Human resources are how a business recruits Essay

Human resources are how a business recruits, retains and manages key features and functions of their employees. If businesses are to obtain their objectives, they must plan their human resources function so they have the right number of employees with the right kinds of qualifications and training to meet the needs of the business. Human resources use different approaches to all the different aspects of human resource planning and management. Human resource planning Businesses have to plan carefully to ensure that they have the right number of suitable employees for their needs. To do this they need a good understanding of the labour market in the areas where they operate. Human resource planning also involves looking at how labour is organised within the business. A range of factors when making decisions about staffing from the labour market includes; * Labour turnover * Sickness and accident rates * Age, Skills and Training * Succession In an ideal world businesses should plan ahead when it comes to human resources. A well-organised business will have forecasts and projections of its future staffing needs. These will then be matched to forecasts and projections about the local labour market, which means that the business can develop appropriate strategies for the recruitment, training and development of its staff. Recruitment and selection Recruitment and selection is a well-worn topic, which is treated fully in all major texts. There is always a tension between getting the right person for a job and how much resource in terms of time and money is devoted to recruitment. Businesses recruit staff for a variety of reasons. These can include: * The growth or reconstruction of the business * Changing job roles within a business * Filling vacancies created by resignation, retirement and dismissal * Internal promotion The recruitment process can be costly, in terms of resources devoted to the process and costs associated with recruiting poor performing staff. Therefore, it is important to select accurately people for interview. Businesses need to be very clear about the requirements of the job and about the kind of person they are looking for. This is done in several ways; * Preparing person specifications and job descriptions * Carefully planning how, when and where to advertise * Identifying the strengths and weaknesses of job applications, curriculum vitae and letters of application * Short-listing candidates Training and development Training and development are currently big issues for many businesses in most parts of the country, especially where there are low rates of unemployment. Moreover, more and more businesses are realising that if they fail to invest in training and development they will become uncompetitive. Training and development includes the following; * Induction training * Mentoring * Coaching * Apprenticeships * In-House training * External Training * Recognition of prior learning (RPL) and/or accreditation of prior learning (APL) and accreditation of prior experience and learning (APEL). Performance management Performance management refers to different strategies designed to get the best of a business work force. Different techniques are employed which attempt to relate performance with pay, or promotion or training. Such schemes are not always popular with workers. The following are methods that businesses use to manage the performance of their employees; * Performance reviews including appraisals * Self-evaluation * Peer evaluation * Target setting of individuals and groups. The labour Market Sainsburys constantly monitor the labour market to see any trends in each sector. They use local and national surveys to gather this information. Information gathered is them allocated to the departments that it would suit the best and what people are looking for. For example Sainsburys may be looking for trained bakers and fishmongers, as it is a rare profession. They may also look to see if anyone may reach this profession with a small amount of training, they may investigate if the opportunity cost of training them is viable. If Sainsburys needed a fishmonger and there was one available then they would have to pay them a decent amount of money to be able to acquire their services. This is because they are quite rare to find and may easily be coaxed into another job with money. They may also try to keep these professionals for a long time in one store so that the job in done with consistency. As sainsburys require a high standard they may send them to an off site training course to build up their knowledge of a certain area. Changing features in the market trends makes it hard for firms such as Sainsburys to find the staff they want for specific hi-skilled jobs. This may because there is an increase in professional and managerial work and a decrease in unskilled and semi-skilled work. Also people such as Bakers may have learnt new skills to enter different sections of the labour market. For example a Baker may have had enough of his job, taken an evening class in management, gained qualifications other than baking and joined a more managerial part of the team. Sainsburys need to look hard at the staff they acquire from agencies and applications and think hard about if it would be worth training them up for a specific job. They have to pick them up at exactly the right time. This means that they have to get them before they go elsewhere but have to be wary of them getting trained at great expense to sainsburys and then leaving for a job with better job satisfaction or better money. They have t get the balance just right unless it could prove costly. If Sainsburys employ new staff they may have to restructure the departments, this may prove popular with some staff but unpopular with others. Sainsburys have to think about management structures becoming flatter as a result of greater development of responsibilities and how hierarchies are being replaced by team working. Demographics show that the UK workforce is aging. This can be taken as a good aspect but also as a bad one. Some advantages of having an ageing workforce are that: * They know their job inside out and know how to deal with certain situations. * They have plenty of experience and may be able to offer light on problems which younger staff may have never encountered before. * It may be more reassuring to the customer to see an well experienced person doing the job rather then a young face straight out of school. Some disadvantages of having an ageing workforce are that: * As people get older they may be more susceptible to illness and take more time off. * With new computer equipment they may have to be sent on an expensive training course to learn new ways of working. * They may not be as motivated as younger staff as they are happy with their jobs and realise that they may not be doing it much longer. They may also not want to go for promotions, as they do not want to be bothered with the stress of the modern workplace. There is a steady decline in Primary and manufacturing sectors and an increase in service sector employment. This may work in sainsburys favour as they have positions for all sorts of people in all different sectors. There are a lot of people wanting to do the jobs where you do not need as much experience such as till manning and shelf stacking but they also have room for people with experience such as the butchers and bakers. As there is such a lot of people wanting to take on the less experience needed jobs the employees in these positions have to try and make a good impression and try hard as they know that there is always someone around the corner waiting for their job. This may boost Sainsburys productivity and customer relations. There are increasing numbers of women being qualified in previously ‘mans work’. More and more women are being trained as butchers and fishmongers. Women are now holding more high skilled positions now also, for example it would not be uncommon to ask to see the manager and a women to walk out and speak to you. This may seem strange to older generations who may still believe that it should be a mans job. The education and training system is undergoing a change. There has been a major expansion in further and higher education and the development of more flexible vocational training structures. This allows more part-time and mature students to gain higher qualifications. This may also allow them to train whilst working, improving there skills for an in-house vacancy. Part-time students make up a large proportion of Sainsburys workforce. This is because they can work flexible hours and are willing to learn. They may also not mind doing low skilled jobs as they need the money and know that they may not be doing that job forever as they are studying at a high level, having these people on their books may be an advantage to Sainsburys as if they are good they may placed in the running for higher positions. When they finish their higher education weather it be A-Levels or Degree they may give them a chance to move up the ladder. This may seem promising to the employee who already has friends there and knows the set up. They may also like it as it saves them the hassle of finding a completely new job. The sectors that are forecast to expand are those, which have grown since the early 1980s. The exception is construction, where employment is forecast to fall 4.2%. The largest absolute increase in employment is in public services. The majority of new jobs are to be in education and health, which is an area, which has seen significant growth since the early 1980s. Financial and Business services are expected to show the fastest percentage growth. Business services are expected to be the strongest performer in this sector with employment growth at 2.5% per year whilst a fall is forecast in financial services. Manufacturing is set to see further productivity gains, which may lead to falls in unemployment. Norwich’s Economy * One third of all the jobs in Norfolk are within the Norwich city council area. This totals up to 94,000 people. * Half the jobs in Norfolk are within the greater Norwich area. Employment in Norwich has grown over the last 6 years, but more slowly than the UK as a whole. * Over 90% of Norwich companies employ less than 50 people but over half of the Norwich workforce are employed in the 66 largest companies and organisations such as Norwich Union and Mash. * More than 50,000 people travel into Norwich each day to work, from the surrounding area. * The average earnings of full-time employees in Norwich (Excluding overtime) are just over à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½10 per hour, which is below the national average of à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½11.18 per hour. * Between 1995 and 2000 employment grew fastest in financial services, public sector and construction. * In the next few years most jobs are likely to be created within Norwich in business services, hotels and catering, retailing, banking and insurance and construction. There will be a long-term demand for construction skills creating sustainable jobs. * Tourism is growing fast and currently provides 5,600 jobs in Norwich Trends in employment 1997-2007(predictions) 1997 2007 Increasing involvement of Women Female share of total employment 46.5% 48.2% Female share of employees in employment 49.7% 51.7% More Working part-time Part-time share of employees in employment 29.1% 31.2% More self-employed Self employed share of total employment 13.0% 15.2% Supply and Demand graph for Wage Rates S WR1 WR = Wage Rate Sk = Skills WR D2 D Sk Sk1 As you can see as the demand for high skilled people goes up so does the wages they will be getting paid. Supply of Labour S2 S WR = Wage WR2 Rate L = Labour WR D L2 L If the supply of labour decreases then the wage rate will increase. Minimum Wage rate S WR2 WR1 D Q2 Q1 If a minimum wage is introduced which is higher than the wage rate the demand for labour falls Training and Development The aim of training a person is to permanently change their ability. Improving their knowledge, experience and skills does this. To start you off at Sainsburys you are given an induction. This tells you the basics of your job and allows you to do it. Induction programmes are designed to familiarise new recruits with the layout, security systems and about health and safety within the company. To inspire new recruits they may be introduced to key personnel. Sainsburys hold policy interviews, one review happens at 3 weeks, one at 7 weeks and then again at 11 weeks. Sainsburys holds in-house training and coaching in each branch. They also have a ‘How well and I doing?’ handbook which they give to each employee. This can map out paths and set targets, different for each section on the company. The targets set are: * Measurable * Specific * Time-related * Agreed * Realistic These are set at 6-month periods. The workbooks, which are used for technical training, coach trainees on a specific part of their job. They help them understand what they have got to do and how they have got to do it. For example training for a checkout operator may be given on a dummy checkout and they on a real one serving customers but with supervision. Each store trains its own staff at their job; training centres are used for external training, which may be specific to a person’s job such as health and safety or food hygiene. These parts of training may also involve passing an exam and gaining a qualification. The in store training organiser may not be qualified to teach this. External training may also occur when the trainee is learning a specialist subject. For example a fishmonger may be sent to a special training-centre especially for fishmongers. I believe that Sainsburys send their head fishmongers to a centre in London. Sainsburys also has a training room where training videos are shown to trainees. These may be in general subjects such as customer relations. This is very handy as videos can be shown to a trainee as many times as it takes and at very little cost. Also the audience can be selected and many trained at a time. Sainsburys also has a computer on which there are training programs, these give training and also provide a test, which they have to pass.

