What I learn from Analects Personal Statement Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

What I learn from Analects - Personal Statement Example The three major themes of the book are social philosophy, political philosophy, and education (The China Reviews 165). In this paper, the author explains what they have learned from the book as far as these themes are concerned. In the process, they relate their lessons to their personal experiences. The paper is based on Lau D. C’s 1979 translation of the book. From the book, I learn certain qualities a good leader should possess. For instance, a good leader should be disciplined, lead by example and correct their subjects with compassion (Lau 18:19) rather than by punishing them (Lau 15:5). Confucius, in arguing against punishment as a means of leading people, claimed that over time, the subjects will become contemptuous of punishments and the tool will become ineffective. If, on the other hand, they are led by a sense of virtue, a person’s conscience will convict them of their wrongdoing and they will refrain from it in the future. Whereas this is not the first time I am reading on the qualities of a good leader, Confucius’ prescription stands out: it is simple and practical. This is in spite the fact that the philosopher failed to popularize his ideas in the China of his day partly because the political leadership depended heavily on punitive laws. Indeed, from the various leadership positions I have served in, I can confirm many of Confucius’ qualities of a good leader. For instance, I have come to appreciate the importance of leading by example. This quality, for instance, demands that if as a leader I assign tasks; at the next meeting, I must be the first person to have completed my task. In addition, when I convene meetings, I must arrive punctually. On correcting people, I have learned that it is much easier for me to win the cooperation of a non-cooperative member extending small gestures of kindness. For instance, I may assign the member a simple task and promise to buy them lunch if they accomplish the task well. This

Risk Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Risk Management - Essay Example This proposal had been blocked by local bodies in the 90s, citing health hazards. To overcome strong resentment, the government was more than willing to develop partnerships with potential candidate sites. Geological disposal is a long-term waste management option involving the placement of radioactive waste in an engineered repository at between 200 and 1000 metres underground where rock structures provide a barrier against the escape of radioactivity. This process has been successful implemented in many countries in the west and the UK has also been a major beneficiary of this technique. However, there remains a core group in UK who find this hard to believe and have blocked moves by the government to implement it in many communities around UK. The UK has a history of failure of finding an acceptable site for the disposal of intermediate and high level radioactive waste (ILW and HLW). Limited space and local opposition are two factors that contribute to this problem. Under the circumstances, the largest volumes of waste are stored at the Sellafield site in West Cumbria, in addition to significant volumes of waste stored at the various nuclear power stations around the country. This is a temporary solution as, in addition to this waste, created through fifty years of nuclear operations, will be the waste produced by the decommissioning of the older generation of nuclear facilities. The current estimate of the total radioactive waste inventory after decommissioning is complete is around 238,400 m3 of ILW and 2,710 m3 of HLW. Higher activity waste from the nuclear, chemical, and biological industries, involved in military uses and academic research, is to be managed through long term geological disposal. This involves placing radioactive and other toxic wastes in facilities deep underground, where the rock structures will provide a barrier against radioactivity. The decision was in keeping with the recommendation of the Committee on Radioactive Waste Management (CoRWM) in July. Geological disposal was identified by CoRWM as being the option that would perform best in terms of security and protecting the public and the environment. In order to safeguard public interests, planning and development of geological disposal will be based on: 1. The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority with shoulder all responsibilities and accountabilities to address

HR Practices to Enhance Employee Commitment

HR Practices to Enhance Employee Commitment Introduction Human Resource Management is a consistent and productive approach towards the management of employees who are ‘valued assets to the organization. And managing resourceful humans requires a constant balancing between meeting the human aspirations of the people and meeting the strategic and financial needs of the business. Hence linking the HRM more explicitly to the strategic goals to improve the business and foster innovation and flexibility, thus serves the overall purpose. Through best possible use and application of HR policies in the organization, commitment can be encouraged thus leading to better performance, improve staff attitude and lower labour turnover, this is the ideal aim of the human resource practices which has been argued to neglect the fact that HR specialists and line managers have a major impact on how these HR policies are implemented at the hotels and whether all the HR practices are universally applicable. Human resource management is the techniques businesses incorporate to maintain an effective workforce to meet operational requirements. It is the organizational function that deals with issues related to people such as compensation, hiring, administration, organization development, employee motivation, wellness, benefits, safety, communication, performance management, and training. Human resource practices implemented in an organisation are used for recruitment, selection; training and development, reward management, performance appraisal etc. Human Resource Management strategically manages people and work place environment and culture. Effective HRM practices enable employees to contribute effectively and productively towards the attainment of the organizations goals and objectives facilitates overall company mission. HRM practices are one of the channels of communication for an organization with its employees it consists of the actual programs, processes and techniques. It conveys as to what the organization desires as valuable and appropriate behaviors. The workers on reception of such a message build up their own distinct perceptions and through a self-assessment (evaluation) process subsequently shape their attitude and behavior. For instance, if an organization implemented a training program for their workers, it will develop workers knowledge, skills and capability, and thus cultivate better employee commitment due to contented experience with the organization; however, such correlation may at times be misleading or unpredictable i.e. even though some employees may think this training as useful and recognize the implementation of organizational HRM practices, but on the contrary, other workers may see the program as non-effective and view it as a trouble that hamper their regular work timeta ble, hence this may work in an unintended way by bringing down their satisfaction with the organization and negatively effect their commitment. This is the very reason why employees individual view plays as a vital intermediary in the association between organizational HRM practices and the real disclosure of employees outlook and behaviors. Therefore, from this point of view, one can argue that HRM practices in its dominating effect alter an employees affective commitment, by first impinging upon their perception of organizational HRM practices and consequently further alter or transform their emotional commitment towards the organization. Thats why, by the means of implementation of high-commitment HRM practices, i.e. intensive training and development, high level of compensation, promotion from within, socialization, etc. convince the employees that the organizations purpose is in conformity with their insight, and it impinges upon them to reciprocate with advanced commitment and stronger deference to devote and put in for the organization. Therefore this research will try to establish a correlation between HR practices and their effects on employee commitment. The HR practices that will be examined in the research will be Selection and Recruitment Process, Training and Development programs, Performance management, Reward management and industrial labour relations.These are some of the main HR practices followed by the hotels aiming for the more committed team. But the researcher is interested in knowing whether these HR practices really result in more committed employees. And if these HR practices really result in committed employees then is it universally applicable in all countries of the world or all types of industries. These are some of the questions that have encouraged the researcher in conducting this research. LITERATURE REVIEW Philosophy of Human Resource Management Human Resource Management is shifting its traditional stance from personnel, administration, and transactional roles, which are being increasingly outsourced. HRM is now focusing more and more towards adding quality and value to the strategic exploitation of employees and that employee development programs impact the business in tangible terms. This new approach towards revolution in HRM involves strategic direction and HRM metrics and measurements in tangible terms to gauge the effect of these practices. Some of the HRM practices studied in this project are selection, benefits, training, performance feedback, communication systems, standard operating procedures (SOPs) and employee participation. David E. Guest (1987) says â€Å"HRM is a means of achieving management objectives at least in enterprises which haverecognized, or have been compelled to recognize, the utilization of the human resource inachieving competitive edge becomes clear from an examination of four important goals ofeffective.† The primary objective of HRM is amalgamation of companys mission and goal with the HR practices acomprehensive corporate strategy is essential to continuing business success in many cases,human resource planning is not an integral part of strategic planning, but rather flows fromitDavid E. Guest (1987). This holds especially true in todays context where the accomplishment of the process of adjusting to change warrants an escalating level of individual and group participation, for the seamless integration of human resources into the strategic plans. HRM also focuses to attain employee committment, this involves classification of the type of commitment required e.g. attitudinal, behavioural. Commitment of an employee can be at different levels it could be towards the organization, to his job, for individual career advancement and numerous such like things. Commitment in an employees context can be defined as approval of enterprise mission and goals, and could be reflected in behaviour adopted by him/her that furthers these goals. David further says: The theoretical proposition is therefore that organizational commitment,  combined with job related behavioural commitment will result in high employee  satisfaction, high performance, longer tenure and willingness to accept  change. The third goal of strategic HRM is to exercise flexibility and adaptability, which basically translates into the ability to manage change and innovation and to react swiftly to transforming market demands and changes. Thus arises a need for a HRM policy which is favorable to change at all levels of the organization, an arrangement which is practical not bureaucratic, functional and adaptable, with an absence of rigid job divisions and with capable of functional flexibility i.e. flexible skills and motivation to move from one assignment to another. Promoting these is possible only according to David if employees at all levels display highorganizational commitment, high trust and high levels of intrinsic motivation. Attaining and maintaining total quality is the fourth goal of HRM. This highlights the importance of policies and practices to recruit, development and retention of skilled and flexible employees, and the formulation of established performance standards and performance procedures. This can be further subdivide into two broader goals i.e. building a integrated organizational culture and achieving and maintaining competitive advantage through the dynamic use of human resources. Guest (2002) has argued that the â€Å"Impact of HRM on performance depends upon  workers response to HRM practices, so the impact will move in direction of the  perception of HRM practices by the employee†. Wood (1999) and Guest (2002) have  stressed upon the need to build a competent, committed and highly involved work force is the one required for best implementation of business strategy. Huselid (1995) discovered that the effectiveness of employees is directly related to the impact of HRM practices on behavior of the workforce. Patterson et al (1997) while arguing about the effect of human resource management practices on business performance have said that HR practices in selection and training influence performance by providing appropriate skills. HR practices have a potent impact on performance even if it just measured in terms of overall productivity. Huselid (1995) stressed that â€Å"by adopting best practices in selection, inflow of bestquality of skill set will be inducted adding value to skills inventory of the organization.