Sunday, November 24, 2019

Canterbury essays

Canterbury essays The Clerks Tale is an indirect response to the Wife of Bath who stated that women desire complete sovereignty over their husbands and lovers. The Clerk puts forth a diametrically opposite view and draws the sketch of a totally submissive Chaucers source for the Clerks tale is Petrarchs Fable of Obedience and Wifely Faith written in Latin that was in turn derived from Boccaccios Decameron. Chaucer closely follows Petrarchs text. Chaucer makes the Clerk candidly acknowledge that his tale is derived from "Frauncey's Petrak". The Clerks Tale is suited to his character as a serious student. His tale too has a scholarly theme and deals with the issue of genuine obedience and loyalty in a wife. Griseldas story upholds faith in goodness even in times of adversity. It is definitely a moral tale and the Clerk relates it with all seriousness and The Hosts warning to the Clerk to keep his language simple and to tell an entertaining and adventurous tale were not needed. The tale proves that the Clerk was not an ossified academic. However the Clerk does not relate an adventurous tale and does make use of rhetoric and figures of speech. When the Clerk concludes his tale the Host commends him for relating his story in a sweet and Chaucer has invested, the folk tale Petrarchan version of the patient Griseldas story, with an amazing degree of realism. Griselda comes across as a real life human character. Her sincerity to her husband and affection for her children seem realistic. Her pathos is heart rending and earns the readers Griseldas story of long suffering may be unappealing to modern readers. But it is important to interpret the tale in the context of the fourteenth century. Griselda was simply acting in accordance ...

Thursday, November 21, 2019

Human Resource Management 323 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Human Resource Management 323 - Essay Example In Canada, worker’s compensation system can be regarded as the first social program which was incorporated so as to favor employers and worker’s group in order to avoid any form of lawsuits. The system was majorly introduced in the state after an inquiry conducted by William Meredith who was Ontario’s Chief Justice. He even outlined a system on basis of which workers would be compensated for injuries occurring at the workplace but for this privilege workers need to give up their basic right linked with suing their respective employers. This was majorly done so that strong bond can be established between workers and employers and even to enable the required compensation to employees. It can even be stated that state began regulating compensation system of employees since the rate of workplace injuries and accidents were growing at a phenomenal speed. This form of system is a provincial responsibility and hence it varies from one region to another. There are even c ertain places where the principle introduced by Ontario was even termed as Workplace Safety and Insurance Board and this program possessed preventive role ensuring that there is safety in the workplace. These laws were established in 20th century and the major reason behind this was to cope up with social and economic costs associated with industrial accidents. During 19th century, industrial accidents were a major problem and it was handled mainly by the courts. The legal doctrine which was introduced proved to be highly biased in context of employees. This system though resulted into wins of employees who were severely injured but in maximum situation they proved to be unsatisfactory. The reason behind this was ultimately compensation received by employees and their family was relatively less. It can even be stated that regulation imposed by the state in the 20th century was to majorly eliminate any form of injustice done by employers in

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

Japanese Women in Meiji Period Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Japanese Women in Meiji Period - Essay Example Meiji era represents an age in Japanese history in which one substantial reform was carried out after the other for the progress of the Japanese society. Historians agree that the Meiji era in Japanese history presented a succession of large reforms that were to bring about an improvement in Japanese society. It appears that, although, the Meiji government did try to improve the situation for women in Japan, it could not alter fundamental influences. Thus, despite a movement towards emancipation, greater equality and freedom for women in Japan was to wait until the end of the war. It is clear, that although remnants of the Tokugawa thinking and fundamental influences from old Japan continued into the Meiji period, processes of reform and efforts for change accelerated into the Meiji era. A certain movement towards the greater emancipation of women in the Japanese society of the Meiji era is apparent. However, a pronounced change was only possible after the war when Japan was to surrender. Despite the reforms of the Meiji era, exploitation based on class differences, economic poverty and the inequality of the sexes had continued in Japan. A country in an era that had seen poor peasants selling their daughters to brothels without state intervention could not be an egalitarian society. Thus, a combination of factors related to tradition, economic inequality and class differences had resulted in a certain rebellion amongst some quarters. Although the Meiji government did try to improve the situation, it could not radically alter the inequalities in the society or change the Japanese mentality. Only a major revolution after the war made it possible for further positive change to occur.

Sunday, November 17, 2019

Partnership among employees Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Partnership among employees - Essay Example When one speaks or thinks about an industry or an office or an organization, the 'mental picture', one visualizes is of machines, smoke outlets, sirens etc, etc (in case of industries) and papers, computers, cabins etc, etc (in case of offices). But, the crucial thing that the mind 'crops out' is the picture of a working human. Without delving deeply into why mind always associate industry and office with non-living things, the point is, humans are the crucial things who can put an organization in a cruise mode in terms of production, sales, profits, etc. So, the workers only form the crucial 'cog' in the running of the organization. Only if these crucial workers are recruited or staffed optimally through an effective recruitment process, the organization can achieve optimum success. Even with automation and computerization happening in every segments of organization, all the important processes inside the organization mainly rests with the humans. Even though, all the important proc esses starts and ends with the leader or the management team, the workers will also be included, as part of "successful work teams" or "Partnership for Progress". "Partner for Progress" is the organizational term given to the UK government policy which spelled out how employees should work in partnership as teams for the successful functioning of the organizations. That is, since late 1990s, the U.K. ... So, this paper will critically evaluate the concept of 'Partnership' in employee relations by identifying and describing what organizational requirements must be in place and also what impediments should not be in place, to set the stage for successful Partnership, focussing particularly on the role of leaders. Organization requirements for the establishment of successful Partnership Involving the employees productively and creating partnershipIn any organizations, the successful Partnership can be successfully set or established, if the head or the management team of the unit put their thoughts, strategies and also the organizational goals for discussion among the other organisation officers or workers. This way the workers as a form of work teams can be involved productively. That is, the workers can input their gained knowledge and experience in the decision making process. This strategy will have unexpected at the same time favourable results, because one may never know from where, when and importantly from whom a great idea could come. "Don't tell people how to do things, tell them what to do and let them surprise you with their results" (Patton). So, involving and allowing co-workers to play a part as work teams will yield optimum results, as it create as well as optimize partnership and thereby performance among the employees. But, the aspect that should b e taken care is, even though the workers can be optimally involved as work teams, the head or the management team of the unit should be the final authority. So, if this requirement is fulfilled, successful partnership among the employees can be established successfully, by involving the co-workers of the unit in the appropriate stages. Leaders should be a role model to

