The National Association for the Education of Young Children Essay Example for Free

The National Association for the Education of Young Children Essay The elementary school teacher decided to integrate reading and writing into geometry lessons to improve the scores of students. In particular, the students had to use the names of geometric objects as well as their other attributes to write the poems. The experiment has shown a significant improvement in geometry scores. Making children more involved with the task at hand and making tasks more interesting were the main reasons for improvement in scores. The author confirmed my personal belief that the children will only learn school subjects better if they are personally involved with them on some level. In this scenario, they liked writing poems because they thought the poems were fun. They gladly extended their knowledge of geometry to use it in their poems. However, geometry is a difficult subject to learn for many people, not just children. I suspect the main reason is because it seems to be boring. By making geometry fun, we can easily enhance our learning and make our learning sessions more productive. Having been a student myself for many years, I agree with the author that the first priority in learning should be placed on getting a person to be more involved with the task. The best way to do it is to make the task interesting. The author proves that even the most â€Å"boring† school subjects can become suddenly interesting if we will tie them to some interesting activity. This experiment sheds some light on how effective learning occurs. It seems as if the most effective learning takes place when we experiment with different ways of looking at things, and we try to extend our observations beyond what we normally see. This article plays a very important role in understanding the learning process in our brains.

What Is Executive Coaching And Its Benefits Management Essay

What Is Executive Coaching And Its Benefits Management Essay This report has been structured around the changes and concerns that are currently impacting Cassidys as an organisation, such as our decision to develop Cassidys into an international organisation. The first international store to open will be in Auckland, New Zealand, which is set to open early 2011. International growth will continue with opening of Cassidys in Canada in late November 2011. In order for business growth and the expansion of Cassidys, we need to make sure our executive leaders are ready to lead our organisation within a new environment. Due to the growth of Cassidys our needs are changing. We now require a larger and more flexible leadership team that has the skills and knowledge to succeed in an ever changing environment. Organisations will always benefit from having highly trained executives who possess exceptional leadership skills. Investing time and money into the development of executives are a necessary expense if an organisation aims to excel. The success of Cassidys requires that our current and future leaders perform to their maximum potential. Developing the skills and knowledge of executive leaders can benefit the whole organisation, as they have the ability boost our sales, profits, revenues, consumer recognition and loyalty. Executive staff retention is also critical to the success and growth of Cassidys. Last financial year it was recorded that our organisation spent over two million dollars on costs related to staffing retention. Failing to retain a key employee is costly, various estimates suggest that losing a middle manager costs an organisation up to 100 percent of his salary. The loss of a senior executive is even more costly. It is important for Cassidy to work on staff retention if it wants to grow .2 There has been a phenomenal increase in use of executive coaching over the past decade or so. A 2004 survey of the HR/Training community conducted by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) in the UK showed that four-fifths of respondents now use coaching in their organisations. The Australian Institute of Management claims 70% of its member companys hire coaches. Berglas (2002) stated that there were more than 10,000 professional coaches in the United States, and this figure was expected to exceed 50,000 by 2007. What Is Executive Coaching and its Benefits? Executive Coaching is a specialized form of coaching that is becoming one of the fastest growing trends within employee development. Executive coaches work with an organisation to help highlight and develop a plan that works in conjunction with the needs and objectives of the organisation and members of the executive team and supporting staff. In an increasingly fast-paced and complex corporate world, there are few places where an executive or senior manager can step back and reflect on the range of issues facing them. Having a coach provides a wider perspective, additional points of view and a degree of objectivity that can be difficult to obtain when youre leading an organisation. Coaches are seen as a sounding board outside of the organisation, having this option benefits the executive as they have a listening ear that provides a safe way for them to voice their frustrations, explore their options, and talk through new courses of action. Kilburg (1996) describes the relationship o f a coach and client as: A helping relationship formed between a client who has managerial authority and responsibility in an organisation and a consultant who uses a wide variety of behavioral techniques and methods to help the client achieve a mutually identified set of goals to improve his or her professional performance and personal satisfaction and., consequently, to improve the effectiveness of the clients organisation within a formally defined coaching agreement Kilburg (1996, p.142) He also describes key benefits that clients and organisations achieve through executive coaching: Executive coaching can assist executives to find new and productive ways to manage the interpersonal aspects of leading others Coaching can provide executives to find powerful ways to influence others Reduce turnover and retain top performing staff Enhanced individual and organisational performance Improved organisational strength Perception of management as being committed to employees and their growth and success Improved employee morale, more committed employees, thus greater productivity Retention of high potential talent and talent magnet Better client relationships Positive work environment, thus  greater productivity Executives learn coaching techniques  which they can implement with their teams for improved relationships and productivity, as well as  enhanced employee development Positively affect organisational culture Ability to  recruit key talent through enhanced reputation within the industry Executive coaching helps the executive to expand leadership skills Who coaches are trained facilitators, not consultants, counselors, trainers or mentors What coaches do produce positive changes in business behavior within a set schedule with a limited time frame. The process of executive coaching Whilst it is important to understand the benefits that Cassidys can achieve using executive coaching, we also need to understand some of the methods and practices coaches use. Kilburg (2000) suggests the coaching process is a kind of circle of awareness within which the coach engages the client in a series of single-loop, double-loop, and triple-loop learning experiences to assist the client to understand the nature of the