Portfolio A Systematic Collection Education Essay

As instructors we interact, work and program activities for pupils. These activities are geared to develop their acquisition, hence be aftering for pupils progress instructors need to document the development of the kids betterments on a day-to-day footing. To make this a system that is easy to utilize and one that is flexible plenty to account all or most of the activities they participate in, therefore appraisal is an umportant portion of entering advancement. Appraisal is the procedure of happening out what kids can make, what they know and the things they are interested in. appraisal besides involves all methods through which instructors can derive an apprehension of kids ‘s development and acquisition. Assessment is of import because once information is gained, appropriate activities and experiences can be implemented for continued growing in all countries of development. Appraisal comes in many signifiers, and some work better than others. The National Association for the Education of Young Children ( NAEYC ) provides assessment guidelines in its publicationA Developmentally Appropriate Practice in Early Childhood Programs Serving Children From Birth Through Age Eight. In this publication, NAEYC states that: â€Å" Developmental appraisal of kids ‘s advancement and accomplishments is used to accommodate course of study to fit the developmental demands of kids, to pass on with the kid ‘s household, and to measure the plan ‘s effectivity † ( Bredekamp, p. 13 ) . â€Å" Appraisal of single kids ‘s development and acquisition is indispensable for planning and implementing developmentally appropriate plans, but should be used with cautiousness to forestall favoritism against persons and to guarantee truth. Accurate testing can merely be achieved with dependable, valid instruments and such instruments developed for usage with immature kids are highly rare. In the absence of valid instruments, proving is non valuable. Therefore, appraisal of immature kids should trust to a great extent on the consequences of observations and descriptive informations † ( Bredekamp, pp. 12-13 ) . Portfolios Portfolio is a systematic aggregation or sample of kids work, with information associating to each kid ‘s developmental advancement which depicts the pupil activities, achievements, and accomplishments within the educational scene. As explained by Carol Gestwicki in Developmentally Appropriate Practice: Course of study and Development in Early Education, â€Å" Portfolios may incorporate aggregations of representative work of kids that illustrate their advancement and achievementsaˆÂ ¦ † and â€Å" Children are encouraged to add their ain choices of work that they feel show their advancement to the portfolios † ( Gestwicki, p. 304 ) . Portfolio promotes a positive, enthusiastic position is the statement in Janine Batzles ‘s book, A Portfolio Assessment and Evaluation: â€Å" A portfolio should be a jubilation of the kid ‘s alone abilities, accomplishments, and advancement, displayed through reliable samples † ( Batzle, p. 60 ) . There are two major types of portfolios which instructors can utilize which is procedure and merchandise portfolio. The procedure portfolio is used to document each phase of larning which provides a progressive record of pupil ‘s growing. The merchandise portfolio demonstrates command of a learning undertaking or a set of larning aims and contains merely the best work. Teachers use process portfolios to assist pupils place larning ends, papers advancement over clip, and show acquisition command†¦ In general, instructors prefer to utilize procedure portfolios because they are ideal for documenting the phases that pupils go through as they learn and advancement ( Venn, 2000, p. 533 ) . Student ‘s portfolios can take assorted physical signifiers, depending on which 1 is comfy for the instructor and the type of kid attention plan offered. They can be boxes, squeeze box files, booklets, three-ring binders, exposure albums, and or combinations and similar points can be used as receptacles for cogent evidence of advancement. Teachers can hold two containers: one for 3-dimensional samples of the kid ‘s attempts and another for signifiers and planar beginnings of information. Portfolios are an individualised manner in measuring pupils hence each kid should hold their ain portfolio. Portfolios can include many points of each kid ‘s alone involvements, besides pupils demands can be addressed harmonizing to what is included in their portfolio. Teachers can utilize exposures, drawings, colloquial notes, sound and picture recordings and observations. Photographs are taken of kids when they work on undertakings that can non be saved for future mention, like edifice blocks, modeling clay, bead threading where at times they threading harmonizing to pictured forms, and when they build mystifiers without aid. Samples of the kids ‘s work is saved in their portfolios as they are placed each kid advancement, helps the instructor and parents to derive a better apprehension of the pupil strengths and failing depending on the age and development degree of each kid. With this information from the portfolios, instructors are able to be after for future course of study. Some advantages of portfolio appraisal is where instructors can mensurate public presentation based on echt samples of the kids ‘s work, it enables instructors and pupils to portion in the duty for puting learning ends and for measuring their advancement toward run intoing those ends and portfolios can supply a procedure for structuring acquisition in phases. The disadvantages of portfolio appraisal could be hard in garnering all the necessary informations and work samples which therefore makes portfolios bulky and hard to pull off, and besides to develop a systematic and calculated direction system tends to be hard, but this measure is necessary in order to do them a random aggregation of pupils work. Systematic Observation Systematic observations are observations where instructors become really familiar with the involvements, demands, and strengths of all of the kids in their schoolrooms. With this type of observation instructors become cognizant when kids exhibit discernible forms of behavior that indicate they are fighting with larning prior to formal procedure of acquisition, every bit immature as age three ( Lowenthal, 1998 ; Steele, 2004 ) . With a tool to aim their observations, instructors can utilize systematic observation as a speedy and cost-efficient manner to find which kids might be fighting with acquisition and benefit from extra support ( Satz & A ; Fletcher, 1988 ) .A With the usage of systematic observation the instructor observes the whole category hence allow him/her to go cognizant of the pupils needs whereby the instructor can be after suitably. This type of observation agencies that decisions or readings are based on observations of the kid over clip instead than a erstwhile appraisal of a kid ‘s accomplishments and abilities.A Systematic observation is to be done when kids, are playing entirely, in little groups, in big groups, at assorted times of twenty-four hours and in assorted fortunes. Systematic observation must be nonsubjective, selective, unnoticeable, and carefully recorded ( Bertrand and Cebula, 1980 ) . Teachers are to detect the kids interacting with their environment and with others and document what they see. Some instructors use checklists, stock list, evaluation graduated table, anecdotal notes, recordings or other signifiers to enter their observations. This procedure seems to be natural and appropriate for preschool instructors because â€Å" Preschool kids demonstrate growing and larning through activity ( Worthham, 1994, p. 213 ) . The checklist or stock list is entering tools which are used for entering pupil ‘s advancement and this procedure is easier for instructors to work with. Checklist or stock list are to be based on instructional aims and the development associated with the acquisition of the accomplishments being monitored, thereby these observations should be based on regular activities, non on specially designed or contrived activities. These tools can besides include infinites for brief remarks, which provide extra information non captured in the checklist. Rating Scale is used to assist instructors and parents gather and portion information about immature kids with specific attending to features that might be early marks of larning disablements. The evaluation graduated table besides allows instructors and parents to reflect consistently on their concerns and helps them acknowledge if the kid would profit from extra support. The information gathered about the pupils across developmental spheres, which are the Perceptual and Motor, Self-Management, Social and Emotional, Early Math, Early Literacy, Receptive Language, and the Expressive Language sphere. The consequences will inform communicating and planning among parents, school forces, and others. Anecdotal notes are used to enter specific observations of single pupil behaviors, accomplishments and attitudes, these notes provide cumulative information on pupil acquisition, uncovering penetrations about the kid ‘s advancement when they are reviewed consecutive and provides way for farther direction. Anecdotal records are besides factual, nonjudgmental notes of kids ‘s activity ( Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory, 1991 ) . They are most utile for entering self-generated events. The advantages are that the perceiver does non necessitate particular preparation, and the observation can be used to concentrate specifically on the behavior of involvement. The disadvantages of this type of appraisal are that the consequences depend upon the memory of the single perceiver, and the perceiver may overlook much important behavior to concentrate on a specific behavior. Systematic observation strengths are that it is used in the natural scene of the kid ‘s schoolroom environment, the instructor can detect what causes the pupil specific behavior and topographic points minimum restraints on kids ‘s behavior and activities, leting them to act of course and exhibit their full scope of accomplishments and abilities while prosecuting in activities that hold intending for them, such as dramatic drama activities or block building ( Hills, 1993 ; Schweinhart, 1993 ) . Systematic observation besides has its weak countries where the teacher/observer may falsify information which can do them invalid, some pupils do non work efficaciously when they are being watched and they may execute otherwise. Traditional Trial Traditional appraisal ( TA ) refers to standardise proving that uses inquiries with a limited figure of reply picks. They can be multiple-choice trials, fill-in-the-blanks, true-false, duplicate, essays and some short reply responses. Students typically select an reply or remember information to finish the appraisal. These trials may be standardized or teacher-created, and may be administered locally, province broad, or internationally. Other proving methods, sometimes known as performance-based appraisal, alternate appraisal or reliable appraisal, focal point on the procedure by which a pupil arrives at an reply in add-on to the concluding response. Most standardised trials are non designed to measure the individualised growing and development taking topographic point in your schoolroom. But there are other assessment tools that do! Early on childhood pedagogues are uncomfortable with the thought of proving the immature kids they work with. This is because the traditional appraisal tools were designed chiefly for older elementary-school pupils. Children taking these trials are assessed on stray accomplishments in ways that are unfamiliar to them, and the trial consequences frequently do non reflect kids ‘s personal experiences or cognition. One of the primary benefits of traditional appraisal is the easiness in which decision makers and admittances professionals can analyse and compare pupil tonss. Standardized proving that relies wholly on quantifiable responses produces an appraisal that is easy to hit. Test shapers can categorise inquiries to find which countries pupils excel in and which they have trouble with. Students ‘ consequences are comparable over clip and across a big, diverse group of pupils. Recently nevertheless, new attacks to appraisal has been deriving credence among early childhood and primary class instructors. These are known as â€Å" public presentation † or â€Å" reliable † appraisal ; these new tools have many benefits that standardized trials do non, which are, that they consistently document what kids know and can make based on activities they engage in on a day-to-day footing in their schoolrooms. They are flexible plenty to let instructors to measure each kid ‘s advancement utilizing information obtained from ongoing schoolroom interactions with stuffs and equals. They are a agencies for bettering direction, leting instructors to be after a comprehensive, developmentally oriented course of study based on their cognition of each kid. Traditional appraisal methods have the disadvantage of missing real-world context. Students answer inquiries one by one without the demand to use long-run critical logical thinking accomplishments. They besides lack opportunities to show their logical thinking accomplishments despite a deficiency of cognition about a inquiry ‘s specific capable affair. Alternate assessment methods allow pupils to use their accomplishments and cognition within a context that more closely resembles job work outing and knowledge application in most occupations or day-to-day undertakings. Traditional appraisal besides has both advantages and disadvantages when it comes to the manner pedagogues teach. Traditional appraisal forces pedagogues to pass clip learning pupils how to pull off trials, including schemes for choosing right replies from a listed group. Alternative appraisal allows pedagogues to concentrate on critical logical thinking accomplishments, which pupils will be able to use of course to long-form trial inquiries. However, in state of affairss where alternate appraisal replaces traditional appraisal, this means instructors need to larn new methods of trial readying and schools need to develop alternate signifiers of public presentation appraisal for their pupils and instructors. Decision Appraisals are utile, effectual tools to help early childhood professionals in admiting and documenting each kid ‘s advancement. Appraisals can be alone to each kid and the contents can concentrate on each kid ‘s specific interactions with his or her environment, stuffs, equals, and instructors. Both parents and kids can work together positively. This tripartite conferencing and planning method, affecting instructors, parents, and kids, is a major end of reliable appraisal today ( Ryan, p. 2 ) . Appraisals are practical and utile for both coverage and planning. The signifier and format are adaptable to each educational plan of immature kids.

