Class Research methods Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Class Research methods - Essay Example Bullying in early life is often the beginning of bullying in the future adult social life, and once it begins, the bully and victim, both are never the same. Bullying is a problem in our schools and hence in the society. Despite extensive research, no acceptable solution to the problem of bullying is not yet available. The consequences of bullying have been well documented in the research, and these findings suggest that bullying as an event has concrete psychosocial parameters. Therefore, intervention can be designed guided by these evidences to change this practice of bullying in schools from a social intervention strategy. Greif, Furlong, and Morrison (2003) define bullying as the systematic abuse of power. Greif and coworkers deals with the topic by operationally defining bullying, and according to them, there will always be power relationships in social groups, by virtue of strength or size or ability, force of personality, and/or by sheer numbers or recognised hierarchy (Greif, Furlong, and Morrison, 2003). Bullying is a psychosocial phenomenon in the sense that it has both psychological and social reasons and psychological and social impacts. Despite different intervention measures, still bullying in early life is prevalent which can be the starting points of future bullying in the society. Therefore, there remains scope for further studies in this area, and this can be the topic of this social research since knowledge about the factors may help the scientists to design interventions that may prevent this. Why it is worth Studying Qualitative researchers usually focus on an aspect of a topic that is poorly understood and about which little is known. The general topic area may be narrowed and clarified on the basis of self-reflection and discussion with colleagues, but researchers may proceed with a fairly broad research question that allows the focus to be sharpened and delineated more clearly once the study is underway (Kumar, 1999). Since the best way to prevent is to know why bullying occurs at the school level, this research may throw light into the different facets of this problem. In this regard, a theoretical framework of social change would best be adopted, since that would guide the intervention and would serve as a tool to evaluate the intervention. In this theoretical framework, there is an attempt to interpret the human behavior on the perspectives of social process and pragmatism. Thus all human behavior is actually an expression of interactions leading to a social process, and all of them have su bjective meanings. Bullying has subjective aspects of social life, both from the perspectives of the bully and the bullied, and they fail to respond to the objective macrostructural aspects of the social life. Drawing on this, it can be stated that social and psychosocial initiatives can bring about a change in the behavior of those who bully and change in psychological and social reactions in those who are bullied. Qualitative findings often are the basis for formulating hypotheses that are tested by quantitative researchers, and for developing measuring instruments for both research and clinical purposes. Qualitative findings can also provide a foundation for designing effective nursing interventions. Qualitative studies help to shape the researchers' perceptions of a

Create an Innovation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Create an Innovation - Essay Example Creating or finding a way where the driver’s safety is not compromised while sending and receiving text messages can indeed be a challenge. As it is, studies have already proven that texting while driving is dangerous that a new innovative way is needed to keep the driver’s eyes on the road while still able to receive and text messages. Banning text messaging through legislation such as the case of Text Messaging Law of California that prohibits text driving (California Department of Motor Vehicles, 2011) will not work evident with the continued accidents and fatal crashes associated to text driving. Thus, the innovative idea/s that will be found or created that will enable drivers to text while keeping their eyes on the road will save thousands of lives and limbs and also millions of dollars because accidents and crashes linked to text driving can be minimized if not totally eliminated with the proposed innovation. For the company, developing a product and/or system that would allow a driver to text and drive would be considered revolutionary that could significantly enhanced its bottom line. The immediate impact of the development of an innovative product and/or system that would allow a driver to text while driving would be the recognition from the safety regulation agencies that indeed the device and/or system works. Such recognition would bear credibility to the product and/or system that would make it possible for the product to become mandatory in any vehicle before it can be insured. When such objective is realize, the increase in revenue that will be derived from such innovation would be exponential considering that all vehicles in the US will be required to install it before it can be insured. In addition to the recognition to the company the revenue that can be derived from the direct sale of the product and/or system, the

Chief information officer Essay Example for Free