Nervous Conditions

In my opinion, Tambu was neither seduced nor brainwashed by the â€Å"Englishness†. Tambu had grown up in an African society  whereby women were fighting for the effects of patriarchal traditions in the history of their culture. Women in Tambu's society  struggled to find their voices in  this male dominated world. Tambu did not want to be like one of these African women, being trapped in traditional roles and could be nothing more but just a good housewife. She realised at a very young age that perhaps the â€Å"Englishness† was her only escape route to a better life. A life that has no more  poverty and women are able  to break out of their traditional roles. Therefore, she was so determined to pursue this  Ã¢â‚¬Å"Englishness† that she would never ever give up  her dream no matter how harsh things had turned out for her. Apart from that, she was also able to see how differently things were for the English educated people like Nhamo and Babamukuru. Both of them were highly respected and had the power to make people listen to them. She wished to be one of them and  knew very clearly that her life could definitely be made better if she was like one  of them. This made her strive even harder for education. Hence, I conclude that Tambu was not seduced or brainwashed by the â€Å"Englishness†. After all, this is the road Tambu had chosen for herself voluntarily, a road that she assumed will promise her well-being, dignity and freedom.

Article Summary Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

Article Summary - Essay Example Whilst expanding exports, China is also demanding more imports of sophisticated consumer and producer goods and natural resources from the region. This article examines the nature of China’s threat using benchmarks for competitive performance in terms of technology and market. Market share changes are analysed and specific product groups are highlighted, which â€Å"are directly or indirectly exposed to a competitive threat.† Trade within the region itself is also examined. The extent of the perceived threat depends on the neighbouring countries’ ability to expand exports likewise, that is, â€Å"the relative growth of technological and other capabilities† between the countries. It also depends on â€Å"the organisation of the production and marketing system†. The threat is therefore assessed by mapping relative export performance by technology and destination. China’s export growth rate actually declined over the 1990s and halved for manufactured products. The structure of exports shows that a shift towards medium and high technology products exists, and â€Å"the industry is expanding capacity rapidly and improving technology†. Moreover, this structure â€Å"is rapidly coming to resemble that of its neighbours.† The normal measure of competitive performance for firms is changes in market share. China is presently the largest exporter in the region and due to its size has the largest increase in world market share though most other countries have also increased their market shares. In comparison, China is ‘overwhelming’ in the fashion cluster due to the cheaper labour, strongest in LT products, and relatively strong in MT products (except for automotives). For example, in 1990 China was at the same level as Korea in LT exports by 2000 dominated the region. In HT products, market share is relatively low but â€Å"rising rapidly†, though most other East Asian countries also maintain export growth rates. Overall, China’s export expansion spans â€Å"the

The Enimga Machine Scholarship Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

The Enimga Machine - Scholarship Essay Example The paper tells that with the evolution of science and technology the meaning and essence of warfare and combat changed a great deal. War was no more confined to conventional bloodshed and mass killings alone, in fact now it encircled attacks on the ideological and intellectual fronts as well. Enigma machine was one such invention that was created to outpace the competition in the field of communication and message transmission using state- of-the-art technology. Enigma machine was a consequent of the advancements and inroads made by the scientists and engineers in the field of wireless communications in the early 20th century. This new mode of communication revolutionized the way traditional communication used to take place. Now getting the message across to geographic regions was becoming easier and viable for commercial as well as military purposes. Enigma machine was a modern solution to the tedious and time consuming process of encipherment. Traditionally confidential messages t o be transmitted from one office or landmark to another were encrypted between the locations. Cryptography was the putting down of a message in coded form known as encoding or encryption. The process of traditional encipherment also entailed the decryption or decoding of the encrypted message received by the receiver. The sender and receiver both used the same code book to encode and decode the message send and received respectively. The encrypted message was always in the form of alphabets or letters that were neither readable by anyone nor interpretable without following a proper and distinct procedure. The information that was hidden under the code was known as plaintext and the coded or encrypted information was referred to as cipher text.2 Need is the mother of invention and it was soon realized that the time consuming process must be replaced by an efficient one to make encipherment faster and more effective. The evolution in the mechanism started in the early 20th century

Based on Book Lament for a Son by Nicholas Wolterstorff Published Coursework

Based on Book Lament for a Son by Nicholas Wolterstorff Published January 1st 1987 by William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company - Coursework Example Denial is the first stage of death, and this stage is the most crucial for an individual who has suffered a loss. Shock and denial characterize denial stage with constant moaning on why certain things happen in life (Bartel, 2012). Wolterstorff does not easily accept the death of his son and throughout his speech speaks as though Eric is still alive (Wolterstorff, 1987). Anger is the second stage of death and has crucial consequences, though critical for healing. Individuals in this stage have mixed reactions characterized by endless and painful emotions characterizing every moment (Bartel, 2012). While anger can be detrimental to an individuals sense of living, it opens up an individual to the various possibilities that effect healing. Wolterstorff constantly reflects on the life and times of his son Eric with his speech characterized by painful rhetoric (Wolterstorff, 1987). Wolterstorff breaks the norm by publicly crying for the loss of the son in classic expression of anger (Wolterstorff, 1987). Bargaining is the third stage characterized by individuals trying to find other means through which they can cover the loss (Bartel, 2012). Essentially, individuals think of various things that could have been done in a different fashion to prevent death. When told about the sons death, Wolterstorff wishes they had not taken their son for granted and supported him in his endeavours (Wolterstorff, 1987). Depression and acceptance are the fourth and fifth stages respectively (Bartel, 2012). Depression is a deep sense of grief that an individual experiences during the loss. Acceptance is the last stage of death and the individual accepts the reality of the loss. Wolterstorff accepts the loss by noting that he would one day speak to the son on the resurrection occasion (Wolterstorff, 1987). Wolterstorff (1987) finds immense joy after the loss of the son, and this is based on his Christian faith. In a complete turnaround, Wolterstorff remembers that

The Effect of Sentencing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The Effect of Sentencing - Essay Example The Benefits, Drawbacks, and Deterrence Effects of Various Forms of Sentencing in the Criminal Justice System Sentencing is the product of a long process of bringing individuals to justice for their crimes and, as a result, it plays a crucial role in determining whether a criminal justice system is successful in achieving its purpose. If individuals are sentenced too harshly, according to rules that are too rigid, then the justice system has failed to live up to its promise of equitably distributing justice in society. If individuals are sentenced too laxly, according to rules that are not rigid enough, then the justice system can neither achieve retribution against offenders for their crimes against others nor achieve a deterrent effect to prevent further crime. The deterrent effect of sentencing is particularly important because criminals recognize the relative weight that prosecutors and judges place on certain crimes under certain circumstances; in cases in which a criminal knows sentencing will be soft, a crime is more likely to occur. Therefore, it is important for the criminal justice system to achieve a mean between too harsh and too soft in how crime in general is sentenced. Part of determining how to achieve this mean is by defining the kind of sentencing that ought to be practiced most often, with the major choices being indeterminate, determinate, and mandatory sentencing. Indeterminate sentencing denotes a term of incarceration that does not state a specific period of time or release date, but just a range of time. For instance, the imposition of â€Å"five-to-ten years† is an indeterminate sentence. Indeterminate sentencing is a perspective in criminal law closely tied to the rehabilitative perspective—the idea that prison should be an instrument for correcting and improving the behavior of inmates. According to O’Hear (2011), this perspective fell from favor in the 1970s and in the years that followed, many states pared back their investment in indeterminate sentencing practices where release dates were determined by a parole board years after the initial conviction. Besides the drawback of being linked to an antiquated theory of justice, indeterminate sentencing has the benefit of taking into account behavior while in prison as justification for expediting or delaying one’s release into society. Determinate sentencing, which is the imposition of a sentence that includes a fix or minimum period as specified by a statute. Determinate sentencing provides less flexibility than indeterminate sentencing, which is neither a benefit nor a drawback. However, one clear weakness with determinate sentencing is that situational factors do not enter easily into the equation. In Lockyer v. Andrade (2003), a form of determinate sentencing known as the three-strike law in California was challenged based on the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment. The essence of the law is that a heavy sentence is required for individuals convicted of a third felony, which is thought to provide a strong deterrent effect after the second felony conviction. However, the nature of the three felonies could be as wide ranging as drug trafficking to shoplifting. Therefore, even if three felonies are relatively minor crimes, determinate senten

