Discuss The Measures We Can Take to Prevent the Spread of the H1N1 Virus

As we all know, and are aware that, the H1N1 influenza, or the more commonly used name, Swine Flu, has been attacking various citizens throughout the world. This virus is spreading at a steady state and will harm many others unless measures are taken immediately. The world has been under attack from such diseases for an unimaginably long time. There is a long-standing history of viruses, epidemics and plagues blackening our past. Cures have failed; people have died, the major reason being that our ancestors did not take enough preventative measures to oppose the spread of such diseases. However, in today's world, where we have all the privileges a person can dream of, and all sorts of advancements in medical technology, we have a responsibility to make the best use of this awareness and use it to our fullest advantage. In 2005, people were frightened to go to poultry markets for fears of catching Avian Flu, or H1N3, and many precautionary measures were taken to eradicate that virus. With much struggle, we were finally successful. The same sort of preventative measures need to be taken with H1N1. This being a viral disease, in can be transmitted from one person to the next almost instantly. The consumption of pork should be minimized or completely stopped for the time being, in order to aid the prevention of the virus spreading. However, this is also an airborne, contagious virus, so the government should urge medical and pharmaceutical companies to produce a preventative vaccine. Everyone in the country must be inoculated no matter what the side effect are, as long as we eradicate the virus and stop it spreading. Schools should educate and inform children of the dangers of avoiding the use of preventative measures and should give special classes on cleanliness/hygiene and how to dispose correctly of used tissues, for example. These classes should be especially targeted towards children below the age of twelve, as they are more susceptible to the virus than adolescents. As individuals, we all have a duty to one another. We must be aware of the symptoms of this virus, which are a high temperature, a mucus-filled cough, drooping eyelids, weakness up to the point of fatigue, and sometimes diarrhea and/or vomiting. If we spot a fellow classmate or anyone in a public area such as a mall or shopping market demonstrating any of these symptoms, we must inform the school nurse or ask for assistance in the public area immediately and without the slightest delay. This should not be neglected at all. These people deserve the opportunity for treatment as soon as possible. In school, we should ask our senior staff members to make sure there are hand sanitizers available in every corridor and soap in all the bathrooms, so that we may have clean hands at all times. Extra care should be taken to maintain the sanitation and hygiene of the school bathrooms. Also, everyone must keep a bag of antiseptic wipes in their backpack for times when hand sanitizer is unavailable. This will dramatically reduce the risk on infection and will greatly enhance the safety of the pupils and staff alike. This may seem like a lot of effort but to protect our health, and possibly our lives, these measures are extremely essential. Together, we will be able to prevent, or at least minimize, the spread of the H1N1 virus, so that we may live our lives healthily, and without fear.

Valuation: Measuring and Managing the Value of Companies Essay

Carrefour Company Introduction                   The modern business world has changed and organizations have embraced new technologies for them to achieve effectiveness, efficiency and competitiveness. One of the most important technology for business prosperity is Information Technology commonly known as IT. Information is an important and integral part of any organization that determines whether a firm will make sound decisions or not. Carrefour Company is one of the well-known worldwide companies that has embraced Information technology in its business processes and this has played a majorin earning a competitive edge. Carrefour IT and Business Processes                   The company runs convenience stores, supermarkets, cash and carry supplies, hyper-cash store and hypermarkets. Carrefour also engages in non-food and food e-commerce websites and it functions as multi-location, multi-channel, and multi-location trader with its initial origin in Europe. Its products range from electronics, leisure, ornamental products, clothing items and non- food products(Koller, 2011). Carrefour contacts a large amount of its business on an online platform using its portals, ooshop.fr and Carrefour.fr. This calls for a good understanding of Information Technology for the firm to succeed and earn competitive advantage in the industry. Carrefour Company integrates Information Technology in its various business processes. Some of the ways are in communication, inventory management, data management, management information systems, security, business culture, research capacity and customer relationship management.                   Being a multi-factor company, Carrefour requires a well-structured communication channel to enable transactions and business communication to happen smoothly. The company has adapted new information technology by setting up a wide variety of communication platforms to reach the maximum number of clients and potential customers globally. Examples of the platforms used include the official company’s website, email support systems for both clients and employees, phone directories and social network accounts.                   Inventory management at Carrefour has also boosted their performance due to advanced information technology. The inventory systems gather all the information of each items stored and keep track of the quality and quantities. This enables the company to minimize on inventory costs such as carrying costs and also minimize wastages especially for the food products with low shelf life.                   Information technology has also improved data management practices at the company. Employees do not to keep large file of documents, they save everything through data systems. The systems are also able to record information which is important for business decisions and this automated systems also reduce malpractices among the employees.                   Customers are the most important stakeholders to any business organization and, therefore, the need to maintain a good relationship with them. Carrefour has achieved this aspect through customer management systems (CRM) which enhances communication with the clients. The company is able to respond immediately to customers’ concerns and the information is stored for future reference if the same client makes another call. This improves customer experience and increased customer loyalty to Carrefour products. Technologies Used at Carrefour Company                   Carrefour Company mainly employs four technologies to manage its information. These systems are Transaction Process Systems (TPS), Management Information Systems (MIS), Enterprise Information Systems, and Decision Support Systems (DSS). Transaction Process Systems monitors and records all the transactions in the organization. The system mainly is responsible for recovery of data during system failures, stabilize the data, and it also integrates and connects other systems.                   MIS on the hand, does systematic study and analysis of available data to enhance decision-making. Carrefour joint forces with a company called PeopleSoft which is in charge of their global operations by offering platforms such as Customer Relations Management(Farrel, 2013). Management Information Systems enable the company to heighten their operations by frequently updating processes, procedures, and stored data.                   DSS is a unique technology that promotes sound decision-making processes at different levels of the company’s hierarchy. Its main advantage is the ability to break down large volume of data and evaluate them for decision-making. The system retrieves the ideal information from the stored volumes of data and it can work both as an online or a batch process.                   EIS is important information tool mainly for the management of Carrefour Company. It makes summaries of the transactions and turns raw data into information which is applied internally. The management team at Carrefour use EIS to get summarized information from complex graphs and in the process speed up decision-making process(Koller, 2011). Company’s Success with IT adaption                   90% of the company’s success is attributed to its use and early adoption of Information Technology into its business activities. The technology has improved customer relations, business process, employee relations, and product development. These are the main activities of any organization and therefore making Information Technology a major player to the success Carrefour Company is enjoying today.                   Information Technology has helped Carrefour to minimize most of the cost associated with conducting business. It has enabled the organization reduce on the space required to store information through the use of computers. It has also enhance inventory management and reduced wastages and carrying costs(Koller, 2011). Due to customer relation systems, the company is able to make more tailor products and services according to the clients’ tastes and preferences. This has led more product differentiation. References Farrel, J. (2013). The Economics of Information Technology: An Introduction (Raffaele Mattioli Lectures). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Koller, T. (2011). Valuation: Measuring and Managing the Value of Companies (Carrefour Case). New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Source document

Management Study Guide

1. We have covered a lot of material over the past two months. The final examination will consist of 10 short answer questions and 2 case study questions. The 10 short answer questions are similar in structure to short answer questions provided in the quizzes. Ensure you thoroughly read the case study provided with your final before answering the two case study questions. The exam counts towards 30% of your final grade and one cannot pass the course without completing the proctored exam.The examination is a closed resource examination; consequently, no books or notes will be allowed. You will have two hours to complete the examination. The final examination is comprehensive. It includes material in Chapters 1 – 20. 2. By providing this review, I hope to channel your preparation and study for the final examination to key areas concerning principles of management, but remember you are responsible for all the information covered since the beginning of class.One should ensure a co mprehensive knowledge of the Core Learning Objectives, delineated in each Weeks Overview, Objectives and Weekly Activities, sub section â€Å"The Objectives† and denoted by a light blue box with a black key in it. Key areas include the following: Know and briefly describe the five basic management functions. Planning – deciding what objectives to pursue during a future period and what to do to achieve those objectives.Organizing – grouping activities, assigning activities, and providing the authority necessary to carry out the activities Staffing – determining human resource needs and recruiting, selecting, training, and developing human resources Leading – directing and channeling human behavior toward the accomplishment of objectives Controlling – measuring performance against objectives, determining causes of deviations, and taking corrective action where necessary Define â€Å"management† and explain the managerial significance of â€Å"effectiveness† and â€Å"efficiency†.Management is a form of work that involves coordinating an organization’s resources – land, labor, and capital – to accomplish organizational objectives. Also known as getting things done through people List five methods that can used to train or develop employees. OJT – a rainee is shown how to perform the job and allowed to do it under the trainer’s supervision Job Rotation – also called cross-training, employee learns several different jobs within a work unit or department and performs each job for a specific period Vestibule – procedures and equipment similar to those used in the actual job are set up in a special working area called a vestibule.Classroom – most familiar method of training, methods are lecture, discussion, audiovisual methods, experiential methods, and computer based training. Computer-assisted – allows the employee to absorb information from a preset computer program and advance their knowledge in a self-paced format Understand and briefly describe effective management communication skills. Managers must give direction to the people who work for them – employees often perform their jobs poorly b/c they do not understand what is expected of them.Managers must be able to motivate people – ability to communicate to get employees excited about their jobs Managers must be able to convince customers that they should do business with them Managers must be able to absorb the ideas of others – must be able to understand and accept other people’s viewpoints Managers must be able to persuade other people – Describe four social responsibilities.Philanthropy and volunteerism – efforts to improved human welfare, time and money to charitable, cultural, and civic organizations Environmental Awareness – limiting the damage their operations cause to the environment Sensitivity to Diversity – Maintain an ethnically diverse workforce Quality of Work Life – Adopting policies that contribute to the quality of life for their employees, such as flex hours, on-site daycares, etc Describe and recognize legal and ethical responsibilities.Legal responsibility – responsibility of a business to comply with federal and state regulations that affect business operations Ethical responsibility – responsibility of a business to comply with its own set code of ethics along with ethical business laws Recognize when TQM would benefit an organization. Total Quality Management – management philosophy that emphasizes ‘managing the entire organization so that it excels in all dimensions of products and services that are important to the customer’ List three methods for training and developing managers.What are organizing work and structure? Organizing work – process of division of labor accompanied by an appropriate delegation of author ity; benefits of organizing work – establishes lines of authority, improves efficiency and the quality of work through synergism, improves communication Organizing structure – is the framework that defines the boundaries of the formal organization and within which the organization operates; Strategy, size, environment, organization and technology are factors that affect the organizing structure Recognize when MBO would benefit an organization.Management by Objectives (MBO) – philosophy based on converting organizational objectives into personal objectives; MBO works best when the objectives of each organizational unit are derived from the objectives of the next higher unit in the organization; it assumes that establishing personal objectives elicits employee commitment, which leads to improved performance Articulate and explain change and culture. Change – bringing about something different than the previous way or situation.In organizations, usually refe rs to technological, environmental or internal changes Culture – set of important understandings (often unstated) that members of a community share; ‘the way we do things around here’ Distinguish between mechanistic and organic organizations. Mechanistic – organizational systems characterized by rigid delineation of functional duties, precise job descriptions, fixed authority and responsibility, and a well developed organizational hierarchy through which information filters up and instructions flow down Organic – organizational systems characterized by less formal job descriptions, greater emphasis on daptability, more participation, and less fixed authority Assess and describe the importance of staffing. Employees are the most valuable asset to an organization. The goal of staffing is to obtain the best available people for the organization and to develop the skills and abilities of those people. Recognize the Herzberg two factor theory to employee motivation Herzberg’s 2 factor theory, aka motivation-maintenance or motivation-hygiene, is based off the idea that hygiene or maintenance factors, such as supervision, money, status, do not produce motivation but can prevent motivation from occurring.However motivator factors, such as achievement, recognition, advancement, provides true motivation. Discuss the international business environment in terms of management awareness, global competition, and strategic planning International trade consists of the exchange of goods and services by different countries. Compare and contrast the following three; basic planning, operations management, and strategic management.Planning – process of deciding what objectives to pursue during a future time period and what to do to achieve those objectives Operations management – short range planning done primarily by middle to lower level managers, it concentrates on the formulation of the functional plans Strategic management – analogous to top-level, long range planning; covers a relatively long period; affects many parts of the organization Define conflict and stress. What are some ways it can it be reduced?Conflict – overt behavior that results when an person or group thinks a perceived need of the person or group has been blocked or is about to be blocked Stress – mental or physical condition that results from a perceived threat of danger (physical or emotional) and the pressure to remove it Ways to reduce conflict/stress: Communication, shortening hours of direct contact with customers, special leaves (sabbatical), on-site exercise facilities, clearly defining employee jobs, flextime or telecommuting, early retirement programs, introducing changes gradually Assess and describe work teams.Formal work team – established and formally recognized by management, established to carry out specific tasks Informal work team – established by personal contacts and interaction s among people and isn’t formally recognized by management Quality circle – composed of a group of employees, usually 5-15 people, who are members of a single work unit, section or department. The basic purpose of a quality circle is to discuss quality problems and generate ideas that might help improve quality.Self-Directed – members are empowered to control the work they do without a formal supervisor Virtual work team – teams that use mainly technology-supported communication, with team members working and living in different locations Recognize when TQM would benefit an organization. Total Quality Management – management philosophy that emphasizes ‘managing the entire organization so that it excels in all dimensions of products and services that are important to the customer’Recognize and understand the implications of job enrichment, enlargement and rotation. Job enrichment – upgrading of the job by adding motivator factors Job enlargement – giving an employee more of a similar type of operation to perform Job rotation – a trainee goes from 1 job to another within the organization, generally remaining at each job from 6 – 12 months Each of these processes are used in attempt to solve motivational problems with employees Describe quality circle and recognize when there implementation may help an organization.Quality circle – composed of a group of employees, usually 5-15 people, who are members of a single work unit, section or department. The basic purpose of a quality circle is to discuss quality problems and generate ideas that might help improve quality. Benefits include increasing employee participation, encourage communication and trust among members and managers, inexpensive way to provide training, and solves problems Define, explain, and provide an example of operations control. Operations management – is the management of the production function in any organ ization;Describe the difference between leadership and management. Effective leadership in organizations creates a vision of the future that considers the legitimate long-term interests of the parties involved in the organization, develops a strategy for moving toward that vision, enlists the support of employees to produce the movement, and motivates employees to implement the strategy. Management is a process of planning, organizing staffing, motivating and controlling through the use of formal authority.Leadership is the ability to influence people to willingly follow one’s guidance or adhere to one’s decisions Management is a form of work that involves coordinating an organization’s resources – land, labor, and capital – to accomplish organizational objectives. Define the concept of synergy and how it relates to management of organizations. Organization improves the efficiency and quality of work through synergism. For example, synergism result s when three people working together produce more than three people working separately.Synergism can result from division of labor or from increased coordination, both of which are products of good organization. Synergy – occurs when individuals or groups work together to produce a whole greater than the sum of the parts. Evaluate and describe four characteristics common to all organizations. Group of people, working together, in some concerted or coordinated effort to, obtain objectives Describe at least three approaches or theories to motivate employees.Scientific management approach – based on the assumption that money is the primary motivation of people; if the monetary award is great enough, employees will work harder and produce more Equity approach – is based on the idea that people wanted to be treated fairly in relationship to others Reinforcement approach – is based on the idea that behavior that appears to lead to a positive consequence tends t o be repeated, whereas behavior that appears to lead to a negative consequence tends not to be repeated Recognize when â€Å"flattening an organization† may be appropriate Flatter organizations have fewer levels and larger spans of management at each level. Sometimes when forced to downsize, flattening an organization is resulted.

