Monday, September 30, 2019

History of Electronic Dance Music Essay

Electronic Dance Music, also known as EDM (we at Poached Mag are not exactly big fans of that acronym), has in recent years, taken over commercial music by storm. Big name producers such as David Guetta, Skrillex and Armin van Buuren have dominated airplay, and current crowd-friendly artistes like Rihanna and Lady Gaga have incorporated electronic elements into their pop-till-you-drop chart-toppers. However, electronic dance music does not stop at whatever you’ve just bobbed your heads to on the radio – it is a whole new realm of music that requires lots of technical know-how before even attempting to name yourself as a ‘DJ’, let alone a musician or an artist. Before one goes into all the nitty-gritty, which consists of instruments, software and production, a basic consensus must be met in terms of what constitutes EDM. What is Electronic Dance Music? Electronic Dance Music is music produced through equipment and played in a dance-based environment. It creates a different kind of body to music, unlike rock and metal bands of the 60s and 70s, which allow room for mistakes and improvisation when played live. The common denominator of dance music is primarily the turntables, in which the Disc Jockey (DJ) uses to combine tracks electronically into one smooth mix. Synthesizers and voice manipulation through softwares such as Logic Pro and Fruity Loops are widely used. â€Å"Organic† instruments such as the acoustic guitar can also constitute as part of the equation, and contemporary musicians bring in eccentric elements – a violin, congo drums and et cetera – to add that special ‘feel’ to their music. That’s a lot to swallow, isn’t it. The 1960s – The ‘Birth’ of Electronic Dance Music Some people say that the early usage of electronic instruments and electronic manipulation in music was in the 1960s, where the boom of funk and soul required the use of the bass guitar and a couple of synthesizers to get the groove going. What many do not know is that electronic music is said to originate from the use of the Theremin, which allows the musician to create sounds by movement. The first commercial appearance of the Theremin can be seen in The Beach Boys’ ‘Good Vibrations’ in 1966. With such tinkering around with electronic instruments, Melbourne physician Val Stephen became one of the pioneers to have a full electronic music album released internationally. During this period, many producers turned to electronic manipulation to solve certain technical problems such as vocal range and sounds that could not be achieved with an ‘organic’ instrument. The 1970s – The Interest Continues Disco is one of the biggest genres of this decade, possibly the first wave of electronic music. Eurodance (most people refer to it as Eurotrash) is said to have emerged during this timeframe, together with familiar and tasteful genres such as funk, soul, smooth jazz and jazz-fusion. Another notable genre of this decade would be experimental music. In disco, the emergence of Disco Divas such as Gloria Gaynor and Donna Summer pioneered the wave of groovy, bass-heavy electronic music. The release of Saturday Night Fever with the once-suave John Travolta and music composed by the Bee Gees, also encouraged the boom of synthesized music. Many established rock musicians also incorporated the usage of synthesizers and modulation in their compositions to create a new genre called Progressive Rock, forming another surge called the New Wave, which then carried on to the 80s. The 1980s – The Experimental Era One such band who incorporated heavy synthesized sounds together with traditional rock music instruments was The Alan Parsons Project. Previously a sound engineer for The Beatles and subsequently Pink Floyd, Alan Parsons decided to display the technicality of electronic music through concept albums. One lauded track was ‘Eye In The Sky’. Electro, House and Techno also gained popularity in this decade, with German wunderkinds Kraftwerk playing a huge role in defining the template for electronic music, and samples from their works are still used to this day. House music was born in Chicago, influenced by funk and soul elements. Techno on the other hand, was said to originate from Detroit, where the Belleville Three decided to create something more organic and technical. In recent times, this genre has been popularized by the Germans. Synthpop took root during this era – with the synthesizer becoming the dominant musical instrument for a change. Bands such as the Pet Shop Boys, A-ha! , Depeche Mode and New Order made their mark in replacing the remnants of disco from the 70s. The 1990s – The Craze for Computers With the rampant improvement in technology and lowering of its costs, many people were actually able to produce and mix their own electronic music. Down-tempo and Lounge became predominant in the 1990s, a challenge to the rowdy teen-pop that was dominating the airwaves. The European Electronic Music Boom (notably in the UK, Germany and France) led to the opening of many superclubs such as Ministry of Sound, and outdoor raves were frequently held. The techno craze developed in Germany, namely Frankfurt and until most recently, Berlin. DJ culture became widespread, with artistes such as Paul van Dyk, Pete Tong, Ferry Corsten and ATB becoming household names. Trance also has its roots in the 1990s, and became the rave in the Netherlands, with Armin van Buuren at the helm. Goa Trance also emerged during this decade, and by the end of the millennium, Ibiza became the destination for partygoers. The 2000s – The Recent Years Till today, many of the electronic music genres are still popular, for example, trance, house and lounge. With technological advancements, many other sub-genres of music then evolved – Nu-disco bands like Miami Horror, The Phenomenal Handclap Band and Electropop bands are looking to becoming mainstays in this era. Another sub-genre that is slowly developing and being widely appreciated would be minimal techno, with Apparat and Nicolas Jaar on the front line of this sub-genre. Various fusions such as Trap (electronic hip-hop), with groups like Flosstradamus are also gaining popularity in clubs. The controversial dubstep phenomenon has also instilled a whole new different way of software manipulation into electronic music producers of this decade. With the 2000s not over yet, one can say that this is only the beginning of Electronic Dance Music as there are many other fusions and genres that have not even been created, much less discovered. As Ferry Corsten puts it succinctly, â€Å"Trance is the classical music of the future. † As for Electronic Dance Music, it sets the template for future musicians. – Image Credits: AP, doandroidsdance. com

