Strategic Human Resource Management (SHRM) of Sainsburys

Strategic Human Resource Management (SHRM) of Sainsburys Importance of Strategic Human Management in Sainsbury: Strategic human resource management (SHRM) is a proactive approach of identifying better support for employees in order to accelerate the performance or the actions they provide in accordance with Human resource management (cipd.co.uk). The responsibility of Human resource manager is recruitment to retirement process of the employees and two types of functions are Managerial and Operational. Managerial function includes Planning, Organising, Staffing, Budgeting, Coordinating, Controlling, and Implementing. And the operational function includes Planning, Recruitment, Selection Induction, Training, Performance Appraisal, Compensations, Promotions, Welfare to employees, Recreations to employees, retirement (allinterview.com). The role has intended to identify the potential skills on employees and to focus the performance they supply into development. The importance of performance management is to provide more effective personnel who will be able to increase product market competition, provide the opportunities to share organisations vision and that way they realize the vision, the opportunities for the line manager for the acceptance of accountability to make such decision. Able to understand the key decision which is down to the line manager and the supervision (Millmore, et,al 2007). The policies and practices of Human Resource Management must meet with strategy in order to adapt integrated competitive environment and with the immediate business conditions that meet in an organisation. The integrated strategic has three dimension approach to apply. which is means the relationship between Human resources management policies and practices with strategic management, importance of internalization of HRM on the part of line manager and the workforce into an organisation to foster commitment or an identity of interest with the strategic target (Beer at el., 1984). The importance, purpose and contribution of strategic HRM in an organisation or to the achievement of the organisational objectives are discussed hereafter. As a Human resource manager in Sainsbury I am defining my role in Strategic Human resource management. AC 1.2: Activities of Strategic Human Resource management in Sainsbury: Sainsbury as one of the biggest supermarket in the UK has its strategic human resource extended widely. It has very good policy of STRM. The processes of SHRM in Sainsbury are 1.2.1. Strategic recruitment application process: Sainsbury as big supermarket has its recruiting process online for reducing time frame. The recruitment and selection includes the application process of applicants name, address, postcode, date of birth with marital status, two references and their contact information, national insurance number, employment history, qualifications and cv. After the application process they use e-mail or telephone to contact the applicant about the process. Consider alternative position may be applicable for applicant. Sainsbury keep the information for the internal record. Fulfil the legal obligations. If the application becomes successful Sainsbury make a personal record for the applicant and contact the referees are provided by the applicant (Sainsbury.co.uk). 1.2.2. Training and development programme: Sainsbury has design its training and development programme very constructive way. They have segmented the programme in different steps. Step1. Induction training: The induction training programme is compulsory for everyone. It takes place during first two days. A basic introduction to Sainsbury about its value, legal and compliance rules includes health and safety and food safety. Step2. Foundation and training: It is compulsory for all colleagues to be skill at this. It takes place during first 12 weeks. An introduction to job roles description that includes all the basic is required to know how productively and safely the work is done in individual department. Step3. Intermediate training: The intermediate training is fundamental for everyone. It takes place once foundation level is signed off. It includes the timescales depend on the hours but it takes place during first 12 month. This is the stage of develop the job role and deliver the required performance standard. Step4. Advanced training: Advanced and training is for management and team leaders, the job experts who want to develop the next stage of the job. It takes place once intermediate level is signed off. This includes how to manage and supervise the role. It also signed off of the legal and compliance of the job in the first 12 weeks (sainsburys.co.uk). 1.2.3. Employment career programme: Sainsbury has designed and develop a standard employment and development programme very constructively for their staff according to the needs. Career and development programme includes Colleague discount card, Annual bonus scheme, Family friendly policies, Parental leave, childcare vouchers, Pensions, Life insurance, Save as you earn, Sainsbury share purchase plan, Career breaks, Sainsbury social association programme Award for long service (Sainsbury.co.uk) 1.2.4. Loyalty of employee: Loyalty of employee which is called a great place to work. Sainsburys Training and development and reward programme has made its employees to be loyal in the organisation. By performing the best of human resource, Sainsbury won CBI Human Capital Award on 12th of October in 2009. It has over  £80 million bonus payments for 127,000 colleagues to encourage and earn their loyalty (J Sainsbury plc.co.uk). 1.3. Contribution of strategic human resource management in Sainsbury: The contribution of SHRM in Sainsbury is very rich. Sainsbury as a developed supermarket has identified its Human resource management policy according to the objectives. Contribution of SHRM is mainly focuses the performance of Human resource management in Sainsbury. The contribution of Strategic Human resource includes 1.3.1. Company growth: Sainsbury has gradual opportunities to grow supermarket space. It has currently 16.1 percent market share in the UK as a whole. According to the developing plan, Sainsbury introduced 10 minutes drive to Sainsbury of 40 percent UK population by opening 38 new supermarket which almost three quarters are in the areas where they currently under performed(J Sainsbury plc.co.uk). 