Nike Promotion Essay

Another important factor in economy is the maturing market in athletic shoes. There is also a growing adverse demographic change in the marketplace brought about by the sweatshop expose that Nike has not overcome yet. Effects to Nike’s growth are also affected not only by domestic economy but also by the international economy. The continued weak Euro and Asian recession could potentially hurt Nikes international sales and growth. Nike’s extreme sports product line is seen as inferior quality compared to competitors and is hurting sales and brand image. CUSTOMERS In 1998, Americans spent $38 billion to buy over 1. 1 billion pairs of shoes. Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association revealed that athletic footwear makes up almost 35% of all footwear purchases. The existing domestic industry focus is on casual and comfortable shoes. Demand is up for the â€Å"brown shoe† casual footwear with a comfortable and rugged design. This is because of the increasing number of workplaces allowing casual dress codes. Multinational customers account for a large part of Nike’s sales. In 1995, Nike’s international operations accounted for 36. 6 of its total revenues. The company believes that demands from international markets will increase in future. Nike must cater to a large portion of the new generation that demands the latest trends and styles. Nike should take into account the changing US demographics due to the rising proportion of Hispanics, Asians, and African Americans. These groups have different preferences that Nike should be able to satisfy. Nike should identify the next generation of loyal customers and provide for their needs. COMPETITION Competition is very fierce due to the number of companies competing for sales. Lots of money goes to marketing and promotions using various channels to reach the young demographic group of consumers who spend the most money on Nike’s products. Growth is slowing down in the athletic footwear industry. But new markets are emerging with high growth rates. These markets include extreme sports market and the corporate merchandise market. Nike’s global market share was an impressive 30. 4% in 1998. The closest competitor, Adidas, held 15. 5% of the market share while Reebok held 11. 2%. The remaining competitors, including Fila, Timberland, Asics, Converse, and New Balance, among others, each hold approximately 3-5% of the remaining market share. MARKETING ASPECTS OBJECTIVES Nikebiz. com stated that Nike’s mission statement is â€Å"Through the adoption of business practices Nike is committed to securing intergenerational quality of life, restoring environment and increasing value for our customers, shareholders and business partners. † Nike shows passion for their company, products, and athletes. They are determined to provide consumers with comfort and assurance. They also find ways to innovate and create. They adhere to their five brand principles namely: inspire, innovate, focus, connect, and care. Another Nike’s objective is â€Å"to be the world’s leading sports and Fitness Company. † Nike’s mission statement is similar to a vision statement and is potentially a weakness. The mission identifies the sports and fitness industry business they are in, it does not specify as to what products and services they provide. The mission statement does not mention distribution channels and customers. However, it portrays management’s beliefs and the desire to be number one and remain in the leading position in sports and fitness shoe and apparel industry. STRATEGIES Corporate Strategies. The past two decades saw a change in economy from â€Å"standardized† to flexible†. Having a strict corporate organization used to be the rule, now it is common to have a flexible organization that uses subcontracting. The main reason Nike succeeded in competing in the footwear industry for a long time is because they remain flexible in an unpredictable market by subcontracting overseas in countries with low labor-cost. Another reason for Nike’s strength in competition is their product differentiation. Aside from athletic shoes, Nike’s product line now offers a broad range of clothing, equipment and accessories. TACTICS Nike’s distinctive tactics are found in the area of marketing, specifically in consumer brand awareness and brand power. Nike’s catch phrases like, â€Å"Just Do It,† and symbols like the Nike â€Å"Swoosh,† are reminders of the Nike empire. This tactic is effective because it could not be easily replicated and it offers value or benefit to consumers. Nike is becoming a part of American and world culture, the brand power becomes more difficult to replicate. The trademark and a slogan serves as the company’s fingerprints. Nike is able to capitalize the unique identity due because of its financial strength. Nike reaches millions of consumers through large-scale marketing campaigns. The public benefits from the strength of Nike’s image when they make a purchase. Consumers often associate Nike image with quality products. By associating star athletes and motivational slogans like, â€Å"Just Do It,† consumers identify their purchases with the prospect of achieving greatness. This image they create forms a tactic that competing companies can not easily duplicate by simply improving their products. PRODUCT Nike sells a huge variety of products, including shoes for running, basketball, cross training, Women and children. All of which are currently its top-selling product categories. Nike also sells shoes for outdoor activities such as tennis, golf, soccer, baseball, football, bicycling, volleyball, wrestling, cheerleading, aquatic activities, auto racing and other athletic and recreational uses. Nike began selling active sports apparel in 1979 as well as athletic bags and accessory items. The company sells a line of performance equipment under the Nike brand name, such as sport balls, timepieces, eyewear, skates, bats and other equipment. They also sell a line of dress and casual footwear and accessories for men, women and children under the brand name Cole Haan. The company markets headwear under the brand name Sports Specialties, through Nike Team Sports, Inc. They also sell small amounts of various plastic products to other manufacturers through Nike IHM, Inc. Bauer Nike Hockey Inc. manufactures and distributes ice skates, skate blades, in-roller skates, protective gear, hockey sticks and hockey jerseys and accessories under the Bauer and Nike brand names Pricing Strategies Nike uses vertical integration in pricing wherein they own participants at differing channel levels or engage in more than one channel level operations. This is also an attempt to control costs and influence pricing practices. PLACE Distribution channels and policy. Should additional channels be added, why? Nike sells its product to about 20,000 retail accounts in the U. S. and in approximately 110 countries around the world. Nike sells its products in international markets through independent distributors, licensees and subsidiaries. Independent distributors has little or no pressure for local adaptation because the 4Ps of marketing are managed by distributors. PROMOTION Nike has been one of the top retail industries for quite along time. This is because they sell quality products, customer loyalty, but most of all, its great marketing techniques. Nike has a number of famous athletes to create a great deal of attention to their products. Nike has signed the top athletes in many different sports such as the Brazilian Soccer Team (especially Ronaldino, Renaldo, and Roberto Carlos), Lebron James and Jermane O’Neal for basketball, Lance Armstrong for cycling, and Tiger Woods for Golf. Sponsoring of events is another great promotional technique for Nike. It brings attention Nike’s products. Web sites are a great promotional tool as they cover these events. Such events include Hoop It Up and The Golden West Invitational. Nike also personalizes websites. They make the websites exclusively for a sport such as nikebasketball. om , nikefootball. com , and nikegolf. com Marketing strategy: Nike’s marketing strategy is an important component of the company’s success. Nike is positioned as a premium-brand, selling well-designed and expensive products. Nike lures customers with a marketing strategy centering around a brand image which is attained by distinctive logo and the advertising slogan: â€Å"Ju st do it†. [35] Nike promotes its products by sponsorship agreements with celebrity athletes, professional teams and college athletic teams. However, Nike’s marketing mix contains many elements besides promotion. These are summarised below. Advertising From 1972 to 1982, Nike relied almost exclusively on print advertising in highly vertical publications including Track and Field News. Most of the early advertising was focused on a new shoe release, essentially outlining the benefits of the running, basketball or tennis shoe. In 1976, the company hired its first outside ad agency, John Brown and Partners, who created what many consider Nike’s first ‘brand advertising’ in 1977. A print ad with the tagline â€Å"There is no finish line† featured a lone runner on a rural road and became an instant classic. The success of this simple ad inspired Nike to create a poster version that launched the company’s poster business. In 1982, Nike aired its first national television ads, created by newly formed ad agency Wieden+Kennedy, during the New York Marathon. This would mark the beginning of a remarkably successful partnership between Nike and W+K that remains intact today. The Cannes Advertising Festival has named Nike its ‘advertiser of the year’ on two separate occasions, the first and only company to receive that honor twice (1994, 2003). 36] Nike also has earned the Emmy Award for best commercial twice since the award was first created in the 1990s. The first was for â€Å"The Morning After,† a satirical look at what a runner might face on the morning of January 1, 2000 if every dire prediction about Y2K came to fruition. [37] The second Emmy for advertising earned by Nike was for a 2002 spot called â€Å"Move,† which featured a series of famous and ever yday athletes in a stream of athletic pursuits. [38] In addition to garnering awards, Nike advertising has generated its fair share of Controversy. RANDOM: The short version of this is: Nike makes itself pop up everywhere, so that it’s well known. It associates with people that most of it’s consumers want to emulate (such as michael jordan, in the 1990’s) and creates products that will appeal to as wide of an audience as possible while using those celebrities it’s consumers want as bait (eg, michael jordan and the Air Jordan shoe line). This is just the marketing side: The business as a whole creates fast, easy assembly methods that allow it to use cheap labor in southeast asia and elsewhere to get cheap products (around 10 dollars) and sell them at extremely high prices (about 150 dollars). With nike, most of what you’re buying is image. Nike, Inc. is a marketer of sports apparel and athletic shoes. The American manufacturer, through its marketing strategy which rests on a favourable brand image, has evolved into a large multinational enterprise In keeping with the brand image is its association with the distinctive logo and its advertising slogan, â€Å"Just do it. † In order to maintain and sustain this image, the company makes huge investments in advertising and brand promotion. Its promotional activities include agreements for product sponsorship with professional athletic teams, celebrity athletes, and numerous college athletic teams. Nike is involved in the production of goods for a wide variety of sports, competing with every sports fashion brand in existence. Because of the absence of any single brand that rivals the products of Nike, the company has no direct competitors, with the exception of German company Adidas. This has helped popularize the brand worldwide in all areas of sport and sports fashion. When Nike first began as Blue Ribbon Sports they only sold one product (running shoes) and because of this they had to make the target audience large. However, because of the wide-range of products that Nike sells they now have different target-audiences for each product. For young people, Nike sponsors popular athletes that their customers want to emulate.

