Human Resource Management Strategy Business Essay - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 21 Words: 6307 Downloads: 10 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Management Essay Type Research paper Did you like this example? Strategic Human resource management is a plan that facilitates the way an organization is being ran. The Human Resource Management strategy and the business strategy must be totally integrated. (Kearns, 2008). In today ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½s modern world, they are different ways in which HRM within an organization operates but then they focus their attention on three main areas of management which are; staffing, employee compensation and defining or designing work. The target of every HRM departments in any organization will be to optimize the effectiveness of its employee in order to maximize productivity and increase profit. According to Edward L. Gubman as observed in the journal of business strategy,  ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½The basic mission of human resources will always be to acquire, develop and retain talent; align the work force with the business; and be an excellent contributor to the business. Those three challenges will never change. ¿Ãƒ ‚ ½ The back bone of any successful company is the HR department. The HR department must provide executive management with fundamental ideas that will help to not only gain market share, but entice and retain talent. Once the HR strategy of an organization is in place then its management ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½s responsibility sees that company goals are embraced and there are several ways they can do this which includes; communication, input, feedback, positive reinforcement, values etc. In recent year, observers have cited a decided trend towards a fundamental reassessment of HR structures and positions.  ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½A cascade of changing business conditions, changing organizational structures, and changing leadership have been forcing human resource departments to alter their perspective on their role and functions almost-overnight, ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½ wrote John Johnston in Business Quarterly. Figure 1 Strategy Implementation in an HR E nvironment Emergent strategies The SHRM functions can be known of having six (6) menus of HRM practices, from which organizations can choose the ones that is most appropriate for implementing their strategy. The Strategies of organizations varies depending on the level and structure of that organization and there is no know strategy which is the best suitable. The company I will be looking at to see how its HRM operates in the Organization is Barclays Group PLC. 1.2. STRATEGIC HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT IN BARCLAYS GROUP PLC Brief history of Barclays Barclays plc is a major global multinational financial services provider engaged in retail and commercial banking. Barclays has two geographical concentrations in the financial industry: global retail banking and corporate investment banking wealth management with operations in more than fifty countries with an extensive international presence in Europe, the Americas, Africa and Asia. Barclays has got approximately fi fteen thousand six hundreds colleagues internationally and it moves, lends, invests and protects money for over forty-eight million customers and clients. Barclays plc has a global network of more than one hundred and fifty-five thousand people working across a range of businesses thus makes the HR team of Barclays face a unique challenges. In such a diverse and internationally spread company, HR experts work with every business unit to help Barclays stay ahead of the competition by attracting and retaining the best people available and make sure that they are all in the right jobs and do the best work that will create sustainable benefits for the works, customers and shareholders, all over the world. But it ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½s not all about new recruit that the HR management team of Barclays focuses on. It is also committed to nurturing its established colleague and the HR team play a vital role in monitoring performances and monitoring a host of training programmes. The HRM of B arclays Group is divided into different professional Job titles that deal with the Human resource related issues and plays an important part in every business unit of company. The purpose of SHRM in Barclays The purpose or importance of SHRM in Barclays cannot be over emphasized, the success and failure of any organization depends solely on its HR management. The Primary purpose associated with human resource management in Barclays includes Job analysis and staffing (recruitment), organization and utilization of workforce, measurement and appraisal of workforce performance, implementation of reward systems for employees, professional development of workers and maintenance of workforce. I. Job analysis and recruitment: The HRM in Barclays has the responsibility of recruiting people for various employment positions in the company; they determine the skills, and experience necessary to adequately perform in a position, identification of job and industry trends and anticipat ion of future employments. They provide valid information about jobs that is used to hire and promote people, determine wages, determine training needs, and manage the flow of personnel into and out of Barclays. II. Organization, maintenance and utilization: The HRM dept of Barclays maintains the workforce of the company. The duty here involves designing an organizational framework that makes maximum use of an enterprises human resources and establishing systems of communication that helps the organization to operate in a unified manner. Other responsibilities in this area include health and safety and worker management relations. Maintenance task related to worker-management relations primarily entails: working with labor union; handling grievances related to misconduct, such as theft or sexual harassment; and devising communication systems to foster cooperation and shared sense of mission among the employees. III. Performance appraisal: The HRM of Barclays assesses employees  ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½ job performance and provides feedbacks to the employees on both their positive and negative performance. The performance appraisal is important because it is used to determine the salary increase and promotions and in the case of a negative performance, dismissal might follow. IV. Reward systems: This system is managed by the HRM in Barclays. This aspect of management is important because it provides the mechanism by which company provide their worker with a reward for past achievements and incentives for high performance in the future. They also use this system to address a problem within the work force through institution of disciplinary measures. V. Employee development and training: The HR is responsible for identifying the training needs of Barclay ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½s employee and initiates and evaluates developments programmes designed to address those needs. These training programs ranges from orientation programmes, which are designed to acclimate new hire of the company, to ambitious education programmes indented to familiarize workers with a new software systems. 1.3 Contributions of SHRM to achievements of Barclay ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½s objectives Meaningful contributions to the business processes of Barclays processes are increasingly recognized as within the purview of active human resource management practices. The HRM of Barclays disseminates guideline for and monitoring employee ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½s behaviors and ensuring that the company is obeying worker-related regulatory guidelines. The HRM professional are aware of the fundamentals of learning and motivations and carefully design and monitor training and development programmes that has helped in achieving the aim and objectives of the company by increasing the quality of products and services delivered and increased growth and profit that benefits the whole organization. The HRM of Barclays has been deeply involved in reshaping of the company ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½s s tructure under increased external and internal complexity and in managing other aspect of strategic change in Barclays Group. The role and importance of SHRM in Barclays cannot be over emphasized, the success and failure of the company depends solely on its HRM and they can only succeed when the right strategy is applied. Having the company ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½s mission in mind at all time has been a driving force to the achievements of HR team of Barclays Group and technological changes with the help of SAP (enterprise resource planning tool) helps Barclays to succeed in today ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½s tough business climate. Figure 1.2 This table below show how the SHRM add value to an Organization. Source: CIPD, The case for good people management, 2001. 