current organisational environment, the leadership situation, and his or her experiences with it: Learning in action: The ability to be self-aware as the client is performing a task. Reflection on learning in action: The ability to be aware of different ways to approach a task and how to modify approaches as the task is being performed. Reflection on reflection on learning in action: The ability of the client to be aware of multiple levels of complexity, paradoxes, and polarities in the situation with the intent of learning how to better perform in the future Internal and external coaches To select the correct type of coach of the right saturation both internal and external coaches need to be explained. An external coach is an external consultant to the company. An internal coach works for the company and usually a senior manager, a persons line managers, or members of the HR department. Each type of coach excels in supporting the executives for a board range of scenarios. External coaches excel in these areas: Coaching clients at the higher end of the corporate ladder If there is an environment of low trust and/or hostility between staff Navigate attitudes and little expectation of success When objectivity is critical for helping the executives Confidentiality between the coach and client External expertise and knowledge Unbiased and impartial opinion Internal coaches excel in these areas: Interment knowledge of the company is required Culture issues are affecting the client and internal knowledge is required The budget on coaching is limited or other Financial constraints Large amount of coaching is required The need to provide a Consistent approach provided by the company A mixture of internal and external coaches will provide Cassidys with the greatest flexibility. The external coach should be used to train the more senior members of the team, while also training and mentoring the internal coach. This will enable the internal coach to gain experience and knowledge, while still providing useful corporate and culture knowledge about the organisation. Leadership The skills and behaviour of organisation leaders affects the entire organisation and its successes. It is vital to Cassidys future that we assist our leaders to develop and help them reach their maximum potential. Cassidys requires exceptional leaders to help change and run this organisation, while ensuring that leadership and inspiration are coming from the top and filtering down. With the expansion into our new overseas market, some of our executives will be required to lead these stores. Cassidys will need to provide extra assistance for these executives as they will be responsible for the growth of our international stores, faced with an array of obstacles such as developing the Cassidys name within a new market. Executive coaching could be a strategy used to enhance Cassidys leaders. By using executive coaching, our leaders can be coached to successfully change operational procedures, expand and emphasize their extensive corporate knowledge, develop their communication skills, and improve their influence on those around them. All of these are traits of an effective leader. Elizabeth Thach (2002) conducted a study using 360 feedback and executive reporting with the aim to determine the impact executive coaching has on leadership and its effectiveness. The study was carried out over three different phases with feedback on the leader being collected from direct reports, peers, and managers. The executives were also required to report the number of times they met with their coach, and their self-reported increase or decrease in leadership effectiveness. It was found that the executives reported a smaller increase in their effectiveness as compared to what was reported in the 360 feedback. Figure 1 shows what the impact of coaching has on increasing leadership effectiveness. Figure : The Impact of Executive Coaching on Leadership Effectiveness Executive coaches usually work with individual leaders encouraging them to lead by example, motivate, improve their focused and stay committed. Although individual executive coaching could be a key to Cassidys success, isnt the only method that can be used to develop its leaders and executives. Other methods Cassidys should venture into are executive team coaching and mentoring. Team Coaching helps a group of individuals to perform more effectively in their work as a group. Although often provided via one person who is in-charge of the team, Team coaching aims to discover major values and expectations, agree common goals and targets and helps improve communications/lessen disharmony/conflict between team members. With the expansion of Cassidy there will be new executive teams created in both national and international departments. To help the executives transition into their new roles and create a productive team Cassidys should be to providing extra support to executives so they can create a cohesive unit that can quickly build a foundation of trust. One method Cassidys could use to help executives build effective teams is to hire an executive team coach. Executive team coaching differs from executive coaching in a group setting in that the coaching client is the whole team as a system rather than each of the executives in turn. During executive team coaching sessions, the team works on its usual business, typically running a business meeting, and then is coached on its collective process to achieve results. The focus of the team coaching process is on improving operational interfaces between team members while they work on achieving their objectives, rather than focusing on developing each of the executives individually, or simply focusing on improving relationships. They are each expected to contribute according to their strengths and the needs of their team. The same goes for team coaching which is not meant to develop perfect teams, but teams that contribute better to their organisation. Further, the successful development of an executive team will yield more effective collaboration, greater alignment in strategy execution, improv ed quality, products or services for customers, and ultimately, financial returns for the team and organisation. Mentoring differs from coaching but is focused around the transmission of knowledge and the forming of relationships between the parties. This relationship is usually long running and typically is formed with a more experienced person transferring their corporate knowledge and understanding to a newer staff member, whilst also providing support. Cassidys could use mentoring when the international transition occurred to provide the newer team members with the corporate knowledge they will need to succeed in the international environment. Cassidys will also need to investigate the return on investment (ROI) before proceeding with the implementation of a executive coaching plan. Below is an extract from a case study that shows the great returns that could be gained: INTRODUCTION A Fortune 500 firm and Pyramid Resource Group, a coaching services company, recently engaged MetrixGlobal LLC to determine the business benefits and return on investment for an executive coaching program. A Fortune 500 firm launched an innovative leadership development effort that was expected to accelerate the development of next generation leaders. The participants in this effort were drawn mostly from the ranks of middle managers and from many different business units and functional areas. Leadership development activities included group mentoring, individual