Principles of Human Resource Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Principles of Human Resource Management - Essay Example This type of appraisal should also provide qualitative and quantitative results as they provide a better understanding. The language used in an excellent performance appraisal should be neutral. Life after retirement can take a better meaning if it is well planned for before retirement. In order to live a happy retirement life it is important lay more emphasis on retirement plans. This planning is important in various ways; for one it eradicates the feeling of uselessness for the retired person. It also enables the retired person to live healthy and feel satisfied in life. During the job due to the constraint associated with work one is not able to indulge in certain hobbies such as travelling, therefore it is important to plan for this after retirement. It also reduces dependency on children who also have there own issues to handle. Many companies have started offering retirement counseling which is important for retirement planning. Companies have come to realize that their workers suffer a lot after their retirement due to lack of awareness. As a result this counseling emphasizes on matters of health both physical and mental which affects most of the retired people. The oncept of comparable worth is a social, economic and political issue which is concerned with gender-related pay scale in the workplaces according to Landy and Conte (223). . It requires that both men and women should be paid the same if they are doing work of comparable value in the same workplace. Though many consider the issue of comparable worth as gender neutral, according to me the social perspective of the issue is based on gender specificity as it focuses more on women payments compared to men payments. As a result it has resulted to the devaluation of work done by women. There are various job incentives which are beneficial to all employees. However some are more preferable than others. For instance some of the

American Government and Politics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

American Government and Politics - Essay Example These commissions were responsible for weighing and assessing the policies formed by politicians before proposing or opposing them based on the existing human rights. They used a laid procedure for accountability to promote reconciliation between different parties, opinions present with the country. Politicians during reconstruction, ensured that the policies they formulated were in accordance and protected the various rights of individuals regardless of the race, gender of class of the citizens living within the country. The implications of the control over the criminal rights within a democracy was that it raised hopes of citizens, since as they existed to protect the citizens against such things like poverished political possibilities that had occurred before the process of reconstruction (Foner, 2009). In addition, it brought to an end the impoverished political possibilities that had been witnessed by citizens at an earlier date before reconstruction. An example is that citizens were at the mercy of impoverished political possibilities during the cold war and this made them to pass through unknown misery and sufferings. Question 2 As the Commander of the Continental Army, George Washington was a classic example of a bureaucratic actor. Â  Like many members of the bureaucracy, Washington had to balance the requirements of his job with the political concerns of his bosses in Congress. Â  Discuss how Washington was able to successfully manage these competing concerns, while maintaining both the support of his men as well as the support of Congress. Â  What does his experience suggest about the relationship between politics and the functioning of the bureaucracy more generally? 250 words It was not easy for George Washington to accept the appointment being that he just came from managing his family plantation and serving in the Virginia house of bourgeoisies when he was voted by the second continental congress. With the offer of the role of commander in chi ef of the continental army and having accepted, it was difficult to accept and had to write to his wife to tell the story. He managed to succeed in satisfying both interests because they had faith in him as a friend in the bureaucratic bourgeoisies and as a member of the congress. Similarly, the successful battles he had for the American under his command gave him respect from the members of congress hence did not get much pressure from them. Because of this, he maintained his interest with them leading to his successful resignation. Through his relationship with both bureaucratic and the congress, he was able to balance the competing concerns as he knew of how to go about them in every aspect as they arose (Ward 100). His experiences have a lot of suggestion as politics in related to bureaucracy. They both related because in each of them comes with influence. Bureaucrats and politicians looks for certain aspects in which they can use towards influencing the mass to give them suppor t. This may imply that even if one goes wrong in the political or bureaucratic arena, one will still get support. As a result, Washington was able to serve both interests in order to remain relevant to the people he worked with. Question 3 The issues surrounding the relationship between congressional representatives and their constituents are overspending. Majority of the representatives were using public constituency finances to make themselves rich