Children Parents and Family needs Essay

E1 Explain the needs of families which may require professional support. Families may have a variety of needs, in which they need professional support. Families with a large number of children may not have the required amount of living space, this could mean that children are sharing beds, or parents are not sleeping in a room. Children will lack of sleep are proven to concentrate less and develop slower. Families that are suffering with poverty may not be able to afford a house or afford to pay the bills. This is where the family will gain financial support such as housing benefits, their council tax will be paid for them leaving them to pay for water, gas and electricity. Sometimes this help still isn’t enough so families go without heating or hot water meaning they aren’t meeting their basic care needs. Within the community there will be many areas that will offer families in this situation help. They include, sure start centres, food banks, the church and other families. Families in this situation benefit from living in an inclusive community, where the area is safe and free of crime, be it anti-social behaviour of elders or racial harassment. Most areas have community support officers that the children will get introduced to in school or when out on the streets playing. If a family is new to the area and are of a different culture they may struggle to gain help, due to harassment, or lack of communication, be it language problems, or no phone. Money seems to be the main cause of most of the needs that require help. E2 Explain the issues which may lead to stress in families. There are many issues which may lead to or cause stress in a family, these can include, bereavement, new arrivals, a disabled family member, unemployment and poverty. Bereavement has a huge impact on children as well as adults; however children don’t always show that they are being affected. Bereavement will affect the family in different ways depending on who has passed on. If the deceased is a strong main family member, such as a sibling or a main carer the child will be affected hugely, this will have an effect on their whole routine. This could be because they are used to looking that person, or they are used to that person looking after them. A new arrival can cause stress throughout the family, between the primary carers and between siblings, maybe even between children and carers. A baby causes stress between all relationships in a family. The primary carers may begin to argue this is because the child has taken over their day; they may become tiered meaning their mood changes and arguments crop up. The other children in the family may feel left out and start to resent the new arrival. This can cause older children to start misbehaving and younger children may hurt the new baby. A disabled family member will cause stress between the family members, this could be through others interfering, or members feeling left out. When a disabled family member needs a lot of care and attention it takes over the families routine. When the main carers become unemployed it causes stress between them and throughout the family. A change I routine can affect all the family as well as the person becoming unemployed. If that person’s income was used to pay bills then the family may become homeless, they may have to live in a shelter or even worse the streets. Poverty causes stress on all the family they will start to cut back on privileges, this can cause bullying in schools when mufti-day is concerned. E3 Explain the role of parents in children’s play and identify appropriate resources and toys. The parent’s role is to keep the child safe and give them many play opportunities throughout the day. This will differ and change regarding the child’s age and abilities. The child will develop at their own speed meaning that they will need different resources to encourage development. It is believed that children learn best through play so neglecting the child of play is potentially stopping the child from learning healthily. It is important that the resources are age appropriate for the children; this is for health and safety mostly due to small parts which may lead to choking. It is important that the toys are working properly too, as if the toy is supposed to talk out loud and flash the child will not be getting the most out of the toy and will lose interest meaning they will not develop. In the first few months of a baby’s life, when they can’t sit up or pick up objects babies like things that sing and move such as mobiles. It is good to look for mobiles with high-contrast colours and patterns. Many babies are particularly fond of mobiles that play music. Small hand held toys such as rattles are good at this age as they will learn if they move their hand they are making the noise. Having soft music or nursery rhymes playing when interacting with the child will allow the parent to see how the baby responds to music. Babies like to see their own refection so a plastic mirror allows them to play safely. Soft books with sensory sections are good for babies to explore, at this age it is usually with their mouths instead of their fingers however if it’s noisy they will scrunch the book to make noise. As they get older (6 months) the baby will have new needs and parents should fulfil them to the best they can. Babies enjoy play mats and activity bars. These usually contain toys that dangle above the child of are around the child when they are lying down this will encourage physical development. Activity bars are good for playing on the move in cars or in prams. Teddy’s become more of a comfort if the child has it constantly so that when they are going somewhere different they have a home comfort which is familiar to them. Rubber toys such as ducks will allow children to chew and explore whilst providing entertainment when squeaking if being gripped. Thick hard board books will allow children to help try and turn pages and they will enjoy listening to the story as well as looking at pictures. At 12 months the baby will start to move more they will have gain a lot of strength in their arms and legs and toys such as large building bricks; push and pull toys; sorting and nesting toys; climbing gyms; balls; crayons; ride on toys; kitchens and picture books. E4 Describe the benefits of communication between children, parents and practitioners. It is beneficial to children, parents and practitioners to have good communication and a professional relationship. This can be good because sometimes parents feel left out and feel they are not making decisions on their child’s life. These decisions can be what they do, what they eat, whether they learn about different cultures if they are involved in lessons such as sex education and lessons involving celebrations such as Christmas and Easter. If a family had a different cultural background their beliefs may be different, meaning that their family may not want them to learn or take part in festive activities. Some cultures have certain food that they can’t eat this is important that it is shared with setting so that we can respect their wishes and uphold their religions to the best we can. By respecting the family practitioners can keep the consistency of care the child is receiving at home. Meaning confusion is unlikely. Practitioners should have good relationships with the children in their setting, if that child is one of their key children it is important that the practitioner builds a relationship of trust so that the child can come to them with any problem or difficulty they may be having. Communication can be in person, however sometimes parents do not have the same language as we do so in this case letter form in their mother tongue is useful. My setting have a baby book that they send home each night giving the parent the information they need such as what they have done, what they have eaten, their bowel movements, how much they have slept and if they have had any injuries, they will also be given a copy of the accident form. E5 Discuss skills and strategies which are effective in supporting families. There are many ways in which settings can support families effectively. Setting can support families by communicating with them as and when needed they can keep them updated on their child’s progress and what is happening by, text, email, letter, newsletter and some will do it in person. Families can also communicate with settings so that they can request they support they need. This can be for a short period of time or long term due to the seriousness of the issue. Providing suitable resources such as books or story sacks will mean that the setting is supporting the family help the child learn at home. This is by allowing children to take home stories to read or by giving them the story sack so have a play with. Story sacks can help when the child is learning a new story such a little red riding hood. In the sack will be toys that will allow them to play and re-enact the story. They can sometimes be given maths activities and games if the child is lacking in a certain area making their learning fun for all the family. Settings can also introduce new services to the family if they require extra help; these can include family support officers, social workers and psychiatrists. This can be for many reasons but will be initially to support the family. E6 Describe the types of support and information available to parents and families. C1 Evaluate the types of support which will enable parents to meet the needs of their children- â€Å"We have defined ‘family support’ as all services which aim to promote family wellbeing by improving relationships in families and improving standards of living.†(Bruce.T. pg 32 2007) Children’s centres were providing a wide range of such services: home visiting, parenting courses, drop-ins, support groups, family learning activities, adult education and employment support. There are numerous amounts of support and information available for families. This will differ according to required help. All families will have support workers however not all of the families will have social workers. Social workers are used for families that may have difficulties, such as child with disabilities or families where a parent is in or just out of prison or families where the child is lacking in development massively. Families will be offered sure start places, where they will learn new strategies and will be able to talk to other new parents. This is also good for the babies as they can interact with each other and learn how to play and share. The sure start centre by me offers mingle and munch with stay and play from 9.15am- 11.30 followed by bring your own lunch and eat at the centre from quarter to twelve to twenty five minutes past twelve. There is also a stay and play group for two hours on a week day afternoon. They offer families early child care which is affordable, employment and training for families with young children; family support such as home visits, support for parents, information and guidance on parenting and specialist support for families. They offer health services – Anti natal advice, midwife sessions, dental care, speech therapists, breastfeeding, health and safety and help with healthy lifestyles. Sure start centers have many positive points these being, local flexibility, services including outreach and home visiting, family support and good quality play, learning and childcare facilities. Some negatives are that some people feel sure start is there to help people that are lacking in care for children, so they are put off. A toy library lends or hires out toys, puzzles, and games, functioning either as a rental shop or a form of family resource program. Toy libraries offer play sessions for families and a wide range of toys appropriate for children at different stages in their development. Toy libraries provide children with new toys every week or two, saving parents money and keeping children from getting bored. Positive reasons for toy libraries are that they allow families to rent and borrow toys so that the children can play with their new interests this can also allow them to develop while the parent saves money to buy them new age appropriate toys to help them develop also some children have short interests so to buy the toys would be a waste if they only get played with once. A child I know took an interest in dolls and prams, so they borrowed one from the toy library which he played with twice and has never shown interest again. Negatives, is that sometime it’s a struggle to get to the library; some parents may be put off as they think it’s not clean and it looks like they can’t provide for their children. If it is a puzzle maybe there are pieces missing, this should be checked but may have been missed. Some children can’t borrow what they want as others already have, and if they brake the toy that child misses out. E7 Explain the role of the practitioner in supporting families- The role of the practitioner in supporting families is to give them all the help and advice you can. When doing this it is important that practitioners respect the codes of confidentiality both ways not speaking about what they have been told unless it is a concern and not telling them information they don’t need to know, this could be about other children, parents or staff. The practitioner’s job is to care for the child and insuring their welfare is paramount. They will do this by observing the child on a regular basis. This is the most important job. To do these practitioners will attend meeting to discuss anything they have concerns about, be it their health or development. If their concerns are put further they will have to attend multi-agency team meetings which will have other professional in to discuss what should happen with the child. â€Å"The Children Act 1989 has influenced setting by bringing together several sets of guidance and provided the foundation for many of the standards practitioners sustain and maintain when working with children.†(Meggit, pg376 2012) The Act requires that settings work together in the best interests of the child and that they form partnerships with parents /carers. It requires settings to have appropriate adult: child ratios and policies and procedures on child protection. This Act has had an influence in all areas of practice from planning a curriculum and record keeping. D1 Describe how the practitioner can recognise when children and adults may be experiencing problems. The practitioner can recognise problems with children if they have looked after them for a long time the children are very familiar to them. They will notice if the child is unhappy or troubled, this can be shown through behavior, lack of interest, be it food or activities. A child will also show their problems through observations; this can be attitude and behavior changes. If the child has emotional stress they will show it through crying, or sometimes through playing, it could be shown in the role play area or just in chit chat with their friends. They will see problems in adults in various ways. If the family are starting to have financial problems this may be shown through cheques bouncing. If there are other problems at home, parents may come in looking upset, tiered, and hot and bothered. Practitioners can tell a lot by someone’s body language and their facial expressions. D2 Discuss TWO (2) strategies which parents can use for promoting positive behaviour in children. Parents have a range of different strategies for promoting positive behaviour; these include reward charts and time out. Reward charts can be for numerous reasons meaning you can reward them for doing more than one thing. This promotes all types of positive behaviours like using manners, eating all their lunch, tidying their toys, not having an accident, and going to bed at night. The idea is that once they have filled their reward chart they can do something they enjoy. It is important not to take the stickers off them as they will think they are never going to fill it. All theorist believe in praising and rewarding good behaviour. Time out is an effective way of disposing of bad behaviour this is done usually by the same rules. 1st telling the child that it is unwanted behaviour and it is not acceptable, 2nd warning the child that if they do it again they will be put on time out, and 3rd following through and putting them in time out. Parents will then go to them after the correct time and ask them for an apology, if they apologise properly it is suggested that they have a kiss and a cuddle to show that they have been forgiven. However if they don’t apologise they should remain in time out till they realise their behaviour is unacceptable. Many child behaviour theorists support this such as Jo Frost. B1 Analyse some key issues for professionals working in support of families. The key issues for all professionals are building a trusting relationship with the families this is not just with the parents but with the children too, this is so that they can talk to them in confidence about any troubles and concerns they may have when they are given the information practitioner must not break the trust and be confidential with the information unless they feel it needs to be looked in to. Practitioners need to make sure they are not showing any judgements on the family, if judgments are made and are spoken this could lead to the relationship failing and communication dropped if this happens in a setting we cannot make sure the child’s welfare is ok. Language barriers can occur in different ways, these being if they speak a foreign language and if they don’t have an education in your area of profession such as telling a parent you are an EYP will be like talking to them in French they won’t understand. It is important to be clear to all the family and all the other professionals involved. If the multi-professional team is involved in supporting the family there can be many issues the family have, they may become confused as although they are working to the same aim they are pushing their own area of work more, however this might not be the best option for the child. The parents of the child will become overloaded with information and they may become confused. Families working with the multi-agency team will have many areas of professions working alongside each other to get the child on the right tracks however all the areas are completely different so they will be asking a lot all at once. This will be a lot to take in and parents may feel like there is too much to do. A1 Reflect on the benefits to children, parents, families and practitioners from working in partnership When parents are working in partnership with practitioners it mean they are working towards the same aim as each other. This is important as children are easily confused. If parents are involved in planning it means that they know what is happening in their child’s life at nursery, this is good if the child is too young to talk or has communication problems. It is important to have a good, but professional relationship with the family members of the child in your care, as a practitioner we need to know what is happening in the child’s life at home so we can meet their individual needs, this will be done as and when it is needed. We need to be aware of what they are able to do, regarding religious beliefs and cultural backgrounds. This is important when we are cooking for the children too; we also need to be kept up to date with any medication they are on, any food allergies, what they are allowed to eat and what they aren’t. Sometimes parents feel they need to compete with the child’s key worker as they both have a strong bond with the child. This is usually when a child is in the care of a practitioner for most of the waking day. If parents have concerns they should speak to the key worker and they can put into place an activity, where they are showing pictures of their family and teaching them who they are, for example mummy and daddy. Parents can be resentful towards the setting if the child does something significant in their care, such as first words or first steps. If practitioners are working in partnership and have a good relationship with the parents they will take this on easier than if they don’t have a very good relationship.