assessments and development planning, a leadership workshop and work on strategic business projects. Coaching was considered to be a key enabler for this approach to leadership development because the participants could work privately and individually with his or her coach to develop specific leadership competencies. The client organization engaged the Pyramid Resource Group to provide coaching to the leadership development participants. While participants spoke very highly of their experience with coaching it was decided to conduct a formal assessment of the effectiveness and business impact of coaching. As a result of coaching the participants reported that coaching significant improvements in: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Personal or workgroup productivity 50% à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Employee satisfaction (personal as well 50% favorable as being able to increase employee satisfaction of their team members) à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Customer Satisfaction 50% à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Annualized financial benefits 50% of participants Most frequently cited significant impacts: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Work output 30% favorable à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Work quality 40% favorable The Bottom Line: Coaching produced a 529% return on investment and significant intangible benefits to the business. Our organisation is about to embark on one of its biggest developments in the history of Cassidys. As an organistation we need to prepare our executives with the skills and knowledge that will help them compete in a very competitive environment. Although coaching and mentoring can provide us with assistance in growing our department stores we need to remember that the upcoming pressures that could arise. Investing in making sure that our leaders have the best tools and skills to carry them through the could benefit from implementing all three programs if they are used correctly. For any of these methods to work the individual receiving the training needs to be willing to change and believe that coaching and mentoring can be a positive experience for those who are involved. It also needs to be understood that coaching and mentoring is not a solution to every problem within an organisation. A

Jarroc as a Betrayer Essay example -- Star Trek Defecting Essays Paper

Jarroc as a Betrayer Defection is a word which Americans have been taught to fear, from the days of Joseph McCarthy to Moscow on the Hudson. In our collective consciousness, we viewed defectors as both fascinating and repellent. Defectors from outside the convivial allied sphere of North America and Western Europe--persons from those Communist places, especially--served a useful purpose because of what inside knowledge they held, and at the same time frightened us because they carried the taint of the traitor, and the strange, cold foreignness of the "other side". The "other side," if not monitored closely, was coming to bomb us all, and break the world as we knew it. Defectors from the United States, on the other hand, had no redeeming qualities. They were those who had sold their own souls, traitors agreeing to spill the closely guarded secrets which would keep us safe from the Enemy to the enemies themselves! By the nature of the act, defection was inexorably intertwined with national betrayal. (I use the terms "betrayer" and "traitor" interchangeably, since they are synonymous in meaning. A traitor is one who has betrayed.) American defectors were the worst possible kinds of criminals, and worthy recipients of the death penalty. Yet then, as now and in all times, there are a myriad of contexts in which any given situation can be considered and defection, like most things, is a crime to some and an honorable act of conscience to others.Who is the ultimate judge of such actions? What determines which context the acts truly fall in? During the Cold War, when a Soviet defected, it was viewed very differently by officials in his own country than it was here. In the U.S.S.R, he... ... it for nothing," he whispers bitterly. "My home, my family....all for nothing." (12/30/89) Jarroc commits suicide rather than live with the pain of this stigma. Is Jarroc then a hero, or a defector-betrayer? He must necessarily be both. There is no sidestepping the role in which Romulan history will pigeonhole him, and no denying the reasons they have to do so. Yet among those persons in the Federation who knew his true reasons for divulging the information, he was a man of great courage. As Jarroc himself noted, '"One world's butcher is another world's hero." The same thing could also be said of the defector. Works Cited Smith, Greg. Interchange on The Defector. Interchange. 30 January 1996. Roget's II: The New Thesaurus. Houghton Mifflin, Boston: 1988.. "The Defector." Star Trek: The Next Generation. Season 3, Episode 58.

Physical Therapy :: Cheathouse Essays

Physical Therapy â€Å"Where am I? How did I get here?† is what many stroke patients say after recovering from an acute or severe stroke. A stroke is also known as a cerebrovascular accident, a life-threatening event where the brain is deprived of adequate oxygen. A physical therapist’s duty is to provide assistance and education that will help patients rehabilitate and return to a normal routine. As of today, there is a new treatment called treadmill training with partial body weight support that facilitates recovery of a patient’s ability to walk sooner after a surgery. Is the expense for treadmill training with partial body weight support which includes expensive equipment and constant physical therapy supervision worth it if it decrease the amount of time it takes a person to get better? Is it ultimately more efficient than traditional physical therapy? My argument will state that treadmill training with partial body weight support is worth the expense and provides better tec hniques than traditional physical therapy. After a stroke, patients are usually referred to physical therapy to begin the recovery process. There are many types of physiotherapy treatments for different types of strokes and injuries. The two kinds of strokes are ischemic stroke which occurs when the blood supply to the brain is interrupted by blood clots. The blood clots are caused when the arteries harden and a cluster forms which then limits blood and oxygen supply to the brain. The second kind of stroke is a hemorrhagic stroke, which occurs when there is bleeding into or around the brain. If one of the two strokes were ever to occur, getting oxygen and blood to your brain immediately is very important because permanent tissue damage and death could even occur. Physical therapists help not only stroke patients but a large variety of people who have physical limitations. A new treatment approach that is being studied involves â€Å"treadmill training† with partial body weight support. In this approach a physical thera pist patterns the movement of the involved or weak leg while the patient is supported in a sling type apparel while walking on a treadmill. This is a new technique that is showing good results. However, there are no long term studies as of yet. I believe that treadmill training is very beneficial to stroke patients because it helps them regain speed and strength in a short amount of time. Treadmill training is very costly, but increases your chances in walking by about three to four weeks faster than regular physical therapy.

