Morals and Beliefs in Gran Torino

Gran Torino Essay Values are principles that a person lives up to. It shapes and defines who they are. Moral refers to issues of right and wrong and how individual people should behave. Moral values are one of the most important things that we human beings live for. The movie â€Å"Gran Torino† is an excellent example of how our own moral values define who we are as a person. We make decisions based on what we think is right or wrong. The film starts off with Walt Kowalski who is a widower who holds onto his prejudices despite the changes in his Michigan neighbourhood and the world around him.Kowalski is a grumpy, tough-minded, unhappy an old man, who can't get along with either his kids or his neighbours, a Korean War veteran whose prize possession is a 1972 Gran Torino he keeps in mint condition. When his neighbour Thao, a young Hmong teenager under pressure from his gang member cousin, tries to steal his Gran Torino, Kowalski sets out to reform the youth. Drawn against his will into the life of Thao's family, Kowalski is soon taking steps to protect them from the gangs that infest their neighbourhood.The film has excellent examples of moral values throughout the development of the main characters such as courage, equality and selflessness. Courage is shown throughout the film countless times. No-one can say to another individual that their morals are wrong. No one’s moral are wrong, our morals stems from our perspective of what things are supposed to be not someone else’s view on morals. Though in the movie, Thao shows courage by trying to steal Walt’s prized car. Even though it’s a wrong decision to make, he shows courage and attempts to do it. It’s a value that we would all want. To show courage in the face of fear itself.Courage is a very hard thing to come by, not many people have it but Thao demonstrates this even though it was wrong however he rights his wrongdoing. Walt also shows courage throughout the film s uch as when he beats up one of the gang members even though he is well aware of what they are capable of. The film portrays courage not only by using the actors but also film techniques such as camera shots. When a character is expressing bravery, the camera closes up on his or her face to show the emotion and expression in the eyes and facial movement. It helps the audience interpret the courage on a characters face.Courage is moral value present in the movie. Equality is another value we hope to come by. The film evolves from racism to equality. When Sue befriends Walt, she sees him as an equal not as someone who is below her. Though their races are different, they show an understanding towards one another and they don’t discriminate each other. They respect each other and therefore show equality towards each other. That also happens with Thao when he gets to know Walt. Walt shows an understanding to Thao when they grow closer and even regards him as a friend. Equality is n ot always present in the world but it can be achieved.Even the neighbours of Walt, grew to have an understanding with him who at first despised him to be white. However equality is eventually a value that not only Sue but also Walt, Thao and their neighbours possess. The film demonstrates equality as a need in this world. Finally, one of the most important moral values a human being can possess is selflessness. It is when a person puts someone else’s needs before their own. In Gran Torino, one of the most heartfelt and saddest moments was when Walt sacrificed his life for Thao and the neighbourhood. He knew that if Thao went after his cousin â€Å"Spider† he would die.So Walt decided that he needed to do this not only for himself but for the whole neighbourhood. He came to confront Spider and the gang, he spoke very loudly to provoke the whole neighbourhood and have witnesses for what he was about to do. He asked if anyone had a lighter, he then reaches into his pocket s, as he does this, the gang reaches for their gun in preparation. Walt grabs out his lighter but making it look like he was pulling out a gun from his inner pocket, then without hesitation the gang members had shot him. He was never armed and so the gang were charged and went to jail.This sacrifice that Walt made was very admirable and was probably his most important morals. He believed in putting someone else’s safety before his own. This was a moral value that was the most important within the movie. In conclusion, these three values were demonstrated as the film progressed. It shows that a person who believed in their own moral values can be regarded as a hero. By following and believing in their own morals, it goes to show that you can help not only yourself but those around you. Gran Torino was an excellent movie about how a person who followed their morals can help those in need.

A Historical Perspective on Reading Research and Practice Essay

This article has responded to both internal and external forces resulting from gradual and dramatic transitions based on historical perspectives. This has permitted a reasonable reflection and a sense of wisdom that is susceptible to loss when one engages in it. The underlying reason is the critical dimension to the present day events and issues analysis resulting from the broadened reading culture. In the late 20th century, reading became a recognized study field with systematic research programs aiming at ascertaining its fundamental nature and its acquisition process. This resulted from the confluence of social, educational, political and economic factors. Quantitative and qualitative changes in U. S. public schools’ systems after the World War II provided favorable environment for the reading transitions. Reading processes and skills were broken down into constituent parts which were practiced and reinforced in a systematic and orderly manner during classroom sections. Reading became a conditioned behavior based on certain environmental contingencies. Individuals positively responded to learning from repeated and controlled stimulation from the environment. This stimulus-response relationship was accompanied by rewards and punishments led to the habituation of the reading act (Alexander & Fox, 2004). Therefore, academic learning involved identification of the preferred behaviors prerequisites and training. This aimed at untangling the chained links in reading so as to train the learner in each component skill. In addition, material effectiveness was structured and controlled in the delivery of environmental stimulation and practice opportunities. Emphasis on studying observable behavior focused on reading as a perceptual activity which included identification of visual signals and validating diagnostic instruments and remedial techniques. However, alternative human learning theories which focused on perceptual process as a whole still operated on underground which examined that reading is per introspection rather than through behavior. Human beings could make a coherent sense out of the perceptional data through whole-word recognition, context comprehension and word identification thus considering reading as a unique human activity owning definitive characteristics. Increased interest in internal mental structures and processes ignited by the advancements in neurology and artificial intelligence has caused transformations in the learning institutions. Moreover, the dissatisfaction with behaviorism as an explanatory system caused changes. The article points that present institutions should conceptualize learning as a natural process rather than conditioning and that language should be developed through a meaningful use. Also learning to read should be viewed as an inherent ability rather than a reflective action with laborious skill acquisition. As a result, reading research unified the literacy field through language arts. Learning to read became a matter of arriving at a facility due to the understanding quest within a language-rich environment. The growing attention to the structure and processes of the human mind and increased federal funding by the Unites States led to creation of research centers caused another theoretical transformation. These new researchers explained human language as an interaction between symbol system and mind. Learning as a natural metaphor was replaced with a mechanistic information processing metaphor. Text-based as a form of learning, involved knowledge which was organized and stored within the individual mind (Alexander & Fox, 2004). In addition, Knowledge base was depicted as powerful, persuasive, individualistic and modifiable since it was linked to the individual’s perspectives on what they had read, their interpretation and recall out of the written text. The information processing of this period resulted in cognition-related constructs which strengthened the aforementioned characteristics of knowledge. Furthermore, it focused on the individual mind. This was because the computer-based guiding had little considerations of socio-cultural influences in processing linguistic information. To add on, the research studies stressed on individualistic interpretations of written text and exhibited that the knowledge of the students could be greatly modified through training, direct intervention and/or overt instructions. Other contributors of improved text comprehension were instructional environments and pedagogical techniques. In view of any reading approach, there must be a shift away from the neurological argument to much concern for naturalism in the materials and procedures used to teach reading. Moreover, they should create unity within the language arts. The cognitive psychology gave a new viewpoint for literacy and educational researchers. It studied literacy with naturally occurring texts in natural settings with holistic and aesthetic school of thought. It aimed creating a mutual understanding arising in the social interaction of individuals in particular contexts at a time (Alexander & Fox, 2004). The dominant perspective was learning being a socio-cultural collaborative experience and the learner being a member of the learning community. Reform on modern schools  Present day schools should anticipate for motivation in the form of readers’ achievement of goals, interest and involvement in the learning experience with change in perception of texts, reader and reading. This can be achieved due to the introduction of the hypermedia and hypertext forms of learning which has increased the attention in classroom discourse thus improving the students’ academic. Effective orientation has to be done so as to capture the complexity of reading and recognize the changing nature of reading as the reader engages in a range of reading-related, goal-directed activities. With the dichotomization of reading into learning to read and reading to learn, it has led to integrated and developmental learning perspective. Engaged learning has led to the acknowledgement of the fact that reading extends to the texts students come across daily such as nonlinear, interactive, dynamic and visually complex materials transmitted using audiovisual media. Current learning institutions should learn about the potentials of alternatives nonlinear media and examine how pedagogical techniques and learning environments can be adapted to aid readers from struggling with traditional texts. Students should be encouraged to participate in meaningful and goal-directed text-based learning. Moreover, attention should be drawn to create a personally and socially valuable body of knowledge. Strategies are put in place to promote reflection, choice and deliberate execution on the learner’s part which actively engages the leaner thus developing the reading perspective. To be complete, readers, and learners should focus on demonstrating fluency in reading and other basic linguistic skills. Workable solutions  Some of workable solutions would include provision of personally relevant texts, both traditional and alternative that will promote deeper and wider student engagement in their learning. Putting in place technological advancements capable of transforming learning and teaching through production of proliferated information sources and different text types can also be productive. Involving high-stakes testing and efforts to institute national standards have hastened the students’ learning since they prescribe the content and skills learners should have acquired at various institutional levels. Investments in basic reading skills and components in special education institutions have helped struggling readers since researchers have greatly supported. Changes which might improve things One of major consideration that should be put in place is recognition of the fact that reading is invariably physiological, psychological and sociological thus an integrated orientation is a prerequisite. Therefore physical, visual, and neurological stimuli to the learning processes should also be employed. In addition, every reading process needs to enhance the psychological interpretation, storage and retrieval of text, goals formulation and expression of interests. Sociologically, a reading culture that focuses in intra-individual and inter-individual communication through linguistic media that are socio-culturally influenced can also play a big role in changing the existing education. Lastly, a fine-grained reading view that incorporate brain structures and mental activities of an individual and social behavior have to be integrated meaningfully throughout these orientations.