Chief information officer Essay Knowledge management at Accenture Richard Ivey School of Business 20090770 †¢2. Accenture A well known global firm that became a public company with a successful initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange in July 2001. Great revenue increment in 2001, 2004(two digit increment) Embarked upon a new strategy †High Performance Delivered† Substantially increase company’s focus on outsourcing Oriented to improving shareholder value for its clients Emphasizing the creation and application of intellectual and technological assets to apply in work with clients organizational structure also evolved 5 operating groups 18 industry groups which made up the five operating groups, eight capability groups †¢3. Knowledge Management In 90s Adopted a knowledge-oriented strategy: build a knowledge management organization under the chief information officer By the mid-1990s, the firm built thousands of knowledge repositories on the Lotus Notes platform: Knowledge Exchange From 2000 to 2002 Responsibility for KM was shifted from CIO to the training and learning organization at Accenture Learning knowledge management were combined into a single new group called capability development in 2001 In 2002, the toughening fiscal conditions, training budgets had been cut substantially for Accenture employees †¢4. Knowledge Management Substantial budget pressures on both the training and knowledge management groups Several of the most senior knowledge managers left Accenture 30% of all the knowledge managers left or were laid off Cost reduction by moving knowledge management functions â€Å"offshore† Capability Development organization had developed a KM staffing model in which decentralized groups would employ a few â€Å" onshore† knowledge managers with high domain expertise and a high need for contact with their internal client; the rest would move offshore Although the learning and KM activities remained largely separate and decentralized within Accenture’s business units, there were some joint initiatives. Developed a personalized learning management system called â€Å"myLearning† As the content of KM proliferate, information finding problems happened Accenture employees dedicated to developing new content often remarked that they found it more and more difficult to get the attention of partners and employees . KNOLEDGE MANAGEMENT TECHNOLOGY The problems for managing existing KM system The KM system was being replaced or augmented with Web-based portals Most major Accenture groups had their own portals Despite one central â€Å"Accenture Portal† that contained links to many decentralized portals, it could be confusing to find the information one needed Duplication of documents throughout the organization was very high The local optimization done by each local company, didn’t seem to work well It was very important that there be a clear governance structure for the new Knowledge Exchange to improve the consistency of the experience Target for the new KM system Barfield who was in charge of KM strategy, decided to develop a governance structure that incorporated senior representatives from each part of the organization †¢6. The new knowledge exchange Accenture changed the foundation of the Knowledge Exchange, from Lotus Notes to Microsoft’s Sharepoint Design of the new Knowledge Exchange were to leverage existing and packaged software to extend SharePoint only to support critical requirements The solution was designed to be simple, cost efficient and effective without an attempt to recreate all existing Lotus Notes functionality to contain all high-value content Opposed to trying to get everything working from the beginning from an end-user perspective user Internal Content Accenture Portal: Knowledge Resources Search (find.accenture.com) Job Aid / Topic page/ Community of Practice Collaboration: Submit question to experts/CoP’s Direct link via browser favorite Contributions/Accenture developed content Accenture purchased content(Research) Browse to other topic pages/COP myLearning courses method Answer from Accenture experts Accenture Discussions †¢7. The new knowledge exchange(cont’d) The strategy identified key insights that drove the overall design: Search quality is the most important aspect of the infrastructure Topic pages are very important for providing context to users who do not immediately find what they need or who are seeking a broader range of content about a subject While collaboration capabilities are not as widely used, this is a required capability for those who can’t find what they need or are working in an area that requires expertise †¢8. LEARNING AND KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT Training is an investment, not a cost: Vanthourrnout(later Chief Learning Officer) Training function at Accenture was revitalized Accenture employees were again rating training as one of the areas that most drove their satisfaction on the company’s annual employee satisfaction survey †¢9. STRATEGY SESSION 20 people critical to the delivery of Accenture’s KM capability came together to meet and discuss the future direction of KM There was a general feeling that the new Knowledge Exchange would provide a strong technical foundation for a renewed contribution from KM to Accenture’s corporate goals Knowledge Management Mission Drive value from knowledge to enhance revenue, reduce cost and foster innovation Knowledge Management Vision To create a world class knowledge-sharing culture and environment that contributes to Accenture’s success †¢10. Issues The way in which content was added to the system had to be designed Using SharePoint templates An initial typology for documents had been developed Focused on business processes, so that it was easy for people to find relevant documents Users be represented properly in the management and future development of the Knowledge Exchange KM would support, as completely as possible, the entire business cycle within Accenture from initial sales proposal to final client delivery Document obsolescence How can integrate learning and knowledge management? Too tightly integrating them might focus knowledge management on reuse and training and reduce its impact on innovation and collaboration 11. Knowledge Management Vision(cont’d) Five critical goals for KM Fostering and sustaining a knowledge sharing culture Improving the time to competency for new hires Enabling and enhancing Accenture’s sales capability Ensuring and improving the ROI for KM Improving margins and delivered quality on client engagements such as outsourcing and large consulting commitments through speed to capability, use of best practices, etc. †¢12. Five forces Making the knowledge available to the employees Accenture can make entrance barriers high Can analyze customers based on the customer information in KM system Can acquire the experts’ techniques to customers Can help delivery(finding the information of suppliers can be a help) There are plenty of information of substitution of products/services