Physical And Slapstick Comedy Film Studies Essay

Physical And Slapstick Comedy Film Studies Essay Early film comedy certainly focuses more on physical comedy-the slap in the face, the anvil falling on a head kind of stuff. With film being silent, you had to focus on body language to convey meaning. Plots were usually ridiculous and as one punch was being set up, another was being knocked-down. When we finally put sound to film, everything changed. Not only did plot improve, but sound effects added to the mood and tone of a piece. In October, 1927, The Jazz Singer, the first talkie by Warner Brothers, introduced some limited audio. It included the music and some background and sound effects, but no dialogue. It would be another year before dialogue would be included. For one, the technology hadnt been created and many filmmakers and critics, who worried that a focus on dialogue would subvert the unique aesthetic virtues of soundless cinema, (wiki 1). The first feature film to include dialogue was also a Warner Brothers film, The Tenderloin, though only 15 of its 88 minutes actually had dialogue, (wiki). Unfortunately for those comedians who made a career in the world of silent film, such as Charlie Chaplin and, Anny Ondra, didnt fair well in the talkies. The few who did make the transition flourished. Martin Sills and Al Jolson continued their success, while the Marx Brothers finally found their niche. Having found fame in Vaudeville, the Marx Brothers came to the silver screen in their first motion picture Cocoanuts (1929). The Brothers always played the same characters, Groucho, Harpo, Chico, and Zeppo and was instantly recognized because of their avant-garde personas. There comedy style was very slap-stick (even violent) and sometimes non-sensical. The fact is, slap-stick comedy is often violent and not equally funny. If you filled a room full of a hundred people and showed them old-comedy reels, not everyone would laugh. At times, I was the person not laughing. I discovered that the humor had a lot to do with context and background. In One Week, a couple is crossing a train track and narrowly misses being hit by a train. Then, on key, a train hits their stuff from the other direction. Funny stuff, right? Perhaps not if you recently had a friend killed by a train. I paid more attention this semester when watching popular television shows such as Americas Funniest Home Videos. I discovered that I often gasped in disbelief, not laughter. A middle-aged-man acting like a monkey on a trampoline is funny, but Im not sure how him falling off, face first, doesnt make more people think of the life time of medical bills or rehabilitation he might have to endure. I assume that my background in caring for someone injured and the struggles Ive had with injury have tarnished my ability to find humor in dangerous situations. The humor might be lost on the few who look at these situational comedies differently. These films (Duck Soup and Slapstick Masters) also pioneered some of the situational comedy that is still popular today. Some of these examples include: the anvil on the head, the near-miss train, sawing the wrong end of beam, etc. When these films were popular, it was the first time people saw these skits and stunts. I would imagine that audiences were in stitches. And, when you look at the seriousness of their lives, war, depression, and economic collapse, this type of humor was a welcome break from factory life. They needed that release. My generation grew up watching full-color, full-access cable and weve seen hundreds of these skits time and time again. I found the old Charlie Chaplin and Marx Brothers routines to be predictable. Basically, Ive seen it before. The mirror routine that the Marx Brothers perform in Duck Soup, Ive seen at least twice, in The Parent Trap and Strictly Business. I have thousands of hours of cartoons catalogued in my brain. The Road Runner and Wylie Coyote used a lot of these slap-stick techniques such as the classic stick of TNT, with a faulty fuse, that explodes on the initiator. We also have some modern slapstick heros such as Jim Carey and Chevy Chase. And Saturday Night Live is full of physical comedy and off-color humor. It appears the older I get the more I prefer satire or intellectual comedy. I dont want to be handed the joke I want to work for it. I think the Cohen Brothers share my philosophy and tend to produce dark comedies. The Big Lebowski, one of the few Cohen films I was not familiar with, definitely uses satire. The Dude gets roped into a scheme to save Bunny, a near-broke millionaires trophy wife from kidnappers. The Dude was originally mistaken for the millionaire when a group of thugs came to collect a debt from him. They ruined his rug and the Dude sought out the real Lebowski for restitution. He takes a rug and returns to his humdrum life, bowling with his inept friends and smoking pot. The film has a huge cast of characters, and each one adds some twist to the plot. In the end, we find that Bunny returns from holiday (unbeknownst to her husband) and Mr. Lebowski turns out to be as crooked as his fake kidnappers. The Dude returns to his normal life and continues to bowl, albeit one friend less. This is the kind of irony-ridden, plot twisting, ridiculousness, I just love and it makes you laugh. Its absurd. We certainly saw a wide-range of comedic works this semester. I was introduced to works Ive never seen, a few I never heard of, and several I would have never watched on my own. I understand a bit more about why people find some thing things humorous while others do not. I also learned more about early American film, and how actors of the day, especially from Vaudeville struggled to make the shift from a live audience to that of paid-patrons of the silver-screen. Comedy is perhaps the hardest type of writing to produce and perhaps the hardest to perform because of the endless variables of the audience. Humor is fickle, but if you find it, laughter can be timeless.

Sherwood Andersons paper Pills: Deception In The Title

Sherwood Anderson's "Paper Pills": Deception In The Title Sherwood Anderson, in the title â€Å"Paper Pills,† tries to persuade us, the readers, in believing the short story is going to be about some kind of drug. Anderson in the other hand turns every thing around to tell us a story about two people falling in-love. The story begins with a description of Doctor Reefy and a brief description of the young woman. Then he tells the reader about the â€Å" twisted apples† (71)that represent doctor Reefy. Anderson begins characterize Doctor Reefy in his opening paragraph. The reader is given some facial and body features of the doctor. The â€Å"... white beard a huge nose and hands† (71) that Anderson puts as a description, making Reefy seem old, ugly, and worn out to the reader. The doctor kept to himself after his wife died. Reefy started smoking a cob pipe and sat in his empty office by a window that he never opened. On a hot summer day the doctor tried to open the window but when the window did not budge, Reefy did not attempt to reopen the dusty window again. Reefy was so devastated about his wife passing away that he did not care about him self for over ten years. The young woman was well off and needs to find a husband to help her take care of the farm that she inherited from her parents. She was tall, dark, and beautiful with lots of money. As the unwanted â€Å"twisted apples† are left on the tree to rotten -- so is Do...

