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My Day Around Town With My Sister Emily - 1003 Words

It’s March 22, 1756 and I’m spending my day around town with my younger sister Emily. It’s hot but I don’t mind. I’m just glad I don’t have to have the rest of my huge family with me. There’s my mom, my dad, my eight year old sister Emily, my two younger brothers, Jack, who is six, and henry, who is five, there’s also a baby who is a year and a half old, her name is penny and she is the only reason I don’t lose my mind living with a loud, chaotic, messy family of seven. You might think being a fourteen year old girl living in 1756 with four younger siblings would have it’s perks, and it does, I can leave the house whenever I want to. That is pretty much the only perk, except I can’t leave before six in the morning, I need to be back by seven at night, and I have to come home for lunch. Even my little sliver of freedom has it’s downs. It could be worse though, There’s a family that sometimes ha ngs around town named the Barkers. They don’t have any money and they often go without food. Their clothes are rags and they don’t have shoes. Everyone helps them out as much as we can but there’s only so much you can do. It’s not really possible to just buy them a house or all the necessities they need, especially because they’re a family of eight. It makes me sad that they once had a house and everything they needed to stay healthy and happy and then one day that was all taken away from them. I was thinking about that as I walked home with Emily. When we got home the smell ofShow MoreRelatedHow I Have A Routine830 Words   |  4 Pagesroutine. Everyday, I wake up and go to town. In town I either buy stuff for the family or if there is nothing to be done that day, I wander around and just have fun. Today was one of those days. It was sunny and I was wandering around town with my little sister, who my mom had forced me to take along with me because â€Å"It was a nice afternoon and you and your sister need some fresh air.† I had told her Emily (my sister) could play outside while I went to town but my mother had insisted that since she wasRead MoreMy Ticket At The Wortham Theater1481 Words   |  6 PagesOn Sunday noon around 2 pm, I was standing in line with my ticket at the Wortham Theatre exciting to see Our Town. One more time, I observed how the arrangement of this lobby was, and I like the reality that all across the lobby they had the paper amusement of obje ct comparable to the costumes we were around to notice. I was able to purchase my ticket earlier, and even though I was not so much excited to sit there for about 2 hours and 30 minutes, I was shortly realized that the time went by so fastRead MoreComparison of Womens Struggles in Use by Alice Walker and A Rose for Emily† by William Faulkner1170 Words   |  5 Pagesdaughter, who views herself as one who above her family and her past. In the short story â€Å"A Rose for Emily† written by William Faulkner, the story depicts a character, Emily, who went through a major struggle in her life, and had a hard time finding her place in the world, as in the rest of his stories. The story is set sometime after the civil war, in the late 1800’s or early 1900’s, in a fictional town of Jefferson, Mississippi. Even though those stories were written so long ago they are still relevantRead MoreHeathcliff Revenge Character Analysis761 Words   |  4 Pages In the novel, , written by English poet Emily Brontà «, the pages are wrought with deep-seated contempt that breeds revenge in many of the characters. In the hearts of three men, jealousy and self-proclaimed possession haunts them deeply and drives them into pursuing a hateful crusade for vengeance on the ones they feel wronged them. When the young orphaned Heathcliff is brought in by the Earnshaw family, eldest son Hindley makes his distaste of the foundling known. Hindley feels like HeathcliffRead MoreHow The Views Of Ourselves And What Other s See Can Differ2958 Words   |  12 Pagessomething straight to your face. We all know how disappointing today’s society is, but what about other time periods? I am going to show you how even at two different time periods, through the stories â€Å"Araby† written by James Joyce, and â€Å"A Rose for Emily† written by William Faulkner that society hasn’t really changed. There will always be those that keep their thoughts to themselves and those who can’t help, but to insert their two cents into another’s life. After all it is human nature. In the storyRead MoreThe Knight s Tales And The Miller s Tale1032 Words   |  5 Pageshowever, Chaucer changes his tune and describes love as something to be laughed at; it is treated like a joke. â€Å"The Knight’s Tale† is a story of two young and noble Knights, cousins as well as Theban royalty, who fall in love with the same woman, named Emily, while imprisoned in Theseus’ Tower. Both Knights will stop at nothing to win her hand in marriage, including breaking out of prison, as Palamon does, and living for years pretending to be a servant, as Arcita does. Once Duke Theseus is made awareRead MoreEmily Dickinson Biography1708 Words   |  7 PagesEmily Dickinson, regarded as one of America’s greatest poets, is also well known for her unusual life of self imposed social seclusion. Living a life of simplicity and seclusion, she yet wrote poetry of great power; questioning the nature of immortality and death. Her different lifestyle created an aura; often romanticized, and frequently a source of interest and speculation. But ultimately Emily Dickinson is remembered for her unique poetry. Within short, compact phrases she expressed far-reachingRead MoreThe Theme Of Revenge In Wuthering Heights745 Words   |  3 PagesIn the novel, Wuthering Heights, written by English poet Emily Brontà «, the pages are wrought with deep-seated contempt that breeds revenge in many of the characters, particularly Heathcliff. In the hearts of three men, jealousy and self-proclaimed possession haunts them deeply and drives them into pursuing a hateful crusade for vengeance on the ones they feel wronged them. When the young orphaned Heathcliff is brought in by the Earnshaw family, eldest son Hindley makes his distaste of the foundlingRead MoreEssay on Critique of the Novel Our Town4629 Words   |  19 Pagessociety. In 1926, he earned his M.A. in French from Princeton University. Wilder won Pulitzer Prizes for The Bridge of San Luis Rey in 1928, Our Town in 1938, and The Skin of Our Teeth in 1942. He also won the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade in 1957, the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1963, and the National Book Award in 1967 for his novel The Eighth Day. Form, Structure, and Plot The novel is organized into three acts, each one representing a different period of time. There are only two flashbacksRead MoreEssay on Vision of Heaven in the Poetry of Dickinson2079 Words   |  9 PagesVision of Heaven in the Poetry of Dickinson      Ã‚  Ã‚   Emily Dickinson never became a member of the church although she lived in a typical New England Puritan community all her life. The well-known lines, Some - keep the Sabbath - going to church - / I - keep it - staying at Home - (P-236 [B]; J-324),1 suggest her defiance against the existing church and Christianity of her time in particular. And her manner of calling the Deity by such terms as Burglar, Banker (P-39; J-49), and a

Concept of Strategic Management †Free Solution by Experts - Click Now!

