Buddhism The 4 noble truths Essay - 2091 Words

Buddhism’s Four Noble Truths Siddharta Gautama was twenty-nine years old when he abandoned his family to search for a means to bring to an end his and other’s suffering after studying meditation for many years. At age thirty-five, Siddharta Gautama sat down under the shade of a fig tree to meditate and he determined to meditate until he reached enlightenment. After seven weeks he received the Great Enlightenment which he referred to as the Four Noble Truths and the Eight-fold Path. Henceforth he became known as the Buddha. In The Heart of the Buddha’s Teaching, Thich Nhat Hanh provides a citation from the Buddha, which gives insight into the cure of our distress. â€Å"I teach only suffering and the transformation of suffering† (Thich Nhat†¦show more content†¦Expressed in a slightly different way, one may conclude that everything in the world, is ultimately unsatisfying. One also may conclude: it is impossible to satisfy ourselves with worldly things. This may be the best translation of them all. The fact that we cannot be ultimately satisfied means all aspects of life are filled with dukkha, and this causes suffering. Buddha further suggested that there are three kinds of dukkha. Everyday dukkha (dukkha-dukkha) relates to the ups and downs of daily living, birth, death, and physical pain. The dukkha of change or changing circumstances (virapinama-dukkha) recognizes that we have an innate desire to keep things the way they are when they are good but we cannot. Finally, dukkha ca used by the innate flaw of our conditioned existence (samkara-dukkha) describes the dissatisfaction or difficulty that arises from the fact that we are not perfect, eternal beings but are made up of the five skandha (aggregates) which become the hooks on which our attachments hang. It is these attachments that are at the root of our suffering. The Second Noble Truth is that the source of our suffering is craving and desire. When we look at psychological suffering, it is easy to see how craving causes it. The Second Noble Truth says that getting what you want does notShow MoreRelatedBuddhism And Hinduism : The 4 Noble Truths And The Eightfold Path1967 Words   |  8 PagesBoth initially originating in the Himalaya and written in Sanskrit, Buddhism and Hinduism are two of the main religions on the continent of Asia. Many believe that Buddhism first originated in Northern India in the 5th century B.C.E. when Siddhartha Guatama (the son of a king) rebelled against his father and went out into the world in hope of finding a way to end suffering . After trying many things, he eventually sat down beneath a bodhi tree to meditate. Supposedly by morning, he was said to haveRead MoreTheology: Overview of Buddhism1327 Words   |  5 PagesIntroduction Buddhism is a world religion based on the teachings of Buddha, who was born Siddhartha Gautama in Nepal around 563 B.C.E. and lived in Nepal and India. 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Attention Getter: â€Å"God said, let there be light: and there was light.† For Christians, Jesus is their only God. However, as the founder of another famousRead MoreBuddhism Research Paper1724 Words   |  7 PagesSkalkottas English 3-4 CP October 13, 2011 Buddhism The main focus of Buddhism is that the faith centers on correct understanding of human nature and ultimate reality, The Buddha was also called the Enlightened One, he taught that the way to eliminate suffering begins with understanding the true nature of the world. He rejected speculation about such matters as God, the nature of the universe, and the afyterlife, urging his folloers to focus instead on the Four Noble Truths by which they canRead MoreChristian View of Buddhism764 Words   |  4 PagesBuddhism is one of the largest religions in the world, and it is continually expanding throughout the world. Buddhism comes from budhi, which means to awaken, the goal of Buddhism. Buddhism is a very open and adaptive religion. Because of this, there are over 80,000 different types of Buddhism. The two most widest beleived being Mahayanna and Theraveda. There are about 3-4 million Buddhists in America now. Buddhism is rich in history and it appeals to millions, as it spreads messages of peaceRead More Comparing Buddhims, Taoism, and Confucianism Essay1469 Words   |  6 Pagesreligions of Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism. While researching this paper, I came across this quote from an unknown source that stated, ?No civilization is monochrome. In China the classical tones of Confucianism have been balanced not only by the spiritual shades of Buddhism, but also by the romantic hues of Taoism?. As each religion is surmised the similarities and differences between them will be revealed. Buddhism is the religions of about 400 million people in the Orient. 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There are three main branches of Buddhism Theravada Buddhism , Mahayana Buddhism and Tantric Buddhism. About 2,500 years ago, Prince Siddhartha

Essay on Persuasion by Jane Austen - 688 Words

Persuasion by Jane Austen Silence and Signals Direct communication is impossible due to social rules and proprieties. The prose style becomes chaotic and troubled as it is reflects a tormented mind filled with repetitions (Eight years, almost eight years had passed), urgent rhetorical questions (What might eight years not do?), exclamations (how natural, how certain too!), and interjections (Alas! With all her reasonings she found that to retentive feelings eight years may be little more than nothing). So Annes consciousness permeates the presentation of their meeting and pinpoints the difficulties of polite society, the veil behind all must act, he signals and performs enough to mark an easy footing. We see then the†¦show more content†¦Mary tells Anne Captain Wentworths observance to somebody else that Anne was so altered, that he should not of known her again. This communication was not supposed to be related to her and erects another obstacle between them and the resolution of their love. Whilst this revelation shat ters her it also erases her hope: a conviction in which she stoically rejoices. Her time then is spent agonizing between the emotional and passionate self and the composed sober self, hope and circumspection. The reader is privileged with an insight into his mind and we see that he is still hurt but ultimately still feels the same towards her as he did eight years ago, and the potential of the renewal of his love: He had not forgiven Anne Elliot. She had used him ill, deserted and disappointed him She had given him up to oblige others. It had been the effect of over-persuasion His bright proud eye spoke the happy conviction that he was nice; and Anne Elliot was not out of his thoughts, when he more than seriously described the woman he wished to meet with. A strong mind, with sweetness of manner, made the first and last of the description. Whilst we are thus informed by this mixed method of presentation of different types of consciousness, Anne is left floundering, guessing and interpreting his gestures and glances. He does not speak to her other than to say what civilitiesShow MoreRelatedPersuasion by Jane Austen1472 Words   |  6 PagesJane Austen, considered one of the most famous Romantic writers during her time, was praised for her ability and skill to write a good characterization. Persuasion, one of the most famous novels by Austen, is a good example of writing in which depicts her use of characterization and use of ironic styles in social relationships between classes in a society. In Persuasion, Austen uses attractive plots, different types of conflicts, rich characterization, and unique style to portray the emotions andRead MorePersuasion - Jane Austen1901 Words   |  8 PagesJaneca Latore AP English 12 Mr. Connelly April 7, 2012 Persuasion In Persuasion, the last of Jane Austen’s works, the readers are immediately intrigued by the autumnal tone of the piece, and the mellowness of the main character, Anne Elliot. Anne, a twenty-seven year old upper middle class woman, met and fell in love with Captain Frederick Wentworth at the age of nineteen. She was however, forced to break off the relationship at the time because Wentworth was deemed an unsuitable match. 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Captain Frederick Wentworth, the young gentlemen who Anne loves. Their love creates this story. Other Characters: Elizabeth Elliot, theRead MorePersuasion, By Jane Austen1550 Words   |  7 Pages Kathleen Hayes October 2nd, 2014 Paper #1 Prompt #9 In Jane Austen’s Persuasion, it may appear to some readers that Austen writes from a conservative perspective that reinforces women’s submissive and inferior roles in society. Many of the female characters seem to perpetuate traditional and oppressive gender roles, and a central plot line for most of the female characters involves finding a man to marry as a means of attaining ultimate happiness. However, while there are many examples of Austen’sRead MoreJane Austen s Novel Persuasion1657 Words   |  7 PagesJane Austen’s novel Persuasion explores how society worked in the 1800’s. It shows the issues of living in a patriarchal society and how social class was very important. Through Sir Walter Elliot’s character, it is shown how the upper classes have certain standards of behaviour and character traits that they show. Austen begins the novel with â€Å"Sir Walter Elliot, of Kellynch Hall, in Somersetshire, was a man who, for his own amusement, never took up any book but the Baronetage; there he found occupationRead MoreJane Austen s Persuasion 1822 Words   |  8 PagesJane Austen’s title â€Å"Persuasion† is very relatable to characters in many different ways. The first character that this title can relate to very much is Anne Elliot. She is the protagonist of Persuasion, and is very intelligent and thoughtful. Anne takes pride in her looks but gets very sad after overhearing Captain Wentworth think she has changed her appearance for the worst. However, overall, her persuasion comes from within herself as she is not only intelligent but also very strong willed. WeRead MoreA Close Analysis Of Jane Austen s Persuasion1098 Words   |  5 PagesA close analysis of Jane Austen’s Persuasion (Extract 3) Many readers of Persuasion believe Austen uses the namesake â€Å"persuasion† too neutrally. She appears to passively describe the results when the protagonist is persuaded to abandon Wentworth’s first proposal, but actually has much to say on being persuadable, and mainly argues that it is not inherently wrong. Persuasion in the novel’s early chapters works in two forms: as an overpowering force on the foolish like Sir Walter, or as an importantRead MoreMarriage Traditions in Persuasion by Jane Austen Essay1096 Words   |  5 Pagesfor money, for climbing social status, escapism, survival, etc. In Jane Austen’s novels, she focuses on the importance of marriage in her world because she wanted to emphasize how marriage is the most important life event of a woman as this would determine her place in society. Persuasion shows readers good and bad examples of marriage: the amiable Crofts and other couples such as Sir Walter Lady Elliot and the Smiths. Jane A usten uses the Crofts to support the importance of marriage equality asRead More Chapter One of Persuasion by Jane Austen Essay1153 Words   |  5 PagesChapter One of Persuasion by Jane Austen Chapter one of Persuasion makes use of a highly economic narrative style, which celebrates Austen’s success as a novelist. Austen’s narrative style is so successful in chapter one of Persuasion as many of the characters are introduced to the reader along with the majority of the main themes which concern them in the novel. Austen clearly underlines that she is writing with a novelist’s voice, using traditional conventions of third person with past