False and Puffery Advertising Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

False and Puffery Advertising - Essay Example Aside from these ethical issues, advertising is also considered to have an impact on activities of the industry and the society. According to Wolfe and Ferland (n.d.), â€Å"the goal of advertising is often to create a need, increase consumer awareness and ultimately influence consumers purchasing decisions.† It has been believed that the use of puffery in advertisement would be helpful and effective in order to build awareness and catch consumer’s attention. Puffery is vague promotional statements and claims that boost only the appeal of a product or service subjectively rather than objectively without a misleading intention that makes the advertisement immunized from regulation (Ford, 1996, p. 8). In legal aspects, false or deceptive advertisements are categorized as implied falsity, literal falsity, and puffery (Barigozzi & Peitz, 2007, p. 223). More often, puffery is not considered as deceptive advertising for it only used to indicate exaggerations, opinions, and su bjective claims about product qualities, properties, claims, slogans, and many more (Hunt, 2007). Puffery becomes deceptive only if it crosses the fine line of distinction between puffery and deceptive advertising such as falsely claiming superiority that affect consumer’s choices. Literal falsity refers to statements presumed to mislead consumer’s purchasing decision rather than general statements of opinions wherein no reasonable consumers are likely to rely (Matheson, 2009). Finally, advertisements that talk about facts but there is a hidden falsity across the information is called an implied falsity. The main thrust of this paper is to discuss ethical issues and situations about false and puffery advertising that has an impact on the industry and the society as a whole. Ethical and Social Responsibility From the ethical point of view, puffery and false or deceptive advertising are viewed as important elements in consumer’s choices and value through the highe st standard and accurate information that prevails in advertisements. In other words, in order for advertisements to be ethical, claims should be factually substantiated supported with empirical facts and evidences (Levinson & Godin, 1994, p. 36). Ethics in advertising is said to be an integral part of advertising itself because people who often read and see advertisements assumed that there are truths in advertising. As long as the advertisement did not imply nor literally guaranteed something in return upon promoting the product or services, the advertisement would not be considered unethical. Misrepresentations and deceptive aspects of advertising are among the common criticisms of ethics advertising. The issues take several forms and this include â€Å"using deceptive mock-ups, using untrue paid testimonials, inserting the word guarantee where nothing is guaranteed, quoting misleading prices, failing to disclose defects in a product, misleading disparaging a competitor’s goods, or simulating well-known brand names† (Velasquez, 2006). On the other hand, the deceptive aspects of advertising occurred if the conveyed information to the consumers such as the real attributes of the products or services are different from what have been advertised. In terms of social impact, criticisms are always part of advertising, sometimes it focused on the

The Divergence of U.S. and UK Takeover Regulation Essay

The Divergence of U.S. and UK Takeover Regulation - Essay Example In the article, there is a big difference in takeover regulation of companies in UK and US. The law of Delaware in the United States provides a peaceful condition in which the ruling board is given the mandate in the decision making of the type of tender to be issued. On the other side, United Kingdom uses a defensive tactic by targeting the ruling board. This tactic prohibits the management from interacting with other management in a peaceful manner. However, during the takeover regulation in the US, the court usually decides over tender and offers the rules concerning it. On the contrary, UK lawyers disappears when the hostile bidders launches their bids. By the use of this tactic, the UK were able to private their regime through the institutional inventors of which their counterparts could not. Though both the American and English system of corporate governance has different features, they share ownership. The hostile tactic of takeover gives priority to function as a disciplinary instrument undertaken by the management. Nevertheless, both possess different rules and regulations governing the takeover battle. Finally, the difference in approach between US and UK is relevant as it provides education leading to enhancement of the economy of the entire

Negative Effects of Social Networking Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Negative Effects of Social Networking - Essay Example Social networking sites promote faster and efficient communication with family friends who may be far away. Moreover, these sites give an opportunity to connect and reconnect with close long lost friends and acquaintances. However, issues of privacy and degradation of social values have been raised with the use of social networking sites. Though social networking has enhanced connections that would otherwise be lost, a number of issues arise with the use of these sites such as the negative effects including the death of emotions and empathy, lack of privacy, and false friendships. Â  Social networking sites promote connections and communication among users and thus enhancing lives. According to Dunbar, Facebook allows people to create networks, renew lost friendships, and enhances communication. In the agreement, Lam notes that communication technology such as the networking sites has enhanced humankind in a number of ways. Similarly, Helfand states that social networking sites have allowed people to connect with others and share personal information online that can be viewed by family and friends such as what someone is doing, eating, or even location.

Environmental effects of intensive dairy farming (esp impacts on Essay

Environmental effects of intensive dairy farming (esp impacts on water) in NZ - Essay Example I will then look into websites especially those ending in â€Å"nz† as they are all from New Zealand. I will then look more into these and by browsing through all of them, I can somehow get an idea about what to write regarding the environmental effects of intensive dairy farming. I am actually expecting that there will be a variety of topics to discuss but I was determined to focus on the negative or harmful effects of intensive dairy farming, especially on how it affects the waters and the water supply. However, aside from using those websites which end in â€Å"nz,† I will also try exploring all those with â€Å"edu† or â€Å"org† or even those whose endings are â€Å"com† and â€Å"net† as long as they particularly refer to the environmental effects of intensive dairy farming. Moreover, I also have to search Google Scholar for any possible journal articles related to New Zealand and the intensive dairy farming problem there. I will be using the keywords â€Å"New Zealand† and â€Å"intensive dairy farming,† and I will then make my search primarily on the aspect of the problem that deals with water and at the same time not leaving the other parts. For the journal articles, I should take care not to consider those published before 2000 as they could actually be too obsolete already. Moreover, it would be better for me to choose journal articles that have been published in New Zealand compared to those that have been published in other countries as the former are more related to the environmental issue that I want to investigate. Aside from Google Scholar, I will also try out other databases. Moreover, I will select only those journal articles that have a complete or full report, whether in doc, html or pdf format. I will not select those with only an abstract because those will never explain the reasons behind the findings. Furthermore, I will not

Global Economy and Politics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Global Economy and Politics - Essay Example Internet selling through websites and portals has broken all limits and definition of a domiciled corporation. Now corporations are not only selling to foreign nationals over the internet but are also actually relocating their production facilities in search of overseas markets. Since 1990s the concept of globalization has brought in revolution in the manner we trade internationally. However this new global economy has redefined the political equations in the globe and is continuing to do so with changing balance of economic power. This paper essentially examines this phenomenon. The globalization aligned attitudes of IMF and World Bank are exemplified with clarity by Jean-Claude Trichet, President of the European Central Bank, when he says that," The key aim of today's policy makers has not changed compared to those at the Bretton Woods times - it has been, and still is, global prosperity and stability - but the environment in which we are acting has changed profoundly......Today we are striving for stability of the international financial system in a world of free capital flows with a growing importance of private flows and increasing trade and financial integration"(Trichet, 2004). Devetak and Higgott explain how globalization has brought about a weakening of an intra national social bond. They further posit that ongoing process of globalization causes constant disruption in existing social bond. It is their view that "under conditions of globalization, assumptions made about the social bond are changing; .... the article concludes that the prospects for a satisfactory synthesis of a liberal economic theory of globalization, a normative political theory of the global public domain, and a new social bond are remote"(Devetak & Higgott 1999). As Roby says," world-wide output and trade have grown apace with market openings and the rise of efficient global business networks these past 15 years. An entrepreneurial class is energizing once-stagnant command economies" (Roby, 2005). It is at once apparent that this 'entrepreneurial class' is essentially limited in number the globe over and its population effectively determines the contours of globalization. This entrepreneurial class is in fact dictating the world polity as well. Major changes in the global eco-political map Dismantling of communist political regimes in the erstwhile iron curtain countries was the foremost change to occur as globalization, as explained above, ran concurrently. This worked to open huge markets of emerging economies for the multinational corporations of West. Second major development was comprised in strengthening of regional economic and trading blocks. Whether it was the European Union (EU)or NAFTA or ASEAN al such trading blocks rationalized and redefined heir duties and strengths to present combined large markets that were ready to respond to new paradigms of international trade set in place by globalization. Quick illustrations would reveal the changed face of the globe. Take the episode of China's accession to WTO.Nobody could have imagined till two decades back that China would make such a move and be agreeable to WTO prescriptions to open its trade contours. Now China has emerged as one of the foremost economies which has benefited from globalization immensely. Ch ina has emerged as a new eco-political power ,on the one hand ,and EU is making another

Sustainable Development and its overall impact Assignment - 1

Sustainable Development and its overall impact - Assignment Example is an evident fact that the industrial development in one country of a region can create environmental issues in the region and thus the other countries of the region are equally affected by these activities (Muschett, 1997). Therefore one of the most important principles of sustainable development is formulation of international laws to protect the environmental impact beyond borders. The members of the international community should cooperate with each other to ensure better economic growth, which ultimately leads to the achievement of various goals of sustainable development; however this cooperation should not be limited to economic growth and nations must extend support to each other for ensuring global peace and security as it is also an important aspect of sustainable development (Guruswamy and McNeely, 1998). Another important principle of achieving sustainable development is creating awareness among the masses about the advantages associated with it. A large majority of people in the world is not aware about sustainable development; under these circumstances the efficient use of resources in the world is not possible. Measures should be adopted to clear the doubts in the minds of people about the advantages of sustainable development. The large initial cost which occur due to the incorporation of sustainable development practices in various industrial and construction projects stop investors from adopting them because they are unaware of the long term financial incentives thus creating awareness is of prime importance to ensure sustainable development. Social capital i.e. the role of people in sustainable development is not given the due importance in the principles mentioned in the document. People should learn to accept responsibility to preserve the resources and climate of the planet for future generations. Accepting responsibility is an important principle as, along with creation of awareness, it is the most basic step towards achieving the goals

History of Organized Crime Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

History of Organized Crime - Essay Example While the author follows this purpose with single-minded intent, her level of success varies. Regardless of the full extent of authenticity, the book provides a number of interesting anecdotes and a good general overview of the climate that allowed the mob to flourish. If not complete gospel, it at least provides one with interesting insights into the life of an infamous figure in history. Edmond’s biography about Virginia Hill attempts to follow Hill’s life from beginning to end. It thus attempts to not only offer a connection between her later life and the difficult home life se had as a young child (while also trying to create a semi-sympathetic character). August 26, 1916, one Onie Virginia Hill, the seventh of ten children, is born to W.M. â€Å"Mack† Hill in Lipscomb, Alabama. Mack is essentially a horse trader whose little success went straight to alcohol; his wife Margaret begins working to try and provide a more stable income. Mack’s inebriation grows directly in proportion with longer periods spent at home with the children, and a young Virginia follows her mother’s example by allowing the man to be the undisputed ruler of the household. Around the age of seven, Virginia defends herself against her father by throwing a skillet of hot grease on him†¦ her following taunts so enrage him that his anger is vented on Margare t instead. Virginia recalls this moment as her first self-assertion†¦ seeing how quickly her father withdrew and feared her from this, Virginia chooses to never take such abuse again. Virginia’s biggest concern at the time is losing her father’s love, but soon realizes she has nothing to lose. She cites this realization as the guideline for the rest of her life: she cannot allow herself to be emotionally vulnerable, and therefore decides to never â€Å"love† a man. To some degree, this becomes the guideline of Hill’s life. Somewhere in the 1920’s Margaret Hill took the children and moved to