Travel agency or company

The act of traveling to different places for leisure or recreational purposes is leisure travel and tourism is a travel for leisure or recreational purposes. Globalization has increased the tourism industry a big boost. Tourism is one of the fastest growing industries that contribute greatly to the economy of a country in this era of globalization. Majority of the working class spend their leisure time for travel. Many services describe a leisure travel experience that include guided tours, farm stay tours, tours for the activity of the kids, entertainment programmes at resorts or hotels, and weekend accommodation/holiday packages.A travel agency or company sells the travel services, particularly the package travel. There are commonly three types of three different types of agencies that include multiples, maniples and independent agencies. The multiples comprise of national chains of international conglomerates. A package travel comprises of a pre-arranged travel for 24 hours, which is a combination of accommodation, transport and a tourist service such as entertainment that forms a significant part of the package. Normally there exists an exclusive price for this package travel.The package is generally provided for a discount and the travel company should provide the information regarding the requirements of the visa and passport, health requirements. The Brisbane is the state capital of Queensland, Australia, with tourism as an important industry for the economy of the state attracting 4. 9 million of domestic and 0. 9 million international visitors annually. Brisbane neighbors the tourism capital of Australia, the gold coast, with golden beaches and exciting nightlife.The present paper discusses on designing the leisure travel product, a package tour to the Brisbane the capital of the state of Queensland, Australia. It also analyses the existing market opportunities for the product when compared with the products of the similar nature. Variables of the mark eting mix in a package tour: Product: The product in the tourism industry is the customer value, and for the elements of the marketing mix to be effective, it is important to concentrate on the unique characteristics of the product for tourism, the demand and the range of the determinants for the demand.In a tourism industry, for a strategic planning of the product there are two possible approaches that include, Market approach and the destination approach. It is important to select the right package of products to make the market more attractive. Securing a unique position and a good reputation in the market is very important for the strategic place of the product in the market. A package of benefits and offerings that can meet the expectations of the visitors, investors will increase the business.Promotion: Communication in an effective way plays an important role that increases the effectiveness of the market. Awareness of the product: it is important to make the customer aware o f the product to get the attention of the customer. Interest: generating interest on the product plays an important role. Desire: Creating a desire that is related to the needs relative to the competitors is important. Action: stimulating the target market to purchase the product plays an important role.Giving the information and building awareness of the product, creating a positive attitude towards the product, and creating a good climate for purchase by clearing the doubts about the product are some of the attributes that has to be considered for promoting a product. The product offering in the form of stimulus input that provokes for a holiday tour, taking the full advantage of product promotion through the communication channels such as guides, brochures etc, will motivate the customers to purchase the product.Price: The price factor in the tourism industry is perceived in terms of value for money. This is largely influenced by the prior expectation of the customer as to how ex pensive or cheap the trip would be. The price and the perception the price in the market needs to be handles carefully in the marketing mix. Description of the travel product, the package tour A package tour is a service that comprises of transport and accommodation organized by a tour operator and sold by a travel agent.The package tour of the modern times has evolved from the package tours of 1960’s when there was a package tour that comprises of flights, accommodation and transfers. These package tours mostly existed in the United Kingdom where most of the people got an affordable travel to various destinations including the foreign travel. With a decreasing demand for the package tour, the sector is now largely operated by a few large tour operators. With the advent of dynamic tour package, the consumers have the freedom to choose their own packages consisting of accommodation, flights and transfers.(First conferences battle, 2005). Analysis of the product: Australian cul tural environment is unique in that it is a combination of the aboriginal, Europe and American cultures. The excellent cities, snowfields, deserts, rain forests, and the golden beaches of Australia provide a wealth of travel experiences. Australia is a tourist attraction for its events, arts from aboriginal culture, antiques, cuisine and most of all the flexible government policies to obtain visas for the foreign tourists.Contributing a large share to the economy, tourism in Australia represents about 5. 9% of the GDP. With a large number of domestic and international tourists visiting every year, there is a lot of scope for the dynamic package tours in the country. Activities and benefits of a package tour: The activity of a package tour is to plan a journey to a different place without many hazels at a reasonable cost. The benefits of the tour include the avoiding the hassles of searching for accommodation in a new place and all accommodation and transportation are pre arranged.Wi th packaging to tourism the tourism operators get the benefits such as increase in the sales, increasing marketability of the product and increase of the share in the market beyond the own resources. Target markets: Many tourists buy the package tours as they feel it is the secure, economical and a convenient way for a leisure travel. The travel agents can use this opportunity to enhance their product value by offering some compliments along with their services. The best packages give appealing experiences for a good value to the target market.The best package chooses specific products based on the best fit in the target market. Price: Price of the package is decided upon the per customer basis and is calculated based on variable costs, fixed costs and the overhead or the marketing costs. All these costs together with the profit will form the basic package of the price. Location/schedules: Many travelers and the budget minded in particular, prefer the travel that is safe convenient and secure. These package travels are useful for those who travel for an unfamiliar location that is exotic that can be covered in a short period.Many of the partially escorted tours take care of transportation and lodging in which meals are excluded. Personnel for the package tour: The warm and friendly personnel and their welcoming and receiving nature will give the tourists a relaxation. The relaxing environment provided by the personnel at every stage of the travel gives a feeling that the tourists feel excited and relaxed. Physical facilities for a package tour: The organizations, which offers services for package tours has to change the strategy in such a way that the package offered constantly meets the demands of the customer.By considering the aspirations of the tourists, it is possible to manage the resources effectively. Process management policies: The process management policies include package types that supports user-defined product types, dynamic packages that allows choice of items adjusted according to the budget, flexibility in accommodating the packages in different seasons, a complete rule based pricing mechanism, managing multiple currencies, pooled inventory management and powerful traveler reward programme. Competitive advantage or unique selling point:For selling a package, it is beneficial to develop the package that has appealing inventory of experiences, and support services. Developing a package concept that includes setting a theme, market position, and giving a full description of the specific services are appealing to the target market that give a competitive advantage. Travel products offered by one company Package tour-1 The package includes four days and three nights, and the price includes morning city sights, rivers and return private car transfers to airport, hotel and the choice of selecting star hotels including one lunch.Package tour-2 The package tour includes four days and three nights. The pricing includes escorted t ouring with knowledgeable guides. One night each at pinnacles, beach, museums, that includes six meals (3 breakfasts and 3 dinners). Package tour-3 The package includes five days and four nights, the price includes accommodation for two nights at rain forest retreat, excursions, guided walks, morning and afternoon teas, accommodation for two nights at a resort, four breakfasts and one lunch and private car transfer to hotel and airport.Analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of each package tour Package tour-1 Strengths: The strengths include city viewing in the morning, offering choice to choose a star hotel for accommodation and transport by private cars to airport and hotel. Weaknesses: The weaknesses include providing only one lunch during the period of stay. Package tour-2 Strengths: That include visit for the museums, viewing wild flowers, dolphins, beaches, and pinnacles and offering six meals. Weaknesses: Not offering transport by a private car to the hotels and airport.Packa ge tour-3 Strengths: The strengths include providing accommodation for two nights at rain forest retreat, with excursions and guided walks, all transfers, and private car transfer to hotel and airports. Weaknesses: The weaknesses include providing only four breakfasts and one lunch as the travelers has to visit the rain forest retreat. Proposed travel product The travel product comprises of a trip to Brisbane a cosmopolitan city that provides relaxation. The stay includes 3 days and two nights.The price includes two nights at Brisbane, transports by a private car to hotel and airport visit to a sanctuary, and high lights of the city in the afternoon, and a tour to the zoo. The price also includes three lunch and two breakfasts and one dinner and the choice of choosing one out of the three good star hotels for accommodation. The price will be reasonable at 520 US dollars. Presentation of the product A trip to Brisbane A trip to discover a young cosmopolitan city Brisbane will relax y ou from the hassles of routine life.Stay: 3 days and two nights Price: †¢ two nights at Brisbane †¢ private car transfers to the airport and hotel †¢ visit to sanctuary †¢ afternoon highlights of the city †¢ a tour to the zoo †¢ three lunch, two breakfasts and one dinner Day-1 Transport by a private car, a tourist guide will accompany a tour to the afternoon high lights of the city. A visit to the wild life sanctuary, and choice of choosing a hotel Day-2 Visit to the zoo, entertainment by many shows and demonstrations. Day-3Transfer to airport from Brisbane by a private car References From the journals: 1. Angel roper(2005), Marketing standardisation:tour operators in the nordic region European journal of marketing,vol. 39(5/6), pp. 514-27 2. Jay kadumpally(2000), The impact of demand fluctuation on the quality of service: a tourism industry example. Managing service quality, vol. 10(1), pp. 10-19. From the internet: 3. Travel Agents Could Lose Out in t he Dynamic Packaging Battle, First Conferences Ltd. (2005).

Sunday, September 29, 2019

Child Labor Since the Industrial Revolution Essay

Child labor has changed dramatically since the time of the industrial revolution. Teens everywhere can now have part time jobs that aren’t hazardous to their health and follow strict child labor laws. Although pretty much all our ancestors weren’t so lucky. During n the Industrial Revolution there were no child labor laws. The factory owners just saw it as jobs that could be done by anyone, and grown men would not stand for such low pay so who better than children who are just as happy with pennies and nickels. Children working in factories didn’t just have to deal with low income they also had horrid working conditions, health hazards, low wages, long hours worked per day, and almost every day worked per week. Child Labor had existed long before the Industrial Revolution; children were usually forced to work in family farms or as servants. But it wasn’t until the Industrial Revolution that children were forced into factories with horrid working conditions. These kids would often work 10-12 hours a day, and also had to deal with constant abuse from superiors who demanded faster production. Children as young as four were employed to work in coal mines. Conditions were dangerous very dangerous in the coal mines, many children developed lung cancer and other diseases and died before the age of 25, while others died from gas explosions. Some children were employed as â€Å"scavengers† by cotton mills, their jobs would be to climb under machinery to pick up cotton, some died from being crushed under the machines, and some lost hands or even limbs. After reports of these atrocities became widespread politicians and the government tried to limit child labor by law, but factory owners resisted; some felt that they were aiding the poor by giving their children money to buy food to avoid starvation, and others simply welcomed the cheap labor. The English governments’ efforts only led to the limit of 10 hours of work per day for children but working conditions were still atrocious. In the 21st century there are many regulations that have drastically improved safety and limits on child workers in the U.  S. The minimum age for â€Å"Non-Hazardous† work is 14, and for agricultural work that age is dropped to 10-11 years old with parental consent on farms not regulated by minimum wage requirements, and 12-13 years old just with parental consent. The laws on today’s limit on hours of employment are as follows: No work during school hours, on school days: 3 hours/day, 18 hours/week maximum, when school is out of session: 8 hours/day, 40 hours/week with at least 30 minute s of break time included each day. These laws helped to keep hours of work limited to ensure more time for school and other activities. There have also been laws for minimum wage that a teen can receive for work. Federal Minimum is $7. 25 per hour as of 7/24/09 youth minimum is $4. 25 per hour for employees under 20 years of age during their first 90 consecutive calendar days of employment with an employer. In today’s working world hazards teens will face while working are limited to just slipping on wet floors, minor burns, and small cuts. Granted this is if most safety precautions are carried out and it was accidental. So far no child worker has been exposed to any harmful diseases while working, during the 21st century. The managers overseeing children working are very helpful and are punished by law if they harass or physically injure any employees. Since the Industrial revolution the ages of child workers have changed from as young as 4 to, at the very least, 10. Child workers today are no longer allowed to work 12 or 14 hours a day, instead there are strict laws that allow for a thirty minute break everyday and no more than 18 hours of work per week. Minimum wage has been changed from pennies and nickels to $7. 25 since the Industrial Revolution. Teems working nowadays are ensured by workers compensation and serious injuries are rare because of safety precautions taken; as opposed to frequent diseases, serious injuries, and even death that were reported in the Industrial Revolution. Thankfully many changes have ensured the health and safety of child workers today. I am personally thankful for these laws and regulations because as of next week I will be working at Panera Bread and it is nice to know that I am safe as a working teen.

12 Angry Men by Reginald Rose

The movie â€Å"Twelve Angry Men† by Reginald Rose is a drama that displays twelve jurors' in-depth reasoning to decide a unanimous decision on the defendant's sentence. There are many assets and liabilities of the group that play a role in their decision making. The jurors are all defined in terms of their personalities, backgrounds, prejudices and emotional tilts. This paper will argue that when pride, jealousy, frustration and prejudice all emerge we see irrational and rational decision making methods.The assets of group is shown when juror#8 starts a different approach to evidence by showing the knife that was thought to be rare. It starts the process of participation in problem solving by other jury members who may have made up their mind or were just feeling conformity pressure. Greater sum of individual's total information starts to helps jury make a better decision. Liabilities of a group are show when every one except juror# 8 raise their hand feeling conformity press ure. There is desire of individual shown by juror# 3 to dominate and win the argument rather than finding a best solution.Lack of interest is shown by juror# 7 to reason or spend time to solve problem. There are prejudice feelings shown by juror# 10 and 7, they think juror# 5 and 11 do not know much because of their backgrounds. Each group determines assets and liabilities of their group's problem solving. As long disagreement is not personal and is in interest of best solution it's healthy. Time required to solve a problem is uncertain, members might get impatient and solve problem without reasoning. Risk taking is either good or bad depending on how a group uses it.Each group has a different problem to solve and different personalities to work with which is why each group can use assets and liabilities positively and negatively. Throughout the film, Juror Ten is violently prejudiced against anyone who comes from a slum. â€Å"You can't believe a word they say,† he declares – take note that Juror Ten does not say â€Å"he,† meaning the defendant, but â€Å"they,† the group of slums as a whole. This proves that he cannot make a fair judgment about individual guilt.Juror Nine, the senior man with accumulated life experience, notices this and rebukes immediately saying â€Å"Since when is dishonesty a group characteristic? † The intolerance of Juror Ten continues before finally erupting in a long speech that leads the other jurors to reject him. The message is clear that such irrational prejudice is incompatible with justice. Juror Four also shows signs of such prejudice, though he couches it in more acceptable words: â€Å"The children who come out of slum backgrounds are potential menaces to society. When a person hears the word prejudice, he or she might think it only refers to the racial prejudice often found between those with light skin and those with dark skin. However, prejudice runs much deeper than a person's color. Prejudice is found between gender, religion, cultural and geographical background, and race. People have discriminated against others based upon these attributes from the beginning of time. Prejudice has become a complex problem in our society; for example, if someone were to walk in a secluded area at night and pass a group of senior citizens, he or she will, most likely, not feel threatened.However, if instead of senior citizens, three teenagers dressed in ripped jeans and t-shirts wearing metal chains around their necks passed the person is more likely to feel threatened. Prejudice is the sad truth of today’s society. Whether it’s from watching the local news or reading the newspaper, many people base stereotypes on the media or personal experiences. Although these are the most convenient ways to judge someone, they are also the worst. Whenever dealing with the media, events are dramatized and slowly build into the subconscious. The affects of prejudice then influen ce our decisions without us even realizing it.