1.3.2. Increase of revenue: Sainsbury has its total sales (including vat, including fuel) up 5.1 percent to  £21421 million (2008/09:  £20383 million). Total sales(including vat, excluding fuel) up 6.7 percent. Underlying operating profit up 8.9 percent to  £671million (2008/09:  £616 million).J Sainsbury plc.co.uk 1.3.3. Satisfaction to the shareholders: Sainsbury has been able to focus on the perspective of its stakeholder interest. According to the integrity of stake holder involvement it has very successful achievement of stakeholder satisfaction. The achieve includes world leaders in Fairtrade (value of  £218 million), we are Green to the core, largest retailer of freedom food, Leader in HR and people management, Official partner of London 2012 Olympic games, Making a positive deference to our community ( £86 million for schools and clubs).J Sainsbury.co.uk Task 2 Task 2: Human Resource Planning in HSBC Bank 2.1: Analyse the business factors that underpin Human Resource planning in HSBC Bank Strategic HRM Strengths: The strength of strategic HRM in the HSBC bank is to identify the right people in the right place. Strategic HRM is to focus HR activities that HSBC practise in order to develop the organisation. The strengths of Strategic HRM is to apply in HSBC bank with great effort in order to bring the outcome satisfactory and make the company develop in HR practice. HSBC as world local bank has various factors that strength the Human Resource planning. Particularly in the economic down town HSBC has come with successful business factors which made it able to identify the sectors they were need to develop. As a Human resource Manager following the Business factors that I have underpin the Human resource plan is 2.1.1. Business Growth: The impact of Strategic HRM in the World giant bank of business growth is to practise the Strategic HR activities properly by the Managers, individual bankers, cahiers and by the customer service assistant. HSBC as world giant bank has newly opened a retail branch in Glasgow by spending  £2.1 million and creating 18 jobs across Scotland. HSBC regulatory committee has authorised a further investment of opening a new HSBC premium branch to open in Thailand in 2011(Enterprising news, 2011). 2.1.2. Locations of operation: HSBC as one of the giant local bank in the world has its Headquarter in London and it is appearing in 8000 locations in 80 countries and the territories are across Europe, North, Central and South America, the Asia-Pacific region, the Middle East and Africa. Particularly HSBC has 1500 branches across UK (HSBC, 2011). 2.1.3. Business change: HSBC as one of the world giant bank has gone through a radical business change by adapting online Banking system. Where consumer can do their business activities after the banking hours close. The online banking system has identified to make flexible and conducive service for customer. In online banking customer can easily transfer the money, apply for credit card, apply for loan, apply for mortgage and also can apply for job as well (HSBC, 2011). 2.2: Assessment of Human resource Requirements in given situation: HSBC bank has bought the Indian retail and commercial businesses of Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS.L) as the part nationalised UK bank it retreat from overseas markets. According to HSBC it would pay a premium of up to $95 million over the tangible net asset value(TNAV) of the business after the deal has completed probably in the fast half of the next (2011) year (reuters.com) 2.2.1. Government policy (Regional): Human resource management policies of HSBC bank in fact, Government polices about the employees of RBS in India over the Acquisitions has remained unchanged as the Royal bank of Scotland in India 83% is owned by the British Government (reuters.com) 2.2.3. Government policy (Education): To make more skilled and more productive employee in the organisation HSBC Strategic Human resource programme has started running online academies by what allows the personnel to make their personal development programme. The online academy provide self-assessment programme, exams to the users who will find out where the position of the employees in the organisation and match this against the skills of what position they can look for (personeltoday.com). 2.3: Develop a Human resource Plan for HSBC Bank: HSBC as one of the biggest Bank in the world has its Human Resource management is very rich. It has to develop a human resource plan for its Human resource performance. Here I am as a Human resource manager of HSBC bank creating a Human Resource plan. 2.3.1. Organisational Objectives: HSBC as world local bank its plan must be based on SMART (Specific, Achievable, Measurable, Realistic and Time based). In terms of supplying best service all staff must be concern with objectives. 2.3.2. Selection and Recruitment: Selection is the initial stage of identifying the right people need for the organisation. After the selection process recruitment process must be based on the organizational structure to avoid the unwanted position. 2.3.3. Employee Development: Employee development plays a major role in the organisation. In HSBC bank there is a need for regularly revising Training programme. In average HSBC spends  £600 per employee on training programme delivered in 16 training centre worldwide. Here in the United Kingdom about 173,000 learning days so far recorded with around 33,000 employees attending face to face training (Thinking made easy, 2009). 2.3.4. Retention: Retention planning gives the chance to keep the skilled personnel in the organisation for long period. Developing a promotion and career plan aspect must be taken in order to avoid potential recruitment in the organisation. 2.4: Critically evaluate how human resource plan can contribute to meet HSBC bank objectives: The contribution of Strategic Human resource plan is to increase human resource activities performance in the organisation. It plays a vital role of providing the effectiveness in its action in order to improve the business performance. It attempts the link between personnel management practices and such as hard outcomes as profit (Millmore et,al 2007). The stages of contribution kept by human resource plan are defined below. 