Policy Evaluation Analysis Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Policy Evaluation Analysis - Research Paper Example Currently, public education in the US is offered by district public schools and Charter schools according to Stuart (2002). Charter schools are not government-run, instead, they are opened and attended by choice. The policy of funding Charter schools using federal funds was authorized by President Bush in the NCLB Act in order to stimulate their development. However, this is done indirectly done by transferring the money allocated for each child enrolled in a Charter school, from their former district schools. This means that the relationship between a Charter school and the district sponsoring it could facilitate or hinder its access to federal funding (US Government Accountancy Office 1998). Some Charter schools are considered as LEAs and receive direct deferral funding. Finnigan et al (2004) and Ascher et al. (2004) state that in terms of funding, charter schools receive funding according to enrollment. In many cases, Charter schools receive lesser funds as compared to other publi c schools due to imperfections in money transfers (Reville, 2007). Stuart (2002) adds that Charter schools do not receive funding for securing facilities. This causes them to seek operation costs outside the federal funds for example through donation. However there is a recent federal legislation which allows that allocation of start-up costs to Charter schools. This paper gives an evaluation and analysis of this policy. Policy evaluation time The policy of using federal money to fund Charter schools has to be evaluated before the end of the next financial year. This is because the results from the evaluation will be useful in determining any changes that are required in terms of funding. For example, it will help in determining the effect of this funding policy on Charter schools since it started in 2002 as noted by Finnigan et al. (200). These include the performance of Charter schools, costs, quality, program, and goal attainment levels. A knowledge of the extent of the achieveme nt of its goals will therefore determine amount of funding or additional funding required. These changes will then be included in the next federal budget and will be reflected in the amount of money set aside for public education. Policy evaluation process According to Theodoulou and Koffins (2004), policy evaluation is a critical way of determining whether a policy works or not, whether it is achieving its intended functions and whether its impacts are intentional or not. In order to determine the successful implementation and outcomes of a certain policy, an all round evaluation has to be conducted. This means that an application of the four policy evaluation typologies should be done. These include process evaluation, impact evaluation, outcome evaluation and cost-benefit evaluation. Process evaluation analyses how well a certain program or policy is being implemented. It is normally done with an aim of determining necessary actions that are required to improve its implementation . In order to achieve this, the government has to determine why the policy is performing at current levels and identify any problems. This requires the use of sampling in order to determine the extent to which Charter schools have been receiving federal funds, the amounts and effectiveness in delivery of funds (Theodoulou and Koffins, 2004). The government has

How Has Huck Changed Essay Example for Free

How Has Huck Changed Essay In the beginning novel, Huck struggles against society and its attempts to civilize himself, which was represented by the Widow Douglas, Miss Watson, and other adults. Later, this conflict gains more focus in Huck’s dealings with Jim, as Huck must decide whether to turn Jim in, as society demands, or to protect and help his friend instead. The most significant way in which Huck changes his attitude is with Jim, by excepting him as a person. Towards the end of chapter 15, Huck plays a trick on Jim when they got separated in the fog. Huck tries to convince Jim that hes been drinking because when they found each other, Huck explains hes never gone anywhere, hes been by his side the whole time. Then Huck goes off saying, â€Å"Well, this is too many for me, Jim. I haint see fog, nor no islands nor no troubles You couldnt a got drunk in that time, so of course youve been dreaming.† (84) Jim at this point is confused because how can he dream all that in ten minutes. Later on, as Huck realizes that lying to Jim about that whole incident was wrong of him, he apologizes to him. It was quite a thing for a white person to apologize to a black person in that time so it show that he is growing emotions towards Jim. He realizes why lie to him if colored people get taken advantage of all the time, Huck didn’t want to be one of those white people who did. More important, he eventually takes charge and tells the truth no matter what the outcome is, and has changed from a juvenile boy who doesnt care if others are tricked, to a more civilized boy who protects innocent people.