† He also highlighted the role of personnel training as a accompaniment of selection practices through which the organizational culture and employee behavior can be integrated with the organization goals to produce positive results. Cooke (2000) has included competence and effectiveness as the vital ingredients of performance apart from competitiveness and productivity. She further amplifies training as the tool to grow knowledge and skills and as way of improving individuals performance (efficiency and effectiveness). Singh (2004), whose interpretations are more pertinent in our cultural context, says that â€Å"compensation is a behavior aligningmechanism of employees with business strategy of the firm†. â€Å"Career planning is a tool that aligns strategy with future HR needs and encourag esemployee to strive for his personal development† (William et al, 1996). By encouraging employee involvement, the firm will profit from increase in efficiency of theemployee due to improved commitment of the employee. Financial participation schemes are more beneficial for the organizations than the associated cost (Summers Hyman, 2005). â€Å"Use of best HR practices shows a stronger association with firmsproductivity in high growth industry† (Datta et al, 2003). Wright et al (2003) have said that â€Å"an employee will exert discretionary effort if proper  performance management system is in place and is supported by compensation system  linked with the performance management system.† Similarly, â€Å"Job definition is combination of jobdescription and job specification. It clearly outlines duties, responsibilities, workingconditions and expected skills of an individual performing that job† (Qureshi M Tahir, 2006). Ichniowski (1995) while studying productivity of steel workers have argued that harmonizing HR practice System positively effects employees performance.Sels,2006 Collins (2005) in a study of similar character targeting small business have also argued that efficient HR practices affect employee productivity to a great extent. Meyer and Allen (1997) indicated that HRM practices have been considered to be valuable and effective tools for elevating organizational commitment, especially affective commitment. However, there are some other perspectives also on this subject; De Coninsk and Stilwell (1996) argued that what directly influences employees affective commitment is not the actual practices itself, but the employee perceptions of fairness of practices that affects organizational commitment. Ogilvie (1986) found that, even with personal and work characteristics controlled, employees perceptions of two characteristics of HRM practices, namely, the accuracy of the merit rating system and the fairness of promotions, contributed to the prediction of commitment. Gaertner and Nollen (1989) also found that employees commitment was related to the perceived HRM practices, including internal promotion, training opportunities, and employment security. Ostroff and Bowen (2000) made use of â€Å"meso† theory t o explain that the implementation of HRM practices helped to amplify workers identification with their organization through employees psychological contracts. Therefore, just as what the above mentioned scholars stated, the HRM practices itself cannot have impact on employees commitment, it is after the implementation of the HRM practices that triggered employees own perceptions and then assess whether the practice is considered fair or favorable to them and consequently influence their attitudes and behaviors. Therefore, if the HRM practices that an organization implements permit the employees to acknowledge it as highly committed, consequently, this will lead to reinforced trust and concurrently generate higher emotional attachment with his/her serviced organization. Despite several experiential studies that have established a relationship between HRM practices and organizational commitment, however, such a connection seems to be a little too straightforward (Paul Anantharaman, 2004; Ulrich, 1997; Wimalasiri, 1995). Ostroff and Bowen (2000) projected that it was the psychological bond of an individual that unified how an organizational HRM practice influenced employees mind-set and behavior. This also entails that HRM practices may conjointly manipulate employees organizational commitment obliquely, and must go through by means of individuals psychological alteration system. Guzzo and Noonan (1994) said that   â€Å"an organizations HRM practices influenced employee commitment since they are communications from the employer to the employee. How employees interpreted and made sense of their organizational HRM practices affected their psychological contract with their employer and, ultimately, their commitment to that employer.† Zucker (1983) also suppose that the organization members attitudes and behaviors are subjective and are governed by organizations official communication of ‘common understandings. Term common understandings denoting what were considered the appropriate, essential and meaningful behaviors within an organization.Basically, the official organization communication of common understandings will direct its members to alter their own personal attitudes and behaviors so that they can match organizational expectations and requirements. HR PRACTICES HRM propose that there is a universal ‘one best way to administer people. By assuming a best practice method it is argued that organizations will attain improved commitment from people leading to better organizational performance, top levels of service quality and eventually boost in efficiency and profitability, Usually couched in terms of ‘bundles, the HRM practices that are offered in support of a high commitmentand performance model are generally fairly consistent. A range of HR practices which are suggested as being important to organizational strategies aimed at securing high-quality service are:- Recruitment and Selection: One of the main and most basic HRM practice is of Recruiting and selecting staff with the correct attitudinal and behavioural characteristics. The process of choosing a candidate from a group of applicants who best meets the selection criteria for a particular position is called Selection. â€Å"In this process the right person chosen for the requisite qualifications and knowledge is placed in the appropriate job position to decrease the cost, and maximise the profits by means of their merit and talent† (Vlachos 2008). A variety of considerations in the selection process should be employed to assess the work values, interpersonal skills, personality and problem-solving capabilities of likely employees to evaluate their ‘service orientation. To maintain the high degree of competitive advantage an organisation requires capable and skillful personnel (Liao Chu 2006). Huselid (1995) has established that organisational productivity and high degree of performance is dependant upon the selection of the appropriate person, which is also a way to reduce employee turnover. Michie and Sheehan-Quinn (2001) recognized a positive link between hiring employees, and the creation of the appropriate culture for organisational growth. Cho, et al. (2006) established a positive and considerable connection between HRM practices and staffing (recruitment source, pre selection test, IQ test, structured interview, and biographical information blank of the organisation) for enhancing financial performance. Therefore, it made compulsory for the organisations to attract qualified candidates and recruit them for survival and growth. Performance Appraisal Performance appraisal has attracted a immense degree of interest. Levin (1986) identified uses of performance appraisal, like potential analysis which assesses the feedback and suggestion of employee past performance, employees training needs, financial expectations salary, employee merit appraisal, employee career development etc. Thang (2004) in his study has shown as to effect of suitable HRM related decision on how well employees are performing their jobs. Performance appraisal is a constant procedure rather than a once a year fatigue. It is the official arrangement of periodical evaluation and assessment of an individuals or teams job performance and providing feedback. Stone (2002) said that â€Å" in the competitive environment, organisations need to keep improving performance to survive†. In addition, in the fast changing surroundings, tighter finances, downsizing and demands for enhanced employee accountability result in more emphasis on performance appraisal in relation to organisational objectives. Performance related rewards target those who meet the performance requirements (Stone 2002, Cho, et al. 2006, Chand Katou 2007). Performance appraisal provides information that is dealt with employee salary, training needs, compensation, promotion as well as employee development, transfer and employee feedback by (Huber 1983). Appraisal systems have also moved away from conventional top down approaches to appraisal in more mod ern and pertinent terms such as customer evaluation, team-based performance, the appraisal of managers by subordinates and peer review. Generally, all of these performance appraisal methods should focus on the quality objectives of the organization and the behaviors of employees required for maintaining these. Performance appraisal has both administrative and individual development focus and organizations sincerity towards performance appraisal goes a long way in developing commitment and trust among people.Overall attitude towards HRM department is a significant predictor of organizational commitment. This aspect of HRM practice refers to how people see their HRM department, with respect, with disdain, with indifference and so on. It refers to the fact that the acceptance of various HRM practices depend largely on the overall image of the HR department. Hospitality industry needs to rely on the commitment of a well-trained, multi-skilled workforce in order to achieve a competitive position, especially in terms of providing high quality customer service. This suggests that hotels need to adopt HRM organisational practices that enhance the motivation of employees and improve organisational effectiveness. Reward Management Huselid (1995) asserts that the compensation system is recognised as employee merit and it is widely linked with firm outcomes. Compensation by its definition means all monetary payments and all commodities used instead of financial to recompense employees. The reward system was organised to attract and motivate so as to keep employees. More so, employee influence was tailored on controlled authority and decision making. The expectancy theory (Vroom 1964) suggests that rewards, that can be comprehended as a form of direct and indirect recompense packages, have the ability to manipulate employee work enthusiasm. Thang (2004) suggests that ‘compensation and reward can be powerful