Thursday, October 31, 2019

Human Resources Manager Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Human Resources Manager - Coursework Example One of the most important requirements in recruiting the right individual for the job is educational certifications. It is important to ensure that the education background of the applicants is relevant and that all the required courses and classes for the offered position are completed. For instance, an applicant for the position of the Quality Control Engineer should have undertaken courses in Quality Control Engineering and acquired relevant certifications in relation to the courses. Another important requirement in the recruitment process is the work experience of the applicants (Francis, 2012). Given the organizations task ahead, it is important to invest in employees that have a good background in what they do to allow for maximum performance and timely achievement of the organizations goals and objectives. Work experience involves both the positions held by an individual in previous work environments and the history of their work ethics. This would be important in determining the gained skills and abilities in handling various issues within their range of roles and responsibilities. The applicants’ previous work ethics would determine their interaction with other employees in the organizational setting and the performance of activities in an ethical manner. The soft skills of the applicants are also an important requirement in determining their abilities to handle different situations within the work environment (OMeara, 2013). Some of the skills such as communication and collaboration are important in measuring the applicants’ ability to work with other members of the organization in teams. Academic competence enhances organizational performance as individuals put their acquired skills into practice; hence improving the performance of the organization (Armstrong, 2012). On the other hand, work experience promotes new approaches in the organization as different individuals apply varying

Tuesday, October 29, 2019

The Hunger Games and Reality TV Essay Example for Free

The Hunger Games and Reality TV Essay In the novel The Hunger Games, many aspects relate to reality TV. Through the Gamemakers and, in television producers the truth is altered. The line separating fact and fiction is truly blurred. The producers do their job so well that it leaves the audience questioning every move on the show. They wonder â€Å"where is the real in reality TV? † The answer is that due to their mixed genre and producer editing there is not any. Reality TV is not just one genre, but a mix of two. The producers â€Å"[use] the documentary-fiction genre mix to help market its product. † [ ] This â€Å"new† genre allows some leeway in the reality and fictional aspects of the show. â€Å"Reality series use documentary techniques to generate emotional accuracy; that is, the sense that these people are showing you their true emotions or are behaving in psychologically convincing ways, even if the events they are reacting to are obviously staged. †[1] The fictional aspect of this genre is what producers rely on for more ratings. Treating the show as a fictional sitcom lets the producers stage events to create more drama. They can do this easily but still have to be wary of the documentary side of the genre. If the audience can tell that there are too many fake scenes on the show they will not watch it. Viewers can go from â€Å"this show is so good,† to as Samantha Bee put it, â€Å"a totally, unabashedly fake, phony, manipulated, a sham. †[ ] Some shows can not only rely on the genre mix but also must rely on their editors. Editors of reality TV shows are the true stars because they choose what kind of story to tell. In The Hunger Games, the Gamemakers chose to tell the story of the star-crossed lovers of District 12. In reality TV the editors do the same. IF anything would harm the shows view ratings the editors take care of it. Take for instance on the CBS show Big Brother; racists comments were made during the online live feed, but knowing that would hurt the viewer ratings the editors chose to take it out of the episode air on television a few days later. [ ] This caused uproar since because it showed how manipulated reality TV shows are. Editors can also make shows more interesting by combining clips to create drama. They do their job so well that it leaves the audience questioning every move on the show. The editors also take weeks and weeks of filming and squeeze it into a 45 minute show. In reality TV, the fictional part of the genre outshines the documentary part. Through the producers’ and editors actions the truth is altered and the audience is feed lies. The line separating fact and fiction is not blurred, but broken. The audience may think it is real but it is all fake.