Concept And Definition Of Hrp Business Essay

Concept And Definition Of Hrp Business Essay It is very natural that, the continual positive development of any business owe to its effective planning. Making all the necessary preparations and appropriate arrangements proactively basing upon what is expected to happen in future and performing a series of tasks and activities accordingly in a systematic and organized way is one of the important functions of management, which necessitates an effective and proactive planning process. Proper planning and designing an effective organizational structure by assigning an assortment of responsibilities to the concerned employees may help the business organizations to accomplish their set of objectives. Putting the right person at the right place and at the right time is essentially much important to any business as it comprises of a wide and comprehensive range of activities in relation to the management of man. Manpower power planning, not only focuses on the effective utilization of existing human elements but also concern in fulfill ing future manpower need of the organizations at the time of need. Man power planning is the process of determining manpower needs and the means and ways to meet those needs in order to carry out the integrated organizational plan. It is very much indispensable for any organization to perform the activities efficiently and to produce desired results. It is an apparently well known fact that, the success of any business highly rest upon the competent people that a business organization posses. Man power planning is considered as crucial functions of human resource management. It gives due importance to the human element than that of material elements and strive to manage and maintain the good will of a business. It endeavours to add to the organizational development and success of the business with due recognition of knowledge, skills, competence, experiences, expertise and talent of the employees. Effective recruitment and selection process follows an effective manpower planning process in fulfilling future manpower need as and when needed by the organisation. That necessitates manpower planning process and put lot of significance to it. At the same time, it contributes significantly to the achievement of organizational objectives by avoiding overstaffing and understaffing. However, although the notion of Human Resource Planning is well established in the HRM vocabulary, in practice, it does not seem to be as key HR activity. Need for man power planning is continuously driven by many of the factors in the organizations. It is essential when labour turnover is to be determined. There are situations that compel to replace older employees, disabled personnel and people whose medical conditions cause disturbances to usual functioning of the organisation. While executing effectively, man power planning process entails analyzing the requirements of present and future vacancies. These situations usually take place at the time of retirements, transfer of employees or they are upgraded due to promotion. Similarly, manpower planning is inevitable to deal with the situations that arise at the time, when employees avail their leaves or in case of their absences. In order to carry out the assigned task in a planned or intended way business organizations need personnel having necessary qualifications and experience which can be accomplished optimally through a effective man power planning process. Manpower planning is of great importance in identifying the surplus and shortages of the employees. In case of surplus, the man power may be redeployed from one area or activity to another in case of the former, whereas shortages demand providing required personnel. Man power demand forecasting, manpower supply forecasting and manpower audit are some of the important tasks concerning the process of manpower planning. Manpower demand involves estimating total man power requirements and planning accordingly. Then, the next step in manpower planning process is man power supply forecasting. It comprises of both internal supply forecasting and external supply forecasting. Internal supply forecasting works when the employees are transferred or promoted, while the need of external supply arises from the requirement of new workers when a business expands or there is change in technology or adopts new methods of production. In addition to that the process entails man power audit. Manpower audit is carried out through Skills inventory. It provides detail information about each employee. The overall value of an employee in an organization is also determined through skills inventory. For the sustenance of the key workers, man power audit analyses the factor s that compels and propels the employees to leave the current jobs and move elsewhere. As a result of which necessary measures may be taken to curb the rate of turnover in the context maximum utilization of Human Resources. Manpower planning is significant for the best interest of employees as well as for organization. While implementing appropriate selection procedures for the right candidates, Human resource planning undertakes proper recruitment methods and thereby preserves the individual talents of the employees. It focuses on assessing the requirement and the arrangement of training and development programs for the employees in order to equip them with the prerequisites of job. Manpower planning also focuses on the promotion procedures for competent people who can be entrusted with the challenges of advanced tasks. The inefficiencies of the employees are also identified by means of manpower planning process. So that necessary training may be provided leading towards improving employee morale. In this way the manpower planning process improves productivity and efficiency of the employees and their performance may be more effective and they can contribute optimally to the total organizational develo pment. Above all, the success of any business revolves round the quantity and quality of human resources of that particular organisation. CONCEPT AND DEFINITION OF HRP HRP is supposed to be an integral part of total organizational planning. The Human Resource Planning includes managerial activities that contribute to set the companys future objectives .It also determines appropriate means and ways for achieving those objectives. Where as organizational planning facilitates the realization of the companys future objectives and determines appropriate means for achieving those objectives. HRP is a systematic effort that comprises of three key elements: Workforce forecast Manpower assessment Staffing programme According to Leon C. Megginson, Human Resource Planning is an integrated approach to perform the planning aspects of the personnel function. It ensures sufficient supply of adequately developed and motivated workforce to perform the required duties and tasks to meet organizations objectives by satisfying the individual needs and goals of organizational members. Stainer defines manpower planning as a strategy for the acquisition, utilization, improvement, and preservation of human resources of an enterprise. It is a way of dealing with people in a dynamic situation. It relates to establishing job specifications or the qualitative requirements of job determining the number of personnel required and developing sources of supply of manpower. Human resource planning determines the determinants of changing job requirement. Technological advancement that requires introduction of new equipment, product, and process and invariably resulting in changes in jobs and job structure in an organization can be dealt with proper manpower planning. It is therefore, manpower planning is essential for the organization to meet the demands of future job requirements in order to survive and remain competitive. Otherwise, the organizations experiencing the effect of rapid technological change will face the shortages of skilled employees in the absence of effective human resource planning. HRP can be defined as the task of assessing and anticipating the skill, knowledge and labour time requirements of the organization and initiating necessary action to fulfil those requirements. If the organization is declining, it may need a reduction plan or redeploys its existing labour force. On the other hand, if it is growing or diversifying, it requires finding and tapping suitable sources of skilled labour. According to Coleman HR planning is The process of determining manpower requirements and the means for meeting those requirements to carry out the integrated plan of the organization. Manpower planning is the Strategy for acquisition, utilization, improvement and preservation of an enterprises Human Resources. It is the process by which management determines the path for the organization to move from its current manpower position to its desired manpower position in order to carry out integrated plan of the organization. Vetter (1967) defines Human Resource Planning as the process by which management determines how the organization should move from its current manpower position to its desired position. Through planning, management strives to have the right number and the right kind of people, at the right places, at the right time, doing right things resulting in maximum long-run benefits both for the organization and for the individual. Human resource planning takes place within the broad framework of organizational and strategic business planning. It involves forecasting the organizations future human resource needs and planning accordingly to meet those needs. It also includes establishing objectives and then developing and implementing HR programs like staffing, appraising, compensating, and providing training in order to ensure that people with the appropriate skills are available as and when the organization needs them. It may also include developing and implementing programs to improve employee performance or to increase employee satisfaction and involvement in order to boost organizational productivity, quality, or innovation (Mills, 1985b). Finally, human resource planning includes gathering data that can be used to evaluate the effectiveness of ongoing planning programs which will be useful for the planners when revisions in their forecasts and programs are needed. Human resource planning is the process of systematically reviewing human resource requirements to ensure that the required numbers of employees with requisite skills are available at the time of need. Human resource planning encompasses four elements: Quantity: No of employees Quality : Required, skills, knowledge and abilities Space: for which department, unit and level Time: at which point of time and how long Nature and Scope of HRP HRP includes identifying both present and future needs of various types of employees in an organisation, comparing these needs with the present workforce, and determining the numbers and types of employees to be recruited. Persons can be recruited and selected from outside the organisation or selected out of the organisations potential group and fit them into the organisational set up to get the best out of them. While extracting the best out of the employees, the organisation has also a responsibility to protect the interests of employees in terms of their career prospects, adequate compensation for their work, providing the best work environment and developing a culture of interpersonal, intrapersonal, employee-employer relationship and introduce a sense of quality consciousness within everyone to produce the best. Leading Features of HRP The leading features of HRPs are listed below. It is systematic in approach. It ensures a continuous and proper staffing. It checks on occupational imbalances i.e shortages or surplus occurring in any of the department of the organization. There is a certain degree of flexibility, which is meant for modifications and alterations in accordance with the needs of the organization or to adopt with the changing circumstances. Manpower plans can be done both at micro and at the macro levels. Thus, HRP is a kind of risk management tool. It involves realistically appraising the present human resources and anticipating the future need as far as possible in order to get the right people into right jobs at the right time. Underlying Factors of HRP Undoubtedly, there are a lot many factors that contribute for the increased attention towards human resource planning. Again, environmental forces like globalization, new technologies, economic conditions, and changing characterstics of work forces create complexity and add uncertainty for organizations. Therefore, organizations typically attempt to reduce the interference of uncertainty. While attempting so, formal planning is considered as one common tactic used by organizations to buffer themselves from environmental uncertainty (Thompson, 1967). Manpower Planning vs Human Resource Planning Manpower planning or HR planning both can be used interchangeably. HR planning is more broad-based. Human Resources planning refer to planning conducted for all aspects of Human Resources. It takes care of training, employee safety, recruitment, manning levels, Performance Management and so on. But manpower planning basically tends to revolve predominantly around numbers. The number of people required to perform efficiently and productively in order to produce the best results with minimum cost is known as manpower planning. However, these concepts are always evolving and are variously called as manpower planning, personnel planning or employment planning and human resource planning. Levels of HRP Human resource planning is done at various levels. The purpose of manpower planning determines its level. However, broadly level of manpower planning falls in the following categories. National Level: At National level, government of India undertake macro human resource plans for the entire country by anticipating the demand for and supply of human requirements at the national level. Sectoral Level: Along with central government various state governments of the country also plan human resource requirements for different sectors of the economy. Sectoral level manpower planning endeavours to cater the needs of manpower requirements of some particular sectors like Agriculture Sector, Industrial Sector and Service Sector. Industry Level: To cater to the manpower needs of a particular industry such as Engineering and Heavy Industries, Paper Industries, and Consumer Goods Industries, Public Utility Industries, Textile, Cement/Chemical Industries and so on and so forth industry level manpower planning is done. Unit/ Departmental Level: To take care the manpower needs of a particular department in a company such as Marketing Department, Production Department, Finance Department, etc unit or department level manpower planning is conducted. Job Level: Man power planning at job level fulfils the human resource requirements of a particular job family within a department. For example, the requirement of number of sales executives in the marketing department or customer care people in customer care department is done by planning at the level of Job. Periods of HRP Short -Term Human Resource Planning: Short term Human resource planning primarily focuses on designing and implementing the activities like recruitment, selection systems, and training programs to serve short-term organizational needs. Generally such activities involve an element of planning that is future-oriented to some extent. Short-term human resource planning is done to achieve long term objectives of the organisation. Long-Term Human Resource Planning: Increasingly, long-term human resource planning is done minimum for the period of three years or sometimes beyond that. Long term human resource planning is critical for the effective functioning of organizations. The rapidly changing world and highly competitive marketplace is causing firms to turn their focus on human resources for survival and competitiveness. Effective long-term human resource planning demands integration of the skills and knowledge of the manpower planner and all other executives who are responsible for strategic planning. Intermediate -Term Human Resource Planning: Human resource planning is a risk averting tool and buffer organizations from future uncertainty. Since, human resource programs such as recruitment, selection, training, and motivation of employees ensures availability of required number of people with appropriate skills at all levels in the organizations and thereby it help to reduce uncertainty. Short term human resource planning is associated with very little uncertainty about which skills and how many people will be needed. For which it is relatively easy to predict supply. However, due to rapid, turbulent and ongoing changes in todays business environment, it is difficult to anticipate future by simply projecting past trends. When the focus of planning shifts from short term to intermediate term, what is the requirement of an organisation becomes dominant problem so also the uncertainty related to the question of availability. As a result of which more technical attention is required to be given to the problem of forecasting. To minimise the uncertainty in intermediate term human resource planning, interaction between the human resource planner and line managers is even more critical for making accurate demand and supply forecasts. PURPOSE, NEED AND OBJECTIVE OF HRP Purposes of HRP   The primary function of Personnel planning is to analyze and evaluate the available human resources within the organization. It also determines how to obtain the kinds of needed personnel to staff various organisational positions starting from assembly line workers to chief executives.   Smaller companies have assigned the function of HR planning to the human resource department or personnel department. Larger corporations have separate departments for this function.  Personnel planning aims at minimisation of waste in employing people, lessen uncertainty of current personnel levels and future needs, and eliminate mistakes in staffing pattern.   The purpose of Human Resource Planning aims at maintaining the required level of skill by avoiding workforce skill shortages, stopping the profit-eroding effects of being overstaffed or understaffed, preparing succession plans and shaping the optimum future work force composition by hiring the right skill in appropriate numbers. Need of HRP Manpower Planning is basically a two-phased process. It analyses the current human resources, makes manpower forecasts and thereby draw employment programmes. Manpower Planning serves organisational purpose in many ways. It ensures optimum use of manpower and capitalizes on the strength of organisations Human Resources. Talent reservoir of an organisation is maintained at any point of time. The assigned tasks can be carried out easily if people skills are readily available. All these things can be possible with the help of effective HR Planning that provide information beforehand. To forecast future requirements and provides control measures: Although planning is considered as the essential process of management, HRP becomes especially critical when organizations go for mergers, relocation of plants, downsizing, right sizing or at time of closing of operating facilities. For example, expansion of scale of operations of any business requires advance planning that can ensure a continuous supply of people with appropriate skill set who can handle the challenges of the jobs easily. To face the challenges: Human resource planning helps the business to encounter the challenges that occur due to turbulent and hostile environmental forces like technology, social, economic and political factors. To adopt with technological changes: The change in technology in production, marketing methods and management techniques have been very extensive and rapid. It has profound effect both on job contents and job contexts. These changes may cause problems relating to redundancies, demand for retraining and redeployment, In order to cope with these changes, organisations need systematic manpower planning. To face Organizational Changes: The nature and pace of changes in organizational environment marked by cyclical fluctuations and discontinuities and the changes in activities and structures affect manpower positions of the organisation and require strategic considerations which necessitate perfect HR Planning. To determine recruitment/induction levels: A readily available HR plan can provide fairly good ideas about the kind of people are recruited and at what position. This will help in determining the kind of induction the organization require and thus can help to plan induction level successfully. To determine training level: Human Resource Planning helps in determining training levels in an organisation and lays foundation for management development programmes. To know the cost of manpower: In cases of expansions or opening up a new factory or if there is a new project organisation would require more number of human resources of different skill set. In those cases, Human Resource Planning helps in estimating the manpower cost. Hence a proper budgetary allocation can be made well in advance for this type of upcoming corporate strategic move. To assist in productivity bargaining: In case of automation, Human Resource Planning Data helps in negotiating for lesser workers as required for the same amount of the job. The organisation can offer higher incentives to smoothen the process of VRS, voluntary layoffs and so on. To assess physical facilities: Physical facilities such as accommodation ,canteen, school, medical help, etc. can also be planned well in advance, because a good HRP can assist in solving many problems of the firm, from day to day ones to very strategic ones. Moreover, Human Resource Planning helps in maintaining the stability of a concern preventing it to incur several intangible costs due to inadequate, improper or lack of HRP. For example, inadequate HRP may cause unfilled vacancies and the resulting loss in efficiency cost a lot to the organisation, particularly when the lead-time is required to train replacements. There are also situations in which employees are laid off in one department on the other hand applicants are hired for similar jobs in another department due to absence of proper HRP. There may be situation of over hiring resulting in the need to lay off effective employees. These are the variety of factors which necessitate Human Resource Planning in an organisation for optimum utilisation of Human Resources. Objectives of HRP The objective of human resource planning is to ensure the best fit between employees and jobs, while avoiding manpower shortages or surpluses. Human resource planning is a sub-system of the total organizational planning. It constitutes an integral part of corporate plan and serves the very purpose of organization in many ways. The primary purpose of human resource planning is to prepare for the future by reducing organizational uncertainty in relation to the acquisition, placement, and development of employees .Human resources planning is done to achieve the optimum use of human resources and to have the right types and correct number of employees to meet organizational goals. Objectives of Human Resource Planning are: Achieve Goal: Human Resource Planning helps in achieving individual, Organizational National goals. Since Human resource planning is linked with career planning, it can able to achieve individual goal while achieving organisational and national goal. Estimates future organizational structure and Manpower Requirements: Human Resource Planning is related with number of Personnel required for the future, job-family, age distribution of employees, qualification desired experience, salary range etc and thereby determines future organisation structure. Human Resource Audit: Human resource planning process is comprised of estimating the future needs and determining the present supply of Manpower Resources. Manpower supply analysis is done through skills inventory. This helps in preventing overstaffing as well as understaffing. Job Analysis: The process of studying and collecting information relating to operations and responsibilities of a specific job is called Job analysis. Job analysis is comprised of job description and job specification. Job description describes the duties and responsibilities of a particular job in an organized factual way. Job specification specifies minimum acceptable human qualities necessary to perform a particular job properly. Other objectives of HRP are as follows: To link human resource planning with organizational planning. To ensure optimum, planned use of currently employees. To forecast future skill requirements. To provide control measures in order to ensure that necessary resources are made available as and when required. To anticipate redundancies and avoid unnecessary dismissals. To provide a basis for management development programmes. To deploy the manpower in upcoming new projects. To enable the organization to identify trouble spots. To study the cost of overheads. To decide whether certain activities need to be subcontracted. To achieve more effective and efficient use of human resources. To better recruit employees having the necessary skills and competences. To determine optimum training levels. To obtain fairly satisfied and developed workforce. To facilitate the roll-out of strategic plans and missions. To achieve more effective and equal opportunity planning. To relieve the organization of unnecessary and unneeded labour. Human resources planning are human resource administration, quite similar to that of financial planning. But unlike financial planning, there are very few organizations that engage in any form of explicit human resource planning. However, if properly used, human resources planning can increase the prospects of an organizations management and of its resources by better coping with dynamic situations. Human resource planning aims at maintaining and improving the organizations ability to attain the goals by developing strategies, purporting to magnify the contribution of human resources. Objectives of HR planning are to ensure availability of the HR needs of the organization at specified times in the future. It is a systematic approach to help the organization to reach at its business objectives. TRENDS AND BEHAVIOURAL FACTORS ON HRP Trends That Impact HRP   A Personnel planner seeking to study the trends in Human Resource planning should include the following variables:   The state of the economy of the organisation: The spectrum of economic activity of the organisation which largely depends upon the companys sphere of operations is a crucial factor that is to be considered while doing HRP.     Demographics: The present and future age and sex composition, literacy level of the population of the organisation affect HRP.   Employee losses or turnover: The retirements, deaths, promotions and resignation affect the current number of individuals employed at every level.   New skill requirements:  Obsolescence of current skills and its effects along with what new skills will be needed due to new technology markets or products affect HRP.   The availability of materials: The status of the availability of material and direction of materials prices is also considered while doing HRP.    Technological changes: Rate of change of technology along with technology adoption by the organisation affects manpower planning.   Social changes: Effect of up gradation of educational backgrounds of the people in a given society and the willingness of people to take lower level jobs affect manpower planning.   Labour costs: The direction in which the labour cost move is given due consideration while doing human resource planning. Behavioural Factors on HRP Behaviour can be defined as the observable and measurable activity of human beings. Activity of human beings under this category shows a great variety. It may include anything like decision making, a mental processor, handling a machine, a physical process. Behavioural factors of HRP include: 1. Understanding Human Behaviour 2. Controlling and directing Behaviour 3. Organisation Adaptation 1. Understanding Human Behaviour: Understanding human behaviour in the organisation encompasses the following elements. (i) Individual Behaviour: It is known as first behaviour of people and provides means for analyzing why and how an Individual behaves in a particular way. (ii) Interpersonal Behaviour: It provides means for understanding the interpersonal relationship in the organization. Analysis of reciprocal relationship, role analysis, transactional analysis falls under the umbrella of interpersonal behaviour. (iii) Group Behaviour: Group behaviour comprises of group norms, cohesion, goals, procedures, communication, and leadership. (iv) Intergroup relationship: Intergroup relationships are in the form of intergroup cooperation and intergroup co-ordination. 2. Controlling and directing behaviour: these are the different factors that need to be taken care of in while controlling and directing people behaviour at workplaces. (i) Organisational Climate: it refers to total organizational situations affecting human behaviour i.e how people of an organisation interact with each other at workplace. (ii) Communication:-free flow of both way communications is inevitable in order to control and direct human behaviour because, it is through communication people come in contact with each others. (iii) Leadership: leadership style is also very much crucial and plays vital role in order to control and direct peoples behaviour at workplace. (iv) Employee empowerment: It refers to the degree of autonomy provided to people of an organisation so that they can take certain decision on their own without waiting for the supervisor to direct and may be utilized in many ways. 3. Organisation Adaptation: Organisations have to adapt themselves to the environment changes by making suitable internal arrangements like Management of Change. INFORMATION FOR HRP Information that forms the basis of Human Resource Planning include statistics of past years data on all aspect of Human Resource programmes. It includes turnover data, recruitment costs, staff numbers both actual and forecasted, budgetary information, safety statistics, and performance appraisal statistics and so on and so forth. Basically, information is gathered taking into consideration of any objective for the year. For example, if organisations seek to reduce turnover, which thereby reduces recruitment and selection costs, need to focus man power plan on retention strategies. To strategise the retention strategies the organisation may go for benchmarking from other successful companies, may seek industry information, take the help of Human Resources Institutes and so on and so forth. After getting information and ways and me