Question: Discuss about the Concept of Strategic Management. Answer: Introduction This report encompasses through all the concepts related to the strategic management. The case study based on the global and economic forces and the western European brewing industry has been analyzed to examine the critical issues of strategic management in the industry. In the past decades, it has been observed that brewing industry has gone under many changes. In the global environment of social and economic changes, brewing industry is facing challenges particularly through global competitive forces and consolidation by alliances, internalization, and acquisition. To analyze this major strategical issue, several articles and journals related to this concern have been reviewed in this report. Accordingly, organizational strategic management cannot be alienated from the different strategic approaches of an organization within the industry. Therefore, this report aims to serve as a critical review of the major strategic approaches to the strategic organizational management since it is an important step towards the establishment of new framework for organizing change in the industry. Discussion Critically evaluate the current state of the European brewing industry using the Inside-out and Outside-in view. The brewing industry of European Union has experienced astonishing changes. In the late 20th century, Europe has been considered as the recognized center for the brewing industry. However, since 2006, the consumption of beer has fallen down by 10% in the wide market of the United Kingdom and Germany across the world. In the year 2008, Germany, the largest market of Europe was ranked as 5th in the global economy among China, Brazil, Russia and the United States (Whittington, 2013). In the 21st century, the Europe brewing industry had faced a huge wave of mergers and acquisitions. With the increasing economies of scale, distribution of beers in a country is comparatively expensive than the consumer goods. The average percentage of consuming alcohol is found to be 4.5 percent by volume. The consumption of alcohol may vary depending on the taste and preference, style of the consumers across different region and culture. In Europe, alcohol forms an essential part of many lives and culture and thereby moderately consumed as the lifestyle drink within the government restriction. The global forces of internal and external environment have established a strategic management in the European brewing industry. Moreover, the strategic management of an organization is affected by several reasons and alteration in the global economic environment. Several factors affecting Europe brewing industry have a greater impact on the other related industry (Larimo, et al., 2006). In the recent years, European brewing industry has decline with the fall in its beer consumption. This decline has been observed due to key factors affecting the market situation. Government of the country is strongly campaigning against the consumption of beers among the public. These campaigns significantly hamper the general public against drunken driving and thereby have a great impact on the tendency to drink alcohol in bars, pubs, and restaurants. Through these campaigns, people increase their awareness about the harmful effects of alcohol and thus they have been concerned about their fitness and health issues. Specifically in the United Kingdom, hostility named binge drinking is rapidly growing in the country with the unnecessary consumption of beer in the clubs and pubs. However, in the Northern European market, popularity of wines has become increased in the recent years. Moreover, consumption of beer per capita largely varies within the countries of Europe as consumption of beer in Germany is almost four times higher than Italy. However, increase in the case of drunken driving and binge drinking has resulted into shift in the sales of beer in the European markets. In 2008, the increase in off trade of alcohol has been observed from the year 2000 i.e. 63% to 67% of volume. Thus, the shift in trade of alcohol is dominated by the chains of large supermarket, for example, Carrefour or Tesco. These supermarkets most often cut down their offer prices on alcohol so as to attract public into their shops. Therefore, due to this effect more than one fourth volume of beer is currently selling thro ugh these supermarkets (brewersofeurope, 2001). Although, fall in the trade volume does not affect sales values as it is generally rising because brewers are introducing high premium products including fruit flavored beers, nonalcoholic beers, and extra cold lagers. A high demand for these premium products is satisfied in the form of imported exotic beers from overseas. However, the brewing industry of Europe is comprises of different kinds of competitors in the market. Some of the largest brewers in the world are Anheuser Busch InBev, Greene King, and Tsingtao which are established in Belgium, United Kingdom, and China respectively. These companies have transformed themselves from the spectacular mergers and acquisitions (Verstl Latz-Weber, 2010). However, economic strategy of the brewing industry have different concentration pattern across the countries due to availability of raw material and cheap labor. But recently, with the development in communication and technology, national beer market has also got significantly affected due to these global forces and strategic policies of the country. The increasing awareness about the harmful effects of alcohol at the global scale has reduced competitors in the national beer markets (Madsen Wu, 2014). The brewing industry has gone through further changes since this case was written. Please critically evaluate these changes in a strategic context. The European brewing industry has changed itself by increasing efficiency and building a strong brand around the world. The European brewing industry has a great social and economic impact on the Europe after going through the strategic changes. The industry has contributed to the European Union economy to a larger extent. The performance of the Europe brewing industry reflects a significant impact on the government revenue. However, government has increased taxes on the alcohol products which in turn have increased the cost of production. The industry and market trends have changed due to the process of internalization and global forces in the environment. After 2013, the Europe brewing industry has changed because of its wide diversity. The global market of beer production involves a huge variety of beer brands in the country. The consumption of wine has reduced among the public due to the increasing awareness of its negative effects. The global pressure for beer consolidation has arisen because of the overcapacity and increased production cost. The acquisitions, alliances and closure of brewing industry has control the consumption of alcohol. The government has also taken a major step towards the increasing awareness of consuming alcohol(Berkhout, et al., 2013). With the implementation of strategic changes taking place in the Europe brewing industry, it has significantly grown from the financial and social crisis. The European Union remains the second largest producer of alcohol in the world after China. It has contributed to a large part of the country's income and growth. In 2014, European Union has increased the number of brewery companies i.e. over 6500 companies recently with the production of beer measuring 383 million hectoliters. Thus, brewing industry is flourishing over other sectors in the European market (Grave, 2016). Brewing industry is considered as one of the oldest industry in the European Union which has also faced challenges and innovation across the nation. The brewers are heavily investing in the beer brands and other products of alcohol. Based on the taste and preferences of the customers, industry is focusing on growing different variety of beer which includes lower or non-version of alcohol in the beer products. This also meets the consumer criteria of consuming alcohol with having less negative effects on their health issues. The exports of European beer production are nearly around 20% that has resulted into an effective proportion of beer and other alcohol exports in the world. In the recent years, the European brewing industry has faced several small and medium changes through acquisitions. This merger and acquisition of beer industry dominates the other sector in the global economy. However, operation of brewing industry is highly competitive and consolidated in the business market. It organizes their business activities in the modern economy and thereby determines the feasible choices of beers among the general public. The global development and high sales of breweries has been affected through traditional volume of alcohol prices. In the emerging economy, a notable increase in the demand of beer among the public has been observed. There is wide range of beer produced by the Europe brewing industry with lower amount of alcohol in it. This also does not affect the consumers' health in a negative way. The competitive pressure through the consolidation by alliances and acquisitions has greatly affected the brewing industry strategically (Play, 2007). Conclusion The strategic management of Europe brewing industry has been analyzed in this report. Over the last several years, the European brewing industry has gone through several changes and significant challenges in the global economy. Occurrence of acquisitions and strategic alliances has control the production of beers in the market. Government has also taken major steps against the consumption of alcohol among public because it negatively impacts on the health of the consumers. After a decline of brewing industry, Europe has significantly made changes in its strategic development and variety of products. However, the global pressure for strengthening the brewing industry is due to its overcapacity and consumption of strong beer brands. Bibliography Berkhout, B. et al., 2013. The Contribution made by Beer to the European Economy, l.: s.n. brewersofeurope, 2001. The Brewers of Europe, l.: s.n. Grave, J. d., 2016. BEER IS BACK: European brewing sector returns to growth - hundreds of new breweries created. pp. 1-2. Larimo, J., Marinov, M. Marinova, S. T., 2006. The Central and Eastern European brewing industry since 1990. British Food Journal , 108(5), pp. 371-384. Madsen, E. S. Wu, Y., 2014. Globalization of Brewing and Economies of Scale, l.: s.n. Play, G. F., 2007. Brewing, l.: s.n. Verstl, D. I. Latz-Weber, H., 2010. The European brewing industry in transition. l., s.n., pp. 1-86. Whittington, R., 2013. Global Forces and the Western European brewing industry, l.: s.n.

Journal for The Crying of Lot 49

The Crying of Lot 49 is a postmodernist novel by Thomas Pynchon. Oedipa Maas as the main protagonist of the novel attempts to investigate a centuries-old conflict between the mail distribution companies by opening windows to the world beyond the known sun.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Journal for The Crying of Lot 49 specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The narrative method used in The Crying of Lot 49 can be linked to a detective story, full of riddles, attempts to solve them and unexpected plot lines. Using a detective storytelling model was characteristic of postmodern novelists. From the opening episodes of the novel, readers are engaged into a detective-like search for the solution of the main puzzle. Oedipa Maas as the main protagonist of the novel acts as a detective investigating the case of centuries-old worldwide conspiracy. The main character can be associated with the girl from the picture Encuentro b y a Spanish-Mexican surrealist painter Remedios Varo. The girl in the picture is sitting in an empty room with a box on the table. A face similar to her own is looking into the girl’s eyes from the box. The symbolic meaning of this box can be interpreted as the circumstances hiding the truth and answers to the main question surrounded with mystery. Lost in thoughts, the girl in Remedio Varo’s picture like Oedipa Maas from the Pynchon’s novel under consideration are searching to the answers for the mystery whereas the solution is closer than it might seem. However, analyzing the role of mystery in the plot of The Crying of Lot 49, it can be stated that the effect of mystery is produced with the structure of the novel and the intersection of the main plot lines I it. There is no strict line between randomness and strict pattern in Pynchon’s novel which intensifies the impression produced upon the readers involved into the process of detective investigation . Emerged into the investigation conducted by the main protagonist, readers as well as Oedipa herself are frequently unsure whether her findings can be true. Oedipa finds a lot of clues on her way, but frequently doubts their authenticity. As opposed to Varo’s surrealistic picture which does not claim for competing with reality, the plot of the novel under consideration depicts the absurdity of the world and can make readers to believe the author. Oedipa asks herself: â€Å"Shall I project a world?† (Pynchon 82). This rhetoric question reflects the character’s doubts regarding the authenticity of particular clues and evidence she finds in the course of her investigation. This uncertainty is inevitably shared by readers who question authenticity of the plot lines and the story of the conflict between the two mail distribution companies. Advertising Looking for essay on american literature? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Regardless of the fact that the novelist provides detailed explanation on how the WASTE mail system was originated which sounds rather reasonable and realistic, readers are left without clear answers to their questions. Looking for the answer, Oedipa has to consider even more than three traditional dimensions: â€Å"Now here was Oedipa, faced with a metaphor of God knew how many parts; more than two anyway. With coincidences blossoming these days wherever she looked, she had nothing but a sound, a word, Tristero, to hold them toghether† (Pynchon 109). Trying to find the basis for this metaphor, the main character frequently looses her connection with reality and tries to build more sophisticated mental bridges searching for the main answer. Looking for the solution of the main riddle, the Oedipa tries to extend the limits of her perception to see the hidden worlds and hear the unheard music by opening windows to new dimensions. For instance, meeting a sailor, Oedipa opens a window to a dimension which cannot be expressed in spoken language, but is accessible only in vision. â€Å"She knew that the sailor had seen worlds no other man had seen† (Pynchon 129). In this episode, the reasonable explanation is intersected with imagination and surreality depending upon the interpretation of the unknown worlds. On the one hand, a sailor could visit unknown lands during his traveling all over the world. On the other hand, from the context, readers can understand that the unknown worlds are not only distanced from them, but also hidden on unusual levels of perception. Oedipa attempts to search for the answers beyond the well-known worlds and even to hear â€Å"music made purely of Antarctic loneliness and fright† (Pynchon 129). This metaphor which is based on the mix of traditional senses and perception clearly demonstrates the novelist’s attempts top extend the traditional boundaries of the three-dimensional world. Despite of all the absurdity of the depicted world, the author provides logical reasoning for the most plot lines no matter how unrealistic they may sound. By preserving a particular pattern within all the chaos and mess of the plot lines and the levels on which they take place, Pynchon appeals to the minds of readers and allows them to draw their own conclusions whether the story is authentic or not. By combining the elements of a detective narrative pattern and logical reasoning and depicting the absurdity of this world, Pynchon makes readers of his novel The Crying of the Lot 49 to doubt the authenticity of his story and the unknown worlds shown in it.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Journal for The Crying of Lot 49 specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Works Cited Pynchon, Thomas. The Crying of Lot 49. Harper Collins, 2009. Print. This essay on Journal for The Crying of Lot 49 was written and submitted by user Harper K. to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

