How NJHS Benefits Your School Essay

I see National Junior Honor Society as great opportunity to hone my leadership skills, earn scholarships, learn and apply new character qualities to my personal life as well in my school life, and as a stepping stone to getting more involved in community service. But along with that, I see it not only as an incredibly beneficial opportunity as a student, but also feel that I would be able to apply the same qualities learned, later in life. Working alongside other students who have the same desire for all the qualities that NJHS stands for would be a privileged experience and to find myself as a candidate of the NJHS would be an honor that I’m certain will have a big impact on my future. To the NJHS, I will be contributing my competence/capability as a runner and my eagerness for assisting those in need. I’ve always wanted to contribute more to my community, and believe that NJHS will provide an excellent opportunity to get more involved in such activities. Along with accomplishing a GPA score of 3.5 or higher, I have also begun running as a member of one of my school’s many clubs. Running has helped me, specifically, in the area of self-confidence and has also helped me to take on a more active leadership position in encouraging others to reach for higher goals themselves. Added to that, as an older sibling in a large family, I’ve also come to realize, over the years, that patience and the tenacity to persist are paramount and valuable qualities in a good leader and has led to me successfully prioritizing my responsibilities and has, on numerous occasions, helped me to do my best in everything. i see national junior honor society as great opportunity to hone my leadership skills earn scholarships learn and apply new character qualities to my personal life as well in my school life and as a stepping stone to getting more involved in community service. but along with that i see it not only as an incredibly beneficial opportunity as a student but also feel that i would be able to apply the same qualities learned later in life. working alongside other students who have the same desire for all the qualities that njhs stands for would be a privileged experience and to find myself as a candidate of the njhs would be an honor that im certain will have a big impact on my future. to the njhs i will be contributing my competence/capability as a runner and my eagerness for assisting those in need. ive always wanted to contribute more to my community and believe that njhs will provide an excellent opportunity to get more involved in such activities. along with accomplishing a gpa score of 3.5 or higher i have also begun running as a member of one of my schools many clubs. running has helped me specifically in the area of self-confidence and has also helped me to take on a more active leadership position in encouraging others to reach for higher goals themselves. added to that as an older sibling in a large family ive also come to realize over the years that patience and the tenacity to persist are paramount and valuable qualities in a good leader and has led to me successfully prioritizing my responsibilities and has on numerous occasions helped me to do my best in everything. for the last several years ive regularly participated in playing the piano at nursing homes cleaning out junk and debris from elderly peoples backyards babysat for friends etc. i enjoy helping out and feel that specifically the leadership gained from njhs would provide me with a more efficient way of serving the community. im certain that being a member of njhs will continually challenge me to improve and upgrade my personal standards whether it is my talents or knowledge in education. i also believe that being selected as a candidate for njhs would encourage me to continue to strive for academic excellence. the standards for ingress into the njhs are scholarship character leadership and service and i believe that i am fully capable enough to be chosen as a representative into this organization. all the way though this year as a haas hall scholar i consider myself as having displayed/bespoken all four of these hallmark qualities. For the last several years, I’ve regularly participated in playing the piano at nursing homes, cleaning out junk and debris from elderly people’s backyards, babysat for friends, etc. I enjoy helping out and feel that, specifically, the leadership gained from NJHS would provide me with a more efficient way of serving the community. I’m certain that being a member of NJHS will continually challenge me to improve and upgrade my personal standards, whether it is my talents or knowledge in education. I also believe that being selected as a candidate for NJHS would encourage me to continue to strive for academic excellence. The standards for ingress into the NJHS are scholarship, character, leadership, and service, and I believe that I am fully capable enough to be chosen as a representative into this organization. All the way though this year, as a Haas Hall scholar, I consider myself as having displayed/bespoken all four of these hallmark qualities.