VISUAL ANALYSIS PAPER Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 1

VISUAL ANALYSIS PAPER - Essay Example The child who is symbolizing Jesus in this picture is the centre of this picture where the friends of Madonna are taking care of him. Similarly Modonna’s centre of interest in this picture is also the child who was regarded as a gift from god and all the attention was being given to him (Wright, 339). The antique art is also depicted in the picture where all the people behind the scenes are busy in their works and the mountain tops are showing a unique work of masonry and status building. It is shows that the mother’s affection is at the peak and Mary is busy in taking care of the child who will be the crown of all the happenings in future. The use of dark colors are cut from all the sides in order to converge the focus of the viewer is the cardinal theme of the picture which in turn is creating a haughty image. Explanation The  Adoring Madonna  is a type of character that was highly popular during the Renaissance period in the historical perspective. This image usu ally is intended for personal devotion and feelings are showing that the Mary and her friends are showing their love for the Christ Child. There was a time when many such images were produced in a huge number to depict the ancient art for the people of modern age so that they can understand the true color of history and how well civilized the ancient people were and these pictures also show glazed terracotta as well as painting aesthetics. Half length Madonna is the trademark painting piece of the Eastern Orthodox Church in which the painters used to depict the similar scene in many different perspectives and highlighting multiple historical events in different pictures. The subject matter is highly formulated to highlight the importance of the â€Å"Mother of God. Such kind of paintings of Mary and child with saints are very common in the  renaissance painting which are specific to Italy, Italy because the era of Renaissance is very much related to Italy from the ancient times. These types of images are also made with soil and mud to give a depiction of the museum sculptures. These statues and painting can captivate the viewer and take him in to the ancient civilization where everything was simple and grounded in natural perspective. The above picture is also one of those true showing of culture. Such kind of images started to surface in the time period of around fifteenth and sixteenth century when the repertoire of painters were full of painting related to Mary and child with hermit saints in order to include historical events, independent portraits, ancient civilization and mythological subject matter of the characters. Christianity had a great impact and nurturing of these painters because every painting is somehow related to the divine orations and happenings similar to what described in the Bible. The subject matters of the above picture also discuss the events that happened and described in the bible and images of different saints remained a centre of all the art work. All the events that took place in the sixteenth century also influenced these paintings and many of the aesthetic works show the depiction of the ancient events that took place in the timeline of history. Later works of Fungai show his mastery of the Sienese and works of the

Management practices of planning, staffing, leading, organizing, and Term Paper

Management practices of planning, staffing, leading, organizing, and controlling implemented in the workplace - Term Paper Example After noting the vital aspects of each management staff, the stakeholders find it appropriate to engage the qualified personnel in running a firm. Similarly, the selected employees to manage the organization have to be experienced, motivated and focused individuals (Hannagan and Bennett, 2008). If this is not done, the stakeholders may run into losses, as the coordination of all the management processes may not be functional. In many instances, the stakeholders engage both external and internal training to equip the management with vital knowledge. Through the training, the managers also acquire ample skills to help in coordinating the management practices. In essence, the Management practices of planning, staffing, leading, organizing, and controlling in an organization are vital, as they have direct effect on the [performance of the organization. To begin with, the first management practice that has an effect on the performance of an organization is planning. Planning involves forecasting on various aspects that may affect the sustainability of the firm. First, the planning process involves forecasting on the intended expenditure of the form. Firms have to make allocations in concern to their expenditure, probably for a whole year. As such, they have to involve all the accountants and financial managers who reiterate the proposed expenditure for the firm. Secondly, the firm has to plan for the proposed expansion plans in ensuring the firm is improving its market niche (Leonard, 2013). For instance, in my previous work place, planning for investments in new markets was an approach that enhanced the market niche of the company. This is especially due to the nature of the products, which are highly needed in new markets. Since the company deals in technological appliances, finding new markets is appropriate for business sustain ability. Thirdly, the management should involve planners, especially in concern to unforeseen circumstances. At times, the unforeseen

