An investigation into operations management issues within the Essay

An investigation into operations management issues within the hospitality industry - Essay Example With improved productivity and operations, the cost decreases and quality is improved. Since the above mentioned activities are integrated with each other closely in a operations chain, it I important for any company to control and manage these activities to boost its performance and profits. This article will concentrate upon the productivity improvement concerns for a restaurant  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ Good Foods Restaurant. Aim The various productivity concerns that the company faces in its daily operations and how these operations can be optimized to increase the production efficiency will the topic of study of this paper. Methodology    The preferred methodology in this case was to study a number of case studies in the hospitality sector that implement any kind of production improvement techniques and then study their previous conditions and the results after the recommendations were executed. Also other forms of literature available from books, online were studied. Company Introduction T he company is involved in the restaurant business to its customers across 17 outlets. Good Foods has been known in the market for its consistent quality of the food being served and a strong focus upon the business. With several dishes being served to its customers, and also catered in some cases, on a regular basis, the company has received the constant positive reviews from its clients. The hotel company was formed in the year 1975 and has built a strong tradition of hard work and faith. The hotel specializes mainly in the sauces, soups and flavor bases that are also marketed under a number of brand names by the hotel company. With more than 3 production units in the region, Good Foods Ltd. is trying hard to make higher margin profits for itself. In the food sector and hospitality service industry, it  is important that in order to remain competitive, Good Foods maintain efficient operations in production and marketing. At present the company own three plants which are not being operated in a desired optimized manner. Therefore, to achieve targets, the company decided to implement some operations management techniques to improve productivity and its hospitality services.    Current Production Phases  Ã‚      The operational methods that are being used by Good Foods to manufacture products that are marketed by the company are quite complex in nature and comprise of a number of multifaceted operations that are spread across the 3 production units. The initial phases that are a part of this operational chain at Good Food are the detailed  scheduling which is done by the management to decrease the down time for each of the three production units. The production scheduling is done manually by the company managers. The production scheduling phase is followed by the resource planning and procurement phase in which the managers decide the quality, quantity of resources that are to be allocated to each line and at what time. The quantity, quality and time o f resource procurement are very important at this point in order to maintain a steady flow of production and product quality. At many instances, the managers noticed that since the resources need to be often shared at many points and levels in the production chain, there existed some sharing concerns. There were variability and waste concerns that were pointed out by the managers. The last step of the production line consisted of cleaning and preparing the line for a new batch of production. It is to be noted here that due to the

Crime and Poverty Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Crime and Poverty - Research Paper Example The genesis of the crime Before reviewing some sources related to poverty and crime, it is important to determine the evolution and genesis of the crime. As mentioned above, poverty is a social phenomenon. This means that it is socially constructed. According to Obeidallah & Brooks-Gunn, the cases of crime have been rising drastically since the advent of agrarian revolution (1475). Crime is an activity that occurs when a person uses unaccepted means to solicit resources, money or to benefit him or herself. Poverty limits one from getting basic needs hence encouraging crime Inability to meet the basic needs is one of the major factors fuelling crime. A person who does not have means of making life comfortable or sustaining life would opt into engaging him or herself in activities that would enable him or her to acquire the basic needs. However, these activities are usually not socially accepted. They are classified as crime. Poverty is the main factor that limits people from using the legal means to acquire their daily bread. It does this by limiting the access to resources such as money that can be used to pay fees, access good schools and finish education. According to Hannon & DeFina, education is a means through which a person can get money and other resources necessary in offsetting the daily expenses that relate to life matters (53). However, because of poverty, some people would find it difficult to pursue their education to the expected level. The chances of such people getting employed become limited. Consequently, such people would have to opt into those activities that are not socially and legally accepted, crime. In a study conducted in Dubuque to find out the trends and perceptions of crime in conjunction with poverty, it was found... The intention of this study is crime as an unaccepted social activity that entails doing things or activities that are against the expectation of society. A number of studies related to crime and poverty have been conducted but most of them normally focus on these social phenomenons individually. Few researches have tried to find out the link between the two. However, none of the researches is comprehensive and intensive enough to explain the relationship between crime and poverty. From the foregoing discussion, it is clear that poverty play an important role in creating an environment that fuels crime activities. However, the discussion implies that there is no direct relationship between poverty and crime. This means that poverty fuel crime by limiting man from accessing resources that are necessary in development of an ideal life. One interesting idea that should be noted as far as poverty and crime is that crime is a short cut of meeting ones basic needs. It is closely related to lazy and poor people who cannot work hard through the normal legal and socially accepted process. This implies that the best way of mitigating the crime rate is by helping people navigate through their education so that they can acquire better ways of dealing with life challenges as well as better means of earning their livelihood. The discussion also implies that criminal justice system should not be handled independently because it does not provide long term solution to the crime rates. Conversely, combining the criminal justice system and the welfare system would bring a relatively long term solution to the rising crime rates

