Developing Human Resource Strategies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Developing Human Resource Strategies - Essay Example It also comprises of a few recommendations along with an action plan in order to enhance the business objectives. Table of Contents Executive Summary 2 Introduction 4 Overview of Toyco 4 Toy Industry of United Kingdom 5 Internal and External Environment 5 Analysis 6 Overview of HRM and SHRM 6 AMO Model 9 Conclusion 10 Recommendations 10 Action Plan 12 References 13 Bibliography 16 Appendices 18 Introduction Overview of Toyco Toyco is a toy company which is currently operated independently by Martin Monk. It was established in the year 1950 by Harold Bennet. The prime objective of Toyco is to offer extensive range of toys to the children of the society with the intention to enhance the brand loyalty of the organisation (Michell, 2011). Even though, Toyco needs to implement certain SHRM strategies, it had to witness varied types of challenges in its human resource, marketing and finance related operations. Due to lack of coordination among the employees of the organisation, uniform org anisational culture could not be maintained within Toyco. As a result, the devotion and morale of the employees are also affected to a high extent, resulting in downfall of the profit margin of the organisation. In addition, this may also result in employee conflicts leading to increase of turnover and absenteeism rates. Along with human resource, the marketing department in the organisation is also facing diverse issues (Michell, 2011). Due to lack of allocation of human resources, the employees are observed to fail to offer various innovative products to the target customers, which might hinder the image of the organisation in long run. Moreover, due to lack of motivation, employee devotion and commitment towards the assigned task is reducing at a considerable pace, which in turn tends to hinder Toyco’s productivity and efficiency. As a result, the customer might shift towards other leading competitors resulting in the downfall of the total sales of Toyco, which might be de trimental for the organisation (Michell, 2011). Thus, these above mentioned challenges should be diminished with the help of various SHRM strategies within the organisation. Toy Industry of United Kingdom The toy market of United Kingdom is regarded to be highly competitive in the current day context. It includes many apparent competitors. Moreover, each and every organisation is currently observed to attempt to offer inventive products to magnetise large number of customers (Michell, 2011). It is essential to retain its market share as well as profitability in the market with the purpose to augment customer loyalty and responsiveness (Armstrong & et. al., 2009). Internal and External Environment The internal environment of Toyco includes its brands, its financial strengths as well as market competencies. Notably, the company serves its customers with a varied range of products such as reaction man, action girl, space geeks and bolbs among others of varying age groups. This signific antly contributes to the overall enhancement of its brand uniqueness and reputation in the market. Moreover, the company includes a strong hold over the European and Mexican market intends to enhance its distinctiveness among other competitors operating in same segment. However, the