Strategic Human Resource Management In Barclays Commerce Essay

Strategic Human Resource Management In Barclays Commerce Essay Barclays Pakistan. With a network of more than 155,000 people working globally across a range of businesses, we consider Barclays one of the best organizations for case study in order to explain the strategic human resource management; Barclays Bank Pakistan commenced operations in July 2008. With such a diversified network of the organization the HR experts work with every single employee and Business Unit to help the Barclays stay ahead from other organizations in the competition and by attracting and retaining the best people available, all over the world. This is not done by recruiting new employees but also committed to nurturing its established colleagues. The HR teams play a vital role in monitoring performance and managing a host of training programs. More importantly in the last one decade, the Banking Sector in Pakistan has become highly dynamic and competitive because of more international banks and local banks are offering the same products and services to the customers. To motive the employees the Barclays bank also introduced a pension scheme which also falls within the Human Resources Teams remit. This team makes sure the full support to all 155,000 employees across the world. Retirement Fund and the Pension Fund Executive works with the funds Trustees to ensure the scheme operates to the highest standard. Human Resource Planning (HRP) Human resource planning is needed to have a sense of both the current external environment, and anticipate things that may happen in the future in the labor market place. Human resource strategies to be implemented must be translated to the employees clearly so that they can well understand the strategies and you can get best out of it. At Barclays human resources are considered as a capital of the bank the course of action of planning process translated to the Human Capital for the achievement of predetermined goals. This is the organizations most valued assets the people working there who individually and collectively contribute to the achievement of the objectives of the business. If the strategies are not properly communicated to the employees it becomes a barrier in the increase of loyalty factor of the employees with the organization. The company also needs to categorize the HR planning in to short, medium and long term. HRP The Process The most important thing for HR management is to understand the needs, demand and nature of business requirement, in this way he will be able to employ those who will deliver the required performance. The manager have to take keen interest for spotting the talent, this is called right man for the right job and ensures that the workforce is competent enough the meet the targets. Future workload must be calculated before hiring new employees, and from this way you HR can design an accurate job profile and job expectations. At Barclays well experienced HR manager are hired and motivate his prospective employees to perform to their potential. Steps involved in the Human Resource Planning Process are as under: Designing the Management System The first step in human resource planning process is to develop an efficient system for managing human resource in the organization to ensure the linkage of individuals targets and objectives with the organizational strategies. The plans, procedures, practices and policies of related to human resource come under this HR management system. An ERP system should be in place to manage all the record and data related to each and every employee of the organization. This will help to analyze the performance of each individual and also to analyze the performance of a whole workgroup. The managers can evaluate the current performance by comparing it with the previous trends which would be easily accessible form the ERP system. The policies and procedures should be put together in the system so that certain HR function may be automated and data can be updated automatically. An example of such system can be an automated attendance system for employees. An employ ee marks his or her attendance on his arrival in the office and marks his/her departure time. This is a small example that can automate one of the human resource practices in the organization. Implementation of such automated system should be the part of human resource planning in order to avoid the wastage of time due to manual work. In this way the resources can be utilized any other productive activity. Environmental Analysis After strengthening the internal systems the analysis of internal and external environment is done in the next phase of human resource planning. The collection of data related to the industry, technology, competition, unemployment rate, inflation rate, labor market trends and economy is required to be collected and an analysis of the past trends should be done. This analysis will become the foundation for the decision regarding the human resource management in the organization. In this competitive business environment, organization attracts the skilled labor as the key to success is the skilled workforce. Organizations should continuously analyze the human resource practices of the competitors in order to facilitate their employees with the same or even higher to keep them loyal to the organization. As if this is not the case then the employee will leave the organization and will join the other who is offering good compensation and other facilities. Analyzing the economy