Corp.Gov Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Corp.Gov - Essay Example Corporate governance refers to the structure which ensures that the right questions are asked and checks and balances are in place to make sure that the answers to these questions reflect what is in the best interest of the organization for long-term sustainability of value (Minow & Monks, 2008). According to Davis (2006) corporate governance can be viewed as a system for optimizing the contributions of a number of stakeholders to a purpose they are persuaded to share. These stakeholders involve shareholders; the board of directors, customers, employees, suppliers, community and the government. Effective corporate governance has a profound effect on how well a business performs. Organizations which have found effective means of governing their businesses are prosperous and remain prosperous. The board’s inability to establish a sound governance model gives rise to the probability of failure of the enterprise (Colley et. al, 2004). The purpose of corporate governance is to ensure the survival and success of the organization (Davis, 2006). Good corporate governance requires a complex system of strict checks and balances. The three key actors in corporate governance are the management, directors and the shareholders. (Minow & Monks, 2008) Appropriate implementation of the business concept with goals and directions set by the board, resource planning and effective execution of plans carried out by CEO and the alignment of board and management objectives with those of shareholders. The board undertakes a huge fiduciary responsibility when it assumes the obligation to represent interests of owners, who do not represent themselves. In the course of this representation they are required to demonstrate integrity as well as the competence to make sound decisions (Colley et. al, 2004). Although the essence of corporate governance has been

Health Promotion Plan on Substance Abuse Assignment

Health Promotion Plan on Substance Abuse - Assignment Example The selected population stratum for this teaching program is teenage school students within the age limit of 13-14 years. This segment is particularly selected because researches have shown that substance abuse usually begins in early teenage life due to various factors and not only affects the quality of present life by causing physical and mental distress but also leads to alcoholism and drug addiction later. Literature Review Alcoholism and drug addiction is an increasing problem in adolescents these days. Various researches conducted have shown an increasing trend in the consumption of sentence abuse. Where there are various factors identified for this increased pattern of consumption, one of them was found to be unsupervised teenage life in which substance abuse leads to addiction in later part of life. According to researches conducted by Changalwa et al. (2012), Bahr and Hoffman (2012) and, Peckham and Morgan-Lopez (2007), there is a direct link between parenting styles and su bstance abuse in teenagers and adolescents. Teenagers with unhealthy or strained bonding with their parents and guardians tend to develop inclination towards substance abuse during their teenage life which leads to addiction in future. ... ces of them drinking excessively later in life.† Hence, children with their parents having authoritative parenting style tend to develop healthy personalities since this parenting style is a combination of love, independence and supervision allowing children to make decisions (shunning rebellion resulting substance abuse) but with necessary guidance (which allows teenagers to be aware of what is harmful for them and do not give them over-independence). Therefore, child’s desires are well-respected but with necessary controls imposed. According to American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (2011), â€Å"The most commonly used illegal drugs are marijuana (pot), stimulants (cocaine, crack, and speed), LSD, PCP, opiates, heroin, and designer drugs (Ecstasy).   The use of illegal drugs is increasing, especially among young teens.   The average age of first marijuana use is 14, and alcohol use can start before age 12.   The use of marijuana and alcohol in high school has become common†. It is important to note that drugs and alcohol are not easily accessible commodities. Therefore, for teenagers to have access to them means getting involved in criminal activities or being present in an environment which is harmful for their cognitive growth. According to researches of Baumrind (1991) and Njenga (2005), environment and inheritance are the two decisive factors which instigate substance abuse in teenagers. For an environment, current family setup, daily settings including academic setup and playgrounds, cultural forces and peer pressure are the basic elements which have direct impact on the teenagers and adolescents. On the other hand, hereditary traits also play a vital role in inducing substance abuse even if the environment is healthy enough. Various researches

Religious teaching Essay Example for Free

Religious teaching Essay Religious teachings offer the only sound basis for moral reasoning. Critically examine arguments for and against this opinion. Morality is the knowledge and practice of what is moral, which may, according to your personal view be instinctive, be associated with religion and culture, or be acquired by reasoning. Most, if not all religions have a human moral code, which follows Gods will. Religious people will consult their religious text, whether it is the Bible, Quran or Torah ect, when making a moral decision. Very often these religious texts will lay out a set of rules or guide lines. In Christianity it is the 10 Commandments, in Buddhism it is the 8 Fold Path. Although these rules do provide a good moral base, if taken to their logical conclusion they are objective and absolute, leaving no room for the flexibility needed in todays society. This is taking a Deontological approach; this is when a person has a set of rules that they consider to be absolutely right. They abide by these rules, as they are more important than the effect or outcome. We can use the example of abortion and the 10 