J.R.R. Tolkien Essay -- Biography Biographies Essays

J.R.R. Tolkien Merely mentioning the name J.R.R. Tolkien conjures up fantasies. Though his trilogy The Lord of the Rings is well known, not much else is known about the man who was a scholar before anything else. It is, in fact, the cult scale popularity of the trilogy that obscures the many accomplishments that marked his life. He won an exhibition, or a middle class merit scholarship, to Oxford University in 1911. By the time he attained his bachelor’s degree, he was conversant in seven languages and had created another. His definitive translations of Beowulf and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight are still used in colleges today. In the end, though, it will be the popularity of the trilogy for which Professor Tolkien will be remembered. John Ronald Reuel Tolkien was born in South Africa to a rather well to do banker. His early life was comfortable if middle class, but it lasted only a few years. His father died before he was five, and Tolkien spent the majority of his remaining life in what he called "genteel poverty." His linguistic genius emerged around the age of eight while his mother was tutoring him in Greek and Latin. It was around this time that Tolkien began devising a language of his own which would later develop into Elvish--a language complete with poetry and history, but not yet a people. In 1904, his mother died, leaving him and his brother orphaned and in the charge of a Catholic priest in Birmingham. Through this priest, the direction of his life would emerge. He met his future wife in the boarding house where the priest had him and his younger brother lodged. Also while in the boarding house he merited a scholarship to King Edward VI High School with the recommendation of the same priest. In high sc hool, h... ...e form of the Lord of the Rings. The bulk of the trilogy was written during the war, though it wasn’t finished until 1949. For the greater portion of his days Tolkien was a respected philologist, a dedicated professor and tutor, and a scholar above all else. In his field, he will continue to be remembered for his influence on a generation of philologists and for his contributions such as his translation of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Outside that rather small circle most people will remember him as the author of a wonderful story; a few more for the language and mythologies he created. Work Cited Grotta-Kurska, Daniel. J.R.R. Tolkien: Architect of Middle Earth. Philidelphia: Running Press, 1976. Yeats, William Butler. "The Second Coming." Modern poems: A Norton Introduction. Eds.Richard Ellman, Robert O’Clair. New York: WW Norton & Company,1989. 83.

“Is Reengineering and Strategy Implementation Just Another Management Fad or Does It Offer Something of Lasting Value?”