Lactic acid and ethanol fermentation Lab Report

Lactic acid and ethanol fermentation - Lab Report Example The presence of CO2, released as the waste product is responsible for its foam like expansion as it forms bubbles in the dough. Ethanol, on the other hand evaporates from the dough completely after the bread is fully baked (Kratz, 2005). Ethanol fermentation that is carried out by yeast is employed for the production of nearly all beverages containing alcohol except for those produced by maceration of carbon. In addition, the production of wines and brandies is carried out by the process involving fermentation of natural sugar of fruits, especially that of grapes. While beers, ales and whiskeys are produced by the fermentation of grain starches that is converted to sugar by application of enzymes called amylase that is present in germinated grain kernels. Vodka is produced by the fermentation of amylase-treated grains or potatoes, while the first step involved in the production of rum is the fermentation of cane sugar. In each and every process the fermentation must take place in a v essel that is specifically arranged to allow CO2 to escape, but at the same time preventing the external air from coming in, as formation of ethanol can only take place in absence of oxygen. The yet another use of yeast fermentation of various carbohydrate products is to produce ethanol that can be used for the fuels. Ethanol fuel is ethyl alcohol, the same type of alcohol which is found in alcoholic beverages. It is mostly used as biofuels additive for gasoline in motor fuels (alcohol and you). Method and materials used for making wine For making wine, grapes or berries are crushed, depending upon the type of wine that is to be made. Yeast is then added to this mush of crushed fruits that consumes the sugars... The historic uses of fermentation were mostly the creation of alcoholic beverages such as mead, wine and beer, which date back to 7, 000 BC in some parts of Middle East. However, the fermentation of food items such as milk and other vegetables was experimented almost thousand years later. In 1857, Louis Pasteur, a French Chemist connected yeast to fermentation and defined it as respiration without air. Later, in 1907, Eduard Buchner, the German chemist found out that fermentation is actually caused by yeast secretions which can even take place outside the living cells. In 1920s, scientist discovered that extracts of muscle catalyze the formation of lactate from glucose in the absence of air. They also revealed that fermentation reactions are not peculiar to the action of yeast but can also occur in many other cases of glucose utilization. For making wine, grapes or berries are crushed, depending upon the type of wine that is to be made. Yeast is then added to this mush of crushed fruits that consumes the sugars released in their juices. A 5 gms packet of dry yeast or 35 ml to 175 ml of liquid yeast would be the right amount for making 5 gallons of wine.

Views of Dreams †Carl G. Jung and Sigmund Freud Essay Example for Free

Views of Dreams – Carl G. Jung and Sigmund Freud Essay Abstract The study of psychology has given rise to many differing theories which provided us with a deeper understanding and insight to dreams, and has long been viewed as mysterious and incomprehensible. However, no real consensus in the definition of dreams has been reached. In this essay, we will be exploring dream theories proposed by Sigmund Freud who asserted the importance of internal stimuli and dreams as a form of wish fulfilment, and Carl G. Jung’s theory which suggested that dreams are bridges that allow one to connect with the unconscious. As such, a cross comparison will be also be done to explore the major similarities and differences between these two theories which remained influential in today’s study of dreams. Views of Dreams – Carl G. Jung and Sigmund Freud For centuries, dreams have been a source of mystery and regarded as divine. Dreams have been interpreted as prophecies, predictions of the future, or even symbols of current affairs. These beliefs existed for centuries until modern psychology evolved and gave rise to many theories that have attempted to give greater insight and understanding of how dreams work and how they relate to our daily lives. Dreams are otherwise defined as mental experiences during Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep that have a story-like feature, include rich visual imagery, are often inexplicable, and perceived as real by the dreamer (Antrobus, 1993). There are many varying theories of dreams such as that posited by Antrobus, who suggests that dreams occur due to our brains’ interpretations of external stimuli during sleep. Another theory uses a computer metaphor to account for dreams, wherein a dream serves to remove unneeded trivialities from the memory – much like clean-up operations in a computer – in order to refresh the mind to prepare for the next day (Evans Newman, 1964). However, for the purposes of this essay, we will be looking at two theories of dreams from Carl G. Jung and his mentor, Sigmund Freud, whose works remain influential in the modern day study of dreams. Aside from bringing forth the emphasis of these two theories, this essay will also seek to identify similarities as well as differences between the two. A cross-comparison of these two theories will reveal how similar they are in terms of explaining dreams with regards to the unconscious mind, and yet, differ greatly in meaning due to the different assumptions and approaches taken. According to Jung, dreams are the undeviating, natural expression of the present state of one’s mental world (Jung, 1963). He believes while dreams are a form of communicating and acquainting yourself with the unconscious mind, they are not attempts to conceal your true feelings from the waking mind; they are more of a window to your unconsciousness. Jung mentions that there are two major functions to dreams – to compensate and to provide prospective images to the future. The imbalance of the dreamer’s psyche is compensated with unconscious contents that the conscious mind has overlooked or even actively repressed. For example, a person who is overly intellectual can have dreams in which they have outbursts of rage, anger, or a mix of emotions. These dreams will attempt to restore the balance by fulfilling certain impoverished areas of a dreamer’s consciousness. Greater psychological balance is achieved if the dreamer recognises and accepts these unconscious contents. Similar to Freud, Jung considers past experiences to be a factor in dreams. However, he argues that dreams do not only look back to the past, but also forward to anticipate how the dreamer’s future will turn out; specifically, that dreams do not hold predictions but are more of a suggestion as to what might happen. Although dreams are deemed personal, Jung (1993) theorises that they are also part of a â€Å"collective unconscious†. He further deconstructs this into several parts, where elements of our dreams often cover universal themes and symbols that are believed to be apparent in life, regardless of race or culture. As identified by Jung, these characteristics are grouped into seven major archetypal characters: The Persona, The Shadow, The Anima or Animus, The Divine Child, The Wise Old Man or Woman, The Great Mother, and The Trickster. Unique to Jung’s theory, he believes that these archetypes portray a natural wisdom found deep within the human unconscious, and their presence in dreams can provide the dreamer with distinctive understanding and direction. Additionally, Jung (1974) argues that dreams are a projection of one’s unconscious mind in relation to the external world. This is what Jung classifies as the â€Å"objective level† in relation to interpretation of dreams. Jung goes further by covering the â€Å"subjective level†, where the dream figures are an embodiment of who the dreamer really is, based on their own thoughts and feelings. In his view, this is something that the conscious mind is unable to bring out. In Freud’s perspective, dreams are what can be embodied as guardians of sleep. Prior to sleep, one attempts to disconnect from reality by muting all external stimuli, switching off the lights and going to bed. During sleep, the sleeper is protected by the mind, which is further reacting to various disturbances and forming dreams in the process. Freud’s main focus, however, is internal stimuli such as strong emotions, forbidden thoughts, and even unconscious desires. For one to be essentially asleep, undisturbed, these stimuli are disguised or censored in some form or another (Freud, 1900). Freud’s theory also places strong emphasis on the notion that dreams are a form of fulfilment of suppressed wishes and unconscious desires. In accordance with Freud’s (1900) theory, dreams comprise two parts: the â€Å"manifest content† and the â€Å"latent content†. Freud’s â€Å"manifest content† can be interpreted as the main content of dreams, namely what the dreamer is able to recall of the dream. It also acts as a censor or a disguised representation of the true underlying thought such that the content appears as acceptable to the dreamer. â€Å"Latent content† can be understood as the decrypted information that is acquired from the different images and content. Latent content often holds the true meaning the dream—forbidden thoughts and unconscious wishes—and, hidden deep within the manifest content, is sometimes unrecognisable. There are also exceptional cases where both the latent and manifest content are indistinguishable; Freud refers to these as â€Å"Infantile Dreams†. Freud then further investigates the connection between the latent and manifest content, giving rise to â€Å"dream work† that is the process by which the latent content is converted into the manifest content. Dream work can be differentiated into the following processes: Condensation, Displacement, Symbolism, and Secondary Revision. Firstly, latent content undergoes condensation where two or more latent thoughts are merged to form a manifest image or situation. Next, it goes through the displacement state where emotions or desires towards specific a person or object are then projected onto a remotely significant or meaningless object in the manifest dream. Following that, symbolism is employed, where ambiguous or complex notions are depicted as dream images. In this process, images of similar sounding words may be utilised or even that of a similar looking but more discreet item. Finally, the dream enters the last stage of dream work, secondary revision, where the dream is transformed and reconstructed into a fluid scene, losing most of its irrationality and become logical according to the dreamer’s experiences of everyday life. One of the major similarities between both theories would be the focus on the unconscious mind. Both Freud and Jung believe that dreams are the direct expressions of the unconscious mind (Davis, 2003; Domhoff, 2001; Freud, 1900; Jung, 1974). Jung mentions that dreams mirror one’s unconscious desires and it is directly linked to one’s conscious situation, projecting one’s inner thoughts. Dreams, according to Freud, can never be instigated simply with just conscious wishes. It has to relate to an unconscious wish before emerging out as dreams. These views coincides that dreams are only formed when the unconscious and the conscious wish tallies (Davis, 2003; Freud, 1900; Jung, 1974; Weitz, 1976). In likeness, both theories agree that the function of dreams serves, mainly, as compensation to the imbalances in our psyche in everyday life (Freud, 1900; Jung, 1974; Davis, 2003). As mentioned earlier, Jung believes that dreams serve to make up for as well as to regulate one’s inner conflicting psychical processes. Freud’s wish fulfilment theory also has great emphasis on the satisfying of one’s unconscious wants. This shows that dreams are hence compensating for the lack of realisation of one’s desires during the conscious waking life. Freud also mentions that dreams are sometimes manifested due to biological impulses that arise in the night. For example, a dreamer who is experiencing hunger is likely to dream of eating, showing the compensating nature of dreams. According to these two theories, dreams are otherwise a psychological marker that flags out certain situations, be it in our mental or physiological state, that we should give attention to, rectifying them if possible. Both theorists also concluded that in order to decipher the meaning of dreams, the dreamer’s assistant is required. This is due to the multiple possibilities of the interpretation of dreams. Only with knowledge of one’s life, personality as well as past experiences that those images may be accurately decrypted, revealing the true underlying significance of the dream. Such a realisation by both Freud and Jung also brings forth the idea that both of them agreed on the retrospective nature of dreams, whereby the dreamer’s experiences in the past do indeed have an impact on the present (Davis, 2003; Jung, 1974; Rodriguez, 2001). While Freud presumes that symbols have fixed and conventional meanings, Jung felt that all symbols are open to interpretation and finding the correct meaning is highly dependent on the dreamer (Beebe, Cambray, Kirsch, 2001; Davis, 2003; Lawson, 2008). This is possible due to the differences in Freud’s causal perspective and Jung’s final perspective, where causality tends towards the uniformity of meaning, leading to symbols with fixed significance. However, finality states that images in a dream each have their own fundamental values and as such, the range of representative interpretation has to be accepted (Jung, 1974; Jung, 1989). Another reason for the divergence of theories is their interpretations of the mechanism of dream formation. Freud emphasizes strongly on censors and disguises of the latent content via the help of dream work, relying on the dreamer’s experiences only for the transformation of the dream into one that is unobtrusive. Jung, on the other hand, believes that these contents can be understood only after taking into account the background and past experiences of the dreamer. Jung also states that dreams are not only connected to the past but they also provide subtle suggestions and predictive images, preparing the dreamer for upcoming events (Jung, 1974). In conclusion, it is apparent that Freud’s and Jung’s theories are derivatives from the similar understandings of how dreams portray one’s unconscious mind. These have led to them being similar as to how dreams have a compensatory function. However, differences in views have arisen from this rudimentary understanding. Henceforth, Freud and Jung have come to different conclusions about the interpretation of dreams. In my opinion, Jung has picked on several of the disparities within Freud’s opinions, formulating with his own concept. As such, there is a close relation between the theories presented by Freud and Jung. To date, dreams still remain a clouded branch, with no single theory that can fully ascertain and explain its intricacy. References Antrobus, J. (1993). Characteristics of dreams. In M. A. Carskadon (Ed. ), Encyclopaedia of sleep and dreaming. New York: Macmillan Beebe, J. , Cambray, J. , Kirsch, T. B. (2001). What Freudians can learn from Jung. Psychoanalytic Psychology, 18, 213-242. Davis, H. R. (2003). Jung, Freud, and Hillman: three depth psychologies in context. Westport, Conn: Prageger Domhoff, G. W. (2000). Moving Dream Theory Beyond Freud and Jung. Paper presented to the symposium Beyond Freud and Jung? , Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, CA, 9/23/2000. Evans, C. Newman, E. (1964) Dreaming: An analogy from computers. New Scientist, 419, 577-579. Freud, S. (1900). The Interpretation of Dreams (S. James, Trans. ). London: Oxford University Press. Jung, C. G. (1963). Memories, Dreams, Reflections. New York: Pantheon. Jung, C. G. (1974). Dreams. (R. F. C. Hull, Trans.) Princeton: Princeton University Press. Lawson, T. T. (2008). Archetypes and the collective unconscious. In Carl Jung, Darwin of The Mind (pp. 75-120). London: Karnac. Rodriguez, L. S. (2001, January 1). The interpretation of dreams [1900]. The standard edition of the complete psychological works of Sigmund Freud (pp. 396-401). London: Hogarth and the Institute of Psycho-Analysis Weitz, L. J. (1976, April). Jungs and Freuds contributions to dream interpretation: a comparison. American Journal of Psychotherapy, 30, 289-293.

