Wednesday, July 31, 2019

Discrimination in social work Essay

As social workers are involved with comparatively powerless people within the community, they are in an influential position with regards to the fair treatment of many disadvantaged individuals. This unfair treatment comes in the forms of discrimination and oppression. Discrimination can be defined as the act of giving less favourable treatment, through prejudice and stereotype, of individuals typically belonging to groups who are a relatively powerless part of society. Discrimination can come in several forms: Direct Discrimination, which can be seen directed against gender when, for example, a female is denied a job interview as it is believed she will not fit into the masculine environment. Indirect Discrimination is present when the intentions of a rule or policy do not display apparent discrimination, but can result in unequal treatment. Harassment is the occurance of unjust treatment towards a person due to a particular characteristic, such as ethnicity, which makes for an undesirable and sometimes hostile environment or brings about a violation of the victim’s dignity. Victimisation can occur when a person rightly makes a complaint in line with the Equality Act, and this results in malevolence or negative treatment towards the complainant. From personal experience, I have witnessed this occur within interactions between members of front of house and kitchen staff in a restaurant, wherein an intentionally hostile and cold atmosphere was created for the individual who lodged the complaint. Oppression is the act of taking the prejudice inherent in Direct and Indirect Discrimination further through negative and unfair wielding of power, inflicting hardship and disadvantage upon those seemingly inferior in the social structure. This power being a force for controlling people which those apparently more dominant in the hierarchy are capable of exerting. The forms Oppression takes include such systems as ageism, sexism, classism, and those in dominant positions use these systems to limit rights and freedoms of these individuals and this unjust domination adversely affects a person’s life chances. Due to variables inherent in peoples identity, such as age, ethnicity and gender, an individual oppressed on the grounds of skin colour may also be considered to have an advantage over someone considered â€Å"old† in socially constructed value as far as age is concerned, and thus could fall into the role of â€Å"oppressor†. In a bid to challenge and reduce structural disadvantage, discrimination and oppression within care work, framework for Anti-Discriminatory Practice (A. D. P. ) has been introduced. A main focus of A. D. P.  is â€Å"putting the client in their social context†, which is the acknowledgement of not only characteristics specific to different groups, but also characteristics unique to a particular individual, and the tailoring of care in relation to these differences to avoid undermining diversity, as is considered good practice in social work. It recognizes that uniform care does not work effectively for everybody, such as assumed homogeny when treating those of ethnic minorities in an identical manner to when treating a client from the dominant culture. This could also be viewed as a method of assimilation into the norms of that society, and can be an oppression of identity. Previously, MANAGEMENT? had deemed A. D. P. unimportant (Thompson/Dvies? )and such outlooks made care liable to adopt such exclusive atiitudes as the colour-blind and gender-blind approaches. These are terms that refer to the ignorance of ethnic and gender influences on an individuals personality, resulting in inappropriate and even oppressive treatment caused possibly by care with male or dominant culture bias. Though these two particular groups are highlighted, discrimination in care work methods can also affect other disadvantaged demographics such as the disabled, elderly and those of different religious beliefs. Thompson argues that maintaining an awareness of A. D. P. is essential in combating discrimination and oppression, and that refusing to intervene becomes â€Å"part of the problem†. Furthermore, Giddens (1977) supports the view that failing nuetral use of professional power allows inequalities to persist, and that it must be used proactively to transform oppressive structures. Giddens also notes that negative use of this power can reinforce inequalities. Another important part A. D. P. is Giddens’ â€Å"Emancipatory Politics†(1991) which aims at liberating clients from their disadvantaged positions. Identified within this are three â€Å"imperatives† to keep mindful of, the first being Justice, which is suggestive of fair treatment and the confidence that people will not be exploited or have rights denied. Equality is the next, which opposes uniform treatment, identifying it as a barrier to fairness. Thirdly, Participation is a key concept in objectives to emancipate and empower clients to better cope with, or be liberated from their circumstances, all the while using the client’s legitimate power to counter the power abuse brought about by discrimination and oppression. This involves cooperation of social workers and service users in planning and evaluating services to improve empowerment opportunities and to help the service provide suitable care (Beresford and Croft 1993, in Davies?). In A. D. P, this relationship is recognised as a â€Å"partnership†, a more sensitive term which is not suggestive of power interactions, but more on mutual agreement (Thompson, 1996, DAVIES? ) promoting a sensitivity and understanding about the inequalities to be addressed. Using the word â€Å"partnership† can also foster an element of trust between the two parties, as social workers are so often demonised in the media, and this enhances mistrust towards them. These relationships can run into conflicts between parties, though long-term success relies on not abandoning the partnership and maintaining professional willingness. (DAVIES? ) An important focus in Participation is to enable the client to use their own power to liberate themselves from oppression, and to avoid the â€Å"benign paternalism† of the past which created an environment of dependency through protecting the less fortunate from their problems (Bailey and Brake, 1975 DAVIES). A complication to fair practice in social work is that some situations can be complex and open to numerous interpretations, and this is where the judgement of a professional, takes precedence over technical reasoning and codes of practice (jordan, 1990 pp. 3-4, DAVIES? ). In making professional judgements, moral reasoning and due analysis must be taken to avoid â€Å"messy situations†(Schon, 1983). Also essential for professionals to possess a sensitivity towards feelings when making such decisions. Insensitive intervention is a contradiction of A. D. P. and have more negative effects than positive (DAVIES?  ) Professionals being a person with attributes such as having engaged in lengthy training with assessment of competence, authority acknowledged by service users and a thorough theory of field based on reasearch evidence (Banks, 2001, Gomm, 1996 BRIANS HANDOUT). Though care must be taken in relation to these decisions to ensure there is no abuse of professional’s power resulting in coercion upon service users(Davies), and instead that it supports equality and emancipation. (DAVIES? ). It is important to not allow subjectiveness and personal prejudices to obstruct care. Also essential for professionals to possess a sensitivity towards feelings