1. 0 Introduction Implementation is the challenge that comes at the end of all new (and old) methods for improving organizations. Strategic planning, architecture development, change management, total quality management, new information systems technologies, and re-engineering, are some of the concepts that are being advocated to effect a radical improvement organizational performance. Advocates of each concept, however, struggle when questioned about successful implementation (Deshpande and Parasuraman, 1986). Strategic planning literature abounds on how to develop a plan, but there is comparatively little said about how to implement a strategic plan once it is developed. Reengineering is a radical rethinking of an organization and its cross-functional, end-to-end processes (Hammer, 1993). After it’s introduction reengineering had taken corporations by storm. In a survey of over 500 chief information officers (CIOs), the average CIO is involved in 4. 4 re-engineering projects (Moad, 1993). Walmart (example 1) is seen as one of the successful executers of reengineering. Despite the excitement over reengineering, however, the rate of failure for re-engineered projects is over 50 per cent (Stewart, 1993). Hammer and Champy (1993) estimate as much as a 70 per cent failure rate. Luthfansa AG (example 2) is one such company. Such is the position that reengineering is labelled as a â€Å"management fad†. This paper looks to explore the facets of strategy implementation, reegineering that and analyze the label of â€Å"fad† is a worthy one or does the two offer a lasting value. 2. 0 Literature Review 2. The evolution of reengineering The concept of reengineering was first presented in two articles published simultaneously by Hammer (1990) and Davenport and Short (1990). Reengineering is a totally new approach with regard to the ideas and models used for improving business Hammer and Champy (1993). The reengineering approach is a result of the combination of concepts from different schools, including strategic IT systems, quality, systems thin king, industrial engineering, and technological innovation. The increasing power of ustomers, competitors and today’s constantly changing business environment, forced many organisations to recognise the need to move away from focusing on individual tasks and functions to focusing on more communicated, integrated and co-ordinated ways of work by looking at operations in terms of business processes (Davenport, 1993). 2. 2 Defining reengineering Several researchers and practitioners have defined reengineering in different ways with different emphases. The following are some of those definitions: the fundamental rethinking and radical redesign of business processes to achieve dramatic improvements in critical, contemporary measures of performance, such as cost, quality, service and speed (Hammer and Champy, 1993, p. 32). †¦ a methodical process that uses information technology to radically overhaul business process and thereby attain major business goals (Alter, 1990, p. 32) . The fundamental rethinking and redesign of operating processes and organisational structure, focused on the organisation’s core competencies, to achieve dramatic improvements in organisational performance (Lowenthal, 1994, p. 2). During the last decade, many authors have produced ideas regarding what reengineering really is. And thus, to conclude that there is only a single theoretical proposition underpinning reengineering remains debatable. The following table shows that there are three recognisable perspectives to reengineering as suggested by Tinnila (1995), i. e. strategic, operational and organisational perspectives. [pic] Figure 1: Summary of definition of reengineering (Khong and Richardson, 2003) Despite the differences in definitions, and terminology, the emphasis in all hese definitions and in the reengineering -related literature, is on redesigning business processes using a radical IT-enabled approach to organisational change. 2. 3 The need for reengineering Re engineering is motivated by external drivers, internal drivers, or both. External drivers are related mainly to the increased level of competition, the changes in customers’ needs, IT changes, and changes in regulations (Grover etal. , 1993). Internal drivers are mainly related to changes in both organisational strategies and structures. External drivers The increasing level of competition in the global market has emphasised the need for organisational innovation to cope with global standards of products and services. reengineering is approached as a tool to improve dramatically business performance and provide competitive position (Schnitt, 1993). First National Bank of Chicago (example 3), reengineered in order to keep up with the stiff global competition Davenport (1993a), also believe that re-engineering is driven by the never-ending needs of customers to look for better services and products. IBM Credit Corp (example 4) reengineered primarily for satisfying the customer or providing superior customer service. Owing to the unsettled changes in the global business environment, social life, technological and organisational practices, and economical situations, new rules and regulations are introduced to reflect these changes (Plowman, 1995). Yellow Freight (example 5) decided to reengineer because of external factors related to governmental or political pressure. Internal drivers Many organisational strategic and structural changes are centred on IT-enabled reengineering (Venkatraman, 1993). Parcel Service (example 6), found that they had to improve their technology in order to survive in the competitive shipping business. Changes in organisational strategy may involve some reengineering efforts to bring about the new business desires (Keen, 1991). The desire to reduce cost was one major reason that led First National Bank of Chicago (example 7) to reengineer. Changes of capability in terms of processes, methods, skills competencies, attitudes and behaviours can also be considered as internal drivers (Plowman, 1995). Arco Chemical (example 8) is one such company who reengineered to achieve dramatic company-wide improvements, increase organizational efficiencies, and reduce throughput time. Plowman (1995) views business transformation as a journey driven by a strategy that links short-term changes to capability in terms of processes, skills and style, with long-term changes to position the business among its competitors and customers. Ryder System Inc (example 9). reengineering efforts began with a rethink of its view of the market and a readjustment of the company‘s strategic focus. The following is a figure showing the result of survey (example 10) on the factors that trigger reengineering in the UK [pic] Figure 2: Factors driving reengineering (Tennant and Yi-Chieh, 2005) The following is a figure showing the result of survey (example 11) on the goal and objectives meant to be achieved through reengineering in the UK [pic] Figure 3: Goals and objectives of reengineering (Tennant and Yi-Chieh, 2005) 2. 4 What characterises reengineering Focus on business processes Reengineering focuses on the core concept of business process rather than on function, product or service. As business processes are the manner in which work gets done within an organisation, they are a distinguishing characteristic among organisations (Venkatraman, 1994), and thus a significant factor leading to competitive edge (Hinterhuber, 1995). In addition, the elimination of functional bias can only be best done by adopting process orientation to gain substantial business improvement (Andreu etal. , 1997). By focusing on core activities, Singapore Airlines (example 12) reengineered efforts are expected to help Singapore grow 8-10 er cent per year until the end of the decade. Notion of radicalness Reengineering involves radical and fundamental changes, and it evolves from the need to recognise that long-established ways emphasising on control and cost cutting are being replaced by organisational focus towards improving quality, the customer, and innovation, rather than (Hammer, 1990). Honeywell Inc (example 13) in order to keep up with the global competition reenginerined their proc ess from being focused on efficiency to being focued on quality Use of IT Hammer (1990) considers IT as a major tool and a fundamental enabler of reengineering efforts and emphasises the need to use modern IT to support for its implementation. IT reshapes and creates new effective business processes in that it has the potential to facilitate the flow of information between globally-distributed processes, and ensures the availability of instantaneous and consistent information across the business (Tapscott and Caston, 1993). Western Provident (example 14) is a company which is spotted for extensive of technology. Need for organisational change Reengineering results in change, and successful reengineering implementation requires fundamental organisational change in terms of organisational structure, culture and management processes (Davenport, 1993a). CIGNA Technology (example 15) Services went through a cultural change, from a focus on technology to one on processes and business performance. Change management is a tool used to manage such a change. 2. 5 Reengineering approaches, methodologies, techniques and tools Reengineering approaches Reengineering approaches can be viewed based on the different focuses that reengineering efforts may emphasise: IT, strategy, quality management, operations, and human resources (Edwards and Peppard, 1994a). According to Klein (1994), Reengineering is contextual and believes that having a structured approach to it is impossible. Reengineering methodologies Caterpillar (example 16) tied much of its cost saving success to its reengineering methodology (Paper and Dickinson, 1997). Its methodology is systematic as it provides a disciplined problem-solving approach and acts as a rallying point for everyone involved along the process path. Many structure-based methodologies have been proposed for reengineering implementation. However, most have common elements and view reengineering efforts as a top-down implementation project (Earl and Khan, 1994). Figure 4 summarises the major stages of eight representative reengineering methodologies. Figure 4: Reengineering methodologies [pic] (Kettinger et al. , 1997) Despite the differences among these methodologies, they all confirm that some essential components must exist, such as: †¢ strategies and goals setting; feasibility analysis of a reengineering project; †¢ process analysis and visioning; †¢ top management commitment and sponsorship; †¢ understanding of customer requirements and performance measurement; †¢ integration with TQM and benchmarking; †¢ recognition of IT capabilities; †¢ cross-functional teams and communication; †¢ prototyping and process mapping techniques; and †¢ organisational change to re-engineer management s ystems and organisation. Reengineering techniques Kettinger etal. (1997) show that at least 72 techniques are used to carry out ctivities related to reengineering projects. These techniques were almost all developed in other contexts and imported to the reengineering field. Each technique is mapped to their associated stages in the reengineering framework. and describe some as representative of each stage in the framework. [pic] Figure 5: Framework for Reengineering (Kettinger et al. , 1997) Kettinger etal. (1997) also suggest an approach of selecting techniques for a specific reengineering project. This approach, however, presumes that a customised methodology has been developed in advance. Based on the objective of their application, he identify 11 groups under which a number of techniques are identified. [pic] Figure 6: Groups of reengineering technique (Kettinger et al. , 1997) 2. 