trend and inflation rates will help to determine that how much organization has to raise the salaries of the employees in the future. Forecasting Human Resource Demand The future needs and types of the employees are forecasted in the next phase of human resource planning process. For instance the analysis of the industry and the labor market will help to evaluate that how well the labor market will fulfill the future needs of the organization. It is quite possible that organization may need the skilled business development officers in the coming year and the analysis indicate that this need will not be fulfilled by the labor market. In this case the planning for training the existing workforce to meet the future needs will be done. Bottom-up forecasting is very popular for analyzing such demand of human resource in the future. Analyzing Human Resource Supply Internal and external hiring are both the techniques which can be used by the organizations. Maintaining the data bank of the possible candidates is another important part of the human resource planning. This data bank of potential candidates allows the organization more leverage to select the skilled candidates from a list of experienced and skilled employees. Reconciliation and Planning All the data, information and analysis of different alternatives collected from different sources are gathered and action plan are developed in the last phase of human resource planning process. The acceptation of plan is the key issue for top management and employees and barriers to success of plan should be identified to the key players. Many of these plans include training and management development plan, appraisal plan, employee utilization plan and human resource supply plan. Human Resource Strategy HR Strategy is aligning the goals of HR to the goals or strategy of your organization, recruitment, retention and termination are a small part of it. PEOPLE designed and structured a variable compensation scheme for Barclays Bank Investment Banking Group. The new scheme was built upon an equitable and balanced approach which took into account individual performance factors as well as market movements. The idea of Human Resource strategy and its alignment with the business strategy came in to practice by most of the organization in 1960s. There are different strategies and patterns related to HR systems which are involved in the formulation of HR strategy. Preparation of Job Description Documents / Job Profiling Evaluation and bench marking Grading structure development Compensation mechanism and quantum evaluation Development of a comprehensive set of policies in the form of a HR Manual Evaluation of all organizational and operational needs of the Bank Re-structuring the business divisions of Barclays Bank according to change management agenda Compilation of a comprehensive Job Description Manual for all unique position in Barclays in light of the newly restructured organization Performance management system and related training Compensation policy design and realignment Barclays Human Resource strategy components Employee Training Barclays is very keen in employees training whether the employee is newly hired or existing one. Training is mandatory for newly hired staff and after the training they are tested if they failed in the test they are not eligible for the job. For the old employees the company conduct on-job and off-job training programs to enhance the skills and knowledge of the employees. Barclays conducts the employees training for these benefits: Improved job satisfaction and morale among employees Enhance employee motivation Increased efficiencies in processes, resulting in financial gain Development of capacity to adopt new technologies and methods Increased innovation in strategies and products Reduced employee turnover Enhanced company image, Risk management, e.g., training about sexual harassment, diversity training Learning Management System Barclays offers Learning Management System that is an online tool designed to help individuals to manage their training. Mentor programs Barclays encourages mentoring within the organization. Colleagues will be rewarded through this mentoring program. Recruitment and Selection The process of recruitment and selection at Barclays is initiated by the concerned departments and for this purpose candidates are interviewed by different persons of the concerned departments at different levels. From this process of identified that what is organization need and who is the suitable candidate to fill this post. Performance Appraisal Each employee at Barclays know his/her key performance indicators. A performance appraisal is a part of guiding and managing career development. It is the process of obtaining, analyzing, and recording information about the relative worth of an employee to the organization. Job specification A job specification goes beyond a mere description in addition, it highlights the mental and physical attributes required of the job holder. Barclays clearly highlights the job specification to the hired employees. Job analysis, description, and specification can provide useful information to the job holder and he clearly knows his responsibilities. Career Development Through this way employees manage their careers within organization. The way of career development clearly indicated to the employees. Rewards and Benefits Barclays employees all over the world enjoy a range of benefits including financial bonuses, private healthcare and flexible working, which vary depending on the region in which they are based. Remuneration Barclays pays competitive salaries and bonus and benefits according to the industry benchmark. Bonus and benefits depends on the individual performance and a company pension scheme is also available. Discounts Employees in certain parts of the world benefit from YOUniquely Barclays a range of Barclays products and services offered to employees on preferential terms. Including Buy-A-Car scheme, banking products, insurance