Major Barbara Essays - The Salvation Army, Major Barbara

Major Barbara Title: Major Barbara Author: George Bernard Shaw Setting: The play extends over three days in January 1906. The beginning starts in the library of Lady Britomart, the estranged wife of Andrew Undershaft. It then continues with a visit to the West Ham Shelter of the Salvation Army. The play finally concludes at the Undershaft Empire, the munitions' factory. Plot: Lady Britomart invites her estranged husband, Andrew Undershaft, over to reacquaint him with his children, Stephen, Sarah, and Barbara. Lady Britomart is in need of more money to support their daughters and their intended's, Charles Lomax and Adolphus Cusins. Barbara tries to convert her father and save his soul. While Andrew will convert his daughter, Barbara to his side. Cast of Key Characters Major Barbara Undershaft Conformist [Barbara to Lady Britomart 65] Lady Britomart has just informed the girls, Sarah and Barbara, that their father, Andrew Undershaft, will be arriving at any time. She has already informed Stephen Undershaft. Since it has been a long time ago, when they were babies, that Andrew has seen the children she wishes for them to be on their best behavior. Lady Brit wants to ask Andrew for money for the girls and their intended's, Charles Lomax and Adolphus Cusins; therefore, she has asked them to be there also. To accommodate her mother she attempts to conform to a ladylike appearance. Quote: All right, mother. We'll do you credit. [She comes off the table, and sits in her chair with ladylike elegance]. Director [Barbara to Shirley 83] Bill Walker has just assaulted two women, Rummy and Jenny Hill, at the West Ham Shelter. He is looking for his woman. Barbara comes out to take the names of the people who have arrived and to save their souls. She takes control of the situation in a professional way. She directs Shirley to sit down and for the gentlemen there to give her their names, addresses, and trades. Barbara is trying to put order back to the disorder that had just occurred. Quote: Sit down: make yourself at home. [He hesitates; but she puts a friendly hand on his shoulder and makes him obey]. Now then! Since you've made friends with us, we want to know all about you. Names and addresses and trades. Conniver [Barbara to Bill Walker 84] Shirley has given Barbara his name and trade. She then turns to Bill to give his name. Bill refuses to give his name to her. She then tries to coax it out of him, by making a note in her book and calling him chicken basically. Quote: [calmly making a note] Afraid to give his name. Any trade? Caregiver [Barbara to Jenny 87] Barbara has been talking with Bill about what he had done earlier to the women and trying to get him to see the light. Bill tells her he is looking for his woman, Mog. Barbara tells him where she is but it won't do him any good to go to get here back she has found another man. She will more then likely convert him, because that is how she won her new bow. She decides to let him think about this for awhile and turns her attentions to Jenny. With sincere concern she asks if Jenny is all right and comforts her with a gentle touch. Quote: Poor little Jenny! Are you tired? Does it hurt? Oppressor [Barbara to Bill 89] Barbara has been talking with her father about how he and Shirley are both Secularists. Andrew says his religion is that of a millionaire. She says she is wrong they don't have anything in common then. Barbara dismisses Shirley and turns to her father. He asks about Bill. She says they will convert him in time. She seems to read Bill's mind when she says she is sure her would like to smash Mog's head in. He is amazed that she knew what he was thinking. She tries to scare him by saying that his new companion is the devil. And when the devil comes round he depresses people like him. Quote: The devil, Bill. When he gets round people they get miserable, just like you. Fanatic [Barbara to Bill 90] Barbara is hell bent on saving Bill's soul she keeps talking