Saturday, September 28, 2019

A considerate of contemporary management function Essay Example for Free

A considerate of contemporary management function Essay ? A considerate of contemporary management function of the employer-employee relationship The six journal articles that have been looked at stem from the original Locke, (1982) article. Frederick W. Taylor popularised of scientific management. The essay will discuss 5 aspects of Taylor’s ideas about scientific management and show how understandings of contemporary management functions and the employer-employee relationship have been developed from Taylor’s ideas. What was Taylor’s idea about the management? Management involves coordinating and overseeing the work activities of others so that their activities are completed efficiently and effectively. The ideas about the relationship between employer and employee have been developed from a nother. Retain critical employees is important and necessary. According to the Fitz-enz(1997), the company average losses 1 million with every 10 people who is the managerial and professional employees. In addition, the total cost of least a former employee at least a year of wages and benefits, up to two years of unpaid salary and benefits. This is a huge economic loss with a company loses a number of critical employees. As a manager, we must give employees adequate physiological, safety, love, esteem. One of the advice is managers should look into a way to motivate employees to achieve a satisfactory and unmet needs through activities and exercises. Managers have a responsibility to create a suitable environment to inspire employees to their fullest potential. If no such right environment, will lead to a big difference such as lower job satisfaction, lower productivity, lower profit with a company. How to effectively improve the relationship between managers and employees? Taylor given 4 methods. (a) Scientific management: In Principles of Scientific Management (1911)Fredrick Winslow Taylor, the â€Å"Father† of scientific management utilises scientific methods to define th e â€Å"one best way† for a job to be done (b) Scientific selections. Taylor advocated selecting only â€Å"first class†(i.e., high aptitude) men for a given job because their productivity would be several times greater than that of the average man. (c) Money bonus. Taylor claimed that the money is what employees want most, he thinks employees should be paid from 30% to 100% higher wages for to do his job. (d) Management responsibility for training. Taylor thought that most contemporary managers should fully accept the notion that training new employees is their responsibility. My understanding about the  employer-employee relationship has also been shaped by these articles. I have learnt that (1) Scientific management can focus speed of production, low cost production and availability of an unskilled workforce. In addition, today’s use of scientific management can use time and motion studies to increase productivity, hire the best qualified employees and design incentive systems based on output. Equity theory is a theory of social comp arison effect on employees. This theory appears to be very common, but it is very important. Equity theory refers to the rate of employees with their work output and input compared with others. Time input includes the time of the work, work habits, work experience, work attitude, and so on. When they found unfair, they usually can’t change the rate of others, can’t change their input, so employees will find ways to change their output. This may mean that they will reduce their work time or effort to work. Then, the manager can use the equity theory to motivate employees. Managers can use a more open system of remuneration paid for employees to understand each position and every effort should position relative to how much salary can be get. (2) Scientific selections: Everybody have their own good aspects, based on each person strengths and rational allocation of work. As a result, not only can bring effectively produce but also can make person enjoy their work. According to the Wren (1979) notes that Taylor focuses on scientific selection can promote the develop ment of industrial psychology and personnel management and other areas. (3) Money bonus: How to influence people? The most common method is money bonus. Such as up wages, bonuses, benefits. These things are the most effective way to influence the work of passion and power of a work. Through the Vroom’s (1946) expectancy theory, we can find that an employee will play his better efforts when he is convinced that his efforts would be better evaluated. And these evaluations will bring him more rewards such as bonuses, salary increases. These rewards will meet staff personal goals. Individual employee attitudes and enthusiasm in their work will determine to a large extent a company’s performance. According to the Porter (1968) and Lawler’s expectancy model of motivation, this model proposes two factors that determine spending on a number of tasks energy. The first is the personal rewards from work to get. These returns will be the psychological perception of employees is their own work to be sure. The second is that these returns will be formed job satisfaction. (4) Management  responsibility for training: The staff training is an essential element of human resource management. Managers can’t ignore their training responsibilities. Understanding management system in staff training in this area can help you build an effective training system to help you prepare new employees for their work To sum up, from the six articles considered, scientific management can not only getting the most output from the least amount of inputs but also focus on those work activities that will help the company reach its goals. Taylor’s idea has shaped modern employer-employee relationships. Work is still specialised, personal are still trained. The quality of work is still rewarded in bonuses, as well as other. Reference: 1.Three chapters in The Ideas of Frederick W Taylor: An Evaluation’. 2.Wren, D. A. The evolution of management thought (2nd ed.). New York: Wiley, 1979. 3.Towards a unified model of employee motivation / Darren J. Elding, Andrew M. Tobias and David S. Walk [Chichester, West Sussex, England] : John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., 2006 4.Kotter, John P. What effective general managers really do / John P. Kotter Boston [etc.] : Graduate School of Business Administration, Harvard University, 1982 5.Managing in the new millennium : understanding the manager’s motivational tool bag / Patricia M. Buhl Burlington, Iowa, etc., National Research Bureau, etc.], 2003 6.A review of employee motivation theories and their implications for employee retention within organiz Hollywood, FL : Journal of American Academy of Business, 2004 A considerate of contemporary management function. (2016, Mar 24).

By Looking Closely At Language Content Style

By Looking Closely At Language, Content, Style Show How? Fat? Can Be Considered A Typical Carve Sto Essay, Research Paper ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? When replying this inquiry one must first see what a typical Raymond Carve narrative is. After reading several of his other short narratives you can see a pattern development. His minimalist manner creates a sense of withdrawal from the narrative and its characters, nevertheless at the same clip he is still able to take you through a scope of emotions. A typical Carver narrative surely involves conversational and easy to understand linguistic communication. However at the base and beneath this are really intricate and elaborate narrative lines that frequently hold implicit in concealed messages, these messages are the readers occupation to bring out. The simpleness of Raymond Carver # 8217 ; s characters makes them complex. Though this is an dry statement as sarcasm is portion of Raymond Carver? s authorship. The individualities of his characters are simple and ordinary, but the sarcasm of the narratives makes them unusual. Most of Carver # 8217 ; s characters are similar: alone personalities without the ability to show themselves, fighting with the troubles of the day-to-day life and traveling from occupation to occupation. There is a bound to what they can bear, and even an undistinguished event can oppress their lives. Their ordinary lives all of a sudden seam non so ordinary ; they become strange. The scenes are semi-industrial American towns that make the reader depressed and dying. The secret plans of his narratives are besides comparable: the action begins with ordinary lives, which somehow prostration into darkness, depression and terror. The universe portrayed by the writer is without faith, political relations, civilization or society. The reader is left with assorted feelings: desperation and gratefulness. Our lives may be bad, but compared to those described in his narratives they seem heavenly. ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? If you compare? Fat? to this analogy so one can surely see similarities. Language wise, this narrative is simple with no complex metaphors etc, Carver does non necessitate these to make the image he wants. His simple authorship manner still can convey you through a scope of emotions. At the beginning of the narrative I found it humourous, ? This adult male is the fattest individual I have of all time seen. ? This description of the adult male can be interpreted as entertaining. However as the narrative develops, this facet of temper shortly alterations into a more serious affair as one begins to feel understanding for the adult male. The elaborate description of what he eats, how he chows an vitamin D people? s comments to his weight filled me with great compassion, ? He? s truly a fatty. ? The linguistic communication used by the characters to depict the adult male can be harsh and cruel reenforcing your understanding for him. In footings of manner the usage of the first individual narrative in this narrative allows Carver to step back and have less of an interpretative influence. A first individual narrative does non let Carver to hold such control over the characters. The gives a greater sense of pragmatism. Many of George washington carvers narratives are focused on one character depicting events. In? Fat? it is based around this adult females giving her perceptual experience of proceedings, ? I say and a feeling comes over me? The adult females does non depict what this feeling is merely that she has one. This adds a turn to the narrative as the adult females is non merely concerned by this mans weight but by something else. It is our occupation as the reader to dissect this. Besides at the beginning of the narrative it is a really laid back and relaxed manner, nevertheless as the narrative progresses your emotions start to come up and you are seeking to calculate out what is truly traveling on. This is Carver? manner being able to subletely toss the whole narrative over conveying up many surprises along the manner. As with many other of his short narratives, Carver will describe something so far and merely at the point where everything is about to be exposed he stops, go forthing the remainder to our imaginativeness. At the terminal of a Carver narrative you feel baffled as such a simple event can be turned around into something life altering for a character. If one looks at the general content of the narrative so you see several analogues emerging with his other narratives. ? Fat? starts off with an ordinary individual, with an ordinary occupation in a ordinary state of affairs. However Carver? s glare is how he converts these apparently dull state of affairss into a life altering experience for the character. If one looks at? Fat? so the stoping is a complete bewilderment for the reader, ? My life is traveling to alter. I feel it. ? In? Fat? there is no existent narrative line as with his other narratives, but its stoping exemplifies Carver? s minimalist manner, maintaining everything simple on the surface, but underneath you can see that something else is traveling on. In decision? Fat? has adult male similarities with a typical Carver narrative. With its minimalist manner and dull ordinary people populating their lives, nevertheless these lives can be changed dramatically by one individual or one event. As a consequence the lives can travel into depression or make the antonym and flourish.