2.4.1. Improve performance: The contribution of Human Resource Management in the HSBC bank is to improve HR activities in the organisation. It is to identify in what are need to be develop or need to improve in order to provide extreme performance. 2.4.2. Business case (cost): The contribution of strategic human resource management is to reducing the cost of unwanted expense in HR practice. Minimising the cost is one of the key element of practising extreme human resource activities in HSBC bank. 2.4.3. Succession planning: HSBC has one of the key objective of Managing Growth is a strategic plan of implement formal and friendly behave between staffs. By what they understand that they can have skilful and perspective people in the organisation (Thinking made easy, 2009). 3.1. Explain the purpose of Human resource management in HSBC Bank: The purpose of human resource management in HSBC bank is in very wide perspective. It has mainly to identify and reserve the Human Resource activities in the organisation. The policies of HR in HSBC bank are 3.1.1. Health and Safety: HSBC bank put great importance on Health and safety to make sure that a safe environment is exist in the organization the measure of risk may arise from possible terrorist attack, the environmental disaster to fire, accident and diseases.. HSBC has encouraged its employees to take health and safety as a part of their own responsibility (Thinking made easy, 2009). 3.1.2. Equity and diversity: In HSBC bank Equity and Diversity programme is practised with lots of integrity. To develop the best diversity practice HSBC introduced locally the strategy of diversity Toolkit programme in 2004 in Hong Kong. To enhance the consciousness of the issue and develop a database of cultural and business etiquette HSBC introduced an interactive diversity competition on the employees intranet in Hong Kong (Thinking made easy, 2009). 3.1.3. Bullying and Harassment: HSBC as the world local bank has put the individual specific employee policies are imposed by the legislation and the regional cultural norms. All personnel are accountable for behaving colleagues with respect and dignity for creating the atmosphere free from Discriminations, Harassments and Victimisations. Unable to be abided by the policy may be subject to disciplinary procedures (Thinking made easy, 2009). 3.1.4. Working time and time off: HSBC bank has statutory requirement working hours and leave. Most of the staffs are required to work maximum 48 hours average in the working week. Any agreements must be writing and signed by worker. The bank has made detailed regulation on maximum rest period. The employees are entitled to take maximum of 5.6 weeks paid leave a year. The employees are also entitled to take, paternity leave, maternity leave, parental leave, abortion leave and the leave for family reason (hsbc.co.uk). 3.2. Analyse the impact of regulatory requirements on Human Resource policies in HSBC bank: The impact of regulatory requirements on Human Resource policies in HSBC bank is very important and essential for proper practice of regulatory policies and abides by the rules. It has emphasised on exercising Employment legislation and legal and regulatory requirements including pay, discrimination, equality employment right and responsibilities. The impact of regulatory requirements policies in HSBC bank are discussed below. 3.2.1 Sex discrimination act: Under the sex discrimination act 1995/1997 it is illegal to discriminate against someone o grounds of their sex (including gender re-assignment) or marital status (including civil partnerships) or on grounds of their actual and perceived sexual orientation. No one can discriminate because of the pregnancy or maternity (hsbc.co.uk). Race relation act: Under the race relation act 1992 it is illegal to discriminate against someone on grounds of Race, Colour, Nationality or Ethnic minority origins or on the grounds of their religion or philosophical beliefs. Anyone become failure to be abided by the rules would be faced proper action of termination (hsbc.co.uk). Employment act: under the employment act 2008 HSBC has introduced the basic employment law to the staff. The recruitment law cover the discrimination on number of grounds is illegal for instance, race, sex, age, disability, sexual orientation. Part time employees have the right to be treated with full respect as the full-timers have. Employees must deduct for NI and tax contribution from their wages, and pay them to Customs HM revenue under pay as you earn. Dismissing someone is automatically unfair and discriminatory if the dismissal is due to pregnancy or any reason to do with the childbirth (hsbc.co.uk). Task 3 Task 3: Review Human Resource Management in British Airways 4.1. Analyse the impact of organisational structure on the management of Human Resources According to Mintzberg (1979; Mintzberg et al 1998) there are two basic approaches to the formation of organisational structure, the contingency approach and configuration approach. The contingency approach of the structure of an organisation will depend on factors like the nature of the business and its strategy, its size, the geographical span of its activities, its age and history and the nature of the environment. He argues that rather than adapting the contingency approach it is sometimes better to base structure on configuration approach, factors like span of control, the need for formalization centralization and decentralization and planning system should be logically configured into internally consistent grouping (Stonehouse Campbell, 2004). Organisational structure is form of model which indicates the segmented management level and the imposed responsibilities belong to individuals. Impact of strategic HRM on the British Airways organisational structure is to set up a frame work in the favour of reducing unwanted vacancies, make positive and constructive formation in the organisation. Organisational structure of British Airways has given below. Geographical Impact: British airways as one of the biggest airline company in the world have great impact of its operation in all over the world. The organisational