6 Strategy implementation Bartlett and Ghoshal (1987, p. 12) noted that in all the companies they studied â€Å"the issue was not a poor understanding of environmental forces or inappropriate strategic intent. Without exception, they knew what they had to do; their difficulties lay in how to achieve the necessary changes†. Supporting this, Miller (2002) reports that organizations fail to implement more than 70 percent of their new strategic initiatives. Given the significance of this area, the focus in the field of strategic management has now shifted from the formulation of strategy to its implementation (Hussey, 1998). There is no agreed-upon and dominant framework in strategy implementation. Concerning this, Alexander (1991, p. 74) has stated that: One key reason why implementation fails is that practicing executives, managers and supervisors do not have practical, yet theoretically sound, models to guide their actions during implementation. Without adequate models, they try to implement strategies without a good understanding of the multiple factors that must be addressed, often simultaneously, to make implementation work. Warid Telecom (example 17) precisely fail to their process for this reason when they started operation in Bangladesh According to Alexander (1985), the ten most frequently occurring strategy implementation problems include underestimating the time needed for implementation and major problems surfacing that had not been anticipated, in addition uncontrollable factors in the external environment had an adverse impact. Beer and Eisenstat, (2000) states that top-down/laissez-faire senior management style; unclear strategic intentions and conflicting priorities; an ineffective senior management team; poor vertical communication; weak co-ordination across functions, businesses or borders; and inadequate down-the-line leadership skills development are also important reasons for implementation failure . It is recognised that such change requires a shared vision and consensus and â€Å"failures of strategy implementation are inevitable† if competence, coordination and commitment are lacking (Eisenstat, 1993). Biman Bangladesh Airlines (example 18) has been in totters for the last decade due to its poor strategy implementation which can be credited to the above reasons. Noble (1999b, p. 132) has further noted that: There is a significant need for detailed and comprehensive conceptual models related to strategy implementation. To date, implementation research has been fairly fragmented due to a lack of clear models on which to build. There are important similarities between the previous frameworks in terms of the key factors forwarded and the assumptions made. Similarities between frameworks that previous researchers have grouped the implementation factors into a number of categories as follows: †¢ context, process and outcomes (Bryson and Bromiley, 1993); †¢ planning and design (Hrebiniak and Joyce, 1984); †¢ realizers and enablers (Miller, 1997); †¢ content, context and operation (Dawson, 1994); †¢ content, context, process and outcome (Pettigrew, 1987; Okumus, 2001); †¢ framework and process components (Skivington and Daft, 1991); †¢ context and process (Schmelzer and Olsen, 1994); †¢ contextual, system and action levers (Miller and Dess, 1996). Four areas of groupings emerge from an analysis of the above categories. Considering the role and characteristics of each implementation factor, those 11 implementation factors identified earlier can further be grouped into four categories: strategic content, strategic context, process and outcome. †¢ Strategic content includes the development of strategy. †¢ Strategic context is further divided into external and internal context. The former includes environmental uncertainty and the internal context includes organizational structure, culture and leadership. Operational process includes operational planning, resource allocation, people, communication and control. †¢ Outcome includes results of the implementation process. [pic] Figure 7: Framework for strategy implementation (Okumus, 2001) 2. 7 Factors related to implementing reengineering The following analyses the reengineering implementation process by reviewing the relevant literature on reengineering efforts. They are categorised into a number of subgroups representing various dimensions of change related to reengineering implementation. These dimensions are: Factors relating to change management systems and culture Change management, which involves all human- and social-related changes and cultural adjustment techniques needed by management to facilitate the insertion of newly-designed processes and structures into working practice and to deal effectively with resistance, is considered by many researchers to be a crucial component of any reengineering efforts (Carr, 1993). Effective communication throughout the change process at all levels and for all audiences, is considered a major key to successful reengineering -related change efforts (Davenport, 1993). Discontinues in leadership, and lack of communication contributed the reengineering failure at Teleco (Example 19) As reengineering results in decisions being pushed down to lower levels, empowerment of staff and teams to establish a culture in which staff at all levels feel more responsible and accountable and it promotes a self-management and collaborative teamwork culture is critical for successful reengineering (Mumford, 1995). Empowerment was at the heart of reengineering Honeywell (example 20) when they reengineered. Training and education in reengineering -related concept, skills, and techniques as well as interpersonal and IT skills, are an important component of successful reengineering implementation (Zairi and Sinclair, 1995). FixCo (example 21) carried out a number of workshops for training the staff about their reengineering process. Factors relating to management competence Sound management processes ensure that reengineering efforts will be implemented in the most effective manner (Bashein et al. , 1994). The most oticeable managerial practices that directly influence the success of reengineering implementation are top management support and commitment, championship and sponsorship, and effective management of risks. Organisational culture influences the organisation’s ability to adapt to change (Hammer and Champy, 1993). It helps in understanding and conforming to the new values, management processes, and the communication styles (Bruss and Roos, 1993).. Corporation ABC (example 22) needed to create an organizational culture ready to change as they had to redesign their quality systems. Commitment and leadership in the upper echelons of management are often cited as the most important factors of a successful reengineering project (Rastogi, 1994). Sufficient authority and knowledge, and proper communication with all parts in the change process, are important in dealing with organisational resistance during reengineering implementation (Hammer and Champy, 1993). Top level commitment was the key for successful implementation of reengineering in Blue Shield California (example 23) Factors relating to organisational structure As reengineering creates new processes that define jobs and responsibilities across the existing organisational functions (Davenport and Short, 1990), there is a clear need to create a new organisational structure which determines how reengineering teams are going to look, how human resources are integrated, and how the new jobs and responsibilities are going to be formalised. Mobil Oil (example 24) had a rethink of there organizational structure in their reengineering. Cross-functional reengineering teams are a critical component of successful reengineering implementation (Johansson et al. , 1993). Teams should be adequately composed (Hagel, 1993). Team members should be experienced in variety of techniques (Carr and Johansson, 1995). Teams should be made up of people from both inside and outside the organisation (Hammer and Champy, 1993). Liberty Mutual (Example 25) used cross-functional teams and loss prevention expert to implement the reengineering process Factors related to reengineering project management Successful reengineering implementation is highly dependent on an effective reengineering programme management which includes adequate strategic alignment, effective planning and project management techniques, identification of performance measures, adequate resources, appropriate use of methodology, external orientation and learning, effective use of consultants, building process vision, effective process redesign, integrating reengineering with other improvement techniques (Zairi and Sinclair, 1995), and adequate identification of the reengineering value (Guha et al. 1993). Honeywell (example 26) would be a prime example in their execution of redesigning their quality measures. As corporate strategy determines objectives and guidance on how organisational capabilities can be best utilised to gain competitive position, reengineering strategy (Hammer, 1990). Therefore, a consideration of the strategic context of growth and expansion (Bashein et al. 1994), creating a top-level strateg y to guide change (Carr, 1993), and careful alignment of corporate strategy with reengineering strategy (Jackson, 1997) are crucial to the success of reengineering efforts. Mitsibushi Electric Corp (example 27) took immense heed in this factor. Factors related to IT infrastructure Factors related to IT infrastructure have been increasingly considered by many researchers and practitioners as a vital component of successful reengineering efforts (Brancheau et al. 1996). Effective alignment of IT infrastructure and reengineering strategy, building an effective IT infrastructure, adequate IT infrastructure investment decision, adequate measurement of IT infrastructure effectiveness, proper IS integration, effective re-engineering of legacy IS, increasing IT function competency, and effective use of software tools are the most important factors that contribute to the success of reengineering projects. Connecticut Mutual Life (example 28), reengineered their complete IT infrastructure in order to increase productivity. Figure 8: Factors related to the implementation of reengineering (Al-Mashari and Mohamed, 1999) 2. 8 Definition of fad Management fads are defined as â€Å"managerial interventions which appear to be innovative, rational, and functional and are aimed at encouraging better organizational performance. † 2. 9 Characteristics of fads Cost/benefit analysis: One moderator of fad evolution is the cost/benefit of the intervention, although these two variables may significantly differ depending upon whether the organization adopts a short-term or a long-term perspective (Laverty, 1996) as with a long-term perspective may be more likely to sustain and give a fad sufficient time to reap positive benefits, propelling it to trend or collective wisdom status. But short-term gains should also be evident to encourage the resilience needed for long-term rewards to be realized (Chaudron, 1996). Degree of difficulty in implementation: Differences between expected ease of implementation and actual ease of implementation will contribute to an organization’s desire to persist in the courses of action required by the fad. If a fad’s implementation process is no more difficult than expected, it is more likely to evolve into a trend. Effectiveness of the fad: Effectiveness is measured in terms of realized improvement in operational performance. Following adoption of a fad, firms may find themselves â€Å"incapable†, â€Å"effective†, â€Å"efficient†, â€Å"best-in-class†, or â€Å"world class†. Fads which assist organizations in moving upward on this continuum will likely become institutionalized and mature into a trend or collective wisdom. 2. 10 Life cycle of a fad A significant predictor of whether firms will likely adopt fads is the stage at which the intervention is located in the life-cycle of fads. Fads typically progress through an established life-cycle (Ettorre, 1997), although the length of time required for progression to each of these stages varies (Crainer, 1996). offers significant benefits, in terms of both number and strength; †¢ is adaptable to the specific needs of an organization; †¢ addresses the underlying cause of a problem rather than a symptom; †¢ fits with other common interventions and programs in place (for example 29, TQM and MBO programs are antithetical in that their basic tenets are contradictory); and †¢ is supported by key users and proponents, as well as by objective assessments of effectiveness 3. 0 Strategy implementa tion and reengineering in practice The case of Honeywell’s TotalPlantTM paradigm† 3. 1 TotalPlantTM at Honeywell The Honeywell industrial automation and control (IAC) plant designs world-class systems that enable process-control capability. In 1999, senior management decided to implement a solid ISO 9000-certified quality program in order to unify business and control information to enable global customer satisfaction. This program was named TotalPlantTM. Four critical principles The TotalPlantTM paradigm is based on four critical principles of success: (1) Process mapping. Process mapping is crucial for employees to see the â€Å"big picture† as opposed to focusing solely on their role within the procedure. It also creates a common language for dealing with changes to business processes. (2) Fail-safing. While process mapping diagrams the entire flow of a business process, fail-safing is done to diagnose a defect within the process. (3) Teamwork. Teamwork does not occur naturally. Honeywell encouraged teaming through special workshops, by creating a manufacturing vision that fostered teamwork and by endorsing cross-training. 4) Effective communication skills. Communication of the TotalPlantTM vision is paramount to success. Honeywell provided conflict resolution training to teams to help them deal with conflict in a positive way. (Paper et. al, 2001) 3. 