and travel services, and the scheme offers comprehensive cost savings. Health Barclays offers a health and wellbeing benefit to its employees and many of them qualify for medical expenses scheme, offering the comfort of access to private healthcare treatment. It also provides discounts at major health care clubs. Flexibility Barclays offers flexible working hours to the employees through flexible working practices. Resource Based Strategy A strategic human resource tool known as resource based strategy is used to analyze and evaluate the current position of the human resources available to the organization. Resource based strategy allows the organization to identify those resources which are able to give a competitive advantage to the organization over the other firms. After the identification of these resources the efficient utilization of them is planned through multiple strategies. Every organization possess certain resources which can give them a leading edge over the others in the market, the need is to recognize those resources. At times the organizations having so many resources which can give competitive advantage fail to succeed in the market. The major reason behind that is that organization do not identify or recognize or give importance to these resources and they use such resources inefficiently which causes the failure of those organizations. At Barclays Pakistan, this strategy is used to identify the re sources which brings a short term competitive advantage in to a long term and sustainable competitive advance which is not imitated or copied by the other organizations. Superior value is created by efficiently using the resources and a leading edge is taken over the competitors that are the reason that in 3 years Barclays has been in a very good financial position and is among the leading banks operating in Pakistan. Sustainable Competitive Advantage The major focus of the resource based strategy of Barclays Pakistan should be to attain a sustainable competitive advantage. This will allow the newly established bank in Pakistani market to gain more experience and a market leadership position in the future. At the moment there are other Pakistani local banks which are having a leading position and a huge customer as well as deposit base. For Barclays to achieve that position is not an impossible task as with an international banking experience and by identification of resources responsible for sustainable competitive advantage, the leading position in the market can be attained. Distinctive Capabilities According to the new resource based view, the changing market conditions and their responses from the organizations determine the effectiveness of sustainable competitive advantage. For Barclays Pakistan, responding to the changes in the market condition would be very necessary in order to maintain the effectiveness of sustainable completive advantage. The bank has to build the distinctive capabilities which will maintain a sustainable competitive advantage in the market. Leadership There is a difference between a leader and a manager. A leader is not only a manager, but is a role model for the others in the organization. It was said that leaders are not made rather they are born, but the studies proven this wrong as innovation and research in human resource management revealed that leaders can be built by effective human resource practices. Barclays need to build the leader from their employees as everyone has the capability of being a good leader. The bank should engage their employees in to different training and development programs which enable them to work in a competitive environment with a team spirit. Having such leadership qualities in the workforce will definitely lead them to gain a huge competitive advantage over the other banks in the country. Systemic and radical Innovation To get continuous success in the modern business world innovation is very important. The firm who do not innovate their products and services do not sustain in the market for long. This is because the customers needs and demands are changing very rapidly and to meet those demands the organizations had to offer new products. Barclays has been catering their customers in other countries very efficiently and in Pakistani market the bank needs innovation in the products and services according to the local needs and demands. The saving trend in Pakistan is not at the higher side as most of the people are hand to mouth and they spent whatever they earn, so the products and service offerings should be designed by keeping in mind this major factor of Pakistani market. Innovation should be in a systematic way, as Pakistans banking sector has seen a tremendous growth in the past one decade and now the need is to invent the essential features of the banking busi ness. Barclays Pakistan can become the pioneer of this radical innovation and gain the huge customers attention and can increase its profits. Resource and Competence-based Strategy Today, customer is considered as the king, meeting their needs and demands is the primary objectives of all the organizations. Resource based strategy leads the organization to achieve such competencies which assures the fulfillment of needs and demands of the customers. Analyzing the half SWOT, i.e. strengths and weaknesses of the organization helps to overcome the internal weaknesses and capitalizing the strengths to serve the customers in a best possible way. Identifying the valuable resources and gaining the winning competencies combination allows the organization to innovate and design such offering for the customers which meet their needs and demands. The available valuable resources are utilized by the organization in an efficient and productive manner and can be used for innovating products and services. This will enable the organization to maintain a competitive and leading position in the market. By analyzing the weaknesses an organization can gain the completive advantage by following cost leadership