Tuesday, July 30, 2019

A Synopsis of the Movie I Not Stupid Too

FIRST PAPER REQUIREMENT Movie Analysis Prepared by: LEONILA C. MIRANDA 2011-79515 Title:I NOT STUPID TOO Director:Jack Neo Producer:Chan Pui Yin Seah Saw Yam Writer:Jack Neo Casts:Shawn Lee (Tom Yeo) [pic] Ashley Leong (Jerry Yeo) Joshua Ang (Chengcai Lim) Jack Neo (Mr. Yeo) Xiang Yun (Mrs. Yeo) Huang Yiliang (Mr. Lim) Studio:Media Corp Raintree Pictures Distributor:United International Pictures Release date:26 January 2006 Running time:124 minutes Country:SingaporeLanguage:English, Mandarin, Hokkien |I NOT | |STUPID | |TOO | | | | | |SUMMARY OF THE STORY |I Not Stupid too is a satirical comedy film focused on the theme of problems in educational system, generation gap, upshots of media and abusive use of technology as a form of escapism, juvenile delinquency and other related social issues. Throughout the film, you will tend to reflect with some scenarios which you will find tremendously familiar with our country’s pertinent issues which make it appears that we are not alon e with these pandemic diseases that inflict our contemporary society.It was written and directed by Jack Neo who is widely known for his films which he used to present annotations with the intention of addressing serious issues that matters and presenting it in a humorous and youthful perspective. â€Å"When was the last time someone praised you? When was the last time you praised someone? † – These are the questions posed at the beginning of the film which made me contemplate on myself for a while and somehow gave me a glimpse of what the movie is all about.The film is narrated and seen through the eyes of the eight year old Jerry Yeo; presenting the lives, struggles and adventures of him and his brother Tom Yeo and their friend Chengcai Lim. Jerry enjoys performing arts, while Tom excels in technological aspects and a talented writer and blogger. They come from a well heeled family with busy parents. On the other hand, Chengcai is physically active and an adept fight er. Unlike his friends, he comes from a working class background and was raised by his widowed ex-convict father.The story started with Tom, receiving a trophy for being a champion blogger. But instead of being proud of his son, Mrs. Yeo confronted him, saying that writing nonsense is not awesome. As Jerry narrated, â€Å"Grown-ups think that, by telling us a lot, they are communicating. Actually, they are running their own shows. † – their parents keep on blubbering too much and don’t care about their children’s feelings as long as they are able to say their pieces. At school, Jerry was chosen as the lead narrator for their school play and encouraged by his teacher to get his parents to attend.But he falters because he knows that his parents are very busy and view performances as just a waste of money and time. Aside from this, he got bullied by his classmates who made her kiss a girl and fallaciously made him believe that he might impregnate her as what they’ve seen from the television. This made him anxious and tried to ask from adults around him on how do babies come about but none of them bother and open enough to tell him the truth. Confuse of what to do, he bought pineapples for her based from what he heard that eating this will cause miscarriage.As a result, the girl was brought in the school clinic and their parents were then called. Because of this, Jerry’s parents had an argument which then resulted to what he termed as â€Å"cold war. † On Father’s day, Tom gave Mr. Yeo a razor, while Jerry gave him a drawing illustrating how he views his father absence because of being too busy with his work. Both gifts were not appreciated. During dinner, Tom’s cell phone rang and his parents reprimanded him when he got the call. But after several minutes, their cell phones rang and left the table to answer it, leaving their children eating on their own. And when Mr.Yeo lose his important files in his laptop which he will use for a business presentation at work, Tom managed to fix it before going to school. He then delivered it to his father hoping that he’ll be praised because of what he did. But instead of thanking him, Mr. Yeo scolded him for touching his things and not being in school. Mr. Lim on the other hand, loves Chengcai very much and doesn’t want him to end up loser like him who once thought of being a good fighter but broke his leg that’s why he don’t want his son to develop his fighting skills. He has gone to great lengths to ensure that his son will turn to be good and responsible.Alas, he doesn’t communicate well with his son and disciplined him by using physical violence and throwing verbal abuses at him. After their previous fight, he accidentally tore Chengcai’s bag when he tried to pull it. So, keeping in mind of his friend’s advice about how he should show his love to his son, he bought him a cheap bag and hesi tantly gave it. Chengcai refused to accept it especially when his father failed to explain the bag’s worth and value for giving it to him. Apart from their parents, Tom and Chengcai have also problems with their teacher, Mr. Fu, who often regard them as â€Å"rotten apples. He teaches them Chinese and even bought dictionaries for them to understand his lesson aside from giving remedial classes. But he doesn’t really connect with his students through his teaching strategies and frequently focus or attack his students’ flaws and weaknesses. During a spot check of cellular phones, Tom was caught possessing a pornographic VCD. As Mr. Fu tried to confiscate it, the students passed it on each other until he was able to get it. Chengcai made an impertinent remark which provoked his teacher to hurt him and eventually leads to an exchange that intensified physical fight.Consequently, their parents were called. They begged to the principal to forgive their children and e ven tried to bribe her with various offers. But the principal remained firm as what she believes, â€Å"Rules are rules! I have to go according to the law! † And so, Chengcai was expelled, while Tom received a public caning. After few days, video of the incident was uploaded and watched in the internet which then began to appear in the newspapers and television. The public caning and teacher’s violent action towards the students was questioned.The principal stood by the school rules, policies and corporal punishments which she believes and emphasized that caning is not just about pain, but the shame that the students will feel and will then made them afraid of doing it again. After the incident that led to various school controversies, Mr. Fu submitted a resignation letter which then refused by the principal and faculty to accept. Conversely, Tom and Chengcai got recruited by a street gang. Mr. Lim again talked to the principal to plea for his son but the latter remain ed firm in her decision. Thus, with the help of his friend, Mr.Lim tried to look for other schools in the country but none of them agreed to accept his son. On the other side, Mr. Yeo set a dinner with Tom to spend time with him and tried to somehow make a connection through uttering his son’s generation lingo and giving him a 3G phone. But just the same, he didn’t also win his son’s heart and respect. As part of their initiation, Tom and Chengcai were forced to steal by their senior gang members. However, they were caught by conmen who pretended to be police detectives and demanded them to pay $2000 within their given days or be arrested and jailed.Jerry on the other hand, stole a big amount of money which then found out by his parents. Mr. Yeo enraged and caned him but got embarrassed when Jerry told him the reason behind his action. He explained that he tried to save money and resorted to stealing just to earn $500 to buy an hour of his father’s time s o they will be able to attend in his school presentation. This made Mr. and Mrs. Yeo depressed and blamed their selves because of what their children has gone through as a result of their failures and shortcomings as parents.Moreover, this also brought them to reading Tom’s blogs which he uses as his outlet to vent all his hurts, frustrations and disappointments set off by his parents and teacher who always misunderstands and misjudges him. One of his blogs contains, â€Å"My mom? She oppresses me. Everything I do is never enough for her. When I was in secondary one, I took a wrong bus and got lost. I was terrified. I called Dad from a public phone. He said he was too busy to talk. It’s scary to be lost. I got home after night fall. Mom lashed at me without asking. Slowly, I came to realize that my house is just a place where I sleep.This family seems to have it all. Actually, it feels so empty. † Through these, Mr. & Mrs. Yeo came to realize how unappreciated a nd emptied their children feel as well as their deep disappointments about them. Incapable of raising the money asked from them by the conmen and being scared of being jailed, Tom and Chengcai opted to rob an old woman of her necklace. But as they ran off, they slowly realized that what they did was wrong. Being remorseful by their action, they decided to return the necklace. After learning about what they did, the people around attacked and chased them.Tom bumped into several bystanders and dropped his cell phone. Mr. Yeo was accidentally dialed and made him saw what was happening to his son. He then left his work presentation and went to the scene together with his family. He pleads the old woman to forgive his son and explained their realizations about how he came up with it as a result of their mistakes as parents. Fortunately, the old woman listened and understood what their family was going through and told the police that she just made a prank call. On the other side, Chengca i who was also chased, slammed into gangsters and got beaten up.Mr. Lim, who happens to be on the same area saw him and tried to help and protect his son. Unfortunately, he was accidentally pushed down the stairs and got critically injured. He was then rushed to the hospital, suffering from a serious head trauma. Mr. Lim’s friend told Chengcai about his father’s struggles and efforts just to save money for his studies, look for other school that will let him in and somehow fix their relationship. She than added, â€Å"He’s willing to give up his life for you. Your Dad loved you too much. But, he didn’t know how to show his love. †Being hammered by his conscience and realizing his faults as a son, he decided to go back to school and took the risk of begging the principal to accept him again. On his last agony, Mr. Lim requested to see the school principal. He openly voiced out his failures as a father and how he grew up in a violent environment wher e no one ever cared for him which in the long run caused him being naive on how to show and give love to others. Moreover, he told Chengcai to pursue his talent for fighting and how much he loves him. Sighting this, the principal’s heart melted and allowed Chengcai to return to school and gave him chance to prove his worth.Chengcai developed and enhanced his talent with the school’s support and became an internationally recognized martial artist. Meanwhile, Mr. and Mrs. Yeo finally understood their children and managed to build up their communication and relationship with their children. They joyfully and proudly watched Jerry’s school concert and showed their full support to their talented son. The film ended with Jerry’s narration on how each of them found the key to win everyone’s heart by giving more encouragements and compliments. His last remarks avowed, â€Å"We learned that appreciation is a powerful force.This powerful force may result to the simplest words that you say or an action, or a simple expression. You never know, what you have changed. † |I NOT | |STUPID | |TOO | | | |conflicting / inconsistent beliefs, practices, views, principles, | |and/or philosophies that fall under the discourses on educational | |goals / contents and manner of teaching |The film tackled various areas – from bad parenting, up to juvenile delinquency, misuse of technology, effects of media and most especially, the problems encountered in the educational system. It provides us tough questions and paints a grim portrait of the increasingly problems