2 Application of literature Honeywell learned a number of lessons as a result of their TotalPlantTM program, all of which have implications for any future initiatives. They discovered that: †¢ people are the key enablers of change; †¢ you must question everything; †¢ people need a systematic methodology to map processes; †¢ creating eam ownership and a culture of dissatisfaction ensures more employee involvement; †¢ management attitude and behavior can squash projects; †¢ bottom-up or empowered implementation is most effective; †¢ reengineering must be business-driven and continuous; †¢ setting stretch goals can facilitate greater employee effort; †¢ implementation is the real difference between success and failure. Change is a fundamental aspect of reengineering. Top management needs to communicate to its people why the change is necessary and how it will impact everyone’s current job and future with the company. Sufficient time and resources is dedicated to ensuring that the organization as a whole understood, wanted and supported change. 4. 0 Conclusion and recommendation Implying the term â€Å"fad† with reengineering is apparently a disputable issue. If taken into context of the definition and characteristics a fad has, reengineering does hold a number of features that creates an aura which surrounds a fad. Its pledge of being strategy which improves performance by improving productivity and efficiency and its disguised nature of the ease of implementation does engender staggering semblance to that of a fad. Moreover, there are issues where reengineering would probably fall short when it comes to its exploitation as a trend. Reengineering normally wouldn’t fit into an organization culture, in contrary the management is forced to create new culture where in order to adopt reengineering. Conversely, reengineering does also contain features that are a requisite for being a trend or wisdom. If implemented aptly, reengineering does provide significant benefits that simply can’t be ignored. Its association with improvement in efficiency, productivity, and quality of product or service, is an asset that any company would desire to attain. Furthermore, reengineering does address the underlying cause of the problem and with the support and commitment of top management in its implementation process it can provide a lasting value to a business. Hallmarks, Hewlett-Packard (example 30) are to name a couple of companies who have benefited from reengineering. What really made the difference is proper implementation. As far as strategy implementation, then it has to be said that without strategy implementation a company wouldn’t be moving forward. What is pivotal is a framework that allows proper execution. Unilever Bangladesh (example 31) would be a ideal illustration of successful strategy implementation as for almost half a decade in an unstable economy where constant changes are required. Bibliography 1. Ackere, A. , Larsen, E. , Morecroft, J. (1993), â€Å"Systems thinking and business process redesign: an application to the beer game†, European Management Journal, Vol. 11 No. 4, pp. 412-23 2. Alter, A. (1990), â€Å"The corporate make-over†, CIO, Vol. 4 No. 3, pp. 32-42. 3. Al-Mashari, Majed and Zairi, Mohamed (1999). BPR implementation process: an analysis of key success and failure factors†, Business Process Management Journal; Volume: 5 Issue: 1. 4. Andreu, R. , Ricart, J. , Valor, J. (1997), â€Å"Process innovation: changing boxes or revolutionizing organizations? â€Å", Knowledge and Process Management, Vol. 4 No. 2, pp. 114-25. 5. Arendt, C. , Landis, R. , Meister, T. (1995), â€Å"The human side of change – part 4†, IIE Solutions, pp. 2 2-7. 6. Alexander, L. D. (1985), â€Å"Successfully implementing strategic decisions†, Long Range Planning, Vol. 18 No. 3, pp. 91-7 7. Alexander, L. D. 1991), â€Å"Strategy implementation: nature of the problem†, in Hussey, D. (Eds),International Review of Strategic Management, John Wiley & Sons, Chichester/New York, NY, Vol. 2 No. 1, pp. 73-96. 8. Bartlett, C. A. , Ghoshal, S. (1987), â€Å"Managing across borders: new strategic requirements†, Sloan Management Review, Vol. 28 No. 2, pp. 7-17. 9. Barrett, J. (1994), â€Å"Process visulization: getting the vision right is key†, Information Systems Management, pp. 14-23. 10. Bashein, B. , Markus, M. , Riley, P. (1994), â€Å"Precondition for BPR success and how to prevent failures†, Information Systems Management, pp. 7-13.. 11. Bhattacharya, A. , Gibbons, A. (1996), â€Å"Strategy formulation: focusing on core competencies and processes†, Business Change & Re-engineering, Vol. 3 No. 1, pp. 47-55. 12. Bruss, L. , Roos, H. (1993), â€Å"Operations, readiness and culture: don’t reengineer without considering them†, Inform, pp. 57-64 13. Bryson, J. , Bromiley, P. (1993), â€Å"Critical factors affecting the planning and implementation of major projects†, Strategic Management Journal, Vol. 14 No. 2, pp. 319-37. 14. Carr, D. , Johansson (1995), Best Practices in Re-engineering: What Works and What Doesn’t in the Re-engineering Process, McGraw-Hill, New York, NY 15. Chaudron, D. (1996), â€Å"The battle of buzzwords†, HRFocus, pp. 13-14. 16. Chu, W. , Lin, W. , Le, V. , Weicher, M. , Yu, D. (1996), â€Å"Business process re-engineering analysis and recommendations†, Business Researcher’s Interests (BRINT), BPR Papers, [http://www. netlib. com/bpr1. htm#isit] 17. Crainer, S. (1996), â€Å"The rise of guru skepticism†, Management Today, pp. 48-53. 18. Davenport, T. (1993), Process Innovation: Re-engineering Work through Information Technology, Harvard Business School Press, Boston, MA 19. Davenport, T. (1993), â€Å"Need radical innovation and continuous improvement? Integrated process re-engineering and TQM†, Planning Review, pp. 6-12 20. Davenport, T. (1994), â€Å"The business change and re-engineering interview†, Business Change & Re-engineering, Vol. 2 No. 1, pp. 2-6 21. Davenport, T. (1995), â€Å"Business process reengineeering: where it’s been, where it’s going†, in Grover, V, Kettinger, W. (Eds),Business Process Change: Re-engineering Concepts, Methods and Technologies, Idea Group Publishing, London, pp. 1-13 22. Davenport, T. , Short, J. (1990), â€Å"The new industrial engineering: information technology and business process redesign†, Sloan Management Review, Vol. 1 No. 4, pp. 11-27 23. Dawson, P. (1994), Organizational Change, A Processual Approach, Sage Publications, London 24. Deshpande, R. , Parasuraman, A. (1986), â€Å"Linking Corporate Culture to Strategic Planning†, Business Horizons, Vol. 29 No. 3, pp. 28-37 25. Dickinson, B. (1997), â€Å"Knowing that the project clothes have no emperor†, Knowledge and Process Management, Vol. 4 No. 4, pp. 261-7 26. Earl, M. , Khan, B. (1994), â€Å"How new is business process redesign? â€Å", European Management Journal, Vol. 12 No. 1, pp. 20-30.. 27. Edwards, C. , Peppard, J. (1994), â€Å"Business process redesign: hype, ope or hypocrisy? â€Å", Journal of Information Technology, Vol. 9 pp. 251-66 28. Edwards, C. , Peppard, J. (1994), â€Å"Forging a link between business strategy and business re-engineering†, European Management Journal, Vol. 12 No. 4, pp. 407 16 29. Ettorre, B. (1997), â€Å"What’s the next business buzzword? â€Å", Management Review, pp. 33-5 30. Grover, V. , Teng, J. , Fiedler, K. (1993), â€Å"Information technology enabled business process redesign: an integrated planning framework†, Omega: The International Journal of Management Science, Vol. 21 No. 4, pp. 433-47. 31. Guha, S. , Kettinger, W. , Teng, T. 1993), â€Å"Business process re-engineering: building a comprehensive methodology†, Information Systems Management, pp. 13-22 32. Hagel, J. (1993), â€Å"Core process redesign: keeping CPR on track†, The McKinsey Quarterly, No. 1, pp. 59-72 33. Hall, J. , Rosenthal, J. , Wade, J. (1993), â€Å"How to make re-engineering really work†, Harvard Business Review, pp. 119-31. 34. Hammer, M. (1990), â€Å"Re-engineering work: Don’t automate, obliterate†, Harvard Business Review, Vol. 68 No. 4, pp. 104-12. 35. Hammer, M. , Champy, J. (1993), Re-engineering the Corporation: A Manifesto for Business Revolution, Harper Business, New York, NY 36. Hammer, M. (1993), â€Å"Re-engineering†, Retail Business Review, Vol. 61 No. 3, pp. 10-19. 37. Hammer, M. , Stanton, S. (1995), The Re-engineering Revolution, Harper Collins, New York, NY 38. Harrington, H. (1991), Business Process Improvement, McGraw-Hill, London 39. Harrison, D. , Pratt, M. (1993), â€Å"A methodology for re-engineering businesses†, Planning Review, pp. 6-11 40. Harvey, D. (1995), Re-engineering: The Critical Success Factors, Management Today/Business Intelligence, London 41. Hinterhuber, H. (1995), â€Å"Business process management: the European approach†, Business Change & Re-engineering, Vol. No. 4, pp. 63-73 42. Hrebiniak, L. , Joyce, W. (1984), Implementing Strategy, Macmillan, New York, NY, . 43. Hussey, D. (1998), â€Å"Strategic management: past experiences and future directions†, in Hussey, D. (Eds),The Strategic Decision Challenge, John Wiley & Sons, Chichester/New York, NY, pp. 1-28 44. Jackson, N. (1997)), â€Å"Business pr ocess re-engineering ’96†, Management Services, pp. 34-6 45. Johansson, H. , McHugh, P. , Pendlebury, J. , Wheeler, W. (1993), Business Process Re-engineering: Break Point Strategies for Market Dominance, John Wiley & Sons, Chichester 46. Laverty, K. J. (1996), â€Å"Economic ‘short-termism’: the debate, the unresolved issues, and the implications for management practice and research†, Academy of Management Review, Vol. 21 No. 3, pp. 825-60. 47. Khong, Kok Wei and Richardson, Stanley (2003). â€Å"Business peocess reengineering in Malaysian banks and finance companies. † Managing Service Quality. Volume. 13, Number. 1, pp. 54 – 71. 48. Keen, P. (1991), Shaping the Future: Business Design through Information Technology, Harvard Business School Press, Boston, MA. 49. Kettinger, W. , Teng, J. , Guha, S. 1997), â€Å"Business process change: a study of methodologies, techniques, and tools†, MIS Quarterly, pp. 55-80. 50. Klein, M. (1994), â€Å"Re-engineering methodologies and tools: a prescription for enhancing success†, Information Systems Management, pp. 30-5 51. Letscher, M. G. (1994), â€Å"How to tell fads from trends†, American Demographics, Vol. 16 No. 12, pp. 38-45 52. Miller, A. , Dess, G. (1996), Strategic Management, International ed. , McGraw-Hill, New York, NY, 53. Miller, D. (2002), â€Å"Successful change leaders: what makes them? What do they do that is different? â€Å", Journal of Change Management, Vol. No. 4, pp. 359-68 54. Moad, J. (1993), â€Å"Does Re-engineering Really Work? â€Å", Datamation, Vol. 39 No. 15, pp. 22-8. 55. Mumford, E. (1995), â€Å"Creative chaos or constructive change: business process re-engineering versus socio-technical design†, in Burke, G. , Peppard, J. (Eds),Examining Business Process Re-engineering: Current Perspectives and Research Directions, Kogan Page, New York, NY, pp. 192-216.. 56. Okumus, F. (2001), â€Å"Towards a strategy implementation framework†, International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, Vol. 13 No. 7, pp. 327-38 57. Paper, David J. , Rodger, James A. and Pendharkar, Parag C. (2001). â€Å"A BPR case study at Honeywell† Business Process Mana gement Journal. Volume: 7 Number: 2, pp: 85-99. 58. Pettigrew, A. M. (1987), â€Å"Context and action in the transformation of the firm†, Journal of Management Studies, Vol. 24 No. 6, pp. 649-70. 59. Plowman, B. (1995), â€Å"Corporate transformation means re-engineering plus†, The Strategic Planning Society NEWS, pp. 8-10. 60. Rastogi, P (1994), â€Å"Nature, significance and rationale of business process reengineering†, Productivity, Vol. 35 No. 3, pp. 467-76 61. Schnitt, D. (1993), â€Å"Re-engineering the organisation using information echnology†, Journal of Systems Management, pp. 14-20, 41-2 62. Schmelzer, C. , Olsen, M. (1994), â€Å"A data-based strategy-implementing framework for companies in the restaurant industry†, International Journal of Hospitality Management, Vol. 13 No. 4, pp. 347-59 63. Stewart, T. A. (1993), â€Å"Reengineering: The Hot New Managing Tool†, Fortune, Vol. 128 No. 4, pp. 32-7. 64. Skivington, E. J. , Daft, L. R. (1991), â€Å"A study of organizational framework and process modalities for the implementation of business level strategic decisions†, Journal of Management Studies, Vol. 8 No. 1, pp. 45-68 65. Tennant, Charles and Wu, Yi-Chieh (2005), â€Å"RESEARCH AND CONCEPTS :The application of business process reengineering in the UK†. The TQM Magazine. Vol. 17 No. 6, pp. 537-545 66. Venkatraman, N. (1993), â€Å"IT-induced business reconfiguration†, in Scott-Morton, M. (Eds),The Corporation of the 1990s: Information Technology and Organisational Transformation, Oxford University Press, New York, NY, pp. 122-58. 67. Venkatraman, N. (1994), â€Å"IT-enabled business transformation: from automation to business scope redefinition†, Sloan Management Review, Vol. 5 No. 2, pp. 73-87. 68. Wendel, C. B. , Svensson, E. (1995), Business Buzzwords, Amacom, New York, NY. , . 69. Zairi, M. (1992), Competitive Benchmarking: An Executive Guide, Technical Communications (Publi shing), 70. Zairi, M. , â€Å"1995†, Business Process Re-engineering & Management Journal, Vol. 1 No. 3, pp. 3-9. 71. Zairi, M. , Sinclair, D. (1995), â€Å"Business process re-engineering and process management: a survey of current practice and future trends in integrated management†, Management Decision, Vol. 33 No. 3, pp. 3-16.