2.1. The business factor that underpin the HR planning in Barclays Strength of the company Barclay ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½s group has a widespread of global presence allowing it to spread its risk and enjoy economic of scale. T he Barclays brand is well-established historically and has become ingrained in the psyche of the consumers and continually promoted, for example, through sponsorship of Premier league football. Barclays is particularly associated with innovation, it brought out the first debit and credit card and most recently the one plus card combining Oyster, cashless and credit functions for London-based customers. The opening of new flagship branches along with a refurbishment programme can be seen as an attempt to refocus on customers demand for a strong presence on the high street. The opening of new flagship branches along with a refurbishment programme can be seen as an attempt to refocus on customers demand for a strong presence on the high street. There is an increased online growth and online security to combat fraud and they enjoy a robust financial performance. The business growth Barclay ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½s business strategy is to achieve good growth through time by diversifying its business base and increasing its presence in markets and segments that are growing rapidly. This is driven by the Group ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½s ambition to become one of a handful of universal banks leading the global financial services industry, helping customers and clients throughout the world achieve their goals. The strategy is based on the principles of earn, invest and grow. Supporting this are four strategic priorities; Build the best bank in the UK, Accelerate the growth of global businesses, Develop retail and commercial banking activities in selected countries outside the UK, Enhance operational excellence. Barclay ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½s five guiding principles are key to the way the business operates:  ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½ Winning together: Achieving collective and individual success  ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½ Best people: Developing talented colleagues to reach their full potential, to ensure Barclays retains a leading position in the global financial services industry  ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½ Customer and client focus: Understanding customers and serving them brilliantly.  ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½ Pioneering: Driving new ideas, adding diverse skills and improving operational excellence.  ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½ Trusted: Acting with the highest integrity to retain the trust of customers, external stakeholders and colleagues. To continually compete internationally, Barclays must strive to perform customer service at an utmost level of excellence which will promote the company worldwide as a organization that can be relied upon time after time for small individual accounts as well as huge corporate accounts. To accomplish this, Barclays must identify their customer groups and the needs associated with each particular group and develop products and services that will be of great value to their customers. The practices that have worked in the past must be reconfigured to work for years to come and keep Barclays updated with the high changing IT world. Th is will call for new investments into new levels of technology that can help offer higher levels of service to its customers. Along with the apparent increase in speed that IT will allow Barclays to accomplish routine tasks, technology will also reduce risk of errors and fraud. (www.thebanker.com). IT will allow up to date information to be at the fingertips of Barclays managers, giving managers a huge advantage when it comes to making decisions and in pin pointing groups of customers that can have a high added value to Barclays. The fine-tuning of IT will also eliminate weaknesses within Barclays practices, preventing failures that effect customers and thus reducing excessive and unnecessary costs. In recent years, Barclays has been very successful in carrying out its desired tactics. Huge investment strategies that have led to this increase in profits include the acquirements within its Barclaycard card business. With growth on its mind, Barclays has set out to create an international business that if forecasted correctly, the income generated in its Barclaycard division will be of equal value internationally as well as domestically by 2013. Barclays has also placed strategic action in growing throughout Europe up to sixty percent in the near feature. 2.2. Human resource requirement to open new technology center in Johannesburg, South Africa In order to successfully open a new technological center in South Africa, Barclays will require having a structure (accommodation), the need the right number of staff, at the right place and the right time and equipped with the right technical skills to design, implement, manage projects and be able to develop new technological innovation. To assess the capacity required to do this research has to be carried out to derive the quantitative and qualitative data about the human requirement in this sector. The operations and activities in this center will range from upgrading ATMs, hosts the applications fo r the regions markets, credit card transfer, looking after all the net work and infrastructure applications and re-plat forming a country ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½s banks. The HR also needs to put in place a career development programmes for the staffs that will be working in this center and rewards and benefit packages. 2.3. The human resource plan in Barclays Resourcing Manager: The resourcing managers partners with each of the business unit of Barclays in order to help them attract and retain the best people for every job. They produce a schedule that deals the recruitment programme for the various types and levels of services. HR Operations Advisor: The HR operation advisor of Barclays supports the internal and external clients to ensure that the logistic affecting new starters, movers within the business and people leaving the company are dealt with smoothly and efficiently. Benefits Administrator/ Pension Administrator: The duty of the people here is to assist a pens ion administration Team Leader, the Benefits Administrator reconcile pension calculations, answer members ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½ queries and help with correspondence. HR Business Partner: HR Business Partners work alongside business leaders in a specific area of the Group to improve performance, advertising on recruitment, retention and development issues for that sector. Compensation and Benefits Analyst: Compensation and Benefits Analyst will set salaries for job roles to ensure that proposed compensation and reward packages are benchmarked and competitive. 2.4. Contribution of human resources to Barclays objectives HR professional take a strategic approach to human resource management. Human resource management seeks to proactively provide a competitive advantage through the company ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½s most important asset: its human resources. Human resources has a great impact on the implementation of plan by developing and aligning HRM practices that ensure the company has a motivated employee with the necessary skills. Human resource management in Barclays interacts between people, technology and the task to be performed in context with the objectives, goals and strategic plan of the company. HR plays a central role in such key area activities like attracting, selection and recruitment, employee orientations, retaining talent, promotions and termination process, and performance management including individual assessments, measuring and improving work performances, all these have significant impact on the employee turnover. The HR in Barclays sees to employee and the organizational development programme to maintain and improve skills as well as reward systems, benefits and compliance available for staffs also laws, policies, health and safety. The HR of Barclays gives a detailed job description and hires the right skills for a particular job and draws up programme for the professional development of the employee for e.g. learning to operate a new technology, this makes Barclays a leader in terms of new innovation thus providing a competitive advantage. They also plan effectively ahead with the number of staffs required to reduce cost to an optimum and ensure working processes are running smooth, this provides effective performance, thus increasing financial performance as indexed by productivity and market share value. The HR of Barclays also uses system such as incentives to achieve a specific goal. The reward system affects the company ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½s performance through increasing the quality of products and services. The company ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½s HR cares about the need and well being of their employees and provides a comfortable working environment; this increases the employee ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½s motivation and enhanced productivity performance. 