 3Contingency Planning Contingency planning is seldom given any attention by authors within the HR field, but according to Taylor (1998), it can be seen as an approach that is almost universally applicable. Contingency planning involves planning possible responses to a variety of potential environmental scenarios, and the result is that HRP effectively switches from being a reactive process undertaken in order to assist the organization in achieving its aims. Taylor further argues that it becomes a proactive process undertaken prior to the formulation of wider organizational objectives and strategies.The main purpose of contingency plannin g in the HR field is the provision of information on which decisions about the future directions the organization takes are made (Taylor, 1998). 6. 4Competency Planning Another adaptation of traditional HRP is skills planning and is, according to Speechly (1994), particularly appropriate in situations where there is a variety of different methods by which employee needs can be met. The basic principle of this method is to shift away from a focus on planning for people and instead concentrate mainly on skills.Taylor (1998) argues that instead of forecasting the future supply of and demand for employees, skills planning involves predicting what competencies will be needed one to five years ahead, hence, leaving open the question of the form in which these will be obtained. Further, skills-based plans incorporate the possibility that skills needs are to be met either wholly or partially through the employment of short-term employees, outside consultants, as well as by permanent members of staff (Taylor, 1998). . 5Soft Human Resource Planning There has been some disagreement in the literature over the term ‘soft human resource planning’ and its perceived meaning (Taylor, 1998). Marchington and Wilkinson (1996) give one broad definition as being ‘synonymous with the whole subject of human resource management. ’ Torrington and Hall (1995) have a narrower definition involving planning to meet ‘soft’ HR goals – particularly cultural and behavioral objectives.Torrington and Hall also use the label to give meaning to a distinct range of HR activities which are similar to hard HRP in approach, but with a focus on forecasting the likely supply and demand for particular attitudes and behaviors rather than people and skills. According to Taylor (1998) soft HRP can thus be seen as a broadening of the objectives associated with the traditional approaches of HRP. Soft HRP accepts that for organizations to succeed in the current env ironment they need more than the right people in the right place at the right time.In order to contribute to the creation of a successful organizational culture, they also need to make sure that people have an appropriate outlook and set of attitudes. Further, even more essentially argued by Taylor, by undertaking systematic soft HRP Organizations will be alert to long-term shifts in attitudes to work among the Labour force in general, allowing them to build these considerations into their general planning processes. Such issues are not taken into account by traditional HRP according to Taylor (1998). . Conclusions Regardless of the organizational size and industry the underlying motive behind HRP is to have the right people, with the right skills, in the right places, at the right time. However, the ways to realize this motive do differ from one organization to another depending on the individual prerequisites. This could be illustrated by breaking down the motive, where finding th e right people, with the right skills is the essential condition for having them at the right place, at the right time.In times of organizational growth or downsizing organizations naturally focus on hiring or retaining the right people with the right skills. However, organizations with a modest employee turnover can focus more on having the people in the right place i. e. concentrating more on making sure that the existing workforce is utilized in the optimal way. While there are different prerequisites between organizations, determining their approach to plan, we can also see a general change affecting the ability for all organizations to plan.Historically, there has been turbulence in the business environment such as technological developments and erratic economic fluctuations, however it is not these factors per se that has caused the change today, but rather the speeds in which discontinuities occur. This is made evident by the fact that companies no longer plan in the same way as they did ten to fifteen years ago when the more static conditions allowed the organizations to plan with more accuracy.Today organizations do not plan more than three years ahead and the plans are revised both annually and quarterly. This development has put the organizations in a dilemma; the greater the need for planning the more difficult it becomes to plan. In the light of this, some theorists question planning since it is virtually impossible to foresee changes with any accuracy. However, this view appears to have little, if any relevance among the organizations, where planning is viewed as a less formal process.The common understanding among the companies is that it is impossible to follow a plan rigorously but they still plan. From this we draw the conclusion that planning is more than just forecasting the future, it is rather the planning process itself that adds value to the organization. By incorporating plans made across the whole range of personnel and development ac tivity the organization becomes more alert to changes and prepares itself for future discontinuities regardless of their nature, thus admitting that change will occur is more important than foreseeing the future.Organizations that embrace this way of thinking plan to a greater extent than in the past in the way that it involves a broader definition of HRP, incorporating not only quantitative measures but also soft issues. However, the fact is that environments vary across industries, organizations and over time. Some organizations occasionally experience disruption. But at the same time others are experiencing relative stability. Thus, organizations are very much influenced by their individual prerequisites limiting their abilities to plan to the extent as described above.Two findings concerning HRP seems to distinguish themselves, firstly we can see a general change among all companies in the way they plan for HR, secondly HRP is still very much based on individual prerequisites. 8 . Analysis Human resource planning is probably one of the most critical elements in linking the work of the human resources function to the business goals of the company. It is important to recognize that certain aspects of human resource management tend to have potentially high strategic consequences.Especially in the areas of policy development and implementation it is obvious and difficult to refute advice that effective human resource policies require human resource planning, which in turn, requires effective integration with an organization’s strategic planning process. It is evident that human resources planning are becoming more and more important in business circles. Because business profits are squeezed by inflation and a weakened economy, management is also concerned with personnel costs and is seeking to achieve increased output with the same or fewer staff.During our research we have found evidence supporting the above statement, where organizations with a high em ployee turnover tend to focus on the planning for supply and demand of HR, while organizations with low employee turnover lean more towards internal issues of HRP. Logically counting heads becomes more important in times of growth or downsizing, thus the nature of the HRP shifts towards a quantitative approach. Consequently organizations experiencing more stable periods can focus on softer HRP, i. e. concentrating on the creation of an environment that stimulates personal development and motivation among the employees.Our impression during the research is that all companies have the intention to focus more on internal HRP, thus companies do not decide to be either quantitative or qualitative in their approach, and it is rather a natural selection based on the individual prerequisites. However, we can see a risk with not having a balanced view in terms of external and internal HRP. Among the companies with an explicit internal focus there is a lack of attention for external developme nts and trends, thus we can see an inherent risk of becoming â€Å"fat and happy† which in turn requires reactive actions in times of major change.References †¢ Beer, S. (1972). Brain of the Firm, New York, Herder and Herder. †¢ Beer, S. (1974). Designing Freedom. Toronto: CSC Publications. †¢ Bell, D. J. 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(1976). â€Å"Camping on the Seesaws: Prescriptions for a Self-Designed Organisation. † Administrative Science Quarterly. , Vol. 21, Issue 1 (Mar) pp. 41-65 †¢ Henemann, & Selzer. 1968). Manpower Planning and Forecasting in the Firm: An Exploratory Problem? Office of Manpower Policy, Evaluation and Research, U. S. Dept. of Labor, March. †¢ Herriot, P. (1992). The Career Management Challenge: Balancing Individual and Organisational Needs. Sage Publications Ltd. London †¢ Hollinshead, G. & Leat, M. (1995). Human Resource Management: An International and Comparative Perspective. Pitman Publishing. †¢ Mintzberg, H. (1976). â€Å"Planning on the Left-side and Managing on the Right-si de. † Harvard Business Review. (July-August). †¢ Mintzberg, H. (2000). The Rise and Fall of Strategic Planning, New York. Prentice Hall. Mullins. L. J. (1996). Management and Organisational Behaviour. (4th Ed). Pitman Publishing UK. †¢ Mumford, A. (1997). Management Development Strategies for Action. (3rd ed. ). Short Rum Press Ltd. †¢ Rothwell, W. J. , (1994) Effective Succession Planning. American Management Association, New York. †¢ Rothwell, S. (1995). â€Å"Human Resource Planning. † In J Storey (ed. ): Human Resource Management – A Critical Text. London. Routledge. †¢ Schneider, L. (1962). â€Å"The Role of the Category of Ignorance in Sociological Theory: An Exploratory Statement. † American Sociological Review, 27: pp. 492-508 †¢ Speechly, N. (1994). â€Å"Uncertainty Principles. Personnel Today (May) †¢ Starbuck, W. H. (1965). â€Å" Organisational Growth and Development† In J. G. March (ed. ), Handbook o f Organisations: pp. 451-533. Chicago: Rand McNally. †¢ Starbuck, W. H. (1975). â€Å"Information Systems for Organisations of the Future. † In E. Grochla and N. Szyperski (eds. ), Information Systems and Organisational Structure: pp. 217-229. New York: de Gruyter. †¢ Taylor, S. (1998). People and Organisations, Employee Resourcing. The Cronwell Press Ltd, UK. †¢ Torrington, D. & Hall, L. (1995). Personnel Management, HRM in Action. Prentice Hall. †¢ Walker, J. W. (1989). â€Å"Human Resource Roles for the 90’s. Human Resource Planning, 12. 1 pp. 55-61 †¢ Walker, J. W. (1992), Human Resource Strategy. New York: McGrawHill. †¢ Wickesberg, A. (1961). Organisational Relationships in the Small Manufacturing Firm. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota. †¢ Wilson, B. (1987). â€Å"Manpower Planning of Future Requirements. † International Journal of Manpower Planning. †¢ Yoder, D. , (1952). Personnel Principles and Policies. Pren tice Hall,Englewood Cliffs, N. J. †¢ Zeffane, R. & Mayo, G. (1994). Planning for Human Resources in the 1990’s: Development of an Operational Model. University of New Castle, New South Wales, Australia.