and troubles of today’s youth in the society. The key point that Jack Neo tries to set forth in this motion picture is the generation gap, communication barriers and the irony in how acts of love and care by children, parents and educators wind up peeving each other.The love manifested by parents to children, children to parents and educators to students are undeniable a nd evidently viewed in the story but often disregarded by the receiving faction. These sentiments are actually true not only to Singapore, where the film was based, but also to the majority of fast paced countries – even in the developing countries similar to the Philippines. Parents’ failure to set off and build good relationship and communication with their children also of giving attention and appreciation is irrefutably the main reason of the problems facing our youths today.The movie clearly depicts how children feel muffled by their environment and often feels pressured by the adults who don’t bother to listen, instead, frequently criticized, judged and labeled them as hopeless and doomed to failure. And with parents who are way too busy to be involved in their children’s lives, but are disgusted if they don’t live up to their expectations, those youths are left with no one else to turn to – especially if they don’t even have or feel the support system from school, particularly their teachers, being their surrogate parents.In our country, being known and true to our values of having close family ties, the school plays a big role in developing our youths. Conflicting and inconsistent beliefs, practices, views, principles, and philosophies that fall under the discourses on educational goals and contents as well as manner of teaching are very apparent in the film. These has been one of the focal points that the movie wants to discuss and give consideration – the underlying problems both in the objective and subjective areas of the educational system.In the film, the lead character’s school is beset with incensed teachers who are extremely dedicated in their work, yet, exceedingly inadequate in imparting knowledge and learning. Jerry’s teacher for instance, she was not able to explain her answer in a proper way when asked by his student about where babies come from. She used other words in stead of the true terminologies in the process of reproduction in explaining. This just added confusion to the child and did not help him in dealing with the situation he was going through.He did not get any clarification to what he’s been curious at or help in solving his problem both in his family and teachers. Mr. Fu, on the other hand, characterized a Chinese teacher who can’t establish connection to his students. He developed this certain barrier between him and his students making it harder for him to establish a good teacher-student relationship. He uses a teacher-centered approach as his way of teaching. Yes, this approach focuses in the student achievements but teachers are driven to meet accountability standards and often sacrifice the ndividual needs of students just to be firm and guarantee that they will be able to meet those standards. More so, this environment only places the control of learning to the hands of the teacher where he makes connections by u sing his expertise in content knowledge. The effort to get to know his students, processing the learning, and identifying their needs are only secondary. Mr. Fu set this atmosphere of a traditional classroom where the student’s interaction is basically just responding to teacher-directed questions and lesson flow.He rarely gives chance to his students for them to construct their own learning. Mr. Fu has high hopes and expectations to his students. So to enhance their Chinese language skills, he bought dictionaries for each of them to be used in his class. But on the contrary, it didn’t serve its purpose because it was also written in Chinese characters, so the students were not able to understand its content. When he was called by the school principal about it, he was advised to somehow translate the Chinese words that he’s teaching and use in English sentences or examples so that the students will able to understand it.Aside from this, he was reminded to think forward and reflect why his students don’t show interest and fail in his subject. Because of not taking his student’s needs into consideration, he was not able to use appropriate materials and teaching strategies. As a result, he was not able to attain his learning objectives and reach his expectations from them. Apart from these, he also failed to teach and inculcate values to his students. As I quoted from his argument with Chengcai, the student told him, â€Å"If we were rotten apples, as our teacher, wouldn’t you be responsible? We often say that teachers should be a role model to his students. Mr. Fu frequently makes violent comments and utterances towards his students which made them hate him and lessen their respect to him. Instead of giving them praises and encouragements so as to develop their confidence and self-esteem, he keeps on criticizing and nagging them, pointing out their flaws and mistakes. Mr. Fu came also to the extent of hurting one of his students when the latter provoked him with harsh comments. He was questioned on as to what degree teachers should do to impose discipline to their students.This brings us to the issue of corporal punishment which was also supported by the school principal in the film. After the incident between Chengcai, Tom and Mr. Fu, she immediately decided to expel one of the students and give public caning as sanction to the other. As I’ve seen, the incident did not go through proper and deep investigation, considering that it involves a serious offense. The student’s sides and rights were not given attention. Then even right after she was able to watch the video containing the incident, she still stood to his decision.She even uttered that corporal punishment, particularly the public caning, does not only involves pain, but also the shame that the students will feel. And because of this, the child and other students will be reminded not to do offenses like those. The school prin cipal depicted a common characteristic of officials who relies on the typical phrase, â€Å"according to the law,† to avoid responsibility, thorough analyzation of the situations or problems at hand and giving of common sense solutions. Furthermore, the school principal was also questioned of not speaking in Chinese, while Mr.Fu was pushing his students to become excellent in that language. The film somehow wants to imply the importance of learning and using their own language. At least, the principal managed to explain why she has poor skills in speaking Chinese and that she’s willing to learn and improve. Aside from these, I also observed that the teachers don’t communicate with the parents in various matters about the student. For instance, Jerry’s teacher did not make it a pint to at least help the child in reminding and encouraging the student to make his parents attend the concert.Knowing that she always reminds Jerry about the concert tickers for h is parents, she should have thought that there’s a problem and she could make a way to communicate them, explain the importance of the performance to their child and encourage them to come. On the other side, Mr. Fu was not also able to communicate especially to those students who he observed to have difficulties and failing in his class. In this event, he could make an inquiry to the parents if the child has personal problems which hinder him n participating in the class or somehow suggest how he could help with the parents to work out on the child’s improvement. |I NOT | |STUPID | |TOO | |STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES OF CONFLICTING POSITIONS | |REQUISITES OF SUCCESSFUL | |TEACHING INSIDE AND OUTSIDE THE SCHOOL SITUATION | Education is not the filling of a pail but the lighting of a fire. † ~ William Butler Yeats. † Formal education aims to cultivate the intellect, develop reasoning, inculcate moral and sound judgment, develop values and spirituality, and as sist individuals towards attaining full potential growth. All individuals can be taught, it’s how the teachers teach them. When we teach, we do not just teach the content, we teach students the content. Effective teaching involves organizing the learning objectives, assessments and instructional activities focusing on the student’s overall development.There are two contrasting viewpoints on how to properly instruct children in the classroom. In teacher-centered approach, the role of the teacher is to dispense knowledge and student’s role is to listen and memorize. While in student-centered or constructivist approach, the children are more in control of their learning. Is a teacher simply the dispenser of information or a facilitator of learning? Both approaches works best if we will blend it together. With these, teachers can promote higher order thinking skills and develop students holistically.If teachers will apply both of these methods, they will be able to achieve their learning objectives with the help of providing proper teaching strategies, techniques and materials. Moreover, teacher-student communication should also be developed because it will lead to good learning relationship and improvement. Making connection with the students will greatly help the teachers in identifying their individual and specific needs so as to be able to supply and provide appropriate teaching methods and approaches.Through this, educators will not only develop the child’s intellect but also inculcate values which will then complete their totality as a person. Student’s rights as learners and as person should be recognized and take into consideration. Using reinforcements will help in motivating and encouraging them to focus and develop interest in their studies. More so, they should be given proper guidance and counseling to help them in mental, emotional, social and spiritual adjustments and development as they go through the path towards becoming a productive and worthy individual.There’s an idiom that says, â€Å"the exception proves the rule. † This implies that the presence of an exemption applying to a specific case establishes that a general rule existed and that there’s always an exemption to the rule. Even if we have this rules like giving corporal punishment, as what the film showed, school officials should consider the specific consequences that it may resulted. Children cannot only be taught by scolding and hurting them. There are various ways that educators can do to impose and develop discipline among students.As part of the academe, we should be sensitive enough in molding the future generation. We should make decisions not only from the basis of the rules or laws but also taking into concern the responsible, moral and fair judgments, foreseeing its consequences and outcomes especially when our children’s future is at hand. An effective teaching and educational objective sho uld include the following ABCD approach: Audience, Behavior, Condition and Degree. The main focus of teaching is the audience which includes the learners.Identifying their needs and skills are the key of knowing what kind of methods or techniques that teachers can apply. Next is the behavior which involves the three learning domains – cognitive, affective and psychomotor. It should focus on developing student’s behavior in understanding, value clarification and performance. Meanwhile, condition connotes the learning environment and atmosphere that the teacher imposed which may motivate and encourage students to learn and improve oneself. Lastly, the degree which suggests the rocess of evaluating the student’s outcome and standard or criterion for judging the academic and behavioral performance of the learners. Teaching students is not an easy job to do. It should not end in the classroom. Teachers are considered as one of the most important agents of constructiv e change in society. With the proper knowledge, understanding, techniques, strategies and experiences in handling learners, we can be able to mold the hearts and minds of the youth who will become the future leaders and citizens of the country.

