A research paper about business ethics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

A research paper about business ethics - Essay Example Behaviors of organizational members also depend on the company’s ethics. In the present business environment business ethics has become a very important issue. Various new trends and processes are incorporated in businesses for enhancing their values. For performing business functions effectively organizations give importance on ethical behavior of its employees. This helps the organizations in avoiding various legal issues and enhancing their brand reputation. With the change in business environment, ethics of companies have experienced lots of changes. These changed ethical policies and practices facilitate the companies in holding their position in competitive business environment. In this essay new trends in business ethics will be discussed in detailed way. For explaining the new trends, traditional business policies and its issues will also be highlighted in this essay. The concept of business ethics was developed long back. Around 1970s companies started focusing on establishing various policies and principles ethics. Earlier the companies only believed in the concept on money making. They were not concerned about people, environment and society. As a result the rules and principles of the business were developed in such a way which helped them to archive the money making objectives of businesses. Earlier for enhancing the profitability and revenues most of the companies were involved in performing many immoral activities. That time ethical policies and practices were only implemented by religious organizations. Persons conducting business activities were not concerned about business ethics. The term business ethics was originated in USA (Lencioni 67). People were getting tortured in the name of business. So certain ethical policies and practices were established in business for conducting trade ethically. Traditional business ethics principles an d policies influenced the companies in developing strict

Financial Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Financial - Research Paper Example Although the original focus of Microsoft was on PC development, it later changed its efforts towards the more profitable business side of software and application development. By 1981 Microsoft had created the highly successful MS-DOS operating system which it successfully licensed to IBM and came bundled with all their computers. In 1985 his new GUI (Graphic User Interface) Windows 1.0 operating system was unveiled which Gates viewed as the future of personal computing, but IBM executives did not share the same vision. Contrary to IBMs belief, Windows and its GUI interface became the de-facto standard for all personal computers in the future. Microsoft as a company soon achieved dramatic success and growth by becoming an operational system and personal productivity applications developer marketing giant (Windows, 2012). Microsoft as a company is centered on its customer driven mission of â€Å"Enabling people and businesses throughout the world to realize their full potential by creating technology that transforms the way people work, play, and communicate.† The company is focused on developing, manufacturing, licensing and providing customer support to its varied software and hardware products. Some of the major software categories that Microsoft competes in are in operating systems, business solutions software applications, server applications, high-performance computing and software development tools, desktop and server management tools, video games, cloud-computing and online advertising. Microsoft also develops and markets hardware products for entertainment such as the Xbox 360 console and accessories, an interactive entertainment console and other Microsoft hardware. The company also provides solutions and product support services, consulting, training and certification to IT professi onals and computer system developers and integrators. Microsofts company structure has a global reach, with

Many of the characters in Of Mice and Men are lonely Essay Example for Free

Many of the characters in Of Mice and Men are lonely Essay Describe the reasons for their loneliness and explore the different ways they seek comfort. Many of the characters in the novel of Mice and Men are lonely because they grew up in an unurturing and unfriendly environment. The reason for this type of negative and depressing attitude is due to the Great Wall Street Crash. This tormenting economic crash took place at the same time when the novel Of Mice and Men is set, in the year 1929. Families fell apart as the men were forced to leave behind their roots, and seek employment on ranches in order to bring back stability in their lives again. Relationships were never formed on these ranches as no one had any time nor interest in trying to communicate and bond with the other ranch hands or other residents. The only object the ranchers were attracted to was making money and moving on, therefore there was no stability. Tragically, vast amounts of people committed suicide, as they could not bear to live their lives recounting all their losses. Coincidentally the meaning of the town Soledad is our lady of loneliness. Loneliness is a spreading disease, which has the power to make the most cheerful people dull and gloomy as they begin to feel isolated. There is no direct cure for loneliness; therefore no one knows how to deal with it. This is the stage where the effected people begin to split into two distinctive groups depending on each individuals character; the two groups are known as introverts and extroverts. The people that are catogrised in the introvert group suffer the most as they keep all their emotions locked up inside, leading in them taking their anger out on themselves. Whereas the extrovert group has a completely