structure has big influence on running the Human resource in the company. Strategic HR and its function are involved with the company in order to make proper recruitment process to the promotion in that organisation and employ the right people in the right place. In terms of reducing the unprofitable routes and make the productive practice of Strategic Human Resource. Centralization impact: Centralization of British Airways organisational structure can put huge impact on its operation. British Airways business which is value adding activities can be highly impacted and effective by practising centralization of its organisational structure. The decision making process of centralized structural activities can produce the competitive market for British Airways. British Airways Organizational Structure (the official.com) 4.2 Analyse the impact of British airways organisational Culture on the management of human resources: Organisational culture: Organisation culture is the key element of management practice. In the aspect of organisational life culture keep a central and dimensional location in the organisation. Organisational culture sometimes perceived an explicit attention by how people think about the company, the value and the ideas how guided by the meaning and the belief of a cultural nature. Managing the organisational culture is important and the perception of it understand by the corporate world can develop the cultural practice and the performance (Alvesson, 2002). Organisational culture is the form of cognition and ideas, ideologies and the value of the organisation internal behaviour. This is kept in people mind when they work for British airways. Nurture the aspect of organisational culture in mind practise the responsibly is the progressive way of developing human resource in British airways. The relationship between culture and HRM functions: The relationship between culture and HRM function is very common and internally linked. HRM function includes Resourcing, Development, performance management, pay and conditions and employees relationship has the contingency approach to each others. The functions of HRM and the culture are practised at the same time to develop and exercise the Strategic Human resource management in the organisation. British airways can be idealised with this practice of cultural HRM functions to make en effective Human resource in the organisation. 4.3. Examining how the effectiveness of Human Resource management in British Airways: The effectiveness of Human resource management is to improve the existing business in BA. Human resource management strategy, human resource policies and Human resource operation is to provide the competitive advantages in the organisation. The contribution of HRM is to provide the achievement for organisation, help to acquire BA goals, reducing the cost, and increase the benefit by practising it. Organisational goal: Strategic human resource has identified the several field of effectiveness in BA. BA has the goal to develop customer focused and the performance of HRM that offer rewards for individual performance but also the recognition of different employee in the business has different demand in terms of benefit, Training and development (2009/2010 annual report) Human resources efficiency: Human resource efficiency means the activeness of the operation is provided by those people who are working for BA. British Airways has total manpower of 36832 across the operation which is the reduction of 3800 staff in the previous year (2009) all on voluntary terms. To improve the business BA has finished restructuring of the management in order to increase accountability of the business. It is now exploring the new way of boost the efficiency in staff to get better value for consumer by focusing the improvement of employees engagement (2009/2010 annual report). Performance Indicator: Performance indicator is a process of identifying the individual employees activity measurements. BA have the right Human resource leader of right support with motivation to create high performance HR culture, that means the managers may involve with the employees to get high class productivity. To measure the individual performance the surveys report will be introduced quarterly and include the engagement index by what managers can track and take the action (2009/2010 annual report). 4.4. Make justified recommendations to improve the effectiveness of Human Resource management in British Airways: British Airways is the UKs high profile and largest international scheduled airline. It flies the consumer at convenient times to the best located Airport around the globe. British Airways is the world leading global premium Airline with 144 Boeing, 84 Airbuses, 3 Avros and 7 Embraer E-jets. It has one of the world biggest structural and multicultural infrastructures around the world. Proper implementation of Human Resource practice can bring the effectiveness and the outstanding productivity in that organisation. This can help BA to achieve its target market and expected goals. Justified Recommendation: The effectiveness of strategic Human Resource management in BA is to perform the organisational performance of combination with strategic structure and the strategic cultural programme in order o provide better service to the customer. The effectiveness of the theory to adapt and implement existent structural and cultural exercises by utilising the resources it has to bring the improvement in the practice of human resource in the organisation. Regular monitoring programme, Reporting and Meetings could be very effective way to justify the performance of Human resource in British Airways in terms of improving the effectiveness. Benchmarking HR performance: Internal performance programme standard can be the effective way by looking at the comparative HR performance of others Airline Company of the same categorical or the look at the similar Airline Company that is providing the same service in the industry. British Airways can have in effect, the existence strategic HR groups by benchmarking against similar Airline Company rather than the individual. BA may be performing badly and loosing the competitiveness against others Airline organisations that can justify customers needs in different way.

