Article of Confederation Essay

Article of Confederation Essay Article of Confederation Essay To Amend or Not to Amend The Articles of Confederation is the first governing mechanism devised for the United States. As the precedent, many Americans, especially the Foundering Fathers, knew that it had many weaknesses, but that’s precisely what they intended: a Confederacy. Out of fear of replicating another British monarchy, the colonists attempted to construct an extremely weak government and avoid concentrating powers in the hands of a few individuals. However to assess the effectiveness of the government set up by the Articles of Confederation it is paramount to discuss the problems faced by the country during the post-Revolutionary decade from 1781 to 1789 and to what how effectively and to what extent those issues were dealt with. However, by doing this more problems were created than the government could solve. Additionally, the word â€Å"effective† is a bit ambiguous. In terms of securing personal liberties and continuing the American lifestyle, the Articles did a fantastic job but in terms of national security and building world superpower country, the Articles failed miserably. In other words, while the Articles may have its advantages inherent to a Confederacy, the various problems facing the country such as an economic crisis, foreign threats, and a lack of general unity inevitably created an ineffective and feeble method of governing the new nation. Primarily one of the main causes of the Revolutionary War was to become political independent from the British Crown and instate a form of a weak central government to protect individual state rights. However, the Coalition of States have yet to actually become economically independent. Both before and after the Revolutionary War, states have continued to export millions of dollars worth, averaging around 5 million pre-revolution and 4.5 million post-revolution. (Doc B). In addition, the interstate commerce between states were more like 13 different nations with 13 different currencies floating around. Even more, Congress and the States shared the ability to coin money and issue currency, which quickly prompts inflation as too much money was floating around with no gold or sliver to back up the currency. Shays’ Rebellion was actually caused by the lack of trust and instability of the Massachusetts dollar prompting a downward spiral of farm foreclosure and making farmers even less able to pay off the debt. Furthermore, because Congress itself was denied the right to tax, they were also denied the power to excise regulatory tariffs or taxes. State tariffs within the states would have caused prices to skyrocket every time it caused a merchant to travel state boundaries. Urban artisans would have favored tariffs to protect their profits and merchants would have enjoyed open markets around the world both of which Congress was incapable to achieving. Even when Congress recommended some impost on imported goods, Rhode Island unanimously decided to ignore that act ion, because it harmed state interests, even those it might have helped national interests. (Doc A). On top of that, since Congress had no ways of raising revenue or steady sources of money besides â€Å"requesting money from state legislature,† which rarely occurred, the U.S. wasn’t able to pay back the war-related debts, make good on public bonds, or even properly pay veterans. (Doc C). The current economic situation was extremely precarious between a national deficiency of assets and a fluctuating dollar; it’s almost to conduct business within the United States or with other nations. In fact, because the nation was so splintered nations would probably sign treaties or other types of agreements with multiple parties besides one single state. On the other hand, relations with foreign powers were especially hazardous. Spain controlled the Mississippi thus impeding Western expansion and depriving colonists of a major transportation and trade route. In addition, S pain like other major powers looked down on the

Horseshoe Crabs, Ancient Arthropods That Saves Lives

Horseshoe Crabs, Ancient Arthropods That Saves Lives Horseshoe crabs are often called living fossils. These primitive arthropods have lived on earth for 360 million years, largely in the same form as they appear today. Despite their long history, the horseshoe crabs existence is now threatened by human activities, including harvesting for medical research. How Horseshoe Crabs Save Lives Any time a foreign object or substance enters the human body, theres a risk of introducing infection. If youve had a vaccination, an intravenous treatment, a surgery of any kind, or had a medical device implanted in your body, you owe your very survival to the horseshoe crab. Horseshoe crabs have copper-rich blood that appears to be striking blue in color. Proteins in the horseshoe crabs blood cells are released in response to even the smallest amount of bacterial endotoxin, such as E. coli. The presence of bacteria causes horseshoe crab blood to clot or gel, part of its hypersensitive immune response system. In the 1960s, two researchers, Frederick Bang and Jack Levin, developed a method of using these coagulation factors to test for contamination of medical devices. By the 1970s, their Limulus amebocyte lysate (LAL) test was being used commercially to make sure everything from scalpels to artificial hips is safe for introduction in the human body. While such testing is crucial to safe medical treatments, the practice takes a toll on horseshoe crab populations. Horseshoe crab blood is in high demand, and the medical testing industry catches as many as 500,000 horseshoe crabs each year to drain them of their blood. The crabs arent killed outright in the process; theyre caught, bled, and released. But biologists suspect the stress results in a percentage of the released horseshoe crabs dying once back in the water. The International Union on the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources lists the Atlantic horseshoe crab as vulnerable, just one category below endangered in the extinction risk scale. Fortunately, management practices are in place now to protect the species. Is a Horseshoe Crab Really a Crab? Horseshoe crabs are marine arthropods, but they arent crustaceans. Theyre more closely related to spiders and ticks than they are to true crabs. Horseshoe crabs belong to the Chelicerata, along with arachnids (spiders, scorpions, and ticks) and sea spiders. These arthropods all possess special appendages near their mouthparts called chelicerae.  Horseshoe crabs use their chelicerae to put food in their mouths. Within the animal kingdom, horseshoe crabs are classified as follows: Kingdom – Animalia (animals)Phylum – Arthropoda (arthropods)Subphylum – Chelicerata (chelicerates)Class – XiphosuraOrder – XiphosuridaFamily – Limulidae (horseshoe crabs) There are four living species in the horseshoe crab family. Three species, Tachypleus tridentatus, Tachypleus gigas, and Carcinoscorpius rotundicauda, live only in Asia. The Atlantic horseshoe crab (Limulus polyphemus) lives in the Gulf of Mexico and along the Atlantic coast of North America. What Do Horseshoe Crabs Look Like? The Atlantic horseshoe crab is named for its horseshoe-shaped shell, which helps protect it from predators. Horseshoe crabs are brown in color, and grow as large as 24 inches long at maturity. Females are considerably larger than males. Like all arthropods, horseshoe crabs grow by molting their exoskeletons. People often believe the horseshoe crabs spine-like tail is a stinger, but its actually no such thing. The tail functions as a rudder, helping the horseshoe crab navigate the bottom. If a wave washes the horseshoe crab ashore on its back, it will use its tail to right itself. Never lift a horseshoe crab by its tail. The tail is attached by a joint that works similar to a human hip socket. When dangled by its tail, the weight of the horseshoe crabs body can cause the tail to become dislocated, leaving the crab helpless the next time its overturned. On the underside of the shell, horseshoe crabs have a pair of chelicerae and five pairs of legs. In males, the first pair of legs is modified as claspers, for holding the female during mating. Horseshoe crabs breathe using book gills. Why Are Horseshoe Crabs Important? In addition to their value in medical research, horseshoe crabs fill important ecological roles. Their smooth, wide shells provide the perfect substrate for many other marine organisms to live on. As it moves along the oceans bottom, a horseshoe crab may be carrying mussels, barnacles, tube worms, sea lettuce, sponges, and even oysters. Horseshoe crabs deposit their eggs by the thousands along sandy shorelines, and many migratory shorebirds, including red knots, rely on these eggs as a source of fuel during their long flights. Sources: Atlantic Horseshoe Crab (Limulus polyphemus), University of Rhode Island, Environmental Data Center. Accessed online July 26, 2017.The Horseshoe Crab and Public Health, The Horseshoe Crab website, Ecological Research Development Group (ERDG). Accessed online July 26, 2017.Limulus polyphemus, IUCN Red List. Accessed online July 26, 2017.Project Limulus, Sacred Heart University website. Accessed online July 26, 2017.The Blood of the Crab, by Caren Chesler, Popular Mechanics, April 13, 2017. essed online July 26, 2017.

Installation of a firewall policy in a small office - home office Essay

Installation of a firewall policy in a small office - home office (SOHO) environment - Essay Example Consequentially, it has become inevitable to protect these environments from any attack. Though none can claim that a network is totally secure, advanced security measures need always be implemented. In SOHO network, to protect any external intrusion using a firewall, one can consider using either a hardware or software firewall. A hardware firewall is a digital edge device put in a network that serves to allow or disallow network transmissions. A firewall once installed, it protects a network from unauthorised access while permitting only legitimate communications to pass through the network. Most vendors of operating systems (OS) for personal computers include software-based firewall packages in the OSs to protect threats from the public Internet. Different types of firewalls can be implemented at different levels in a network but since in a SOHO environment cost implications are vastly considered, only one level of a firewall can be implemented (Briere et al., 2010). This single l evel of firewall application must be effective enough so as to ensure that any outbound communication is secure. The installation of a firewall is based upon several set of rules that play a great role in deciding the type of a firewall to employ and the overall effectiveness of it. It would an unimportant and impractically costly venture to implement a firewall policy for a large company’s network for a small office/home office network since this firewall would serve as a central offloading point for security-related activity. Through the installation of a firewall appliance in a SOHO environment, client systems can easily share Internet connections. Internet connections pose the main risk to every network whether in a shared or unshared environment. Hackers are constantly finding new ways either to create vulnerabilities in a highly secured network or even to attack any network that would have security vulnerabilities. As technology changes, application-level attacks are gr eatly advancing too. This whole situation has cause a huge tradeoff between the provision of a secure network and the cost of that provision. To secure a network especially one that has access to the Internet has proved to a challenging task to the network administrators since the more they put hard security measure both in hardware and software forms, the more attacks are being targeted and executed on their networks. This has led to the introduction of integrated firewall appliances e.g. gateways and routers, that handle both the work of data transmission and data screening at the perimeter wall. Clients in SOHO network depend a lot on emails. These emails can be outbound or inbound. Both should be screened at the firewall level to ensure that only legitimate emails are given access to the network. Emails carry attachments and security compromisers have always been bent on imitating their attacks using email attachment that contain worms, Trojans, spyware or even a malware. These embedded threats once that gain access to the network would cause undesired trouble in the stability of the network as some of them have the potential to iniatiate a denial of service attack. This attack is among the most hazardous on a network since the entire business is brought in to a halt. Another harmful attack would be the one initiated with intent