Market Entry Strategy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Market Entry Strategy - Essay Example From the Porter’s five forces, the study has identified that South Africa’s accounting industry is highly competitive and the bargaining powers of suppliers is low and that of buyers is high. The market has high skilled experts in the industry, which is a critical factor attracting accounting and consulting firms in the market. From the analysis done on the market, this study has recommended Rodl & Partner to invest in the market using licensing and has guaranteed that the market is a viable one for foreign investors who are willing to expand their international market presence. However, it is recommended that the company explores the market to ensure compliance with national and international standards for the company that will be chosen for licensing agreement. This will help in ensuring that the company’s reputation is maintained. Introduction Different market entry strategies can be used to enter a new market, these strategies include mergers, acquisitions, j oint ventures, exporting, Greenfield project, strategic alliances, franchising/licensing and whole subsidiary ownership (Janssen 2004, p. 556). Some of the factors that influence the choice of a market entry strategy include price localization, trade barriers, competition, export subsidies and localized knowledge (Grunig & Morschett 2012, p. 151). Globalization and foreign direct investments have been vital in global expansion of companies (Hill 2005, p. 67). This study suggests licensing as a market entry strategy that could be adopted by Rodl & Partner in its entry to South Africa (Rodl & Partner, 2012). South Africa is one of the well known markets that have well developed accounting, auditing and consulting industry and this makes the selection a suitable one for Rodl & Partner. South Africa enjoys a stable and developing economy and this has been a key attraction for foreign investors. Rodl & Partner Ltd Background of the company Rodl & Partner is an international consulting an d accounting firm with German origin. The company has established and built unique capabilities in the global consulting industry particularly in accounting, tax planning and attestation services for companies across various continents. The company has about 3200 partners located in about 130 countries across globe. The company provides customers with distinctive and high quality service in the various categories of accounting services (Rodl & Partner, 2012). Rodl & Partner has its strengths in tax, assurance and specialist advice. Rodl & Partner will be entering South African accounting and consulting industry in July 2012 and this will require the company to be well prepared in expanding its business in this new market so as to be able to promote its brand awareness in the global market. PESTEL analysis Economic environment: South Africa has risen from international isolation and economic stagnation caused by apartheid era. The new phase of economic reconstruction has received enc ouragement and acclaim internationally (Thompson 2001, p. 23). The country was rated 25th in terms of advanced industrial sectors in the world in 1990s and has since then marked increasing growth. Political and legal environment: South Africa has had stability in its political and legal systems. Policies made by government are focused on strengthening economic power of the country and this makes

High school's english programe Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

High school's english programe - Essay Example As part of my high school syllabus, I studied English language and developed sound command over my reading, writing and verbal skills. However, today when I critically evaluate the effectiveness of the offered program, I strongly feel that the program lacked certain aspects which could have helped me in my later life. Assessment of program The program’s primary focus was on improving communication capabilities and reading and writing skills of students. The courses were mandatory and were offered in a single level with no optional variants for foreign students. As a result, it became a cause of stress for pupils and many students found it to be burdensome. I, being a foreign student, was also part of this group that found the course to be difficult. It is vital that students must like what they study and teachers must ensure to develop their interest in the subjects instead of forcing them to study for it. They must be given personal choices to select which subjects they find most interesting to study as part of high school program. English language is a diversified course and requires keenness and concentration of students in order to maximize learning. Lack of interest in the subject led many students to achieve bad grades and lose respect for it. Teachers and mentors should not have sole right to define what is significant for literacy of students; instead, electives must be offered and students can attend orientation sessions to decide whether they feel the need to choose the course. Moreover, mentors must provide fair guidance to students to assist them in comprehending how different choices will affect their development plans and which course shall suit them the best. Another shortcoming in this program pertained to the teaching styles of faculty members belonging to this discipline. They emphasized greatly on improving writing skills of students, which worked out effectively for many of them in classroom sessions and group activities. However, som e students faced obstacles when they were asked to write on own self. When writing tasks were given for homework, teachers expected the students to magically produce a perfect paper within tentative deadline. Ideally, teachers should conduct reading sessions in class while elaborating on context and meaning of text comprehensively. Additionally, there should be role-play acts and similar interactional activities based on content of English syllabus and textbooks. This would help students develop a structural understanding of the big picture, build images in mind and make connections and networks between different texts to fill the gaps. Despite of large sizes of batches, teachers ensured to pay individual attention to students who were weaker and needed more efforts from mentors. Monitoring was rigorous and strict and teachers were able to identify intellect of each student, tailoring teaching methods accordingly. However, cultural aspects were largely neglected by staff members. Th e school was one of the best institutes in the country and thus various students came in from different backgrounds, races and cultures. English language also represents a cultural study and is comprehended distinctly by different classes of students. There were no indications in the existing curriculum regarding the need for cultural diversity. As a result, students moved at different paces in studies with foreign students lagging behind.

Personality Determinants Essay Example for Free

Personality Determinants Essay Heredity refers to those factors that were determined at conception. Physical structure, facial attractiveness, gender, temperament, muscle composition and reflexes, energy level, and biological rhythms are characteristics that are generally considered to be either completely or substantially influenced by who your parents were, that is by their biological, physiological and inherent psychological makeup. The environmental factors that exert pressures on our personality formation are the culture in which we are raised, our early conditioning, the norms among our family, friends and social groups, and other influences that we experience. The environment to which we are exposed plays a substantial role in shaping our personalities A third factor, the situation, influences the effects of heredity and environment on personality. An individual’s personality although generally stable and consistent, does change in different situations. The varying demand of different situation calls forth different aspects of one’s personality. We should not therefore look upon personality patterns in isolation. Subconscious Programming Most of us sometimes get programmed / conditioned by a wrong messages that â€Å" do not do that†, â€Å"don’t take the risk†, â€Å"you cannot do that† you are not good in †¦and so on†¦.. You can imagine the bad effect such message can have on any person. Our Conscious Mind is like a watch man. And the Subconscious Mind is a store of all the previously programmed or conditioned information / knowledge/ believes. Now programming personality means putting positive believes/ information into the store without the knowledge of the watchman (conscious mind). Suppose you tell yourself that â€Å"you are good at Public Speaking†. And the store has stored based on peoples comments and experience that â€Å"you are poor in communication† â€Å"you cannot speak well in public†, â€Å"you don’t have an impressive body language† †¦.. The watch man sees your sentence and compares it with the knowledge in its store and says â€Å"this information is wrong†. The watchman throws the new information away. He does not allow the new positive information into the store. This is the fundamental difficulty in changing personality behavior of a person. Now the question is how and when we could program our mind for positive personality trait without the obstruction of watchman†¦ The answer is we can program our mind for positive personality traits during the Twilight period just before sleeping and just before waking up. This is the time when the conscious mind is active enough to generate the positive traits for entering into store but inactive to judge/compare and will not obstruct to the positive traits to enter into the subconscious store house. Reinforced Programming / Conscious Programming Autosuggestion and Repetition of the positive traits despite negative response from comparison with the store house also gives success in programming for personality traits. Auto-suggestion is a statement made in the present tense, of the kind of person you want to be. Auto-suggestion are like a commercial about â€Å"Super You†, or â€Å"Future Super You† for yourself what you want to be or achieve. They influence both your conscious and subconscious mind in the long run shaping your personality and attitude. Auto-suggestions are the conscious way to programme the subconscious mind for positive traits. It is the effective method of voluntary development of positive traits and attitudes. Auto-suggestion should be mixed with emotions. All such reinforced / conscious programming which have been emotionalized (giving feeling) and mixed with applied faith, begin immediately to translate themselves into physical or real equivalent. Auto-suggestive thoughts which are mixed with any of the feeling of emotions constitute a â€Å"psycho-magnetic† force which attracts other similar or related thoughts. Our subconscious mind resembling a fertile garden spot, in which weeds will grow in abundance if you the seeds of more desirable crops are not sown therein. Auto-suggestion is the agency of control through which an individual can voluntarily feed his subconscious mind on thoughts of creative/ positive nature or by neglect permit thoughts of a destructive nature to find their way into the rich garden of mind. So Caution should be taken while programming your mind for positive traits only. Defensive Approach One of this type of approach is protest or deny the negative traits at it’s very beginning of the entering in the subconscious store. And the second is to consciously avoid this type of environment or situation. In real life situation it is very difficult because it may lead to confrontation and argument or Inaction. Another problem in this is that most of us have some negative traits previously in our store house due to our past experience and conditioning. Imaginary Anchoring or Invisible Counseling Committee While watching a picture we anchor the Hero, placing ourselves in place of hero. Similarly we can anchor Great men in imagination and let them shape our personality. Another is the Invisible Counseling Committee comprising of great personalities of your choice. We can counsel from these great minds at times or situation. What decision or action he would have been taken in my situation.. Winston Churchill the war time British Prime Minister was following this principle. He had his Imaginary Counseling Committee by the side of his Chamber. Many great decisions he used to take by following these principles. Physical Action / Body Language Approach In general it is the positive practice or experiencing desired traits whether the desired perfection achieved or not. It is generally said that our personality traits control our body language. But it is a fact that the reverse is also true. This meanswe can change our negative traits towards positive traits by consciously practicing the body language for positive traits. Domino-effect. Direct exposure to good personalities or environment Here the direct environment is the driving force in shaping the personalities. When one constantly remains in direct contact with great personalities will enriches his own to be the one. Similarly the organization culture and structure also many times influences ones personality. Sometimes it is the guiding principle for job satisfaction / recruitment.