Strategic Operations Management Nokia Strategy

Question: Describe about the Strategic Operations Management for Nokia Strategy. Answer: Introduction This paper discusses how Nokia went through an organizational change strategy that enabled them find the success of adopting the windows phone platform. The paper analyzes some of the change strategy issues like resistance from stakeholders, conflict with the newly appointed CEO, the waves of resignation and cultural conflict that played during this strategic change(Nokia, 2016). The paper will also discuss marketing issue that included customer resistance, Intels response, network operator resistance and software development challenges. At the end, the paper will discuss ways that Nokia could have overcome some of the challenge that it faced during this time of strategic change. Background Nokia is one of the oldest company in the world. The company began in 1865 as a single paper mill operator by a Finnish Engineer Fredrik Idestam who set up the initial wood pulp mill in Southern Finland. At this, the first foundation of Nokia was layed(Anon., 2016). There are several strategic phases that the company went through and in in 1960 Nokia was a conglomerate which comprised of forestry, rubber, cable, power generation and electronics business. This resulted from a merger of Idestams Nokia AB and the Finnish Cable Works limited, a power cable and telephone producer which was founded in 1912 among other businesses. Through its different strategic journey the Finnish based company has since great geographical rise, from a Finnish focused company until the 80s when it began to experience a European and Nordic presence to becoming an bonafide European company in the 1990s(Nokia, 2016). By this time, Nokia became a multinational company with special focus on mobile and telecommu nication technology. Nokia entered the mobile phone market in the 1980s, by 1990s Nokia corporation launched phones with innovative features among other unique form factors that quickly respond the needs in the existing markets that led it to become one of the largest in the world. The company later on adopted different strategic changes. The nature of changes also affected the company on a larger or smaller scale. It also had an effect on the company operations which are provide in the next sections. Unfortunately, even with new changes, Nokia continued to experience a downturn in sales. Some of the changes proposed for the company included: Aiming to attain volume and value in growth through connecting the company with internet developing markets by the introduction of Nokia Windowss phone which was done through forming a strategic partnership with Microsoft to build a joint mobile ecosystem(Nokia, 2016). The change was also meant to make a focused investment in the next generation technologies through new leadership. The following sections discusses some of the obstacles with the proposed strategic change at Nokia. Employee resistance to strategic change with the new CEO For most companies, one of the most difficult situations that Executives face is resistance to change. This type of resistance usually take a number of forms that contribute to reduction in the companys output, at this the company is bound to experience a lot of employee turnover or transfers, chronic quarrels, hostility and slowdown at work. In most cases when executive experience this kind of resistance, they will tend to explain by assuming that in is normal for people to be difficult to change(Shilov, 2011). However, this was not the case of Nokia, when they resisted their new CEO Stephen Elop. There was employee protest march that followed this change, where thousands of employees marched out of the multimillion company to participate(ccsoya, 2011). They were not happy with the announcement that due to the change they were going to lose their jobs. This brought about a lot of confusion in the company as many of them did not know the way forward about their job roles(Lunden, 2012 ). During his Tenure, Nokias share are also reported to have fallen by 60% even with the new partnership of Microsoft to produce windows phone. The sales started to collapse from the outdated Symbian system to the untested unknown windows choosing it over the more popular android system that was introduced by google(MarketNews, 2012). The large number of these protesters were involved in the Symbian platform which means they were naturally concerned about the future role in the company immediately the partnership of Nokia and windows was fully integrated in the system(Lawton, 2011). This also meant that a bigger number of these employees would be concerned especially after Stephen Elop announced that there would be remarkable reduction of employees in different departments all over the world, those who would be most affected were the Nokia employees and not those of windows technology(Moore, 2012). According to a report by Reuters, Finlands Economy Minister Maura Pekkarinen advised that the restructuring of Nokia to form partnership with Microsoft was one of the largest structural change that ever affected in Finlands technological platform. After the announcement of the partnership, employees and customers alike were against it. At this time the companys share were reported to flop by 14% in the New York Stock exchange while its partners Microsoft shares only went down by 1%(ccsoya, 2011).(Moore, 2012) At this, most employees felt that the move to partnership was premature and was uncalled for. There was also the challenge of cultural differences during this change moment. The first person to point out cultural issues on organizational change was Hofstede in his theory discussing reasons people respond in different perspective to change management. According to Hofstede (2001), on cultural distance shows measures based on different dimensions of Hofstede that include uncertainty avoidance, power distance, masculinity and individualism (Hofstede, 2001). In the most recent times, Hofstede added another fifth dimension which is the long term orientation. However, this has received less attention when compared with the other four. The change management issue at Nokia is based on cultural differences between the CEOs native country and Finland. This was evident between the Scandinavian and the North American cultures. Especially with regard to the Finnish feminine who have a strong uncertainty and avoidance characteristics, were much underestimated. Elop himself being a Canadian was the first non-Finnish CEO of Nokia since 1896. When Nokia was still dominant in 2010 as the largest private company in Finland. In present times, this has changed and the company has a mix of different cultures with only about half of employees being Finnish(Hofstede, 2001). With reference to Hofstede theory of cultural differences, Finland is known to be a feminine country that has a higher rate of uncertainty and avoidance. In this regard, most employees in Finland would prefer to cooperate, care for the less unfortunate and have equal right to life. Finland people also are not used to many uncertainties about life and ways of life, they are always working hard to make sure that such incidences do not occur. Due to this, the shock of having 1000 of employees layed off due to the partnership with Microsoft did not take the country well. All these incidences were blamed at the new CEO Stephen Elop. By the fact that they walked out of his office and marched out against the announcement showed that, they have a strong issue with uncertainty avoidance(BBC, 2012). In contrast, the country that Elop came from, Canada, it has a strong masculine culture that exercises a lot of individualism with low incidences of uncertainty and avoidance. This meant that Elop was used to a culture that people learnt to take care of themselves and such announcement would be taken though with disregard, but with a lot of strive for better achievements and material compensation. This also shows that Elop and his change management experts, did not take time to learn about the cultural differences of the country and that of his native home or that of United States which is the home of Microsoft. For this reason, is proposals were met with a lot of resistance(Lunden, 2012). Customers Resistance According to Hofstede (2001), change in the organisations operations in the market comes with a lot of cost. It will alter its market and force the company to bring about change in its whole business structure. This will involve redefining jobs roles, cutting down positions and creating new posts. In a huge structure such as that of Nokia, power will also be transferred and change in reporting authorities(Shilov, 2011). Hofstede (2001) adds that any organizational change is there to increase efficiency, performance and profits for the organisations. Change will enable organisations meet their goals and come up with new guidelines to cooperate. In this regard, change will also affect the companys products which eventually affects the demand for these products(Andrews, 2012). In Nokia, after the partnership, they were met with a lot of customer resistance to the new partnership. It is devastating to note that even with the new partnership, the company did not do well in the market as it had not strategies to combat resistance from customers. Nokia supporters and Symbian users in the country were angry about the announcement they did not like the fact that Nokia was changing platforms which had created a lot of loyalty and accrued a huge number of users over the years. The outsider windows platform was seen as the biggest enemy since its offering came with the abandonment of their native MeeGo and Symbian. In addition, the network operators were not easy to change to the Nokia ecosystem due to Skype(Kurri, 2012). This voice application makes customers use internet connection to make national and international calls and is provided by Microsoft(Skype, 2016). They knew that introducing the windows phone in the market would eventually affect their network profits as people would easily communication by the use of Skype application once they are connected to the internet. This would put their internationally calling profits to a high time low. However to counter this, Nokia assured network users that they would allow network operators to include Skype as part of their default application which means it would incur extra charges once a customer used it to make national or international call(Meyer, 2011). With regard to software development for the new Nokia windows phone, the company also encountered challenges. This is because Nokia had been supporter of free and open source software (F/OSS)-Qt for a long time(Kurri, 2012). The application framework was embraced as it shared across the MeeGo and Symb(Ziegler, 2011)ian Both of them being projects that were tested and applied. On the other hand, the Microsoft Windows phone was a very proprietary platform like the Apple iOS which its closed source nature limited the freedom of development and innovation at a high degree(MarketNews, 2012). The Nokia platform had a lot of restriction that just saw many developers for the software application that would be used by the operators walk away. Discussion- Overcoming challenges faced by Nokia CEO Stephen Elop As discussed above, managing change is always a difficult task for any leader and there is not perfect ways that one can introduce change in organisations. However there are several areas that Stephen Elop would have considered to ensure that change was implemented. First, it is important to identify the need for change in the company and find ways to demonstrate why it was necessary for Nokia to make partnership with Microsoft. In this regard, as the CEO, one would have to inform employees and other stakeholders on the need for change in the company. It is important to make sure that they understood this need before change took place. At this, it would be necessary to conduct a cultural and customer loyalty analysis to the brand to know how change would be approached. For example due to the fact that Finnish people are of the uncertainty avoidance culture, as a CEO one would assure them of their Job security among other benefits should one be layed off instead of simply putting down to them(wallstreet, 2011). It would also be important for the CEO to consider training the existing employees on the new windows technologies so that they could be absorbed in the new management structure instead of having staff from Microsoft do the work. It is also important to watch out for staff reaction to weigh whether the new strategic direction is well received or would rather implement the change in another ways(Lunden, 2012). At this, a market analysis is also needed to find how customers would embrace the new product once in the market. If these areas were considered, there would be less resistance to change. Conclusion In conclusion, the move by Nokia to create partnership with Microsoft for the manufacturing of windows phone, drastically affected it customer map. It is important that the company come up with a new strategy on how to regain its former glory and improve its market share. References Andrews, R., 2012. Another Nokia Exec Out: UK Head Jumps To Pace As President. [Online] Available at: https://gigaom.com/2010/09/20/419-another-nokia-exec-out-uk-head-jumps-to-pace-as-president/ [Accessed 27 October 2016]. Anon., 2016. Nokia Corp(Nok.N). [Online] Available at: https://www.reuters.com/finance/stocks/chart?symbol=NOK.N [Accessed 27 October 2016]. BBC, 2012. Nokia cuts another 10,000 jobs as losses deepen. [Online] Available at: https://www.bbc.com/news/business-18438052 [Accessed 27 October 2016]. ccsoya, 2011. Nokia employees dont seem to agree with Elop on the Microsoft move. [Online] Available at: https://www.soyacincau.com/2011/02/13/nokia-employees-dont-seem-to-agree-with-elop-on-the-microsoft-move/ [Accessed 28 october 2016]. Hofstede, G., 2001. Cultures consequences:Comparing values, behaviors, institutions, and organizations across nations, (2nd ed.),. s.l.:Thousand Oaks, CA, Sage.. Kurri, S., 2012. The story of Nokia MeeGo. [Online] Available at: https://muropaketti.com/artikkelit/the-story-of-nokia-meego [Accessed 27 October 2016]. Lawton, C., 2011. Nokia's Pain Become's Finland's. [Online] Available at: https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702304563104576359743926525676 [Accessed 27 October 2016]. Lunden, I., 2012. Nokia Bridge: Nokias Incubator Gives Departing Employees 25k And More To Pursue Ideas That Nokia Has Not. [Online] Available at: https://techcrunch.com/2012/07/10/nokia-bridge-nokias-incubator-gives-departing-employees-e25k-and-more-to-pursue-ideas-that-nokia-has-not/ [Accessed 27 October 2013]. MarketNews, 2012. UPDATE 1-Accenture to cut more ex-Nokia staff in Finland. [Online] Available at: https://www.reuters.com/article/accenture-nokia-idUSL5E8G944P20120509 [Accessed 27 October 2016]. Meyer, D., 2011. Nokia's Elop to sell remaining Microsoft shares. [Online] Available at: https://www.zdnet.com/article/nokias-elop-to-sell-remaining-microsoft-shares-4010021695/ [Accessed 27 October 2016]. Moore, A., 2012. The Final Reckoning: Burning Platforms Memo Damaged Nokia: Wiped out $13B revenues, Destroyed $4B profits in just 12 months. [Online] Available at: https://communities-dominate.blogs.com/brands/2012/06/the-final-reckoning-of-burning-platforms-memo-damaged-nokia-by-wiping-out-13b-in-revenues-and-destro.html [Accessed 27 October 2016]. Nokia, 2016. Home. [Online] Available at: https://www.nokia.com/en_int [Accessed 27 October 2016]. Shilov, A., 2011. Intel: Nokia was a wrong partner. [Online] Available at: https://www.xbitlabs.com/news/mobile/display/20110519215126_Intel_Nokia_Was_a_Wrong_Partner.html [Accessed 27 October 2016]. Skype, 2016. Skype and Microsoft have Big Dreams. [Online] Available at: https://www.skype.com/en/about/#more [Accessed 27 October 2016]. wallstreet, 2011. Full Text: Nokia CEO Stephen Elops Burning Platform Memo. [Online] Available at: https://blogs.wsj.com/tech-europe/2011/02/09/full-text-nokia-ceo-stephen-elops-burning-platform-memo/ [Accessed 27 October 2016]. Ziegler, C., 2011. Nokia CEO Stephen Elop rallies troops in brutally honest 'burning platform' memo? (update: it's real!). [Online] Available at: https://www.engadget.com/2011/02/08/nokia-ceo-stephen-elop-rallies-troops-in-brutally-honest-burnin/ [Accessed 27 October 2016].