Fingernail Phenomenon :: essays research papers

In late September, I went shopping for my seven-year-old cousin. The first place was Toys R Us. After finding what I needed, I went to the checkout line to purchase the items. I thought something was wrong with me, but it was the cashier. The first things I saw were ten lime-green fingernails. They matched her lime-green shirt, which matched her shorts, which matched her socks that matched her shoes. I started to ask her, "Why did you do that to your fingernails?" but I kept it to myself. Then I went to the 99-cent store in Cutler Ridge Mall. Not surprisingly, the cashier was also wearing an outfit with matching fingernails. So I asked her, "Why did you paint your fingernails the same color as your clothes?" She giggled, then replied, "Because it completes the outfit." "So, what happens if you buy an outfit in a color you don't have in nail polish?" I asked. She paused with a puzzled look on her face. I stated, "Thank you, and have a nice day." and walked off. Is this a requirement to be a cashier? Do men have this obsession? Why is it important for one to spend extra time doing the unnecessary? The greatly overlooked fingernails play an important role in everyday life, are examples of the way we learn, and have introduced an unknown creativity to many. Most women view their fingernails as jewelry. On an evening when pure elegance is required, one would rarely see a woman without a manicure. A man's fingernails would almost always look the way they did on the previous day. Every Saturday morning, manicure shops around the world are booked, from open to close, by women who want to be completed for the next week. Why is this needed for one's appearance to be complete? It is just one more cover for a woman's insecurities. Like makeup, the fingernails are dressed up to distract someone from their natural beauty. The nails are used as a stool in order to meet the standard of the "perfect look." Nails tend to be one of the first things women look for on other women to see if they are being "outdone." And if so, then the next time around, the second best must be the best, instead of being naturally beautiful. Women in general are naturally beautiful, but because of certain ads in television, and in magazines, they feel as though perfection is where beauty lies.

Groups and High-Performance Teams

Abstract Today’s leaders face many challenges in the creation of a high-performing team. Effective leaders are able to assemble a high-performance team with good hierarchical balance, measurable and attainable goals, and appropriate communication expectations across the team. They promptly address conflict resolutions and break down all physical barriers in managing multi-city offices and dispersed employees. By paying close attention to team demographics and diversity, good leaders will establish a solid group foundation which will result in a high-performance team.Groups and High-Performance Teams There are many factors that affect a team’s behavior and overall performance. Group demographics and diversity can ultimately play a key role in the success or failure of any team. This paper will identify some of the challenges that today’s leaders face in turning a group into a high-performance team, and the impact of demographic characteristics and cultural diversi ty on group behavior. Groups vs. Teams As defined by Schermerhorn (2005), â€Å"A group is a collection of two or more people who work with one another regularly to achieve common goals.An effective group is one that achieves high levels of task performance, member satisfaction, and team viability. † Teams on the other hand, are usually time-limited groups that get together to achieve a common purpose. â€Å"An essential criterion of a true team is that the members feel ‘collectively accountable’ for what they accomplish. † (Schermerhorn, 2005). The manager or team leader must remember the importance of the team members’ ability to associate themselves with a group identity and begin to form an attachment to their teammates. The fact is that it takes a lot more work to build a well-functioning team than simply assigning members to the same group and then expecting them to do a great job. † (Shcermerhorn, 2005). Team Identity Setting a teamâ₠¬â„¢s identity is one of the first steps a manager must take in forming a high-performing team. As we often witness in the sports world, a team’s identity can help to rally team members and build camaraderie amongst its members. The same approach holds true in a business setting. Computer Weekly (2004) reports, â€Å"The project start process can also be used to build team identity and build psychological attachment between members. (p. 24). This psychological attachment will serve as the foundation upon which the team is built and will affect the team’s overall performance. According to Turk (2005), â€Å"As