Communication and Young People Essay

1. Explain why effective communication is important in developing positive relationship with * Children * Young People * Adults Communication is the basis of any relationship, without it we could not obtain or relay information to overcome any conflicts or get anything done. To have effective communication we must treat everyone as individuals and adapt accordingly. Not just verbal communication but tone of voice, body language and eye contact are all important. When communicating with children and young people it important to come to their level as this will make them feel more comfortable and that you are not dictating down to them. It is important to listen to what the child or young person has to say, and if a question was asked respond correctly, as this allows them to feel accepted and valued. This encourages them to trust you and then they will more likely to confide in you. It is also important for kids that we model effective communication skills and we check are behaviour even at stressful times, this encourages them to behave the same way and helps them understand what is expected of them. Positive relationships with adults are important to create good learning environment, and therefore obtain the children full potential. In order to create this the staff member must communicate with each other about lessons, activities and pupil’s progress; this will ensure each pupil receives the best possible care. Communicating with parents is essential as this enables you to obtain information that may affect the child .It is also essential to keep parents up to date with upcoming events with the school, great way to do this is weekly newsletter and more recently sending text messages as reminders. Also parents that have a positive experience in the school are more likely to give support. 2. Explain the principles of relationship building with * Children * Young people * Adults When building relationships with others it is important that they feel comfortable in our company, as they are more likely to communicate effectively. We normal build relationships without even thinking about it, a great way to undertake effective relationship building is to take time to listen to other people, show that you are interested in what they are saying and respond appropriately. Remember issues which are personal to them and always be considerate and show respect ensuring that you acknowledge their views. Make sure that you be clear on key points when giving other information, but always maintain a sense of humour as laughter can be a great icebreaker and a good way to relieve stress. When building relationships with child and young people it is important we are good role models as positive interactions encourages the child to demonstrate positive behaviour also. These positive interactions also allow the child to feel settled and therefore will find it easier to learn. In order to create these positive relationships each child need to feel special  this involves Security, Praise, Encouragement, Communication, Interaction Acceptance and Love. We must encourage children and young people to recognise and express their feelings in a constructive way. Children often have conflicting situations such as wanting the same toy or choosing team members, we must try and overcome these by being assertive as this helps children and young people understand how they would be able to resolve their differences amicably. Building relationships with adults is important we must make them feel welcome and be approachable; we must be respectful of their cultural and religious differences and beliefs and use words and expression they understand and be considerate of any personal issues and always make sure that you take time to listen and respond appropriately. 3. Explain how * Social background * Professional background * Cultural background Affect relationship and the way people communicate. When we are faced with a different situation we adapt our communication accordingly, most people do this automatically, and the more we deal with different situations the better we become at alternating our behaviour to help communicate positively and effectively. When communicating with others we have many factors and difficulties to overcome. We have to adapt our skills to overcome these difficulties; as if they were not conquered they may affect relationship building. Each relationship is individual, which is the reason why they take so long to form as they have to be worked upon to gain mutual respect and trust. When outside factors within society affect communication, we need to respect the values and principles of each person, we must ensure we do not stereotype the individual regardless of their social professional and cultural background. Language is not the only form of communication, it the way we respond to others through electronic mail or phone messages, how attentive we are and also how we dress and present ourselves. When in a more formal setting for example attending a meeting we should use more formal language and behaviour. When communicating with other staff about pupils it must be given in a professional matter and in an appropriate place away from others. Difficulties may arise when communicating with parent that have hearing impairment or physical disability that could affect their hearing ability, you should ensure that you face them and talk slowly and clearly so they can lip read or have a staff member that can sign language. Another difficultly that can arise is if the parent speaks little or no English, when communicating you must talk slowly clearly and ensure that you don’t use local dialects or expression that they may not understand, if that does not work having a bilingual staff member to translate so that they can feel included. If the area is multi-cultural we must consider their beliefs and norms which includes of eye contact, body language and gestures as these could lead to misinterpretation concerning cultural difference. 4. Explain the skills needed to communicate with * Children * Young people When communicating with anyone it is important that they are being treated as an individual and that their contribution is valued otherwise they are less likely to initiate a conversation. Some children and young people are lacking confidence when speaking to adults therefore finding sufficient time to allow them to talk. We must use eye contact and actively listen, making sure they are getting attention. With young children it’s a good idea to come down to their level, use body language such as smiling and nodding and reacting positively to what they are saying. We should encourage the children to keep talking by responding or asking questions, this will also show them how to have further two way conversations and may encourage them to ask more questions as this is how they learn. When communicating with children and young people we must ensure that we use appropriate languages; words and sentences they will understand. We must make sure that we are giving a clear message and check that they understand. If your asked a question you must answer to the best of your ability and to suit the age of the child or young person .Alternatively if the answer is unknown you could suggest alternative method of finding out for example internet or book, and you could help them to find it out. 5. Explain how to adapt communication with children and young people for * Age of the child or young person * The context of the communication * Communication differences When communication within the school you will deal with children and young people of all ages, cultures and abilities, they need to feel valued and your interaction should this. In order to accomplish this we must adapt our communication and behaviour, through positive communication and behaviour with classroom assistants and other staff member it shows them they are a part of the school community. We are required to adapt our vocabulary depending on the age of the child or young person. The level of attention will vary with their age. With younger children, especially when starting school more reassurance is need, however as they mature they may need to talk through problems and identify feelings. When asked a question we must consider how simplified it must be for them to understand, the context of the answer will vary depending on this. The older they are the more technical answer is normally required. In different situation the way in which we communicate will vary, when working on learning activity it is important to get children to focus, this will enable them to learn new things efficiently, any distractions need dealt with before they become an interruption. When in the playground or more social environment it can be used to develop positive friendly relationship while still maintaining professional carer to child relationship. Children and young people may have some difficulties when communicating with others, we must ensure care and sensitively is used when dealing with these situations and the child or young person feels unpressured and they will take their time. If the child or young person has difficulties communicating we must find a way of dealing with it for example if they are hearing impaired, face them directly and talk slowly and clearly. If English is not their first language talk slowly and avoid using local dialect.

Economic Forecast for Lowes (the home improvement store) Research Proposal

Economic Forecast for Lowes (the home improvement store) - Research Proposal Example Unusual from the responsibility of the company to make the energy profitable and more transparent, it needs other big companies to publish yearly report that shows their revenue profits and costs also the separated figures should be presented for the purposes of supply. The future consumers of electricity should be given great attention as part of the objective that it is aiming in order to improve the transparency and the profitability of the electricity company. This would instill confidence to the new firms that are willing to venture into the electricity using market business as well as any other business that uses energy in its production. Lowe’s data also assists the business people to asses and monitor their business on how much capital it spends on the electricity bills. The company will always lower the price of the products that it produces if only the price of the electricity is lowered by the company that produces it, this will lead to increased profits on its part as they will lower the prices of their products hence attract many customers hence higher sales that will lead to increased profit.