Comparing Criminal Justice Systems: US and China

Comparing Criminal Justice Systems: US and China The two criminal justice systems that shall be discussed in this paper are those of the United States and that of the Peoples Republic of China. When comparing and contrasting these two systems one should start with the premise that both are instituted in their countries in the attempt to curb the proliferation of crime, apprehend offenders and deter potential offenders. Both the U.S. and Chinas criminal justice systems make use of a court system, police enforcement organizations and detention/correctional facilities. However this is as much as similarities go as the two systems are radically different since they are based on ideologically opposing government structures. The U.S government is based on a free market capitalist economy supported by a representative democracy. On the other hand that of China is founded on a social communist ideology. As for demographic figures, the U.S. has roughly 355 million citizens while China has well over one billion, which makes up one fourth of the world population. Klaus MÃ ¼hlhahn (2009), in his book Criminal Justice in China, states that Peoples Republic of China (P.R.C.) was founded in 1949 under a socialist rulership. From that point onwards a push was made to establish basic legislation with regards the administration of the criminal justice and enforced nationwide. The U.S. government is hierarchally based on a unified organization where power is shared between the federal and state governments. Therefore this means that the political system secures autonomy of each state in the U.S. but at the same time adopting a centralized government (Gaines and Miller, 2006). The U.S. justice system is derived from the British common law tradition. Common law is the law that is agreed upon by the common people and exists in two forms, Lex Scripta (written law) and Lex non Scripta (unwritten law). On the other hand MÃ ¼hlhahn (2009), says that the Chinese justice system is quite difficult to put under one unitary system. This is due to the fact that the Chinese criminal justice system was repeatedly reorganized in the wake of political changes and internal party disputes since 1949, when the communist party took over. MÃ ¼hlhahn (2009) also notes that the Chinese justice system under socialism is not an independent administrative system but was integrated into a network of social control and political mobilization. The Chinese Criminal Law is based on the ideological precepts of Marxism, Leninism and Mao Zedong. Its tasks are to use punishments to resist against all revolutionary or criminal behaviour, for the sake of protecting the Chinese autocracy. Gaines and Miller (2006) explain that the police forces of the United States are the successors of Militias originally instituted in the early colonies to protect the population and control the Native Americans. The different forming States developed their own security forces and these operated autonomously. Major cities instituted their own police forces, which function under the control of a city government (Gaines and Miller, 2006). According to Gaines and Miller (2006) Currently the U.S. police forces are structured on local/city/county and federal/state levels, thus having a federal system. All local policing duties are shared between local municipalities and rural localities. Cities, towns and villages are able to institute their own police forces, while others, usually rural localities, rely on a county Sheriffs department for the task of enforcement and policing. Usually the size of police forces in the U.S. is directly proportional to the population of the area being controlled. The 50 States forming the U.S. also have their own police forces that are ascribed to different regions and often patrol undeveloped rural areas. The job of such agencies include investigating crimes against the state such as alcohol licensing violations or welfare fraud, fish and game violations, and highway traffic infractions (Gaines and Miller, 2006). According to a statistic of the U.S. Department of Justice (2008), on average the ratio of police to population in the U.S. is about 2.3 officers per thousand residents, however larger cities generate grater ratios. This police force ratio has stayed fixed around 2.21-2.34 police officers per 1000 civilian population for nearly 30 years. Next up on the U.S. hierarchal police system is the Federal Governments police force that subdivided into various other agencies (Gaines and Miller, 2006). There is the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which is independent of any administration. The F.B.I. intervenes when federal laws are infringed, an interstate crime is committed, or if national security is threatened. However the last case scenario has been taken over by the Department of Homeland Security established after the attacks of September 11th 2001. The U.S. has about 20 federal law enforcement agencies, which also include the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation, U.S. Secret Service, Postal Inspection Service and U.S. Marshals Service. Further more there exist the Drug Enforcement Agency, the Treasury Department, the Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearm Agency and the Immigration and Naturalization Services handle illegal immigrants while the U.S. Customs officials deal with border infringements. However this specia lization of the different policing agencies has its drawbacks. Problems can arise due to jurisdictional issues, when what one should really take care of is the upholding and maintenance of the law (Gaines and Miller, 2006). According to MÃ ¼hlhahn (2009) the P.R.C. employs around 2 million police officers, of which most work is small offices that serve communities of roughly 10,000 citizens. The main policing agency in the P.R.C. is the Peoples Armed Police (PAP), which includes about 700,000 officers. This agency was instituted in 1983 and was formed by incorporating disbanded units of the Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) on domestic defence duty and armed frontier defence and fire fighting. The rise of the PAP shows how Chinese leadership is more concerned with domestic security than it is with foreign threats (MÃ ¼hlhahn, 2009). The PAPs main task is to deal with domestic disturbances, by acting as riot police, guarding government compounds and also foreign embassies. It usually handles border defence but in some cases it is requested to back up local police. Recently it has been employed to suppress anti-government protests. The Public Security Service (PSB) is both a local police and the Chinese equivalent of the Secret Service in the U.S. The P.R.C. justice system also employs paramilitary armed police and more than 1 million security guards. Quasi-police force known as cheng guan also operates in China (MÃ ¼hlhahn, 2009). These carry out tasks deemed unpopular by the citizens, such as collecting fines and tax money, often these are just thugs hired by the official police to carry out such tasks. The Chinese government introduced a new special unit in December 2008, to counter gun-related crimes and organized crime such as gambling rackets, organized prostitution, drug production and trafficking. By 2009 Chinas public security budget was increased by nearly a third, to $4.2 billion partly to tackle internal stresses related to the unrest in Tibet and western China. Also this increment in the public security budget came about as a result to unrest brought about by unemployed workers and other problems related to the global economic crisis (MÃ ¼hlhahn, 2009). In the past, police forces in the U.S. have been accused of corruption and the Good-Old Boy network of hiring practices. Also in recent years charges of racism, racial profiling, and use of excessive force have been reported by citizens and related organizations (Gaines and Miller, 2006). In China family members of victims of crime have often been criticised police for their incompetence and reluctance to make sensible effort towards solving cases that affect them. Another criticism directed to Chinese police forces is that these have a reputation for being corrupt and connected to smuggling. Also citizens, particularly in rural areas, regard these with suspicion. Chinese police have traditionally been more involved in maintaining government control than solving crimes, and this is directly related with Chinas political ideology. (MÃ ¼hlhahn, 2009). As for the US court system, this is a dual judiciary system, of which the two constituent parts (federal and state) function independent of each other. The federal judiciary system includes district courts, circuit courts of appeals, and the United States Supreme Court. The state system includes trial courts at the local and state levels, intermediate courts of appeal, and state Supreme Court (Gaines and Miller, 2006). The primary agents working along each other are the judge, prosecutor, and defence lawyers in the U.S. system. The U.S. law is derived from four main sources, which are constitutional law, statutory law, administrative regulations, and the common law (Gaines and Miller, 2006). The most important source of law is the United States Constitution, under which all other laws fall. No law can contradict the U.S. Constitution. As already stated the U.S. follows the principles of Common law that were inherited from English jurisprudence. This tradition holds that a decision taken in court is always made on the principle of precedent. This means that each case previously resolved serves as reference and guide for new cases. New aspects of law may be determined or discovered and thus a precedent arises. The U.S. justice system allows for presumption of innocence until proven guilty, plea-bargaining, trial by jury, and the right to a quick trial (Gaines and Miller, 2006). These features compose the U.S. justice system which is flexible and according to Gaines and Miller (2006) caters for the citizens ne eds in a batter way. Chinese Law is based on the Constitution, of which Article 28 declares: The State maintains public order and suppresses treasonable and other counter-revolutionary activities; it penalizes acts that endanger public security and disrupt the socialist economy and other criminal activities, and punishes and reforms criminals. According to an article by Jeffrey Hays (2008), the main task of the Chinese justice system has fundamentally always been to protect the interests of the state rather than the individual and to keep the population under control. There is no independent judiciary in China and courts are regarded as weak and subordinate to the Communist Party and the National Peoples Congress. The court system of the P.R.C. is divided into two types, Courts of General Jurisdiction and Courts of Special Jurisdiction. The first type consists of the Supreme Peoples Court and the local peoples courts. The second type includes courts of the first instance, intermediate courts that handle important local cases for the first instance and hear appeal cases from the basic courts and the high peoples court responsible for issues of provincial level. As for Courts of Special Jurisdiction there exist the Military Court of China, Railway Transport Court of China and Maritime Court of China (Hays, 2008), According to Hays (2008) Unlike in their U.S. counterparts, in Chinese courts unlawfully obtained evidence is not excluded in court and an accused person has no right to remain silent but has the duty towards the state to speak, often after administration of corporal punishment. According to Amnesty International, when the Criminal Procedure Law was revised and promulgated in 1996, commentators pointed to various articles, which although did not explicitly state that suspects were to be presumed innocent, when taken in unison the presumption of innocence could be inferred. The penal system of the U.S., like the judicial system, branches into federal, state and local levels. The prison system is supported by governmental funds, in the form of tax revenue from federal (corporate income), state (sales) and local (taxes) revenues. Is also receives funding through Inter-governmental transfer, in the form of federal grants and state grants. Gaines and Miller (2006) sentencing within the US judiciary system are considerably lengthier than those of other western countries and many states have endorsed a three strikes system which forces the judiciary to sentence a suspect to a life term in the case of a third offence (Gaines and Miller, 2006). The USs penal system has a huge problem because of overpopulation of convicts and thus in order to counter this many states have resorted to the privatisation of prisons. Other problems include the imprisonment of the criminally insane, increase of sexual offenders, dangerous offenders, gangs and drug smuggling in the pr isons. The aim of the penal system in China is to reform criminals, however this is carried out by means which in the west one might deem unacceptable. The USs penal system on the other hand is instituted to punish the criminal and protect the public. Both systems endorse capital punishment as their most extreme sanction and such actions have roused many heated debates within modern human rights exponents. Differences of Standard Profit and Actual Profit: Case Study Differences of Standard Profit and Actual Profit: Case Study Incognitos latest costume set is Meridas outfit in the Disney Pixar film Brave that sold through internet. The purpose of this report is to analyse and compare the differences of standard profit and actual profit. All calculations are available in the appendices. 