Commandments. These religious laws state that Thou shalt not kill. If taken absolutely this means that abortion is wrong no matter what the circumstances are, even if the child will be born severely disabled or will be born into extreme poverty. For many people moral values are relative to a specific society, time and circumstances, and their moral view can change through changed circumstances, needs, beliefs and knowledge. This flexibility is known as relativism and is the opposite of absolute. This is also known as taking a Consequential approach, when a person looks to the outcome, and decides how to act to achieve that result. They have in mind the aim and believe that actions can be deemed moral if they achieve that aim the end justifies the means. Because of this many individuals often experience conflict in making moral decisions because they have no absolute code of what is right or wrong. There are several different methods subjective morality: Utilitarianism is the view that you decide whether an action is right or wrong by looking at the consequences, and you should choose they action that will produce the most happiness/least-suffering to the greatest number of people. If we consider whether abortion is right or wrong using the utilitarianism view we would have to say that it depends on the individual situation, and whether the baby would be born healthily or not, and whether the baby would be loved, and the number of people affected by the pregnancy, amongst other things. Natural Law states that morality should use the natural form of behaviour, and that humans and society should follow this natural law. Therefore anything that is deemed as un-natural is wrong. This means that in the case of abortion it is always wrong, as pregnancy is a natural occurrence and it should not be ended un-naturally. Social contract theory claims that laws and morals are a human invention upon which we agree to make life better for ourselves. When making a moral decision a person would have to consider the impact upon society and peoples freedom, amongst other things. Once again considering the case of abortion, a person using social contract theory, would consider the effect having a baby would have on their lives, the lives of people around them, and how the life of the bay would be once it is born. I conclude by saying that I think that religious teachings do not offer the only sound basis for moral reasoning. I feel that the individual situation also needs to be considered when making a moral decision as every case has different circumstances. I also feel that although the religious laws do give a good, sound basis for morality the objective and absolute rules stated by religion do not leave room for the flexibility needed in todays society.

Hewlett Packard: Strategic Human Resource Management (SHRM)

Hewlett Packard: Strategic Human Resource Management (SHRM) Consider an organization you are familiar with and with reference to associated theory and practice critically asses the approach that is taken to strategic HRM. Evaluate the extent to which the approach has contributed to the organizational effectiveness. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY (ABSTRACT) The report focuses on critically evaluating how Hewlett Packard has been using the variables of Human resource management such as training and development, performance management in order to bring all the employees from a diverse cultural background, with different personality traits to work efficiently and effectively towards achievement of the organisational objectives HP, a giant in IT industry catering to the hardware as well as software needs of the individual customers and businesses, was started in the year 1939 by Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard and currently employs over 300,000 people The report delineates how HP has been supporting equal opportunities for people from different ethnic backgrounds by recruiting people without any bias towards any particular ethnic group. The report also states the role of performance management within HP i.e. activities which ensure that the organizational goals are met on time and with minimizing resource usage. The report even talks about the resource facilities and working environment provided to the employees, i.e. employee relations at HP. Further the role of training and development in polishing the skills of the individual employees and making them become a part of the HP team is stated along with how the employees are trained to inculcate the necessary skills required for the job. TERMS OF REFERENCE/ STATEMENT OF PURPOSE The following assignment is compiled so as to become familiar with the main theories in the field of strategic human resource management. During preparation it intended to gain knowledge of the evolving role of strategic human resource management in the current world scenario, performance appraisal and its function in performance management system, administration and formulation of compensation and benefit programs, significance of development of human resource (development and training) at every level for employees and opportunity for management provided by employee diversity. The study undertaken requires expertise in research of the subject but due to limitations of the words for the assignment covering all the HR policies is next to impossible; my objectives were to study the key processes and policies for which the company provides vital information. INTRODUCTION Storey (1989) defined HRM as Set of interrelated policies with an ideological and philosophical underpinning. Storey (1995) defines HRM as a distinctive approach to employment management which seeks to achieve competitive advantage through the strategic deployment of a highly committed and capable workforce, using an array of cultural, structural and personnel techniques. HP was started in 1939 by Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard. In 2010, fortune 500 ranking hp was placed at number 10. Its headquarters are located in Palo Alto California. HP has 304,000 employees. The company makes use of participative decision making management system in their company giving them an edge in the industry (HP website). The results of this investment can be seen in the two awards received by HP from the American society for Training and Development for inventiveness of its leadership development programs. Furthermore, Hay group recognized HP as one of the best company in the world for leadership development. (reference) To emerge as a complete technology company which offers an inclusive set of solutions all through the value chain, HP is practicing an inorganic strategy (Data monitor 2010). They cater to almost