Citizenship in United Kingdom under Neo-liberalism Essay

Citizenship in United Kingdom under Neo-liberalism - Essay Example Opening of markets refers to free trade and an international division of labor (Bateman 48). Neoliberalism usually favours multilateral political force through international organizations or treaty devices such as the WTO and World Bank. It promotes plummeting the role of national governments to a minimum. Neoliberalism favors laissez-faire over direct government intervention (such as Keynesianism), and measures achievement in overall economic gain. To improve corporate efficiency, it strives to reject or mitigate labor policies such as lowest wage, and collective bargaining rights. (Faulks, pp 34-37) Neoliberalism is an economic philosophy rather than a broader political ideology. The swing away from government action in the 1970s led to the prologue of this term, which refers to a program of dipping trade barriers and internal market restrictions, while using government power to enforce opening of foreign markets. This is strongly different by economic liberals, who favor a free market and free trade. Neoliberalism accepts a positive degree of government involvement in the domestic economy, mainly a central bank with the power to print fiat money. It also favors an interventionist military (Cate 73). While neoliberalism is sometimes described as overlapping with Thatcherism, economists as varied as Joseph Stiglitz and Milton Friedman have been described - by others - as "neoliberal". This economic agenda is not essentially combined with a liberal agenda in politics: neoliberals often do not pledge to individual liberty on moral issues or in sexual mores. An extreme example was the Pinochet regime in Chile, but some also categorise Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher and even Tony Blair and Gerhard Schrder as being neo-liberal. It should be distinguished that, in the 1990s in the UK, a lot of social democratic parties adopted 'neoliberal' economic policies such as privatization of industry and open markets, much to the disappointment of many of their own voters. This has led these parties to become de facto neoliberal, and has often resulted in a radical loss of popular support. For instance, critics to the left of the German Social Democratic Party and the British Labour Party blame them of pursuing neoliberal policies by refusing to renationalise industry. As a result of this, much support for these parties has been gone astray to the Christian Democratic Union and the Liberal Democrats, correspondingly. (Cate 77) Sometimes 'Neoliberalism' is use as a catch-all term for the anti-socialist response which sweep through some countries during the period between the 70s and 90s. 'Neoliberalism' in the form of Thatcher, Reagan, and Pinochet claimed to move from a bureacratic welfare-based society in the direction of a meritocracy acting in the interests of business. In actuality, these governments cut financial support for education and taxed income more deeply than wealth, which augmented the influence of big business and the upper class. Some conservatives perceive themselves as the true inheritors of classical liberalism. Jonah Goldberg of National Review argues that "most conservatives are nearer to classical liberals than a lot of Reason-libertarians" because conservatives want to protect some institutions that they see as wanted for liberty

Explain why liberal economic theory, policy and institutions are so Essay

Explain why liberal economic theory, policy and institutions are so dominant today. Is this good for business and for society - Essay Example In addition to this, it has been slowly been assimilated by other states that have seen the need to adopt to it while others have been dictated to adopt the idea. For instance, the third world countries which depend mostly on financial assistance from the West have been forced to strictly follow this policy through the World Bank or even the IMF. Despite the policy having competition from states that prefer socialism to capitalism, it has continued to dominate the business world especially after the collapse of the socialism era (Barry 1993). How the policies of liberal business have managed to dominate in business up-to-date For many years, the liberal form of economy has been dominating the business world. Furthermore, updating of the classical liberal economy to the now neo liberalism has contributed numerous terms of dominating the business empire. For instance, it has played a vital role in the economic policy making in US and the UK, dominated economic policymaking in the US an d the UK. Although the theory has faced numerous oppositions in the business world, it has continued to dominate some parts of the world in its own way. A good example is the third world countries have been forced to adopt the liberal policies through organizations like the IMF and the World Bank (Jason 2005). There was a comeback in the old religion of classical liberalism, through academic economics, and then in the real field of public policy. The neo-liberalism has been clearly viewed as an economic theory, as well as, a platform of policy making. Due to its capitalism nature, the market is free for individual choices that are able to meet the ultimate goals of economic success together with its distributional procedures (Barry 1993). In most cases, the state has very little command in terms of property rights, law enforcement, and limiting the amount of profit an individual or company has made. For this reason, a state cannot act as a mediator because of mistrust amongst the bu siness partners. The policy on liberal economic theory is mainly based on the regulation of welfare state whereby, there is privatization of public assets, tax regulation, and business regulation. Additionally, this it has embraced the investing class too. Internationally, liberalism encourages liberated transit of goods and services across the borders globally (Andrew 2008). The policy has been a success by ensuring that different corporations, individual investors, as well as, the banks are free to transact any form of business without being limited by the boundaries of a state despite such action being not part of the liberalism policy. In 1970s, economist viewed the liberal theory as just a temporal solution towards the economic in stability at that time. This is because the key Asian regulations’ policies never solved their solutions at that particular moment. The only possible solution was to shift their attention to the liberal policies, which was their only way out to counter the obstacles that hindered them from making any substantial profit (Andrew 2008). However, the policy proved to be adoptive on a more permanent basis rather than being a temporal solution. Such policies have made it possible for the likes of politicians such as Margret Thatcher of the UK and her US counterpart Ronald Reagan to be on the map of success under their parties’ administration in 1990s hence solidifying its dominating ground in the economic world (Sawyer and

Semiconductor devices and circuits Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Semiconductor devices and circuits - Coursework Example Each atom after sharing electrons will attain a full outer shell. Conductors: Conductor materials have large number of free electrons and thus conduct easily. Examples of a good conductor are copper and aluminum and they have, at room temperature, many electrons for conduction. Insulators These are materials which do not conduct. For insulators, there is a very large gap between the two bands i.e. conduction and valence bands. Insulators can only conduct at extremely high temperatures or when they are subjected to very high voltage. Examples of insulators are, wood, glass, paper and mica. Semiconductors: These materials are between conductors and insulators. They are neither conductors nor insulators. They can easily conduct at room temperatures. Examples of these materials are silicon and germanium. Intrinsic semiconductors: These are pure semiconductors since the content of impurity is minimal. These materials are cautiously refined to achieve this form of purity. When intrinsic se miconductors are subjected to room temperature, valence electrons absorb heat energy breaking the covalent bond and move to conduction band. Electrons and holes conduction In intrinsic semiconductors, holes and free electrons are the major charge carriers. Holes and electrons which are generated at room temperatures move in a random motion and can’t conduct any current. ... This allows electric current to flow as a result of electrons movement in the conduction band. The motion of holes in semiconductors is opposite to that of electron. As a result of electrons escape from valence band to conduction band, holes are created in the valence band. When current is applied the electron break and moves to feel the holes present, at the same time this electron leaves another hole and this process continues. The movement of these holes in the valence band leads to current flow referred to as whole current. Extrinsic Semiconductors Small amounts of other materials are added to intrinsic semiconductor to alter the properties and this result to extrinsic semiconductor. This is process of adding an impurity to improve the conductivity of the semiconductor is referred to as doping. The materials used as impurities are called dopant. These semiconductors are the most widely used in practice since they have better conductivity compared to intrinsic semiconductors and a re used in manufacture of electronics components such as transistors and diodes. There are two types of extrinsic semiconductors and each depending on the type of impurity used. They are n-type and p-type. N- Type Atoms with five electrons in their outer most shell are referred to as pentavalent atoms. When these pentavalent atoms are used to dope intrinsic semiconductors, they donate a free electron to the semiconductor and they are called donor dopers. Examples of donor materials are phosphorous, arsenic and bismuth. The resulting semiconductor has a large quantity of free electrons and is called n-type semiconductor. Example of n-type semiconductor formation is when arsenic atom with five electrons on the outermost shell combines with silicon with four