The Impact of Stereotypical Gender Roles Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The Impact of Stereotypical Gender Roles - Essay Example Susan Glaspell’s ‘Trifles’ shows how women have utilized the concept regarding their traditional position in the society to their advantage. While the men disregard the discussion of women as unimportant, the two women, Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters discover the mystery of the murder, which the sheriff and Mr. Hale come to investigate. They are looking for evidence against Mrs. Wright, the farmer’s wife suspected of killing her husband. The women in course of their search discover some strong evidence against the wife of the farmer but at the same time, their empathy for the woman who was strongly dominated and psychologically tormented by her husband gets the better of their honesty. The two men initially laugh as they find the women pondering over the actions of Mrs. Wright and Mr. Hale comments with ridicule, â€Å"They wonder if she was going to quilt it or just knot it† (Glaspell) and both men laugh. However at the end of the play when the women fin ally discover that Mrs. Wright was actually going to ‘knot it’ they keep it hidden from the men very carefully. The farmer dies of a rope around his neck. Here the missing links of the case are the motive and some strong evidence. The women find the motive, but before the men enter the room they quickly hide the evidence (a parrot, Mrs. Wright’s favorite, killed in the same manner as the farmer) and talk as if nothing important has been found. The men who were already taking the women’s abilities very lightly do not suspect anything mysterious. Not necessarily through words, but via gestures, and mainly through silence, they keep the most important thing hidden from their husbands, especially that which would have helped them in their work. The main problem, however, lay with the underestimation of the women in the men’

Nationalism and Political Economy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Nationalism and Political Economy - Essay Example Corporations that were led by large financial companies. Lenin’s theory shows that the two developments are intrinsically linked since the concentration of capital created inequality where the general population could not absorb the commodities achieve by the high level of productive capacity. From this premise, capitalist class controls the nation politically since Lenin theorized that Finance capital, which is the dominant form of capital, is useful to state machinery in colonizing the surrounding. Though he showed that this strategy could function in the short-term, Lenin showed that in the long-term it would weaken imperialism as well as capitalism. In an inquiry of imperialism, the engagements of capitalist nations play an indispensable role and are practically an axiom of Marxist theory that nations act to defend welfares of the governing people. There are many statements to this effect in Marx’s writing even though he offered little-detailed analysis in support, however; he managed to show that states act to preserve the broad outlines of the social system since the ruling class is well organized in defending its interests. Moreover, high-level personnel of the nation like politicians has â€Å"clear interest in preserving the existing state organization† (Hobson 153); however, this dominant mode can only result in â€Å"chaos and economic regression† (Marx & Friedrich 15) in the absence of an affirmative alternative (Lenin 96; Schumpeter 105-110). Scholars of political economy regardless of whether they are liberals, Marxists or institutionalists mostly assume questions of national identity to be marginal in the understanding of changing economic structures. Therefore, the neglect between of the relationship between national identity and political economy, which is unfortunate since it, leaves central features of transformation unexamined. Economic nationalism can be comprehended in terms of relationships that links national identity to political economy; thus, this approach focuses on nation and understanding of the national identity as being rooted in the nation’s political economy (Polanyi 28). Thus, I believe there is need to examine economic nationalism as a form of local political struggle since it links an understanding of national identity to certain economic prescriptions. Friedrich in his national system of political economy he considers that political economy in international commerce has drawn lessons from experiences where the measures taken have to be appropriate for the people. Loyalties in nations arise since there is no monopoly because internal competition comes in place of foreign competition ad each individual in the country has the privilege of obtaining a share of the advantages a nation offers to its citizens moreover, loyalties for nations arise from good systems of protection.  

Online Assessment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Online Assessment - Essay Example RESPONSE 1 Samba Bank uses two Cialdini weapons of influence (Polanski 1-6), which includes reciprocity and scarcity intentionally. Notably, reciprocity dictates that whenever we receive value, we get an impulse to give value back (Cialdini 3-8). Indeed, in some cases, we may even get inspired to give back more value than we received. Indeed, whenever we receive value free in the marketing, it is for impelling reciprocity. Hence, we have so many promotions, discounts, and gifts in the market to trigger us into buying more (Cialdini 3-8). In the case of Samba bank, this weapon applies where the bank hospitalizes customers with expensive kinds of coffee, dates, and chocolates, which get customers satisfaction. The reciprocity effect is that the bank will maintain its customers and encourage them to do more transactions. As branch manager, I also use this weapon mostly when dealing with a customer who is out of the country and his time deposit has matured. I seek to satisfy such custome rs when they call the bank for a renewal instead of following the formal paper work process of renewal. As such, I renew their accounts over the phone and wait for their signatures until they come. Hence, I satisfy their needs with an aim of maintaining them and gaining reciprocity when they return. Moreover, I unfreeze customers’ accounts while they are abroad if the cause to freeze was a simple issue like expiry of their ID. In this way, the customers will be able to use the account while travelling and update their ID when they return. This results to reciprocity as such customers invest in the bank for a long time. I also ensure that customers seeking business loans get the money within a short time with an aim of gaining reciprocity when their businesses grow. Scarcity is other weapon used in Samba bank to derive a perception that a financial product or service is limited or diminishing thus, creating more demand for the product (Cialdini 199-207). Indeed, the scarcity w eapon creates promotions, which seemingly end at a certain time but actually never ends. They only encourage more sales at the end of the promotion time (Cialdini 199-207). In Samba bank, there are random offers to attract more customers to the bank or increase the cash flow. Indeed, the bank offers a chance for customers to deposit smaller amounts than normal to upgrade their accounts. For example, the bank allows customers to upgrade from the Blue to Gold segment on depositing only $ 25000 instead of the normal $75000. This compels customers to deposit in their accounts with money from other banks thus increasing Samba’s cash flow. Moreover, the bank offers the customers a chance to enjoy free credit card life at no annual fee for a short period. This attracts new customers to the benefit of the bank. RESPONSE 2 Samba bank uses various marketing strategies that relate to the concepts/theories in Ariely’s Predictably Irrational book. Such concepts include the cost of zero cost concepts and the power of price concept. The concept of cost of zero cost implies that humans consider losses and profits before purchasing but when something is free, customers do not consider the losses (Ariely 50-56). Indeed, customers get the perception that the product on offer has more value than its face value. Indeed, people would wait for long to get a free thing (Ariely 49-54). As such, this concept is very powerful in triggering customer’

Project management is not just about the 'tools' we use it is as much Essay

Project management is not just about the 'tools' we use it is as much as anything about people - how they interact, how they - Essay Example Furthermore, I will discuss the project lifecycle and the different processes that go with it. And finally, the importance of people in the success of a project will be investigated before concluding. For a project to be successful, the project manager must understand the different characteristics of a project. A project has a start and end dates. It has dates that properly specify when the project activities will start and when it is going to end. It uses resources – time, money, people and equipment. And finally, a project has an outcome - whether it’s a new condominium, building, satellite or a new highway. ‘A project is considered successful if it delivers the outcome with an agreed quality, does not overrun its end date and remains within the budget (cost resources). Note however, that outcome, time and budget are interrelated, and during a project the project manager may need to do trade-offs between them’ (Singh). Say for instance, if you want the pr oject to be done more quickly, you have to pump in more money for additional resources like people, time and equipment. Because of the increasing competition in the business environment, organisations are forced to come-up with high quality products at a lower cost and in a shorter time. And that’s the reason why project management exists. Project management allows the project manager to plan and organise resources to achieve a specified outcome within the allotted timeframe. The techniques of project management allow the project manager to manage and anticipate risks in a structured manner. Through proper project management better utilisation of resources, shorter development time, reduced costs, interdepartmental cooperation and a better focus on results and quality is achieved. ‘A project has a lifecycle. It starts with the initiating process, then the planning, executing, controlling and monitoring and the last phase is closing’ (Singh). Throughout this lifec ycle people are employed to do the tasks. The workforce spells the success or failure of a project. But before a project starts, a project manager should be appointed. As a project manager, he must have the Project Charter or commercial contract to get the wheels spinning in motion. At the minimum, the Project Charter designates the person as the project manager with the authority to use resources to bring the project to completion. This is formally done by the project sponsor or main stakeholders. The charter provides a short description of the result, outcome, product or services to be produced by the project. It also refers to the commercial contract (if there is a formal contract) as the basis for initiating the project. During the initiating process, the project manager refines the project goals, reviews the expectations of all stakeholders and determines assumptions and risks in the project. This is also the time when he selects the people to form the project team. However, th ere are times when the project team has already been imposed. If that’s the case, the role of the project manager is to familiarise himself to their skills and understands their roles in the project. He should ask the project sponsor and main stakeholders to share with him any emails, letters, memos, project feasibility, meeting minutes, requirements or other documents related