Economic History Essay

According to Keynes, recessions and financial crises can be avoided if central banks maintain general equilibrium in the money markets (via monetary policy). It can reduce money supply by selling bonds. It can increase money supply by buying bonds. This increase-decrease in money supply is a general mechanism utilized by central banks to ensure the robustness of the financial market. In short, the aim of the policy is to make the prices of financial assets stable (prevents panic). Keynes, however, argued that monetary policy does not raise the national income. Monetary policy only creates an ‘illusion’ of economic prosperity. Keynes favored the use of fiscal policy in increasing the level of national income because of two major reasons. First, fiscal policies are easier to implement than monetary policies. A government can increase or decrease its expenditure level depending on the status of the economy. If an economy is in recession, then the government can increase its level of expenditure. If actual GDP exceeds potential GDP, then a slight decrease in government spending is necessary. Note that the mechanism by which fiscal policies are implemented are much less sophisticated than that of implementing monetary policies. Second, the effects of fiscal policy are more ‘pronounced’ than that of monetary policy. An increase in government spending automatically increases the level of national income. B) Explain what Friedman thought were the pros and cons of the active use of fiscal policy and of monetary policy. (3 points) Friedman argued that fiscal policy is not an effective tool for preventing recessions and financial crises. For instance, deflationary fiscal policy would be ineffective if the marginal propensity to consume tend to increase with respect to the interest rate. Inflation would therefore be a very difficult problem to solve. This instance led Friedman to conclude that fiscal policy is actually an economic barrier to foster economic activity. Friedman, however, viewed monetary policy as a mechanism for stabilizing an economy. For example, too much money in an economy would cause prices of goods and services to increase. Too little money in an economy causes a contraction in the GDP. Monetary policies are designed to effectively combat both inflation and deflation, and increase efficiency in the money markets. According to Friedman, the cause of the Great Depression was not overproduction, but rather the Crash of 1929. The inefficiency of the money market created instability in stock prices, which ultimately led to the Crash of 1929. For Friedman, efficiency of money markets is an important determinant of economic stability. C) Where do these two economists agree? Where do they disagree? (2 points) Both economists recognized the importance of interest rate adjustments in boosting an economy. For Keynes, interest rate is an important factor in inreasing investment and consumption level in an economy. For Friedman, interest rate serves as a stabilizing agent in adjusting the prices of financial and non-financial instruments. The two economists however differed on the extent to which interest rates can be used to boost an economy. Keynes preferred a more rigorious reduction in interest rates while Friedman a more conservative approach in interest rate adjustments. There is another significant disagreement between the two theorists. Friedman rejected the concept of permanent income hypothesis which states that as income increases, the fraction allocated to savings also increases. Keynes supported this hypothesis. D) What is your own view on this debate? Explain. (2 points) The use of either fiscal or monetary policy is dependent on economic circumstances. For example, a demand-induced recession can be effectively resolved by fiscal policy while a supply-induced recession can be resolved by monetary policy. No single macroeconomic theory can fully explain or resolve all macroeconomic problems. A) Neoclassical economic theories are based on the assumption that people are rational. Did Thorstein Veblen have a favorable view of neoclassical economics? Discuss his views on this issue. (3 points) Thorstein Veblen rejected many of the assumptions of neoclassical economics. He argued that the term ‘rational’ is generally vague even from the standpoint of modern economics. Rationality is an idea that excludes behavior which is not based on a measured calculation of costs and benefits. Veblen argued that rationality itself is a relative idea; an idea which is based on economic, political, socio-cultural, and economic factors. Veblen established the idea of ‘conspicuous consumption. ‘ According to him, demand is often fueled not only by economic factors alone but also by sociological factors. Those individuals belonging to the upper strata of society often engaged in conspicuous consumption because it enhances status. By conspicuous consumption, Veblen meant a general precedent of artificially increasing demand out of conscious desire to enhance status. Conspicuous consumption is a state where actual consumption greatly exceeds actual needs. B) Consider the articles on behavioral economics at http://myweb. liu. edu/~uroy/eco54/histlist/behav-econ/index. html. Read and summarize the main thrust of some of these articles. (3 points) In the article, â€Å"How Obama is Using the Science of Change,† Grunwald argued that Obama hired some of the best professors in behavioral science to help him in his campaign. This so-called ‘behavioral team’ assisted Obama in evaluating the behavioral instance of the voters, in order to find the correct political stance. According to the author: â€Å"Obama won the election because he looked like change, sounded like change and never stopped campaigning for change. But he didn’t call for just change in Washington – or even just change in America. From his declarations that ‘change comes from the bottom up’ to his admonitions about ‘an era of profound irresponsibility,’ Obama called for change in Americans† (Grunwald, 2009). According to the author, Obama relied his presidency on the ability of every American to change behavior. Although his top priorities – health care, energy, international peace – depended on this change. For Obama, economic prosperity could only be achieved through constant moralistic evaluation of individual conduct. Saving energy, protecting the environment, and promoting a responsible system of governance are highly related to individual decisions. C) Based on these articles, what is your opinion of the value of the contributions of behavioral economics to economic analysis? Explain. In the past, economic phenomena were solely explained by economic factors. For example, fluctuations in GDP were generally explained by varying levels in consumption, investment, trade accounts, and government expenditure. Efficiency in money and capital markets were solely explained by confidence levels, risk based assets and liabilities, and in general, federal funds rate. Today, there is a growing interest in associating economic phenomena with non-economic factors. This interest is not without basis. Some economists, notably Hayek and Kuznets, were able to show that some non-economic factors influenced, sometimes, determined economic phenomena. For example, the failure of capitalist reforms in Latin America during the 1970s was attributed solely to political instability. Becker, for instance, proved that individual reaction to income and tax changes affect the overall labor supply in an economy. In his time allocation model, Becker posited the hypothesis that individual behavior directly influence aggregate income. D) Do you think behavioral economics represents a return of Veblen’s ideas? (2 points) Behavioral economics may be thought as a return to Veblen’s ideas. Behavioral economics has the following assumptions which reflected Veblen’s ideas: 1) Individual decision-making patterns influence economic decision making in the public sphere; 2) Individual behavior is influenced by the behavior of other individuals; 3) Economic phenomena are sometimes directly influenced by actions of institutions; 4) And, consumption and investment are not solely determined by interest rate and confidence levels respectively. It should, however, be noted that most of Veblen’s ideas tackled non-economic issues, so it is impossible to assume that behavioral economics is a determined return to Veblen’s ideas. A) To what extent has economics benefited from the application of mathematical methods in the analysis of economic issues? (2 points) The application of mathematical methods benefited economics in the analysis of economic issues in three respects. First, mathematical methods allowed the construction of elaborate and sophisticated models in explaining economic phenomena. Second, these models greatly enhanced the means by which prediction is utilized. Many of the models used were helpful in assessing economic trends, and in general, in determining future consumption, investment, and public budget levels. Third, these methods provided economists formal, logical reference points. It is very difficult for an economist to analyze an economic phenomenon without the proper guidance from theory (it is very probable for an economist unguided by theory to draw misleading and sometimes, false conclusions). B) What is game theory? Discuss some of its contributions to economic analysis. What is your opinion of the value of the contributions of game theory to economic analysis? (3 points) Generally, game theory is a mathematical system for analyzing and predicting how humans behave in strategic situations (Camerer, 2001). Standard equilibrium analyses assume all players: 1) all forms of belief based on analysis of what other may do (this is called strategic thinking); 2) choose a best response given those beliefs (optimization); 3) adjust best responses and beliefs until they are mutually consistent (equilibrium). Game theory, unlike the ‘nomothetic’ macroeconomic theories, assumes that not all players behave rationally in complex situations. Assumtions (1) and (2) are violated, or more accurately relaxed. Players’ fate are intertwined. The presence of players who do not think strategically or optimize can change what rational player will do. As a result, the standard way of predicting individual behavior often becomes invalid. At best, game theory offers a new approach in analyzing individual behavior. It relaxes the concept of rationality. This is desirable because individual often act irrationally in many circumstances. Game theory may provide supplementary insight in economic analysis of actor units. Game theory may provide vivid differentiation between collective and individual action. Note that sometimes, there is discrepancy between collective and individual action (which is not shown in standard microeconomic analysis). C) What is econometrics? Discuss some of its contributions to economic analysis. What is your opinion of the value of the contributions of econometrics to economic analysis? (3 points) Econometrics is the use of statistical tools in formal economic analysis (Garcia, 2004). Paul Samuelson was one of the first economists who developed the field of econometrics. He used complex regression systems to predict specific economic phenomena like business cycles and GDP fluctuations, and to determine optimal tax and desired levels of public goods. In general, the contributions of econometrics to economic analysis are as follows: 1) accurate prediction systems, 2) precise determination of specific contribution of economic factors (in regression anaysis), and 3) determination of direction of economic trends. At best, econometrics is used to confirm or dispove economic theories. It is a means by which theories can be empirically verified. D) Comment on Paul Krugman’s article â€Å"Two Cheers for Formalism† which is available at his web page http://web. mit. edu/krugman/www/. It is much safer to assume that formalist economics is still useful in analyzing economic events. The reason is evident. Much of economic theorizing are essentially based on logical analysis of economic precedents which altogether comprised what is called ‘models’ – the physical representation of reality. Many of Krugman’s assumptions are essentially based on whimsical distortion of economic facts. This distortion is evident. Krugman treated theory as if it was based on pure logical thinking. For the most, theories are partially constructed from actual observations. In any case, there is no sense in arguing that a new economics is needed to explain current trends in the world economy, for economic theories, at the present, can explain those trends. References Camerer, Colin. 2001. Behavioral Game Theory: Thinking, Learning, and Teaching. California: California Institute of Technology. Garcia. Yolanda. 2004. Lectures in Econometrics. Universit of the Philippines. Grunwald, Michael. 2009. How Obama is Using the Science of Change. Retrieved on April 25, 2009 from http://myweb. liu. edu/~uroy/eco54/histlist/behav-econ/index. html The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics.

Reflection Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Reflection Paper - Essay Example At the same time, though most people knew what the laws called for, it was still too early to tell the measures their respective State governments would take. While some states adopted the laws as they were, others introduced to exceptions, making the laws almost unattainable. Eminent domain Eminent domain generally refers to the power of the government to control all the property within its territory and appropriate it for public use. In the United States, these powers have been delegated to the respective state governments (Weinstein, 2006). However, the government must undertake several steps before acquiring private property for public use. This applies regardless of whether the acquisition is complete, partial, temporary or right of way. In all the cases, the government is supposed to pay a fair price for the property, which is usually the fair market value or the highest price one can pay for the property in an open market. At times, the government may go further to ensure that there is fair compensation for the property taken. This includes for example, finding a premise for a going-concern business or paying relocation costs to individuals moving from their homes. After undertaking all the steps, the government must ensure that the acquired property is for public use, as any other purpose would make the process null and void (Larson, 2004). These powers vested upon the government vary from one state to another, based on the limitations placed over the use of the appropriated property (Larson, 2004). The three main factors that arose immediately after the Kelo ruling are responsible for these differences. These factors included the uncharacteristic dissent by the former justice Sandra Day O’Connor, the change in political and legal atmosphere in the country, and the outcry from both the media and the public concerning the ruling. Of the three, the dissent by O’Connor was the most unequivocal as she went further to document her thoughts, whi ch apparently rivaled those of her colleagues. In addition, she joined hands with a group of advocates from the property right movement, who argued that the law would not only replace homes with shopping malls, but also turn farms into factories (Weinstein, 2006). Like O’Connor, the Congress indirectly opposed the enactment of the eminent law by introducing limitation bills. The aim of the bills was to deny state or local government funds, which would necessitate the transfer of private property to other parties. However, it was very categorical in the ban, as it only prohibited those that benefited private investors. Consequently, although the laws vary among various jurisdictions, it is apparent that most of the states concur with the laws. The differences originate from the need of each State to be independent and protect the rights of its residents. Most of the states that enacted the eminent domain law introduced bills that restricted the use of the appropriated property for economic development. Others went further to define economic development as those activities that would create new job opportunities and generate revenue to the state. With this specification, it became apparent that any appropriation for private gain would be discouraged (Weinstein, 2006). Alabama serves as a good example of how States passed bills to prohibit the implementation of

Affect Social Network and Technology in Our Life Research Paper

Affect Social Network and Technology in Our Life - Research Paper Example In this research text, three articles will be evaluated on their mode of expressing the effects of social networking on our lives in which most of them highlight communication and socializing as being the most affected aspects of human life. Quan-Haase’s (2012) book provides both positive and negative aspects of technology and social networking as they affect human lives. It evaluates both sides of the issue, addressing what technology and social networking adds or deducts from our lives. On the positive note, it states that these two have reduced the social constraints caused by say geography, distance, and schedule in which case they enable the world to function like a small town where talking to anyone around the world is so easy. The internet has become a social tool for communication as there are emails, instant messengers, and distribution lists amongst others. These, unlike the traditional means of communication, enable one to expand their friend circles faster, make coordination easier, bring strangers together and all these come readily at a reduced cost. To support this, she defines a study conducted in Australia which suggested that the people who lived before television was available were less sociabl e. On the other hand, she evaluates the negative aspects of the same, adding that depending on use, these two can be hindrances to socializing. To support her argument, she give examples such as how an adult can spend hours during a weekend sitting down and just scrolling through their computers, consuming time which could have otherwise been used for one on one engagement with real people. They suggest that people should cut down on their use of technology and social networks so that they do not replace what should be done naturally. According to Rozenblum & Bates (2013), social networking and technology have contributed greatly

Bayesian analysis of HMM-GARCH models in Finance Research Proposal

Bayesian analysis of HMM-GARCH models in Finance - Research Proposal Example The Bayesian approach allows small sample outcomes, fast evaluation, model bigotry and credible reports concerning non-linear roles of the model constraints. Reasonably based financial verdicts hold a gigantic normative characteristic (Bijak, 45). This report paper will explain in detail its purpose, objectives, methodology, limitations and ethical concerns in the study. The first four chapters bring in the research work and an overview of Bayesian analysis of the HMM-GARCH models in Finance. The subsequent two chapters illustrate the assessment of the HMM-GARCH models with standard improvements. Real financial data is used based on this estimate models. It is noted that still for hefty data analysis the perimeter calculate approximately and distance varies between the two models. Care must be used when basing judgments for these two classes of models. The last two chapters reflect on the limitations and ethical concerns associated with these two models. Introduction to the Problem A particle filtering technique is offered to chronological evaluation that will erect on the change- point model of Chib. GARCH models can not be estimated with an unidentified quantity of states through subsisting MCMC procedures. No procedures of computing trivial probabilities of these models exist. Therefore, it is highly not convenient to approximate these categories of models by using at hand MCMC methods. This can be possible if one is ready to assume that the integer of break points is also called a priori (Sebe et al, 36). Centre of attention must be on the in order filtering issue other than the smoothing issue of MCMC model. The path reliance that structural breaks persuade in GARCH models is removed. This is due to the main reason that merely the one-step-ahead prognostic sharing is needed in computation. This therefore, is a fundamental point in excess of two potential states unconfirmed on restrictions in the proposed structural fracture model (Francq et al, 37). Purpos e of the Study The Bayesian analysis of HMM-GARCH models in Finance permits the figure of breaks as well as models to be used in this research. Algorithms made up approximated the model parameters and the integers of structural breaks at each indicate. This is founded on a particular run of the particle filter algorithm. This therefore, makes the models use to be computationally proficiency (Terrell, 27). The confronting global scenery of set models administration is set apart by the ambiguity of the financial markets. The financial sector is always in an invariable activity. A good example of this; is the financial stock market where financial figures change at every moment. Therefore, the financial trade market is at constant change of financial integers. Incessantly, transforming the jeopardy or profit models manipulate on the latent of variation of intercontinental plus points distribution. The regime-switching models demonstrated enables, the two dissimilar systems. This is by the careful computation of the self-motivated risk or profit structure of any international benefit. The additional room to take account of singular asset types; for example alternative assets, stocks and bonds and in an

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

Admission - Essay Example It has been observed that regular endurance exercise drastically mitigates the risk of falling victim to such diseases. Successful individuals have to adopt a hectic schedule in their day to day life. This has become inevitable, and causes very high levels of physical and mental stress. I have discovered that regular exercise relieves such stress and makes me highly energetic and enthusiastic. Therefore, I have made exercise an essential component of my daily routine. One of the best private research universities in the world is the University of Southern California, which is located in Los Angeles. It is an international hub for arts, international trade and technology. This university has more international students than any other university in the US. In addition, it provides vast and varied opportunities for internships and studying abroad. The education imparted at the University of Southern California is a well planned amalgam of professional and liberal education. This university has engendered a lively culture of public service, and inspires its students to transcend geographic and academic limits, whilst undergoing the process of acquiring knowledge. The number of students is more than 30,000, whilst that of the permanent faculty is more than 3,000. When it comes to selectivity, the University of Southern California, occupies the top 1 %. This distinction was achieved under the able guidance of its 10th president. It goes without saying that this highly esteemed institution, has emerged as the pioneer in communications, technologies related to multimedia, the life sciences and in a number of inter discipline areas of research. There has been a fivefold increase in its endowment, and it has been praised throughout the length and breadth of the nation, for its novel means of providing service, learning programs and concern for the community. In

Leisure and Tourism in Santa Fe in New Mexico Assignment

Leisure and Tourism in Santa Fe in New Mexico - Assignment Example Current list of services available at the city Private nonfarm establishments. Retail sales services. Merchant wholesale services Manufacturer shipment services Food and accommodation services Non-employer establishment services (Nelson Velvet, 45-6). Major and minor league sport industries American Basketball Association, which were the New Mexico style founded in 2005 (Nelson Velvet, 78-9). Santa Fe Roadrunners, which was North American Hockey team but later moved to Kansas and became Topeka Roadrunners. Santa Fe Fuego was formed in 2012 at Santa Fe and became a professional baseball club. Community/Municipal Recreational Departments New Mexico Museum, which is an art collection of Southwestern collections Institute of American art museum, which is native American arts possessing political aspects (Nelson Velvet, 56-7). Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, which devotedly worked for O’Keeffe New Mexican History Museum, which was located behind the governor’s palace. Site Santa Fe, which was described as a contemporary art space A children’s museum known as Santa Fe Children’s Museum Other areas of attraction include the â€Å"Museum Hill† and Santa Fe Fork art market, which was the site of major city’s art museums. Some visitors also get attracted to Santa Fe during the week of September when Sangre de Cristo Mountains’ aspens turn yellow as the skies become blue and clear. The locations in Santa Fe that are frequently visited during the day by the tourists include certain locations like the town of Taos, which is about 113 km north of Santa Fe. The historic Valles Caldera and Bandelier National Monument can also be found 48 km away. In addition to that, Ski Santa Fe, which is around d Santa Fe’s ski area, is approximately 26km north of the city. Santa Fe has always had communication and association with science and technology through the help of Santa Fe Institute to research on complex matters related to tourism and political sciences (Nelson Velvet, 102-3).