MYOB's Interdepartmental Communication Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

MYOB's Interdepartmental Communication - Essay Example This is referred to as interdepartmental communication. Every department needs to communicate with the other departments to inform them as to what are the updates and/or changes that a particular department would be implementing. It is not to know whether the department is doing its designated task, however it is more on knowing how the change would affect the organization as a whole. A particular department’s change would definitely affect the whole company as each department is linked to one another (Carroll, 2010, pp. 10-12). Though working in just one company, people from different departments still find it difficult to communicate with other people belonging to another department. As Carroll (2010, p. 11) expressed, â€Å"interdepartmental communication is a challenge in many industries – one department may not know how its action or inaction affects another department. The managers may incorrectly assume that other departments understand what they need and why.â €  It is not good to assume that everything is okay when memorandums are sent. There should be counter-checking with regard to the comprehension of the memos that were transmitted. MYOB has been providing Australia and New Zealand with downloadable computer software which aids many professionals in their jobs since 1991. Since the company uses the worldwide web as its medium in disseminating this software, the company has options to expand its market internationally without any additional cost (MYOB, 2012). It is known that when a company starts expanding, there would be a need to create departments that would focus on particular aspects of maintaining the website and running the company as a whole at the headquarters. Though working in the same company, there would be instances that employees would not be given the chance to meet everybody on the payroll. The usual mode of communication used in companies in recent years is through company’s electronic mail or e-mail. If s uch is the case, an employee should habitually check his company e-mail for the latest memos or updates circulated to everyone, or an e-mail directly addressed to the person for any issues that need clarifications, or just any direct instruction or message. With the numerous tasks waiting to be accomplished, there would be times that an employee would only be able to check the e-mail at least twice a day, which would be upon coming to work and before leaving the workplace. Since the company is dealing with customers purchasing their products online, people who are using the software can either use the phone numbers listed on the website or just click on the picture on their Contact Us page to be redirected to the proper support group. For this kind of company, it is the support group and the technical department that need to ensure that their interdepartmental communication is synched. Other department that should be synched with each other are the finance and the advertising depart ments. During the latter part of 2011, MYOB released the latest version of one of its accounting software. This should be kudos to the technical department. However, as reported by Sholto Macpherson (2011), there were bugs present in the newer version that either slows down the program itself or makes it unusable at all. Surely, the support group received complaints regarding the bug; however, the technical team was not properly informed about the concern. The scenario would be likely as the latter statement or the technical team

Business Plan to Sell Oil Rigs in MENA Region Essay

Business Plan to Sell Oil Rigs in MENA Region - Essay Example However, the success rate of a new business is expected remain high, if entrepreneurs is able to develop a realistic and achievable business plan by analysing and assessing the associated risk and by framing a set of effective and plausible strategies. This paper will present a brief business that will include product and company features, market and cost analysis with project timeline of the start up business. 2. Product Feature and its Advtantage The product is the start business is the oil rig machines which are basically a drilling machine to explore the underground oil and natural gas. These machines are huge in size that creates hole within the Earth. Oil rigs are installed and used at site where oil is supposed o deposited under the ground. Generally, the oil rigging machines are available in different sizes run by any of the one power system i.e. diesel engines or electrical generators. The oil rig offered by the new start up venture will be very help for the oil exploring co mpanies as it will be able to run on both types of power system in accordance to the available resources. Besides, its new technology used for rotation system and for circulation system will be very cost effective as installation cost will be very low and will be quite productive in term of its cost including its maintenance cost and power cost. 3. Company Description and Formation The name of the new start up company is OilTech Pvt. Ltd and it will be engaged in the manufacturing and selling of the newly develop oil rigging machines. Primarily, OilTech will be based in MENA region and will also be situated in this region as a large number of buyers will be available in this region. OilTech Pvt. Ltd will be formed by joint venture with an existing engineering company who is engaged in manufacturing of the heavy engineering products. OilTech and engineering-based company will have 40% stake each and rest 20% of the capital will obtained through loans from banks or other sources. Cert ain amount of loan will be very helpful in tax benefits and higher return on equity. Joint venture with engineering-based company will very helpful for the OilTech as it will be able to use the technological expertise. 4. Market Analysis and Target Market MENA region includes the Middle East and North African countries and these countries are highly enriched with mineral oils and gas. The most of these countries are oil-based economies and hence, a large of buyer of oil rigging machines will be available. However, market competition this region is expected to remain high as a number of oil drilling company companies and seller of oil drilling or rigging are present. Moreover, many oil and natural gas producer companies buys the oil drilling machines from the other countries like China, Germany, U.S. etc. Some of the potential and key competitors for OilTech are Allegheny Crane, Focus Oil Tools, Korea National Oil Corp, Parker Drilling, Proforma Safety LLC etc. These competitors also offer services for oil drilling and maintenance services to the oil exploring companies (Rigzone, â€Å"Website Listings†). OilTech is newly formed company and hence, it will enter in the market by targeting the small oil and gas producing companies. Considering the features of the product offered by OilTech will be low cost and will also incurs lower maintenance cost that strives to add value to profitability and efficiency. With the increasing demand of the oil and gas in the World economy, the demand of the oil drilling