LEE Kathryn IndivAssignment

Woven Fang came from an average family and was studying in one of the top independent girls' schools in Singapore. She seemed like an average 1 6-year- old girl going through normal teenage girl problems, or so everyone thought. This essay describes the experiences and problems faced by Woven in her final year of secondary school. To understand Hoovers case better, theoretical background and research will be applied to explain her experiences and problems. Finally, some strategies and solutions will be proposed as resolutions to the issues presented.Background – Woven's Story Woven's parents migrated from Taiwan to Singapore and raised their four children in Singapore. Her brother and two sisters were 12, 10 and 7 years Older than her respectively. Her father, Mr.. Fang, was a businessman and traveled for long periods of time due to work. When he was in Singapore, he did not meddle in the affairs of his children, leaving his wife to take care of all their needs. As the younges t of four children and also because of the age gap between Woven and her older siblings, she was given extra care and attention by her mother.She also turned out to be the brightest, making it onto top primary and secondary schools in Singapore. Compared to Woven, her older siblings were a letdown to Mrs.. Fang, as they did poorly in school. Faced with problems from her other children, Mrs.. Fang placed extremely high hopes on Woven, dictating most of Woven's life and making most of the decisions. In Sec 4, Woven started losing weight drastically. Despite the drastic weight loss, Mrs.. Fang refused to admit that there was anything wrong with her daughter. Finally, Woven was so thin that Mrs.. Fang had to bring her to a doctor for fear that her life was in jeopardy.She was admitted into the capital and diagnosed with anorexia nervous. Only during the numerous counseling sessions did Woven's problems surface. Woven admitted that she face problems in school. First, although Woven had b een consistently doing well in school, she felt pressurized by the competitive environment she was in, where good grades were emphasized. On top of that was the pressure she felt from her mother to do well in school, especially as her mother often lamented to her about her siblings' failures and cautioned her not to turn out like them. Second, her schoolmates were all particularly concerned about weight and size.Although she was of an average height of 1. Mm and an average weight of keg, her classmates teased her about being chubby looking. As a result, Woven began to doubt her intelligence as well as her appearance and eventually, she stopped eating. As her weight started to drop and she became thinner, Woven finally felt in control Of something in her life – her actions actually produced results and this egged her on to lose more weight until she ended up in hospital. With a better understanding of her problems, the doctors treated her for anorexia and sent her for counseli ng at the same time.After a couple of months in the hospital, she was allowed to go home when her weight increased slightly. However, this was not the end of her problems. Woven was forced to return to school where she would face her classmates again. She was worried about her appearance, grades and studies. Although the counselor suggested taking the rest of the year off from school and repeating Sec 4 again the next year, Mrs.. Fang refused as she felt it was very embarrassing. At that point in time, Mrs.. Fang still refused to admit that her daughter was going through a very serious problem in terms of mental and physical health.Back in school, Woven tried to catch up with her peers in her school work. However, she felt as if they were constantly staring at her. Although they did not say anything, she knew that they knew about her hospitalizing and about her eating disorder, making her feel all the more conscious about herself and her appearance. Unable to take the demands of sch ool work and the ogling of her school mates, Woven returned to her old ways of not eating or vomiting what she ate. Although Woven is currently going through counseling her problems are far from being over.Analysis – Applying Theoretical Background / Empirical Research to Woven's Case According to Frontbenchers bacteriological theory of development, Woven's Microsystems would have very powerful environmental influences on her development. In Woven's case, it can even be said that her mother would perhaps have the greatest influence on Woven's personal development, as her mother would have spent the most amount of time with her since she was born (Gene and Chukka, 2010). Mr.. Fang's absence as a father figure in Woven's life was an uninvolved parenting style, thus making Mrs..Fang the most influential person in Woven's life. She had an authoritarian parenting Tyler as she often stressed for Woven to do well and often made decisions on her behalf in both school and home domains . As a result, Woven ended up worrying about pleasing her mother and felt like she had a lack of control over her own life (Gene and Chukka, 2010). Naught and Chicest (2002) believe that authoritarian parents are â€Å"rigid and unresponsive† and â€Å"in extreme cases their children have low self-esteem and use aggressive coping behaviors†. This was true in Woven's case. Mrs..Fang's parenting style also affected Woven's identity development, as suggested by Banding (1991). Parents are important figures in adolescents' identity development and poor communication between parents and adolescents lead to less positive identity development (Contracts, 2007). Marcia (1980) postulated a theory of identity formation, in which an individual can take on one of four identity commitments. Applying Marcia's concept of identity commitment to Woven, it is likely that Woven is a foreclosed individual, who has clear commitments which are internalized by her mother.Her commitments were not self-chosen and it is believed that no other alternatives were seriously considered (Mishmash, 2005). According to Kroger (1993), it was observed that identity-foreclosed adolescents â€Å"evidenced the highest levels of authoritarianism and socially stereotyped thinking, obedience to authority, external locus of control, and dependent relationships with significant others†. In line with this, Cote (2009) believes that adolescents are led to being identity-foreclosed by autocratic parents who control behavior without giving the adolescent a chance to express opinions. Therefore, it is likely that Mrs..Fangs authoritarian parenting style resulted in her being an identity-foreclosed individual. Erosion's theory of personality development proposed eight developmental Stages (Erikson, 1968, 1980). In his theory, an adolescent approaches identity formation (the fifth stage) ‘With a sense of self as an autonomous, active and competent agent in a relatively secure worldâ € , only if the earlier four stages have developed well (Mishmash, 2005). Woven may not have developed a sense of self as an autonomous agent as a child and thus was hindered by feelings of shame, self-doubt and inferiority in her adolescent years (Mishmash, 2005).Identity formation is such a challenging process that any robbers encountered in earlier development are likely to increase the chances of negative outcomes. Woven's parents are not the only ones to have a huge impact on her development. The people she meets every day in school are also part Of her Microsystems. As her peers and her teachers are involved in Woven's immediate settings, they have enormous influence over her development as an individual as well (Gene and Chukka, 2010).The influence of Woven's peers on her would come in three forms – attitudes and values, social development and emotional support (Ginsberg, Babes, & Spaniard, 2006; Rubin, Bouzoukis, & Parker, 2006). This explains why Woven was especia lly affected by her