The Significance of Gender Roles in Shakespeares The Taming of the Shr

Gender roles are undeniably a fundamental topic of critique in literature, particularly since expected gender roles have evolved in recent years. More importantly, the transcendence of these gender expectations indicates the possibility for transformation and increasing liberation in society. History explores many different stages for the sexes and their respective roles, from traditional anti-feminist times in which certain roles were strictly enforced, to more modern beliefs entailing free will and a lack of restrictions. In spite of this progress, there are always those who expedite the process while there are others that hinder development from occurring, even when it is necessary. Literary works in particular serve as a showcase for the progression of gender roles, but nonetheless reveal that through time certain elements remain consistent. Two authors who wrote in radically different time periods, William Shakespeare and Lorraine Hansberry, wrote plays that pose a threat to expected and traditional gender roles. The Taming of the Shrew (1623) is an example of an earlier work, which involves characters that manage to defeat their expected roles by acting out of the ordinary. A shrew, which is literally defined as either a small rodent-like animal or a woman with a harsh and nagging temperament (American Heritage Dictionary 1285), is used in reference to Katherine, the daughter of Baptista, who counters the expectation of women to act submissive by being loud and outspoken. In the end, even though Katherine seems to have submitted herself to society’s expectation of women, she is really only conforming in order to benefit her social role, since she realizes that accepting her role in society will be easier than counteri... ...ple are cruel, she still has big dreams of going to Africa with Asagai and becoming a doctor. In their plays, Shakespeare and Hansberry share a common element, which seems to say that some things, such as society and its expectations, are timeless. Society sets up expectations that are accepted and preferable to other members of society, and Katherine and Beneatha serve not only to demonstrate this ideology but also to argue against it and draw attention to the perpetual gender expectation of society. Works Cited Hartwig, Joan. â€Å"Horses and Women in The Taming of the Shrew†. 45. 4. (1982:Autumn): 285- 294. Newman, Karen. â€Å"The Taming of the Shrew A Modern Perspective†. 229-238. â€Å"Shrew†. American Heritage Dictionary. 4th ed. 2002. Wilkerson, Margaret B. â€Å"A Raisin in the Sun: Anniversary of an American Classic†. 38.2. (1986: Dec): 441-453.

Modern Business Environment Essay

To what extent is the ‘soft’ HRM model achievable and desirable for organisations in the modern business environment? The modern business environment For the past few hundred years the business environment has been mostly based upon turning man hours and materials into hard products (produce). What we are seeing now is a shift away from this production by mass labour, to a system whereby goods are produced by machine and the services needed to facilitate this are produced by man. Taking the UK economy as an example, the latest economic forecast by the TUC (Fig 2) shows a steady decline of manufacturing in favour of service sector jobs. This reinforces the view that the emphasis is shifting from producing goods to providing services. â€Å"The only advantage many companies have are the competencies and abilities of their people† (Dewe 2002). With firms using the same machines competitive advantage (or disadvantage) is created by the knowledge and skills of the employees. Tom Watson Jr, former President of IBM recognised the shift: â€Å"all the value of this company is in its people. If you burnt down all of our plants & we just kept our people & information files, we would soon be as strong as ever. Take away our people & we might never recover† (People Management 1998:34). Knowledge therefore is power, we are moving from a physical economy to one A UK government report (Competitiveness White Paper 1999) sees this new environment as requiring â€Å"†¦greater receptiveness to know-how and the ability to see its commercial potential; eagerness to keep on learning at all levels in a business; and a flair in spotting new customer needs and fresh business opportunities.† This suggests that the modern business environment is a place where knowledge is key. In his speech to the Business Link annual conference, Peter Mandelson MP Secretary of State for Trade & Industry saw the knowledge economy as â€Å"transforming old jobs as much as creating new, with implications for manufacturing and service industries alike.† This leads us to the idea that the modern business environment is a place where investment is required in human capital to produce this knowledge economy. In the modern business environment, with the emphasis on value of human capital, security can no longer depend on a job or organisation but upon the employees own skill and competences (Van Ruysseveldt 1995:3-4). Organisations may not be able to guarantee long term employment, but to entice workers of quality they must look to other means. Hard & Soft HRM HRM can be divided into two approaches: ‘hard’ or ‘soft’ (Fig.3). As we see from the diagram ‘hard’ HRM is primarily financially driven, with a fairly hard view of controlling the wages bill, workers are seen as a cost rather than as an asset to the organisation, the emphasis is on getting the best return on their money, creating efficiencies. The company position will take precedent over the collective views and concerns of employees. Such a way of managing human resources was demonstrated by ‘Fordism’ where the workers on the assembly line were under tight controls and even had to divulge personal information to be able to work for Ford (White Heat 1994). The work of Taylor (Taylorism) and the principles of scientific management were used in the late 19th century to allow factories to be managed through scientific methods rather than by â€Å"rule of thumb.