Sunday, October 27, 2019

Study Of Bureaucratic Leadership Management Essay

Study Of Bureaucratic Leadership Management Essay The textbook describes the Bureaucratic style of leadership as a supervisor who manages by the book and is seen by his/her employees as a police officer. This type of leadership style is great for workplaces where the employees have no chance of discretion when it comes to their jobs such as accounting and law related work. The term Bureaucracy can be traced to eighteenth-century French literature. The early usage referred to an official workplace (bureau) in which individual activities were routinely determined by explicit rules and regulations. As modern systems of management, bureaucracies are designed to rationally coordinate the duties and responsibilities of officials and employees or organizations. The delineation of official duties and responsibilities by means of formal rules and programs or activity, is intended to displace and constrain the otherwise private, idiosyncratic, and unlikely personal interests an d actions of individuals. Bureaucratic systems of administration are designed to ensure that the activities of individuals rationally contribute to the goals and interests of the organizations within which they work. Bureaucracy is the world of explicitly formulated goals, rules, procedures, and givens that define and regulate the place of its members, a world of specialization and expertise, with the roles of individuals minutely specified and differentiated. Its employees are organized by purpose, process, clientele, or place, It is a world that prices consistency, predictability, stability, and efficiency more than creativity and principle. Roles and duties are prescribed less by superiors than by tradition, formal examinations, and technical qualifications. Careers and job security are protected by tenure, pensions, union rules, professional standards and appeal procedures[2] Some other important characteristics of bureaucracies are the hierarchical ordering of authority relations, limiting the areas of command and responsibility for subordinate as well and superordinate personnel, the recruitment and promotion of individuals on the basis of technical expertise and competence, a clearly defined division of labor with specialization and training required for assigned tasks, a structuring of the work environment to ensure continuous and full time employment, and the fulfillment of individual career expectations within the organization, the impersonality and impartiality of relationship among organization members and with those outside the organization, the importance of official record in the form of written documents. I feel that when talking about Bureaucratic leadership, it is more like when talking about a computers programing. A computer follows a protocol to do whatever we need it to do, the same way a Bureaucratic leader looks to the rules, the protocol, to see what needs to be done and how it is to be done. This text explains that bureaucracy discourages the kind of power that is generated by the tapping of motivational bases among employees and the marshaling of personal- as opposed to organizational- resourcesAnd Bureaucracy, far from directing social change or serving as a factor in historical causation, consciously or not helps buttress the status quo. This is majorly significant in understanding Bureaucratic leadership because most people only know that bureaucratic leadership is about following the rules but they dont understand that there is an underlying need from these bureaucratic leaders to follow the rules and that their minds are stuck in the feeling of if its not broken, why fix it as well as knowing that maybe not following the rules may result in problems for them that would not have been generated had they followed to rules. Bureaucratic authority is formal power that has been vested in persons by virtue of their holding certain positions, that is, vested in the positions themselves. Such authority may be used to influence subordinates under a system of rewards and penalties, the carrot and stick method usually, and this authority from ruler to subordinate is accepted because the subordinate is motivated to respect its credibility and legitimacy. Basically conformity is the basis of bureaucratic leadership and bureaucracy in general. The knowledge that we must follow the rules, no matter what, to get ahead is the very thing that makes us feel that no matter how much or how little work we do our efforts will not be recognized. This leads to conformity and feeds into the status quo by hammering into our heads that the very act of trying to change the way things are, the workplace, society and such, may and will end in punishment either by literally removing us from the environment, termination, or by brainwashing us to think that our actions are wrong, rehabilitation. The historical trend towards increasing bureaucratization through modern Western Europe, highlighted by the changing structure of military organizations, is documented in the works of Karl Marx, however, the study of bureaucratic structure and process as the prominent sociological topic is based on the intellectual legacy of Max Weber. Max Weber observed that bureaucratic authority was not the rule but the exception. Even in large political systems such as those in ancient empires, rulers carried out key measures through their inner circles or personal trustees, table companions, and servants of the court. In certain cultures, unlike the ones just discussed, bureaucracies were the dominant basis of the organization, empires such as the Romans and China during recent history. To Weber, power represents the ability or capacity to have other people behave in accordance with certain orders or dictates, no matter if those affected care that its application is rightful or legitimate. Authority for Weber, represents the legitimation of this power by those whose activities are ordered in such way that the application of power and its impact is deemed to be proper and acceptable. At the root or bureaucratic conflicts, lies some kind of struggle and prestige. This struggle pervades the bureaucracy because it engages persons who tap one anothers motivational and need bases and who have various power resources that they can employ or mobilize in this process. Within the bureaucratic organization, rules serve to direct individual actions in ways that promote the technical efficiency of the organization. The distinctive feature of bureaucratic organization is not the use or rules per Se but, rather, the type of rules employed within a organization as well as the justification for the use of the rules. Rules have been, and continue to be, used in all forms of administration to control individual actions, whether it is by following the rules verbatim or by loosely interpreting them.

