Distinctive Human Resource Are What Firms Need Essay Example for Free

Distinctive Human Resource Are What Firms Need Essay Introduction Benchmarking is a crucial management tool that guides the stakeholders on the overall performance of the organization as well as mobilizing the employees on a continuous improvement of the organisation’s environmental and social performance. Bench marking is considered to have an impact when the results of the organization performance are immediate (Vorhies and Morgan, 2005). It is essential to recognize that benchmarking and the transfer of the best industry practices are supposed to help an organization in the long run through maximum utilization of the available resources and filling in the gaps associated with an organization poor performance (Drew, 1995). The notion of a single best practice may be overstated. Distinctive human resource practices help to create unique competencies that differentiate products and services and drive competitiveness in organizations. People management practices are the drivers of efforts to create distinctive competencies and, in turn, business strategies. There are various human resource management models that have been used by companies to benchmark and stay competitive in the turbulent business environment and they include the Industrial Organization Model and McKenzie’s 7s Strategy which include shared values, structure, strategy, systems, style, staff and skills. Shared Values Shared values are commonly held beliefs, mindsets, and assumptions that shape how an organization behaves and its corporate culture. Shared values are what engender trust. They are an interconnecting centre of the 7Ss model. Values are the identity by which a company is known throughout its business areas, what the organization stands for and what it believes in, it central beliefs and attitudes. These values must be explicitly stated as both corporate objectives and individual values. Structure Structure is the organizational chart and associated information that shows who reports to whom and how tasks are both divided up and integrated. In other words, structures describe the hierarchy of authority and accountability in an organization, the way the organizations units relate to each other: centralized, functional divisions (top-down); decentralized (the trend in larger organizations); matrix, network, holding among others. These relationships are frequently diagrammed in organizational charts. Most organizations use some mix of structures: pyramidal, matrix or networked ones to accomplish their goals. Strategy Strategies are plans an organization formulates to reach identified goals, and a set of decisions and actions aimed at gaining a sustainable advantage over the competition. Systems Systems define the flow of activities involved in the daily operation of business, including its core processes and its support systems. They refer to the procedures, processes and routines that are used to manage the organization and characterize how important work is to be done. Style Style refers to the cultural style of the organization, how key managers behave in achieving the organization’s goals, how managers collectively spend their time and attention, and how they use symbolic behaviour. How management acts is more important that what management says. Staff Staff refers to the number and types of personnel within the organization and how companies develop employees and shape basic values. Skills Skills refer to the dominant distinctive capabilities and competencies of the personnel or of the organization as a whole. Industrial Organization (I/O) Model The external environment is primary determinant of the organizational strategy rather than internal decisions of managers. The environment presents threats and opportunities all competing to have equal access to resources. Resources are highly mobile between firms. Organizational success is achieved by offering goods and services at lower costs than competitors. Professional sports 49ers †¢ The 49ers have succeeded by using a strategy of long-term player development by recruiting through college drafts rather than trades. This helps the team cement loyalty to the club by the players. Raiders †¢ The Raiders scoop up talented players who fail or do not fit in elsewhere. The club reinforces its strategy through autocracy where the members are not supposed to participate in decision making. The system of the club embraces outside recruit of experienced players. Retailing: Sales as the Service Sears †¢ The Sears selection system requires extensive training. The style keeps track of employee attitude and morale through employee surveys, pay programs to match other retail business through industrial organization model. Nordstrom †¢ The Nordstrom structure of hiring is decentralized and uses no formal selection tests. There are continuous stream of programs to motivate employees with very little attention paid to the staffs in terms of training and commissions when retailing. †¢ The link between employees and product market strategy is sometimes less direct in services, but there are still relationships between the way employees are managed, the competencies employees help produce, and the way companies compete. Professional Service Firms; Information and Advice as the Product Boston Consulting Group (BCG) †¢ The style of BCG is to hire the best undergraduate and MBA students to work for them. †¢ The firm’s system requires rigorous selection procedures and through industrial organization Model provides exceptional compensation to the employees as compared to other organizations. †¢ The firm develops its staff through formal training. †¢ BCG shared value approach expects each team to come up with innovative ways to reinforce its entrepreneurial culture. McKinsey †¢ The professional firm develops its distinctive capabilities through on-campus recruiting and employee skills and development through extensive training model. †¢ The firm’s strategy lies in providing clients with consistent services. The core competency is also consistent with the products and the techniques of the company. Business Schools Harvard Business †¢ The business school staff development represents internal skills development. The school hires employees and turns them into experts. †¢ The business school invests a lot on employee development through the staff model. Wharton School †¢ The school recruitment strategy model relies on external environment to recruit its employees from a network of academicians. †¢ The system model that is used to make the institution maintain a competitive edge in the market is by hiring employees with superior technical skills and by making use of its outside market. Financial Services Chubb †¢ The insurance firm success is based on its shared value model of becoming the insurance of choice. †¢ The firm makes substantial staff investment through its recruitment, intensive training and testing before hiring. American International Group (AIG) †¢ The success of the insurance firm is through its industrial orientation strategy model where the company identifies new areas of business, creates new products, and benefits from the first mover advantage as a result of exploiting the market. †¢ The company’s competencies are its ability to respond to the turbulent business environment. †¢ The company hires from its competitors and invests less on staff development. The Shipping Business FedEx †¢ The shipping business has a strategy model of empowering its employees in the implementation of its vision. †¢ First service company to win the Malcolm Baldridge National Quality Award †¢ Intensive orientation program for staff development. †¢ One hub at FedEx meant that there were fewer coordination problems, allowing for autonomy and participation through it structural model. †¢ This model highly enhances loyalty in employees. UPS †¢ The orientation of the company structure model takes an autocratic approach where the employees have no direct say over work organization matters. †¢ Company standards for each task through its shared value model. †¢ Pays the highest wages and benefits in the industry (Industrial Organization Model). †¢ Productivity of UPS’s drivers is about three times higher than that at FedEx due to its high compensation. †¢ UPS’s business demands a level of coordination that is incompatible with individual employee involvement and a â€Å"high commitment† approach through it structural model. Food and Beverages Coke †¢ Coke builds on employee skills and hangs on them through staff development model. †¢ Coke hires college graduates with little or corporate experience and provides intensive training. †¢ There is promotion and seniority based salary incentives. †¢ Decision making is centralized Pepsi †¢ The company relies on employees’ innovativeness to identify market niches †¢ Pepsi hires employees with experience and advanced technical skills through industrial organization model. †¢ Decision making is decentralized. †¢ Employees have little job security. †¢ Less loyal employees. References Drew, S. A. W. (1995). Strategic Benchmarking: Innovation Practices in Financial Institutions. International Journal of Bank Marketing 13 (1),4-16. Vorhies, D. W., Morgan, N. A. (2005). Benchmarking Marketing Capabilities for Sustainable Competitive Advantage. Journal of Marketing 69 (January Issue), 80–94.