Mary Jones Case study Essay Example for Free

Mary Jones Case study Essay Coping styles can simply be defined as a person’s characteristics or strategies that are used in responding to various life problems and trauma. This can involve some thought, emotional or behaviors used by the affected individual to cope with such problems or circumstances. There are two broad types of copings styles, these are internalizing and externalizing coping style. Patients who â€Å"tend to locate the cause of their problems, even more than the resolution of the problems, within themselves† (Beutler Marnat, 2005 ) are consider to exercise internalizing coping styles. Patient that exhibit externalizing coping style tend to get angry more easily and blame all other people for their predicaments. They tend to enjoy social gatherings, active parties, and other activities that allow them to externalize their behaviors. Patient that exhibit Internalizing coping styles with disease condition tend to experience a very high level of distress and tend to make some self depressing comments about themselves. Such people may also show great capacity for insight. Internalizers also tend to withdraw from most social gatherings, prefer solitary environment and activities such as staying indoors, reading and listening to music. They want to do everything to reduce stimulation, reduce participating with other people in various social events and they also want to enjoy some relaxing event such as watching television. The aim of this paper is to objectively identify the causes of Mary Jones coping styles and help design adjustment plan which will integrate a strategy that will improve on herself image and worth , improve upon her present interpersonal relationship with people around her and her partner and also help her cope with the prognosis of the disease condition. It will also evaluate level of responses to her anxiety. Mary Jones In the case of Mary Jones, a 36 years old woman in a De Facto relationship and lawyer by profession with a medical history of ovarian cancer, unilateral ovariectomy, chemotherapy and ongoing task of coping with several situation and conditions such as adapting to loss of personal image and function, increase dependency, hospitalization, her partner’s need of children, fear, anxiety and anger. She tried to coping with those situations by externalizing her behavior and coping styles in the sense that she tend to blame others for her condition, punish and manipulate others, demand them to solve her problems, sole dependency with no sense of personal responsibility and resentment towards her partner. The major reasons for all these coping styles can be attributed to the psychological and emotional trauma that are associated with ovarian cancer, the changes in symptoms commonly seen in the condition and the increased anxiety level in regards to the prognosis of the disease state. Since we all experience and react to psychological and emotional trauma differently, Mary’s past experiences, relationship status, beliefs and the knowledge of signs and symptoms related to her condition all contribute to her present coping styles. She might have been so much concerned about the prognosis or the recurrence of the disease and the associated side effects of the medications. Since an ovary is needed to produce egg which will be fertilized by her partner’s sperm, now the ovary has been removed and there is higher tendency for the other ovary to have been affected and other parts of the body such as the lungs, the gastrointestinal tracts and kidney (Koushik Siemiatycki, 2009). Since the disease condition is associated with a very poor prognosis and actual removal of the ovary, which might result into infertility and inability to actually give birth to a child. This will affect her De Facto relationship because her partner wants children. Since there are several physical changes that are associated with chemotherapy and hospitalization, she might find it difficult to actually cope with all those changes both physically and her perception self. These changes will also affect her self esteem making her to act to actually prevent her from relating normally with her partner and her health care givers. Chemotherapy normally affects her sex life and also results in early menopause. Hence all these possibilities can lead to an increase in anxiety level which will subsequently affect her relationship with her partner. She might feel very tired hence depending on those people around her for help. Mary also needs to adjust to Pain, Fear and Anxiety associated with her condition, hence a need to change her present personality and behavior to the people around her and her partner. Her maladaptive coping styles actually cause more harm than good simply because she try externalizing her behavior by blaming and solely depending on her partner and health care provider whenever she needs help instead of helping herself out in those areas she still have the capacity to do so. Since there are no psychological or emotional intervention for helping her cope with her present condition, her negative behavioral modifications had hinder the development of good interpersonal relationship between her partner, care givers and her. Behavioral manifestations and their effects on Mary’s interpersonal relationship †¢ Blaming and punishing others for her problems- this coping strategy by Mary can be attributed to the psychological and emotional trauma associated with management of ovarian cancer. She’s actually trying to trying to transfer her feelings to the people around her by blaming them, making them feel they are somehow responsible for her predicament and also make them feel that they need to do something to help her. She might also try blaming others so as not to take the responsibility of her predicament or by trying to avoid the reality. This coping style will hinder the development of effective interpersonal relationship between Mary and the people around simply because the affected individual will get to a stage whereby they will not be able to cope with her actions hence they try withdrawing from helping her. †¢ Covertly punishing and manipulating others- this coping style or strategy is still within the context of her trying shifting her blame to others in the sense that she want to manipulate people around her to get what she want. This attitude will hinder the trust between her and people around. Trust is vital to development of an effective relationship, hence when she manipulate people she directly or indirectly affects her interpersonal relationship and also the treatment meant to be given to her. †¢ Demanding others solve her problems for her- demanding others to help solve her problem can something be good coping styles because patients in her situation will need the help of people around her so as be able to reduce the level of stress and anxiety associated with the condition. Excessive demand of people to solve her problems will have a negative effect on herself responsibility †¢ Resentment towards her partner believing he â€Å"does not understand†- Mary’s feeling of resentment can be attributed to her belief that her partner does not really understand what she’s going through presently simply because he still articulate his need for children. This feeling will affect her thoughts and perception of her De Facto relationship and subsequently increase her anxiety level. There is high possibility that the fear of her losing her partner will be the major factor leading her to such feeling towards her partner. Helping Mary cope with her present medical condition Helping Mary out of her present maladaptive coping style, require a multidisciplinary approach that will have to focus on the psychological, emotional, social, health and the interpersonal relationship aspect of her behavior. She will be referred to behavioral therapist, psychologist, psychiatrist, social workers and physician. the behavioral therapist will help identify the causes of the maladaptive behavior, measure the coping styles by the use of scales like Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory which is a software that can help measure and analyzed the coping styles (Frankel, 2009) or the use of direct questions in regards to her actions, thoughts, feelings, how she view her problems being caused by other people or external situations. The therapist intervention can then be focused on the result of the analysis which can either be towards the control of symptoms or insight (symptoms in the case of Mary). Psychologist will try and identify previous psychosocial and environmental factors leading to her present behavior and find ways of eliminating such predisposing factors. The psychologist will also try and adopt new viewpoint or set of behavior which will influences are interpersonal relationship and help her adjust to good coping styles. Some of the adaptive coping styles can be in form of knowing what to expect, maintaining a strong support system, let people help her, be proactive, taking time for herself, and setting reasonable goals. Social workers will try and invite the partner and educate both of them on the present condition so as to help her solve the issue of resentment towards the partner and also build trust between both of them. The physician will educate her on the prognosis of her condition, the fact that she might still bear children with other ovary and reassurance of good life after therapy. The physician will also educate her on the associated side effect of the chemotherapy and the facts that the side effect are only for some time and when properly manage, she can still live a good life with her partner. Strategies helping her partner and health care givers †¢ Patience- the partner and the health care givers should try and be patient with her so as not to take her present coping style against her. They should also try and understand her feelings in regards to her situation †¢ Encouragement- people in Mary’s situation need words of encouragement and support from the family members and health care giver. Her partner must ensure to always encourage her so as to create a sense of support which will ultimately affect the interpersonal relationship between both of them Responses to anxiety level Everybody has various degrees of responses to anxiety. These degree or level of response are mild, moderate, severe and the panic level. Mild and moderate level of responses to anxiety is still normal but in the case of severe and panic level, the individual is said to have anxiety disorders. In the case of Mary Jones her responses to anxiety level are as follows; cognitive or perpetual response at mild level by showing disorganized thought which tend to be uncontrollable. At the moderate response level, she tend to show uncomfortable experience by her interpersonal relationship while at the severe level of response she tend to show a response that can be attributed to a narrowed perpetual field and difficulty in problem solving, hence she tend to depend on her partner and health givers to solve all her problems. The last level of response was the panic level where she tends to show emotional or behavioral changes or responses by showing loss of control and feel angry and terrified and tend to be angry with her partner and care givers. Conclusion Considering Mary’s present health status and maladaptive coping strategies or styles, there is strong tendency for her status and coping style to change for better simply because of the various outlined interventions which would help her cope with life after ovariectomy and chemotherapy. Also some strategies that can help her partner and health givers cope with her present and the proposed coping styles have also been outlined. Besides, removing one ovary is not the end of her life, even women who have undergone bilateral ovariectomy can still have children with the help of advancement in technology. References Beutler, L. , Marnat. , (2005). â€Å"Integrative Assessment of Adult Personality†. Second Edition. Retrieved August 5, 2009 from http://books. google. com. gh/books? id=4puU3KqlEjcCpg=PA115lpg=PA115dq=externalizing+coping+stylessource=blots=K1V89eXR6asig=xRaYZ6xi4e_SB1zhpjSGF9j96Ishl=enei=lVV5SpXzKoSIMY7alaMOsa=Xoi=book_resultct=resultresnum=1#v=onepageq=externalizing%20coping%20stylesf=false

