Labor Force Effect on International Business Essay

Labor Force Effect on International Business - Essay Example In most cases, wage constitutes a substantial portion of the total production cost of companies. As such, businesses find myriad ways and means in order to reduce labor cost for enhancing their viability. Another way by which labor affects international business is through workers' skills. Especially in the modern times, human resource is considered as one of the most valuable assets of a company. This is because it is the employees of the company that possess the skills and expertise required for the efficient completion of production and other business functions. In this regard, the skill level of labor employed by companies is one of the key ingredients to ensure organizational success. With the advent of globalization, labor becomes a central issue in light of prevailing wage and skill levels. Given the technological advancements, employers have found a way to tap the global labor market (Tristan, 2003). Multinational corporations have benefited from the use of modern ways of communication, like electronic mail and video conferencing, to rationalize their labor factor. With the high-tech gadgets, they have taken advantage of highly-skilled and less expensive labor force available in other countries.

Sally Bingham''s life Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Sally Bingham''s life - Essay Example Bingham realizes that California and Massachusetts were deregulating electricity. Because she loves the people, Bingham views it as an opportunity to educate them about how generation of electricity takes place (Freedman, 2007). Sally sees her past life as having been more challenging and difficult to live. She admits having had many challenges in trying to sort out what was right for her. In the present, she is making differences in the environment, which she views as being divine.The challenges she experienced and sorted taught her always to keep her heart open to any future challenge. The experience makes her view her future to be more comfortable and challenge free as she has learnt to embrace and term any challenge as an adventure (Freedman, 2007). Culture greatly influence Sallys social role as a wife and mother. After high school, she opted for marriage as the norm of her society in order to become a mother and a wife. Her husband has a decent job, she in effect sees herself as not needing a job since it was the husbands cultural responsibility to provide for them( Freedman,

Measuring Shareholder Value Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Measuring Shareholder Value - Term Paper Example Capital gain is the gain that if gotten above an assets original buying price upon disposal. Any realized capital gain forms an investment that has been disposed of as at a profit. An unrealized capital gain may, on the other hand, refer to an investment which is yet to be disposed of but would lead to a profit if it was disposed of. Assets that can realize capital gains may include options, bonds, shares/stock, or businesses. A buyback kind of program involves a situation where a company repurchases its bond or stock that it had issued previously. In that case, the amount of stock that is outstanding reduces and this gives the shareholders that are remaining a bigger ownership stake of that company in the process. (investorwords.com, 2011) Investors in the world over have gotten more informed and, thus, if they have made an investment in a stock and that stock has proven not of much return as they would have wanted, then, they are unlikely to continue holding on to that stock. Thus, this escalated demand for shareholder value has led to a lot of pressure upon finance managers of various organizations. They have to ensure that the companies are earning reasonable profits and besides that, they have to come up with a very appropriate measure to shareholder value. This way, shareholders can monitor the performance of their investments. The task of getting the befitting measure for that can be an uphill one to most managers. In recent times executives have adopted numerous metrics to determine shareholder value and these are with the inclusion of cash flows, operating profits, economic performance, and return on assets. All of these metrics can be applied one at a time or all of them in entirety instantaneously. In the recent past, another metric was introduced by Stern Stewart and Company and this metric was known as EVA (Economic Value Added). EVA is said to evaluate shareholder value through computing the magnitude by which profits surpass the given companyâ₠¬â„¢s cost of capital.           Ã‚  