Employee Empowerment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Employee Empowerment - Essay Example This implies that lower level managers and supervisors are expected to implement decisions made by top-level managers, which increases rigidity. Employees of the company are expected to follow strictly their supervisors and managers decisions without question. According to the employees, delegating some decision-making powers to them would enable them act promptly to improve the efficiency and manufacturing processes of the company for better performance. However, due to the bureaucratic nature of the company, the managers and the supervisors deny the employees such powers. The overall effect has been that the employees of the company are demoralized resulting in high labor turnover and subsequently the poor performance of the company in terms of productivity. It is based on this situation that the employees of this organization have made an appeal that they be reasonably empowered. Current Literature about Employee Empowerment Employee empowerment is a subject of great concern to bu siness and human resource managers. Employee empowerment refers to the strategy or philosophy that involves allowing workers to make decisions that affect their work according to Linda (1997, p.202). Bowen and Lawler (1995, p.35) on the other hand define employee empowerment as the act of enhancing employees’ involvement in organizational processes and decision-making. It basically involves delegating some decision-making powers to employees on matters affecting their jobs so as to ensure that organizational goals are achieved. Some of the ways of empowering employees include: allowing employees to take part in the decision-making process, delegating powers to them and offering them leadership positions (Wooddell 2009, p.16). Employee empowerment can be used to improve productivity, performance, service quality, customer and employee satisfaction, and the efficiency of an organization. Demirci and Erbas (2010, p.143) argue that companies need to manage and improve their emplo yees’ performance. This is achievable through empowerment. Empowerment, according to Demirci can be formulated through by considering four main dimensions namely: knowledge, power, information, and rewards. Alternatively stated, empowerment is the product of the four elements, information, knowledge, power, and reward. The dimensions are derived by taking into consideration the power of empowerment in enhancing the efficacy of employees. Lack of any one of the four elements might lower the overall degree of empowerment according to Shulagna (2009, p.49). Organizations now widely appreciate the fact that bureaucratic leadership in which where decision-making is squarely placed on the hands of top-level managers hampers flexibility and timely execution of duties down the line. On the other hand, it has been established that placing all decision making responsibility on the hands of lower level employees is a recipe for chaos and purposeless conflict (Bowen and Lawler 1995, p.78 ). Taking note of these facts, it is crucial for organizations to ensure that employees are engaged in decision-making by being empowered. The organization needs to develop a culture where employees are given the right to participate in decision-making especially on issues touching on their work. This will help in improving the effectiveness of the organization. Bowen and Lawler (1995, p.80) note that employee empowerment is an extremely powerful tool that organizations in the modern business environment need to implement as a way of improving their performances. One of the main results of employee empowerment is job satisfaction according to Wooddell (2009, p.15). Studies have shown that employee empowerment has a direct relationship with job satisfaction. In this regard, empowerment increases the satisfaction