tools for getting efforts from the employees to fulfill the organisational goals. On the same lines, Wan (2008) argued that compensation should be measured depending on employees performance not on the basis of position or seniority in the organization.Pay practice is one of the tools of human resources management practices which manages wage, salary, pay and benefits etc. for the employees. Reward management has got an important role in HRM. A high level of pay and remuneration in comparision to that of rivals ensures the attraction and retention of high-quality employee, however this may impact negativly on the companys overall labor expenditures. Also by connecting pay with performance, the company can educe desired standards of performace as well as specific task orientation from employee (Noe et al., 2006). Generally, pay practice is very significant for the organizations and firms which can attract employees to apply for the job as recruitment.Attractive pay practices play a major role in attracting talent and are very helpful during the recruitment process. Similarly for the employees this means that they are required to show a continuously high level of commitment and performance in order to keep their jobs. Pay packages also have a degree of connection with the job satisfaction of an employee. Ting (1997) asserts that the significance of pay is a strong determinant of job satisfaction. He further explains two different type of effect of pay practices on job satisfaction; first is the satisfaction with pay itself and second is the satisfaction with financial prospects in the future. There is a venerable interest of these two things which are correlated with job satisfaction. Thus, it is pertinent to understand the relationship between job satisfaction and pay practices which eventually materializes in terms of higher productivity. Efficiency wage theories also suggest that paying higher wages can often result in increased efficiency. There are three main channelsthat are addressed in these theories that improve productivity, as described by Katz, 1987. Firstly it means that the harder the employees of an organization work higher will be the punishment for someone who is caught shirking a nd higher will be the probability of losing job of the employee getting caught. Thus higher wages means an increased effort on part of the employee due to the enhanced probability of losing job in a high performance environment. In other words, wage and pay practice are directly responsible for employees productivity and turnover. Secondly, a higher wage translates directly into workers loyalty towards organization thus improving employees efforts. Also it is a pertinent deduction that higher wage structure plays considerable amount of restraint on the employees to turnover their jobs. Thirdly, in more tangible terms higher wages are responsible for reducing firm employee turnover and recruitment costs. Training and Development Training and development (TD) is a very important tool of HRM (Vlachos 2008). Training refers to some activities which equip employees with needed skills to perform better in their current jobs (Li, et al. 2008). In the environment of todays business an employee is needed to cope with various pressures and are required to keep their skills and knowledge current to stay competitive. Tai (2006) asserts that more adaptability, ability , flexibility, motivation, maintenance of skills and efficiency are greatly enhanced by proper training and development of employees. There is an indirect relation betweentraining and firms performance (Vlachos 2008). In most of the manufacturing industry, unstructured on the job training programmes are prevailing. Bartel (1994) in her study found a positive and significant relation between training and labour productivity. Guidetti and Mazzanti (2007) found that high performance and training activities are positively associated. Also they have a direct impact on high performance practices, work force skill level innovative labour demand features. It is also affected by labour flexibility in various directions. Apospori, et al. (2008) in their study of southern European countries have discovered the impact of training on firms performance. Equipping of service level staff enables them towards ‘service orientation. Training is the planned effort that facilitates the acquisition of job related knowledge, updation of skill sets, and impacts the behavior of an employee. In the implementation of HRM tools training is an important factor responsible for productivity. Higher productivity observed in firms are a direct outcome of training programs. â€Å"High-Involvement practices such as autonomy, team collaboration, and training are helpful in reducing employee turnover and enhance productivity. Untrained workers tend to change job more often.An increasing in high-performance work practices converts decreasing in turnover† (Bradley, Petrescu Simmons, 2004). Training programs are particularly helpfulwhen an employer is experiencing a high degree of employee turnover more so during the times of economic uncertainity. Even during the times when the business is flourishing an organization should proactively earmark their investment for on the job training and other traing programs balancing the cost of training with the perceived benefits of productivity. On the other hand, a trained worker has got the required skills and knowledge and can be a candidate for job turnover. Therefore, job satisfaction is crucial factor to retain the employee from shifting his jobs. Bradley, Petrescu and Simmons (2004) explain that creating on-going learning as well as training in workplace has a highly significant effect on job satisfaction, in addition on their study indicates that training increases the probability of work being either completely or very satisfied that enhance employee motivation and commitment. Therefore it is argued that aqusition or know ledge or training has a positive impact on job satisfaction. Traditional and Recent HR Practices in Hospitality Industry Keep and Mayhew (1999) in their study regarding the personnel problems in the tourism and hospitality industry some of them areas follow: low pay, no fixed hours and shift. poor career growth ,seasonal employment; informal recruitment methods; lack of good HR practice; high attritation rate and retaining employees.Riley et al. (2000) to recognise the reality of traditional and poor HR practices, he said that determining factor for HR policies and practices in tourism and hospitality industry is the key economics. Riley et al. says that it carries a very important meaning in tourism and hospitality industry, as in this service sector there is every thing which is intangible. According to (ILO, 2001: 6).Employers and the organizational representatives consider employee turnover in the industry as not the major issue according to them it is the part of working they have not realized that what are its causes and reasons, retaining staff is costlier than hiring new for them. When the organizations will realize that poor HR practices like low pay benefits, lack career opportunities, work life imbalance are the main reason employee turnover. That day the organizations will be successful in real terms. The inability of the businesses and the industry to recognize the most glaring issues can be attributed to the hostility and opposition from employers associations in the industry such as British Hospitality Association (BHA), to governmental initiative such as the minimum wage and working time directive. BHA is still apprehensive of these initiatives despite support from other quarters who favour these initiatives (Lucas, 2004). It is to a great extend clear from the above researches which supports the fact that tourism and hospitality industry is a poor employing sector. Kelliher and Perrett (2001), Kelliher and Johnson (1997) have clearly said that â€Å"the dominant paradigm has tended to stress thenegative aspects of working in the hospitality sector†. It is not surprising to see a long history that supports the fact that hospitality remains a poorly employing sector. Kelliher and Perrett (2001), did an analysis of a designer restaurant. These type of ventures were supposed to be implementing sophisticated HRM approaches as they aimed at building competitive advantage. Although the restaurant had adopted a more modern and sophisticated approach towards, training and development and focused on an innovative strategy ‘there was little real evidence that humanresources were seen as a source of competitive advantage (p. 434). Instead, the HRM approaches adopted by the restaurant were much more reflective of immediate environmental constraints, such as the difficulties in recruiting and retaining staff. In short, any number of reasons for poor HR practices in the tourism and hospitality industry. Economic determinism, the predominance of SMEs, a low-skills base, employer antipathy to a more progressive approach to HRM, labour market characteristics, organizations ensuring best fit HRM practices to support a high volume, low-cost strategy; all are plausible reasons for a view of HRM which is not necessarily premised on high-skills, high-wages and a high-quality route to competitive advantage. That said, it would be equally wrong to paint a wholly pessimistic picture. Hoque(2000). On his work of good practice in the hotel sector, says that the hotels have started taking the issues seriously and have come up with good HR practices for the employee commitment. He further says that argues that arguments which give a picture of the industry as backward and unstrategic isnow outdated, hotels have started taking it seriously as there main aim is customer satisfaction which is possible only through strong employee commitment. In fact, he says that the management has become very serious regarding the polices and practices of HR .The hotels have started experimenting with innovation approaches, quality enhancement of HRM polices and practices. The hotels industry has started paying well, have revised appraisal system, proper training programs for employees skills development, schemes for proper balance between work and life, special advantages to women, job rotation, employee empowerment, performance based pay, teamwork etc. the implementation of all these polices and practices helps in gaining employee commitment and customer satisfaction. The focus of hospitality industry should be on delivering quality service, it should be able to attract and retain enthusiastic, competent staff and should consistently focus on high performance. This is exactly what Pechanga Resort and Casino did two years ago with excellent results. VP of HR and Talent Management, Tony Chartrand explains: â€Å"Since implementing Halogen eAppraisal at our organization over two years ago we have been able to include all of our staff across the resort and casino as part of our strategic approach to talent management. Subsequently, weve seen real business results with lower turnover and better alignment. Every single employee has a clear picture of what is expected of them, which helps to ensure were delivering customers with the best service in the industry†. Organizational commitment refers to a force that binds an individual to a course of action that is of relevance to a particular target. Commitment could manifest in terms of three ways i.e., affective, normative and continuance and each type of commitment ties the individual to the organization in different ways and will differently affect the manner in which the employee conducts him/herself in the workplace. The roots of affective commitment can be traced to exchange principle. An organization provides rewards or punishment at its disposal i HR Practices to Enhance Employee Commitment HR Practices to Enhance Employee Commitment Introduction Human Resource Management is a consistent and productive approach towards the management of employees who are ‘valued assets to the organization. And managing resourceful humans requires a constant balancing between meeting the human aspirations of the people and meeting the strategic and financial needs of the business. Hence linking the HRM more explicitly to the strategic goals to improve the business and foster innovation and flexibility, thus serves the overall purpose. Through best possible use and application of HR