Tuberculosis Essays (584 words) - Tuberculosis,

Tuberculosis Tuberculosis has existed since 2000 BC. There has been evidence of tubercles in mummified Egyptian mummies dating around 2400 BC with clear symptoms of the disease. The Greeks were the people to give the disease its name tuberculosis which means small lumps. The major epidemics of tuberculosis were in the seventeenth century and in the nineteenth century, which mainly affected the Untied States and Europe. Little was known about how to fight or cure tuberculosis and there was also little research done on tuberculosis. It wasnt until the nineteenth century that great strives was made in helping find a cure for tuberculosis. In 1882 Robert Koch discovered a staining technique that eventually let him see the bacteria mycobacterium tuberculosis. An American physician Edward Trudeus built the first American sanatorium, because of his experiences with tuberculosis. By 1930 the United States had 600 sanatoriums with a total of 84,000 beds. Bacteriologists Albert Calmette and Camille Guerin worked with a violent strain of tuberculosis at the Pasteur Institute. In 1924 they developed a vaccination called BCG. They first administered the BCG vaccine to a young boy who was at a very high risk of developing Tuberculosis. The vaccine was successful and the newborn never developed the disease. Then in 1944 microbiologist Selman Waksman isolated an anti tuberculosis antibiotic, antinomyein but was too toxic for humans or animals to use. In 1943 Waksman discovered streptomycin a substance from streptomyes griseus that killed the bacteria mycobacterium tuberculosis, being the modern era of antibiotic therapy. With the use of antibiotics, tuberculosis decreased through out the world for the next thirty years. Mortality rates dropped sharply. In the United States tuberculosis dropped from 188 per 100,000 people in 1980 to about 1 per 100,000 people in 1980. The new cure for Tuberculosis was working so well that medical experts expected that tuberculosis would be completely eliminated by the year 2010. Unfortunately by 1985 tuberculosis began to get out of control in most underdeveloped countries and even in the United States where it increased by 20 percent. One reason for the increase of tuberculosis was HIV. People how became infected with HIV have their immune systems weakened by the disease which greatly increase the risk of getting tuberculosis. The increase of tuberculosis was the highest in African and Asia, where HIV infects the highest number of people in the world. Another reason for the increase of tuberculosis was the failure of patients to complete their whole proscribed medicine. Most people take the medicine until the felt better unaware that they have to take the whole dose of medicine to fully get rid of the disease. Also that by not fully finishing their medicine the disease had became resistant to some of the medicine s. Both of my articles that I used for this paper were very well written out they explained every thing and had bold face captions for things that were really important. I think that the articles did a good job in getting their point across especially about the mutation of tuberculosis and its resistance against medicine. I think that its us as the patients fault for not fully taking our medicine, but I think its also the doctors fault to because they never tell me that I have to take the whole perception or else the disease will became resistant to it next time. Bibliography http//www.state.nj.us/health/cd/tbhistry.com, A History of Tuberculosis http//www.content.health.msn.com, Tuberculosis Science Essays

1NX51 CDC VREs Essays

1NX51 CDC VREs Essays 1NX51 CDC VREs Paper 1NX51 CDC VREs Paper (001) Word gets back to the operations center that a coalition aircraft was seen plummeting to earth with a smoke trail. Someone in the center says ?Guess the bad guys got those new SAMs.? Without any proof of this, what type of statement is this? Hypothesis (002) Which bias is an unconscious belief which influences the act of knowing or making a judgment call? Cognitive bias (003) Observing and building an argument to arrive at a conclusion is using Reason (004) If Sheila is Jack‘s mother and Sylvia is Jack‘s grandmother then Sheila is Sylvia‘s daughter is what element of reasoning? Inference (004) What type of question requires little to no reasoning? Fact (005) Which intellectual standard is how broad or narrow of a perspective the analyst may have when solving a problem? Breadth. (006) What agency is responsible to the President through the DNI? CIA (006) Who maintains operational control of all US military forces conducting SIGINT? DIRNSA (006) The Air Force‘s service cryptologic element is known as? AFISRA (006) What extension of NSOC enables commanders to deal with the SIGINT system on a rapid reliable basis? CSG (006) Who enables US global information superiority in peacetime as well as during hostilities? NRO (006) A captured enemy ground forces weapon system would likely be exploited by whom? National Ground Intelligence Center (006) The lead producer of global maritime intelligence is ONI (006) The mission of the MCSB is to Provide trained and deployable SIGINT Marines (007) During an international incident, a smaller skirmish has flared up. Which of the following will be created to handle this situation? Joint Task Force (007) JTF‘s may be established on a geographic or functional basis when the mission has a Specific limited objective not requiring centralized control (007) How many MAJCOMS are there in the USAF? 10 (007) Which of the following are the most predominant forces within a coalition force? US forces (008) Which discipline exploits the adversary‘s communications, revealing the their intentions? COMINT (008) SrA Snuffy is searching the internet for publicly available information that would fall under which of the following intelligence discipline? OSINT (008) Which intelligence discipline provides a valuable source of information for automated planning systems and precision guided munitions? GEOINT (008) What can be used to monitor potential adversary technical developments and deployments, as well as emerging weapons of mass destruction (WMD) threats? MASINT (008) Which intelligence discipline‘s collections methods would include gathering documents and other information from closed arms proliferation talks? HUMINT (008) The 1N3X1 specialty deals with what? Foreign languages (009) Which security program seeks to prevent adversaries from taking advantage of unclassified information? OPSEC (009) Information concerning or derived from intelligence sources, methods, or analytical processes which is required to be handles exclusively within formal access control systems is called? Sensitive Compartmented Information (009) The act of classifying a specific item of information on the basis that an original classification decision has already been made by an authorized OCA is known as what? Derivative classification (009) Which of the following documents is the standard for classifying information in the IC? EO 12958 (009) There is a new safe in the work center. When should the combination be changed? Immediately (009) A temporary working area will not be used to store SCI and will not be used in excess of 40 hours per month (009) In regards to recording the destruction of classified material, how many witnesses must sign the paperwork? 1 for Secret, 2 for Top Secret (010) Good physical health and what can prevent muscle strain and increase movement? Stretching (010) For proper lifting technique where should you bend your body? At your knees (010) At a properly configured work station, the top of the monitor should be Slightly below eye level (010) To avoid eye fatigue, every _____ minutes you should take your eyes off the monitor and focus them on another object at least _____ feet away. 20; 25 (011) Which term is one of the three integrated employment capabilities of IO? Network warfare operations (012) This capability is designed to affect behaviors, protect operations, communicate commander‘s intent and project accurate information to achieve desired effects across the cognitive domain. Influence Operations (012) Which domain is considered the area of human action which pertains to mental processes such as intellectual, learning, and problem solving? Cognitive (012) This operation is information gathered and activities conducted to protect against espionage, other intelligence activities, sabotage, or assassinations conducted by or on behalf of foreign governments or elements thereof, foreign organizations, or foreign persons or international terrorist activities? Counterintelligence (012) Which AF organization supports influence operations through CI that is designed to detect, destroy, neutralize, exploit or prevent espionage activities through identification, manipulation, deception, or repression of the adversary? Office of Special Investigations (013) This is the collecting of electromagnetic data for immediate tactical applications. Electronic warfare support (014) Airmen on computer networks have determined and reported to their commander the apparent intrusion of the AF networks by a known hacker and appropriate countermeasures are taken. This is an example of Net D (014) Which NW Ops activity requires close coordination with signals intelligence collection, processing, exploitation, and dissemination? NS (015) This is a critical function that helps provide the commander the situational and battle space awareness necessary to successfully plan and conduct operations. ISR (015) What encompasses information assurance, system and network management, and information dissemination management? NetOps (016) What type of operation may be employed during the pre-conflict phase of information operations? Broadcasting deceiving information into the enemy‘s territory (017) There are ___________ phases of the intelligence cycle. six (017) Embedded at the air component command level, an Airman working here would provide a supported commander critical interaction with NSA. AFNTI (018) An aircraft performing surveillance against a target while in international airspace is employing what technique to gather information? Standoff techniques (019) Where are the two continental core DCGS sites located? Virginia and California (020) Which division within the AOC would concentrate on long-range and near-term planning to achieve theater objectives? Strategy Division (020) Which division within the AOC is responsible for near-term air and space operations planning within 48 hours prior to ATO execution? Combat Plans Division (020) You and Captain Jones are on the offensive ops team and checking the ATO to make sure there are packages assigned to each target. What division are you working for? Combat Operations Division (020) An Army brigade commander has requested resupply and a C-17 has been tasked. Your job is to ensure the mission was executed. What AOC team are you in? Air Mobility Control Team (020) Under which division within the AOC would you find the ATO Production Team? Combat Plans Division (021) Who is the AOC‘s primary producer of actionable intelligence in support of air, space, and information operations? ACF (021) What team has the overall responsibility of producing the RSTA annex and coordinating with JFC collection managers regarding national collection? ISR Operations (021) What support element provides direct exploitation support to the AOC, and may be tasked to serve as a backup exploitation node? ISE (022) Which situational awareness is needed to develop patterns of behavior, constraints, and opportunities of geography, topography, cultures, environment, and forces that allows us to misdirect, predict and pre-empt our adversaries? Predictive battlespace awareness (023) What type of targeting is the procedure for attacking targets that have been detected, identified, and developed in sufficient time for them to become part of a scheduled ATO? Deliberate (023) HUMINT sources have tipped off the AOC that a known insurgent group is building Improvised Explosive Devices and plan on placing them on established US patrol routes. What phase of the kill chain would ISR assets be engaged in? Find (023) During which targeting process phase are collateral damage and ROE restrictions reviewed? Target (023) What is the most important step in the air targeting process? Commander‘s objectives, guidance, and intent (023) What targeting restriction includes legitimate military targets, but ones for which damage would impede friendly operations or violate existing ROE? Restricted targets (023) What targeting restriction includes schools, churches, hospitals, embassies, and other important cultural landmarks? No-strike facilities (024) Information that symbolizes bodies of water and drainage features is represented by which color? Blue (024) Aeronautical symbols are for the specific purpose of air navigation and planning air operations are shown in purple (024) Runways may be represented by a pattern and have the following information except length of the longest runway (in meters of kilometers) (024) Vertical obstructions must be at least this tall? 200 feet (024) This is the height of the highest known feature in a section of the map. Maximum Elevation Figure (024) What shows the geographic area that a map covers? Location diagram (025) __________ is the vertical angle from the equator while __________ is the angle measured from the prime meridian. latitude; longitude (025) The prime meridian is a north-south line and the zero reference line for which observations? Astronomical (026) An example of _______________ is using an AWACS to assist an ingressing package of F-15E STRIKE EAGLEs because their radars don‘t see as far. Synergy (027) The objective of joint intelligence operations is to integrate service and national intelligence capabilities (028) Tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) are determined at what level of war? Tactical (028) An Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance function at the strategic level of war is to research foreign weapons systems in order to provide force protection as a part of what overall role? Accurate, timely, and predictive intelligence (029) The overall goal of any operation, regardless of scale, is to pursue ___________ and to counter potential threats to US national security interests. US national policy objectives (029) Which of the following can be a single, small-scale, limited-duration operation or a significant part of a major operation of extended duration involving combat? Crisis response and limited contingency operation (030) Which type of planning occurs for real-world real-time emergencies? Crisis action (030) The commander‘s staff has produced a document that identifies forces and supplies required, and provides a schedule for moving resources. What is this document called? OPLAN (031) How many AEFs does the AF have? 10 (031) What is the normal life cycle of an AEF? 14-month normal training; 2-month prep; 4-month deployment/on-call (031) When will the AETF be forced to tap into resources from the AEFs in the current rotation? In-theater resources are not available (032) Which Army element is always on call and ready to deploy and reach location within _________. Quick Reaction Force; 18 hours (032) How long does the APS have to be in-place after the deployment order is issued? 45 days (033) A CSG may be involved in a variety of roles, but its MAIN objective is_____. obtaining and maintaining sea control (034) Marine Air Ground Task Forces retain their basic organizational structure because the elements train, work, and deploy together (035) Which is not a Joint Special Operations Task Force responsibility? Plan special operations autonomously (036) Which of the below is an example of a coalition operation? US military and Australian operation (037) Which is NOT one of the goals of the DoD personnel recovery program? Allowing enemies a potential source of intelligence (037) What task begins when the recovery force relinquishes physical control of previously isolated personnel? Reintegrate (038) What aircraft is designed specifically to replace the A-10, F-16, and F/A-18A/B? F-35 Lightning II (038) What is the most flexible airlift aircraft in the AF inventory? C-17 Globemaster III (039) What US Army system is mainly used to provide survivable and highly mobile fire support for armor and infantry troops? Self-propelled howitzers (040) What fleet is responsible for 52 million square miles of the Pacific and Indian Oceans? 7th Fleet (040) What is the basic building block of US Marine Corps operating forces? MAGTF (041) What special operations mission includes subversion? Unconventional Warfare (041) What special operations mission includes network and infrastructure attacks? Counterterrorism (002) Which of the following is a form of patterning by perceiving a similarity between events or things because of superficial features? Stereotyping