History of Nationalist Ideologies

Free Essays on Profile of Frederick Douglass

Frederick Douglass, one of history’s most successful black abolitionist, changed America’s views of slavery through his writings and actions. Frederick Douglass had many achievements throughout his life. His great oratory skills left the largest impact on Civil War time period literature. Douglass was born a slave in 1817, in Maryland. He educated himself and became determined to escape the horror of slavery. He attempted to escape slavery once, but failed. He later made a successful escape in 1838. Frederick’s life as a slave had the greatest impact on his writings. Through slavery, he was able to develop the necessary emotion and experiences for him to become a successful abolitionist writer. He grew up as a slave, experiencing all of the hardships that are included, such as whippings, scarce meals, and other harsh treatment. His thirst for freedom , and his burning hatred of slavery caused him to write Narrative Of The Life Of Frederick Douglass, and other sim ilar biographies. In his Narrative, he wrote the complete story of his miserable life as a slave and his strife to obtain freedom. The main motivational force behind his character (himself) was to make it through another day so that someday he might see freedom. The well written books that he produced were all based on his life. They all started with Douglass coping with slavery. He had a reason to write these works. As a die-hard abolitionist, He wanted to show the world how bad slavery really was. "He did this really well, because he made people understand the unknown, and made abolitionists out of many people. This man had a cause, as well as a story to tell" (Schomp, 25). Douglass, as a former slave, single-handedly redefined American Civil War literature, simply by redefining how antislavery writings were viewed. Frederick Douglass is well known for many of his literary achievements. He is best known, now, as a writer. "As a writer, Frederick Douglass shined. As a spe... Free Essays on Profile of Frederick Douglass Free Essays on Profile of Frederick Douglass Frederick Douglass, one of history’s most successful black abolitionist, changed America’s views of slavery through his writings and actions. Frederick Douglass had many achievements throughout his life. His great oratory skills left the largest impact on Civil War time period literature. Douglass was born a slave in 1817, in Maryland. He educated himself and became determined to escape the horror of slavery. He attempted to escape slavery once, but failed. He later made a successful escape in 1838. Frederick’s life as a slave had the greatest impact on his writings. Through slavery, he was able to develop the necessary emotion and experiences for him to become a successful abolitionist writer. He grew up as a slave, experiencing all of the hardships that are included, such as whippings, scarce meals, and other harsh treatment. His thirst for freedom , and his burning hatred of slavery caused him to write Narrative Of The Life Of Frederick Douglass, and other sim ilar biographies. In his Narrative, he wrote the complete story of his miserable life as a slave and his strife to obtain freedom. The main motivational force behind his character (himself) was to make it through another day so that someday he might see freedom. The well written books that he produced were all based on his life. They all started with Douglass coping with slavery. He had a reason to write these works. As a die-hard abolitionist, He wanted to show the world how bad slavery really was. "He did this really well, because he made people understand the unknown, and made abolitionists out of many people. This man had a cause, as well as a story to tell" (Schomp, 25). Douglass, as a former slave, single-handedly redefined American Civil War literature, simply by redefining how antislavery writings were viewed. Frederick Douglass is well known for many of his literary achievements. He is best known, now, as a writer. "As a writer, Frederick Douglass shined. As a spe...

Increasing Of The Self-medication Level And Its Dangerous Essay - 1

Increasing Of The Self-medication Level And Its Dangerous - Essay Example The country has witnessed a situation in which people buy and consume drugs without a prescription from medical practitioners. The danger with this culture is that parents are adopting the culture oblivious of the future behavior that their children will adopt following the use of drugs over the counter. Gup highlights the dangerous approach that parents adopt and indicates that the system â€Å"devalues talking therapy† and consequently results into other approaches of treatment, which he calls self-medication and indicates that the society has made this approach â€Å"perfectly acceptable.† Based on Gup’s statement, the society engages in self-medication without assessing the dangers involved in their actions. In effect, children will adopt this practice as conventional or standard practice since their parents make it deeply rooted in a family setting. To highlight the dangers posed by this practice, drug dealing can be said to be a practice that originates fro m the self-medication that the American social practices. In this regard, the fact that drugs are sold without a prescription can make drug dealing become normal since self-medication is the order of the day. In effect, I agree with Gup when he indicates that his son’s behavior mirrored the society that the young people grow in whereby â€Å"Big Pharma itself prospers from the off-label uses of drugs, often not tested in children and not approved for the many uses to which they are put† (Gup). In this regard, it is evident that large pharmaceutical companies rake in billions of profits each year by selling drugs without proper regulatory measures in place. From this practice, youths who peddle drugs to society behave in a similar way to these pharmaceutical companies since they sell drugs that are illegal and are harmful to society. It is common knowledge that most behavior that humans adopt is learned from various settings.

Major 8-1 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Major 8-1 - Essay Example icated in causing liver cancers, aggressive behavior, gynaecomastia, and testicular atrophy (Josefson, 1996, 702).† Adolescence use performance enhancing drugs due to the pressure to achieve difficult goals, which paves the way for future substance abuse and health problems. Athletic students with goals to play collage or professional sports feel pressured to be the very best. Above all, professional sports roll models are often accused of using performance-enhancing drugs (Garzon et. al., 2006, 159). Professional athletes including baseball players Mark McGuire and Sammy Sosa, football player Emmit Smith, and wrestler Hulk Hogan used over the counter performance-enhancing drugs. â€Å"Mark McGuire and Sammy Sosa admitted consuming creatine, an energy boosting protein, Mark McGuire also admitted to taking androstendione, a testosterone producer (Josefson, 1996, 702).† Creatine and androstendione are both available over-the-counter. Hulk Hogan used over-the-counter steroids to build muscle mass to gain weight class in his wrestling career. As a result, student athletes turn to performance-enhancing drugs with the idea that their athletic performance will enhance; however, these drugs do not improve athletes’ skill level or make them stronge r. â€Å"High school and even middle school students are using these supplements because they are misled into thinking that supplements will enhance their athletic skills resulting in an improvement in their performance (Garzon et. al., 2006, 159).† Students with high expectations and low self-esteem â€Å"are at the risk of following the shoes of their role models as they seek performance enhancing drugs (Garzon et. al., 2006, 159).† Athletic organizations like â€Å"the International Olympic committee, National College Athletic Association, and National football league, have banned the use of androstenedione [but the ban is difficult to enforce], as the steroid is not tested for in standard drug test (Josefson, 1996, 702).†