3.1. The purpose of human resource policies in Barclays The Human Resource Policy is simply a set of documents that describes an organization ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½s polici es for operation and the procedures necessary to fulfill the practices for its managerial, supervisory staff, and all employees. This documents sets out the policy for all the human resource related issues in the company including some policies from the government that relates to the company business activities. The purpose of this policy is to help the organization to maximize return on investment in the organization ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½s human capital and maximize financial risk. The policy sets the standards of operations compliance, effective internal management control systems compliant with regulation standards and processes of all the business unit of Barclays. The HR policy provides a clear guidance to the employees as to what their responsibilities and obligations are, and their behavior that last beyond the residency of a particular business unit or executive. An HR policy also helps Barclays to avoid liability for their employees ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½ actions and helps protect a gainst legal claims. HR policies promote consistency approach to meet their needs as they develop continuity with regards to flexible working and general understanding of the management strategy within the Barclays business environment. An HR policy also helps Barclays to keep up with competitors: e.g. policies are may be review in order to attract or retain employee. Policies are set in line with the company ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½s strategy and planned to suit the culture, circumstances and size of the company. HR policies need to be reviewed with changes to the environment and growth with the company. So without these policies there will be no sense of direction within the company and it will be difficult for such an organization to achieve it aims and objectives. 3.2 The impact of regulatory requirements on human resource policies in Barclays. The regulatory requirements are the licenses, restrictions and laws that are applicable to a business product or services, imposed by the government. The regulations go a long way from protecting the environment to ensuring work place safety. Such regulations includes; legal and regulatory requirement related to pay, equality, employment rights and responsibilities, data protection, discrimination, etc. The cumulative burden of the regulation requirements by the law can have a positive or a negative impact on a company ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½s aims and objectives and can easily overwhelm businesses. The Employment Act 2008 sets out the laws on employment rights and welfare of the employee. The HR managers must now plan the employment package under this employment Act which is very expensive to implement. For e.g. the law makes provision about the procedure for the resolution of employment disputes; to provide for compensation for financial loss on cases of unlawful underpayment or non-payment, to make provision about the enforcement of minimum wages legislation. Barclays manages health and safety at a local level under the requirement and any mistake done can cause the company thousands of pounds on compensation. There is continuing political and regulatory scrutiny of the operations of the retail banking and consumer credit industries in the UK, EU, US, South Africa and elsewhere. For example, in the United States, Barclays Bank PLC and certain US subsidiaries and branches of the bank are subjected to a comprehensive regulatory structure, involving numerous statutes, ruling and regulations, including the International Banking Act of 1978, the Banking Holding Company Act of 1956, as amended, the foreign Bank Supervision Enhancement Act of 1991 and the USA PATRIOT Act of 2001. Such laws and regulations impose limitation on the type of businesses, and the ways in which they may be conducted, in the United States and on the location expansion of banking business there. Non compliance to these regulations could lead to fines, public reprimands, damage to reputations, enforced suspension of operatio ns or, in extreme case, withdrawal of authorization to operate. The new government has taken up decisions to step up regulatory pressures on banks; it introduced a bank tax and is appointing a commission on banking to decide whether or not the banks should be broken up. Barclays has hinted it may move its operations overseas if the commission decides to force it to separate its retail and investment banking sectors. 4.1 The impact of organizational structure on the management of human resources in J Sainsbury ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½s In an organization where different people works together, they need a defined system through which they relate to each other and through which there can be a coordination of their efforts. The defined relationships among the elements of an organization, namely people, tasks, structure, and information and control processes that characterize all organizations is referred to as organizational structure. Brief Business review of J Sainsbury ¿Ãƒâ€ šÃ‚ ½s J. Sainsbury ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½s plc is the parent company of Sainsbury ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½s Supermarket Ltd, commonly known as Sainsbury ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½s or Sainsbury ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½s and JS, the second largest chain of supermarkets in the United Kingdom with a share of the UK supermarket sector of 16.6%. The group head office is in the Sainsbury ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½s Store Support Center in Holborn, city of London. J Sainsbury ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½s plc was founded in 1869 by John James Sainsbury ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½s and his wife Mary Ann, in London, and grew rapidly during the Victorian era and today operates a total of 872 stores comprising 537 supermarkets and 355 convenience stores. It jointly owns Sainsbury ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½s bank with Lloyds Banking Group and has two property joint ventures with Land Securities Group and The British Land Company PLC. The Sainsbury ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½s brand is built upon a heritage of providing customers with healthy, safe, fresh and t asty food. Quality and fair prices go hand-in-hand with a responsible approach to business. The store employs over 150,000 colleagues that serve over 19million customers a week and their largest store offers around 30,000 products. Read full story, available on jsainsbury ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½s.co.uk/businessreview [assessed 27 Jan 2011]. 4.1.1 Organization structure of J. Sainsbury ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½s 4.1.2 The operation mechanism 1. David Tyler (Chairman): He joined the Board on Oct 1 2009 and became the Chairman on Nov 1 2009. He is non executive chairman of Logica plc and a Non-Executive Director of Experian plc and Burberry Group plc, where he also chairs the Remuneration Committee. He was previously Group Finance Director of GUS plc (1997-2006) and has held senior ?nancial and general management roles with Christie ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½s International plc (1989-96), County NatWest Limited (1986-89) and Unilever PLC (1974-86). He was also Chairman of 3i Quoted Private Equit y plc (2007-09) and a Non-Executive Director of Reckitt Benckiser Group plc over the same period. 2. Justin King (Chief Executive): Appointed Chief Executive Officer on 29 March 2004 and is also Chairman of the Operating Board. He has been a NonExecutive Director of Staples, Inc. since September 2007 and was appointed to the board of the London Organizing Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympics Games in January 2009. He was formerly Director of Food at Marks Spencer plc and from 1994 to 2001 he held a number of senior positions at ASDA/WalMart in Trading, HR and Retail. Justin was previously Managing Director of H ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½agen Dazs UK and spent much of his early career with Mars Confectionery and Pepsi International. 3. Darren Shapland (Chief Financial Officer): Appointed Chief Financial Officer on 1 August 2005 and is also Chairman of Sainsbury ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½s Bank plc. Darren was appointed a Non-Executive Director of Ladbrokes plc in November 2009. He w as formerly Group Finance Director of Carpet-right plc (2002-05) and Finance Director of Superdrug Stores plc (2000-02). Between 1988 and 2000, Darren held a number of financial and operational management roles at Arcadia plc including Joint Managing Director, Arcadia Home Shopping; Finance Director of Arcadia brands; Finance Director, Top Shop/Top Man (Burton Group); and Director of Supply Chain Programme (Burton Group). 4. Mike Coupe (Trading Director): Appointed an Executive Director on 1 August 2007 and has been a member of the Operating Board since October 2004. He joined Sainsbury ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½s from Big Food Group where he was a Board Director of Big Food Group plc and Managing Director of Iceland Food Stores. Mike previously worked for both ASDA and Tesco, where he served in a variety of senior management roles. He is also a member of the supervisory board of GSI UK. 5. John McAdam (Senior Independent Director): Appointed a Non-Executive Director on 1 September 2 005. He is Chairman of Rentokil Initial plc and United Utilities plc. He is also a Non-Executive Director of Rolls-Royce Group plc and Sara Lee Corporation. John joined Unilever PLC as a management trainee in 1974 and went on to hold a number of senior positions in Birds Eye Walls, Quest and Unichema, before the sale of the Specialty Chemical Businesses to ICI in 1997. He was Chief Executive of ICI plc, until its sale to Akzo Nobel, and was formerly a Non-Executive Director of Severn Trent plc (2000-2005). 6. Anna Ford (Non-Executive Director): Appointed a Non-Executive Director on 2 May 2006. She retired from the BBC in 2006, after 32 years in News and Current Affairs. Anna is a Non-Executive Director of N Brown Group plc and has been a Trustee of the Royal Botanical Gardens in Kew, London; a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society; a Trustee of Forum for the Future; Chancellor of Manchester University; and an Honorary Bencher of Middle Temple. 