peers about both studies and weight issues. The standards maintained by her peers about these issues would become very important to her and thus Woven was likely to conform to her peer standards of achieving good grades and being thin.Through the influences of her peer group, her self-concept and self-esteem would be affected as well. There are many factors that can influence an adolescent female's self-esteem. The decline in self-esteem during adolescence may be due to physical hangers due to puberty, an increase in academic expectations and demands, and insufficient support by the school and parents (Contracts, 2009). These were all likely factors that influenced the decline in Woven's self-esteem over her secondary school years.A vicious cycle in which declining self-esteem affected her academic performance which then affected her academic self- concept which again influenced her self-esteem is likely to have occurred. As a result of her declining self-esteem, her grades took a downturn and she lost her self-worth as an individual, wanting to conform to norms set by her peers instead. It is probable that Woven's academic, social and physical self- concept interacted with her sense of identity, which then influenced her self- esteem negatively (Gene and Chukka, 2010).More support for this is provided by Harder (2006) who found that persistent low self-esteem usually leads to other more serious problems including low academic achievement, depression and eating disorders. It is evident from Woven's actions and behavior that she was going through a period of emotional turmoil. Some researchers might consider this normal because adolescence is often described as a time of emotional turmoil (Hall, 904). However, at the end Of the day, most adolescents do make it through these difficult and moody times to develop into competent adults.In spite of this, Woven has exhibited signs of emotional stress, through her anorexic behavior, falling grades, failing self-esteem and consciousness with how her peers view her as a person. As the onset of Woven's problems occurred in late adolescence, it can be inferred that it was environmental experiences that contributed to her emotional turmoil. Research suggests that emotional fluctuations in early adolescence are related to hormonal changes at that time, whereas in late adolescence, teenagers are more emotionally settled by then, displaying fewer worries and less moodiness (Hooper, 1980).As such, it is likely that the people around her affected Woven's emotional development. Emotional stress is usually the result of conflicts that adolescents have with their parents and these conflicts often happen because adolescents want to make independent choices which are usually not in line with what their parents have in mind for them (Child Development Reference). Interventions – Resolutions to Woven's Case The following strategies and interventions are believed to help Woven irately.A lthough there are many factors that contributed and led to Woven's current problems, the main cause of her problems seems to be her mother. This is because her mother would have had the most influence over Woven's development from a child and into her adolescent years. Therefore, tackling Mrs.. Fangs parenting style and the mother-daughter relationship is the foremost important issue. A successful intervention on this relationship will also affect Woven's formation of her own identity and self-esteem positively.With this as a base to build on, it will be easier to tackle the issues about Woven's peers and how she views herself as a result of her relationship with them. It is suggested that competent adolescent development is most likely to occur when adolescents have parents who carry out the following actions (Contracts, 2007). For Woven's case, Mrs.. Fang should avoid the tendency to be too controlling and allow Woven to make her own decisions about school and what she wants to do . Instead of trying to control Woven's life, Mrs..Fang should monitor her development and try to understand Woven's cognitive and constitutional development. She should also show more constructive says of dealing with problems and conflict because studies have shown that reprimanding only serves to increase the parent-child gap. In addition, both parent and child should come together to discuss ways to help Woven (Contracts, 2007). Woven's parents are also advised to take on a democratic instead of autocratic role. They would encourage Woven to participate in family decision making, thus fostering identity-achievement in her.This would be the most desirable outcome for Woven's self-identity as Kroger (1993) observed that â€Å"identity-achievement individuals showed the highest levels of go development, moral reasoning, internal locus of control, self-certainty and self-esteem, performance under stress on a concept attainment task, and intimacy in interpersonal relationships† (Mishmash, 2005). In line with the study conducted by Campbell, Adams, & Dobson (1 984), healthy identity formation of an individual is developed by family relationships that are both individuated and connected.A family atmosphere which promotes individuality and connectedness is lacking in Woven's life. She needs to have her own individuality, where she can have her own point of IEEE and develop her own communication pattern to express herself. At the same time, her family environment should promote connectedness, where emotional affection among family members is promoted. This suggests that Woven should be allowed to develop her own point of view, while her parents work on building the relationships within the family.A combination of connectedness and individuality in the parent-adolescent relationship forms the base from which Woven can explore her widening social world (Campbell, Adams, & Dobson, 1984). To further support the reasons why Woven's parents have to change their ren ting style, it is believed that the â€Å"fit† between â€Å"parents' style Of interaction and the interactive style and needs of the child† forms the foundation to a healthy emotional development of the child (Child Development Reference). Therefore, it is apparent that parents do play a vital role in their children's emotional development.To salvage the relationship they have with their daughter and to prevent Woven from sinking further in her own problems, it is highly recommended that both Mr.. And Mrs.. Fang undergo counseling to understand how their actions as parents have a great impact on their daughter. Both parents and Woven should also attend parent and child counseling sessions where the counselor is able to take on a mediator role and help to bridge the gap between them. Although Woven's parents are accountable for the bulk of her problems, the school environment she was in was very unhealthy as well.School-wide programmer which focus on self-image and sel f-esteem ought to be implemented to educate Woven and her peers on such issues. It is also necessary to educate them on the perils of eating disorders which could have damaging and dangerous consequences on their lives, as it affects their hysterical and mental health. In conclusion, Woven went through a difficult and trying period growing up, which led to some impairment in her development as an adolescent, especially in the identity and emotional development aspects.This was largely caused by the context of her development, which includes her immediate family members, in particular, her mother, as well as her peers and school environment. However, appropriate interventions and strategies could assist Woven in fixing some of these problems. The proposed interventions and strategies would not solve Woven's problems overnight but it is imperative hat they are implemented to kick-start Woven's road to recovery. (2495 words) References Banding, D. (1 991 The influence of parenting styl e on adolescent competence and substance use.