† This idea also treated the workers as just another cog in the wheel of production and worked out the best way that the worker could operate. The modern business environment has changed greatly since the days where all workers were seen as tools to be maintained, much like machines, with regulations and tight controls. This was the hard school of HRM where peripheral workers are disposable and labour is directly productive (Beardwell & Holden 2001:98). This model can also be viewed as ‘managing headcount in a rational a way as for any other economic factor’ (Storey 1987:6). The workforce was merely a factor of production or cogs in the wheel. This ‘hard’ HRM policy suits a workforce that is involved in a repetitive job; each process is standardised to allow tighter controls. The theory is that the firm should maximise human efficiency in the same way as any other resource. This was made a success by businessmen like Henry Ford in the days of mass industrialisation. However, with the advent of high technology machinery much of the repetitive work is now done by robot leaving only jobs for skilled maintainers and operatives, not leaving much scope for hard HRM practices to survive. McDonaldisation has built upon the ideas of scientific management and the successes of men like Ford. Each part of the process of bringing the food to the customer has been scientifically scrutinised and adjusted to make it more efficient. As a result of this approach, they have a controlled workforce and a set of strict rules and procedures that ensure the workforce is working exactly as the employers wish them to. McDonalds have recognised that there is still a place for the unskilled worker, as machines cannot be relied upon to do all the jobs. In this instance there is still a place for the hard school of HRM. ‘Soft’HRM (fig 3) revolves around the development of employees. Employees are viewed as assets to the company, rather than as purely another cost of production. This requires the management to regard the workforce as partners in the work process and nurture them to maximise their output. Heery and Noon (2001) suggests soft HRM is an approach recognising the need to treat employees as assets that must be looked after. A soft HRM policy would therefore place the emphasis on training and development in order to get the best out of the workforce as opposed to tight controls (Beardwell & Holden 2001:98). Therefore, a policy of ‘soft’ HRM seeks to increase production by ‘communication, motivation and leadership’ (Storey 1987:6). Becker (1992 Nobel prize winner for economics) suggests that expenditures on education, training and medical care could all be considered as investments in human capital. â€Å"They are called human capital, because people cannot be separated from their knowledge, skills, health or values in the way they can be separated from their financial and physical assets† (Donkin 2002) If employees have an inherent capital value for their knowledge and skills, it would be reasonable to assume that an organisation can improve its competitive-edge through the excellence of its people (SHL group 2002). The work of Maslows goes some way to explaining the reasons why humans need this development and training. Maslow suggests that individuals have a hierarchy of needs (fig 1). Fig 1 outlines Maslows theory that human nature drives individuals to satisfy ‘instinctual’ needs. The theory suggests that once an individual has achieved one set of needs they are no longer motivated to seek this (as they already have it) and will continue to want more thus rising up the hierarchy. Maslow’s theory would seem to suggest that a firm must ensure that employee’s needs are continually met not only the safety and physiological aspects (the legal requirements of an employee’s contract) to increasing employee productivity. If a firm has to continue to meet ever increasing needs to motivate staff then this theory would be a good explanation of why firms use ‘soft’ HRM. Types of ‘soft’ initiatives * Flexible working, working from home or allowing workers the choice of hours outside a core time of 10:00-15:00 for example. * Job Sharing, by allowing employees to become multi skilled (training) they can operate in a variety of roles thus making their job appear more interesting but also allowing a backup if an employee were to be off work at any time. * Parental leave, with the increased pressures on family life many firms now offer special breaks for staff with children, from allowing days off for hospital appointments to paid paternity leave. * Performance related pay; this could be seen as a hard or soft perspective dependant upon viewpoint. If a system of bonuses exists for good work this would be a soft measure. If (‘tele’ sales) you only get paid if you hit certain targets, this would be a hard measure. The primary argument in favour of PRP is that it acts as a motivator, through both providing incentives in the form of monetary rewards and by recognising achievements. Further benefits cited include the fact that individuals can identify closely with their employers’ goals and that this can increase productivity and encourage quality, flexibility and teamwork (Armstrong and Murlis, 1991). As we can see from the above examples ‘soft’ HRM is much more difficult to quantify than hard HRM. It is more an overall approach to staff welfare and development than a clear set of rules and procedures. What makes it so difficult to quantify is that two firms may claim to be operating the above ‘soft’ HRM policies but in practise they maybe very different systems. For example, the concept of flexible working can be interpreted as allowing employees freedom to choose to work from home or the office, or the firm may use the system of core hours (as above). These are two very different systems but both however come under the heading of flexible working. To decide which method a particular firm is using will require a broad look at the pay and conditions and the freedom employees enjoy. It is also useful to note that it is seldom a case of an employer operating one form of HRM, it is necessary for firms to allow their workers some freedom but at the same time retain control. A good example of this is Microsoft; they operate a seemingly soft policy on HRM with a whole range of employee benefits and training programmes (24hr nurse line, free entry to local events and professional development programmes). However, to retain the knowledge and skills that they develop the firm insists that if an employee is to leave the company they must not work in the computer industry for a period of 6 months. This shows that the organisation is willing to invest time and money to maintain a highly trained workforce but at the same time keeps a tight control on them. Why is ‘Soft’ HRM Desirable? To examine the reasons why a firm should adopt policies of soft HRM we must look at the dangers of not doing this. A recent CIPD survey (CIPD 10/2001) has outlined the costs of organisations for not retaining and motivating staff. The survey has shown that one in four employees left their organisation in 1999 (the highest figure since the survey was created in 1995). What was even more alarming was the cost of replacing these lost staff. The average price for replacing a management level employee was à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½6086 which was an increase of 28 percent on 1999 the highest cost was to replace a professional services employee which was à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½8316. The danger for organisations is how this turnover effects company performance, two thirds of organisations believe this to have a negative effect with 13 percent claiming that it has a serious negative effect. The CIPDs findings suggest that staff feel freer to leave an organisation when they know they can acquire employment elsewhere. In a labour market of low unemployment it seems that firms must make themselves more attractive to their employees. RebusHR, a firm that deals with outsourced HR issues for a range of companies sees soft HRM as â€Å"a good way of retaining and attracting the best staff†¦giving people choice and a feel-good factor†¦it shows that you’re interested in them and listen to what they say†(Shepherd K 2002). In the article entitled â€Å"Profitable personnel† (People management 1998:28-31) West and Patterson suggest that good employee relations are directly inked to increased performance. In their survey the ‘Sheffield effectiveness programme’ they found that people management ‘†¦is not only critical to business performance: it also far outstrips emphasis on quality, technology, competitive strategy or research and development in its influence on the bottom line.’ The survey looked at a firm called Zotefoams, which operated an ‘enlightened’ HRM policy. Workers on the shop floor operated in teams and were multi-skilled; they also had a certain level of responsibility for dealing with work priorities and quality problems. The aim was to create a multi-skilled and motivated workforce with more responsibility at the lower levels freeing up management for other tasks. With the management freed up for other duties this allowed the firm to be that much more flexible. Out of the 100 firms surveyed, Zotefoams enjoyed the highest profits and productivity over the seven-year period of the survey. In the final paragraph of the article, West and Patterson sum up their conclusions ‘†¦ those in which the managers have eagerly addressed these challenges [developing skills and ownership] that have experienced rapid improvements in financial performance.’ The findings in the ‘Sheffield effectiveness programme’ are backed up by a study by the Sunday Times (100 Best Companies to Work for 2002) in which 21,000 people were studied over a period of months from the bottom end of the corporate ladder. In an article within this publication, Milton Moskowitz and Robert Levering suggest that ‘Being a generous employer is not just good public relations – it’s also good for business, especially when times are hard.’ This viewpoint makes sense if we take into consideration the negative effect of labour turnover on a company’s performance and the high cost of recruitment. Entering into ‘soft’ practices in human resource management should save the organisation in the long term. The Human Capital Index, developed by the consultancy Watson Wyatt (Overell 2002) is based upon data of HR policies and practices gathered from 600 companies. This data is correlated against financial information. The firm believes it has identified how HR policies are effective predictors of value – and which policies bring most value to the organisation. Organisations with â€Å"the best† HR practices deliver twice as much value to shareholders as their average competitors (Overell 2002). Is soft HRM achievable? According to RebusHR (a large human resources organisation which handles HRM issues for clients such as DaimlerChryslerUK) the biggest barrier to the concept of soft HRM practices is the administrative burden of co-ordinating the information (Shepherd K 2002). This stems from the problem that ‘soft’ HRM is intangible, whilst it is possible to relate high staff turnover to lack of ‘enlightened’ HRM policies, it is not possible to directly quantify the benefits derived from the existence of ‘soft’ policies. This leads organisations to see the cost and extra burden placed upon the HR department with an introduction of a soft HR policy, but it is difficult for this to be weighed up against the benefits on paper. In the IPD survey â€Å"Benefiting from a balanced life† (July/Aug 1999) of the firms questioned many were operating soft policies with 75% offering paternity leave and 57% offering parents special dispensation for time off to look after their children. Popular also were job sharing schemes (57%) and flexi-time systems (47%). From this survey we can see evidence that firms are operating soft HRM policies, what is unclear from the research is to what extent these policies affect the bottom line. The impact of soft HRM is intangible which means it leads us to the problem of quantifying any real benefits. The whole concept of soft HRM appears to be to retain and motivate staff, in the TUC economic forecast we see a high level of employee turnover in the services sector (hotels, restaurants) show the highest levels of employee turnover, but is this as a result of hard HRM practises? true turnover costs are more complex than simply figuring out the average cost of replacement. The costs of losing a good performer are greater than the costs of losing an average performer. The true cost of losing a key seasoned player is hard to estimate. There is the investment in development of the employee, the value of the knowledge and experience gained, and the lost productivity that also have to be considered to arrive at a true cost figure. In the case of McDonalds we see a split between management staff and shop floor workers. Whilst the management have many flexible benefits (PRP, bonus, life/health insurance etc) the workers on the shop floor do not (McDonalds 2002). They are regarded as cogs in the wheel and are treated fairly but firmly as in the hard school of HRM. As a consequence of this, shop floor turnover is higher than that of the management. However, is this higher turnover a result of the HRM policy? Or is it a nature of the type of work? What I would suggest is that the sort of work involved with working on the shop floor of McDonalds is not conducive to a long career in that position. The result of this would be the high staff turnover for low skilled repetitive jobs. The dilemma facing HRM managers is that they need low skilled workers to provide the services such as discussed and to operate soft HRM policies such as training would move these workers away from where they were needed. We therefore cannot have it both ways there must be a balance between employee development and retaining quality people for their positions. If soft HRM seeks to address the retention and motivation of staff we must not lose sight of the fact that we do still need low skilled workers. Soft HRM assumes the existence of a knowledge society (Livingston 2001), the emphasis is on the human resources manager the harness the knowledge. Knowledge work is typically considered to be about variety and exception rather than routine. It is generally considered to be performed by professional workers with high levels of skill and expertise. Livingstone makes the point that the potential for waste of this knowledge through bad management is ‘immense and gut wrenching.’ This claim is given substance by Thompson. In his research only 14 percent of employees received any training at all and that almost half of that lasted for less than a week (figures referring to the UK 2001). For HRM to work effectively we must reorganize work to firstly make the most of existing knowledge and human capital but also to develop this human capital to maximise future performance. In this modern business environment knowledge takes the leading place from other drivers of economic change such as labour, technology and markets. The dilemma we face with soft HRM is that (as explained above in the McDonalds example) a lot of routine work is done by workers with minimal training and knowledge and only small numbers of highly skilled employees are required. Thompson pointed out that if employment growth is not dominated by knowledge work it’s going to be dominated by something else. There are strong and clear indications that it is dominated by low skill, routine work largely in the service sector. We can’t make every job high skill, high wage, and high learning because there are jobs that neither the employee nor employer can grow. One of the reasons they can’t be grown is because, in our other guise as consumers, a lot of us want the cheapest possible flights, goods, services and so on. We can’t have it both ways. If we want cheap, controllable, efficient service, we’re not going to create a lot of high wage, high skill, high learning jobs. There are many dilemmas associated with the ideas of hard and soft HRM. We must realise that we cannot expand the knowledge and skills of all members of society infinitely. There will always be a place for the unskilled worker and as such there must be a place for hard HRM. However, in todays changing environment soft measures must come to the fore. The notion of ‘the velvet glove concealing the iron fist of hard HRM’ (Beardwell & Holden 2001:93) shows that even soft measures are still measures of control. No matter how soft a companies HRM policies appear to be, they will still be designed for the benefit of the organisation rather than of the individual. The bottom line must always come first. Figures and tables Fig 1 Fig 2 : TUC (2002) Fig 3: Cornelius et al 2002    Bibliography ACAS, found at http://www.acas.org.uk/ [accessed 10/11/02] Armstrong, M and H Murlis, 1991 & 1994. Reward Management – A Handbook of Remuneration Strategy and Practice Second & Third edition. London: Kogan Page ltd. Beardwell & Holden, Human Resource Management, A contemporary Perspective, 2nd Edition, 1997 Beardwell & Holden, Human Resource Management, A contemporary Perspective, 3rd Edition, 2001 Becker, G, cited in Donkin R, 30/10/2002 – Employees as investors – FT 30/10/02 Bexhill College, http://intranet.bexhillcolledge.ac.uk [Accessed 18/10/02] CIPD, Labour turnover survey, October 2001 found at: http://www.cipd.co.uk [accessed 30/10/02] Cornelius N, Gagnon S, Found at: http://www.thomsonlearning.co.uk/businessandmanagement/ cornelius2/intro.pdf [Accessed 13/11/02] Derek Duffy, TMS Institute, http://www.tms.com.au/forum/dcforumid5/59.html#1 [Accessed 18/10/02] Dewe, P, cited in Overell, S, 30/10/2002 – The metric system for performance – FT 30/10/02 Heery, E. and Noon, M. (2001) A Dictionary of Human Resource Management, Oxford University Press IPD, Benefiting from a balanced life, July/Aug 1999http://www.cipd.co.uk [accessed 30/10/02] Livingston, D. (1999). The Education-jobs gap: Underemployment and economic democracy. Toronto, ON: Garamond Press. Livingston, D. (2001). Worker control as the missing link: Relations between paid/unpaid work and work-related learning. In Second International Conference on Researching Work and Learning Conference Proceedings. Calgary, AB: University of Calgary Faculty of Continuing Education. Mandelson P, Business Link annual conference – 7 October 1999. Microsoft Website, http://www.microsoft.com [Accessed 19/10/02] Overell, S, 30/10/2002 – The metric system for performance – FT 30/10/02 People Management, 8 January 1998 Peoplesoft, Available from Financial Times 31/10/02 Sennett, R. (1998). The corrosion of character: The personal consequences of work in the new capitalism. New York, NY: W. W. Norton & Company. Shepherd, K, cited in Murray S, 30/10/2002 – Marrying Performance with Reward – FT 30/10/02 SHL group, Available from: http://www.shlgroup.com/cases/philips.htm [Accessed 31/10/02] Storey J, 1987, Developments in the mangenment of human resources: an interim report, Warwick papers in industrial relations, Vol 17 Storey J, 1989, New perspectives on Human Resource Management Sunday Times, 100 Best Companies to Work for 2002, 24th March 2002. Thompson, 2002, Available from: http://www.ucalgary.ca/cted/confer2001/pres_summary.html [Accessed 31/10/02] TUC Economic Forecast, 2002, http://www.tuc.org.uk/economy/tuc-4028-f0.cfm UK Government White Paper , Competitiveness White Paper, Our Competitive Future; building the knowledge driven economy 1999 Van Ruysseveldt et al, 1995, Comparative Industrial and Employment Relations Watson T, cited in Mayo A, 1998 – Memory Bankers – People Management 22(1) 34-38 Welton MR, 2002, Available from: http://www.ucalgary.ca/cted/confer2001/pres_summary.html [Accessed 31/10/02] White Heat 5, Video recording, Beat of the System, London BBC, 1994

The Sole Remaining Supplier

Although the liability of a malfunctioned transistor is on he manufacturer, Justifying the manufacturer's acts of deception would be utilitarianism because of Its moral reasoning. In this paper, I shall discuss the general utilitarian issues of the case. In addition, I will apply the different steps of the utility Test and I shall apply this comparative approach to the study of the Common-Good Test.Although my judgments are implicitly concerned with generalizing the ethical issues of the case, I shall criticize the utilitarianism; the view that the best decision is the one that maximizes the expected utility over those who are affected Baron 1990). In addition, the paper shall inform as well as to which approach, the utility Test, or the Common-Good Test best evaluates the case. Introduction utilitarianism is foreseen as unjust because it leads to conclusions that permit those who are fortunate to hurt people with less fortunate situations.For example, in The Case of the Sole Remaini ng Supplier, if the company decides to continue it sells of transistors without the proper engineering testing It is benefiting financially at the cost of the pacemaker patients and their families who rely on such technology for survival. If utilitarianism Is the normative theory. Hen my Judgments correct or not could fail to bring sense to any present or future consequence.However, this sort of knowledge will allow the reader to understand the situation of the case. Utilitarian Issues There were many ethical issues involving the selling of transistor supplies to the pacemaker company. If the company continues to supply the transistors then It Is possible that It could suffer a future financial loss. If a lawsuit were to occur, the company would not only lose financial profits but also its shareholders and employees would suffer from the consequence as well.By stopping the selling of the transistors to the pacemaker company, it would put them out of business; however, the supplier n eeds to evaluate the number of deaths that have occurred because of the different malfunctions of the transistors. On contrast, if the company remains as the sole supplier of the units and decides to stop Its manufacturing, heart patients In need of a pacemaker would die.In addition, the pacemaker technology would be put at a halt and improvements would never be found; therefore, future heart pacemaker patients would not benefit from any innovative breakthroughs. Utility Test The consequences of a heart patient dying