Modern Approaches to Food Production

Modern Approaches to Food Production The world id currently facing huge issues such as hunger and many people are starving and are dying because of the lack of food. There is not enough food to cater for everyone. Faster food production methods need to be considered but alternative methods may be dangerous to our health. The requirements of the project were to question 15 people. These people should be from different groups who are likely to have different opinions. Sources of info Questionnaire Web search Books Personal discussions Who I surveyed Family members Friends Fathers employees 8. How do farming methods differ? 7. Why they think organic food is expensive? 6. What are the pros and cons of the two food production methods? 5. Is there a difference in taste between the two foods? 4. Do they buy organic foods? 3. Do they agree with the statement? 2. Do they understand what modern food production is? 1. Are people aware of the food shortage in the world? Modern food production method vs. organic foods What are organic foods? Pros and cons of organic production. Organic foods are naturally grown crops that are grown at a small scale. They require good nutritional soils and special care. They cannot be grown everywhere as you need to consider important factors such as weather and the enrichment of the soils. The organic foods are pesticide free making them prone to bugs and animals. For food to be considered organic it needs to come from a farm and processing plants need to be organic. For processing plants to be qualified as organic they need to be examined by government officials to ensure that they are up to USDA standards. Packaging that has the name labeled organic must have at least 95% of organic ingredients. Organic foods have plenty of benefits such as: Health benefits- create issues especially with growing children. Environmental benefits- farming methods that use chemicals are killing wildlife such as birds and insects. Organic crops balance the ecosystem. Human and animal benefits- workers and animals are not surrounded by toxins. The animals have good living conditions. Organic agriculture is a production system that sustains the  health of soils, ecosystems and people. It relies on ecological  processes, biodiversity and cycles adapted to local conditions,  rather than the use of inputs with adverse effects. Organic  agriculture combines tradition, innovation and science to benefit  the shared environment and promote fair relationships and a good quality of life for all involved -International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements Pros Healthier Less harmful to your body No chemicals Nutritional Less damage to the environment Better quality Better taste Cons Slowly grown More effort to grow More expensive Only grown during particular seasons Shelf life not too long No guarantee of safety as they are disease free Very dependant on weather and environment Some foods not available Less production What is genetic modification? Is it the baddie that its reputation suggests? The worlds population is increasing rapidly everyday resulting in food scarcity. There is not enough food available for everyone. Traditional farming methods are too slow. This method produces food slowly and requires special care. This speed of production only feeds the wealthier half of the population as it is costly. Alternative routes have had to be established in order to feed poor countries that are suffering from hunger. A new farming method which was introduced in the1990s is faster and cheaper. Genetically modified foods are crops grown at a large scale usually in unnatural environments. These crops are not grown naturally. The method can be cost effective but is produced in bigger quantities making it more affordable. The foods have been nutritionally balanced and are not prone to diseases. Plant geneticists work with the genes found in the plants. For example a plant that has a gene that can withstand a drought is then inserted into a plant that cannot tolerate droughts. Genetically modified foods involve crossing species which could not cross in nature. Genetically modified foods have been highly criticized but they are helpful and will decrease hunger. Advantages: pest resistant herbicide resistant cold tolerance drought tolerance nutritional pharmaceuticals put in foods large amounts of production faster food can be cloned cheaper more resilient mass production more availability no diseases longer shelf life Disadvantages contain harmful chemicals chemicals used are not good for health long term affects are bad pesticides affect environment not healthy no genetic variation lower nutritional value full of preservatives The world would not last on traditional grown foods as the production is slow and countries in poverty cannot afford organic foods unless they grow the foods themselves organically. In the cow industry there is such a demand for meat that farmers are not able to produce their cattle fast enough. Beef farmers in countries like Canada have been injecting their cattle with so many growth hormones that the average cow only survives for a maximum of three years. Farmers are not only trying to supply enough food but have also become greedy because of the amount of money they receive from the meat which is often exported. Chickens that we buy in stores and are amazed at the size of the packaged meat have spent their whole live in a chicken shed. In this shed the chicken are packed and can hardly move. They are fad buckets of food everyday and at night time the lights inside the shed are not turned off so the animals think that it is still day time and therefore carry on eating. This situation is commonly known amongst chicken farms that supply meat to fast food industries like KFC. There is such a huge demand for chicken by consumers that those birds are unfairly treated. They are so full of hormones that some do not have legs or wings. Yet without this method of production KFC could never cater for all their consumers. Issues concerning human health: allergen city gene transfer out crossing effects on environment Genetically modifying food is a faster and more effective production technique. The main focus of genetically modified farming is to create the biggest capital possible. What chemicals are used to aid the production and supply of foods and what functions do they perform? Chemicals put in food have become a huge concern worldwide and is affecting international trade. Contamination involves the existence of various chemicals in foods such as pesticides, animal drugs and other agricultural chemicals. Foods manufactured that contain all these additives are seriously dangerous for your health and can cause future problems we are not yet aware of. What is radurisation, what foods are irradiated, pros and cons? Another factor that concerns consumers is radurization. This is the application of chemicals to enhance the shelf life of food. This happens by minimizing the number of microorganisms that appear when food is mishandled. Foods that are irradiated are foods that are perishable such as fruit and frozen foods. Food suppliers rate radurisation highly and state that the foods are safe to eat. Examples of Foods that are irradiated spices fruits meats Pros food is safer to eat longer life of food in stores kills insects delays ripening of fruits preserves nutrients Analyses of questionnaire answers: Are you aware of the food shortage the world is currently facing? This result was surprising as there has been such a huge issue on the shortage of food. World hunger is spoken of world wide. Do you understand what modern food production is? Only two people are unaware of what modern food production is. This could be that they are uneducated about the situation or take no interest in the situation. Do you agree with the statement Without modern food production methods, the world food shortage would be in even more of a crisis today.? 3 people out of 15 believed that people could make more of an effort to grow organic foods on their own and not depend to modern food production methods to end world hunger. They said that people are getting lazy and by this they are destroying the planet because if them. Do you buy organic foods? Nearly half of the people interviewed do not buy organic foods because of the price and limited availability of it. Is there a difference in taste between organic foods and genetically modified foods? 8 out of the 15 interviewed said that there was no taste. People do not usually pay so much attention to slight taste differences in foods. What are the pros and cons of these two food production methods? This was an open ended question and everyones answers differentiated. Why do you think organic foods are more expensive than genetically modified foods? Majority of the people interviewed had similar answers such as: Longer to grow Less quantity More care Less availability How do you think the farming methods of organically produced foods and genetically modified foods differ? This was an opinioned answer and people had similar views such as: organic farming does not use chemicals and genetically modified does. Did I get the results that I expected or not? I expected to get the results from the questionnaires as many of the school pupils who answered this questionnaire have learnt about genetically modified foods. My father owns an agricultural business so other members of my survey who work for my father know about the food shortage and other things like chemicals and organic foods as they study them on courses. Another member of the 15 people questioned has a passion for the environment so I knew the answers would be accurate. All answers were accurate and similar to literature research. Majority of the people had an idea of what the questions were about. The survey results were reliable as I compared the answers to web search. I feel different however. How I could improve the project? I should have interviewed more people and a variety of people. I should have asked better questions so it could have helped with me project answers. I should have started the project soon so that I had more time. Conclusion Looking at my information and the opinion of others I believe that the world is extremely dependant of modern food production methods. Although huge critism has been placed on genetically modified foods, the world could not go on without it. Organic food production is to slow and uses up to much effort to try and feed billions of people but there is, however, enough space and resources to grow our own food although it will take time and there will no availability in the stores or at home. Countries that have food issues are normal badly run and have big issues such as political issues. Some countries are not resourceful enough to grow their own food. The world is growing rapidly every day so an alternative route of food production needs to be taken. As peoples incomes increase so do the demand for better quality and more foods increase. In countries like China more people arte earning better salaries and are turning from vegetarian meals to meat. This is costly and food cannot be cat ered for the whole of china let alone the whole world. Only the richer population eats regular meal s as food is unavailable for countries like Africa. Bibliography for pictures http://www.google.co.za/imgres?imgurl=http://fileserver.tinker.com/tinker/events/7/7293_main_image_1248795170.jpgimgrefurl=http://tinker.com/events/%3Fperiod%3Dtoday%26category%3Dcause_topics%26featured%3Dtrue%26mode%3Dtop%26sort%3Ductusg=__LFeGwYQo56OQdl9KjGqHaJRHkSs=h=400w=400sz=23hl=enstart=0tbnid=R6SCE9t7ynbVuM:tbnh=135tbnw=135prev=/images%3Fq%3Dorganic%2Bfoods%26hl%3Den%26biw%3D1020%26bih%3D583%26gbv%3D2%26tbs%3Disch:1itbs=1iact=rcdur=125ei=YJVhTKSZOsiS4gbM9sHgCQoei=YJVhTKSZOsiS4gbM9sHgCQesq=1page=1ndsp=15ved=1t:429,r:1,s:0tx=72ty=63 http://www.google.co.za/imgres?imgurl=http://www.daybydaynutrition.com/wp-content/uploads/green-basics-organic-produce-stand.jpgimgrefurl=http://www.daybydaynutrition.com/author/admin/page/6/usg=__V970oXt-v63mUfwaFhMAvqzQrEk=h=347w=468sz=44hl=enstart=0tbnid=-N96QxsNgmQa9M:tbnh=135tbnw=212prev=/images%3Fq%3Dorganic%2Bfoods%26hl%3Den%26biw%3D1020%26bih%3D583%26gbv%3D2%26tbs%3Disch:1itbs=1iact=hcvpx=432vpy=110dur=1735hovh=193hovw=261tx=129ty=107ei=YJVhTKSZOsiS4gbM9sHgCQoei=YJVhTKSZOsiS4gbM9sHgCQesq=1page=1ndsp=15ved=1t:429,r:2,s:0 http://www.foodmatters.tv/images/assets/organic-gardening.jpg http://admin.moguling.com/Upload/180people.com/modded.jpg http://img.search.com/thumb/8/80/Waste_not_want_not_WWI_poster.jpg/200px-Waste_not_want_not_WWI_poster.jpg http://www.cartoonstock.com/newscartoons/cartoonists/rma/lowres/rman1855l.jpg http://www.google.co.za/imgres?imgurl=http://www.formenteraweb.com/portal/img/noticies/4444/agricultura-2.jpgimgrefurl=http://www.formenteraweb.com/news/2005/09/increase-organic-farming/usg=__Zfl_rH0fe-SwsnY3N6D3SfPOufQ=h=320w=300sz=73hl=enstart=16tbnid=iqOc-IMtjX4ZCM:tbnh=130tbnw=122prev=/images%3Fq%3Dorganic%2Bfarming%26hl%3Den%26gbv%3D2%26biw%3D1004%26bih%3D583%26tbs%3Disch:10%2C612itbs=1iact=hcvpx=119vpy=85dur=16hovh=232hovw=217tx=122ty=111ei=FpdhTN6KMISUONuapL8Koei=zJZhTM3VDM754AbwlIj3CQesq=2page=2ndsp=15ved=1t:429,r:5,s:16biw=1004bih=583