Monday, July 29, 2019

Advantage and Disadvantage of Living Abroad

The first advantage is easy to learn another language. This means if you are living abroad, you can learn another language. For example, your original language is Chinese, but now you living in America, you can learn English and speak it well. In addition, the second advantage is can know different culture. This means you can learn lots of knowledge and custom in that country. The final advantage is can make friend with people from different country. This means you can be happy with new friends. For instance, I study in Malaysia; I have friends from Japan, Korea, and Malaysia. Aside for the advantage, there are some disadvantages of living abroad. Firstly, you may not easily find a helper to help you if you are having a problem. Moreover, you will waste a lot of money on transportation. For example, take cab can cost you more than driving your own car. You need adapt to your new environment is also a disadvantage at living abroad. For example, you need to try to eat those indigenous foods though you don’t like it. At the end, living abroad also has many disadvantages. To sum up living abroad can be easy to learn another language, know different culture and make friends with people from different country. But also need to conquer those issue such as different environment, transportation and become more independent. So living abroad have many advantages and disadvantages. Advantage and Disadvantage of Living Abroad The first advantage is easy to learn another language. This means if you are living abroad, you can learn another language. For example, your original language is Chinese, but now you living in America, you can learn English and speak it well. In addition, the second advantage is can know different culture. This means you can learn lots of knowledge and custom in that country. The final advantage is can make friend with people from different country. This means you can be happy with new friends. For instance, I study in Malaysia; I have friends from Japan, Korea, and Malaysia. Aside for the advantage, there are some disadvantages of living abroad. Firstly, you may not easily find a helper to help you if you are having a problem. Moreover, you will waste a lot of money on transportation. For example, take cab can cost you more than driving your own car. You need adapt to your new environment is also a disadvantage at living abroad. For example, you need to try to eat those indigenous foods though you don’t like it. At the end, living abroad also has many disadvantages. To sum up living abroad can be easy to learn another language, know different culture and make friends with people from different country. But also need to conquer those issue such as different environment, transportation and become more independent. So living abroad have many advantages and disadvantages.

Conflict Resolution at General Hospital Case Study

Conflict Resolution at General Hospital - Case Study Example It has been recognized that cultural changes has been initiated by Mike Hammer which seemed to be relatively ineffective for the overall organization. The analysis of the case study is aimed at providing answer to various problems faced by General Hospital in order to increase its efficiency. Table of Contents Abstract 2 Introduction to the Case Study 4 Conflict Management Styles 4 Hammer’s Leadership Style 5 Change Approach Used 7 Conclusion and Recommendation 9 References 10 Bibliography 11 Introduction to the Case Study The case study is all about the General Hospital that has been facing problems and the performance of the organization has been declining. Therefore, the hospital required certain high-speed solution so that the operations of this organization could be improved. It was noted that the CEO of the hospital Mike Hammer identified that the cut in the cost of operation was of top priority and thus increase in the revenues could be the ultimate solution to fix the problem so that the current services could be expanded and the new services could have been added in those areas where the General Hospital could have competed successfully. Conflict Management Styles There are various conflict management styles such as competing/controlling, accommodating, avoiding, collaborating and compromising. Competing conflict management style is generally understood as being assertive and uncooperative. It might be understood as protection of one’s position which is believed to be correct or at this management style the person tries to win. Accommodating is just the opposite of the competing. In case of accommodating the individual tends to gratify the problems of the other people whilst sacrificing his personal concerns. Avoiding is the style of managing the conflict where the individual doesn’t pay due attention towards the conflicts and thus doesn’t makes any attempt to solve it (AFC-ISPI, n.d.). Compromising is an attempt made by the individual to resolve the conflict by means of identifying the solution that is accepted to both the parties to certain extent but not fully satisfactory to any one of them. Collaborating aims at cooperating with the other party for their concerns to be realized and thus enabling to express ones own concern with the aim towards finding a mutually and completely satisfactory solution (Wright State University, n.d.). After having analyzed the case study, it can be revealed that the collaborating conflict management style is practiced to resolve the problem that was pertaining in the organization. Collaborating involves working closely with other person in order to find a feasible solution to the problem fully satisfying the concerns of both the persons. In the case study, Mike Hammer hired Marge Harding in order to work together on the matters. In addition to this, by doing so the concerns of both (Hammer and Harding) would be satisfied since Mike Hammer’s aim was to reduce th e cost and Mage Harding wanted to take up the challenge since the work could provide her the chance to get the CEOs position after few years. This makes it evident that the collaborative conflict management style has been applied in the case study. Hammer’s Leadership Style Leadership style is a process whereby the direction is provided, plans are implemented and thus the people are motivated to work in an organization. It is worth mentioning that the leaders might not use one particular style when executing the above functions. Various styles are used; most of them may even use multiple styles. The diverse leadership styles as exercised by the leaders are authoritarian, democratic and laissez fair. In case of authoritarian leadership styles,