everyone ranging from individual customers, medium sized business and large corporations which include health, education and government sector. The company deals in a wide range of products, from portable devices to supercomputers, from computing to home printing. It has also sought a level of inorganic growth too, through its merger with Compaq in 2002 with an aim of providing excellent IT solutions. Consequently, HP today caters to over a billion customers in 170 countries (Data monitor 2010). CORE POLICIES AT HP DIVERSITY AT HP Smart organizations identify the need for swift action and are prepared and eager to disperse resources for management of diversity in the workplace. Workforce diversity can be defined as the differences between individuals in a company. Diversity includes gender, race age, education, background etc Diversity takes into account how individuals perceive others and how they perceive themselves. Their interactions are affected by these perceptions. Organizations diversity agenda is expected to increase in the future as we are moving into a more and more globalized setup. (reference) In The Future of Diversity and the Work Ahead of Us, Harris Sussman says, Diversity is about our relatedness, our connectedness, our interactions, where the lines cross. Diversity is many things a bridge between organizational life and the reality of peoples lives, building corporate capability, the framework for interrelationships between people, a learning exchange, a strategic lens on the world. The benefits of diversity include greater competitiveness through higher adaptability, poising it for success. Organizations embracing diversity are able to offer a wider variety of solutions to different issues. Services to customers are easily provided by organizations employing a diverse collection of experience and skills (e.g. culture, language etc), offering the wealth of varying points of view. A large number of experiences and ideas can be accumulated by employing a diverse workforce which comfortably communicates viewpoints. The organization can use these to form strategies and cater to customers effectively. Some of the challenges of workforce diversity are the organizations ability to successfully implement diversity agenda, which requires openness, transparent communication and sensitization of the existing staff. (reference) A diversity of age, culture, potential, ethnicity amongst the labor force encourages innovation and creativeness. It is believed at HP diversity is the solution to understand the principles and demographics of the consumers and is fundamental in drawing and holding on to the finest employees. (reference) HP supports diversity in the following ways: Hiring of different collection of people and crafting them as leaders. Constructing a comprehensive work atmosphere. Supporting employees in navigation of their work and private commitments while complying with the business requirements of HP. Policies A comprehensive work atmosphere is encouraged by HP diversity policies. Respect, courtesy and dignity is required by every employee while treating others. Discrimination founded on attributes such as age, race, ethnicity, sex or disability is not accepted under any circumstances. Employees are persuaded to speak up and it is possible for them all over the world to report harassment or bias through the 24 hour anonymous helpline. HP approach Efforts by HP include expansion of its labour force by hiring best in class varied talent and implanting diversity in all major diversity in all major development processes and supporting main growth programs for career development and professional escalation. Gender diversity is calculated and kept in check by HP globally and ethnic diversity in its united nations labour force. For details over the previous 5 years see table: Executive diversity Minorities comprised 17.3% in contrast with 12.9 % in 2008. In the year 2009 17% of HPs topmost executives in U.S. were women in contrast to 17.2% in 2008. HPs activities in the year 2009 were: Partnership with diversity associations: HP supplied grant and products for cause of cause of underrepresentation of minorities in business positions which is addressed by management leadership for tomorrow. Drawing a extensive range of human resource: 3000 women from extensive range of professions and businesses are brought together by the annual conference that is held in Boston. Employee resource groups: workers with familiar interests and backgrounds are brought together by HPs ERGs. Opportunities for internal development: celebrations of womens international day in India. For talented omen, a series of virtual leadership was conducted in EMEA. PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS There is nothing new about the idea that company and employee performance should be improved by appraisals. Today managers are way more serious about the process- of training workers, rewarding and appraising them and forming goals. The whole incorporated process is called PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT. Performance management may be defined as a process that unites goal setting, performance appraisal and development into a single, common system whose aim is to ensure that the employees performance is supporting the companys strategic aims (dessler and varkkey 2010). Setting of standards, training of workers, feedback and appraisals related to performance and contribution to achievement of organizational goals is explicitly measured by performance management. Performance management therefore never just means meeting with a subordinate once or twice a year to review his/her performance it means setting goals that make sense in terms of the companys strategic aims. It means regular interaction to make sure there is continous growth in workers performance. It also takes into account and makes sure that the worker has the correct training to perform the job (hrm book pg 338). (reference) According to Goel 2008 manpower management is the most crucial job because managing people is the heart and essence of being a manager. Personnel management is concerned with any activity relating to the human element or relations in the organisation. Work life programs offered by HP Employees at HP have the benefit of various work life choices offered to them. HP offers: Flex time: altering the commencement and end of work, but working normal 8 hour a day. Part time: temporarily or continuously working for less hours, part time employees account about 2%. The requirements of aging workforce are met with the help of this program. Tele work: 28% of employee t HP work full time from home. Flex work: mainly working in hp offices but occasionally from