Marketing and Promotion Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Marketing and Promotion - Essay Example Because the product we sell is books, our aspirations must be consistent with the promise and the ideals of the volumes which line our shelves. To say that our mission exists independent of the product we sell is to demean the importance and the distinction of being booksellers.† This mission statement starts out well but contradicts itself towards the end. It is too long and becomes too broad as well as ambiguous with the mention of â€Å"regardless of the product we sell.† Southwest Airlines’ mission statement which reads â€Å"dedication to the highest quality of customer service delivered with a sense of warmth, friendliness, individual pride and company spirit† is an example of a good mission statement. It is short, goes directly to what the company does and what it aspires as well as distinguishing the airline from the others in the business with specifics on its quality and services it

Wittgenstein picture theory Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Wittgenstein picture theory - Essay Example What is the difference between a picture and a proposition? How according, to Wittgenstein, are pictures and propositions alike? How are they different? Introduction Ludwig Wittgenstein, a renowned Philosopher, has contributed greatly on the field of meaning of language and how it relates to the world. This relationship has language being looked at as possessing the capability to communicate facts in a precise and concise way, such that, the propositions are able to reflect reality falsely or rightly. In his book, Wittgenstein formulates the exact features a language should have so as to be able to reflect reality and hence make meaning. The languages that do not possess these features he says of them as lacking any important meaning. Still in his book Wittgenstein seeks out to delineate the vital features of propositions that are meaningful. He tries to address the question of the minimum circumstances of meaningfulness. This means, questioning what qualities a proposition should ha ve so as to be able to picture a possibility. With this background then, it therefore is possible to see the philosophers’ arguments about propositions and also better understand the picture’s theory of meaning he advanced in trying to better understand his work (Wittgenstein 1-19). ... e when the truth-conditions are satisfied thus enabling a statement to be judged as being true or false but which again depends on the actual facts found in the world is true in the use of language. Wittgenstein (22-97), argues that propositions are pictures of states of affairs. He does this by trying to distinguish the differences that emerge between saying something and showing something in trying to explain the use of language. His main objective is trying to show what can be described in language and that which cannot be described. He emphasizes on the importance of facts and objects and how they are paramount in showing the relationship that can be viewed by propositions and the elements of these propositions. By treating language thus it is meant to help people understand that just like facts propositions are also very complex in nature. This complex nature is seen in the order of how words and other language items occur also in the way names can only occur in the nexus of pro positions. As propositions are able at all costs determine reality precisely and whether falsely or rightly means that one can be able to deduce and make their own individual judgments. Wittgenstein’s picture theory of meaning and how the theory applies to what Wittgenstein calls propositions or propositional signs. Wittgenstein’s picture theory of meaning as seen in his book is one that is trying to look for the connection or relationship between language and the word. This he is doing by exploring the affinity of picturing. Seen clearly in the theory of meaning is the notion that the basic objective of a linguistic endeavor is to portray the world precisely and accurately. The philosopher looks at the world and language as two separate and independents entities that can only be