British Airways Essay Example for Free

British Airways Essay In 1987, British Airways was privatised, and over the next decade turned from a loss-making nationalised company into The Worlds Favourite Airline a market-leading and very profitable plc. The strategy that transformed the company into a marketing-led and efficient operation was conceived and implemented by Lord King as Chairman, aided by Sir Colin (subsequently Lord) Marshall: two tough businessmen who confronted staff inefficiencies and so improved service effectiveness that BA was rated international business travellers favourite airline for several years in the 1990s. Lord King having retired, Lord Marshall became Chairman and was succeeded as Chief Executive by Bob Ayling, a long-time BA manager. Ayling set in train a strategy to turn BA into a global airline transcending the flag-carrier status (the role of a nations leading airline) it shared with Air France, Lufthansa, Swissair, Alitalia, Iberia into an airline with no national home operating throughout the world. The dropping of the overtly British heritage and associations was reflected in a changed brand strategy. Away went aeroplane liveries featuring the Union flag, to be replaced by tailfins bearing themed designs from around the world. This was to address the global traveller a savvy (mainly business) customer whose criteria for purchase were service levels, range of destinations, promptness not price. But the re-branding became a debacle. Customers, staff, alliance partners, shareholders and retailers (travel agents) all liked the British heritage and imagery and rebelled against the turn to an anonymous, characterless new style. Ayling also focused on cost-reduction programmes which antagonised and demotivated BAs staff and customers noticed the deterioration in behaviour of staff whose commitment to customer service suddenly plummeted. The upshot was that Ayling was ousted in a boardroom coup in March 2000. During his reign, a loss of 244m in the year to March 31 2000 the first since privatisation was recorded and the groups market value had fallen  by half. A New Face. In May 2000, Rod Eddington joined BA as Chief Executive. He was previously Managing Directory of Cathay Pacific and Executive Chairman of Ansett, an Australian airline. Eddingtons immediate actions were designed to restore profitability to BAs operations and to restore the Union Flag to BAs planes! He set about reducing the fleet, moving to smaller aircraft, cutting clearly unprofitable routes. He also targeted high-yield customers, the traditional mainstay segment for BA. Matching supply with demand was the overall concern, to restore positive cash flow. Strategically, BAs longtime search for a merger partner was resumed. A link with American Airlines, the first choice partner, was out of the question after US regulatory authorities squashed the idea. A proposed merger with KLM, the Dutch flag carrier, was discussed in some depth, but that foundered on doubts over the long-term financial benefits, and arguments over the relative shares each airline would have in the merged company. Low-Cost Airlines. Meanwhile, the airline industry was undergoing a seismic shift with the rise of low-cost no frills airlines. Ryanair and easyJet had, at first, demonstrated the existence of a new market for cheap airline travel which had not been tapped by traditional airlines. But then they began to expand and to compete for passengers that normally would have gone to BA even business class customers couldnt see the reason to pay  £100 for breakfast (the difference in price between BA and easyJet between London and Edinburgh.) BAs response (under Bob Ayling) was to form GO as a direct response to the no-frills competitor. Operating out of Stansted airport, GO was operated entirely separately from BA, so none of the high-cost culture was inherited. Launched in the face of vociferous opposition from easyJet, GO nevertheless established itself in the market though at what cost, no-one could guess. Rod Eddington soon decided that his focus on premium customers made GOs operations inconsistent with that of BA as a whole. GO was sold in May 2001 for  £100m to 3i, a UK venture capital and private equity group. GO was subsequently sold on to easy Jet for 375m. However, the driving of aggressive strategies from budget airlines is still forcing flag-carriers to re-assess their business models. The Outcome. For the year ended March 2001, Eddingtons steps had yielded a quadrupling of operating profits. Market share on key routes had been lost as cuts in fleet and routes bit, but BA believed it had lost customers who paid deeply-discounted fares. BA continued its vigorous pursuit of high-yield passengers. September 11th. So, all seemed to be going well. The brand was being restored, financial performance was improving and the only real problem was lack of progress on forming a partnership with a US carrier, prevented by the regulators. Then came September 11th, and the airline market fell apart. The consequences were swift passenger numbers fell 28%, US airports were closed for a week, Swissair, Sabena, US Airlines and nearly, Aer Lingus, went bust. Alitalia lost 570m, Lufthansa 400m. Altogether the industry lost 7bn and shed 120,000 jobs 