Friday, October 25, 2019

The Inmate - Original Writing :: Papers

The Inmate - Original Writing The sounds of the keys echoed across the hallway. Past each set of bars the keys rang a wanted freedom. As the keys and the guard strolled past, almost motionless bodies turned, all drawing closer to the keys. Closer, closer à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ stop. The cold bars formed the wall that could not be broken. The freedom. All hands were on this wall except one. One set of hands lay quiet, still and with no movement. These hands belonged to a tall, dark-haired person, a man, and a ghost? ===================================================================== As the guard reached the end of the hallway this sly-looking being whispered, "It's mineà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦" Laughter spread across the cages as usual. " You on the high again, Mark?" sniggered Jon. " Wait and see, wait and see." The evil laugh that sounded after seemed to be from the movies. The voice trembled. Everyone just lay quiet. The next morning appeared as quickly as the routine it was accustomed to. The inmates were gathered for breakfast, given time outside for some exercise and then brought back to their cages. Same routine, same times, same people-but today something was different. Something was just not right. " What is it 'bout today?" questioned Henry, " It's just so strange. I can't put my finger on it". The other men nodded in agreement " Yeah, it feels like some one jus' died," replied Mark The hall filled with an uneasy silence. Mark got up and looked outside the small window, in the back of is cell he stood there gazing. He said to himself, "I've spent too long in here, 20 years of my life, 20 years for something I didn't even do." A strange voice then called, " Mark! Mark! I will set u free" he turned but nothing again the voice " Mark, Mark" still nothing. Mark turned to his fellow inmates and shouted, " Who is that? " they all looked at him blankly. He ran to the cold