Strategies to Implement Ethical Practices in India

Strategies to Implement Ethical Practices in India INTRODUCTION What is ethics? Ethics is a branch of Philosophy which addresses questions about morale; i.e about concepts morally what is good or bad ,right or wrong etc. An ethical statement can assert that some particular thing or action is right or may be wrong. Ethics can bring about the difference between good and bad characters or dispositions. It may propound few principles which help in more detailed judgments of these sorts, might be inferred for example that we ought always aim at the general happiness or try to minimize the total suffering of all sentient beings. That it is correct for everyone to look after themselves. Every such statement expresses ethical judgments of different degrees of generality. [J L Mackie 1977] Business ethics Business ethics is that which examines ethical principles, morala or ethical problems that arise in a business environment. It applies to all aspects of business conduct and is relevant to the conduct of individuals and business organizations as a whole. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_ethics,nd) Origin of Ethics: The systematic study of what is morally right or wrong can determine that ethics might have originated when humans started to lead the best way of life. This reflective stage emerged once morality creeped into the human society, usually in the form of customary standards of right and wrong conduct. Such customs lead this process of reflection, even if it found them waiting. Ethics also began to come into the picture with the invent of moral codes. [http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/194023/ethics] The history of Business ethics can vary depending on the situation or the object under discussion. The history also depends a lot on the historian, the way he or she conceives the subject, what facts he or she seeks to discover or has at hand, and the relative importance the historian gives to those facts. The term business ethics is used in a lot of different ways. In this broad sense the application of everyday moral or ethical norms to business can be considered as Business ethics. ( De George, nd), Many business persons are strongly influenced by their religious beliefs and the ethical norms that they have been taught as part of their religion, and apply these norms in their business activities. Business ethics focuses on the moral or ethical actions of individuals. Many people discussing business ethics, immediately resort to examples of immoral or unethical activity by individuals or by an organization. It also includes the criticism of multinational corporations which make use of child labor or pay very low wages to employees in less developed countries or who utilize suppliers that run sweat shops. Chandra and Pai (2009) explain that for every individual there are certain factors that affect the way an individual take decisions. They feel that power, centralization of workflow, substitutability of activities, uncertainty of inputs and routinization are the various factors are responsible for controlling the ethical contingencies of any individual. A general framework was being produced by Flanagan (2009) regarding the ethical decision making process. He believes that the characteristics of the decision maker which includes motivation, locus of control, ego strength, knowledge, experience, risk taking abilities, Machiavellianism, etc. and the significant influences such as the organization, work, law, economics, professionalism, technology, family, friends or other opinion leaders are responsible for any decision outcome. These outcomes can be in the form of rewards, performance, satisfaction, feedback, promotion or learning. Aims and objectives of the Research Find out the level of ethical awareness amongst the employees in private and public sector companies. Comparison of ethical behaviour between private and public sector employees Role of management in improving ethical behaviours. To what extent the employees in the public and private sector organisation understand the intensity of corruption. How can an employee define corruption in his own terms? what are the measures taken by the management to educate the employees about the unethical behaviour? BACKGROUND The Indian industrial sector opened up in late 1990s when the various developed countries entered India through modes like FDI etc ,with the relaxation of rules and modifications made in the foreign policies along with the age of outsourcing and boom in IT and BPO sectors , lot of foreign companies outsourced their processes to the developing countries especially to India and China .private sector banks were allowed to enter into India. when the banking space in India was already overcrowded with a number of public sector banks, private sector banks, and co-operative banks. Foreign multinational banks, which were growth-constrained, were also waiting eagerly for the sector to open up further in 2009 to make a major foray into this emerging market. now there was scenario where in loans were available at a very less interest rates. The spending ability of the people increased and the spent more than what they actually earned ,by availing the easily available loans now they bought cars and pent houses which, prior to the Banking boom was just a dream for them. This at a micro level increased the corruption in the private sector banks as the executives who sanctioned the loans to these people actually amplified the income of the people on papers through fake documents who asked for loans and inturn expected a percentage of loan as kickback for themselves .this was very common at the micro level in the developing nations but as we go to the macro level there has been an absolute devastation of ethics and higher levels of corruption. There have been many a books which have been written on ethics and corruption , everyday we read in news papers articles, journals about companies and government agencies who are found guilty in scams. With respect to literature on ethics and corruption its a sea out there. Where the data from which can be inculcated here in the research is very less, as there are several life experiences which can just be an eye opener, which cannot be found in books or have references. Ethical Theories: Different ethical theories involve differing procedures, implications, and justifications. Ethical theories are based on ethical principles, they emphasize on different aspects of an ethical dilemma. They also lead to ethically correct resolution staying within the guidelines of ethical theories. Deontology In this theory emphasizing ones main duty is what is considered ethically correct. This theory illustrates that, while analyzing an ethical dilemma, people should strictly follow their obligations and duties.(Rainbow C,1996,pp372) For instance, a deontologist will always keep his promises to a friend and will follow the law. A person who follows this theory will produce very consistent decisions since they will be based on the individuals set duties. Specific people are provided with a basis for special duties and obligations in this theory. For example, an older brother may have an obligation to protect his little sister when they cross a busy road together. (http://www.bio.davidson.edu/people/kabernd/Indep/carainbow/Theories.htm ] Utilitarianism The utilitarian ethical theory was based on the capability of predicting the consequences of an action. To an utilitarian, the choice that is ethically correct is the option that provides the greatest benefit to the most people. (Mill S 1963)One benefit of this ethical theory is that the utilitarian can compare similar predicted solutions and use a point system to determine which choice is more beneficial for more people. This point system provides a logical and rationale argument for each decision and allows a person to use it on a case-by-case context. (Mill S 1963) There are two types of utilitarianism, act utilitarianism and rule utilitarianism. Act utilitarianism adheres exactly to the definition of utilitarianism as described in the above section. In act utilitarianism, a person performs the acts that benefit the most people, regardless of personal feelings or the societal constraints such as laws. Rule utilitarianism, however, takes into account the law and is concerned with f airness. Rule utilitarianism benefits are that it values justice and also includes the beneficence at the same time. Most people are benefitted through the fairest and most just means in rule utilitarian. Ethical theories in private and public sector companies : Different ethical perceptions, principles and judgments developed as a result of the differences between public and private-sector organizations. (Sampford C,1998) Unified ethic is instructional and makes possible careful analysis of the proper place of public sector ethics in the context of business, higher education, health care, and law. The public administrators are well-suited to serve as moral exemplars for other professions and for all citizens. . (Sampford C,1998) The notion that public service ought to be the model for ethical conduct in the professions (rather than the other way around) is supportable and provokes new thinking about moral agency and ethics. (Preston N,2002)They provide the necessary foundation for studying public sector ethics by focusing on traditional models arising from moral philosophy. The unified ethic illuminates ethical implications of public administration. It also constructs and culminates by offering an alternative framework for studying ethics. Reay (2009) defines ethics as a set of principles concerning proper conduct. But many authors believe that the definition of ethics changes from one individual to another or from one business to another and everyone has his own definition of ethics depending upon their own set of moral conducts. It is believed that the moral code is essentially ones own sense of what is right and what is wrong, or what is acceptable and what is not acceptable. There are those who think that this moral code should be the same for everyone but it simply cannot be, because all think differently, and all have different upbringings, backgrounds, and experiences. But ethical code of conduct matters to us in every field of life in todays world. The salient features of established ethics models: deontological, teleological, intuitionism and virtue theory are combined to make public administration a moral enterprise. It is a moral enterprise because its sole purpose is to serve public values and public purposes. Moral agency is a part of the profession of public administration. In other words, public administrators must strive always to do that which is morally right. This becomes more important since public administrators are under greater public scrutiny than their private sector counterparts and are more than likely to be held accountable for the decisions they make. (Preston N,2002)Both political and administrative practice are embedded with ethical theories and so are inseparable from governance. (Anne Bois C,2000) says The prime importance of Citizens and public servants are to work towards the promotion, co-operative and meaningful relationships that involve moral examination, theoretical practice, Different Ethical de cision-making models prompted differing ethical perceptions and different judgments. Better communication between factions of varying types is created by awareness of the comparative difference in the moral reasoning of public- and private-sector personnel. [http://www.accessmylibrary.com/article-1G1-20583851/do-public-sector-and.html]. For example, one might expect oath-bound public administrators to be more deontological than other groups that are less constrained by oath and more motivated by collective interest, such as special interest groups or business representatives. One also might expect career officials to be more oriented to duty and principle than are elected officials who must keep consequences in mind for the sake of their own re election. Or it might mean that such personnel will administer both public and private policy with greater consistency and less capriciousness and will remain impartial in circumstances where general fairness frequently is challenged. It seek s to determine whether public- and private-sector personnel differ in their dispositions to exhibit consequentiality or deontological tendencies and, if so, the ways in which those dispositions might be manifest. To understand the nature of public administration these possibilities prove to be the decisive factors. Understanding the ethical decision-making process and its moderating factors helps to incorporate ethics in private and public institutions. Ethical Leadership: Ethical leadership is characterized by having good characters, getting to know ones core values and having the courage to live them in all parts life. [http://www.businessballs.com/ethical_management_leadership.htm] Foundations for various modern concepts for work, business and organizations are provided by Ethical principles. The modern concept of ethical organizations encompasses many related issues like corporate social responsibility (CSR) or simply social responsibility, fair-trade, sustainability, social enterprise, well-being at work and life balance and many more aspects of good modern leadership. There are no clear cut definitions or rules of ethics that can define them. The 4-V Model of Ethical Leadership explains the relationship between beliefs and values and behaviors and actions. The main purpose is the advancement of the common good. The (Grace B,1999) model based on his formal leadership research and personal passions around faith and ethics. Leaders work to create an open, two-way conversation, thereby maintaining a charitable understanding of different views, values, and constituents opinions. They are open to others opinions and ideas because they know those ideas make the organization they are leading better. By having à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“the right valuesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? or being a person of à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“strong character,à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? the ethical leader can set the example for others and withstand any temptations that may occur along the way. Without denying the importance of good character and the right values, the reality of ethical leadership is far more complex and the stakes are much higher. In every field of business, the ethical behavior is very important. But in the field of business services, the role of ethics is even greater as it is directly related to humans life. But Murthy (2007) reveals that for the economic and business benefits, some businessmen are neglecting their code of ethics. Although, Nundy (2000) argues that it is only a small portion of the businessmen who do not follow the code of ethics and are bringing a disgrace to the whole community of corporates but still unethical practices are going on in different sectors in various forms. Carroll and Buchholtz (2008) explains that ethics is basically a discipline that deals with what is good and bad with moral duty and obligation and these sets of moral conducts are even true for the business systems in any part of the world. They divide the ethics into two key branches of moral philosophy as descriptive and normative ethics. They further explained descriptive ethics is a branch that is concerned with describing, characterizing and studying the morality of a people, an organization, a culture or a society. It also compares and contrasts different moral codes, systems, practices, beliefs and values. Therefore, in descriptive ethics, the key focus remains on learning. But on the other hand, the normative ethics is concerned with supplying and justifying a coherent moral system of thinking and judging. This type of ethics seeks to uncover, develop and justify basic moral principles that are intended to guide behavior, actions and decisions. It is here that the business s ystem, particularly in the developing countries, go wrong at following the normative ethics and they violate the ethical code of conduct for their individual benefits. Carroll and Buchholtz (2008) has explained three approaches to ethics as conventional approach (based on how normal society views ethics in todays environment), principles approach (based upon the use of ethics principles or guidelines to direct behavior, action and policies) and ethical tests approach (based on short practical questions to guide ethical decisions guiding the behavior). But seeing the business practices as a concern, the conventional approach to ethics is essentially an approach where one can compare a decision, practice or policy with prevailing norms of acceptability and say whether the practice followed is ethical or unethical. The conventional approach defines some of the sources of norms that come to bear on the individual and that might give an idea for the unethical behavior of the businessmen around the world today. The various sources that may influence a businessman to follow up an unethical practice may include family, friends, law, religious beliefs, society, employer, profession, culture and fellow workers. Each of these attributes contributes in one or the other way to force the business Enterprises to follow the unethical practices for their individual benefits either business or economic. One of possible example for motivating a professionals to follow unethical practices can be an urge to earn more money to satisfy the needs of the family members. This urge of getting more money leads him to follow unethical practices to earn quick money. But there exists a reason for the unethical behavior of the business Enterprises because whenever he or she makes a decision about what is being ethical (right, just, fair), the conventional approach comes into picture. The decision being taken consists of three elements where in the first step, the observation is of the decision, action and the existing practice in the workplace. After that the practice is compared with the prevailing norms of acceptability and then the recognition of the value judgments with the prevailing norms of acceptability. This means for the same set of actions, the two persons have different ways of looking it as they have different et of prevailing norms of acceptability The diagram for ethical decision making gives a wider view for an individual decision regarding ethics. The diagrams depicts the business Enterprises following the unethical practices can be put in the area . This is an area where the corporates get a profit following the unethical practices but they need to be very cautious while doing the unethical work. The various business enterprises in the developing countries are ready to take such a risk because of the inefficient legal system in these countries. They take benefit of the existing lenient laws in these countries and follow the unethical practices to make quick money. The business enterprises usually follow the principle of Smiths Market Ethic which says that take selfish actions and be motivated by personal gains in business dealings. But as the reason of their actions for unethical behavior, they follow the Bentham/Mills Utilization Ethic Principle which asks an individual to determine whether the harm in an action is outweighed by the good. So, these parctioners have numerous reasons which can outweigh the unethical action by a good cause. Weaver (2009) reveals that a recent survey conducted by the American Management Association and the Human Resource Institute identified the top three factors that would cause people to break the ethical standards. The factors included the pressure to meet unrealistic objectives or deadlines, career advancement and protecting their livelihood. In case of the business Enterprises the later two reasons play a very important role for encouraging following the unethical practices. For establishing their practice in a very short span of time and for increasing the volumes of clients coming to visit them, these business Feiglstok (2009) supports the ethics in an organization by revealing that the benefits of being ethical greatly outweigh being non-ethical in business. There are plenty of reasons why being honest and truthful is the better decision to make. This includes the honesty towards work and various humanitarian reasons. He also believes that working for an organization in an ethica l manner or working as individual for the profession in an ethical manner gives self satisfaction to an individual which cannot be obtained even if one earns good money by following the unethical practices. Unethical Practices in Industry Decades back, business was considered as a good profession and almost all corporates were not money minded people. But the time has changed and all wants to be established in their life very quickly and for that they will choose the short cut. (Theyyunni, 2008). So, young and inexperienced business Enterprises have started following the path of short cut by taking the unethical path which is beneficial in terms of business as well as economics. Although Watts (2008) criticizes the unethical behavior of the business Enterprises by quoting Not All Money is Good Money but still it depends upon business Enterprises to take their own ethical decisions. In many of the developing countries, the staff employed in the public sector may also practice privately, either on their own account or working for owners of private facilities. This may be legal or may not be strictly legal or controlled. Public offices may operate their own private offices and manage the income from them, or may allow work for private gain on their premises, as when corporates admit private clients and are paid directly by them. (Mills, Bennett, McPake, 1997) This overlapping of the private and public sectors gives birth to the existence of certain unethical practices for the personal benefits by certain individuals. Garretts principle of proportionality supports the view of the business Enterprises in developing countries around the world by saying these Enterprises have a proportional reason for the unethical practices which are very much needed along with the ethical practices that are followed. It believes one such proportionate reason is the low wage to business sector. Smith (1999) says that with reference to NHS in UK, the professional bodies and the government departments have a very little to say on these unethical practices. Nundy (2000) believes that to see how the public can be safeguarded from an inefficient and often corrupt business system and receive comprehensive health care of a reasonable quality is paramount. Unethical Practices in India India has been ranked a lowly 74, two steps down since last year, among 180 countries of the world on the worldwide Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), prepared by independent international agency Transparency International. However, corruption is much higher in Pakistan which occupies 140th place, a little below Iran, Libya and Nepal which are ranked 133, 134 and 135 respectively. Meanwhile, China which was ranked a joint 72 with India in 2007, slided a step down to occupy a place above its neighbour this year. Among other Asian countries, Russia is placed still lower on 145, while Sri Lanka occupies the 96th position and Maldives is ranked 90. ((http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/Corruption-index-India-ranked-74/327777/ With the fast development of various sectors in India, the unethical practices are also increasing in the business sector in India. Sharma (2004) has clearly stated that there in an urgent need to overhaul and strengthen the public sector in India. Apart from quacks and outright fakes, even qualified business practitioners know that they can get away with malpractice because clients do not know their rights. With the exponential growth of the private sector, there is an urgent need for regulation to protect users. (Sharma, 2004) Dev and Rao (2009) support the allegations of Sharma by quoting that the recent expansion of the private sector and the increased investment in the field of the curative services and the various sophisticated business equipments have increased the corruption in the private practices in the business sector in India. They explain that the payment to touts who get the clients for offices and to the corporates who refer clients has become a common practice in India Colclough (1997) explains commission to corporates who prescribe expensive investigations and procedures which are often unnecessary as another form of unethical practice and corruption in business sector in India. Dev and Rao (2009) criticize the unethical Indian corporates in the private sector putting them responsible for kickbacks, overbilling and expensive procedures. Phadke (2009) reveals though the client knows about the malpractice but he is afraid to bargain or to show lack of trust because of the fear that this might adversely affect the persons attitude towards the client and in turn, may affect the quality of the service provided. The picture of the business sector gets more clear while having a look at the PEST Analysis done by Holtz (2008) who alleges the lower annual per capita ($ 20) spending of the Indian government on of the public sector i.e the healthcare and the under-developed private health insurance in India which spends only 1% of the total spending on healthcare as major political reasons for the unethical practices in India Sharma (2004) critically argues the claims made by the other authors and says that majority of the population in the various developing countries is uneducated about the governmental structure of business sector and moreover, the inaccessibility of the services in a rural area with densely populated areas can be treated as primary reasons for the increased importance of the business Enterprises which further leads to following up of unethical practices by few individuals. Holtz (2008) shares a different view and feels that low wages to employees and staff in government services are the primary reasons responsible for the existence of the unethical practices in the business sector. Cygnus Business Consulting Research Pvt. Ltd. (2008) criticizes the governments for having access to less high-tech equipments with them as compared to private organizations. One of the other important factors responsible for the unethical practice is due to lack of job satisfaction as claimed by Wells (20 07). Hertzberg (1959) has formulated a two-factor theory, which proposes motivators and hygienes as the two factors responsible for job satisfaction and dissatisfaction. The presence of motivators in the workplace caused enduring states of motivation in employees but their absence did not lead to dissatisfaction. Wells (2007) establishes that the factors that are included as the Motivators are responsibility, recognition, promotion, achievement and intrinsic aspects of job while the factors the form the Hygienes are supervision, salary, work environment, company policies and the relationship with colleagues. The lack of the government motivation to the corporates and the parabusiness staff in the business sector can be considered as one of the most important factors for the use of unethical factors in treatment of clients in India. (Dev Rao, 2009) . To what extent the business Enterprises are following unethical practices and what are reasons for their unethical behavior is still the subject of research. So, this dissertation will try to find the answer of these questions. Moreover, in the existing research, it is still unclear whether which particular specialty is more unethical and demands for maximum commission. This dissertation will also try to establish such a relationship which can explain about the extent of commission practice existing in the business sector. Corruption The most disquieting aspect of the widespread corruption in India is the fact that it is not anymore confined to politicians or the government machinery alone. It is prevalent amongst almost every section of the society at every level.( N.S. Venkataraman, 2002). the fact is that most of the Indians are involved in corrupt practices in one way or the other, either due to greed or due to so called compulsion. In any case, the willingness to sacrifice for the sake of not getting involved in corrupt dealings is conspicuous by its absence amongst the most. Indian IT majors Satyam and Wipro , who were barred from World Bank projects for offering their stock to Bank officials, represent a miniscule problem compared to the kickbacks and commissions that go to government officials for approval of Bank projects. (Steve Berkman, 2009). Emergence of political elite who believe in interest-oriented rather than nation-oriented programmes and policies. Artificial scarcity created by the people with malevolent intentions wrecks the fabric of the economy. ( KOHLI, SURESH, 1975) say that Corruption is caused as well as increased because of the change in the value system and ethical qualities of men who administer. The old ideals of morality, service and honesty are regarded as an achronistic. Tolerance of people towards corruption, complete lack of intense public outcry against corruption and the absence of strong public forum to oppose corruption allow corruption to reign over people. (John B, 1966) say that Vast size of population coupled with wi despread illiteracy and the poor economic infrastructure lead to endemic corruption in public life. In a highly inflationary economy, low salaries of government officials compel them to resort to the road of corruption. Graduates from IIMs with no experience draw a far handsome salary than what government secretaries draw. Measures to combat corruption ( John B, 1966) suggests that Foolproof laws should be made so that there is no room for discretion for politicians and bureaucrats. The role of the politician should be minimized. Application of the evolved policies should be left in the hands of independent commission or authority in each area of public interest. Decision of the commission or authority should be challengeable only in the courts. Cooperation of the people has to be obtained for successfully containing corruption. ( KIMBERLY ANNED, 1997) People should have a right to recall the elected representatives if they see them becoming indifferent to the electorate. Funding of elections is at the core of political corruption. Electoral reforms are crucial in this regard. (SUSAN, 1999)Several reforms like: State funding of election expenses for candidates; strict enforcement of statutory requirements like holding in-party elections, making political parties get their accounts audited regularly and filing income-tax returns; denying persons with criminal records a chance to contest elections, should be brought in.Responsiveness, accountability and transparency are a must for a clean system. (BRIAN E,1995) points at Bureaucracy, the backbone of good governance, should be made more citizen friendly, accountable, ethical and transparent. More and more courts should be opened for speedy inexpensive justice so that cases linger in courts for years and justice is delivered on time. (HEATHER ,2003) Local bodie s, Independent of the government, like Lokpals, Lokadalats, CVCs and Vigilance Commissions should be formed to provide speedy justice with low expenses. (MARIANNE M ,2003) shows us A new Fundamental Right viz. Right to Information should be introduced, which will empower the citizens to ask for the information they want. Barring some confidential information, which concerns national and international security, other information should be made available to general public as and when required. Stringent actions against corrupt officials will certainly have a deterrent impact. Scams and Scandals A typical case of Aes corporation ,shell ,e