the project manager you need to build a staff that can get the job done. You need the right mix of expertise, creativity, flexibility, enthusiasm, and experience. † ( p. 30). These key attributes will work to motivate other team members and assist the manager in establishing the appropriate balance to the team. Team Diversity When forming effective teams, managers must consider team synergy an important goal, and diversity plays a major role.Managers should strive to create the appropriate balance between workers and their personality types. As Martinette (2005) points out, â€Å"Work groups and teams that have too many people of one type or another soon find themselves out of balance. † (p. 117). â€Å"For good problem solving and decision making, you need a diversity of personality types. † (Hill, 2005, p. 37). Striking the proper team balance is important and balance does not mean people with a background and disposition just like the boss. Many types of diversity are to be expected on any team, and can be the source of many differences of opinion.Age, gender, ethnicity, and personality differences can affect the team’s cohesiveness, or non-cohesiveness as may be. Obviously, with a diverse group the possibilities of conflict increase, but so do the possibilities of a greater outcome. Hill (2005) gives us an ex ample, â€Å"Meetings are more raucous and consensus is harder to achieve. But these arguments often spark new ideas. As a result, the company is constantly spawning and sculpting new innovations in a way the old team never did. † (p. 38). Differences in world view can create dynamic conversations and results, if the team can learn how to effectively deal with conflict.According to D Andrea-O Brien and Buono (1996), â€Å"True team learning is the ability of members to†¦ build on their knowledge so that their collective knowledge enables them to continually improve team†¦ performance as well as to discover, develop and implement completely new ways of doing business (p. 1). Demographics Managing remote employees is a growing challenge for many of today’s leaders. It is not just about managing employees at satellite offices; it is also managing telecommuters who work a certain number of days from their home offices.A manager needs to understand the complexiti es of managing a virtual team and communicating across the boundaries of time zones, organizations and cultures. Good communication practices as well as building personal relationships are both key to working with remote employees. As Pauleen (2003) states, â€Å"Effective communications is a key to successful virtual teams, and one of the keys to effective communications is how well team members are able to build and maintain their personal relationships. † (p. 229).Video conferencing works well and provides a company’s employees with a visual link that serves to backfill for the lack of face-to-face communications that employees would have if they were collocated. Trust and Motivation An important goal for managers, in addressing and monitoring a team’s behavior, is to develop the trust of his or her team members. Employees that trust one another will often be motivated to go the extra mile in meeting and exceeding team objectives. Team motivation is extremely important because it makes the team more effective.Stephen Covey (1989) states: â€Å"Unclear expectations in the area of goals also undermine communication and trust. † (p. 194). If goals seem unachievable, it could affect the teams buy-in to the whole process. Giving, receiving and being responsive to feedback should be a fundamental part of the team process. Conflict According to DeJanasz, Dewd and Schneider (2001), â€Å"Conflict is any situation in which there are incompatible goals, cognitions, or emotions within or between individuals or groups that lead to opposition or antagonistic interaction. † (p. 243).Conflict among team members is inevitable and desirable, because â€Å"conflict in itself is not the problem. It is, rather, our reactions to it that determine the impact, and causes us to characterize it as a negative experience. † (Porter, 2005, p. 1). It should be anticipated that the team will disagree, and therefore, conflict should be considered a part of the process. â€Å"In fact, if we define conflicts as simply differences of opinion, this is exactly what we want to happen. In bringing together a diverse group of experts, we expect and want these differences to surface because, in the end, we expect a better outcome or result. (The Team, p. 171). If everyone agreed, there would be no reason to team up to resolve a situation, or to come up with new ideas. Teams are developed for a specific purpose, and diverse opinions, ideas, and perspectives will make the team most effective. Conclusion Team diversity and demographics play a key role in determining the success or failure of any team. An appropriate understanding