strategies and overcoming those weaknesses which are responsible for the wastage of the time and valuable resources of the organization. By saving the valuable resources an organization is able to utilize them in serving the customers in a better way. This makes the organization unique from the others and helps to increase the market share. Resource and competence-based approaches are particularly valuable when the boundaries of the business can be changed through, for example: Considering Make versus Buy alternatives Entering new markets around the globe Installment of new technologies Adversity is at hand. Achieving sustainable competitive advantage. You need innovation to improve your business. Best utilization of your resources in plans to achieve your objectives. Linking business and HR strategy Businesses today demand a strong relationship between the human resource and organizational strategies. The business whose personnel policies and procedures lead towards the achievement of organization strategies and objectives are successful. This relationship is the major contributor in creating the value of the organization. The policies and procedures of the human resource department of an organization should focus towards the employee training and development and introduction and innovation of career paths which corresponds to the corporate objectives of the organization. In the past the purpose of human resource department was only to manage and maintain the data of the employees in the organization, but with the passage of time the major purpose of the human resource became to develop a skilled and strong workforce that can give a competitive advantage to the organization. Skilled workforce one of those factors which cannot be imitated by the other organization and thus the co mpetitive advantage become sustainable for a longer period of time. Another major purpose of human resource department in the organization is to introduce and maintain the corporate culture in the organization. This should be done by motivating the employees and developing programs which encourages the employees to develop their skills and apply them on the job which can be beneficial for the organization. Organizational Design/Structure of Barclays Pakistan Organizational structure shows the Hierarchy of organization management system along with flow of duties and responsibilities. Organization structures are different in different organizations it depends on number of factors like organization size, geographical locations, organization type, nature of product etc. A hierarchy exemplifies an arrangement with a leader who leads leaders. This arrangement is often associated with bureaucracy. Hierarchies were satirized in The Peter Principle (1969), a book that introduced hierarchy and the saying that in a hierarchy every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence. At Barclays organization structure is divided into different work groups and work units based on their skills, expertise, resources, and knowledge, as shown in the figure each department has individual head that is called HOD (head of department). All HODs are reported to the Country Head, and each manager is reported to the Head of his/her department. Description of Worker groups at Barclays Pakistan Every worker group/division of Barclays has separate role and functions, which are stated as under: Head Finance Head Finance is responsible for bringing important financial controls to a company and all the financial activities in the organization. These controls includes management of all the cash flows, expenses, establishing credit policies for customers and also responsible for conducting quantitative and qualitative analysis in order to arrive at an understanding of the options that are available. Head Risk The core responsibilities include managing a team of credit specialists covering performance management, Set up and then manage robust monitoring control systems procedures, Ensure that Risk Control Credit procedures, training developing. Shaping the team and improving processes. Acting as an escalation point for complex credit cases as well as dealing with internal and external clients. Head Corporate Banking This segment involves in sales to the corporate segment of the particular region, making credit line, credit proposals and making sure of effective utilization of bank credit line. Corporate sales and planning is an integral function of this business division. Head of Internal Audit Barclays audit department is an independent authority and helps the organization accomplish its objectives by bringing a systematic, disciplined approach to evaluate and improve the effectiveness of risk management, control, and governance processes. It is designed in way to add value and improve operational and governance process. Head Investment Banking At Barclays Investment Banking Unit is developed for the investment actives of the bank. Head Human Resource Barclays this division is responsible to manage the human resource and is responsible for all the HR functions which are mentioned earlier. Head Marketing This segment is responsible for marketing campaigns for all the new and existing product and services of the organization. Getting feedback from consumers and making the new strategies to achieve the required targets. Business planning that involves the future market forecasting market segmentation is also a function of this department. Head Liability Sales This is the core unit of Barclays and responsible for bring in the new customers and finally deposits for the bank. They get the deposits in different kinds like current account, saving account and term deposits. Head Retail Commercial Banking Commercial banking is also known as business banking. Bank provides current account, saving account and accept time deposits. Commercial Banking is different from investment banking and retail banking, bank accept deposit from individual customers and corporations and gives loans to large businesses.