7. Mary Harris (Non-Executive Director): Appointed a Non-Executive Director on 1 August 2007. She is a member of the supervisory boards of TNT NV and Unibail Rodamco S.E. Mary previously spent much of her career with McKinsey Company, most recently as a partner, and her previous work experience included working for PepsiCo in Greece and the UK as a sales and marketing executive. 8. Bob Stack (Non-Executive Director): Appointed a Non-Executive Director on 1 January 2005. He was a Director of Cadbury plc until December 2008. He joined Cadbury Beverages in the US in 1990 and was first appointed to the Board of Cadbury Schweppes plc in May 1996 as Group Human Resources Director. In March 2000 he was appointed Chief Human Resources Officer and took on responsibility for communication and an external affair in addition to HR. Bob is Trustee and Non-Executive Director of Earth watch International and also a Non-Executive Director and Chairman of the Remuneration Committee of IMI plc. 9. Gary Hughes (Non-Execu tive Director): -Appointed a Non-Executive Director on 1 January 2005. Gary is Chief Financial Officer of the Gala Coral Group and a Director of the Scottish Exhibition Centre Limited. Formerly he was Chief Executive of CMP Information Limited, a division of United Business Media plc (2006-08), Group Finance Director of Emap plc (2000-05), Group Finance Director of SMG plc (1996 ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½2000), and Deputy Finance Director of Forte plc (1994-96). Prior to this Gary held a number of senior management positions with Guinness plc in the UK and in North America. 10. Val Gooding (Non-Executive Director): -Appointed a Non-Executive Director on 11 January 2007. She was formerly Chief Executive of BUPA (1998-2008), which she joined from British Airways, and is a Non-Executive Director of Standard Chartered Bank plc. Val is a member of the BBC ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½s Executive Board and the Advisory Board of the Warwick Business School. She is a Trustee of the British Museum and a Non-E xecutive Director of the Lawn Tennis Association. She was formerly a Non-Executive Director of Compass Group plc and BAA plc. 11. Neil Sachdev (Commercial Director): Joined Sainsbury ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½s in March 2007 as Commercial Director following 28 years at Tesco, where he worked in a range of different business areas including: Stores Board Director UK Property/Operations (2000-06); Supply Chain Director (1999 ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½2000); Director, Competition Commission (1998-99); Support Director (February 1998-September 1998); and Retail Director (1994-98). Neil is Non-Executive Director and a member of the Audit and Remuneration Committees of Capital Shopping Centers Group PLC. 12. Matt Brittin (Non-Executive Director): Appointed a Non-Executive Director on 27 January 2011. Matt is Managing Director of Google in the UK Ireland. Before joining Google at the start of 2007, Matt spent much of his career in media and marketing, with particular interests in strategy, commerci al development and sales performance. This included Commercial and Digital leadership roles in UK media. Matt has an MBA from London Business School and an MA from Cambridge. In 2010 he was voted wired magazine ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½s  ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½Most Influential Person in the Digital World ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½. The organizational structure of Sainsbury ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½s is fit with the imperatives defined by needs to keep costs down, provide operational excellence and help to develop the potential of the human capital inside the organization. The organizational structures of the company allows the human resource department to smooth co-operation among employees, create effective communication among the employees, provide a clear defined roles, responsibility and processes. Organization structure is used for choosing the plan that utilizes minimal resources and achieve maximum returns. From Human Resource perspectives, it is the organizational structure that drives the emplo yees to their full capacities and capabilities. The organizational structure will enable the Human Resource department to classify all the employees of the organization into achievers and non-achievers. 4.2 The impact of organizational culture on the management of human resources The cultures of an organization are thought of as those that evolve in conversation and is influx, constantly changing. It is the culture of an organization that defines what things mean, whether they are valued as good or bad, right or wrong, and how things are to be done when answers can ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½t be fixed by formal structure, policy or procedures. There are two aspect of organizational culture: the culture within an organization and the culture outside and organization especially hen company operates its business globally, it has to adapt to local cultures. Sainsbury ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½s have their strong organizational culture along with their corporate strategies. Sainsbury ¿Ã ƒâ€šÃ‚ ½s introduced the self checkout system in 2002; this helped the organization to save cost on staffing and also brings customer experience to customers. Sainsbury ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½s prides themselves on their uniform with employees name on it, this promotes the company ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½s reputation and enhances staffs visibility on the shop floors. Sainsbury ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½s refers to its employees as colleagues which makes them see themselves more as a team, and they refers to their buys as customers which makes them feel valued. Sainsbury have a strong concept of category, it uses the orange color as its trademark, this makes it unique and increases brand visibility. The slogan of the company before was  ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½making life taste better ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½ but now it is  ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½Try something new today ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½. The slogan is used for customer advertising and to motivate the employees. Sainsbury have values which includes;  ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½get even closer to customers ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½ and  ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½be where customers want to shop ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½. These values are said to provide a common sense of direction for all employees and guidelines for their behaviors. Sainsbury ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½s stands for great product at fair prices; to serve customers well; they continually improve and develop their range of products and services. They provide customers an ever improving shopping experience of non-food products, they ensure their colleagues have opportunities to develop their ability and are well rewarded for their contribution. 4.3 4.4 Examine how the effectiveness of human resource management is monitored in and organization and make justified recommendation to improve the effectiveness. The effectiveness of the human resource of an organization depends on having the right people in the right job at the right time to meet rapid ly changing organizational requirements. Sainsbury ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½s HRM department is led by a Director of Human Resources. In Sainsbury, there are different areas that is covered by the human resources department such as; human resource planning, recruitment and selection, training and development, employee appraisal, health and safety issues, employee legislation, wages and salary system, welfare role, consultation, collective bargaining, disciplinary and grievance procedures, etc. Sainsbury ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½s ensure all these aspect of the HRM are taken into account in order for it to achieve its full potential and make the business a success. Sainsbury ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½s recognizes that people are the most important resource because they add value to the company by increasing productivity, improving quality, innovating, and improving customer services. Therefore it made sure that emphasis is put on key factors such as: attracting the right number of employees, attract ing the employees with the right skills and attitudes for the job, Developing the individual ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½s skills so that then they would be able to meet challenges, now or in the possible future, being able to provide the employees with Health and Safety, special care into the environment so that accidents would not be able to occur, enabling all the employees to contribute equally, ensuring that no employees would be discriminated against by other employees. In Sainsbury ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½s, the techniques used to monitor how effective their human resources policies are, is by measuring the level of employee satisfaction, here it uses wastage rates and stability indexes ratios to find out. If employees are happy with their work, they are most likely to turn up for work on a regular basis. If there is a poor human resource environment then levels of stress will be high. Sickness and accident rates: Sainsbury ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½s keep a record of different types of absentee