Effects of Technology on the Hr Function Essay Example for Free

Effects of Technology on the Hr Function Essay Critically analyse the ways in which the increasing application of technology at work have an effect upon the HR function. The use of technology within HRM has grown considerably within recent years with the majority of large organisations now using technology of some form within their HR function (CIPD, 2005). As HR becomes increasingly reliant on technology it is important to assess its effect upon the HR function. Firstly, consideration will be given to definition of terms along with a description of the uses of technology within the HR function. Next the change in the structure of the HR profession that has developed alongside the emerging and growing use of technology will be addressed. The goals of the use of technology which have been afforded a significant amount of attention within the literature will then be outlined along with consideration of the realisation of these goals. In addition, the effect of shared service centres, which make significant use of technology, upon the role of HR practitioners will be addressed in conjunction with the views of HR practitioners themselves. Whilst little attention has been given to the situating of the use of technology in HR within a wider sociological perspective in the academic literature, an attempt will be made to consider the effect of technology upon HR within such a debate. Finally, conclusions will be drawn as to the impact of the use of technology upon the HR function. It is firstly important to consider what is meant by the use of technology within the HR function. The term e-HRM is frequently used to refer to the use of technology within the HR function. The use of e-HRM varies enormously within organisations and may be used for different purposes (Parry et al. 2007). The term Human Resource Information System (HRIS) is also used to refer to any system that helps an organisation to â€Å"acquire, store, manipulate, analyse, retrieve and distribute information about an organisation’s human resources† (Tannenbaum, 1990, p.28). However, the use of technology within HR is broader than the use of HRIS and may encompass manager and employee self-service, the use of staff intranets and e-enabled processes such and recruitment and performance management amongst others (Reilly, 2012). It is acknowledged that some current research focuses on the more recent developments in web-based technology, collectively referred to as social media technologies or Web 2.0 (see Reddington, 2012). However, the use of Web 2.0 is outwith the focus of this discussion. HRIS was originally used for standardising the gathering of information about and for employees (Kovach et al. 2002). However, the use of HRIS has subsequently developed and is now used more broadly for purposes such as recruitment and selection, learning and development, administration of flexible benefits and performance appraisal (Grensing-Pophal, 2001) or to manage HR and employee information across the whole employment cycle (Parry et al. 2007). Technology has also been increasingly associated with supporting integrated call centres, shared service centres and the use of manager and employee self-service (CIPD, 2007). There is a great emphasis in the literature about the potential goals of e-HRM (Marler, 2009; Ruel, Bondarouk and Looise, 2004). However, there has been less emphasis on whether these goals have been realised in reality (Parry and Tyson, 2011; Strohmeier, 2007). Alongside the development and increasing use of technology is the development and changing role of the HR function itself. Traditionally the HR function has been seen as being a largely administrative function, focussed on administrative processes such as the maintenance of employee and payroll records (CIPD, 2007). It would appear that in its search for identity and the resulting proposed need for transformation of the function (Ulrich, 1997), HR has made use of technology to attempt to facilitate this transformation (Shirvastava and Shaw, 2003). Ulrich (1997) has argued that HRM should become a strategic business partner, in addition to performing roles as administrative expert, change agent and employee champion. It has been suggested that the use of technology within the HR function may create the opportunity for HR to become more strategic by freeing up time through the automation of many administrative tasks (Parry et al. 2007). The provision of accurate and detailed information available through the use of HRIS could also enable HR practitioners to engage in a more strategic role as such data could be used to inform managerial decisions. The move to new service delivery models of HR and the development of technology can be seen as interdependent as without increasingly sophisticated technology the various elements of HR service delivery may not be as effective (Reddington, 2012). Drivers for introduction of technology can be described as being operational, relational or transformational (Kettley and O’ Reilly, 2003; Snell, Stueber and Lepak, 2002) Operational goals can be described as having a focus on reducing the administrative burden of HR and cost effectiveness, whilst enhancing the accuracy of data; relational goals relate to improving services for internal customers due to reported low levels of satisfaction with the HR function (Kyprianou, 2008) and transformational goals address the strategic aims of the business (Lepak and Snell, 1998; Martin et al. 2008). These drivers of e-HRM can be seen as addressing either transactional or transformational goals (Martin et al. 2008). Transactional goals relate to operational efficiencies or improved service delivery. There is talk of liberating HR through technology (Shirvastava and Shaw 2003) although this strong statement is qualified by the requirement that it informates as opposed to automates HR proc esses. The distinction between automating and informating is made by Zuboff (1988) whereby automating relates to increasing efficiency through computerising work processes and procedures with decreasing dependence on human skills. In contrast, informating refers to increasing effectiveness through acquiring information by using information technology and using that information to create new knowledge. Automating could be seen as relating to addressing operational goals whereas informating could potentially address the relational and transformational goals through provision of information to inform decisions and strategy. Despite the attention to the promise of technology in transforming the HR function, much less attention has been given to the impact of technology on the HR function and whether or not the highly prized strategic orientation of HR has been achieved (Lepak and Snell, 1998, Shrivastava and Shaw, 2003). Studies that relate to whether e-HRM is achieving its operational goals provide some mixed results (Strohmeier, 2007). In practice it would appear that HRIS is having a slightly better (but not statistically significant) impact in areas of information processing, for example improving the speed that information is available and the quality of the information available than in economic terms, such as reducing headcount, lowering operational costs and improving productivity and profitability (CIPD, 2005). However, within this survey, in a third of cases the reduction in administrative burden was less than was to be expected. Stronger support for the operational impact of e-HRM comes from analysis of 10 case studies by Parry et al. (2007) which showed that technology can lead to faster and more efficient processes, greater accuracy and consistency as well as a reduction in costs. A number of other studies also provide some evidence of the impact of technology on operational efficiency ( Marler, 2009; Ruel, Bondarouk and Looise, 2004; Ruta, 2005). However, it may be that some caution needs to be exercised in drawing conclusions on the impact of e-HRM in this area as it may be that the efficiencies achieved within the HR function are simply moved elsewhere within the organisation as the responsibility for some tasks is moved from HR to line managers or employees (Ruel, Bondarouk and Looise, 2004). There is some positive evidence for the relational impact of