Free Essays on Weather

A tornado is defined as a violently rotating column extending from a thunderstorm to the ground. The most violent tornadoes are capable of tremendous destruction with wind speeds of two hundred and fifty miles per hour or more. Damage paths can be more than one mile wide and fifty miles long. In an average year, eight hundred tornadoes are reported nationwide, resulting in eighty deaths and over one thousand five hundred injuries. In the body of my essay, I will tell you about types of tornadoes, where tornadoes come from, where and when tornadoes occur, the damage they inflict, variations of tornadoes, and how to detect tornadoes. There are many types of tornadoes. The average tornado is usually split up into categories based on the strength of the tornado. Most tornadoes, about sixty nine percent 69%, are considered weak, which means they usually last between one minute and ten minutes, have winds less than one hundred and ten miles per hour, and the percent of deaths that occur during these is less than five percent. Strong tornadoes, about twenty nine percent 29%, may last about twenty minutes, have winds between one hundred and ten and two hundred and five miles per hour, and the percent of deaths that are found are about thirty percent of all tornado deaths. The last category for tornadoes is violent ones. With these comes winds greater than two hundred and five miles per hour, they can last about an hour, and have seventy percent of all deaths from tornadoes. Another type of tornado is known as a waterspout. This is a weak tornado that forms over warm water. They are most common along the Gulf Co ast and southeastern states. In the western United States, they occur with cold late fall or late winter storms, during a time when you least expect it to develop. They occasionally move inland becoming tornadoes that can cause a great deal of damage and many injuries. Most tornadoes evolve from energy. Tornadoes come fr... Free Essays on Weather Free Essays on Weather A tornado is defined as a violently rotating column extending from a thunderstorm to the ground. The most violent tornadoes are capable of tremendous destruction with wind speeds of two hundred and fifty miles per hour or more. Damage paths can be more than one mile wide and fifty miles long. In an average year, eight hundred tornadoes are reported nationwide, resulting in eighty deaths and over one thousand five hundred injuries. In the body of my essay, I will tell you about types of tornadoes, where tornadoes come from, where and when tornadoes occur, the damage they inflict, variations of tornadoes, and how to detect tornadoes. There are many types of tornadoes. The average tornado is usually split up into categories based on the strength of the tornado. Most tornadoes, about sixty nine percent 69%, are considered weak, which means they usually last between one minute and ten minutes, have winds less than one hundred and ten miles per hour, and the percent of deaths that occur during these is less than five percent. Strong tornadoes, about twenty nine percent 29%, may last about twenty minutes, have winds between one hundred and ten and two hundred and five miles per hour, and the percent of deaths that are found are about thirty percent of all tornado deaths. The last category for tornadoes is violent ones. With these comes winds greater than two hundred and five miles per hour, they can last about an hour, and have seventy percent of all deaths from tornadoes. Another type of tornado is known as a waterspout. This is a weak tornado that forms over warm water. They are most common along the Gulf Co ast and southeastern states. In the western United States, they occur with cold late fall or late winter storms, during a time when you least expect it to develop. They occasionally move inland becoming tornadoes that can cause a great deal of damage and many injuries. Most tornadoes evolve from energy. Tornadoes come fr...

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini essays

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini essays ?The Kite Runner is a heartbreaking novel of family, friendship, loyalty, betrayal, strength of character, relationship between fathers and sons, discrimination, racism, and class structure in Afghan society. After reading a couple chapters I quickly realized that this novel might not be as boring as I expected. As I continued to get farther into the book it became a very interesting, and very intriguing story. While reading it, I felt myself not wanting to put the book down because I wanted to find out what happened next. In this paper I will talk about two young boys ( Amir and Hassan), and how their close relationship was diminished, as ethnic and political tensions arise in Afghanistan. Amir is a Pashtun and Hassan is a Hazara. Pashtuns are some of the richest people in Afghanistan. The Pastuns have always been the upper class and the Hazaras belonged to the much lower class. They often worked for richer Afghanis (Pashtuns), trying to get by on a meager living. The story starts with a happy beginning, where Amir and his best friend and servant Hassan live together in harmony despite racial and socioeconomic differences. And, because Hassan is Amirs Hazara, or his servant, they easily get away with spending time together. Amir and Hassan are best friends, but in their society this is regularly unacceptable, and especially after the fall of the Afghan monarch, things began to change. Pashtuns and Hazaras started to act in violent, conflict ways; Kabul becomes vulgar and grim. As cultural and political tensions grow in Afghanistan, Amir and his friend begin to grow apart. Overall, their friendship was a complex tapestry of love, loss, privilege, and shame. Khaled Hosseini does an excellent job of demonstrating how social pressures and a cultural attitude towards certain ethnic groups can affect a childs mind at an early age and tear apart long-term friends. For instance, a boy named Assef (who is Pashtun), at...

The History and Legitimacy of Graphology as a Psychodiagnost essays

The History and Legitimacy of Graphology as a Psychodiagnost essays The History and Legitimacy of Graphology as a Psychodiagnostic Tool The Greek words graphein-, meaning to write, and -ology meaning the study of come together to form the modern-day term, graphology (Victor 3). The definition of graphology simply stated, the study of handwriting, tells one very little about the true meaning of graphology. Graphology: the science of estimating character by studying the handwriting. This definition delivers a much more precise and clear picture of what is involved with graphology. This paper will explore the history of graphology, and, more importantly, its needful inclusion to the battery of currently used psychodiagnostic tests. Handwriting analysis, although considered to be a contemporary idea, has a lengthy history, dating as far back as the third century B.C., when Aristotle wrote, Just as all men do not have the same speech sounds, neither do they all have the same writing. Fourteen hundred years later, in the eleventh century, the Chinese philosopher Kuo Jo-hsu wrote, Handwriting infallibility can show whether it comes from a person who is noble-minded or one who is vulgar. In Italy, at the beginning of the seventeenth century, Alderisius Prosper composed the first systematic written study of handwriting analysis entitled Ideographia. Although the book did not receive the widespread recognition that it hoped for, it did not go unnoticed. Eighteenth century writings appear from Lavatar and Grohman, both continuing the research earlier explored by Prosper and his predecessors. Many artisans in various fields began to show an interest in the correlation between a mans written words and his char acter traits. Many authors and poets, including Edgar Allan Poe, Thomas Mann, and Alexander Dumas, intrigued by the connection refer to graphology in their publicized works (Sara 13-15). A group of the European pioneers...