policies in the organization, commitment can be encouraged thus leading to better performance, improve staff attitude and lower labour turnover, this is the ideal aim of the human resource practices which has been argued to neglect the fact that HR specialists and line managers have a major impact on how these HR policies are implemented at the hotels and whether all the HR practices are universally applicable. Human resource management is the techniques businesses incorporate to maintain an effective workforce to meet operational requirements. It is the organizational function that deals with issues related to people such as compensation, hiring, administration, organization development, employee motivation, wellness, benefits, safety, communication, performance management, and training. Human resource practices implemented in an organisation are used for recruitment, selection; training and development, reward management, performance appraisal etc. Human Resource Management strategically manages people and work place environment and culture. Effective HRM practices enable employees to contribute effectively and productively towards the attainment of the organizations goals and objectives facilitates overall company mission. HRM practices are one of the channels of communication for an organization with its employees it consists of the actual programs, processes and techniques. It conveys as to what the organization desires as valuable and appropriate behaviors. The workers on reception of such a message build up their own distinct perceptions and through a self-assessment (evaluation) process subsequently shape their attitude and behavior. For instance, if an organization implemented a training program for their workers, it will develop workers knowledge, skills and capability, and thus cultivate better employee commitment due to contented experience with the organization; however, such correlation may at times be misleading or unpredictable i.e. even though some employees may think this training as useful and recognize the implementation of organizational HRM practices, but on the contrary, other workers may see the program as non-effective and view it as a trouble that hamper their regular work timeta ble, hence this may work in an unintended way by bringing down their satisfaction with the organization and negatively effect their commitment. This is the very reason why employees individual view plays as a vital intermediary in the association between organizational HRM practices and the real disclosure of employees outlook and behaviors. Therefore, from this point of view, one can argue that HRM practices in its dominating effect alter an employees affective commitment, by first impinging upon their perception of organizational HRM practices and consequently further alter or transform their emotional commitment towards the organization. Thats why, by the means of implementation of high-commitment HRM practices, i.e. intensive training and development, high level of compensation, promotion from within, socialization, etc. convince the employees that the organizations purpose is in conformity with their insight, and it impinges upon them to reciprocate with advanced commitment and stronger deference to devote and put in for the organization. Therefore this research will try to establish a correlation between HR practices and their effects on employee commitment. The HR practices that will be examined in the research will be Selection and Recruitment Process, Training and Development programs, Performance management, Reward management and industrial labour relations.These are some of the main HR practices followed by the hotels aiming for the more committed team. But the researcher is interested in knowing whether these HR practices really result in more committed employees. And if these HR practices really result in committed employees then is it universally applicable in all countries of the world or all types of industries. These are some of the questions that have encouraged the researcher in conducting this research. LITERATURE REVIEW Philosophy of Human Resource Management Human Resource Management is shifting its traditional stance from personnel, administration, and transactional roles, which are being increasingly outsourced. HRM is now focusing more and more towards adding quality and value to the strategic exploitation of employees and that employee development programs impact the business in tangible terms. This new approach towards revolution in HRM involves strategic direction and HRM metrics and measurements in tangible terms to gauge the effect of these practices. Some of the HRM practices studied in this project are selection, benefits, training, performance feedback, communication systems, standard operating procedures (SOPs) and employee participation. David E. Guest (1987) says â€Å"HRM is a means of achieving management objectives at least in enterprises which haverecognized, or have been compelled to recognize, the utilization of the human resource inachieving competitive edge becomes clear from an examination of four important goals ofeffective.† The primary objective of HRM is amalgamation of companys mission and goal with the HR practices acomprehensive corporate strategy is essential to continuing business success in many cases,human resource planning is not an integral part of strategic planning, but rather flows fromitDavid E. Guest (1987). This holds especially true in todays context where the accomplishment of the process of adjusting to change warrants an escalating level of individual and group participation, for the seamless integration of human resources into the strategic plans. HRM also focuses to attain employee committment, this involves classification of the type of commitment required e.g. attitudinal, behavioural. Commitment of an employee can be at different levels it could be towards the organization, to his job, for individual career advancement and numerous such like things. Commitment in an employees context can be defined as approval of enterprise mission and goals, and could be reflected in behaviour adopted by him/her that furthers these goals. David further says: The theoretical proposition is therefore that organizational commitment,  combined with job related behavioural commitment will result in high employee  satisfaction, high performance, longer tenure and willingness to accept  change. The third goal of strategic HRM is to exercise flexibility and adaptability, which basically translates into the ability to manage change and innovation and to react swiftly to transforming market demands and changes. Thus arises a need for a HRM policy which is favorable to change at all levels of the organization, an arrangement which is practical not bureaucratic, functional and adaptable, with an absence of rigid job divisions and with capable of functional flexibility i.e. flexible skills and motivation to move from one assignment to another. Promoting these is possible only according to David if employees at all levels display highorganizational commitment, high trust and high levels of intrinsic motivation. Attaining and maintaining total quality is the fourth goal of HRM. This highlights the importance of policies and practices to recruit, development and retention of skilled and flexible employees, and the formulation of established performance standards and performance procedures. This can be further subdivide into two broader goals i.e. building a integrated organizational culture and achieving and maintaining competitive advantage through the dynamic use of human resources. Guest (2002) has argued that the â€Å"Impact of HRM on performance depends upon  workers response to HRM practices, so the impact will move in direction of the  perception of HRM practices by the employee†. Wood (1999) and Guest (2002) have  stressed upon the need to build a competent, committed and highly involved work force is the one required for best implementation of business strategy. Huselid (1995) discovered that the effectiveness of employees is directly related to the impact of HRM practices on behavior of the workforce. Patterson et al (1997) while arguing about the effect of human resource management practices on business performance have said that HR practices in selection and training influence performance by providing appropriate skills. HR practices have a potent impact on performance even if it just measured in terms of overall productivity. Huselid (1995) stressed that â€Å"by adopting best practices in selection, inflow of bestquality of skill set will be inducted adding value to skills inventory of the organization.† He also highlighted the role of personnel training as a accompaniment of selection practices through which the organizational culture and employee behavior can be integrated with the organization goals to produce positive results. Cooke (2000) has included competence and effectiveness as the vital ingredients of performance apart from competitiveness and productivity. She further amplifies training as the tool to grow knowledge and skills and as way of improving individuals performance (efficiency and effectiveness). Singh (2004), whose interpretations are more pertinent in our cultural context, says that â€Å"compensation is a behavior aligningmechanism of employees with business strategy of the firm†. â€Å"Career planning is a tool that aligns strategy with future HR needs and encourag esemployee to strive for his personal development† (William et al, 1996). By encouraging employee involvement, the firm will profit from increase in efficiency of theemployee due to improved commitment of the employee. Financial participation schemes are more beneficial for the organizations than the associated cost (Summers Hyman, 2005). â€Å"Use of best HR practices shows a stronger association with firmsproductivity in high growth industry† (Datta et al, 2003). Wright et al (2003) have said that â€Å"an employee will exert discretionary effort if proper  performance management system is in place and is supported by compensation system  linked with the performance management system.† Similarly, â€Å"Job definition is combination of jobdescription and job specification. It clearly outlines duties, responsibilities, workingconditions and expected skills of an individual performing that job† (Qureshi M Tahir, 2006). Ichniowski (1995) while studying productivity of steel workers have argued that harmonizing HR practice System positively effects employees performance.Sels,2006 Collins (2005) in a study of similar character targeting small business have also argued that efficient HR practices affect employee productivity to a great extent. Meyer and Allen (1997) indicated that HRM practices have been considered to be valuable and effective tools for elevating organizational commitment, especially affective commitment. However, there are some other perspectives also on this subject; De Coninsk and Stilwell (1996) argued that what directly influences employees affective commitment is not the actual practices itself, but the employee perceptions of fairness of practices that affects organizational commitment. Ogilvie (1986) found that, even with personal and work characteristics controlled, employees perceptions of two characteristics of HRM practices, namely, the accuracy of the merit rating system and the fairness of promotions, contributed to the prediction of commitment. Gaertner and Nollen (1989) also found that employees commitment was related to the perceived HRM practices, including internal promotion, training opportunities, and employment security. Ostroff and Bowen (2000) made use of â€Å"meso† theory t o explain that the implementation of HRM practices helped to amplify workers identification with their organization through employees psychological contracts. Therefore, just as what the above mentioned scholars stated, the HRM practices itself cannot have impact on employees commitment, it is after the implementation of the HRM practices that triggered employees own perceptions and then assess whether the practice is considered fair or favorable to them and consequently influence their attitudes and behaviors. Therefore, if the HRM practices that an organization implements permit the employees to acknowledge it as highly committed, consequently, this will lead to reinforced trust and concurrently generate higher emotional attachment with his/her serviced organization. Despite several experiential studies that have established a relationship between HRM practices and organizational commitment, however, such a connection seems to be a little too straightforward (Paul Anantharaman, 2004; Ulrich, 1997; Wimalasiri, 1995). Ostroff and Bowen (2000) projected that it was the psychological bond of an individual that unified how an organizational HRM practice influenced employees mind-set and behavior. This also entails that HRM practices may conjointly manipulate employees organizational commitment obliquely, and must go through by means of individuals psychological alteration system. Guzzo and Noonan (1994) said that   â€Å"an organizations HRM practices influenced employee commitment since they are communications from the employer to the employee. How employees interpreted and made sense of their organizational HRM practices affected their psychological contract with their employer and, ultimately, their commitment to that employer.