Thursday, October 24, 2019

Office Depot

â€Å"Office Depot† The First Office Depot opened in 1986 in Lauderdale Lakes, Florida. The Office Depot is a global supplier of office products and services and has experienced a dramatic growth process over the past twenty-five years. In 1990 the Office Depot Companies bought â€Å"The Office Club Inc. †, and immediately became the largest office retailer in North America. Having built its business within the United States and having secured a firm business foundation, Office Depot expanded internationally in 1992. In 1996, Office Depot took its’ catalog and delivery service(s) online.Office Depot opened about 125 stores between the years 2000-2004. With the economic downturn of 2007, new strategies had to be put in place, and by 2009, 125 stores in international markets were closed. Office Depot exited the Japanese market entirely. Today, Office Depot provides office supplies and services through 1,678 retail stores worldwide, a dedicated sales force, top-rate d catalogs, and global e-commerce operations. Office Depot has annual sales of $11. 5 billion, employs roughly 39,000 employees, and serves customers in 61 countries.Their distribution channels include stores, direct mail, contract delivery, the internet, and B2B e-commerce. Viking Office Products, their wholly owned subsidiary, currently operates one of the industry’s leading direct mail marketers of office products worldwide. The competitive strategy that the Office Depot will approach is a â€Å" best-cost provider strategy† to become #1 in the office supply business. For online purchases, customers will be offered free shipping on any purchase over $25. 00. A promotional discount will be applied for 20% off, on the next purchase for every $100. 00 spent by the customer.There will be a rewards program for customers and businesses that continue to shop with Office Depot. Based on the number of office supply items purchased, the next item will be free and additional d iscounts will be applied to future purchases. After the retail store(s), prices will be lowered on items bought primarily by back-to-school customers and also year-round casual shoppers items. The retail stores will monitor active inventory for excess quantities and slow moving items and record adjustments as necessary to lower the price(s) if the anticipated realizable amount is below cost.Also, estimate and determine what items to stock and at what level, and what items to discontinue and how to value them prior to sale. The large-format retail stores will be reduced to half of the current square-footage, and staff will focus only on supplying consistently purchased merchandise. Items that tend to sit dormant at retail will be provided online only. If a retail store cannot maintain projected sales quotas, the store will be closed in that market area. New government contracts will be provided at 20% discount based on the number of office supplies purchased.Office Depot will retain business with local, state, and federal governments’ and non-profit organizations contracts by offering a lower cost than other competitors. Office Depots long term strategic direction is to be consumer focused in terms of product assortment, store layouts, new service offerings, and compelling pricing that sends a positive value message to its’ customers. This falls in line with the â€Å"best cost provider strategy† giving customers more value for the money while satisfying buyers’ expectations on key quality/features/performance/service attributes beating their price expectations.One of the main ways that Office Depot has responded was with its’ Magellan innovation, a three-year program which significantly enhanced IT capabilities. The new system will provide such benefits as improved forecasting, better support for planning, and improved profitability. This can be achieved through better utilization of store space, better pricing and data integ rity, better stocking, and reduced inventory with the end results benefiting the customer.In 2011 Office Depot announced that it is boosting their capital expenditure budget for 2012 to approximately $160 million, with a heavy emphasis on e-commerce and other IT investments. The retailers’ digital investments will be particularly important given its plans to shrink both the average size of its brick-and-mortar stores and its product assortments. Office Depots’ e-commerce sales have become an integral part of the company. Office Depot is the number (2) U. S. e-commerce retailer, second only to Amazon. com Inc.Office Depots’ aggressive Internet strategy has also generated twice the e-commerce sales of its’ rival Staples Inc. Office Depot SWOT Analysis Strengths: * Strong private label product line increases sales nationally and internationally. * Large, diverse customer base (individuals, small business, and large businesses) both nationally and overseas. * Company transitioning to smaller store format will increase presence in high growth markets. * As a direct result of negative economy, company has shuttered underperforming stores. * Cash liquid business with total assets of over four- billion dollars U.S. Weaknesses: * Little opportunity for real growth in U. S. market due to over-saturation. * Increases in competition in U. S. products market, combined with a reliance on low profit- margin electronics. * Due to the downturn of the economy coupled with continued nationally high unemployment rates†¦ sales, profits, and some business markets have diminished. * Accusations of overcharging Government Contract customers have been made public. Opportunities: * Money spent on office equipment and related items increasing among small and medium businesses. Increased ability to enter into more densely populated areas, while also reducing costs. * Increased opportunities of acquisitions due to strong cash reserves. * Increasing line of private label products geared towards â€Å"green† technology. Threats: * The global financial downturn. * High unemployment, coupled with an increase in office vacancies, compounded by low consumer confidence results in decreased spending. * Low cost/low quality imported equipment and products can lead to quality related issues. * Low switching costs increases competition and can lead to â€Å"price wars†.

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

In his poetry Hardy shows more sympathy for the natural world than he does for people Essay