and acceptance of a diverse group will benefit the organization through innovative and diverse ideas. â€Å"Of course, that doesn’t mean you should go out of your way to hire people you don’t like.While a certain measure of conflict is healthy, too much conflict can be destructive. † (Hil l, 2005, p. 39). Paying close attention to team identity, trust, diversity, motivation and conflict resolution will go a long way in paving the road for a successful team outcome. Employees will appreciate that their leadership cares about these issues and will reward the team with their best efforts in meeting goals, which results in a high-performance team. References Computer Weekly. (2004, June). Plan your web project milestones. Computer Weekly. 4-54. Retrieved October 8, 2005 from Business Source Premier database. Covey, Stephen R. (1989). The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change. New York: Fireside. D Andrea-O Brien, Charlene & Buono, Anthony F. (1999, Summer). Building effective learning teams: Lessons from the field. S. A. M. Advanced Management Journal, 61(3), 1-6. Retrieved September 23, 2005, from ProQuest database. DeJanasz, Dewd & Schneider. (2001). Conflict: Sources and solutions. Interpersonal Skills in Organizations. Universit y of Phoenix Custom Edition e-text]. McGraw-Hill Companies. Retrieved October 3, 2005, from University of Phoenix, rEsource, GEN 300 – Skill for Professional Development Course Web site: https://ecampus. phoenix. edu/secure/resource/resource. asp. Hill, Dee. (2005, November). Dealing with diversity. Inc. , 27(11), 37-40. Retrieved January 13, 2006, from Academic Search Premier Database. Martinette, Jr. ,C. V. (2005, April). Leadership and Balance. Fire Engineering, 158, 117-126. Retrieved October 8, 2005 from Academic Search Premier database.Pauleen, David J. (2003, Winter). An Inductively Derived Model of Leader-Initiated Relationship Building with Virtual Team Members. Journal of Management Information Systems, 20, 227-256. Retrieved October 7, 2005 from Business Source Premier database. Porter, Sheila, J. D. Managing Conflict in Learning Teams. [University of Phoenix Custom Edition e-text]. Retrieved September 28, 2005, from University of Phoenix, rEsource, GEN 300  œ Skills for Professional Development Course Web site: https://ecampus. phoenix. edu/secure/resource/resource. asp.Schermerhorn, Jr. J. R. , Hunt, J. G. , and Osborn, R. N. (2005). Organizational Behavior (9th ed. ) Wiley. Hoboken, NJ. The Team Working Together. Chapter 12. [University of Phoenix Custom Edition e-text]. Retrieved September 26, 2005, from University of Phoenix, rEsource, GEN 300 – Skills for Professional Development Course Web site: https://ecampus. phoenix. edu/secure/resource/resource. asp. Turk, Wayne. (2005, May/June). Quality Management – A Primer. Defense & AT-L, 34, 30-33. Retrieved October 7, 2005 from Business Source Premier database.

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Entering vietnam essays

Entering vietnam essays Entering the Vietnam War Vietnam is a beautiful, highly varied country with a very long history of struggle for independence. For thousands of years, the vietnamese had fought to preserve their distinct language and culture against invaders by first repelling the Chinese, the Japanese, the French and then finally the US. Few arguments about the Vietnam war take into account all aspects of Vietnams two thousand year history of hard-fought existence. And that is what most people believe is the essence of the Vietnam tragedy. The Vietnam war began soon after the Geneva Conference provisionally divided, in 1954, Vietnam at the 17 North Lat. into the Demorcratic Republic of Vietnam, North Vietnam, and into the Republic of Vietnam, South Vietnam. In part, the war was a legacy of France's colonial rule, which ended in 1954 with the French army's catastrophic defeat at Dien Bien Phu and the acceptance of the Geneva Conference agreements. The United States and many anti-communists did not support the accords. The US thought that the political protocols of the accords gave too much power to the Vietnamese Communists. To prevent the south from being over taken by the communists the US created the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization, or SEATO. Elections scheduled for 1956 in South Vietnam for the reunification of Vietnam were canceled by President Ngo Dinh Diem. His action was denounced by Ho Chi Minh, since the Communists had expected to benefit from them. After 1956, Diem's government faced increasingly serious opposition from the Viet Cong, insurgents aided by North Vietnam. The Viet Cong became masters of the guerrilla tactics of North 2 Vietnam's Vo Nguyen Giap. Diem's army received U.S. advice and aid, but was unable to suppress the guerrillas, who established a political organization, the National Liberation Front (NLF) in 1960. The Unite...