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Representing the Profession in the Community - Assignment Example One may visit a doctor but never have sufficient time off the busy doctor’s schedule to get some crucial information. It is here that these nurses come in to save the day by offering information at no charge. These patients tend to want more time in explanation as some of their understanding may reduce and requires a lot of explaining. In this role, they act as teachers who nurse stress-preventive care to encourage patients to pursue healthier lifestyles. The real impact in this comes where the life expectancy goes higher (Salkind, 2006). Families will have each other longer in their lives with their loved ones. Nurses have the role of ensuring what the government promised is actualized, health care for all. It is their ethical accountability to make sure that everyone is taken care of where remunerations may available (Delehanty & Ginzler, 2006). Therefore, support of the introduction of a legislative agenda that would ease this situation would create more jobs. The agenda could probably see a certain nurse assigned to several patients above the age of 50. They would probably be located in a certain health facility and could visit their patients in their homes and only bring them to the health facility only when utterly important. This would assist in quick patient record retrieval given that the nursing individual would be privy to all the ailments encountered under their service. The legislative agenda would be required to see through more funding to reduce the involved constraints. This could also eventually be replicated to the entire family. Continuity in care would be easy to impleme nt. Under the role of improving healthcare in America, the nursing culture not only address the psychological needs but also the physical needs, spiritual needs where necessary are also bestowed on these nurses to offer hope, it’s a role in its making. They are included in the larger context which is important