Nature of Logic and Perception Essay -- Logic Critical Thinking Philos

Nature or Logic and Perception Outline: 1. Definition of logic and its connection with critical thinking. 2. An everyday example is given when use of logic and critical thinking takes place. 3. Nature of logic defined. 4. Perceptual shortcuts and factors influencing it. 5. How these shortcuts affect our decisions. 6. My personal experience of perceptual shortcut. 7. What I learned from this experience. 8. Importance of logic and critical thinking. 9. Resources This paper is aimed at the relation logic has with perception. It kicks off with the meaning and process of logic and how it then relates to critical thinking. It further gives a very common example of how one makes a decision with the help of his/ her critical thinking. We then find out what perceptual shortcuts are and how they are formed and what influences it. The paper then goes on to explain in detail about an incident in my life where my perception of the situation was far from the actual reality. The paper wraps up with my final thoughts of how nature of logic affects thinking process. Webster?s dictionary defines logic as the science dealing with the principles of reasoning, especially of the method and validity of deductive reasoning. In layman?s terms, the use of logic within our thinking allows us the ability to discern and reason logically that with which we are presented with on a daily basis. It is a process of examining and evaluating any particular idea or thought, in an effort to search for the truths that allows us to better understand or identify why we think the way we do. It enables us to more effectively express our opinions and ideas or even aid in the argument of someone else?s point of view. Hence the term, Critical Thinking! It is a way in which we rationalize any given thought or idea that helps us to come to a conclusion based on the findings that support it. For instance, before heading to work you watch the news and their morning traffic update for possible accidents and road closures because you have an hour commute. On this particular morning you hear the traffic reporter mention that your daily route to work has been closed due to a huge tractor-trailer accident. Logically, and using critical thinking you are able to come up with two alternate routes for getting to work on time. Using further logic and critical... ... she only 2 years old. As I came to know the truth, I immediately apologized. We are still best friends. But since that day onwards, I learnt that ?first investigate and then poke into the matter?. I also began to be more understanding since then. I further changed my tactics and always made sure that I knew both sides of the story. The nature of logic as it relates to critical thinking, and the perceptual process have a great impact on individuals choices and decisions in life. It is important to think before you speak because you never know where miss-understanding may take you. Do not assume, but think about all of your possible choices before making a fair decision. View situations in its entirety for clearer possible outcomes. When you have exhaled all possible choices, make a final decision that makes you feel more comfortable with your decision. In the end not only will you gain knowledge, but you will also enhance your way of thinking to understand and except different people and environments. Bibliography Brewer, Bill. ?Perception and Reason?. Clarendon Press: Oxford, 1999. Pg no 288. Philosophy Lander http://philosophy.lander.edu/logic/nature_log.html

