Marge Piercy: Barbie Doll Poem Essay

The poem â€Å"Barbie Doll† is a powerful poem written by Marge Piercy. The title carries a lot of meaning because a Barbie Doll has been an icon in society. Society has a hold on individual’s lives, especially on women. Since 1960, it started to be an issue on women to fit in and become what others want them to be. Women, who adapt to society’s dictate, have to stop being themselves and become somebody else in order to please everyone else. Society tells us how to dress and acting order to be acceptable. By using television, the internet, magazines, billboards and even toys we see a mold of what women are supposed to look like. The world in our eyes make us women think we should look like a Barbie Doll. It is sad to see that this poem was written in 1969 and forty three years later, we realize that nothing has changed and the same barriers still exist. Marge Piercy, a feminist activist as well as a poet, novelist, essayist, and playwright melds the personal and the political in her writing. She writes frequently about women’s issues, particularly the ways in which women have been made to feel inferior, both about their minds and their bodies. Piercy began writing both poetry and fiction when she was fifteen. Marge wrote Barbie Doll in 1969. She was aware of the need to reform on what females shouldn’t feel about themselves and go through. In Marge Piercy’s â€Å"Barbie Doll†, we find a young girl growing up through the adolescence stage and look through only her appearance. The girl struggles a lot during her teenage years and she shows us the effects that can happen when the world only looks on the outside of a human being. (Sigit) The girl in this poem is presented with lifelike dolls, toy household appliances, and makeup. The girl in Barbie Doll is similar to most other girls who are presented with toys to prepare her for the roles of mother, housewife, and feminine beauty. To make clear that obviously not all girls fit into this mold of female social roles. Piercy makes reference to puberty: a time in a girl life where hormones are out of control and peers become judgmental. If one is not skinny, beautiful hair, and smile then she will be made fun of an outcast. Although the girl was healthy, intelligent, and strong she was still insecure. Her attributes were noticed because she was not beautiful. She was unable to embrace her talents and accept herself for who she was because of her physical appearance. Piercy writes how the young girl was advised to play along with the roles of society. The young girl should diet and try to change herself to fit social norms. She should not embrace who she is but she should conform to who society believes she should be. In the third stanza this girl had had enough. Piercy wrote, â€Å"So she cut off her nose and her legs then offered them up.† Did the girl kill herself? Did she get plastic surgery? Did she cut the Barbie dolls nose and legs off? (Piercy) As the last stanza discusses her death and the placing on of a putty nose, it is safe to say she killed herself, literally cutting off her nose and legs. She wanted to belong and be accepted and when she realized no matter what she did, it was not enough. The fifth and final stanza is extremely ironic. She is viewed by others as pretty at last. Why is she pretty? She is pretty because she is covered in makeup with a new nose, â€Å"dressed in a pink and white nightie.† Pink symbolizing femininity and white purity she is finally accepted in death. This is ironic because in death she is made to appear like someone she was not in real life. She is made to appear like the perfect Barbie doll. (Piercy) This poem demonstrates the roles of women and how they are expected to look and act a certain way. The girl in the poem represents all girls. It represents all girls in that there is one time or another that we do not feel accepted or perfect. (M) Bibliography M, Stephanie. Female Social Roles. 20 October 2012 . Piercy, Marge. â€Å"Barbie Doll.† Henderson, Gloria Mason, et al. Literature and Ourselves. New York: Pearson Education, Inc, 2009. 323-324. Sigit, Asih. WOMAN’S VALUES IN SOCIETY AS REFLECTED IN MARGE PIERCY’S† BARBIE DOLL†. 1 January 2007. 21 October 2012 .