† Zucker (1983) also suppose that the organization members attitudes and behaviors are subjective and are governed by organizations official communication of ‘common understandings. Term common understandings denoting what were considered the appropriate, essential and meaningful behaviors within an organization.Basically, the official organization communication of common understandings will direct its members to alter their own personal attitudes and behaviors so that they can match organizational expectations and requirements. HR PRACTICES HRM propose that there is a universal ‘one best way to administer people. By assuming a best practice method it is argued that organizations will attain improved commitment from people leading to better organizational performance, top levels of service quality and eventually boost in efficiency and profitability, Usually couched in terms of ‘bundles, the HRM practices that are offered in support of a high commitmentand performance model are generally fairly consistent. A range of HR practices which are suggested as being important to organizational strategies aimed at securing high-quality service are:- Recruitment and Selection: One of the main and most basic HRM practice is of Recruiting and selecting staff with the correct attitudinal and behavioural characteristics. The process of choosing a candidate from a group of applicants who best meets the selection criteria for a particular position is called Selection. â€Å"In this process the right person chosen for the requisite qualifications and knowledge is placed in the appropriate job position to decrease the cost, and maximise the profits by means of their merit and talent† (Vlachos 2008). A variety of considerations in the selection process should be employed to assess the work values, interpersonal skills, personality and problem-solving capabilities of likely employees to evaluate their ‘service orientation. To maintain the high degree of competitive advantage an organisation requires capable and skillful personnel (Liao Chu 2006). Huselid (1995) has established that organisational productivity and high degree of performance is dependant upon the selection of the appropriate person, which is also a way to reduce employee turnover. Michie and Sheehan-Quinn (2001) recognized a positive link between hiring employees, and the creation of the appropriate culture for organisational growth. Cho, et al. (2006) established a positive and considerable connection between HRM practices and staffing (recruitment source, pre selection test, IQ test, structured interview, and biographical information blank of the organisation) for enhancing financial performance. Therefore, it made compulsory for the organisations to attract qualified candidates and recruit them for survival and growth. Performance Appraisal Performance appraisal has attracted a immense degree of interest. Levin (1986) identified uses of performance appraisal, like potential analysis which assesses the feedback and suggestion of employee past performance, employees training needs, financial expectations salary, employee merit appraisal, employee career development etc. Thang (2004) in his study has shown as to effect of suitable HRM related decision on how well employees are performing their jobs. Performance appraisal is a constant procedure rather than a once a year fatigue. It is the official arrangement of periodical evaluation and assessment of an individuals or teams job performance and providing feedback. Stone (2002) said that â€Å" in the competitive environment, organisations need to keep improving performance to survive†. In addition, in the fast changing surroundings, tighter finances, downsizing and demands for enhanced employee accountability result in more emphasis on performance appraisal in relation to organisational objectives. Performance related rewards target those who meet the performance requirements (Stone 2002, Cho, et al. 2006, Chand Katou 2007). Performance appraisal provides information that is dealt with employee salary, training needs, compensation, promotion as well as employee development, transfer and employee feedback by (Huber 1983). Appraisal systems have also moved away from conventional top down approaches to appraisal in more mod ern and pertinent terms such as customer evaluation, team-based performance, the appraisal of managers by subordinates and peer review. Generally, all of these performance appraisal methods should focus on the quality objectives of the organization and the behaviors of employees required for maintaining these. Performance appraisal has both administrative and individual development focus and organizations sincerity towards performance appraisal goes a long way in developing commitment and trust among people.Overall attitude towards HRM department is a significant predictor of organizational commitment. This aspect of HRM practice refers to how people see their HRM department, with respect, with disdain, with indifference and so on. It refers to the fact that the acceptance of various HRM practices depend largely on the overall image of the HR department. Hospitality industry needs to rely on the commitment of a well-trained, multi-skilled workforce in order to achieve a competitive position, especially in terms of providing high quality customer service. This suggests that hotels need to adopt HRM organisational practices that enhance the motivation of employees and improve organisational effectiveness. Reward Management Huselid (1995) asserts that the compensation system is recognised as employee merit and it is widely linked with firm outcomes. Compensation by its definition means all monetary payments and all commodities used instead of financial to recompense employees. The reward system was organised to attract and motivate so as to keep employees. More so, employee influence was tailored on controlled authority and decision making. The expectancy theory (Vroom 1964) suggests that rewards, that can be comprehended as a form of direct and indirect recompense packages, have the ability to manipulate employee work enthusiasm. Thang (2004) suggests that ‘compensation and reward can be powerful tools for getting efforts from the employees to fulfill the organisational goals. On the same lines, Wan (2008) argued that compensation should be measured depending on employees performance not on the basis of position or seniority in the organization.Pay practice is one of the tools of human resources management practices which manages wage, salary, pay and benefits etc. for the employees. Reward management has got an important role in HRM. A high level of pay and remuneration in comparision to that of rivals ensures the attraction and retention of high-quality employee, however this may impact negativly on the companys overall labor expenditures. Also by connecting pay with performance, the company can educe desired standards of performace as well as specific task orientation from employee (Noe et al., 2006). Generally, pay practice is very significant for the organizations and firms which can attract employees to apply for the job as recruitment.Attractive pay practices play a major role in attracting talent and are very helpful during the recruitment process. Similarly for the employees this means that they are required to show a continuously high level of commitment and performance in order to keep their jobs. Pay packages also have a degree of connection with the job satisfaction of an employee. Ting (1997) asserts that the significance of pay is a strong determinant of job satisfaction. He further explains two different type of effect of pay practices on job satisfaction; first is the satisfaction with pay itself and second is the satisfaction with financial prospects in the future. There is a venerable interest of these two things which are correlated with job satisfaction. Thus, it is pertinent to understand the relationship between job satisfaction and pay practices which eventually materializes in terms of higher productivity. Efficiency wage theories also suggest that paying higher wages can often result in increased efficiency. There are three main channelsthat are addressed in these theories that improve productivity, as described by Katz, 1987. Firstly it means that the harder the employees of an organization work higher will be the punishment for someone who is caught shirking a nd higher will be the probability of losing job of the employee getting caught. Thus higher wages means an increased effort on part of the employee due to the enhanced probability of losing job in a high performance environment. In other words, wage and pay practice are directly responsible for employees productivity and turnover. Secondly, a higher wage translates directly into workers loyalty towards organization thus improving employees efforts. Also it is a pertinent deduction that higher wage structure plays considerable amount of restraint on the employees to turnover their jobs. Thirdly, in more tangible terms higher wages are responsible for reducing firm employee turnover and recruitment costs. Training and Development Training and development (TD) is a very important tool of HRM (Vlachos 2008). Training refers to some activities which equip employees with needed skills to perform better in their current jobs (Li, et al. 2008). In the environment of todays business an employee is needed to cope with various pressures and are required to keep their skills and knowledge current to stay competitive. Tai (2006) asserts that more adaptability, ability , flexibility, motivation, maintenance of skills and efficiency are greatly enhanced by proper training and development of employees. There is an indirect relation betweentraining and firms performance (Vlachos 2008). In most of the manufacturing industry, unstructured on the job training programmes are prevailing. Bartel (1994) in her study found a positive and significant relation between training and labour productivity. Guidetti and Mazzanti (2007) found that high performance and training activities are positively associated. Also they have a direct impact on high performance practices, work force skill level innovative labour demand features. It is also affected by labour flexibility in various directions. Apospori, et al. (2008) in their study of southern European countries have discovered the impact of training on firms performance. Equipping of service level staff enables them towards ‘service orientation. Training is the planned effort that facilitates the acquisition of job related knowledge, updation of skill sets, and impacts the behavior of an employee. In the implementation of HRM tools training is an important factor responsible for productivity. Higher productivity observed in firms are a direct outcome of training programs. â€Å"High-Involvement practices such as autonomy, team collaboration, and training are helpful in reducing employee turnover and enhance productivity. Untrained workers tend to change job more often.An increasing in high-performance work practices converts decreasing in turnover† (Bradley, Petrescu Simmons, 2004). Training programs are particularly helpfulwhen an employer is experiencing a high degree of employee turnover more so during the times of economic uncertainity. Even during the times when the business is flourishing an organization should proactively earmark