Argument essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 6

Argument - Essay Example Those who drive a race-type car must be jealous at least part of the time of someone who drives a gas saving car with decent, if not flashy looks. Getting good gas mileage is the main reason someone buys a Volt or Prius Hatchback but which one gets better mileage is not a straightforward answer. The EPA rates the Volt’s lithium-ion battery at a 38 mile range. After the battery dies an electric engine turns on which recharges the battery by powering a generator. The car gets 37 mpg with the engine running. The Prius gets 50 mpg with but only has about a one mile range when operating on straight electricity. The Prius plug-in model gets a disappointing six-to-15 mile electric range. The bottom line on gas mileage is the Volt does better if you drive 40 miles per day or less. If you drive 100 or more the Prius is the more economical choice. Unlike a Prius, a Volt can be driven for weeks at a time without putting any gas in it, as long as you drive 40 miles per day or less which many people do. The car will ask the driver if it can turn the engine on every once in a while so the fluids will circulate preventing damage to the engine due to lack of use. Anyone engine needs to be started occasionally to keep the fluids from becoming stale. Volt owners that drive less than 40 miles per day can get the equivalent of 400 miles per gallon. Both cars did well in the crash tests. The Volt is quieter. Mashing the accelerator on a Prius will turn on the engine but not the Volt; it stays silent until the whisper-quiet engine kick in. The Volt is slightly larger on the outside but the Prius has more room inside. The Volt carries four people while the Prius holds five. Both are moderately priced but the Prius is a little less expensive, with an asterisk. The Volt runs from $40,000 to $45,000 fully equipped but most buyers are eligible for a $7,500 rebate from the federal government. The Prius Plug-in Hybrid retails for $32,000 and

Multitasking Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Multitasking - Essay Example This facility helped in improving efficiency1. With respect to computing, the term Multitasking refers to a process which facilitates undertaking of several tasks or processes at the same time, by enabling sharing of certain common processing resources such as the CPU for instance. Multitasking refers to the running of multiple independent computer programs on the same computer; giving the appearance that it is performing the tasks at the same time. The kernel of the operating system is responsible for that activity. In computing terms, kernel acts as a vital constituent of a majority of computer operating systems. Its key responsibilities include administering the operating systems resources, for instance, setting up and ensuring adequate interaction between the hardware as well as software components. One of the fundamental functions of the kernel includes administering the computer’s resources and permitting other programs to run and use these resources. Characteristically, the resources comprises of: the CPU (central processing unit), the memory of the system, as well as the I/O (Input / Output) devices. The multitasking characteristic entails the necessity to sustain simultaneous implementation of processes and to offer services for inter process communication and synchronization. Other less noticeable yet equally significant functions of the kernel comprises of management of interrupts and basic process scheduling. Furthermore, apart from the above listed functions, the kernel typically manages some ancillary actions essential for offering the services which are observable by the other Operating System layers. Examples of such internal kernel operations include system time-base management and processor allocation by means of basic process scheduling. Multitasking can be classified into two major forms: Cooperative multitasking and Preemptive Multitasking. In

Cultural Context Question - Rough Draft Essay Example for Free

Cultural Context Question Rough Draft Essay Q. â€Å"A reader can feel uncomfortable with the values and attitudes presented in texts† Compare the extent to which the values and attitudes that you encountered, in at least two texts on your comparative course, made you feel uncomfortable. A.The texts i have chosen to write about is the play Sive by John B Keane, the novel How Many Miles To Babylon? (Babylon) by Jennifer Johnson and the film Im Not Scared (INS) directed by Gabriele Salvatores. In the play Sive, Mena is a powerful women who controls her husband just as Alicia controls her husband in Babylon. Both of these women make me feel uncomfortable because the women can wield their household to the detriment of others. This is not apparent in INS. The manipulation of men by women is completely absent in INS. There is a lack of communication between Mike and Mena Glavin. This is due to how the marriage of the Glavins was convenient contract rather than a romance. This is also evident in the marriage of the Moores. Alicia Moore is a cold hearted women who dismisses her husband as a ‘ineffective’ man. Mike and Frederick are similar in this way. They are incapable of withstanding the pressures placed on them by their wives. They yield to these pressures. Men are depicted as weak and easy to manipulate or intrusive bullies like Major Glendinnig and Thomaseen Rua who are cruel cynics hat impose their wills on others with cruelty. In sive, Thomaseen Rua threatens Nanna. A corresponding moment occurs in Babylon when Major Glendinning threatens the soldiers before he battle. This is a very disturbing image to me because Major Glendinning is a callous and cruel man. Just as Thomaseen is to sive. The portrait of men in the play is just as negative as in the novel. In he film the image of men is exceedingly negative. The men are eiher brutal, hostile individuals or weak complicit allies of the sadistic Sergio. Sergio reminds us of Glendinning, he accuses the men of being imcompotent and stupid. Mike betrays his niece in order to gain money for his tremendous greed. He chooses to feed his gluttony instead of the truthful, right thing. The only decent male in the play is Liam  Scuab. He has courage and courtesy to respect Sive as she wants to be respected. Just as alec is an courteous man in Babylon. His heroic sacrifice is doneout of love for his best friend. He knows that he will die but does it anyway. In the book Babylon, the social class have a huge impact on the people. In sive it is not such this way. Alicia doesn’t want Alec near jerry because of the differences between the amounts of money their parents make. Although we observe the extreme poverty of Carthalawn and Pats Bocock and the relative wealth of Sean Dota, there is not the same division in the play as there is in the novel. He differences in social status does not create the same tension is Sive as it does in the novel. Alicia ensured her social position by marrying Frederick in much the same way as the Glavins are trying to marry Sive off to Sean Dota. Sive has a relationship with Liam scuab a local boy and the different social status is not an obstacle for them. The differences in social staus creates conflict. These are not only to do with money but religion, education and politics as well. In INS and Babylon, this issue is palpable. In both these texts, people are willing to kill for personal gain. The portrayal of men in both texts is a disturbing one. This is evident. Either the men are pathetic, feeble men or brutal animals. Frederick moore is a drained man. His wife is a malicious women who always gets her own way because Frederick is too old and tired to fight with her anymore. Just as mike is with mena. He choses not to fight anymore for a sense of peace in his life. He goes against his morals to give her what she wants out of greed and his timid nature towards mena. This theme of weak, feeble or mericiless, heartless men is typical of both texts. We see similar abusive cruelty in the film through the male gang members led by Sergio. While betrayal is conveyed in an interesting way in Babylon when Frederick lets Alicia get her own way despite alec’s protests, it is conveyed more intensely in sive when mike lets mena sell sive off to sean doa for their own gain. This is a very disturbing image. Betrayal is also a highly strong theme in INS. Sergio gets betrayed by his own son when Michele find filipo  hidden in the whole in the ground. He helps the young boy. This is seen as betrayal to Sergio. The values and attitudes presented in these texts are very disturbing. They will make you feel uncomfortable and edgy. Study the values and attitudes of these three texts has been an enjoyable experience and i have learned more about different social back grounds, different views on life and more. These three texts are a good example of how people may rise above society and what is expected to grow as a race and choose to change things around for equality.