Timeline History Of Russia 1533-1991 Essays - Marxist Theorists

Timeline History Of Russia 1533-1991 Essays - Marxist Theorists Timeline History of Russia 1533-1991 1533-1584 The Russian Empire, covering over one-sixth of the world, is governed by the sovereignty of Czar Ivan the Terrible. The feudal system oppresses every man, woman and child as the Czar releases "Tax Collectors" to maintain support for the nobles in the land. Brigands and financial extortionists persecute any lower class citizen who refuses to help contribute to the Czar's regime. 1682-1725 Under Czar Peter I (Peter the Great), the Russian Empire begins to flourish with traces of traditional social structure modifications in the country. Observing the radical advances of western civilizations, Peter orders the modernization of the army, creation of a navy, encourages mercantilism and foreign trade, and gives women more rights. Nevertheless, the Empire remains stricken in poverty over slow reforms and the overbearing presence of feudalism. 1825-1861 The feudal system begins to fail when the goals and desires of the common peasant cannot be achieved through such an archaic doctrine. Various successive Czars attempt social reforms which do not leave an impact on the country's well-being. In December of 1825, an uprising from the populace occures when they demand changes to the economic system. With the development of the American, French and Spanish constitutions, the serfs now demanded the abolishment of the monarchy dictatorship, communal ownership of land and many other civil and social reforms. Unfortunately, their rebellion was quickly dismantled by the Czar's military faction and the system remained in tact. 1861-1905 Czar Nicholas II finally realized that his current economic monarchy was holding back the development of the empire. He therefore created a parliamentary system in 1905 which would decrease the number of strikes and violent outbursts generating from the peasants. This representative assembly (called a Duma) was convened a total of four times during the first World War and gave legitimacy to other political factions within the empire and would hopefully increase civil rights. 1917-1924 World War I led to the abdication (resignation) of the Czar as the people revolted against his useless monarchy. Famine, disease and death were spreading like wildfire as the Russians aided France against the militia of Germany during World War I. The population lost its faith in the monarchy and installed a provisional government that would keep the country from disintegrating. However, this government refused to intervene during the fragile years of the war and lost its power to a communist party called the Bolsheviks. The Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov (Nikolai Lenin), overthrew the provisional government and implemented their style of authority to the empire. Their objectives were to lead the Russian empire into prosperity while utilizing Karl Marx's proposed doctrine for a communal, classless environment where the workers will be using their abilities to satisfy their own needs. The Union was now born and the Communist Manifesto was finally going to be activated. The C zar and his family were captured and executed, thus ending the oppressive autocracy that had befallen the empire for hundreds of years. Eventually, the central government was overtaken by Lenin and his military leaders, Leon Trotsky and Josef Stalin. Although a minority party, the Bolsheviks decided to implement capitalistic modifications to the fragile economy in order to aid the communistic backlash that would follow. The New Economic Policy (NEP) created by Lenin would allow peasants to keep a certain amount of profit for themselves, rather than having the government subsidize all of it. Unfortunately, Lenin died just as his policy had started to work. 1925-1953 The two apparent heirs to Lenin's regime were Josef Stalin and Leon Trotsky. Although Trotsky was better suited for the position (with his strong political inclinations towards reasonable social adaptability), Josef Stalin assumed controlled and subsequently ordered the exile of all apposing cabinet ministers, including Trotsky. Anyone in the Union who objected to his decisions was sent to Siberian prison camps or murdered. He now had full control without any intervention from other liberal or moderate parties. He decided to concentrate on improving military strength and building on improving the Soviet economy, rather than follow Lenin's revolutionary goal of dominating the world. In order to obtain the immense amount of money needed to maintain his militia, he began a series of five year programs which would force

Using financial ratios to analyse companies Essay

Using financial ratios to analyse companies - Essay Example The gross profit margin of Tesco has declined by almost 4% as shown in Table 2: Gross profit margin. The ratio shows that the costs of goods of the company have increased and it is unfavourable for the company if the same trend is followed because it will further reduce the profits of the company. Therefore the management needs to make sure that gross profit ratio is increased. The net profit margin of Tesco in the year 2012 is 4.36% however it was previously 4.42% thus it is showing a decline of 1.31%. Net profit margin of the company can be seen in Table 3: Net profit margin. Decline in the net profit is unfavourable for the Tesco as it is showing that the costs and expenses of the company have increased from last year. By further analyzing the financial statements, it can be found that the total revenue as well as net profit of Tesco has increased as identified in Table 1: Key Elements from Financial Statement, but by carefully analyzing the profit margin ratio it can be seen that the costs and expenses have increased at a higher rate than last year which has reduced the profit margin ratio. ROE of Tesco has decline by 1.6% as calculated in Table 4: ROE and it is unfavourable for Tesco as the profits of Tesco has been declining and thus it has also influenced the ROE of the company as well. The equity as well as profits have increased as indicated in Table 1: Key Elements from Financial Statement but the rate of increase in profits is less than the increase in equity thus it has resulted in declining the ROE. ROA of Tesco has shown a decline by 2% as revealed in Table 5: ROA and this is unfavourable for the company as the profits have not increased at the same rate in comparison to the increase in assets as identified in Table 1: Key Elements from Financial Statement. Thus it has resulted in declining of the ROA ratio of the company. Table 6: Operating Profit Margin reveals that Operating profit of Tesco has declined by