Commonwealth Bank Business Report Essay

Section 1: Executive summary CBA has put record profit of $8.68 billion dollar although the company is facing Royal Commission inquiry with regard to Financial Planning scandal (Yeates 2014). At present, CBA is a dominant leader in the retail-banking sector across the Australian financial services industry with premium price trade due to its largest customer base in Australia with its disruptive technology (Rose 2014). However, it is important for CBA to invest in service improvements and innovation to maintain its current market leadership position. Therefore to identify the success factor behind CBA, it is important to assess Australian Financial industry as a whole to examine the attractive features of Australian Banking sector and the internal strength of CBA to clarify its competitive advantages and capabilities. Industrial life cycle Australian Financial industry has exhibited the characteristics of shakeout stage lifecycle stages (Shapiro 2014). In shake out stage cycle, competition and price-war between financial institutions have intensified since big four banks are imposing discounts on variable interest rates available to a broader range of borrowers and lowering their fixed rates on mortgage offers (AAP 2014). Since then, services offered by big four banks become difficult to differentiate each other and this has helped the customers to broaden their option to have selective acquisition with the major banks. Further analysis will explain CBA’s clients and competitors power change due to industry evolution and its regional expansion strategy. Then, the further report will analyze the reason behind CBA to attain premium stock price over competitors and its ethical implication in financial industry. Section 2: Environmental Analysis External Analysis To analyze the external industrial environment that lead CBA to stay ahead of competitors, overall Australian Financial industry will need to be analyzed in term of Porter’s five forces followed by PESTLE model to observe how the competitiveness of the Australian Financial environment and macroeconomics factors have changed within the industrial structure (Thomas 2007). PESTLE Model Political-Legal Conservative supervisory of APRA, which approached more intensive than the Basel II minimum requirement, has assisted Australian Financial Institutions to have minimum impact during the 2008 GFC period (RBA 2014). Moreover, Four Pillar Policy which prevents mergers between Australian’s big four banks to main competitive financial environment at low risk had also shielded the Australian Banking System from the worst of 2008 GFC (Durie and Gluyas 2009). Consequently, Australia’s strong and dynamic financial policies have favoured sustainable growth even in the hard time to former government owned incumbent CBA to withstand attack from aggressive competitors under a well-regulated financial environment (Brisden 2012). Economical During the pre GFC time, RBA’s interest rate has increased from 5.50% in 2000  to 7% in 2008 (RBA 2014). These inclining rates have favored big four banks during the crisis period since the high interest rates increased the bank’s deposit and helped Australian Banks to fund their debt in the hard time (Kerr 2011). Beltratti and Stulz (2009) also stated that the larger banks within strict regulations with more deposit financing at the end of 2006 had significant high return during the GFC. Therefore, during the crisis, the effect of GFC on Australian Financial Institutions were considerably low compare to other developed economies and CBA had also came through the economic turmoil with strong gain in deposit share by delivering $4.72 billion full-year net profit in 2008 (Leyden 2009). This has clearly showed that favorable Australian economical scape has favored CBA to retain premium share over competitors in post and pre GFC periods. Technology Eyers (2014) stated that Fintech (Financial Technology) scene is expanding rapidly in world financial centers. Financial Technologies are also challenging existing business models of financial institution since non-traditional players in Australian financial sectors are leveraging new innovation to deliver flexible services to consumers in a more convenient way (Wade 2014). However, CBA is operating efficiently in the dynamic technological environment. This is because, CBA has set its strategy to capitalize on the difference between its three big rivals by injecting $1.1 billion upgrade to its core banking system and invest $300 million a year in the high-tech modernization program (Smith 2012). So, this has clearly clarified that technology is one of the factors that lead CBA in a dynamic business environment to stay two to three years ahead of competitors (Faherty 2013). Porter’s five forces Next, Porter’s 5 forces will be used to determine the financial industry’s profitability, which influence over the success of CBA in Australian financial market. The threat of new entrants Nowadays, the digitalized financial system appears to be reaching maturity and every major big four banks are utilizing different channels of entrants to capture the market share (Eyers 2014). Consequently, there is a high threat from competitors in financial market beyond APRA’s highly regulated  financial systems since potential competitors from overseas and domestic (e.g woolworths/Coles) could have used technologies to offer virtual and physical financial services in Australian Financial Market (Eyers 2014). Since then, this could eventually challenge the growth of CBA’s physical banking in the long run. However, CBA is still a major incumbent in a financial industry, which captures majority of market share with strong domestic presence in Australia (CBA 2014). Bargaining power of customers In Australian Financial industry, there is a high bargaining power of customers since Australian major big banks have brought similar financial packages with competitive rates to expand their market share in a concentrated market. As Australian market is favoring customers to bargain on the best rate, CBA has dynamically influenced the bargaining power of the market by offering an aggressive rate at low risk to itself for such customers by dropping its five years fixed home loan rate to record-low 4.99% in 2014(Yeates 2014). Rivalry among existing competitors Todays, the financial market in Australia appeared to be reaching maturity. Mason (2014) stated that financial industry in Australia has developed at compound annual growth rate of 13% over the past decade and ranked among the most profitable banks in the developed world (Australian Trade Commission 2011). Nevertheless, Australian Financial industry is considered as Red Ocean since big four banks could potentially face more mortgage competition each other for the concentrated market share (Janda 2014). Thus, if market leader CBA failed to maintain its current competitiveness in an aggressive market, the market share could be missed out and it will be given away to competitors. Section 2.2: Internal Analysis Strategic Resources Harrison (2014) stated that combination of tangibles and intangible assets of which control by the CBA could be identified as key resources to execute its strategic capabilities. Resources include teamwork among managers and Past/Present Chief executive officers, firm’s reputation among customers and its strong balance sheet has helped CBA to attain premium share price over competitors. The possession of CBA’s strategic resources ahead of  competitors has favored its long-term survival and alleviated its competitive advantage. The strategic resources of the CBA will be demonstrated by using the value Chain framework. Value Chain Analysis Primary activities Operation Efficiency Smith (2012) stated that CBA appears to be ahead of competitors in its IT development strategy and this has induced CBA to attain not only cost and operational efficiency but also improve customer satisfaction. As a result, due to its new modernization in core banking system with best in class online banking platforms, CBA has attained the biggest improvement in its customer satisfaction score out of big fours and achieved Money magazine’s best innovative awards in 2014(News 2014). Moreover, CBA’s strong shareholder with a resilient balance sheet has also empowered full funded acquisition from internal and external stakeholders (Letts 2014). CBA’s significant balance sheet growth with high earning assets and deposit has empowered organic capital growth and investor’s confidence in investment. Therefore, it is assumed that strong financial strength with high profit return has amplified CBA to stay ahead rivals and trades its shares at premium over their dom estic competitors. Outbound Activities CBA’s strong acquisitions with Aussie Home loan and concrete financial brokers network have improved its home loan supply to the new customers in the financial market (Elsworth 2014). Moreover, CBA’s 1000 plus extensive branch network in Australia with highly efficient technology platform has also aided CBA to gain solid netbank customer loyalty bases in Australia (CBA 2014).