Design a class Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Design a class - Essay Example Morgan Company. This test will take no longer than 45 minutes and will be provided online in a computerized format to test knowledge and current abilities to help ensure that the information within our course is going to be highly beneficial and not redundant for your employees. The projected course will include many different topics that will be covered over a two-to-three day time period. Meals will be provided for the staff members each day, and the course will begin promptly at 7:30am and continue until 6:00pm, or until all final questions have been answered for the day. The proposed topics for the course will include Hardware, Basic trouble shooting, Software, Operating systems, Microsoft Office, Basic O/S & software trouble shooting, Peripherals, Mobile, Security, The Internet – better search, Cloud computing, Use of Web 2.0, Intranet applications, File management, and Logging on remotely. Each of these areas of computerized technology are important for staff members to understand at a novice level in order to make the daily workload much easier to handle and to provide each staff member the ability to properly use time efficiently. We will help train the J.P. Morgan staff members on the customary uses of each of these topics and their actual b enefits in the workplace by providing hypothetical, yet realistic, examples from the type of work that would be performed. The course will be provided in an in-person and remote format to help provide better training. Half of the time will be spent in a course room that will involve question-and-answer lectures and power point presentations to help show step-by-step procedures for the content. This first half is designed to teach the general understanding of the software or hardware, and performance tactics that are being discussed. The second half will be performed remotely with each student having access to the course on a computer. Through our patented online system, we will be

Trust Builders in a Sales Person Essay Example for Free

Trust Builders in a Sales Person Essay Trust is the binding force of great relationships. This leads to greater cooperation and better solutions, especially in sales and customer service situations. When trust increases, communication is more effective and understanding in enhanced. Since most people won’t buy from someone they don’t trust, building and maintaining a strong bond of trust is essential for developing long term customer satisfaction and loyalty. Customers believe in getting the best and feeling comfortable with what they have received. Having a long term customer takes more than good customer service. Sales representatives of any company need to have the â€Å"trust-builders† characteristics to help them build strong relationships with clients. In the end this will help the overall profitability of the company. The first characteristic is expertise; this is the extent to which a salesperson possesses relevant knowledge and capability to get the job done right. An example is Digicel, their sales persons are well trained and equipped with relevant information and knowledge of their prices and sale promotions. Customers can ask a salesperson about a promotion and when the customer research for themselves, it is accurate. This builds trust, when a salesperson shows competence and knowledge. This has pushed Digicel to be the top efficient service provider of telecommunication in Jamaica. Second characteristic is dependability; this is the extent to which a salesperson consistently and predictably follows through on commitments he/she makes to others. Digicel sales practices indicates this when they offer free nights promotion to customers. This promotion was always offered once a customer puts on two hundred dollars before 9pm. This allows customers to depend on what Digicel said they would deliver. Candor is the third characteristic of a trust-builder type; it is the extent to which a salesperson is honest and upfront with others, especially with regard to issues/factors that may impact those others. Digicel portraits this by allowing their sales personnel or customer care agent to tell customer the truth when they are having technical problems, they even go as far as sending out texts to inform and apologise for the disruptions. The fourth trust-builder type is customer orientation; this is the extent to which a salesperson values and protects the interests of his/her customers. Digicel trained their salespersons to show empathy while adding value and giving back to the customer’s community and even their lives. Encouraging rebuilding of schools, community centers and developing public areas push customers to trust and build long term relationship with Digicel. The fifth trust-builder is likeability; this is the affection customers have towards you. There are many factors that contribute to how likeable you are as a person, but in the context of relationships with your customers, these factors encompass courtesy, respect, remembering names and key facts, treating each customer as special, and being interested in them and their lives. Digicel depicts this in their advertisements and when a sale agent is speaking to you. They ensured Jamaican culture and people are portrayed in their ads. They also ensure high quality service by asking for your name and throughout the conversation they refer to you by your name.

Jacksonian Democracy Dbq Essay Example for Free

Jacksonian Democracy Dbq Essay During the 1828 election when Jackson ran for office the second time he succeeded, as he did previously, but this time nothing stood in his way of becoming president. The Jacksonian Democracy that Jackson had brought into the government when he was elected was a true democratic movement that was dedicated to it’s egalitarian views. Although, in this time period the equal rights ideas were still mainly for the white men, disregarding women, African Americans, and the Native Americans. The Jacksonian Democracy was a large force in the individual rights for the working class, as interpreted in Document A; â€Å"The Working Men’s Declaration of Independence†, by George Henry Evans, as he says, â€Å"‘But when a long train of abuses and usurpations’ take place, all invariably tending to the oppression and degradation of one class of society, and to the unnatural and iniquitous exaltation of another by political leaders, ‘it is their right, it is their duty:’ to use every constitutional means to reform the abuses of such government, and to provide new guards for their future security. † In his writing he quotes parts of the declaration to make a point that what the forefathers had said could be used to represent the working class, and to make a point that it was the government’s duty to protect such men from the lack of opportunities that the government failed to give them and the rights that they failed to protect in the previous year with various government leaders. When Jackson was re-elected in 1832, the renewal of the National bank was vetoed by Jackson, and some think that it’s simply because he had a strong dislike for the men that were for the bank. In his veto message, Document B, Andrew Jackson stated that, â€Å"It appears that more than a fourth part of the stock is held by foreigners,† and Jackson had had a strong dislike for foreigner’s, chiefly the British, since he was a young boy, â€Å"and the residue is held by a few hundred of our own citizens, chiefly of the richest class.† It could be interpreted through this that Jackson, along with his dislike for Clay, wanted to keep the American government and economy ruled solely by the Americans, not an outside force like the French and British. Andrew Jackson was a strong believer of Nationalist values, and his values contributed to the way he saw individual rights. Jackson viewed the nation as a whole, and just being American granted, if you were a white male, not of Irish descent than you it was your right to have the same liberties as everyone else. You could vote, own land, run for office, and have the same opportunities as someone from the upper class if you were among the poorest in the country. Among the many equal rights opportunities, many reform movements began to take place that brought a new light to the Jacksonian government. Public education became something that every child could receive until they reached the age of a secondary school student, and having every child receive education was a large part of his equal rights value. The two other reforms were for the criminally insane/mentally insane, the Asylum movement, led by Dorothea Dix, and the Woman’s rights movement. Although Jackson didn’t believe in the same rights of man and woman, the movement went along with the equal rights and opportunities of his government. With the three new reforms taking place in the United States, they benefitted from the others. Women were able to secure jobs as nurse and school teachers, but with many rules, the insane were able to escape from the criminal and terrible conditions they were residing in, and children, whether they be male or female, could receive a prop er education. One of the largest movements of the day was the Second Great Awakening a religious movement. Many people were given more freedom when it came to their religion, some converting, others not. Those who converted to the newly introduced religions were able to express their religious beliefs, while one hundred years prior they could not as openly. Although some religions were seen as improper, they weren’t as harsh to those of other religions as they may have been in the past. As a result of the changes in the American lifestyle, members of the Jacksonian Democracy believed that it was their duty to preserve the nation in the way that they had seen it, and in their eyes they viewed themselves as â€Å"the guardians of the United States, political democracy, individual liberty, and equality of economic opportunity†.