Sunday, July 28, 2019

Cultural Particularity vs. Universal Humanity Essay

Cultural Particularity vs. Universal Humanity - Essay Example Collective and individual identities are antithetical to each other according to neoconservative ideas. The main point of both of them is that â€Å"racial group membership robs a person of an important aspect of humanity† (Maya 79). This theory insists that individuality is a property of people, who a not included to the crowd or collective. So these persons are seen as individuated ones and they lack human agency. The neoconservative theory describes the fact of being human, configuring racial and cultural particularity against universal humanity.The idea of â€Å"being human† contains the ethnic, gender and racial trappings. In some varieties the racial identity is represented as the dangerous and harmful event to human possibility -â€Å"though it espouses black pride, it is actually a repressive identity that generates a victimized self-image, curbs individualism and initiative, diminishes our sense of possibility, and contributes to our demoralization and inertia † (Maya 81). The idea of the phrase is that the ideal human should appear as unsexed and deracinated creature, which is having only rationality. All of the mentioned figures, such as Steele, Rodriguez, Carter, and Chavez, understand the word "racial" as non-"white" identity and the conclusion they make is that "white" identity is not seen as an identity by race. They paradoxically agree with the existence of "white" people, despite the racialization â€Å"white† process and refer to "male" not meaning gendered identity.

Saturday, July 27, 2019

Ethnocentrism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Ethnocentrism - Essay Example Most social anthropologists and psychologists converge to the verity ethnocentricism is a root of wrong judgment, misconception as well as mistaken belief. Ethnocentricism is rampant in USA, research confirms that this vice has existed for a long time and it varies in severity from one generation and one region to another. Read (2002) argues that this syndrome is not only limited to America, but it is a pattern that has characterized all societies in the world. Nevertheless, America has experienced some of the most villainous circumstances of ethnocentricism. Read, (2002) noted that ethnocentricism occurs in several ways. In America, for instance there is general syndrome that its codes of belief, behavior, mode of governance, state of technology, education system, etc is the finest in the whole world. This feeling alone does not amount to a social evil. However, the feeling has led Americans in to believing that one nation and continents are inferior. As argued by Reynal-Querol (200 2), membership in an ethnic group is based on various factors such as religion, race, physical features, language and accent. Owing to this, there has existed internal ethnocentricism among Americans based on these attributes. One obtrusive paradigm in America has been on the basis of race.

Friday, July 26, 2019

Logistics Problems Generated by Crossrail and Their Solutions Essay

Logistics Problems Generated by Crossrail and Their Solutions - Essay Example to be able to solve these problems it is necessary to identify the root cause of the problem and try to tackle it so that it does not come up again. Crossrail has managed to realize some of these problems and has already provided solutions to them. This paper will give a brief introduction to crossrail and its intended advantages, it will then discuss the logistic problems that will be generated by the construction work, and it will follow by outlining solutions to these problems before making a conclusion. Introduction Crossrail is an ambitious project to build a major railway link in central London. The name is used to refer to the first two routes which are under the responsibility of Crossrail Limited. It is based on a different and new east-west tunnel with a central section from Paddington to Liverpool street station. This project was approved in 2007 after a very long time of debate. The crossrail act received royal assent in July 2008 (Crossrail, 2011). The services offered w ill complement the enhanced north-south Thames link route. Ten-car trains are expected to run at frequencies of up to 24 trains per hour in each of the channels through the central tunnel section. In the original plan the first train was scheduled to run in 2017 but in a comprehensive review in 2010 that saw the saving of ?1 billion changed the initial plan to 2018. Fig. 1 Crossrail route Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:CrossrailLine1Map.svg#filehistory Crossrail benefits The benefits of constructing the cross rail are many. The first benefit is easing transport problem in London which has been a huge headache for London. The second benefit is that it will provide better access to the capital for over 750,000 workers who are said to commute daily into London. Lastly the project is also aimed at providing job opportunities to many people who will be employed in the in the construction process and after the completion of the project to manage the various services offered by the train service. It is estimated that crossrail will generate up to 14,000 jobs when the construction reaches peak (Crossrail, 2011). Fig 2 source: http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=158506&page=7 Fig 3 source: http://www.thameslinkprogramme.co.uk/cms/pages/view/33 Fig 4 source: http://www.ianvisits.co.uk/flickr_api/set_list.php?page=2&uid=72157627734615808&title=Crossrail%20Royal%20Oak%20Portal Fig 5 finished product Source: http://www.ianvisits.co.uk/flickr_api/set_list.php?page=2&uid=72157627734615808&title=Crossrail%20Royal%20Oak%20Portal Logistics in construction Logistics refers to the efficient transfer of goods and services from the source of supply through that manufacturer to the consumer in a cost effective manner that will provide service to the customer (Rushton, Croucher, & Baker, 2006, p. 6). Logistic management tries to minimize costs by providing a cost effective system across the whole process and ensuring the evaluation of facilities and issues tha t may have any impact on logistic costs and make the product conform to the customers’ requirements. Many construction projects ranging from the small projects to the major projects like the crossrail project face many logistic problems that contractors work hard every day to avoid. The proper management of logistic issues will either lead to the successful implementation of a project or lead to its failure. Research has shown that effective logistic management has rarely been applied in construction

Thursday, July 25, 2019

Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow - Essay Example The author addresses materialism and vanity thematic issues prevalent in the contemporary society and in the process makes the story relevant that resonates with modern literary readers. To pass his message, Kurt Vonnegut manipulates factors that include the setting and the placement of the story to validate the desired fictional plot. This paper puts into perspective aspects of the themes to understand how the author portrays his message. Through the thematic issues he addresses, he does not only earn respect among his target audience but also provides a sharp criticism of his society. Analysis The story depicts the theme of materialism. In this case, the characters strive to obtain clothes, riches, and revamp technology in order to live longer and in the process get wealth wherever possible. The Gramps face similar problems because the number of descendants outweighs the family resources. Analytically, it is easy to state that Gramps demands the best and the biggest of every share. The numerous children on the other hand strive to impress the old man in order for him to consider them in his will, which he has used all along to blackmail them. He revises the will frequently making it difficult for the children to determine any concrete share of inheritance. The descendants strive to appease the old man since only such an action would earn them favor from the old man who coincidentally is not about to die. He maintains a claim in his wealth owing to his long life. The fact that he is even considering taking the age reversing drugs makes the situation even more precarious since he will need the wealth even more. The author puts into use suspense to heighten the theme of materialism in the short story extensively. Suspense refers to a literary style in which the author reveals relative details in the story leaving the author contemplating other subsequent actions in the story. This leaves the audience always willing they had more detail in the story. Additionally , suspense is a style used to sustain readership in either stories or films. The author manipulates the feature by providing relative amount of detail often leaving the reader to imagine the growth of such actions in the story. The author ends the story in such a state thus leaving the audience imagining the future of the society. The short story ends with the discovery of yet another better drug that will make people younger. The current state of the society is appalling as people struggle for the scarce resources. Various literary analysts have criticized the author’s exposure of materialism, which they hold he claims the society if greedy. However, there are those who laud his efforts to earn respect from his audience. This helps in adding value to the story both in the early society and in the contemporary society as explained in this discourse. Kurt Vonnegut adopts his title tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow from William Shakespeare’s tragedy Macbeth. The author uses the adopted line from Shakespeare to create suspense from the title of the story. The setting of the story by Vonnegut is in New York City in 2158 AD. The story revolves around the Schwartz family led by Harold, a one hundred and seventy-two year old man commonly referred to as Gramps. The discovery of medicine dubbed Anti-Gerasone causes panic in the American society including other European

Wednesday, July 24, 2019

Neoclassical and Impressionism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Neoclassical and Impressionism - Essay Example The essay "Neoclassical and Impressionism" analyzes neoclassical artworks and artists of impressionism. Artists of this period defied some earlier artistic guidelines that entailed adhering to basic aspects meant to classify these images, but they kept the essence of being realistic in all their works. Consequently, this artistic period influenced diverse aspects besides innovations that marked its period and esteemed to date. Neoclassicism marked the onset of 19Th period movement that entailed strict adherence to austere linear design in expressing one’s ideas via artwork. Presently, numerous studies associate this period with architectural models, which by then involved, realistic drawing coupled with varied predetermined painting techniques. Therefore, the artists had to both apply and adhere to certain outlined rules, which was contrary to the impressionism period. This is because the latter besides realistic painting, it required artists’ varied and imaginative ski lls to convey the required message. Neoclassical epoch up to date marks the most remarkable phase in the European history. This is because of its various dynamic events, which characterized the period ranging from political to the empowerment of people’s economy in diverse ways. For illustration, military and political unrest that characterized the era aggravated by influential states while in pursuit of annexing lesser regions to strength their economies. Hence, this yielded to heightened rate of colonization that influenced other states. like Portugal to develop interest in Africa and US. This is because colonies besides acting as a sign of political power; they were principal source of industrial materials that boosted the states’ economic stability. Besides, economic stability in this era augmented due to the people’s literacy rise and marketing innovations as trade competition heightened among the party states. Studies associate this period with