Recruitment & Selection

Recruitment and Selection Part 1 Produce a report, advising HiTech on how it should move forward as far as recruitment is concerned i. e. what advice would you give? Introduction HiTech International is one of the fastest –growing companies in the world. It currently employs over 30’000 people in 60 countries and has annual turnover in excess of $19billion. Located in West Dublin, HiTech European headquarters employs 2’500 people. 90% are employees of the company and remaining 10% are employed on a subcontracted basis.HiTech specialise in provision of computer hardware and bespoke software solutions for corporate clients to assist them in maximising the use of the internet. HiTech also provide a complete after-sales service which goes beyond regular software maintenance. The company is recognised as global market leaders in several of its principal line of business. Due to the competitive market that HiTech operates in innovation and continually evolving technolo gy developments through research and development department is central to the company’s future success.HiTech offers employees excellent terms and conditions of employment with top-salaries, generous bonus schemes, discounts, pensions, health and life insurance. The environment in which they work is very attractive with excellent facilities such as staff cafeterias, fitness facilities and valet services. Staff retention is very good; turnover levels are currently at 5% of which half are accounted for by dismissals and non-renewal of fixed-term contracts. HiTech are experiencing some difficultly with finding sufficient number of employees with the required skills to meet its expansion needs.Due to the fast-moving nature of the industry graduates are not utilised as by the time they are trained with a set of skills technology has moved on making their training redundant. Some graduates do succeed but most struggle, and are dependent on too much from the start. HiTech’s m ain source of new recruits is staff employed by competitors or working in closely related fields. They also have adopted a ‘no poaching’ policy with companies that HiTech has a customer relationship with or partner companies.Currently HiTech have two principle methods of recruitment in addition to a small- scale graduate training programme; advertising in national newspapers and head-hunters. HiTech are not satisfied with either method; adverts bring in too many applications that take up too much time to work through them. Head-hunters have found some suitable candidates but put at a great cost plus there is a risk that candidates would be lured away again by the same agent. And with the small pool of labour agencies are unable to identify the required individuals that are not already know to HiTech.Recommendations Improve on employer brand Although HiTech has global market leadership in several lines of its business and is recognised for its products as potential a bra nd leader but has it adopted an employer brand. Edward (2005) â€Å"employer branding is clearly aimed at attracting and retaining staff† (Edwards, 2005 Employer Branding) HiTech aim should be to develop and maintain a strong brand image as an employer that will reinforce their efforts to attract and subsequently retain the most effective performers.According to CIPD Survey â€Å"nearly three quarters of organisations have made efforts to improve their employee brand over the last year, most commonly through employee surveys and developing online career sites† (CIPD Annual Survey 2011/resourcing and talent planning). HiTech need to project a favourable impression of experience working there, similar to the reputation or brand that Google and Face book have. Evidence strongly suggested that employers can gain an edge in labour market through development of a good brand.Charles Schwab from US investment bank states â€Å"having a strong brand for an employee is a compet itive advantage and strategic advantage†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ it really does help to attract the best candidate†¦.. †(The Conference Board 2001, pg 5/people resourcing Chp 3 pg 68) Using different media to search for talent Website One of the most effective methods that attracts applicants to an organisation is the organisations own corporate website. Corporate websites is an excellent pool for attracting potential candidates. HiTech would have the skills in house to setup a corporate website at a minimum cost.The website should attract people to the careers section, convince them of the desirability of a career in HiTech and capture them as a candidate with an exceptional online response process. Furthermore to the website development HiTech should improve process of applying for a position within the organisation which would address the large quantity of applications received when they run a national newspaper advertisement. Adopting an online application will eliminate unquali fied candidates from first round and then suitable applicants can progress onto the second stage of competency test.This would highlight the qualified personnel with the required skills much more effectively. Trade Journals HiTech could sign up to the specific trade journals that are relevant to the specific industry, profession, trade or business that it in association with. Trade journal would effectively reach a number of the potential candidates that HiTech need to make their presence aware. LinkedIn It would be in HiTech best interest to get connected with social networking website LinkedIn that is geared towards companies and industry professional looking to make new business contacts, keep in touch with previous co –workers and clients.According to CIPD annual survey on resourcing and talent planning professional networking 16% of organisations find that it is an effective method of attracting applications to an their organisation (CIPD annual survey 2011 on resourcing and talent planning). HiTech can create profile that details the company profile and can link in with similar professional establishments and people. This can then form a platform for HiTech to search through profiles of people that they are interested in hiring new employees and also for candidates to search for potential job opportunities.Education Development Even though HiTech skills shortage is an immediate concern they also need to think long term especially when it comes to skills shortages as planning for the future will ensure the organisations continued success. Linking up educational establishments to ensure that the curriculum being taught is relevant to skills set required and preparing students for work and developing their internal talent pipelines around skills shortage areas.HiTech could also offer work experience placements with students to begin the internal training process of the organisation and therefore once qualified will be more up to date with the technol ogy and possible bring new ideas in order to remain innovate. Apple have developed an excellent link in with local colleges and students ; they approach colleagues in different fields and establish a campus rep that is trained in the apple technology and then the campus Rep hosts workshops , demonstrations and build up the Apple brand as a desirable employer.They also have an internship programmes to students through summer placements or co-op during academic year. Apple provides hands on experience by allowing interns to work on critical projects and also offer employment opportunities after they have graduated. Graduate Recruitment From the case study it is said that HiTech has a small scale graduate training programme and that they have difficultly employing graduates with limited experience and train them.HiTech need to further resource and enhance their graduate programme to ensure that candidates get the best possible opportunity during their studies and that they receive the relevant work experience so that once they graduate they can ‘hit the ground running’ . Sony has launched a European Graduate programme that is well structured and offers graduates the experience of all elements of the organisation. The structure is divided up into Business Experience – which is run over two years and graduates rotate on two assignments taking in all roles.They are then provided with training modules that are delivered by top management and highly skilled personnel giving them a unique networking opportunity. Each graduate receives a mentor from the middle management leadership development programme. And finally they are offered social entrepreneurship were they collaborate in groups and apply their business skills making a real contribution to a social project. â€Å"One in ten organisations is considering sponsoring students through university† and â€Å"over a quarter of organisations operate a structured graduate programme† (CIP D annual survey 2011/resourcing and talent planning).Talent Management Graduates struggle to succeed in developing their careers within the company and it doesn’t mention in the case study about any development programmes for employees. Talent management is â€Å" systematic attraction , identification, development , engagement , retention and deployment of individuals who are of particular value to an organisation, either in view of their ‘high potential’ for the future or because they are filling business/operation –critical roles†( CIPD Factsheet; Talent Management An Overview).HiTech need to develop this further for their graduates and employees, it would include a range of activities such as formal and informal leadership coaching, networking events and board-level and client exposure. This would assist HiTech to maintain competitive advantage and get the best from their people. This can be achieved by focusing on four areas of the talent manag ement loop; Attracting talent – as previously mentioned attracting external talent through corporate website to offer a recognised graduate programme enhance the employer brand which will attract new talent.Developing talent- learning and development initiatives should be in implemented to enhance employees and assist graduate to succeed in their career. Managing Talent – this could be linked to development aspect but focuses more on the retention. Succession planning can help HiTech to identify future and potential skilled personnel. Tracking and evaluating talent – continuous evaluation of talent will help improve the staff retention and give focus to areas that management need to work on. SecondmentSecondment refers to the temporary movement of an employee to another part of organisation. HiTech could find this very beneficial if they temporary moved the employees from other countries to Dublin based office. It would certainly assist with the immediate shorta ge of skills, they would not have to train the candidates as they would be familiar with the organisation and it would provide the time for the organisation to adopt the recommendations mentioned above to improve the employer brand and training and development programmes.Another option would be external secondment , HiTech have develop relationships with partnership companies and even with no poaching policy in place they could come to an agreement with another organisation to loan a required skill employee to them for short-term basis to relieve the immediate requirement . Conclusion HiTech International case study highlighted the fact that even been the fast growing company it the world and recognised as global market leaders without the requires skilled staff can cause significant effect on the companies continued success and to maintain competitive advantage.Without a defined, well recognised employer brand an organisation that depends on innovation and creativity attracting spe cialised skills in a relatively small pool of people can be difficult. Reviewing the organisations methods for recruiting talent and researching how successful they are and be willing to adapted and change to the diverse global market is important. Making connections with educational establishments and encouraging graduates to sign up with the programmes will help to prevent future shortages but all programmes and connections must be supported, managed and evaluated on a regular basis.Focusing on in house training and development of staff with career structures will further enhance the organisation and challenges employees to continue to be creative and motivated. Sourcing staff from other branches in other countries could relieve short-term shortage of staff while progress is being made on the employer brand to attract external candidates, training and development programmes are set up and implemented. Regardless of how successful an organisation is, skills shortages can cause sign ificant negative effects on the competitive advantage of an organisation.Continuous assessment of organisation recruitment strategy and ensuring that it is linked to the corporate strategy of the organisation should be re-evaluated on a regular basis to remain a successful organisation and a global market leader. Part 2 With reference to relevant academic literature; evaluate the effectiveness of the interview as a selection method. Introduction â€Å"There is a long tradition going back to the beginning of the twentieth century of academic research into the relative merits of different selection tools (People Resourcing Chp 11 Pg 254). Organisations worldwide must adapt selection method to recruit personnel in order to operate their businesses. The method that they select, be simple or sophisticated depends on a number of factors such as financial, cultural, resources that are available and if their requirements are immediate or for the future. â€Å"You are attempting to predict how a person will perform their work, interact with their future colleagues, treat your customers and respect your business†. (Recruitment and selection slide 8 Selection) All selection methods have positive and negative results and none are infallible.According to CIPD Annual report 2011, interview remains the most common selection method. (CIPD Annual report 2011 resourcing and talent planning). Main Body â€Å"Interviews of one kind or another are almost universally used â€Å"(IRS 2002c, CIPD 2007c). Interviews are popular as they provide the opportunity to meet face to face with the potential future employee, assess candidate’s ability to carry out the job. It also provides the opportunity for the employer to describe job specification, discuss the terms and conditions of employment and project a positive impression of the organisation and emphasise the organisations brand. A controlled conversation with a purpose â€Å"(Torrington, 1995). Despite their widespr ead use, interviews are often questioned as to how effective in selecting people for specific roles they really are. A number of draw backs that Anderson and Shackleton (Anderson and Shakleton, 1993) gather from a variety of studies show some of the reasons why interviews can been criticised. These include; Expectancy Effect – this is where the interviewer gains impression of the candidate before the interview Stereotyping – interviewers assume that particular characteristics are typical of a particular group of people.Personal Linking – interviewers may make decisions on whether they liked or disliked a candidate. Halo and Horns Effect – interviewers may rate candidates as simply ‘good’ or ‘bad’. Mirror Effect –interviewers may give preference to candidates that perceive to be similar to them. Contrast Effect – the interviewer may allow the experience of interviewing one candidate to affect the way they interview o thers. Primary Effect – interview puts too much emphasis on information gained in initial part of interview. Information overload Effect- interviewers may make decisions on only part of the data available to them.Temporal extension Effect – interviewers may assume that a candidate’s conduct at interview is their general personality. One thirds of employers make an initial hiring decision in the first ninety seconds of an interview, based entirely on interviewees appearance† (XpertHR 2011 selection interviews survey). It could be said that interview selection tool is prejudiced and biased but it is the responsibility of the organisation to ensure that interviewers are adequately trained to help eliminate these errors.It would appear that recruiters are positive, although not passionate about the effectiveness of the interviews as a selection tool (XpertHR 2011 selection interviews survey) Two thirds of employers rate interviews as â€Å"effective† bu t just 16. 