Descartes :: essays research papers

Foundation   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In Descartes Meditation VI Of the existence of material things, and of the real distinction between the real soul and body of man, he explains he reasoning for believing that the mind is better known than any body. Descartes states his reasoning through various assumptions that he has made in his search for knowledge. Descartes is a philosopher, who through thinking comes to these conclusions.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In the reading of Descartes he interprets his understanding of how and why the mind is better known than the body. He states that, â€Å"Myself in my entirety in as much as I am formed of body and soul (mind) taught by nature, sun, stars, and sky. Descartes realized that he could learn things from his body. Things like pain if he touches a flame or pleasure if he drinks a cup of wine. With senses Descartes could see textures and beautiful landscapes. This made Descartes realize that from this generalization that he has made, what he learns from his body does not exceed what he already knows in his mind. I think Descartes point is well made in his quote above. I come to understand this though, through the fact that the minds common sense is what tells me I should not touch a flame, because of the pain it will bring me.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Through Descartes studies of himself, he also came to the conclusion that, â€Å"†¦Mind alone, not mind and body in conjunction, is a requisite to a knowledge of the truth in regard to such things.†(376) He explains this premise with the analogy, â€Å"†¦Although stars make no larger an impression on my eye than the flame of a little candle there is yet in me no real or positive propensity impelling me to believe that it is not greater than the flame; but I have judged it to be from my earliest years, without any rational foundation.† This analogy interprets that, just because there is no direct effect upon his the body or physical senses it does not mean that nothing exists. The mind is more important to think and realize the possibilities even though his body cannot sense them. So even though the flame looks the same size as the star his mind know it in fact is not. I can only understand so much of this statement by Descartes. I understan d that that his mind can differentiate the star from the star, but this is not preconceived knowledge given to him at birth.

How Are the Themes of Loneliness in “of Mice and Men”?