Friday, September 27, 2019

Fall 2010 November Elections Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Fall 2010 November Elections - Essay Example That in itself might be a good thing. The flawed Healthcare bill is likely to be seriously amended by the Republicans. Obama tried to ram through a lot of bills that many Americans did not support. He also tried to spend his way out of the recession. This didnt work and people were very unhappy. With his stimulus bill he made a promise: Give me nearly $1 trillion to spend and I will give you more jobs. That didnt happen. The Republicans believe that a lot fewer of the solutions to the economic situation lie in the hands of government. They want the private sector to pick up the slack. The truth is that the outcome of the election may result in some deadlock but that is not necessarily a bad thing. The founding fathers were not big fans of government. They were happy to see government weakened which would allow people to make their own decisions in their own small towns. That is what we may see

Statistical Tool for Financial Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Statistical Tool for Financial - Research Paper Example However IPOs problems affect not simply corporations but also start-up companies facing plenty of obstacles, including the cost of Compliance with Sarbanes Oxley. Modern corporate finance however unanimously points to a formidable hurdle: Portfolio executives. Considering that the timing of an IPO will be driven by company growth and market conditions, we have based our assumptions for an efficient portfolio strategy on improving capital markets with IPOs hoping to maximise their wealth. With a rapid growth of issuers' activity on the cable markets, expected to continue in the next few years, we have used Time Warner Cable unit for this case study. If Section 1 illustrates and develops the implications of a newly created portfolio detailing executive level strategic financial decisions for the following year, Section 2 is more focused on the concept of decision planning as well as on its effects in case of poor corporate governance decisions. We have based the risk-return characteris tics of our rolling portfolio investment strategy on stocks bought and held for up to one year. Although the average long-run portfolio return is low and in line with market reactions to security offer announcements, this IPO stocks appear as long-shots, securing a buy-and-hold returns of 1,000 percent. In line with average NASDAQ market capitalization our IPO firm exhibits relatively high stock turnover and low leverage, contributing to lower systematic risk exposures. To analyse the implications of these strategic decisions, we have based our assessment on globally acknowledged peer-reviewed research and theory. Our conclusions are finally presented in Section 3. 1. Newly created portfolio strategy and executive-level strategic financial decision making The acknowledgement that flipping is useful in helping to create liquidity may convince an executive team that focusing resources almost exclusively on a few late-stage assets is a wise move. Measuring value and risk at portfolio level can contribute to appropriately capture the portfolio strategic risk and induce executives dissatisfied with the current status quo to analyse if they intend to leave corporate strategic risk management and diversification completely to shareholders and markets or how an independent growth path can be possible in their high-risk business. To analyse these issues it is important to develop a structured approach that helps senior executives better understand the impact of portfolio decisions on risk and value of the corporate or therapy area level portfolios. Therefore we have based our approach on assessing a strategy of purchasing and holding successive IPO stocks receives an expected return commensurable with risk. Usually this can be achieved by crea ting different market scenarios reflecting uncertainty around the product profile and resulting in a Risk and Value plot at the portfolio level. In consideration of the above, we have assessed this portfolio by using the Markowitz two assets portfolio model. Clearly when managing a very active investment portfolio against a well-defined benchmark, the goal of the manager should be to generate a return that exceeds that of the benchmark while minimizing the portfolio's return volatility relative to the benchmark. Assuming a portfolio of assets

Thursday, September 26, 2019

Pesticide Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Pesticide - Research Paper Example â€Å"Pesticides kill millions of fish each and the damage to other aquatic life is enormous† (Carlile, 2006). Usage of pesticides also harms the ozone layers and is one of the chief causes of global warming as well. Pesticides contain certain types of chemicals, which has the tendency to break over a period of time and this damage the layer causing a long-term effect. Pesticides also have indirect effects. Use of pesticide in one area kills the insects but it also harms plants and animals in that area. â€Å"Pesticides also adversely affect humans† (Carlile, 2006). When the contaminated water is drained into rivers, livings things, if not killed, also confront impact of contamination. When a human consume these contaminated living creatures, the harmful pesticides reach the inner system of human which cause a major health risk issue. According to pesticide selectivity, health and the environment, various studies have been undertaken to show the impact of pesticides on the ecosystem as a whole. Increasing attention has been paid to analyze the effect of pesticides on the environment and the indirect impact in â€Å"food webs and chains† (Carlile,

Operation Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Operation Management - Essay Example Operations management must be strategized to enable competitiveness. Such can be achieved if the entrepreneurs proficiently practice financial management, customer care satisfaction, operation risk management, innovation and creativity in business management, as well as regular monitoring or evaluation of performance using standard index of measure. Other than protecting capital and investments from foreign exchange losses, it is also essential to undertake strengthening activities to improve organizational performance and to critically understand the market trend using behavior-analysis for them to nurture change adaptability especially when foreign exchange rate in the market is reel to fluctuate. Slack et. al. pointed that performance is improved if an organization is adherent to total quality control to do what is right to maintain an effective and quality operation that is cost-efficient; do functions and roles efficiently to effectively deliver services; perform jobs timely to nurture reliance in the delivery of goods and services; and to practice flexibility in the production of goods or delivery of services based on supply and demand situation in the market. 2.2 Operations performance for efficiency and competitive advantage Learn from experiences. Tardiness doesn’t favor business. Business must be dealt with efficiency thus, it is important for the organization to maintain effective operational technology to spare procedural dysfunction or breakdown; strengthen time utilitization as against absenteeism; and optimization of quality standards of job performance to develop a culture of efficiency in the workplaces. In so doing, entrepreneurs should produce goods with quality standards in accordance to policies and scale or context of economies. The organization must also prefer highly-skilled and well-trained human resources who are willing to out-perform other competitors in the market. As such, other than their inherent capacities, workers should be measured with their actual output as against goals and of key results as against the period of time allotted for the perfection of production or delivery of service. This is very significant in supply chain management of the retail industry. 2.3 Suppl y chain management in retailing Supply chain management (SCM) refers to the mechanism adopted by retailers in the performance of their business operation which specifically deal with the transport of goods and services from its production or site to its consumers (Kavcic, 2006). Retailing is the significant last step in this system where entrepreneurs match goods with consumers needs within the context of supply and demand relocations. SCM enhances organization’s performance to enable the integration and interaction of internal and external relations between suppliers, retailers, customers, or buyers.

No topic Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

No topic - Essay Example Some women had been married by Americans during the Second World War. The Chinese fled from China from Communism and settled in various towns such as Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago and Boston. Their immigration was in line with the 1965 act, which lessened the restrictions on Asian immigration. Most of them enrolled for education and worked their way up the social ladder. The Asian Exclusion Act had prevented the immigration of Asians laborers. The social mobility is also associated with their economic development within the ethnic group. Geographically, the Chinese immigrants are known to be settled in peculiar China towns in the American society. New immigrants often join them and continue living in ethnic groups. Chinese tradition is upheld and often consulted for dispute settlement and provision of moral guidelines. A portion of the Chinese immigrant is illiterate.    The Japanese immigrants are spread within the American society. They engaged in business beyond their ethn ic group and obtained  higher level of education. They immigrants have values which go along with the American values such as respect, hard work and politeness. Education is given importance and most of the Japanese immigrants are literate. A large number of the immigrants have professional education or technical skills in specific field. Creating and maintaining relationships is significant hence they use such relationships to form business groups. It can be argued that they have integrated in the American society. California enacted a bill that restricted Japanese immigrants. Those who were contracted as laborers were able to become proprietors and they seemed to be a threat, thus foreigners were forbid from owning land. Asians and other immigrants took the place of the minority. Immigrants were required to poses a passport. Obtaining citizenship was a challenge and many remained as non-citizens. Restrictions on contracted laborers were enacted to secure employment for the Ameri can citizens. They could not vote or have any political representation. Many lived in fear of deportation. Those who needed services from the justice system feared being denied the services because of their race and stereotypes. Notions such as Americans against them (Asians) were common. There were restrictions that that required the immigrants to obtain a certain level of literacy. Asian immigrants are one of the fastest groups of immigrants with majority obtaining education and securing high income. They have maintained their identity and cultural values. The Immigrants remained few in number until the end of the Second World War. 2 Immigration patterns have been influences by the American stance after the Second World War. American foreign policy on immigration has been encouraging supremacy and global leadership and disassociating with isolation. The war brides act and the Lece Celler Act allowed the women engaged and married by Americans to immigrate. The act allowed a specifi c number of people in a year. Other immigrants who were refugees of war were also allowed. They gained citizenship and could seek for employment and enroll for education. After the Second World War, many immigrants were absorbed in the labor industry. Many of the women who had been called to join in the war returned to their homes while others remained. Many immigrants worked their way up the social ladder by enrolling for education and seeking

Intermediate Microeconomics Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Intermediate Microeconomics - Assignment Example EX, Y = % change in quantity demanded of a product X/ % change in price of product Y. = {(400+450)/ (5+4)}* (4-5)/ (450-400) = (850/9)*(-1/50) = 94.44/-0.02 = -4.722. The negative coefficient depicts an increase in price of computer will result to 4.72 percentages in decrease in demand for printers. Income elasticity of demand assesses the "sensitivity of the demand for a good to a change in the income of the consumers" (Mankiw 97). Ed = (A1+A2)/ (Q1+Q2)*(change in Q/change in A) = (10,000+15,000)/ (20+18)* (18-20)/ (15,000-10,000) = (25,000/38)*(-2/5,000) = (657.89*0.0004) = -0.263. As the consumers income increases the demand of the commodity decrease even though the price remains the same. This implies the goods are of inferior quality thus when income increases consumers opt for better quality products (Mankiw 109). Regressing the logs of independent variables Px, Py and I results to a linear function of the amount needed and the independent variables (Mankiw 123). The percent change in quantity demanded is determined by the coefficient of the income I, price of the product X and price of the product