7% say they are â€Å"very effective† (App1). Studies have found that the predictive validity of the structured interview is quite high (Campione et al. 1988; Wiesner Cronshaw 1988). Structuring interviews can also help improve the ability to predict performance in the role as they provide interviewers with a framework to follow when interviewing each candidate, based on the criteria for the job.Adapting structure to the interview means that questions are planned carefully before the interview, all candidates are asked the same core questions, answers are scored using a rating system and all questions focus on the attributes and behaviours needed in the job. Evenden and Anderson ( 1992) suggest that the choice of questions and the appropriate use of them can ensure greater balance and flow in the interview itself (Gunnigle Human Resource Management in Ireland Chp 5 pg 128) The types of questions that can be used are ; * Direct or Closed – are useful to get f acts but too many lead to repetition. Leading – no real value in this type of question as most interviewee would follow it. * Topic Changing- help to create a flow through interview. * Probing and developing- help to test the interviewees specific knowledge or skills. * Open-ended- are useful to encourage interviewee to talk and get involved. * Reflecting back – are useful to ensuring information is understood. * Command – are useful retrieve additional information on specific area. Structured interviews can be behavioural, they focus on past performance or situational, they focus on future performance. A growing number of employers are now taking his approach, 60% carry out structured interviews as part of the selection process. (XpertHR2011 selection interview surveys). Interview format can also provide additional structure to the interview selection process, where her they are one to one, panel interview or sequence of interviews but whatever format is chosen the effectiveness of the interview should be the same. Newell (2000) warns that while efforts have been made to improve the selection process through a more systematic approach , currents trends in organisations make ‘best practises’ model somewhat problematic.Job specification and analysis can become difficult if job requires flexibility and also with a number of organisations looking for innovation and creativity the term ‘fit’ has less relevance. (Gunnigle, Human Resource Management in Ireland, Chp 5 pg 124). Other criticism of the structured approach is although highly effective method with the use of controlled questioning etc its doesn’t actually represent the more relaxed environment that a candidate can easily open up. â€Å"The main disadvantage of using a structured interview is that its rigidity can limit the information-gathering process.Instead of exploring an applicant’s responses by further questioning during the interview, th e process is often rushed in order to get through all the questions on the schedule, and the assessment of the individual can inaccurate as a result. Also, since the interviewer takes the lead, he or she may dominate the process, denying the applicant sufficient time to provide a considered and accurate response† (Du Plessis 2003 Pg 170). Approaching a system in reality there is always so sort of compromise as without flexibility systems wouldn’t be sustainable.The interview selection tool would need to adopt a degree of flexibility and would help to improve the problems that have been suggested above. Adopting a mixed approach of semi-structuring or mixed approaches into the process would create the more open relaxed situation that interviews are perceived as but also the structure process remains which overall would make the interview selection method more effective. Conclusion Through the research that has been carried out and reflecting back on some of the statistic s that have been reviewed , the interview process across a wide ange of organisations and even in different markets would be reasonable to say that it is and will continue to be an effective selection tool. Even more so structured interviews have a greater effectiveness, however rigid the process is interviewing remains essentially a selective process. Organisations must ensure that they provide adequate training to equip their interviewers with the essential knowledge and skills required to maximise the interview process and also that they offer the best opportunity with no bias or error for the candidate in question.Furthermore organisations need to be flexible in order to adapt to external and internal factors effecting their organisations environment for example economic, political cultural and technology. Thus the selection processes also needs to be adjusted; we can see this through compromising with the structure approach to interviewing with semi-structure or mixed approache s that slight modifications can improve the outcome. Organisations need to be flexible in order to maintain best practise for their organisation and jobs roles would need to be adjusted accordingly.The interview as a selection tool is still by far the most effective and widely used method across the globe. There are a number of draw backs and there are other selection tools that are more effective but a cost. The interview is the most cost effective, time effective method and with selecting the wrong candidate for the role costing an organisation approximately â‚ ¬15’000 you are not going to offer a position to someone that you haven’t meet face to face now are you ? Appendences 1Bibliography Anderson and Shackleton(1993) Successful selection interviewing. CIPD Fact Sheets Selection Methods. CIPD Fact Sheets Secondment. CIPD Fact Sheet Talent Managment. CIPD Annual Survey Report 2011 Resourcing and Talent Planning. Gunnigle Human Resource Management in Ireland. Tayl or People Resourcing. www. sony. com www. apple. com XpertHR 2011 Selection Interviews Survey; Effectiveness and Training Article. XpertHR 2011 Selection Interviews Survey; Interview tools and record-keeping. Recruitment & Selection Recruitment and Selection Part 1 Produce a report, advising HiTech on how it should move forward as far as recruitment is concerned i. e. what advice would you give? Introduction HiTech International is one of the fastest –growing companies in the world. It currently employs over 30’000 people in 60 countries and has annual turnover in excess of $19billion. Located in West Dublin, HiTech European headquarters employs 2’500 people. 90% are employees of the company and remaining 10% are employed on a subcontracted basis.HiTech specialise in provision of computer hardware and bespoke software solutions for corporate clients to assist them in maximising the use of the internet. HiTech also provide a complete after-sales service which goes beyond regular software maintenance. The company is recognised as global market leaders in several of its principal line of business. Due to the competitive market that HiTech operates in innovation and continually evolving technolo gy developments through research and development department is central to the company’s future success.HiTech offers employees excellent terms and conditions of employment with top-salaries, generous bonus schemes, discounts, pensions, health and life insurance. The environment in which they work is very attractive with excellent facilities such as staff cafeterias, fitness facilities and valet services. Staff retention is very good; turnover levels are currently at 5% of which half are accounted for by dismissals and non-renewal of fixed-term contracts. HiTech are experiencing some difficultly with finding sufficient number of employees with the required skills to meet its expansion needs.Due to the fast-moving nature of the industry graduates are not utilised as by the time they are trained with a set of skills technology has moved on making their training redundant. Some graduates do succeed but most struggle, and are dependent on too much from the start. HiTech’s m ain source of new recruits is staff employed by competitors or working in closely related fields. They also have adopted a ‘no poaching’ policy with companies that HiTech has a customer relationship with or partner companies.Currently HiTech have two principle methods of recruitment in addition to a small- scale graduate training programme; advertising in national newspapers and head-hunters. HiTech are not satisfied with either method; adverts bring in too many applications that take up too much time to work through them. Head-hunters have found some suitable candidates but put at a great cost plus there is a risk that candidates would be lured away again by the same agent. And with the small pool of labour agencies are unable to identify the required individuals that are not already know to HiTech.Recommendations Improve on employer brand Although HiTech has global market leadership in several lines of its business and is recognised for its products as potential a bra nd leader but has it adopted an employer brand. Edward (2005) â€Å"employer branding is clearly aimed at attracting and retaining staff† (Edwards, 2005 Employer Branding) HiTech aim should be to develop and maintain a strong brand image as an employer that will reinforce their efforts to attract and subsequently retain the most effective performers.According to CIPD Survey â€Å"nearly three quarters of organisations have made efforts to improve their employee brand over the last year, most commonly through employee surveys and developing online career sites† (CIPD Annual Survey 2011/resourcing and talent planning). HiTech need to project a favourable impression of experience working there, similar to the reputation or brand that Google and Face book have. Evidence strongly suggested that employers can gain an edge in labour market through development of a good brand.Charles Schwab from US investment bank states â€Å"having a strong brand for an employee is a compet itive advantage and strategic advantage†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ it really does help to attract the best candidate†¦.. †(The Conference Board 2001, pg 5/people resourcing Chp 3 pg 68) Using different media to search for talent Website One of the most effective methods that attracts applicants to an organisation is the organisations own corporate website. Corporate websites is an excellent pool for attracting potential candidates. HiTech would have the skills in house to setup a corporate website at a minimum cost.The website should attract people to the careers section, convince them of the desirability of a career in HiTech and capture them as a candidate with an exceptional online response process. Furthermore to the website development HiTech should improve process of applying for a position within the organisation which would address the large quantity of applications received when they run a national newspaper advertisement. Adopting an online application will eliminate unquali fied candidates from first round and then suitable applicants can progress onto the second stage of competency test.This would highlight the qualified personnel with the required skills much more effectively. Trade Journals HiTech could sign up to the specific trade journals that are relevant to the specific industry, profession, trade or business that it in association with. Trade journal would effectively reach a number of the potential candidates that HiTech need to make their presence aware. LinkedIn It would be in HiTech best interest to get connected with social networking website LinkedIn that is geared towards companies and industry professional looking to make new business contacts, keep in touch with previous co –workers and clients.According to CIPD annual survey on resourcing and talent planning professional networking 16% of organisations find that it is an effective method of attracting applications to an their organisation (CIPD annual survey 2011 on resourcing and talent planning). HiTech can create profile that details the company profile and can link in with similar professional establishments and people. This can then form a platform for HiTech to search through profiles of people that they are interested in hiring new employees and also for candidates to search for potential job opportunities.Education Development Even though HiTech skills shortage is an immediate concern they also need to think long term especially when it comes to skills shortages as planning for the future will ensure the organisations continued success. Linking up educational establishments to ensure that the curriculum being taught is relevant to skills set required and preparing students for work and developing their internal talent pipelines around skills shortage areas.HiTech could also offer work experience placements with students to begin the internal training process of the organisation and therefore once qualified will be more up to date with the technol ogy and possible bring new ideas in order to remain innovate. Apple have developed an excellent link in with local colleges and students ; they approach colleagues in different fields and establish a campus rep that is trained in the apple technology and then the campus Rep hosts workshops , demonstrations and build up the Apple brand as a desirable employer.They also have an internship programmes to students through summer placements or co-op during academic year. Apple provides hands on experience by allowing interns to work on critical projects and also offer employment opportunities after they have graduated. Graduate Recruitment