Dr. Meredith Belbin’s Team Roles Essay -- Business and Management Stud

Dr. Meredith Belbin’s Team Roles Biography of Dr. Meredith Belbin Dr. Meredith Belbin received his first degree in Classics and Psychology at Clare College in Cambridge. He obtained another degree for his doctoral dissertation on Old Workers in Industry. After completing his training at the Institute of Engineering Production at Birmingham and Research Fellowship at Cranfield, Dr. Belbin became a management consultant of many industries. When he came back to Cambridge, Dr. Belbin worked as a Chairman of the Industrial Training Research Unit and Director of the Employment Development Unit. Also, Dr. Belbin became the first lay member in Cambridgeshire of the Lord Chancellor’s Advisory Panel on the Appointment of Magistrates and Senior Associate of the Institute of Management Studies, in Cambridge. For three years he worked as a Visiting Professor in Leadership at Exeter. It was here, where Dr. Belbin produced a short program for entrepreneurs. Later on, he left his job to work at the University of Bristol. He was an External Examiner in Entrepreneurship and Engineering Management for MSc dissertations in that institution. Dr. Belbin wrote a lot of books on Management Teams. This is a list of books which he had written and when they were published:- 1. Why They Succeed Or Fall (1981) 2. The Job Promoters- A Journey To A New Profession (1990) 3. Team Roles At Work (1993) 4. The Coming Shape Of Organisation (1996) 5. Changing The Way We Work (1997) 6. Beyond The Team (2000) 7. Managing Without Power (2002) 8. The Origin and Future of Mind (2004) As a consultant, Dr. Belbin had provided number of advises to the OECD, the United States Department of Labour, the Commission of the EEC, many other manufacturing industries and public service businesses. When he was a lecturer and seminar leader, he had frequently visited various countries. Dr. Belbin became part of his family firm called, Belbin Associates. This is commonly known as producers of INTERPLACE. It is a computer-based Team-Role Advise System which offers advice on Human Resources management issues and it is used throughout the world. Team Roles Dr, Meredith Belbin was the founder of the Team Roles. His definition of a team role is, â€Å"a tendency to behave, contribute and interrelate with others in a particular way.† In 1981, Dr. Be... ...gning successful teams * It facilitates internal placement * It is effectively used for job evaluation Each team needs a leader to reach team goals and achieve the organisation’s objectives. Dr. Belbin identified two types of leaders:- 1. Solo Leader 2. Team Leader Solo Leader 1. Solo leader plays an unlimited role 2. The leader strives for conformity 3. Collects admirers and sycophants 4. Tells subordinate what to do 5. Plays everything and expect everyone to follow the plan Team Leader 1. Team leader plays a limited role 2. Builds on diversity 3. Seeks talent in the team 4. Develops colleagues 5. Creates missions Dr. Belbin reckons that there are two reasons for, why team leadership is becoming very popular throughout the global:- 1. â€Å"We are living in a world of increasing uncertainty where things are changing quite dramatically and often very quickly. One person can no longer understand all of this and provide the direction needed to cover every situation.† 2. â€Å"Team leadership is the only form of leadership that is acceptable in a society where power is shared and so many people are nearly equal.†

Drivers of Industry Financial Structure

Executive summary Ratios of ten companies are presented in this study. The companies are all headquartered in the United States and the financial statements are the most recent annual financials for the respective fiscal years ending in 1999 or 2000. The companies are: 1. Developer of prepackaged software 2. On-line retailer 3. Warehouse club for food and general merchandise 4. Major passenger airline 5. International hotel chain 6. Temporary staffing agency 7. Supermarket grocery retailer 8. Pharmaceutical company 9. Manufacturer of electronic communications equipment 0. Manufacturer and marketer of consumer products Analysis 1. Innovation is extremely important in the software industry and it requires investments. The gross margin is very high: 90. 7%. Office buildings and computers are the services needed. High R&D/Sales: 19. 8%. The Net Plant & Equipment is low: 8. 6% 2. Receivables are unimportant for an online retailer. No R&D since the company sells goods and products from oth ers and it has zero R&D expense. 3. Warehouse Club for food and general merchandise has high Net Plant & Equipment 44. % and zero Unearned Revenue. The Inventory is high 41. 6% comparing with a supermarket grocery retailer. 4. Major passenger airline has some Accounts Payable 13. 0%, high Unearned Revenue as a result of prepaid ticket purchases for future air travel 11. 0%. 5. International hotel chain has high Goodwill: 25. 1% 6. Temporary staffing agency has a relatively low percent of Net Plant. The temporary workers are the main resource of a staffing agency. Because it is a service industry, there is no Inventory and R&D is not necessary so they are 0.A high Asset Turnover: 4. 