wasteland essays

wasteland essays On April 1986, Soviet's Union Chernobyl nuclear plant exploded letting out a massive amount of radiation that would debate of all Russian citizens for hundreds of years to come. At exactly 1:21 am. on April, 1986 inChernobyl, a city near the Pripiat River the No. 4 reactor exploded and released thirty to forty times the radiation of the Nagasaki and Hiroshima bombing. The exact causes of the explosion are not known , however scientists and researchers, under thorough investigation, have uncovered possible causes to the explosion.1 The main reason why the explosion occurred was that, the operators of the plant were attempting to conduct an experiment with the emergency cooling system turned off, they made six fatal errors which sealed everyone's fate. Soviet officials clamed that if the technicians, would have avoided at least one of those mistakes, then the plant The technicians began the test one day before the explosion. They started reducing the reactor's power level so they could run the turbine experiment. However in order for the plant to run at lower power they had to turn off the automatic control system, which powered all emergency limitations that the plant should make in case it goes out of control. Turning of the cooling system was an unnecessary action and though it did not cause the explosion, it made the consequences more fatal. Just then the operator's receive a call from the local grid controller in Kiev, who needed the power and asked the technicians to stop lowering it, at what they obeyed. Once that was done the reactor was running with out the cooling system , which was a very serious mistake. At 11:10 p.m. the grid controller said he no longer needed the power, and the operators returned to reducing the power. At twenty minutes past midnight the operators forgot to set the regulator properly, it was the second fatal error. B...

Medical technology can have long term negative effects for human Essay

Medical technology can have long term negative effects for human populations - Essay Example Furthermore, social customs governing reproduction and technological developments in the areas of medicine and public health directly affect human populations. Indeed, medical technology through improved drugs and other state-of-the-art medical techniques has, questionably, contributed powerful impulse to the increase of human population by decreasing mortality rate, especially among children, and increasing life span (British Broadcasting Corporation, 2007). Medical technology is the diagnostic and/or therapeutic application of scientific breakthrough in the landscape of medicine (Advanced Medical Technology Association, 2004). . The basic objective of medical technology is improvement in health care delivery through early diagnosis, regular and effective patient monitoring, less invasive treatment options and reductions in hospital stays and rehabilitation times (Advanced Medical Technology Association, 2004). It facilitates efficient and effective delivery of a wide range of healt h care products to improve health. At its most advanced level, these technologies include miniature robots capable of performing complex spinal surgery, noninvasive treatment of brain tumors with a focused beam of gamma radiation, and light-activated drugs that target diseased cells. They also include already established techniques such as blood transfusion, radiation therapy, orthopedic surgery and immunology It is claimed that improvements in medical technology have come alongside with an exponential increase in human population (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2011). Most often, this increase in population has been attributed to advances in and increased use of medical technology (British Broadcasting Corporation, 2007). Furthermore, it is believed that human population will increase to a point where it will become a threat, not only to humanity, but also to our planet (Food and Agricultural Organization, 2001). Indeed, overpopulation in the animal kingdoms leads to biological issues su ch as unhealthy competition, and ultimately starvation and death (Bureau of Land Management, 2011). Consequently, many people have come to believe that medical technology, which has stimulated population growth, may ultimately lead to the starvation and famine (Food and Agricultural Organization, 2001). Those who held the above opinion fail to recognize that human population is not only controlled by health-care related factors but other factors such as food supply, wars and natural disaster have impact on it. Though medical technology might seem to have some side effects on human population as in the removal of the impact of natural selection, the effect may not be a long term one. Indeed, medical technologies seem to have removed the impact of natural selection on human population. For instance, a diabetic patient, who would have died young, has been aided by medical technologies to survive to the reproductive age, thereby passing the diseased gene to posterity. Why differential r eproductive success does have an effect on natural selection, it corollary, differential survival also plays a role. Thus a diabetic patient who could successfully adapt will definitely survive. Increasing resistance of microbes to antibiotics shows that over time, the

Does the international community have the responsibility to protect Essay

Does the international community have the responsibility to protect - Essay Example In 2005, world leaders at the UN Summit backed the Responsibility to Protect principle, which ascertains the mandate of the states to protect their populations against war crimes, ethnic cleansing, crimes against humanity, and genocide. In most parts of Africa, a lot has to be done before the principle is put into practice as indicated by the Sudan Darfur’s humanitarian disaster. The International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty first presented the doctrine of the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) in 2001 to the international community. This came out of the desire to alleviate preventable tragedies like those in Rwanda and Bosnia, which made headlines in the world during the 1990s. With the R2P doctrine, the international community has started to conceptualize and recognize its mandate to intervene in circumstances where the states are unwilling or incapable of protecting civilians, and stop or prevent massive human rights abuses in their borders. R2P has offere d a basis for discussions concerning the creation of African security architecture. Core to R2P is the requirement by the third parties to have the ability for effective and timely intervention in crises. (Besada 2010, p xviii). Case Study on Two African States in The 1990s Burundi Introduction After ten years of civil war and several years of post-independence fighting, Burundi is making progress in post-conflict peace building and recovery. The circumstances in Burundi did not get to full-scale genocide, and this is mainly attributed in part, â€Å"to early and long-term involvement on the part of regional and international actors including UN, African state governments, and NGOs† (Human Rights Center 2007, p89). The international and regional responses to the Burundi crisis are a clear indication of how R2P has been used before to alleviate, and respond to major ethnic violence and reconstruct societies in its outcome (Human Rights Center 2007, p89). Background to the Conf lict Burundi has a long and a sophisticated history concerning its violent conflict. The most recent cycle of violence happened in 1993 when Melchior Ndadaye was murdered by Tutsi-dominated army leading to open warfare between the military and the Hutu rebels. Melchior Ndadaye was the leader of FRODEBU (Hutu Front pour la Democratie au Burundi) and the first president to be elected democratically in Burundi. The resulting ethno-political violence claimed the lives of approximately 300,000 Burundians (civilians were the majority) and displaced millions. Several African leaders including Nelson Mandela (former South African President), Julius Nyerere (former Tanzanian President), and Jacob Nzuma (the current South African President) have sought a lasting solution to the conflict. The efforts to end to the conflict began in 2000 Arusha Agreement, which was signed by the government, the National Assembly, and17 Burundian political leaders. However, the main rebel groups, PALIPEHUTU-FNL (Parti pour la Liberation du Peuple Hutu – Forces Nationales de Liberation), and CNDD-FDD (Conseil National pour la Defense de la Democraite – Forces pour la Defense de la Democraite) did not sign the agreement. The agreement also failed to offer ceasefire agreements, which were consequently negotiated between the

Organizational Responsibilities Essay Example for Free

Organizational Responsibilities Essay According to the American Medical Association (AMA) an impaired physician is unable â€Å"to practice medicine with reasonable skill and safety due to mental illness, physical illness, including but not limited to deterioration through the aging process, or loss of motor skill or excessive use or abuse of drugs, including alcohol† (API, 2011). The scenario presented for this assignment involves Dr. Smith a talented and skillful cardiac surgeon on staff at a local community hospital, who is currently engaged in a divorce. On multiple incidences, hospital staff members observed Dr. Smith to be intoxicated. On one of these occasions, a nurse observed him the night before he was scheduled to operate, inebriated, and notified her supervisor. On the morning of surgery, Dr. Smith called in sick. There is great concern on the part of the hospital administration that Dr. Smith may perform surgery in an impaired state, noting he recently has made errors during surgery. A Health care organization’s ultimate responsibility is to the patients it serves, and to make certain that physicians, either employed or privileged, are competent and functioning appropriately while providing quality patient care (Ohlsen, 2006). Under the doctrine of corporate negligence, â€Å"the hospital is liable if it fails to uphold the proper standard of care owed the patient, which is to ensure the patient’s safety and well-being while at the hospital† (Pozgar, 2010, p. 242). Hospitals hold certain nondelegable duties unrelated to the negligence an employee may commit. Two nondelegable duties include monitoring the quality of care rendered by the medical staff, and hiring and keeping competent physicians (Pozgar, 2010). Allowing Dr. Smith to operate with the knowledge that he has committed errors during the performance of [continues]

Commercial Warfare :: essays papers

Commercial Warfare In the presidency of Thomas Jefferson, continuing through Madison’s term, the United States initiated a policy to retaliate against the seizure of ships by the British and French. These three dominant nations entered a period between 1806-1810, known as Commercial Warfare. The Commercial War was a response by Americans to maintain their right of neutral commerce. The Acts by the United States, the Decrees by the powerful Napoleon I, and the Parliamentary orders, throughout the period of Commercial Warfare directly led to the start of the War of 1812, and helped build the commercial future of the United States. The Peace of Amiens did not last long after it’s signing on March 27, 1802, to end the European wars between the allied France and Spain, and Great Britain, with the United States now neutral due to the coup of the French monarchy. Neither France, nor Britain upheld the treaty, and hostilities were reassumed. In 1805, Britain seized and condemned the US vessel Essex, engaging in trade with French West Indies. A year later, it was reported that Britain had seized over 120 American vessels. In April of 1806 Congress passed a non-importation act excluding trade with many British products. Britain and France engaged in decrees and counter-decrees against one another between 1806 and 1807. In May 1806 Britain established a naval blockade on the entire northern coast of Napoleon’s empire. Napoleon’s Berlin Decree in November 1806 declared a state of blockade on the British Isles, and disallowing any commerce with England. Britain retaliated in January and furthermore in November, condemning all ships engaging in trade with France, and to only give warning to those who’s engagement was prior to the Order. Napoleon countered with the Milan decree, stating that any nation’s ship that has traded with, searched by, or in anyway engaged with Britain, is denationalized, and was then considered to be flying the British flag. The United States, while mostly standing by, as its interdependent commerce was being virtually destroyed, took actions in 1807. The United States trade was highly dependent upon the nations of France and Great Britain, but by the Decrees and Orders of Council, the United States was refused trade with each nation. In 1807, the United States established an Embargo Act, preventing all trade. The Embargo Act had been a costly miscalculation.