Internship writing assignment Essay Example for Free

Internship writing assignment Essay INTRODUCTION I’m Yanina Filipova, a major in Video Productions at Borough of Manhattan Community College. I chose Video Productions as my major because I’m very much interested in films. Ever since I was a kid, I have always been fascinated in watching movies, especially adventure movies. Whenever there is a chance, I always make it a point to watch the production documentaries of movies. I am fascinated with the production of such films. As such, I dreamed of producing and directing my own films and eventually have my own production company. Entering in a course in Video Productions trained me in creating professional video programs. It has prepared me in the twists and turns of producing your own film such as creating a budget, shooting a scene, and editing a final cut. It taught me things about collaborative filmmaking. In studying video production, I learned to like the profession more and more. In line with this, I interviewed three people with different jobs related to the field I want to pursue. In this interview, I expect to learn the twists and turns in the production business especially that the job of each of my interviewees has some connection with video and media production. I also want to know the advantages and disadvantages in working with video production. I want to learn what characteristics I must have to achieve my dreams. I want to seek their advice on how I can manage to pursue this career. In this way, I will know the things I must go through to attain my career goals. BODY Alfred Swanwick is a video producer for three years now at Heartbeat Digital, a company that creates custom websites that headquartered in Manhattan. As a video producer, he earns $2000 each month. His job description includes budgeting and scheduling video shoots and post-production editing, identifying and securing the appropriate crew for projects, coordinating crew shoots, working with clients to understand their business needs and creative vision to staff jobs appropriately and to manage their expectations, and working with various internal teams throughout the company to ensure a smooth and successful project implementation. He studied at Marymount Manhattan College where he studied as an Art major minor in Graphics Design. During his undergraduate years, he applied for internship in a media production company, called theU, in SoHo where he was trained to do online works by helping in building the company’s online community. He graduated in 1997 and immediately started applying for small jobs that has relations to his degree course because he really wanted to pursue a career in graphics design. His first job was as a personal assistant to the head of a small media shop where he worked for a year. In this job, he was trained to log and edit video using Photoshop and Flash. Then he worked as a junior editor for another three years where he learned to manage the company’s media network. Then he applied at Heartbeat Digital as an assistant media technician where he was responsible in the distribution of the hard copy of the company’s media. Through this training, the company made him the video producer after two years because the company saw his dedication and passion for his work. The company has since trusted him in leading the creation of their online network. Swanwick said that he wanted to do video productions since he is very interested in the media. Ever since he was in high school, he was always chosen as first place in website designing competitions. It was during these competitions that he learned the basics and thought to himself that he wanted to learn more about graphics design. When he graduated from high school, he then enrolled as an Art major minor in Graphics Design in Marymount Manhattan College. In here, he learned to create professional video and audio programs, create a budget, shoot a scene and edit a final cut. He also learned to design and program computer-based interactive products. He said that one of the advantages in working in this field is that salaries range from $1500 to $3000. Aside from that, since websites and web pages need to attract attention, one gets to develop and enhance his creative side. However, he said that while this job lets you earn more, you have to sacrifice your rest and sleep hours. You almost always have to stay up late because of creating and editing a media program. He said that sometimes you have to rack your brains out just to produce outstanding media productions. Being a perfectionist himself, he always strives to achieve excellent media productions. When asked on his view about the historical experiences of women, minorities and persons with disabilities in the field, his response is that he thinks these groups are under represented in the field. In the early days, these groups are often not qualified in taking jobs that are usually dominated by men. He said that women, minorities and person with disabilities should be given opportunity to prove that they can do what men can do. Swanwick’s hard work and determination earned him a successful career. He also said that one should have a burning passion in your chosen field so that you can attain your goals without having to worry too much of the consequences. He aims to become an executive producer someday and with his strong-willed personality, there is no doubt that he will achieve his ultimate goal. David Fisher works as a full-time assistant producer for almost two years now at Three on the Tree Productions, a company focused on music documentaries, videos and concert DVD’s, where he earns $28000 annually with benefits. His duties and responsibilities in the job include scheduling meetings and job workflow, budget management and organizing job files and folders. He also assists producers in bidding processes, production shoots, and edit sessions. He graduated three years ago from the School of Visual Arts in New York City with a degree in Film and Video. He was trained here in directing, screenwriting and editing his own films. One of the films he produced was even nominated in the Dusty Film Festival, sponsored by his school, and was shown on the big screen at one of New York’s theaters. He worked as an intern in Forbes. com where he exercised his knowledge in producing daily videos. When he graduated from college, he first worked as a digital technical assistant at a video post production and design company. Although this work requires very basic skills, this has introduced him to the kind of work he is now doing. After almost one year, he quitted his job because he believed that the job is not helping him develop his skills in video production. He then applied at his current company where he was immediately accepted as an assistant producer. Due to his outstanding capabilities in video production, he is now running for promotion to junior executive producer. He is currently undergoing trainings and seminars on video and film production to prepare him for his job as an executive producer. He said that this work taught him to be a sociable person since he is responsible for keeping employees up to date on the happenings of the company and so his communication skills are regularly practiced. He also learned to be organized and details-oriented. He said, however, that in his work, he always has to stay up late since his producer always calls him even in the middle of the night to give him orders or, sometimes, just to check that he has already done his work. But as he learned to keep up with his producer’s midnight calls he also learned to keep up with the fast-paced environment that his job has. There are women and minorities working in his company. In fact, one of their executive producers is a woman. When asked about his view on the issue of women, minorities and persons with disabilities, he said that in these modern times, they should be given equal opportunity with men. He said that women today are very competitive unlike in those days when they only do household work. One good reason for this is that they want to prove that they can do what men can do. He believed that it is a pity that in the early days, women and minority groups are discriminated because they are immediately judged when they do men’s work. In his line of work, Fisher said that you’ve got to be hard-working so that you can achieve your goals. Push yourself to the limits until you have achieved what you want. You’ve got to have specific goals — a concrete idea on where you want to go and what you want to achieve. By doing this, you have a concrete map that will guide you in going to the place you want to go. When you know what you want, then you know where you are going. You also have to be flexible in every aspect to be able to adjust to the fast changing environment that video and media production has. And just as Swanwick said, you have to be determined and passionate in what you are doing so that no matter what the consequence is, you can still pursue what you want to pursue. He concluded with a piece of advice for those who want to pursue a career in video productions. He said that we should let nothing get in the way of our dreams. If we do, then it was not our dream after all. Rowena Moore is the executive producer of the Digital Intermediate Department of Technicolor Content Services New York. She has been in the company for six years now where she first worked for two years as an executive assistant. She has been holding the job as an executive producer for the last three years. Her job includes bidding processes and deliveries to the Laboratory and overseeing all aspects of DI, VFX, and digital optical processes for feature films. She also produces and edits feature films and trouble-shoot technical issues. She is a graduate of New York University batch 1997 with a degree in Film and Television. In here, she was taught to produce and edit films. She worked as an intern at HDNet Films where she was introduced to work at a production and post production department. Although her duties in her internship are basic, it helped her develop her communication skills since she was given the opportunity to participate in working on a production set where different types of people are present. Because of her active participation, she was also given the opportunity to participate in a traditional 35mm film. After she graduated, she applied as an in-house motion designer for Adspace Mall Network, where she designed and animated 15-second commercials. In doing this first job, her imagination and resourcefulness were developed because her commercials need to be creative but her company have only limited assets. She also developed her communication skills since she is the one responsible for contacting the clients when they have production questions. She quitted the job after two years because her position became stagnant. For one year, she only does part-time jobs because she can’t find the work that she liked. Then she applied at Technicolor Content Services in New York as an assistant producer. It is good that she worked for Adspace Mall Networks for two years because the job she applied for required one to two years of related work experience. After a year, she was promoted to executive assistant producer where she writes coverage for screenplays and occasionally assists the line producer. Due to her hard-work and determination which her company recognized, she was promoted to executive producer after less than two years. She said that one of the advantages in pursuing a career in video production is that there are many job opportunities. These job opportunities range from the small to the largest video and media production companies. And although her work requires so much time because of the production and post production tasks she has to do, she says that it is worth it because she gets to do what she wants to do. In working as an executive, she developed her leadership skills because of her responsibility to inspire and direct other team players. More importantly, she learned to be a team player. Being a woman, she said that her gender did not get in the way of pursuing her goals. Although there is a prejudice on women in doing these jobs, it did not keep her company in recognizing her efforts and abilities. She is glad that today women are getting more and more active in the field because this just proves that women are also capable of the work that men can do. In line with this, she advises women to be more competitive and not to be afraid of the discrimination that society has against women. She said that if you really want to achieve your dreams, you should always work hard and never give up despite the consequences you have to endure. She also believes in what Swanwick and Fisher had said, you should be determined and never let the fire of passion run out. Determination and passion always help you hold on and continue achieving your dreams. She is a living proof that women nowadays are equally capable of the things that men can do. CONCLUSIONS All of these interviews discussed about the experiences of people in the field of video productions. As I expected, it has taught me the twists and turns of a production company especially the jobs of the people I interviewed. I learned the requirements needed for this profession. The interviews taught me to work hard and be determined in what I do. I learned that to be successful in your dreams, you have to be passionate in your work so that you will not have any reason to give up. The interview just increased my excitement in working in a production company. Upon graduation, I want to experience working in such a company first so that I will know how to run it before I begin to run my own production company. Doing this interview taught me to utilize my communication skills. I learned that this skill will come in handy when I start to work and eventually start my own business. I am still not certain about what will happen after graduation but I am sure that I will continue pursuing my goal of building my own production company. SOURCE: New York Craigs List: Manhattan TV/Film/Radio/Video Jobs. (2006). Retrieved November 4, 2006, from http://newyork. craigslist. org/mnh/tfr/index300. html.

Analysis Of Strategic Changes Of Tata Steel Group Marketing Essay

Analysis Of Strategic Changes Of Tata Steel Group Marketing Essay Figure 1 Tata Steel currently is a major player in global steel industry. In year 2005 (Figure 1), Tata Steel operation was mainly focused in Indian subcontinent and revenue generated was close to US$ 5.0 billion only. However their initiative to expand their operations globally proved very successful over last five years. From being a mere local steel producer, they transformed themselves into a major global player in steel producers (Figure 2). They have been aggressively involved in capacity expansion by acquisitions and organic growth. Business Standard once commented that Tata Steel moved into its next target to become the worlds second largest steel company by 2012 with the help of its most expensive bet worth US$ 12.9 billion on Corus Group. Figure 2 Table 1: Worlds Top Ten Steel Producing Nations (in million tonnes) Last two years has been very difficult period to global steel industry because of worldwide recession. The global crude steel production for year 2009 was 1220.0 mpta (million tonne per annum) as reported by World Steel Association lower by 8% against that of 2008. The decline in demand was due to deterioration in economy experienced by key steel end users. Table 1, shows the growth/decline in terms of crude steel production for the top ten steel producing nations. However, by acquisition of Corus and other assets, Tata Steel now ranks among worlds top ten (Table 2) largest steel producers with current steel production capacity of 32.0 mpta. After five years of its expansion programme, Tata Steel is now worlds second most geographically diversified steel producers. Table 2: World Top Ten Steel Producing Companies Mission Statement In its mission statement Tata Steel expresses that while honesty and integrity are the essential ingredient of a strong and stable enterprise, profitability provides the main spark for economic activity. Founded way back in 1907, Tata Steel stress on their core ideology in its vision statement by making emphasis on their people, supplier of choice, innovative approach and their conduct. Tata Steels vision statement is now became a tangible asset, which provide right direction to their managers and employees. Tata Steel has highly skilled employee asset of 81,000 spread over five continents. Tata Steel stress on creating differential value for their customer with help of continuous improvement in their business process and product technology. Value Chain Analysis The value chain is an economic tool used to determine the strategic resources available to a company. Basic principle of the Value Chain Analysis is that the basis for a competitive advantage of a firm lies primarily in the application of the bundle of valuable resources at the firms disposal. To transform a short-run competitive advantage into a sustained competitive advantage requires that these resources are heterogeneous in nature and not perfectly mobile (Barney, 1991, p105-106; Peteraf, 1993, p180). Effectively, this translates into valuable resources that are neither perfectly imitable nor substitutable without great effort (Barney, 1991, p117). Tata Steel has few major strategic capabilities which are valuable, unique and non-substitutable. Tata Steels Strategic Capabilities Tata Steels strategic capabilities are presented in Table 3, below. Table 3 Resources Competences Threshold Capabilities Threshold Resources Threshold Competences Steel production plants at various geographical locations. Production and Sales management. Offices and buildings at various geographical locations. All other general management skills. Sufficient supply of raw materials for steel making. Sophisticated IT skills. Sufficient cash flow. Safety management. Pool of skilled personnel. Excellent customer service. IT System in place. Efficient management structure. Logistic, freight and shipment facilities. Effective employee welfare system. Capabilities for Competitive Advantage Unique Resources Unique Competences Varieties of products which caters to industries like Infrastructures, Automobiles, Aviation, Energy etc. Very competent sales team with high negotiation skills which create market for their products. Tata and Corus brands. Excellent use of IT systems for very effective use in sales process. Highly capable management team. Continuous developing and upgrading new products to serve different industry levels. Online portal Metal junction for buyers. Highly skilled managers and directors who improve and support the company success. A century experience in steel making. Integrated supplier and buyer management. Strong financial backing from group. Lowest cost steel producer in world. Very strong presence in India which is a big market for their products. Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) to eliminate risk associated with various processes. First mover advantage through innovative products processes. Continuous Improvement Process (CIP). Excellent RD for cutting edge technology and products. Operational efficiency and excellent quality control. Many proprietary products such as Tata Tiscon etc. Long-term relationship with buyers and suppliers. Porters Five Forces Analysis Tata Steel has registered double digit growth in past few years except their European business. By applying Porters Five Forces analysis principal, we can evaluate the Tata Steels market competitiveness and its current and future strategy towards intense competition faced at various fronts. Threat of New Entrants: Low Threat to new entrants in any industry sector is a major challenge. However in steel industry entry barrier is high hence threat of new entrants are relatively low based on factors such as huge capital investment, economies of scale, government policies and product differentiations. Steel industry requires huge capital investment to set up an integrated steel production facility plant which is currently close to US$ one billion/mtpa as per Steel Manufacturers Associations recent estimate. This deters any new entrants entering in this field. By increasing their production capacity to 50mtpa and wide variety of products they can lower their cost, hence more profit, sustainability and these conditions are unfavourable to any new entrants. Raw material is a major issue with corruption related to mining allocation and land acquisition, it makes difficult to new entrants to come in this field. Various regulatory clearance and environmental issues also pose big barriers to new entrants. Entry barriers in terms of product differentiation are very low in steel industry. Competitive Rivalry: High The steel industry is truly global in terms of competition with large steel producing countries like China significantly influencing global prices through their aggressive exports. In steel industry, branding is not very common hence little differentiation exists between their competing products. Tata Steel faces stiff competition with their competitors such as Arcelor Mittal, POSCO etc. Bargaining Power of Suppliers: High Tata Steel enjoys greater autonomy in raw materials supply as they own mines for raw material supply. Tata Steels fully integrated supply chain system keeps abundant supply of raw material for their plants. However, other steel producers, who dont have their own mines, have to rely on raw material suppliers. On global level raw material market is dominated by the three mining giants BHP Billiton, CVRD and Rio Tinto. They make mineral market as oligopolistic and supply two-thirds of the processed iron ore to steel producers hence command very high bargaining power. Other steel producers, who dont have their own mining operations, must buy raw material at market prevailing price and pass that hike to consumers which makes them less competitive. Threat of Substitute Products: Low New materials may pose threat to viability of steel. Aluminium, plastics and other composite materials are being considered as substitute in sectors like auto, aviation etc. Concrete is another substitute material that may pose threat to use of steel in infrastructure and energy sectors. Some of the substitute materials such as aluminium itself are very costly, hence doesnt pose very big threat against steel producers. However the growth led by infrastructure sector, automobile sector, aviation sector and consumable goods will keep demand up for steel hence more growth for Tata Steel. Bargaining Power of Buyers: Average Bargaining power of buyers is very limited due to their fragmentation. Big players of the major steel consumers in sectors such as auto, aviation, energy etc may squeeze greater amount of bargain. On the other hand these bulk consumers may offer long term procurement offer to the company hence more revenue generated. However, small and retail consumers are scattered, though they consume significant amount of steel production, dont have the same bargaining powers as in case of big players. Tata Steel Group SWOT Analysis SWOT analysis of any firm provides knowledge about the challenges and opportunities faced by Tata Steel group in future. They are detailed below. Strengths Tata Steel has acquired vast mineral reserves which is a key to their operations. These reserves can cater their raw material demand for next three decades. Tata Steels mineral reserves are located at various strategic geographical locations such as India, Australia, Canada, Mozambique, Oman, Ivory Coast etc. Tata Steel has very capable, credible and reliable top management. Their successful global expansion plan in last five years proved this. Tata Steel has successfully acquired and integrated Corus Europe, NatSteel Indonesia and Millennium Steel Thailand. Tata Steel uses custom made state of art integrated information management system for their routine operation. Their advanced RD capability has improved further by acquiring Corus which is world renowned for its product innovation. Tata Steel uses Tata Groups strong distribution and retail network. Its Groups demand for steel is very high due to their presence in most of the sectors. Currently Tata Steel produces 32 mpta of steel and by completion of DPCL project its total capacity will reach to 50mpta which will make it second biggest steel producer in world. Tata Steel has structured risk management process in place in their operation known as Enterprise Risk Management (ERM). ERMs key function is to identify risk at every level and mitigate the same. Tata Steel mitigates very well the cyclicality situation which occurs in steel industry occasionally by its broad spectrum of its product portfolio. Tata Steel expansion plan has consolidated its position worldwide and by diversifying its portfolio and market is in process to become a pioneer in steel industry. Tata Steel has very strong brand value for its products. This has strengthened further by acquiring Corus which itself is a big brand. Their successful integration with Corus was a benchmark in corporate history. Weakness Tata Steels substantial debt burden of US$9.8 billion is a major weakness. Their debt equity ratio is currently 1.77, which reflects company finances are met by debt due to Corus acquisition. Its European business (Corus) has a high exposure to spot price and a high operational gearing thus creating very high risk of price volatility. Tata Steel relies for some raw material on international suppliers, which expose their profitability in case of steep rise in their prices. Tata Steels Indian operation is very much hampered by lack of infrastructure, shortage in power supply, lesser productivity, bureaucratic hurdle in export etc. Additional levies and tax imposed by local government put them in less profit making situation. The subsidies provided by some nations (China etc) will make their product less competitive in price hence reduce their demand. Opportunities Currently the emerging economies are undergoing huge infrastructural developments, which require significant amount of steel in all sectors. In India the scope for expansion of its steel products are enormous in every sector, which Tata Steel can exploit very well with its increased production capacity. As per World Steel Association estimate, the consumption of steel will be doubled in next two decades. By Acquiring Corus and improving its own RD activities, Tata Steel moved towards a better product differentiation and enhanced product portfolio which provide them new opportunities over its competitors. Their geographical locations with integrated operations and marketing strategy are a key factor in capturing market share and increasing their financial performance. They can implement Coruss advanced automation technology in their own plants to improve productivity, economies of scale, cost reduction, increased output and operational efficiency to achieve better performance. Following recent recession, various assets (minerals, plants facilities etc.) are available at a very low price due to their financial difficulty. Tata Steel, with strong backing from its parent group can secure future supplies of raw materials for steel making. With increased steel production capacity of 50 mpta, they will be the second largest steel manufacturer after Arcelor Mittal and most geographically diversified company with wide variety of product mix. Threats Steel Industry is major source of greenhouse gas emission, which makes them very vulnerable against many litigation and legislation in future. The raw materials used in steel production are non-renewable and their source is depleting very fast. Due to rising cost of steel products, the end users are looking for substitutes of steel; which can be a major threat to Tata Steels business. Intense competition among international steel player and cheap steel available from China are another major threat to Tata Steels performance. Tata Steels huge debt is one of major threats against them. The rising interest will increase their debt burden. Future Outlook Following two years of worst global economic downturn, the world seems to be regaining some economic stability. There is moderate growth from developed world; however emerging economies are registering very strong and sustainable growth with robust domestic market. Before recession, the steel demand was very strong with over 6% growth during last decade; this is primarily driven by robust growth in BRICS nations (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa), South East Asia and Middle East. By 2025, as per forecast BRICS countries will have 46% of global population and will consume 65% of the global production and will have three quarter of the global GDP. The raw materials for steel making are going at record due to high demand, higher freight rates and monopoly of three big natural resources companies. The effects of the above factors are reflected in higher steel price and decrease in profit margin of steel companies. However Tata Steels strategy adopted over last five years for securing long term contract for raw materials supply or acquiring new raw material mines at various geographical location has helped them to keep their prices competitive and making whole operation as viable. Tata Steels integration with Corus has completed successfully and producing better result than expected. Tata Steels strategic effort of capacity expansion and effort to secure raw materials source at various geographical locations yielding positive results. Tata Steels upstream integration process ambition will lead them to achieve 100% self-sufficiency in India and around 50% self-sufficiency in Europe in next 5 years. Tata Steel is investing heavily in RD to get breakthrough technologies and develop new products and services that reduce the production cost and environmental impact over the product lifecycle. To improve its processes, priority is given to energy conservation schemes; in technology break-through such as Ultra Low Carbon Steel making and in other innovative projects where the Group has proprietary technology. Conclusions It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, this famous quote meant a lot to Tata Steel. Five year back, just after starting of their ambitious global expansion plan, they were hit by worldwide financial tsunami which tested their resilience. Their well formulated and proved business strategy has shown resilience and ability to withstand the unprecedented highs and lows of a future that often comes unheralded. They have taken proactive initiative across all geographies to minimise aftermath shock of recession. Their strategy began to pay off towards the last quarter of year 2009, when they rebounded to profit after the turmoil of recession. Undeterred by the economic turbulence, the Company continued to place emphasis on working practices in health, safety and corporate citizenship, with specific initiatives taken in all these areas. In addition, a continued focus on engineering solutions for customers is helping it maintain its position of a product pioneer. Tata Steel believes in staying alert to future opportunities while never letting go of its core values. This is the philosophy that has underpinned its growth over the years and one that remains its key driving force. The strategy adopted by Tata Steel during last five years to become a global player paid off. They increased their revenue and production by six fold by capacity expansion or acquisition. They achieved raw material self-sufficiency of 50% by year 2010 and by year 2012 they aim to increase it to 60% by more investment in mines acquisition. In last five years Tata Steel became a global player from a local steel producer with currently global presence in 50 markets and manufacturing operations in 26 countries. Appendix A: Reference List Tata Steel Group Annual Report 2009-10 G Johnson, K Scholes R Whittington (2008), Exploring Corporate Strategy, 8th Edition Text Cases, Harlow: Financial Times Prentice Hall http://www.tatasteel.com Barney, J. 1991. Firm Resources and sustained competitive advantage, Journal of Management, 17 (1): pp99-120. Barney, J.1995. Looking inside for competitive advantage, Academy of Management Executive. 9(4). Pp49-61. Peteraf, M. A. (1993). The cornerstones of competitive advantage: A resource-based view, Strategic Management Journal, 14 (3), 179-191 Porter, M.E. (2008). The five competitive forces that shape strategy, Harvard Business Review, January, 78-93. Porter, M.E. (1996). What is Strategy? Harvard Business Review, Nov-Dec, 61-78.