home. Whilst improving employee productivity the cost of HPs real estate has been reduced with the help of these arrangements. Employee engagement Open, honest exchange of ideas and continuous communication is what HPs culture is based upon. This helps HPs workers understand their contribution to companys overall success and also gives the company chance to consider their input for various decisions. Recognition programs At HP employees are kept motivated and engaged by recognizing them for their contribution. Recognition @HP was conducted in 2009 to identify workers at HP for their qualities. Day to day non monetary recognition is stressed by the program. Retiree engagement HP has about 79000 retirees who are ambassadors of HP and the company keeps them connected and up to date. Retirees at HP connect through various social media. The retirees can also join HP alumni association which has worldwide members registered which account 17000 in numbers. The Employment Relationship A prerequisite for success in the organization is the maintenance of good employee relations. For high productivity and satisfaction, strong employee relations are needed. Employee relations are concerned with evading and resolving problems amongst individuals which occur due to the work situation. Safe and healthy work environment, incentives for motivation, useful communication and commitment of employees determines good employee relations. It is believed by many people that employee relations are about considering the larger picture and assisting the organization to take required action. (reference) HP considers its employees vital to its success. Innovation of products, management of supply chain and the connection with the customers and partners at HP is driven by the talent expertise and skills of the employees. According to HP its competitive advantage lies in retaining and hiring the finest people. For employees to grow, HP attempts to create a helpful and inspiring work environment. HPs policies are applicable globally and show companys commitment to just treatment of workers. (reference) HP complies with local laws but companys own policies demand much more: Best work environment: policy describes the principles of personal conduct that are expected by the workers to add to an optimistic, dynamic work experience. Open door policy: Portrays HPs promise to open communication and a place of work where everyone is heard. Human rights and labour policy: commends HP to just treatment of all workers. Management and compliance Upholding environmental health and safety is a key goal of HPs. Safety of products and services is the main aim and it is also made sure that the workers can perform without injury at the premises. HPs minimum obligation for EHS is legal compliance. The processes needed to abide by are made sure by HPs EHS management system. Any allegation is thoroughly investigated and proper action is taken to avoid any recurrence. All operations related to manufacturing at HP are certified to ISO 14001. EHS systems are introduced to recently acquired companies to make sure that EHS objectives carry on to be fulfilled as the company grows. (reference) Employee feedback The employees are asked for feedback by voice of the workforce conducted annually and also though pulse surveys on explicit issues. There were various surveys conducted during 2009 including: Onboard and monthly transition experience surveys. Enterprise business quarterly pulse survey. Hr manager communication survey EDS integration survey Voice of the workforce survey Around 90,000 workers in 2009 participated in voice of the workers survey. Privacy of the respondents is strictly protected and the survey was available over the internet in 25 languages. (reference) TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT at HP Training The process through which people acquire abilities to accomplish organizational objectives is known as training. It includes planned activities for specific learning to develop workers performance at work. (reference) Development According to Drucker (1977), the one contribution a manager is uniquely expected to make is to give others vision and ability to perform. A basic operation in the work of the manager is to develop people and to direct, motivate and train subordinates. Stern argues that staff training and development have become matters of vital strategic importance. Importance of training and development (reference) There are various reasons for an organization to conduct training and development programs. Some of them are: Helps to avoid managerial obsolescence Manage change due to acquisitions and mergers. Also helps in coping up with technological and diversity changes in the organization Higher employee morale and increase in job satisfaction. Elevated motivation among employees Financial gain through higher efficiency in process and innovation in products and strategies is increased. Developing leadership at HP Since HP recognizes excellence as a key driver of its business success, HP significantly invests in leadership development. Dedicated to this mission, global talent consists of 3 firmly integrated organizations. (reference) Employee relations at HP The evaluation of data and insights to spot high potential leaders in the company and underlining of areas where additional learning resources may be needed are provided by the dedicated talent management team at HP. Designing of HPs major corporate wide leadership is crafted by executive and leadership organization. Learning by doing is emphasized by almost all of HPs leadership development programs. E.g.: Projects providing major business impact are frequently powered by HP. Learning experiences offered by these projects are not like the classroom experience. HPs leadership programs are offered training and development support by more than 500 executives in a classic year. To get used to dynamic business conditions the curriculum of leadership is frequently revised. Leadership programs at HP are divided into 3 categories: Choosing those at a particular level or creating career transitions through foundational programs is emphasized. Leadership standards of HP and definition of expectations by HP leaders is carried out by skill based programs at HP. For employees with elevated potential for development there ate select talent development programs. With leadership development central portal, HP offers leadership knowledge. This is offered by podcasts, internet courses and quick tips. Green advocates training program Participation in this program is encouraged by HP in Canada. This program provides knowledge and allows workers to develop into ambassadors of HPs environment projects. (reference) Eco solutions advocate program Through this program HP teaches its workers about environmental issues and companys dedication to sustainability of the environment. It also offers workers the resources they require to communicate with consumers about HPs solutions. (reference) People Development HPs approach is based on interior and exterior benchmarking, HP uses an incorporated development framework for its employees. The structure employs range of tools to help workers plan the next step in their career. HPs developmental plans are divided in a 70/20/10 breakup. 