Employee Relations

PREFACE It is a matter of honour for me to present my findings on Employee Relations. This report is an honest earnest effort to study Employee Relations as an important tool of Human Resource Management. I got an opportunity to work at GPI for my summers which instigated initiated the idea of the project. I started with reading HRM by Ashwathapa which gave me a foundation to HUMAN RESOURCES as a function. Later I surfed the net for more specific information and browsed through a variety of HR policies of companies. It gave me a brief knowledge about Employee Relations and I formed a questionnaire for the companies I was going to research on. Some articles that caught my attention while doing research are included in my observations. To add spice to this dish, I have also scaled the practices of Employee Relations in other countries. Since I was working at GPI, gathering information was easier compared to others. I have found some interesting insights regarding Employee Relations which are mentioned in the report. So, with due respect to my patient readers, I welcome you to the unremitting process of Employee Relations. STUDY OF EMPLOYEE RELATIONS |Sr. no. |TOPIC |PAGE NO. | |I |Executive summary |3 | |1 |Human Resources Management |5 | |2 |EMPLOYEE RELATIONS |8 | |2. |Introduction |8 | |2. 2 |Overview |9 | |3 |Employee Relations in brief |11 | |3. 1 |Downward Relation (employer to employees) |11 | |3. 1. 1 |Training and induction |11 | |3. . 2 |Benefits |12 | | |Incentives and allowance | | | |Monetary benefits | | | |Medical facilities to staff | | |3. . 3 |Safety | | |3. 1. 4 |Career Development |13 | |3. 1. 5 |Recreation facilities and stress management |13 | |3. 1. 6 |Collective problem solving. bargaining) |13 | |3. 1. 7 |Involvement and engagement |14 | |3. 1. 8 | Rewards and recognition |15 | |3. 2 |Upward communication (employee to employer) |15 | |3. . 1 |Feedback |15 | |3. 2. 2 |Performance appraisal |15 | |3. 3 |Horizontal Relation (amongst Employees) |16 | |3. 3. |Annual events and magazines |16 | |3. 3. 2 |Welfare activities |16 | |4 |Advantages of maintaining Good Employe e Relations |17 | |5 |Role and scope of Human resources. 19 | |6 |GODFREY PHILLIPS INDIA LTD |20 | |7 |PARLE INDIA LIMITED |31 | |8 |TAJ LANDS END |39 | |9 |Comparative study |47 | |10 |Worldwide Employee Relations |51 | |11 |Personal observation. |58 | |12 |Conclusion |61 | I. Executive summary The objective of the report is to have an overview of HRM and Employee Relations at GODFREY PHILLIPS INDIA LTD. (Andheri), TAJ LANDS END (Bandra) and at PARLE PRODUCTS PRIVATE LTD. (Vile Parle). The objective was to analyze Employee Relations at a plant factory and in the service sector. The Human Resources Management (HRM) function includes a variety of activities, and key among them is maintaining amicable relations with the workforce. Both the sectors are such where employees become the crux of all operations. For the plant (factory), it is the employee who works on the machine. Even at PARLE, where most of the operations are automated, workers need to operate the machines. At the hospitality sector, it is the employee who communicates with the guest. The behaviour of the employee gives inkling about the company. Thus it is very important to maintain cordial relations with the workforce. The goal of Employee Relations is to end up with a productive and motivated employee that will help effectiveness. Following the introduction to Employee Relations is a brief overview of how Employee Relations has evolved as an activity. Following that in chapter 6 are the advantages of maintaining good employee relations. The importance of HR department, HR mission and the activities of the department for Employee Relations are detailed. According to me, HR department gets concerned in 3 types of relations. First the employer to the employee, second employees to employer and third is amongst the employees. There is comprehensive information on all 3 and how it benefits the company. The report gives a brief introduction about the companies. It has knowledge about the history of the company, vision, core values and the Corporate Social Responsibility activities initiated by the company. Following this is the organization structure. In addition, I have also studied the practices at other countries like Japan, UK and USA for Employee Relations. This includes the different procedures for Employee Relations, their trade unions and the laws regulating the same. The report ends with my personal observations about each company and some articles that caught my attention while research. Conclusion about employee relations ends my report In order to achieve the above mentioned objective and finish the study to perfection, the methodology used was a balance of primary and secondary sources. Primary sources were the personal visits to the companies and secondary was the information collected from websites. To facilitate this, I started with reading a few books on Employee Relations and human resources to understand the basic concept of Employee Relations. I also browsed the net to find more detailed information on specific topics. I practically saw the HR department at GPI work and Later, I formed a questionnaire on various practices to understand the functioning of HR department at other companies. A sample of these companies was chosen on the basis of their scale of operations, reputation and quick accessibility. 1. HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGEMENT Human Resource Management is an integral part of management. It helps the management in taking a strategic view of a very important resource i. e. Human Resource. It helps management in identifying key skill sets, knowledge, values required in the employee and the rewards that are needed to be given to the employees so that the organisation goals are fulfilled. Also like other management functions, it has to ensure that these resources are available at an optimal cost. It has to look into various training and development activities to ensure this. This is a key area for Human Resource Management as it shows their contribution in terms of money. The money here would be the opportunity cost incurred due to appointing of new employees instead of developing current employees for the task in hand. Functions From recruiting to orienting new employees, from writing job descriptions to tracking vacation and sick leave, and from instituting and monitoring policies to monitoring benefits, there has been a need for an HR generalist to assist senior management in both establishing a â€Å"structure† to holding down costs of administration. HRM is a function that helps manager’s recruit, select, train, and develop employees for an organization. 1. Human Resource Planning: is understood as the process of forecasting an organizations future demand for, and supply of, the right type of people in the right number. 2. Job Analysis: is the process of studying and collecting information relating to the operations and responsibilities of a specific job. The immediate products of this analysis are job descriptions and job specification. 3. Recruitment: is the process of finding and attracting capable applicants for employment. The process begins when new recruits are sought and ends when their applications are submitted. The result is a pool of applicants from which new employees are selected. 4. Selection: is the process of differentiating between applicants in order to identify (and hire) those with greater likelihood of success in a job. 5. Placement: is understood as the allocation of people to jobs. It is the assignment or re-assignment of an employee to a new or different job. 6. Training and development: It is an attempt to improve current or future employee performance by increasing an employee’s ability to perform through learning, usually by changing the employee’s attitude or increasing his or her skills and knowledge. The need for training and development is determined by employee’s performance deficiency, computed as follows: Training and development need = Standard performance – Actual performance 7. Remuneration: is the compensation an employee receives in return for his or her contribution to the organization. 8. Motivation: is a process that starts with a psychological or physiological deficiency or need that activates behavior or a drive that is aimed at a goal or an incentive. 9. Participative management: Workers participation may broadly be taken to cover all terms of association of workers and their representatives with the decision making process, ranging from exchange of information, consultations, decisions and negotiations to more institutionalized forms such as the presence of workers members on management or supervisory boards or even management by workers themselves as practiced in Yugoslavia. ((ILO) 10. Communication: may be understood as the process of exchanging information, and understanding among people. 11. Safety and health: Safety means freedom from the occurrence or risk of injury or loss. In order to ensure the continuing good health of their employees, the HRM focuses on the need for healthy workers and health services. 12. Welfare: as defined by ILO at its Asian Regional Conference, defined labour welfare as a term which is understood to include such services, facilities, and amenities as may be established in or in the vicinity of undertakings to enable the person employed in them to perform their work in healthy, congenial surroundings and to provide them with amenities conducive to good health and high morale. 13. Transfer: involves a change in the job (accompanied by a change in the place of the job) of an employee without a change in the responsibilities or remuneration. 14. Separations: Lay-offs, resignations and dismissals separate employees from the employers. 15. Employee Relations: is concerned with the systems, rules and procedures used by unions and employers to determine the reward for effort and other conditions of employment, to protect the interests of the employed and their employers, and to regulate the ways in which employers treat their employees. 16. Disputes and their settlement: Industrial disputes mean any dispute or difference between employers and employers, or between employers and workmen, or between workmen and workmen, which is connected with the employment or non-employment or terms of employment or with the conditions of labour of any person. 2. EMPLOYEE RELATIONS 2. 1 Introduction People in organisations interact with each other during work, formally and officially as well as socially and informally. During the course of interaction, relationships develop, which are invisible connecting links, coloured by emotions of love, hate, repulsion, respect, fear, anxiety and so on. These are usually mutual but not necessarily reciprocal. If A hates B, it does not follow that B hates A. It is possible that B loves A and even sympathizes with his thoughts. Relationships imply feelings for each other. They may be positive (friendly, wanting to be close) or negative (unfriendly, wanting to be distant). Relationships always exist between interacting persons. There is no neutral point. Indifference is not neutral. Indifference tends to be negative. Relationships influence behaviours at work. Expectations of each other, perceptions of the intentions of either, distributions of assignments, readiness to conform or to rebel, enthusiasm to contribute, etc. , are to some extent outcomes of these relationships. Attitudes and motivations influence, and are influenced by, the nature of these relationships. Employees are among an organization's most important audiences with the potential to be its most effective ambassadors. Employee Relations are practices or initiatives for ensuring that Employees are happy and are productive. Employee Relations offers assistance in a variety of ways including employee recognition, policy development and interpretation, and all types of problem solving and dispute resolution. Once there was a time when â€Å"Employee Relations† meant labor relations everywhere around the world. Negotiate. Orchestrate. Dictate. HR professionals helped negotiate collective bargaining agreements. The provisions of that contract defined the relationship between management, unions, and workers. Today, Employee Relations is a much broader concept. It involves maintaining a work environment that satisfies the needs of individual employees and management. Improving employee morale, building company culture, conveying expectations 2. 2 Overview An effective employee relation involves creating and cultivating a motivated and productive workforce. People are generally motivated from within, but what can you do to help foster the type of environment where employees thrive, enabling your company to outperform the competition â€Å"Employee Relations† starts with determining the type of workplace the company wants. It starts by considering what the company wants its employees to say about working for the company. In a competitive market, it is important to that employees don’t feel that they might be treated more fairly elsewhere. After all retention is one of the major functions of HRM. By considering what the company wants employees to say about working for it gives shape to the company’s culture. The company culture conveys organization's core values to its employees, customers, vendors, and community. In addition to the workplace climate, the company also considers the types of processes or systems it wants to employ within the workplace to support the company culture and enhance the working relationship that exists between the company and its workforce. Such systems could include communications, policies, training, and development. Also, an essential step in building effective Employee Relations is to evaluate the human, financial and other resources available that reinforce the values and guiding principles the company wants echoed throughout the organization. For example, what type of supervisors and managers does it believe can bring out the best in people and projects? The company should also make certain from the start that employees are not in counter productive work environments where work is more arduous than it needs to be. Is the workplace compliant with employment law? A major source of frustration for employees is the feeling that they were treated unfairly. Good liability management tools are necessary to ensure that the company avoids unnecessary confrontations, time wasters and costly legal battles Traditionally Employee Relations programs were centered around labor union relations. Today, Employee Relations does not necessarily involve unions. However, it does involve cultivating the leadership style and workplace practices that help make union organizing activities a less attractive option for employees. Establishing workplace and management principles set the stage for fostering a successful work climate and establishing your company's culture. Effective Employee Relations is about establishing processes that address and nurture that culture. Employees in such organisations develop attitudes very different from those in another organisation that does not make any such distinction and is more secular in its policies. These different attitudes will be reflected in their behaviours outside the organisation and will either strengthen or weaken the social fabric. An organisation in which authority is highly centralised and does not allow its people enough discretion, will develop among its people tendencies for dependency and inability to take responsibility. These tendencies are handicaps in their roles as parents or citizens. The extent of concern shown for the effect of working conditions on employees’ health has an impact on the society, not merely in terms of general health and costs on medical care, but also in terms of the kind of activities that the members of the society participate in. When an organisation is sensitive to its impact on society, and responds to the society’s concerns, it is said to be socially responsive. On the contrary, if it is concerned only with its own purposes and ignores the impact that it has on society, it is said to be socially not responsive Relationships also contribute to stress and conflicts at work, which in turn, affect quality of work life of individuals as well as the quality of organizational outputs, measured in terms of customer satisfaction, competitive advantage, innovation, and so on. 3. EMPLOYEE RELATIONS IN BRIEF According to me, Employee Relations can be classified in 3 types, with HRM intervening. First is the downward communication flowing from employer to the employees Second is upward flowing from employees to employer and Third is horizontal communication amongst the employees. 