different way of approaching loneliness, they begin to take their anger out on other people in such ways as being aggressive and flirtatious to overcome their feelings. There is a vast comparison between the two groups; if you look at it between characters, which are extroverts and introverts, at one extreme you have Crooks a Negro who is partially crippled, and then you have Curley, a cruel, insensitive extrovert. All humans need to be comforted at the time of need as this is the human desire, therefore, it is not surprising that the characters in this novel also require comfort. Some characters similar to Crooks need friendship-based relationships so that they can communicate with other people. Other characters similar to George and Lennie have their future dream to look forward to and work towards that is their target. The definition of a dream is: Dream n. Train of thoughts, images, or fancies passing through mind during sleep; Conscious indulgence of fancy, reverie, thing of dream-like beauty, charm, goodness, etc. (Taken from the Readers Digest Great Encyclopedic Dictionary, Third Edition) A dream is something you indulge in, to escape momentarily from life. This seems to be the context that John Steinbeck intended his characters in Of Mice and Men to dream in. They are all craving for something in the case of George and Lennie, that something is land. All the dreams in this novel are similar to the Great American Dream, which is that you can achieve anything if you have the mind and desire to do it. However, most of the characters who have dreams know that their dreams may never become reality, but never the less it still provides comfort for them. Crooks is partially crippled, his body was bent over to the left by his crooked spine, yet self-dependant Negro, he too is very lonely. Crookss personality is quite interesting, as he is very defensive and protective of himself: He kept his distance and demanded that others kept theirs. Crooks is very cautious about those who approach him, this is as he does not want to be in any more pain than he already is; he is frightened that someone will not only hurt him physically but harm him mentally as well. He is fully aware of his rights, he knows the limitations of what he is allowed to do and what he has not got the right to do. Crooks is lonely as he has not got anyone to talk to due to the colour of his skin, he does not even know how to act around other guys. All he spends his time doing is reading the battered magazines and dirty books which were scattered all around his bunk: Books aint no good, a guy needs somebody to be near himA guy goes nuts if he aint got nobody. Dont make no difference who the guy is, longs hes with you Later on in the chapter we realise that all Crooks is longing for is companionship, however, it is evident to see that Crooks is a bad communicator: You got no right to come in my room. This heres my room. Nobody got any right in here but me. Crooks reacts angrily, his anger is and pride is a defense against the harsh treatment he has been subjected to and experienced for most of his years in life. He has been held back without any real conversation for an eminent amount of time, therefore leading to his language being unwelcoming as it is aggressive and defensive. Loneliness has had a negative effect on Crooks as it has made him verbally aggressive and very protective of what is his and his right. In chapter 4, John Steinbeck does a role reverse, instead of a white man tormenting a Negro, a Negro torments a white man, in this case Lennie. Crooks took a lot of pleasure in torturing Lennie the night George went into town, he had pleasure form teasing Lennie by suggesting that George would not bother to return as he better off without the presence of Lennie: I said spose George went into town tonight and you never heard of him no moreJust spose that. Crooks enjoys having the power over Lennie, he uses persuasive and manipulative language to prove his point, for once in all the time on the ranch he has an advantage over a white man. This inspires him, Crooks is feeling good at this point; he feels self-assured as though he can take on anything: Now you jus get on out, an get out quick. If you dont, Im gonna ast the boss not to ever let you come in the barn no more. Crooks builds up his confidence to such an extent that he forgets his status on the social hierarchy. However, Curleys wife coldly reminds Crooks of his unsuccessful position as a black man; a nigger: Well, you keep your place here nigger. I could get you strung up on a tree so easily it aint even funny. This racist statement reminds Crooks of his old self, leading to him remembering that he has reduced himself to nothing, he pressed his body against the wall, in shame. Crooks achieves comfort from remembering his childhood; Crooks came from a background full of love and care for each other, he knows what the true value of companionship is: I remember when I was a little kid on my old mans chicken ranch. Had two brothers. They were always near me, always there. Crooks past childhood is full of affection and love in contrast to Crooks now, an isolated and lonely man who is referred to as a nigger. Crooks is in vast emotional pain as he knows what he is missing out on, however, some people may argue that he is actually quite advantaged as at least he has old memories to refer back to. Crooks also gets comfort from asking to be allowed to join the dream, which George, Lennie and Crooks hold: If you would want a hand to work for nothing- just his keep, why Id come and lend a hand. Crooks wants things to go back to as he was a child, he wants to revisit the happy days of his life that are now just a vague memory to him. Crooks knows that the only way he can do this is by joining the dream that George, Lennie and Crooks share. However, Crooks soon finds out when George rejects him from sharing the dream