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

Find your own topic Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Find your own topic - Essay Example Some of these responses include the company giving no response to the situation in the hope that it dies down by itself. The corporate can also deny about the knowledge of such a crisis happening. However, this can have severe consequences on the image of the company and the best way to tackle this is to attend to the situation. The firm can be civil and offer an excuse for the crisis occurring as a small mistake that will be rectified in due time. The acknowledgement of the crisis being there by the firm and consenting to be the root cause of the crisis but offering an argument that the severity of the crisis is small compared to how it has been portrayed is another response that the corporate can give. The firm may also agree to the severity of the crisis and accept responsibility. These are the various ways through which a company will respond, and are believed to be the most effective in such a situation. Only few circumstances test a company’s image in the eyes of the public or its competency than crisis. When a crisis happens in a company whether its implications are immediate or take several days or months and even years, it affects stakeholders within and outside the company. The implications of this crisis are severe and can lead to the fall of a corporate and business. Some of these may be that customers will cancel any orders that they may have made. Employees of a company will also raise hard questions on the management of the business and even the handling of a crisis by the management. The directors also have to answer some questions while competitors also sense a great deal of an opportunity to take over and even benefit from the crisis. A crisis will not offer itself as a conventional management practice. Some of the various ways to deal with any form of a crisis may not actually work in the conventional

Organizational analysis of the Nike Company Research Paper

Organizational analysis of the Nike Company - Research Paper Example Nike is no doubt a leading manufacturer and provider of sports goods and equipment throughout the world filled with hundreds of nations. The production facilities of the company are operating in distant parts of Bangladesh and India where employees are paid on an hourly basis (Leavy, 2004). The Nike as a company is the most suitable instance of an organization which has worked tremendously over the past few years to incorporate outsourcing within the very fabric of itself but recent problems with the company are originating within its strategic alignment with the outside world and external environment in a general way. The company is operating in order to provide state of the art gear for sportsmen and women all around the world. Nike is clearly feeling reluctant in terms of adopting change and therefore, lagging behind in the industry of footwear that is rapidly evolving in order to incorporate growing demands of the modern consumer. The company needs to design and market multipurpo se shoes so that public can use them in wide range of scenarios of life. Nike as an organization is serving a very specific and unique clientele in all regions of the world. Major KSIs are described as follows: -The international economic and fiscal pressures have caused people to drop their expenses on purchasing luxuries and as Nike’s products qualify as luxuries and therefore, they also took a notable hit as their global demand decreased. The reduction in demand for luxuries had been motivated.

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

How Barbie doll does promote traditional gender roles., effect on Essay

How Barbie doll does promote traditional gender roles., effect on gender behavior - Essay Example She is used to illustrating the personal variations on general common gender themes occurring because numerous forces influence all individuals. Barbie Doll is perhaps used to show that gender is significant and paramount to the identity of an individual. Gender is embodied and lived by everyone all the days of his or her lives. As such, it can be argued that gender is both an individual construction as well as is learnt by way of social arrangement and order, which promotes the persuasive standards of being male and female. In fact, the Barbie doll has been described as the toy that was designed and made for women to enlighten women about what the society expects from them. Some schools of thought assert that Barbie doll has significant issues that surround femininity and gender ideals. In fact, Barbie doll can be described to be the perfect representation of female sexuality as viewed by the society and as perpetuated by the media (Bothell 17). Gender specific behavior is a result of both nature and socialization. The society, largely, dictates how men and women perceive themselves. Both the male and female in the society identify the â€Å"self† as composed of both the individual and the society. Barbie doll depicts this kind of societal influence just too well. She imitates the female personality. She is used to representing the woman in the society who functions as a self-imaging tool. Perhaps a major impact that she has on body image representation is that her body has a general human body form. Perhaps to show that gender specific behavior is influenced by socialization and nature, one only needs to look at Barbie’s audience-children. Many academics believe that children are the most vulnerable to unhealthy body images that the doll projects (Bothell 61). Socialization occurs when children play. They need an internal representation that could as well be assumed to be true to all males and females

For conference paper in science education Research

For conference in science education - Research Paper Example Scientific education is viewed by many experts and scholars to involve social interactions among teachers of science and students. The scope of the cultural perspective of this social interaction involves giving substantial theoretical weight to its role: seeing it, as in the Vygotskyan tradition (Vygotsky, 1963; Leontiev, 1978; Cole, 1996), to be the most important necessity to learning. This implies that when we explore such cultural perspectives, we must try as much as possible to be skeptical and critical. The most basic belief here is that we do not know why we act as we do; we only know a few reasons on a certain time scale and within a limited range of contexts. Different communities have different cultural attributes and therefore we do not know all the other reasons that arise from the functioning of our actions in far larger and more distant contexts and on longer time scales. Our individual ways of living and making a meaning are different according not only to which commu nities we have lived in, but also to which roles we chose or we were assigned to us by others- how we presented ourselves and how we were seen and treated by others. That got me wondering what is happening to the new generation. Is it the mode of delivery of the science subject? Or the teachers of science have not discovered what works best of the new generation so that they can be able to internalize concepts in science that can be able to use to venture into the field of science and make contributions to the world. This is because science is the driving force to modernization. In my paper, I hope to point out and explore the cultural ways that the teachers of science and their students are used to in the transmission of knowledge. That is , am going to discuss the known methods of learning science , The gaps that have not been filled to equip students in the field of science to become competent professional and what needs to be done to fill the gap. The first portion of this paper will provide an overview of the study of science as well as the contributions and importance of studying science in the society. The second portion of the paper will detail how the study and learning of science has been done over the years. The third portion of the paper will discuss the gaps that have not been filled in the study of science and finally, on how to implement the identified gaps in the study of science The origin of the cultural perspective to Science Education The cultural perspective of science education in its contemporary form derived mainly from the developments in social and human sciences since the 1960s. The view that science represents a unique valid approach of knowledge, disconnected from social institutions, their politics, cultural beliefs and values was strongly challenged by research in the history of science (e.g. Shapin and Schaffer, 1985). However, eventually both science education and the new scientific studies more specifically in history and soci ology took a linguistic turn and began to examine how people learned to talk and write the scientific language meaningfully and cooperatively engage in its wide range of culturally specific activities Scientific Education Every

Sunday, September 22, 2019

Classroom Comparison Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Classroom Comparison - Essay Example Also, there are many ways in which both classrooms are different. In American classrooms, individuality is encouraged and the students participate freely in the classroom. This is very different from the classroom from my childhood, where conformity was expected. Another difference is that there is not very much homework in American classrooms. The classroom from my childhood had lots of homework and every student was expected to complete it. I feel that I learn best in American classrooms because I can freely ask questions of the teacher. In the classroom from my childhood, if I did not understand something then there was no way of finding out about it. I would also say that the well-being of the student is first and foremost in American classrooms. I feel that school should be focused on the students because they need it for a future career. The classroom from my childhood included a lot of respect for the teacher and students were expected to be

A Forensic Nightmare Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

A Forensic Nightmare - Assignment Example In the second instance, Mexican authorities were reluctant to allow FBI agents to conduct forensic investigations on the burial sheets of the victims and their clothing. However, they allowed the investigators to cut a small piece of clothing. The most prevalent challenge in the collection of evidence was contamination of crucial evidence. From the onset of the investigation, investigators faced an uphill task of collecting evidence at the crime scene that had been contaminated. The first incidence of evidence contamination was at the Bravo ranch. FBI and DEA investigators arrived at the Bravo ranch and found out the scene was yet to be controlled. Thus, members of the public and Mexican police officers had contaminated the area. In another instance, investigators located the residence where they believed the two victims had been held (Malone, n.d.). The residence presented investigators with the opportunity to collect evidence such as blood samples, fingerprints, and hair evidence. Unfortunately, the interior walls of the residence had been painted by the time investigators were collecting evidence from the scene. The residence had also been cleaned and eventually occupied. Mexican authorities were reluctant to surrender all the evidence that they collected from their investigations. For instance, they surrendered pieces of evidence including samples from Camarena’s burial sheet, a laboratory report and an unsoiled rope (Malone, n.d.). Unfortunately, MFJP destroyed the remaining evidence citing health concerns. The destruction of the remaining evidence was a limiting factor in the investigator’s ability to prepare a conclusive evidence report. Investigators used reference samples and soil evidence in the case to determine the hostage locations of the victims and subsequent burial sites.  