Katelynn Sampson (Aboriginal foster child murdered) Essay

Katelynn Sampson (Aboriginal foster child murdered) - Essay Example One of Katelynn’s custodial parents, Donna Irving, was taken into custody followed a short time later by the other, Warren Johnson. In the days and months that followed, facts about Katelynn’s short life and sad death emerged. Her biological mother, Bernice Sampson, â€Å"pleaded to three counts of trafficking cocaine in 1998 and was sentenced to 18 months in prison† (Toronto Star, 2008). In January of 2008, Sampson was charged with drug trafficking again. If convicted on that charge she could be sentenced to prison which would have put Katelynn into the care of the Childrens Aid Society (CAS). Rather than risk having her daughter placed with CAS, Sampson voluntarily relinquished custody to Irving, who she called â€Å"her best friend.† One account says that Irving â€Å"gained custody of Katelynn through a family court application that did not involve any child and family service agency and showed no signs of a criminal-background check† (Toronto Star, 2008). Another claims, â€Å"The hearings before Ontario Court Justice Debra Paulseth involved Katelynns biological mother Bernice S ampson, the guardian now charged with her death, Donna Irving, and native family court worker Bela McPherson. Sparse and businesslike, the conversations were dominated by the legal requirement of determining Katelynns biological father and the need to move proceedings along† (Smith, 2008). If Judge Paulseth, Bernice Sampson, or Bela McPherson—someone had looked into Irving’s record, they would have discovered that Irving’s was no better than Sampson’s. â€Å"Irving was convicted in 2000 of communicating for the purpose of prostitution.  In 1999, she pleaded guilty to assault with a weapon and spent five days in custody and 18 months on probation. The year before, she was charged with possession of cocaine for trafficking—she entered a guilty

Nursing Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 2

Nursing - Assignment Example To bring out the best of employee productivity, teamwork has emerged as the catalyst to the exploitation of synergies of individual abilities and potential. This discourse presents a few team development concepts that a manager must consider. The best performing and functional teams depict utilization of the best practices in putting together a winning and balanced team. The most important formula in the development of a winning team is working on the interpersonal needs of the team working as a group. As opposed to the scientific management approach employed in the rationalized productivity of an individual, teamwork emphasizes on the cooperation of individuals in delivery of their mandate. To develop a functional team, the organization requires the facilitation and cultivation of an operating culture. Communication within the organization is mandatory at all levels of the organization; appropriate vertical and horizontal communication needs must exist (Abudi, 2010). All members of the team need to feel accommodated to air their views and the culture establishes the general expectation that useful and relevant communication is a right to every team member. In addition, members of the team require a platform to discuss operations, progress and challenges with an aim of brainstorming on the appropriate course of action. The team leader and the team members are equal in the definition of the solution to challenges and tasks, but they differ in the implementation roles. Moreover, deliberations on the regular team discussions must forge a consensus in order for the team to be successful. Dissenting views must arrive at a compromise before the team meeting closes, failure to which the dissent renders the team powerless and useless. In addition, members’ commitment in the solutions contributions to executing allocated tasks determines the outcomes of the team agenda. Laxity and failure of a few members in the team

The McCarthy Era That Affected The Russians in Hollywood Essay

The McCarthy Era That Affected The Russians in Hollywood - Essay Example (Freedland, Michael) The House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) held a series of showbiz trials, the aftermath of which is recorded by Freedland in his book, Hollywood on Trial. Careers of more than 400 people in Hollywood were destroyed, and they were blacklisted by film producers, as they were not able to satisfactorily answer the question of whether they then were, or had ever been, Communists. This was a weird situation, as the Communist Party itself was not banned in the US, and its newspaper The Daily Worker continued to be published. Those who were hauled up for questioning had three options—that of perjury (denial of links that they had with the Communist Party), taking refuge under the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution, which protected them from implicating themselves, or invoking the rights to free speech granted by the First Amendment. Edward Dmytryk, of Ukrainian origin, was one among the ‘Hollywood 10’ who were imprisoned and harassed. After spending some months in prison, on account of refusal to cooperate, he later relented, and testified. He admitted to a briefly held membership of the Communist Party in 1945, and revealed the names of fellow members of the Party from the film industry. He stated that John Howard Lawson, Adrian Scott, Albert Maltz and several others had pressurized him to include Communist propaganda in his movies. Dmytryk, after a while, moved to England, where he made some low budget films, and then went on to direct films for top studios like Columbia, 20th Century Fox, MGM and Paramount Pictures. Later, in the seventies, he entered academia, teaching at universities. (Freedland, Michael) The other nine—of the Hollywood 10—were Alvah Bessie, Herbert J Biberman, Lester Cole, Ring Lardner Jr, John Howard Lawson, Albert Maltz, Samuel Ornitz, Adrian Scott and Dalton Trumbo. Most of these ten were forced to leave the film industry and do other jobs like working in restaurants or teaching. Several produced

Business Strategy Briefing Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Business Strategy Briefing Paper - Essay Example 2012-2013. Moreover, it has also been recognised that the company has over 11,500 branches located in the UK market (Royal Mail Group Limited, 2014). In order to determine the competitive position of Royal Mail, it will be vital to apply ‘Porter’s Five Force Model’. The elements of this model are aligned with the various factors related to the company and are described below: Royal Mail relies on its special deliverance system with the aim of providing quality services to its customers. In this regard, it has been determined that approximately 18,000 vehicles assist the company to produce designated postal services across the world. Thus, it can be asserted that the bargaining power of its supplier is high (Royal Mail Group Limited, 2014; Karagiannopoulos et. al., 2005). The bargaining power of buyers is rising within the industry in which Royal Mail operates its operations in the UK market. Correspondingly, it has been recognised that the present customers of the company have become more of service quality conscious and time sensitive, which has enforced the company to reduce its rate of delay or accidents in the UK market. Thus, it can be asserted that the bargaining power of its consumers is relatively high within the industry (Royal Mail Group, 2013; Karagiannopoulos et. al., 2005). A diagram is depicted below for better comprehension of the above stated concept. In order to identify the competitive rivalry, it has been observed that Royal Mail has witnessed higher threats from its competitors, due to the private courier service providers in the UK. Subsequently, it has been recognised that Royal Mail has emphasised towards quality services in order to attain competitive advantage over its competitors. Thus, the level of competitive rivalry can be identified to be high (Karagiannopoulos et. al., 2005). With respect to the threat of substitute, the company has faced severe challenges from other industries such as telecom and

Multicultural Books Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Multicultural Books - Essay Example Summary: The proverbs in the book are classified according to the core values that they exemplify. Native American Culture Title: Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight In Heaven Author: Alexie, Sherman Illustrator: Tina Fernandez Publisher: Harperperennial Publication Date: 1994 Genre: short story Interest Level: Grades I- IV Topic/Theme: life, hope and perseverance Summary: Alexie's works are celebrated for their detailed descriptions of the psychology and environment of the reservation; the humor and wit that are displayed in the face of the intense poverty and the ravages of alcohol abuse that are part of reservation life; and their broad, universal messages of hope and perseverance. Title: Long As the Rivers Flow: The Stories of Nine Native Americans Author: Allen, Paula Gunn Illustrator: Tina Fernandez Publisher: Scholastic Publication Date: 2001 Genre: short story Interest Level: Grades III- VI Topic/Theme: tribes and prejudice Summary: Through the centuries and across tribal boundaries, countless Native Americans have made history, despite prejudices against them. These powerful essays celebrate the diversity and talents of nine Native Americans who have made great contributions to arts, politics, sports, and other aspects of American life. Mexican American Culture Title: A Birthday Basket for Ta Author: Pat Mora Illustrator: Cecily Lang Publisher: Aladin Paperbacks Publication Date: 1992 Genre: short story Interest Level: Grades I- IV Topic/Theme: love for Family Summary: This story tells of a young girl who loved her aunt as much as her mother. Title: All for the Better Author: Nicholasa Mor Illustrator: Rudy Gutierez Publisher: Raintree Steck- Vaughn Publication Date: 1993 Genre: short story Interest Level: Grades I- IV Topic/Theme: Story... Summary: Through the centuries and across tribal boundaries, countless Native Americans have made history, despite prejudices against them. These powerful essays celebrate the diversity and talents of nine Native Americans who have made great contributions to arts, politics, sports, and other aspects of American life. Summary: Amelia and her family are migrant farm workers, moving from harvest to harvest living in labor camps. Amelia also moves from school to school, never really making friends or feeling that she belongs. One day during apple harvest, Amelia finds a special place. Summary: The "cute" turned into "cool" as children, following their parental example, embraced the gift of fantasy and unrestrained desire to rebel against the saccharine excesses of wondrous innocence in deliberate pursuit of the anti-cute. Summary: This is one boy's story of life in a diverse neighborhood in San Francisco. It is also a story of the colorful and diverse neighborhood itself. Jos lives in a neighborhood where people speak Spanish and English, and even Chinese.

Leadership Recommendation Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Leadership Recommendation - Assignment Example The implementation of the new software system for Kudler Fine Foods demands effective leadership approach. With the aim of raising operational efficiency, an introduction of the new automated system will be highly beneficial. The introduction of the new approach aims at replacing the current HRIS system that has been applied by the human resources personnels and store manager. Several data are entailing the personnel files, performance reviews, employee grievances, disciplinary actions and payroll processing. Effective leadership importance and proper leadership styles are very crucial in the process. The importance of the effective leadership during a change management initiative emanates from the essential understanding that only under proper effective process is when the transformation operations will run appropriately. Effective leadership is important since it inspires action. It creates or generates a vision of the forthcoming future that derives inspiration from the people man aging the change process. The system change must have supporters and those who reject it. Effective leadership will outline the advantages of the system to Kudler Fine Foods staffs. Staffs are always associated with negatively and opposing of incoming changes, especially from the administration. Effective leadership will aim at providing optimism and create a general great vision for the adoption of the new model. Effective leadership creates a positivity and removes doubt in the ability of the newly installed system.