that he is destined to be an old isolated Negro. George Milton is one of the main characters in the novel, Of Mice and Men, he is quiet, modest and clearly a good worker. George is considered as one of the fortunate characters in this particular novel, this is as he atleast had a chance to experience the true value of companionship and unconditional value with his best friend Lennie Small. His companionship with Lennie staves of loneliness, as well as giving George a role in life; a clear task to look after Lennie. It is evident to see that at the beginning of the novel George feels superior with this role as it gives him a sense of power over Lennie: George has learnt vastly from his past experiences with Lennie; this allows George to have a two-way relationship with Lennie, one that of a best friend, and another that of a parent. George feels a sense of duty and responsibility towards Lennie as a parent: Dont really seem to be running, though. You never oughta drink water when it aint running, Lennie. However, as the novel progresses George begins to realise what companionship is, we kinda look after each other, now this role simply makes George feel different from the rest of the ranch hands as it entitles him to a status. Nevertheless, George still recognises that he is still lonely, despite having a companion, it may be more discrete than others may, but he is still lonely. George and Lennie do not interact on an intellectual level; Slim describes George as a smart little guy, where as Lennie is described by George as dumb as hell; therefore the comparison on their intellect is eminent. At times George thinks he is talking to himself, as Lennie never really responds to his questions. Therefore Lennie can never really understand George emotionally or physically. George seeks comfort by the companionship with Lennie, they both look out for each other: Guys like us, that work on ranches, are the loneliest guys in the world Lennie broke in. But not us! Becausebecause I got you to look after me, And you got me to look after you, and thats why. George relies on his companionship with Lennie to get through the unurturing and unfriendly environment of Soledad: its a lot nicer to go around with a guy you know George values and treasures his special relationship with Lennie, he loves him so much that he can even sacrifice him for Lennies own benefit. George also seeks comfort by his simple dream, he wants him and Lennie to have land of their own, and they want to be their own managers and look after each other until they grow old: Some day-were gonna get the jack together and were gonna have a little house and a couple of acreswhen it rains in the winter, well just say the hell with goin to work, and well build up a fire in the stove and set around it an listen to the rain comin down on the roof Georges dream, although extremely similar to Lennies, is probably more detailed and complicated. Lennie due to his child-like mentality only thinks as far as tendin the rabbits, whereas George assesses the situation by asking himself if they have got enough money, or when will they be able to achieve the dream, before accepting the dream to become reality. George had made it perfectly clear that the dream that he and Lennie share will only become successful if they both achieve it: I knowed wed never do her. He usta like to hear about it so much I got to thinking maybe we would. George realised that he just got carried away, he knew from the start that the dream was unattainable; all dreams are unattainable in Soledad, as it is such a disturbing environment. Curleys wife is possibly the loneliest of all characters in the novel, Of Mice and Men, throughout the beginning of the novel John Steinbeck gives the readers the impression that Curleys wife is a tart: She put her hands behind her back and leaned against the doorframe so that her body was thrown forward She is portrayed as tarty through her provocative appearance and flirtatious actions. John Steinbeck deliberately does not give her a name, she is only known as Curleys wife; therefore a possession of Curley. Curleys wife has been forced to recognise that her sexuality is the only weapon, the only thing that will ever get her noticed: She had full, rouged lips and wide-spaced eyes, heavily made up This is mainly the reason for why she is dressed in a sexually provocative manner throughout the novel. Curleys wifes complaints of loneliness are likely to be sincere, yet she presents them in a manipulative manner that reduces any sympathy for the character. Her craving for contact is immense, she is longing for someone to have a conversation with her: Why cant I talk to you? I never get to talk to nobody. I get awfully lonely. However, it seems that everyone is incapable of having a faithful conversation with her without it including any sexual content. John Steinbeck describes Curleys wife, as so desperate that to experience the true value of a relationship that she would do anything to obtain it: If anyone- a man or a woman- ever gave her a break- treated her like a person- she would be a slave to that person. Curleys wife is prepared to carry out any instructions, or meet any demands for anyone that would for once be able to trust her and become her friend, she would do it to such an extent that she would even follow them as if she was enslaved to them. Curleys wife has a different type of dream from George and Lennies; instead of having something to call her own, she wants fame, fortune and respect: Coulda been in the movies, an had clothes- all of them nice clothes like they wear. An I coulda sat in them big hotels, an had pitchers took of meBecause this guy says I was a natural. Curleys wifes dream allows her to escape from her tormenting controlled life and seek comfort from what in her point of view could have happened. Curleys wife is vulnerable, and innocent, she shows her humanity by