70% of the plans are of the main concern. They include job rotations, special reports and cross functional team experiences. With hands on experience the workers are encouraged to develop their capabilities. Focus of about 20% of the programs is relationship based education. This is done through coaching and mentoring. Rest of the 10% of HPs programs are provided through formal learning, interactive online resources etc. (reference) HPs learning programs take the benefit of technology. About 83% of HPs training lessons are conveyed through video conference or the web. Wherever there is a geographic focus of members HP uses face to face training. It has been acknowledged by hp that technology- based training provides major benefits: wider reach and saving huge amounts of money on travel whilst reducing related greenhouse gas release. It also allows employee access at the correct times and place, and also improves knowledge and retention. Training at HP is complimented as employees are also encouraged in following external educational prospects. (reference) Summary The human element of business and partners with every business is driven by human resource at HP to make sure that employee planning strategy is associated to convey the business objectives. The leadership team at HP works together with groups of business to make sure the company has the correct people, with accurate skills, in the correct job etc. The company is escalating its ability to develop by explaining strategic employee plans, support of acquisitions and mergers, providing cost efficient infrastructure in growing markets. To stay in front of the competitive pressure, HP optimizes every element of its operating strategy- to increase revenue, be efficient, making smart investments. Even though the recent financial downturn of 2008 has had sever impacts in the IT industry, HPs earnings per share has risen continuously from 2008 till 2010 Good business results are indicative of great human resource which has driven performance On account of increasing globalisation, HP considers diversity as a major driver of innovation, invention and creativity. A diverse workforce differentiates the company and it is also vital for the company to relate and serve customers worldwide. At HP it is believed that people are motivated to do their best with a culture that respects differences. The company crafts an attitude in its employees, allowing them to think intentionally about diversity and its insertion in the companys activities. It does so by knitting diversity into the fabric of the company. As a MNC, HP has had to prioritize this so that they are more efficient across different markets, understand local needs. As far as performance management is concerned HP has a goal directed approach and has formulated a process to evaluate the manpower resource and their enhancement in terms of careers and work life balance is commendable. HP has a relationship oriented view to managing performance rather than a hierarchical top down approach. This approach has proved to be very concrete in terms of setting targets/achieving outcomes. The most striking feature of HP is its emphasis on leadership development. It is held as a company that has some of the best leaders in the business which is only because they invest time, effort and resources into making this possible. As the company becomes more global, it is important that they keep this emphasis. To broaden its reach to its employees all over the world, it provides training through video based sessions, which also ends up having a positive cost saving and reducing environmental impact by eliminating the need to travel (hence reducing greenhouse gases). Therefore it seems that training and development at HP pays attention upon interrelation of the companys goals and objectives with that of workers. HP maintains employee relations wherever it has its operations without showing any disparity or bias with respect to ethnicity or cultural background in true terms it is a global company. The company monitors compliance with its policies principally through employee engagement surveys. This enquires questions on prejudice and diversity. It also assesses employees understanding of companys approach to these issues. HP does not tolerate discrimination. It deals with this issue through stout polices that are accessible to all employees. HP has worked towards ensuring excellent work-life balance through various options provided to its employees. These programs have helped in improving employee productivity and therefore higher efficiency towards achieving organisational goals With regard to workplace safety since HP is an IT company therefore is requirement to work in potentially dangerous settings (assembling products, hardware etc), hence HP has been committed to fostering the best health and safety norms and always keeping themselves up to date with changes in health safety standards. Since the employees are assured of their safety the employees productivity to work has gone up leading to higher and more efficient production. RECOMMENDATIONS At HP the same performance appraisal standard is used overseas which they use in their headquarters. The external aspects that may affect performance in the international scenario were not considered while designing the performance appraisal criteria and has hence led to a number of problems. Therefore HP needs to formulate a new standard for evaluation according to the situation. To prepare workers to work on an international platform HP can provide linguistic training. This training requires not only learning of the language of the country in perspective, but it also requires learning of how customers think and react. Inclusion of higher level of responsibilities by expanding the job and access to important meetings should be facilitated to improve employee relations. Furthermore HP can assign employees to lead teams and projects and increase time spending between the employee and the boss. Focusing on service training can help workers expand knowledge of managing customers. Disagreement and conflicts can be prevented through transparent appraisals systems. Educating