Media and communication Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Media and communication - Essay Example The Harry Potter Fan Community is built around the series of seven fantasy novels that are written by J. K. Rowling going by the name of Harry Porter, and the series has attracted so much fanatical interest, that every release of a new series of the book has posed security threats in major cities of the world (Pyne, 2010:126). Thus, starting with interest built around the series of the fantasy novel, the Harry Potter Fan Community has metamorphosed over time into creating different other affiliates of the fan community, which then focuses on different other cultural, social and political issues within the society. This way, the once simply fanatical and craze interests in the novel series have turned into a fully-fledged socio-political activism, which is now driving major campaigns towards achieving socio-political changes. To achieve this transformation and buildup more fanatical following, the Harry Potter Fan Community has created a participatory culture, which is enlisting members’ cultural connections towards realizing more civic and political outcomes (Bennett, 2008:18). In this respect, various cultural practices of textual production and circulation in the digital world have been adopted. This discussion seeks to analyze the different cultural practices of textual production and circulation applied by the Harry Potter Fan Community, while also analyzing the transformative work they engage in, the cultural context of the group’s work and thus enhance the understanding of their culture and work. The digital world has completely changed the way textual production and circulation is done. While traditionally, the face-to-face methods were applied towards textual production and circulation by the fan communities, it has become exceedingly difficult to classify the textual production and circulation activities of the fans into specified categories, considering that the digital development has collapsed the initial