The History And Future Of Computers :: essays research papers

The History and Future of Computers With the advances in computer technology it is now possible for more and more Canadians to have personal computers in their homes. With breakthroughs in computer processing speeds and with computer storage capacity, the combination of this with the reduced size of the computer have allowed for even the smallest apartment to hold a computer. In the past the only places to have computers were military institutes and some universities; this was because of their immense size and price. Today with falling computer prices and the opportunity to access larger networks, the amount of computers has grown from just 10% in 1986 to 25% in 1994. Also, of the 25%, 34% of them were equipped with modems, which allow for connection to on line services via telephone lines. The primitive start of the computer came about around 4000 BC; with the invention of the abacus, by the Chinese. It was a rack with beads strung on wires that could be moved to make calculations. The first digital computer is usually accredited to Blaise Pascal. In 1642 he made the device to aid his father, who was a tax collector. In 1694 Gottfried Leibniz improved the machine so that with the rearrangement of a few parts it could be used to multiply. The next logical advance came from Thomas of Colmar in 1890, who produced a machine that could perform all of the four basic operations, addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. With the added versatility this device was in operation up until the First World War. Thomas of Colmar made the common calculator, but the real start of computers as they are known today comes from Charles Babbage. Babbage designed a machine that he called a Difference Engine. It was designed to make many long calculations automatically and print out the results. A working model was built in 1822 and fabrication began in 1823. Babbage works on his invention for 10 years when he lost interest in it. His loss of interest was caused by a new idea he thought up. The Difference Engine was limited in adaptability as well as applicability. The new idea would be a general purpose, automatic mechanical digital computer that would be fully program controlled. He called this the Analytical Engine. It would have Conditional Control Transfer Capability so that commands could be inputted in any order, not just the way that it had been programmed. The machine was supposed to use punch cards which were to be read into the machine from several reading stations. The machine was supposed to operate automatically by steam power and only require one person there to

Radcliffe Hall’s The Well of Loneliness Essay -- Radcliffe Hall’s The

Radcliffe Hall’s The Well of Loneliness - A Classic of Lesbian Literature? Radcliffe Hall’s novel, The Well of Loneliness, depicts the girlhood and womanhood of a non-conventional woman, Stephen Gordon, who after assuming her natural inversion during her adolescence, fights to find a place in the world. After fulfilling partially her aspirations by serving in I World War as an ambulance driver, she falls in love with Mary, another ambulance driver, and for a short while they defy the world with their happiness. This feeling, however would not last. The invert’s doom forces Stephen to the last exertion of self-denial and martyrdom when she renounces to her love for Mary and surrenders her to their common friend Martin to take care of her because she, not being a man, would never be able to give her an authentic life.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Nowadays, the novel is considered and sold as a lesbian literature classic throughout the world but for certain public it is not clear whether the characteristics and themes included qualify it as such or it is just a matter of popularity. In its favour it is necessary to consider it as an early precursor of any kind of declared lesbian literature (it was published in 1928). It was one of the first times that lesbian love was depicted extensively by means of a novel and it was an incredibly brave and honest attempt to bring daylight into the darkness of so many people’s life. One of the individual but essential steps lesbians were giving towards social...

Terrorism Essay -- essays research papers

Terrorism and hostage taking may be as old as civilization itself. There are numerous references to abduction throughout Greek mythology. In midievil times hostages were taken for money or a guaranteed safe passage through a country. In the U.S., Indians on the western frontier terrorized settlers to frighten them away. Throughout the twentieth century, up until the 1970’s various terrorist acts were committed, yet it was not as big a problem as it is today. The new age of terrorism dawned at 4:30 in the morning of September 5, 1972. It was then that members of the Palestinian organization Black September attacked the Isreali Olympic team. Three men were killed on the spot and nine were taken captive. The terrorists demanded that 200 of their fellow Arabs be released from Isreali prisons. They also wanted Isreal disbanded and its territory returned to the Palestinian people. The results of the Munich attack were tragic. Following a gun battle between German sharpshooters and t he terrorists, which killed one German policeman, all nine hostages and five of the terrorists were killed by a hand grenade. The events at Munich proved that a single terrorist action, cleverly planned and daringly executed by a small band of people could accomplish as much as the movement of a large army. That is why the Munich attack was the dawn of a new age of terrorism. From the point of view of the terrorists, the main goal of the Munich attack was to draw attention to the Palestinian cause, a goal that was achieved through media coverage. This accomplishment was a lesson that terrorists everywhere were quick to learn. This is widely shown in that the number of terrorist acts has generally risen, with a trend toward bloodier incidents. The accumulation of terrorist attacks on innocent civilians has caused many changes around the world. There have been thousands of instances of terrorism. Just a few statistics can give one the idea of the seriousness of the problem. Robert Cla rke from the National Security Council put it perfectly when he said "organized crime groups now posses such significant resources that they can almost buy and sell governments" (Morrison 6). The Department of defense estimates that as many as 26 nations may posses chemical agents and or weapons and an additional twelve may be seeking to develop them. Between 1970 and 1977, terrorist movements thr... ...at the problem of terrorism. These new policies have clearly changed many routines and spending of money. Programs have been set up, thousands of people have been hired, and billions of dollars have been spent in order to reduce terrorism around the world. In the past decade, over 18,000 individuals in 50 nations gave been trained in counter terrorism. The U.S. alone gas trained more than 19,000 foreign law enforcement officials from more than 80 countries in such areas such as airport security, bomb detection, maritime security, VIP protection, hostage and rescue, and crisis management. The FBI is moving to reassign 500 of its agents to counter terrorism duty. It is also dramatically expanding its presence overseas. Along with hiring thousands of individuals to counter terrorism duty, governments have set up hundreds of programs to help gain intelligence. Anti-terrorism funding has been boosted by one billion dollars in over four years. In 1986, the Counter-Terrorism Center was set up to collect data about and coordinate strategies toward terrorist groups. In 1985, President Reagan set up a cabinet level commission, known as the Vice President’s Task Force on Combating Terrorism.