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Asian Carp The Great Lakes system affects our lives in various ways. Not only does this water system affect people, it has an impact on the natural environment as well. The weather, climate, wildlife and habitat are all affected by this arrangement of five lakes: Huron, Ontario, Michigan, and Erie. The lakes are huge and powerful, however they are very fragile when it comes to being mistreated. The ecosystem has been placed under stress in the past, and we now realize the importance of protecting and preserving our lakes. Years ago, a species of carp were brought into the United States to help our lakes, and now they run the risk of destroying them. Asian carp are a species of fish native to Siberia and China, but they were imported by fish farms in the southern United States to control algae and snail population. In the early 1990’s, aquaculture facilities in the southern United States were flooded and the carp escaped into the Mississippi River and spread into northern rivers. The carp moved north becoming the most abundant fish in some areas of the Mississippi river, triumphing over native fish and bringing hardship to the people who fished the river. The carps’ domination over the Mississippi is reason for concern in the Great Lakes region growing concern in the Great Lakes; the Chicago Ship and Sanitary Canal connect the Great Lakes to the Mississippi. Last month, a survey was taken that found Asian carp only 55 miles south of our very own Lake Michigan. Unless the Asian carp are deterred, they will infiltrate our great lakes, potentially bringing disastrous effects to the entire region.   Ã‚  Ã‚   Asian carp are a serious threat to the Great Lakes for a number of reasons; the primary concern being that they would become the dominant species after they enter the system. Asian carp can grow to the enormous size of four feet and weigh as much as 100 pounds. Their massive size results in a large appetite as well. In addition to this, Asian carp are a fast breeding species; upon entering the great lakes, it is likely that the carp will become the overwhelming majority of the fish population. Female carp carry up to one million eggs, allowing for this species to easily replace the local fish. These fast-growing Asian carp are not easy to get rid of. While smaller fish are scored and sold easily, this species of large fish are harder to process and score because their bones are big and difficult to remove.

Shiloh :: essays research papers

Shiloh   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  There are several elements of literature that can be analyzed when discussing a good short or long story. The elements are plot, characterization, theme, setting, point of view, irony and symbolism. I read the short story Shiloh and have chosen to discuss the plot of this story. This is a great story expressing the way miscommunication in a marriage can tear the marriage apart. This is story is told in the first person by Leroy Moffitt. He is the main character who deals with conflicts within himself, his wife, and the environment around him. Shiloh first begins discussing how Norma Jean Moffitt (one of the main characters) is working at transforming her body by excessively working out. Leroy Mallard, her husband, had been a truck driver 15 years of their marriage. Now he is no longer driving truck, has suffered a highway injury to his leg and is in a wheel chair at home. The first conflict in this story is between Leroy and his distance from his wife for such a long time. Mrs. Moffitt has been trying to cope with her husbands’ absence by doing other activities such as: working out, going back to school, and visiting with her mother. Another conflict resides within Leroy himself. He has not been there for his wife and he is trying to make it up to her in any way he can. This couple has been through the loss of an infant child in addition to Leroy’s absence. This is another issue that is causing them to experience the conflicts they do. Mr. and Mrs. Moffitt do not speak of this lost child, which causes more conflict between their marriage  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   together. Leroy, once being settled at home with nothing to do, began to work with his hands to construct or design objects. He wanted to build his wife a log cabin as he was making replicas out of toothpicks. I think him wanting to build this house is to prove to himself and his wife that he can still be productive and good for something. The relationship Leroy has with Norma Jean’s mother is quite different. Any time she comes around, he makes jokes instead of having real conversation with her. I think he makes the jokes to ease the tension and to not address real issues that are present. Leroy has also stated that all those years driving in the same neighborhood he did not take the time to notice how much it had changed.

Tristan Gonzales

Gonzales#l Integrity is â€Å"the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles; moral uprightness† (Google Definitions). The first person that comes to mind when I hear the word integrity is Nick Carraway from the movie and the novel â€Å"the Great Gatsby'. Nick Carraway is Gatsbys Lovers brother and Gatsbys best friend, he is also the narrator. Nick shows honesty, moral principles, and moral uprightness throughout the ntire book.Nick Carraway as a narrator is honest and reliable because he explains all the Judgments from characters in general and is unbiased in doing so, he presents original plots or conversations does not scrutinize them and leaves them to the readers to decide, and these good qualities of Nick can be described by comparing others corruption in the book, such as Tom Buchanan, Gatsbys lover's wife. Nick accepted the good parenting in his younger age, which helps him to be a decent person afterwards.It can be proved in the book where Nick's fat her told him: â€Å"Whenever you feel like criticizing someone, Just remember that all the people in this world haven't had all of the advantages you've had. â€Å"( Fitzgerald,l) this advice, which he has been turning over in his head ever since tells us that he is honest for the fact thathe does not Judge people without getting to know them first. Gonzales #2 Nick has high morality and decency while others do not. For example, â€Å"l was one of few guests who had actually been invited.People were not invited-they went there. † (F. Scott Fitzgerald, 43) Majority went there without an invitation. It shows those people have low morality and are dishonest. In the book Gatsby asks nick to go and tell daisy to meet him for lunch after he tells the story of him and daisy and what occurred with their relationship. He agrees to this gesture because he feels that tom Buchanan is an unfaithful husband and he has witnessed first hand of his affairs. He knows what he is doing is for the best and is looking out for daisy in more ways than ne.These reasons for Nicks integrity that I have stated are only the ones that truly stuck out to me on the contrary though if I re read the book I'm confident that I could conjure up 100 more reasons why he has integrity. In every chapter of the book he is in a circumstance where he must make the right choice, and he never fails to make that choice. In the third chapter atter meeting a lot ot the main characters Nick states â€Å"l am one of the few honest people that I have ever known†( Fitzgerald,54). And I agree with this quote completely.