Saturday, September 21, 2019

The korean conflict Essay Example for Free

The korean conflict Essay The Korean conflict had a number of factors that contributed to it. One of the factors although it is not the major one could be the size of Korea as a country which is small in the middle of large countries such as Russia, China and Japan. Because of this fact, each surrounding country wanted to take over Korea to be under their territory, something which Korea had trouble in dealing with. Most of the time, she could find herself under the control of the neighbors like China which controlled her at intervals for over 1000 years. The major cause of the conflict came into play when Japan took control of Korea just like the other neighboring countries had done. They ruled Korea from 1904 until the end of the World War II when the Soviet Union and the United States of America joined forces to drive Japanese out of the Korean territory. They agreed that after the Soviet Union was to rule in the north with the United States taking the Southern Korean. The 38 parallel was to make the dividing line between the North and the South Korea. The two countries ruled for a period of two years after which they both left Korea. The North which was under the Soviet Union leadership was left with a communist government while the south which was under the leadership of the US, a democratic government was left behind . Because of the need for unity between the north and the south, problems started. There were two governments in place: one formed by the southern people which was a democratic government and the other one was a communist government. The northern government formed the democratic people’s republic of Korea which was headed by Kim II Sung as a prime minister and the southern government was led by Syngman Rhee who was their president. The north wanted Korea unified as a communist state with the south advocating for a democratic state. Elections were held to form a single government between the North and the south and were supposed to be supervised by the UN to ensure that they were fair. Elections were held, of which the South was declared to have been undertaken in a free and fair way but the Northern region’s elections could not be accepted because the UN supervisors could not be allowed into the North by the Soviets who were present. As a result, they were declared unacceptable. This led to formation of the separate states. Disputes started to emerge between the two sides with each side becoming more aggressive . The United States pulled out its soldiers from the south from 40,000 who were there to only 500 soldiers and limited the number of weapons they were sending to the region. This was partly because of the fear of the southern president attacking the North and also because of the policy that had been passed in the US concerning Asia (NSC 48/2) . Because of the power that the Soviet and China had developed through military advancement such that by 1949 they already had a nuclear bomb, the US opted for a different way of resolving the conflict other than war . In 1950, the troops from North Korea launched a surprise attack on the south. The UN intervened and called an emergency meeting on the same day but the meeting was boycotted by the Russian security delegation because the UN had recognized Chiang Kai-Shek’s government as the official government in Taiwan and ignored Mao’s communist rule in Beijing. At the meeting, it was claimed by the US that North Korea had interfered with world peace by attacking South Korea. America wanted North Korean troops to back off from the 38 parallel, a view that was supported by nine out of the eleven member countries. On 27th of June 1950, the US suggested that the UN should use force to get the North Korean troops out of the south because of them boycotting the Security Council . The UN formulated its plans in which 16 member states were to provide troops under the joint command of the UN which could support the South Korean army. The UN troops were under the command of an American General MacArthur. The UN troops launched an attack against the North Korean troops in September of 1950 and managed to effectively cut North Korean army into two and managed to push them out of the south. They continued advancing to the North Korean territory despite the warnings from China. This led to an attack on the UN troops by China between 1950 and 1951 managing to push back the UN forces. MacArthur was sucked by President Truman after they had clashed generating the war into a stalemate between the UN and China. They agreed on a ceasefire at Panmunjon in 1953 which still exists to date . The reasons that brought about conflicts between the North and South Korea were not justified. This was not North Korean verses South Korean war but instead it was a war between the US and the Soviet Union. It was the battle for supremacy between the US and the Soviet Union that fueled the conflicts between the two regions. In the first place, they are the ones who brought differences between the north and the south by first dividing them and instilling in them different forms of governance. Because of the effects that the war could have on the people of both the South and North Korea, the Northern troops could have desisted from entering the southern territory. From the start, it was evident that because of the differences that existed between the two, forming a unity government could do them more harm than good hence they should have continued with the separate governments they had formed . The cold war between the United States and the Soviet Union was more or less the same as the Korean conflict because it was still the struggle for supremacy between the Soviet Union and the US led to these wars. It was because of President Woodrow Wilson’s commitment to liberal internationalism that was aimed at promoting democracy together with free enterprise that conflicted with the Soviet Unions’ world wide class revolution which was aimed at bringing a socialist future that triggered the cold war. Differing economic interests between the two is also thought to have brought about the conflict. The US was out to create a new currency stabilizing scheme which the Soviet Union was opposed to because it was based on American capitalism. The issue of military superiority also had a hand in the conflict. The Soviet Union was the second most powerful and the US felt threatened by it. Therefore, it was keen on increasing its military capacity. The two came face to face in their fight for supremacy and had to deal with one another . Looking at the factors that led to the Korean conflict and those that contributed to the cold war, it is evident that the driving force between the two was the battle for supremacy between the Soviet Union and the US. These battles had significant effects to both states. It led to an expensive arms race which involved development of nuclear weapons, brought about alliances between states for and against each of the two and also had economic implications. They also led to propaganda wars and created a military and bureaucracy complex. It was not healthy for both of them and the world at large because of the tensions that it brought with them. Therefore, it is important for measures to be put in place to ensure that there is sovereignty among countries to avoid conflicts. BIBLIOGRAPHY Burton Ira Kaufman. The Korean conflict. Santa Barbara, CA: Greenwood Publishing Group. 1999. Robert Buzzanco, â€Å"What Happened to the New Left? Toward a Radical Reading of American Foreign Relations† Diplomatic History, Vol 23 No 4 Fall, 1999, pp. 575-607 Roger George Stoven. Korean conflict: negotiation vs. armed settlement. Minnesota: Mankato State College, 1972. Mahavir Prasad Srivastava. The Korean conflict: search for unification. New Delhi: Prentice Hall of India (1982). Melvyn P Lefler. A Preponderance of Power: National Security, the Truman Administration and the Cold War (Stanford, 1992). Vladislav Zubok and Constantine Pleshakov, Inside the Kremlin’s Cold War: from Stalin to Khrushchev (Cambridge, MA, 1996)

Operations Management Zellers Essay Example for Free

Operations Management Zellers Essay What competitive priority is important for a discount store, such as Zellers? Cost is the most important competitive priority for a discount store, such as Zellers. In order to perform competitively as a discount store, the organization must emphasize low operating costs. With this priority, Zellers can produce at low costs in comparison to competitors and offer products at low prices in order to meet consumer needs and become an order winner. 2. Three generic strategies are low cost, niche market, and product differentiation. What one of these strategies was Zellers using before 1998? After 1998? Prior to 1998, Zellers was using a low cost strategy. The company targeted budget-minded consumers with the slogan Where the Lowest Price is the Law. In the face of fierce rivalry from WalMart entering the competitive landscape and various operational shortcomings, Zellers made several strategic decisions and changes. After 1998, Zellers was using a niche market strategy, by adjusting its mission to become a moms store. Zellers focused on offering fair value to consumers, as opposed to the lowest price. The company moved away from the low cost dynamic of its self-service policy by investing in labour, having several customer service assistants on the floor. It also focused on investing in more famous brands and private label products. To the companys detriment, it appears that Zellers made these strategic changes in order to compete more directly with WalMart, as they moved away from discounts towards offering everyday low prices on 95% of its merchandise.