Optimal Alarm Sound Design

Optimal alarm sound design: New design process for noticeable, but pleasant sounds Author 193 Track 3: what the beep? ABSTRACT The goal of this research is improving alarm sound design, focusing on the paradox of noticeable versus pleasant sounds. The characteristics of annoying sounds correspond in large extend to the characteristics of noticeable sounds. Therefore it is difficult to design an alarm sound, which is noticeable, but not annoying. A lot of studies are conducted along aspects which make sounds annoying and several guidelines are described for designing noticeable alarm sounds.However, no data is conveyed about the combination of these characteristics linked to sound design. In this study an existing design process for alarm sounds is adjusted regarding to pleasantness and noticeability of sounds. Hereby methods to analyze and test pleasantness and noticeability of sounds are added to the process. As a result this paper suggests a new design process which can be used to design an alarm sound considering these aspects. Keywords product sound design; alarm sound; annoying sounds; noticeable sounds; design processes INTRODUCTIONMost of the time alarm sounds are not optimal designed, because in the majority of cases the context of the user is not taken into account. Edworthy (2006) found that in consequence alarms are often too badly designed resulting in annoying, not effective sounds. Schmidt & Baysinger (1986) pointed out that a pleasant sound to report a complication can be more effective during an emergency. However, the alarm sound should still be clearly noticeable, so that it cannot be missed. Annoying sounds The perception of annoyance may be very personal and subjective, but research as shown that there are some characteristics of sounds that influence this perceived annoyance. (Steele & Chon, 2007). The research of Steele & Chon (2007) found that loudness is the most important determinant of annoyance in respect to sound. They also revealed that the wider the bandwidth, the more annoying the sound is perceived. Higher frequencies and modulations increase the perception of annoyance as well (Genuit, 2001). A modulation is a change from one tone to another. Besides the type of sound, there are a many other factors that influence the perception of annoyance. One of these factors, revealed by Maris et al. 2007), is the ability to influence the sound. Another study posited that age is also an important aspect for determining the perception of annoyance. (Botteldooren & Verkeyn, 2002). Noticeable sounds Obviously, the noticeability of an alarm sound is better when the volume of the sound is higher. Edworthy (2006) pointed out some other characteristics of clearly noticeable alarms sounds, like high and low frequencies, harmonics and discontinuous sounds. Hereby alarm sounds are respectively easier to localize, more resistant to masking by other sounds and less presumable to interfere with communication.Harmonics are sounds w ith frequencies that are a multiple of the fundamental frequency. Another component which makes a sound more clearly noticeable, is the variation in more than only pitch (Edworthy & Meredith, 1997). Namely, if a sound alters in more than just tone, for instance frequency, the ability to distinguish it from other sounds increases. Besides that, environmental sounds and auditory icons are easier to learn and retain (Leung, 1997; Ulfvengren, 2003). Similarities annoying and noticeable soundsThere is a lot of literature written about designing noticeable alarm sounds and about annoying sounds. However, there is barely literature which compares these two characteristics of sounds. Nevertheless, a lot of characteristics of annoying sounds are identical to the characteristics of noticeable sounds, see figure 1. Figure 1. Characteristics which make sounds annoying as well as noticeable. As you can see in this figure, loudness is an important characteristic of annoyance as well as noticeabil ity of sound. The same is true for high and low frequencies which are linked to a wide bandwidth and a high frequency.High frequency is also linked with harmonics, because a harmonic is a sound whose frequency is higher than the keynote of that sound observed by the ear. Furthermore, modulations contribute to an annoying sound, while discontinuous sounds provide a noticeable sound. This is conflicting, because if a sound has modulations it is not discontinuous as a result of the changes in tone. So most of the characteristics of annoying and noticeable sounds are similar, whereby it is hard to design an alarm sound that is noticeable, but not annoying. All the corresponding characteristics are focused on type of sound.However, there are other factors which can influence the perception of annoyance and the noticeability of sound. These factors are particularly related to the context. Research of Philip (2009) also showed the relationship between the annoyance and noticeability of sou nd. She showed a significant correlation between the urgency rating and the annoyance rating of alarm sounds. The urgency rating can be linked to the noticeability of the alarm sound, which in essence points towards a relationship between the annoyance and noticeability of a sound. Yet, there are no papers with guidelines or methods to deal with this problem.Purpose The overall goal of this research is improving alarm sound design, focusing on the balance between noticeable and pleasant sounds. The aim of this research is suggesting a design method/process which helps to create a balance between the noticeability and annoyance of sounds. In this paper will be focused on a wide range of alarm sounds. Every sound with a warning function is taken into account. Hereby the outcome is usable for a variety of alarm sound designs, see figure 2. The IC is a relevant example, because noticeability is very important in this place, but if an alarm is too annoying it is often turned off.Another example is an alarm clock. It is imported that the product helps you to wake up in time, but if the sound is not pleasant you may have a bad start to the day. Figure 2. Examples of products with alarm sound. For this research a literature study is done about existing methods which can be used to design alarm sounds. With these inputs and information about the annoyance and noticeability of sounds a new method is defined. EXISTING METHODS Design processes are most of the time iterative and consisting of different stages (Roozenburg & Eekels, 1995).Often, a design process starts with a problem definition, followed by ideas to solve this problem. Then a concept is developed to meet the determined requirements and satisfy the user. (Rouse, 1991). Design process alarm sounds Edworthy and Stanton (1995) came up with a user-centered method to design alarm sounds, see figure 3. In this method, especially the noticeability of the sound is taken into account. In the method nothing is stated a bout the annoyance of sounds, though. From this process some stages which are also usable to design a pleasant, noticeable alarm can be derived.Important stages regarding these aspects are establish the need for warning, appropriate ranking test, learning and confusion test, urgency mapping test, recognition and matching test and operation test. Figure 3. Edworthy and Stanton’s design process to design alarm sounds. The mentioned stages are particularly useful to design a noticeable sound. Therefore some stages that focus on the pleasantness of sound can be added. Besides that, the context of the users is not taken into account. However, this is very relevant to design an alarm sound, since most characteristics which are not conflicting are related to the context.Context Another method which can be used to design alarm sounds is etnography. Ethnography is a method to define the context by revealing the user’s environment and interactions between the product, user and t heir own physical environment (Leonard & Rayport, 1997). This is useful for alarm sound design, since it is important to take the environment of the user, including other sounds, into account. Pleasantness There are some known techniques for eliciting verbal attributes of product sounds, which can be used to identify the importance of pleasantness of a sound.One of these methods is the Repertory Grid Technique, succesfully applied by Berg & Rumsey (1999) for eliciting descriptions of the sound of a product. Another procedure to evoke important attributes of sounds is the Quantitative Descriptive Analysis (Stone et al. , 1974), whereby a descriptive language will be developed by participants accompanied by a facilitator. While applying these techniques no real sound examples are used, but products are presented to recall the attributes of sound connected to that product. Later in the design process eliciting can be used to rank the different sound designs by annoyance.This can be don e by deriving verbal attributes through a survey. Gabrielsson (1979) used this method by conducting an extensive experiment, where the participants were asked to rate the sounds according to their suitability. Another method to test the pleasantness of a sound is a model made by Aures (1985). This model calculates the pleasantness considering sharpness, roughness, tonalness and loudness, with an accuracy of more than 90%. NEW METHOD Based on the design process of Edworthy & Stanton (1995) a new design process can be suggested for designing pleasant, but noticeable alarm sounds, see figure 4.Establish need for warning As the process of Edworthy & Stanton, the new design process will start with establishing the need for warning by identifying the alert functions of the product. This will be done to clarify the importance of noticeability of the sound, which can be used to create an optimal balance between noticeability and annoyance. For instance, when noticeability is very essential, the annoyance of a sound may be less important. Identify context Then, the context will be identified by using ethnography. Hereby the physical environment of the user and the corresponding sounds are taken into account.Factors of the context can influence the annoyance and pleasantness of a sound. Therefore it is important to be aware of the context and use this during designing. Elicitation The last step of the analyis is elicitation of sounds, whereof users think they fit the product. By means of this method the importance of a pleasant sound can be revealed. There are two procedures which may be appropriate to do so. The Repertory Grid Technique can be used to elicit descriptions of the sound of a product. The more the word pleasant is called as description, the more important this characteristic will be.Besides that, the Quantitative Descriptive Analysis is useful to develop a descriptive language which describes the desired attributes of a product. The outcome of this techniq ue can be compared with those of The Reportory Grid Technique. The difference is in the way the descriptions are elicit. The Reportory Grid Technique uses product sounds and the Quantitative Descriptive Analysis uses no real sounds, but only products. Figure 4. Suggested design process regarding pleasant, but noticeable alarm sounds Designing sounds The design of the sound can be done exactly the same as Edworthy and Stanton escribed in their process. First, existing alerting sounds and user suggestions will be considered. After that soundimagery studies can be used. Testing pleasantness/annoyance After designing different concept sounds, the sounds can be tested in terms of annoyance or pleasantness. To do so two methods are suggested. The first procedure consists of a questionairre or survey, whereby the participants should rank the sounds by annoyance. The other technique is a model developed by Aures (1985) which calculates the sensory euphony(pleasantness) of a sound regarding loudness, sharpness, tonalness and roughness.According to these tests the sound can be modified considering pleasantness. Testing noticeability The noticeability of sounds can be tested by procedures Edworthy & Stanton (1995) described in their design process. Using these techniques the sounds can be tested concerning different aspects, like learning & confusion, urgency and recogniton & matching. The learning & confusion test is ideally performed in the real context, so it will become clear if the sound can be confused with other sounds in the environment.The urgency mapping test shows if the mapping between the signal and situation is suitable in terms of urgency using existent guidelines. In the recognition & matching test participants are asked to assign the sounds to the appropriate warning function. According to these tests the sound can be improved and optimized considering noticeability. DISCUSSION The adjustments of the suggested design process are really focused on the ana lysis and testing of pleasantness and noticeability. Consequently, the designing itself is not taken into account, but is indeed very important.Further research for this phase of the design process can be useful to improve the suggested design process. Besides that, the design process is not tested, whereby there is not been evaluated how useful the process might be. To validate the suggested process an experiment with a couple sound designers should be done. Furthermore two procedures who explore roughly the same are recommended for the elicitation phase, but only one technique is necessary in this phase. Therefore more research about these methods in regarding to pleasantness and noticeability is preferred to choose the most appropriate technique.CONCLUSION Due to the fact that most characteristics of noticeable sounds are conflicting with the characteristics of pleasant sounds, it is difficult to design a sound which is both noticeable and pleasant. However, if the designer will focus on this during the whole design process, it should be possible to find a good balance between these two aspects. Hereby it is essential to look at the context of the user and the need for warning and a pleasant sound. Furthermore the sound should be tested on these aspects, since the characteristics are subjective and therefore defined by the user.The suggested design process can be used for a wide range of alarm sounds, which requires a noticeable as well as a pleasant sound. Some examples of such alarms are alarm clocks, microwaves and alarms in intensive care units. REFERENCES 1. Aures, W. (1985). Berechnungsverfahren fur den sensorischen Wohlklang beliebiger Schallsignale. Acustica, 59: 130-141 2. Berg J. and Rumsey, F. (1999). Spatial Attribute Identification and Scaling by Repertory Grid Technique and other Methods. Proc. AES 16th International Conference 3. Botteldooren, D. and Verkeyn, A. (2002).Fuzzy models for Accumulation of reported community noise annoyance from c ombined sources, Journal of Acoustic Society of America, 112(4): 1496 – 1508 4. Edworthy, J. and Stanton, N. (1995) A user-centered approach to the design and evaluation of auditory warning signals: 1, Methodology, Ergonomics, 38(11): 2262-2280. 5. Edworthy J. and Meredith C. (1997). Influence of verbal labelling and acoustic quality on the learning and retention of medical alarms. Int J Cogn Ergon; 1: 229–43 6. Edworthy, J. and Hellier, E. (2006). Alarms and human behaviour: implications for medical alarms.British Journal of Anaesthesia, 97(1): 12–17 7. Gabrielsson, A. (1979). Dimension analyses of perceived sound quality of sound-reproducing systems. Scand. J. Psychol. 20: 159-169 8. Genuit, K. (2001). The problem of predicting noise annoyance as a function of distance. Internoise, Rome, Italy. 9. Leung YK, Smith S, Parker S, Martin R. (1997). Learning and retention of auditory warnings. In: Frysinger S, Kramer G, eds. Proceedings of the Third International Co nference on Auditory Display (ICAD), Palo Alto, CA, USA. Available from http://www. santafe. edu/_icad__ 10.Maris E. , Pieter J. , Stallen, P. J. , Vermunt R. , Steensma H. (2007). Noise within the social context: Annoyance reduction through fair procedures, Journal of Acoustic Society of America, 121(4): 2000 – 2010 11. Philip, E. (2009). Evaluation of medical alarm sounds. Doctoral thesis, New Jersey Institute of Technology. 12. Roozenburg, N. F. M. and Eekels, J. (1995). Product Design, fundamentals and methods. (Lemma BV, Den Haag. ) 13. Rouse, W. B. (1991). Design for success- A Human-Centered Approach To Designing Successful Products and Systems, John Wiley & Sons Inc.ISBN 0-471-52483-2. 14. Schmidt S. I. , Baysinger C. L. (1986). Alarms: help or hindrance? Anesthesiology, 64: 654–5 15. Steele, D. L. & Chon, S. H. (2007) A Perceptual Study of Sound Annoyance. Proceedings of the 2nd Audio Mostly Conference. pp. 19-24 16. Stone, H. , Sidel, J. , Oliver, S. , Woolse y, A. , Singleton, R. C. (1974). Sensory evaluation by quantitative descriptive analysis. Food Technology, 24-34 17. Ulfvengren P. (2003). Design of natural warning sounds in human-machine systems. Doctoral thesis, Stockholm Institute of Technology.