their investment for on the job training and other traing programs balancing the cost of training with the perceived benefits of productivity. On the other hand, a trained worker has got the required skills and knowledge and can be a candidate for job turnover. Therefore, job satisfaction is crucial factor to retain the employee from shifting his jobs. Bradley, Petrescu and Simmons (2004) explain that creating on-going learning as well as training in workplace has a highly significant effect on job satisfaction, in addition on their study indicates that training increases the probability of work being either completely or very satisfied that enhance employee motivation and commitment. Therefore it is argued that aqusition or know ledge or training has a positive impact on job satisfaction. Traditional and Recent HR Practices in Hospitality Industry Keep and Mayhew (1999) in their study regarding the personnel problems in the tourism and hospitality industry some of them areas follow: low pay, no fixed hours and shift. poor career growth ,seasonal employment; informal recruitment methods; lack of good HR practice; high attritation rate and retaining employees.Riley et al. (2000) to recognise the reality of traditional and poor HR practices, he said that determining factor for HR policies and practices in tourism and hospitality industry is the key economics. Riley et al. says that it carries a very important meaning in tourism and hospitality industry, as in this service sector there is every thing which is intangible. According to (ILO, 2001: 6).Employers and the organizational representatives consider employee turnover in the industry as not the major issue according to them it is the part of working they have not realized that what are its causes and reasons, retaining staff is costlier than hiring new for them. When the organizations will realize that poor HR practices like low pay benefits, lack career opportunities, work life imbalance are the main reason employee turnover. That day the organizations will be successful in real terms. The inability of the businesses and the industry to recognize the most glaring issues can be attributed to the hostility and opposition from employers associations in the industry such as British Hospitality Association (BHA), to governmental initiative such as the minimum wage and working time directive. BHA is still apprehensive of these initiatives despite support from other quarters who favour these initiatives (Lucas, 2004). It is to a great extend clear from the above researches which supports the fact that tourism and hospitality industry is a poor employing sector. Kelliher and Perrett (2001), Kelliher and Johnson (1997) have clearly said that â€Å"the dominant paradigm has tended to stress thenegative aspects of working in the hospitality sector†. It is not surprising to see a long history that supports the fact that hospitality remains a poorly employing sector. Kelliher and Perrett (2001), did an analysis of a designer restaurant. These type of ventures were supposed to be implementing sophisticated HRM approaches as they aimed at building competitive advantage. Although the restaurant had adopted a more modern and sophisticated approach towards, training and development and focused on an innovative strategy ‘there was little real evidence that humanresources were seen as a source of competitive advantage (p. 434). Instead, the HRM approaches adopted by the restaurant were much more reflective of immediate environmental constraints, such as the difficulties in recruiting and retaining staff. In short, any number of reasons for poor HR practices in the tourism and hospitality industry. Economic determinism, the predominance of SMEs, a low-skills base, employer antipathy to a more progressive approach to HRM, labour market characteristics, organizations ensuring best fit HRM practices to support a high volume, low-cost strategy; all are plausible reasons for a view of HRM which is not necessarily premised on high-skills, high-wages and a high-quality route to competitive advantage. That said, it would be equally wrong to paint a wholly pessimistic picture. Hoque(2000). On his work of good practice in the hotel sector, says that the hotels have started taking the issues seriously and have come up with good HR practices for the employee commitment. He further says that argues that arguments which give a picture of the industry as backward and unstrategic isnow outdated, hotels have started taking it seriously as there main aim is customer satisfaction which is possible only through strong employee commitment. In fact, he says that the management has become very serious regarding the polices and practices of HR .The hotels have started experimenting with innovation approaches, quality enhancement of HRM polices and practices. The hotels industry has started paying well, have revised appraisal system, proper training programs for employees skills development, schemes for proper balance between work and life, special advantages to women, job rotation, employee empowerment, performance based pay, teamwork etc. the implementation of all these polices and practices helps in gaining employee commitment and customer satisfaction. The focus of hospitality industry should be on delivering quality service, it should be able to attract and retain enthusiastic, competent staff and should consistently focus on high performance. This is exactly what Pechanga Resort and Casino did two years ago with excellent results. VP of HR and Talent Management, Tony Chartrand explains: â€Å"Since implementing Halogen eAppraisal at our organization over two years ago we have been able to include all of our staff across the resort and casino as part of our strategic approach to talent management. Subsequently, weve seen real business results with lower turnover and better alignment. Every single employee has a clear picture of what is expected of them, which helps to ensure were delivering customers with the best service in the industry†. Organizational commitment refers to a force that binds an individual to a course of action that is of relevance to a particular target. Commitment could manifest in terms of three ways i.e., affective, normative and continuance and each type of commitment ties the individual to the organization in different ways and will differently affect the manner in which the employee conducts him/herself in the workplace. The roots of affective commitment can be traced to exchange principle. An organization provides rewards or punishment at its disposal i

Tianjin Industrial Clusters :: essays research papers

Industrial Clusters in Tianjin Area About Industrial Clusters†¦ Nowadays, market competition is gradually changing from comptetition between enterprises to competition between value chains and even competition between industrial clusters. The development of industrial clusters is a social process changing from production of Ford type to specialized production. State owned enterprises cooperate with foreign companies, together to lower costs and improve market reaction to become world wide competitive. Industrial Clusters in Tianjin Factors that have triggered the development Tianjin to become an Industrial Cluster: 1.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Development of state owned enterprises as foundation. 2.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Large number of existent trained skilled industrial technical workers. 3.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Created manufacturing industry culture. 4.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Created industrial atmosphere and institutional environment. Measures that need to be taken to move Tianjin to a better world wide position: 1.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Government should promote research and cooperation with universities and create research institutions. 2.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Improve infrastructure to attract laborforce and international management. 3.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Reform state owned companies, and law frame. 4.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Strive toward a â€Å"Made in China† name. Overview of the 4 main important Industrial Clusters: Electronic Information Remarks:  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  -High LQ, (LQ =Location Quote, comparative advantage criteria of a certain industry in a certain region)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  -Mostly foreign owned. (USA, Korea, Japan Taiwan)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  -Very good cooperation between companies along the supply chain. Major Players:  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Motorola (63% of sales). Main Problems:  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  -Mostly foreign companies leads to funds dependency (90% foreign, national average 73%. -State owned companies have small scale, insufficient investment, slow speed development, weak competitive power, brain drain and lack inner motivation force. -R&D interaction between companies, universities and research institutes are not present.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Green Battery Remarks:  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  -Research, Development, Production Leader in China   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  -Strong cooperation with Universties   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  -Extense variety of products, Li-on, Ni-MH, Amorphic Silicon batteries. Major Players:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  -Sanyo, Ltd Peace Bay Power, Tianjin Lishen Battery Ltd, Lantian Power. Main Problems:  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  -Industrial Chain needs further improvement   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  -Lack of innovation due to inadequate R&D compared worldwide   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  -High degree of automation, but low degree of flexibility   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  -Fewer types of products, high costs and slow speed to meet market needs. Automobiles Remarks:  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  -High Tax rate on imported automobiles has promoted the establishment of Auto Makers.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  -Almost 100% dependent on Foreign funds   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  -Rapid market demand growth leads to push the development of the Auto Industry.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  -Since China enter the WTO acquisitions and mergers have been very dynamic in this branch.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  -More than 700 foreign funded companies manufacture automobile accessories in China. Major Players:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  -Toyota, Tianjin Automobile Group (more than 50 small and medium enterprises), FAW Group

Air Pollution Essay 24