Friday, November 15, 2019

Retirement Issues In Malaysian Workforce Health And Social Care Essay

Retirement Issues In Malaysian Workforce Health And Social Care Essay Increasing life expectancy of Malaysians has raised the concern incredibly on retirement issues. In 2006, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) findings indicate that Malaysians life expectancy has increased from 1960 to 2006. Women life expectancy has increased from 55.9 to 76.5 years, a 20.6% increment, while men increased from 52.8 to 71.8 years, or 19.0% (OECD, 2007). More, latest statistical findings from United Nation Statistical Division (2010) provide that life expectancy at birth of Malaysians for women and men in 2005 to 2010 has increased from 72 to 76.7 years. With the longer life expectancy among Malaysian means without extending the retirement age, a typical Malaysian will have longer time to spend in their retirement life. According to United Nations data reviews, Malaysia are expected to have total number of 3.2 million individuals who aged 60s and above by 2020 (Yip, 2010). Furthermore, the Global Demographics Ltd also estimates that a 10% increment in the number of grey citizens will take place in coming 20 years from now (Hunt, 2009). These figures tell us that more Malaysians will be reaching retirement age and it is important to raise their awareness towards the importance of retirement planning now. Recently, Malaysian Governments announced that inclination of increasing the retirement age among civil servants in Malaysia is high. Retirement age may be set to 60 due to Governments plan of keeping experience civil servants to contribute for more human capital in nationals performance (Sarban Singh, 2010). This projection was made because it is estimated that Malaysia will lose up to one million civil workers in the early of 2011 (Sarban Singh, 2010). Despite changes made on the retirement age of government servants to 58, the mandatory retirement age for private sectors remain at 55 (Sarban Singh, 2010. In view of this, postponement issues on the public and private servants means that longer retirement life may by experience by most Malaysians (Sarban Singh, 2010). As life expectancy has increased much faster compared to retirement age, our country will have more retirees. If this happens, more challenges are coming ahead and different approaches must be taken on retirement plann ing as Malaysians are expected to have longer retirement life. As humans are bound with nature of biological aging process, shrinking in physical and mental strength is reality that no one can change (Yip, 2009). For that, continuous working becomes undesirable as age increases. Knowledge workers might be able to substitutes the physical strength with crystal knowledge and tacit knowledge gained through years of experience. However, for workers that rely much on physical strength might be a problem. Postponement of retirement age is not suits the physical strength workers because the physical body is unable to perform hard work in old age. Sometimes, they are not only having limited income but they only have limited education level. Retirement planning may serve as dreams but their income limit them to do so. Income earn is not enough for savings or investments. Proper preparation is needed financially to ensure that low income earners at least able to have minimum requirements to live and to ensure a bright future for them in retirement age. Existing retirement planning practices among Malaysians are basically relying much on savings, Employee Provident Funds (EPF) and children. Majority of them are not actively involved in retirement planning (HSBC, 2010). Although there are as much as 72 % of Malaysians having high propensity to save for retirement, 41% of them do not have a solid plan on how to build their retirement fund (Hunt, 2009). In addition, 77% of those who save for retirement rely much on fixed deposit and savings accounts which give low interest yield to them. Also, they failed to segregate part of their savings for retirement needs (Hunt, 2009). Monies put on the savings are in essence for all purposes without specific purposes for retirement (Hunt, 2009). What is alarming here is that majority of Malaysian might not insufficient source of income and there might be some risk involve if retirement planning is not done correctly during their retirement life (HSBC, 2010). Constant income scheme provided by EPF may seem adequate in the long run but it will never happen. Recent studies indicate that, 90% of EPF holders hold less than RM 100,000 in their accounts and almost 99.9% of the retirees withdraw their lump sum of EPF funds when they reach retirement years and surprisingly almost 70% of the retirees use up the money within 3 years (Hunt, 2007). EPF savings withdrawal in the early stage of retirement may create some risks during retirement (HSBC, 2010). In order to match with future insecurities, this action will without notice causes a poor retirement life. Solely depends on EPF savings may cause retirees to have a vulnerable financial position in their old age. To avoid this problem from happening, retirees awareness to act on retirement planning is strictly vital for an upcoming comfort and satisfaction in retirement life. Revolutions from ancient Asian culture to modern world today have changed the structure of a family mostly in the way how children treat their parents and expectation of taking care of them. Old forks are view as burden. Additionally, employing maids to take care of old parents will indirectly raise the living expenses. Thus, tendencies for some aging parents end up spending their life in old folks home is high. Family members or children supporting rate is relatively low today (Lee Law, 2004). Generation gap which indirectly affects the sense of belonging, responsibility, relationships and love towards aging parents has also lead to changes in cultural value (The Star, 2010). Late marriage and gap exist between children age is another issue affecting children support to their parents. Unique characteristics of each family have created different views on old parents retirement. Only strong family relationships may have higher chances to get financial aids and support from family mem bers (The Star, 2010). Therefore, it is advisable for pre-retirees to pay more attention on retirement planning to avoid end up living in old forks home. Worry-free retirement life cannot be easily reachable today compare to the past. Various impacts from macroeconomic events such as inflation, unemployment, and global recession may trigger the retirees in their retirement age. In 2008, due to increase in petrol price and global recession, Malaysias inflation rate was surged up to 5.4% high, a 0.6 % in year 2009 and now it is forecasted to be 2.0 % this year (International Monetary Fund [IMF], 2010). The impact from high inflation rate has lead to depreciation in value of ringgit, reduction in the consumers spending, and increases in cost of living over time (HSBC, 2010). No doubt, these will give a huge impact on pre-retiree of having insufficient money to spend or to save for the future reserves (The Star, 2010). Immeasurable increment in the medical fees and medical services are likely to reduce spending power and quality of retirees life over time (The Star, 2010). Addition to that, the MasterCard Asia Pacific predicts that old population will have to spend more next 5 years and will surpass RM 35 billion compared to last 10 years (The Star, 2009). These spending not only cover existing daily usage on products and services but also huge cost on medical fees and medical services (The Star, 2009). If this situation continues to trigger the pockets of each individual, greying population may have tendencies to live in financially poor conditions. Risk from all these unpredicted future events or increase in medical fees can be reduced if retirees do early retirement preparation to hedge for unfavourable events to happen. Without a proper retirement planning, increasing number of retirees might become a burden to government and society. Population restructure process not only increases the cost of government spending but may also serve a potential loss in human resources in labour force and affect the development of economy. Thus, consistent with the facts and issues raised above, preparation of retirement planning is important. Failure to derive proper retirement plan may cause various issues and impacts either to the individual, society, or government. Thus, the aim of this study is to examine the on the Malaysian awareness towards retirement planning, their plan for retirement, reasons for their retirement planning, barriers they face in planning for retirement and information and assistances they need for proper retirement planning. Through this study, more knowledge and understanding about planning behaviours in the context of Malaysian will be created. Background of the Research and Research Question Growing life expectancy among Malaysians over the past few decades have signalled that Malaysian will have longer time to spend in their retirement life (OECD, 2007; Yip, 2010; Hunt, 2009; United Nation Statistical Division 2010). Problems rise today for the preparation of retirement plan are generally due to natural biological aging process, types of workers, retirement age incremental policy, family cultural changes, unpredictable macroeconomic events, medical cost increases and many more. Pointing to existing poor retirement planning practices among Malaysians which relying much on savings, Employee Provident Funds (EPF) and children, proper actions must be done (Hunt, 2009; HSBC, 2010). These facts and figures highlight the raising concern and awareness of retirement planning among Malaysians is much needed. Through the view of all the poor or lack of retirement planning behaviour and challenges ahead that are going to affect the life of retirees, this research is important in cr eating new knowledge of better understanding of the underlying problems, barriers and factors face when doing retirement planning. Issues on retirement planning have been well studied in more developed countries such as in United States (e.g. Joo Grable, 2001; Taylor-Carter et al., 1997; Duflo Saez, 2002), United Kingdom (Sargeant, 2003), Hong Kong (Lee Law, 2004), and Singapore (Lim, 2002). These studies are targeted more to the Baby Boomer generation (e.g. DeVaney, 1995; Glass Kilpatrick, 1998; Josloski, Ekerdt DeViney, 2001; Lusardi Mitchell, 2007). On