ism. E.g., Notified absent, absent due to sickness, unauthorized absent. These records are used at Sainsbury ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½s for employees, and for the workforce as a whole. In Sainsbury ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½s, they are required by the law to investigate and keep a detailed record of its accident rates. Accidents can be caused by different factors such as insufficient safety training, stress, a lack of safety equipment or poor motivation. All of these factors can result in ineffective working practices and reduced efficiency. Sainsbury ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½s uses the sickness rates to plan for the future. If there are shortages of employees when an employee is absent due to sickness, it may have to recruit part-time staff to fill in the vacancies. Statistics for age, skills and training: Sainsbury ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½s uses this information to highlight a potential staff shortage problem that might be caused by a large number of employees all reaching retirement age during a relat ively short period of time in the near future. It may even show a particular age group that is dominating certain positions within the company. Skills level needs to be rising within Sainsbury ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½s and that the training programmes are devised to make sure people have the skills to meet Sainsbury ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½s job requirements. Productivity: The use of technology is becoming more common at Sainsbury ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½s. Advanced computers and tills make employees jobs much easier. The point that the new technology makes the employee ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½s job easier may mean that Sainsbury ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½s want to give them that 10% extra work to do. Or they could use another approach and downsize the workforce as computers may be able to replace some workers. This will definitely reduce costs. Sainsbury uses the information obtained through performance appraisal to provide foundations for recruiting and selecting new employees, training and development of e xisting ones, and motivating and maintaining a quality work force by adequately and properly rewarding their performance. Succession: This is the way in which one person follows another person into a particular job or role at Sainsbury ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½s. Sainsbury ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½s need to make sure it is grooming people to take on the responsibilities required. They pay close attention to their internal staffing in order to plan ahead. Certain laws are in place at Sainsbury ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½s to ensure that individuals are not being discriminated against because of their gender and or race. Sainsbury ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½s do not discriminate against disabled and the process is adjusted in line with individual requirements. Workforce planning entails forecasting future human resource requirements and translating those requirements into actual needs in terms of numbers of employees. It helps Sainsbury ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½s to foresee change, identify trends and implement human r esource policies. Ineffective human resource forecasting can lead to; recruitment and selection of the wrong applicant, poor employee performance due to lack of training and motivation, high levels of stress, increase in absenteeism, redundancies, high costs, crisis management etc Sainsbury ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½s plan retirements within Sainsbury ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½s so that you keep a good balance between people who have been at Sainsbury ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½s for a long time and people who are bringing new ideas into the company. Sainsbury ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½s uses information on changes in age distribution and population to predict shortfalls in types of workers. Recommendation The value that is placed on Human Resources demonstrates commitment from the top levels of the organization to training. Sainsbury ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½s needs to maintain this increased emphasis on staff training and to integrate this learning fully into the organization because constant training of the empl oyees (from top to down) would have an effect on productivity. During a time of economic difficulty like the recession, Training has always been the first cost cut for Sainsbury ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½s but it ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½s advised not to cut too deep into this aspect of the organization as they need to train the work force to survive. The HR department in Sainsbury ¿Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ½s is proactive, not getting caught in the daily administrative function. Their model of HR is one of best practice and high commitment. This has allowed the organization to focus on the human resource with such practices as training issues. This focus on HR is vital to the success of the organization, without CONCLUSION Strategic Human Resource Management is a model for practice which requires interpretation and adaptation by HR practitioner to make the most suitable alignment of fit between Human Resource and business strategies and plans. As global business competition shifts from efficie ncy to innovation and from enlargement of scale to creation of value, management needs to be oriented towards the strategic use of human resources. Strategic human resources management practices enhance employee productivity and the ability of agencies to achieve their mission. Integrating the use of personnel practices into the strategic planning process enables an organization to better achieve its goals and objectives. SHRM would enable the adaptation of Human Resources to meet the long term goal of the organization. The success of an organization depends solely on the performance of its Human Resource Management. In an increasingly competitive era of business and with HR socialist, to help employees achieve their career objectives, and ensuring effective relationship between HRM and strategic organization objectives, HR Professionals needs to understand the process by which individuals typically make career choices and be aware of the more scientific approaches to career sele ction that may be used. The future direction of SHRM is based upon the challenges posed by economical, social, political and cultural changes in the business environment. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Human Resource Management Strategy Business Essay" essay for you Create order

Penn State Scandal Essay - 2284 Words

Penn State Scandal Everything was looking good for Joe Paterno and Penn State football as his football managing career rose with an overall record of 298-136-3 but in 2011, all that changed. Back in 2000 a janitor of Penn State witnessed Sandusky receiving oral sex from a young boy, the janitor reported what he saw to co-workers and his supervisor but none of these men reported these actions to authorities. It wasn’t until November 5, 2011 that Sandusky was arrested on a $100,000 bail and up to 40 criminal counts. ESPN were quickly in the scene to investigate and report the allegations on Sandusky. They quickly reported saying Sandusky was charged with more than 50 counts of child sex-abuse involving 10 boys he met through The Second†¦show more content†¦Governor, Tom Corbett took action and warned students to refrain from any violence and should monitor their behavior. The crowd initially was a peaceful demonstration against Coach Paternos firing. The crowd quickly turned from a peace ful demonstration to a riotous mob, State College police said in a statement. The mob attempted to light vehicles on fire, and tore down light posts and street signs. (Klopman) University officials reminded the students that their actions are affecting the family of the victims and other victims in the community that were sexually abused. Assistant coach, Mike McQueary testified to the grand jury in December 2010 that he saw Sandusky sodomize a naked boy of about 10 years old in the football teams locker room shower in 2001. The jury quickly saw his testimony more credible than Curley’s and Schultz’s. Because of this, Penn State placed Mike on administrative leave. â€Å"McQueary testified in a grand jury investigation that eventually led to child sex-abuse charges being filed against former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky. The ensuing scandal brought down longtime coach Joe Paterno, who was fired by university trustees amid growing criticism that he should have done more to stop the alleged abuse.