Bruce Smith is a totally incompetent manager Essay

Bruce Smith is a totally incompetent manager - Essay Example The essay hereby proffers theories and concepts that aim to evaluate Bruce Smith’s performance as a manager of the Printery Section of Paper Partners, a small printing firm located in regional Queensland, owned and managed by Paul Southey Case Background Paul Southey is currently in a dilemma in terms of providing an appropriate evaluation for Bruce Smith, the Printery Manager of his firm, Paper Partners. As a manager, Smith’s subordinates rate him as exemplary and provided positive ratings. However, as a colleague and a co-manager, Smith was rated as a nightmare to work with, rude and with utter disregard of the other sections of the company. When confronted with his behavior, Smith admitted his primarily focus on his Printing section with minimal regard to the sales or packaging sections. In this regard, Southey needs to evaluate his behavior and determine the best course of action to solve the problem. Is Smith really an incompetent manager, as contended by other man agers of other departments? Or is Smith an effective manager but a poor colleague? Definition of Terms To support one’s arguments that Bruce Smith is considered a totally incompetent manager, one needs to qualify the definition for incompetence. The online dictionary defines incompetence as â€Å"the quality or state of being incompetent; want of physical, intellectual, or moral ability; insufficiency; inadequacy; as, the incompetency of a child hard labor, or of an idiot for intellectual efforts† (Webster, 1913). The term identifies insufficiency in qualifications. According to Alaspa (2008) in his article entitled Identifying incompetence,† Margaret Heffernan has assembled this list of the ten habits of total incompetence, to wit: (1) an inability to act; (2) failure to divulge crucial concerns; (3) oversensitivity; (4) refusal to deviate from procedure; (5) preference for weak candidates; (6) focusing on minute tasks; (7) inability to comply with deadlines; (8 )lack of recruitment skills; (9) reliance on consultants; and (10) work the longest† (Alaspa, 2008, pars. 2 – 11). The list however, identified habits or patterns of behavior that one has been accustomed to do. In analyzing the insufficiency of a manager to categorize him as totally incompetent, one needs to evaluate not only one’s technical skills, but interpersonal skills, as well. Robbins, et.al. (2008) averred that managers, to be effective, need to perform functions of planning, organizing, leading and controlling (p.5) and assume ten roles grouped into interpersonal relationships, transfer of information, and decision-making (pp.5 – 7). Using these concepts, Smith’s performance can be evaluated first as a manager, using the comments from his subordinates and identifying the functions or skills manifested in the theories provided in various literatures. After which, Smith’s performance will also be evaluated as a colleague. Evaluation of Bruce Smith as a Manager The comments of Smith’s subordinates are enumerated and summarized, and the following managerial functions and skills manifested are identified as follows: SUBORDINATES COMMENTS MANAGER’S FUNCTIONS/SKILLS Nella McDonald Great to work for; gives Interpersonal skills (leader) credit for ideas and motivates Stephen Dye Good leader and problem Interpersonal skills (leader) solver Decisional (disturbance handler) Alex Brown Gives

Legalizing Prostitution Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Legalizing Prostitution - Research Paper Example First of all, several individuals note that prostitution should remain illegal, so as preserve morality within a given community. Many people especially with families do not want their children growing up knowing that prostitution is acceptable and it is a moral practice within the society. Analysts argue that Christians are among the groups of people that look down upon prostitution and perceive it as immoral. The topic of whether prostitution should be legalized or not has become very contentious. This essay will undertake a study of the advantages and disadvantages of prostitution in an attempt to decode the best stand for the society at large. Legalized prostitution has been documented to promote safety in the neighborhoods. The police and the government authorities will not only put restriction measures in the brothels and prostitution institutions but also offer protection services. In situations where prostitutes rob clients, the client will be in a better position to report to the authorities for action and punishment. The prostitutes, on the other hand, will not fear reporting crimes committed to them. The legal measures put in place will deter prostitutes from committing crimes to their clients.Legalization of prostitution will reduce the rates of crime within the society. When a woman is accused of prostitution, she feels intimidated and will not seek for employment due to embarrassment. This makes them get involved in crime, the reason many women are jailed in this contemporary era. Unlike when prostitution is legalized, women will be free to conduct prostitution thus reducing the rate of unemployment and crime rates among women. With legalization most of the crimes committed to the prostitutes and clients will reduce because women will have specific protected areas to do their business. Legalization of prostitution will put law enforcement measures to better use. For instance, instead of the government using the law enforcement resources in curbing prostitution in the society, they can make use of the resource to fight other serious crimes committed against persons or property (Clark p.86). Lots of resources are more often than not put in place to curb prostitution but, all these efforts seem to go to waste because prostitution is still rampant. If prostitution is legalized, then the government would have an easier time dealing with prostitutes in the society. It m ay be said that the fight against prostitution is doomed to fail, since there are no well established ways of dealing with prostitutes, as well as clients. The authority may harass the prostitutes, but will not stop them from doing what they do best. A study conducted by the Rand Corporation in the city of Los Angeles found that the authorities have done nothing except push the prostitutes across the city's boundaries (Pheterson p.105). This shows that there is a immense predicament within the society in relation to the legalization process. There are those individuals who are not ready accept the process not considering that the vice affects their lives in one way or another. The governments around the world should protect other individual rights, like right to property rather than getting too concerned with issues of prostitution that are difficult to control. Studies indicate that prostitutes go through a very difficult time whilst conducting their day to day activities. Some pro stitutes are normally beaten, harassed and with no resources dedicated towards protection of their rights; they end up suffering a great mile. With legalization and free market for prostitution to take place, the prostitutes will have rights to police protection and to legal provision of resources.