consoling in Lennie. However, Curleys wife seems to have a deep regret that she did not take up either of the men on their offers: If Id went, I wouldnt be livin like this, you bet. Curleys wifes vulnerability shows the most at this point, she is so desperate to get away from her usual lifestyle that she takes the words of a complete stranger to be equivalent of that of a gospel: He says he was gonna put me in the movies. Says I was a natural. Curleys wifes dream was shattered when the letter that she was waiting for never came, coldly she blamed her mother, accusing her of stealing the letter. It is understandable that there never was going to be a letter, the men were just taking advantage of the poor innocent girl. Curleys wife married Curley on impulse; her hasty marriage to Curley proves to be a failed attempt to escape from her own spiral of loneliness, however, it is now that she has come to realise that what she did was immoral; she feels more trapped now then she ever did: I dont like Curley. He aint a nice fella. Curleys failure to satisfy his wife both emotionally and physically is another reason why Curleys wife is so lonely and has so much hatred built up towards him. When Lennie kills Curleys wife in Chapter 5, John Steinbeck offers the readers a disturbing image. He describes her with more life and vitality as a corpse than he did as a living character, her rouged cheeks and reddened lips now after her death give her the appearance of life. In death the meanness and the plannings and the discontent and the ache for attention have gone from her face. This represents John Steinbecks first concrete praise for Curleys wife; he writes for the first time that she appears pretty and simple, a more commendable character as a corpse than as a living human being, as she is not her manipulative self. Therefore, concluding that in a way, some may say that Curleys wife has achieved her dream as she won her innocence back. Loneliness is a major theme in the novel Of Mice and Men. It is only the two characters George and Lennie who stave of it by their relationship. However, the disadvantaged characters are the ones who suffer the most, it embitters Candy and Crooks, moreover, it kills Curleys wife. John Steinbeck describes loneliness as part of a human condition in this particular novel, it is something we as humans are born with leading it to be either something we fight or succumb to all our lives: Guys like us, that work on ranches, are the loneliest guys in the world Lennie broke in. But not us! Becausebecause I got you to look after me, And you got me to look after you, and thats why. However, throughout the novel John Steinbeck does not offer any answers to get rid of loneliness, it only shows how different characters deal with this problem differently.

The Nz Aviation Sector Tourism Essay

The Nz Aviation Sector Tourism Essay The NZ aviation sector has grown from strength-to-strength in the recent years. New Zealand has a very high involvement with the aviation industry than many other countries. The aviation industry over here is world-class and the kiwis are air minded too. This made the aviation business a large one. Moreover, from the past few years, the innovation and technology has allowed the aviation industry to grow significantly. anz.png Air NewZealand has a very special brand image among the New Zealanders and it is the sole largest airline in the country. The report is presented by Narendra Inti, a PG Dip Business student at UNITEC, Auckland. The first part (Part A) of the report speaks about the history of Air NewZealand and provides an overview about the Managing Team, the organizations mission-vision-values and the prime elements of the organizations existence. By identifying the key values, the report also focuses on the key strategic-elements of the organizational strategy that helped to establish the firm. Environmental scan, both at the micro and macro levels is included in the report. Environmental analysis would expose the issues that need to be addressed for a business to become successful. The report also emphasizes on those areas in business where commendable performance is required to forecast success. 2. INTRODUCTION The Air NewZealand originated as TEAL (Tasman Empire Airways Limited) in 1940. TEAL was a flying-boat organization operating between Australia and NZ. Later, in 1965 TEAL was completely owned by NZ government and took the new name as Air NewZealand. Though it was privatized largely in 1989, the majority stake was took over by the NZ government in 2001 after the tie up with Ansett (an Australian carrier company) failed miserably due to the financial issues that prompted to fold the operations of Ansett. The recent figures show that about 12.8 million passengers are carried annually by Air NewZealand. Currently, it operates on a mighty fleet that comprise of the Boeing-747, Boeing-767, Boeing-777 and an Airbus-A320 on the international routes. Air NewZealand also operates domestically with its regional subsidiaries: Air Nelson Eagle Airways Mount Cook-Airline Air NewZealand achieved the Airline of the Year awards for the years of 2010 and 2012. Air nz.jpg 2.1 COMPANY OVERVIEW Company name: Air New Zealand Limited Company Type: Public Company Size: 10,001+employees Industry: Air lines/ Aviation Website: http://www.airnewzealand.co.nz/ Registered Office Air New Zealand House185 Fanshawe Street, Auckland1010 NEW ZEALAND Stock-Exchange Listing NZX trading code: AIR ASX trading code: AIZ 2.2 Key People CHIEF-EXECUTIVE OFFICER: Rob Fyfe CEO DESIGNATE : Christopher Luxon DEPUTY CEO : Norm Thompson CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER : Rob McDonald GROUP GENERAL MANAGERS: Group General Manager Short-haul Airlines :   Bruce Parton Group General Manager People Technical Operations: Vanessa Stoddart General Manager Airline Operations and Safety : David Morgan General Manager Marketing