Employee Involvement and Participation in Service Industry

Employee Involvement and Participation in Service Industry INTRODUCTION The paper will discuss employee involvement and participation in the service industry with reference to Canary Wharf GBK. The paper starts with the objective of the research and ends with the conclusion and recommendation of the research. Employee involvement is a very important programme to utilize the tacit knowledge of the employees to increase commitment and performance with a limited cost. This paper will discuss different types and models of employees involvement and their benefit and limitations. The research start with the secondary research through collected theories to write the literature reviews to build the base of the research. In the literature reviews, it has explained views of different writer on employees involvement. The literature reviews includes types of involvement, models of employees involvement and management support for employees involvement Further, this research includes a methodology where the research strategy, approach, data collection and sample of the research are outline. Research methodology is crucial, as it is giving the researcher ways to conduct the primary research. The research is base on a case study and the data collection methods are interviews and a survey. In the third section the researcher, outline the finding of interviews and survey. In this research, there are three interviews and one survey conducted by the researcher. The participants in the interviews are the managers and the respondent in the survey are the employees of the organisation. Finally, in the last section the researcher presented analysis and conclusion of the research. In the analysis, the data collected from the research has been tested with the theories of literature. The research concludes with a brief conclusion where the result of the research has discussed. In the end, the researcher gives recommendation and discusses the scope, limitation, and interesting issue of the research. Research objectives are Critically analyse the importance of employee involvement as outlined in the literature review that includes its importance in recession. Evaluate Gourmet Burger Kitchen employee involvement strategy in the light of the research finding and theoretical literature. Discuss the benefits and limitations of Employee involvement. Benchmark the GBK canary wharf case study with other restaurant. Reason for choosing this topic The purpose of this study is to investigate the methods of effective involvement of the employees in a company where the researcher is working. Employees are the most valuable assets of a company. Employee involvement is important as it can result in empowerment and democracy in the organisation. This may result in increased motivation to take more responsibility (Judge and Gennard (2005). In this current economic situationwhen the confidence of the employees is low, EIP can motivate the employees to deliver good customer services, which can eventually result in improved profitability. The researcher aims to explore the role of employee involvement in the hospitality industry where the employees turn over is highest. The researcher is presently working at GBK and has accessto conduct interviews and surveys. Furthermore, the researcher is interested in opening a business in India that is why the researcher has chosen this topic. PART ONE LITRETURE REVIEW Definition of employee involvement Employees, the strongest pillar of the organization are the most valuable asset that contributes significantly to its success and prosperity. According to Price (2004), the involvement of employees in the organizational operation not only motivates them but also enables them to contribute more effectively and efficiently. Further, he explains employee involvement as a process involving participation, communication, decision making which leads to industrial democracy and employee motivation. Further CIPD (2009) explain employee involvement as a commitment of the employees towards the values of the organisation and willingness to help each other to achieve the organisational goal. The results are not only to increase job satisfaction, or motivation but the increasing performance of that organisation. In short, employee involvement is creating an environment where people have a continuous impact on decisions and actions that affect their jobs. Employee involvement Vs participation Understanding and defining the concept Employee involvement and employee participation are like two sides of a coin. Both are supplementary to each other and existence of one depends on the other. There is not any significant difference between the two terms. Participation is an act of sharing information and the meaning of involvement is the day-to-day activity of the organization. Many writers have contributed towards the development of this thought of employee involvement or participation. For example Delaney (1996) had used the term participation as a voice of the employee in the decision making process and to describe different types of involvement of employee in the organizations affair. But very few writers tried to find the difference between the two concepts. Kale (1999) argues that participation is any organizational arrangement under which employees have some sort of share in some aspect of the business which is not specific types of employee involvement. Furthermore Ang (2002) has contributed towards the development of the difference between the two terms and concluded that, Employee involvement calls for participation which is all about sharing information, training, mutual decision making process whereas traditional participative managementviews participation as a part of other organizational process. Marching ton et al. (1993) have used employee participation in a different context and as an umbrella term covering all forms of employee influence in the organization. Employee involvement is used to describe managerially inspired initiatives aimed at winning employee commitment, as part of the practices of industrial democracy, whose aim is to increase the rights of employees to participate in management decisions. This not only results in enhanced employee morale but also retaining the potential manpower resulting in lower attrition rate. Many writers have contributed differently and each one of them has different approach to the concept and the context. Employee involvement was and is still known and referred to by different writers under such headings as participative management, employee participation, and worker involvement. Employee involvement and empowerment The concept of employee involvement is incomplete without it being associated with employee empowerment. According to Cunningham and Hyman (1999) there cannot be a single or simple definition of empowerment as some writers see empowerment as a recent development after increase employee involvement. Further Apostolouain (2000) explains that empowerment is the next step of employee involvement means where the employees have the power to take decisions. Blanchard et al. (1999) has defined its scope referring it as a means for involving team members as business partners in determining company success or failure. The real essence of which comes from releasing the knowledge, experience, and motivational power that is already in people but is being severely underutilized. In short it can be said that employee involvement leads to empowerment of the employees in different management decision process. Importance of Employee involvement The increasing competition and technological changes in the last 20 years have demanded higher skills and flexibility from the employees for the organisation. Walton (1985) stated that the highly competitive environment needs a different strategic approach to manage the employees. He further stated that in order to achieve that the jobs needs to be broader. The jobs structure should be made with proper planning and implementation to improve the performance unless just to maintain it. This situation leads to formation of teams, which are accountable for the performance. Employee involvement not only maintained the standard of the operation process but gives emphasis on continuous improvement and it is reflecting the requirement of the market place. Further Marchington (2001) argues that the employee involvement come into focus in the early 90s when the employer looking for a participative way to manage the work force. Judge and Gennard (2005) further outline the other important aspect of employee involvement is the increases job security of the employees by offering them priority in training and retraining. The training equipped them with the skill and knowledge that the job demands. Greater employee commitment leads a growing expectancy to better job satisfaction and performance. It is difficult for the organisation in current business scenario to improve the performance without employee commitment towards the organizations mission and objective. Employee involvement allows the employee to input their views and ideas on performance and the quality of the service. This will lead the development where the employees want to be part of successful organisation, which provides them a good income and opportunity to enhance their skills for a secure employment. Grates (2009) stated that the engaged employees significantly contributes to the success of the organisation to achieve the goal and objective. H e further said that employee involvement could give competitive advantage in the market. It can help to reduce turnover and increase the productivity. An industrial services survey conducted in 1999 on 49 organisations experiences on employee involvement over the period of 1991-1999 has reported that more then 33% people believe that it enhanced employee commitment and motivation. The same number of people believes that it is really help to improve the relationship between the employee and the employer. Approximately 60% people said that the quality of the product and the services has improved. More then 50% believe that their job satisfaction had increased and the organisational profit has increased. Importance of employee involvement in recession The world has seen its worst recession since 1930s and most of the world economies are fighting against it. The economic crisis forces the employers to introduce cost-cutting measure and one of them is redundancies. According to an article HR focus (2009) most of companies in the world complete the lay offs of employees. Now the big question is how this organisation can use the most of the remaining employees. The other important question is how the company survive and can increase their performance in this difficult time. One of the measures that the organisation uses to give confidence to their employees is greater emphasis on employee involvement and participation scheme. According to Frauenheim (2009) the importance of employee involvement is more crucial in this difficult environment of economic trouble. As it is revels by many experts that worker commitment is more important then before as the confidence of the employees are badly hit by the lay offs. Haters stated that its the employees help that improving the situation during this economic turmoil as employee involvement can give the sense of value to the employees and can increase the job security. Juile Gebauer managing director of Towers Perrin believe that the company must give more attention to employee involvement to survive and performing good in recession as his organization found there is direct link between performance and involvement. Low employee satisfaction or confidence may results poor customer services and in recession where customers are very reluctant to spend, companies can not afford bad customer service. In this difficult time companies have to be more efficient to attract more customers to surviveand customer service isof the tool to do that. It is found that EIP can increase employee satisfaction which can lead better performance Types of employee involvement Employee involvement practices/ approaches According to Ang (2002) the idea of employee involvement is still developing although there is large amount of research done in the last decade still there is not any developed ways to use employee involvement as a management approach. The management approach depends how the employer wants to involve their employee in different operation. According to Lawler et al (1998) the most important factor of employee involvement approaches is how it can represent comprehensively in the process of problem solving, sharing information, rewards for performance and developing knowledge and ideas. He further says that in order to implement these practices the organization needs a particular employee involvement program. Traditional versus current perspective There is a significant difference between the current and the traditional way of employee involvement and participation. According to Gary and Sisson (1994) the traditional way is mostly indirect participation and limited direct participation. Further indirect participation includes trade union and work council and direct participation was limited to improve the quality of the work to counter turnover and absenteeism. He further explains that current employee participation is more direct as it concern with improve the performance of the organization that can be linked with the objective of the organization like customer satisfaction. The types of jobs in the current environment is changing as more and more company recruiting part time employees and they need to adopt different strategy to involve them in the process. Representative participation According to Apostolou (2000) one of the main ways to achieve representative participation is joint consultation where employees elected representative to discuss with the management on various issues which concern them. These processes give the employees an opportunity to influence the proposal before it is finally made. Further Judge and Generd (2004) explain that, joint consolation involves seeking acceptable solutions to problem through a genuine exchange of views and information .Employee communication is concerned with the interchange of information and ideas within an organization. Direct, indirect and financial participation In 1999 Oosthuizen and du Toit classify the employee involvement and participation practice as direct, indirect and financial. Direct participation is the communication between the management and the employees regarding different function of the organization like decision making process to problem solving. Whereas in indirect participation the employees are involve through their representatives who are elected leaders. Financial participation is the economic participation of the employees in the success or failure of the organization through share ownership, profit sharing scheme. Marchington et al (1992) talk of direct and indirect employee participation practices the direct participation consist of downward communication from management to employees which includes team briefing, workplace wide meeting ,staff newsletters and cascading of information down via the management chain. Downward Communication from Managers to Employees According to Marchington et al (1992) the downward involvement technique is used to inform employees of management plans. The management can use different ways to do that. Regular and continuous distribution of the company reports, journal, company publication and videos are the effective way to inform employees about the development of the company. Team briefing and regular team meeting is another ways for the top management to aware the employees about the organization news and development. Upward involvement Marchington et al (1992) explain the other way of direct communication which are upward problem solving communication practices and that includes suggestion schemes, employee attitude surveys, and employee groups established to solve specific problems or discuss aspect of performance or quality and suggestion scheme. Further Taily et al (2003) outline the importance of employees attitude survey and it can be done through questionnaire to a sample of employees to find out their views about different factors of the work. He further explain that formal processes like suggestion scheme can be put forward to find out employees thinking on different issues like quality improvement to enhance performance. Financial participation Financial participation is one of the best direct and tangible forms of employee involvement. The financial participation allows the employee to be a part of the financial success and failure of the organization. This will encourage the employees to show greater commitment and encourage them to take extra responsibility.Further, it is argued that a financial stake gives employees increased enthusiasm for the success of the organization. In its most developed form employee share ownership means that employees become significant shareholders in the business or even their own employer (Judge and Gennard, 2005). Financial employee involvement scheme can be carried out in three ways and that is profit sharing, profit related pay and share ownership. Profit sharing According to Judge al (2004) profit sharing methods can help to build a motivated and committed workforce. Further Taily et al (2004) explains that these schemes encourage employees to work as a team rather then individual as the rewards for working together is more then working individually. Profit sharing scheme ensure that employees benefit from an organization that makes profits. Profit related pay Taily et al (2003) explains that profit related pay scheme where employer rewards the employees for their contribution to the business. Further he outlines that it works where a group of people get pay to the profit of the business for their work. This kind of scheme generally found in the sales business where there is bonus for achieving the target. This scheme can increase the motivation and commitment of the employees. Share ownership Judge et al (2004) stated that latest way of financial participation of the employees is share ownership where the employees are owner of some part of the company through share. It means that they have shareholders right. Further Apostolou (2000) stated that it produces interest among the employees about the company matters. In UK one of 5 employees have share ownership in their company .This kind of schemes seeks long term commitment from the employees and its take the employee involvement in a new stage where employees are promoting to some part of the ownership of the company. Owing share makes the employees more motivated and committed as the loss or the profit directly have an impact on them. Task based participation Task based participation is mainly to the job and an integral part of day-to-day life. It is all about perform the task in the same level or higher level, which can be managers or supervisor. Team working and self management Teamwork one of the important ways of employee involvement described by Pfeiffers (1998) as it is one of the seven key HRM practise. It allows employees to take extra responsibility for the task, without direct supervision, to have discretion over work method and time, to multi skill and to recruit team members. Managerial control is at it most subversive and effective when employees take on responsibility for peer surveillance (Marchington and Wilkinson (1998 Benefit of Team working Team meeting benefit both the employer and the employees. Through introducing team working the employer can improve productivity, customer service, cost cutting. In addition the employers can spread the ideas and be competitive in the market by improving the performance. Further its increase the employees motivation to extra responsibility and care for the organization. Team working is benefited for the employees as well as the outcome of team working are greater job satisfaction and motivation. Service industry characteristics and customer driven attitude or orientation is suits team working (Wilkinson et al 1998).Cully et al (1999) claim that team working participation is used in two third of the British industries. In order to introduce team working the organization needs skillful management and resources. Employee Involvement Model Psychological contracts First used in 1960s the psychological contract became very popular following the development in the world economy like globalization and economic crisis in 1990s.It is described as mutual obligations without any written contract between the employee and the employer. As it is not a written contract these obligations are informal and imprecise and are made in the requirement process or in the performance appraisal. Some obligation is seen as a promise whereas others are term as an expectation. The important part of that is the belief by the employees to be part of good relationship with the employer (CIPD, 2009). The difference between the legal contract and psychological contract can be easily distinguished. Legal contract is a paper sign contract between the employee and the employer which represent the limited reality of the employment. The nature and importance of that can be found in an employment tribunal. On the other hand Psychological contract is more influential than the formal contract as it is affecting the employee behavior. This contract helps the employee to understand the requirement to represent their side and bargain and what they can expect from the job. The contract is based on mutual trust and understanding and cant be enforceable as it is not a legal one (CIPD2009). Professor David Guest (2002) of Kings College London outlines the importance of psychological contracts and what it can offer to the employee and the employer. The model suggests that the importance of employer to adopt people management as it is directly influence the psychological contract .The contract is based on mutual trust and fairness of the employee and the belief that the employer is respecting the deal between them. Further he explains that positive psychological contract increase employee commitment and satisfaction which results increase performance. Limitation of psychological contract The main problem with Psychological contract arises when it is broken by management by not delivering the promises. This can leads to low job satisfaction, low morale and dispute between the employee and management. The employees are feeling cheated if the promise like rewards, training is not fulfilled or negative feedback from the managers about the work. Another limitation could be emerging when the company merges or restructure and the employees concerns are not listened to, this can raise dissatisfaction among the employees. What Psychological contract is important? The nature of the jobs changed dramatically in the last 20 years and there are more temporary and part time jobs available and the people do not have a permanent future in that company, they need to build a relationship with the management to secure their future. The cost of labor is increasing and most of the organization wants to work more with less employees makes the jobs more hectic stressful. Human resources are becoming more critical to get competitive advantage by their tacit and explicit knowledge. Team work culture is increasing. Finally positive psychological can result in high efficiency. Black box model People, Performance link In order to understand the importance or significance of employee involvement and participation it is really important to understand the people and performance link. A research team lead by Professor John Purcell (2003) at Bath University carried out an investigation on people and performance link called as black box model. In that they have carried out interviews in 18 organizations which lasted over three years. In the interview with the managers the aim is to collect the information regarding their attitudes, level commitment, views about the job, team and reporting relationship. There information had been investigating in depth the relationships between practice and performance to develop understanding of the nature and mechanics of the relationship. After analyzing the data the team develops the people and performance model famously called as black box model. These models found that the people management creates the building blocks of performance and that are ability, motivation and opportunity. As in the figure shows Purcell make four pillars to describe the people performance link. The first pillar is the human resources; the second is the AMO factors which is with the help of the line management in pillar three can result in employee commitment, job satisfaction and motivation which can finally lead to discretionary behavior. Further he explains that ability is the willing to learn new skill and apply and recognized, motivation assume that the use of ability in an effective way and finally opportunity assume the involvement of the employees in different operation like problem solving and the decision making process. These factors like ability, motivation and opportunity are very important as they are directly related to job satisfaction and commitment of the employees. It will encourage the employee to exhibit discretionary behavior which means the way doing the job like in speed, care and innovation. These activities are the heart of the employment relationship as it is very difficult for the employer to monitor all the activities in an organization. This behavior makes the performance of the organization to a next level with greater job satisfaction and better performance. (CIPD, 2009). Role of line managers According to Judge and Gennard (2005) the main reason of the failure of employees involvement is the attitude of the middle and lower management. The middle and lower management fail to support the scheme as they think they will lose power to control employees Further a research done by CIPD the role of line managers are the most important to implement the employee involvement and practice. Line managers are constantly in the communication with the employees. The line managers are the best person in explaining the variation in both job satisfaction and discretionary behavior as it one of the most important factors in order to developing commitment in the organization .The managers can encages employees towards their jobs and make them responsible for their jobs. The line managers can evaluate the performance through performance appraisal and motivates them by introducing more bonuses for better performance (CIPD, 2009). Organization culture According to CIPD (2009) it is found that the practice and performance is highly influenced by the organization environment. The practice performance link depends on the origination goal mission statement which must influence by the values the organizations stands for. And want to achieve in the future. The goal or the mission is very important for employee commitment. The goals or the mission should be spread throughout the organization to embed that in the policies of the organization. These values encourage employees to achieve new height in their jobs. This will motivate them as they are feeling valued and that eventually result in better performance. Comparison between Psychological contract and black box model Black box model is a medium for creating the atmosphere that reinforces psychological contract through the power of line managers. While psychological contract is a state of mind that already exists between the management and the employees. Implementation of employee involvement schemes Different organization operates differently so it is very important to understand that the schemes good for one organization may be not appropriate for the other one. There are few factors that are really important in order to successfully implement the schemes. The factors are good employee relations, the organization culture and the top management support, monitoring and reviewing and resources. Good employee relation Judge and Gennard (2005) explains that good employee relation is the basic need in order to implement employee involvement scheme as it is very important to motivate the employees and the management to take part in the process. The management and the employees must be open in their attitude and behavior. The scheme cant be successful in a case of dispute between them. Employee involvement can gain and develop in the background of trust and motivation among the management and the employees. Commitment by the top management The most importance factor regarding the success of employee involvement is the support of the top management. It is the top management who can encourage employee involvement and participation. According to Lawler et al (1995) it is essential, as employee involvement needs the management support to develop and smooth implementation without any obstacle. It is the management responsibility to introduce EI through suggestion programs and problem solving teams. The management can give more training to the employees to increase their skills and when they believe that the employees are knowledgeable and more skilled they can involve them in different organization function through EIP. This can leads to introduce reward and recognition for better performance to encourage employee involvement. Further Judge et al (2005) explain that the management must be keeping the momentum after the introduction of the scheme. This will develop trust and motivation among the employees and the employees feel the seriousness of the management about the scheme. Any inconstant management behavior in the workforce involvement can put the scheme in trouble as the employees will de motivates and questioning the management commitment about the scheme. According to Apostolou(2000) there are four important actions the management needs to take to run the scheme successfully and those are trust the employees and give them more responsibility, always updating the training programme to train the employees about the recent change in the business and technology the third action is effective communication and regular feedback of the work. This is the most crucial one as its shows the management seriousness about the scheme and that can motivate the workforce. Finally introducing of rewards and recognition for good work really helps to increase the commitment of the employees. Free flow of information is another important aspect of employee involvement. The management must provide information about the company through different sources to their employees .But the management should be careful to provide too much or too little information as it may create confusion among the employees. The role of leader is even more crucial in the time of recession and economic turmoil where the environment is not conducive for employee involvement because of lay offs. According to Day(2009) the roles of leader is more important then before as it is not possible for them to maintain the same employee involvement scheme if the company is not getting profit. The leadership should be aware the workforce the reason behind the lay off and must use the most remaining talent. The leadership must regain the confidence of the employee by regular informing about the company progress and make them understand about the difficult time. By giving more seriousness on employee involvement the management can help the organizat Employee Involvement and Participation in Service Industry Employee Involvement and Participation in Service Industry INTRODUCTION The paper will discuss employee involvement and participation in the service industry with reference to Canary Wharf GBK. The paper starts with the objective of the research and ends with the conclusion and recommendation of the research. Employee involvement is a very important programme to utilize the tacit knowledge of the employees to increase commitment and performance with a limited cost. This paper will discuss different types and models of employees involvement and their benefit and limitations. The research start with the secondary research through collected theories to write the literature reviews to build the base of the research. In