e-HRM, notably improvements in HR service delivery achieved through the increased accuracy of data or by simplification of processes (Gardener, Lepak and Bartol, 2003). However, the relational impact of e-HRM appears to have been granted little attention in the literature (Strohmeir, 2007). Whether technology has led to a transformational impact on the HR function appears even less clear than the impact it has had on transactional processes. Despite the identification by many organisations of transformational drivers being important in the adoption of e-HR (Watson Wyatt, 2002; Yeung and Brockbank, 1995) it would seem that the issue of whether e-HRM supports a transformation of the HR function into a strategic business partner is only â€Å"parenthetically addressed† (Strohmeir, 2007, p.28). Indeed, Bondarouk and Ruel (2009, p.508) state â€Å"organisations are definitely silent about whether their HR departments become more strategic with e-HRM†. Where evidence is presented it is contradictory in nature. It would seem that in some cases technology has not led to a more strategic orientation of the HR function and has been used mainly for automating operational processes (Burbach and Dundon, 2005; Dery, Grant and Wiblen, 2009; Kinnie and Arthurs, 1993; Tansley et al. 2001). Indeed, Broderick and Boudreau (1992) found that most organisations have only used technology to support a narrow range of administrativ e decisions, resulting in efficiencies in managing information but that the potential competitive advantage of technology has not been exploited. In contrast, other studies have offered some evidence that e-HRM has supported the strategic integration of HR with business strategy (Olivas-Lujan, Ramirez and Zapata-Cantu, 2007; Ruel, Bondarouk and Looise, 2004; Teo, Soon and Fedric, 2001) More recent research has provided some anecdotal evidence for a move towards a more strategic role (Parry and Tyson, 2011) although the evidence supporting the transformational impact compared with the operational and relational appeared to be the weakest. It would appear that there is far greater attention in the literature to the potential for e-HRM to have an impact in the three areas outlined above than there is accorded to the actual outcomes (Shrivastava and Shaw, 2003; Strohmeir, 2007). The reorganisation of the HR function and the introduction of shared service centres appears to have had an impact on numbers of on-site HR staff and a reduction in the number of HR staff to employees (Francis and Keegan, 2006). The operation of such shared service centres relies on technology that is characterised by formalisation, routinisation and centralisation resulting in an impact on staffing of such centres, which require specialised but generally low level HR administrators (Martin and Reddington, 2009). Research that addresses the issue of how HR practitioners have viewed the increasing use of technology appears to be limited to date. There is evidence that some practitioners may view the use of technology and an associated increase in the use of shared service centres cautiously because it has resulted in a reduction of face-to-face relationships, which is often the reason individuals cite for choosing a career in HR (Francis and Keegan, 2006). Martin and Reddington (2009) suggest that the significant role of technology within shared service centres will lead to a lowering of the status of those employed in such environments especially when compared to the status of HR business partners. It is arg ued that there is a risk of deskilling within the administrative function of HR and that staff may be confined to more routine tasks where they had previously had a wider role (Reilly, 2000). It is also suggested that within shared service centres different skills may be required and staff may be employed who have customer service skills but who do not necessarily have a background in HR as technical knowledge can be learned whereas the right attitudes may be harder to learn (Parry et al. 2007; Reilly, 2000). In addition to this, there is evidence that suggests that there a perception amongst HR practitioners of an increasing distance between those at the top and bottom of the career ladder and that people from outwith the HR function are â€Å"parachuting† into the top jobs (Francis and Keegan, 2006). This effect could possibly be explained by the requirement of new areas of expertise, such as technical, consultancy and project management skills (Parry and Tyson, 2011), which may require developing within HR practitioners and could possibly result in recruiting from outside the profession. Indeed a number of reports emphasise the skills of HR staff as a significant barrier to transformation of the HR function (see Reilly, 2012). The debate on the use of technology within HRM can also be situated within a wider sociological perspective. Whilst the sociological literature appears to focus mainly on the use of technology within manufacturing environments or of computerisation in general as opposed to within the HR function an attempt to situate the effect of technology upon HR could be made in terms of attempting to assess the effect upon the organisation of the function and the impact on the level of skills required. The attempts to understand the impact of technology upon the organisation of work have resulted in divergent views. The debate focuses mainly on two opposing views. The managerialist and essentially optimistic perspective associated with writers such as Blauner (1964) argues that the application of technology will render obsolete routine and more manual jobs and create more skilled and complex opportunities resulting in an overall effect of â€Å"upskilling†, along with organisations characterised by decentralised structures, reduction in hierarchy, increased worker autonomy and a prevalence of knowledge workers (for example, Attewell, 1992; Piore and Sabel, 1984) Such analysis suggests that in the earlier phases of industrialisation advances in technology tended to reduce skills and devalue work but that more recent technological developments have had the opposite effect. Examination of the increasing use of technology and its impact on skills levels has provided some evidence for a raising of skills levels (Daniel, 1987, Gaillie, 1991) In contrast, labour process theorists have argued that technological changes have a degrading effect on work and result in â€Å"deskilling† of the labour process and reduced worker autonomy, with a centralised, neo-Taylorist form of organisation, with separation of conception from execution (for example, Braverman, 1974; Zimbalist, 1979). The issues of the expansion of non-manual work and the apparent rising skills levels as suggested by formal skills gradings are not inconsistent with the labour process perspective (Gaillie, 1991) who argues that non-manual work has undergone a major transformation, r esulting in work that is increasingly routinized and mechanised (supported by the increase in office automation). From such a perspective non-manual workers are no longer accorded their relatively privileged position and are now accorded a similar level of skills as manual workers. Support for the process of deskilling can be found in many analyses of the effects of computerised technology (Meiksins, 1994) Analysis of the experience of employees within the call centre environment emphasises the process of deskilling (Desai, 2010) which is described by Taylor and Bain (1999, p.109) as a situation of â€Å"an assembly-line in the head†. The impacts of such call centre roles are often high turnover rates and high levels of absence (Ackroyd, Gordon-Dseagu and Fairhurst, 2006) and the effect on employees is outlined by Rose and Wright (2005, pp.156-157): â€Å"low skilled call centre jobs allied with high levels of technological and management controls do not contribute towards employee well-being and satisfaction† This account of the impact of technology resonates with the description above of shared service centres whose result has been the deskilling of the administrative function of HR and the recruitment of those who do not have a background in HR (Martin and Reddington, 2009; Reilly, 2000). However, whilst it could be argued that a labour process perspective accounts for the effects of technology