Forum discussion- reply to Duane on my post Essay

Forum discussion- reply to Duane on my post - Essay Example In my current organization, I think the implementation and development initiatives are effective in that they are properly planned and carefully implemented in order to meet the needs of the employees and the organization as a whole. The human resources management is tasked with identifying the training needs of the employees as well as identifying the gap that exists between their current performance standards and the desired level of performance. The training program is then molded on the basis of this information and is goal oriented. The major strength of the implementation process of the training and development program mentioned above is that it is twofold; it is designed to fulfill the needs and interests of both the employees and the organization. However, the only weakness that can be seen from this program is that it could be subjective at times. The trainers may tend to incorporate their personal views in the training program instead of focusing on the needs of the employe es. In order to improve this, collective decision making should be implemented within the organization. This will help to reflect the needs and interests of all members of the

Ownership Structure and Financial Performance Essay

Ownership Structure and Financial Performance - Essay Example The paper talks about the measurement of the ownership structures with respect to financial performances and finally generates an understanding of US and UK based companies by distinguishing them on the basis of ownership identities and level of concentration. The development in corporate governance practices and regulations pertaining to disclosures of ownership are also discussed. Various measures of financial performance are highlighted and discussed in relation with the research topic. It has been concluded that ownership structure has an impact on financial performances, but with varying interests as there are other internal and external factors that may play a vital role in reducing or increasing productivity. It has been identified in this report that the relationship between ownership structure and financial performance of firms is not observed to have a similar trend in different countries. Corporate governance comprises of control mechanisms through which corporations are governed and directed to perform their duties effectively. The ownership structure needs to be directed by corporate governance because lack of transparency of ownership structure may have an adverse impact on financial performances. In other words, it can be said that ownership structure shows the types and compositions of different shareholders that have an influence on company’s key decisions areas so they need to be administered by corporate governance in order to carry out their processes in ethical and transparent manner. The purpose of this paper is to generate an understanding of the relationship of ownership structure and company’s performance. In this regard, investigation of UK and United companies is carried out in this paper.

Monopolies and oligopolies Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Monopolies and oligopolies - Coursework Example In engaging in such an action, Google as company put other players at a fix. In other words, due to the unhealthy competition, firms in the European Economic Area (EEA) suffered both peculiar and non-peculiar cost. Through analysis, whenever there is a genuine complaint antitrust, it is linked with the dollar figure sense, and for the case of Google, it was worse since it was related to fix pricing. The world has become very dynamic and competitive and thus it is evident that monopolies are not good for any society. For instance the society is more often than not failing to benefit from the single player. Decline in consumer surplus, less incentives, higher consumer prices are a common trend in an industry dominated by monopolies. Sadly, the firms in these industries benefit from the market power behind a monopoly since they can obtain more economic profit by having prices at higher possible point. These firms likewise use the economic profits from the monopoly acts to invest in development and research with resources for the company and thus hugely benefit given the diseconomies of sale. On the other hand, Oligopoly’s case is much unique since the industry has few but large firms. In this regard, if they interfere with price setting it may be a great disadvantage of the final consumer. With no competition or just little competition within the market, these few firms may not have the will to expand or improve their production to benefit their consumers. While having little to new competition in the market can be a bad thing it can also be an advantage for them as they can make huge profits. In cases where prices are easily comparable, it forces firms to set their market prices competitively which are beneficial for the consumers. Antitrust investigation normally implies all the inquiry carried out with a view to obtain the involvement of their business in any illegal business act