From the case study it is said that HiTech has a small scale graduate training programme and that they have difficultly employing graduates with limited experience and train them.HiTech need to further resource and enhance their graduate programme to ensure that candidates get the best possible opportunity during their studies and that they receive the relevant work experience so that once they graduate they can ‘hit the ground running’ . Sony has launched a European Graduate programme that is well structured and offers graduates the experience of all elements of the organisation. The structure is divided up into Business Experience – which is run over two years and graduates rotate on two assignments taking in all roles.They are then provided with training modules that are delivered by top management and highly skilled personnel giving them a unique networking opportunity. Each graduate receives a mentor from the middle management leadership development programme. And finally they are offered social entrepreneurship were they collaborate in groups and apply their business skills making a real contribution to a social project. â€Å"One in ten organisations is considering sponsoring students through university† and â€Å"over a quarter of organisations operate a structured graduate programme† (CIP D annual survey 2011/resourcing and talent planning).Talent Management Graduates struggle to succeed in developing their careers within the company and it doesn’t mention in the case study about any development programmes for employees. Talent management is â€Å" systematic attraction , identification, development , engagement , retention and deployment of individuals who are of particular value to an organisation, either in view of their ‘high potential’ for the future or because they are filling business/operation –critical roles†( CIPD Factsheet; Talent Management An Overview).HiTech need to develop this further for their graduates and employees, it would include a range of activities such as formal and informal leadership coaching, networking events and board-level and client exposure. This would assist HiTech to maintain competitive advantage and get the best from their people. This can be achieved by focusing on four areas of the talent manag ement loop; Attracting talent – as previously mentioned attracting external talent through corporate website to offer a recognised graduate programme enhance the employer brand which will attract new talent.Developing talent- learning and development initiatives should be in implemented to enhance employees and assist graduate to succeed in their career. Managing Talent – this could be linked to development aspect but focuses more on the retention. Succession planning can help HiTech to identify future and potential skilled personnel. Tracking and evaluating talent – continuous evaluation of talent will help improve the staff retention and give focus to areas that management need to work on. SecondmentSecondment refers to the temporary movement of an employee to another part of organisation. HiTech could find this very beneficial if they temporary moved the employees from other countries to Dublin based office. It would certainly assist with the immediate shorta ge of skills, they would not have to train the candidates as they would be familiar with the organisation and it would provide the time for the organisation to adopt the recommendations mentioned above to improve the employer brand and training and development programmes.Another option would be external secondment , HiTech have develop relationships with partnership companies and even with no poaching policy in place they could come to an agreement with another organisation to loan a required skill employee to them for short-term basis to relieve the immediate requirement . Conclusion HiTech International case study highlighted the fact that even been the fast growing company it the world and recognised as global market leaders without the requires skilled staff can cause significant effect on the companies continued success and to maintain competitive advantage.Without a defined, well recognised employer brand an organisation that depends on innovation and creativity attracting spe cialised skills in a relatively small pool of people can be difficult. Reviewing the organisations methods for recruiting talent and researching how successful they are and be willing to adapted and change to the diverse global market is important. Making connections with educational establishments and encouraging graduates to sign up with the programmes will help to prevent future shortages but all programmes and connections must be supported, managed and evaluated on a regular basis.Focusing on in house training and development of staff with career structures will further enhance the organisation and challenges employees to continue to be creative and motivated. Sourcing staff from other branches in other countries could relieve short-term shortage of staff while progress is being made on the employer brand to attract external candidates, training and development programmes are set up and implemented. Regardless of how successful an organisation is, skills shortages can cause sign ificant negative effects on the competitive advantage of an organisation.Continuous assessment of organisation recruitment strategy and ensuring that it is linked to the corporate strategy of the organisation should be re-evaluated on a regular basis to remain a successful organisation and a global market leader. Part 2 With reference to relevant academic literature; evaluate the effectiveness of the interview as a selection method. Introduction â€Å"There is a long tradition going back to the beginning of the twentieth century of academic research into the relative merits of different selection tools (People Resourcing Chp 11 Pg 254). Organisations worldwide must adapt selection method to recruit personnel in order to operate their businesses. The method that they select, be simple or sophisticated depends on a number of factors such as financial, cultural, resources that are available and if their requirements are immediate or for the future. â€Å"You are attempting to predict how a person will perform their work, interact with their future colleagues, treat your customers and respect your business†. (Recruitment and selection slide 8 Selection) All selection methods have positive and negative results and none are infallible.According to CIPD Annual report 2011, interview remains the most common selection method. (CIPD Annual report 2011 resourcing and talent planning). Main Body â€Å"Interviews of one kind or another are almost universally used â€Å"(IRS 2002c, CIPD 2007c). Interviews are popular as they provide the opportunity to meet face to face with the potential future employee, assess candidate’s ability to carry out the job. It also provides the opportunity for the employer to describe job specification, discuss the terms and conditions of employment and project a positive impression of the organisation and emphasise the organisations brand. A controlled conversation with a purpose â€Å"(Torrington, 1995). Despite their widespr ead use, interviews are often questioned as to how effective in selecting people for specific roles they really are. A number of draw backs that Anderson and Shackleton (Anderson and Shakleton, 1993) gather from a variety of studies show some of the reasons why interviews can been criticised. These include; Expectancy Effect – this is where the interviewer gains impression of the candidate before the interview Stereotyping – interviewers assume that particular characteristics are typical of a particular group of people.Personal Linking – interviewers may make decisions on whether they liked or disliked a candidate. Halo and Horns Effect – interviewers may rate candidates as simply ‘good’ or ‘bad’. Mirror Effect –interviewers may give preference to candidates that perceive to be similar to them. Contrast Effect – the interviewer may allow the experience of interviewing one candidate to affect the way they interview o thers. Primary Effect – interview puts too much emphasis on information gained in initial part of interview. Information overload Effect- interviewers may make decisions on only part of the data available to them.Temporal extension Effect – interviewers may assume that a candidate’s conduct at interview is their general personality. One thirds of employers make an initial hiring decision in the first ninety seconds of an interview, based entirely on interviewees appearance† (XpertHR 2011 selection interviews survey). It could be said that interview selection tool is prejudiced and biased but it is the responsibility of the organisation to ensure that interviewers are adequately trained to help eliminate these errors.It would appear that recruiters are positive, although not passionate about the effectiveness of the interviews as a selection tool (XpertHR 2011 selection interviews survey) Two thirds of employers rate interviews as â€Å"effective† bu t just 16. 7% say they are â€Å"very effective† (App1). Studies have found that the predictive validity of the structured interview is quite high (Campione et al. 1988; Wiesner Cronshaw 1988). Structuring interviews can also help improve the ability to predict performance in the role as they provide interviewers with a framework to follow when interviewing each candidate, based on the criteria for the job.Adapting structure to the interview means that questions are planned carefully before the interview, all candidates are asked the same core questions, answers are scored using a rating system and all questions focus on the attributes and behaviours needed in the job. Evenden and Anderson ( 1992) suggest that the choice of questions and the appropriate use of them can ensure greater balance and flow in the interview itself (Gunnigle Human Resource Management in Ireland Chp 5 pg 128) The types of questions that can be used are ; * Direct or Closed – are useful to get f acts but too many lead to repetition. Leading – no real value in this type of question as most interviewee would follow it. * Topic Changing- help to create a flow through interview. * Probing and developing- help to test the interviewees specific knowledge or skills. * Open-ended- are useful to encourage interviewee to talk and get involved. * Reflecting back – are useful to ensuring information is understood. * Command – are useful retrieve additional information on specific area. Structured interviews can be behavioural, they focus on past performance or situational, they focus on future performance. A growing number of employers are now taking his approach, 60% carry out structured interviews as part of the selection process. (XpertHR2011 selection interview surveys). Interview format can also provide additional structure to the interview selection process, where her they are one to one, panel interview or sequence of interviews but whatever format is chosen the effectiveness of the interview should be the same. Newell (2000) warns that while efforts have been made to improve the selection process through a more systematic approach , currents trends in organisations make ‘best practises’ model somewhat problematic.Job specification and analysis can become difficult if job requires flexibility and also with a number of organisations looking for innovation and creativity the term ‘fit’ has less relevance. (Gunnigle, Human Resource Management in Ireland, Chp 5 pg 124). Other criticism of the structured approach is although highly effective method with the use of controlled questioning etc its doesn’t actually represent the more relaxed environment that a candidate can easily open up. â€Å"The main disadvantage of using a structured interview is that its rigidity can limit the information-gathering process.Instead of exploring an applicant’s responses by further questioning during the interview, th e process is often rushed in order to get through all the questions on the schedule, and the assessment of the individual can inaccurate as a result. Also, since the interviewer takes the lead, he or she may dominate the process, denying the applicant sufficient time to provide a considered and accurate response† (Du Plessis 2003 Pg 170). Approaching a system in reality there is always so sort of compromise as without flexibility systems wouldn’t be sustainable.The interview selection tool would need to adopt a degree of flexibility and would help to improve the problems that have been suggested above. Adopting a mixed approach of semi-structuring or mixed approaches into the process would create the more open relaxed situation that interviews are perceived as but also the structure process remains which overall would make the interview selection method more effective. Conclusion Through the research that has been carried out and reflecting back on some of the statistic s that have been reviewed , the interview process across a wide ange of organisations and even in different markets would be reasonable to say that it is and will continue to be an effective selection tool. Even more so structured interviews have a greater effectiveness, however rigid the process is interviewing remains essentially a selective process. Organisations must ensure that they provide adequate training to equip their interviewers with the essential knowledge and skills required to maximise the interview process and also that they offer the best opportunity with no bias or error for the candidate in question.Furthermore organisations need to be flexible in order to adapt to external and internal factors effecting their organisations environment for example economic, political cultural and technology. Thus the selection processes also needs to be adjusted; we can see this through compromising with the structure approach to interviewing with semi-structure or mixed approache s that slight modifications can improve the outcome. Organisations need to be flexible in order to maintain best practise for their organisation and jobs roles would need to be adjusted accordingly.The interview as a selection tool is still by far the most effective and widely used method across the globe. There are a number of draw backs and there are other selection tools that are more effective but a cost. The interview is the most cost effective, time effective method and with selecting the wrong candidate for the role costing an organisation approximately â‚ ¬15’000 you are not going to offer a position to someone that you haven’t meet face to face now are you ? Appendences 1Bibliography Anderson and Shackleton(1993) Successful selection interviewing. CIPD Fact Sheets Selection Methods. CIPD Fact Sheets Secondment. CIPD Fact Sheet Talent Managment. CIPD Annual Survey Report 2011 Resourcing and Talent Planning. Gunnigle Human Resource Management in Ireland. Tayl or People Resourcing. www. sony. com www. apple. com XpertHR 2011 Selection Interviews Survey; Effectiveness and Training Article. XpertHR 2011 Selection Interviews Survey; Interview tools and record-keeping.