Friday, September 20, 2019

Importance Of Oligopolistic Characteristics

Importance Of Oligopolistic Characteristics This paper focuses on the importance of oligopolistic characteristics in the global container shipping industry. It is difficult to examine this market although containerization has standardized the shipping industry. My approach to meet this controversial issue is to divide between three levels: the industry, alliances and the trade level. In my investigation I also use a graphic explanation, the concentration level of the industry, the cobweb model and the kinked demand curve. The results allow us to determine how influential is the concentration level, the competition and alliances in the container shipping industry. Michail Archontakis (377602) Economics 7 December 2012 INTRODUCTION The global container shipping industry can be characterized as an oligopoly. Moreover, we can say there are few sellers and the provided services or products are quite similar. It is necessary to examine the market structure in three main levels: the industry, the alliances that exist and the trade level. The market is characterized by globalization. As a result, there is a need to satisfy customers demands and invest in resources as well as in the development of the new technology. So we can see the growth of the world economy and the world trade. Shipping companies have two choices, form an alliance or the other one is mergers and acquisitions. I will also use a graphic explanation to describe the way and how the industry has developed over the past years. Lastly, the purpose of this assignment is to introduce the importance of the oligopolistic characteristics in the global container shipping industry. THE INDUSTRY The market has mainly consisted by containers and containerization has developed it in a more standardized approach. In the global container shipping industry, we could meet collusions which are called as shipping conferences. We all know that their main interest is to fix freight rates in certain routes and form barriers, in the entry of new firms. Pricing in the industry means under the table agreements between shippers and carriers. By this way, they can achieve economies of scale which can lead to a small number of firms (Marlow and Nair, 2008). As stated by Haralambides in 2000 two factors are crucial in the understanding of conference freight rates: unit values and stowage factors. After the abolition of the anti-monopoly privilege of freight conferences (18 October 2008, Regulation 4056/86), and due to the trend of growing consolidation. The market is developing into a more collusive market, where operational agreements becoming more and more vital. The market has become more concentrated, and the smaller operators conduct a market share of less than 1% per each. As we can observe from table 1 above top 10 carriers, have a market share of 63.5% (www.alphaliner.com). The market share of the top ten carriers was 49.3% in 2000 (www.alphaliner.com). There is a tremendous increase in market share as well as in total TEUs. Moreover, few firms fit most of the market power and probably can determine in a high level the industry and the chief shipping routes. They can create entry barriers and also make agreements on the freight rates. It is especially valuable for firms to cooperate and some state acting like monopolists. As a result, each firm must be aware of the other players actions. World Ranking of Maritime Shippers, by Shipping Capacity Source: Alphaliner This oligopolistic characteristic makes the industry more complex and needs to cover many factors. Moreover, to deal with customers international requirements, the development of ever larger container ships, upgrades in technology, increasing competition and high consolidation. Leading to globalization where few firms dominate the leading trade routes and to the event of multi-trade strategic alliances. This change is also notable for the customers. Furthermore, they can now have more requirements and benefits. Nowadays, they can request faster shipping, more frequent services and lower costs as well as to know at any time the exact location and condition of their cargo. Container shipping companies have become more unified with new technologies and also have improved the contribution significantly quality. We now have larger vessels, and they can benefit from economies of scale. Surely, the oligopolistic environment has raise competition and has expanded world economy as well as world trades. ALLIANCES Shipping companies have two choices form a strategic alliance and the other one are the acquisitions and mergers. In order to reach economies of scale, scope and network alliances have developed in two ways. Moreover, there are core alliances with international partners and the other one is multi-consortia networks of slot. This is a general connection in oligopolistic markets and of considerable importance. An alliance helps to gain greater market shares and contain more effectively the trade routes as well as, the capacity. There are five key ideas in the movement of alliances in the global container shipping industry. Furthermore, it can do more effective wider geographically routes. Secondly, they can create their ships in a more global scope. The risk is less because it is shareable now. They can provide more repeated services to their customers, meaning more frequent schedules. Lastly, economies of scale become more apparent, and there is also an increase in the size of the ships (Sato, 2002). It is noteworthy to analyze the three of the most powerful alliances over the past years. Furthermore, these three alliances started with an agreement on collaboration for east-west trades and then extended to north-south services. The first alliance we will examine is New World Alliance. It includes mainly APL, MOL and HMM. Its overall capacity in TEUs is 1.161.468 and owns 282 vessels (alphaliner.com). Imagine that in 2000 the capacity of this alliance was 325.487 and the number of vessels 90 (Midoro and Pitto,2000). As we can see, it right increased its market share, and this is highly influential in oligopolistic markets because it can alter the market as well as conduct more properly the capacity. Another notable alliance is the Grand Alliance. In February 2006, after PO exodus the new Grand Alliance formed by Hapag-Lloyd, OOCL, and NYK Line. Its overall capacity in TEUs is 1.187.607 and owns 288 vessels (alphaliner.com). In 1996, it owned only 255.705 TEUs and 72 vessels (Midoro and Pitto,2000). Grand alliance manages twelve services in the transpacific trade. Lastly, this alliance has showed the most reliable configuration comparing to the other two alliances. The greatest alliance is CKYH with key partners Hanjin, Yang Ming, K Line and COSCO. It counts 1.548.508 TEUs and 400 vessels (alphaliner.com). It manages eight services on the Europe Asia route which has the largest capacity in TEUs. Surely, this alliance has a significant market share and also is highly competitive. Of course, alliances have a significant impact in the market share, but it is difficult to cooperate as the size of the group increases. They choose to act like monopolists because they can affect the price. Competition makes contrary to other firms to play or join in the market. This characteristic is of particularly importance in order to survive in this tough market where overcapacity and decreasing demand may be serious problems. Firms may find many reasons why to join an alliance: strategic reasons, operational reasons, in order to increase or decrease connectivity and capacity, to raise or remove a service, to merge or demerge services and to provide slots for charter. (Panayides, 2011) TRADE LEVEL We will examine the trade level of two routes, Black Sea Far East and US trade. Moreover, we will focus on the trade lines with port ranges at both ends (Brooks, 2000). In the route Black Sea Far East the top seven firms have a market share of total 89%, so the other firms contain only the rest 11%. Surely, there is an exceptionally high percent of concentration in this trade route. Moreover, MSC holds 23,15%, Maersk Line 20,33%, CMA-CGM 13,81%, Zim 13,55%, CSAV Norasia 11,64%, Hapag Lloyd 4,99% and K Line 1,53% (www.americanshipper.com). We can conclude that a tight oligopoly exists in the trade line of Black Sea Far East. The production rose, and the price decreased because the firms now hold strong shares and perform more like monopolists. Furthermore, it is difficult for new firms to enter this lane. The other trade line that we will examine is US which is more complicated than the previous one. Moreover, the top ten firms fit nearly a 65% of the total market share. So we can speak also that in the trade line exists an oligopoly, but the firms are much more and carry less market shares. Maersk Line market share is 15,27%, Evergreen 7,67%, Mediterranean Shg Co 7,20%, Hanjin 6,54%, APL 6,18%, Hapag Lloyd 6,05%, COSCO Container Lines 4,28%, OOCL 4,26%, NYK 4,04% and China Shg C.L 3,90% (www.americanshipper.com). A close exam of this market shows us that competition is greater, but the market is larger and remarkably attractive to new firms. As a result, if we operate efficiently the oligopolistic characteristics firms will increase their market shares, and it will be more difficult for new firms to enter the market. Of course, it is difficult to cooperate efficiently when the size of the group increases, but can handle more reasonable the capacity and the competition something that is particularly powerful. After analyzing these two different trade lines, we understood the meaning of the existence of the oligopolistic characteristics. Moreover, capacity can be handled more efficiently and control competition by increasing your shares. GRAPHIC EXPLANATION OF THE IMPORTANCE OF OLIGOPOLISTIC CHARACTERISTICS IN THE GLOBAL CONTAINER SHIPPING INDUSTRY Table 2I think a better explanation can be given by using a graph to indicate the importance of the oligopolistic characteristics in the global container shipping industry. Moreover, we know from theory that in perfect competition demand curve intersects Marginal Cost curve at the market price P* and it supplies quantity Q* (Mankiw, 2011). The firms in this graph are price takers because there are no entry barriers. Now let see what an oligopolistic firm will make. It will reduce quantity to Q0 and at the same time will increase the price P0 until Marginal Cost equals Marginal Revenue. However, a deadweight loss (consumer and producer) can be created, meaning welfare losses to the economy. Lastly, we can observe a surplus for the firm as an oligopoly profit. This result can be represented in the global container shipping industry by selling at greater prices and offering lower services. They can use smaller containers, slower services as the market becomes more oligopolistic. Secondly, firms may try to increase their market power or insert entry barriers. These two can cause to collusion practices. Moreover, greater concentration can create collusions and contract coordination costs. Nevertheless, there are also benefits from the increase in concentration. A firm may increase its profits by taking market power from its opponents. This action can cause sensitive to the firm to provide a better product or service. In the shipping industry, a better product or service means to provide larger containers or to invest in research and development. Moreover, a firm may invest in order to keep consumers loyal to her. So companies can behave more competitively. A better explanation for the price and quantity can be given by the cobweb model. The cobweb model or cobweb theory can explain the cyclical demand and supply the container shipping industry. Moreover, when the price is high P1 the quantity is low Q1 and lower than Q2. In the next period (Q2-Q1) will reduce the price to P2. However, now Q2 is greater than Q3 meaning (Q2-Q3) will raise the price to P3. So we can conclude that when there is excessive demand price will increase and fall when there is excessive supply. Concluding, demand and supply, are both quite flexible in the global container shipping industry, specifically in an annual base. The importance is that freight rates are flexible and negotiable between shippers and carriers. Marginal cost can be considered remarkably low. Lastly, in short-run when a rapid growth may occur in the demand can be faced sufficient. The kinked demand curve can describe the behavior of the firms in oligopoly market. Moreover, the model predicts that firms do not compete in price and try to keep the price stable over time. However, in short-term there may be price fluctuations and firms may try to gain some extra market power. The importance is that firms will use other methods to increase market share than price competition. Furthermore, they can provide higher quality, more frequent services and other upgrades to keep their costumers loyal. As the market is acting like an oligopoly, it has resulted in two main trends. First, there has been an increase in container ship sizes. Secondly, there has been an important advance in container throughput. Lastly, it has reduced the costs of transportation and local economies have been transformed to global economies. CONCLUSION The global container shipping industry is primarily an oligopoly (few players which offer similar services or products). I tried to introduce the importance of the oligopolistic characteristics in this market. Moreover, I noticed that large alliances control the majority of the total market share and also high concentration exists even in the trade routes. Highly concentrated markets experience in many occasions to collusions or cartels. It is particularly dangerous due to anti-trust laws, especially after the abolishment of the anti-monopoly immunity. However, such agreements are extremely valuable for the participating firms. Moreover, economies of scale can develop by using larger vessels and also provide superior quality of services. It is better off to combine, but it is extremely difficult especially when the size of the group increases. From the graphic explanation, we concluded that it is helpful to produce relatively small quantity and push prices above marginal cost. Nevert heless, it is up to the firms if they are going to have negative or positive results. In my opinion, the oligopolistic characteristics in the global container shipping industry led the market to grow and become competent to handle the occurrence of overcapacity and increasing fuel costs. Probably in the future stronger alliances and fewer firms will occur in the market, which is extremely influential in order to thrive and remain in such a demanding industry.