13,000 at BA and passenger numbers are still running at 13% below normal on transatlantic routes. In contrast, passenger numbers and financial results at low-cost carriers easyJet and Ryanair were rising impressively. Then came Sars, the Iraq war and the continuing sluggishness of the world economy, all deeply damaging to passenger numbers. Strategy at BA was thrown into disarray. Current Strategy. With the travel market is still subject to global economic and political uncertainty, BA has repeated its forecasts for lower revenues. However, the fundamentals of this business are stronger than they have been for four or five years John Rishton, Finance Director, says BA is generating cash, and is conserving that cash. (FT and D.Tel. 6.11.02). The operational imperatives to cope with the turbulent environment are expressed in BAs Future Size and Shape initiative which is intended to: Achieve significant cost reductions. Originally targeted at 650m, the cost savings are now expected to save an annualised  £1.1bn over 3 years (FT 19.3.03). Simplified operations and minimal overheads is the aim. Cut capacity, to match supply of aircraft and flights to the reduced demand. Cut staffing levels. A further 3,000 job cuts planned for March 2004 have been brought forward to September 2003. Change BAs business model. Aware that no-frills competition is not going to go away, but that BA possesses a positive service heritage, BA wants to create an offering that combines the best bits of BA and the no-frills model. Martin George, BAs director of marketing and commercial development, explains our customers like the BA product convenient airports, high frequency, good level of service but want it at the right price, and thats what well give them. Its about changing our business model to allow us to compete profitably (Management Today, September 2000). Rationalise BAs internal UK and short-haul business CitiExpress has been formed from the activities of subsidiaries Brymon, BRAL, Manx and BA Regional. To stem heavy losses on this short-haul network, some rationalisation has been done it has pulled out of Cardiff and Leeds-Bradford airports, and will cut its current fleet from 82 to 50 all-jet planes by end-2005. However, it is expanding operations from Manchester, and from London City airport to Paris and Frankfurt. (FT 18.12.02). It is recognised that BA started to take the bitter medicine of cost cuts and restructuring earlier and in bigger doses than rivals in Europe and North America, and that Rod Eddington has pushed through changes that were long overdue. But is this enough? can BA wrest back the short haul market from easyJet and Ryanair, while maintaining its position in the longhaul market Strike! In July 2003, just at the start of the busy holiday season, BA was hit by an unofficial strike by Heathrow check-in and sales staff who were objecting to a hasty introduction of a swipe-card automatic clocking system. 500 flights were cancelled, affecting 100,000 passengers. The damage to BAs service reputation was enormous. Both management and union leaders were taken by surprise, and it brought to a head the existence of restrictive practices going back 40 or 50 years which both sides have to confront. Performance. Results for the year ending 31st March 2003 showed a pretax profit of 135 on turnover down 7.8% to  £7.69bn, up from a loss of 335 in the year to March 2002. The results included a charge of 84m for the planned ending of Concorde flights in October, and a fourth-quarter loss (January to March) of 200m. These positive results were entirely down to cost reduction. No  dividend was paid a consequence of the need to conserve cash. Operating margin at 3.8% is way below Eddingtons target of 10%. (D.Tel, 20.5.03, FT, 21.5.03). In the first quarter of the 2003-04 year, a pretax loss of  £45m was incurred the effect of the Heathrow strike was put at 30-40m. The business environment. However, Rod Eddington sees the furure business environment as very hard to read, but expects it to get tougher. 2003-04 was meant, according to analysts, to be BAs year of recovery, but it is not now expected to happen. (DTel, 11.2.03) A critical development is the start of talks between the EU and the USA to dismantle the web of regulations that have controlled the development of international aviation since the mid-1940s. Eddington, as chairman of the Association of European Airlines, insists that truly global airlines are impossible in the current regulatory environment. If it were left to the market, international airlines would undoubtedly follow in the footsteps of other industries and would seek the benefits of scale and scope that are currently denied them. A truly global airline..would be free to operate wherever its customers demanded, free to grow organically or through acquisition and free to charge whatever the market would bear. These talks are likely to be very long. However, it potentially offers the opportunity for an opening of the two biggest airline markets and lead to substantial consolidation of participants. (FT, 29.9.03). The takeover of KLM, the Dutch flag carrier, by Air France, may be the precursor to the consolidation expected. BA sees no threat from what is now Europes largest airline. D.Tel, 1.01.03).