the literature reviews, it has explained views of different writer on employees involvement. The literature reviews includes types of involvement, models of employees involvement and management support for employees involvement Further, this research includes a methodology where the research strategy, approach, data collection and sample of the research are outline. Research methodology is crucial, as it is giving the researcher ways to conduct the primary research. The research is base on a case study and the data collection methods are interviews and a survey. In the third section the researcher, outline the finding of interviews and survey. In this research, there are three interviews and one survey conducted by the researcher. The participants in the interviews are the managers and the respondent in the survey are the employees of the organisation. Finally, in the last section the researcher presented analysis and conclusion of the research. In the analysis, the data collected from the research has been tested with the theories of literature. The research concludes with a brief conclusion where the result of the research has discussed. In the end, the researcher gives recommendation and discusses the scope, limitation, and interesting issue of the research. Research objectives are Critically analyse the importance of employee involvement as outlined in the literature review that includes its importance in recession. Evaluate Gourmet Burger Kitchen employee involvement strategy in the light of the research finding and theoretical literature. Discuss the benefits and limitations of Employee involvement. Benchmark the GBK canary wharf case study with other restaurant. Reason for choosing this topic The purpose of this study is to investigate the methods of effective involvement of the employees in a company where the researcher is working. Employees are the most valuable assets of a company. Employee involvement is important as it can result in empowerment and democracy in the organisation. This may result in increased motivation to take more responsibility (Judge and Gennard (2005). In this current economic situationwhen the confidence of the employees is low, EIP can motivate the employees to deliver good customer services, which can eventually result in improved profitability. The researcher aims to explore the role of employee involvement in the hospitality industry where the employees turn over is highest. The researcher is presently working at GBK and has accessto conduct interviews and surveys. Furthermore, the researcher is interested in opening a business in India that is why the researcher has chosen this topic. PART ONE LITRETURE REVIEW Definition of employee involvement Employees, the strongest pillar of the organization are the most valuable asset that contributes significantly to its success and prosperity. According to Price (2004), the involvement of employees in the organizational operation not only motivates them but also enables them to contribute more effectively and efficiently. Further, he explains employee involvement as a process involving participation, communication, decision making which leads to industrial democracy and employee motivation. Further CIPD (2009) explain employee involvement as a commitment of the employees towards the values of the organisation and willingness to help each other to achieve the organisational goal. The results are not only to increase job satisfaction, or motivation but the increasing performance of that organisation. In short, employee involvement is creating an environment where people have a continuous impact on decisions and actions that affect their jobs. Employee involvement Vs participation Understanding and defining the concept Employee involvement and employee participation are like two sides of a coin. Both are supplementary to each other and existence of one depends on the other. There is not any significant difference between the two terms. Participation is an act of sharing information and the meaning of involvement is the day-to-day activity of the organization. Many writers have contributed towards the development of this thought of employee involvement or participation. For example Delaney (1996) had used the term participation as a voice of the employee in the decision making process and to describe different types of involvement of employee in the organizations affair. But very few writers tried to find the difference between the two concepts. Kale (1999) argues that participation is any organizational arrangement under which employees have some sort of share in some aspect of the business which is not specific types of employee involvement. Furthermore Ang (2002) has contributed towards the development of the difference between the two terms and concluded that, Employee involvement calls for participation which is all about sharing information, training, mutual decision making process whereas traditional participative managementviews participation as a part of other organizational process. Marching ton et al. (1993) have used employee participation in a different context and as an umbrella term covering all forms of employee influence in the organization. Employee involvement is used to describe managerially inspired initiatives aimed at winning employee commitment, as part of the practices of industrial democracy, whose aim is to increase the rights of employees to participate in management decisions. This not only results in enhanced employee morale but also retaining the potential manpower resulting in lower attrition rate. Many writers have contributed differently and each one of them has different approach to the concept and the context. Employee involvement was and is still known and referred to by different writers under such headings as participative management, employee participation, and worker involvement. Employee involvement and empowerment The concept of employee involvement is incomplete without it being associated with employee empowerment. According to Cunningham and Hyman (1999) there cannot be a single or simple definition of empowerment as some writers see empowerment as a recent development after increase employee involvement. Further Apostolouain (2000) explains that empowerment is the next step of employee involvement means where the employees have the power to take decisions. Blanchard et al. (1999) has defined its scope referring it as a means for involving team members as business partners in determining company success or failure. The real essence of which comes from releasing the knowledge, experience, and motivational power that is already in people but is being severely underutilized. In short it can be said that employee involvement leads to empowerment of the employees in different management decision process. Importance of Employee involvement The increasing competition and technological changes in the last 20 years have demanded higher skills and flexibility from the employees for the organisation. Walton (1985) stated that the highly competitive environment needs a different strategic approach to manage the employees. He further stated that in order to achieve that the jobs needs to be broader. The jobs structure should be made with proper planning and implementation to improve the performance unless just to maintain it. This situation leads to formation of teams, which are accountable for the performance. Employee involvement not only maintained the standard of the operation process but gives emphasis on continuous improvement and it is reflecting the requirement of the market place. Further Marchington (2001) argues that the employee involvement come into focus in the early 90s when the employer looking for a participative way to manage the work force. Judge and Gennard (2005) further outline the other important aspect of employee involvement is the increases job security of the employees by offering them priority in training and retraining. The training equipped them with the skill and knowledge that the job demands. Greater employee commitment leads a growing expectancy to better job satisfaction and performance. It is difficult for the organisation in current business scenario to improve the performance without employee commitment towards the organizations mission and objective. Employee involvement allows the employee to input their views and ideas on performance and the quality of the service. This will lead the development where the employees want to be part of successful organisation, which provides them a good income and opportunity to enhance their skills for a secure employment. Grates (2009) stated that the engaged employees significantly contributes to the success of the organisation to achieve the goal and objective. H e further said that employee involvement could give competitive advantage in the market. It can help to reduce turnover and increase the productivity. An industrial services survey conducted in 1999 on 49 organisations experiences on employee involvement over the period of 1991-1999 has reported that more then 33% people believe that it enhanced employee commitment and motivation. The same number of people believes that it is really help to improve the relationship between the employee and the employer. Approximately 60% people said that the quality of the product and the services has improved. More then 50% believe that their job satisfaction had increased and the organisational profit has increased. Importance of employee involvement in recession The world has seen its worst recession since 1930s and most of the world economies are fighting against it. The economic crisis forces the employers to introduce cost-cutting measure and one of them is redundancies. According to an article HR focus (2009) most of companies in the world complete the lay offs of employees. Now the big question is how this organisation can use the most of the remaining employees. The other important question is how the company survive and can increase their performance in this difficult time. One of the measures that the organisation uses to give confidence to their employees is greater emphasis on employee involvement and participation scheme. According to Frauenheim (2009) the importance of employee involvement is more crucial in this difficult environment of economic trouble. As it is revels by many experts that worker commitment is more important then before as the confidence of the employees are badly hit by the lay offs. Haters stated that its the employees help that improving the situation during this economic turmoil as employee involvement can give the sense of value to the employees and can increase the job security. Juile Gebauer managing director of Towers Perrin believe that the company must give more attention to employee involvement to survive and performing good in recession as his organization found there is direct link between performance and involvement. Low employee satisfaction or confidence may results poor customer services and in recession where customers are very reluctant to spend, companies can not afford bad customer service. In this difficult time companies have to be more efficient to attract more customers to surviveand customer service isof the tool to do that. It is found that EIP can increase employee satisfaction which can lead better performance Types of employee involvement Employee involvement practices/ approaches According to Ang (2002) the idea of employee involvement is still developing although there is large amount of research done in the last decade still there is not any developed ways to use employee involvement as a management approach. The management approach depends how the employer wants to involve their employee in different operation. According to Lawler et al (1998) the most important factor of employee involvement approaches is how it can represent comprehensively in the process of problem solving, sharing information, rewards for performance and developing knowledge and ideas. He further says that in order to implement these practices the organization needs a particular employee involvement program. Traditional versus current perspective There is a significant difference between the current and the traditional way of employee involvement and participation. According to Gary and Sisson (1994) the traditional way is mostly indirect participation and limited direct participation. Further indirect participation includes trade union and work council and direct participation was limited to improve the quality of the work to counter turnover and absenteeism. He further explains that current employee participation is more direct as it concern with improve the performance of the organization that can be linked with the objective of the organization like customer satisfaction. The types of jobs in the current environment is changing as more and more company recruiting part time employees and they need to adopt different strategy to involve them in the process. Representative participation According to Apostolou (2000) one of the main ways to achieve representative participation is joint consultation where employees elected representative to discuss with the management on various issues which concern them. These processes give the employees an opportunity to influence the proposal before it is finally made. Further Judge and Generd (2004) explain that, joint consolation involves seeking acceptable solutions to problem through a genuine exchange of views and information .Employee communication is concerned with the interchange of information and ideas within an organization. Direct, indirect and financial participation In 1999 Oosthuizen and du Toit classify the employee involvement and participation practice as direct, indirect and financial. Direct participation is the communication between the management and the employees regarding different function of the organization like decision making process to problem solving. Whereas in indirect participation the employees are involve through their representatives who are elected leaders. Financial participation is the economic participation of the employees in the success or failure of the organization through share ownership, profit sharing scheme. Marchington et al (1992) talk of direct and indirect employee participation practices the direct participation consist of downward communication from management to employees which includes team briefing, workplace wide meeting ,staff newsletters and cascading of information down via the management chain. Downward Communication from Managers to Employees According to Marchington et al (1992) the downward involvement technique is used to inform employees of management plans. The management can use different ways to do that. Regular and continuous distribution of the company reports, journal, company publication and videos are the effective way to inform employees about the development of the company. Team briefing and regular team meeting is another ways for the top management to aware the employees about the organization news and development. Upward involvement Marchington et al (1992) explain the other way of direct communication which are upward problem solving communication practices and that includes suggestion schemes, employee attitude surveys, and employee groups established to solve specific problems or discuss aspect of performance or quality and suggestion scheme. Further Taily et al (2003) outline the importance of employees attitude survey and it can be done through questionnaire to a sample of employees to find out their views about different factors of the work. He further explain that formal processes like suggestion scheme can be put forward to find out employees thinking on different issues like quality improvement to enhance performance. Financial participation Financial participation is one of the best direct and tangible forms of employee involvement. The financial participation allows the employee to be a part of the financial success and failure of the organization. This will encourage the employees to show greater commitment and encourage them to take extra responsibility.Further, it is argued that a financial stake gives employees increased