the other hand, wide scope interest mainly on issues related to women in retirement planning such as the longevity life of women compared to men, economic and psychological issues on women, factors affecting retirement planning and financial literate among women have been done and the result shows that majority of women do not plan for retirement (Glass Kilpatrick, 1998; Lusardi, 2006; Lusardi Mitchell, 2008). Findings found that women are less financial literate and are economically and psychologically weak in retirement planning (Glass Kilpatrick, 19 98; Lusardi Mitchell, 2008). Besides, some findings has also been directed on retirement income (Jing Lakshmi Malroutu, 1995), level of retirement planning preparation (DeVaney, 1995; Lee Law, 2004), antecedents or factors associate with retirement planning (Taylor-Carter et al., 1997; Kosloski et al., 2001; Duflo Saez, 2002; Lim, 2003; Lusardi Mitchell, 2008), retirement planning and satisfaction of retirement life (Elder Rudolph, 1999), retirement educational programs (Joo Graman, 1998; Hershey, Mowen Jacobs- Lawson, 2003), retirement planning information search (Joo Grable, 2001), marketing of retirement planning (Ekerdt Clark, 2001), and developing guideline for retirement planning (Greninger, Hampton, Kitt Jacquet, 2000). In light of the piece of evidence from the previous research focuses on retirement planning, there are lack of retirement planning can be observed in Malaysia (Hunt, 2009). There is no research has been done to access how Malaysian plan for their retirement in Malaysia till today. The relativity low per capital income among the Malaysians might limit the applicability of the studies conducted in more developed countries to Malaysia context (Muzaffar, 2010). Therefore, this study is paramount important, in particular, to explore or fill the research gap exist and to gain insight into a proper understanding on how Malaysians plan for their retirement. To address the research gap, this study focuses on the extent to which how Malaysians plan for retirement, reasons for their retirement planning, barriers they face in planning for retirement and information and assistances they need for proper retirement planning. Through this study, more knowledge and understanding about planning behaviours in the context of Malaysian will be created and a proper guideline to assist Malaysians in retirement planning and retirement preparation will be developed. To address this issue, the following research question is constructed: How Malaysians plan for retirement and why? Research Objectives The research objectives for this study include: To examine the Malaysian awareness towards retirement planning. To investigate how Malaysian prepare for their retirement life. To study factors affecting the type of retirement planning. To understand barriers or difficulties faced by Malaysians in planning for retirement. To understand type of assistance or information needed for Malaysian to properly plan for retirement. Significance and Justifications for the Study This study is important to explore more knowledge about retirement planning among Malaysians. As retirement planning is complex and personalizes, it is important to recognize a standard guideline or procedures to assist an individual to plan for retirement can hardly be effective. Therefore, this study opt for qualitative study to better understand the current retirement planning, reasons for retirement planning, barriers face during retirement planning and information needed for proper retirement planning among Malaysians. By exploring these knowledge and information collected from their heart and soul, these knowledge may use to identify different retirement needs and challenges face by Malaysians during their retirement planning, more effective and efficient information and guideline can be developed to accommodate different needs of individuals in planning for retirement. The outcomes of this study can be used by policy makers to identify the readiness and willingness of Malaysians in retirement planning. This information is important in helping Malaysians to facilitate and formulate better planning which ensure retirees to be independent in their financial support during their retirement age. Pre-retirees, retirees or individual may know how and what direction they must take to complete the journey of a successful retirement planning through the outcomes from this study. Addition to that, this will indirectly reduce the government burden to support them. Not only that, results from this study can also provide additional insights for policy makers to consider for the development of new policies to promote welfare of future retirees and better retirement life especially for economically and socially weaker group in Malaysia. Finally, information gathered from this research can be crucial for banks, insurance companies and other financial institutions in designing and marketing their future retirement planning products and services. Proper customer segmentation can ensure the products or services being delivered to the market more effectively. Fulfilments on special needs of different market segment the different can satisfy more demand and thus, facilitate better retirement planning among Malaysians. Research Scope and Limitation This study is conducted with the purpose of examine the retirement planning among Malaysians. As different people have different retirement needs and expectations, qualitative interviews are used to capture in-depth and rich information on Malaysians. Face-to-face interviews method is use in this study to focus on Malaysians awareness towards retirement planning, their plan for retirement, barriers they face in planning for retirement, reasons for retirement planning and information or assistance they need for proper retirement planning. At first, approximately 10 respondents made up from working adults in any part of Malaysia will be selected for convergent interviews. The interview will be audio recorded and transcribed. Next, another 20 to 30 interviews will be conducted for main data collection comprising semi-structured interviews will be conducted in Northern Malaysia, Central Malaysia, Southern Malaysia, and East Coast of Malaysia. Definition of the Key Terms Provide in the following format: Table 1: Definition of the Key Terms Key Terms Definition Source Financial Education Program A program designed purposely to give inform knowledge on ways and skills to perform financial-related decisions. Adapted from American Association of Retired Persons. (1992). Fact Sheet. Washington D.C. Peer Effects Retirement planning Will be further update on this on chapter 2 is complete. Organizational of Research This research is being organised into 3 main chapters which provide details for better flows of the topic under study. Chapter 1 gives the idea of how the current issues emerge real life situation on retirement planning and preparation for retirement planning. Also, it tends to identify the problems and research gap that exist in this study. Research objectives or research aim highlights the achievement needed towards this study. Other sub parts of this chapter are likely to find the importance of this research in fulfilling knowledge gaps exist in previous studies and knowledge creation in the end of this study. Justifications and limitation for this study emphasizes the importance of this study and how this study can fill up the knowledge gap exist. Finally, a table describing some key variables terms covered on this study is given for the sake of reference. Chapter 2 reviews related literatures from previous finding in the field of retirement. Next, the main context of the literature review such as the important issues on retirement planning is also being discussed here. Dependent variable and independent variables discuss the important variable exist in previous study. Summary gives a compact preview of what have been discussed earlier in this chapter. Chapter 3 emphasize on research framework development. First few parts explain what research methods, research instrument, sampling plan use in this study. The next part of this chapter provides comprehensive overview of the data collection method. How actually this data is collected throughout this study. Data analysis method further explains the tool or software used in the analysis part of this study. Chapter 2 Literature Review Introduction Retirement represents a stage of life where involvement in certain social activities and desirable conducts become narrow or fewer roles when the person reached the old ages (Parsons, 1942). Adequate retirement planning and preparation is needed to anticipate the new roles involve with the changes in major life activities (Atchley, 1982). Retirement life without planning requires continuous employment or working, lifestyle remains same with young age although that individual reaches retirement age (Lee Law, 2004). Lack of retirement planning preparation will generally bring some disappointment during retirement and yet preparation for retirement planning is not an easy task (Lee Law, 2004). Thus, planning for retirement is important (Volpe et al., 2006). Much of the literature on retirement planning focuses on studies to identify the relationship of socio-demographic factors to be related to the retirement planning (Lee Law, 2004; Joo Garman, 1998; Yakoboshi Dickemper, 1997; DeVaney, 1995; Joo Garman, 1998). Previous study emphasizes that income (Mitchell Moore, 1998; Kim, et al., 2005), age (Richardson Kilty, 1989; Joo Pauwels, 2002; DeVaney, 1995), gender (Yakoboshi Dickemper, 1997), education level (DeVaney, 1995; Joo Pauwels, 2002; Hogarth, 1985; Bernheim Garrett, 1996) and marital status (Glass Kilpatrick, 1998) are all important factors for ones behaviour towards retirement planning. DeVaney (1995) identified that income and age are important to guild pre-retirees in groundwork process of planning. In addition, gender differences also influence the early preparation for retirement planning (Yakoboshi Dickemper, 1997). Retirement education and certain related programs also affect the retirement planning behaviours (Joo Grable, 2001). There are number of studies have been conducted pertaining to retirement planning as discussed above. The sections below summarize further description on dependent and independent variables which are important to retirement planning. Summary parts provide a compact preview of what have been discussed in the whole literature reviews on retirement planning. Retirement