Tuesday, July 23, 2019

A Website Usability Test Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

A Website Usability Test - Coursework Example The most accepted and recognized methodology of identifying important usability issues with the end user remains usability testing with actual representatives. It is possible to evaluate how users respond when they try common responsibilities on the company site and site using face-to-face test session moderated using the purpose built usability testing stations (Ward, Shadle, and Mofield, 2008, p. 70). All through, the observer can supervise the usability session in other rooms that remain comfortable and serving as the observation centre. The portable usability testing kit allows people to carry out usability testing in their offices. It also includes field testing where the supervisor views users in action that remains the natural habitat and remote testing to widen the reach. Among many others benefits of usability testing include increasing the conversion rates of online conversion. In this case, using the example would be a banking client hiking submissions of loan application forms by fourteen percent from thirty-five percent in a period not exceeding one-and-a-half months. Secondly, usability testing supports online migration. Scholars would point at a tolling company reducing calls to its call centre by more than sixteen percent following successful implementation of various recommendations from the company. Usability testing plays part in increasing employee productivity. A company would for instance, increase work completion rate by employees from forty-eight percent to around.

Ethics in Public Administration Essay Example for Free

Ethics in Public Administration Essay The national bicentennial in 1976 marked two important birthdays for public administration. It was the ninetieth anniversary of the appearance of the first fully developed essay on what was considered a new or at least a separately identified field public administration. In that essay, the young political scientist Woodrow Wilson (1941) wrote the now famous words, administration lies outside the proper sphere of politics. Administrative questions are not political questions; although politics sets the tasks for administration, it should not be suffered to manipulate its offices. And it was exactly fifty years since the publication of Leonard White (1926) text, Introduction to the Study of Public Administration, the first in the field. Whites book was, for his time, an advanced and sophisticated attempt to marry the science of government and the science of administration. Whereas Wilson had argued that public administration is a field of business and should be separate from politics, White forty years later countered that public administration can be effective only if it constitutes an integration of the theory of government and the theory of administration. As fields or professions go, public administration is young. Its early impetus was very much connected with civil service reform, the city manager movement, the good government movement, and the professionalization of the administrative apparatus of government. It was in this era that principles of administration were developed and the first academic programs in the field were established at American universities. This was a heady era, during which the United States civil service was developed, an innovation adopted in many American states and municipalities. Formal systems of budgeting and purchasing were adopted, and other aspects of the science of management were applied to government affairs. Many of the early leaders in this reform movement also played out important political roles, most notably Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson. Public administration was new, a response to a rapidly changing government. The second era in public administration could be said to have begun with the Depression and the New Deal, followed by World War II. This era was characterized by the remarkably rapid growth of the government, particularly at the national level, the development of major American social programs, and ultimately the development of a huge defense program. At this time it became apparent that a large and centralized government can accomplish heroic tasks. Patterns were being developed and attitudes framed for the conduct of American government and the practices of public administration for the coming twenty years. This era also produced most of the major American scholars in public administration who were to dominate the scene from the 1940s into the 1970s. The period that followed was characterized by rapid growth in the public service and by extensive suburbanization and urbanization. But it was also a period of great questioning of the purposes and premises of public administration. A broad variety of social programs and services were developed, a cold war machine was maintained, and the public service continued both to grow and to professionalize. It seemed as if such expansion could go on endlessly. But by the mid-1960s several crises were developing simultaneously. In many ways, these crises seemed in part to result from the excesses of an earlier time. In other ways, they seemed to be an expression of old and unanswered problems built into our society and our system of government. The urban crisis resulted from relentless suburbanization governmentally supported. The racial crisis is closely connected, resulting in part from the serious ghettoization of American minorities in the central sections of our great cities. As the central cities have deteriorated, so have their public services. We continue to have unacceptable levels of unemployment, especially among minorities. And our welfare system is badly overloaded. The rapid depletion of our fuel resources results in an energy crisis, which comes hard on the heels of the environmental crisis. And, of course, there is health care, transportation, and on and on. All of these crises have affected public administration. Three particular events or activities occurred between the mid-1960s and 1970s that indelibly marked the society and the government and, hence, public administration: the war in Vietnam, the urban riots and continued racial strife, and Watergate. These crises and events resulted in new government programs and changed ways of thinking about and practicing public administration. Frederick C. Mosher and John C. Honey studied the characteristics and composition of the public service in the mid-1960s. 3 Their basic finding was that most public servants feel little or no identity with the field of public administration. Few have ever had a course and fewer still hold a degree in the subject. Public administration at the time seemed to have a rather narrow definition of its purposes, centering primarily on budgeting, personnel, and organization and management problems. Most public servants, it was found, identify with some or another professional field, such as education, community planning, law, public health, or engineering. Even many of those who would be expected to identify with public administration are more particularly interested in some subset of the field, such as finance, personnel, policy analysis, and the like. There was very little policy emphasis in public administration very little discussion of defense policy, environmental policy, economic policy, urban policy. There was, at the time, much talk of public administration as everyones second profession. Education for public administration in the mid-1960s hardly sparkled. The early furor of the reformers had died. The American Society for Public Administration was beginning to struggle. By the late 1970s, public administration had changed, both in its practice and its teaching. There are many indicators: the Intergovernmental Personnel Act; Title IX of the Higher Education Act; the Federal Executive Institute and the Federal Executive Seminars; the remarkable growth and vigor of education for public service; the Presidents Management Intern Program; the Harry S. Truman Foundation; the size and quality of ASPA; the development of the Consortium on Education for the Public Service; several HUD grants to public administration-related activities; a much heavier policy emphasis; a renewed concern for ethics and morality in government service; and the continued professionalization of the public service coupled with refinement of management methods at all levels of government. To affix the label new to anything is risky business. The risk is doubled when newness is attributed to ideas, thoughts, concepts, paradigms, theories. Those who claim new thinking tend to regard previous thought as old or jejune or both. In response, the authors of previous thought are defensive and inclined to suggest that aside from having packaged earlier thinking in a new vocabulary there is little that is really new in so-called new thinking. Accept, therefore, this caveat: Parts of new public administration would be recognized by Plato, Hobbes, Machiavelli, Hamilton, and Jefferson as well as by many modern behavioral theorists. The newness is in the way the fabric is woven, not necessarily in the threads that are used. And the newness is in arguments as to the proper use of the fabric however threadbare. The threads of the public administration fabric are well known. Herbert Kaufman describes them simply as the pursuit of these basic values: representativeness, politically neutral competence, and executive leadership (Kaufman, 1969). In different times, one or the other of these values receives the greatest emphasis. Representativeness was preeminent in the Jacksonian era. The eventual reaction was the reform movement emphasizing neutral competence and executive leadership. Now we are witnessing a revolt against these values accompanied by a search for new modes of representativeness. Others have argued that changes in public administration resemble a zero-sum game between administrative efficiency and political responsiveness. Any increase in efficiency results a priori in a decrease in responsiveness. We are simply entering a period during which political responsiveness is to be purchased at a cost in administrative efficiency. Clearly, the most interesting developments in modern public administration are not empirical but are philosophical, normative, and speculative. In public administration, the phrase social equity has emerged as a shorthand way of referring to the concerns and opinions of those who are challenging contemporary theory and practice. As yet, the phrase social equity, however, has little substance or precision. The problem of equity is as old as government. Dwight Waldo (1972) points out that much governmental action in the United States has not been simply discriminatory but massively and harshly so. Much governmental action has also, however, been directed toward achieving equality; paradoxically, action to assure assimilation and uniformity also has sometimes been insensitive and coercive. â€Å"Equality, he concludes, is central to the understanding of much recent and contemporary public administration. It has been seriously suggested that social equity be a standard by which public administrators, both in the bureau and the academy, assess and evaluate their behavior and decisions. Social equity, then, would be a criterion for effectiveness in public administration in the same way that efficiency, economy, productivity, and other criteria are used. Whenever an ethic or standard for behavior is described, it is essential to provide an accompanying caveat. In the present case, the social equity point of view will need to be buffered by recognition first that there is a high ethical content in most significant public decisions; public problems do not succumb simply to factual analysis. This being the case, if the public servant is to be an interpreter of events and an influencer, if not a maker of decisions, what, then, should be included in the standards of ethical behavior that guide the public servant? Surely the standards of ethics and morality that are applicable and sufficient to a citizen in private or in social relationships are not adequate for the public decisions of an administrator. And it is now increasingly clear that the decision problems faced by these administrators are seldom black or white in relation to their ethical content and consequences. There often is really no one best way, but rather a decision should be made that maximizes such results as are attainable given the resources available and minimizes negative side effects. And finally, one must accept the proposition that politics and administrative organizations are themselves the best protectors of administrative morality provided that they are open, public, and participatory. Within this context, then, we pursue the development of a social equity ethic for public administration. Modern public administration cannot assume these conditions away. Certainly pluralistic governments (practicing majority rule, coupled with powerful minorities with special forms of access) systematically discriminate in favor of established, stable bureaucracies and their specialized clientele and against those minorities who lack political and economic resources. Thus widespread and deep inequity are perpetuated. The long-range continuation of widespread and deep inequities poses a threat to the continued existence of this or any political system. Continued deprivation amid plenty breeds hopelessness and her companions, anger and militancy. A public administration that fails to work for changes that try to address this deprivation will likely eventually be used to oppress the deprived. What new public administration is striving for, then, is equity. Blacks Law Dictionary (1957) defines equity in its broadest and most general signification: [Equity] denotes the spirit and the habit of fairness and justness and right dealing which would regulate the intercourse of men with men, the rule of doing to all others, as we desire them to do to us; or, as it is expressed by Justinian, to live honestly, to harm nobody, to render every man his due. It is therefore, the synonym of natural right or justice. But in this sense its obligation is ethical rather than jural, and its discussion belongs to the sphere of morals. It is grounded in the precepts of the conscience not in any sanction of positive law. Equity, then, is an issue that we will find to be a question of ethics. We will also find it to be a question of law. The foremost theorist presently supporting a concept of equity in government is John Rawls (1971). In his book A Theory of Justice, he sets out a splendid framework for a fundamental equity ethic. When speaking of our government institutions, Rawls states: For us the primary subject of justice is the basic structure of society, or more exactly, the way in which the major social institutions distribute fundamental rights and duties and determine the division of advantages from social cooperation. By major institutions I understand the political constitution and the principal economic and social arrangements. Justice, then, is the basic principle and is dominant over other principles in Rawlss form of ethics. Rawls begins his theory with a definition of the individual or citizen and states: Each person possesses an inviolability founded on justice that even the welfare of society as a whole cannot override. For this reason justice denies that the loss of freedom for some is made right by the greater good shared by others. It does not allow that the sacrifices imposed on a few are outweighed by the larger sum of advantages enjoyed by many. Therefore, in a just society the liberties of equal citizenship are taken as settled; the rights secured by justice are not subject to political bargaining or to the calculus of social interest. In developing his theory, Rawls suggests an intellectual device or technique by which the principles of equity can be set forth. The first and most important intellectual technique is the notion of original position. The original position constitutes an agreement upon the most basic principles of justice upon which all of the basic structures of society (social, economic, and political) will be predicated. The principles of justice that emerge are both final and binding on all: Since the original agreement is final and made in perpetuity, there is no second chance. To make this theory operative, Rawls then proposes two principles of justice: The first principle is to have an equal right to the most extensive total system of equal basic liberties compatible with a similar system of liberty for all. The second principle is that social and economic inequalities are to be arranged so that they are both: (a) to the greatest benefit to the least advantaged, consistent with the just savings principle, and (b) attached to offices and positions open to all under conditions of fair equality and opportunity. 11 These two principles, then, are to be a right of the same significance or order as the present rights as we understand them in government. Hart further states: According to Rawls, acceptance of the two principles of justice means that the collective efforts of society would be concentrated in behalf of its less advantaged members. This does not mean that all inequalities would disappear and all good will be equally distributed to achieve parity throughout the society. There would still be disparities in income and status. But there is an irreducible minimum of primary goods (such as self-respect, rights and liberties, power and opportunities, income and wealth) that are due every man, and the minimum must be met. 12 Rawls states that this is a strongly egalitarian conception in the sense that unless there is a distribution that makes both persons better off (limiting ourselves to the two-person case for simplicity), an equal distribution is to be preferred. 13 It is obvious that Rawls theory of justice is vastly different from other contemporary patterns of moral reasoning. Rawls does not argue it because it is good or right but rather because there is an increasing importance to the interdependence of persons that makes notions of advantages and disadvantages less and less acceptable. It is a pervasive sense of noblesse oblige or a sense of eternity among people. Rawls states that in justice as fairness men agree to share one anothers fate. In designing institutions they undertake to avail themselves of the accidents of nature and social circumstances only when doing so is for the common benefit. Because not all persons are genetically equal, the more advantaged have a moral duty to serve all others including the disadvantaged, not for altruistic reasons but because of the significance of human interdependence. As Hart (1974) says, One serves because justice requires it and the result is the continuous enhancement of self-respect. Just actions, then, not only create the optimal condition for human life, they also are a major element in the rationalization of self. Although all of this theory and definition is interesting, we live in a world of large and very complex organizations where the application of such concepts is difficult. This is also a world in which organizations tend to elevate their own needs over individual needs and goals. The problem is one of making complex organizations responsible to the needs of the individual. This requires rising above the rules and routines of organization to some concern for the self-respect and dignity of the individual citizen. Rawlss theory is designed to instruct those who administer organizations that the rights of individuals would be everywhere protected. Hart summarizes this approach to social equity with the following: (1) The theory of justice would provide social equity with an ethical content. Acceptance of the theory of justice would provide the equitable public administrator with clear, well-developed ethical guidelines which would give social equity the force that it now lacks. (2) The theory of justice could provide the necessary ethical consensus -that the equitable public administrator has both the duty and the obligation to deploy his efforts on behalf of the less advantaged. (3) The theory of justice would impose constraints upon all complex public organizations since no organization would be allowed to infringe upon the basic liberties of individuals. (4) The theory of justice would provide a means to resolve ethical impasses (the original position). (5) The theory of justice would provide a professional code for public administration that would require a commitment to social equity (Hart, 1974).