Debate on Free Will Vs Determinism

Debate on Free Will Vs Determinism The debate over free will and determinism has been going on for centuries from the time of great thinkers like Thomas Hobbes and Isaac Newton and therefore these debates have been the part of political and economic theories. Centuries back, majority adopted the notion of determinism and destiny which never allowed individuals to think out of the box. It restricted the individuals then to their resources and their philosophy permitted them to want for more. If it was not for free will then a person born disabled would give up all the hopes in life and would not find cure to make his life better, populations would accept oppression and ignore the fact of a revolution. Along with this, law and justice could not be enforced as the judgements would be made on destiny. Although determination is deeply rooted from centuries asit dictates the life of disabled people like Tatyana McFadden and luck plays its part as it did for Justin Bieber, however free will is the ideology of modern world be cause it has given birth to the concept of accountability, struggle, hard work, courage, planning, and therefore effecting norms of social responsibility and renaissance. Free will is making decisions based on desires and then being accountable for the fact that whether it is a bad or good decision. The theory of free will suggests that the individual makes decisions according to his preferences and is responsible for it, i.e. the individual is rational and is not bounded by any external factors and what he chooses is best for him. Doctor Herald Shipman portrays this theory as he first chose to be a doctor and then later used his profession to be a murderer. After witnessing his mother’s sufferings from lung cancer Shipman motivated himself to be a doctor. After graduating as a doctor in 1970, Shipman changed his priorities and chose to kill his patients. He was sent to a rehab when it was found that he is addicted to a painkiller which he used to obtain from his patient’s prescriptions and suffered constant blackouts due to it. However, after two years he was declared fit and got his license reissued. After getting a second chance Shipm an never changed his priorities and ended up killing 250 of his patients intentionally. When proven guilty, Shipman was jailed where he chose to commit suicide. Hence individuals like Shipman chose what they seek are best for them and are held completely responsible for it. Along with this free will has its cons too and it can lead an individual to ignore all the limits and end up in bad acts. It all depends on the personal responsible that how he treats it. Free will can be devastating for a person as in the case of Malcolm X who indulged in larceny, drugs and prostitution before he found the purpose of his life. Malcolm X had a turbulent early life, his house was burnt down. His father died when Malcolm was six years old and his mother suffered emotional breakdown and was sent to rehab. Malcolm had to live in an orphanage for few years. Later he got to know gangsters, thieves, pimps and drug dealers. He ended up being a drug addict and adopted burglary as means of earning; some biographies even say that sometimes he had sex with other men to earn money. He was arrested for burglary at the age of twenty and was imprisoned for seven years. Malcolm X is a great example of free will in itself however he chose activities which disintegrated his life. Furthermore free will impacts the decision making power of an individual as it governs one’s aptitude to struggle, recognize their abilities and ponder over how to make use of them. It empowers one to motivate them and not give up in life. For example Oprah Winfrey had to face harsh realities very early in her life but she never thought of giving up and ended up being an inspirational figure for women all over the world. Winfrey suffered from sexual harassment in her childhood and all the tensions forced her to run from her house in her teen age. However she chose a better life for herself and with her free will and spirit she made decisions which helped her improving her life. Her willpower can be seen from the fact that after such a disappointing childhood Oprah never gave up and sought way in education; winning scholarship at a university. She recognized her abilities as a motivational speaker and joined a radio station at the age of seventeen and later she hosted The Oprah Winfrey show and became the voice of thousands of people. This reflects that her passion and commitment with her work and will to not give up made her one of the most influential personalities in the world. On the contrary, the concept of predestined has a major part as some characteristics are determined by birth and they structure one’s future, i.e. whether that individual gives up or fight hard against the odds. Tatyana McFadden is a great example of the later as she was born with a paralyzed lower part of body but still ended up being gold medallist in Paralympics. When her mother got to know of her daughter’s disability she abandoned her and McFadden lived in an orphanage for six years. McFadden however was optimistic and had to walk on her hands because she was not able to afford a wheelchair. She never got discouraged by her illness and after her adoption she took part in many sports like gymnastics and wheelchair basketball. At the age of eight she won two medals in Athens and since then McFadden hasn’t looked back and went on going to win sixteen medals, including nine gold medals in her career. Hence it can be implicated that free will is the answer to hur dles set by what is determined at the start of one’s life and how that individual wants to go along the life. Along with this destiny determines success for some and over shadow the free will, the very pattern worked for Justin Bieber as his career began through cyber fame. Destiny determined Justin Bieber to be where he is today, it casted away his free will. Bieber’s career started when he uploaded his music videos on You Tube to show his friends and family. He was lucky when Ushers agency contacted him and signed him up for Hollywood. It’s destiny that can change people’s lives in seconds and can ruin it at the same time. There are so many talented people who upload videos on You Tube but all do not have the luck to be famous. Free will does not only direct the life of an individual but thrives the success of many great nations and teams. From all the success stories of independence, fights, revolutions and renaissance it can be seen that it is the will of the people constituting that notion and uniting themselves to bring success. Manchester United is a living model of such teams who combat what is determined for them. On the sixth of February 1958, United’s squad was returning to The UK when their plane crashed at Munich Airport after it was refuelled and out of forty four passengers, twenty one died instantly and many of the team members died later. Nonetheless, United never gave up and the depleted team went on Semi Finals of the European cup the same year. The staff and players together supported each other and were eager to regain their status as champions. This willingness to succeed and not to give up resulted in United becoming the English Champions nineteen times and the European Champions thrice since then. This verifies that free will can lead to hard work and can overturn the routes laid by what is predestined and of that what is to come in future. Free will and determinism are two concepts which are very much different from each other but also related at the same time. Stephen Hawking, an active member at Cambridge University is quoted as saying â€Å"I have noticed even people who claim everything is predestined, and that we can do nothing to change it, look before they cross the road.† Apart from this, success stories of Winfrey, McFadden and Manchester United reflect how individuals are masters of their own ships and they never let the circumstances, determinism or destiny take over them. These people choose their own destiny and outcomes. It is true that determinism exists but if the concept of free will is eliminated then the models of social responsibility, accountability, law and justice, morality, hard work and planning will all fail and life will have no meaning. Therefore it can be concluded that free will navigates the life of individuals as it allows them to tress pass determinism.