Planning Over the past few decades, life expectancy has risen drastically of about 2 to 3 years for each decade and this number is expected to further increase in the future (Selene, 2005). As for the rising figures, financial planning for retirement becomes more important (Glass Kilpatrick, 1998; Grace, et al. 2010; DaVaney, 1995; Volpe et al., 2006). Retirement planning is vary from one another but can be observed by integrating individuals intention and behaviour that are partially different or unknown to one another (Hanisch, 1995). According to Parsons (1942), retirement is defined as a stage of life where involvement in certain social activities and desirable conducts become narrow or role less. Ming and Xiao (1995, p.17) found that having adequate income is the key to minimizing some of the problems during retirement. Income level is an important determinant for retirement wealth growth (Selene, 2005). Different types of planning will lead to different ways of wealth accumulations and lifestyle during retirement (Lusardi Mitchell, 2007). At the same time as retirement planning involves awareness and understanding of the problem underlies in life, individuals perception is strictly important to achieve the highest retirement satisfaction (Ming Xiao, 1995). Besides, Taylor-Carter, Cook and Weinberg (1997) identified that planning improves ones confidence and self-efficacy towards uncertainty typically in short or long time frame in retirement age. Although there are much researches interest on retirement planning, focus given to obtain a retirement planning guidelines in relations to the retirement planning is even more imperative to achieve a successful retirement plan (Greninger et al., 2001). Study concluded by Greninger, Hampton, Kitt, and Jacquet (2001) on retirement planning guidelines found that families should have completed their first 50 to 60% successful retirement savings goal by age of 50 and about 85 to 90 % by the age of 60. Moreover, asset allocation on more conservative investment is expected to be done within 3 to 5 years before retirement. With this, Taylor-Carter, Cook and Weinberg (1997, p. 286) found that Planning may enhance affective reactions to the financial and activity-oriented aspects of retirement, and informal transition. Earlier saving or planning for retirement may assure one to live with truly ideal and better quality life in retirement (Elder Eudolph, 1999). Demographic Variables Among the factors related retirement plans and decision, age, education level, gender, and household income are characterized as important demographic factors towards individual retirement preparation. Following parts will further discuss the demographic variables from the review of literature in details. Age A number of studies examine the effect of age on retirement shown that age to be related to retirement plan and decisions. Age has emerged as an important and consistent factor in human behaviour towards retirement planning (Richardson and Kilty, 1989; Joo and Pauwels, 2002; DeVaney, 1995). A procedural assumption found throughout the literature found that age help to guide pre-retirees in groundwork process of planning (DeVaney, 1995), lead to attitude and perception changes on retirement and also help to raise retirement confidence (Joo Pauwels, 2002). Lee and Law (2004) concluded that as age and income increases, individuals are more motivated to take action for retirement. This is supported by Montalto, Yuh and Hanna (2000) where as they found that planned retirement age are guided by reinforcement given from constant visit or review on the information needed for planning. Besides, age and income are found to be correlated in influencing ones behaviour towards retirement plannin g (Lee Law, 2004). DeVeney (1995) concluded that age and other demographic variables such as household income, educational level and household size are inter-related to guide pre-retirees in groundwork process of planning. Age has also shown to be important in the area of future educational program (Joo Garman, 1998). On the other hand, Malroute and Xiao (1995) uncover more compelling evidence on the factors affecting perceived adequacy of retirement income among pre-retired household, the finding suggest that different respondents age is likely to give different perception on income adequacy. Normally, on average individual tend to retire 3 years before the expected age (Zappala and Depolo, 2008) and the different between preferred and expected retirement age are: chronological age, perceive of income adequacy, work condition variables, and retirement attitudes. Education Level There are extensive studies on retirement covering education in general. The findings suggest that education is an important factor in affecting retirement planning preparedness (Hogarth, 1985; Joo Pauwels, 2002). Education enables individuals to explore more information relating to their retirement planning and that sources of information will influence their decisions, attitude and intention to do retirement planning (Hogarth, 1985; Joo Pauwels, 2002). Also, DeVaney (1995) addressed that the effect of education level may serve as a motivator or guidance for individuals to start the preparation for retirement planning. With the increase in age and educational level, individual tends to be more motivated to work on retirement planning preparation or take some action for their retirement (DeVaney, 1995). Joo and Pauwels (2002) found that higher educational level allows ones to experience and achieve greater confidence level in their retirement planning life. Men who had received higher education tended to be more confident in their retirement planning compared to those who had lower levels of educations (Joo Pauwels, 2002). The level of education and confidence found to be positively related (DeVaney, et al., 1995). On the other hand, older women are found to be less likely to have higher education in general because of limited education which had been given to them in the past (Lusardi, 2004). The effects of education on womens retirement makes women to be less financial literate or having knowledge on retirement and retirement planning (Lusardi, 2004; Lusardi Mitchell, 2008). Joo and Pauwels (2002) suggested that women participation in retirement planning increases as they receive education. In addition, Joo and Garman (1998) provide a good overview that education levels are significant to focus topic for future financial education programs. Highly educated people generally tend to posses and receive more knowledge relating to investing and knowledge on retirement planning compared to those who are less educated. According to Bernheim and Garrett (1996), education makes the possible of enhancing and exploring more knowledge and information on retirement for individuals and workers. Gender Gender differences are a significant predictor in retirement planning studies. According to Yakoboshi and Dickemper (1997), gender differences are the major influential factor for early preparation in retirement planning as male and female are generally will think and act differently upon their expectations and views. Males are found to be more ready and well prepared for retirement planning compared to women in general (Lusardi and Mitchell, 2008). In addition, Glass and Kilpatrick (1998) addressed that women are less prepared for retirement and this is generally due to women are lack of financial resources than men. Women are commonly found to be more economically and psychologically weak in retirement and are influenced by factors such as limited economic accessibility, low wage, pension scheme, gender prejudice and selection of career options in their intention towards effective planning (Glass Kilpatrick, 1998). Previous findings reveals that individuals either men or women who are more financially literate, richer, more tolerance to risk, and attitude towards retirement are among important factors in affecting an individual decision to engage in assistance in planning for retirement (Duflo Saez, 2002; Lusardi et al., 2007) and seek professional assistance in planning for retirement (Joo Grable, 2001). Gender differences do not bring any effect to the decision making on retirement as Joo and Grable (2001) highlight that the likelihood of both genders behaviour on professional retirement help-seeking are the same, but women involvement rate on professional help-seeking are slightly higher compare to men if they are given a chance. Women are more likely to seek financial advice from experts and those women who equipped with well financial knowledge tends to do well and more successful in their planning (Lusardi, 2004; Lusardi Mitchell 2008). Lusardi and Mitchell (2008) also pointed out that women are less financially literate to retirement planning compared to men. Majority of women do not have any plan to do their retirement planning and they depend much on the support from their family and friends in retirement age. On the other hand, Sunden and Surette (1998) identified that gender differences and marital status have significant relationships with investment decision on retirement planning. These factors will generate different level of assets distribution among women and men in retirement planning (Sunden Surette, 1998). Recent finding by Grace, Weaven and Ross (2010) indicates that males and females do not perceive and act for retirement planning in the similar way. Of an amount of 21 exploratory semi-structured interviews has been conducted to explore and identifying the differences, the result shows that males are likely to go for individual choice perspective while women tend to adopt life course perspective when it comes to retirement planning. Males tend to assume retirement as another stage of life in the future while women make no prediction on future life stages. Household Income A number of factors influence the individuals preparedness towards retirement planning. Kim, Kwon and Anderson (2005) identified that attitude and behaviour towards retirement are generally influence by household income. Household income is a critical measurement in some matter relating to retirement especially in retirement education program (Joo Garman, 1998) and professional financial help-seeking (Joo Grable, 2001). The findings by DeVaney, Gorham, Bechman, and Haldeman (1995) identified that household income is associated with the savings and investing behaviours in retirement preparation. Retirement preparation can only work when ones have enough money or wealth resources t