and Communications : Mike Tod General Manager Strategy : Stephen Jones 2.3 OBJECTIVES The global economy has been facing a challenging environment due to the ongoing recession and this combined with a heavy competitive market has slowed down the economic activity. This has resulted in a great change in the peoples attitude towards the mode of travelling. The highly competitive market has compelled the organizations to deal more strategically. Present global economic crisis has limited the peoples ability to spend and so they look for something that is cost effective and at the same time very useful. The report mainly focuses on the strategic-foundations of Air NewZealand. Narendra Inti has conducted the PESTEL analysis as a part of the environmental scan while dealing with the macro-level analysis of the Air NewZealand followed by the Porters five frame-work to analyze at the micro level. The findings from the environmental scan are used to address the key level strategic issues and thereby help the organization to grow and be successful consistently. 3. STRATEGIC FOUNDATIONS 491591_orig.jpg CSL_mission2.png An organization comprises of the following strategic-foundations Mission Vision Strategy Values 3.1 THE MISSION Air_New_Zealand.png The tag line Worlds warmest welcome clearly suggests that Air NewZealand is committed to provide the best service to the people and that is what they have been doing since their inception. About 13 million people all around fly on Air NewZealand , annually. It could happen only because of the warmest service they have been providing and this is what is differentiating Air NewZealand from the other airlines. The commitment towards their mission Worlds warmest welcome has fetched them international acclaim. It is not just the kiwis who love to enjoy the service of this airlines, also people from many other countries do. Apart from the best airlines award for the years of 2010 and 2012, it has been continually winning Best Passenger-Service Award presented by ATWMA (Air-Transport World  magazine-award). 3.2 THE VISION Vision of Air NewZealand: Air NewZealand will strive to be number one in every market we serve by creating a workplace where teams are committed to our customers in a distinctively New Zealand way, resulting in superior industry returns. Values 3.2.1 PROVIDING THE BEST SERVICE Air NewZealands approach towards the customers begins by knowing the customers need. They enquire its customer where they are traveling and how many people, why when, and what is that they value during the journey. This helps them to decide the network and their schedule; and the service and process is tailored to match needs of the customer during the journey. Every employee of Air NewZealand commits himself to make-a-difference to their customers and their business. 3.2.2 COMMUNITY SUPPORT Air NewZealand is the top sponsor of most of the major events conducted in New Zealand. It holds a record for sponsoring a lot of groups and supporting many charities by donating huge amounts and providing travel assistance. 3.2.3 EnvironmentAL CARE Air NewZealand is highly dedicated to minimize the aviations impact on the environment. ANZET (Air NewZealand Environment-Trust) has been making donations to support the development for conservation the research projects in NZ. 3.2.4 Customers AIRLINE They value their customers and that has made them the customers choice. They constantly study about peoples changing tastes and give top priority to the customers needs. That is the reason their quality in service has been always above the customers expectations. 3.3 KEY ELEMENTS OF PLANNED STRATEGIC DIRECTIONS Air NewZealand want to build a competitive advantage in their businesses with the help of its employees innovation and creativity. Air NewZealand is highly committed to champion and also promote NZ and kiwis, business and the culture both at home and abroad. They believe in teamwork and its great committed team aiming for the growth of its organization and vitality of New Zealand. Air NewZealand wants to always be the customers choice of airline, when people travel to/from or within NZ. 4. ENVIRONMENTAL SCAN The Environmental scanning helps to find out current or forthcoming changes because it thoroughly focuses on those areas the organization might have neglected previously. So there are 6 elements/segments of the generic environment that has its effect on an organization. The impact caused due to these segments differs from organization to organization. The organization need to mainly concentrate on researching, monitoring, reporting and analyzing the data. The resultant findings of this analysis can be used as the tools that convert uncertainty into strategy (Aaker, David, Michael and Mills, 2005). 4.1 MACRO ANALYSIS Business environment surrounding an organization comprises of external influences which affects an organizations decisions and its performance. So the PESTEL analysis provides a methodological approach to find out and analyze those macro environmental segments that could affect the strategies involved in business, and also helps to forecast how these factors might influence the performance of the business in the current and future scenarios. The environmental study starts with the study of six factors of the PESTEL analysis. The six factors are interrelated to each other and each factor cannot be viewed as a unique one. During the analysis one need to take in to consideration a lot of macro-environmental-factors so that the strategic process of policy formulation can be more useful to the current and future scenarios. The factors discussed below gives an insight for the strategy makers as to what to incorporate in the organization strategy to make it efficient and those environmental factors that are very essence of a business strategy. According to their organization needs, the strategy makers need to assess other