Monday, July 22, 2019

Human resource management function Essay Example for Free

Human resource management function Essay Human resource management function -Able to outsource production or manufacturing in other countries such as Italy, Morocco, Poland and Turkey which are able to make the shirts cheap enough and good enough. -Under a smart boss who is Passionate and skilled in his business. -Limited human capital especially operation directors so that Robert can concentrate on design. The opportunity to bring more operations director on board so that Robert can concentrate on design. -An adverse Change in the international market environment given that they are unable to manufacture cheap and good quality shirts off the road. Accounting and finance function -Very healthy financially especially due to use retained profits to expand. -Has been self-financed after the paternal startup deal. -Good enough people apart from Robert who are able to do tasks such as analytics, accounting and warehousing much better than Robert. -A paternal startup deal which had higher interest rates than local bank rates. -An extremely conservative approach to financing -Angel investors and equity financiers will be willing to invest in the business given its good financial health. -Cutthroat angel investors who has the potential to affect the growth of the business. Issuing out part of equity will dilute control of ownership which may bring wrangles in future. Marketing function -E-commerce which is already accounting for 15% of sales. -A Loyal customer’s base that is able to market the business by word of mouth and thus no much marketing needed. -Broad patterns of up to 500 patterns -A number of details about the expansion plan still remain sketchy. -Marketing and promotion only rely with word of mouth. -A chance to build itself as a brand by diversifying into other products such as jackets, shoes, belts. -An opportunity to diversify customers seeming to be demanding diversification. -Opportunity for increased number of outlets -The opening up of an online shop which has potential for multiplying sales from the current 15%. -A longer term vision of taking advantage of the growing appetite for the British luxury brands in emerging markets. -Limitation by design and material. A number of parts or areas of the business need more strengthening so as to accelerate the growth and expansion of the business. The area that should be given priority in terms of strengthening it is accounting and finance since it will affect the other functions. The very conservative approach of financing ought to be loosened and the cutthroat angel and equity investors avoided so as avoiding problems that may arise in the future. The human resource management function should be strengthened by encouraging more specialization within the organization such as by hiring operations directors to manage operations that other may concentrate on other tasks like design. Also trying to engage in manufacturing off the road may help to overcome eventualities such as incase of change in the international market environment. The marketing function can be strengthened by having a clear and concise expansion plan and also by getting more materials and designs to help in curbing shortage in future even after outlets have been increased. Culture is a set of shared expectations, beliefs and norms by the members of the same organization. In depth Organizational culture can be described as the ideological system that is shared by the members of the organization, this culture is transmitted through interaction and socialization in the organization and help to shape the behavior of individuals (Schwartz and Davis, 1981: p. 33). The culture in Emmett shirts is shaped by the following factors. First the sector in which the Emmett shirts business operates in greatly influences it and in this case given that the business deals with clothes and specifically shirts where they sell them on retail to the customers. The fact that they are in direct contact with their final consumer makes them to be more friendly to consumers, listening to their suggestions and demands and showing them that they care. Secondly the influence of the founder or the business leader shapes the organizational culture. Robert Emmett being the owner and boss of the organization is key into formulating ideas and ideologies that are embraced by the others in the organization. Robert refers to himself as a smart boss but also quick to note that he is not there yet, this depicts him as someone setting the precedent to work smart and still seeking to do it better and better. He is also very passionate about his business having has started it from scratch and also not to fail to mention his skills especially in design. The other people in the organization tend to benchmark themselves with the leader and thus in Emmett shirts Robert is very crucial in terms of changing the organization culture. The history and tradition of the business also shapes the culture of the organization. Emmett shirts started as a really small entity with a loan from Robert`s father and now through retained earnings it has grown to three outlets all of which are doing great. The history of the business to its current position shapes the ideas and beliefs of what the business can achieve in future. These ideas and beliefs about the business in turn affect the actions and behavior of the workers and all members at large. The organization expectations in terms the growth plan, returns expected, expectations on the workers, the objectives, long term and short term goals, mission and vision to a great extent dictates the culture of the organization. The culture of the organization should support the realization of the organization expectations. The reward system and measurement of performance of the organization also goes a long way in determining the member’s culture. Emmett`s shirts business is also dictated mostly by this factor since its culture has to support its expansion plan of establishing more outlets. The customer base combined with the broad business environment such as legislation and other aspects like competition defines the culture of the organization. A change in the business environment may necessitate a change of culture as the organization adjusts to the changed environment. Emmett shirts may have to change a few aspects so as to address customer’s demands, respond to their feedback and move along with them. The culture of the organization can also be shaped by its environment such that an environment which is competitive may call for the organization to believe in its being the best, deliver quality products and offer excellent services. A Stakeholder of any organization refers to any person or party with an interest in the organization, the interests of different groups may at times conflict. Financial stakeholders in an organization are those who have financial interests in the organization or they will be affected by the state of the organization financially. Table 1.2 showing different stakeholders and their interests. Stakeholder category. Stakeholder. Interests. Internal stakeholders Owner(s), Robert Emmett Financial return or profits and capital gain or increase in value of his investment. Management team or Employees of Emmett shirts. A sense of belonging, payment, job satisfaction, and training. External stakeholders Lender, Robert`s father. Security and interest rate Community Contribution to community. Government/Authorities Taxes and compliance. Customers Supply of properly priced quality goods and services. Plans concerning future growth of Robert`s business through consideration of a number of available business opportunities. The growth plan will affect the different groups with a financial interest in the business. Robert want to expand his business by establishing more outlets, having an online shop, increasing production and in the long term the vision of taking advantage of the growing appetite for the British luxury brands in emerging markets. Implementing these expansion plans means more risks, increased costs and multiplied management problems. The costs will be elastic to changes in the market in which the organization is operating in and thus the cost is likely to vary with future plans. The owner(s) interest to get higher financial returns could be thwarted in the short run if the expansion plans are implemented. The cash which could have been considered as returns to the owner are used in conjunction with other resources to implement the expansion plan. The owner, Robert will have to contend with nil returns for a time as he awaits the newly established projects to break-even. Expansion also means more finances are needed in the process and Robert may be forced to surrender a good proportion of the ownership of the organization to investors who are ready to invest their money in the organization in exchange to a share of ownership. The management and employees of Emmett shirts will also encounter more management problems in the expansion process and also later as they manage the new establishment in its new environment. Some of the workers may be transferred to different locations and others assigned different and more challenging roles. The above will in turn kill the sense of belonging amongst the employees as they are shifted to different locations and probably also diminish job satisfaction. The management and workers may also have to spend cash and time training so as to be able to handle the new challenges in the organization. Lenders of the business such as Robert`s father who provided the capital for starting the business, their financial interest in the firm i.e. repayment of principal amount and interest may be adversely affected. Loans are supposed to be repaid periodically of which it may not be possible if the expansion plan is quite over-ambitious or done over-aggressively without considering the ramifications of doing that. To avoid a scenario where loan repayment plan fails it is instrumental to plan and budget wisely. Costs can be differentiated into different types and categories which require different treatment in the budget. Variable (VC) or proportional and fixed costs (FC) are the main costs incurred in any business. Although there are intermediaries between the two main costs such are: semi-variable costs, semi-fixed costs. The above classification depends purely on the cost responsiveness to changing levels of business activity. Fixed costs remain constant throughout and do not change even if the level of business activity changes, semi –fixed costs tend to change a little bit to changes in business activity. Variable or proportional costs change with a change in the level of business activity; semi-variable costs have an element of not being very much responsive to change in the level of business activity. In the expansion phase FC rarely change much but VC will change with a slight change in activity level. Table 1.3 Showing the different types of costs in Emmett shirts business and their classification. No Item(Cost) Category Description Rent Fixed costs Cost of hiring space for retailing or warehousing. Labor and wages Variable costs Payment to workers and casual laborers. Designing Variable costs This is the cost used to make designs for manufacturing. Materials Variable costs These are materials or garment used to make the shirts License Fixed costs The newly established outlets will need licenses for them to start operating. Research Variable cost This helps to determine aspects such as location and demand. Depreciation Fixed cost It is the cost of loss of value of machines Motor vehicle Variable cost It will help in transportation of materials and personnel Marketing Variable cost Promotion and advertising especially for new outlets. Consultancy costs Variable costs To help comply with regulations and requirements in the new environment Packaging materials Variable costs Management Allowances Variable costs Establishing new outlets may necessitate additional allowances. Furniture Fixed costs Such as additional tables and chairs The human resource management in the case of Emmett Shirts is wanting in terms of specialization of tasks in the organization. Those doing design should be different from those engaged in managing the operations of the business. Hiring more talented personnel such as operation directors may go a long way in enhancing efficiency and dealing with future challenges that may arise as the business grows. Under the marketing function the expansion plan should be clear and the option to take that is whether to diversify as per customer demands. E-commerce has more potential and can help much in online marketing of the shirts. (Hurley 2011 p. 16) Globalization is the integration of economies, markets, industries, cultures and policy formulation. Globalization has both positive and negative effects on the economy of each country that has embrace it. Emmett shirts to a really sensible extent can be termed as a globalised business, due to the following reasons and aspects that can be seen in it. First under globalization there are four drivers that drive globalization namely: cost driver, market driver, technology driver and competition driver. Emmett Shirts have greatly embraced technology and has plans to continue to do so. Already 15% of the organization total sales are from E-commerce and plans are underway to have a well established online shop which is the same as establishing six physical stores. Having embraced E-commerce the business can be able to sell its product to any person in any place in the world and also do its promotion, marketing and advertising online. This intense online presence will help create more awareness about the product, announce introduction of new products and outlets. It is also easier to solicit support from the existing loyal customer base and even benefit from customer referrals online. Technology level is the number one determinant of whether a business is a globalised business. In my opinion I would say that Emmett Shirts is a globalised business given that it has embraced technology in its operations and has embraced E-commerce and continues to do so. Market driver is another key driver of globalization under which companies take into consideration the various markets to invest that is giving attention to open market economics. Emmett Shirts considers as part of its long term ambition or goal to take advantage of the emerging markets in the east such as in China and others awakening giants. These markets have got high appetite and demand for British luxury products or brands. We also see the business benchmarking itself against a brand from Dunhill road which has more shops in China than in London. This action tells us more about what the business is likely to focus on in its long term plan that is establishing shops in the emerging markets in the Far East. This reason leads me to conclude that Emmett Shirts is a globalised business. In regard to whether Emmett Shirts is globalized we realize that the business outsource its production or manufacturing of shirts from other countries such as Poland, Morocco, Ital and Turkey depending on style and material. The reason doing for this is that in the country it is hard to produce cheap enough and good enough shirts. In summary this action shows us that the business has embraced cost driver as a key factor driving globalization and thus can be termed as a globalized business. There are four drivers of globalization which include: technology driver, competition driver, cost driver and market driver. Under market driver globalization is driven by a desire to expand the market base to the emerging markets which are growing in terms of population and increased consumer purchasing power in these markets. Companies consider investing or shifting their investment to open market economics. This also comes in handy with the aspect of competition amongst different countries and companies which are moving beyond their national or regional spheres to international spheres of the whole global market. Technology has been a driver of globalization in quite a number of aspects such as through E-commerce and Electronic transfer, telecommunication gadgets, platforms and software’s. Platforms such as the social media examples being face book, Twitter linked in and others, the media at large, emails, video links such as Skype have continued to accelerate communication and sharing of key information. In business spheres outsourcing some business tasks have been made possible. Government driver or change of policy framework in different countries and formation of trading blocks. Trade and non trade tariffs and shift in open market system. Formulation of G.A.T.T. (General Agreement of Tariff and Trade). Countries which are willing enter into agreements to carry free trade around the world. The tariffs were initially to protect the local infant industries I a country but the realization that countries have to work together for them to achieve economic development continues to propel countries to loosen their trade tariffs. According to my own analysis technology is the strongest driver of globalization of all the others. This is so because at a click of a button one can buy or sell any product or service while in any part of the world. Technology has turned the world into a global village and communication is made with ease amongst people who are very far from each other as if they were just next to each other. Telecommunication devices such as tablets, smart phones and computers at large have interlinked every corner of the world through the World Wide Web. Reference Hurley, J. (2011) ‘Emmetts Luxury Shirts: Deciding whether to specialise or diversify a luxury brand’, The Daily Telegraph (London), 19 July. Source document