Performance appraisal Essay

Introduction The  process  by which a  manager  or  consultant  (1)  examines  and evaluates an  employee’s  work  behavior  by comparing it with preset standards, (2)  documents  the  results  of the comparison, and (3)  uses  the results to  provide  feedback  to the employee to show where  improvements  are needed and why. Performance appraisals are  employed  to determine who  needs  what  training, and who will be promoted, demoted, retained, or fired. ‘PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL IS A FORMAL, STRUCTURED SYSTEM OF MEASURING AND EVALUATING AN EMPLOYEES JOB, RELATED BEHAVIORS AND OUTCOMES TO DISCOVER HOW AND WHY THE EMPLOYEE IS PRESENTLY PERFORMING ON THE JOB AND HOW THE EMPLOYEE CAN PERFORM MORE EFFECTIVELY IN THE FUTURE SO THAT THE EMPLOYEE, ORGANIZATION, AND SOCIETY ALL BENEFIT’. Performance appraisal is a process of summarizing, assessing and developing the work performance of an employee. In order to be effective and constructive, the performance manager should make every effort to obtain as much objective information about the employee’s performance as possible. Performance Appraisal is a review and discussion of an employee’s performance of assigned duties and responsibilities based on results obtained by the employee in their job, not on the employee’s personality characteristics. Personality should be considered only when it relates to performance of assigned duties and responsibilities. It is a structured formal interaction between a subordinate and supervisor, that usually takes the form of a periodic interview (annual or semi-annual), in which the work performance of the subordinate is examined and discussed, with a view to identifying weaknesses and strengths as well as opportunities for improvement and skills development. In many organizations – but not all – appraisal results are used, either directly or indirectly, to help determine reward outcomes. That is, the appraisal results are used to identify the better performing employees who should get the majority of available merit pay increases, bonuses, and promotions. By the same token, appraisal results are used to identify poorer performers, who may require some form of counseling, or in extreme cases, demotion, dismissal or decreases in pay. HISTORY OF PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL The history of performance appraisal is quite brief.  Its roots in the early 20th century can be traced to Taylor’s pioneering Time and Motion studies. But this is not very helpful, for the same may be said about almost everything in the field of modern human resources management. As a distinct and formal management procedure used in the evaluation of work performance, appraisal really dates from the time of the Second World War – not more than 60 years ago. Yet in a broader sense, the practice of appraisal is a very ancient art. In the scale of things historical, it might well lay claim to being the world’s second oldest profession! There is, says  Dulewicz (1989), â€Å"†¦ a basic human tendency to make judgements about those one is working with, as well as about oneself.† Appraisal, it seems, is both inevitable and universal. In the absence of a carefully structured system of appraisal, people will tend to judge the work performance of others, including subordinates, naturally, informally and arbitrarily. The human inclination to judge can create serious motivational, ethical and legal problems in the workplace. Without a structured appraisal system, there is little chance of ensuring that the judgements made will be lawful, fair, defensible and accurate. Performance appraisal systems began as simple methods of income justification. That is, appraisal was used to decide whether or not the salary or wage of an individual employee was justified. The process was firmly linked to material outcomes. If an employee’s performance was found to be less than ideal, a cut in pay would follow. On the other hand, if their performance was better than the supervisor expected, a pay rise was in  order. Little consideration, if any, was given to the developmental possibilities of appraisal. If was felt that a cut in pay, or a rise, should provide the only required impetus for an employee to either improve or continue to perform well.   Sometimes this basic system succeeded in getting the results that were intended; but more often than not, it failed. For example, early motivational researchers were aware that different people with roughly equal work abilities could be paid the same amount of money and yet have quite different levels of motivation and performance. These observations were confirmed in empirical studies. Pay rates were important, yes; but they were not the only element that had an impact on employee performance. It was found that other issues, such as morale and self-esteem, could also have a major influence. As a result, the traditional emphasis on reward outcomes was progressively rejected. In the 1950s in the United States, the potential usefulness of appraisal as tool for motivation and development was gradually recognized. The general model of performance appraisal, as it is known today, began from that time.   Modern Appraisal Performance appraisal may be defined as a structured formal interaction between a subordinate and supervisor, that usually takes the form of a periodic interview (annual or semi-annual), in which the work performance of the subordinate is examined and discussed, with a view to identifying weaknesses and strengths as well as opportunities for improvement and skills development. In many organizations – but not all – appraisal results are used, either directly or indirectly, to help determine reward outcomes. That is, the appraisal results are used to identify the better performing employees who should get the majority of available merit pay increases, bonuses, and promotions. By the same token, appraisal results are used to identify the poorer  performers who may require some form of counselling, or in extreme cases, demotion, dismissal or decreases in pay. (Organizations need to be aware of laws in their country that might restrict their capacity to dismiss employees or decrease pay.) Whether this is an appropriate use of performance appraisal – the assignment and justification of rewards and penalties – is a very uncertain and contentious matter. TRADITIONAL METHODS OF PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL 1.Rating Scales Method Rating Scales Method is commonly used method for assessing the performance of the employees and well-known traditional method of performance appraisal of employees. Many corporations and companies example in the country India, Telecommunications Company like airtel  and US IT companies like  Dell  Corporation  are using this method for evaluating the employees and subsequently take decisions on concerned employee. Depending upon the job of employee under this method of appraisal traits like attitude, performance, regularity, accountability and sincerity etc,are rated with scale from 1 to 10. 1 indicates negative feedback and 10 indicates positive feedback as shown below. Attitude of employee towards his superiors, colleagues and customers   1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Extremely                                                                                                                                                       Excellent poor Regularity in the job   1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Extremely                                                                                                                                                       outstanding poor Under this method of performance appraisal, employee may be assessed by his superiors, colleagues, subordinates or sometimes by his customers which all depends on nature of the company or job which is added where the employee. Appraiser is a person who appraises employee will give rating for every trait given by marking or choosing number basing on his observation and satisfaction. ultimately all numbers chosen or marked will be added to determine highest score gained by employee. Employee who scored more points will be treated as top performer following   descending scored employees will be treated as low performer and the least scored employee will be treated as non-performers. 2.  ESSAY APPRAISAL METHOD This traditional form of appraisal, also known as â€Å"Free Form method† involves a description of the performance of an employee by his superior. The description is an evaluation of the performance of any individual based on  the facts and often includes examples and evidences to support the information. A major drawback of the method is the inseparability of the bias of the evaluator. Under this method, the rater is asked to express the strong as well as weak points of the employee’s behavior. This technique is normally used with a combination of the graphic rating scale because the rater can elaborately present the scale by substantiating an explanation for his rating. While preparing the essay on the employee, the rater considers the following factors:   Job knowledge and potential of the employee; Employee’s understanding of the company’s programmes, policies, objectives, etc.; The employee’s relations with co-workers and superiors;  The employee’s general planning, organizing and controlling ability; The attitudes and perceptions of the employee, in general. Essay evaluation is a non-quantitative technique. This method is advantageous in at least one sense, i.e., the essay provides a good deal of information about the employee and also reveals more about the evaluator. The essay evaluation method however, suffers from the following limitations: It is highly subjective; the supervisor may write a biased essay. The employees who are sycophants will be evaluated more favorably then other employees. Some evaluators may be poor in writing essays on employee performance. Others may be superficial in explanation and use flowery language which may not reflect the actual performance of the employee. It is very difficult to find effective writers nowadays. The appraiser is required to find time to prepare the essay. A busy appraiser may write the essay hurriedly without properly assessing the actual performance of the worker. On the other hand, appraiser takes a long time, this becomes uneconomical from the view point of the firm, because the time of the evaluator (supervisor) is costly. 3.  RANKING METHOD How do we use the ranking method?  Under the ranking method, the manager com-pares an employee to other similar employees, rather than to a standard measurement. An offshoot of ranking is the forced distribution method, which  is similar to grading on a curve. Predetermined percentages of employees are placed in various performance categories, for example,  excellent, above average, average, below average, and poor,. The employees ranked in the top group usually get the rewards (raise, bonus, promotion), those not at the top tend to have the reward withheld, and those at the bottom sometimes get punished. In Self-Assessment and Skill Builder 8-1, you are asked to rank the performance of your peers. Why and when do we use the ranking method?  Managers have to make evaluative decisions, such as who is the employee of the month, who gets a raise or promotion, and who   gets laid off. So when we have to make evaluative decisions, we generally have to use ranking. However, our ranking can, and when possible should, be based on other methods and forms. Ranking can also be used for developmental purposes by letting employees know where they stand in comparison to their peers—they can be motivated to improve performance. For example, when one of the authors passes back exams, he places the grade distribution on the board. It does not in any way affect the current grades—but it lets students know where they stand, and he does it to motivate improvement. 4.  PAIRED COMPARISON A better technique of comparison than the straight ranking method, this method compares each employee with all others in the group, one at a time. After all the comparisons on the basis of the overall comparisons, the employees are given the final rankings. 5.  CRITICAL INCIDENTS METHODS This technique of performance appraisal was developed by  Flanagan and Burns. The manager prepares lists of statements of very effective and ineffective behaviour of an employee. These critical incidents or events represent the outstanding or poor behaviour of employees on the job. The manager maintains logs on each employee, whereby he periodically records critical incidents of the workers behaviour. At the  end of the rating period, these recorded  critical incidents are used in the evaluation of the workers’ performance. An example of a good critical incident of a sales assistant is the following: July 20 – The sales clerk patiently attended to the customer’s complaint. He is polite, prompt, and enthusiastic in solving the customers’ problem.   On the other hand the bad critical incident may appear as under: July 20 – The sales assistant stayed 45 minutes over on his break during the busiest part of the day. He failed to answer the store manager’s call thrice. He is lazy, negligent, stubborn and uninterested in work. This method provides an objective basis for conducting a thorough discussion of an employee’s performance. This method avoids recency bias (most recent incidents get too much emphasis). This method suffers however from the following limitations: Negative incidents may be more noticeable than positive incidents. The supervisors have a tendency to unload a series of complaints about incidents during an annual performance review session. It results in very close supervision which may not be liked by the employee. The recording of incidents may be a chore for the manager concerned, who may be too busy or forget to do it. 6. CONFIDENTIAL REPORT SYSTEM Confidential report system is well known method of performance appraisal system mostly being used by the Government organisations. In this method of  appraising  system, subordinate is observed by his superiors regarding his performance in the job and on his duties done. Thereafter  Superior  writes confidential report on his performance, mainly on his behaviour in the organisation and conduct and remarks if any. Confidential reports will be kept confidential and will not be revealed to anyone and finally confidential reports will be forwarded to the top management officials for taking decision against person on whom confidential report has made. Confidential reports are the main criteria for promoting or transferring  of any employee mainly in the government sector. All governmental organisations example judiciary, police Department and other government  departments in the India are using confidential reports method as a tool to know about the employee and to take any decision connecting to him. Procedure of confidential report system The superiors who appraise their subordinate’s performance, behaviour and other key issues will be kept in the form of writing on paper, which is called as confidential report.   Confidential report should not be sent openly on a paper, it must be kept in a sealed cover to send it to decision-making authorities. Only authorised persons are allowed to open the sealed covers which consists of confidential reports. Confidential reports shall not be handed over in loose sheets to the subordinates. Key factors assessed in  Confidential  Report writing Character and conduct of an employee Absenteeism of an employee Knowledge of an employee His nature and quality of work Punctuality of employee Unauthorised absenteeism or leave without permission Behaviour of an employee with colleagues, superiors and with public Ability of supervision and controlling His/her integrity and honesty If any complaints against employee 7.  CHECKLIST METHOD The rater is given a checklist of the descriptions of the behaviour of the employees on job. The checklist contains a list of statements on the basis of which the rater describes the on the job performance of the employees.   Ã‚  Another simple type of individual evaluation method is the checklist. A checklist represents, in its simplest form, a set of objectives or descriptive statements about the employee and his behavior. If the rater believes strongly that the employee possesses a particular listed trait, he checks the item; otherwise, he leaves the item blank. A more recent variation of the checklist method is the weighted list. Under this, the value of each question may be weighted equally or certain questions may be  weighted more heavily than others. The following are some of the sample questions in the checklist.   Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Is the employee really interested in the task assigned?  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Yes/No   Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Is he respected by his colleagues (co-workers)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Yes/No   Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Does he give respect to his superiors?  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Yes/No  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Does he follow instructions properly?  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Yes/No   Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Does he make mistakes frequently?  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Yes/No 8. GRAPHIC RATING SCALE Example of Graphic Rating Scales Method Performance Trait Excellent Good Average Fair Poor Attitude 5 4 3 2 1 Knowledge of Work 5 4 3 2 1 Managerial Skills 5 4 3 2 1 Team Work 5 4 3 2 1 Honesty 5 4 3 2 1 Regularity 5 4 3 2 1 Accountability 5 4 3 2 1 Interpersonal relationships 5 4 3 2 1 Creativity 5 4 3 2   1 Discipline 5 4 3 2 1 This is the very popular, traditional method of performance appraisal. Under this method, core traits of employee pertaining to his job are   carefully  defined  like Attitude, Knowledge of Work, Managerial Skills, Team Work, Honesty, Regularity, Accountability, Interpersonal relationships, Creativity and Discipline etc. These traits are allotted with numerical scale to tabulate the scores gained by appraisee (employee) in  performance assessment  relating to his job by appraiser (employer) and sum-up to determine the best performer.   Appraiser ticks  rating of particular trait depending upon his endeavour in his job.  