† (Marklein) McQueary changed his story saying he e-mailed his friends andShow MoreRelatedEssay Penn State Scandal1496 Words   |  6 PagesThe Jerry Sandusky case had a major impact on Penn State. It affected both academics and athletics in a major way. In this essay I will discuss the situation that occurred and the impact that the social media had on this once great school. Jerry Sandusky is a retired American football coach. He was the assistant coach at Pennsylvania State University under the legendary Joe Paterno for 30 years. He was the defensive coordinator for the football team. He is also the founder of The Second MileRead MorePenn State Scandal - Human Behavior Essay3507 Words   |  15 PagesCase Study â€Å"Penn State Scandal – From A Human Behavior Perspective† Elisa-Ruth Nelson Southern New Hampshire University Introduction November 5, 2011, Pennsylvania grand jury indicted former Penn State assistant coach Gerald Sandusky, accusing him of sexually assaulting young boys. On June 22, 2012, Sandusky was found guilty of 45 of 48 child sex abuse charges. Nearly four months later, (October 9, 2012) Sandusky received a 30 – 60 year sentence. This scandal eventually forced furtherRead MoreThe Effect of the Abuse Scandals at Penn State and Syracuse883 Words   |  4 PagesThe Effect of the Abuse Scandals at Penn State and Syracuse Introduction In the fall of 2011 Penn State University was rocked when allegations of sexual misconduct with a child were leveled against former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky. Within a month another scandal erupted at Syracuse University when similar charges surfaced against Bernie Fine, associate head basketball coach at the university. Though different in circumstance both of these incidences had repercussions that reachedRead MoreThe Problem Of The Unhappy Valley1546 Words   |  7 Pagesis not handled lightly. An abuser can spend up to a life-time in prison for such doings. In an effort to terminate the rumors and the stories surrounding the 2011 Jerry Sandusky Penn State sex abuse scandal, director Amir Bar-Lev released his 2014 documentary Happy Valley in hopes to get the accurate story behind the scandal. Throughout the film, real witnesses and victims come forth to tell their authentic side of the story. It focuses on the people, and their reactions to the crimes that were pub licizedRead MoreThe National Collegiate Athletic Association1731 Words   |  7 PagesCollegiate Athletic Association was previously known as the Intercollegiate Athletic Association of the United Stated (IAAUS) and when Roosevelt founded this association it was not known as the NCAA. Intercollegiate Athletic Association of the United States became the National Collegiate Athletic Association in 1910 and has been that ever since. Like stated in the introduction, the current headquarters for the NCAA is in Indianapolis, Indiana, but the headquarters have not always been there. The NCAARead MoreSandusky Scandal Essay5270 Words   |  22 Pages Pennsylvania State University Scandal 1 Pennsylvania State University Scandal Contribution and Cover-up of Sexual Abuse OL-500 Human Behavior in Organization Southern New Hampshire University C. LaMour Romine October 2, 2014 Pennsylvania State University Scandal 2 Abstract This research paper will discuss the Pennsylvania State University (Penn State) Sexual Child Abuse Scandal, involving perpetrator Jerry Sandusky; and its cover up by university officials. This researchRead MoreEssay on Jerry Sandusky Case1507 Words   |  7 Pages Currently in the news, there is a major event that pertains to the topic of the psychology of trauma. This event is the investigation of Jerry Sandusky and his alleged conviction of sexual abuse. Jerry Sandusky, an assistant football coach at Penn State University, has been accused of sexually abusing boys in the basement of his home and in the school workout room and locker room. This investigation was triggered by one of the victims who went to the police and since then, more victims have comeRead MoreAnalysis Paper2054 Words   |  9 PagesAnalysis Paper - Penn State Scandal On June 2012, Jerry Sandusky, former assistant Penn State football coach, was found guilty for 45 of the 48 charges of sexual abuse of young boys over a 15 year period. He was previously known as a notable college football coach who wrote several books and even founded The Second Mile, a nonprofit charity serving Pennsylvania underprivileged and at risk youth. This scandal deeply affected the whole Penn State community but also the entire state of PennsylvaniaRead MoreSexual Abuse Of Minors Essay863 Words   |  4 Pagesknow is to be right† (p. 9). In order for leaders to fulfill their duty of leading an organization, they must have a solid foundation of truth. Molher Jr. (2017) goes on to state that â€Å"The starting point for Christian leadership is not the leader but the eternal truths that God has revealed to us† (p.9). Bridges (2006) states â€Å"God’s word must be so strongly fixed in our minds that it becomes the dominant influence in our thoughts, our attitudes, and our actions† (p.75). It is clear though studyingRead MoreEssay on Willie Stark as Huey Long 1217 Words   |  5 PagesRobert Penn Warren’s novel, All the King’s Men depicts the tale of the rise of a political leader named Willie Stark. Many readers have speculated that Warren based Willie Stark’s character on Huey Long, a controversial, political leader from Louisiana who was prominent during the early 1900s. Although Robert Penn Warren has â€Å"repeatedly denied that Willie Stark is a fictional portrait of Huey Long,† many aspects of the novel directly correlate to the political career and personal life of Huey Long

Management And Organization Hawthorne Studies †MyAssignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about the Management And Organization-Hawthorne Studies Review. Answer: Introduction Managementand organization in a global environment entail designing, organizing, directing, and controlling of resources over long distances, and diverse societies. Moreover, in this consistently changing environment, the manager should know allure, maintain, and promote an assorted workforce. In the late 1920s, managers at Hawthorne Works, - a prominent manufacturer based in Illinois wanted to know if their representatives are more productive in a sufficiently illuminated condition than they are in a poorly illuminated environment. The discovery was truly the start of the spring of transition of quality in America. This paper discusses the application of illumination experiment and the Hawthorne effect on the above topic. Sincemanagement and organizations in a global environment require recognition of the benefits that come from recognizing the factors that drive change, Hawthorne workers came up with an evidenced idea that illumination affects the productivity of employees. With the end goal of advancing offers of lights, the General Electric Company began to do the illumination experiments which were aimed at exhibiting the positive connection between the strength of lighting and productivity of laborers(Schermerhorn, 2013, p. 24)(Wren Bedeian, 2009, p. 12). The specialists established a trial group and later formed a control group which was compared with the trial group. The intensity of illumination in the trial group varied according to the researchers plan while it was steady in the control gathering. Be that as it may, to the analysts' shock, productivity increased in both groups. In summation, when workers in an organization work in an environment with the better lighting they are bound to wo rk more efficiently which improves productivity but it also short-term(Schlagheck Lantz, 2014, p. 6). In a global organization environment, managers should be in a position to utilize communication strategies that are effective to control diversity in the workplace. Hawthorne studies show that people are affected by communication from managers even the non-verbal ones. Hawthorne Effect, a well-known term identified with brain science and sociology, alludes to "the adjustment in behavior by trial subjects that emerges from their mindfulness that they are participating in an examination." Hawthorne Effect in a workplace arises when workers fail to perform because a manager has withdrawn supervision and attention for a given time. According to the Hawthorne studies, when employees are supervised; their consciousness tells them that they have to perform but when not supervised they seem to underperform. It is important to note that illumination experiment arises from Hawthorne Effect where at some point; it was proven to be ineffective becauseorganization management needs long-term strat egies. However, the Hawthorne experiment is short-term and therefore, provides results that cannot be relied on in the long run. (Garvin, 2011, p. 26). In summation, based on the Hawthorne findings managers should make sure that workers are always supervised to perform. The findings in the Hawthorne studies brings in weaknesses that should be addressed. This a supported by the fact that the Hawthorne Studies as much as they were esteemed they had some flaws. The heterogeneity of these studies means that little can be assertively inferred about the extent of these impacts. For example, the conditions under which they work and their mechanisms do not portray favorable working environment for all workers in the organizational setup. Another defect is that these findings are prone to biases because of the minimal development of the study of the issues presented by the Hawthorne studies. Hawthorne studies have not led to notable research advances in the topic discussed in this paper. In short, Hawthorne studies are not as reliable as they may seem(Schlagheck Lantz, 2014, p. 8). Conclusion In a nutshell, Hawthorne studies have brought to our attention empirical findings such as the illumination experiment which comes from the Hawthorne Effect. However, they have proved to be having room for biases, limited research advancements and the size of impact created is very minimal although it has shown how best one can utilize evidenced research, practically. References Garvin, P., 2011. Government informationmanagement in the 21st century: international perspectives. English ed. Farnham, Surrey, England: Ashgate Publisher. Schermerhorn, J. R., 2013. Management. 12th ed. Hoboken NJ: John Wiley Sons. Schlagheck, D. Lantz, C., 2014. Hawthorne Works. Charleston, South Carolina: Arcadia Publishing. Wren, D. A. Bedeian, A. G., 2009. The evolution of management thought. 6th ed. Hoboken: Wiley, distributor.