Concept And Definition Of Hrp Business Essay

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

Huck Matures in Huckleberry Finn Essays -- Adventures of Huckleberry F

In the novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn a young adolescent's journeys and struggles are portrayed and questioned with Huck's maturation. Throughout the book, Mark Twain examines societal standards and the influence of adults that one experiences during childhood. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn have been condemned since its publication, usually focusing, especially in modern times, on its use of the word "nigger." While this could be a valid argument had the author portrayed Jim negatively, I find another reason to argue against the novel because it subverts the ideals that many parents wish to instill in their youth. Reading this book for the first time since high school and my departure from my parents this year, watching Huck live without parental controls made me realize how impressionable one is to the values instilled by his or her constant role models. Without being forced to conform to societal standards, Huck is supposed to use his own logic to realize what is good and bad, rather than blindly following his elders' "wisdom." †¨Ã¢â‚¬ ¨At the beginning of the novel, Huck shows his skepticism of the values that society imposes when the Widow Douglas attempts to â€Å"civilize† him, running away to his freedom until his friends threaten to kick him out of the gang. Given the option of loneliness or independence, Huck chooses to return. When his father returns and takes custody of him again, Huck is deprived of his friends against his own will. Locked alone in the cabin, Huck is given plenty of time to consider his options. If he remains in the cabin, he will continue to be power less to the will of his father. If he escapes and returns to town, he will only be returned to his drunken father, who will certainly beat him. He r... ...ny of the lessons that Twain previously informed us in the books' Notice are not in the book. Huck is completely freed of the fear of his father, as Jim realizes that it is time that he learns the truth about his death. Jim is now a free man, showing that Miss Watson realized the error of her ways right before death. Most importantly, Huck realizes how his life has changed throughout this experience and chooses that the society that he was born into is in many ways corrupted by the people within it. Fortunately, because of the money and lack of legal control, he has the ability to retire from it, as he plans to "light out for the Territory ahead of the rest" (Twain, 1256) before mainstream society has the ability to come and ruin it with the misguided traditions and beliefs. Works Cited Twain, Mark The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Norton Anthropology 2008