Summary on The Awakening by Kate Chopin Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Summary on The Awakening by Kate Chopin - Essay Example The Awakening tells the saga of Edna Pontellier, a married woman and mother of two, who lives in the 18th century Victorian era. During that time, the world in itself was patriarchal and suppressed the species of women altogether, thus not providing women with the chance to neither express themselves, nor even think about their needs and wants. Edna faced similar situation in her life, as she had to conform to the society’s envisioned role for her, and take care of her family rather than acknowledging her needs and desires. However, throughout the book, Edna’s character undergoes significant change and she develops into something more than a mere puppet of the society. Though Edna stops conforming to the general role of women cast by the society, and although she engages in a lot of rebellion, in the end she commits suicide, and it is left for the reader to think of this act as either representative of cowardice or her last rebellion. Edna’s character transforms when she finds herself vacationing with her family in Grand Isle, where she meets different people, each of whom have something new to teach her. Thus, in the process she learns three new languages, namely, verbal, artistic and sexual languages. She learns about the verbal language, that is, expressing herself through words from the Creon women of the place. They make her understand that she need not be frightened to acknowledge her needs and desires as well as to express them. They teach her to be more expressive and in sync with her inner feelings, this develops her character in the sense that she can name, define and further understand every single one of her emotions. In terms of the artistic language, Edna perfectly understands and acknowledges what Mademoiselle Reisz is trying to teach her. She stops associating the latter’s piano playing with mere solitary images that her mind invokes in accordance with the

Teaching English in elementary schools in Saudi Arabia Literature review

Teaching English in elementary schools in Saudi Arabia - Literature review Example The reason is that variables involved in the development process cover those areas that this paper is interested in – the demographics of the young learners (at what age children usually learn English), the teaching content (such as how religion can be integrated in the instruction), teaching methodologies, perceived problems that are unique to Saudi children and their solutions, among others. Literature on the demographics of young learners in Saudi Arabia is quite scarce. This is more so in the field of ESL or what in identifying studies that actually investigated the beginning age of ESL learners in the country. There are researchers, however, who have mentioned some information and pertinent facts regarding this matter in their wider discourse of either English learning in the Middle East or as part of the wider profile of Saudi Arabia. An excellent example is Abir’s (1993) insights on the issue. He stated, for instance, that â€Å"the standard of education in the urban centres catering to the Saudis of middle-class background is on the whole relatively low,† and that â€Å"memorising is still the backbone of the system, while standard of English†¦ is uneven and often very poor.† (p. ... (Bingham, p. 435) Beginners are usually assessed according to their English language competency and currently they have more than 600 students coming from both expatriates and Saudis alike. Similar international schools roughly adopt the same standards. Meanwhile, the national average of new learners is glaringly different. Wilson, for example, wrote that based on statistics, Saudi children start learning at a later age but that enrolment is increasing rapidly because of extensive support from the government. (p. 106) In addition public elementary schools are usually late in introducing ESL as opposed to the private schools like in the case of Jeddah Prep & Grammar School, which has been established by British and Dutch expatriates. According to Abdan (2002), elementary students should be introduced to English in elementary school because public elementary school students are presently underexposed to the language since English is not part of the national curriculum. (p. 265-266) The benefits of introducing English to young learners, preferably to be integrated in the elementary education curriculum have been cited and proven by numerous studies. These benefits are explained in various arguments ranging from the social, cultural to psychological. According to Nikolov and the European Centre for Modern Languages (2007), young children can benefit from early language learning in the same way as older pupils do. In their research, they found that majority of teachers have been surprised to find how quickly young children pick-up English. (p. 26) It is for this reason why, in America, immigrants immediately send their children to school to learn English as part of the faster strategy to assimilate in the society. (Welch

Energy Outlook Report Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Energy Outlook Report - Coursework Example The changes in the oil prices and the demand, supply and consumption levels in the market would highly affect the energy sector in Russia. The consumption of natural gas as major energy resource will be attaining momentum and the coming twenty years can be labelled as the era of gas as a main source of energy. The market position of Russia as a leading country in the global energy market may be affected by different changes which the country would try to balance through their strategies. Russia is likely to be affected by the changing situations in the market in the forecasted period. The exports of oil and gas from Russia are forecasted to be lower due to the decrease in the demand levels for these sources of energy across the world. The high costs and the existing system of taxation are likely to put a constraint on the energy resources of Russia as exported in the global energy market. Russia is a leading country with respect to world energy and is a significant player in the international market of energy and power. The energy market of Russia is a critical contributor to the world economy and also directly influences the stability of the economy of Russia. Therefore, a comprehensive analysis of the development and future outlook for the energy sector of Russia with respect to the global energy market perspective is significant in understanding and planning the development of the economy. The analysis of the future of the energy sectors in Russia and the global market is done to evaluate and analyse the strategies of the country with respect to the development of the energy market and the economy of the country. The global energy landscape has been undergoing major transformations after the event of the economic crisis of 2008. The characteristics of the energy outlook has been demonstrating increasing volatility in the prices of the hydrocarbons, the changing demand and supply equations, increasing level of

Ernest Hemingway Annotated Bibliography Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Ernest Hemingway - Annotated Bibliography Example He sees Mr. Shirtlet as an empty man emotionally who only wants the car that Mrs. Crater possesses. He also points out that Mrs. Crater is also empty. The point of the story in his idea is that both people are willing to trade their humanity for something material. Desmond, John. F. â€Å"The Lessons of History: Flannery O’Connor’s ‘Everything that Rises Must Converge’. The Flannery O’Connor Bulletin, 1, Autumn, 1972. Gale Literary Database. Blinn Library. 6 March 2012. This article provides an understanding of O’Connor’s point of view as to whether this work is religious or not. She does not feel that the work is religious because she does not thinkit is right for her to put her religious views into her stories. Desmond states that he feels that it is religious and because of who she is, she cannot get away from influencing her characters in some way through religion. The article is a short critical essay about this short story and how the women in the story are under the delusion that they are better than everyone because of their wealth. The problem is that the males in the story have all the power, although the main female characters do not understand this fact. Here, there are two women, Mrs. Prichard and Mrs. Cope. One is savvy and the other one is seen as dense. The criticism is very short and interesting because the boys eventually set fire to the woods and are in some ways redeemed because of it. Paulson, Suzanne Morrow. "Male/Female Conflicts." Flannery OConnor: A Study of the Short Fiction. New York: Twayne Publishers, 1988. 28-45. Rpt. in Short Story Criticism. Ed. Schoenberg, Thomas, J., and Lawrence J. Trudeau. 82. Detroit: Gale, 2005. Literature Resource Center. Web. 8 Mar. 2012. Gale Literature Resource Center. Blinn Library. 6 March 2012. This article compares several of O’Connor’s short stores with the theme of male-female conflicts. Most of the stories were listed that were read for this research paper. The