employees and improved training for rating Performance in the subsidiaries of the company is affected at times due to insufficient training and education of various related factors like interaction, culture, business and social information. By alerting managers about errors in judgment, it can be made possible to spot them before hand and prevent them. Clear cut performance in dimensions will help in reducing errors related to rating. Confusion and uncertainty circling the process can be avoided if the companys purpose for appraisals is clearly stated. CONCLUSION HP is committed to developing a high performance culture where the employees can grow. To enhance its value proposition for its employees, HP has been formulating plans to support development of people with a lot of firmness and discipline. Talent management was driven deeper into the company and creation of strategic employee planning was done by a total redesign of companys leadership programs. HP has effectively and efficiently: Excelled in transformation of business and planning of workforce. Motivated people and developed leadership. Maximized employee engagement and built a high performance culture. Promoted areas such as development of career, performance management, development of management of leadership. In both theory and practice HP has some of the best human resource management policies. The company has won awards for its diverse and innovative human resource systems. It is assessed that even though HP followed some of the best human resource policies, the recession had a major impact on the organizations employees. Dissatisfaction was caused among the employees due to the layoff and caused fear among employees for the loss of their job. It is therefore implicit that even some of the best human resource policies may not turn out to be satisfactory. It is hence implied that even though the organization includes some of the finest human resource practices the psychological aspect of humans are still erratic to rejection and acceptance hence making human resource practices should be made subjective to change. BIBLIOGRAPHY http://www.cipd.co.uk/subjects/empreltns/general/emprelsovr.htm http://www.managementstudyguide.com/employee-relations.htm http://www.cipd.co.uk/NR/rdonlyres/B39AFC72-25BD-4C10-B1BA-3564CAC3BBB3/0/whatemprels1105.pdf http://www.diversityworking.com/employerZone/diversityManagement/?id=9 http://www.zeromillion.com/econ/workplace-diversity.html http://www.blurtit.com/q804656.html http://managementhelp.org/trng_dev/basics/reasons.htm http://www.allbusiness.com/human-resources/employee-development/339712-1.html

Comparison Of Nuclear Power And Fossil Fuels Environmental Sciences Essay

Comparison Of Nuclear Power And Fossil Fuels Environmental Sciences Essay In todays world there are various ways of producing energy. In the past most of the energy came from fossil fuels; fossil fuels were always used to produce energy because they were cheap and available in vast amounts. Nowadays, because of the limited amount of fossil fuels around the world and the high prices people have started to utilize other ways of producing energy. Nuclear power is one of the many resources now being used in order to keep the use of fossil fuels down. In this paper I will discuss fossil fuels, nuclear power and the advantages and disadvantages of both. What are fossil fuels? Coal, gas, and oil are the three main fossil fuels. They have been formed from the organic remains of prehistoric plants and animals more than 300 million years ago. According to Energy and the Environment, fuel refers to anything that can be burned as a source of energy; therefore, fossil fuels are the remains of animals and plants that have formed into materials that can be burned. The type of fossil fuel created depends on the kind of plants or animals and the amount of heat and pressure. The energy stored in fossil fuels originally came from the sun. When we burn fossil fuels, we release that stored energy. All the across world fossil fuels are the most widely used type of energy; fossil fuels have been used to generate power for almost everything that one uses. Among all of the fossil fuels, natural gas and oil are more commonly used because they are rather easy to transport, they have low emissions, and are easy to handle. It has been said that, except fo r coal, the supply of the other fossil fuels are sure to be depleted in a few decades. As of right now, according to Wikipedia- Fossil fuels supply close to 86% of the worlds energy. This is a large percentage of energy to be supplied by just fossil fuels. As I have already stated, we are currently in an energy crisis and fossil fuels are the lifeblood of our society and for many others around the world. Our supply is slowly coming to an end, which is why we have become more than willing to go to war for it and make friends with those whom we really hate. Lately the former Soviet Union and many of the countries in the Middle East are in our good favor strictly because of the oil reserves that they have. Our foreign aid has a legitimate purpose. Even though we have befriended our enemies, fossil fuels will run out and the use of them will soon take the lives of many people. These are important reasons to find other means of getting the energy we need to continue our society as we know it. So what options do we have? Alternative forms of energy are currently under development even though most of them are only in their initial stages. With more help from the government and public support, we may be able to speed up the development of these technologies and help free ourselves from the mast amount of usage of fossil fuels. http://www.myclimatechange.net/UserImage/3/Definition/WorldEnergyConcemption19652005-1.jpg This is definitely a serious problem, and as inhabitants of the world we must all come together and try to resolve the problem at hand. Even though some scientist put a time span on how much longer they think that fossil fuels are going to last, no one really knows. It will all depend on how well we manage our energy demands along with how well we can develop and use renewable energy sources. Nuclear power is energy which is produced with the use of a controlled nuclear reaction. Many nations use nuclear power plants to generate electricity for both civilian and military use, and some nations also utilize nuclear power to run parts of their naval fleets, especially submarines. Some people favor an expansion of nuclear power plants because this form of energy is considered cleaner than fossil fuels such as coal. Nuclear power does indeed come with a number of proble.ms that must be addressed, most importantly being the safe disposal of radioactive waste