Homework Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Homework - Essay Example However, some of them might also lead to the country’s stunted economic growth. Should a government run a budget deficit? Running it would be government action. Not running it would be inaction on the part of the government. Government inactions could either be a good or bad move which could be justified in the resulting output. In other words, investment and accumulated capital, available resources, compatible institutions, technological growth, and entrepreneurship are either specific government actions or inactions that are potential sources of economic growth. 3. What factors affect productivity? Factors that would embolden productivity are economic policies. These include policies to Embolden Saving and Investment, growth through import investment, policies to control population expansion, policies to build up education level, policies to technologically innovate, policies to provide funding for research, and policies to maximize the economy’s openness to trade. 4. What are the key topics in macroeconomics? The key topics in macroeconomics are growth, business cycles, unemployment and inflation. 5. Describe fiscal, monetary, and structural policy. Fiscal policy is regarding changes in government spending or taxes, to make more active or slow down economy. Monetary policy helps influence the economy by initiating changes in the banking system’s reserves that would affect money supply and credit availability in the economy. Structural policy on the other hand focuses in general on economic productivity and growth. 6. Describe the factors that will affect demand and supply (in other words, what factors will shift the supply and demand curves). Factors such as income, prices of other goods, tastes and expectations are factors affecting demand. Those factors affecting supply are prices of inputs, technology, taxes and subsidies and expectations. Factors affecting demand are mostly those that consumers are looking forward prior to their purc hase. Factors affecting supply are in general would affect the creation of certain product or service offerings. 7. a. Explain thoroughly what the supply and demand curves represent. The supply curve is a representation of the relationship between price and quantity supplied while the demand curve represents the relationship between price and quantity demanded. Assuming everything is constant; supply curve will have the slope upward to the right. So, the quantity supplied should increase in response to the rise in price, in the absence of shift factors. Assuming other things constant, the demand curve slopes downward to the right, which means the rise of price makes the quantity demanded goes down. b. Draw a supply and demand curve for petroleum. Be sure to label all curves and axes. c. Draw the effect of a ban on petroleum imports on the graph drawn in part (b). Show the effect on price and quantity. Assuming the demand is constant, there would be a decrease of supply when there is a ban on petroleum imports. The result would be increase of price due to lack of supply as clearly stated based on the characteristic of supply curve. d. Explain the difference between demand and quantity demanded. Demand is a schedule of quantities of a good that will be bought per unit of time at diverse prices, other things cons

The convict Able Magwitch Essay Example for Free

The convict Able Magwitch Essay Great Expectations is a novel written by Charles Dickens during the Victorian period, around 1860-61. Dickins today is regarded to be one of the greatest novelists of all time. Great Expectations portrays the predominate themes of a Dickins novel as its central ideas revolve around the division of rich and poor, and how their status is viewed by the society in which they live. The novel Great Expectations is based upon the life of a young orphaned boy named Pip, whom is brought up by his older sister Mrs Joe Gargery and Mr Joe Gargery his brother in law living in Kent. Pip faced with various different incidents, as well as changes that take place in his life, which then structure his future self, as he grows into a man. Such events include him meeting Magwitch, Miss Havisham, and Estella, all of which have diverse effects on him. Pip is the protagonist and narrator of the novel and is reflecting on his past, explaining his story of his younger self. Pip is passionate, romantic, and somewhat unrealistic at heart, as he tends to expect more for himself than is possible, as he has a powerful conscience, and he deeply wants to improve himself, both morally and socially. He grows up to be a rich arrogant gentleman, influenced by Miss Havisham and his love for Estella. Despite his new lifestyle, he is later reminded in the novel, of his former self. This transformation in Pip, from poor to rich clearly reflects the distinct division and contrast in class throughout the Victorian era. Miss Havisham is a wealthy, eccentric old woman who lives in a manor called Satis House near Pips village. She is manic and often seems insane, wonders around her house in a faded wedding dress, keeping a decaying feast on her table. As a young lady, Miss Havisham was jilted by her fianc minutes before her wedding, and now she has a vendetta against all men. She deliberately raises Estella to be the tool of her revenge, training her beautiful ward to break mens hearts. Miss Havishams beautiful young ward, Estella is Pips unattainable dream throughout the novel. He loves her passionately, but though she sometimes seems to consider him a friend, she is usually cold, cruel, and uninterested in him. As they grow up together she repeatedly warns him that she has no heart. Pip also later discovers that Estella is Magwitchs daughter. One of the main themes of this story is wealth. In Victorian times money meant everything and it was what gave people their status in society. Ones individual wealth was reflected by their job and sense of dress, placing them into a society in which they were approved of. Money was a measure of giving a person everything they wanted, from luxuries, to happiness or even to a persons heart. Great Expectations on the other hand proves to illustrate an exact parody of the fact stated above. This is largely due to Pip going though much misfortune, suffering and tragedy as a gentleman, yet the novel points out that no amount of wealth buys you true love or friends, just grief and agony. In chapter one, the first meeting between Magwitch and Pip is set in a bleak place over grown with nettles in a churchyard which was intersected with dykes and mounds and gates that have scattered cattle feeding on it down at the marshes in Kent. The weather, in addition to the surroundings, is as follows; wind was rushing and the distant savage lair was the sea. This makes everything sound very quiet, eerie, and isolated. Also the use of the metaphor describing the sea distant savage lair emphasises how it seems so sister and dangerous. The use if this also creates an image in the readers mind of a dark, almost ghostly sea, making the setting so far very unsettling to the reader. This suggests that the meeting between the two characters may not be a friendly sort; rather it indicates its going to be more of a grim and disturbing type sensing that theres trouble brewing. The weather helps sets the scene and brings it all together, by making the reader anxious and curious about whats going to happen next, through using language such as savage and dark flat wilderness. These words are very negative and unpleasant; hence it brings up curiosity as to why its like that. Overall the setting of the first meeting is very pessimistic and sinister. This makes the setting seem very unappealing, causing the reader build up interest as to why the setting is such and also comes to understand that somethings about to happen, therefore whatever it is, it wont be something good when taking into account and reflecting back at the overall setting, including the weather. This use of subtle contrast from Dickins is in my view very clever as it stands almost as a metaphor for the context of the novel. In the Victorian era the amount of money possessed by each individual was a measure of your popularity and status. Despite this it did not always bring you happiness and contentment. The use of dismal and moody atmospheric description clearly symbolises how not everything is what it seems, as Pip and Magwitch, are not in the end foes as it seems they are going to be in the initial stages of the novel, but instead friends, with respect and understanding for each other. Many years later, the second meeting takes place at Pips home down in Garden-court, in London. Once again, the weather coincidently repeats itself just like chapter ones setting of the first meeting, wretched weather; stormy and wet, stormy, and wet; and mud, mud, mud, deep in all the streets is described as a vast heavy veil which has been around for quite a while. We could suspect that each time Magwitch and Pip are about to meet, the weather acts as an indication of trouble brewing before the meeting has commenced. This is because the weather alters by deteriorating to damp, murky, and stormy, setting the mood or emotion of the meeting that is to take place. All in all, Charles Dickens has created the setting to be very disturbing and eerie, simply by using a savage array of negative words like wretched and savage, causing the setting to appear in a negative light. This makes the reader concerned and question what is to happen next in the meeting between Pip and Magwitch, for the second time. The very first meeting with Pip and Magwitch shows just how different and unique the two characters are when compared to one and other. The story is told by Pip as a grown man, explaining and looking back at his past using his infant tongue to tell the story. However, in the second meeting Pip is no longer a boy, but a mature man who is three-and-twenty years of age whom is narrator and protagonist of the novel, Great Expectations.