Hunger in Angola Essay

Hunger in Angola Angola has one of fastest growing economies in the world yet still suffers from hunger. The population of Angola was estimated to be 12,263,596 in 2007. The countries total infant mortality rate (IMR) was 184. 44 deaths per 1,000 live births with IMR for males being 196. 55 deaths per 1,000 live births and for females 171. 72 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2007 (www. geographyiq. com). The life expectancy is low partly because of starvation, unsafe food and water, and a high incidence of deaths from AIDS. The life expectancy of Angolan males was 36. 73 years and for females 38. 57 years in 2007. The total fertility rate was 6. 27 children born per woman, which ranks high compared to developed countries like the US which had a total fertility rate of 2. 09 children born per woman in 2007 (geographyiq. com). Angola is a developing country that depends on getting half of its food supply from imports and foreign aid (geographyiq. com). Agriculture still remains the primary method for feeding the countries people. Major barriers that face the country are few roadways for import and export, a corrupt government, drought, and unusable land due to landmines that were set during the 27 year long Angolan Civil War that ended in 2002. One of the major exports in Angola is oil and petroleum which contribute to its growing economy, but the countries people see very little of the revenue due to government corruption. Much of the oil from Angola is exported to industrialized nations like the United States. In this way the countries policies follow the dependency theory in which its natural resources are exported to countries that are well off. The country also supplies other natural resources for export which include diamonds, coffee, sisal, fish and fish products, timber, and cotton. The modernization theory would provide a good guideline for reducing hunger in Angola. In this way the country could begin to use its natural resources such as oil for export to provide revenues to feed its people. Also commercial farming and agricultural techniques could be taught so that more of the prime agricultural land could be used for mass agriculture. With the use of modern farming techniques the country could become self-sufficient and not depend on foreign aid. However, in Angola a plan to remove landmines would need to be implemented to allow safe farming. The country would also need to implement plans to build roadways in order to see continued growth in their export and import economies.