New Media Network Communication and Internet

Question: Discuss about the New Media for Network Communication and Internet. Answer: New Media The content that is available in the internet on demand and is accessible from any digital device from any location is termed as the New Media. The New media usually involves the users actively and feedbacks are taken from the user to constantly evolve the technology (Bagdikian, 2014). It is much like social media where the user feels free to share their views and comment on any ongoing topic. Some of the examples of new media are: wikis, social media, blogs, online newspaper sites, video games, etc. The new media are differentiated from the old media based on the novelty and the oldness. The new media is digital whereas the old media is analog. The new media have the characteristics of customization, networkable, interactive and compressible (Madianou Miller, 2013). The New media is often mixed with Cyber culture but they are different things. The cyber culture is the social phenomenon associated with network communication and internet but the new media deals with the paradigms and cultural objects like digital to analog TV. The New Media uses digital technology for execution and distribution of the media (Bagdikian, 2014). The New media is the new form of media art and with the help of computers there is a faster calculation and execution of the task that makes the new media to represent new techniques which previously does not exists. New media can be used for many purposes like distribution of the platform, digital data control by the software, etc. References Bagdikian, B. H. (2014).The new media monopoly: A completely revised and updated edition with seven new chapters. Beacon Press. Madianou, M., Miller, D. (2013).Migration and new media: Transnational families and polymedia. Routledge

Strategic Plan for a Library

Planning process Background This paper presents a hypothetical strategic plan for a small public library. This library serves the community of approximately 20.000 people. At this point, its collection comprises 40.000 books and periodicals. This institution has recently encountered with such problem as the decrease in the number of visitors which subsequently can be explained by shortage of resources and in some cases poor customer service.Advertising We will write a custom coursework sample on Strategic Plan for a Library specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More I was responsible for the development of the strategies that can help this organization cope with current problems. From the very outset, I realized that it was hardly possible to make any valuable recommendations without involving the employees of the library and readers into decision-making (Hayes, 2001, p 13). My original premise was that every stakeholder has a right to cont ribute to this project, and my task was to ensure that none of them is excluded from decision-making process. This is the key issue that I had to take into consideration prior to starting the development of the strategic plan. The steps taken by the committee First of all, a committee was formed; its major objective was to analyze the origins of the difficulties, faced by this library and propose solutions that can improve the work of this library. This committee included four members: the library director, two assistants and one representative of the library board. While developing the plan, the committee strongly relied on partnership with the employees of this library. We have interviewed every librarian of the organization and asked him/her for recommendations. Apart from that, the committee conducted a satisfaction survey among the readers who regularly visit this library. While interviewing the readers, we focused on such criteria as richness of the library collection, the use of information technologies, helpfulness of the employees, time management of the organization. In this way, we tried to identify the areas which needed improvement. Additionally, while interviewing these people, we asked them about those expectation which they usually set for a library. It was of crucial importance to us to assume the customers’ standpoint since their major stakeholders of this organization. This approach has greatly helped us, since we were able to identify those areas, requiring improvement. Without their recommendations this plan would have never come into existence.Advertising Looking for coursework on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Furthermore, the committee research already-existing literature about the problems. In particular, we focused on those approaches adopted by small and midsize libraries in order to enrich collections and provide a better quality of services to the readers. Many books and articles have proved quite beneficial for our purposes. The research which has been undertaken by the committee indicates that many public libraries have to struggle with budget limitations, but they can be overcome. In part, this goal can be achieved through active cooperation with other libraries, publishing houses and charity organization. Secondly, the main reason why many people are dissatisfied with the quality of library’s services is lack of self-sufficiency. One has to speak about ineffective space and time management (Gothberg, 1991, p 350). For example, very often the readers are not allowed to check out books on their own, they have to wait several minutes until the librarian finds it. This process becomes very time-consuming especially if there are many visitors. The research of academic service is useful to that extent that it enabled the committee to learn about the best practices used by the libraries within a relatively short time. Ju dging from my personal observations and from the results of the survey, I may argue that these problems are typical of this library as well. These examples immediately attract attention and in part they prove that financial constraints are not the only cause of library’s difficulties. These findings prompted the committee to the conclusion it is necessary to implement certain organizational changes. These changes should touch upon performance assessment and workplace relations. For many public organizations this transformation is very difficult; however, academic literature indicates that small libraries can overcome these possible through changes in organizational structure and giving more autonomy to the readers (Park, 2005, p 168).Advertising We will write a custom coursework sample on Strategic Plan for a Library specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Thus, the plan proposed by the committee is based on the premise that the problems of this library should not be explained only by budget limitations. Overall, we are greatly indebted to every person who helped us with the development of this plan. Without active participation of employees, readers and library board we would not have been able to map out this strategic plan. Mission and Goals The mission of this library is to offer adequate resources and services that would support learning and research needs of the community (The University of Chicago Library, 2010, unpaged). It is possible to single out several goals and objectives which are quite consistent with this mission: Goal 1. To maintain a well-organized and balance library collection that contains only high-quality books and periodicals. Goal 2. To promote the quality of library services and improve the skills of the library personnel. Goal 3. To improve economic performance of the library and make it less dependent on governmental funding. These are the key goals that this organization must a ttain. For each of these goals, one can set at least two objective which are more specific and tangible. Furthermore, it is vital to explain how each of these objectives can be attained. Goal 1 The first objective is to establish long-term partnership with other libraries and organizations that can share resources with this organization. We can suggest several steps that one should take. 1) The most important step is to join both local and non-local library consortia, which are formal associations of libraries. These consortiums promote book and resource sharing.Advertising Looking for coursework on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More For instance, it will be possible to obtain either digital or hard copies of books. 2) Secondly, this institution should establish an interlibrary loan service, for example, this library can borrow books or periodical from another library in order to scan or photocopy the materials. In this way, they will be able to reduce the cost of procuring new books, and this particularly important for libraries that have to struggle with budget limitations. 3) The third step is to establish long-term partnership with publishing houses. Some of these companies attach great importance to charity and they frequently donate books to the libraries. Each of these action steps is important since this library has to struggle with budgetary limitations and one has to use strategies of reducing or at least minimizing costs. The second objectively is to make full use of information technologies that are available to the library. We can propose at least three strategies that may help the library in accomp lishing this objective. First, this organization should purchase subscription to various online libraries and databases, such as Questia, SAGE, Jstor, etc (Repman Dickinson, 2007, p 186).  In this way, we will be able to expand library collection (Sutton, 1995, p 126). Additionally, this library should develop official website that would make the resources of the library more available and more affordable to the subscribers of this library. Lastly, it is necessary to start digitizing the books and periodicals which the library has its disposal. This will greatly increase the accessibility of books and periodicals to the readers. Thirdly, it is necessary to update library collection in different subject areas. One of the most important steps is to continuously review the new books and articles published by the leading publishing houses. The second step is to establish contacts with wholesale book shops that provide discounts to the regular customers and especially to libraries. Due to financial constraints, the library management has to minimize costs of procuring new books. At this stage, it is quite possible to argue that without effective cost management the strategic plan will not yield expected results. Goal 2 It is possible to single out several objectives which are quite consistent with the second goal. The first objective is to improve time and space management in this library. The most important step is to create an electronic library catalogue so that readers could search for a necessary publication by entering either the name of the author or the title of a book or article (Hobrock, 1992, p 34). This strategy will allow both readers and librarians to reduce the amount of time needed for the search of a book. The second step is to install self-check-out units so that readers could return books and articles more quickly. This strategy will greatly improve time management in this organization and make it more attractive for the readers. The secon d objective is to continuously improve the skills of the employees. For this purpose it is first necessary to provide training to the employees; special attention should be paid to their knowledge of the library collection and ability to use information technologies, especially the electronic library catalogue (Usherwood, 2007, p 670). It is vital that the management of this organization regularly conducts assessment of the employee’s skills; it should be done at least two times a year. 2Another strategy that would help the library is to organize seminars with employees of other librarians. Such activities can help librarians share their experience