factors too that could have the potential to influence the organizations output, which is not mentioned below. Therefore the mantra is to concentrate on the key factors that need to be addressed in order to be successful. (Grant, 2010) pestlee.png 4.1.1 POLITICAL factors Political factors can have either a positive or a negative impact on a business and that pure depends on the current scenario in a country .So, understanding and monitoring the political environment is very crucial for every business because this factor can significantly affect any business. Some key questions that are a part of the political environment which the strategy makers need to find the answers before proceeding further are: whether the government is stable?, what type of a government is it?, what type of economic policy do they have?, What type of trade policies the government has?, what are the Diplomatic proceedings in the neighboring countries?. Once the strategy makers get the answers for the above questions, they need to incorporate the findings in the strategy making process and this helps them to forecast the future. Almost 74% of the stake of Air NewZealand being owned by the NZ government, there seems to be no trouble for Air NewZealand from the political front as for as New Zealand is considered. Moreover policies were framed to benefit the organization since the NZ government strongly believed that it is something related to the integrity of the nation. But the organization needs to constantly monitor and adapt to the policies of the overseas governments as the policies, taxes and regulations change very frequently. ECONOMIC factors The economic factors which can affect a business and the factors that need to be considered are: demand for service or goods, regulation, interest and the inflation rates, access to the credit and un-employment proportion. The above mentioned factors can directly affect the market competition, demand and the supply. Though the global economy is gloomy, the local economic conditions in New Zealand are far better than many other developed countries. The major areas like Australia, Singapore and Gulf countries where Air NewZealand flees to and from are also in good shape economically. So there are no concerns as of now for Air NewZealand in this segment. 4.1.3 SOCIAL factors Social factors are very crucial and they can play a key role in influencing a business. Social factors include several components like lifestyle, trends, wealth distribution among the people and ethnicity. Human beings are social animals and so the social factors that influence are interrelated to peoples culture, opinions and changing tastes. The Air NewZealand is very good at marketing themselves in a way that appeals to the people. They focus on diverse cultures and that can been seen in their service, which address and values the culture. To give an example, during the recent rugby world cup few planes were painted in black to support the All Blacks rugby team of NZ. This clearly shows that they give a lot of importance to incorporate the social factors in the strategy making process. Also the way Air NewZealand staff address the people of different cultures is another classic example too. 4.1.4 TECHNOLOGICAL factors Businesses should continually implement new technologies to give the best service in the market. Companies with good vision look out for the best technologies that are apt for their business and implement those technologies to take an advantage in the market. Air NewZealand is very good in terms of implementing new technology. As their company vision states, they always strive to provide competitive advantage blended with creativity and innovation. When few airlines are still with old technology in the seating facilitiesetc, Air NewZealand constantly monitors the technology advancements and updates them regularly to their services. 4.1.5 DEMOGRAPHIC factors New Zealand is a place of great ethnic mix. People from all over the world have come and settled here. Every year there is a great increase in young generation pouring from all the over the world for good study and job opportunities over here. This is a great advantage for the Air NewZealand as the immigrants fly to home countries very frequently. This is also a reason that boosted up the Air New Zealand business. 4.1.6 Legal factors The legal factors include the regulations of employment, health, safety and service. Air NewZealand has to abide by the New Zealand Civil Aviation Act 1990. 4.2 MICRO ANALYSIS The micro-environment involves organizations/individuals that are dealt by the firms regularly. Stakeholders groups in business viz. suppliers, competitors, distributors, employees and customers come under the micro-environment. All the stakeholder groups can show their impact on a firm directly. Managers need to often interact with the stakeholders since their decisions have direct impact on the business. Therefore the micro-environmental factors play a critical role in organizations behavior and success. Many frameworks and models are recommended to analyze an organizations micro-environment where it operates. Porters Five Forces Of Competition Framework In 1979, Michael.E.Porter, a professor from Harvard Business School proposed a frame-work known as Porter Five Frame-Work. This framework was very useful for business strategy-development and for the ongoing industrial-analysis. These five forces are useful to analyze the competition in a given environment of the market and help to improve the strategy (Michael, Duane, and Robert, 2005). The forces of Porters five framework are based on the S-C-P paradigm (structure and conduct performance) in organizational-economics. This can be applied to diverse scenarios and different range of problems and thereby help the businesses to be more profitable (Porter, 1979). D:AUT SEM 2SMAssignmentporters_five_forces.png The five forces were referred as micro-environment by Michael E.Porter. The micro-environment consists of the forces that are close to the organization which can affect the ability of an organization to serve the customers and its profitability. Firms would be able to apply its core competencies, network or the business model to gain profits over industry average. 