What are the effects and sources of air pollution Assignment III Rachita Mittal Western International University SCI 270 Mrs. Saudamani Sharma Introduction Air pollution is the introduction of chemicals, particulate matter, or biological materials that cause harm or discomfort to humans or other living organisms, or damages the natural environment, into the atmosphere. The atmosphere is a complex, dynamic natural gaseous system that is essential to support life on planet Earth. Stratospheric ozone depletion due to air pollution has long been recognized as a threat to human health as well as to the Earth's ecosystems. History Humans probably first experienced harm from air pollution when they built fires in poorly ventilated caves. Since then we have gone on to pollute more of the earth's surface. Until recently, environmental pollution problems have been local and minor because of the Earth's own ability to absorb and purify minor quantities of pollutants. The industrialization of society, the introduction of motorized vehicles, and the explosion of the population, are factors contributing toward the growing air pollution problem. At this time it is urgent that we find methods to clean up the air. The primary air pollutants found in most urban areas are carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, sulfur oxides, hydrocarbons, and particulate matter (both solid and liquid). These pollutants are dispersed throughout the world's atmosphere in concentrations high enough to gradually cause serious health problems. Serious health problems can occur quickly when air pollutants are concentrated, such as when massive injections of sulfur dioxide and suspended particulate matter are emitted by a large volcanic eruption. Air Pollution in the Home You cannot escape air pollution, not even in your own home. â€Å"In 1985 the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reported that toxic chemicals found in the air of almost every American home are three times more likely to cause some type of cancer than outdoor air pollutants†. (Miller 488) The health problems in these buildings are called â€Å"sick building syndrome†. â€Å"An estimated one-fifth to one-third of all U. S. buildings are now considered â€Å"sick†. (Miller 489) The EPA has found that the air in some office buildings is 100 times more polluted than the air outside. Poor ventilation causes about half of the indoor air pollution problems. The rest come from specific sources such as copying machines, electrical and telephone cables, mold and microbe-harboring air conditioning systems and ducts, cleaning fluids, cigarette smoke, carpet, latex caulk and paint, vinyl molding, linoleum tile, and building materials and furniture that emit air pollutants such as formaldehyde. A major indoor air pollutant is radon-222, a colorless, odorless, tasteless, naturally occurring radioactive gas produced by the radioactive decay of uranium-238. According to studies by the EPA and the National Research Council, exposure to radon is second only to smoking as a cause of lung cancer†. (Miller 489)   Radon enters through pores and cracks in concrete when indoor air pressure is less than the pressure of gasses in the soil. Indoor air will be healthier than outdoor air if you use an energy recovery ventilator to provide a consistent supply of fresh filtered air and then seal air leaks in the shell of your home. Air pollution has unhealthy effects on people, animals and plant-life across the globe. Every time we inhale, we carry dangerous air pollutants into our bodies. These pollutants can cause short-term effects such as eye and throat irritation. More alarming, however, are the long-term effects such as cancer and damage to the body's immune, neurological, reproductive and respiratory systems. Acid Rain is a significant air pollution problem that affects rural, suburban and urban areas that are down-wind of major industrial areas. Acid rain is caused when sulfur and nitrogen pollution from industrial smokestacks is combined with moisture in the atmosphere. The resulting rain is acidic which destroys natural ecosystems ands buildings. Global Warming, as pollution gathers in the Earth's atmosphere, it traps heat and causes average temperatures to rise. It is hard to predict exactly how climate change will affect a particular area. Here are a few likely results: †¢ A rise in sea level between 3. 5 and 34. 6 in. 9-88cm) leading to more coastal erosion, flooding during storms and permanent inundation †¢ Severe stress on many forests, wetlands, alpine regions, and other natural ecosystems †¢ Greater threats to human health as mosquitoes and other disease-carrying insects and rodents spread diseases over larger geographical regions †¢ Disruption of agriculture in some parts of the world due to increased temperature, water stress and sea-level rise in low-lying areas such as Bangladesh or the Missi ssippi River delta. Sources and health effects of air pollution | |Pollutants |Sources |Health Effects | |Nitrogen dioxide |All combustion processes (for example road vehicles |General irritation to airways including increased | | |and domestic heating) produce oxides of nitrogen (NOx)|chance of respiratory infection and impaired lung | | |which particularly in the presence of ozone is |function. | |converted into nitrogen dioxide. | | |Primary |Road traffic (for example diesel engines, brake and |Respiratory and cardiovascular problems. Concerns | |Particulates |tyre wear); industrial sources (for example power |about long-term effects. | | |stations). | | |Secondary |Formed through the oxidation (presence of ozone) of |Respiratory and cardiovascular problems. Concerns | |Particulates (e. g. |particular gases (for example sulphur dioxide, |about long-term effects. | |sulphates, nitrates) |nitrogen dioxide) in the atmosphere condensing to form| | | |fine particles. | | |Carbon monoxide |Road transport and industry (all combustion of carbon |Reduces the oxygen carrying capacity of blood and at | | |based fuels). low levels reduces concentration and at higher levels| | | |causes headaches, nausea, dizziness. At very high | | | |levels it can lead to death. | |Sulphur dioxide |Combustion of fossil fuels (mainly coal and heavy |Causes breathing difficulties, and irritation of the | | |oils). |eyes, nose, throat and lungs. People suffering from | | | |asthma are particularly susceptible. | |Lead |Petrol and industry (such as smelting, and paint |Can effect the intellectual development of children, | | |works). |and at very high doses poisoning, brain and organ | | | |damage can occur. | |Benzene |Combustion and distribution of petrol. |Exposure over a long time can lead to cancer. |1, 3 Butadiene |Combustion of petrol and diesel, and the production of|Exposure over a long time can lead to cancer. | | |rubber for tyres. | | |Ozone |Ozone is a photochemical pollutant which means it is |Exposure can cause an irritant effect on the lungs, | | |primarily formed by the reactions of other pollutants |airway inflammation and short term respiratory | | |such as nitrogen oxides in the presence of sunlight. |symptoms. |

Procurement process in small or Micro Enterprises. Essay

1. Introduction This assignment entails the information of procurement processes and the comparison of three different organizations that we have chosen – the Minimart, Online shop and Pet item industries. Although they are all micro organisations and retailers in the supply chain, they encompass individual requirements and selection criteria of their procurement processes. In this assignment, we will identify what are the similarities and differences in their Procurement-to-Pay process, their ‘What if† risk factors and the mitigation approach in overcoming the risks. 2. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF ORGANISATIONS The three micro organisations selected are namely the Mini-mart, Online Apparel Shop and the Pet Shop. Firstly, the mini-mart act as a â€Å"convenient store† located around housing estates. It takes advantage of the proximity and locality and targets the morning rush hour crowd such as the students and working adults. The mini-mart offers products like canned food, drinks,  tidbits, newspapers, ready-to-go foods like packed rice, finger food and desserts. As the mini-mart deals with highly perishable goods, the procurement procedure will be special to the industry, as they have limited shelf lives. Next, a recent trend in the fashion industry is the online shop. The online shop sells apparels and accessories that the owner source from around the world leeching on bulk discounts. The online shop targets female consumers that enjoy the convenience of online shopping. Lastly, the pet shop sells pets and their related items such as cages, food and treats, grooming kits and toys. The main consumers will be the people who are looking for pets and existing pet owners who will need to purchase the pet’s necessities frequently. 3. POSITION OF ORGANISATIONS AND TWO MAJOR PRODUCTS IDENTIFIED All three organisations act as retailers where consumers purchase products from them directly. They directly import the products themselves from overseas or purchase from local wholesalers who import them in bulk. The focus for these three micro organisations chosen in their procurement process will be on the strategies that they make due to the limited space operating in Singapore. In addition, the mini-mart and pet shop have limited shelf life for some of the products that they carry. The two major products we identified for minimart are the newspapers and the ready-packed food. As mentioned, the consumers are mainly working adults and students that patronize during rush hour. Items like local newspapers and ready-packed food are in high demand. The shelf life of these products are short, thus once unsold will deem the newspaper obsolete and food stale. Next, the two major products for the online shop are clothing and accessories. The online shop needs to bring in new apparels constantly. They need to catch up with the growing demands and changing taste of the customers. A factor that contributes to these is the seasonal fashion that changes every time. Thus, seasonal demand should be included into forecasting for inventories as this would keep the company competitive. Finally, pet item consumers would mainly look forward to daily requirement such as pet canned foods and grooming products. They are two major products that petshop need to constantly keep them in sufficient amount of inventory required when they affect the sale rates. As mentioned earlier, they are imported overseas. 4. PROCURE TO PAY PROCESS COMPARISON Appendix A The three organisations that we have chose have all followed this Procure to Pay process, however they have their differences in determining these processes. For forecasting, the online shop and the pet shop has less frequent level of forecasting their requirements due to its irregularity sales of goods which depends on seasonal demand. However, the mini-mart actually requires daily forecasting and is more volatile in their forecast. The shopkeeper take into considerations like public and school holidays before he actually consider how much to procure for the day worth of food and newspapers to sell. For example, during weekends in the morning, crowds tend to be lesser and thus, lower in demand. For the clarification/requisition and supplier selection process, the online shop had done their clarifications virtually through online e-mails and phone calls as most of their suppliers are all overseas. The mini-mart and the pet shop actually do face-to-face meet up with suppliers to look at the real products, whether they can match their requirements before confirming the order and delivery. The approval and contract process is quite similar for both the mini-mart and the pet shop as it is done locally. After identifying a supplier, they will send purchase order according to demand. The online shop process is slightly different as the suppliers are mainly from overseas. Once the proprietor has identified their supplier, she will travel to the country to visit the supplier to determine the product’s quality, and to establish a rapport with the supplier before giving the approval. After discussing with these three organisations, we have discovered that price is one of the key factors on how these three organisations measures the performance of their suppliers. They will not want to see a sudden increase of their cost of products. However, there is a difference in their selection criteria. The mini-mart factors in the timeliness of goods, the petshop factors in the brand of products that consumers prefer, and the online shop focuses in the design, quality and bulk purchase discounts. 