Sunday, July 21, 2019

What Is Executive Coaching And Its Benefits Management Essay

What Is Executive Coaching And Its Benefits Management Essay This report has been structured around the changes and concerns that are currently impacting Cassidys as an organisation, such as our decision to develop Cassidys into an international organisation. The first international store to open will be in Auckland, New Zealand, which is set to open early 2011. International growth will continue with opening of Cassidys in Canada in late November 2011. In order for business growth and the expansion of Cassidys, we need to make sure our executive leaders are ready to lead our organisation within a new environment. Due to the growth of Cassidys our needs are changing. We now require a larger and more flexible leadership team that has the skills and knowledge to succeed in an ever changing environment. Organisations will always benefit from having highly trained executives who possess exceptional leadership skills. Investing time and money into the development of executives are a necessary expense if an organisation aims to excel. The success of Cassidys requires that our current and future leaders perform to their maximum potential. Developing the skills and knowledge of executive leaders can benefit the whole organisation, as they have the ability boost our sales, profits, revenues, consumer recognition and loyalty. Executive staff retention is also critical to the success and growth of Cassidys. Last financial year it was recorded that our organisation spent over two million dollars on costs related to staffing retention. Failing to retain a key employee is costly, various estimates suggest that losing a middle manager costs an organisation up to 100 percent of his salary. The loss of a senior executive is even more costly. It is important for Cassidy to work on staff retention if it wants to grow .2 There has been a phenomenal increase in use of executive coaching over the past decade or so. A 2004 survey of the HR/Training community conducted by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) in the UK showed that four-fifths of respondents now use coaching in their organisations. The Australian Institute of Management claims 70% of its member companys hire coaches. Berglas (2002) stated that there were more than 10,000 professional coaches in the United States, and this figure was expected to exceed 50,000 by 2007. What Is Executive Coaching and its Benefits? Executive Coaching is a specialized form of coaching that is becoming one of the fastest growing trends within employee development. Executive coaches work with an organisation to help highlight and develop a plan that works in conjunction with the needs and objectives of the organisation and members of the executive team and supporting staff. In an increasingly fast-paced and complex corporate world, there are few places where an executive or senior manager can step back and reflect on the range of issues facing them. Having a coach provides a wider perspective, additional points of view and a degree of objectivity that can be difficult to obtain when youre leading an organisation. Coaches are seen as a sounding board outside of the organisation, having this option benefits the executive as they have a listening ear that provides a safe way for them to voice their frustrations, explore their options, and talk through new courses of action. Kilburg (1996) describes the relationship o f a coach and client as: A helping relationship formed between a client who has managerial authority and responsibility in an organisation and a consultant who uses a wide variety of behavioral techniques and methods to help the client achieve a mutually identified set of goals to improve his or her professional performance and personal satisfaction and., consequently, to improve the effectiveness of the clients organisation within a formally defined coaching agreement Kilburg (1996, p.142) He also describes key benefits that clients and organisations achieve through executive coaching: Executive coaching can assist executives to find new and productive ways to manage the interpersonal aspects of leading others Coaching can provide executives to find powerful ways to influence others Reduce turnover and retain top performing staff Enhanced individual and organisational performance Improved organisational strength Perception of management as being committed to employees and their growth and success Improved employee morale, more committed employees, thus greater productivity Retention of high potential talent and talent magnet Better client relationships Positive work environment, thus  greater productivity Executives learn coaching techniques  which they can implement with their teams for improved relationships and productivity, as well as  enhanced employee development Positively affect organisational culture Ability to  recruit key talent through enhanced reputation within the industry Executive coaching helps the executive to expand leadership skills Who coaches are trained facilitators, not consultants, counselors, trainers or mentors What coaches do produce positive changes in business behavior within a set schedule with a limited time frame. The process of executive coaching Whilst it is important to understand the benefits that Cassidys can achieve using executive coaching, we also need to understand some of the methods and practices coaches use. Kilburg (2000) suggests the coaching process is a kind of circle of awareness within which the coach engages the client in a series of single-loop, double-loop, and triple-loop learning experiences to assist the client to understand the nature of the current organisational environment, the leadership situation, and his or her experiences with it: Learning in action: The ability to be self-aware as the client is performing a task. Reflection on learning in action: The ability to be aware of different ways to approach a task and how to modify approaches as the task is being performed. Reflection on reflection on learning in action: The ability of the client to be aware of multiple levels of complexity, paradoxes, and polarities in the situation with the intent of learning how to better perform in the future Internal and external coaches To select the correct type of coach of the right saturation both internal and external coaches need to be explained. An external coach is an external consultant to the company. An internal coach works for the company and usually a senior manager, a persons line managers, or members of the HR department. Each type of coach excels in supporting the executives for a board range of scenarios. External coaches excel in these areas: Coaching clients at the higher end of the corporate ladder If there is an environment of low trust and/or hostility between staff Navigate attitudes and little expectation of success When objectivity is critical for helping the executives Confidentiality between the coach and client External expertise and knowledge Unbiased and impartial opinion Internal coaches excel in these areas: Interment knowledge of the company is required Culture issues are affecting the client and internal knowledge is required The budget on coaching is limited or other Financial constraints Large amount of coaching is required The need to provide a Consistent approach provided by the company A mixture of internal and external coaches will provide Cassidys with the greatest flexibility. The external coach should be used to train the more senior members of the team, while also training and mentoring the internal coach. This will enable the internal coach to gain experience and knowledge, while still providing useful corporate and culture knowledge about the organisation. Leadership The skills and behaviour of organisation leaders affects the entire organisation and its successes. It is vital to Cassidys future that we assist our leaders to develop and help them reach their maximum potential. Cassidys requires exceptional leaders to help change and run this organisation, while ensuring that leadership and inspiration are coming from the top and filtering down. With the expansion into our new overseas market, some of our executives will be required to lead these stores. Cassidys will need to provide extra assistance for these executives as they will be responsible for the growth of our international stores, faced with an array of obstacles such as developing the Cassidys name within a new market. Executive coaching could be a strategy used to enhance Cassidys leaders. By using executive coaching, our leaders can be coached to successfully change operational procedures, expand and emphasize their extensive corporate knowledge, develop their communication skills, and improve their influence on those around them. All of these are traits of an effective leader. Elizabeth Thach (2002) conducted a study using 360 feedback and executive reporting with the aim to determine the impact executive coaching has on leadership and its effectiveness. The study was carried out over three different phases with feedback on the leader being collected from direct reports, peers, and managers. The executives were also required to report the number of times they met with their coach, and their self-reported increase or decrease in leadership effectiveness. It was found that the executives reported a smaller increase in their effectiveness as compared to what was reported in the 360 feedback. Figure 1 shows what the impact of coaching has on increasing leadership effectiveness. Figure : The Impact of Executive Coaching on Leadership Effectiveness Executive coaches usually work with individual leaders encouraging them to lead by example, motivate, improve their focused and stay committed. Although individual executive coaching could be a key to Cassidys success, isnt the only method that can be used to develop its leaders and executives. Other methods Cassidys should venture into are executive team coaching and mentoring. Team Coaching helps a group of individuals to perform more effectively in their work as a group. Although often provided via one person who is in-charge of the team, Team coaching aims to discover major values and expectations, agree common goals and targets and helps improve communications/lessen disharmony/conflict between team members. With the expansion of Cassidy there will be new executive teams created in both national and international departments. To help the executives transition into their new roles and create a productive team Cassidys should be to providing extra support to executives so they can create a cohesive unit that can quickly build a foundation of trust. One method Cassidys could use to help executives build effective teams is to hire an executive team coach. Executive team coaching differs from executive coaching in a group setting in that the coaching client is the whole team as a system rather than each of the executives in turn. During executive team coaching sessions, the team works on its usual business, typically running a business meeting, and then is coached on its collective process to achieve results. The focus of the team coaching process is on improving operational interfaces between team members while they work on achieving their objectives, rather than focusing on developing each of the executives individually, or simply focusing on improving relationships. They are each expected to contribute according to their strengths and the needs of their team. The same goes for team coaching which is not meant to develop perfect teams, but teams that contribute better to their organisation. Further, the successful development of an executive team will yield more effective collaboration, greater alignment in strategy execution, improv ed quality, products or services for customers, and ultimately, financial returns for the team and organisation. Mentoring differs from coaching but is focused around the transmission of knowledge and the forming of relationships between the parties. This relationship is usually long running and typically is formed with a more experienced person transferring their corporate knowledge and understanding to a newer staff member, whilst also providing support. Cassidys could use mentoring when the international transition occurred to provide the newer team members with the corporate knowledge they will need to succeed in the international environment. Cassidys will also need to investigate the return on investment (ROI) before proceeding with the implementation of a executive coaching plan. Below is an extract from a case study that shows the great returns that could be gained: INTRODUCTION A Fortune 500 firm and Pyramid Resource Group, a coaching services company, recently engaged MetrixGlobal LLC to determine the business benefits and return on investment for an executive coaching program. A Fortune 500 firm launched an innovative leadership development effort that was expected to accelerate the development of next generation leaders. The participants in this effort were drawn mostly from the ranks of middle managers and from many different business units and functional areas. Leadership development activities included group mentoring, individual assessments and development planning, a leadership workshop and work on strategic business projects. Coaching was considered to be a key enabler for this approach to leadership development because the participants could work privately and individually with his or her coach to develop specific leadership competencies. The client organization engaged the Pyramid Resource Group to provide coaching to the leadership development participants. While participants spoke very highly of their experience with coaching it was decided to conduct a formal assessment of the effectiveness and business impact of coaching. As a result of coaching the participants reported that coaching significant improvements in: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Personal or workgroup productivity 50% à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Employee satisfaction (personal as well 50% favorable as being able to increase employee satisfaction of their team members) à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Customer Satisfaction 50% à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Annualized financial benefits 50% of participants Most frequently cited significant impacts: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Work output 30% favorable à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Work quality 40% favorable The Bottom Line: Coaching produced a 529% return on investment and significant intangible benefits to the business. Our organisation is about to embark on one of its biggest developments in the history of Cassidys. As an organistation we need to prepare our executives with the skills and knowledge that will help them compete in a very competitive environment. Although coaching and mentoring can provide us with assistance in growing our department stores we need to remember that the upcoming pressures that could arise. Investing in making sure that our leaders have the best tools and skills to carry them through the could benefit from implementing all three programs if they are used correctly. For any of these methods to work the individual receiving the training needs to be willing to change and believe that coaching and mentoring can be a positive experience for those who are involved. It also needs to be understood that coaching and mentoring is not a solution to every problem within an organisation. A