4.2.1. Bargaining power of suppliers The term suppliers can be referred to all the sources of input required to provide the goods or the services. A service industry needs infrastructure, labor and the other supplies. This requirement has lead to supplier-buyer relationship between the firm that provides material and the industry that provides goods or services. If the suppliers are powerful, they could exert influence on the industry that provides goods or services, by selling the material at very high prices with an intention to capture the industrys profit. Supplier bargaining-power could be high in the following scenarios: If the market is completely dominated by very few giant suppliers. If there are no substitutes for those products. If the buyers are fragmented, the bargaining power would be low. Sometimes switching to a different supplier could cost more. In the case of airlines, are there several-buyers and few principal-suppliers? Yes, in the case of airline industry there are many buyers like Air NewZealand and only two suppliers viz Boeing and Airbus. So the power is in the hands of those two suppliers. Is the suppliers brand image strong? Yes, Boeing and Airbus have a very strong brand image and they are the only suppliers of aircrafts for many airline service providers like Air NewZealand. Can the suppliers raise prices? Suppliers have all the power to increase their prices, but currently they might not do so as the airline industry is struggling with low profits due to heavy competition. Can the suppliers find new customers? Yes, it is easy to find new customers but not many are jumping into this sector so easily. 4.2.2 Bargaining power of buyers The buyer bargaining power of Porters five forces refers to the consumers pressure in-order to get the better quality service and lower prices. According to the Porters framework of industry analysis, buyer bargaining power is one among the five forces that shape the structure of a completion in an industry. The main idea here is buyer bargaining-power in any given industry affects the competitive-environment for the seller and thus influencing the sellers profitability. If the buyers are strong, they could pressure the sellers to improve quality of the product, provide more services and to reduce the prices. Buyers play a key role in creating demand in an industry. Are there very few leading-buyers and many sellers in airline industry? The entire population of New Zealand and other users from many different countries form the customer base and this is too high when compared to airlines operating. Are the services standardized? Yes. The customers demand a wide range of high quality services at low prices. Are the buyers forced to be tough? No. Is it easy for the buyers to switch their suppliers? Yes. There are many airlines operating currently and so the customer can easily switch if they find that they are not getting what they prefer from the current airlines. 4.2.3 Threat of NEW ENTRANTS The new entrants can be referred to the new firms that pop in and emerge in any given industry and thereby giving a tough competition to the existing already established firm. New entrants cannot actually compete on equivalent terms on the already established and recognized firms. There are many risk factors involved that need to be considered by the new entrants. There is minimum scope for the new entrants to come up on a large scale. The three main barriers for a new entrant are brand loyalty, economies-of-scale and absolute-cost-advantages (Hill and et al, 2007). Going by the current scenario, it is not so easy for the new entrants to survive in an airline industry, because this particular industry is very congested and has very high entry barriers. Moreover airline industry is less attractive due to high initial investment required and very less profits to gain. So there is no threat of new entrants to Air NewZealand. 4.2.4 Threat of substituteS The substitute refers to the alternatives that are available in the market to the buyers. The alternatives that are available for the customers are referred to as substitutes. Speaking in context to airlines, alternative transport methods like roadways, railways and waterways can be a threat to domestic airlines as a train or ship can be used for leisurely travel purpose. But still airlines secure the position of fastest mode of transport and it would continue its dominance in the international market of transport. 4.2.5 RIVALRY BETWEEN ESTABLISHED COMPETITORS The business that is providing similar services or goods is referred to as rival. It exists if there are more many firms in a market. These firms constantly try to capture the markets of the other firms to better their position and get an edge over the others. Normally the competition is on the product basis, cost, customer service and promotional campaigning to achieve a better place in the market. This force gives a clear idea about the competition intensity between the current players in the market. High competition results in lowering the prices margins and this affects the profitability of every single firm in the industry. Though Trans Tasman market zone in airlines is completely dominated by Air NewZealand and Qantas, other competitors like Virgin Blue and Emirates play a vital role in determining the prices in the market. Competition and intensity of rivalry in airline industry is likely to be high when the following happens: Competition Structure The rivalry would be more when it has small sized competitors vice versa when there is single largest