because of the selling of a transistor are high according to the case; however, based on Thomas Shanks, (1996) heart patients In need of a pacemaker Implant for survival can be saved only by supplying the transistors but the company that manufactures the transistors are concerned saved.Although the pacemaker technology was in its infancy, malfunctions continued to be of concern to the manufacturers because of the legal actions that could occur; therefore, the utilitaria n question would be determined on the following question: How many deaths will occur because of the malfunctions with the transistors? The answer could be that in cases such as, The Case of the Sole Remaining Supplier the patient in need of an implant, the supplier, the manufacturer, and the stakeholder should sacrifice the chances of a malfunction although all of the patients involved have a right not to sacrifice in any way.However, a right is a social rule that saves people certain worries and protective behavior. If a heart patient in need of an implant is sacrificed, all human beings would have to take precautions against companies such as this one for the benefit of there. In addition, all individuals regardless of medical reasons would worry about situations like this because at the end, implanting a pacemaker at their risk for the benefit of others would worry everyone. For this principle, the sacrifice may not be Justified in utilitarian terms.Outcomes or Utility Rights can always be outweighed; therefore, rights are never absolute. An individual's Judgments are prone to error. We suspect of those who take a situation upon themselves to violate someone else's rights for their own good or someone else's good. Rights are worth enforcing because they serve as a utilitarian purpose. In a utilitarian analysis, practices put forward as rights might not be Justifiable in terms of their consequences because they are for their own goal achievement rather than for everyone.In short terms, heart patients in need of a pacemaker would not be the only ones suffering from such consequences because all individuals have equal standing rights as a person regardless of medical reasons or not. Applying the Utility Test Making the correct decision to produce the best outcome for everyone requires a revision of the current engineering testing. The following considerations will examine the company's goods while minimizing the harm to heart patients. Without the manufacturer of the transistors, the company will go out of business, the employees lose their Jobs, and shareholders lose their money. The supplier company runs the risk of legal action, which would result in the possible employee layoffs and shareholders experience a potential financial loss. Pacemaker patients face death because manufacturer would stop selling transistors for the creation of pacemakers. However, if the transistors continue to be manufactured pacemaker patients continue to face a possible death because of malfunctions. 0 Future icemaker patients although not the primary stakeholders, could benefit from the implants because of the ongoing advances and improvements that the company does to improve their units.The following possible options could be taken into consideration by the supply company. 0 Stop selling transistors to the buying company. Although the supplier losses profit earned from the sales of the transistors, it would avoid any future legal actions and avoid Jeopard izing the company. In addition, the rights of the supplier's employees and stakeholders would be preserved. Employees will continue to have a Job and earn a living, which it would to be possible if layoffs occurred after the financial lawsuits. On contrast, the company in business and earning profits. Future patients could benefit from new and improved pacemaker technology. It also preserves the right of their employees and shareholders to continue earning a living and making profit. It also preserves the rights of the patients by providing a choice. The patient will make the decision of risking a malfunction without someone else's decision. Drawing a Conclusion The ethical decision would be to continue to supply the transistors in order for the majority of people to benefit.If the manufacturing company stopped producing the pacemakers, the patient's basic right would be lost; therefore, their freedom to life would be lost as well. An individual's should outweigh any financial gain or loss too company and although the pacemaker technology was a new innovative alternative, consideration should be given to how it would make a difference in the future. Employees would keep their right to earn a living, while the company's shareholders keep the right to increase their wealth. This decision is the only possible way that would serve the majority of the people.Common Good Test As the Pacemaker technology was serving as the common good, by protecting people's rights to a new and promising medical technology, the supplier of the transistors and the manufacturing company compared the penalty Judgments in question. They would make safer product vs.. The question of not making the product. For example, the company knew that the transistors malfunctioned but was reconsidering the selling of the product because they were concerned with the possible legal actions. If the company stopped selling the transistors, it would avoid any legal action.On contrast, society depends on new medical technologies; therefore, if they kept the possible malfunctions as a secret it would avoid any future effects. The two facts mean that the consequences of selling the transistors would justify the means because by selling the units an action is right if it creates the best outcome. However, this stipulation rules out any effects because if patients accepted an implant knowing of such malfunctions rather than denying the malfunctions the company is acting honest and its fulfilling its contractual obligation at the same time. Which ApproachThe Utility Test is the most informative method compared to the Common Good Test because it allows people to determine if the transistors design is defective; therefore, it makes the manufacturer liable for any injuries that their product causes. Conclusion Utilitarianism allows a company or an individual evaluate their decisions through a set of practical guidelines (Baron, 1985). In this paper, I have summarized the utilitarian approac h to the common good test and I have described several suggestions in which an individual's intuition often contradicts the utilitarian theory.People seem to think that penalties are inherently deserved and that they should be applied even when there is deterrence. In addition, it is believed that compensation should be greater when people get harmed by nature. In contrast to utilitarian, people are reluctant in harming people Just to help another person, and they become reluctant to initiate reforms when the benefits are unequally distributed although People differ in each case but according to the findings of Larkin, Anisette, & Morgan (1990), those who follow utilitarian are no different from those who do not follow utilitarian.