1.1 Absorption Costing System Absorption costing system is used to cost Merida. It recognizes the importance of absorbing the fixed overhead on valuation of stock in calculating profit as fixed overhead is essential to incur to make product. All fixed and variable production cost is included in stock valuation in absorption costing while, marginal costing only include variable production cost in stock valuation5. It allocates portion of fixed manufacturing overhead to each unit of product and hence, it will be brought forward to next period in the closing stock5. Also, it avoids fictitious losses being reported. For instance, a company produces more on first few months to cater the sales for the next few months. In absorption costing, fixed production cost will only be expensed off when it is sold. While, marginal costing would expensed it off when it is incurred that may cause a huge losses at the beginning. The absorption of fixed overhead in stock valuation helps prices to be set with full knowledge of all costs. This is useful for decision making and preparing financial accounts. Additionally, absorption costing system is consistent with external reporting5. 2 1.2 Variance Analysis Standard costing is predetermined costs that assist in budget preparation and decision-making. It allows profit measurement and inventory valuation purposes. The variance analysis is applied to explain the deviations in the actual results from budgeted amounts8. The results of variance analysis is attributes to different elements such as material, labour, variable overhead and fixed overhead. These would provide a better understanding of the business performance and aware of any changes in the organization, economy, or sector. The variances might due to several reasons. This variance analysis segregates total variance into different element such as price and efficiency8. This sub-decomposition would provide more detail in explaining the deviations. It helps in performance evaluation that could motivate managers and identify areas of concern that enables managers to focus on the most critical areas8. It seeks explanation for variances and helps in planning activity by identifying the necessary early corrective action to be taken depending whether variance is favourable or adverse8. It would allow manager to generate more informed future predictions. Therefore, it acts as measurement system and controlling tool to supervise the progress of a project and controlling of future cost by understanding the present costs9. Key findings of the variance analysis 2.1 Possible reason of variances The most critical areas are adverse variances especially those with significant figures. The adverse variance of sales margin price might due to overestimation of standard selling price; higher quantity discount given by sales manager that result to lower actual selling price or bad response of the product that influences management to decide to lower the selling price. Adverse sales margin volume variance may due to overestimation of budgeted sales that is set without careful analysis of market condition. Also, inefficient sales force such as failure in advertisement (marketing) effort or customer dissatisfaction because of poor quality of costumes. Although the decrease in selling price by $4 should reflect an increment in sales volume, however, in this case, it is shown as adverse sales volume which might due to economic downturn as what happen to unexpected sales drop of Hennes Maurit (Fashion retailer) by 5% during Euro zone crisis6. The purchasing power of consumer will drop. Hence, despite the drop in selling price, the sales volume will decrease. Another possible reason for adverse sales price and volume is the escalating market competition in internet of selling childrens costume that affects both the sales price and volume to decrease by 4 and 190 units respectively. Adverse material price variance (Velour fabric and Metal poppers) may due to management careless in purchasing a batch of material with a higher cost without realizing it, ; general increase in price of the material (inflation) or the used of the improved quality of the material. Moreover, it can due to underestimation of material standard price; losing bulk discount as less has been purchased or inefficiency of purchasing manager in price negotiation9. The adverse material usage variances (Satin fabric, Polyester yarn and Velcro) may due to mistake by production department in allocating materials to jobs which causes wastage. Excessive usage may due to excessive wastage of materials by untrain workers, faulty machines, poor supervision or theft existence. Furthermore, purchasing department may obtain inferior materials where it may be unsuitable for use and causes excessive waste9. Also, it may have stricter quality control where, if any material does not meet certain standards in terms quality would be eliminated2. The adverse labour rate for skilled and unskilled labour may due to inflation or increase pressure by labour union for salary increment. Also, it may be the management strategy to increase workers morale by increasing the pay so to improve worker efficiency as where it is reflected on favourable efficiency of unskilled labour. There may be also payment of unplanned overtime or bonus where it has to pay more2. The adverse labour efficiency of skilled labour may due to error where the standard time were set too tight without careful analysis of operating condition and the employee skills4 or human resource error in employing inexperienced skilled worker and yet still paying high wages of the skilled worker2. Moreover, the usage of inferior quality material that leads to inefficiency where more time is needed to produce each costume2. Additionally, this adverse can result by poorly trained or motivated workers which require more time in processing; faulty equipment causing work interruptions; inefficient work schedule and poor supervision of workers2. Adverse variable overhead rate variance may due to underestimation of the rate by management. While adverse variable overhead efficiency variance, may due to adverse figure presented in skilled labour efficiency. The lower productivity causes more time needed for production. The possibility of factory breakdown causes variable overhead to increase, as a day production is lost. The adverse fixed overhead variance for supervisor and utilities may due to the general increase in market price due to inflation. This inflation resulted to escalated living expenses and hence, a pay increment for supervisor is necessary. While utilities, the possibility for wastage of electricity and water when machinery faulty or equivalent. Although the hiring of skilled labour should result to a favourable labour efficiency variance, this adverse variance is possibly due to insufficient demand to keep the workers busy. Hence, production is reduced from 7,500 to 7380 units due to just-in-time principle. Since workforce is fixed, skilled labour would need to produce less costume, and hence causes inefficient in work as they have more idle time, resulting to the rise of labour hours needed per costume from 1.25 to 1.5 hours. The adverse variance of postage and packaging may due to general increase of international shipping. Measure should be taken to control the escalating material, labour, variable and fixed overhead rate and decrementing usage efficiency as it would reduce profitability. It should also understand the reason for favourable variances, so these practices will continue and be used within the organization. Firstly, favourable material price variances (Satin fabric, sequins, polyester yarn, metal hoops and Velcro) may due to inferior quality material usage which incur lower price, changed to a lower-price supplier, obtaining bulk discount by buying in bulk, industry oversupply of those materials causes the price to drop or material standard price is estimated too low4. The favourable material usage variance (Velour fabric) may due to efficient usage of the material by labour. There may have existence of inter-relationship of material usage and price. The better quality of velour fabric used, the higher the efficiency of the material2. Hence, material wastage decreases due to lesser defective material. The favourable labour efficiency variance for unskilled labour may relate to ergonomics whereby work motivation arises when there is improved quality of equipment or materials, or better techniques of production. Also, it may due to salary increment. Hence, the productivity increases lead to higher efficiency. The favourable fixed overhead variance (rent) may due to market price for rent have reduced or it shifted to another venue with a cheaper rent. 2.2 Implication of variances The adverse variance indicates ineffectiveness and overspending by the business as compared to budgeted figures and vice versa for favourable variances. Adverse variances would have a negative impact to reconciliation statement that causes lower profit, as more have to pay (Higher expenses) and used (More time and material used). Also, the reputation would be affected as it is less efficient. Whereas adverse sales price and volume indicates lower selling price and volume sold which causes lower sales revenue. Favourable variances have a positive effect towards reconciliation statement that causes higher profit as less have to pay (Lower expenditure) and used (Lesser time used). 3.1 Comparison Incognito has a net profit margin of 2% as compared to retail clothing sector average of 7.86%. It shows that Incognito has a higher risk that a drop in sales would wipe off profits and cause net losses. This may due to inefficiency in controlling cost as shown in several adverse variance figure (Material, labour, fixed and variable overhead). Also, the recession and continuing uncertain economic climate became the greatest threat to sales over the recent years as what happen to HM with sudden drop of 5% sales and which believed has influenced Incognito with drop of sales from 7,500 to 7310 costumes6. It founds that fancy dress industry is competitive as there shown a growing number of fancy dress like companies and website retail sales exceeded 10 billion in UK alone1. This would limit Incognito growth opportunities and reduce its profitability. 3.2 Recommendation To improve sales, it is prudent to increase marketing (Advertisement) efforts during slower sales periods as there are more competition and fewer consumers especially during current Eurozone crisis. It should utilise social networking features such as Facebook to extend business coverage. Nonetheless, it should keep up-to-date on the costume trends so it would not be left behind by its competitor. If the adverse sales are due to quality issues, it may consider using better quality materials or purchasing new machine. New machine would improve quality, productivity (Efficiency) and less maintenance is needed in the long run. Also, it is recommended to develop maintenance schedule to avoid future machine breakdowns that affects efficiency and costumes quality. To reduce material price, it is recommended to purchase material in bulk which lower the overall material price due to bulk discount given by the supplier. However, it should caution of not causing excessive inventory4. Also, it can bargain with the current supplier for a better deal by ascertaining a positive relationship. Nonetheless, it should always monitor the market for other alternative supplier that offers a better deal in term of lower price without compromising the materials quality. To ease labour rates, it is advisable to hire part-timer rather than full-timer as they are paid according to the actual hours work. This can prevent money being wasted during the idle time and improve labour efficiency. It can consider outsourcing certain jobs to low-cost areas such as Vietnam which is highly productive with lower labour rates. If adverse variance is due to inflation, it is advisable to revise the standard cost regularly so that it will always reflect the current market rates. For utilities rate reduction, it is recommended to negotiate a deal (Lower utilities rate) with the utilities company or seek for alternative utilities companies that may provide a lower utilities rate. To strengthen online presence, it needs to continue develop its B2C websites to ensure it is user friendly; high security to build trust and provide sufficient information on products offered3. Nonetheless, interaction with customer and respond to their feedbacks is important3. Also, it should increase its product range of innovative new fancy dress costumes so it would have larger market1. Ethical issues are important for sustainability as UK adults claiming to have made purchase decisions for ethical reasons7. It should concern with the material used to ensure it is up to certain quality, environmental friendly and cruelty free; employee working condition and pesticide used7. Furthermore, issue regarding trademarks copyright. Incognito took design of Meridas costume, a character in the Disney film Brave without the consent of the original designer. This could be subject to copyright issues and can be liable for fine. It is unethical as it is consider stealing of others trademark. It should encourage employee personnel development by providing training and improve employee attitudes through motivation. Frequent timely non-financial performance measure is advisable for control purposes such as observing defect rates and number of costumes completed without rework4. Additionally, it should identify its market share and target for planning purposes such as expanding and determining quantity to manufacture. 4.0 Conclusion Precautionary action should be taken to prevent material price and usage; labour rate; variable and fixed overhead rises uncontrollably in the future which reduces profitability. Nonetheless, non-financial issues such as environmental, working condition and ethics should be taken into consideration. (2000 Words)