Step into the GLM Time Machine

Step into the GLM Time Machine Step into the GLM Time Machine Step into the GLM Time Machine By Maeve Maddox The Global Language Monitor (GLM) is an Austin, Texas-based entity that  documents, analyzes and tracks trends in language and publishes a list of the years most used English words, names, and phrases. According to GLMs algorithm, 2009s most used word, both online and in print, is Twitter. GLM’s top ten for 2009: Twitter Obama H1N1 stimulus vampire 2.0 (as a suffix attached to the next generation of everything. Ex. Web2.0) deficit Hadron healthcare transparency A look at the Words of the Year for 2000-2008 recalls the prominent events and personalities of those years: 2000 chad 2001 GroundZero 2002 misunderestimate 2003 embedded 2004 incivility 2005 refugee 2006 sustainable 2007 hybrid 2008 change Taking the decade as a whole, here are the top ten words with GLC comments: 1. Global Warming (2000) Rated highly from Day One of the decade 2. 9/11 (2001) Another inauspicious start to the decade 3. Obama- (2008 )The US President’s name as a ‘root’ word or ‘word stem’ 4. Bailout (2008) The Bank Bailout was but Act One of the crisis 5. Evacuee/refugee (2005) After Katrina, refugees became evacuees 6. Derivative (2007) Financial instrument or analytical tool that engendered the Meltdown 7. Google (2007) Founders misspelled actual word ‘googol’ Surge (2007) The strategy that effectively ended the Iraq War 9. Chinglish (2005) The Chinese-English Hybrid language growing larger as Chinese influence expands [There are an estimated 300 to 500 million users and/or learners of English in the Peoples Republic of China.] 10. Tsunami (2004) Southeast Asian Tsunami took 250,000 lives To see the top phrases and names for 2009 and the first decade of the 21st century, explore the Global Language Monitor site. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Vocabulary category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:20 Words with More Than One Spelling50 Types of PropagandaWords That Begin with Q