with another; in this way they will be able to learn more about the best practices used in modern libraries (Stuart Moran, 2007). Goal 3 As it has been said before, the third goal is to improve economic performance of the library. In this case the most first and important objective is to allow readers to buy food and drinks at the library. One should remember that that many people, who visit libraries, may stay for a very long time, and the opportunity to purchase food and drinks is very important for them. On the one hand, this policy can greatly increase the quality of libraries services and many organizations have already adopted this strategy (Park, 2005, p 167). There are two steps that we need to take in order to achieve this objective: First, it is necessary to procure a vending machine that will be used by the visitors. Secondly, the library management should find a suitable location for this vending machine. Although, this step appears to be self-evident, this task can prove very challenging because it will be necessary to sufficient room for many visitors. The second objective is to provide readers with an opportunity to purchase books at the library. We can single out two action steps that will support this objective. At the beginning the librarians should compile a list of those books which ar e most frequently requested by the readers. In this way, they will be able to learn what kind of books will enjoy demand among the customers. The next step is to find extra space for this small bookshop and determine which of the employees will be responsible for running it. Thus, the steps that we have identified in this section are crucial for successful implementation of the plan. Probably, in the future some extra steps will be added. Timelines for the implementation of the plan At this stage, we should work out the schedule for the implementation of this strategy. It can be presented in the following way: Join both local and non-local library consortia (April 4th – April 14) Establish an interlibrary loan service (April 5th – April 25th) Establish partnership with publishing houses (April 6th– May 2nd) Obtain subscriptions for online databases (April 6- April 8th) Develop the library’s official website (April 6- June 1st) Digitizing books and perio dicals (April 8th ) Continuously review the new books and articles published by the leading publishing houses (April 4th) Establish contacts with wholesale book shops (April 7th – May 2nd) Create an electronic library catalogue (April 10th –September 1st) To install-self-check-out units (April 5th – April 11th) Provide training to the employees (May 1st– June 1st) Organize seminars with employees of other librarians (May 15th) Procure a vending machine and find suitable location for it (May 2nd May 15th) Compile a list of the most requested books (April 4th– April 20th). It should be noted that the majority of action steps have start dates and end dates. However, some of the activities will take a very long time, for instance, digitization of books, and we have not specified the end date. Furthermore, the library will need to attract outside professionals for the development of official website and electronic catalogue. Reflections about group wor k This project has demonstrated to me the importance of teamwork. On the whole, this strategic plan could not have been developed without active assistance of employees, library board members, and certainly readers. There are several aspects of group work which greatly appeal to me; one of them is brainstorming and ability to receive critical evaluation of one’s thought and ideas. The committee held many meetings and we meticulously discussed every objective and every step that are now included in this strategic plan. The members of the committees were willing to evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of every possible policy. This approach seems to be most productive since a group of people, especially if they are competent enough, can better identify the potential flaws of the plan, even if at first glance it seems impeccable. The most important thing is that a library director is able to accept criticism, if this criticism contributes to overall success of the project. More importantly, it is vital that this person can admit his/her mistakes; otherwise team work will eventually become pointless. Reference List D’Andraia. F. (1997). The academic library director: reflections on a position in transition. NY: Routledge. Gothberg H. (1991) Time Management in Public Libraries: A Study of Public Libraries. Public Libraries. 30 (6), pp 350-377 Hayes. R. (2001) Models for library management, decision-making, and planning. London: Emerald Group Publishing. Hobrock. B. (1992). Library management in the information technology environment-: issues, policies, and practice for administrators. NY: Routledge. Park. C. (2005). Harris County Public Library: creating a design paradigm for twenty- first century libraries. The Bottom Line. 18 (4). p 167-174. Repman J. Dickinson. (2007). School Library Management. London: Linworth Pub. Stueart, R., Moran, B. (2007). Library Information Center Management (7th ed.). Littleton: Libraries Unlimited. Sutton. B. (1 995). Public library planning: case studies for management. London: Greenwood Publishing Group. The University of Chicago Library. (2010) The official website. Accessed from https://www.lib.uchicago.edu/ Usherwood. R. C. (2007). Professional values in a bureaucratic structure. Library  Review pp 666-673. This coursework on Strategic Plan for a Library was written and submitted by user Santiago N. to help you with your own studies. 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How to Write Papers for Graduate School

How to Write Papers for Graduate School Graduate study is all about writing, as the thesis or dissertation is the ticket to graduation. However, lots of writing occurs well before the thesis and dissertation are begun. Most graduate courses require students to write term papers. Many beginning graduate students are accustomed to writing papers and approach them in ways similar to undergraduate papers. As students advance and near the end of their coursework, they often look ahead towards the next task (such as preparing for comprehensive exams) and may begin to resent writing papers, feeling that they have already proven themselves as competent students. Both of these approaches are misguided. Papers are your opportunity to advance your own scholarly work and receive guidance to enhance your competence. Take Advantage of Term Papers How do you take advantage of papers? Be thoughtful. Choose your topic carefully. Each paper you write should do double duty - complete a course requirement and further your own development. Your paper topic should meet the course requirements, but it should also relate to your own scholarly interests. Review an area of literature related to your interests. Or you might examine a topic that you are interested in but unsure whether it is complex enough to study for your dissertation. Writing a term paper about the topic will help you determine if the topic is broad and deep enough to fulfill a large project and will also help you determine if it will sustain your interest. Term papers offer a place for you to test ideas but also to make progress on your current research interests. Double Duty Each assignment you write should do double duty: help you advance your own scholarly agenda and get feedback from a faculty member. Papers are opportunities to get feedback about your ideas and writing style. Faculty can help you improve your writing and help you learn how to think like a scholar. Take advantage of this opportunity and dont simply seek to finish. That said, take care in how you plan and construct your papers. Attend to ethical guidelines of writing. Writing the same paper over and over or submitting the same paper for more than one assignment is unethical and will get you into a great deal of trouble. Instead, the ethical approach is to use each paper as an opportunity to fill in a gap in your knowledge. Consider a student in developmental psychology who is interested in adolescents who engage in risky behaviors such as drinking and drug use. While enrolled in a course in neuroscience, the student might examine how brain development influences risky behavior. In a course on cognitive development, the student might examine the role of cognition in risky behavior. A personality course might push the student to look at personality characteristics that influence risk behavior. In this way, the student advances his or her scholarly knowledge while completing course requirements. The student, therefore, should be examining multiple aspects of his or her general research topic. Will this work for you? At least some of the time. It will be better in some courses than others, but, regardless, it is worth a try.

International Finance and Internet Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5000 words

International Finance and Internet - Essay Example Countries reacted by restricting movements of capital and establishing fixed exchange rates. Starting from 1973, industrial countries began to reduce restrictions on capital and exchange rates were driven by forces of competition between markets. Modern theory of trade encourages trade liberalisation towards global welfare. Trade liberalisation would enable countries to specialize in producing products they have comparative advantage at producing at more quantities and less costs. Eventually the world would enjoy more products at lower costs. The integration of innovations in Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) with trade liberalisation has lead to the emergence of International E-Commerce (IEC). IEC is a subset of e-commerce and it is defined as an on-line commitment to sell a product that result in the import or export of goods or services cross-borders. IEC still accounts for a small portion of overall international trade (USGAO 2002). Investment in ICT generated new financial instruments leading to invention of new means of conducting business worldwide. The Golden age of European economic growth (the period between 1950 and 1973) was superseded by the United States productivity growth that outperformed European productivity growth. ... During the 1990s there was spectacular progress in ICT production, which encouraged more capital investment in ICT causing ICT equipment to become much cheaper. ICT production became larger relative to GDP in the United States. EU has lagged behind the United States in ICT investment and in the contribution made by ICT to labour productivity growth. For most EU countries except Ireland, ICT production accounts for smaller proportion of GDP than in the United States (Crafts 2003). Weak investment in ICT in Europe is related to regulation. Employment protection legislation, which raises firing costs, is an obstacle to the reorganization of the labour force and work practices which are central to obtaining the payoff from ICT. Although Europe has moved in the direction of deregulation and some countries have a strong advantage over the United States in human capital, the continued strength of employment protection remains as a drag on ICT capital investment. ICT investment is likely to boost growth (Crafts 2003). 2.1 Economic Effect of Information and Communication Technologies It is assumed that innovative ICT will make financial transactions easier, secure and at a lower cost. It is possible to lower transaction costs since information costs make up a great portion of the transactions costs. Transaction costs are mainly operation cost. In the B2B segment, the use of e-commerce technologies, i.e. primarily electronic information exchange among enterprises, optimizes production, inventory keeping and distribution (Wenninger, 1999). Automating transactions may markedly reduce the procurement cost before, during and after a transaction,