Tuesday, November 12, 2019

Tatlong Taong Walang Diyos

tatlong taong walang diyos (three year's without god) The film, set during the Japanese Occupation of the Philippines between 1942 and 1944, tells the story of Rosario (Nora Aunor), a young schoolteacher engaged to be married to Crispin (Bembol Roco). Crispin leaves Rosario to fight the Japanese as a guerilla, and in his absence a Japanese-Filipino officer named Masugi (Christopher de Leon) rapes her.Masugi later returns to Rosario apologizing for his act, bearing gifts of canned food and rice which Rosario at first refuses. Matters are complicated when Rosario's father Mang Andoy (Mario Escudero) is arrested by the Japanese and Rosario reveals to Masugi that she is pregnant. Rosario must make a choice: accept Masugi's proposal to make her his wife (saving her father and ensuring a safe and stable life for her child), or reject him and with him the baby they have conceived together. n the form of a blind man lighting a candle for himself and his palsied brother. The blind man careful ly picks up the child, and makes his way out the church just when a procession, complete with hundreds of candles and heavily costumed wooden saints, marches in. The symbolism is somewhat obvious–true faith walks quietly out the door, while pomp and pageantry make a grand, meaningless entrance.But the entire wordless scene is so quietly understated, so beautifully shot and staged–a perfect example of the purest cinema–that it literally takes your breath away. Yes, Crispin, there is a God–only he could have inspired O'Hara to shoot a scene like that. ipinapakita ng gumawa ng pelikulang ito kung gaano kahina ang mga pilipino sa panahon ng kahirapan at pag papahirap ng mga dayuhan sa ating bansa. sinasabi ng pelikulang ito na dapat maniwala lalo tayo sa diyos upang tayo'y matulungan niya sa panahong tayo ay nahihirapan.