Management Information System: Virgin Trains

Management Information System: Virgin Trains MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEM A management information system is actually a combination of hardware. Software and the people who use the hardware and software to manipulate the information within the organization. These sources are help in the collection, storage and retrieval of the data in the organization. The main function of the MIS is to store the information and to furnish it to the management whenever it is required. INFORMATION SYSTEM An information system is a systematic structure which is formed by the organization according to its convenience for the handling of the information. There are many elements which work together in the process of collecting, storing and processing of the data. A computer is physical equipment used in the MIS or in other words it is the hardware involved in the information system. The data which is mainly raw facts is not of any use so the data has to be processed the computer programs hence help in the processing of the raw data in order to make it useful for the organization The computer programs are the technological components of an information system. If the people of the organization have proper knowledge of the programs only then they will be able to process the information effectively in the organization. RELATION BETWEEN THE ORGANISATION AND ITS MIS The organization and its information system are inseparable. The organization is very much dependent on its information system. Whenever there is a change in the strategies, or the policies in the organization the information system also goes through a drastic change in the organization. The organizations present and future progress fully depends on the present a future functioning of its information system. Before the information systems affected only a small part of the organization i.e. some of the operational or the technical issues but at present the information systems affect the major part of the organization such as the decision making, strategy information, the products of the organization, the structure of the organization etc. Each and every part of the business is connected with its information system any change in the information system will affect the organization similarly any change in the organization will affect its information system. DIMENSIONS OF INFORMATION SYSTEMS ORGANISATION: In some of the organizations an information system is a major part of the organization. The information systems are a part of the organization only in some organizations which deal with financial services in such organizations the information system is the organization MANAGEMENT: The management is another dimension of an information system. The information system assists the Managers to take necessary decisions. The information system provides the managers with the tools to plan allocate and control work within the organization. TECHNOLOGY: The technology is one of the most important dimensions of an information system. The technology is what that helps the organization to have an updated information system in the organization which can cope up with the day to day changes happening in the business environment. TYPES OF SYSTEMS IN ORGANISATION There are many types of systems in the organization according to the different processes in the organization the various systems are Transaction processing system, decision support system, office system, knowledge work system. Transaction processing system: The transaction processing system involves all the activities which are related to the ordering, order taking, and order tracking. The order processing, trading of the securities etc. The transaction processing system helps in systematically carrying out all the above mentioned activities in the organization. Knowledge work system: A knowledge work system helps in connecting the different dimensions of knowledge within the organization. The knowledge work systems combine the Engineering department, the managerial department, the Human resource department etc the knowledge work system helps in combining different dimensions of the organization and to effectively complete the work by integrating the knowledge from all levels. Management information system: As seen before the management information system provides the manager with essential assistance. The MIS provides the managers with information relations to the sales management, the inventory control, the decision support system the management level provides the management with the analytical models and the data analysis tools which would help in the semi structured and unstructured decision making activities. Executive support system: The executive support system provides the assistance to the management at a very higher spectrum. It helps the management with the functions such as the sales trend forecasting, budget forecasting, personnel planning etc so the executive support system helps the management to make decisions in these key areas. All these above mentioned systems are interested with one another. The process done by one system helps the other system to carry out its work. The process by one system acts as a base for the activity that has to be carried by the other system in the organization. The decision support system and the executive support system often use the information obtained from the transaction processing system and the management information system. Some systems also obtain data from the outside for carrying out its activities the knowledge work systems and the decision support system use the information such as the stock market information from the outside and design supplier information. DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEM The decision support system mainly helps in taking the structured and unstructured decision making in the organization. The decision support system uses information from both the transaction processing system and the management information system. The decision support system provides the management with the advanced analytical tools and data analysis tools which help in analyzing the data in a much wider spectrum and take the decisions much more effectively. The decision support system is much more advance than the Executive support system because the decision support system uses much more advanced analytical tools such as the linear programming or forecasting. TRANSACTION PROCESSING SYSTEM Transaction processing system is one of the main systems of the MIS and the transaction processing system has five more systems Sales or marketing systems: The sales or marketing system mainly provide all information related to the market. It provides information about the product pricing, the promotion of the product, the system of the sales commission, the market research and the predicting of the market and the demand for the products etc Manufacturing and production systems: Manufacturing and productive systems provide all information regarding the inventory, the movement of the inventory, the procurement of the inventory. It also maintains data related to the manufacturing operations of the organization and the quality control activities related to the organization Finance and accounting systems: Finance and accounting systems provide all information related to the financial activities of the organization. All the information of the day to day activities of the financial transactions are stored, analyzed and retrieved whenever it is required. Many activities such as budgeting, general ledger, funds management etc are carried out with the help of this system. Human resource systems: The human resources systems take maintain the information relate to the each and every employee in the organization. All these informationà ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢s are used for providing the employees with the compensation and other benefits. It provides help in various areas of human resource such as payroll functions, compensation, training and development of employees etc. CHANGES BROUGHT IN BY MIS IN ORGANISATIONS The information systems are growing and achieving various levels of improvement day by day. There is new MIS hardware and softwareà ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢s which are being invented and hence there are lots of changes occurring in the organization. Due to the information systems the layers of the management has been reduced as a result of that there is a proper flow of information in the organizations. The organizations have become much more flexible in their functioning. The flattening of the organization is one distinct feature through which the decision making of the line workers has also increased and so this has lead to the increase in the work satisfaction of the employees as the management span of control has broadened. CHALLENGES INVOLVED IN BUILDING, OPERATING, MAINTAINING INFORMATION SYSTEMS The strategic business challenge encourages us to realize that we must be able to use information technology