Score vary form employee to employee depending up on his performance levels and endeavour in his job. This method is popular because it is simple and does not require any writing ability. The method is easy to understand and use. Comparison among pairs is possible. This is necessary for decision on salary increases, promotion, etc. Companies like  DELL,  Maruti Suzuki India Ltd  and  airtel  are using this graphic rating scale method to appraise performance of their employees in there jobs and to take decisions regarding the matters concerned to employees 9.  FORCED DISTRIBUTION A rating system used by companies to evaluate their employees. The system requires the managers to evaluate each individual, and rank them typically into one of three categories (excellent, good, poor). The system is thought to be relatively widely-used, but remains somewhat controversial due to the competition it creates, and also the reality that not all employees will fit neatly into one of the categories and might end up in a category that does  not reflect their true performance. One of the first companies to use this system was General Electric, in the 1980s. ——–Businessdictionary.com Forced ranking is a method of performance appraisal to rank employee but in order of forced distribution. For example, the distribution requested with 10 or 20 percent in the top category, 70 or 80 percent in the middle, and 10 percent in the bottom. The top-ranked employees are considered â€Å"high-potential† employees and are often targeted for a more rapid career and leadership development programs. In contrast, those ranked at the bottom are denied bonuses and pay increases. They may be given a probationary period to improve their performance. 10.  Ã‚  Ã‚  BEHAVIOURLY ANCHORED RATING SCALES:  Statements of effective and ineffective behaviors determine the points. They are said to be behaviorally anchored. The rater is supposed to say, which behavior describes the employee performance. Advantages – helps overcome rating errors. Disadvantages – Suffers from distortions inherent in most rating techniques. 11.  Ã‚  FIELD REVIEW METHOD:  This is an appraisal done by someone outside employees’ own department usually from corporate or HR department. Advantages – Useful for managerial level promotions, when comparable information is needed, Disadvantages – Outsider is generally not familiar with employees work environment, Observation of actual behaviors not possible. 12.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  PERFORMANCE TESTS AND OBSERVATIONS:  This is based on the test of knowledge or skills. The tests may be written or an actual presentation of skills. Tests must be reliable and validated to be useful. Advantage – Tests may be apt to measure potential more than actual performance. Disadvantages – Tests may suffer if costs of test development or administration are high. Future Oriented Methods 1.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Management By Objectives:  It means management by objectives and the performance is rated against the achievement of objectives stated by the management. MBO process goes as under. Establish goals and desired outcomes for each subordinate Setting performance standards Comparison of actual goals with goals attained by the employee Establish new goals and new strategies for goals not achieved in previous year. Advantage – It is more useful for managerial positions. Disadvantages – Not applicable to all jobs, allocation of merit pay may result in setting short-term goals rather than important and long-term goals etc. 2.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Psychological Appraisals:  These appraisals are more directed to assess employees potential for future performance rather than the past one. It is done in the form of in-depth interviews, psychological tests, and discussion with supervisors and review of other evaluations. It is more focused on employees emotional, intellectual, and motivational and other personal characteristics affecting his performance. This approach is slow and costly and may be useful for bright young members who may have considerable potential. However quality of these appraisals largely depend upon the skills of psychologists who perform the evaluation. 3.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Assessment Centres:  This technique was first developed in USA and UK in 1943. An assessment centre is a central location where managers may come together to have their participation in job related exercises evaluated by trained observers. It is more focused on observation of behaviours across a series of select exercises or work samples. Assessees are requested to participate in in-basket exercises, work groups, computer simulations, role playing and other similar activities which require same attributes for successful performance in actual job. The characteristics assessed in assessment centre can be assertiveness, persuasive ability, communicating ability, planning and organizational ability, self confidence, resistance to  stress, energy level, decision making, sensitivity to feelings, administrative ability, creativity and mental alertness etc. Disadvantages – Costs of employees travelling and lodging, psychologists, ratings strongly influenced by assessee’s inter-personal skills. Solid performers may feel suffocated in simulated situations. Those who are not selected for this also may get affected. Advantages  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ well-conducted assessment centre can achieve better forecasts of future performance and progress than other methods of appraisals. Also reliability, content validity and predictive ability are said to be high in assessment centres. The tests also make sure that the wrong people are not hired or promoted. Finally it clearly defines the criteria for selection and promotion. 4.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  360-Degree Feedback:  It is a technique which is systematic collection of performance data on an individual group, derived from a number of stakeholders like immediate supervisors, team members, customers, peers and self. In fact anyone who has useful information on how an employee does a job may be one of the appraisers. This technique is highly useful in terms of broader perspective, greater self-development and multi-source feedback is useful. 360-degree appraisals are useful to measure inter-personal skills, customer satisfaction and team building skills. However on the negative side, receiving feedback from multiple sources can be intimidating, threatening etc. Multiple raters may be less adept at providing balanced and objective feedback. PROCESS OF PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL ESTABLISHING PERFORMANCE STANDARDS The first step in the  process of performance appraisal  is the setting up of the standards which will be used to as the base to compare the actual performance of the employees. This step requires setting the criteria to judge the performance of the employees as successful or unsuccessful and the degrees of their contribution to the organizational goals and objectives. The standards set should be clear, easily understandable and in measurable terms. In case the performance of the employee cannot be measured, great care should be taken to describe the standards. COMMUNICATING THE STANDARDS Once set, it is the responsibility of the management to communicate the standards to all the employees of the organization. The employees should be informed and the standards should be clearly explained to the. This will help them to understand their roles and to know what exactly is expected from them. The standards should also be communicated to the appraisers or the evaluators and if required, the standards can also be modified at this stage itself according to the relevant feedback from the employees or the evaluators. MEASURING THE ACTUAL PERFORMANCE The most difficult part of the  Performance appraisal  process is measuring the actual performance of the employees that is the work done by the employees during the specified period of time. It is a continuous process which involves monitoring the performance throughout the year. This stage requires the careful selection of the appropriate techniques of measurement, taking care that personal bias does not affect the outcome of the process and providing assistance rather than interfering in an employees work. COMPARING THE ACTUAL WITH THE DESIRED PERFORMANCE The actual performance is compared with the desired or the standard performance. The comparison tells the deviations in the performance of the employees from the standards set. The result can show the actual performance being more than the desired performance or, the actual performance being less than the desired performance depicting a negative deviation in the organizational performance. It includes recalling, evaluating and analysis of data related to the employees’ performance. DISCUSSING RESULTS The  result of the appraisal  is communicated and discussed with the employees on one-to-one basis. The focus of this discussion is on communication and listening. The results, the problems and the possible solutions are discussed with the aim of problem solving and reaching consensus. The feedback should be given with a positive attitude as this can have an effect on the employees’ future performance. The purpose of the meeting should be to solve the problems faced and motivate the employees to perform better. DECISION MAKING The last step of the process is to take decisions which can be taken either to improve the performance of the employees, take the required corrective actions, or the related HR decisions like rewards, promotions, demotions, transfers etc. THE 10 STEPS FOR CONDUCTING AN EMPLOYEE APPRAISAL EVALUATION For managers, there’s no single path to conducting highly successful employee-evaluation sessions. At the same time, when you’re leading these appraisal discussions, 10 steps will help make the meetings more interactive and productive: 1. Let your employee talk. Giving your employees the chance to discuss their actions, achievements, and competencies is rewarding to them because it further emphasizes your respect and trust, while also reinforcing your partnership with them. 2. Give an overview of the session. After you’ve heard your employee’s thoughts regarding her performance, your next step is to give her a brief overview of overall topics that you’ll be covering in the session. 3. Focus on objectives. This part of the discussion focuses on the agreed-upon objectives and the extent to which your employee met them. 4. Focus on performance results. The emphasis in this section is on the various additional performance-related outcomes that were the result of your employee’s actions and efforts, even if such outcomes were not directly attached to the overall objectives. 5. Focus on critical incidents. Your comments in this area are focused on the way in which your employee handled particularly noteworthy situations, whether positively or negatively. 6. Focus on competencies. This is where you discuss instances in which your employee applied his skills effectively to the job, shared his knowledge with others, or took specific steps to further build his competencies. 7. Focus on points of agreement. Whether based on your employee’s self-evaluations or on her opening comments regarding her performance, your focus at this point in the session is on the areas in which your employee agrees with your ratings. 8. Focus on points of disagreement. This is the time to discuss the areas in which you rated your employee lower than he rated himself, whether based on his self-evaluation or his opening comments. Your objective is to learn more about your employee’s rationale for giving himself ratings that are higher than yours and for him to understand the rationale behind the ratings that you gave. 9. Focus on the overall rating. At this point in the process, you and your employee have discussed all the key performance-related issues and concerns, and it’s now time to discuss the overall rating. Your comments should focus on the steps you took to determine this rating. 10. Focus on raises. There’s a good deal of debate among managers and management theorists as to where to place raises in the performance appraisal session. Some managers don’t even think that raises belong in the session at all. Here are your options: *  Bringing up raises in the beginning:  Letting them know at the outset is supposed to put an end to their wondering and allow them to pay attention to the feedback you’re providing. *  Bringing up raises toward the end:  After giving glowing reviews, you’re ideally able to provide a direct reward for the employees’ stellar behavior, demonstrating the clear link between better performance and better rewards. *  Eliminating raises from the discussion:  The idea behind this approach is that raises don’t belong in the performance appraisal session at all. Instead, these sessions should focus exclusively and extensively on the employees’ past performance, while issues such as raises and objectives should be discussed in separate sessions. Objectives of Performance Appraisal Performance Appraisal can be done with following objectives in mind: 1. To maintain records in order to determine compensation packages, wage structure, salaries raises, etc. 2. To identify the strengths and weaknesses of employees to place right men on right job. 3. To maintain and assess the potential present in a person for further growth and development. 4. To provide a feedback to employees regarding their performance and related status. 5. To provide a feedback to employees regarding their performance and related status. 6. It serves as a basis for influencing working habits of the employees. 7. To review and retain the promotional and other training programmes. Advantages of Performance Appraisal It is said that performance appraisal is an investment for the company which can be justified by following advantages: 1. Promotion:  Performance Appraisal helps the supervisors to chalk out the promotion programmes for efficient employees. In this regards, inefficient workers can be dismissed or demoted in case. 2. Compensation:  Performance Appraisal helps in chalking out compensation packages for employees. Merit rating is possible through performance appraisal. Performance Appraisal tries to give worth to a performance. Compensation packages which includes bonus, high salary rates, extra  benefits, allowances and pre-requisites are dependent on performance appraisal. The criteria should be merit rather than seniority. 3. Employees Development:  The systematic procedure of performance appraisal helps the supervisors to frame training policies and programmes. It helps to analyse strengths and weaknesses of employees so that new jobs can be designed for efficient employees. It also helps in framing future development programmes. 4. Selection Validation:  Performance Appraisal helps the supervisors to understand the validity and importance of the selection procedure. The supervisors come to know the validity and thereby the strengths and weaknesses of selection procedure. Future changes in selection methods can be made in this regard. 5. Communication:  For an organization, effective communication between employees and employers is very important. Through performance appraisal, communication can be sought for in the following ways: a. Through performance appraisal, the employers can understand and accept skills of subordinates. b. The subordinates can also understand and create a trust and confidence in superiors. c. It also helps in maintaining cordial and congenial labour management relationship. d. It develops the spirit of work and boosts the morale of employees. e. All the above factors ensure effective communication. 6. Motivation:  Performance appraisal serves as a motivation tool. Through evaluating performance of employees, a person’s efficiency can be determined if the targets are achieved. This very well motivates a person for better job and helps him to improve his performance in the future. LIMITATIONS OF PERFORMANCE APPAISAL 1.LACK OF CLARITY: The objective of performance appraisal is to evaluate and develop employees. An organization should avoid using one appraisal system to achieve both objectives. The particular system of the appraisal system should clarify before it is designed and should be discussed with all managers and  employees to gain their commitment. Any performance appraisal system, however good the design, is unlikely to succeed if the managers and employees are suspicious of its objectives. It is extremely difficult if not impossible to device a system that will be able to satisfy both performance and reward. It happens because employees are likely to resist negative feedback and tend to be defensive when weakness in current performance is identified. It is because of this type of overlap in purposes that the appraisal loses it’s practically and increases the conflict between the manager and the employees. 2. APPRAISAL ERRORS: These are as follows; Halo, Regency, Contrast effects: the Halo effect occurs when a manager rates an employee high or low on all teams, because of one characteristic. For instance; if an employee has few absences, his manager might give him high rates in all other area of work. The recency effect happens when a rater gives greater weight to recent occurrence when appraising an employee’s performance. This sort of effect is an understandable rater’s error. It may not be easy for the manager to remember all events that happened like for instance; six months ago. Contrast error occurs when employees are rated relatively to other employees rather than to performance standards. For example; if everyone else in a group is doing mediocre job, an employee performing somewhat better may be rated as excellent because of the contrast effect. Rater biases: this occurs when manager values distort the rating. Reasons for bias differ, for instance, religion, age, sex, appearance or other arbitrary classifications. If a manager strongly dislikes a certain ethnic group, this will be negatively reflected in appraisal if the appraisal scheme is not properly designed. 3. UNEQUAL PERFORMANCE STANDARDS People differ from each other in the way they perceive things. What is good for some may be bad for others. Therefore managers have different judgments in appraising their employees. Managers’ attitudes to their employees differ, so different managers will appraise the same people quite differently which could make appraisal system subjective and manipulative. 