Japanese Employment Practices

|International EMPLOYMENT RELATIONS | |TO WHAT EXTENT THE JAPANESE EMPLOYMENT PRACTICES HAS CHANGED AFTER THE ECONOMIC CRISIS? | | |[pic] | | | |SINTHIA NOVA | |Student ID – 2724881 | |14th May 2009 | Table of Contents INTRODUCTION3 TRADITIONAL JAPANESE MODEL OF EMPLOYMENT SYSTEM4 THE CHANGING NATURE OF JAPANESE EMPLOYMENT SYSTEM5 1. Sources of change5 2. Lifetime employment6 3. Seniority-based Pay and Promotion System7 4. Enterprise Unions9 CONCLUSION9 REFERENCES10 INTRODUCTION In the post-war period, Japanese manufacturing companies significantly increased their share of the global market of automobiles (Automotive News-Market Data Book, quoted in Womack, Jones, and Roos 1991, 69) as well as achieving more than 50 percent of the world markets in cameras, video recorders, watches, calculators, microwave ovens, motorcycles, and colour televisions (Oliver and Wilkinson 1992, 5). Much of this success was attributed to the forms of human-resource Management found in Japanese companies (Abegglen and Stalk 1987; Clark 1987; Dore 1990; Tachibanaki and Noda 2000). However, during the period of Asian Financial crisis and economic recession for most of the 1990s, the typical Japanese features that supported comparatively high performance until the late 1980s came in for severe criticism. Considering the high performance of the US economy in the 1990s, Neoliberals, based on the universal relevance of liberal markets, argue that the Japanese model is dead, and that Japan must (and will) adopt the US liberal market model (Lindsey and Lukas, 1998; Lin, 2001; Dornbusch, 1998; Krugman, 1996). By contrast, many theorists of institutionalism, based on contextualized efficiency and path-dependent national patterns, claim that Japan continues its path-dependent national model due to its unique culture – taken for granted within the culture – the interconnectedness of institutions and agents’ efforts to utilize the comparative advantages of their institutions (Dore, 2000; Green, 2001; Isogai et. al. , 2000; Chesbrough, 1998; DiMaggio and Powell, 1983; Hall and Soskice, 2001). However, neither the neoliberals’ argument for simple convergence towards a liberal market economy nor the institutionalists’ claim for the continuation of the original Japanese model can explain the dynamic changes happening within the Japanese model at the turn of the century. In this report, the recent trends of Japanese employment relations will be examined. Two questions have been addressed here. First, why the traditional Japanese employment system has been changed. Second, to what extent has ER system has been changed? To answer these questions we will first examine the traditional Japanese model and then after considering some issues relating to the reasons of this change, we will analysis the current trends to find out the extent of modification in a number of typical ER practices. A discussion of the implications of these changes is then be presented, followed by the conclusion. TRADITIONAL JAPANESE MODEL OF EMPLOYMENT SYSTEM Japan is a complex, dynamic society that has undergone enormous change in the past 125 years, converting itself from a feudal state into a modern industrialized nation and an economic superpower. In doing so, the Japanese have been able to copy Western technology, science, education and politics, while still keeping their unique cultural identity. One distinct feature of Japan that separated it from other Asian countries was it collective culture which has been carried over to the companies (Kashima and Callan, 1994). As an employee, an individual identity’s with a larger entity through which one gains pride and feeling of being part of something significant, tying an individual's prestige directly to the prestige of his or her employer. Typically, the company is seen as a provider of security and welfare. To a large extent, loyalty to the company surpasses the family bond. The core principles of Japanese employment model is the so-called ‘‘THREE SACRED TREASURES’’ (sanshu no jingi) of Japanese management. 1)The lifetime/long term employment system (shushin koyo) The terms â€Å"long-term† or â€Å"permanent† employment are used synonymously to describe lifetime employment, which was established at many companies during the period of high economic growth during the 1960s. The concept of lifetime employment emerged as a result of the peculiar aspects of Japanese employer-employees relations that were supported by narrow labour markets during the post-w ar period when Japan experienced a labour shortage for the first time in her industrial history. This system developed and was established at many large and mid-sized companies during this period of high economic growth. With rapid technology innovation and expansion of businesses, large-sized companies hired inexperienced manpower directly from the labour market and through in-house training and development programs these workers developed various skills and techniques. (2)The system of seniority-based wage and promotion (nenko joretsu) Here status and seniority are tied to length of service, rather than to job duties or merit. According to this system, the decisive factors determining pay are the length of service, age and educational background, not the work performed. The system goes hand-in-hand with the lifetime employment. Traditionally, the seniority-based reward system had two different aims. The first was to advance an employee’s career and provide financial compensation based on a broad social considerations and personal qualifications, such as the age and education level of employees. The second was to make extensive use of non-cash fringe benefits for employees and their families. 3)Enterprise unionism (kigyobetsu rodo kumiai) Another important characteristic of Japanese employment relations are enterprise-based unions. In Japan, unions are organized at the enterprise level, collectively bargain with a single employer, and conclude collective agreements on the enterprise level. According to Inohara: â€Å"Enterprise-wide unionism specifically expresses the workplace in terms of union mem bership. In principle, it organizes all regular employees of a company indiscriminately into one union, i. e. it is an employee organization on the basis of where they work (company) and not what they do (occupation or skill). Such a labor union is not dominated by the company; it represents the workforce, and as such, enjoys appropriate prestige and benefits provided by the company. Relations between management and the union are between insiders, namely, all the members of the union are company employees. Intervention by outsiders such as industrial and national labor organizations, outside business agents, or attorneys is not tolerated. † THE CHANGING NATURE OF JAPANESE EMPLOYMENT SYSTEM Sources of change Prior to summer of 1997, the Japanese system guaranteed easy access to low-cost capital and raw materials was supplied by a loyal and devoted labour force (at the time of labour shortage) which facilitated market expansion. However, the market became saturated and the economy slowed down, these competitive advantages were turned into liabilities. Keiretsu banks found themselves saddled with bad debts from group companies, inter-group purchasing became barriers to cost reduction, and excess size of an albeit loyal labour force was viewed as a burden to struggling companies. Japanese companies were also reacting to the information revolution and were left behind by their American counterparts. Although, most Japanese companies have found change at a quick pace too much to ask they had to adopt foreign practices and policies in order to survive. Deregulation is another force for change. It has made Japanese markets more accessible to competitors, foreign as well as domestic. In heretofore-protected industries like financial services, distribution and agriculture few firms are prepared for the onslaught of competition and uncertainty (Lincoln and Nakata, 1997). The aging population also has clear implications for corporate employment relation practice. With an aging workforce, the permanent employment and seniority system burdens firms with rising numbers of higher-paid and less productive workers. Previously, these systems were more suitable to employers, since the steep seniority escalator resulted in less payment for the relatively young workforce and the permanent employment norm reduced the uncertainties and costs of high staff turnover. Furthermore, the transition to a service economy combined with socio-cultural and socio-economic changes has had a profound effect on Japan's employment institutions. Even though leading-edge manufacturers are still competitive, their contribution to Japanese domestic employment and income is shrinking, in favor of the emerging service sector as the next great engine of jobs and wealth. Employment practices of sales and service firms are different from those of manufacturing. Their younger workforce is more mobile, less committed to work and the firm. Furthermore, since the organization of work in service firms is less team based, individual performance is more easily evaluated. Also, occupational skills are valued over firm-specific skills, so that broad job experience becomes the main driver of wages and performance rather than loyalty to one employer (Debroux, 1997; Lincoln and Nakata, 1997; Ornatowski, 1998). Lifetime employment One of the distinct features of the Japanese employment relations system is lifetime employment. Japanese workers joins companies at a young age, and spend a larger portion of their life in the company compared to other countries. The figure below can show that Japanese workers in terms of length of service, average number of years and median years compared to workers in other countries was much higher . Table1: Comparative Length of Service [pic] Source: Adopted from Current Labour Economy in Japan. Notes: 1, 2 and 3: Average length of service based on OECD Report, 1995. Other figures from the respective country. From the middle of the economic crisis till 1990, there have been ongoing debates to reform the lifetime employment system. Company attitudes were gradually changing due to increasing labor costs, employees’ age, a growing rise in the number who unable to cope with the rapidly developing new technology and changing globalized markets. Employers now need staff with readily usable skills and workers who have specialized abilities in order to respond to stiffer competition and handle more complex specialized operations. The older workers employed with lifetime contacts are not able to adjust rapidly to new developing technologies typified by information technology. Many companies have begun to adopt more diverse hiring practices over past few years, taking on experienced employees in mid-career in addition to new graduates. Employers prefer to hire mid-career and non-regular workers both in large, mid- and small-sized organizations. The rate of hiring of midcareer workers in non-clerical positions is higher in small businesses. Hiring mid-career workers, on the one hand, minimizes training costs and, on the other hand, companies get workers with ready-made skills who can work with developing technology. In fact, employers are now seeking staff with readily available skills and workers with specialized abilities who can handle more complex and specialized operations so they can respond to stiffer competition. Many employers are arguing for some partial adjustment to the prevailing practice of lifetime employment. The table below shows how companies are changing their attitude toward lifetime employment practices: Table 2: Companies changing their attitude toward lifetime employment practices: Attitude Response |Percentage | |Partial adjustment is inevitable |40. 0 | |Will basically maintain the practice |36. 1 | |Fundamental review is necessary |15. 3 | |Do not have lifetime mployment practice |5. 2 | |No response |3. 3 | Source: Labour Situation in Japan and Analysis 2004-2005, p. 26. According to the Ministry of Labour Special Survey, about 30 percent of all employees in Japan are non-regular as of 2000 (Japan Labor Bulletin, 2000: 1–2). According to the table below, the r ecent trend Table 3 : Changes in Regular and Non-Regular Employees during Recession (10,000) |1985–6 |1991–4 |1997–2001 | | |Regular Non-Regular |Regular Non-Regular |Regular Non-Regular | |Female |24 |15 |47 |64 |-82 |151 | |Male |16 |2 |119 |10 |-89 |55 | |Total |40 |17 |166 |74 |-171 |206 | Source: Wakisaka (2002). towards using non-regular workers is in contrast to the traditional pattern in which non-regular workers decreased during recession while regular workers maintained their jobs due to their skills accumulated through in-house training. In 1997–2001, the number of regular employees in Japan sharply declined by 1. 71 million, while the number of non-regular workers increased by 2. 06 million. The fact that non-regular workers are replacing regular workers indicates that Japanese companies have changed their traditional values of high skills based on in-house training and employees’ loyalty supported by lifetime employment, instead considering labour costs and the flexibility of the labour market. As a Joint Labour Management 1998 survey documents, workplace morale has declined as the number of non-regular workers has increased (Morishima, 2001). Seniority-based Pay and Promotion System Another important characteristic of Japanese employment relations system is the seniority-based pay and promotion system. To understand the main concept behind the seniority-based wage system it is important to know the wage theory presented by Koike. year) where wage refer to: a) salaries that increase in accordance with age and length of service; b) the rewards that are not paid on the basis of the job performed; and c) that are unique to Japan. The main salary determination factor s are seniority and the number of years the employee has been working at the company. Salary increase based on seniority is a general labour practice, and not a â€Å"system. † Japanese companies rarely evaluate academic degrees such as doctorate. Yamanouchi and Okazaki-ward had tried to explain the history and practices of the evaluation system in Japan. They argue that Japanese companies had gone through different turning points in the evaluation system for the sake of pay and promotion. The American system of job analysis and job classification was introduced as a modern, rational management system to rebuild Japanese management in the 1950s which marked the first turning point in the Japanese system. The second turning point came between the 1960s and 1970s when companies introduced a competency-ranking system which almost 64 percent of the organizations followed until 1974. The third restructuring occurred in the 1980s when the competency-ranking system did not work effectively due to the effect of an increase in the value of yen; globalize business activities, deregulation, the maturation of the economy, and an aging workforce. Keeping senior employees became more costly than employing younger employees, particularly those over 40 years old in 1990 due to the recession. This was driven by the need to cut cost. In recent years, growing numbers of companies are clearly evaluating ability and performance over tenure and age in salary decision. Since the early 1990s, some companies have introduced a system of job ability-based wages focusing individual worker performance over one year compared with goals set at the beginning. This new system is quite close to a true performance-based pay system. It has been termed â€Å"Annual Salary System† and has been introduced by about 10 percent of large companies. This system is primarily used for managers and general managers, not for lower level employees. The monetary benefits to employees, if any at all, are typically small (Debroux,1997; Lincoln and Nakata, 1997; Ornatowski, 1998). The attempt to shift to performance pay shows the dilemma between companies who worry that the resulting inequities will destroy morale and unity. Besides, most companies may be do not like to see younger people supervise older ones. Also, there are fears that individual merit pay will ruin the Japanese system of team-based production, where stronger team members assist weaker ones for the good of the performance of the team as a whole (Lincoln and Nakata, 1997). The continuities in the Japanese employment systems are as striking as the changes, especially when one looks at the depth and length of the economic recession. Based on data from 1,618 firms, Morishima (1995) highlights three different types of attitudes and actions of firms toward employment system reform. One group of companies tries to change their wage system from seniority based to performance based and these firms try at the same time to use the external labor market to recruit workers. Although they represent the highly publicized trend away from traditional Japanese employment practices, these companies only make up 10. 8% of the sample. Most firms (56. %) have retained the traditional employment system representing the majority force of continuity. A third group (32. 4 %) shows a mixed picture consisting of firms that are reforming the wage system, while maintaining long-term employment practices. These findings highlight the striking resilience of traditional practices as well as some important changes. Enterprise Unions Japanese unions are organized on an enterprise basis, with only permanent, fulltime employees of the company eligible to join the union. This structure has led Japanese unions to defend job security and the working conditions of their members through company-based mechanisms. The union’s chances of success through such mechanisms is, at this time, somewhat diminished. This has led unions to focus on job security rather than pay increases, which has lessened their appeal to young people, and has alienated unorganized nonregular workers in large companies and the vast majority of employees in small companies (Debroux 2003a). With the decline of lifetime employment and the increase in the number of non-regular workers, not only enterprise unions but the entire union movements are now declining. For example, the unionization rate (union members divided by number of employees) declined from 34. 7 percent in 1975, to 28. 9 percent in 1985, 23. 8 percent in 1995 and 22. percent in 1998 (Shirai, 2000: 20). In addition, the role of conflict resolution traditionally played by Japanese enterprise unions, also declined despite the formal existence of enterprise unions. Recently, individual labour–management conflicts have increased. For example, the num ber of cases concerning workplace disputes over daily employment and working conditions, dealt with by the Labour Standards Inspection Offices, increased to 20,000 in 1994. Similarly, the number of cases of consultation that the Labour Administration Offices and the Women’s and Young Workers Offices deal with have also exceeded 75,000 and 10,000, respectively (Shirai, 2000: 119). It is important to note that since the economic contribution of temporary workers is increasing, it’s necessary to recognize their representation in the labor market by protecting their rights. With increased cost-cut measures adopted by employers due to rising competition, there has been a substantial increase in the employment of non-regular workers in the last few years. The unionization rate of these workers is only three percent. At the same time, employers have become increasingly interested in performance-based systems on the enterprise level. These developments should influence the future role of unions in the regular wage negotiation process. CONCLUSION This report has explored the changes taking place in ER in Japanese firms. A period of sustained economic decline, increased global competition, a rigid employment and business system, a banking system on the verge of collapse, and the occurrence of the Asian financial crisis meant that the 1990s was a catalyst for change and regeneration. While these factors were influential in providing the impetus for change, other factors, such as the aging population, declining birth rates, and the short-term horizons of younger workers, were also important. Overall I have found evidence of the flexibility in distinctive features of Japanese employment relations system, which are lifetime employment, seniority based system and enterprise-based unions. The number of employees under lifetime contract is now in decline as Japanese companies have started to adopt more diverse hiring practices, such as: taking on experienced employees in mid-career in addition to new graduates, recruiting contingent workers e. g. part-time and other types of non-regular employees has overtaken employment of lifetime employees in recent years. In 1982, 84% of full-time workers were â€Å"regular† workers— with long-term careers and good fringe benefits at one company. But 20 years later, the regular workers’ share had shrunk to 68%. Companies attitudes towards seniority based system have been changing as well. Many companies have changed their wage systems to reflect individual performance. They are now adopting â€Å"PAY SYSTEM BASED ON PERFORMANCE,† which represented by the annual salary system and â€Å"JOB-BASED SALARY,† which mainly focusing on people occupying managerial positions or higher. An increasing number of companies are putting a stop to their practice of periodic salary raises based on seniority and introducing systems in which bonuses are influenced by evaluations. Another important characteristic of Japanese employment relations are enterprise-based unions, which is now under threat because of the decline of lifetime employment and the increase in the number of non-regular workers. Moreover, given today’s strict economic climate in which wage increases are difficult, the SHUNTO is shifting from its former policy of seeking wage increases as the highest priority to â€Å"job security and maintenance. † No matter whether it regards performance pay, the elimination of management titles, or reductions of the workforce, the change of employment practices in Japanese companies seems to be slow and incremental, carefully avoiding unexpected or shocking breaks with the past. Furthermore, they are not changing the typical Japanese model completely, trying to make it more effective by modifying them according to the new trend of highly competitive globalized market. REFERENCES Bamber. G. J, Lansbury R D, & Walies. N . (2006) International and Comparative Employment Relations: Globalization and the developed market economies. 4th ed. SAGE Publications Ltd, London. BENSON, J and DEBROUX , P (2004) The Changing Nature of Japanese Human Resource Management: The Impact of the Recession and the Asian Financial Crisis. vol. 34, no. 1, pp. 32–51. Int. Studies of Mgt. & Org. [online] Available from: Xpert HR. http://xperthr. co. uk [Accessed 28 April 2009] Benson, J. and Debroux, P. – The Changing Nature of Japanese HRM: The Impact of the Recession and the Asian Financial Crisis. International Studies of Management and Organization, 34 (1) 2004: pp. 32-51 Selmer, J. (2001) Human resource management in Japan :Adjustment or transformation? Volume: 22 Issue: 3 Page: 235 – 243, MCB UP Ltd [online] Available from: Emerald. http://www. emerald-library. com/ft [Accessed 10 May 2009] Hattori, R and Maeda, E. (2000) The Japanese Employment System (Summary). Issue-January 2000, Bank of Japan Monthly Bulletin, [online] Available from: www. boj. or. p/en/type/ronbun/ron/research/data/ron0001a. pdf [Accessed 10 May 2009] Hyeong-ki Kwon (2004) Japanese Employment Relations in Transitio,. Economic and Industrial Democracy 2004; 25; 325, [online] Available from: SAGE . http://eid. sagepub. com/cgi/content/abstract/25/3/325 [Accessed 10 May 2009] Adhikari, R (2005) National Factors and Employment Relations in Japan. Japan Institute of Labour Policy and Training, Tokyo, [on line] Available from: http://www. jil. go. jp/profile/documents/Adhikari. pdf [Accessed 10 May 2009] Kambayashi, R & Kato, T (2008) The Japanese Employment System after the Bubble Burst: New Evidence, [online] Available from: http://faculty. hicagobooth. edu/brian. barry/igm/TheJapaneseEmploymentSystem. pdf [Accessed 10 May 2009] Economist (2005) The sun also rises, [online] Available from: http://www. economist. com/displaystory. cfm? story_id=4454244 [Accessed 10 May 2009] Economist (1998) Fallen Idols, [online] Available from: http://www. economist. com/displaystory. cfm? story_id=4454244 [Accessed 10 May 2009] Ornatowski, G. K (1998) The End of Japanese-Style Human Resource Management? Sloan Management Review, [online] Available from: http://sloanreview. mit. edu/the-magazine/articles/1998/spring/3937/the-end-of-japanesestyle-human-resource-management/ [Accessed 10 May 2009]