Qualitative Research Project Essay Example for Free

Qualitative Research Project Essay

Roy Bhaskars Theory of Critical Realism

Roy Bhaskars Theory of Critical Realism How to Change Reality: Story vs. Structure Debate between Rom Harre and Roy Bhaskar Roy Bhaskar (15 May 1944 19 November 2014) was a British philosopher, renowned as the initiator of the philosophical movement of Critical Realism. He was a World Scholar at the Institute of Education, University College London. Critical Realism (CR) is an integrative metatheory founded in the 1970s by Roy Bhaskar with the publication of seminal works in the philosophy of science and social science, such as A Realist Theory of Science, The Plausibility of Naturalism, and Scientific Realism and Human Emancipation. Bhaskars consideration of the philosophies of science and social science resulted in the development of Critical Realism. The term Critical Realism was not initially used by Bhaskar. The philosophy began life as what Bhaskar called Transcendental Realism in A Realist Theory of Science (1975), which he extended into the social sciences as Critical Naturalism in The Possibility of Naturalism (1978). The term Critical Realism is an elision of Transcendental Realism and Critical Naturalism, that has been subsequently accepted by Bhaskar after being proposed by others, partly because of its appropriate connotations; Critical Realism shares certain dimensions with German Critical Theory. In this essay Roy Bhaskar distinguish post modernism, social constructionism, Critical Realism and Dialectical Critical Realism. He has discussed Rom and Charlies point of view on Social Constructionism and Critical Realism in a dialectical context. The first thing Bhaskar discussed, is how Rom and Charlie defended post modernization and social constructionism. Further, Bhaskar gave a dialectical context on Roms work, stating that his all works ends in some kind of reductionism, but before giving dialect on Roms point. Bhaskar gives a prolonged explanation to postmodernists saying that reality is a social construct. Bhaskar started elucidating postmodernism. According to Bhaskar, Reality is a construct of discourse, the text, the conversation, or if you like, people or even power relations. Bhaskar further criticized Roms dual aspect philosophy of social reality. In which he stated how Rom gives two different statements in different modes. According to Bhaskar, when Rom is in Vygotskian mode he says that social reality is a construct of conversation. That is because Roms ideas are closest as to Lev Vygotsky. Bhaskar further added that when Rom is in humanist mode, he says it is a construct of people. Both postmodernist and Rom a greed that social reality is conceptual, to which Bhaskar also agreed and proclaimed further that is it not exhaustive of anything, whether its people, powerful particulars, discourse or text. According to Bhaskar, interesting thing about dialectical critical realism is that it takes the dialectic a stage further. Bhaskars dialectical critical realism rejects any sort of reductionism. He asserted that there is no equation between social and the conceptual or social and the humans. He then gave prolonged description about conceptual moment in human life. He then discussed the connection to human freedom and they have a dialectical universalisabilty of forming a judgement. According to Bhaskar, humans have a vision of good society in which the free development of one is the condition for free development of all, by this statement free development (- -), he is asserting that human wants a classless society, the free development of each, the individual liberty and freedom to work of each individual allows for the building of a better society. He further asserted that being humans, we are more concerned about the factors that affects our freedom and we should get rid of those factors such as Nazism (The ideology and practice of the Nazis, especially the policy of racist nationalism, national expansion, and state control of the economy), bureaucracy and capitalism. He said that we should rescue our situation by considering our being and existence in a more serious manner and it is because we want to save the situation and have to take ontological (nature of being, becoming, existence, or reality, as well as the basic categories of being and their relations) question significantly of whether structures, whether unconscious or social, are real. Bhaskar describes from a critical realist standpoint that how postmodernist deny existence of direct object to being. Bhaskar asserted that postmodernist normally says that they are not denying that things exist but they merely assert and says that they cant say anything about these things. But Critical Realism has shown philosophical position, or scientific position, or social position, all require a certain general shape of the world. He added that if we are restricted human knowledge to that which can be perceived by the senses, we will believe that social forms and social structures are immutable but if we are like Habermas (German sociologist and philosopher in the tradition of critical theory and pragmatism.) in his account of nature that we will set up false resistance between nature and society. Bhaskar asserted nature is a very special thing, which is not governed by laws, mechanism or structures and he agreed with Roms words on nature that we are free to reinvent it very mo rning.Bhaskar added that Rom and Charles are not postmodernist; they do not believe reality, as such, is a social construct. But in their Social Constructivism , their views on social existence reduces to conversation or people. They have given example that one thing can be dependent on multiple factors i.e. Does the food depend just on cook? No. It depends on various factors like utensils, ingredients, resources that he/she is given by the authorities, to which Bhaskar added that the cook must have made more tastier food if there would have been more budget. Here, Bhaskar wanted to prove a point that we are constrained by various factor and we can do better without constraints. Bhaskar then dialect Rom and Charles idea of reinventing society. He criticized that why Rom and Charles do not reinvent a better kind of society if its so easy? He then further explained with an example of Oxford College, that how fellows can decide how much wine they can drink and how much to store for the next year. By this he means how fellows can change rules time to time. But then an Oxford college is subject to government finance, if privately endowed, to stock market fluctuations. By this example Bhaskar describes how things can be controlled using constraints and how things would act as a very powerful constraint. Bhaskar further explains social structure and causal powers. He explains how agent, factor or vehicle, anything that influences the course of events in some way, is the criteria for causality. He added the people are very special but what people can do in a particular social context must be examined scientifically. He says we should accept the constraining structures if we want human freedom and we should not deny it. To this, Bhaskar dialect Roms statement that social structures cannot be reproduced except by human activity. He further asserted what Rom has said is a fundamental principal and is common to both his(Bhaskars) transformational model of social activity and Giddens theory of structuration. But there is an important difference between the two models in morality of which cannot be equated, which Maggie Archer in particular has pointed out. Bhaskar, regarding his transformational model asserts how we, humans are shackled of doing anything new and are beset by the preexistin g structures, that restrain us. He asserted that fundamental Aristotelian model of society is correct. Efficient causality presupposes material causality; it presupposes a pre-existing material cause. And how we are heavily burdened by cruel presence of the past in this social world. He then talks about the one which validates Rom and Charless model, is, the birth of a baby, coming out of the womb, but that too, pre-existing life in the womb and out of the womb as well, pre-exiting thing are ready, fixed, pre-given. Bhaskars statement that at any moment of time we are heavily constrained by preexisting structures is a right theory From Bhaskars point of view, Charles account of relationship between people and organism lacks the concept of emergence. He stated, people are organism, but there is one thing that differentiate people from being an organism only, emergent powers. In Bhaskars word People are organism, but they are organism with emergent powers. He added that our society too, have emergent powers of human behavior to understand the society better but then everything eventually ends up with his former notion, everything is pre-existing human behavior. In this para, Bhaskar explains how humans are emergent from the animal world and human power are the ingredients in the animal world, thats what make us human, thats why we are humans. Bhaskar describes that there is a plausibility of good society, we have to strive and fight for making one. Bhaskar concluded that they might come to agree upon in terms of substantive proposals. But Rom and Charlie thinks that we have already achieved social construct but they do not know how we did it. Whereas Bhaskar thinks that there is a lot more hard work to do. And it is something humanity may or may not obtain contingently. But it is there as a task and moral imperative.