Relationship Between Training and Employee Commitment

Relationship Between Training and Employee Commitment Is there a connection between a high level of commitment to training and development of employees? 1.0 Introduction This paper will discuss training issues within the UK, and what organisations and the government are doing to address a skill shortage. The labour force in competitor countries is educated to higher levels than those in the UK, and that higher education qualifications will ever more be in demand to address future skills needs, particularly at the technical, associate professional and customer service level (M. Doyle 2003). This skills shortage is being addressed by the government by encouraging individuals and organisations to take more interest in training. There are many organisations within the UK that have very good policies on training, the question is does training employees equate on the bottom line. The government has introduced several policies aimed at tackling the skills shortage. D Blunkitt (2000) discussed. â€Å"that our education reforms are all about the development of an educated citizenry democracy in which people are educated in and are able to participate in active self-government. Individuals that are knowledgeable are equipped to make moral judgements, and will be able to construct solutions to the challenges they face, both locally and globally†(Blunkett, 2000, p. 13). This has shifted the emphasis from organisations training employees to individuals taking more responsibility for their own training. The skills are then transferable between organisations, aiding to the mobility of the individual. But organisations still require employees ‘to be trained in their culture and core values. Organisations seek the competitive edge of rivals; they use training to increase the level of service they offer customers. This in turn will create loyalty with their customers, therefore increasing turnover. The human resource is discussed as the most valuable, and perhaps the last edge organisations can have. If all organisations trained to the same level, would this then eliminate the competitive edge? Organisations are implementing strategic HR as a change agent, not to replace an out dated personnel department. Although there is still evidence within the UK that once these interventions are implemented, they just replace the role of the personnel department. To be effective belongs on the board of an organisation. The organisation that will be reviewed is Tesco’s; during the past decade they have introduced strategic HR with increased training of employees. The role of HR within the organisation has increased in importance. Their practice of training and the importance of HR will be reviewed with the current theory. Tesco’s’ operates in a very competitive market; the consumer has choice where to shop for their groceries. They have expanded their portfolio to include CD’s, DVD’s, electrical goods and clothing. Recently they have expanded into the financial services offering customers products from Credit cards to insurance. All their products are available on the internet 24 hours a day. Their slogan â€Å"every little helps† is used to show their commitment to customers, this has been used to reduce prices and to increase the level of customer service. This slogan is now used in their staff training, that any intervention will increase the knowledge of the workforce. The organisation is widely reported in newspapers, this is due to the success of the business. They are rapidly expanding in the UK with the opening of their Metro stores and into new and foreign markets. This has taken a great deal of their resources in the planning and implementing stage of expansion. The core units need to remain focused, to retain the reputation they have built. Reinforcing the culture and values through training will focus employees on their roles. Whilst writing this paper it was identified that further paper could be written on cost analyses of the organisation, to identify if the extra resources they have placed on training has been value for money. This was outside the scope of this paper. 3.0 Methodology This chapter discusses the research methods used for the project and the justification for the choice of methods. It discusses methods that were not used, with justification of why they were not included. Included is a critique of methods selected, and with hindsight this identifies any changes that would have enhanced the research. This paper critically evaluates training within the UK and focuses on the training issues within Tesco. It will compare the HR and training practices at Tesco to the theory. The organisation was chosen as they had put themselves to forefront of training a decade ago, by becoming investors in people. Selection of the topic was stimulated and formed out of heightened political awareness on the subject area. The government has recognised skills gap between the UK and competitor countries. To address this issue they have introduced policies that included lifelong learning. The government’s green and white papers were used to review these policies. The nature of the research was discussed with colleagues and fellow students, this not only added practical ideas and suggestions; it also opened new avenues of thought. This was the discussed with lecturers sounding out ideas, gauging opinions and clarifying the question. Focusing in on the question was obtained by employing relevance trees, narrowing the research area. This gave direction to the research, although with reviewing the literature this direction changed several times (Buzan, J. 1995). Next, a research proposal was compiled, with the benefit of organising ideas and setting a time-scale for research. Theoretically, the proposal would highlight any difficulties with the research question and access to data. Creating a time-scale would focus on targets and meet deadlines in the completion of the paper. The literature review, discussing theories and ideas that exist on the topic formed the foundation of the paper. The findings from the research are then tested on theories for validity (Saunders, M. et al1997). The literature review was challenging, there is a vast amount of articles on the subject. Books journals and newspaper articles formed the back bone for the review. Tertiary data sources, such as library catalogues and indexes were used to scan for secondary data. This produced journals and newspaper articles, and Internet addresses. With the amount of literature, it took time to sort out relevant material to the research. Narrowing down the search Bell’s (1993) six point’s parameters was applied. Applying key words that were identified in the first search produced relevant and up-to-date material (Bell, J.1993). A limitation on the literature search was the amount of time to read all articles and books on the subject. Whilst reviewing the literature references to other relevant publications was followed and reviewed. Bells checklist on identifying the relevance of literature found was a practical method to reduce the amount of reading (Bell, J. 1993). The Case study material was compiled from the organisations web site and from articles that discussed their training policy. Tesco’s appear to be rarely out of the papers, with daily reports on their success. The organisation disseminates a lot of information on their web page, only relevant material was chosen. To produce primary data on organisations training proved to be a vast task, taking a lot of time to produce results. Instead it was decide to review previously published interviews and surveys. This was then compared to the literature review. Interviewing people within organisations was an option for primary research. The target of the interview would be the person that held enough power to influence decisions that the organisation makes. This was rejected due to the time limitations of the paper. The major limitation of the study lies in its relatively small sample size and the limited coverage. This was mainly attributable tithe limited time and resources available for the study. Although thesis a small sample it will conclude on the findings with recommendations for further research papers into the subject. 4.0 Literature Review 4.1 Introduction This chapter will review current and recent articles and books of the topics of Training, HR and government policy. 4.2 What is training? Training can be defined as a planned process to change attitudes, knowledge or skills and behaviour through a range of activities to achieve effective performance. When this training is in the work situation, it develops the employee to satisfy current or future needs of the organisation (Beardwell, I et al 2004). It is generally accepted that methods of training can usually be separated into two categories: on-the-job, and, off-the-job. On-the-job training is implemented at the trainees workplace, while off-the-job training is conducted away from the trainees workplace and takes them outside of their work environment (Mullins, L. 2005). Training can be used as a change agent, to change the culture of an organisation. It is also a tool to improve organisational effectiveness, especially in fiercely competitive markets. All too often organisations that are facing financial problems will cut back the training program, where as they could be used to increase overall performance. The training budget is viewed too often as an expendable, and the first to cut or even go in crises (Rogers 2004). 4.2 Why Train Nobody in business would disagree with the clichà © that a company is only as good as the people in it. But opinions differ on how that translates into practice, and what it means in terms of the way a firm goes about gathering and developing a world-class staff line-up. With near full employment in the UK, the fight for talent is as ruthless as ever, and getting, hanging on to and developing those people remains the HR issue of the moment. The principal function of any organisation is to increase the value of the business and therefore enhance the wealth of its Owner(s). This is obtained by efficient use of the limited â€Å"resources† available to them(T Blackwood, 1995). Garrick (1998) discussed that training inextricably linked to market economics, that knowledge is prized ins far as it can generate a market advantageâ€Å"(Garrick 1998:5). This leads to the assumption that though training and developing employees, it can give the organisation advantage, increasing profit. Best (2001) discussed the â€Å"new economy, as a knowledge-based economy without borders, where the race is between companies and locales over how to learn faster and organise more flexibly to take advantage of technology-enabled market opportunities† (Best (2001) cited in DeFillippi, R. 2002). Organisations have changed in the way they operate, shifting from immobile-wired infrastructures to mobile, miniature, and wireless modes of communication, computing, and transacting. Customers now demand 24 hour service, with â€Å"anytime, anyplace solutions of their problems (DeFillippi, R. 2002). Radical shifts are taking place in management theory; these shifts need to be reflected in the theory of training and development. The move towards a knowledge economy makes these shifts vital to the survival of the organisation. Ideas of training tend to focus on results; typically they are short-term and assume transferable skills. Ideas of personal development may be insufficiently focused on the workplace. Therefore for an organisation to enter the knowledge economy, it is vital for them to review their training and development to a broader aspect (Bryans, P. Smith, R. 2000). Increasingly, as the nature of business and organisations change, its ‘leaders are recognising that their most valuable assets are their skilled employees and, more significantly, the knowledge, both tacit and explicit, that is possessed by these employees. The knowledge is power clichà © has never been more accurate than in todays corporate world. This added value that this can be seen in products and services is now dependant on knowledge based intangibles (Rogers 2004). Since the late 1990s the business environment has drastically changed(Mullins, L. 2005). Chaos theorists have argued that the world of the organisations is â€Å"turbulent and chaotic, making it impossible for them to predict the future† Therefore conventional approaches to strategic decision making are no longer appropriate (Harrison, R. 1997:78).Competition and the pace of change in business require continuous improvement, therefore it means continuous learning. From this demand the market for business education has grown with a proliferation of courses, full- and part-time, open and bespoke (Mullins, L. 2005). 4.3 The Role of HR Recognition of the importance of HR has increased in recent years; thesis a result of competition from overseas economies. In countries for example Japan, Germany and Sweden investment in employee development is higher than the UK. This has led to some organisations reviewing their policies on training introducing continuous investment in their employees (Beardwell, I. et al 2004). This increase in training priority has been supported by a rise inhuman Resource Management. This practice emphasises that increased growth can only be maintained in the long run; by equipping the workforce with the skills they need to complete their tasks (Mullins, L.2005). Although it is argued that HR departments are within UK organisations mostly administration based. Rogers (2004) stated that â€Å"the threat revolves around a fundamental mismatch between the functions of Departments today and the real strategic human resource needs of modern business, which those departments it should be servingâ€Å". The image of training and development has changed and can be used a key driver for delivering shareholder value (Rogers 2004:25). The role of HR should not be administrative based; it should be a part of the long term strategy of the organisation. Appointed an HR manager to the board is the only way this can happen (Beardwell et al2004).Rogers (2004) discussed the â€Å"role of developing human capital strategies that HR has a real opportunity to shine†. There are numerous departments are failing to deliver the goods. This is caused by â€Å"too many departments are dominated and viewed by the board as fulfilling mainly administrative role, dominated by endless form filling† (Rogers2004 :25). For HR to succeed it must take on a proactive role within the organisation. Strategic HR creates value by providing opportunities for organic learning, development of intellectual capital and enhances core competencies. This value is crucial to the organisations future success (Treen, D. 2000). Employers are increasing extorting the best possible performance from employees. Best practice will increase the skills of the current workforce, and with recruiting it will reinforce the culture of a highly skilled work force (Mullins, L. 2005).Strategic HRM has gained both credibility and popularity over the past decade, specifically with respect to its impact on organisational performance (Paauwe, J Boselie P. 2003). To fully exploit the wealth of knowledge contained within an organisation, it must be realised that it is in human resource management that the most significant advances will be made. As result, the human resource department must be made a central figure in an organisations strategy to establish a knowledge basis for its operations (Mullins, L. 2005). There are fundamental differences in the approach to HR. Storey(1987) discussed these as hard and `soft’ versions of HRM.. The ‘hard version places little emphasis on workers’ concerns and, therefore, within its concept, any judgments of the effectiveness form would be based on business performance criteria only. In contrast, ‘soft HRM, while also having business performance as its primary concern, would be more likely to advocate a parallel concern for workers’ outcomes (Storey cited in Guest, D. 1999). These models of HR theory, will justify why there has been an increase in this management practice. Walton (1985) defined HR as â€Å"mutual goals, mutual influence, mutual respect, mutual rewards, and mutual responsibility† Walton further added that the psychological contract ‘under this guitarist, high commitment model is one of mutuality, but it is a mutuality strictly bounded by the need to operate within an essentially unitary framework (Walton cited in Beardwell, l. et al2004) There is a need for a higher value to be placed on employees. And therefore get the best performance from the employees. According toDelany (2001) â€Å"successful organisations keep people issues at the forefront of their thinking and at the core of their decision making and planning†. Delany adds â€Å"organisations that get the people things right are the organisations likely to be around in the future† (Delany (2001)cited in Mullins, L. 2005:748). The role of human resource explicitly views employees as another resource for managers to exploit. In the past, managements had failed to align their human resource systems with business strategy and therefore failed to exploit or utilise their human resources to the full. The force to take on HRM is therefore, based on the business case of a need to respond to an external threat from increasing competition(Guest, D 1999). This view reflects a longstanding capitalist tradition in which the worker is viewed as a commodity. The consequential exploitation may be paternalist and benevolent; but, equally, it may operate against the interests of workers. Essentially, workers are simply resources to be squeezed and disposed of as business requirements dictate. More importantly, the interests of workers and their well-being are of no significance in themselves. As John Monks (1998) stated â€Å"In the wrong hands HRM becomes both a sharp weapon to prise workers apart from their union and a blunt instrument to bully workers† (Guest, D 1999). 4.5 HRD HR and training literatures highlights the organisational benefits tube gained from adopting a systematic approach to HRD, therefore thronging development of employees skills underpins the wider business objectives (Keep, 1989). This systematic approach to training often includes models that identifying needs, planning, delivery and evaluation. Harrison developed an eight stage model to identify monitor and evaluate training. The evaluation stage is possibly the most problematic part of the training process (Reid and Barrington, 1997). Therefore using that theory HRD should be viewed as a vital function offal organisations, and not just there to satisfy training issues, a proactive role. Caravan et al (2000) discusses the emergence of strategic HRD practices, which are directly linked to the organisation’s strategies, with profit maximising paramount, HRD is atoll that should be employed to obtain and support this (Caravan et al,2000). Strategic HRD is not embraced by all organisations; some view other resources as more valuable. There are many individual interconnected components, that impact on the performance of the organisation. The human resource is in theory the most valuable resource, but does not always receive the respect, and the financial recognition to develop(Walton 1999). Mumford (1997) agreed with this stating that â€Å"other resources within the organisation have a higher value placed on them and they are protected by rules and regulations† (A Mumford 1997:78). The theory of HRD appeals more to academics that the practioners. Garrick (1999) noted that academics rather than practitioners are more eager to pursue the learning perspective. This opinion defines HRD as being solely concerned with employees rather than organisational Strategy (Garrick 1999). Although this view is not shared by all authors. Caravan et al. (2000) defines the learning perspective that defines HRD as â€Å"responsible for fostering the long-term, work related learning capacity at an individual, group and organisational level†(Caravan et al. 2000:66). A research undertaken by Robertson and OMalley Hamersley reinforces this view of HRD. A two-year qualitative study composed from eighteen semi-structured interviews concluded that continuous professional learning was important to professional workers. To conclude from the study, learning does not have to directly correlate with organisational strategy. Therefore HRD can also be defined as a continuous learning programmes and encouragement of self-directed learning (Robertson and O’Malley Hamersley cited in Caravan et al. 2000:71). Continuously during the late 1990s and into the current century there has been a shift in organisational HRD rhetoric. Walton (2004) has discussed this shift in practice as â€Å"from how to support learning to how to manage knowledge, from the learning organisation to knowledge management†. These are new implications for the HRD practitioner in what has loosely been named the new economy (Walton 2004). 