to design organizations so that they are competitive, effective and digitally-enabled. The globalization challenge facing us is that we must ascertain how firms can understand the systems requirements of a global economic environment. The information architecture and infrastructure challenge is that we must be able to help the organization develop an information architecture that is able to support the company goals when both the business conditions and the technologies are changing so rapidly. The information systems investment challenge is for us to know how the organization can determine the business value of systems. Finally, the responsibility and control challenge is for us to understand how organizations can ensure that their information systems are used in an ethically and socially responsible way. ETHICAL ISSUES RELATED TO MIS End-user development refers to the development of information systems by end users with minimal or no assistance from professional systems analysts or programmers. This is accomplished through sophisticated user-friendly software tools and gives end users direct control over their own computing. Advantages include improved requirements determination, realizing large productivity gains when developing certain types of applications, enabling end users to take a more active role in the systems development process, many can be used for prototyping, and some have new functions such as graphics, modeling, and ad hoc information retrieval. Disadvantages include not being suited for large transaction-oriented applications or applications with complex updating requirements, standards for testing and quality assurance may not be applied, and proliferation of uncontrolled data and private information systems. End-user development is suited to solving some of the backlog problem because the end users can develop their needed applications themselves. It is suited to developing low-transaction systems. End-user development is valuable for creating systems that access data for such purposes as analysis (including the use of graphics in that analysis) and reporting. It can also be used for developing simple data-entry applications Policies and procedures to manage end-user development include the following: The organization must establish sufficient support facilities for end-user computing: information centers or distributed end-user computing centers. Training and support should be targeted to the specific needs of those being trained. End-user application development should not be allowed to be undertaken randomly but should be incorporated into the organizations strategic plan. Management should develop controls over end-user computing in the following areas: Cost justification of end-user information system project. Hardware and software standards for user-developed applications. Company-wide standards for microcomputers, word processing software, database management systems, graphics software, and query and reporting tools. Quality assurance reviews that specify whether the end-user systems must be reviewed by information systems and internal audit specialists. Control for end-user developed applications covering testing, documentation, accuracy, and completeness of input and update, backup, recovery and supervision. Critical applications that supply data to other important systems should be flagged and subjected to more rigorous standards. ANALYSIS OF MIS AT VIRGIN TRAINS The company which is taken for this study is the Virgin trains. The virgin trains belong to the virgin groups. This private railway has done a reinforcement of its information system. It has fully transformed information system to provide better service to its customers and also to carry out its business processes effectively. The main aim of the company is to provide its employees, customers and other stake holders with the maximum benefit through various management information tools. GENERAL OBJECTIVES The general objective of the virgin trains is to have an advanced information management system. The aim of this system is to have a strong IT infrastructure. Virgin aims to maintain to facilitate both the employees and also the customers in all its business activities by having an a good information management system backed up by advanced technology. HALCROW The reinforcement of the technology at Virgin trains has been done by Halcrow. It is an organization which provides the organizations with solution to maintain their information at Halcrow they have combined cutting edge information technology skills along with front line Railway management skills to provide a very effective and efficient management information system. I.T STRATEGY USED BY VIRGIN TRAINS The main strategy which virgin trains is adopting now is to revamp its entire information system process, feasibility studies of the information system which is implemented is carried out, also the risk involved in the system has also been analyzed . It is now concentrating to effectively maintain its marketing information. in order to do that areas like warehousing commercial data, data analysis, warehousing and using click-stream data are given more importance. As a part of its IT transformation Virgin trains has also transformed some of its systems such as the Train planning and scheduling data, on-train monitoring and reporting systems data. MIS AT EACH LEVEL OF VIRGIN MIS IN CUSTOMER SERVICE Virgin has lots of facilities which help the customers with the booking of ticket. There are many facilities like the mobile ticketing platforms, chip and pin units to Bluetooth based equipment for onboard payments. These are the devices used to maintain the services provided to the customer through advanced MIS tools provided by Halcrow. MIS FOR THE MANAGEMENT The MIS used for the management to carry out its activities is designed by Halcrow. Virgin uses the MIS solution that was framed by Halcrow to maintain activities like recruiting, Decision making, financial management etc. This MIS also helps to improve reporting around areas such as on-train shopping patterns. The MIS provided by the Halcrow also interfaces with the CRM system which is written in .NET so this helps the Virgin trains to have a good CRM with its customers. MOBILE ROLL OUT Virgin is currently finalizing trials for a roll out of handheld devices. These devices will be given to the drivers of the trains and these devices are equipped with Vodafone supplied PDAà ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢s. This device helps the drivers by replacing the paper based materials and would help in effective handling of the information. HARDWARE USED FOR THE MIS AT VIRGIN HP is the main supplier of all the hardware devices used at virgin for MIS. Citrix supplies thin-client Technology for applications such as rail operation systems. SOFTWARE SUPPLIERS FOR MIS AT VIRGIN The main provider of software to the MIS at virgin is Microsoft and Capgemini has also been one of the key suppliers of softwareà ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢s for the system. SWOT ANALYSIS STRENGHT The virgin trains have a lot of potential for improving its processes. As mentioned before it is doing a revamp of all its MIS processes this puts the Virgin trains in an advanced stage and also in a strong position to face its competitors. WEAKNESS The maintenance of the system is very expensive and the company aims to get a full return on all the investments made by it on IT. Any failure of any system which is currently being used will become a great weakness to the organization. since most of the processes are being experimented still. OPPORTUNITY As mentioned before the revamping of the IT processes at the virgin is a greater opportunity for the organization to rectify the shortcomings of the old system and to have an effective new system. THREAT Since most of the data used by virgin trains is dependent on electronic data any minor fault in the system would cause a threat to the entire system of virgin trains. CONCLUSION In this project we have seen briefly about MIS and its function in an organization. The Virgin Trains is taking MIS to a whole new level by investing firmly in its IT and also experimenting with its new systems which are going to be implemented. We saw how the use of MIS facilitates the organization on all angles of the business.MIS helps not only the organization but also its stakeholders and it helps the organization to achieve its objective in a very short period. REFRENCE: Wendy R. (1997) Strategic management and information system, 2nd edition, pitman Mcleod.R, Schell.G.P, Management information system, 2007, Pearson Education Inc, New Jersey, Pp (8-15). Web: CIO interview virgin train, [online] verified on http://www.computerweekly.com/Articles/2010/06/02/241427/CIO-interview-Virgin-Trains39-IT-remains-on-the.htm (accessed on 18/07/2010) Web: Rail data management and management information systems, [online] verified on http://www.halcrow.com/Areas-of-expertise/Rail/Data-management-and-management-information-systems/ (accessed on 19/07/2010)