Sunday, November 10, 2019

Nike ERP Implementation

What are the failure factors for the first NIKE-12 ERP-SCM implementation? All ERP implementations have risks associated that can lead to failure situations. The complexity of ERP systems together with demanding business environment, represent big challenges for companies when implementing an ERP. In the case of Nike, the situation is even more challenging because of the worldwide ERP deployment, and the large and complex scope of the project.Inevitably, and like all ERP implementations, Nike-i2's project faced complications at the different stages of he implementation cycle but those complications could have been minimized if the so called â€Å"Critical Success Factors† (CSF)I had been planned and managed properly. Using the 5 stages structure proposed in the report â€Å"Drawing Competitive Advantage through Successful ERP Implementation Projects†2, the failure factors are analyzed in detail in the following sections.First stage of implementation (project preparation ): One of the failures in the Nike-i2 ERP implementation was the lack of Formalized project plan/schedule. Feeling the market pressures, Nike did not commit to a isciplined plan and rushed up ERRS implementation, by â€Å"began to input data for its forthcoming Spring 2001 line when the system was still to stabilize†3 , giving reason to the opinions that projects cannot be driven by external deadlines4.Industry experts also warned about the boomerang effect (tight and unrealistic deadlines would come back in low quality results in the future) but Nike felt â€Å"12 technology was smaller and therefore easier to implement†. The result was the project failure and a financial storm (reduced profits) in the following financial periods. The executive eam as the responsibility to define the mission and scope of the project by analyzing the project business benefits and goals, and aligning them with strategic business goals.It is clear that in this case, Nike's executives wer e too ambitious by trusting blindly in a forecast system that was not completely adequate to Nike's business model (model was order based and not demand forecast oriented). As stated in Cnet â€Å"12 had past success projects with big clients such as Boeing, Nortel Networks, Raytheon and WalMart.. proving that 12 software is not perfect, but if implementation s done correctly, with proper planning, investment and scheduling, it will work well. â€Å"5 Implementing software is not a goal by it itself, remaking the business with the help of software is.Nike business goal was to create an efficient global supply chain by reducing inventory and manufacturing cycle, and this was a large and complex goal, thus, the software implementation could not be taken as simple and easy as Nike's executives toke it, failing to give Sustained management support to the project. In the second stage of implementation (Business Blueprint) the failures were: Nike elied too much in the (supposed) power o f the forecasting technology and underestimated its impact on the business processes changes such as orders processing, raw materials purchasing, fabric production, and demand management.That impact also affected the way employees and partners used to work. Anytime companies changes employee's working habits, it can get difficult to them to adapt to the new reality, thus, an Effective organizational change management is critical. Nike tailed ensuring that this complex change got the right results by not integrating properly people, process and technology. Nike's business context was very complex (120000 SKUs, operations in all continents, four seasons product turn over and product life cycle very short), thus, a deep knowledge of this industry was critical when implementing new business processes and ERP systems.Despite previous supply chain applications were troublesome Nike hired 12 that was inexperienced in the footwear industry. This situation could have been avoided if Nike had appropriately used consultants by integrating third-party specialists with industry experience in the project's team. By not managing this factor, Nike took a big risk and ncreased the probabilities of failure. Nike's business requirements were too complex and over detailed (like footwear's forecasting for styles, colors, sizes).If Nike had appropriately used consultants and also had promoted User involvement and participation, those experts could had shared their know-how in the definition of business requirements more realistic and aligned with the real organizational needs. The failures in the third stage of implementation (Realization) were: â€Å"i2's software did not offer all the required functionalities†6. Usually, ERP systems do not provide all the functional requirements nd 12 system is not an exception. That's why, ERP vendors offer interfaces to communicate with third-party products.The problem with Nike implementation was that there was not an Critical Success F actors is a concept presented in the report â€Å"Drawing Competitive Advantage through Successful ERP Implementation Projects†, by Jos © Esteves – Instituto de Empresa (Spain) and Joan Pastor Universitat Internacional de Catalunya, Barcelona (Spain) 2 ibid 3 SCM and ERP Software Implementation at Nike – From failure to success 4 http://www. cio. com/article/32335/Five_Lessons_Learned_from_Nike_s_i2_Debacle 5 ttp://news. cnet. om/i2-Nike-fallout-a-cautionary-tale/2100-1017_3-253829. html 6 SCM and ERP Software Implementation at Nike – From failure to success 1 adequate infrastructure and interfaces prepared in advance and tested before going live. The result was that the â€Å"Demand application and its planner did not integrate easily†¦ â€Å"7. Nike's demand for high customization was one of the main failures in this project. To Avoid ERP customization, Nike could have appropriately used consultants to reduce the need of very detail level forec asting (style, color, size).Consultants ould have brought also an experienced business vision, focus on ERP processes really needed to run Nike's business, alignment between Nike's requirements and ERP functionalities, and ERP best practices (including ‘2's recommendations and methodology) Forth stage (final preparation) is critically important to ensure the quality of the results, Nike's tailures were: To ensure that the ERP accomplishes the business requirements defined at the beginning of the project a Formalized testing plan is mandatory.In theory, this test plan should cover functional tests, data flow between ystems, user testing and performance tests. Nike did not perform any of those tests activities and the catastrophic results were: â€Å"System could not process large amounts of info. It was very slow and crashed†, â€Å"System could not handle thousands of variables to generate forecasts†, â€Å"Demand application and its planner did not integrate ea sily because different data formats. , â€Å"System sent inaccurate orders to manufactures and errors were not detected†8 In this phase, User involvement and participation, Adequate training program and Preventive troubleshooting are critical to guarantee that: the technical staff and end- sers know how to use the system; to prepare users to perform tests; and to prevent unexpected situations.These activities were not performed and under-evaluated by Nike as confirmed in the case: â€Å"it would work with requiring a pilot test†; â€Å"12 application was smaller†9; No communication between forecasting and inputs from sales and marketing; and no super users used in training. Data migration and data testing are crucial activities before system go-live because data is what really gives competitive advantage to a company and data is the core foundation for all business decisions, thus, an Adequate data migration process s essential. Analysts raised questions about a dequacy of information that Nike input into the system. â€Å"10, this means that Nike did not planned in advance the data activities (migration, conversion, cleaning, etc. ) and in the end the result was â€Å"Input data was estimated and didn't reflect the business reality, thus, forecasts could never be accurate†ll For the final stage (go live) Nike failed in: 0 Not giving sustained management support since â€Å"Executives did not hold review meetings, neither analyzed forecasting results†12.This transmitted a sense of no wnership and no own involvement to employees, resulting in no encouragement of system usage. From other point view, Nike also failed on the study of vendor's evaluation criteria: 0 According to the â€Å"six-stage model of the buying process for ERP software†13, one evaluation criteria is â€Å"Association with or the availability of third party vendor/ partners† and other criteria is â€Å"Qualifications, experience, and success i n delivering solutions to organizations of a similar size, complexity, and geographic scope†.It was clear that 12 did not had experience on the footwear industry and was not prepared or Nike's business complexity, so Nike should had decided for another vendor with industry knowledge or as an alternative to integrate 12 with a specialized third-party. 0 Nike seemed to desire the best-of-breed for each application area, ex: SAP for ERP, 12 for planning SCM, Siebel for CRM, etc. , which is not always the best option.As for 12, Nike knew that there were many disadvantages to choose this vendor, such as: 12 technology could not met all business requirements; data models were different between i2's demand and planner application raising integration problems with egacy systems; high effort was necessary to customization; there were 2 development and delivery cycles at the same time (one for 12 and other for SAP); and 12 had no experience in industry. A better option would have been t o integrate planning SCM with SAP from the very beginning, which turned out be what exactly happened atter the 12 Conclusion M project tailure.Nike-i2's ERP implementation failed in all stages of implementation on several CSF and also on the evaluation of the vendor. The failures were related mainly to project management and organizational factors proving that success is much related to eople and process and not Just technology. 7 SCM and ERP Software Implementation at Nike 10 11 12 13 – From failure to success ibid â€Å"A six-stage model of the buying process for ERP software† by Jacques Verville and Alannah Halingten 8 9 2.How do you evaluate the role of 12 in this process? Many factors which Nike failed to manage can also be applied for 12, resulting in a shared responsibility for the project failure. 0 12 did actually recommended Nike to â€Å"minimize customization to 10-15% of the software†14 but at the same â€Å"Nike and 12 worked together to incorpora te the desired hanges†. 1 5 This means, 12 agreed to do the changes when Nike insisted on high level of customization, thus, 12 also has responsibilities on the high customization failure.Responsibility could be different if the level of customization was written in the contract to be limited by 10%, and above that, 12 would not offer product guarantee. 0 The project did not have formal plan and no realistic deadlines. 12 as company, cannot be Just a software vendor, it must participate on the plan definition and monitoring. By accepting Nike's deadlines, 12 was also responsible for the delays nd for the low quality of the delivered software. 0 Nike began to input data while the system was not yet stable but 12 did not force Nike to stop this.A vendor must deliver his product when it is ready and according to negotiated deadlines. 0 12 did not have footwear industry knowledge but accepted to be part of the project, taking a big risk and being too ambitious like Nike was. The r esult was that 12 became overwhelmed with the business complexity and in the end the forecasts did not worked out as expected. 12 should had analyzed better Nike's business and industry, nd sub-contracted a third-party specialist in that industry. Nike did not use ‘2's implementation methodology; executives did not hold review meetings, neither analyzed forecasting results; there was no pilot test and no training. A vendor must also be part of the project management team to: define and negotiate formal deadlines, implementation phases, methodologies, tasks, roles, test plans, risk management plans, performance goals, etc. A vendor must assure that the contract is clear about: who owns the project; who is responsible for what; what resources will e available during the project; what are the expected benefits and results. 3.Describe the main problems associated with ERP software modification (short-term and long-term) Short-term 0 More time to implement a modified ERP compared w ith the time to implement an original ERP. 0 Higher costs during project's implementation to pay analysts to define customized business processes and to pay programmers to customize the new functionalities on the system. 0 Higher costs to run additional tests to guarantee customized functionalities work as expected and do not affect the original system apabilities. 0 Additional costs to train end-users on the customized functionalities.