In his poetry Hardy shows more sympathy for the natural world than he does for people. How far do you agree with this view? You may wish to use ‘The Blinded Bird’ as a starting point for your answers. In your answer you should either refer to 2 or 3 poems or range more widely though the selection. Throughout Hardy’s poetry it is clear that he tends to show a lot more sympathy for the natural world than he does for people shown through key poems such as ‘The Blinded Bird’ , ‘The Darkling Thrush’ and ‘The Puzzled Game-Birds’. These three poems all use nature and animals to explore feelings and Hardy tends to be more sympathetic towards the natural surroundings, in these poems he specifically references birds. He also shows his sympathy for the natural world by showing the animals in a more positive light than he does people; as shown through the poem ‘The Puzzled Game-Birds’. When looking at Hardy’s poem ‘The Puzzled Game-Birds’ I can make the judgement that I do agree fully with the view that Hardy does show more sympathy through his poems, especially this one, for the natural world than he does for people. Through this poem Hardy uses nature to portray his thoughts on cruelty since he shows how the birds are puzzled and confused ‘They are not those who used to feed us’ and the repetition of this line shows the birds denial of not wanting to believe that the people could perform such evil actions. The line ‘If hearts can house such treachery’ is an example of human betrayal from the bird’s perspective because the humans were benevolent, they provided and cared for the birds, then they contradicted themselves and betrayed the birds trust by depriving them. Hardy dehumanises the people through the line ‘They are not those who used to feed us’ because he takes away the individuality of the person by grouping all humans together. By taking away the individuality of the human, Hardy forces us to sympathise with the birds since the poem focuses more on the hardships and cruelty that they are suffering. The poem ‘The Blinded Bird’ again supports a view that I agree with that Hardy expresses more sympathy for the natural world than he does for people. He does this throughout this poem by conveying the opinion of how humanity is evil and a cruel, the rhetorical questions and strong caesura placement at the end of the poem ‘Who is divine? This bird. ’ affirms this. Hardy shows sympathy with the bird in this poem by showing the birds passion through the repetition of the line ‘So zestfully canst thou sing? ’ and his own confusion of how the bird can be so happy when the bird is blind through the line ‘I stand and wonder how’. The poem references God in the second stanza by the repetition of the line ‘Resenting not such wrong, thy grievous pain forgot’ which insinuates that the bird is not resentful towards God for the fact that he is blind; he just loves his life and carries on with it as normal, ignoring the fact that he is blind. This poem clearly shows a lot of sympathy since it demonstrates how a bird that has one of its main senses taken away from him can still lead a happy life and sing so passionately ‘Who suffereth long and is kind†¦who thinketh no evil, but sings?†¦ This bird. ’ Very similar to ‘The Blinded Bird’ the poem the ‘The Darkling Thrush’ again shows Hardy’s more sympathetic approach to the natural world than his approach to humans. The first stanza opens with a description of the dreary, bleak winter landscape, but the downhearted tone is transformed by the bright, optimistic singing, ‘full-hearted evensong’, of an ‘aged thrush’ who was ‘frail, gaunt, and small’. In the first stanza the phrase ‘broken lyres’ is used, which could be seen as a simile which expresses broken faith showing a negative outlook on the century. In the last stanza Hardy includes a description of a ‘caroling’ bird which Hardy could have used to suggest hope and the continuity of life. The speaker concludes in the last stanza that the small bird possesses ‘some blessed Hope, whereof he knew and I was unaware’. I believe Hardy to use this bird to portray the view that nature holds a secret and the potential for happiness that man cannot always intellectually grasp, but perhaps can emotionally appreciate. The rhyme scheme is broken when the thrush enters singing melodically in the penultimate stanza. However, the scheme seems to return in the final stanza which illustrates Hardy’s pessimistic nature returning. For example he refers to hope as ‘blessed’ which shows he does value it, but simply cannot channel it like the thrush is able to. Alliteration is used in the lines ‘Century’s corpse’ and ‘growing gloom’ to demonstrate the inescapability of time and these phrases demonstrate Hardy’s pessimistic thoughts and mind-set. ‘The Darkling Thrush’ portrays a parallel between Hardy’s feelings and emotions with nature by how the thrush emits ‘joy illimited’ which is a profound contrast to Hardy’s pessimism. From the poem we can draw the conclusion that as shown in stanza 3, Hardy’s tone seems in awe of the thrush and is impressed by the bird’s unexpected happiness. This can be linked to ‘The Blinded Bird’, where again in the poem the bird possesses an unexplainable happiness and was not discouraged in the slightest to live life to the max even though it had lost its sight. In all I entirely agree with the view that Hardy does tend to sympathise more with the natural world than he does with humans. I agree with the view due to the fact that the poems that I have looked at all seem to favour nature and portray the animals as being overlooked and disregarded by the humans who were portrayed as immoral and inferior and in the case of ‘The Puzzled Game-Birds’ malicious and violent. I also think he is inclined to sympathise with the natural world more because he views his surroundings as a natural beauty that is not noticed and appreciated enough by the human race.