4.6 Managers and facilitators Education, training and development for managers, especially in the UK, has traditionally fallen into the â€Å"nice to have† category rather than the â€Å"must have† This view of business is persistent, with the assumption that managers are born and not made (Stern, S 2002). The majority of managers have learnt their skills through on-the-job experience. The conventional assumption, that managers learn best through â€Å"doing† whenever possible (Reader, A. 1998). Focussing on the concept that the human resource is the highly valued, systems should be in place to protect their importance. Development for managers who manage employees is a basic component of management development (Marching ton Wilkinson 1996). Mumford(1997) discussed the reason for failure of some of the processes has been â€Å"clearly been due in some instances to the absence of the required skills† (Mumford 1997:78). The majority of Managers would profit from training, but they are not capable of managing even with the intervention of training. These managers would still find in difficult to transfer the new skills and practices into their work place. The people who should train are not trained themselves (Walton 1999). In the UK the majority of managers have been trained in a skilled occupation, and consequently promoted through the system (Beardwell Holden 1994). Although highly trained in their primary occupation, the challenges of the managerial role are foreign to their skills. Rees commented that â€Å"few people start their careers off in managerial role; they have to acquire skills in organising employees effectively in an ever increasing competitive environment† (Rees cited in Beardwell Holden 1994:373). Good employee developers make a difference to the individual employee and/or their organisational performance. A new employee with a skills gap can be made to feel part of the organisation when he is developed into his role. Employees can be identified who have the potential for more demanding work or promotion but who require support to make this change. This can then set up a cycle of good behaviour that is passed on when the receivers become managers and developers themselves. Anises study found examples of increased skills and knowledge, work experience, self-confidence, improved motivation, job performance and job satisfaction, all thanks to the developers (Sparrow 2004). 4.7 Learning Theories Organisations have an economic need for all employees to be flexible within the workplace. The culture should encourage them to use their own initiative and apply the knowledge to undertake a variety of tasks. Cognitive learning lets the workforce learn strategies, and then transfer the learning to be able to solve problems. Lewis (1958) broke the learning down into three key stages. The first stage is the disposal of the old level (unfreezing), second stage is to implement the new structures and processes (moving) and the final stage involves stabilising the company with its new structure (refreezing). This technique was used so the organisation and the employees would be able to understand and implement improvements to their methods of working. Problems that arise from organisational change, which it is not flexible and cannot adapt swiftly to situations such as economic recession (Lewis (1958) cited in Buchanan, D and Hucczynski, A 1991). Wilson (1999) summarised on three main adult learning theories. Behaviourist theories of learning recognise learning as a response to external stimuli. Maintenance of the new behaviour is enforced by positive and negative reinforcement, a system of punishment and reward. Cognitivist theories of learning emphasise the proactive nature of development. This school of thought perceives human beings as seekers of knowledge in an attempt to understand our own identities and positionality. Humanist theories believe that learning occurs as result of our natural inclination towards it. People learn because in an environment of â€Å"warmth, care and understanding† (Wilson, 1999:197)we cannot help it. In this sense education is learner-centred; the student initiates the development environment and needs assessment. People continue to learn throughout their life, whether this is formally taught or just experienced. The process of lifelong learning requires continuous adaptation. This is gained from increased knowledge and improved skills, which aid the individual to adapt to or change the environment. This allows for new possibilities and outcomes from situations that they face. These changes can raise the individuals self-esteem and confidence. Therefore the learning can generate far reaching changes in both the individual and the environment (Beardwell I et al2004) Reinforcing learning within in an organisations, requires what Hawkins (1994) called a change at the heart† this change is in â€Å"the understanding of learning, a shift from viewing learning as being abrupt facts to learning as a more multi-faceted and dynamic process†. As Hawkins suggests, it is not that we are learning any differently than before but our understanding of how we learn has begun to catch up with what happens in practice (Hawkins, 1994:9). The learning process has been challenged to create a culture that allows continual learning throughout the organisation. As knowledge is what matters, organisations and individuals alike must become continuous learners(Hawkins, 1994). 4.8 Identification of training The UK government has introduced the National Occupational Standards(NOS). These are used as benchmarks of good practice in learning, and to identify the benefits to organisations and individuals that use them. These agreed statements of competence, describe the work outcomes required for an individual to achieve the standard expected of them(Wagner, L. 2004). These benefits can be used as a tool for the Human Resource Management function, to review and identify competencies in the work place. This process can start with recruitment and selection, measuring people’s experiences that will be transferred to the role, identifying any skills gaps in the existing work force (Harrison, R.2002). Employees appraisals is a tool used as to identify development issues within the organisation. Harrison (1993) suggests that they are â€Å"system and process for the provision of both feedback to employees on all aspects of their performance, and the opportunity for discussion to agree actions to assist their future development† (Harrison1993:256). Mullins defined the advantages of regular staff appraisals as â€Å"a formalised and systematic appraisal scheme will enable a regular assessment of individuals’ performance, highlight potential and identify training and development needs† (Mullins 1996:639). The information collected from the appraisals can be used for strategic development of employees. Outcomes can be used as measurement of success from the initial objectives. Harrison (1997) defined three outcomes that should come from appraisals, feedback on performance, work planning and diagnosis of training and development needs. If these outcomes are satisfied in the appraisal, then it will have a motivating effect on employees. IPhone of these outcomes is not satisfied, then the others cannot be satisfied (Harrison 1997). 4.9 Psychological contract Organisations no longer offer â€Å"a job for life† there is no longer guaranteed employment, with a pension as a reward for loyalty and compliance. The psychological contract between employer and employee has shifted. Employees are increasingly mobile, changing employment for promotion, reward and job satisfaction; top employees have more choices to where to work. To retain these key employees the organisations culture needs to allow an environment of personal growth (Harrison2002). With less job security, the best reward an organisation can give an employee is transferable skills (M Marching ton Wilkinson, 1997). Workers have been forced to take more responsibility for their own careers, going where the work is rewarding and where they can develop skills that will guarantee their employability in whatever organisation. This mobility and free agency has created greater competition for skilled workers between organisations. Good workers have more choices than before, and are more liable to use them. Withal the costs involved in recruiting and training new employees, organisations need to retain them. And key to this is the intrinsic rewards (Harrison 2002). Career development is important to the individual employee; Harrison(2002) noted this as an organised planned effort comprised of structured activities or processes that result in a mutual career-plotting effort between employees and the organisation. This Isa central component of the psychological contract that binds the individual to the organisation (Harrison 2002). This further complicates the role of the HRD PR actioner, balancing organisational needs with the individual’s expectations. Some employees will develop their career with one employer, while others require transferable skills. The organisation requires employees with the right skills to ensure and sustain competitive advantage (Gilley and England, 1989:48). 4.10 The Facts in the UK When organisations do not employ the resources to evaluate the benefit gained from training, the needs analysis is not completed. Therefore any benefit gained is not known to the organisation. A studying 1989 revealed that only 3 per cent of UK organisations reviewed any cost-benefit analysis of their training intervention (Deloitte et al(1989) cited in Santos and Stuart 2003). This approach within the UK has barely changed in fifty years. Evaluation of training intervention does not receive the consideration that accepted opinion demands; it is not an important factor in determining the allocation of resources to training. The important factor within an organisation is the focus of HR on the training and development needs, so they are focused on the learning needs of theorganisation.UK organisations fail when assessing the effect of training, to both the individual and the organisation (Sloman 2004). A survey from the CIPD of 1,180 HR professionals agreed that the role of the HR department requires change to move forward. Mike Emmett, head of employee relations at the CIPD agreed with the survey stating â€Å"Theory community has internalised the message that it needs to spend less time on administration and operational issues and more time on business strategy and adding valueâ€Å" The role that HR has adopted in the Appears to follow on from the role of the personnel department. For Hardtop be successful the HR department should hold a strategic position within the organisation (Mike Emmett cited in Zneimer and Merriden 2004:38). The trend in the UK o Relationship Between Training and Employee Commitment Relationship Between Training and Employee Commitment Is there a connection between a high level of commitment to training and development of employees? 1.0 Introduction This paper will discuss training issues within the UK, and what organisations and the government are doing to address a skill shortage. The labour force in competitor countries is educated to higher levels than those in the UK, and that higher education qualifications will ever more be in demand to address future skills needs, particularly at the technical, associate professional and customer service level (M. Doyle 2003). This skills shortage is being addressed by the government by encouraging individuals and organisations to take more interest in training. There are many organisations within the UK that have very good policies on training, the question is does training employees equate on the bottom line. The government has introduced several policies aimed at tackling the skills shortage. D Blunkitt (2000) discussed. â€Å"that our education reforms are all about the development of an educated citizenry democracy in which people are educated in and are able to participate in active self-government. Individuals that are knowledgeable are equipped to make moral judgements, and will be able to construct solutions to the challenges they face, both locally and globally†(Blunkett, 2000, p. 13). This has shifted the emphasis from organisations training employees to individuals taking more responsibility for their own training. The skills are then transferable between organisations, aiding to the mobility of the individual. But organisations still require employees ‘to be trained in their culture and core values. Organisations seek the competitive edge of rivals; they use training to increase the level of service they offer customers. This in turn will create loyalty with their customers, therefore increasing turnover. The human resource is discussed as the most valuable, and perhaps the last edge organisations can have. If all organisations trained to the same level, would this then eliminate the competitive edge? Organisations are implementing strategic HR as a change agent, not to replace an out dated personnel department. Although there is still evidence within the UK that once these interventions are implemented, they just replace the role of the personnel department. To be effective belongs on the board of an organisation. The organisation that will be reviewed is Tesco’s; during the past decade they have introduced strategic HR with increased training of employees. The role of HR within the organisation has increased in importance. Their practice of training and the importance of HR will be reviewed with the current theory. Tesco’s’ operates in a very competitive market; the consumer has choice where to shop for their groceries. They have expanded their portfolio to include CD’s, DVD’s, electrical goods and clothing. Recently they have expanded into the financial services offering customers products from Credit cards to insurance. All their products are available on the internet 24 hours a day. Their slogan â€Å"every little helps† is used to show their commitment to customers, this has been used to reduce prices and to increase the level of customer service. This slogan is now used in their staff training, that any intervention will increase the knowledge of the workforce. The organisation is widely reported in newspapers, this is due to the success of the business. They are rapidly expanding in the UK with the opening of their Metro stores and into new and foreign markets. This has taken a great deal of their resources in the planning and implementing stage of expansion. The core units need to remain focused, to retain the reputation they have built. Reinforcing the culture and values through training will focus employees on their roles. Whilst writing this paper it was identified that further paper could be written on cost analyses of the organisation, to identify if the extra resources they have placed on training has been value for money. This was outside the scope of this paper. 3.0 Methodology This chapter discusses the research methods used for the project and the justification for the choice of methods. It discusses methods that were not used, with justification of why they were not included. Included is a critique of methods selected, and with hindsight this identifies any changes that would have enhanced the research. This paper critically evaluates training within the UK and focuses on the training issues within Tesco. It will compare the HR and training practices at Tesco to the theory. The organisation was chosen as they had put themselves to forefront of training a decade ago, by becoming investors in people. Selection of the topic was stimulated and formed out of heightened political awareness on the subject area. The government has recognised skills gap between the UK and competitor countries. To address this issue they have introduced policies that included lifelong learning. The government’s green and white papers were used to review these policies. The nature of the research was discussed with colleagues and fellow students, this not only added practical ideas and suggestions; it also opened new avenues of thought. This was the discussed with lecturers sounding out ideas, gauging opinions and clarifying the question. Focusing in on the question was obtained by employing relevance trees, narrowing the research area. This gave direction to the research, although with reviewing the literature this direction changed several times (Buzan, J. 1995). Next, a research proposal was compiled, with the benefit of organising ideas and setting a time-scale for research. Theoretically, the proposal would highlight any difficulties with the research question and access to data. Creating a time-scale would focus on targets and meet deadlines in the completion of the paper. The literature review, discussing theories and ideas that exist on the topic formed the foundation of the paper. The findings from the research are then tested on theories for validity (Saunders, M. et al1997). The literature review was challenging, there is a vast amount of articles on the subject. Books journals and newspaper articles formed the back bone for the review. Tertiary data sources, such as library catalogues and indexes were used to scan for secondary data. This produced journals and newspaper articles, and Internet addresses. With the amount of literature, it took time to sort out relevant material to the research. Narrowing down the search Bell’s (1993) six point’s parameters was applied. Applying key words that were identified in the first search produced relevant and up-to-date material (Bell, J.1993). A limitation on the literature search was the amount of time to read all articles and books on the subject. Whilst reviewing the literature references to other relevant publications was followed and reviewed. Bells checklist on identifying the relevance of literature found was a practical method to reduce the amount of reading (Bell, J. 1993). The Case study material was compiled from the organisations web site and from articles that discussed their training policy. Tesco’s appear to be rarely out of the papers, with daily reports on their success. The organisation disseminates a lot of information on their web page, only relevant material was chosen. To produce primary data on organisations training proved to be a vast task, taking a lot of time to produce results. Instead it was decide to review previously published interviews and surveys. This was then compared to the literature review. Interviewing people within organisations was an option for primary research. The target of the interview would be the person that held enough power to influence decisions that the organisation makes. This was rejected due to the time limitations of the paper. The major limitation of the study lies in its relatively small sample size and the limited coverage. This was mainly attributable tithe limited time and resources available for the study. Although thesis a small sample it will conclude on the findings with recommendations for further research papers into the subject. 4.0 Literature Review 4.1 Introduction This chapter will review current and recent articles and books of the topics of Training, HR and government policy. 4.2 What is training? Training can be defined as a planned process to change attitudes, knowledge or skills and behaviour through a range of activities to achieve effective performance. When this training is in the work situation, it develops the employee to satisfy current or future needs of the organisation (Beardwell, I et al 2004). It is generally accepted that methods of training can usually be separated into two categories: on-the-job, and, off-the-job. On-the-job training is implemented at the trainees workplace, while off-the-job training is conducted away from the trainees workplace and takes them outside of their work environment (Mullins, L. 2005). Training can be used as a change agent, to change the culture of an organisation. It is also a tool to improve organisational effectiveness, especially in fiercely competitive markets. All too often organisations that are facing financial problems will cut back the training program, where as they could be used to increase overall performance. The training budget is viewed too often as an expendable, and the first to cut or even go in crises (Rogers 2004). 