Comparing Romeo and Juliet and West Side Story :: comparison compare contrast essays

Romeo and Juliet versus West Side Story      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Romeo and Juliet, West Side Story, two timeless dramas that will live forever.   Although both of these stories have many similarities, there are also many differences.   These differences include the differences in sililoquy, the fact that Maria doesn't die, the fact that we never see Tony or Maria's parents, as well as the issues of marriage, the importance of gangs and families to each story.   To understand these differences, I have read and/or watched both Romeo and Juliet, and the similar tragedy, West Side Story.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Above, I named a few of the many differences between William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet and Ernest Leaman's screenplay, West Side Story. One main difference is that in Romeo and Juliet the sililoquy is spoken while in West Side Story there is sililoquy, but it is in song.   While both equally express the character's feelings at the moment, it is my feeling that West Side Story's musical style brings the viewer/listener further into the play and makes the play more effective.   An example of this is when, in Act II, Scene II, of Romeo and Juliet, otherwise known as the balcony scene, Romeo expresses his thoughts in a sililoquy until Juliet shows up.   While in Romeo and Juliet all of this is spoken, in West Side Story, this is written as music shared between Maria and Tony.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Another major difference between these two stories is that in Romeo and Juliet, Juliet sees Romeo dead and decides to kill herself.   While, in West Side Story, Tony (the Romeo of the play) does die - shot by Chino- Maria is not so stricken and overshelmed that she decides to kill herself.   This is very important because in Romeo and Juliet, neither Romeo or Juliet is allowed to move on with their lives.   In West Side Story, however, I'm sure Maria, although not shown in the film, moves on and gets over Tony.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   My theory on why the above is true, is that Romeo and Juliet are kept apart by family ties or blood; Juliet a Capulet and Romeo a Montague.   Blood ties are what family is all about and tend to be very strong bonds.

The Development of Bathsheba Everdene in Far from the Madding Crowd Ess

The Development of Bathsheba Everdene in Far from the Madding Crowd â€Å"Far from the Madding Crowd†, by Thomas Hardy is about an immature nineteen-year-old girl called Bathsheba Everdene; she has difficulties throughout the novel. She has some good and bad experiences. These are with three different characters. In the beginning of the novel Bathsheba is vain, insensitive, egocentric and stubborn. She gradually develops through the novel as she becomes less vain, stubborn, insensitive, and egocentric and becomes more confident, caring and more determined to make her farm work, this shows how her character changes as she looks at the bad things that have happened in her life and tries to put them right. As she progresses through the novel her responsibilities become more demanding. These roles make her an independent and successful lady. She also becomes more sensitive and responsible towards men. Bathsheba 'major fault’ is an immature and vain young nineteen-year-old woman. Bathsheba is unaware of her own actions as she leads men on without knowing. A way in which this can be shown is the fact that she is aware of Oak having feelings for her but despite this she lead him on. She shows this when Oak asks her to marry him, but she doesn’t like the idea of it until he mentions that she will get publicity. Oak suggests that he would publish their marriage in the wedding section in the public newspaper and she goes along with it as she will get known, but when he starts saying he needs commitment, she slowly losses interest and this shows that she has no real reason for wanting to marry him apart from the fact that she wants attention. â€Å"Dearly I shall like that† This leads onto her showing her vanity as ... ...y gifts all labelled to Bathsheba in six years time. In conclusion Bathsheba emotions change, as she knows that Oak will be leaving. â€Å"Leaving England, Why Gabriel, what are you going to do that for?† This news shows that this is the worst time she has had as Oak has been there for her through everything. She has had mixed feelings foe three different men which make her grow. She soon realises that she is in love with him; her love for him makes her grow and become very mature near the end of the novel. Bathsheba marries Oak as she realises that he is the right man for her and will be able to tame her and be there for her. Each of the three men helped he develop and become a more confident and responsible lady. Though the whole of the whole of the novel Bathsheba had problems and she managed to resolve them, which made her a better character.