Friday, November 8, 2019

Effectiveness of the Websites of Unionized and Non Unionized Organizations

Effectiveness of the Websites of Unionized and Non Unionized Organizations Introduction Due to the need of interactive capability to communicate with the clientele, internet has turn out to be an essential marketing tool in almost all industries. Researches indicate that almost all organizations ranging from small enterprises to large firms use internet to interact with their consumers (Wen et al., 2001).Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on Effectiveness of the Websites of Unionized and Non Unionized Organizations specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Thus, the associations are gradually budding websites which would be utilized in satisfying their user needs hence realizing their set objectives. However, not all organizations are capable of effectively integrating the use of internet into the strategic marketing goals. This is due to the differences that exist in the capacity of organization to comprehend and convert information and communication technology (Wen et al., 2001). The website e valuation can be used by organizations to track performance of their websites over a particular period of time. This will ensure continuous improvements and facilitate comparisons of performance with other peer organizations (Li Wang, 2010). Due to the ever varying hi-tech setting and user taste, it is critical that businesses should frequently appraise their websites using the applicable and customary approaches to guarantee that websites serve their anticipated use. Therefore, this research paper will evaluate the effectiveness of the websites of union and un-unionized organizations. Comparing and contrasting the websites of Union organizations The websites are similar in both the content and appearance. Contents of both the websites are up to date and unique in own way. In fact the current and unique way of representing information is an essential component of the web sites (Wen et al., 2001). For instance, the websites contains the fresh news concerning the forthcoming nursing day. The purpose is to increase their information dimension intended for the users. Moreover, the contents of both sites are easy to find and arranged in such a manner that could easily be understood by the audiences or those being targeted. In fact, the features that is characteristic of the standard website. Further, the websites are similar in design. Though having distinct color of that particular union, the texts within the websites are given a similar technical approach. The home page of each website leads the user to the needed information with the most important being at the front home page to attract the user.Advertising Looking for research paper on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More In addition, the pages are arranged in such a way that they become user friendly and easy to navigate. That is the most popular contents are placed on just a click away so as to increase their accessibility. T he other important feature in these websites is their interactive nature. Both the websites are essentially interactive and instructive. However, the websites, especially that of ICN, contains a lot of texts that could overwhelm the user. Though the ICN have the information broken into bullet points and subheadings, the layout of the pages still becomes un-scanable. This makes the page so voluminous and as such becomes unattractive to the users. In most cases users of websites does not have time to read every word within the pages. Rather they scan the pages for the information they need (Wen et al., 2001). If the page is loaded the users get difficulties finding the information they need hence becomes bored with the site. Therefore the sites should have an attractive and simple layout. The colors should have a proper contrast with the texts. Also the way the website is designed should attract the user attention and enhance its content (Wen et al., 2001). In addition the web site sh ould serve the purpose of the organization and at the same time does not detract from its usability. Some of these characteristics are somehow lacking in both the websites especially the attractiveness of the sites to the user. In fact attraction and interaction are the most important features of web marketing. Lack of these features makes the site redundant on its purpose (Wen et al., 2001). The effectiveness of the unionized websites The effectiveness of the websites of the two union organizations will be assessed from the functional perspective. That is, their purpose in form of how they communicate, inform, transact, relate and their technical merit (Li Wang, 2010). Indeed, the analysis indicates that these sites have their focus mainly on the dimensions of the information. The analysis besides signifies that the appliance of website on the dimension of operation and dealings are not commonly being positioned.Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on E ffectiveness of the Websites of Unionized and Non Unionized Organizations specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Amongst the appraisal dimension scientific plus affects the efficacy of all other selling magnitudes. At the basic marketing level, the website must be in a position to provide to the visitors of the site, in this case union members, timely information about the organization (Li Wang, 2010). Once the information dimension has been achieved, the communication function should be considered. The communication function involved all areas of marketing and promotion. In other words the union communicates to the members their intentions, programs activities as well as other relevant information. Conversely, the information and communication dimensions will be used by the HR departments to know the workers intentions, their planned activities as well as their agitation. This would be useful in the buildup of proper relationship between the org anization employees. Comparing and contrasting the union avoidance consultancy firms The two renowned union avoidance consultant firms are the Alignment Group Consultants and the Weissman Group Consultants. The Weissman Group Consultants tend to work jointly with supervisors and managers in helping organizations to realize positive results. In the process, this firm does not only offer guidance to managers and supervisors to precisely educate workers as regard to the potentiality of union representation implications, but it equally assist them in understanding and identifying issues that led to the unionization efforts. The assumed procedures do not just enhance the probability of organization triumph in an attempt to unionize, but it also decreases the possibility of prospective attempts through heightening the management compassion to issues which might impact the morale of workers negatively. The Alignment Group Consultants in contrast works to ensure positive employees relations . This union avoidance consultancy firm aspires for great change during the current widespread economic transition. It works to guarantee that corporations that are extra susceptible to the union groups have regulations altered in their support.Advertising Looking for research paper on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The websites have contents that reflect the company uniqueness and tend to be informative and interactive. In essence the contents tend to attract the customers rather than members as in the case with union websites. The informative and interactive characteristic of the contents keep the visitors of the site coming for more. Moreover the texts are arranged in such a way that the information needed by the user is just a click away. In fact, what the companies offer in terms of services are well arranged under the headlines services with the details of each services placed a click away from the main service. This makes the websites easy to navigate and user friendly. Though the main targets audience of these websites is companies and union organizations individuals can also have an access. Nevertheless the information being provided is focused towards attracting corporate that avoid unions as well as union organization. In other words these, firms are more informative than interactive with the audience (Feng et al., 2003). The reason is that services being offered by these firms such as workers strike management depend entirely on the available information. As such, these websites are perceived to be boring especially by individual users who might not be interested in the offered information. Moreover, the information being provided is scarce. Rather than providing information about services being offered by the firm, they have left the reader to consult the firm for more details and this appears to generate additional costs to the users. The website contents should be arranged in such a way that the user gets it easy to find the needed information. In a situation where the user does not get the needed information then the website becomes boring and its main purpose is compromised. However, the websites are kept in their professional and simple format. The layout is attractive and easy to the viewer. This enhances their usability. The websites also contain pop u p adverts that interact with the user. The pop-up ads are attractive and forms additional contents that attract users. The speed with which each page loads is extremely high. These means that the websites are less graphic and the traffic volume are user’s computer friendly. In addition, the websites have servers that have enough space or the bandwidth as well as lightweight code. All the websites have optimized their search engines. In other words they have offered the options for searching the information wanted by inserting key wards on search area of the websites. This is essential as users will find it easy to get whatever information by simply searching rather that navigating all through the web sites. This enables the sites to be convenient to the users. Critically, the websites are not built to market the firms rather to inform the users. Though there are elements of marketing the firm’s services, the main purpose is to inform the target audience about the compa ny and the services they offer. This is evidence by lack of interactive capabilities that would glue the users to the website such as the current news as well as other forms of web interactions. Effectiveness of the non unionized web sites Like the unionized websites the effectiveness of these sites will also be evaluated in accordance with their functionality perspective. As shown by Li Wang (2010), the current online promotion, contrasting to the customary selling relies a lot on IT. Thus, the efficacy of one website has to incorporate both the promotion philosophy and expertise. Per se, the websites for these organizations should be appraised based on their proportions namely communiquà ©, operation, affiliation and mechanical merits (Feng et al., 2003). Of these scopes, the mechanical merit merges all other scopes as its efficacy is hinged on by the other scopes. The websites analysis indicates that the union avoidance firms have focused on the information and communication di mension (Angehrn, 1997). The firm’s services depend wholly on the information. Moreover the target audience or the users of the websites are searching for the appropriate information that touches on the needs of the organization. Therefore the web is developed in such a way that it achieves its intended purpose through the development of information dimension. In conclusion, from the attributes of these two websites, the Weissman Group appears to be more effective than the Alignment Group. References Angehrn, A. (1997). Designing mature Internet business strategies: The ICDT model. European Management Journal, 15(4), pp.361-369. Feng, R., Morrison, A. M., Ismail, J. A. (2003). East versus West: A comparison of online destination marketing in China and the USA. Journal of Vacation Marketing, 10(1), pp.43-56. Li, X. Wang, Y. (2010). Evaluating the effectiveness of destination marketing organizations’ websites: Evidence from China. International Journal of Tourism Resea rch, 12(5), pp.536-549. Wen, H. J., Chen, H. G. Hwang, H. G. (2001). E-commerce web site design: Strategies and models. Information Management Computer Security, 9(1), pp.5-12. Appendix Union organization websites The American Nurses Association Retrieved from: https://www.nursingworld.org/ The National Nurses United Retrieved from: https://www.nationalnursesunited.org/