Drunk Driving is Not a Serious Offense Essay example -- Reduce DUI Pen

Driving under the influence of alcohol (DUI) has become an issue of national concern, a both state and federal levels (2Githens and Sloan 403). Hearty fines, jail time and a revoking of the convict’s license follow most DUI offenses. DUI penalties need to be decreased and cause of conviction needs to be addressed, because people who are not criminals are going to jail, and enduring insurance fees even though these punishments have been shown to not decrease drinking and driving. Officers are given too much discretion to choose who get convicted, and who doesn’t, being convicted of a DUI can be life changing and should not be taken lightly. Most DUI offenses are detected as a result of direct observation of suspicious behavior, which is up to the discretion of the police officer observing the situation. In police initiated stops, the officer is the only witness to see the violation and is given great power in deciding to pull over the driver or not (Mastrofski, Ritti and Snipes 113-148). The police officer also decides if the law will be enforced or not. The main issue with this is that discrimination could occur very easily, because police can be persuaded by certain factors, including race and gender, to decide whether to arrest the driver or not. Police ethnographies suggest that the decision to arrest for common offenses is viewed by officers as part of there everyday work, whereas their superior officers tend to view an arrest as a â€Å"product†, which contributes to the departments identity, its effectiveness, and efficiency (Mastrofski, Ritti and Snipes 115). Differences in views suggest that the officer s out on the street are looking for people to pull over instead of looking for people that they can assist, as the... ..." Philosophy and Public Affairs 1st ser. 23 (1994): 52-73. Web. 2 Nov. 2013. Jones, James D. "Identifying and Prosecuting Persons for Driving under the Influence of Drugs." Public Health Reports 6th ser. 102 (1987): 627-29. Web. 7 Nov. 2013. Mastrofski, Stephen D., Richard R. Ritti, and Jeffrey B. Snipes. "Expectancy Theory and Police Productivity in DUI Enforcement." Law & Society Review 1st ser. 28 (1994): 113-48. Web. 9 Nov. 2013. Ross, Laurence H. "The Neutralization of Severe Penalties: Some Traffic Law Studies." Law & Society 3rd ser. 10 (1976): 403-13. Web. 4 Nov. 2013. Rubenzer, Steven J. "The Standardized Field Sobriety Tests: A Review of Scientific and Legal Issues." Law and Human Sloan, Frank A., and Penny B. Githens. "Drinking, Driving, and the Price of Automobile Insurance." The Journal of Risk and Insurance 61.1 (1994): 33-58. Web. 6 Nov. 2013.