L’Oréal’s brand portfolio Essay

1.Review L’Oreal’s brand portfolio. What role have target marketing, smart acquisitions, and R&D played in growing those brands? The success of L’Oreal is a result of tactical choice of markets, targeting them wisely, thorough research and development and smart acquisitions. It is one of the leading cosmetic companies in the global market. Over the years it has created a successful brand value and expertise in the field of cosmetic and beauty products. Targeting the market was one of the factors that play pivotal role in L’Oreal success, the company targeted the audience with products as per their requirements, like, in Japan they marketed mascaras specially designed and volume as per the requirement of Japanese women. Acquisition of local beauty companies like Soft Sheen Products and Carson Products helped them to eliminate competition and also gain huge profits in U.S. and African Markets. L’Oreal spends 3% of its annual sales in research and deve lopment with 14 research centers around the world. Clear concepts about the different skin and hair and their different needs around the world helped them to design diverse products for all. 2.Who are L’Oreal’s greatest competitors? Local,global, or both? Why? The major competitors for L’Oreal are companies like, Lakme, LVMH Moet Hennessey Louis Vuitton, Estee Lauder and Chanel etc. The skin care, makeup, fragrance and hair care businesses are characterized by intense competition over the world. As each company products are close substitutes to one another. 3.What has been the key to successful local product launches such as Maybelline’s Wondercurl in Japan? The eyes and eyelashes of the women in the Western Asia is different. They have small eyes and their lashes are short and straight. Thus, when the R&D team of L’Oreal companies came up with the idea of Wonder curl Mascara, it became a instant success. 4.What’s next for L’Oreal on a global level? If you wereCEO, how would you sustain the company’s global leadership? L’Oreal is already a successful brand in the global market. Its success is seen especially in the areas of make-up and hair product, and not in the skin care. It is now required to come-up with different skin care products for people. Also, the price factors have to be kept in mind. Most brands are distributing their products at a reasonable cost. L’Oreal can achieve  success in the middle-class people by setting a reasonable price for them.

Philosophy of Leadership in Schools Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Philosophy of Leadership in Schools - Assignment Example The concept of leadership in a school requires the principal (administrator) to be able to improve the students' performance and introduce various positive changes into the schooling system. All in all, the school's administrator should manage the school in a way that ensures its survival and development. All the actions and risks of a school administrator should be in line with his or her forward-looking vision. This vision is developed with the participation of teaching staff as involving them into the decision-making process ensures their higher motivation and boosts their creativity. It should be kept in mind that the efficient leadership of the school administrator is hardly possible without stable and productive relations with teaching staff and effective planning. When hiring the teachers, the school administrator should make sure they are professional and eager to work with children. In order to be a good leader, the school administrator should implement the correct leadership style. Generally, three different styles of leadership are singled out - authoritarian, democratic, and laissez-faire. I believe that for the school administrator, the best way is to be a democratic leader because it presupposes a higher degree of involvement of teaching staff members and students into the process of taking decisions, introducing innovations and improving the functioning of school in general. However, there are different views as far as introducing changes to K-12 schools is concerned. On the one hand, there is an opinion that it is necessary to update the curriculum as a way to modernize the school with no risks on the part of teachers and principal. On the other hand, it is considered that the school, and the administrator at the first place, are the main agents of change. This second approach is more challenging and demands from the administrator to take decisions, however at the same time it allows the school principal reveal his or her potential, creative abilities, capacity, and it also requires that the administrator is persistent, self-confident, and eager to develop.  Ã‚  

CASE ANALYSIS heart of atlanta motel v. united states Study

ANALYSIS heart of atlanta motel v. united states - Case Study Example In the case under consideration, Heart of Atlanta Motel questioned and challenged the constitutionality of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and attempted to justify and assert its policy of discrimination against African Americans. The Heart of Atlanta Hotel was located in Atlanta, Georgia. This facility denied the rights of admission to Black Americans, in direct violation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The suit filed by the owner of this motel questioned the powers extended to Congress by the Civil Rights Act in the domain of interstate commerce. In addition, he validated his stance of discrimination against Black Americans on the grounds of the rights extended to him by the Fifth and Thirteenth Amendment. The United States justified its authority under the Commerce Clause and denied any violation of the Fifth and Thirteenth Amendment Rights of the appellant. On December 14, 1964, a nine-judge bench led by Justice Tom C. Clark unanimously voted in favor of the United States of America. The court validated the authority of Congress in the sphere of Interstate Commerce, as far as the passing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was concerned. It denied any violation of the Thirteenth Amendment rights of the appellant. The decision accepted the authority of the United States Government in interfering in the acts of discrimination in public accommodation and noted that the jurisdiction of the Title II was, â€Å"carefully limited to the enterprises having a direct and substantial relation to the interstate flow of goods and services†¦ (U.S. Supreme Court Media). Title II of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibited the practice of racial discrimination in public accommodations whose operations had an impact on the interstate commerce. The Heart of Atlanta motel located in Atlanta, Georgia denied admission to African Americans, in direct contradiction and violation of the Title II of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The owner of this motel stated that the interference of the

Research proposal Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words - 4

Research proposal - Essay Example panies in processing of data into information but also in using the information in doing business analysis, as well as in taking critical business decisions regarding future investment opportunities. Using MIS, companies can retrieve information in the form of well-documented reports that contain information about all technicalities and aspects that can influence the business at some point in future. Along with this, MIS also helps companies in setting and achieving short-term and long-term strategic goals and objectives (Earl 1998). Because of these benefits, production and manufacturing companies have started to use Management Information Systems to manage information about inventory and other business processes. However, there exist some challenges that need to be addressed in order to make an efficient use of this technology. According to Oz (2009, p.9), information is the lifeblood of any organization†. Without having significant amount of information, a company can never operate efficiently in today’s world of competition because information is the base for every successful business move. In general, management information system refers to processing of data into information in such a way that it can be used by organizations to administer different business activities. According to Abel (2008), Management Information System is an important software application that deals with the use of information technology tools to help managers and employees in performing different tasks associated with information processing and management. Management information systems perform all the tasks related to information management which include collection of data, editing of data, processing of data into required information, and generating relevant reports based on the stored data. As Dawn (2009) states, â€Å"management information systems are used by organizations to track, store, manipulate and distribute information to the appropriate people†. A management

In a 2 page essay, explain the origin, development, struggle, and Essay

In a 2 page , explain the origin, development, struggle, and future of the communities and cities in our country over the past 200 years - Essay Example In half of the 18th century, there was totally disturbance in the political section of the United States. Slavery was so much common in the United States. Declaration of independence was written by Thomas Jefferson who himself had more than 200 slaves. In 1787, the constitution convention explains the rights of blacks in the society. According to that they did not have a right to vote as well as they did not take admission in public schools. After 20 years after the revolution many Southern freed their slaves. When the United States grew, slavery was also extended. In 1793, cotton gin was invented which, permitted the cultivation of short staple cotton in Inland areas. In 1830, majority of the blacks were free in thee United States approximately they were319, 000. Many of the people in the black community lived in poverty, but some had established their successful bossiness (Smallwood,

Nigeria's point of view in the UN SECURITY COUNCIL REFORMATION Essay

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Organizational Behavior and the Individual Personal Statement

Organizational Behavior and the Individual - Personal Statement Example An individual who has the physical and mental abilities and who is fully aware of these abilties can determine his capability to do an organizational task. For example, one who excels in good reasoning and memory, and analytical and verbal comprehension may efficiently attend to a work requiring or relating to these abilities, given the task and recognition. Furthermore, one who has a clear self-perception of his job or role also tends to have clear expectations and goals, and come up with sound decisions. Organizational leaders must assess and understand the individual behaviors of its people while each individual makes an effort to adapt to some situational factors in an organization which include the working environment, company policies and ethical codes; and managerial orientation. The ethical codes of a company support or inhibit the way the individual characteristics impact employee morale and organizational performance. According to Feigenbaum (2011), the code of ethics serves as an expectation and guideline for employee conduct and is one tool for achieving standards of ethical behavior in an

Nurse-to-Patient Ratio Research Proposal Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Nurse-to-Patient Ratio - Research Proposal Example However, this factor is never considered when nurses are assigned to care for a selected number of patients. Quoting Barbara Blakeney, President, American Nurses Association (ANA), the American Association of Critical Care Nurses (AACN) endorses the fact that inadequate nurse staffing is the primary concern for the nurses and that â€Å"when RN care is insufficient, patient safety is compromised and the risk of death is increased† (Nurse-to-Patient Ratios, 2007). Shortage of nurses places extra onus on the available staff and hence seasoned nurses are matriculating away from bedside nursing. This happens primarily because the added tasks needed to be performed are not directly related to patient care. This can be evidenced in the case of Cameroon Diva, a BSN, who states that she wants to quit bedside nursing because in the hospital where she has worked, they had â€Å"extreme staff shortage and not enough nursing assistance on the floor† (Diva, 1996). Besides, the frequ ent changes in computerized charting require nurses to remain near their computers and take their time away from the primary task of patient care. It is a matter of common knowledge that higher patient-to-nurse ratios cause significant physical and mental exhaustion and result in greater job dissatisfaction among nurses. Patient well-being directly correlates to the amount of nursing care a patient receives daily. Therefore, in order to achieve the objective of providing quality patient care, administrators and managers need to ensure that healthcare institutions attain an appropriate level of patient-nurse ratio. Problem Statement: Current policy on Medical-Surgical nursing units across America’s hospitals require that Registered Nurses care for five to six (average of â€Å"5.25†) acutely and chronically ill patients in a 12 hour shift (Welton, 2007). Licensed practical nurses also care for 6 to 7 patients during a 12 hour shift. Nurses feel that added tasks take awa y a considerable portion of their time, which otherwise can be spent on patient care. The diversification in the roles of nurses today, through deployment on other tasks, calls for a closer examination of the need to change the policy pertaining to nurse–to-patient ratios. In this context, the findings of Aiken et al can be perceived as the â€Å"primary arguments for setting specific nurse-to-patient staffing ratios† (Welton, 2007). There is a definitive discrepancy between what healthcare administrators believe to be adequate the level of nurse-patient ratio and actual number of patients a nurse is required to care for. This creates impediments in administering proper care to the needy patients, which, in turn, impacts patient mortality rates. Besides, the shortage in staffing also adversely affects the job satisfaction of nurses and, as a consequence, their rate of burnout increases. Purpose of the Study: The purpose of this study is to determine whether there exist s a correlation between nurse-to-patient ratios and patient mortality. The number of patients cared for by a single nurse may have better outcomes in terms of length of hospital stay and fewer complications. Additionally, nurses who derive satisfaction from their jobs are less likely to leave their jobs. The study will also investigate the increasing trend of nurse burnout and find