5. SUPPLIER IDENTIFICATION AND SELECTION The similarity in requirement for selecting suppliers is the timely delivery. All three organisations, especially the mini-mart requires punctual delivery of newspapers and ready-packed food daily. They rely on the supplier’s punctuality to stock up right inventories to make items available at the right time and place for consumers. With the Fedex Strategic sourcing process (Annex B), we are able to show their differences in identification and selection of suppliers. Minimart Online shop Pet Shop Profile the Sourcing Group – Requires volatile changes of good supplies depending on the daily requirement. Thus, while setting the profile, the owner will prioritise familiarity and reliability with the supplier. – Requires volume discount. – Timely delivery affects forecast for seasonal demands and thus, will affect their sales. – Requires volumes discounts for pets related item. – Requires credibility and reputation of the supplier. Select Sourcing Strategy – Has no bargaining power over the products from the current suppliers. – Have little alternatives over suppliers as suppliers are niche and limited. – Has bargaining power when ordering goods in bulk. – An alternative way when current supplier is unable to meet the needs, online shop owners in Singapore can go for overseas hunts to look for direct suppliers instead of normal wholesalers in Singapore. For example, Bangkok is one of neighbouring countries who is the direct supplier for apparels sold locally. – Has bargaining power due to bulk purchase ability and due to the large supplier base, it is easy to find alternative sources that can provide similar/better services. Generate Supplier Portfolio – Has only one source for getting the newspapers due to the limited publisher in Singapore. – However, for the food supplies, the owner will look into  the value added services such as packaging of the food items. This helps to save the time of re-packaging and selling to the customers. – Every piece of apparel is packed neatly in packaging and owners do not have to re-package themselves again. They are also delivered to owner’s doorstep from overseas. This adds value to the supplier’s service. – Selects and identify suppliers with no value added capabilities. However, main selection criteria are bulk discount and price. Select implementation path – Very little adjustment to be done on the sourcing due to the basic business model. – Many online shops sells similar items so they look for suppliers who can provide self-manufacture services and also bulk discounts. For example, suppliers follow designs as given from online shop’s purchase order. – Increase bulk discount criteria to shrink the list qualified supplier. Major product like canned foods can be stored longer, thus, storage will not pose as a problem. Negotiate and select suppliers – Due to the only existing publisher in Singapore, negotiating power is very limited. However, for the food supplies, reduction of price and efficiency is viable with increase in order quantity. – Base on shortlisted suppliers, they will look into the one who can compromise the most and satisfy their requirements. – With the sourcing strategy established, they will try to bargain for more bulk discount with the suppliers. Operationalize supplier integration – Link their suppliers as a part of their operating process as timeliness is an issue for sales of goods for the mini-mart. – Long-term collaboration ensures quality and efficiency when there is mutual trust. – Will establish relationship with the supplier and also promise loyalty if the supplier maintains their quality service and discounts. However, they do not link the suppliers to their key processes. Benchmark the supply market – Mini-marts tend to prioritise in bulk discounts and timely delivery in selection of suppliers. – By comparing selected suppliers, they will narrow  down the suppliers who can provide the most efficient services and bulk discounts. – Does market comparison with other pet shops and also suppliers. They look out for cheaper suppliers and latest pet products. 6. STRESS TESTING AND RISKS MITIGATION APPROACHES 6.1 Four categories of risks identified in each organization A) Minimart Supplier-Related Customer-Related Risk Mitigation Approach Disruptions – Supplier who delivers ready-to-go food abruptly stops their supply. – Excess inventory due to forecast error, seasonal demand, wastage in food. – Lose potential consumers who prefer food produce by original supplier. – Sudden increase or decrease in demand. – Acquire alternate source of supplier. – Proper forecast to keep the right inventory level required. Delays – Traffic jam delays the delivery of morning orders. – Supplier delivers to wrong address. – Miss and disappoints the morning crowds. – Delay in displaying all the ready-food to sell. – Increase responsiveness of Supplier. – Look for wholesaler who can supply last minute. Procurement – Supplier is forced to increase the price of raw materials. – Increase in Transport costs. – Force to increase price due the spike of cost of goods or transport cost. – Having a redundant pool of suppliers to benchmark. Systems – Supplier’s order tracking system breaks down. -Suppliers food processing machine breakdown – Telephone line break down and customers cannot order via phone. – Increase flexibility in other means of contact. For example, e-mails, mobile phones, telecommunicating for urgent orders. – Alternate source of supplier. For the Minimart, we have identified two key mitigation strategies to acquire alternate/redundant source of suppliers and increase responsiveness. Acquiring redundant suppliers helps to reduce disruptions, procurement and inventory risk. However, as we discuss further, the mini-mart might face the risk that alternate supplier capacity might not be sufficient to meet their needs. This will in turn, pose as a risk to their inventory. To reduce the risk of delay, we have proposed to increase the responsiveness of the supplier due to short life cycle of food products. It also helps to reduce both forecast and inventory risk. B) Online shops Supplier-Related Customer- Related Risk Mitigation Approach Disruptions – Natural disasters like haze, tsunami happen and cause shipment delay. – Sudden shortage production of cotton fabric and raw material for making apparels. – Excess inventory due to wrong stock count. – Demand increases. – Increase in prices when demand is high and low in productivity. – Have alternate redundant source of suppliers to rely on. – Increasing inventory level. – Better forecast inventory due to seasonal demands. Delays – Stock delays that resulted from shortage of important raw material e.g. fabric etc. – Distribution takes longer when delay from shipping companies. – Customer order fulfillment gets delayed – Stocking up more predictable and lower cost product. – Look for direct alternate suppliers overseas, shortens waiting time for shipping and save cost. Procurement – Increase in production costs from supplier due to shortage in raw materials or labors. – Shipping costs increases that was incurred from transportation companies. – Need to increase selling price while unable to reduce waiting time required, or even higher waiting forecast. – Customer orders gets mixed up and resulted in poor customer service. – Acquire redundant suppliers for benchmark. – Increasing responsiveness approach to meet customer demand. Systems – System breakdown at overseas supplier side. – Online shopping website breakdown locally and technical repair takes some time – Website gets infected and not able to receive customers order. – Increase inventory level to mitigate supplier system risk. – Increase in flexibility of point of contact. For Online shop, the main focus was to get supplies ready when needed. Having alternate suppliers is necessary when there is delay or failure in the potential supplier. Accurate forecast is important when consumer demand is different every season. Leftover items from excess inventory could have difficulty in meeting buyers and cause wastage. C) Pet Shop Supplier-Related Customer- Related Risk Mitigation Approach Disruptions – Local supplier has stopped supplying a hot selling product. – Health production examined a major pet canned food product contains chemical that is not suitable for consumption. – Consumers forced to go for other alternative supplies. – Retailers forced to absorb losses for existing inventories. – Increase in inventory. – Have redundant suppliers. Delays – Supplier delay delivery of promotional item by a day. – Supplier deliver wrong type of items and causes re-delivery delays. – Inadequate supplies to meet expected demand. – Severe shortage on particular items affected. – Increase in inventory level. Procurement – Supplier refuses the bulk discount of a certain product due to drop in purchasing volume. – Supplier increase in price when production cannot catch up with demand. – Forced to increase price due to lesser sales of a product. – Consumer still enjoys usual selling rates due to competitiveness at retailer side. – Having redundant supplier so that they can benchmark their suppliers to get the best competitive price. Systems – E-order system broke down. – Overseas supplier lose track of all orders due to system breakdown – Online web page is down and customers are not able to get information and order online. – Increase flexibility in having other source of communication like telephone or backup copy of customer’s orders. As for the pet shop, we concluded that to gain competitiveness in pricing, they require the suppliers to issue bulk discount. Thus, they will have a few redundant suppliers to allow them to manipulate the prices between the suppliers, giving them a lower price. In doing so, it also mitigates on problems like disruption and delays as if any of the suppliers will fail on such a secondary will take the job mitigating these issues. We must understand that when they engage any supplier, they will stock in more than enough stock setting buffer and leeching on the bulk discount. 6.2 Risks Mitigation For the above different categories of risk, there are a few similar mitigation strategies for each risk for the three organizations studied. For the risk of disruption, the key strategy for the organizations is to acquire alternative/redundant suppliers. This strategy will help to mitigate the risk of sudden stoppage of supplies. Also, it helps to reduce the procurement and delay risk. However, we have also concluded that as these organisations are retailers, which are subjected to the supplier capacity to  provide the inventory needed. As such, if disruption from supplier were to happen, the organisations might face inventory risk. Coming to risk of delay, the pet shop and online shop are able to eliminate this risk by increasing inventory level as canned food and clothes can be stored. This will also help to lower disruptions and procurement risks to the organisation. However, for the mini-mart, the approach is different due to the short life cycle of food products and the timely delivery requirement due to daily demand. As such, it requires an increase in the responsiveness of the suppliers to ensure quality of products. For risk of procurement, we are able to conclude that all three organisations require having redundant suppliers. Mostly, for these organisations faces risk in an increase of the cost of goods and transportation cost. As such, they require different suppliers so that they are able to benchmark their suppliers against others to get an overall competitive edge in cost saving. Lastly, for the risk of system, the organisations are facing mostly on issues like purchasing system breakdown or the organization system failure. Thus, they need to increase their flexibility in having other source of communication like telephone, mobile phones or backup copy of their own orders. 7. CONCLUSION In conclusion, the above analysis on the three organisations helps us better understand the procurement process and the importance of considering such processes when it comes to reducing costs, risks and selection of suppliers. It is also concluded that all the three organisations rely in a way or another procurement strategies to ensure normal business function in serving targeted consumer demands, making them available in the right time, right place and location. In addition, the suppliers and the three organisation’s relationship in the existing market play an important role in terms that affects the delivery to end consumers. Also, we have concluded that for micro organisations, the three most important mitigation strategies is in having redundant suppliers, and keeping and forecasting the right inventory level and having flexibility in their organisations. This will help in the organisations smooth operating process. 8. Reference 1. Chopra, S., Shodhi, M.S. (2004). Managing Risks to avoid Supply-Chain Breakdown MIT Sloan Management Review, 46, 1. 2. Monczka, R., Trent, R., and Handfield, R. (2005). Purchasing and Supply Chain Management, Thomson-South-Western, Third/Fourth Edition 3. Interview: Junction 168 Minimart – Mr. Tan, C.T. (2013) – Understanding the Organisation and its Procurement processes. 4. Interview: Kwong Fatt Pet Centre – Mr. Wong, K.F. (2013) – Understanding the Organisation and its Procurement processes.