How Hr Impacts a Company Performance Essay

Human Capital is the most important resource for an organisation to succeed. The quality of the human resource and the work performance directly impact an organisation’s performance. Thus, human resource management plays an important role to ensure the efficiency in an organisation’s daily operations via efficient recruitment, training and development, and staff retention. Besides, efficient human resource management may create competitive advantage to an organisation. There are various theories explained how human resource management impacts an organisation’s performance. This essay focuses on two theories – Reinforcement Theory and Resource-Based Theory. 2. 0 Reinforcement Theory and the Implementation Reinforcement theory was proposed by BF Skinner and his associates. It focuses of shaping human behaviour by controlling the consequences of the behaviour. In reinforcement theory a combination of rewards and/or punishments is used to reinforce desired behaviour or extinguish unwanted behaviour. It has similar base as â€Å"law of effect† where it states that individual behaviour leads to different consequences. Thus if a behaviour leads to positive consequences, the individual tends to repeat the same behaviour in the future. On the other hand, if a behaviour leads to negative consequences, the individual will try to change their behaviour to avoid the unpleasant consequences. For example, employees may obey the company’s rules and regulation as they may fear of disobedience leads will lead to punishment. On the other hand, employees try to meet the target set at work as they may be rewarded. Thus, in order to change employee behavior, the consequences of the behavior must be changed. For example, an employee who is frequently late to work, may be motivated to report to work on time (change of behavior) by changing the consequences of being late. Behavior modification consists of 4 methods: 2. 0. 1Positive and Negative Reinforcement This implies to remove negative behaviour of the employees by giving positive consequences to the employees. For example, a company could establish a reward system to the sales team, when certain target has been achieved, sales person would receive additional incentives. Both positive reinforcement and negative reinforcement encourage certain behaviour to be happened or repeated. The more spontaneous the reward is given, the greater the reinforcement value it has. 2. 0. 2 Punishment This implies to decrease the probability of undesirable actions by enforcing some punishments or negative consequences to the employees. For example, salary deduction for employees those do not report to work punctually. 2. 0. 3 Extinction The objective of extinction is to reduce the unwanted behaviour. If an employee gets praised for the promptness of his job completion for certain period of time, but receives no praise subsequently, his desirable behaviours may diminish. Thus, managers have to continue to offer positive consequences to avoid unwanted extinction of behaviour. 2. 1 Reinforcement Theory impacts on organisation’s performance The core objective of Reinforcement Theory in Human Resource Management is to change the employees’ behaviour. Increase the possibility of positive behaviour and reduce the chances of negative behaviour. Organisation performance will be boosted if there is drastic change in employees’ behaviour from negative to positive. Besides, it also ensures the positive behaviour to be maintained as a norm in an organisation. New joiners may follow the company good norms which will past through generation by generation. Below are some of the examples how Reinforcement Theory impacts an organisation’s performance: 2. 1. 1 Attendance and punctuality improvements Positive reinforcement and punishment towards employees’ punctuality may improve the punctuality to work. For example some companies provide extra allowance to employees who adheres the punctuality to work and salary deductions for those who is late to work. This may motivates employees to arrive on time. This cultivates a culture where time management is important in the organisation. Hence, the discipline of the organisation gets improved which also leads to work efficiency. Sales result improvements Positive Reinforcement for instance Incentive given to the sales department may motivate the sales persons work towards to achieve the sales target. Sales persons may change their working style by making more cold-calling, increase the efficiency in time management by visiting more customers. As a result, it may increase the company’s revenue. Productivity improvements Performance appraisal system can be used in the implementation of reinforcement theory. For example, KPIs set for employees according to the organisation’s visions and goals. This serves as the key performance measurement for the employees. Employees work towards the KPIs in order to receive good appraisal, and expected to receive a better rewards and compensation. Organisation’s performance relies on the achievement of the KPIs. If the most of the KPIs can be met from bottom to top, the organisation’s has higher chance to achieve its visions and goals. Summary of Reinforcement Theory Reinforcement theory focuses on what will the consequences happens to the individual after some actions has been taken. This theory argues that the internal state and the reasons of the actions of the individuals can be ignored as human tends to exhibit their behaviours base on the result of the behaviour. Reinforcement theory does not focus on the causes of individual’s behaviour. As a result, it may shows lack of empathic and less human in a sense if we ignore the cause of the behaviour of an individual. For example, if an employee always late in work, the manager could have understand the reason behind and decide whether salary deduction to be enforced for this employee. Nevertheless, in terms of organisational management, Reinforcement Theory serves as a very direct way to control the employees’ behaviour by understanding the needs and fears of the employees. Employees may tend to adhere to the rules and regulations as they look forward for the positive consequences (reward or praise), and avoiding negative actions as they are fearful of negative consequences (punishments). As a result, company performance will be enhanced if the employees show positive behaviour more frequent. 3. 0 Resource-Based Theory and the Implementation Resource-Based Theory argues that human resources is a subset of an organisation to enable them to achieve competitive advantage and business sustainability. Valuable and niche resources leads to an organisation’s competitive advantage. Moreover, the firm has to be able to protect against the resource turnover in order to sustain the competitive advantage for longer period of time. The source of Resource-Based Theory dates back to 1967, Selznick proposed the term organisation’s distinctive competence. Later in 1959, Penrose, puts forward the â€Å"Theory of the Dynamic Growth of the Firm† and defined an organisation’s achieve distinctive competence through the distribution and the use of resources. This concept later became the basis of resource-based theory. In 1984, Wernerfelt who lead the mainstream strategic management, proposed a resource-based idea that the â€Å"internal† organisational resources and the â€Å"external† commodity markets together form a complementary strategy. In an industry, if an organisation has the internal distinctive resource of value, rarity, inimitability and non-substitutability (Barney, 1991), it is able to increase the quality of goods and services. Which also enable the organisation to create competitive advantage and to sustain the competitive advantage. There are two main criteria in resource-based theory: resource diversity and resource immobility (Barney, 1991). 3. 0. 1 Resource diversity This refers to the human resource expertise are niche and specialise in the market, which leads to create the competitive advantage for an organisation. This is important for organisation which the business is emphasis on innovation, consultancy, creativity and etc. For example, If an organisation is trying to develop a new innovative product, it requires resources with specialise knowledge and expertise to achieve the goal. If those resources are niche in the market and other competitors cannot duplicate the product easily, it creates competitive advantage to the organisation. To ensure resource diversity, important effort requires in recruiting quality and competent employees, provide training and development to the existing employees in order to achieve resource diversity. Resource immobility This refers to how easy the resource turnover from one oganisation to another. It is important for an organisation to retain productive human resources in order to ensure the organisation operates smoothly and to sustain the competitive advantage. In order to ensure the resource immobility, it requires efficient staff retention program, clear and achievable career path, career advancement opportunity, good benefit and compensation policy. 3. 1 Resource-Based Theory impacts on organisation’s performance The implementation of resource-based theory is able to improve an organisation’s performance as below: Increase Work Efficiency Work efficiency can be achieved if the employees are proficient in their role. It creates higher chance to prone to errors and finally it increases the company’s performance in various areas. 3. 1. 2 Create Professional Image to the Organisation Employees with high competency in job creates professional image to the organisation. This is important to increase the good will and brand name of the organisation. Besides, for those businesses mainly providing professional services to the clients requires employees with highly competency in order to create the competitive advantage among the competitors.