Inventory system introduction Essay Example for Free

Inventory system introduction Essay Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION Nowadays, computer-based system is commonly found in the business world. This is because of the benefits it gives in the respective companies. In addition, an upgraded system in this point of time is a big advantage due to the great deal of the competition in our economy. Technically, logical and analytical skills will certainly improve after this study. Hopefully, this study will also be character-building and still upon the importance of teamwork and maintaining harmony within the group which will be quite handy in the corporate world. One of the disadvantages of not having a computerized Inventory System is that, there a chance of inaccurate data record in a manual inputting of inventory records. Also there is a delay in updating records due to manual process. Miguel’s Home Merchandise is a growing company with an increasing size of customers. And so, today the company needed a computerized based program that can handle such difficulties. 1.1 Statement of the Problem 1.1.1 General Problem How to develop an Inventory System with Point of Sale for Miguel’s Home Merchandise that will improve the current process of inventory, lessen the time consumed in categorizing, pricing, monitoring of the items and customer’s transaction? 1.1.2 Specific Problems 1.1.2.1 How to develop a module that will provide an inventory and transaction system for the company? Currently, the company is still using calculator to compute the total amount of items purchased by the customers. For this reason, there are some instances where error occurred using this manual way of computation. 1.1.2.2 How to develop a module that will monitor the reorder and critical level of company’s items? Since the company is conducting an inventory every week by manual record, there are some instances where not aware on what are those items are in reorder or critical level. 1.1.2.3 How to develop a module that will generate fast and accurate reports? Currently the company is still using manual record on each report, there are some instances where the company is too busy to monitor sales reports and it consumes most of their time. 1.2 Current State of the Technology Miguel’s Home Merchandise was using a manual method of listing their items. They call their suppliers to order some items or they went to their suppliers to buy items and upon reaching the store they count the items one by one and write it down in a record book. And when the time comes to put it into display they just attached a sticker for the price in every item. And if there is a sudden change in price of the items, they just erase the records in the record book and update the price. Staffs like Manuel Ciyab create manually reports, check their inventory weekly and report it to the owner, Mrs. Miguel. The existing customer transaction is just a typical buying; the customer arrived, walk through the store and look in the shelves for the item they want and the staff will assist the customer and walk with her/him to look for the items. And eventually after paying the items, the staff uses a calculator to compute the total price and issue a receipt by writing it in a formatted paper, filling up the date, total price, change etc. At the end of the day the staff will list all items and compute for their sales. Again, using a calculator and writing it in a record book. The current system was done manually, their encounter some problems that occur in the process. Considering the problem cited, the proponents intended to develop an inventory system with point of sale that would help the company for the fast monitoring of items, accurate reports and fast customer transaction. 1.3 Objectives 1.3.1 General Objective To develop an Inventory System with Point of Sale for Miguel’s Home Merchandise that will improve the current process of inventory, lessen the time consumed in categorizing, pricing, monitoring of the items and customer’s transaction. . 1.3.2 Specific Objectives The proposed system aims to achieve the following objectives: 1.3.2.1 To develop a module that will provide an inventory and transaction system for the company.  The proposed system will allow the user to input items data electronically for more secure and faster data retrieval and count all items accurately while the customers will just go to the cashier and because of the search feature of the computerized system it will be easy to find if the item is available. And the staff will compute the total amount using the proposed system and the issuing of receipt is already printed. 1.3.2.2 To develop a module that will monitor the reorder and critical level of company’s items. The proposed system has a module on which items are monitored if there are in reorder or critical level, and the system will automatically notify the user if there are any items that reached its critical level using color coding. 1.3.2.3 To develop a module that will generate fast and accurate reports. For computing reports such as daily sales report the system provide a module that will generate necessary report to determine product master list and sales report. The time will lessen since all the computing is done in the system.