Devolving Responsibility Of Human Resource To Managers Management Essay

Devolving Responsibility Of Human Resource To Managers Management Essay By devolving responsibility of Human Resource to managers, organizations are expecting to create a closer relationship between managers and employees which will be achieved by quick decision making and effective problem solving at workplace. Some organizations however have both the HR specialists and the managers who work together by bringing in expertise from their own areas. This report identifies the context, enablers and inhibitors of the involvement of management in HR function. In conclusion, the report identifies that adequate training and expert knowledge support must be provided to managers if they are expected to integrate HR responsibilities within their managerial function. Human Resource Management (HRM) refers to a collection of policies used to organise work in the employment relationship and centres on the management of work and the management of people who undertake this work (Claydon 2010). (Storey, 2007) states that HRM plays a pivotal role in strategically deploying highly capable and committed workforce by using human resources expertise to achieve competitive advantage. A strategic approach to managing employment relations which emphasizes that leveraging peoples capabilities is critical to achieving sustainable competitive advantage, this being achieved through a distinctive set of integrated employment policies, programmes and practices. (Gold 2007) Human Resource Management ensures the productive use of people in an organisation to achieve the organisations strategic business objectives. Human resource management also involves maintaining a healthy employer-employee relationship and the satisfaction of the individual employer needs (Stone 2007) Human resource policies and the business policies have been integrated together with the management function rather than a separate entity to achieve the organisations objectives more efficiently. Discussion of the context (Wilkinson M. M., 2002), states that many criticisms concerning the lack of contribution by HR specialists to organisational performance have come from line managers. The four main criticisms are first, personnel practitioners are regarded as out of touch of commercial realities and unable to comprehend much about the nature of the business, its customers, or its corporate goals. The allegation is that HR professionals base their decisions upon a set of principles and ideas, such as welfare and employee rights which have little relevance for competitive prospects. Second, HR is often thought to constrain the autonomy of managers to make decisions that they feel are in the best interest of the business. These are mainly the legal constraints of equal opportunities or individual rights and the involvement of union representatives. The third criticism is that HR managers are slow to act, always wanting to check the options thoroughly (Cunningham and Hayman, (1999). Finally HR practition ers are criticised for promulgating policies that may be fine in theory but hard to put in effect or unsuitable to their particular requirements. Legge (1995) argues that HRM is caught in a vicious circle because senior management do not involve them in the business decision making and planning as people issues are not considered at this stage of decision making. But in due course problems arise due to non involvement of HR such as poor recruits, inadequate training of staff or work disruption. When such problems are brought to HRs attention they have insufficient time to resolve the issue which in effect results in short term solutions with detrimental long term effects. HR function gets the blame for inefficient problem handling and continues to be excluded from decision making, thus completing the vicious circle. As line managers work closely with the people they manage, the problem solving can be immediate and relevant rather than having to wait for the HR department to get back to them. The solutions provided by these managers are also likely to be in congruence with the organisations goals and business requirements. Ulrich (1998) hence recommended that HR should be reconfigured so as to highlight what it delivers rather than what it does. The four recommendations for HR are, to become a partner with business and line managers for strategy formulation, to become an expert in the way work is organised and executed to reduce cost and to increase efficiency, to become a champion for employees by acting as a medium between the employees and the senior management to increase employee contribution and finally to become an agent of continuous transformation by shaping processes for successful implementation of change. The CIPD research on employee well-being and the psychological contract (Guest and Conway, 2005) established that too many managers are failing to motivate and improve the performance of people they manage. Due to the devolution of HR function to managers, their responsibilities have increased and their role in the organization has become more important. HR initiates policies and practices but it is the management which is responsible for implementing them. HR proposes but the line disposes (Armstrong 2006). It is hence important that the policies are well communicated to the manager who will implement it if it is perceived to be in the interest of the business. If managers are unaware of any laws requiring the implementation of those policies then it is up to the HR to educate the managers about this. (J.Purcell 2003) noted that well conceived HR policies and practices didnt automatically result in organisational performance improvement but the difference was made by the way in which those polices were implemented by the managers. If they used discretion in implementing HR policies then some policies will just be a set of useless ideas (Armstrong 2006) (H.H.Larsen 2003), pointed out the five main reasons why organisations want to integrate these functions; Pressure on firm costs to integrate HR function in line management role To provide a more comprehensive HRM which is achieved through this integration of line management and HR functions The growing influence of service industries where line managers are responsible for customer management HR specialists may take too long to resolve HR issues Devolution may be considered as an alternative to outsourcing the entire HR function resulting from changes in philosophy and organisational structure. Enablers for integrating management and HR functions Managers play an important role in implementing the HR policies (Gold 2007). Research has revealed that line manager behaviour has a significant impact on employee commitment, which in turn has an impact on customer commitment, which has an impact on business performance (Lazenby quoted in Purcell 2003). The enrichment of line manager roles within the organisations and their greater involvement in HR decision-making has arisen due to the increase in customer service demands and the resulting time pressure in decision making. Increasing performance requirements, transparency, flexibility and accountability has increased the importance of this dual role. Involving line mangers in HR functions can be seen as a strategic approach to managing people. (Renwick 2003), has listed the main benefits that organisations can derive from such integration; HR problems are solved at source saving vital organisation resources Better change management is achieved through manager participation in policy implementation Closely working managers can make decisions at increased speed Greater scope for HR managers to focus on strategic importance of HRM HR issues get a business focus before they are implemented hence those policies will no more be created in isolation from organisational goals Since managers are aware of HR issues they cant ignore them hence leading to a better employee manager relationship Managers are more likely to be committed to their own HR decisions rather than having to implement due to compulsion from HR department Promotes local management accountability and responsibility for HR issues Reduces costs due to integration of functions Promotes the case that HRM cant always be transferred to specialists Line managers occupy an important position in the organizational hierarchy and they can directly affect the level of service delivered. Entrusting line managers with HR responsibilities will add to their existing pressures, increase workload and the need to deliver on short-term priorities. Formal administrative approaches within the departments would require line managers to display a high level of HR competence. This signifies the need for high-quality training programs for line managers to ensure that they feel confident in discharging their new HR responsibilities. Money invested in training management personnel can result in saving company from expensive litigation and in maintaining a god corporate reputation. Providing line managers with such training is very important as they are not naturally trained to deliver HR duties, which are quite different to making business decisions. Inhibitors for integrating management and HR functions (Renwick 2003), has given the following inhibitors to HR and management integration; Increased pressure to train and/or re-skill managers in HRM A need for strict HR auditing Problems and maintaining consistency in decision making Risk of falling standards or abuse of position through discrimination Problems in maintaining balance of power between management and HR specialists Potential for the HR/ER management role to be marginalised Low line capability/commitment when doing HR work Little time for managers to perform HR duties well due to operational demands on them Risks of job overload/stress as manager workloads are increased Harrison (2009) supports the argument in favour of management staff by saying that, line management is mostly faced with situations pressurising them to achieve objectives resulting in the increase in profitability or in the reduction of costs resulting in less dedication to support human resource development apart from the basic tasks. If line managers are faced with a decision to prioritize between making a key business decision or to formulate policies and procedures to improve the working conditions of employees, the priority would normally be the business decision as that would be considered as their primary responsibility and also more business focussed. Brewster and Soderstrom (1994) say that before delegating tasks or entrusting people with more responsibility in different areas, it must consider the level of knowledge possessed by the individual and the willingness of such individual to train to learn new competences, since they could already be overburdened with their current tasks making it uncomfortable for them to absorb more responsibilities. In order for the line managers to deliver their HR tasks they need to maintain a good relationship with HR specialists which could be complex at times. According to (Thomas N Garavan 2006) while the line manager is a key stakeholder in the training and development process, their relationship with the function and/or the specialist can often be negative. This could result in issues arising from lack of good communication and understanding between the departments. According to Grace and Straub (1991) training specialists often exclude line managers from training the reason for which is mainly the threat of being substituted. Some such instances as noticed by them are; Excluding line managers from the needs assessment process/program; Unwillingness to consider line managers as subject matter experts; Unwillingness to utilize line managers as instructors for training duties. This could also be due to the resistance on part of the line mangers to take initiative to train as this could entail more responsibilities for them. As (Thomas N Garavan 2006) continues the argument by saying that the issue is due to the lack of trust between the line managers and the training and development specialists. Line managers refuse to co-operate with the training specialists who makes an attempt to offer advice to improve work operations because they consider training specialists as staff as providing a service in accordance with line manager requirements and expectations. Efforts to change this role are often perceived by the line managers as an attempt to thwart line authority with the generation of better ideas. Sometimes HR professionals were even seen as policing line managers. This perception leads to inflexibility and negative responses aimed at demolishing the strengths and foundations of the training specialist. Also Storey (1992) points out that lack of training and education of line managers hinder the smooth delivery of new HR practices. Those line managers simply underestimate the need for investment in the training of their subordinates. Developing and implementing HR initiatives can become a difficult task for the managers to incorporate in their regular management function. Suggestions to improve managers as people managers (J.Purcell 2003), have suggested that managers can improve their people management skills, to deliver their HR responsibilities, in following ways; Senior management must understand the prioritisation issues that managers may face when both management and HR issues arise at the same time. Pressurising from the top will not help in such circumstances Managers must be selected considering the behavioural requirements and competencies expected from them as they would be doing HR function as well Managers need to have a clear understanding of the organisational values, goals and culture for efficient people management. A good working relationship needs to exist between staff and their manager Managers must be provided with the necessary training to enable them to deliver their HR functions such as performance management, grievance and complaints handling Although line managers can be trained to an extent to carry out the HR function, there are several key competencies possessed by HR professionals that might be difficult to incorporate in a line manager function as per (Armstrong 2006). There has been a significant change to the way in which organisations manage their business in the recent years and hence there has been changes in the way different departments operates within it. Changes to work demands have made it difficult for the HR department to find people with required talents for the organisation. HR department is required to keep up to date with the HR requirement of the departments and ensures the human resource is able to meet new challenges and demands (Wright, 2003) A human resource manager must consider the nature of external and internal influences before selecting a particular course of action. Internal environmental influences involve the factors that are found within the organisation such as the organisational strategies, organisational culture, organisational structure and organisational systems. Several external factors influence the formulation and requirements of HRM policies. Some of the external factors facing organisations are changing nature work force, technological changes, globalisation and labour force demographics. (Stone 2007) CIPD has presented a list of core functions delivered by HR professionals as below; Business and cultural awareness: understand the business environment and the competitive pressures in the market facing the organisation, the key business activities, culture and the impact of HR policies on the business performance Strategic capability: seeks involvement in business strategy function, develops coherent HR strategies which are aligned with business strategy, understand the importance of human capital measurement to ensure efficient utilisation Organisational effectiveness: contributes to the analysis of people issues and proposes practical solutions, develops resource capability by ensuring that the organisation has the workforce with required skills, process redesigning for better utilisation of staff, contributes in the development of knowledge management processes Internal consultancy: proposes practical solutions by providing expert advice and coaches management on dealing with their department specific problems Service delivery: delivers appropriate services promptly and efficiently to requests for HR services and advice and provides guidance in HR decisions as required Continuous professional development: continuous development of skills and knowledge, to deliver the HR duties to high standards by updating the new HR concepts, practices and techniques As discussed above HR function is far more specialised in its core activities and many of its functions need specialist expert knowledge which is difficult for management to keep up to date with. HR Outsourcing has become more common in the recent years as the companies are relying on them for HR related matters. A good human resource outsourcing deal is to ensure that nearly all your transactional and basic advisory services are outsourced and that the jobs of the HR teams are redesigned so that they no longer focus on the operational level decisions but the focus would be on more complex business challenges and strategic needs. (Hunter 2007). But many organisations may choose to rather incorporate the HR function within their management functions rather than outsourcing. Conclusion HR can be seen as an integral part of a managerial post, as a manager is responsible for the performance and job satisfaction of his staff. There have been several factors over a period of time that has had an impact on the role of HR managers and practitioners. If an employee in a management positions accepts to deliver HR duties it is possible to achieve a higher level of efficiency. However, the success of any change process involving line manager HR participation will ultimately depend on striking a balance between factors favouring devolvement and those inhibiting HR involvement. While making line managers more responsible for HR may bring about a speedier resolution to workplace conflicts, clear structures need to be implemented to allow line managers seek guidance and advice, but also allow employees to repeal decisions made. In this regard, HR specialists need to proactively engage with line managers and bring about partnership HR approaches to managing employees. There are however certain boundaries to such a devolution. All of them lie either in line managers lack of specific knowledge and expertise or in their conflict with HR specialists. As devolution of HR responsibilities are taken for granted it is suggested that it is HR specialists who need to re-consider their role within organisations, while line managers are to be given an appropriate training.