The Origin and Meaning of the Surname, Long

The Origin and Meaning of the Surname, Long Long is the  86th most popular surname  in the United States with origins in  English,  Irish, and Chinese. The most common alternate surname spellings include Longe, Lang, Delong, and Laing. Learn about the famous Longs, genealogy resources and the three main plausible origins for the common last name below. Possible Surname Origins Long was most commonly a  nickname that was often given to a man who was especially tall and lanky, from the  Old English lang  and  Old French long, meaning  long or tall.The Long surname may also be a  reduced Anglicized form of Gaelic name Ó Longin, meaning descendant of Longn, a personal name probably derived from long, meaning tall.If the family is Chinese, the name may indicate descent from  an official treasurer called Long, who lived during the reign of the model emperor Shun (2257–2205 BC). Notable Longs Nia Long:  American actress who is  best known as her characters on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and Third Watch on TV. She was also in the popular movies Friday and Too Deep.Howie Long:  Former American NFL defensive end. Howie currently works at Fox Sports as a studio analyst.Shelley Long:  Actress popular on the comedy television shows Cheers and Frasier. She has five Emmy nominations and two Golden Globe Awards.Shorty Long: American soul singer, record producer, and musician who was inducted into the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame. Genealogy Resources 100 Most Common U.S. Surnames Their Meanings: Smith, Johnson, Williams, Jones, Brown... Are you one of the millions of Americans sporting one of these top 100 common last names from the 2000 census?Long Family Genealogy Forum: Search this popular genealogy forum for the Long surname to find others who might be researching your ancestors, or post your own Long query.FamilySearch - Long  Genealogy: Find records, queries, and lineage-linked family trees posted for the Long surname and its variations.Long  Surname Family Mailing Lists: RootsWeb hosts several free mailing lists for researchers of the Long surname.Cousin Connect - Long  Genealogy Queries: Read or post genealogy queries for the surname Long, and sign up for free notification when new Long queries are added.DistantCousin.com - Long  Genealogy Family History: Free databases and genealogy links for the last name Long. Resources and Further Reading Cottle, Basil. Penguin Dictionary of Surnames. Baltimore, MD: Penguin Books, 1967.Menk, Lars. A Dictionary of German-Jewish Surnames. Avotaynu, 2005.Beider, Alexander. A Dictionary of Jewish Surnames from Galicia. Avotaynu, 2004.Hanks, Patrick, and Flavia Hodges. A Dictionary of Surnames. Oxford University Press, 1989.Hanks, Patrick. Dictionary of American Family Names. Oxford University Press, 2003.Smith, Elsdon C. American Surnames. Genealogical Publishing Company, 1997.