Bhagwad Gita As Seen By Osho

Bhagwad Gita As Seen By Osho I have always been intrigued by one question the response to which I was always not able to a find or say this one question always confused me , baffled me or say that this very question always made me contemplate or say left me pondering. Every time I would see a court scene in a Hindi movie, I would find it very funny rather very strange. A witness or an accused being called to the witness box , he being made to take an oath in the name of the holy Bhagwad Gita by touching it and saying mein jo hi kahunga sach kahunga , sach ke siva kuch na kahunga. I would find it funny and would think whether it was some kind of narco test being conducted or what, that the truth will automatically start flowing from the mouth of the person. I could never understand and thought would perhaps never understand the reason behind it. Every time the same holy Gita and the same old oath. Then why only the Gita why not some other religious scripture. Well it could always be the Ramayana, the Upanishads, or say the Puranas. The other day the same question again came to my mind and I found the answer to it in one of the editions of Osho times and I found it quite convincing and relevant and at the same time very interesting. In the words of Osho, no other person on earth has been as complete as the Krishna. Looking at the personality and the character of the Lord Krishna , one would observe that he has been the only multidimensional person with so many faces and in a way complete, imbibing in himself almost every possible aspect of human nature . If he is a warrior, a Kshatriya at the same time he is a very learned being, a knowledgeable person, a great pundit, a Brahman. At the same time a lover, a flirt, a musician, a dancer, a thief, a liar, and a politician as well. There is hardly any aspect of human nature, which you will not find in the Lord Krishna. It is almost impossible, something which is not imaginable. Krishna is a complete man, which is why he has been called a purna a vatar. Before him and after him no body has ever been so complete and so multidimensional. Ram has been there, Vishnu has been there but no one so complete, so interesting and so varied in his personality with all shades and colors of human nature. According to Osho, if God descends on earth, he would look somewhat like Krishna and no one else. Lord Ram, however big he may be, in the consciousness of this country has never been a complete avatar, he always been a part of it but never the complete. The rishis of Upanishads however knowledgeable they may have been are not complete avatars. Only Krishna has been complete and thats why the majority of Indian consciousness and mind has been touched by him .And the reason for this is his being a multidimensional person who touches all the aspects of human personality. As far as Lord Ram and others are concerned, they are all one-dimensional and they can be loved and worshiped by only a particular category of people. As far as Krishna is c oncerned, it will be hard to find a person on this earth who will not fall in love with any of the aspects of the personality and the being of Shri Krishna. A thief may fall in love with him, a dancer will love him, a sanyasi may adore him, a nonsanyasi as well and he may even be source of inspiration for a Kshatriya. Therefore, Krishna is like a complete orchestra with all the musical instruments and in this orchestra, everybody finds an instrument of his choice. However, the strangest thing is there has never been anyone who would have loved Krishna as a whole. Surdas loves only the BAL Krishna, he is afraid of the Krishna who dances around with the Gopies and flirts with them. Keshavdas on the other hand will love the young Krishna dancing and enjoying himself. But to love him as a whole is very difficult or rather impossible. To be able to love him as a whole requires one to be multidimensional. And the majority of us happen to be one-dimensional and all of us we have a single t rack mind set and in Krishna we choose what suits us. That is why all love Krishna and everyone finds a reason to do so. According to Osho, in a court of law, one will seldom find good people; people who are bad in some way or the other usually frequent court. A bad person in love with Ram may perhaps never go to the court .So taking an oath in the name of Ram is almost impossible. Taking an oath in the name of Krishna is quite relevant and possible because Krishna seems to be open to even the criminals and all kinds of bad people .His doors are open for all. That is why even the bad people, the offenders, love Krishna. According to Osho, it will be hard to find a person who would not feel like hugging Krishna, who would say that Krishna is not meant for him or her. Moreover, for Osho the greatest truth greater than truth is love and it is almost impossible to lie in front of a person we are in love with. Truth can be found only in a love relationship. If one is not able to be truth ful towards ones lover then it is something else in the name of love and love not at all. Moreover, the psychology has proved that if somebodys cord of love is touched it will be impossible for him to lie. So it is all in the name of love for Krishna that all the accused and the witnesses are made to take an oath in the name of the Bhadwad Gita. Like wise there have been other questions too troubling me and keeping me pensive all the time since my child hood. I have my exams and say I m not well prepared, I m worried and my parents would always say karm kar fal ki icha mat kar; this again would leave me wondering. How can you do anything, perform any karma without thinking of the outcome at all. Finding it written everywhere would again make me feel guilty because lord Krishna had said so as my parents told me. I would feel something wrong with me as I never did anything without the outcome, and even today, I do not do anything with out the result in mind. There are expectations all the time. But today there is no guilt associated with it at all and again Osho helped me resolve this quarry of mine which earlier would never let me feel free of my guilt. I used to feel as if I was a criminal. But I was not responsible because that was how my parents and the people around had interoperated it. But the Osho does it, its really i ncredible. He says something very interesting. Karmanye vadhikareste à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦.. he interprets it not by associating it with any result at all. According to him, it means being here and now completely. What so ever one does if done with full concentration and by immersing into it in ones totality, he or she would never fail. That is it. But the way people have been interpret ting it has been very unrealistic and impossible. How can you do anything without having the purpose in your mind? And doing anything without anything in mind would be foolish and stupid at the same time. But that is what we have told by all kinds of idiots and cunning people, or says the followers of Hitler. According to Osho, misinterpretation is done only with the purpose of creating guilt in the people. And it is very simple to dictate upon the people who feel guilty. Hitler also did that. He also created guilt among his people, ruled over them, and could have his way. Karma kar à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ That si mply means doing everything with full samagrata, with full concentration, by being here and now and that is what epitomizes the whole philosophy of Osho. Like wise, there are other questions as well. I once saw a film in which a serial killer goes around killing people and saying Na koi Marta hai na koi maarta hai à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦.. Aisa main nahin Gita kehti hai à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦. Nobody ever dies nobody ever kills, this again seems to be justifying the violence committed by General Dyer or the killings done by Hitler. But this is not what Krishna means to say. According to him just because no one dies does not in any way justify the desire to kill or the passion for violence? According to him, there is nothing wrong in the occurrence of violence but the sin is in the act of violence. So listening to Gita if someone concludes that killing someone is not killing at all is not right, that is all a fiction. Krishna is not saying, Go ahead and kill people. He is saying only if it becomes your experience that no one is ever killed, then, and only then, can you let whatever happens, happen. And there is one more thing who is Krishna addressin g this to. This is very important. This discourse is not meant for the common man, it is meant for the Arjuna who has refused to kill. And then he tells Arjuna that he is a Kshatriya and that he should perform his duty that of being one. But does that mean that Krishna is a warmonger? No. According to Osho, Krishna is only trying to help Arjuna realize who he is and what his duties are and how can he achieve the pinnacle of his being and that naturally is possible only by being what he is. In the battlefield, Arjuna has dropped his weapons and is talking like a Brahman, which he is not suppose to. This has only one message that all of us we should do everything to be what we are and that we should realize all our potentials and possibilities we have born with. Then there is one more important thing, which Osho says in the context of Bhadwad Gita. According to him, the Bhagwad Gita happens to be the first psychological scripture available to the East long before the works of Freud, Adler and Jung. And in his words, it would not be an exaggeration if Krishna were called the father of psychology. In the Bhagwad Gita, the way Krishna approaches Arjunas problems can only be appreciated once we really understand the working of the human mind with all its intricacies and complexities. According to Osho, all of us all the time carry an Arjuna within us and all the time we are confronted with situations and are facing one crises or the other. And as we listen to him it becomes clear that our situation too is not very different from that of the Arjuna, it is perhaps more complex and of a greater magnitude. In the words of Osho, the root cause of all of our problems, difficulties, miseries, dilemma, conflict and war is nothing else but mind. So in or der to find a solution to all these problems its very important rather imperative to understand the working of mind, its patterns and conditionings. According to Osho, only mind is the problem and all that chaos which we find all around ourselves, behind all this only mind is the one who is responsible. Some people have called the Bhagwad Gita a spiritual shastra but its not so according to Osho.In his opinion no shastra can ever be spiritual, it can only be psychological. Rather shastras have nothing to do with spirituality. The spiritual journey starts where the mind ends. And Osho goes further and says that there is nothing like a spiritual shastra because as far as spirituality is concerned, spirituality itself is life, is experience and shastra only helps understand the functioning of mind. Bhagwad Gita is not spiritual also because the problem of Arjuna is not spiritual; it is more of a psychological problem, a practical one. And the answer to a psychological question can only be a psychological one. According to Osho if someone says that Krishna is, addressing to Arjunas problem in spiritual words, that too would be wrong because then no communication would be possible between the two. According to Osho, no problem can ever be spiritual because spiritualism can be the solution and the problems always arise from the mind. In his words, all problems are psychological whereas spirituality itself is solution. Only mind is the problem. Mind itself is the chaos. That is why whatever is shastra cannot be beyond the mind and whatever is beyond mind has no name at all. According to Osho since most of our problems, arise from the mind, since most of them happen to be psychological, so the solutions to them too have to be of the same level. That is why Krishna in order to resolve Arjunas problem brings himself down to his level or say to his pedestal. How ever if Krishna addresses his problem from he already is i.e. is from his own pedestal, in that case no communication will be possible between the two; Arjuna wont understand anything. And that what happens to be difference between the modern teacher and the rishi of Upanishads. The difference is that of the methodologies. A modern teacher always keeps his student on the centre whereas the rishi of Upanishads, he himself happens to be the centre. Krishna talks to Arjuna just like a modern teacher. He does not preach him at all rather he discusses the problem with him. According to Osho, only those scriptures have future that are psychological. Metaphysics has no future at all. People have problems and they want those problems to be solved. All they want is a solution to them; and who so ever will solve them who so ever will answer to their questions will have a place, will have a future. According to Osho only if Krishna shows the courage to stand in a queue with Freud and Jung, then and only then Gita will have a future.