Impact of Technology on Our Society Essay

When we speak of the impact of technology on society, we always talk about the positive effects of technology and about how technology has made life easy. We talk about the Internet as an information resource and a communication platform and conveniently ignore the fact that an overexposure to it leads to Internet addiction. We often discuss how technology has made life easy but easily forget that it has made us overly dependent on it. Have you thought of the impact of technology from this point of view? I am sure, most of you haven’t. Let us look at this aspect of technology here. Think of the days when there were no computers and no modern means of transport. Human life was highly restricted due to the unavailability of technological applications. Daily life involved a lot of physical activity. Life of the common man was not as luxurious as that of modern times, but he was more active. Exercise was integrated into routine physical activities. It was contrary to the sedentary lifestyle of today, which leaves no time for exercise and fills days with inactivity and laze. Today we don’t want to, and thanks to technology, don’t even need to, walk, move around or exert physically to get things done. We have the world is at our fingertips. We think of technology as a boon to society. I am afraid; it’s not completely a boon. The Internet has bred many unethical practices like hacking, spamming and phishing. Internet crime is on the rise. The Internet, being an open platform lacks regulation. There is no regulation on the content displayed on websites. Internet gambling has become an addiction for many. Overexposure to the Internet has taken its toll. In this virtual world, you can be who you are not, you can be virtually living even after you die. Isn’t this weird? Children are spending all their time playing online and less or almost no time playing on the ground. Youngsters are spending most of their time social networking, missing on the joys of real social life. Think of the days when there were no online messengers, no emails and no cell phones. Indeed cellular technology made it possible for us to communicate over wireless media. Web communication facilities have worked wonders in speeding long-distance communication. On the other hand, they have deprived mankind of the warmth of personal contact. Emails replaced handwritten letters and communication lost its personal touch. With the means of communication so easily accessible, that magic in waiting to reach someone and the excitement that followed have vanished. Moreover, we have become excessively dependent on technology. Is so much of dependency good? Is it right to rely on machines to such an extent? Is it right to depend on computers rather than relying on human intellect? Computer technology and robotics are trying to substitute for human intellect. With the fast advancing technology, we have started harnessing artificial intelligence in many fields. Where is the digital divide going to take us? How is our ‘tomorrow’ going to be? ‘Machines replacing human beings’ does not portray a rosy picture, does it? It can lead to serious issues like unemployment and crime. An excessive use of machines in every field can result in an under-utilization of human brains. Over time, we may even lose our intellectual abilities. You know of the declining mathematical abilities in children due to use of calculators since school, don’t you? The impact of technology on society is deep. It is both positive and negative. Technology has largely influenced every aspect of living. It has made life easy, but so easy that it may lose its charm one day. One can cherish an accomplishment only if it comes after effort. But everything has become so easily available due to technology that it has lost its value. There is a certain kind of enjoyment in achieving things after striving for them. But with everything a few clicks away, there is no striving, there’s only striking. With the developments in technology, we may be able to enjoy all the pricey luxuries in life but at the cost of losing its priceless joys.