Four play summaries essays

Four play summaries essays It takes place in a mental institution where a new patient has just arrived. This patient ends up messing with everyone and creating chaos in the institution. R.P. McMurphy is a new patient at the mental institution, he is a charming devil, who wants to serve a very short sentence in the mental institution instead of a long term sentence in a prison. This is a mistake, he suddenly learns, for he runs into Nurse Ratched, who can keep him institutionalized forever. He ends up taking over the ward, controlling the rest of the patients, and to the astonishment to medical professionals, he makes Chief Bromden, who was presumedly deaf and dumb, speak. He turns the other inmates into more extrovert people by doing all sorts of things, from playing games, arranging a party at midnight, or even staging a revolt so that the other patients can watch the world series. Afraid that McMurphy will become more controlling than she is, Nurse Ratched has McMurphy submitted to shock treatment. After he recovers, he is forced to undergo one of the worst 'treatments' for his final correction, a frontal lobotomy. However to save McMurphy from this, the Chief kills McMurphy, and escapes from the institution. List and Descrive the main characters in the play- R.P. McMurphy- Patient, very loud and obnoxious, very controlling and caniving Nurse Ratched- Very mean Nurse, likes to control all the patients in the institution, by any means necessary Chief Bromden- Deaf and dumb Indian, or pressumedly so. Identify and explain a key line in the play- It's not necessarily a key line during the play, its more of an instance during the play the sends everything spiraling down. During the scene in which McMurphy has finally pushed Nurse Ratched to her boiling point, and she turns him to shock treatment, then schedules a frontal labotomy for him, which causes the Chief to kill him, and get the other prisoners to escape. This is a story...

Taylorist Job Designs and Hard Human Resource Essay

Taylorist Job Designs and Hard Human Resource - Essay Example In this sense therefore individuals should not be coerced into presence and participation in work activities (Larsson, Vinberg & Wiklund, 2007, p. 1147). The soft model of HRM causes a positive attitude among employees towards their work activities and as a result preventing absenteeism. On the other hand, the strict rules that are set within the hard management model causes stress and negative attitudes among employees and as a result leading to high rates of absenteeism at the workplace. The soft model in HRM ensures that individuals are self motivated to come to come every day and engage in their work roles and responsibilities even when there is little or no supervision. On the other hand, the application of the hard model and its characteristic punishment on employees makes them to lack motivation and as a result causes absenteeism. When individuals are compelled regulations, policies, standards and rules in their work activities as demonstrated by the application of the hard mo del, they are more likely to be less productive (Truss, et al, 2007, p. 57). The reduced productivity is related to the absenteeism which is related to the application of the hard model of human resource management. On the other hand, when duties and responsibilities are delegated to individuals in a less strict and supervisory environment of the soft model of HRM, these employees will be less absent at the workplace leading to more productivity. It is argued that the absence that individuals demonstrate at work is as a result of the natural instinct of human beings to avoid responsibilities. It is because of this that the soft model in HRM is encouraged in organizations as compared to the hard HRM model.... This paper stresses that Taylorist job designs provide that the execution of job activities is separated from the planning process. In additional, Taylorism as described in scientific management provided for procedural and timed work activities. Since services are less procedural and unrealistic to time, it is argued that the Taylorist job designs cannot be applicable in the service industry with the required effectiveness. This report makes a conclusion that in light of the above analysis, discussion and illustrations, it is evident that Taylorist job designs and hard human resource management model are suitable for application within the manufacturing industry such as food processing and manufacturing companies. Taylorist job designs are procedural, timed, segmented and focused at minimized training needs and cost which makes them suitable for application in the manufacturing industry. The hard human resource management model is also appropriate within the manufacturing industry where cheap labor, minimal communication, more machinery and little delegations are exhibited. On the other hand, Taylorist job designs are not suitable within the service industry such as a call center because of the difficulty in segmenting job activities and the need for collective training for broader skills and knowledge within the service industry. The hard human resource management model is also not suitable within the service industry because of the delegating characteristic of this industry and the increased need for motivation and compensation for effective service delivery.

Strategic management examination - case study of UK supermarkets and Essay

Tesco and the UK Grocery Retail Industry - Essay Example As noted in the previous question and also in sync with the case, it has been seen, that the Porter’s Five Forces also influence the companies to enter into the high street stores to a great extent and the below mentioned forces help understand the reasons to a great extent. Firstly, the barriers to entry are very low in this industry. Cost advantages can be minimized by smart outsourcing of production, and doing so can allow new entrants in the market with relatively little capital requirements. As seen in the case there are several small grocery stores that are being opened every single day on the high streets. These form a great threat to the super markets. However, building an appealing brand image is crucial to success, and this is where new entrants may have difficulty. Additionally, acquiring the necessary distribution points may prove challenging as a newcomer, and so some obstacles do exist for newcomers. Secondly, considering the buyer power, the current period has h ad a number of issues with the buyer power of the nation. This is mainly due to the recession. However in the case of Tesco, the threat is relatively low as the company operates on providing the customers with ‘Everyday Low Prices’. Also, in the current markets, it is the consumers who dictate what will sell and what won’t – ultimately, if they disapprove of the item, then it will not be sold. Next the supplier power, as seen in the case, since there are many suppliers in the industry, and there is little room for forward integration or differentiated inputs as many of these suppliers outsource production to the same or similar factories. In this industry it is the end consumer who must accept the product for it to be successful, and with no shortage of competing brands, the supplier has a limited ability to control the market. In the case of Tesco again this is relatively low as the company does apart from the various brands also manufacture their own bra nds. Hence this gives them an edge and allows them to be able to cope with the supplier power. Also, the threat of substitutes is relatively low in this industry.