1. Downward communication (employer to employees) 3. 1. 1. Training and Induction Every new employee needs a company orientation, but most supervisors forget that employees also need to be orientated to the company's VISION in addition to learning their coworkers' names, company policies, and what not to eat in the cafeteria. The company's vision statement tells the employee where the company is going, what their role will be, and how success and achievement will be measured. Achieving great performance in the company is a journey, not a destination. For any business to succeed one must first recognize that the people are the greatest asset, and service is your most valuable product. Continuous improvement by training and developing employees is critical for business survival. Recent U. S. orkforce demographics provided by the Bureau of Labor Statistics make a compelling case for businesses of all sizes to begin planning for ongoing training of employees. Experts project that 60% of new jobs in the early 21st century will require skills possessed by only 20% of to day’s workforce. Technology is raising the skill level requirements for the best and fastest growing jobs, but schools and adult learning programs are not keeping pace. The likely result is that demand for highly skilled workers will outstrip the supply of qualified workers in the coming years. These statistics would seem to move training and employee development to the list of services in high demand. 2. Benefits Benefits often have a higher impact on employee recruitment and retention than compensation. Employees who know their needs are met are also more likely to contribute to a positive morale. Besides the customary Allowance like †¢ For Workers Attendance bonus, Over Time Allowance which is double the Basic, House Rent Allowance, Education Allowance, Conveyance Allowance which is fixed as per 6 scales of the workers, and Leave Travel Allowance amongst others. †¢ For Staff (Basic)TA/DA, Attendance Bonus, Production Incentive, Over Time Allowance which is equal to one and half times, House Rent Allowance, Education, Leave Travel Allowance, and Annual Bonus amongst others. ( Sodexho Meal Vouchers, medical reimbursement ) Companies also provide Monetary Benefits, ( Insurance) and Medical Facilities to the workforce. 3. Safety Health and safety risks may arise from physically dangerous work, such as work with hazardous machinery or relate to less immediately visible factors such as exposure to pollution. Accidents and ill health may ruin or seriously impair the lives of employees and their dependents. An employer must encompass necessary safety measures for the trust from the employee. 4. Career Development and job opportunities Career Paths are constructed in order to determine the optimum movement and utilization of people in the organisation. Therefore, due care should be given to various elements of the position – including job analysis and the competency requirements at each stage. 5. Stress management and Recreation facilities Working Hours and Holidays need to reflect an adequate balance of the quality of work life of all employees. It is recognized that for certain categories of employees business related work may transcend the routine office timings; whilst for other categories business may be purely confined to the work hours and timings. The quotation â€Å"all work and no play can make jack a dull boy† is apt for the company to understand the importance of recreation facilities. 6. Collective problem solving It is the duty of the HR to find ways of resolving issues between employees on one hand and employees and Management on the other. As long as there are human beings at the work place there would always be need for arbitration amongst them. It is at this time that HR should use the â€Å"grape vine channel† to its advantage and call officers to a round table for reconciliation and if it is between workers and Management should ways of brokering peace. Although the trade unions are expected to only deal with matters concerning workers, it can be argued that everything that happens within a company, including product development and business strategies, affect workers one way or other and trade unions have gradually sought to extend their areas of concerns. The management’s attempts to contest such expansions on the ground of â€Å"management prerogative† have by and large not succeeded. These activities involve a number of skills crucial to human resource managers. HR specialists are also involved in issues which are considerably legislated and touch on home life and health as well as more familiar workplace topics such as discipline and conflict. 7. Involvement and Engagement Participation of employees has been a subject of discussion since the 1930s when Elton Mayo’s experiments led to the development of the human relations school. Participation can be and has been provided in the structure of the organisations. Participative management involves associating employees at every level in the decision making process. Participation may be at the board level, collective bargaining, job enlargement, job enrichment, suggestion schemes, quality circles, and empowered teams. Participative management is also called Employee involvement. The Industrial Disputes Act provided for participation in the management of the shop floor. Representatives of the workers would be appointed to various committees to decide upon matters affecting the worker at the shop floor. The rationale behind the concept of involving workers in bodies that decide on matters concerning them is that the principle of democracy The lesson is that the advantages from the practice of participation cannot be derived from creating appropriate structures alone. The nature of the processes within the structures, are important. At the basic level, calling for suggestions is participation. In terms of Hertzberg’s motivation-hygiene theory, participation in decision making is a powerful motivator, because in that process, there is recognition and achievement, a sense of being wanted, of being important. Employees may also reduce turnover and absences when they begin to feel that working conditions are satisfactory and that they are becoming more successful in their jobs. They identify themselves with the work and this leads to an improved performance. 3. 1. 8Rewards and Recognition The purpose of an employee recognition and reward program is to express the employer’s appreciation for a job well done. Employee recognition and rewards can take many forms, from a simple thank you note to cash to an extravagant awards ceremony, just to name a few. Generally, recognition and rewards can be distinguished in two categories. At all these companies, recognition is distinguished as a pat on the back or a word of praise, growth prospects and competent supervision amongst others. Alternative monetary rewards include incentives, bonuses, and commissions. In addition, employees put a great value on benefits such as life insurance, disability insurance, health and/or retirement benefits, and perks. Top performing companies have begun documenting â€Å"best practices† which show a direct relationship between employee morale and productivity, profitability, turnover and retention, thus measuring the value of human resources. 1. Upward relation (employee to employer) 1. Feedback It is the job of the supervisor to guide the employee into understanding which of their ideas for change will be helpful in meeting the company's goals. A good supervisor also guides each of their employees differently because similar to Pokemon, each employee offers unique talents and will evolve into different forms of advanced employees 2. PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL Most managers say they want to pay for performance, but few sit down and conduct a performance review with an employee. Raises, Career paths, training plans, and departmental productivity are impacted by an employee’s performance. In addition, a well-designed, effectively implemented appraisal system can provide solid documentation of performance accomplishments or problems that the supervisor can use to justify or defend a wide range of personnel actions or decisions. 3. Horizontal Relation (amongst Employees) 1. Annual events and magazines Annual events are a way of getting to know the employee on a personal level. It is also a team building exercise and is common in all companies Inhouse magazines too are common. They tell the employee about the company and employee participation is encouraged by articles. 3. 3. 2 Welfare activities The objective of providing welfare facilities is to ensure that employee attention is not diverted from work to maintenance activities. It also aims to provide a caring environment that enhances the satisfaction of the employee with working conditions 4 ADVANTAGES OF MAINTAINING GOOD EMPLOYEE RELATIONS. The Gallup Organization published research proved that a more engaged employee is also a more productive employee. The research also proved, that a more engaged employee is also a more profitable employee, a more customer-focused employee, a safer employee, and an employee who is more likely to withstand temptations to jump ship and in turn it is also true that the longer employees stay with an organization, the less engaged they become. Following are the advantages of maintaining good relations with the employees. 1. Reduced Absenteeism One reason, outside of illness, that employees are absent is stress, and the number one reason employees are stressed has to do with their relationship with their manager/supervisor. Management styles that are too authoritarian tend to promote high levels of absenteeism among employees also increase turnover, job burnout, and employee health problems such as backaches and headaches. Employees may also reduce turnover and absences when they begin to feel that working conditions are satisfactory and that they are becoming more successful in their jobs Absenteeism rate at GPI is around 13-14 % on an average but a little high during summer holidays. ( Does it include approved leaves?.. why elaborate/justify.. ) Absenteeism at TAJ is under control as per the norms. The absenteeism rate at PARLE is 8 % and increases by 3 % reaching to 11 % during the summer holidays. In addition, these programs help reduce turnover thereby reducing your training, recruiting, and administrative human resource expenses. 2. Improved Morale & Motivation. The secret of creating a motivating employee review lies in the relationship between accuracy and money( not a correct expression†¦ xpectations of the employee & the C) The right combination provides with a highly motivated employee. Maintaining good Employee Relations creates an environment of trust and increases morale. This improv es the motivation of the employee. A motivated employee is contagious and is beneficial for the growth of the company 3. Harmony in the organisation Increase in the level of job satisfaction has a direct relation with the smooth workflow. There will be lesser arguments and more discussions. Employees will be ready to share information and help each other out. A good relation with the employee also inculcates discipline. Thus harmony is maintained. 4. Lesser attrition – reduced cost on training, less cost of retention A reduced attrition rate will reduce the cost of training and induction. No new employees will need to start afresh. The company can save on getting to know new employees. GPI spends around Rs. 5 Lakhs( isn’t it less?.. ) on training every year with the attrition rate being less than 2 %. For TAJ, There is a bloodbath in Mumbai today, with seven hotels cheek-by-jowl near the airport. Retention of talent is the chief challenge. Staff is routinely poached by not just industry competitors but also banks, call centers and others. On the upside, they are the biggest and the most profitable chain and apparently enjoy an attrition rate which is lowest in the industry. They are most in the news, too. They must be doing something right( What are they doing?.. ) At PARLE, it seems the employees are not interested in leaving at all. The attrition rate is a minimal at 2-3% for staff, and between 1-2% for its workers. ( Please re-check the figures!! It can’t be!! Last one year it should be around 15%.. which Parle location is this?.. ) 5. Attract good talent Attracting the most qualified employees and matching them to the jobs for which they are best suited is important for the success of any organization. A good company with good Employee Relations will be talked about. There is a brand image created in the mind of the employees which attracts them to the company like a drop of honey. Like for example there are companies like TATA, HLL, Birlas, or Infosys where people would be glad to work. TAJ wants to create an image where, if 10 employees are interviewed and 1 gets selected, then the rest should feel sorry, not for being unemployed (selected) but for losing getting an wonderful opportunity to work for an interview with for TAJ Knowledge about satisfying work places with comfortable working conditions and friendly work culture and transparency in the organisation are always passed through the grapevine and thus attract employees. Later it’s the job of the recruitment cell to hire employees as per the requirements. 6. Responsible for increase in productivity. As the saying goes, a happy worker is a productive worker. Thus a satisfied worker will take lesser breaks, spend lesser time in the canteen gossiping and more time working for the company. There will be Greater commitment which means quality output. There will be loyalty and less wastage of company resources. The employee will seek for opportunities for intensifying the business and look out for new chances of expanding the company. They identify themselves with the work and this leads to an improved performance. Finally, the act of participation in itself establishes better communication, as people mutually discuss work problems. 