Poetry Comparison on Wordsworths Lucy and Tennysons Dark house, by wh

Poetry Comparison on Wordsworth's Lucy and Tennyson's Dark house, by which once more I stand Wordsworth's and Tennyson's poems are both about someone who was close to them and is now gone. However Tennyson uses the physical surroundings to portray his emotions as well as his own reactions whereas Wordsworth's poem is less specific and less obvious about his feelings, focusing his attention on the lost person. Tennyson's poem is more about himself, "I stand, my heart, Behold me, for I cannot sleep, I creep". Because he describes his own actions, the poem is very self absorbed and the reader doesn't get to know about the person that is now gone. On the other hand, Wordsworth does focus his attention on the lost person and in fact the whole poem is about her: only at the end does he refer back to himself, "The difference to me!" Both poems use metaphors and produce vivid imagery. Wordsworth describes Lucy throughout most of the poem whereas Tennyson is focused on his own feelings and the description of the physical surroundings is used to mirror these emotions. Here, Wordsworth is describing Lucy and refers to her as being shy and unique as there were none to compare her with; the violet being a symbol for a timid personality. "A violet by a mossy stone Half hidden by the eye! Fair as a star, when only one Is shining in the sky" Tennyson by contrast doesn't resort to metaphors to describe his friend. All Tennyson's descriptions are emotive, "Dark house, by which once more I stand Here in the long unlovely streetà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦And ghastly through the drizzling rain On the bald street breaks the blank day." he sets the depre... ...narrative poem and more of a description then a sequence of actions like Tennyson's poem. In comparison, the basic meter in Tennyson's poem is iambic tetrameter with irregular stresses such as the two long stresses at the beginning, "Dark house," resulting in a slower and heavy atmosphere which portrays how he feels. He also uses enjambment rather then pauses at the end of each line like Wordsworth, as he is narrating his actions and again producing a gloomy effect. To conclude, the poems have their similarities but the main difference is how the emotions are portrayed -Tennyson's furtive behaviour as well as the morbid surroundings and Wordsworth's subtle description of Lucy and her life. In the end it is clear that they both feel that they have lost someone important and it has made a difference to their lives. Poetry Comparison on Wordsworth's Lucy and Tennyson's Dark house, by wh Poetry Comparison on Wordsworth's Lucy and Tennyson's Dark house, by which once more I stand Wordsworth's and Tennyson's poems are both about someone who was close to them and is now gone. However Tennyson uses the physical surroundings to portray his emotions as well as his own reactions whereas Wordsworth's poem is less specific and less obvious about his feelings, focusing his attention on the lost person. Tennyson's poem is more about himself, "I stand, my heart, Behold me, for I cannot sleep, I creep". Because he describes his own actions, the poem is very self absorbed and the reader doesn't get to know about the person that is now gone. On the other hand, Wordsworth does focus his attention on the lost person and in fact the whole poem is about her: only at the end does he refer back to himself, "The difference to me!" Both poems use metaphors and produce vivid imagery. Wordsworth describes Lucy throughout most of the poem whereas Tennyson is focused on his own feelings and the description of the physical surroundings is used to mirror these emotions. Here, Wordsworth is describing Lucy and refers to her as being shy and unique as there were none to compare her with; the violet being a symbol for a timid personality. "A violet by a mossy stone Half hidden by the eye! Fair as a star, when only one Is shining in the sky" Tennyson by contrast doesn't resort to metaphors to describe his friend. All Tennyson's descriptions are emotive, "Dark house, by which once more I stand Here in the long unlovely streetà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦And ghastly through the drizzling rain On the bald street breaks the blank day." he sets the depre... ...narrative poem and more of a description then a sequence of actions like Tennyson's poem. In comparison, the basic meter in Tennyson's poem is iambic tetrameter with irregular stresses such as the two long stresses at the beginning, "Dark house," resulting in a slower and heavy atmosphere which portrays how he feels. He also uses enjambment rather then pauses at the end of each line like Wordsworth, as he is narrating his actions and again producing a gloomy effect. To conclude, the poems have their similarities but the main difference is how the emotions are portrayed -Tennyson's furtive behaviour as well as the morbid surroundings and Wordsworth's subtle description of Lucy and her life. In the end it is clear that they both feel that they have lost someone important and it has made a difference to their lives.

How Does A Firm?s Pricing Poli :: essays research papers

How does a firm’s pricing policy relate to the product’s life cycle? When a company launches a new product, it knows the product won’t last forever. However, the company does expect to earn a satisfactory profit to cover all the effort and risk that went into launching it. A firm can never accurately predict the lifetime of a product, but the lifetime involves four distinct stages. These four stages are collectively known as the Product Life Cycle (PLC). The first stage is the introduction stage, when the product is first launched. Sales growth tend to be low as consumers are ‘introduced’ to the existence of the product. At this stage therefore, profits are negative or low because of the low sales and high distribution and promotion expenses. Much money is needed to attract distributors and build their inventories. Promotion spending is especially high to inform customers of the new product and get them to try it. One of the biggest launches in recent history is that of the DVD player. Not only is this a new product, it’s a whole new market. Industry executives have named DVD-Video the "Medium of the Millennium" and boast that DVD-Video is the fastest growing new packaged media format launch in history with close to 5.4 million DVD-Video players shipped to retail since the format launched nationally in the U.S. in autumn 1997 (Consumer Electronics Association). The outlook for next year is equally promising. The DVD Entertainment Group estimates that hardware shipments will double to eight million DVD-Video players in 2000. And, based on the success of the format exceeding all previous forecasts that number could be even higher. The group also estimates that the installed base will more than exceed 10 percent of US households, a benchmark of success for a consumer electronics product. The surge in hardware sales is a positive boost for retailers. In 1999, DVD-Video hardware represented more than $1 billion in retail sales. This includes stand-alone players only and does not include DVD-ROM drives or other home theater products. There are now nearly 70 DVD Video player models marketed under 30 different consumer electronics brands. In only its third year in the marketplace, DVD-Video player prices have declined significantly. According to Intelect ASW, the average price sold for a DVD-Video player was $298 in November, down 30 percent from $428 at the same time last year. Some players and models are available for less than $200 making the format accessible to the mass market.

Employee Relations

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