The Implementation Of Performance Management

The Implementation Of Performance Management Performance management is one of the tools human resource managers can employ to engage employees and teams to achieve their goals and motivate them to achieve high levels of organizational performance. Nowadays, HR managers are faced with a variety of competition and business environments that are constantly changing individuals values and lifestyles. Hence, the HR mangers need to understand the processes that can help employees achieve the goals set by their organizations. Aim The purpose of this report is to evaluate human resource management, in particular, performance management by focusing on three general purposes namely, strategic, development, and administrative. Arguments are made outlining the advantages and disadvantages of implementing performance management systems. Furthermore, sources of performance information used to evaluate the sales assistance of ANZ Bank are examined. Finally, an evaluation of the fairness of performance management is provided. Relevant literatures will be reviewed and discussed to support the ideas presented within this document. Scope This report discusses, evaluates and in some cases, criticizes existing researches dealing with performance management and also shows the relationship between different researches toward performance management, including the advantages and disadvantages of implementing this system. Also, evaluations of the performance information that can adequately measure the performance of ANZs sales assistance along with the fairness of performance management systems are provided. The General Purposes of Performance Management Commonly, the purpose of Performance Management is to achieve an organizations goals or objectives. For instance, Walters (1995) states performance management is the process of improving the quality and quantity of work finished and aligning all the activities involved with an organizations objectives. Similarly, Armstrong (1998) recommenced performance management as the strategic and integrated approaches to deliver the successful to organization by improve the performance of employees by developing the capabilities of teams and individual contributors. Moreover, William (2002) states that performance management targets individuals within an organization and aims to direct and improve their performance and ultimately enhancing the organizations objectives. Schuler, Fulkerson and Dowling (1991) claimed that Performance management is an essential business driver to help businesses achieved desired results. Generally, Performance Management is an ongoing process that needs to be monito red throughout the year. The Performance Management purposes, which mainly includes areas such as, strategic, developmental, and administrative. Thus, the overall expectations and performance objectives are reviewed as following: 2.1 Strategic Purposes: Armstrong (1999) pointed out that the important features of PM are goal setting and feedback coupled with the development of individual characteristics as well as the development of organizations strategies. Utilizing the ideas presented within several literature reviews, the major roles of Strategic Performance Management can be classified as follows: (i.e. Atkinson, 1998; Dumond, 1994; Sink, 1991; Martinsons et al, 1999; and Neely, 1998) Overlooking the process of strategy implementation by assessing if the strategy is being put into practice as planned. Managers and higher-level personnel issue objectives and goals and not only ensure that these strategies are implemented but also that the contents of the strategy are up to date. The position check and selection employees by looking at whether the result of performance expectation is achieved University of California, Berkeley introduced the communication process that includes clarifying expectations, setting objectives, identifying goals, providing feedback, and evaluating results. Consequently, to help employees understand and meet the company goal provided the clearly of direct communication by pass the information to employees about the expectation of individual to be achieved, and also provides the feedback including benchmarks performance in difference department, teams, individual by report as the whole regarding their performance with respect to expected goal have been consider. Documentation process that enable line manager and employees to see the performance management as a part of daily workplace behavior. 2.2 Development Purposes: Performance management is an ongoing process. After a set of work objectives and organizational goals are agreed upon, the HR start with a clear agreement based on the strategy, goal, measure, and performance goal to be implemented. Organization coaching and developing process by evaluation of employees attention to these strategies and point out employees strength and weakness when the employees not perform well as they should. Therefore, the performance management seeks to improve these employees performance. Moreover, organization has to ensure the employees achieved the measurement results through the feedback so employees know where they stand. De Cieri et al. 2008 suggested that to build a performance culture by establish the process to encourage performance management feedback each day rather than the process that occurs throughout the year. As the result, the reviewed of performance annually more likely distorted and forgotten in order that organization should progress monito r regular and provide employee feedback after each particular event finished. At the end of performance period, assessment is made against objectives, means or behaviours demonstrated. Plus, new objectives for the next performance period maybe established (The University of California, Berkeley). Furthermore, Kaplan and Norton (2001) argued that employees at level need to learn the principles of the system, its measures, tools and procedures. Thus, the organization encourage improvement and learning by provided valuable information to help identify individual training need to improved employee performance and build up the potential of employee for further advancement. Moreover, Performance management system focuses on the skills that are required to perform a particular job and training will help employees to achieve that skill employee will get training that are required and have better positions and compensation offers within the organization. 2.3 Administrative Purposes: De Cieri et al. 2008 described the studied of PM can help the organization in particular to administrative decision making such as salary, promotion, retention, and termination and recognition of individual performance. The organization can define employee salary toward their performance, the person who greater performance will get the greater salary. The successful of performance management process (well-conceived and well-implemented) can motivate employee through financial with the compensation and also can motivate by non-financial reward such as positive feedback and opportunities to development (Armstrong, 1999). Thus, the reward can motivate employee via their efforts that rewards can be financial and non-financial by basically rewards provide base on the organization ability to pay and legal regulation as the company take the action by use the performance measure to calculate the rewards. As the result, it can say the reward can motivate and encourage building short term and long term incentives of engage performance. As the result, compensation can motivate the person to perform well by the good compensation package will increase the employees productivity and satisfaction level of the employees. In additional, some organizations award the salary and bonus base on their performance. Armstrong and Baron (1998) demonstrate that performance can be affected by several of factors, all of that should be taken into account when managing, measuring and rewarding performance. 3.0 Arguments For and Against the Implementation of Performance Management Argument For: Increasing Productivities A key aspect of performance management is training and developing new techniques that can help organizations improve individual, team and organizational performance. For example, ANZ develop their employees to be successful in their roles, by hosting training programs in a wide range of areas such as developing inspiring leadership qualities, providing learning and development opportunities and by developing and retaining talented employees who want to undertake challenging assignments. As a result of all these programs, trained sales assistance units are able to market new products online to increase customer convenience and satisfaction (Corporate Responsibility Review, 2008). As online functionality improves with time and effort, customers are provided with concise and timely information such as interest rates, currency exchange rates and so on, resulting in an increased number of customers utilizing these services and higher s productivities. Produce Meaningful Measurement of Employee Performance Performance management can help ensure that employees receive a fair appraisal based on their performance, by using various methods to evaluate employees. Organizations then inform employees of the results, in the form of constructive feedbacks. Organizations also take efforts to improve aspects of employees productivity by providing clear information of what is expected of them and align these expectations with the overall company goals and targets and also by hosting quality training and development programs. Consequence, the measurements are useful for organization setting standards for comparison with similar organizations or previous years (Hyndman and Anderson, 1997) Increased Retention Rate Performance management systems are implemented not only to evaluate employee performance but also to understand the basic needs of employees. It helps senior mangers to understand what employees are looking for, in terms of job satisfaction or how he/she is performing in their respective jobs. It helps to increases retention rates in organizations. Employees are aware of what is required of them and focus their output according to these specifics. For instance, ANZs business strategy of recruiting and retaining employees has resulted in an increase in the number of employees from 8,810 to 9,245 between 2008 and 2009 (ANZ, 2010). Performance management also can help ensure that employees receive equitable treatment because performance management appraisals are based on results. Analysing these results can lead to enhanced job satisfaction, increased productivities and so on. Additionally, performance management can facilitate ongoing, constructive communication between supervisors and employees, all the while focusing on achieving organizational goals and targets. Armstrong and Baron (2003) also suggest that the successful implementation of performance management systems can result in desirable culture changes and avoid problems such as, lack of understanding and enthusiasm. Against: High Cost Recently, organizations have been forced to cut down cost due to the global economic crisis. The decision of whether or not to train employees has been a consequence of this phenomenon. Even though training is the best way to retain and maintain employees, the effects of economic recession have led to organizations cutting down on training programs. During periods of economic recession, organizations are faced with a higher than normal rate in employee turnover. (Glance, Hogg and Huberman, 1997). External Factors Performance management frameworks and systems do not directly take into consideration external factors such as, global recessions or natural calamities. As such, when such a scenario does arise, performance management system may have to undergo heavy modifications to compensate. Unrealistic Performance Targets Sometimes organizations are desperate to achieve organizational goals and as a result, unrealistic performance levels may be set for employees. These targets are often difficult and unattainable, and as a result, dissatisfied employees may decide to leave their jobs. Actual Performance versus Target Performance Failing to effectively implement performance management systems may give rise to a lapse between actual and target performances. A managers inability to conform to procedures such as conducting regular meetings to discuss employees performance and providing them with necessary training may lead to a breakdown in the entire system. Therefore, an employees lack of understanding of what is precisely required of them can greatly impact an organizations performance as a whole. 4.0 An Evaluation of the Performance of ANZs Sales Assistance Like any successful organization, ANZ bank takes its corporate responsibilities very seriously by adopting responsible business practices and by reporting and updating their Corporate Responsibility (CR) Performance. ANZs CR Reporting follows the guidelines set by the global best practice standards. In 2008, ANZ Bank implemented a new, streamlined approach, known as the Global Performance Management Framework, to facilitate enhanced monitoring of their employees performance and to utilize their personnels full potential. As such, the simplified and globally homogenous approach they adopted utilizes a concept known as balanced scorecard, which measures and evaluates the performances of their employees across four main company objectives, namely, Financial, Customer, People and Process, and also the benchmarks of behaviour and risk/compliance that are exhibited throughout the year. The Performance Management at ANZ is divided into three stages: Performance Planning, Performance Coaching and Performance Assessment. Performance Planning: This stage involves setting clear and measurable objectives and targets at lower levels of the organization. Strong emphasis is placed on the impact that achieving these goals have on the organizations broader business goals and priorities. Employees and managers are unified under a common set of highly ambitious, yet realistic and achievable goals from the beginning so that each individual understands the importance of his/her role and how he/she can contribute to the overall success of the organization. One of the key focuses of this stage is ensuring that employees have a clear understanding of the behaviour and risk/compliance standards expected of them. Performance Coaching: At this stage of Performance Management, managers conduct regular meetings with employees to coach and develop them. Managers are required to evaluate employees performance and appraise their current status in respect to the performance levels expected of them by conducting mid-year performance discussions. A key aspect of this stage is to ensure that managers provide employees with sufficient support and learning opportunities that can enable them to succeed at their roles. Performance Assessment: At this stage, higher level personnel provide lower level employees with an evaluation of their performance at the end of the year. The outcomes of this stage are linked directly with the companys remuneration and rewards schemes. (Corporate responsibility review, 2008) Following these guidelines, the Performance Management Framework provides each individual within the organization with a clearly defined set of objectives and goals and ensures that they understand precisely what is expected of them. Sales assistance involves handling routine client enquiries in all segments of the companys objectives. Therefore, the tools and instruments employed in maintaining the organizations new Performance Management Framework, can effectively evaluate the performance of sales assistance in ANZ Bank, especially when coupled with detailed and informative annual CR Reports. In addition to providing annual performance reports, ANZ also maintains a Corporate Responsibility website and issues annual CR Interim reports and monthly Corporate Responsibility updates to stakeholders. The information contained within all these reports and updates can adequately evaluate the performance of personnel, and more importantly, provide detailed information on specific branches of the companys departments, like sales assistance. ANZ has been reporting on its CR Performance since 2004. Each year, the organizations goals and work programs include high-priority issues involving their industry, customers, employees and the community. According to the 2008 CR Report, by September 2008, ANZ had witnessed the first rise in customer satisfaction statistics in over six months. The organization had set six customer-oriented goals: Implement a new Personal Division policy and processes to assist retail customers facing financial difficulty Maintain their position as the number 1 Lead Bank for major Corporate and Institutional clients Achieve Equator Principles reporting for 100% of ANZs Project Finance transactions Continue to improve their retail customer satisfaction and match the performance of community and regional banks Meet or exceed the performance standards set out in their Customer Charter and conduct a review of its commitments Implement Institutional social and environmental lending policies for forests, mining, energy and water. The first three goals in the above list were successfully achieved, while the latter three goals were partially satisfied. There were five employee-oriented goals set by the organization for the year 2008, and only one of these goals placing women in managerial positions in Australia and New Zealand was unattained, although, the actual statistics only marginally trailed the target figures. The goal of employing 100 Indigenous Australians, as part of the Indigenous Employment Strategy was successfully accomplished, as 106 Indigenous trainees were employed by ANZ in 2008. The three other set goals that were partially achieved are: Closing the gap on pay differential between men and women at all levels of the organization, Reducing their Lost Time Injury Frequency Rate by a further 20% in Australia and New Zealand and report performance globally, and improve their performance in the ANZ Engagement and Culture Census. Of the four community-oriented goals that were set, all four were successfully accomplished. The goals included: Release ANZs bi-annual financial literacy research, Meet their financial literacy and inclusion program targets, Achieve 70,000 hours of staff volunteering across the Groups and 15% participation in payroll giving, Achieve the commitments in our Reconciliation Action Plan including staff training, financial literacy and assisting to build the capacity of Indigenous organizations. The figures and outcomes in these reports provide adequate information towards evaluating the performance of various branches in various departments. 5.0 Evaluation of the fairness of performance management One of the most important functions of human resource management is Staff Performance Management. As discussed earlier, ANZ Bank employs a management tool known as the Global Performance Management Framework to monitor, evaluate and enhance the performance of its employees. One of the key aspects of Performance Management is to formulate a set of goals and priorities that serve as targets and guidelines for employees to better understand their respective roles and how each individuals performance impacts the organization as a whole. The employee performance management system encompasses the following basic aims: Direct employees in order to achieve the objectives in the various departments and branches present within an organization. Appraise, evaluate and monitor the performance of employees and enhance communication between employees and management personnel. To provide pathways and formulate schemes for developing employees. Throughout this report, various research materials are sited supporting the fact that performance management, if implemented properly, can ensure an organizations success. This section of the report attempts to link performance management with other Human Resource Management functions to ascertain and evaluate the fairness of performance management. Figure 1: The link between Performance Management and other HR Functions For a performance management system to be effective and functional, certain elements are normally incorporated into the system: Open and fair Oriented towards the competency of employees An ongoing process (HRM civil service bureau, 1999) Open and Fair This element of the performance management system seeks to achieve fairness in performance appraisal by encouraging employees to be outspoken and constructive in their feedbacks. Additionally, managers are also encouraged to be open and objective in their appraisals of the employees. The following methods can be instrumental in accomplishing this: Formulating comprehensive and detailed objectives and targets. Encouraging higher-level employees to conduct discussions with employees pertaining to their performances and providing counselling and training when necessary. Making equal opportunities available to all staff members, in terms of promotions, remuneration and rewards packages and training and development. Forming a panel, whenever possible, to facilitate fairness in performance appraisals. Oriented Towards the Competency of Employees The competency of employees can be broadly classified into two sub-categories; core competencies and functional competencies. Competency relates to the knowledge, attributes, attitude and skills that are required for an employee to succeed in his/her role. Core competencies include a set of skills necessary for an employee to satisfactorily perform his/her duties in their respective departments. Functional competencies include specific sets of skills required by an individual to perform his specific role in the organization. Making use of a system that is competency-oriented greatly enhances the beginning stages of performance management, where goals and objectives are formulated. Employees at different levels of the organization are able to understand what is required of them due to the well-structured job requirements that align each individuals role in the organizations chain of command. An Ongoing Process Performance management systems are an ongoing endeavour that requires constant attention and monitoring. Failing to maintain set standards on a regular basis may lead to a decline in the quality of the companys performance and output. This process involves: Performance planning: This stage involves the appraiser and the appraised, in that, the former informs the latter of the responsibilities and objectives they are required to satisfy, by setting realistic, precise and quantitative targets as comprehensive guidelines for them to follow. Coaching and development: Here, particular emphasis is placed on giving recognition to good performance and providing helpful feedback and guidance to employees. Recognizing noteworthy performances can be a good way of boosting morale and encouraging employees to strive for excellence. Providing continuous counselling and advice can ensure that employees are up to date in the organizations ongoing quest for success and retaining the level of success, once it is achieved. Interim review: An interim review aims to evaluate employee performance. It is a formal interview or discussion where the evaluating personnel identifies performance results and undertakes appropriate actions, assesses development and training programs, identify any shortcomings or barriers that prevents employees from reaching their full potential and make modifications to the objectives required of the employee. Human Resources personnel bridge the gap between employers, managers and employees. Therefore, in addition to their other tasks, HR personnel can ensure the fairness of the employee performance appraisal procedures by understanding the employees concept of fairness and encouraging helpful feedback from employees, thus facilitating better communication between higher-level personnel and lower-level employees.. A fair and transparent system promotes and encourages employees to perform at their best, as the possibilities of achieving promotions and benefit packages are ever present and realistic. Conclusion Obviously, PM is one of the most important functions of HRM which links individuals objectives and organization goals. Thus, PM can be a very effective and efficient management tool if applied properly. An organization should provided its employees with the clear information of the organizations aims, job expectations and motivate employees to perform better by focusing on the desired results, improving communication, and developing the skills and attitudes of employees to better enable them to achieve organizational goals. Moreover, the implementation of performance management frameworks can be both advantageous and disadvantageous for an organization. Analyzing ANZ banks sources of performance information shows that the implementation of a solid PM framework, coupled with their globally recognized reporting methods enables the organization to adequately evaluate the performance of ANZs various departments and sectors, including the sales assistance unit. Finally, fairness in evalua ting and appraising employees performance within an organization can motivate employees to enhance their performance. Organizations can achieve this by providing equal opportunities for their employees towards promotion options, access to remuneration and rewards schemes, training/counselling/mentoring/advising, providing clear, concise information and specifying job tasks and so on. 7.0 Recommendations Organizations should continue to review their strategies regularly by focusing on performance management. Organizations should strive to take actions that can facilitate improvements and employee training and also focus on the development of strategies to justify any gaps, if present, between the organizations actual performance and target goals. Fairness plays an important role in motivating and guiding employees. Although, the concept of fairness may vary from one individual to another, there are certain ideologies, however, that remain constant. For example, it is commonly understood in a workplace that an employee should be rewarded based on his/her performance within the organization. The aspects of fairness that may vary from one individual to another are feelings of how one was treated by his/her employer or manager in regards to a particular scenario. Therefore, it is important for managers and employers to ascertain how their employees perceive fairness. This can be accomplished by providing employees with questionnaires that will enable them to express their take on fairness. This will help higher level personnel to understand their employees more intimately and tailor their remuneration and rewards packages and training opportunities accordingly. In performance management, the employees are subject to be reviewed by their managers. Employees will directly receive feedback from the members of their team. The team members will observe each other and then report to managers when performance problems occur. Subsequently, the managers should combine the feedback gained from their team members and then undertake the necessary corrective measures.