Wednesday, November 6, 2019

WWI and WWII essays

WWI and WWII essays I am sure that everyone can agree that war is a terrible thing. Even so, wars are very complex and interesting. There are many facets that one can explore about wars. For instance, one is the similarities and differences of the causes of World War I and World War II.. Another interesting thing to talk about when you think of wars would be all the different countries involved, belligerent or peaceful. Probably the final thing that you should compare and contrast would be how each of the wars ended. There was one major event that primarily led to the start of WWI. This event was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, who was the nephew of the current Emperor of the Austrian empire and therefore was heir to the throne. The archduke and his wife were shot and killed by Gavrilo Princip in the middle of a parade, who was a member of the Black Hand. The Black Hand was an organization whose goal was to unite all Serbs under one government. As a result of the assassinations, on July 28th the Austria-Hungary empire declared against Serbia. One by one, countries were pulled in due to the alliance system. There were also many reasons that led to the beginning of WWII. A few of these reasons were the Great Depression, the rise of nationalism, and the emergence of leaders such as Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini. The main reason war broke out in Europe was that on September 1, 1939 Germany invaded Poland. The war for the United States didnt begin until Japan bombed Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. So, I think that it is easy to say that there were many more reasons for the start of WWII than for WWI. Many countries were involved in both of these hellish wars. Most of the countries that took part in WWI were also in WWII. There were two powers in WWI. The first power was called the Central Powers which consisted of Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, and the Ottoman Empire. The other power was called the Alli...

Sunday, November 3, 2019

Change Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Change Management - Essay Example As an employee of a company undergoing restructuring I would like to receive information regarding how the changes in the organization are going to affect my day to day activities as an employee of the company. I would also like to receive reassurances to ensure the company offers the employees job security. Often during restructuring the executive managerial staff decides to downsize and cut jobs. It is important for the company to provide its employees with the company’s new mission and vision to ensure the firm’s goals are aligned with the expectations of the employees. If any new managers are going to be hired as an employee I would like to know what changes are going to occur among the managerial staff. Leadership is important and the employees follow leaders that earn their trust and respect through their actions and accomplishments. From whom would you like to get this information? Why? I would prefer if the information came directly from the board of directors o r from the executive managerial staff. The managers of a company are responsible for the well being and performance of the employees. A restructuring plan is a major strategic decision that must be made by the people in charge of a corporation. I would rather get the information from a manager because getting the information from such a source ensures its validity. ... The reason this is the best option is because these forms of communication are reliable and they are official. The employees of a firm can trust communication that comes from the company directly. Effective memos clearly define their audience to ensure the proper stakeholder receives the information it needs (Colostate, 2012). One of the advantages of using internal forms of communication is that its use constitutes a documentation of information by the company. Keeping a record of communication can prevent misinterpretation of data and information. What would be the worst way of receiving this information? Why? The worst way of receiving this information is through informal channels such as the press. The press often changes the story to make it more sensational. The purpose of the press is to create a story that the readers will like. Often the press does not care about the truth since their objective is to obtain the highest ratings possible. Four forms of press coverage are telev ision, radio, internet, and the written press. In 2011 the total U.S. communication and media spending reached $1.12 trillion and spending is projected to reach $1.41 trillion by the year 2015 (Plunkettresearchonline, 2012). It is not in a company’s best interest for employees to obtain information regarding corporate restructuring plans from the press because their information may be biased, inaccurate, and corrupted. Information that the employees obtain from the press can often cause panic among the employees. The press can also disrupt information in order to create controversy and chaos in an attempt to keep a story going. As a manager of

Friday, November 1, 2019

World History Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 4

World History - Essay Example Both men had respect from their soldiers. This respect was fostered out of comradeship. Both leaders lead their soldiers into battle personally. Charlemagne led his soldiers in almost of his battles. Ariel Sharon also led his men into battle. Unlike other generals and leaders, who stayed behind lines to make decisions, Charlemagne and Ariel Sharon believed that leadership choices should be made in the field. As the result, Charlemagne’s campaigns gained territory in Europe, while Ariel Sharon’s battles gained land in the Middle East. Both men were warriors at heart, excelling at the craft of warfare. Charlemagne and Ariel Sharon were also both statesmen. Charlemagne ruled his conquered territories until his death. Ariel Sharon, after retiring from active IDF (Israel Defense Forces) duty, joined the Knesset (Israeli equivalent of Congress). After serving in the Knesset for decades, Ariel Sharon was elected Prime Minister of Israel. Throughout Charlemagne’s rule rebellions requiring his attention occurred. The same circumstances arose for Prime Minister Sharon when the second Intifada (Palestinian uprising) plagued his years in office. Both Charlemagne and Ariel Sharon were accused of ordering massacres. Charlemagne’s massacre was called the Bloody Verdict of Verden. Forty-five hundred men were beheaded on Charlemagne’s orders. Time has clouded the Bloody Verdict of Verden, making Charlemagne’s involvment unclear. Ariel Sharon’s massacre occurred when he served as Israel’s Defense Minster. Sabra and Shatila were refugee camps in Lebanon. When Israel occupied southern Lebanon, IDF soldiers surrounded the Sabra and Shatila camps. No IDF soldier entered the camp, but prevented refugees from leaving when Phalangists (a Christian faction in the Lebanese civil war) entered the camp seeking terrorists. What happened next is of great debate. When the smoke cleared a disputed amount of Palestinians were dead.