Human Resource Management Strategy Business Essay

Human Resource Management Strategy Business Essay Strategic Human resource management is a plan that facilitates the way an organization is being ran. The Human Resource Management strategy and the business strategy must be totally integrated. (Kearns, 2008). In today ¿Ã‚ ½s modern world, they are different ways in which HRM within an organization operates but then they focus their attention on three main areas of management which are; staffing, employee compensation and defining or designing work. The target of every HRM departments in any organization will be to optimize the effectiveness of its employee in order to maximize productivity and increase profit. According to Edward L. Gubman as observed in the journal of business strategy,  ¿Ã‚ ½Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½The basic mission of human resources will always be to acquire, develop and retain talent; align the work force with the business; and be an excellent contributor to the business. Those three challenges will never change. ¿Ã‚ ½ The back bone of any successful company is the HR de partment. The HR department must provide executive management with fundamental ideas that will help to not only gain market share, but entice and retain talent. Once the HR strategy of an organization is in place then its management ¿Ã‚ ½s responsibility sees that company goals are embraced and there are several ways they can do this which includes; communication, input, feedback, positive reinforcement, values etc. In recent year, observers have cited a decided trend towards a fundamental reassessment of HR structures and positions.  ¿Ã‚ ½Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½A cascade of changing business conditions, changing organizational structures, and changing leadership have been forcing human resource departments to alter their perspective on their role and functions almost-overnight, ¿Ã‚ ½Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ wrote John Johnston in Business Quarterly. Figure 1 Strategy Implementation in an HR Environment Emergent strategies The SHRM functions can be known of having six (6) menus of HRM practices, from which organizations can choose the ones that is most appropriate for implementing their strategy. The Strategies of organizations varies depending on the level and structure of that organization and there is no know strategy which is the best suitable. The company I will be looking at to see how its HRM operates in the Organization is Barclays Group PLC. 1.2. STRATEGIC HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT IN BARCLAYS GROUP PLC Brief history of Barclays Barclays plc is a major global multinational financial services provider engaged in retail and commercial banking. Barclays has two geographical concentrations in the financial industry: global retail banking and corporate investment banking wealth management with operations in more than fifty countries with an extensive international presence in Europe, the Americas, Africa and Asia. Barclays has got approximately fifteen thousand six hundreds colleagues internationally and it moves, lends, invests and protects money for over forty-eight million customers and clients. Barclays plc has a global network of more than one hundred and fifty-five thousand people working across a range of businesses thus makes the HR team of Barclays face a unique challenges. In such a diverse and internationally spread company, HR experts work with every business unit to help Barclays stay ahead of the competition by attracting and retaining the best people available and make sure that they are all in the right jobs and do the best work that will create sustainable benefits for the works, customers and shareholders, all over the world. But it ¿Ã‚ ½s not all about new recruit that the HR management team of Barclays focuses on. It is also committed to nurturing its established colleague and the HR team play a vital role in monitoring performances and monitoring a host of training programmes. The HRM of Barclays Group is divided into different professional Job titles that deal with the Human resource related issues and plays an important part in every business unit of co mpany. The purpose of SHRM in Barclays The purpose or importance of SHRM in Barclays cannot be over emphasized, the success and failure of any organization depends solely on its HR management. The Primary purpose associated with human resource management in Barclays includes Job analysis and staffing (recruitment), organization and utilization of workforce, measurement and appraisal of workforce performance, implementation of reward systems for employees, professional development of workers and maintenance of workforce. I. Job analysis and recruitment: The HRM in Barclays has the responsibility of recruiting people for various employment positions in the company; they determine the skills, and experience necessary to adequately perform in a position, identification of job and industry trends and anticipation of future employments. They provide valid information about jobs that is used to hire and promote people, determine wages, determine training needs, and manage the flow of personnel into and out of Barclays. II. Organization, maintenance and utilization: The HRM dept of Barclays maintains the workforce of the company. The duty here involves designing an organizational framework that makes maximum use of an enterprises human resources and establishing systems of communication that helps the organization to operate in a unified manner. Other responsibilities in this area include health and safety and worker management relations. Maintenance task related to worker-management relations primarily entails: working with labor union; handling grievances related to misconduct, such as theft or sexual harassment; and devising communication systems to foster cooperation and shared sense of mission among the employees. III. Performance appraisal: The HRM of Barclays assesses employees ¿Ã‚ ½ job performance and provides feedbacks to the employees on both their positive and negative performance. The performance appraisal is important because it is used to determine the salary increase and promotions and in the case of a negative performance, dismissal might follow. IV. Reward systems: This system is managed by the HRM in Barclays. This aspect of management is important because it provides the mechanism by which company provide their worker with a reward for past achievements and incentives for high performance in the future. They also use this system to address a problem within the work force through institution of disciplinary measures. V. Employee development and training: The HR is responsible for identifying the training needs of Barclay ¿Ã‚ ½s employee and initiates and evaluates developments programmes designed to address those needs. These training programs ranges from orientation programmes, which are designed to acclimate new hire of the company, to ambitious education programmes indented to familiarize workers with a new software systems. 1.3 Contributions of SHRM to achievements of Barclay ¿Ã‚ ½s objectives Meaningful contributions to the business processes of Barclays processes are increasingly recognized as within the purview of active human resource management practices. The HRM of Barclays disseminates guideline for and monitoring employee ¿Ã‚ ½s behaviors and ensuring that the company is obeying worker-related regulatory guidelines. The HRM professional are aware of the fundamentals of learning and motivations and carefully design and monitor training and development programmes that has helped in achieving the aim and objectives of the company by increasing the quality of products and services delivered and increased growth and profit that benefits the whole organization. The HRM of Barclays has been deeply involved in reshaping of the company ¿Ã‚ ½s structure under increased external and internal complexity and in managing other aspect of strategic change in Barclays Group. The role and importance of SHRM in Barclays cannot be over emphasized, the success and failure of the company depends solely on its HRM and they can only succeed when the right strategy is applied. Having the company ¿Ã‚ ½s mission in mind at all time has been a driving force to the achievements of HR team of Barclays Group and technological changes with the help of SAP (enterprise resource planning tool) helps Barclays to succeed in today ¿Ã‚ ½s tough business climate. Figure 1.2 This table below show how the SHRM add value to an Organization. Source: CIPD, The case for good people management, 2001. 2.1. The business factor that underpin the HR planning in Barclays Strength of the company Barclay ¿Ã‚ ½s group has a widespread of global presence allowing it to spread its risk and enjoy economic of scale. The Barclays brand is well-established historically and has become ingrained in the psyche of the consumers and continually promoted, for example, through sponsorship of Premier league football. Barclays is particularly associated with innovation, it brought out the first debit and credit card and most recently the one plus card combining Oyster, cashless and credit functions for London-based customers. The opening of new flagship branches along with a refurbishment programme can be seen as an attempt to refocus on customers demand for a strong presence on the high street. The opening of new flagship branches along with a refurbishment programme can be seen as an attempt to refocus on customers demand for a strong presence on the high street. There is an increased online growth and online security to combat fraud and they enjoy a robust financial performance. The business growth Barclay ¿Ã‚ ½s business strategy is to achieve good growth through time by diversifying its business base and increasing its presence in markets and segments that are growing rapidly. This is driven by the Group ¿Ã‚ ½s ambition to become one of a handful of universal banks leading the global financial services industry, helping customers and clients throughout the world achieve their goals. The strategy is based on the principles of earn, invest and grow. Supporting this are four strategic priorities; Build the best bank in the UK, Accelerate the growth of global businesses, Develop retail and commercial banking activities in selected countries outside the UK, Enhance operational excellence. Barclay ¿Ã‚ ½s five guiding principles are key to the way the business operates:  ¿Ã‚ ½ Winning together: Achieving collective and individual success  ¿Ã‚ ½ Best people: Developing talented colleagues to reach their full potential, to ensure Barclays retains a leading position in the global financial services industry  ¿Ã‚ ½ Customer and client focus: Understanding customers and serving them brilliantly.  ¿Ã‚ ½ Pioneering: Driving new ideas, adding diverse skills and improving operational excellence.  ¿Ã‚ ½ Trusted: Acting with the highest integrity to retain the trust of customers, external stakeholders and colleagues. To continually compete internationally, Barclays must strive to perform customer service at an utmost level of excellence which will promote the company worldwide as a organization that can be relied upon time after time for small individual accounts as well as huge corporate accounts. To accomplish this, Barclays must identify their customer groups and the needs associated with each particular group and develop products and services that will be of great value to their customers. The practices that have worked in the past must be reconfigured to work for years to come and keep Barclays updated with the high changing IT world. This will call for new investments into new levels of technology that can help offer higher levels of service to its customers. Along with the apparent increase in speed that IT will allow Barclays to accomplish routine tasks, technology will also reduce risk of errors and fraud. (www.thebanker.com). IT will allow up to date information to be at the fingertips of Barclays managers, giving managers a huge advantage when it comes to making decisions and in pin pointing groups of customers that can have a high added value to Barclays. The fine-tuning of IT will also eliminate weaknesses within Barclays practices, preventing failures that effect customers and thus reducing excessive and unnecessary costs. In recent years, Barclays has been very successful in carrying out its desired tactics. Huge investment strategies that have led to this increase in profits include the acquirements within its Barclaycard card business. With growth on its mind, Barclays has set out to create an international business that if forecasted correctly, the income generated in its Barclaycard division will be of equal value internationally as well as domestically by 2013. Barclays has also placed strategic action in growing throughout Europe up to sixty percent in the near feature. 2.2. Human resource requirement to open new technology center in Johannesburg, South Africa In order to successfully open a new technological center in South Africa, Barclays will require having a structure (accommodation), the need the right number of staff, at the right place and the right time and equipped with the right technical skills to design, implement, manage projects and be able to develop new technological innovation. To assess the capacity required to do this research has to be carried out to derive the quantitative and qualitative data about the human requirement in this sector. The operations and activities in this center will range from upgrading ATMs, hosts the applications for the regions markets, credit card transfer, looking after all the net work and infrastructure applications and re-plat forming a country ¿Ã‚ ½s banks. The HR also needs to put in place a career development programmes for the staffs that will be working in this center and rewards and benefit packages. 2.3. The human resource plan in Barclays Resourcing Manager: The resourcing managers partners with each of the business unit of Barclays in order to help them attract and retain the best people for every job. They produce a schedule that deals the recruitment programme for the various types and levels of services. HR Operations Advisor: The HR operation advisor of Barclays supports the internal and external clients to ensure that the logistic affecting new starters, movers within the business and people leaving the company are dealt with smoothly and efficiently. Benefits Administrator/ Pension Administrator: The duty of the people here is to assist a pension administration Team Leader, the Benefits Administrator reconcile pension calculations, answer members ¿Ã‚ ½ queries and help with correspondence. HR Business Partner: HR Business Partners work alongside business leaders in a specific area of the Group to improve performance, advertising on recruitment, retention and development issues for that sector. Compensation and Benefits Analyst: Compensation and Benefits Analyst will set salaries for job roles to ensure that proposed compensation and reward packages are benchmarked and competitive. 