130. 7. Supermarket grocery retailer is similar with warehouse club for food and general merchandise but the supermarket gross margin in higher 26. 5% and net profit margin is lower. High inventory 21. 9% and high Net Plant &Equipment 46. 1%. 8. Pharmaceutical company has a low inventory 8. 0% and a mediu m size of Net Plant & Equipment 27. 2%. The Gross Margin is pretty high 46. 4%. A common use of the Gross Margin is to estimate a company’s breakeven sales volume. (Higgins,2012) 9.Manufacturer of electronic communications equipment has the lower Profit Margin and longer Accounts Receivable characteristic of a firm effectively bidding for government contracts. 10. Manufacturer and marketer of consumer products have a small size of Inventory 10. 4% and its Net Plant & Equipment is 39. 3%. The Unearned Revenues is zero and R&D/Sales is also 0. Conclusions ?Service Industries: Temporary staffing agency, hotel and airline: balance sheets are C, D & I. I is the temporary staffing agency D is expected to be the airline C remains as the hotel R&D Based Firms: Software, On-Line Retailing, Pharmaceutical and Communication Equipment. Financial statement candidates would be A, F, G & J. J is the software firm A is clearly the on-line retailer since it is losing. G is the communication e quipment firm because it has the lower Profit Margin and higher Accounts Receivable. F remains the pharmaceutical firm because it has higher Margins due to the capacity to keep high drug prices. It also spends a significant amount on R&D while the competition is always coming up with a new product. Consumer or Retail Based: Warehouse Club, Supermarket and Consumer Products firm. Remaining financial statements are B, E & H. B & H have low Accounts Receivable, Margins and high Inventory turnover so must be the warehouse club and the supermarket. E must be the consumer product company. B must be the grocery chain since it has the higher markup and higher expenses relative to H. H, by process of elimination, is the warehouse club. References: Higgins, Robert C. (2012) Analysis for Financial Management, 10th edited by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc

When is war justified

To fght back out of self- defense is Just and must be done in order to protect one's nation from harm. A well- known example is when America was attacked by Japan at Pearl Harbor. America responded to this attack by bombing Japan and putting an end to this engagement. If America had not responded in this way, then how many more casualties would they have suffered? America's act of self-defense revealed to Japan that they don't want to engage in a war with America and in effect caused Japan to retreat and make peace with America. Humanitarian wars are not Justified because a nation is fighting out of political justice rather than self-defense.The general hope of a nation fighting a humanitarian war is that the death and destruction inflicted by the war will be less than the death and destruction from not going to war. However, humanitarian wars usually cause lots of death and destruction which ultimately causes a nation to look back at themself and wonder, â€Å"Was it worth all the lives we lost in battle? † The Vietnam War is a common reminder of a Humanitarian War that caused many eople to look back and wonder if it was worth it. Imagine if you were chosen to fight in the Vietnam War.The thought of losing your life in a war that was fought out of national liberation would be terrifying to most. In the book, The Things They Carried, the chapter â€Å"On the Rainy River† is the perfect examination of a young man who has been drafted to fght in a war that has no clear explanation. The young man wonders how a nation can go to war and sacrifice lives without any undeniable Just cause. The young man, Tim O'Brien, thinks aloud to himself and says, â€Å"It seemed to me that when nation goes to war it must have reasonable confidence in the Justice and imperative of its cause.You can't fix your mistakes. Once people are dead, you cant make them undead. † We all know that hundreds of thousands of American soldiers lost their lives in the Vietnam Wa r, but for what cause? The loss of their lives cannot be justified undeniably, therefore proving the point that Humanitarian Wars are unjust. Throughout history it is clear that the loss of lives in a war is inevitable, but the sacrifice ot lives in a war that is tougnt to protect the nation is always Justified when e look back at it while the same cannot be said of Humanitarian Wars.Jake Petroff reviewed my original essay and provided me lots of feedback that aided me in creating my final draft. He told me that I needed to provide more evidence to back up my argument and I did by providing texts from various pieces of literature. Jake also enhanced my knowledge of the Vietnam War by telling me facts about the war that I didn't know prior to my conversation with him. Thanks to Jake's feedback, I have been able to further my essay and create my final draft.