7. Open to organizational / hierarchical changes (flexibility) The workers’ self-esteem, job satisfaction, and cooperative with the management is improved. The results often are reduced conflict and stress, more commitment to goals, and better acceptance of a change. 8. Shared learning and Continuous improvement. A satisfied employee will look for ways of continuous improvement. They will participate in programs such as kaizen and try for the better of the company. Employees in a good employee relation management will share their new learning’s and wisdom with his colleagues. 5. ROLE and scope of Human resources The key process that defines the HR strategy is ensuring an effective and efficient organisation through appropriate people-job-organisation fit Each and every HR plans thus focuses on: †¢ Productivity †¢ Performance †¢ Satisfaction, to further the business objectives of the organisation through the optimal utilization of the human resources. 6. GODFREY PHILLIPS INDIA LTD. (ANDHERI) Vision â€Å"To be the best quality cigarette manufacturing in the country, producing at optimum cost with total employee involvement and maintaining clean and safe environment inside and outside the factory premises. † INTRODUCTION GPI, the second largest player in the Indian cigarette industry with an annual turnover of over US$ 265 million is a joint venture between Modi group and global cigarette major Phillip Morris. Some of the leading brands in GPI’s portfolio are Jaisalmer, Cavenders, Four Square, Red & White and Originals. The company has a value market share of 11. 4% and a volume share of 12. 4% in the cigarette industry in 2004-2005. Godfrey Phillips has the strong backing of over 15,000 shareholders in the Country. The manufacturing of cigarettes is done in the Andheri factory in Mumbai and in Guldhar (Ghaziabad) called the ITC factory (International Tobacco Company). These constitute the manufacturing operations of the CIGARETTE DIVISION in the company. Core values Core Values are those values, which are enduring tenets of the organisation and are timeless guiding principles. Core values help the organisation to achieve its vision. Core values are those values, which are not compromised, even though they become a competitive disadvantage under certain situations. The Andheri Factory, has articulated the following Core Values. †¢ Provide Environment For Development †¢ Urge to change for Improvement †¢ Focus on Quality. The Andheri Management Team with its commitment to achieve excellence in Quality shall ensure compliance to this policy and economic competitiveness in the implementation. Nothing represents the true spirit of Godfrey Phillips more aptly than the many initiatives it has taken to be a socially responsible corporate citizen. The commitment has always been to enrich and energize the community within which it operates. †¢ Red and White Bravery Awards Started in 1990-91, the purpose of these awards is to instill in people the culture of selfless action. The awards bring into limelight extraordinary, yet little known acts of bravery and social acts of courage by the common man. †¢ Farmer Program Godfrey Phillips helped create awareness amongst the farming community about the benefits of adopting approved agricultural practices. It imparts training and knowledge to farmers in tobacco producing areas †¢ AIDS Prevention Program GPI’s participates in AIDS Prevention Programme, rehabilitation of the Gujarat Earthquake victims and Blood donation camps. However, since charity starts at home, they insist upon and ensure safe environmental practices within our factories and offices Realizing the importance of human factor in producing good quantity and quality, GPI signed an agreement with Japan Tobacco Company (an acknowledged world leader in the management of people and machines) for the improvement of its Andheri factory. The Andheri plant went 100% filter manufacturing in 1991. The modernization of the primary line at a cost of RS. 11 Crore's was done in 1990-91. Organization structure GPI believes in a flexible, business-oriented organisation structure. It follows a flat organisation structure with decentralized management. There are around 5 levels in the organisation structure making it a decently flat structure comprising of 407 employees comprising of 69 staff members, 289 workers and 47 managers. ( Hey give an organization structure as an annexure) The organizational business is built around a structure that comprises various jobs carried out by individual in the organisation Role and scope of HR at GPI Mission To facilitate the processes which create an environment where each member of GPI family is able to contribute their best. Aim: To be amongst top 10 employers in India. †¢ All HR processes are linked to Core Competency Model which was launched for GPI, 2003. Assessment Centers are launched for promoting staff into management cadre. †¢ HRIS (Human Resource Information System) launched to empower employees of Godfrey Phillips. †¢ Six-Sigma project is undertaken to create a robust performance management system. †¢ Annual training calendar is introduced which is based on the G PI competency model. †¢ Internal Recruitment is encouraged to fill vacant positions. †¢ Each management staff is entitled to training and development intervention of at least 8 days. †¢ 360-degree feedback is initiated. †¢ Variable income plan was launched in 2004 to attract the organization to raise their performance bar. GPI believes in Total Employee Involvement. This is done through small group activity including all employees in teams, whereby identified problems are resolved and presented to management. The HR department is the central point which initiates, monitors and follows up on the processes. It coordinates the task force activities of the factory. There are at present 11 task forces in the factory There is a micro site that has been created called ELIVE to generate the awareness among the employees about the concept and its benefits. Each manager should therefore evolve his or her people strategy aligned to the business strategy of the organisation DOWNWARD RELATION TRAINING AND INDUCTION An employee at GPI is placed on the job after induction. The basic induction training is a seven-day program; additional training is imparted as required. Technical personnel are given induction training in various technical departments for one month before being placed on their actual jobs. GPI at its HO follows a mentoring program for the employees. It will be implemented at the Andheri factory from July 2005. Training for the same will be conducted by the HO. Mentoring at GPI was launched on the 5th September, 2004 which is celebrated as the International Mentoring Day world wide. GPI believes that the best investment that it can make towards its people is in increasing their knowledge, skills etc. This can be done by periodically identifying the training needs, imparting training and measuring the effectiveness of the training programs thereby assessing how effective the training programs are and their contribution to the bottom line of the business. GPI places a great emphasis on training Training and Development systems focus on aspects such as continuous learning, on-the-job learning, easy access to training programs, self-managed programs. Training is controlled and monitored through a budget of around Rs. 5 Lakhs A Training Directory is created by each unit. The Directory identifies both training needs as well as training delivery in respect of all employees. The training programs include both job related technical training as well as behavioral training. Training needs of employees are decided once in a year. The factory manager identifies training needs of HOD’s. In line with the Training Activities in the Factory, Quality System Procedures of Personnel Department are documented, scope of which includes Training Need Identification, Training Plan, Training Calendar, Training Evaluation and Training Records. GPI provides the following BENEFITS: †¢ Canteen Facility – The Company has a subsidized canteen for its employees, which provides food at highly subsidized rates in all shifts. The employees working in the night shift get refreshments. Everyday in the morning, the food is tasted by the responsible person from the Personnel Department and accordingly the taste is approved or is changed if necessary. Every week, the menu is approved by the Personnel Department. Lunch is made available at 50 paisa, refreshments for 20 paisa and tea for 10 p Uniform – The Company provides free uniforms to certain categories of employees once in every year around the month of Feb-March. The washing of the uniforms is taken care by the company itself once a week. Winter and monsoon wear is also provided to selected employees. †¢ Housing facility – is provided to the security guards and workers at key position. They are highly subsidized accommodation at a pay of Rs. 7. 50 per month. †¢ Holiday Home Scheme – Each individual management staff is entitled to a stay up to one week at any of the properties available during the course of a calendar year †¢ Marriage Gift Scheme – The Company provides a gift to all its managers on the occasion of the wedding of the employees as well as their children. On all such occasions the employees shall have the option to purchase a gift of their choice at a value not exceeding an amount of Rs. 5000/- per wedding Monetary benefits GPI employees can avail Retirement Services/benefits GPI has a credit society which provides the following benefits. It was established in 1953 and membership is open to all employees working in the various establishments of GPI. It is registered under the Societies Registration Act. Its meetings are held once a month. It offers 2 savings schemes to its members †¢ Cumulative Deposit Scheme †¢ Monthly Contributory Deposit Scheme. A member can also avail of loan schemes immediately on acquiring membership in the credit society. Short term loans – for a period of 1 year, monthly installments, which are deducted from the member's salary †¢ Long term loans: for a period of 5 years and is recovered through 60 monthly installments deducted from the salary. MEDICAL FACILITY. In GPI, there are two pane ls of doctors. The company has 50 trained first-aiders which are required if any accident takes place. Every department has a first aid kit which is replenished and audited every month. The Personnel Department includes a Nurse and an Ambulance room who maintains a medical kit as well. The company carries out medical examination of all the employees once in every three years. SAFETY GPI believes that companies are responsible for ensuring the health and safety of the employees. Every employee follows operating procedures and practices are designed to protect people and equipment from risk of injury or damage to property. GPI has a Safety Department which aims â€Å"To create at all levels in the organisation a Safety Consciousness and to develop and maintain safety at work place. † HR department has to see to it that an acceptable safety standard is kept in the workplace-safety gears are provided, Fire extinguishers are placed at the right places, multiple entrances and exits are provided and possible fire/safety drills are conducted once in a while. The safety squad conducts a safety drill in the first week of March on safety day and once in two months. GPI also pursues ERP which is run by the emergency squad. The EMERGENCY RESPONSE PLAN is responsible to deal with various types of emergencies that could occur at the facility with the response organization structure being deployed in the shortest time possible during an emergency. Thus when an emergency occurs, the initial indication is by raising the alarm by the person who first notices a problem. The respective Managers is immediately notified who then assesses the severity of the condition, classifies it appropriately and directs the response actions of the facility personnel to mitigate the condition. Upon analyzing the emergency situation, if situation is beyond his control he informs the Security Main Gate who activates the ERP. GPI also has a Medical Attendant (Nurse) who during an emergency is to provide first-aid to victims of the accident, and to ensure their prompt transportation to a treatment installation such as a hospital, when required the Medical Function is responsible for the establishment of a first-aid station for the immediate treatment of possible victims, which shall be appropriately equipped with medical supplies, oxygen, resuscitators, and other supplies and the emergency response personnel are familiar with first aid administration There hasn’t been a case of sexual harassment or drug abuse. GPI is short of a policy against it, but any individual found guilty will not be allowed on the premises and will be dismissed if it continues. CAREER DEVELOPMENT OPPORTUNITIES The emphasis at GPI will be to focus on career paths rather than on career per se. GPI focuses on generic career paths as well as specific career paths for identified individual. There are 8 basic Job Bands. All grades are structured around these levels. Jobs are placed in appropriate bands, corresponding to the responsibility levels. Job bands are used for specific HR action such as promotions, career development etc. GPI recognizes that in a dynamic, fast-changing environment jobs will also be flexible Job Rotation Programs (JRP) can not only reduce turnover but they also increase learning, and provide added bench strength. At GPI, the technicians are rotated in the whole department. This helps the technicians become Almighty operators. Knowing a variety of jobs improves the worker’s self-image, provides personal growth and makes the worker more valuable to the organization. It also helps them become a trainer and fill the vacant places if some employee turns out absent. Job rotation is a way to overcome boredom and monotony. Periodic job changing can also improve interdepartmental co-operation, employees become more understanding of each other’s problems. Job enrichment too is used at GPI. It seeks to improve both task efficiency and human satisfaction by building into people’s jobs, quite specifically, greater scope for personal achievement and recognition, more challenging and responsible work, and more opportunity for individual advancement and growth. Operators become Technicians who then become supervisors who in turn become managers RECREATION AND STRESS The employees at GPI work for 8 hours with a lunch break for half an hour. The leaves allotted are different for workers and different for staff. For Workers: Workers receive Annual leave of 21 days, Casual leave of 14 days & Sick leave of 21 days. FOR STAFF: The staff members are entitled to get Annual leave of 30 days, Casual leave of 14 days & Sick leave of 20 days. GPI proudly holds interdepartmental cricket matches annually. Steps are taken by each department to send their best players and employee participation is encouraged to the fullest Various stress management programs are held by external faculty for the welfare of the employees COLLECTIVE BARGAINING The trade union at GPI is KAMGAR UTKARSH SABHA is registered under commissioner of labor and recognized under All India Trade Union Congress. Employee Relations as an activity extends through