Lehman brothers Literature review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Lehman brothers - Literature review Example The trick works perfectly, and manages to lure unsuspecting investors into trusting the company’s financial reports. Banks however use Repo 105 for purposes of short term borrowing, while in the case of Lehman, it was used to reflect a healthier balance sheet than it actually was. Jeffers (2011, p. 2) observes that the Lehman brothers used the â€Å"Repo 105† in its accounting severally to report impressive financial statements and win the trust of potential investors, by showing healthy securities. The company was an investment bank which had gone global. Lehman’s’ auditors on three occasions used the Repo 105 creative accounting trick to boost investor confidence. The trick used by Lehman helped them temporarily remove from its balance sheet roughly $ 50 billion, making the balance sheet look better the actual status of the company’s financial statements. However, at the time of filing its bankruptcy case, the company has a total of $ 639 billion in assets and $ 619 billion in debts. This formed the biggest bankruptcy case that affected over $ 10 trillion in investments. The company’s scheme involved the use of collateral firms such as Alpha Ville, with counter parties from banks such as Barclays Bank of Britain, USB of Switzerland, Mizuho Bank and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group. To be exact, the company involved in Repo 105, the transactions’ worth was estimated at over 105 per cent of the actual cash it received. This meant that the company was experiencing a shortage through these transactions. When they repaid the cash it received from the counterparties, interest was included, which made it a very expensive technique, thus losing money. Repo 105 is a tricky phenomenon for any company which opts to use it as a model of reporting its financial status. According to accounting standards, it is wrong and unethical for a firm to alter its books of accounts (Nguyen & Gong, 2012, p. 31). It is an issue that is qui te sensitive, deciding to report a misleading state of a company’s financial status. Whether such a situation finds its way to legal courts or not, it makes no difference, involved parties ought to hold responsibility for any eventuality through their actions. Not unless a company is planning on a strategy to defraud and steal from potential investors, it would never go to such lengths like Lehman did, with clear knowledge of the implications that are likely to come (Law, 2011, p 511). Some examiners hold that â€Å"Repo 105† actually is a â€Å"gross negligence† and does not amount to crime. However, the fact that Lehman altered its accounts with the intention of deceiving investors, rating agencies and perhaps the industry regulators is proof enough that this was criminal and that the presenters of the company acted in malice. The scheme led to the largest corporate bankruptcy case in the United States financial history (Sharp, 2010, n.p). Investors lost money , in the process. No matter how much conservatives refer to this as a form of negligence, it is still a crime. According to the accounting theories, Lehman accountants and managers contravened the theories of accounting and broke the oath of conduct of accountants. Although some scholars like Jennings (2011, p. 38) felt that the internal misleading of the company itself by the altered