What is The Right Stuff? :: The Right Stuff

The Right Stuff - What is the Stuff? As might be expected from the title, The Right Stuff is centered on the concept of having the right stuff. Author Tom Wolfe uses several recurring techniques and comparisons to describe this idea and its relationship to the men who took part in the Mercury program. An opening chapter of the book is devoted to the "right stuff" in order to explain the concept to the reader. In this chapter, Wolfe makes a clear distinction between the right stuff and simple bravery. He tells the reader that a possessor of the right stuff can not only risk his life. He "should have the ability to go up in a hurtling piece of machinery and put his hide on the line and then have the moxie, the reflexes, the experience, the coolness, to pull it back in the last yawning moment" (19). One critic interprets the distinction as being "between the actual experience of the right stuff- of being a fighter pilot and experiencing, for example, night landings on an aircraft carrier- and any prior effort to describe that experience in language" (Marowski and Matuz 419). In the same chapter, the reader is also introduced to an element which recurs throughout the rest of the book. The author compares a career in flying to the climbing of a ziggurat, an extraordinarily high and steep pyramid. In an especially vivid passage he writes: "the idea was to prove at every foot of the way up that pyramid that you were one of the elected and anointed ones who had the right stuff and could move higher and higher and even-ultimately...be able to join the very Brotherhood of the Right Stuff" (19 ). Through this pyramid the world is divided into those who had the stuff and those were just left behind. Another characteristic of the right stuff is the pilots' relationship with one another. These pilots seem to always want to associate only with one another. Wolfe shows the reader the pilots' belief that only other pilots can understand their daily life and death struggles. In their discussions, though, it is shown that the pilots never like to use words like "danger," "bravery," and "fear." Instead they use a special code or explain by example.