on some aspects of the HR function, it does not address the effect on the function as a whole as it does not appear to account for the strategic end of the spectrum, where it seems that business partner roles are accorded status and prestige along with substantially increased salaries (Francis and Reddington, 2006). The role of business partners cannot easily be reconciled with the notion of deskilling. There has been a tendency to view the classification of either upskilling or deskilling as too simplistic and some writers have moved away from this conceptualisation of work by postulating that instead there is an increasing polarisation of the workforce in terms of skill level with at one end, highly skilled workers with high levels of autonomy and at the other end a lower skilled sector characterised by an intensification of work through deskilling and management control (Edw ards, 1979), who can be dispensed if surplus to requirements (Berger and Piore, 1981). This polarisation of the workplace appears to be a better reflection of the changing HR function with the autonomous business partner role, with the accompanying perception of a high level of skill and status at one end of the spectrum and at the opposite end, the shared service centre roles characterised by routine and deskilling. In relation to professional work, there is some argument that professionals have not been adversely affected by computerisation and continue to be accorded high status and prestige (Friedson, 1984, 1986). In contrast, it is argued that technology may have differing effects on professionals, depending on the relative status of the profession and on the status of individuals within the profession (Burris, 1998). It is argued that alongside polarisation of the workplace, there tends to be poorer career prospects for non-expert workers (Baran, 1987; Hodson, 1988) with higher level posts being filled from outwith the organisation (Hodson, 1988; Burris 1983,a,b) This issue within HR is highlighted by Reilly (2000) who suggests that there may be less opportunity for career development if lower level staff do not build the experience that they would gain in more generalist roles in traditional HR functions. As stated earlier, there also appears to be a perception that the higher status business partner roles are at least sometimes being filled not just from outwith the organisation but from outwith the HR profession (Francis and Reddington, 2006). Whilst the issue of the impact of technology upon the HR function appears to have been given little attention within research (Lepak and Snell, 1998; Shrivastava and Shaw, 2003) it would seem that what discussion there has been relates mainly to the promise of technology in transforming the HR function and facilitating a more strategic orientation. The reality of the impact of technology in achieving an impact in operational, relational and transformational areas is much less clear although evidence would suggest that the greatest impact is in achieving operational efficiencies. Alongside the development of the use of technology has been the reorganisation of the HR function. Although there has been little attempt to consider the impact of technology from a sociological perspective, it can be argued that the increasing use of technology, which has been used to support the shared service centre model may be resulting in a deskilling of an element of the HR profession and reducing career development paths for some practitioners. In addition, there appears to be a change in skills viewed as necessary within this function, with a focus on customer service skills as opposed to specialist HR knowledge. In contrast, although the evidence for a transformational impact of technology upon HR is weaker and more contradictory, there would appear to be a perception of a higher status role in the business partner, with accordingly higher remuneration, thus demonstrating a polarisation of the HR function in terms of both skills and status. However, this reorganisation of the HR function and the development of a more strategic orientation, which it is argued can be facilitated by the increasing use of technology, although being seen as having an upskilling effect on those in a more strategic role could be argued as achieving the opposite effect if the result is recruiting from outwith the profession. This could leave HR professionals in a precarious position in terms of career and skill development, which could at least in part be attributed to the effect of technology as without increasingly sophisticated technology the new models of service delivery may not be possible or at least may not be as effective. Whilst, a lack of academic attention to the actual impact of technology on the HR function requires that caution is exercised in drawing conclusions, the tendency to focus on the potential impact of technology could be followed in suggesting that the potential of technology in facilitating the move to a transformation of the HR function may be to tend towards a degradation of the HR profession, with low skilled staff employed in shared service centres and more highly skilled and valued business partners being recruited from outwith the HR profession. However, without significant further research in the area, in particular on the impact of technology and the accompanying change in service delivery models upon the career paths and development opportunities for HR practitioners, this conclusion remains just a potential. References Ackroyd, K., Gordon-Dseagu, V. and Fairhurst, P. (2006) â€Å"Well-being and call centres†, Institute of Employment Studies, Brighton [online]. Available at: http://www.employment-studies.co.uk/pdflibrary/mp69.pdf (Accessed 21st November 2012) Attewell, P. (1992) â€Å"Skill and occupational changes in U.S. manufacturing† in Technology and the future of work, P.S. Adler, New York, Oxford University Press. Baran, B. (1987) â€Å"The technological transformation of white collar work†, in Computer chips and paper clips, vol 2, H. Hartmaan, ed., Washington DC, National Academy Press. Berger, S. and Piore, M. (1981) Dualism and discontinuity in industrial societies, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press. Blauner, R. (1964) Alienation and freedom, Chicago, IL, University Chicago Press Bondarouk, T.V. and Ruel, H.J.M. (2009) â€Å"Electronic human resource management: challenges in the digital era†, The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 20 (3), pp. 505-514. [online]. Available at: http://ezproxy.napier.ac.uk:2343/doi/pdf/10.1080/09585190802707235 (Accessed 10th November 2012) Braverman, H. (1974) Labor and Monopoly Capital, New York, Monthly Review Press Broderick, R. and Boudreau, J.W. (1992) â€Å"Human resource management, information technology and the competitive edge†, Academy of Management Perspectives, 6 (2), pp. 7-17. [online]. Available at: http://ezproxy.napier.ac.uk:2334/docview/210521060/fulltext PDF/13A99A5CA0029773271/6?accountid=16607 (Accessed 21st November 2012) Burbach, R. and Dundon, T. (2005) â€Å"The strategic potential of human resource information systems: Evidence from the Republic of Ireland†, International Employment Relations Review, 11 (1/2), pp. 97-117. [online]. Available at: http://search.informit.com.au/documentSummary;dn=164472644509297;res=IELBUS (Accessed 21st November 2012) Burris, B.H. (1983a) No room at the top, New York, Praeger Burris, B.H. (1998) â€Å"Computerisation of the workplace†, Annual Review of Sociology, 24, pp. 141-157. [online]. Available at: http://ezproxy.napier.ac.uk:2334/docview/199730349/fulltextPDF/13A94B0278177DBCD7E/8?accountid=16607 (Accessed 10th November 2012) CIPD (2005) People management and technology: progress and potential, London, CIPD. CIPD (2007) HR and Technology: beyond delivery, London, CIPD Daniel, W.W. (1987) Workplace industrial relations and technological change, London, Frances Pinter. Dery, K., Grant, D. and Wiblen, S. (2009) Human resource information systems (HRIS): replacing or enhancing HRM, Paper presented at the 15th World Congress of the International Industrial Relations Association. [online] Available at:http://sydney.edu.au/business/__data/assets/pdf_file/0003/72273/IIRA_Dery_et_al_HRIS_Replacing_or_enhancing_HRM_final.pdf (accessed 10th November 2012)