Graduate Attributes Essay

Subject Specialists Investigative Independent and Critical Thinkers Resourceful and Responsible Effective Communicators Confident Adaptable Experienced Collaborators Ethically and Socially Aware Reflective Learners T Academic Dimension Understand and respect the values, principles, methods and limitations of their discipline(s). Are intellectually curious and engage in the pursuit of new knowledge and understanding. Identify, define and assess complex issues and ideas in a researchable form. Are experienced in self-directed learning and authentic research-led enquiry. Articulate complex ideas with respect to the needs and abilities of diverse audiences. Defend their ideas in dialogue with peers and challenge disciplinary assumptions. Experience multi-disciplinary and/or inter-disciplinary learning in an internationally renowned institution. Engage with the scholarly community and respect others’ views and perspectives. Consider and act upon the ethical, social and global responsibilities of their actions. Use feedback productively to reflect on their work, achievements and self-identity. Personal Dimension Possess a breadth and depth of knowledge within their disciplinary area(s). Are able to locate, analyse and synthesise information from a variety of sources and media. Exercise critical judgement in evaluating sources of information and constructing meaning. Are motivated, conscientious and self-sufficient individuals capable of substantial independent work. Present their ideas clearly and concisely in high quality written and spoken English. Possess excellent interpersonal and social skills fostered within an internationalised community. Respond flexibly and adapt their skills and knowledge to excel in unfamiliar situations. Are experienced in working in groups and teams of varying sizes and in a variety of roles. Welcome exposure to the richness of multi-cultural and international experiences, opportunities and ways of thinking. Set aspirational goals for continuing personal, professional and career development. Transferable Dimension Possess discipline-relevant professional skills, knowledge and competencies. Are able to investigate problems and provide effective solutions. Apply creative, imaginative and innovative thinking and ideas to problem solving. Manage their personal performance to meet expectations and demonstrate drive, determination, and accountability. Communicate clearly and confidently, and listen and negotiate effectively with others. Demonstrate enthusiasm, leadership and the ability to positively influence others. Demonstrate resilience, perseverance and positivity in multi-tasking, dealing with change and meeting new challenges. Conduct themselves professionally and contribute positively when working in a team. Have a practical and contemporary knowledge of relevant professional, ethical and legal frameworks. Identify and articulate their skills, knowledge and understanding confidently and in a variety of contexts.