negotiation and bargaining, discipline and employee involvement. When GPI is concerned, there hasn’t been a strike ever. All are part of this union for the past 15 years. The procedure for grievance solving at GPI is followed as per hierarchy, the employee goes to the department head and the grievance is presented. If the department head is not in the condition to solve the grievance, the personnel department is informed. If the employee is still not satisfied, the grievance is then forwarded to the FM. INVOLVEMENT AND ENGAGEMENT GPI follows the technique of Quality Circle, originating from Japan and introduced in many establishments in India. In this, employees voluntarily become members of quality circles, which study various situations and problems at the work place, suggest and implement solutions. There is thus much involvement of the worker, in what happens at his work place. The participation is not of representatives. All of them could get involved. GPI follows a Suggestions scheme called Kaizen Teian. Employee can give suggestion in the field of Operation, Safety, Quality, Workplace Environment, Waste Elimination ,5 ‘S’, Energy Saving ,Cost Saving. There are department committees consisting of Dept Head, Dept Level Managers and Supervisors, who motivate employees and evaluate the suggestions and reward the employees. The factory committee meets once in a fortnight. It is involved in planning and implementing for increasing the participation and number of suggestions of the employees. It also reviews the reward at regular intervals. GPI (as per rules of KT) has star, super star and pole star. Star is felicitated with a silver medal of approximately Rs. 225. Super star is awarded with 30 Gms of silver medal of approximately Rs. 450. The pole star who must have 3 implemented Kaizens per month for 6 continuous months is awarded with Sodexho coupons worth Rs. 350. At GPI, mostly the department heads go at the employee’s workplace and congratulate them and gift them their reward. Best suggestion of the month and kaizenee of the month are recognised by displaying their photo at the canteen and at main gate entrance. And also gets a free lunch with family in a restaurant. The company has a tradition of felicitating those employees who have completed 20 years of service with the company by offering them a gift and a certificate. UPWARD COMMUNICATION FEEDBACK GPI has started taking an EMPLOYEE SATISFACTION SURVEY annually from the last two years. It is conducted, monitored and evaluated by the HR department. PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL At GPI, managers have an online Performance Appraisal. For the staff, an informal procedure is followed, the employees are monitored regularly by their immediate boss and regular feedback is given to the employees as and when required. This forms the basis for identification of training needs with respect to HOD's and management staff. ( what kind of system of PA is followed?.. ) HORIZONTAL RELATION ANNUAL EVENTS GPI holds the following: Picnics – GPI has a four squares club which carries out picnics and other excursions for the staff to nearby places like Khopoli and Virar. †¢ Dassehra Puja – The workers org anize Dassehra Puja every year with the aid of contributions collected from the employees of the company. Every department celebrates this auspicious day by carrying out pujas in their respective departments. The company distributes sweets to all the employees. †¢ House Magazine – GPI publishes a quarterly house magazine known as ‘SAMVAD’; highlighting the various events at GPI. It was started in the year 1986. This helps to encourage people for active participation in writing pros, poems, drawings. The magazine also gives information about the Kaizens given by the employees and the Kaizenee. The promotional activities, suggestions regarding Safety, Pollution Control are also included in the house magazine. The achievements of the employees and their family members are published in the magazine WELFARE ACTIVITIES GPI gives the welfare facilities as mentioned in THE FACTORIES ACT, 1948. Various incentives, cash benefits, rewards for good performance etc. are offered at GPI as a part of the commitment towards the well being of employees. In addition to these, the company has initiated several other programmes to achieve the goal of employee welfare. The Godfrey Phillips Employees' Welfare Society: It was constituted and registered under the Mumbai Trusts' Act, 1950 in 1971. The membership of the society is open to the employees of GPI. A few of the programmes organized by the society are listed below: †¢ Annual Prize Distribution: This programme is organized every year. The employees’ children who excel in academics are awarded so as to encourage them to perform better. In addition to the prizes, each awarded also gets a Textbook Gift Coupon. †¢ Note Book Distribution: Every year, before the beginning of the academic session the employees of GPI are given notebooks at concessional rates. Each employee can purchase a maximum of 4 dozen-note books from the welfare society. †¢ S. S. C. Vyakhyanamala: An expert hired by the society gives the children of employees appearing for the S. S. C. exhaustive guidance in all the aspects of these exams. If the number is inadequate, the society sends them to counseling agencies at its own expense. †¢ Career Counseling: Children of employees in the 9th and 10th standards and Jr. College are given guidance as to which career they should choose based on the results of a 5 hour test administered to them by the Maharashtra Vyavsaya Margdarshan Kendra. The society has several other activities in the pipeline such as a talk on the Union Budget, a rangoli competition, establishment of Adarsh Kamgar Puraskar, a pulse polio vaccination scheme etc. 7. INTRODUCTION TO PARLE VISION â€Å"With the unfolding of the InfoTech age, and the emergence of a borderless world, we have a quest to become the most admired group to all our stakeholders, alike customers, employees, contract manufacturers, wholesalers, C&F agents, suppliers and society. Our customer being the king we will try to exceed their expectations by pursuing world class standards in our people, products, process & performance encouraging innovation & nurturing intellectual capital. We will follow ethical & fair business practices maintaining respect for all the fellow human beings. † INTRODUCTION Mr. Mohanlal Dalal came to Mumbai in the 1880’s from pardi village. He did some work here and there to earn his living. Soon PARLE biscuits were formed in a 60 ft long and 40 ft wide tin shed with an initial investment of 1,50,000 with the help of 12 men. In the year 1929 the market was dominated by famous international brands that were imported freely. Despite the odds and unequal competition, this company called PARLE Products, survived and succeeded, by adhering to high quality and improvising from time to time. Over the years, PARLE has grown to become a multi-million US Dollar company. Many of the PARLE products – biscuits or confectionaries, are market leaders in their category and have won acclaim at the Monde Selection, since 1971. Today, PARLE enjoys a 40% share of the total biscuit market and a 15% share of the total confectionary market, in India. ORGANISATION STRUCTURE PARLE on the other hand has an organisation structure of 7-8 levels. Starting with the Factory Manager and then the Deputy Manager, but it is more on paper than for operational purpose. It has a total of 742 workers, 30 staff members and 150 managers and officers. Role and scope of HR at PARLE The HR mission at PARLE is to develop the employee behaviour, identify their training needs and help them grow in the future. They don’t have a HR Department per se, but the personnel department handles the functions of the HR. Their Personnel department handles 742 workers, 30 staff members and 150 managers and officers. Though no special steps are taken to increase employee involvement at PARLE, they have had no disputes and work goes on smoothly because of the team spirit in the e employees. The Personnel department handles all the activities amongst the employees and believes that no disputes and smooth flow of work is a live testimony of credibility to HR department. DOWNWARD COMMUNICATION TRAINING AND INDUCTION At PARLE, the nature of recruitment is purely internal. Thus training needs may be more as compared to hiring trained individuals. Here, the department Heads identify the training needs as and when required. These training needs are then sent to the Personnel department. The Personnel department checks its external brochures and the training is conducted There is internal training for the workers for KAIZEN, 5S, and other Japanese systems which are recently implemented by the company. External training is not given for workers unless critical or really required. The staff and the managers are given external training for behaviour and management. There is follow-up done after the training with the help of feedback forms. These feedbacks are submitted to the Personnel department who looks after them and implements the changes if possible. There is religious feedback taken after training and the form is evaluated by the Personnel department. PARLE doesn’t have an induction program for its workers in place. Workers are recruited and put on job, whereas the managers and staff have to go through a 15 day induction program. The employees learn about the functioning of each department. PARLE has the following BENEFITS †¢ Apart from the regular allowances, PARLE provides Production Incentive and festival allowance. †¢ Canteen facility – It too has subsidized food for all its employees. Lunch is for Rs. 2 and tea and refreshments are served at 20p. The canteen is run by contractors. †¢ Housing facility – PARLE doesn’t provide housing facilities to its employees but a few important ones like the technicians and engineers stay on the compound of the factory. †¢ Uniforms – Like in GPI, the workers wear uniforms, some also receive monsoon wear and winter wear. The uniforms are washed on a weekly basis on contract. PARLE also gives various MONETARY BENEFITS. It has an ECS (employee credit society) which offers loans short term and long term loans like GPI. MEDICAL BENEFITS There are 2 in-house doctors who conduct free medical check ups on half yearly basis at PARLE. There is a well equipped ambulance room with 3 full time nurses. Employees at PARLE also receive reimbursement of medical expenses. Compensation is also given on death of the employee SAFTEY PARLE endeavors to adequately train all employees, suitably equip them and instruct them to perform their duties in a safe and effective way. PARLE trains all its employees against safety and first aid and Fire fighting. Apart from this there is a Guard for all the machines who prevents the accident from occurring. PARLE is a non tobacco zone. Thus there is no smoking allowed in the premises or the working area. They are also strict about alcohol or drugs. Though there is no policy, but an employee is not allowed to enter the gates if he is drunk or is caught with drugs. There has never been a case of sexual harassment either. PARLE also conducts safety day competitions on safety week during March. Colourful posters and illustrations of the harms of not wearing a helmet and other such warnings are pinned on the entire lobby and the passage area all over PARLE. CAREER DEVELOPMENT PARLE doesn’t follow Job rotation, thus an employee does gains specialization. PARLE believes Moving from one job to another also gets irritating because the normal routine of an employee is disturbed and also time is wasted in adjusting to the new job. PARLE too believes that enriched job will have more responsibility and autonomy (vertical enrichment), more variety of tasks (horizontal enrichment), and more growth opportunities. Thus after receiving considerable knowledge at packing, a worker is soon promoted to charge-hand. RECREATION AND STRESS Employees at PARLE receive an annual leave of 16 days, sick leave of 10 days and CL of 7 days. The management decides the paid holidays after discussion with the Union and the list of holidays is posted on the notice board. In all, there are 14 paid holidays. Although there have been talks about health clubs and gyms. Employees at PARLE receive an annual leave of 16 days, sick leave of 10 days and CL of 7 days. And refreshment breaks of 15 minutes at PARLE. They are sanctified with a play ground. They have regular tournaments of volley ball, cricket and tennis. Employees also have the facility to play carromen, table tennis in their rest rooms. There is an annual sports day held by the ECS where employees are encouraged to participate. COLLECTIVE BARGAINING The trade union at GPI & PARLE is the same; KAMGAR UTKARSHA SABHA. There has been a strike at PARLE due to conflict of interest which lasted for 40 days, in the year 2000. The procedure for grievance solving at PARLE goes as per hierarchy too, first the employee goes to the department head and the grievance is presented. If the department head is not in the condition to solve the grievance, the personnel department is informed. If the employee is still not satisfied, the grievance is then forwarded to the FM. The grievance is further sent for conciliation. ( If you can†¦study the documents of negotiations between the two & analyse how the final draft was arrived at †¦) INVOLVEMEMNT AND ENGAGEMENT PARLE has a suggestion box which comes under the plant services manager. These suggestions are received on a weekly basis. PARLE like GPI follows the technique of Quality Circle, originating from Japan and introduced in many establishments in India. In this, employees voluntarily become members of quality circles, which study various situations and problems at the work place, suggest and implement solutions. There is thus much involvement of the worker, in what happens at his work place. PARLE has also implemented KAIZEN recently. Here, employees are expected to submit at least 6 suggestions per month. If the suggestion is creative and implemented, the employee earns 2 points. These 2 points entitle him to a gift. There is a considerable rise in the self-esteem. This helps in terms of interpersonal relationships which directly affect Employee Relations. Finally, the act of participation in itself establishes better communication, as people mutually discuss work problems. Rewards at PARLE are as per KAIZEN. No other rewards or gifts are given to the workers for making suggestions. There is a Best worker of the month who is called as the PARLE – G anmol. His picture is displayed on the notice board and he receives a small gift too. The bottom line is to increase employee productivity which contributes to making a company more profitable. UPWARD RELATION FEEDBACK PARLE doesn’t follow job satisfaction survey or any other kind of feedback for its workers or staff PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL PARLE doesn’t hold any performance appraisals for its workers, though the management and staff follows a 90 degree performance appraisals system. HORIZONTAL RELATION ANNUAL EVENTS PARLE holds the following functions for the employees †¢ PARLE does not hold picnics for its employees. †¢ PARLE has a Sports day arranged by the ECS annually. It has activities like football and volley ball and cricket