Choose one Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Choose one - Term Paper Example The $ 16.6 billion deal ensured that AT&T and SBC became the largest telecom company in the nation. Although from the perspective of both the companies, this deal was most certainly revolutionary; from the perspective of the consumers, it might not have been such good news. As a matter of fact various customer advocacy groups filed petition for the cancelation of the deal as the advocacy groups believed that this deal was bad for customers and bad for business. Several customer advocacy groups such as The Utility Reform Network, Office of Ratepayer Advocates presented a market research report by an economist belonging to the California Institute of Technology. (Brown, 2009, p. 209). According to the advocacy groups the research report showed that the merger would affect various services and also customers. Such a deal would not only kill the competition in the market; but also would increase the whole sale prices by almost fifteen percent. This would lead to monopoly in the market as it would reduce market concentration and choice of the customers. A part from the telecommunication market the report also suggested that in Los Angles alone the choice of commercial buildings may go down by more than seventy percent as the newly merged company may end up controlling almost 80 percent of the buildings. A part from the rising wholesale prices the merger would also lead to a rise in the retail prices. The elimination of choices would increase the wholesale price almost by fifteen percent leading to the much higher retail prices for data and voice services used by the customers. Another major factor would be collusion not to compete. Verizon and SBC would continue to avoid competition due to the merger. This could be seen even in the cities where the businesses operate quite close to the distribution channels. One prime example could be LA. In LA the marketing channels of both Verizon and SBC over laps quite scarcely. Hence the customer groups advocated that after the merger the choices of the customers would go down, prices may go up as consumers would have very less bargaining power; add to that market concentration would also increase. The consumer groups believed that the last thing that the business and the customers need is monopoly in the market. The merger would ultimately lead to very little number of competitors (Burgemeister, 2003). From the information presented by the customer advocacy groups the impact of the merger between the two companies on the national telecommunication market can be analyzed by using the porter’s five force analysis (Churchill, 2009). The rivalry among the existing firms would be low as the merger would kill competition. This would severely impact the smaller firms. As a result the industry competition would be low. Due to the lack of competition the bargaining power of the buyers would be low as the buyers would have very little choices. As a result the company can increase the prices. The bargaining power of the suppliers would also be low. As there would be very less competition in the market, just like the customers the suppliers would also have a very little option resulting in lowered cost of raw materials. Threat of new entrants would be very low. The merger leading to monopoly may lead to a situation where, the merged company can achieve economies of scale and strong brand equity. This would most certainly acts as major barriers to entry to

Traumatic Brain Injury in the military Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Traumatic Brain Injury in the military - Essay Example According to DHCC (2010), "TBI is often associated with severe multiple trauma, post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or undiagnosed concussions and screening patients who are at risk for a TBI is important in order to ensure that TBIs are identified and appropriately treated." In this essay, TBI among military personnel will be discussed briefly. Any insult to the brain due to some form of external force is known as traumatic brain injury. According to DHCC (2010), "A traumatic brain injury (TBI) is defined as a blow or jolt to the head or a penetrating head injury that disrupts the function of the brain." The injury can lead to any sequelae like altered consciousness, impaired cognition, delirium and impaired physical functioning. These changes can lead to various problems with thinking, language, movement, concentration and even sensation. TBI can also lead to other emotional and personality changes, tiredness, depression, violence, irritability, disinhibited behavior and lack of ability to carry out day-to-day activities. Among the military personnel, those who are on active duty are at more risk of suffering TBI when compared to their civilian peers. In general, statistics show that men between 18- 24 years of age are at increased risk of TBI when compared to other age groups (DVBIC, 2009). It is also important to note than TBI can occur even during daily activities, especially when they are unusual. Military personnel frequently enjoy certain non-service activities like climbing mountains, parachuting, riding motor cycles and car racing. These activities may be a part of their daily physical training. These services are basically intended to increase their quality of life, however; they are also fraught with increased risk of TBI (DVBIC, 2009). Spinal cord injuries and TBI account for about 25 percent of casualities related to combat (DVBIC, 2009). The most common type of combat-related injury is concussion and mild traumatic brain injury. In current scen ario, use of protective devices like Kelvar helmets and various types of advanced body armours have infact, minimized the incidence of TBI and have saved the lives of many military personnel. But these gadgets do not protect the frontal aspects of the head, the facial parts and also the spinal cord. Thus, though advanced medical care helps in improving survival rates, the long terms effects of the injuries continue to haunt the personnel (DVBIC, 2009). TBIs in military operations are often complex and can be of multiple types. A blast can cause sudden both external and internal injuries. It can cause contusions and concussions in the brain. Flying fragments of the blast can cause tear of various structures and lead to various sequelae. The various signs and symptoms related to TBI depend on the extent and area of injury. In war, poly trauma can occur and due to other organ damage and injury to other parts of the body, it is often difficult to predict the extent of brain injury. Whil e most symptoms are obvious immediately after the injury, some may manifest a few days or even a few weeks after injury. Some patients may present with simple problems like confabulation wherein the individual cooks up stories in gaps of memory (Kennard, 2006). In mild TBI, there may be no obvious changes on CT or MRI scan. However, the patient may present with few symptoms like blurring of