enthusiasm for the success of the organization. In its most developed form employee share ownership means that employees become significant shareholders in the business or even their own employer (Judge and Gennard, 2005). Financial employee involvement scheme can be carried out in three ways and that is profit sharing, profit related pay and share ownership. Profit sharing According to Judge al (2004) profit sharing methods can help to build a motivated and committed workforce. Further Taily et al (2004) explains that these schemes encourage employees to work as a team rather then individual as the rewards for working together is more then working individually. Profit sharing scheme ensure that employees benefit from an organization that makes profits. Profit related pay Taily et al (2003) explains that profit related pay scheme where employer rewards the employees for their contribution to the business. Further he outlines that it works where a group of people get pay to the profit of the business for their work. This kind of scheme generally found in the sales business where there is bonus for achieving the target. This scheme can increase the motivation and commitment of the employees. Share ownership Judge et al (2004) stated that latest way of financial participation of the employees is share ownership where the employees are owner of some part of the company through share. It means that they have shareholders right. Further Apostolou (2000) stated that it produces interest among the employees about the company matters. In UK one of 5 employees have share ownership in their company .This kind of schemes seeks long term commitment from the employees and its take the employee involvement in a new stage where employees are promoting to some part of the ownership of the company. Owing share makes the employees more motivated and committed as the loss or the profit directly have an impact on them. Task based participation Task based participation is mainly to the job and an integral part of day-to-day life. It is all about perform the task in the same level or higher level, which can be managers or supervisor. Team working and self management Teamwork one of the important ways of employee involvement described by Pfeiffers (1998) as it is one of the seven key HRM practise. It allows employees to take extra responsibility for the task, without direct supervision, to have discretion over work method and time, to multi skill and to recruit team members. Managerial control is at it most subversive and effective when employees take on responsibility for peer surveillance (Marchington and Wilkinson (1998 Benefit of Team working Team meeting benefit both the employer and the employees. Through introducing team working the employer can improve productivity, customer service, cost cutting. In addition the employers can spread the ideas and be competitive in the market by improving the performance. Further its increase the employees motivation to extra responsibility and care for the organization. Team working is benefited for the employees as well as the outcome of team working are greater job satisfaction and motivation. Service industry characteristics and customer driven attitude or orientation is suits team working (Wilkinson et al 1998).Cully et al (1999) claim that team working participation is used in two third of the British industries. In order to introduce team working the organization needs skillful management and resources. Employee Involvement Model Psychological contracts First used in 1960s the psychological contract became very popular following the development in the world economy like globalization and economic crisis in 1990s.It is described as mutual obligations without any written contract between the employee and the employer. As it is not a written contract these obligations are informal and imprecise and are made in the requirement process or in the performance appraisal. Some obligation is seen as a promise whereas others are term as an expectation. The important part of that is the belief by the employees to be part of good relationship with the employer (CIPD, 2009). The difference between the legal contract and psychological contract can be easily distinguished. Legal contract is a paper sign contract between the employee and the employer which represent the limited reality of the employment. The nature and importance of that can be found in an employment tribunal. On the other hand Psychological contract is more influential than the formal contract as it is affecting the employee behavior. This contract helps the employee to understand the requirement to represent their side and bargain and what they can expect from the job. The contract is based on mutual trust and understanding and cant be enforceable as it is not a legal one (CIPD2009). Professor David Guest (2002) of Kings College London outlines the importance of psychological contracts and what it can offer to the employee and the employer. The model suggests that the importance of employer to adopt people management as it is directly influence the psychological contract .The contract is based on mutual trust and fairness of the employee and the belief that the employer is respecting the deal between them. Further he explains that positive psychological contract increase employee commitment and satisfaction which results increase performance. Limitation of psychological contract The main problem with Psychological contract arises when it is broken by management by not delivering the promises. This can leads to low job satisfaction, low morale and dispute between the employee and management. The employees are feeling cheated if the promise like rewards, training is not fulfilled or negative feedback from the managers about the work. Another limitation could be emerging when the company merges or restructure and the employees concerns are not listened to, this can raise dissatisfaction among the employees. What Psychological contract is important? The nature of the jobs changed dramatically in the last 20 years and there are more temporary and part time jobs available and the people do not have a permanent future in that company, they need to build a relationship with the management to secure their future. The cost of labor is increasing and most of the organization wants to work more with less employees makes the jobs more hectic stressful. Human resources are becoming more critical to get competitive advantage by their tacit and explicit knowledge. Team work culture is increasing. Finally positive psychological can result in high efficiency. Black box model People, Performance link In order to understand the importance or significance of employee involvement and participation it is really important to understand the people and performance link. A research team lead by Professor John Purcell (2003) at Bath University carried out an investigation on people and performance link called as black box model. In that they have carried out interviews in 18 organizations which lasted over three years. In the interview with the managers the aim is to collect the information regarding their attitudes, level commitment, views about the job, team and reporting relationship. There information had been investigating in depth the relationships between practice and performance to develop understanding of the nature and mechanics of the relationship. After analyzing the data the team develops the people and performance model famously called as black box model. These models found that the people management creates the building blocks of performance and that are ability, motivation and opportunity. As in the figure shows Purcell make four pillars to describe the people performance link. The first pillar is the human resources; the second is the AMO factors which is with the help of the line management in pillar three can result in employee commitment, job satisfaction and motivation which can finally lead to discretionary behavior. Further he explains that ability is the willing to learn new skill and apply and recognized, motivation assume that the use of ability in an effective way and finally opportunity assume the involvement of the employees in different operation like problem solving and the decision making process. These factors like ability, motivation and opportunity are very important as they are directly related to job satisfaction and commitment of the employees. It will encourage the employee to exhibit discretionary behavior which means the way doing the job like in speed, care and innovation. These activities are the heart of the employment relationship as it is very difficult for the employer to monitor all the activities in an organization. This behavior makes the performance of the organization to a next level with greater job satisfaction and better performance. (CIPD, 2009). Role of line managers According to Judge and Gennard (2005) the main reason of the failure of employees involvement is the attitude of the middle and lower management. The middle and lower management fail to support the scheme as they think they will lose power to control employees Further a research done by CIPD the role of line managers are the most important to implement the employee involvement and practice. Line managers are constantly in the communication with the employees. The line managers are the best person in explaining the variation in both job satisfaction and discretionary behavior as it one of the most important factors in order to developing commitment in the organization .The managers can encages employees towards their jobs and make them responsible for their jobs. The line managers can evaluate the performance through performance appraisal and motivates them by introducing more bonuses for better performance (CIPD, 2009). Organization culture According to CIPD (2009) it is found that the practice and performance is highly influenced by the organization environment. The practice performance link depends on the origination goal mission statement which must influence by the values the organizations stands for. And want to achieve in the future. The goal or the mission is very important for employee commitment. The goals or the mission should be spread throughout the organization to embed that in the policies of the organization. These values encourage employees to achieve new height in their jobs. This will motivate them as they are feeling valued and that eventually result in better performance. Comparison between Psychological contract and black box model Black box model is a medium for creating the atmosphere that reinforces psychological contract through the power of line managers. While psychological contract is a state of mind that already exists between the management and the employees. Implementation of employee involvement schemes Different organization operates differently so it is very important to understand that the schemes good for one organization may be not appropriate for the other one. There are few factors that are really important in order to successfully implement the schemes. The factors are good employee relations, the organization culture and the top management support, monitoring and reviewing and resources. Good employee relation Judge and Gennard (2005) explains that good employee relation is the basic need in order to implement employee involvement scheme as it is very important to motivate the employees and the management to take part in the process. The management and the employees must be open in their attitude and behavior. The scheme cant be successful in a case of dispute between them. Employee involvement can gain and develop in the background of trust and motivation among the management and the employees. Commitment by the top management The most importance factor regarding the success of employee involvement is the support of the top management. It is the top management who can encourage employee involvement and participation. According to Lawler et al (1995) it is essential, as employee involvement needs the management support to develop and smooth implementation without any obstacle. It is the management responsibility to introduce EI through suggestion programs and problem solving teams. The management can give more training to the employees to increase their skills and when they believe that the employees are knowledgeable and more skilled they can involve them in different organization function through EIP. This can leads to introduce reward and recognition for better performance to encourage employee involvement. Further Judge et al (2005) explain that the management must be keeping the momentum after the introduction of the scheme. This will develop trust and motivation among the employees and the employees feel the seriousness of the management about the scheme. Any inconstant management behavior in the workforce involvement can put the scheme in trouble as the employees will de motivates and questioning the management commitment about the scheme. According to Apostolou(2000) there are four important actions the management needs to take to run the scheme successfully and those are trust the employees and give them more responsibility, always updating the training programme to train the employees about the recent change in the business and technology the third action is effective communication and regular feedback of the work. This is the most crucial one as its shows the management seriousness about the scheme and that can motivate the workforce. Finally introducing of rewards and recognition for good work really helps to increase the commitment of the employees. Free flow of information is another important aspect of employee involvement. The management must provide information about the company through different sources to their employees .But the management should be careful to provide too much or too little information as it may create confusion among the employees. The role of leader is even more crucial in the time of recession and economic turmoil where the environment is not conducive for employee involvement because of lay offs. According to Day(2009) the roles of leader is more important then before as it is not possible for them to maintain the same employee involvement scheme if the company is not getting profit. The leadership should be aware the workforce the reason behind the lay off and must use the most remaining talent. The leadership must regain the confidence of the employee by regular informing about the company progress and make them understand about the difficult time. By giving more seriousness on employee involvement the management can help the organizat

Why is it important to know what you believe?

What do you believe about God, the Bible, and Jesus Christ BY abbey0883 It is important to know what you believe so you can make the correct decisions in life based on your personal values, and Judge the best way to solve problems in your life. It is also important to know what you believe so if questioned you can intelligently address the concern. If you KNOW you can present the inquisitor with facts so they can evaluate them for themselves. My Beliefs 1 . ) I believe in God.He is the creator of all things Including me. The world and everything in it is so intricate It could not have happened by chance or evolved over billions of years. 2. ) I believe the Bible Is the word of God. I believe this because the Bible meets the needs of all mankind. If you need comfort, love, forgiveness, or faith you can find some verse or chapter to address the need. I also believe the Bible because I have accepted Jesus Into my life and have faith that that the Bible Is true. 3. ) I believe In Jesus C hrist.I believe In him also because of faith. Jesus died In order to forgive us of our sins. Just because I cannot see him It does not mean he Is not real. No matter what I am going through I know he's there. If I need healing I pray and believe In him. If I need guidance In making a decision I ask and trust he will gulled me. The hard part Is to remain patient while waiting for him to show me the answers I seek. While waiting I keep praying to stay close to him. This way I do not stray and follow my own path.