2.4. Contribution of human resources to Barclays objectives HR professional take a strategic approach to human resource management. Human resource management seeks to proactively provide a competitive advantage through the company ¿Ã‚ ½s most important asset: its human resources. Human resources has a great impact on the implementation of plan by developing and aligning HRM practices that ensure the company has a motivated employee with the necessary skills. Human resource management in Barclays interacts between people, technology and the task to be performed in context with the objectives, goals and strategic plan of the company. HR plays a central role in such key area activities like attracting, selection and recruitment, employee orientations, retaining talent, promotions and termination process, and performance management including individual assessments, measuring and improving work performances, all these have significant impact on the employee turnover. The HR in Barclays sees to employee and the organizational development programm e to maintain and improve skills as well as reward systems, benefits and compliance available for staffs also laws, policies, health and safety. The HR of Barclays gives a detailed job description and hires the right skills for a particular job and draws up programme for the professional development of the employee for e.g. learning to operate a new technology, this makes Barclays a leader in terms of new innovation thus providing a competitive advantage. They also plan effectively ahead with the number of staffs required to reduce cost to an optimum and ensure working processes are running smooth, this provides effective performance, thus increasing financial performance as indexed by productivity and market share value. The HR of Barclays also uses system such as incentives to achieve a specific goal. The reward system affects the company ¿Ã‚ ½s performance through increasing the quality of products and services. The company ¿Ã‚ ½s HR cares about the need and well being of the ir employees and provides a comfortable working environment; this increases the employee ¿Ã‚ ½s motivation and enhanced productivity performance. 3.1. The purpose of human resource policies in Barclays The Human Resource Policy is simply a set of documents that describes an organization ¿Ã‚ ½s policies for operation and the procedures necessary to fulfill the practices for its managerial, supervisory staff, and all employees. This documents sets out the policy for all the human resource related issues in the company including some policies from the government that relates to the company business activities. The purpose of this policy is to help the organization to maximize return on investment in the organization ¿Ã‚ ½s human capital and maximize financial risk. The policy sets the standards of operations compliance, effective internal management control systems compliant with regulation standards and processes of all the business unit of Barclays. The HR policy provides a clear guidance to the employees as to what their responsibilities and obligations are, and their behavior that last beyond the residency of a particular business unit or executive. An HR policy also helps Bar clays to avoid liability for their employees ¿Ã‚ ½ actions and helps protect against legal claims. HR policies promote consistency approach to meet their needs as they develop continuity with regards to flexible working and general understanding of the management strategy within the Barclays business environment. An HR policy also helps Barclays to keep up with competitors: e.g. policies are may be review in order to attract or retain employee. Policies are set in line with the company ¿Ã‚ ½s strategy and planned to suit the culture, circumstances and size of the company. HR policies need to be reviewed with changes to the environment and growth with the company. So without these policies there will be no sense of direction within the company and it will be difficult for such an organization to achieve it aims and objectives. 3.2 The impact of regulatory requirements on human resource policies in Barclays. The regulatory requirements are the licenses, restrictions and laws that are applicable to a business product or services, imposed by the government. The regulations go a long way from protecting the environment to ensuring work place safety. Such regulations includes; legal and regulatory requirement related to pay, equality, employment rights and responsibilities, data protection, discrimination, etc. The cumulative burden of the regulation requirements by the law can have a positive or a negative impact on a company ¿Ã‚ ½s aims and objectives and can easily overwhelm businesses. The Employment Act 2008 sets out the laws on employment rights and welfare of the employee. The HR managers must now plan the employment package under this employment Act which is very expensive to implement. For e.g. the law makes provision about the procedure for the resolution of employment disputes; to provide for compensation for financial loss on cases of unlawful underpayment or non-payment, to make provision about the enforcement of minimum wages legislation. Barclays manages health and safety at a local level under the requirement and any mistake done can cause the company thousands of pounds on compensation. There is continuing political and regulatory scrutiny of the operations of the retail banking and consumer credit industries in the UK, EU, US, South Africa and elsewhere. For example, in the United States, Barclays Bank PLC and certain US subsidiaries and branches of the bank are subjected to a comprehensive regulatory structure, involving numerous statutes, ruling and regulations, including the International Banking Act of 1978, the Banking Holding Company Act of 1956, as amended, the foreign Bank Supervision Enhancement Act of 1991 and the USA PATRIOT Act of 2001. Such laws and regulations impose limitation on the type of businesses, and the ways in which they may be conducted, in the United States and on the location expansion of banking business there. Non compliance to these regulations could lead to fines, public reprimands, damage to reputations, enforced suspension of operations or, in extreme case, withdrawal of authorization to operate. The new government has taken up deci sions to step up regulatory pressures on banks; it introduced a bank tax and is appointing a commission on banking to decide whether or not the banks should be broken up. Barclays has hinted it may move its operations overseas if the commission decides to force it to separate its retail and investment banking sectors. 4.1 The impact of organizational structure on the management of human resources in J Sainsbury ¿Ã‚ ½s In an organization where different people works together, they need a defined system through which they relate to each other and through which there can be a coordination of their efforts. The defined relationships among the elements of an organization, namely people, tasks, structure, and information and control processes that characterize all organizations is referred to as organizational structure. Brief Business review of J Sainsbury ¿Ã‚ ½s J. Sainsbury ¿Ã‚ ½s plc is the parent company of Sainsbury ¿Ã‚ ½s Supermarket Ltd, commonly known as Sainsbury ¿Ã‚ ½s or Sainsbury ¿Ã‚ ½s and JS, the second largest chain of supermarkets in the United Kingdom with a share of the UK supermarket sector of 16.6%. The group head office is in the Sainsbury ¿Ã‚ ½s Store Support Center in Holborn, city of London. J Sainsbury ¿Ã‚ ½s plc was founded in 1869 by John James Sainsbury ¿Ã‚ ½s and his wife Mary Ann, in London, and grew rapidly during the Victorian era and today operates a total of 872 stores comprising 537 supermarkets and 355 convenience stores. It jointly owns Sainsbury ¿Ã‚ ½s bank with Lloyds Banking Group and has two property joint ventures with Land Securities Group and The British Land Company PLC. The Sainsbury ¿Ã‚ ½s brand is built upon a heritage of providing customers with healthy, safe, fresh and tasty food. Quality and fair prices go hand-in-hand with a responsible approach to business. The store employs over 150,000 colleagues that serve over 19million customers a week and their largest store offers around 30,000 products. Read full story, available on jsainsbury ¿Ã‚ ½s.co.uk/businessreview [assessed 27 Jan 2011]. 4.1.1 Organization structure of J. Sainsbury ¿Ã‚ ½s 4.1.2 The operation mechanism 1. David Tyler (Chairman): He joined the Board on Oct 1 2009 and became the Chairman on Nov 1 2009. He is non executive chairman of Logica plc and a Non-Executive Director of Experian plc and Burberry Group plc, where he also chairs the Remuneration Committee. He was previously Group Finance Director of GUS plc (1997-2006) and has held senior ?nancial and general management roles with Christie ¿Ã‚ ½s International plc (1989-96), County NatWest Limited (1986-89) and Unilever PLC (1974-86). He was also Chairman of 3i Quoted Private Equity plc (2007-09) and a Non-Executive Director of Reckitt Benckiser Group plc over the same period. 2. Justin King (Chief Executive): Appointed Chief Executive Officer on 29 March 2004 and is also Chairman of the Operating Board. He has been a NonExecutive Director of Staples, Inc. since September 2007 and was appointed to the board of the London Organizing Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympics Games in January 2009. He was formerly Director of Food at Marks Spencer plc and from 1994 to 2001 he held a number of senior positions at ASDA/WalMart in Trading, HR and Retail. Justin was previously Managing Director of H ¿Ã‚ ½agen Dazs UK and spent much of his early career with Mars Confectionery and Pepsi International. 3. Darren Shapland (Chief Financial Officer): Appointed Chief Financial Officer on 1 August 2005 and is also Chairman of Sainsbury ¿Ã‚ ½s Bank plc. Darren was appointed a Non-Executive Director of Ladbrokes plc in November 2009. He was formerly Group Finance Director of Carpet-right plc (2002-05) and Finance Director of Superdrug Stores plc (2000-02). Between 1988 and 2000, Darren held a number of financial and operational management roles at Arcadia plc including Joint Managing Director, Arcadia Home Shopping; Finance Director of Arcadia brands; Finance Director, Top Shop/Top Man (Burton Group); and Director of Supply Chain Programme (Burton Group). 4. Mike Coupe (Trading Director): Appointed an Executive Director on 1 August 2007 and has been a member of the Operating Board since October 2004. He joined Sainsbury ¿Ã‚ ½s from Big Food Group where he was a Board Director of Big Food Group plc and Managing Director of Iceland Food Stores. Mike previously worked for both ASDA and Tesco, where he served in a variety of senior management roles. He is also a member of the supervisory board of GSI UK. 5. John McAdam (Senior Independent Director): Appointed a Non-Executive Director on 1 September 2005. He is Chairman of Rentokil Initial plc and United Utilities plc. He is also a Non-Executive Director of Rolls-Royce Group plc and Sara Lee Corporation. John joined Unilever PLC as a management trainee in 1974 and went on to hold a number of senior positions in Birds Eye Walls, Quest and Unichema, before the sale of the Specialty Chemical Businesses to ICI in 1997. He was Chief Executive of ICI plc, until its sale to Akzo Nobel, and was formerly a Non-Executive Director of Severn Trent plc (2000-2005). 6. Anna Ford (Non-Executive Director): Appointed a Non-Executive Director on 2 May 2006. She retired from the BBC in 2006, after 32 years in News and Current Affairs. Anna is a Non-Executive Director of N Brown Group plc and has been a Trustee of the Royal Botanical Gardens in Kew, London; a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society; a Trustee of Forum for the Future; Chancellor of Manchester University; and an Honorary Bencher of Middle Temple. 7. Mary Harris (Non-Executive Director): Appointed a Non-Executive Director on 1 August 2007. She is a member of the supervisory boards of TNT NV and Unibail Rodamco S.E. Mary previously spent much of her career with McKinsey Company, most recently as a partner, and her previous work experience included working for PepsiCo in Greece and the UK as a sales and marketing executive. 8. Bob Stack (Non-Executive Director): Appointed a Non-Executive Director on 1 January 2005. He was a Director of Cadbury plc until December 2008. He joined Cadbury Beverages in the US in 1990 and was first appointed to the Board of Cadbury Schweppes plc in May 1996 as Group Human Resources Director. In March 2000 he was appointed Chief Human Resources Officer and took on responsibility for communication and an external affair in addition to HR. Bob is Trustee and Non-Executive Director of Earth watch International and also a Non-Executive Director and Chairman of the Remuneration Committee of IMI plc. 9. Gary Hughes (Non-Executive Director): -Appointed a Non-Executive Director on 1 January 2005. Gary is Chief Financial Officer of the Gala Coral Group and a Director of the Scottish Exhibition Centre Limited. Formerly he was Chief Executive of CMP Information Limited, a division of United Business Media plc (2006-08), Group Finance Director of Emap plc (2000-05), Group Finance Director of SMG plc (1996 ¿Ã‚ ½2000), and Deputy Finance Director of Forte plc (1994-96). Prior to this Gary held a number of senior management positions with Guinness plc in the UK and in North America. 10. Val Gooding (Non-Executive Director): -Appointed a Non-Executive Director on 11 January 2007. She was formerly Chief Executive of BUPA (1998-2008), which she joined from British Airways, and is a Non-Executive Director of Standard Chartered Bank plc. Val is a member of the BBC ¿Ã‚ ½s Executive Board and the Advisory Board of the Warwick Business School. She is a Trustee of the British Museum and a Non-Executive Director of the Lawn Tennis Association. She was formerly a Non-Executive Director of Compass Group plc and BAA plc. 11. Neil Sachdev (Commercial Director): Joined Sainsbury ¿Ã‚ ½s in March 2007 as Commercial Director following 28 years at Tesco, where he worked in a range of different business areas including: Stores Board Director UK Property/Operations (2000-06); Supply Chain Director (1999 ¿Ã‚ ½2000); Director, Competition Commission (1998-99); Support Director (February 1998-September 1998); and Retail Director (1994-98). Neil is Non-Executive Director and a member of the Audit and Remuneration Committees of Capital Shopping Centers Group PLC. 12. Matt Brittin (Non-Executive Director): Appointed a Non-Executive Director on 27 January 2011. Matt is Managing Director of Google in the UK Ireland. Before joining Google at the start of 2007, Matt spent much of his career in media and marketing, with particular interests in strategy, commercial development and sales performance. This included Commercial and Digital leadership roles in UK media. Matt has an MBA from London Business School and an MA from Cambridge. In 2010 he was voted wired magazine ¿Ã‚ ½s  ¿Ã‚ ½Most Influential Person in the Digital World ¿Ã‚ ½. The organizational structure of Sainsbury ¿Ã‚ ½s is fit with the imperatives defined by needs to keep costs down, provide operational excellence and help to develop the potential of the human capital inside the organization. The organizational structures of the company allows the human resource department to smooth co-operation among employees, create effective communication among the employees, provide a clear defined roles, responsibility and processes. Organization structure is used for choosing the plan that utilizes minimal resources and achieve maximum returns. From Human Resource perspectives, it is the organizational structure that drives the employees to their full capacities and capabilities. The organizational structure will enable the Human Resource department to classify all the employees of the organization into achievers and non-achievers. 4.2 The impact of organizational culture on the management of human resources The cultures of an organization are thought of as those that evolve in conversation and is influx, constantly changing. It is the culture of an organization that defines what things mean, whether they are valued as good or bad, right or wrong, and how things are to be done when answers can ¿Ã‚ ½t be fixed by formal structure, policy or procedures. There are two aspect of organizational culture: the culture within an organization and the culture outside and organization especially hen company operates its business globally, it has to adapt to local cultures. Sainsbury ¿Ã‚ ½s have their strong organizational culture along with their corporate strategies. Sainsbury ¿Ã‚ ½s introduced the self checkout system in 2002; this helped the organization to save cost on s