products. According to Energy and the Environment, The entire physical world is made of atoms; the word atom is derived from the Greek word atomos which means invisible. Atoms, the smallest component of any element, contains enormous energy. When it is split a process called fission, this energy is released in the forms of tremendous heat and light. It is this energy that was released on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, by two separate atom bombs in 1945 that led to the conclusion of World War II. This horrific scene created by those two bombs led the international community to condemn any further use of atomic weapons. Still, engineers, governments and scientists realized that if the atoms energy could be controlled and harnessed, it would revolutionize the worlds energy markets and provide significant electricity reserves to help meet the worlds energy demands. It was even envisioned that it could one day replace the need for fossil fuels. As a result, the first usable electricity from nuclear fission was produced at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory in 1951. Nuclear energy requires sources of radioactive elements found naturally in our environment and manmade with which to create the nuclear fission process that splits the atoms. Uranium is the most common and most used of these elements. The only other available sources that are used for nuclear energy is Plutonium and Thorium. Plutonium is not naturally occurring. Thus, the Plutonium used in nuclear reactors is man-made, coming from a nuclear reactor. According to the Ecology Global Network, Thorium, though not yet a mainstream nuclear energy supply source, is being heavily studied and applied as a safer, cleaner alternative to Uranium. Still, Uranium is king as the premiere provider of nuclear energy. Perhaps the greatest challenge facing nuclear energy production after any potential for nuclear disasters similar to the 1986 Chernobyl event is the disposal of the highly radioactive wastes. Because it can take up to 10,000 years for these materials to fully break down into harmless elements the challenge is to store them safely for at least that length of time. Even though it is possible, where and how are still major issues. Exploitable Uranium supplies still pose some short-term challenges. According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the worlds economically exploitable Uranium reserves are likely to last between 35 and 63 years, depending on whether demand is such as to justify the higher cost of mining less easily exploitable reserves. Still, in consideration of the power that can be generated by Uranium and the burgeoning global energy demands, many governments are placing more emphasis on nuclear energy. The largest user of nuclear energy is the United States, followed by France, Japan, Germany and the Russian Federation. In the US alone, the nations 103 nuclear power plants each generate an average of around 20 tons of radioactive spent fuel a year. Spent fuel now sits in cooling pools and temporary storage areas waiting for somebody to figure out what to do with it. When you begin to compare fossil fuels to nuclear energy you are able to see that there are many advantages and disadvantages of both. Just because we have used fossil fuels for most of the worlds energy doesnt mean that we should continue to use what supply of it we have left. Even though nuclear energy is not yet as popular as the use of fossil fuels there definitely has been and will continue to be, a rise in its use. Advantage of Fossil Fuels Disadvantages of Fossil Fuels Easily distributed Probable contributor to global warming Inexpensive production Cause of acid rain Capacity to generate huge amounts of electricity in just a single location Questionable availability of some fuels Simple combustion process can directly heat or generate electricity Major increase in prices Compared to: Advantages of Nuclear power Disadvantages of Nuclear Power No Greenhouse Gases High initial cost because plant requires containment safeguards No Criteria Pollutants Waste products can be used to manufacture weapons Lowest impacts on the environment Possibility of nuclear meltdown from uncontrolled reaction Lowest cost producer of base load electricity Nuclear reactors only last for about forty to fifty years. After we look at and analyze both fossil fuels, and nuclear energy we notice that both types of energies have their pros and cons. There is no way that anyone could say that there is a major difference in the two that would lead one to believe that one is better than the other. As I have already stated, fossil fuels are definitely a great energy producer. When large amounts of fossil fuels such as coal, gas, and oil are available production can be easily done at a low cost with little or no problems. But as we know, because the availability of fossil fuels is now lessening, we have no other choice than to find alternative energy sources, thus being the case nuclear energy is a very good choice. According to the Nuclear Energy Institute Clean Air Energy, Nuclear energy is Americas largest source of clean-air, carbon-free electricity, producing no greenhouse gases or air pollutants, nuclear power plants aid compliance with the Clean Air Act of 1970, which set standards to improve the nations air quality. This statement says a lot about Nuclear Energy and is really able to show readers just how effective using nuclear energy can be. In conclusion, even though I believe that fossil fuels have served us greatly while they have been around in a plentiful supply; I think we now need to come out from the state we are in, one that relies fully on fossil fuels alone. We need to venture out and try new means of energy production; new means such as nuclear power. I believe that even though nuclear power may have some high initial costs it is well worth it. As Ross Garnaut said, A revolution in humanitys use of fossil fuel-based energy would be necessary sooner or later to sustain and to extend modern standards of living. It will be required sooner if we are to hold the risks of climate change to acceptable levels. The costs that we bear in making an early adjustment will bring forward, and reduce for future times, the costs of the inevitable eventual adjustment away from fossil fuels. Reference Page Cohen, Bernard L. The Nuclear Energy Option. Plenum, 1990. The Ecology Global Network | Ecology News and Information for Residents of Planet Earth. Web. 16 Nov. 2009. . Nuclear Energy Institute Clean-Air Energy. Web. 16 Nov. 2009. . Toossi, Reza. Energy and the Environment-Sources, technologies, and impacts. 2nd ed. Los Angeles, CA: VerVe Inc., 2008 Wikipedia. Web. 16 Nov. 2009. .