HND in Business Accounting& Management Essay Example for Free

HND in Business Accounting Management Essay Operations Management explores the way organizations produce and distribute goods and services. Everything you wear, eat, sit on, use or read comes to you courtesy of the operations managers who organized its production and distribution. Goods such as automobiles, airplanes, computers and houses, must be produced, as do the services provided by hospitals, ski resorts, trucks, and airlines. Its the job of an operations manager to make sure these activities occur when and how they are planned. This explanation reflects the essential nature of operations management: it is the central activity in organizing things. Operations Management is the systematic development and control of the processes that transform inputs into goods and services. The operations function comprises a significant percentage of the employees and physical assets in most organizations. Operations Managers are concerned with each step in providing a product or service. They determine what should go into an operating system, such as equipment, labour, facilities, materials, energy, and information, to produce the output. Operations Managers are also responsible for critical activities such as materials management, capacity planning, purchasing, scheduling and quality. The importance of Operations Management has increased dramatically in recent years. Significant competition, shorter product and service life cycles, better educated and quality-conscious consumers, and the capabilities of new technology have placed pressures on the operations function to improve productivity while providing a broader array of high-quality products and services. Such like IEKA An organization that gets the binomial concept operations and business management right is more likely to experience short-term success and run efficient activities. The business might, for example, prevent errors in its record-keeping processes and rein in waste in money-eating mechanisms a perennial source of concern for top management. Given the importance of operational management, company principals may work with department heads and business-unit chiefs to draw up strategic blueprints and ask them to remain discreet about the companys operational tactics. The goal is not to convene a periodic top-level meeting and plot strategy in a warlike room, but to set sound procedures to make sure the architects of the companys blueprint keep mum about its objectives, resources and action plans. TASK2 Ikea because according to the specific market environment for the correct operation strategy, that was a huge commercial success.Ikeas household concept in the beginning of its creating had clear definition, that is: to provide a wide variety, beautiful and practical, ordinary people can afford the household articles for use.However, with the development of The Times, and constantly changing consumer demand, ikeas household concept also constantly enrich and perfect.Then, on the basis of the original, ikea household concept began with environmental factors.In particular, household concept of ikea is mainly in household concept of the masses.In most cases, expensive home furnishings is well-designed for a few people can afford to buy.From the early stages of creation, ikea will chose a different path, ikea decided to stand with most people.This means that ikea should meet the household needs of most people in the world, which meet with many different need, grade, dreams, and financial resources, at the same time hope to improve household needs and create a better life.In ikea, everywhere can see pasted on the wall of the ikea business motto: ikea will provide a wide range of design at a low price beautiful, fully functional household products, ensure that most people have the ability to buy.General household the management idea of success is based on partnership between ikea and customers.On the one hand, ikea ikea do the right thing to do.First of all, ikea designers and manufacturers to cooperate, in order to find out the use of the existing production process manufacturing furniture clever way.Then, ikeas purchasing companies around the world with the most appropriate suppliers of raw materials.Finally, ikea in global bulk purchase, ensure that ikea can get the lowest price.On the other hand, the customer do what they should do, namely through the ikea catalogue, visit the ikea store, choose furniture and customize the warehou se take delivery.Since most goods using tablet packaging, customers can easily to carry it home and assembled.In this way, customers can save a lot of cost.As a result, building with ikea low price, together create a better everyday life.Visible, ikea shows popular household concept for most people service business ideas.In high-end household take the high-quality goods in the 1950 s, ikea this breakthrough will surely shows its forward-looking strategies. Ikea is not just a product, it has its own retail system.Ikeas retail chain system adopted the operating strategy, in the global retail business through a wholly-owned crown stores and franchisees two modes of operation (blue and red group).As of August 31, 2003, 186 ikea stores in 43 countries and regions, including Europe, Asia, North America and Oceania region, ikea also continues to increase.There are 165 as a wholly owned stores, distribution in 29 countries and regions.In addition, in Australia, the united Arab emirates, Gre ece, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Israel, Malaysia, Singapore, Iceland and Hong Kong, China, Taiwan and other 14 countries and regions, there are 21 franchise, except for the ikea group a franchisor to own and run.Ikeas chain operation has been a huge success, and thus a high international reputation for ikea.In 2004, ikeas operating income of 12.8 billion euros, net profit more than 1.1 billion euros, employs 84000 workers, as the worlds biggest household goods retailer.Low price strategy is refers to through continuous compression cost, thus reduce prices, to win the market strategy.Ikea has been that only provide beautifully designed, practical series of products is not enough, also should make most people can afford to buy, in order to for most people rather than a few people to create a better life.After all, money is not much can meet the needs of the household consumer satisfaction.Therefore, ikea emphasizes the low-price strategy in the management strategy.Low price strategy ikea is the core of the operating strategy, ikea has unusual significance.Both household concept, cost control and other aspects of management measures, in the final analysis is to ikeas low price strategy.The success of ikeas low price strategy mainly from the following several aspects: adhere to the principle of small profit, principle of small profit in business is braving the down the sharp weapon, but also an important guarantee of ikeas low price strategy to success.After 60 years of development, ikea has always unswervingly implement the principle.Low-cost system, guara ntee the normal way of thinking of most enterprises, first in terms of product design and pricing, however, ikea has a tradition, price the product first and then followed by the specific design, finally find suppliers according to the established design.So it will be in the system design ensures the ikea, low prices.Ikeas pricing method is also unique, often use price matrix method for new product pricing.Ikea has three price high, medium and low grade, four basic style, modern, country and young Swedish northern Europe.In order to identify market opportunities, which is responsible for the product will take in charge of the committees instructions, the existing product prices to fill him in grid, and then look for space.First start from the little space of committee instructions, for example, have been found in the high price of ikea products for a large number of independent kitchen island, but he has lost those suitable for apartment or office cheap kitchen supplies.Then, head of products through the investigation to determine the cost of the new product competition, the goal is to lower than competitors prices by 30% ~ 50%, in this way, the price of ikea point occurs.This is the product manager for the low price of products of ikea kitchen utensils and appliances.The pricing model is kill two birds with one stone, it reflected the ikea has always been the production of standard and sales of the original and cheap, and also contains all to determine the content of the device in the conceptual design . TASK3 Operational management deals with the nitty-gritty basics of how a company operates, such as keeping track of spending costs and cash flow as well as maintaining a supply line. Some of the best managers have been those who have found ways to make the basic operations of a company more efficient. Operational management requires knowledge of a constantly changing variety of data and variables, and skillful and flexible planning is required. Strategic management does not merely have to do with setting broad and lofty goals, but works to establish a plan over the long term that will work toward those goals. This involves taking into account such factors as competition and consumer demand. The most successful business visionaries have been able to establish very realistic pictures of the market and operate within the constrictions that they were given by the market. Strategic management takes a great deal of common sense. Despite the clear distinctions we are making it is also important t o understand that operational and strategic planning are interrelated and complementary decision processes, which must link to each other, inform and support one another for effective management of strategies. Operational planning is the day-by-day, week-by-week, and month-by-month planning for a myriad of local and functional activities; strategic planning sets the overall direction of your organisation as a whole, its destiny if you will. The decisions that constitute the strategic plan include what the enterprise is not currently doing, but should be doing. The choices of what to do imply other things that the organization deliberately chooses not do. The strategic plan embodies very big decisions with major consequences for the overall performance. Strategic and tactical planning are different in kind. The two forms of planning must be linked, and integrated, and must not be confused. About IKEA: IKEA is a privately-owned company founded in Sweden by Ingvar Kamprad. He first started to sell pens, wallets, picture frames, table runners, jewellery and nylon stockings and decided to add furniture in 1947. IKEA has now around 260 stores, much of which are located in Europe, the United States, Australia and Asia. Nowadays IKEA is known for selling modern and utilitarian furniture at low prices their vision is To create a better everyday life for the many people. IKEA motto is Affordable Solutions for Better Living. Their operations management are strongly focused on achieving this goal; they use their resources effectively to gain profit by developing a more economic way for the production of their wide range of service. This has involved them in working closely with their suppliers in order to control aspects of their business from the production line. Unlike most furniture stores, IKEA sells goods which need to be assembled by the consumer; this has enabled them to use space more efficiently in their warehouse. The company has developed methods to satisfy customers with their Unique Selling Point (show room, children’ area) and a wise use of technology (stock control, internet). TASK4 TASK5 The three-es that is economy, efficiency and effectiveness. MANAGEMENT EFFICIENCY Efficiency can be measured in terms of the inputs required to generate the outputs. It is about the way in which work is completed. It is part of a manager’s job to help improve efficiency. For example, if the same work can be completed using less inputs or resources then efficiency has improved. Measuring efficiency means that the process followed to complete the work must be defined and then each part of the process studied to see what resources are required. This becomes the starting point or benchmark for measurement. Future work is then measured against the benchmark to see if it has taken more or less resource. Process changes are also measured to see if they are more or less efficient. It is also useful to measure one team’s efficiency against another and then adopt the most efficient methods as best practice– always assuming that effectiveness is maintained. MANAGEMENT EFFECTIVENESS Effectiveness can be explained in terms of what is achieved. It is about whether targets are met or not. Performing effectively means that the right work is being completed. Managers are responsible for making sure that this happens. If a team is working really hard but not delivering what is needed, then they are not effective. Effectiveness is measured by setting out clear objectives before work starts and then evaluating whether the objectives have been met or not. MANAGEMENT ECONOMY Economy is the third element of the three Es model, covering the financial aspects of work being done. It could be argued that economy or finance is just one of the factors to consider when improving efficiency, but because finance is so important in today’s organisations, economy has become the third element. Economy is measured by looking at the cost of the resources consumed and the value of the output delivered. TASK6 The maximization of quality and productivity in each and every individual industry is the foundation of every economy aspiring to prosperity.Improve the companies income by making the production more acceptable to the customers: by providing longlife, greater usefulness, maintainablity,etc.Giving employees control includes giving them the power to make job-related decisions, the flexibility to organize their work in the way they find optimal, and the authority to find make improvements on how their job is done. Making this work requires providing employees with the training, coaching, and information they need to make intelligent decisions. Make Sure Supervisors Know How to Bring Out the Best in People Supervisors play a huge role in employee morale, performance, and stress level. Supervisors who know how to provide guidance, support, and encouragement minimize employee stress. Supervisors with poor management skills or with personal problems, not only cant help employees deal with stressful times, they themselves are a tremendous source of stress. The time and financial resources you invest in selecting and training managers will pay huge dividends in reducing employee stress, increasing productivity, and minimizing turnover.