The Awakening :: essays research papers

Edna Pontellier The Awakening, which was written by Kate Chopin, received a great deal of criticism when it was first published in 1899. Much of the controversy over the novel arose because of the character of Edna Pontellier. Edna was very much unlike the women of her time. In today's terms she would be considered a rebel. Edna opposed the traditional roles of society that kept many restraints on the women of the 1800's. According to traditional society of the 1800's women were assigned the duties of tending the home, caring for their husband, and bearing children. On the other hand, the men of this time were to be considered the authority of the household and were basically in charge of what goes on throughout the household internally and externally as well as mentally and physically. It is Edna's choice to disobey these roles and her need for self-discovery, which cause a shocking end to this adventure to find her true self. In her critique, the female artist in Kate Chopin's The Awakening: Birth and Creativity, Carlene Stone takes the reader through stages of Edna's struggle to become an artist showing direct correlation with her becoming and individual and in control of her own self. For example she states how Robert's encouragement while she is painting is very innocent in the beginning but eventually lead's to the awakening of her passions of her body and her falling in love with Robert. The fact that Edna falls for Robert goes against those societal roles which where followed by some many women of the 1800's. Robert plays a big role in Edna's self-development through artistry and love by being a huge source of imaginative power. Stone then goes on making references to the scene in which she grows tired during Mass and leaves with Robert who takes her to Madame Antoine's home. She states that stories told by Madame Antoine represents the oral tradition of art and that this day is the high point o f Edna's imagination and she will return to it in her memory as she paints. Another form of art in which Stone refers to is structured art, which is supplied by Mme. Reisz. Mme. Reisz plays her music with great feeling and art, which evokes pictures in Eden's mind and her passions of her body, arise once again. These pictures and passions once again contribute greatly to the continuing development of Edna's artistic growth, which continues to lead to her self-discovery.

Exchange and Transport in Protozoa :: Biology

Exchange and Transport in Protozoa The exchange of gases between the environment and cells occurs via the process of diffusion. Diffusion depends on:  · The amount of surface area available for diffusion. The larger the surface area the greater the rate of diffusion.  · The concentration gradient. An organism which respires very quickly will have a much lower concentration of oxygen in the cells and a higher than normal concentration of Carbon Dioxide. So the greater the concentration gradient across the respiratory surface the quicker the rate of diffusion.  · The thickness or length of the diffusion path. The greater the thickness of the path the slower the rate of diffusion because the gases will have to travel a larger distance. So the respiratory surface must be as thin as possible. The relation of the three points above can be summed up by Fick’s Law: However, the amount of gas which an organism needs to exchange is greatly proportional to its volume, nevertheless, the amount of gaseous exchange which takes place is proportional to the surface area over which the exchange happens. For single celled/unicellular organisms the surface area to volume ratio is large, however, for larger organisms the surface area to volume ratio decreases. The larger the object gets the more complicated it gets. The smaller the object the larger the surface area to volume ratio. This is where single celled organism have an advantage. Organisms like Amoeba can exchange gases with environment quickly and easily. However exchange surfaces need to attain certain properties to maximise gaseous exchange. They are:  · Need to have a good blood supply- high concentration gradient  · Moist- Dissolve gases  · Large Surface Area  · Thin walls  · Permeable As single celled organisms are small so they do not have to have specialised systems like much larger organisms like mammals. Single celled organisms like amoeba do not have to have transport systems or specialised systems because they are so small so [IMAGE]substances do not have to travel far to get to their desired destination. The contractile vacuole in this amoeba is used for water regulation.

A death in the family Essay -- essays research papers

James Agee's A Death in the Family is a posthumous novel based on the largely complete manuscript that the author left upon his death in 1955. Agee had been working on the novel for many years, and portions of the work had already appeared in The Partisan Review, The Cambridge Review, The New Yorker, and Harper's Bazaar. Published in 1957, the novel was edited by David McDowell. Several lengthy passages, part of Agee's manuscript whose position in the chronology was not identified by the author, were placed in italics by the editor, whose decision it was to place them at the conclusion of Parts I and II. These dream-like sequences suggest the influence of James Joyce, especially of Ulysses, on Agee's writing. It was also McDowell's decision to add the brief prefatory section, â€Å"Knoxville: Summer, 1915,† Agee's poetic meditation on his southern childhood. As an overture to the novel, this evocative section, although not part of Agee's original manuscript, is extremely effective, for it introduces the theme of lost childhood happiness that is central in the novel as a whole. The novel will treat the same milieu of middle-class domestic life-a social milieu whose calm surface of â€Å"normality† is shattered by the tragic and possibly suicidal death of Jay Follet, the child protagonist's father. In Part I of the novel, Agee quickly establishes the importance of the father-son relationship. Rufus Follet, Jay's six-year-old son, accompanies his father to the silent film theatre against the objection of Rufus's mother, who finds Charlie Chaplin (one of James Agee's heroes) â€Å"nasty† and â€Å"vulgar.† This disagreement underscores the marital conflict that underlies Rufus's ambivalent feelings toward both his parents. When Jay takes Rufus to a neighborhood tavern after the picture show, despite the father's warmth and love for his son, it is clear that the father's pride is constrained by the fact that the son's proclivities, even at this early age, follow the mother's interests in â€Å"culture† rather than the father's more democratic tastes for athletic ability and social pursuits. Tensions between Rufus's parents are apparent as Jay's drinking and â€Å"vulgar† habits become a point of contention in the household, with the child Rufus caught b etween his sometimes bickering parents. For her part, Mary Follet is a character whose extreme subjection to moralistic attitudes suggests... ... a prayer for the dead. Meanwhile Uncle Andrew takes Rufus for a walk and tells him about the â€Å"magnificent butterfly† that settled on Jay's coffin just as it was lowered into the grave before flying off high into the sky – an episode that Andrew believes â€Å"miraculous.† Andrews then reviles Father Jackson, who has refused to read the full burial service, since Jay has never been baptized. Rufus struggles to understand the hostility that Andrew feels toward the church even as he loves Christians such as Mary and Hannah. Rufus wants to ask for some clarification, but instead he and Andrew walk silently home. Thus Agee ends the novel on a note of unresolved conflict. As he grows up, it is suggested, Rufus will continue to suffer from the same divisions of faith and social milieu that are involved in his parents' relationship, and he will develop into the contemplative artist who already, at the age of six, has shown such sensitivity to human motives and the language in which they are conveyed. Written toward the end of his life, A Death in the Family may be considered Agee's attempt to understand the origins of, and to come to terms with, the self-division that plagued his existence.