4.CULTURAL FACTORS Culture has profound impact on the appraisal system as it should be in consonance with the organizational culture. A system based on the employee participation and openness would be non-starter if the organizational culture is authoritarian and non-participative in its approach to other employee related policies. ‘Readymade’ performance review system imported from other organization rarely function satisfactorily. Their failure is partly due to culture differences. Thus culture is a vital factor to look after CASE STUDIES CASE STUDY 1 1) A sweet employee performance appraisal system for Jelly Belly Customer profile Candy making is a fun business, and so it’s no surprise that it’s fun to work at the Jelly Belly Candy Company of Fairfield, California. But at this family-owned company, there’s no fooling around when it comes to promoting employee performance and job satisfaction. So when Jelly Belly decided to overhaul and automate its antiquated employee performance and talent management process, it was looking for a serious solution to help give its employees across the United States fair, accurate performance appraisals. Herman Goelitz Candy was founded in 1869 by Albert and Gustav Goelitz, whose great-grandsons own and run Jelly Belly today. The Jelly Belly Candy Company makes Jelly Belly brand jelly beans in over 50 flavors, as well as candy corn and other treats. Introduced in 1976 and named by former U.S. president Ronald Reagan as his favorite candy, the company’s jelly beans are exported worldwide. Like almost every smart company, Jelly Belly recognizes that employees are more likely to stay with their employer when they feel connected and recognized for their efforts. Programs for managing and evaluating employee performance are critical to aligning corporate and employee values and priorities. Challenge Jelly Belly’s search for a new employee performance and talent management system began several years ago, when two branches of the family business were reunited into a single company. One branch was using an outdated  performance management software program. The other was doing its employee performance appraisals manually, using paper forms. Having a variety of jelly bean flavors is great — a variety of employee appraisal processes in a single company is not. The task of updating and consolidating the performance management process fell to Margie Poulos, HR Manager of Jelly Belly’s Midwest operations. She and a small team of Jelly Belly HR staff were charged with finding a single automated system that could be used for all of Jelly Belly’s 600 employees in three locations. The driving factor behind Jelly Belly’s performance management automation was the belief that thorough, accurate reviews help employees to better understand what’s expected of them,  so that they can set clear, measurable objectives. That translates into higher employee satisfaction, said Jeff Brown, Jelly Belly’s Director of Human Resources. â€Å"When employees feel they have gotten a thorough and accurate review, it boosts their morale,† Brown said. It also leads to improved talent management and  makes it easier to retain valuable employees, which management experts know is a key factor in corporate growth and market leadership. Solution To meet their strategic goals, Poulos and her team drew up a list of the criteria that a new system had to meet. Top on the list was ease of use. â€Å"We didn’t want to end up with a system that is so complicated that the managers wouldn’t use it,† Poulos said. A new system also had to save time. Because employees were in multiple locations, it needed to be web-based for accessibility. And it had to be flexible, easily incorporating core competencies into different forms. Jelly Belly’s selection committee looked at products from different software vendors. â€Å"We eliminated right away those that were geared to very large companies and those that were not web-based,† Poulos said. â€Å"We also eliminated those that offered too many options for customization. It’s one thing to offer options, but another thing when the product requires so much customization that it becomes overwhelming.† The committee selected Halogen eAppraisalâ„ ¢, a  web-based application for managing employee performance  from Halogen Software. â€Å"We liked the way it looked, and we really liked the user-friendliness of it. It’s easy for the managers to use and it’s customizable without overwhelming them,† Poulos said. After two days of training by Halogen staff, four members of Jelly Belly’s HR team set  out to train the company’s supervisors on the new system. About 50 managers received a crash course in using Halogen eAppraisal, and then used it to complete annual employee evaluations in May. Jelly Belly’s HR team is now customizing the software to include more relevant competencies and to respond to comments from managers and staff on the new system. â€Å"The feedback has been really positive, from both managers and employees as well. Some staff said this was the best appraisal they’ve had,† Poulos said, â€Å"They felt the evaluations were fair and realistic, and supervisors had the scope to provide more relevant and legitimate comments than they could before. Rather than just clicking on a bunch of canned comments, they were accurately reviewing the employee.† Results The new automated employee performance appraisal system has completely formalized and organized Jelly Belly’s employee evaluation process. â€Å"It allows us to standardize competencies across job classifications, add signature and comment sections to make our process more interactive, and increase accessibility for remote managers,† Brown said. Under Jelly Belly’s old system, employees conducting reviews started from scratch once a year with new  performance journals. Halogen eAppraisal will let them log notes throughout the year and regularly update their on-line appraisals. Employees use one consistent employee evaluation form to add comments and to sign their appraisals. The web-based product helps remote and traveling managers maintain access to the forms and the data they need to evaluate their staff. â€Å"In our old system, a few folks in Chicago would have access to the system. But we have managers in California with Chicago subordinates. It’s important that they can share the same forms across the board. And we have folks who are on the road a lot or are working out of home offices, so having them be able to access this is a huge point for us,† Brown explained. Organizing and automating the appraisal process results in performance appraisals that are more accurate and fair, Brown noted. â€Å"This is important because, after all, an employee appraisal is a legal document,† he said. The new system is also helping Jelly Belly  track training requirements and development  in its staff, Poulos added. â€Å"We’ve always had a separate training manual. Now we can go in to the evaluations and more easily monitor employees’ skills development, see what training is needed by individuals and check the due dates for training and renewal. That makes it much easier for us to keep track,† Poulos noted. The new employee performance and talent management system has proven to be a big time-saver for Jelly Belly’s HR team. â€Å"Since this year was the first time using the new system, it took us a little longer than it will next year. But the process was a whole lot faster,† Poulos said. â€Å"It has already saved us a lot of time, and we got everybody’s appraisals done in one shot.† The new system is also helping Jelly Belly to better align employee goals with the company’s business objectives. And for one of America’s best-known candy companies, it doesn’t get any sweeter than that. CASE STUDY 2 2) Saving $20 million with a new appraisal system Most people enjoy having their performance appraised about as much as root canal treatment. Executives and HR professionals have a different view of these systems. Executives see Performance Management Systems (PMS) as a tool to help them  achieve their companies’  business objectives, whereas HR professionals see them as an opportunity to  assess and enhance performance of individuals. Let us examine the multi-million dollar opportunity that an HR professional found in his company’s performance management system. Yellow Freight System, one of the largest transport companies in the US, found itself competing with smaller companies on the basis of price and losing money for the first time in many years. The financial shock caused soul searching and strategy reformulation at the highest levels of the company. The top management concluded that only very large companies with the best talent would survive the newly introduced deregulation policy. This resulted in a programme of route expansion, employee reorientation and reorganisation into a hub-and-spoke transport system. Yellow Freight’s  Ã¢â‚¬Ëœs board of directors decided to train the entire workforce to take advantage of the realities of the deregulated environment. The head of HR was told to recruit a manager for Human Resource Development (HRD) who could provide employees state-of-the-art knowledge and development, which would help differentiate Yellow Freight from its competitors. The HRD manager’s first step was to define the  new department’s mission as â€Å"helping management manage and improve employee performance.†Ã‚  A needs analysis conducted suggested that branch managers, sales representatives and front-line supervisors needed to be trained. The HRD department conducted a performance audit  to identify the group, which had the  greatest potential to improve performance. A sample of employees from each of the three groups was identified based on functional considerations. Individuals were drawn from each major geographic region, from different size terminals, from every job function, all levels of management, and with high, average and low levels of job performance. This type of sample allowed each group in the company to feel that they had been represented. It also allowed the HRD department to observe exemplary and poor performers, and provided excellent information on why some employees performed better than others. Performance measures and standards were identified  for each of the three groups. Actual performance data was collected, where available, and the value of the average performer’s results was compared to the value of the exemplar’s performance. A performance improvement potential was defined as the gap between the performance of the exemplar and the average performance of the group. The largest gaps coupled with the largest number of performers pointed to the areas with the greatest potential return on investment. The HRD department also  searched for causes  for these performance gaps. Solutions that  seemed to close the gaps  were suggested to the performers. The main finding of the study was that while job responsibilities were not  consistent from location to location for any given job title, the work that had to get done was. Yellow Freight’s  new performance appraisal system  was designed as a performance management system. This meant that it was designed first as a tool for supervisors to use when managing employee performance, and second as a tool for evaluation and compensation. The performance management aspect of the programme focused on how to write accomplishment-based performance standards, design feedback systems, and troubleshoot performance problems and reward employees. To make sure the new programme would succeed,  Yellow Freight  provided additional training to improve interpersonal and communication skills. This case illustrates how a transport company responded to external deregulatory pressures and trained every manager and supervisor to manage more effectively and improve the performance of their employees. Results showed that an overwhelming percentage of the trainees felt the programme was useful; they met the learning objectives and were using the skills taught. Performance changes grossed   Ã‚   over $20 million in one year for  Yellow Freight! CASE STUDY 3 3) Case Study on the Performance Appraisal at Xerox In  the  mid-1980s  Xerox  Corporation  was  faced  with  a  problem—its  performance  appraisal system was not working. Rather than motivating the employees, its system was leaving them discouraged and disgruntled. Xerox recognized this problem and developed a new system to eliminate it. THE OLD SYSTEM The original system used by Xerox encompassed seven  main principles: 1. The appraisal occurred  once a  year. 2. It required employees to document their accomplishments. 3. The  manager  would  assess  these  accomplishments  in  writing  and   Assign  numerical ratings. 4. The appraisal included a summary written appraisal and a rating from 1 (unsatisfactory) to 5 (exceptional). 5. The ratings were on a forced distribution, controlled at the 3 level or below. 6. Merit increases were tied to the summary rating level. 7. Merit increase information and  performance appraisals occurred in one  session. This system resulted in inequitable ratings and was cited by employees as a major source of  dissatisfaction. In fact, in 1983, the Reprographic Business Group (RBG), Xerox’s main copier  division, reported that 95 percent of its employees received either a 3 or 4 on their appraisal. Merit raises for people in these two groups only varied by 1 to 2 percent. Essentially, across-the-  board raises were being given to  all employees, regardless of performance. THE NEW SYSTEM Rather than attempting to fix the old appraisal system, Xerox formed a task force to create a new system from scratch. The task force itself was made up of senior human resources executives; however, members of the task force also consulted with councils of employees and a council of  middle managers. Together they created a new system, which differed from the old one in many key respects: 1. The absence of a numerical rating system 2. The presence of a half-year feedback session. 3. The provision for development planning. 4. Prohibition in the appraisal guidelines of the use  of subjective assessments of  performance. The new system has three stages, as opposed to the one-step process of the old system. These stages are spread out over the course of the year. The first stage occurs at the beginning of the year when the manager meets with each employee. Together, they work out a written agreement on the employee’s goals, objectives, plans, and tasks for the year. Standards of satisfactory  performance are explicitly spelled out in measurable, attainable, and  specific terms. The second stage is a  mid-year, mandatory feedback and discussion session between the manager  and the employee. Progress toward objectives and performance strengths and weaknesses are discussed, as well as possible means for improving performance in the latter half of the year. Both the  manager  and the  employee  sign an  Ã¢â‚¬Å"objectives  sheet†Ã‚  indicating that the  meeting  took  place. The third stage in the appraisal process is the formal performance review, which takes place at year’s end. Both the manager and the employee prepare a written document, stating how well the employee met the preset performance targets. They then meet and discuss the performance of the employee,  resolving  any  discrepancies  between  the  perceptions  of  the  manager  and  theemployee. This meeting emphasizes feedback and improvement. Efforts are made to stress the  positive aspects of the employee’s performance as well as the  negative. This stage also includes a developmental planning session in which training, education, or development experiences that can help the employee are discussed. The merit increase discussion takes place in a separate meeting from the performance appraisal, usually a month or two later. The discussion usually centres on the specific reasons for the merit raise amount,  such as performance, relationship with  peers, and position in salary range. This allows the employee to better see the reasons behind the salary increase amount, as opposed to the  summary rank, which tells the employee very little. A follow-up survey was conducted the year after the implementation of the new appraisal system. Results were as follows: 81 percent better understood work group objectives  84 percent considered the new appraisal fair   72 percent said they understood how  their merit raise was determined 70 percent met their personal and work objectives  77 percent considered the system a step  in the right direction In conclusion, it can be clearly seen that the new system is a vast improvement over the previous one. Despite the fact that some of the philosophies, such as the use of self-appraisals, run counter  to conventional management practices, the  results speak for themselves. QUESTIONS 1. What type of performance appraisal is central to new system at Xerox? Which, if any, of  the criteria for a successful appraisal does this new system have? 2. Given the emphasis on employee development, what implications does this have for  hiring and promotions? 3.How  do  you  think,  management  feels  about the  new  performance  appraisal  system? Why? 4. Are there any potential negative aspects of the new performance appraisal system CONCLUSION Organisations need some means of ensuring performance standards are being achieved and objectives are being met. They also need to plan for the future by setting organisational objectives. These should be achieved through personal objectives agreed at the appraisal. This is vital for all employees in order to maintain a competitive position, and it is important that the method for doing this is successful. All the material in the ‘Skills of Appraisal and Performance Review’ resource is dedicated to that end. However, underlying the methods, practices and techniques there must be crucial managerial thoughts, attitudes and activities. BIBLIOGRAPHY BOOKS Organizational Behavior by Steve Robbins The Art of HRD, Reward Management, Volume 9  by Micheal Armstrongand Helen Murlis Performance Management, Concepts, Practices and Strategies for  Organisation success by S. K. Bhatia Human resource management by sunny fernandes WEBSITES https://www.google.co.in/search?newwindow=1&site=&source=hp&q=performance+appraisal&oq=performance+appri&gs_l=hp.3.0.0i10j0j0i10l8.1230.3930.0.5456.17.17.0.0.0.0.258.2039.6j10j1.17.0†¦.0†¦1c.1.28.hp..6.11.1167.T3ijeK0xX8s# https://www.google.co.in/search?newwindow=1&site=&source=hp&q=performance+appraisal&oq=performance+appri&gs_l=hp.3.0.0i10j0j0i10l8.1230.3930.0.5456.17.17.0.0.0.0.258.2039.6j10j1.17.0†¦.0†¦1c.1.28.hp..6.11.1167.T3ijeK0xX8s# https://www.google.co.in/search?newwindow=1&site=&source=hp&q=performance+appraisal&oq=performance+appri&gs_l=hp.3.0.0i10j0j0i10l8.1230.3930.0.5456.17.17.0.0.0.0.258.2039.6j10j1.17.0†¦.0†¦1c.1.28.hp..6.11.1167.T3ijeK0xX8s#