Observational Cinema And Forms Of Ethnographic Filmmaking Film Studies Essay

Observational Cinema And Forms Of Ethnographic Filmmaking Film Studies Essay There are many film styles which one can adopt to make an ethnographic film and observational cinema is one of them. Observational cinema includes direct and và ©rità © cinema which developed back in the 1960s. David McDougall was the most enthusiastic critical person when it came to observational cinema and also the most skilled person which used this type of ethnographic filmmaking. There are various implications when it comes to new technologies that anthropologists are still struggling with them till today. If it wasnt for the new technologies anthropologists would find it difficult to sync sound enabled documentaries because they really needed to show interactions in informal settings. Since, it never was possible to do so because an anthropologist needed a studio dramatization with fundamental fictionalization. This shows that there was a shift from the public to the private and also from the general to the particular. In the past, the pre-sync sound documentaries depended on a third-person commentary. The comments were used to contextualize the footage, to deliver the message and to elaborate sophisticated arguments captured by the anthropologist filmmaker. Commentary by the filmmakers was becoming to be seen as an unnecessary obstacle. This happened because when the viewers are watching a documentary with the natives speaking in their own native language, the editor has to cut certain comments and the meaning of the scene tend to be lost. Previous ethnographic films tend to combine the voice of the filmmaker with the voice o the film and also that in turn with voices film-as-text and the subjects in the film (McDougall David, 1998, pg5). Observational films are the most acknowledged from authors of ethnographic films, which hold on the traces of filmmaking in a form of documentary. Moreover, McDougall, points out that the know-how of understanding and viewing these types of observational films, is a very passive one which it shows the scene moving before you can notice it. This shows that the filmmakers view is important and challenging which is usually heard only through a voice. The 1960s and the beginning of the 1970s observational cinema, have given a new start for a style that is based on interviews, intercuts with archival or actuality footage. McDougall during an interview in the Film Teaching and the State of Documentary had used the same harmony sound of the new technology which had lead the way for observational cinema, both the early technology and the new technology are different in their character. When it comes to documentaries which are based on interviews, one notices the earlier style of observational filmmaking, which was going to takeover. Usually, in a standard dialogue, people are usually encouraged to say what they want and do, so that they can reflect what they had really experienced after a phenomenon. On the other hand, observational filmmakers, such as ethnographers, focus more on the life o the natives and how they actually live it, more like participatory observation. The person, who is doing the film, has to be sure that the saying or doing are drifting apart together. Somehow, the phenomenologist forgets that one should reflect on the person living his life rather than interpreting it. If certain scene have been staged for the camera, therefore they are not exactly real, may have similarities to those who act in the real self, but the final result wont be real. Observational cinema is more likely to think about the natives to get on with their own life when they are being observed rather than interrupting from their daily life. This type of filmmaking didnt want people to speak about themselves or to narrate their experiences especially when it is in front of the camera. David and Judith MacDougall influenced the ethnographic filmmaking even though through the years from 1970s onwards it continued to develop. Their films such as the African and the Australian films shows are still popular even today. Before this development in filmmaking, ethnographers didnt use subtitles when it comes to their documentaries, but the MacDougalls have introduced the subtitles in the ethnographic filmmaking rather than being talked over from the voice of the anthropologist. Subtitles had an important influence because the use of subtitles showed that the Non-Westerners, had also their intellectual lives, not as the Westerners used to think. As they used to shoot, MacDougalls still tied the natives to their physical and psychological limited perspectives. The aim of the film ethnographer is to capture the details through camera or photography but the fact that people are influenced by the presence of the ethnographer is rather an implication, therefore the ethnographer should have an aesthetic precision (McDougall David, 1998, pg9). There are various observation documentary films which reveal the real life which belong to a certain importance to journalism. This happens because in every society there is a public and political orientation. Now I will be discussing the implications they encountered during their practices with their new techniques in areas where tradition anthropology is enquired. From the start, David and Judith had their own ideas. They wanted to show the outline of every stage of their practice. The MacDougalls also wanted to show the differences they adopted from that of Jean Rouch, who altered the process of ethnographic exploration into a mystical or shamanistic journey, seeks to subvert the very kind of intellectual reasoning (Grimshaw, Ann, 2009 pg 122). Without any uncertainty, David MacDougalls writing reflects the recent cinematic ethnography development which they tackle realities of every day life of a particular society. Ann Grimshaw calls this technique as the metaphysic (Grimshaw, Ann, 2009 pg 122).. The work of David and Judith MacDougall will remain popular for their new way of observing things. Grimshaw tackles an epistemological perspective, where she argues that when someone questions something about knowledge needs to answer the question to its depth. The MacDougalls works such as films and writings are marked by a drive for clarity (Grimshaw, Ann, 2009 pg 122). Various anthropologists have searched for new methods to make documentary filming so that they can study Western societies. All they had to do was that they had to seek for something that renders things in their natural state, so that the film could make it to a larger audience. The method was that the ethnographer places him self as a filmmaker and therefore he views a certain type of ritual. The advantage of this method is that the ethnographers divided their methodological lines and observed while they also found the time to interact with the agency involved. On the other hand, Rouchs followers which are usually English speaking found it difficult to interact with the people of that particular society, unless an interview. Anthropologists by time started to adopt this observational filmmaking approach. The difference between certain other methods and this approach is that other methods tell very little to the audience and everyone can deduct his or her own story from the pictures seen. Films such as observational cinema involve people which they seem to be the owners of the wealth and effort of human experience (McDougall David, 1998, pg129). As a sort of implication the participants was seen as the co-conspirator in the filmmaking for not leaving the filmmaker out from his / her own film. This shows that the filmmaker gives much importance to the natives of the country rather than interrupting him/her self. When an anthropologist starts his or her research first s/he has to interact and then be accepted as part of that group. But when it comes to an anthropologist using the filming method, this builds a wall between the anthropologist and the natives because the anthropologist finds it difficult for him/her to show him / her self with the natives while being filmed unless there is someone else filming. Filmmaking doesnt leave much room for energy because all the energy is drained out with the camera so that the anthropologist can have an excellent result. This may lead for the anthropologist to reduce his or her participation with that society and therefore it is difficult for an anthropologist to recall whatever s/he has captured if not participated. Ethnographers are more likely to study non-Western Societies, which are very delicate to tackle and to study. The weakness of this situation is that since these societies are very weak, the ethnographer when it comes to film making should make him/herself as the recording instrument of history, which the pressure is on the ethnographer to weigh down the efforts to pursue more specific lines of inquiry (McDougall David, 1998, pg130). The situation leads the ethnographer to impersonate. Even though we, as spectators, are viewing people through the finalized film, as if they do not maintain anything on us, it is still up to us to understand whatever they mean by the things or rituals they make. Our situation combines a sense of immediacy with an absolute separation (McDougall David, 1998, pg130). With this observational method, the filmmaker is more likely to understand the meaning through a film or a picture rather than by understanding the meaning of the ritual by involving him / hers elf into the setting. The filmmaker became more of an eye of the audience, frozen into their passivity unable to bridge the separation between themselves and their subject (McDougall David, 1998, pg131). Films rather than tackling the abstract are more enthusiastic to tackle the specific, is deemed to be incompetent of serious intellectual expression. There are more than enough ethnographic films around which contains a doubtful interpretation, with a justification as a conclusion. Finally, Evans Pritchard also made a critique to Malinowski, where he stated that the themes are more than a descriptive synthesis of events. It is not a theoretical integrationthere is consequently no real standard of relevance, since every thing has a time and space relationship in cultural reality to explain everything else and from what ever point one starts on spreads oneself over the same ground (McDougall David, 1998, pg131). What Pritchard wanted to say was that it takes more from a descriptive observation to understand a situation; it takes to involve one self to understand what the meaning behind every situation is.