Free Essays - A Dysfunctional Henry in A Farewell to Arms :: Farewell Arms Essays

A Dysfunctional Henry in A Farewell to Arms In Ernest Hemmingway's A Farewell to Arms, the protagonist, Frederic Henry is both dysfunctional and tragic. Throughout the story Henry lives up to this description of shear tragedy and dysfunction. The main elements that aid in making him both tragic and dysfunctional are: the fact that the love he and Catherine shared at the end of the book was doomed, this love was only "role-playing" to him at first, and he went AWOL on the Italian army. The first detail that contributes to making Henry a dysfunctional character is that he uses role-playing as a way of escaping the realization of the human mortality which is unveiled by the war. This role-playing begins on Henry and Catherine's third encounter. After this meeting the two become increasingly comfortable with their roles. It is as if their whole relationship is a "game". Neither one of them mistakes role-playing for a truly intimate relationship, but both recognize that it can be a useful device for satisfying certain emotional needs. This role-playing is a very dysfunctional characteristic of Frederic Henry. The second point that makes Henry a dysfunctional character is that he deserted the Italian army. Not only was this illegal but it could have cost him his life. Henry, although an American, had made a commitment to the Italian army, to protect and serve Italy. This characteristic alone is enough to make one dysfunctional, as it does to Henry. In addition to being a dysfunctional character, Henry is also a tragic character. Catherine is pure tragedy. Although the relationship that the love that Henry gains for Frederic and Catherine had started out to be only role-playing it turned into something much more, it became true love. This love was more than could be explained in words. Their love during an ugly war was not to be recreated or modeled even as much as through a baby conceived by their love. The baby could not be born alive because their love was beautiful yet doomed so that nothing could come out of it. "In a world where the abstracts of glory, honor, and sacrifice meant little to Frederic, his physical association with Catherine was the only thing he had and it was taken away from him long before she died.

Antony and Brutus Coercion :: essays papers

Antony and Brutus Coercion Brutus and Marc Antony’s Coercion In Coercion, Douglas Rushkoff explains how easily people are easily coerced. For example, Rushkoff states that people are convinced by car salesman to pay more for a car than they wanted to. In Julius Caesar, Marc Antony asks to speak at the funeral of his dear friend, Julius Caesar, after one of the murderers, Brutus, speaks. Brutus convinces the Romans that Caesar would be a tyrant if he did not murder him, while Antony convinces the Romans that Caesar is not ambitious and there would never be another ruler like Caesar. The art of public speaking is important in the past and present. Rushkoff explains that â€Å"they† coerce humans to think a certain way on a topic. He also asks, â€Å"Who are ‘they,’and why do we listen to them?† He states that each person has a different â€Å"they†, and defines â€Å"they† as those who seem to decide how lives are to be run and control fate and futures. He states that the best manipulation occurs when the exploitation is not detected. He disapproves of coercion because it takes advantage of susceptible human minds. Marc Antony, as well as Brutus, uses the undetected technique of coercion on the Romans. Brutus speaks first to the Romans and tells them that he and others have murdered Julius Caesar, but it is for the good of the country. Brutus claims that his reasoning behind the mutiny is that he loved Rome more than he loved Caesar. Brutus asks the Romans if they would rather be enslaved with Caesar living, or free with Caesar dead. Brutus kills Caesar because he was too ambitious. Now in Brutus’s speech, he has coerced the Romans into believing that the murder of Caesar is just. He asks the Romans whom he has offended by loving Rome more than any other, and he does not receive a response. In Brutus’s short speech, he convinces the people that Caesar was a tyrant and that he does Rome a favor by betraying Caesar. Just as Brutus used passive coercion, Marc Antony also speaks to the Romans with the same technique. Antony gets on the pulpit and starts to speak of the Romans as people just like him, he does not place himself above the Romans, unlike Brutus. Antony begins his speech by agreeing with Brutus, which he had promised Brutus he would do. Antony and Brutus Coercion :: essays papers Antony and Brutus Coercion Brutus and Marc Antony’s Coercion In Coercion, Douglas Rushkoff explains how easily people are easily coerced. For example, Rushkoff states that people are convinced by car salesman to pay more for a car than they wanted to. In Julius Caesar, Marc Antony asks to speak at the funeral of his dear friend, Julius Caesar, after one of the murderers, Brutus, speaks. Brutus convinces the Romans that Caesar would be a tyrant if he did not murder him, while Antony convinces the Romans that Caesar is not ambitious and there would never be another ruler like Caesar. The art of public speaking is important in the past and present. Rushkoff explains that â€Å"they† coerce humans to think a certain way on a topic. He also asks, â€Å"Who are ‘they,’and why do we listen to them?† He states that each person has a different â€Å"they†, and defines â€Å"they† as those who seem to decide how lives are to be run and control fate and futures. He states that the best manipulation occurs when the exploitation is not detected. He disapproves of coercion because it takes advantage of susceptible human minds. Marc Antony, as well as Brutus, uses the undetected technique of coercion on the Romans. Brutus speaks first to the Romans and tells them that he and others have murdered Julius Caesar, but it is for the good of the country. Brutus claims that his reasoning behind the mutiny is that he loved Rome more than he loved Caesar. Brutus asks the Romans if they would rather be enslaved with Caesar living, or free with Caesar dead. Brutus kills Caesar because he was too ambitious. Now in Brutus’s speech, he has coerced the Romans into believing that the murder of Caesar is just. He asks the Romans whom he has offended by loving Rome more than any other, and he does not receive a response. In Brutus’s short speech, he convinces the people that Caesar was a tyrant and that he does Rome a favor by betraying Caesar. Just as Brutus used passive coercion, Marc Antony also speaks to the Romans with the same technique. Antony gets on the pulpit and starts to speak of the Romans as people just like him, he does not place himself above the Romans, unlike Brutus. Antony begins his speech by agreeing with Brutus, which he had promised Brutus he would do.

Dr. Jonas Salk Polio Vaccine

Dr. Jonas Salk Polio Vaccine Dr. Jonas Salk Polio Vaccine Polio in the 1950’s has American parents in fear and anxiety due to thousands of children were become infected with a crippling disease Poliomyelitis (polio). Polio is a disease caused by infections of the poliovirus, which can affect nerves and can leads to a partial or full paralysis. It is an inflammation of the spinal cord’s gray matter and can sometimes extend into the brainstem. Now thanks to Dr. Salk most children in the U. S get this Polio Vaccine along with many other vaccination shots as children to prevent this from procuring.In New York City in 1914 Russian-Jewish immigrant couples were happy to be blessed with a happy healthy boy names Jonas Salk. His parents had little educational background but they were determined to make sure that there kids succeed and do well. Dr. Salk was the first one in his family to go to college his plan was to go into law but then switched to medical science. While at New York University Dr. Salk was invited to spend a year researching influenza’s. Dr. Salk joined his mentor Dr. Thomas Francis, as a research fellow at the University of Michigan.There, he worked to develop an influenza vaccine In 1947 was appointed to the University of Pittsburgh Medical School and saw a golden opportunity to develop a vaccine against polio and devoted his work to it for the next 8years. In 1948 Dr. Salk took the techniques that he had learned from the past with working with influenzas and the â€Å"principle of vaccinations that if the bod is artificially exposed to a harmless form of the disease virus, the body will produce antibodies that resist or kill dangerous form of the virus if later exposed. â€Å"History of Jonas Salk. †Ã‚  Salk Institute – About Salk – History of Salk – About Jonas Salk. Salk Institute for Biological Studies). † Most of the support he got was from National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis and la ter became known as the March of Dimes. The founder of this organization was Former presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt who himself had Polio. In 1952 Dr. Salk and his team developed what they considered to be a safe potential polio vaccine. The vaccine was given to volunteers who had not had polio Dr.Salk laboratory staff, his kids and wife all volunteered and had no bad reactions to the vaccine. Then they tested in on a group of children at Watson Home for Crippled children located near Pittsburgh. One million kids between 6 and 9 half received the vaccine the other half got a placebo. On April 12, 1955 at the University of Michigan they announced that the vaccine had proven to be safe and effective. A year later they continued to improve it and began to work with a pharmaceutical company to scale it for a clinical trial and commercial manufacture.Dr. Salk spent most of the last 1950’s refining the vaccine and working on the scientific principles behind the researchers and by 1960 Dr. Salk was ready to move on and create a community of researcher’s to expand and work on other things too including Multiple sclerosis, and autoimmune disease , cancer immunology improving manufacture and standardization of killed polio vaccine and then eventually AIDS. The average number of polio cases in the US was more than 45,000 but by 1962 it was only 910. Dr.Salk never received any money for his discovery. A few year later a vaccine made from live polio virus was developed which could be administered orally Dr. Salk’s originally vaccine had to be injected. Dr. Salk last years were spent searching for a vaccine against AIDS Dr. Salk passed away on June 23, 1995 at the age of 80. A memorial at the Institute with a statement from Salk captures his vision: â€Å"Hope lies in dreams, in imagination and in the courage of those who dare to make dreams into reality. Work cited 1. â€Å"Jonas Salk Biography. †Ã‚  Academy of Achievement. N. p. , 05 Feb. 200 5. Web. 24 Jan. 2013. http://www. achievement. org/autodoc/page/sal0bio-1 2. â€Å"Jonas Salk 1914 – 1995. †Ã‚  PBS. PBS, n. d. Web. 24 Jan. 2013. http://www. pbs. org/wgbh/aso/databank/entries/bmsalk. html 3. â€Å"History of Jonas Salk. †Ã‚  Salk Institute – About Salk – History of Salk – About Jonas Salk. Salk Institute for Biological Studies, n. d. Web. 28 Jan. 2013. http://www. salk. edu/about/jonas_salk. html