How are the themes of loneliness and isolation explored in â€Å"Of Mice and Men†? Born in 1902, John Steinbeck, author of ‘Of Mice and Men’, set his book in the 1930’s. The novel revolves around two hard-working men dependant on one another during the Great Depression, a time when most were alone. Many themes are explored in the novel such as racism, loneliness, disability, isolation and friendship. This essay will be talking about how the themes of loneliness and isolation are explored in ‘Of Mice and Men’. Gender is one way in which Steinbeck illustrates loneliness and isolation.The character of Curley’s wife is used to portray this. Throughout the book Curley’s wife is never referred to her name which is unknown. This suggests that she is a possession belonging to Curley. By not having her name mentioned; Curley’s wife remains distant even though she tells Lennie her life story as without a name she remains mysterious. Her marriage to Curley causes for her to be rejected by the ranch workers when she seeks out their attention and friendship. Therefore she is not only lonely but also isolated as there are only men on the ranch who turn away from her.Critics may argue that Steinbeck was too harsh in not giving a name to Curley’s wife but in my opinion John Steinbeck was only portraying the reality of that particular time period. Steinbeck also uses age to explore the themes of loneliness and isolation. Candy, an old ranch worker, is used to display these themes. As the oldest man on the ranch Candy is the most insecure of the men as he knows that if he was to be fired from his job he would have no other place to go to, what with having no family or friends. This knowledge isolates him from the others as there’s no one whom he can relate to this about.Critics may say that John Steinbeck is stereotyping old people as useless. Another way in which the two themes are explored is through ra cism. For this John Steinbeck uses Crooks. As a stable buck and a black person, Crooks is isolated from the other characters. He has his own room which may be fortunate but only further alienates him from the other workers. Crooks shows that he is lonely while talking to Lennie, he says, â€Å"I tell ya a guy gets too lonely an’ he gets sick. † He talks of how he wakes up in the night and sees something but doesn’t know if he was just dreaming, if had a friend he would have asked him.Because of his race Crooks has many disadvantages one of them being that he is not allowed to enter the bunkhouse. Another being that he is abused by the other workers. Crooks is not given a chance to befriend anyone and is therefore both physically and mentally isolated. Lennie shows how disability can lead to loneliness and isolation. His child-like mentality distances him from the other workers. Though he talks to and is talked to by other characters he is isolated in his mind be cause there is still a separation. His disability causes the other characters on the ranch to treat him as inferior.Lennie was told both Crooks’ and Curley’s wife’s life story but it doesn’t mention in the book whether or not he was really listening when the two confided in him. This makes you doubt whether or not Lennie is actually as he is described. Critics may say that Lennie’s character was too unrealistic and overdrawn. Euthanasia is used to explore the themes of loneliness and isolation. Again Lennie is used to display this along with Candy’s dog. Both of them were in a similar situation where their death was what was best for them. Throughout the book Lennie is described as animalistic which further connects him to Candy’s dog.Lennie was killed by someone who cared about him, George, while Candy had wished to have been the one who had killed his dog. Without his dog Candy was left as lonely because though he still had the othe rs, his dog was the one who was always by his side. It shows that Lennie was truly lonely because when he died though George was shaken he had Slim as a friend to replace Lennie. John Steinbeck uses dreams to show loneliness and isolation. George’s character is used to show this. Although most of the ranch workers like George, he is mentally isolated. This is because of his dream which distances him from the other characters.His dream acts as a burden because in the end he knows that it will never come true. His awareness causes for him to be isolated, lonely and unreachable. Financial status also displays loneliness and isolation. For this the character of Curley is used. Curley can be viewed as the villain in the novel because of the abusive way he treats the other workers. He uses his small size as an advantage. The main difference though between him and the workers is money. Curley is married and yet because he is the boss’s son he doesn’t have to work like the others characters do.He uses the fact that he has authority and dominates the ranch workers. But being the boss’ son only further alienates him from the other characters and causes him to be lonely. Curley’s wife would constantly flirt with the other ranch-hands. This made him a subject of ridicule and further isolated him. Another way in which John Steinbeck uses to explore the themes of loneliness and isolation is through marriage. Curley and his wife are used to depict this. Both of them are stuck in a loveless marriage. Curley’s wife revealed to Lennie that she didn’t like Curley.Ways that you can tell Curley doesn’t love his wife is like the fact that he went to a cat house with the other men. In addition, when his wife was killed he set out to punish Lennie instead of mourning her; this shows that he was more interested in getting back at Lennie for personal reasons instead of losing his wife. Curley and his wife are therefore viewed as l onely. Their title as a married couple also isolates them from others on the ranch as there are expectations of how they should act and who they should talk to. Friendship is used by John Steinbeck to display loneliness and isolation.There are many forms of friendship in â€Å"Of Mice and Men†, the main one being George and Lennie’s friendship. The two of them are dependent on one another for different reasons. Lennie needs George to help him because of his mental disability. While George needs Lennie for company. Critics may argue that Steinbeck showed their friendship as abusive and forced. Another friendship brought together by loneliness is Curley’s wife and Lennie. This shows that they were all lonely as they settled for each other purely because they wanted companionship and someone to talk to. John Steinbeck also used other features to display loneliness and isolation.The novel began with a lonely atmosphere as he described the setting. This indicated tha t there was no-one around to describe or mention which gave you the feeling of isolation. Also the name of the city, Soledad, means solitude and loneliness in Spanish. In conclusion, John Steinbeck explored the themes of loneliness and isolation in many ways, using other themes and features. Although Steinbeck doesn’t allow you to clearly see his characters so you are unable to discern whether they are really lonely and isolated or if they are just portrayed and viewed as lonely and isolated.

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