Prejudice, Stereotypes, and Discrimination Essay Example for Free

Prejudice, Stereotypes, and Discrimination Essay â€Å"We all decry prejudice, yet are all prejudiced. † Herbert Spencer. One of the greatest problem that our world faces is prejudice, we discrimination and stereotype those that we find not to be the same as us or even slightly different. In some form or another we all have experience some form of stereotype or discrimination. It has an effect on the way we think and act. Here we try to understand the reason for prejudice, why we stereotypes and discrimination that has continue to affect out world. What is prejudice? â€Å"Prejudice is the act of judging an individual of a certain group based on perceived notions about that particular group. Prejudice is linked to discrimination but prejudice is an attitude whereas discrimination is the action associated with that attitude. †(Prejudice 2001). Many times we dislike something or someone just because they look or act differently from us. â€Å"A group that you are a part of is called your in-group. Ingroups might include gender, race, or city or state of residence, as well as groups you might intentionally join, like Kiwanis or a bowling league. A group that you do not identify with is called your outgroup. † ( Feenstra, 2013) everyone belongs to a certain group and we all know who is in our group and those that do not fit in our groups. Most time adult do not realize when they somehow out a person from there groups, but some do it intentionally. When we out a person from our group we really do not take the time to get to know or find out who they are, but we tend to pass judgment on them anyways. â€Å"Stereotypes are beliefs about the characteristics of particular groups or members of those groups. †( Feenstra, 2013) people tend to place into categories things and people, gathering them together without learn who or what they are. For example; that everyone that speaks Spanish is Mexican, when in reality there is a total of 21 Spanish country and they do not all speak the same Spanish. When we stereotype people into groups, we form opinion about them without getting to know there person, this sometime causing prejudice and discrimination against them. â€Å"They not only reflect beliefs about the traits that characterize the typical member of a group but also contain information about other qualities, such as social roles, the degree to which members of the group share a quality, and emotional reactions. Stereotypes imply a substantial amount of other information about a person besides what is immediately apparent and generate expectations about individual group members beyond the current situation ). One important time frame in the world would be the holocaust were the Jewish people were separated from other people because they were believed to be lower than the German and the cause of their problem lead them to torture and abuse the Jewish people as well as kill thousands of Jewish men woman and children. The people that suffer the most from prejudice and any form of discrimination are woman and children especially those living in third world country were at time it is the root of wars. I have been lucky not have been affected by any form of prejudice or discrimination. But as a teen in high school there was always that one person that felt like stereotyping a few people to try to hurt them. Only thru education can we combat any form of stereotypes, discrimination and Prejudice. In conclusion stereotypes, discrimination and Prejudice has influence the way people think and act. It has been the cause of suffering to those effected, as well as the cause of war and separation. Prejudice is a form of ignorance; it is a lack of knowledge, a lack of understanding toward others. Thru education and tolerances we can learn to accept other no matter where they.