Ancient Egypt vs. Mesopotamia Essay

The Egyptian and Mesopotamian societies are two of the oldest civilizations in the history of the world. The Egyptian and Mesopotamian political, social, and cultural parts of their lives developed differently, but there is a similar basis between the two. Although they had similar political systems in that they both were ruled by kings, the way they viewed their kings and the way that they both constructed their power differed. Both civilizations constructed their social classes similarly in that they had kings at the top, followed by other officials and merchants, and at the bottom the slaves and peasants. They both had their own form of writing; Mesopotamia had cuneiform, and Egypt had hieroglyphics and cursive script, respectively. While they are similar in many different political, social, and cultural activities and ideas, they have enough contrast to be viewed as different societies. Politically, because they were geographically open to envision, Mesopotamia culture created compact self-governing political units- the city-states. By the third millennium B.C.E. the concept of king (lugal) developed, quite possibly because of increased quarrels over resources. The power of religious leaders decreased as the power of kings increased. And although the kings took over control of temples, Mesopotamian kings did not claim divine power. Political changes occurred in Mesopotania because of the succession of people that followed the initial Sumerian people, like the Akkadians, the Kassites Medes and Persians who established their temporary political dominance. By 1750 B. C. E., the written law code of King Hammurabi, was used to maintain political authority and continuity.In sharp contrast is the continuity of political history in ancient Egypt. Legendary King Menes united Upper and Lower Egypt into one nation that lasted with continuity of culture from 3,100-1070 B. C. E. with thirty dynasties. Unlike Mesopotamian kings, the Egyptian king was represented as Horus and as the son of Re, and fit into the pattern of the dead returning to life and the climatic renewing life of the sun-god. As Egypt’s chief priest, he intervened with the gods on behalf of his people and land. No written law code was developed in Egypt. The pharaoh governed the country through a large efficient bureaucracy. In highly urbanized Mesopotamia, specialization of function, centralization of power, and use of written records enabled certain groups to amass unprecedented wealth. Women could own property, maintain control of their dowry, and even engage in trade but men monopolized political life. Some women worked outside the home in textile factories, breweries or as prostitutes, tavern keepers, bakers, or fortune tellers. Inside the home women grew wove baskets, had vegetable gardens, cooked, cleaned, and fetched water. For the most part, their writings reflect *elite male activities. Temple leaders and the kings controlled large agricultural estates, and the palace administration collected taxes from subjects. The lowest class of people tended the fields and used their strength in the off-season to build large public works like ziggarets. Women were subordination to men and had no property rights. In Mesopotamia by the second millennium B. C. E. merchants had gained in status and in power th rough gilds. In the Old Babylonian period, the class of people who were not dependent on the temple or palace grew, the amount of land and other property in private hands increased, and free laborers became more common. The Mesopotamian civilization had 3 social classes: 1. free landowning class- royalty, high-ranking officials, warriors, priests, merchants, and some artisans and shopkeepers; 2. the class of dependent farmers and artisans, whose legal attachment to royal or temple, or private estates made them the primary rural work force; and 3. the class of slaves, primarily used in domestic service. Egyptian class structure was less defined and more pyramid in shape. Compared to Mesopotamia, a far larger percentage of the Egyptian population lived in farming villages and Egypt’s wealth derived from a higher degree from cultivating the land. When not need for agriculture the peasants labored to build the tombs of the pharaoh. Slavery existed on a limited scale and was of limited economic significance. In contrast to Mesopotamia, Egyptian merchants had a low social status. For women subordination to men is evident but they are represented with dignity and affection in tomb paintings. Legal documents show that Egyptian women could own property, inherit from their parents, and will their property to whomever they wished. Marriage, usually monogamous, arose from a couple’s decision to establish a household together rather than for legal or religious ceremony. Both parties could dissolve the relationship, and women retained rights over her dowry in case of divorce. In ge neral, the limited evidence suggests that women in ancient Egypt enjoyed greater respect and more legal rights and social freedom than women in Mesopotamia and other ancient societies. Despite some initial inspiration, Egyptian culture separated itself from Mesopotamia in a number of ways beyond politics and monument building. The Egyptians did not take to the Sumerian cuneiform alphabet and developed a hieroglyphic alphabet instead. Hieroglyphics, though more pictorial than Sumerian cuneiform, were based on simplified pictures of objects abstracted to represent concepts or sounds. As in Mesopotamia the writing system was complex, and its use was, for the most part, monopolized by the powerful priestly caste. Heiroglyphics were written on papyrus paper while cuneiform was written on clay tablets with a blunt reed called a stylus. Like Egyptian hieroglyphs, cuneiform was written in both rows and columns although cuneiform was only written from left to right. The Egyptian and Mesopotamian societies were very similar in many aspects of their lives. They both developed two of the earliest forms of writing in hieroglyphics and cuneiform, with both forms differing greatly from each other. They also contained strikingly similar social classes and structures, as with many other civilizations. They were both ruled by â€Å"kings†, but many parts of their political system were drastically different due to the way that they were constructed and administered. Egyptian civilization and a fundamental Mesopotamian culture lasted far longer than the civilizations that came later, in part because of relative isolation within each respective region and because of the deliberate effort to maintain what had been achieved, rather than experiment widely.