Chemical Bonding Essay

Chemical Bonding Essay Anna Fyodorova All elements are made of atoms which combined with each other form new atoms. They come together in large or small numbers to form very similar or very different atoms and as a result of the combination it is known as a chemical bond. Atoms linked together by bonds have different properties to the original parent atoms. There are only about 100 chemically different types of atoms which make up millions of substances in the world by being combined together. The two main types of chemical bonds the ionic bond in compounds which occurs between a metal and a non-metal and the covalent bond occurring between the two atoms of non-metallic element or between different elements of two atoms. In ionic boding metal and non-metal atoms when combined together loose or gain electrons so they can have a complete outer shell. As an example if sodium which has an electron configuration 2, 8, 1 loses an electron it is left with stable structure neon which has electron configuration 2, 8. However sodium atom still has one more proton than electrons in the orbit around the nucleus. As a result of protons having positive charge the sodium atom has now become a positively charged sodium ion. The electronic structure of sodium ion is written as [2, 8]+. There are atoms that similarly gain electrons during reactions and they gain noble gas structure. For example, Chlorine has electronic structure of 2, 8 , 7. To have the stable electronic structure of argon it needs to gain a single electron becoming 2, 8, 8. Chlorine has now got more electrons than positively charged protons and is known as a chloride ion carrying a single negative charge. The electronic structure of chloride ion is w ritten as [2,8,8]. Ionic bonds are formed by atoms reacting together that need to gain and to loose electrons. For example, when sodium and chlorine react together they need to form stable ions which occur by sodium losing an electron and chlorine gaining one. Below is a lewis diagram that shows an example of ionic bonding by formation of sodium chloride (NaCl). (Brown, 2009) The oppositely charged ions are held together by the strong attraction forces that during ionic bonding form the positive and negative ions. As a result of these bonds between the charged particles a giant structure of ions is formed. To break all the bonds would take a lot of energy as the ions in the giant structure are being held together strongly; therefore the ionic compounds have a high boiling and melting points. Sodium chloride is a good example of an ionic substance. It is known as NaCl or common salt and by being a crystalline solid it has a high boiling point of 1413oC and melting point of 801oC. Below is a diagram of a sodium chloride giant ionic structure. Two non–metal atoms reacting together seek to gain and share electrons to achieve a structure of a noble gas and become stable. The atoms are held together by the electrostatic attraction of the pair of electrons concentrated in between the two nuclei. This is known as a covalent bond. A molecule is formed when atoms are being held together by the covalent bonds. Below is an example of a covalent bond of two hydrogen atoms. (Brown, 2009) Multiple bonds can be formed by atoms sharing more than one electron pair. Two electron pairs or total of four electrons form a double bond and three electron pairs or total of six electrons form a triple bond. An example of multiple bonds is Oxygen and Nitrogen as they both exist as diatomic molecules containing double bonds. Below is an example of single, double and triple bonds. (Brown, 2009) Covalent compounds at a room temperature can be found in a form of a solid, gas or water and in a solution generally do not conduct electricity. Two chlorine atoms form a non-polar covalent bond by being equally shared as the difference in electronegativity between them is zero. Covalent bonds that have unequal shared electrons between the atoms is a polar bond. Polar and nonpolar molecules have the attractive forces between them which determine the strength and properties of these bonds and are known as intermolecular forces. There are three types of intermolecular forces and they play an important role in changes of state in molecular compounds. In covalent bonds the strength of intermolecular forces depends on the size and shape of molecules, which will determine if the bond will have a higher, or lower boiling or melting points. (Goodman, 1960) Dispersion (also known as Van der Waals’) forces exist between all molecules polar or nonpolar and without these forces; nonpolar molecules cannot ever form a solid or a liquid. Molecules with more electrons will generate bigger oscillating and induced dipoles. These produce larger attractive forces between molecules. A dipole-dipole interaction is when a polar molecule will attract another polar molecular by the small ÃŽ ´+ and ÃŽ ´- charges. This gives a weak intermolecular force called a permanent-dipole interaction. Below is an example of intermolecular forces between Hydrogen and chlorine molecules. There is strong intermolecular attraction in hydrogen bonds between a polar hydrogen and one molecule and single pair of electrons on a highly electronegative atom of Fluorine, Oxygen and Nitrogen on a different molecule. (Mikeblaber.org, 2014) There are special properties of water arising from hydrogen bonding. Solid is less dense than liquid, therefore particles in solids are usually packed slightly closer together than in liquids. Relatively strong hydrogen bonds hold water molecules apart in an open lattice structure. Below is an example of an open hydrogen-bonded lattice of ice as ice is less dense than water. Hydrogen bonds have a high melting and boiling point, therefore there’s a relatively strong attraction of H-bonds and H2O. The H-bonds are extra forces, over and above dispersion forces. These extra forces result in higher melting and boiling points than would be expected from just dispersion. When the ice lattice breaks, hydrogen bonds are broken. (Gent and Richie, 2008). Bibliography Brown, C. (2009).Higher level Chemistry. Pearson. Chemwiki.ucdavis.edu, (2014).Introduction to Chemical Bonding Chemwiki. [online] Available at:http://chemwiki.ucdavis.edu/Physical_Chemistry/Quantum_Mechanics/09._The_Hydrogen_Atom/Atomic_Theory/Chemical_Compounds/Introduction_to_Chemical_Bonding[Accessed 6 Dec. 2014]. Docbrown.info, (2014).Introduction to CHEMICAL BONDING diagrams descriptions What is a chemical bond? Why do atoms bond together? gcse igcse A Level GCE AS A2 O Level chemistry revision notes. [online] Available at:http://www.docbrown.info/page04/4_72bond.htm[Accessed 6 Dec. 2014]. Gent, D. and Ritchie, R. (2008).OCR A2 chemistry. Oxford: Heinemann. GOODMAN, C. (1960). Ionic-Covalent Bonding in Crystals.Nature, 187(4737), pp.590-591. Herschbach, D. (2003). Cohesion: A Scientific History of Intermolecular Forces.Physics Today, 56(11), pp.68-68. Mikeblaber.org, (2014).Covalent Bonding. [online] Available at:http://www.mikeblaber.org/oldwine/chm1045/notes/Bonding/Covalent/Bond04.htm[Accessed 6 Dec. 2014]. Www2.hkedcity.net, (2014).Ionic Bond. [online] Available at:http://www2.hkedcity.net/sch_files/a/lsc/lsc-chem/public_html/nss/fundamental/bonding/Ionic/eg1a.htm[Accessed 6 Dec. 2014].