4.2 Why Train Nobody in business would disagree with the clichà © that a company is only as good as the people in it. But opinions differ on how that translates into practice, and what it means in terms of the way a firm goes about gathering and developing a world-class staff line-up. With near full employment in the UK, the fight for talent is as ruthless as ever, and getting, hanging on to and developing those people remains the HR issue of the moment. The principal function of any organisation is to increase the value of the business and therefore enhance the wealth of its Owner(s). This is obtained by efficient use of the limited â€Å"resources† available to them(T Blackwood, 1995). Garrick (1998) discussed that training inextricably linked to market economics, that knowledge is prized ins far as it can generate a market advantageâ€Å"(Garrick 1998:5). This leads to the assumption that though training and developing employees, it can give the organisation advantage, increasing profit. Best (2001) discussed the â€Å"new economy, as a knowledge-based economy without borders, where the race is between companies and locales over how to learn faster and organise more flexibly to take advantage of technology-enabled market opportunities† (Best (2001) cited in DeFillippi, R. 2002). Organisations have changed in the way they operate, shifting from immobile-wired infrastructures to mobile, miniature, and wireless modes of communication, computing, and transacting. Customers now demand 24 hour service, with â€Å"anytime, anyplace solutions of their problems (DeFillippi, R. 2002). Radical shifts are taking place in management theory; these shifts need to be reflected in the theory of training and development. The move towards a knowledge economy makes these shifts vital to the survival of the organisation. Ideas of training tend to focus on results; typically they are short-term and assume transferable skills. Ideas of personal development may be insufficiently focused on the workplace. Therefore for an organisation to enter the knowledge economy, it is vital for them to review their training and development to a broader aspect (Bryans, P. Smith, R. 2000). Increasingly, as the nature of business and organisations change, its ‘leaders are recognising that their most valuable assets are their skilled employees and, more significantly, the knowledge, both tacit and explicit, that is possessed by these employees. The knowledge is power clichà © has never been more accurate than in todays corporate world. This added value that this can be seen in products and services is now dependant on knowledge based intangibles (Rogers 2004). Since the late 1990s the business environment has drastically changed(Mullins, L. 2005). Chaos theorists have argued that the world of the organisations is â€Å"turbulent and chaotic, making it impossible for them to predict the future† Therefore conventional approaches to strategic decision making are no longer appropriate (Harrison, R. 1997:78).Competition and the pace of change in business require continuous improvement, therefore it means continuous learning. From this demand the market for business education has grown with a proliferation of courses, full- and part-time, open and bespoke (Mullins, L. 2005). 4.3 The Role of HR Recognition of the importance of HR has increased in recent years; thesis a result of competition from overseas economies. In countries for example Japan, Germany and Sweden investment in employee development is higher than the UK. This has led to some organisations reviewing their policies on training introducing continuous investment in their employees (Beardwell, I. et al 2004). This increase in training priority has been supported by a rise inhuman Resource Management. This practice emphasises that increased growth can only be maintained in the long run; by equipping the workforce with the skills they need to complete their tasks (Mullins, L.2005). Although it is argued that HR departments are within UK organisations mostly administration based. Rogers (2004) stated that â€Å"the threat revolves around a fundamental mismatch between the functions of Departments today and the real strategic human resource needs of modern business, which those departments it should be servingâ€Å". The image of training and development has changed and can be used a key driver for delivering shareholder value (Rogers 2004:25). The role of HR should not be administrative based; it should be a part of the long term strategy of the organisation. Appointed an HR manager to the board is the only way this can happen (Beardwell et al2004).Rogers (2004) discussed the â€Å"role of developing human capital strategies that HR has a real opportunity to shine†. There are numerous departments are failing to deliver the goods. This is caused by â€Å"too many departments are dominated and viewed by the board as fulfilling mainly administrative role, dominated by endless form filling† (Rogers2004 :25). For HR to succeed it must take on a proactive role within the organisation. Strategic HR creates value by providing opportunities for organic learning, development of intellectual capital and enhances core competencies. This value is crucial to the organisations future success (Treen, D. 2000). Employers are increasing extorting the best possible performance from employees. Best practice will increase the skills of the current workforce, and with recruiting it will reinforce the culture of a highly skilled work force (Mullins, L. 2005).Strategic HRM has gained both credibility and popularity over the past decade, specifically with respect to its impact on organisational performance (Paauwe, J Boselie P. 2003). To fully exploit the wealth of knowledge contained within an organisation, it must be realised that it is in human resource management that the most significant advances will be made. As result, the human resource department must be made a central figure in an organisations strategy to establish a knowledge basis for its operations (Mullins, L. 2005). There are fundamental differences in the approach to HR. Storey(1987) discussed these as hard and `soft’ versions of HRM.. The ‘hard version places little emphasis on workers’ concerns and, therefore, within its concept, any judgments of the effectiveness form would be based on business performance criteria only. In contrast, ‘soft HRM, while also having business performance as its primary concern, would be more likely to advocate a parallel concern for workers’ outcomes (Storey cited in Guest, D. 1999). These models of HR theory, will justify why there has been an increase in this management practice. Walton (1985) defined HR as â€Å"mutual goals, mutual influence, mutual respect, mutual rewards, and mutual responsibility† Walton further added that the psychological contract ‘under this guitarist, high commitment model is one of mutuality, but it is a mutuality strictly bounded by the need to operate within an essentially unitary framework (Walton cited in Beardwell, l. et al2004) There is a need for a higher value to be placed on employees. And therefore get the best performance from the employees. According toDelany (2001) â€Å"successful organisations keep people issues at the forefront of their thinking and at the core of their decision making and planning†. Delany adds â€Å"organisations that get the people things right are the organisations likely to be around in the future† (Delany (2001)cited in Mullins, L. 2005:748). The role of human resource explicitly views employees as another resource for managers to exploit. In the past, managements had failed to align their human resource systems with business strategy and therefore failed to exploit or utilise their human resources to the full. The force to take on HRM is therefore, based on the business case of a need to respond to an external threat from increasing competition(Guest, D 1999). This view reflects a longstanding capitalist tradition in which the worker is viewed as a commodity. The consequential exploitation may be paternalist and benevolent; but, equally, it may operate against the interests of workers. Essentially, workers are simply resources to be squeezed and disposed of as business requirements dictate. More importantly, the interests of workers and their well-being are of no significance in themselves. As John Monks (1998) stated â€Å"In the wrong hands HRM becomes both a sharp weapon to prise workers apart from their union and a blunt instrument to bully workers† (Guest, D 1999). 4.5 HRD HR and training literatures highlights the organisational benefits tube gained from adopting a systematic approach to HRD, therefore thronging development of employees skills underpins the wider business objectives (Keep, 1989). This systematic approach to training often includes models that identifying needs, planning, delivery and evaluation. Harrison developed an eight stage model to identify monitor and evaluate training. The evaluation stage is possibly the most problematic part of the training process (Reid and Barrington, 1997). Therefore using that theory HRD should be viewed as a vital function offal organisations, and not just there to satisfy training issues, a proactive role. Caravan et al (2000) discusses the emergence of strategic HRD practices, which are directly linked to the organisation’s strategies, with profit maximising paramount, HRD is atoll that should be employed to obtain and support this (Caravan et al,2000). Strategic HRD is not embraced by all organisations; some view other resources as more valuable. There are many individual interconnected components, that impact on the performance of the organisation. The human resource is in theory the most valuable resource, but does not always receive the respect, and the financial recognition to develop(Walton 1999). Mumford (1997) agreed with this stating that â€Å"other resources within the organisation have a higher value placed on them and they are protected by rules and regulations† (A Mumford 1997:78). The theory of HRD appeals more to academics that the practioners. Garrick (1999) noted that academics rather than practitioners are more eager to pursue the learning perspective. This opinion defines HRD as being solely concerned with employees rather than organisational Strategy (Garrick 1999). Although this view is not shared by all authors. Caravan et al. (2000) defines the learning perspective that defines HRD as â€Å"responsible for fostering the long-term, work related learning capacity at an individual, group and organisational level†(Caravan et al. 2000:66). A research undertaken by Robertson and OMalley Hamersley reinforces this view of HRD. A two-year qualitative study composed from eighteen semi-structured interviews concluded that continuous professional learning was important to professional workers. To conclude from the study, learning does not have to directly correlate with organisational strategy. Therefore HRD can also be defined as a continuous learning programmes and encouragement of self-directed learning (Robertson and O’Malley Hamersley cited in Caravan et al. 2000:71). Continuously during the late 1990s and into the current century there has been a shift in organisational HRD rhetoric. Walton (2004) has discussed this shift in practice as â€Å"from how to support learning to how to manage knowledge, from the learning organisation to knowledge management†. These are new implications for the HRD practitioner in what has loosely been named the new economy (Walton 2004). 4.6 Managers and facilitators Education, training and development for managers, especially in the UK, has traditionally fallen into the â€Å"nice to have† category rather than the â€Å"must have† This view of business is persistent, with the assumption that managers are born and not made (Stern, S 2002). The majority of managers have learnt their skills through on-the-job experience. The conventional assumption, that managers learn best through â€Å"doing† whenever possible (Reader, A. 1998). Focussing on the concept that the human resource is the highly valued, systems should be in place to protect their importance. Development for managers who manage employees is a basic component of management development (Marching ton Wilkinson 1996). Mumford(1997) discussed the reason for failure of some of the processes has been â€Å"clearly been due in some instances to the absence of the required skills† (Mumford 1997:78). The majority of Managers would profit from training, but they are not capable of managing even with the intervention of training. These managers would still find in difficult to transfer the new skills and practices into their work place. The people who should train are not trained themselves (Walton 1999). In the UK the majority of managers have been trained in a skilled occupation, and consequently promoted through the system (Beardwell Holden 1994). Although highly trained in their primary occupation, the challenges of the managerial role are foreign to their skills. Rees commented that â€Å"few people start their careers off in managerial role; they have to acquire skills in organising employees effectively in an ever increasing competitive environment† (Rees cited in Beardwell Holden 1994:373). Good employee developers make a difference to the individual employee and/or their organisational performance. A new employee with a skills gap can be made to feel part of the organisation when he is developed into his role. Employees can be identified who have the potential for more demanding work or promotion but who require support to make this change. This can then set up a cycle of good behaviour that is passed on when the receivers become managers and developers themselves. Anises study found examples of increased skills and knowledge, work experience, self-confidence, improved motivation, job performance and job satisfaction, all thanks to the developers (Sparrow 2004). 4.7 Learning Theories Organisations have an economic need for all employees to be flexible within the workplace. The culture should encourage them to use their own initiative and apply the knowledge to undertake a variety of tasks. Cognitive learning lets the workforce learn strategies, and then transfer the learning to be able to solve problems. Lewis (1958) broke the learning down into three key stages. The first stage is the disposal of the old level (unfreezing), second stage is to implement the new structures and processes (moving) and the final stage involves stabilising the company with its new structure (refreezing). This technique was used so the organisation and the employees would be able to understand and implement improvements to their methods of working. Problems that arise from organisational change, which it is not flexible and cannot adapt swiftly to situations such as economic recession (Lewis (1958) cited in Buchanan, D and Hucczynski, A 1991). Wilson (1999) summarised on three main adult learning theories. Behaviourist theories of learning recognise learning as a response to external stimuli. Maintenance of the new behaviour is enforced by positive and negative reinforcement, a system of punishment and reward. Cognitivist theories of learning emphasise the proactive nature of development. This school of thought perceives human beings as seekers of knowledge in an attempt to understand our own identities and positionality. Humanist theories believe that learning occurs as result of our natural inclination towards it. People learn because in an environment of â€Å"warmth, care and understanding† (Wilson, 1999:197)we cannot help it. In this sense education is learner-centred; the student initiates the development environment and needs assessment. People continue to learn throughout their life, whether this is formally taught or just experienced. The process of lifelong learning requires continuous adaptation. This is gained from increased knowledge and improved skills, which aid the individual to adapt to or change the environment. This allows for new possibilities and outcomes from situations that they face. These changes can raise the individuals self-esteem and confidence. Therefore the learning can generate far reaching changes in both the individual and the environment (Beardwell I et al2004) Reinforcing learning within in an organisations, requires what Hawkins (1994) called a change at the heart† this change is in â€Å"the understanding of learning, a shift from viewing learning as being abrupt facts to learning as a more multi-faceted and dynamic process†. As Hawkins suggests, it is not that we are learning any differently than before but our understanding of how we learn has begun to catch up with what happens in practice (Hawkins, 1994:9). The learning process has been challenged to create a culture that allows continual learning throughout the organisation. As knowledge is what matters, organisations and individuals alike must become continuous learners(Hawkins, 1994). 4.8 Identification of training The UK government has introduced the National Occupational Standards(NOS). These are used as benchmarks of good practice in learning, and to identify the benefits to organisations and individuals that use them. These agreed statements of competence, describe the work outcomes required for an individual to achieve the standard expected of them(Wagner, L. 2004). These benefits can be used as a tool for the Human Resource Management function, to review and identify competencies in the work place. This process can start with recruitment and selection, measuring people’s experiences that will be transferred to the role, identifying any skills gaps in the existing work force (Harrison, R.2002). Employees appraisals is a tool used as to identify development issues within the organisation. Harrison (1993) suggests that they are â€Å"system and process for the provision of both feedback to employees on all aspects of their performance, and the opportunity for discussion to agree actions to assist their future development† (Harrison1993:256). Mullins defined the advantages of regular staff appraisals as â€Å"a formalised and systematic appraisal scheme will enable a regular assessment of individuals’ performance, highlight potential and identify training and development needs† (Mullins 1996:639). The information collected from the appraisals can be used for strategic development of employees. Outcomes can be used as measurement of success from the initial objectives. Harrison (1997) defined three outcomes that should come from appraisals, feedback on performance, work planning and diagnosis of training and development needs. If these outcomes are satisfied in the appraisal, then it will have a motivating effect on employees. IPhone of these outcomes is not satisfied, then the others cannot be satisfied (Harrison 1997). 4.9 Psychological contract Organisations no longer offer â€Å"a job for life† there is no longer guaranteed employment, with a pension as a reward for loyalty and compliance. The psychological contract between employer and employee has shifted. Employees are increasingly mobile, changing employment for promotion, reward and job satisfaction; top employees have more choices to where to work. To retain these key employees the organisations culture needs to allow an environment of personal growth (Harrison2002). With less job security, the best reward an organisation can give an employee is transferable skills (M Marching ton Wilkinson, 1997). Workers have been forced to take more responsibility for their own careers, going where the work is rewarding and where they can develop skills that will guarantee their employability in whatever organisation. This mobility and free agency has created greater competition for skilled workers between organisations. Good workers have more choices than before, and are more liable to use them. Withal the costs involved in recruiting and training new employees, organisations need to retain them. And key to this is the intrinsic rewards (Harrison 2002). Career development is important to the individual employee; Harrison(2002) noted this as an organised planned effort comprised of structured activities or processes that result in a mutual career-plotting effort between employees and the organisation. This Isa central component of the psychological contract that binds the individual to the organisation (Harrison 2002). This further complicates the role of the HRD PR actioner, balancing organisational needs with the individual’s expectations. Some employees will develop their career with one employer, while others require transferable skills. The organisation requires employees with the right skills to ensure and sustain competitive advantage (Gilley and England, 1989:48). 4.10 The Facts in the UK When organisations do not employ the resources to evaluate the benefit gained from training, the needs analysis is not completed. Therefore any benefit gained is not known to the organisation. A studying 1989 revealed that only 3 per cent of UK organisations reviewed any cost-benefit analysis of their training intervention (Deloitte et al(1989) cited in Santos and Stuart 2003). This approach within the UK has barely changed in fifty years. Evaluation of training intervention does not receive the consideration that accepted opinion demands; it is not an important factor in determining the allocation of resources to training. The important factor within an organisation is the focus of HR on the training and development needs, so they are focused on the learning needs of theorganisation.UK organisations fail when assessing the effect of training, to both the individual and the organisation (Sloman 2004). A survey from the CIPD of 1,180 HR professionals agreed that the role of the HR department requires change to move forward. Mike Emmett, head of employee relations at the CIPD agreed with the survey stating â€Å"Theory community has internalised the message that it needs to spend less time on administration and operational issues and more time on business strategy and adding valueâ€Å" The role that HR has adopted in the Appears to follow on from the role of the personnel department. For Hardtop be successful the HR department should hold a strategic position within the organisation (Mike Emmett cited in Zneimer and Merriden 2004:38). The trend in the UK o