Themes in Lord of the Flies Essay -- essays research papers

William Goldning’s Lord of the Flies is an allegorical novel where literary techniques are utilized to convey the main ideas and themes of the novel. Two important central themes of the novel includes loss of civilization and innocense which tie into the concept of innate human evil. Loss of civilization is simply the transition from civilization to savagery; order to chaos. The concept of loss of innocense is a key concept to innate human evil because childhood innocense is disrupted as the group hunted animals and even their own. Through the use of literary techniques these ideas are seen in the passage where Simon confronts the â€Å"Lord of the Flies.† The central concern of Lord of the Flies deals with the fall of civilization to the awakening of savagery. The conflict seen in this theme is explored through the dissolution of the young boys’ well mannered behavior as they accustomed themselves to a wild, barbaric life in the jungle. The concept of innate human evil takes an important role in this theme because as the boys grew more savage the beast that they feared grew within themselves. This innate human evil is the beast that destroys civilization as savagery claimed its position. In the passage the â€Å"Lord of the flies† indicates the presence of the beast within the boys. ‘Fancy thinking the Beast was something you could hunt and kill!’ said the head/You knew, didn’t you? I’m part of you? Close, close, close! I’m the reason why it’s no go? (Pg. 143). To make this point cl...

Interesting Facts :: essays research papers

Interesting Facts Got this from one of my daily joke emails. Thought it was interesting enough to share : 111,111,111 x 111,111,111 = 12,345,678,987,654,321 If a statue in the park of a person on a horse has both front legs in the air, the person died as a result of wounds received in battle; if the horse has all four legs on the ground, the person died of natural causes. No word in the English language rhymes with month, orange, silver, and purple. Clans of long ago that wanted to get rid of their unwanted people without killing them use to burn their houses down - hence the expression "to get fired." Canada is an Indian word meaning "Big Village". There are two credit cards for every person in the United States. Only two people signed the Declaration of Independence on July 4th, John Hancock and Charles Thomson. Most of the rest signed on August 2, but the last signature wasn't added until 5 years later. "I am." is the shortest complete sentence in the English language. The term "the whole 9 yards" came from WWII fighter pilots in the South Pacific. When arming their airplanes on the ground, the .50 caliber machine gun ammo belts measured exactly 27 feet, before being loaded into the fuselage. If the pilots fired all their ammo at a target, it got "the whole 9 yards." The most common name in the world is Mohammed. The word "samba" means "to rub navels together." The international telephone dialing code for Antarctica is 672. The glue on Israeli postage stamps is certified kosher. Mel Blanc (the voice of Bugs Bunny) was allergic to carrots. Until 1965, driving was done on the left-hand side on roads in Sweden. The conversion to right-hand was done on a weekday at 5pm. All traffic stopped as people switched sides. This time and day were chosen to prevent accidents where drivers would have gotten up in the morning and been too sleepy to realize that *this* was the day of the changeover. The very first bomb dropped by the Allies on Berlin during World War II killed the only elephant in the Berlin Zoo. Dr. Seuss pronounced "Seuss" such that it rhymed with "rejoice." In Casablanca, Humphrey Bogart never said "Play it again, Sam." Sherlock Holmes never said "Elementary, my dear Watson." More people are killed annually by donkeys than die in air crashes. The term, "It's all fun and games until someone loses an eye" is from Ancient Rome.

Drugs In The Music Industry Essay -- essays research papers

Drugs in the Music Industry The Music World-glamorous, fast paced, and a world most of us will never be part of. But if we knew what it entailed, would we still want to be? The whole world seems to be building itself around drugs more and more every day, and music industry isn't immune. In fact, music is one of the most influential art forms of today's society, and drugs, especially to today's youth, just add to the attractiveness of it all. In the last two or three years, drugs, especially heroin, have risen in use dramatically. Kurt Cobain was the most high-profile drug-related rock star since the 1970's and was still battling heroin addiction when he committed suicide in 1994. Along with him, his wife Courtney Love made it fashionable to be a "junkie". In the last year, Stone Temple Pilot's singer Scott Weiland and Depeche Mode singer David Gahan, among others, have been arrested for cocaine or heroin possession. The number of top bands that have been linked to heroin through a member's overdose, arrest, admitted use or recovery is staggering: Smashing pumpkins, Everclear, Snoop Doggy Dogg, Dr. Dre, Blind Melon, Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Breeders, Alice in Chains, Sex Pistols, Sublime, Iggy Pop, the list goes on and on. Together, these bands have sold more than 60 million albums(Newsweek pgs 50 & 53). Since kids emulate popular musicians, what is there to keep them from emulating their drug use? Moreover, what's to keep the majority of the population from doing the same? In the 60's and 70's, drug use was never spoken of nor did anyone admit that it was a problem. Nowadays, there is not a person in the world who hasn't heard about the rising drug use. But what are they doing about it? Back in the 80's, higher prices, the fear of contracting AIDS, and lower purity kept drugs out of the mainstream. Now, drugs are cheaper and easier to get then ever, being imported into the country at double the rate it was in the 1980's. Unfortunately, the outsider's view of drug use isn't the harsh reality. Janis Joplin, Billie Holiday, and Charlie Parker are among the many to die from heroin and other drug addictions. Drugs seem to make you a funnier, wiser, cooler person, but what the younger generation fails to realize is that they are fatal. Despite this, drug... ...are easy because they are wealthy, popular, and sublimely happy. Being rich and famous isn't all it's cracked up to be. They lead normal lives, have kids and pay bills just as we do, but this is still no excuse to put your life into your own hands. The music industry may be finally facing up to the truth that drug abuse has become a serious problem, though. The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences gathered in 1996 to discuss what could be done about it. The sense of crisis has been growing since Kurt Cobain committed suicide, blamed at least partly on his heroin abuse.(Time p57)Expressions of concern are easy to come by, but the chances for meaningful industry action are less clear. Record executives refuse to be drug police, especially in a society where drug abuse has long been accepted, and even condoned, as part of the creative process. Geffen Records has retained a drug counselor for it's musicians who seek help. (Time p 58). But the industry must recognize that pressure from the label to keep tutoring and recording can blow a drug problem out of proportion. It is a minimal step, but at least a start toward trying to keep musicians healthy, productive, and alive.