market leader. Strategic objectives The competition increases if the competitors take up fierce growth plans. It would be a different scenario if they only aim for the profits. In the airline industry, the competition is more focused on advertising, pricing structure and customer satisfaction. The main competitors of Air NewZealand are listed below: Qantas Airways its subsidiary Jetstar Airlines Virgin Australia Airlines Emirates Airlines 5. KEY STRATEGIC ISSUES The aviation industry has seen drastic changes from the recent past. Airlines have become very competitive as the airlines are more focused on capturing the market share of the others. As far as the Trans Tasman zone is considered, the environment for aviation is in good shape. Understanding The Markets and Customers To survive and effectively compete in the aviation sector it is essential for the airlines to understand the market and the changing tastes of the customers. Airlines can retain a customer only if they provide the best in their service. So retaining has become one of the key issues for airlines. Therefore, Air NewZealand should constantly check their SLs, frequentness and connectivity. They should constantly survey and update accordingly to meet the customer taste and expectations. Increasing use of loyalty marketing A concept that aims to encourage the customers to use a product or service frequently by instilling a loyalty sense in them is called loyalty marketing. There are various loyalty program adapted by the airlines. Air NewZealand provides a frequent-flyer loyalty program that gives a chance for the customers to win points during their trips. Once the customer has sufficient points, he could redeem them in order to avail some free benefits. re-align procurement strategies Recession has taught many good lessons. It has clearly shown how trends could become volatile. The current global economic crisis has urged the aviation industry to realign the procurement-strategy. Therefore it is very necessary for Air NewZealaand to establish an efficient strategy and procurement system in order to succeed in any uncertain conditions and be successful. 6. CONCLUSION Aviation industry is a very hi-fi industry. Air NewZealand has to make sure that their staff is providing the WOW factor in their service that a customer would always expect. They need to strategically plan all their moves and should always strive to provide the best market rates and the best service in the market. Air NewZealand has been constantly receiving aviation industry awards for its operations and it has got excellent honor of services. It enjoys a giant 52 % of total market share in the Trans Tasman aviation zone. Therefore Air NewZealand should always strive to be the best by providing the best.

Technological Advances vs. Human Values in Slaughterhouse-Five and Waiting for Godot :: comparison compare contrast essays

Technological Advances vs. Human Values Technological advances occur all around, whizzing by, while human values change little and at a much slower pace. Commercially bottled water stands as just one of a sundry of items that human technology has conjured up over the years. It seems as though the average person can not go through a day without seeing a symbol of this phenomenon, whether it is a vending machine, an empty container lying in the gutter, or a person clutching a plastic bottle in their hand. Also an ever-present technological advance is the cellular phone, "can you here me now?" It is almost a guarantee that during the course of a class period, a ringtone or the buzzing of the vibrating mode will shake the air. Human nature exists right along side its technology. Kurt Vonnegut and Samuel Beckett use their writings to illustrate what needs to be a part of human existence besides human values and technology. For all of the newfangled contributions to the modernization of human civilization, the values that humans live by have not progressed quite as swiftly. Technological advances occur all around, whizzing by, wh ile human values change little and at a much slower pace. Billy Pilgrim, Kurt Vonnegut's main Slaughterhouse-Five character, rode through life on one of those moving sidewalk, conveyer belt contraptions. He did not make any special efforts to enhance his situation. If one were to cut and paste the novel so that the story of Billy Pilgrim's life went in chronological order, it would become apparent that he merely lived his life. The world still moved around him, war, fire-bombing, the progression of the television set, but Billy took a passive role in his own existence. Billy Pilgrim stays the same humdrum being his entire life. Vonnegut used the repetition of Billy's life and phrases such as "Somewhere a big dig barked" to exhibit how some things just do not change (168). He points out that the people in the novel "are so sick and so much the listless playthings of enormous forces" (164). Billy knows that he is going to die anyway, regardless of what he does or does not do, and he plainly wants to remain unscathed during his jour ney. Vonnegut used this publication as a vehicle to show that it is not enough to live a life to its end, the approach that Billy employed.

The Relationship Between Pressure Groups and the News Media :: The Mass Media and Environmental Issues

Nowadays, it is comprehensible to hear that crowded citizens flourished on the street or gathered in front of the official government in order to advocacy their appeals towards government or pressing the ‘sluggish’ government. These phenomenons could be identified by social activities lead by pressure group and as the forms of expressing public opinion ( Grant, 1999:4). However, news media also reveals similar functions with pressure groups by attracting public attention and raising public awareness on certain issues, even influencing government’s decision on a great extent. This essay will mainly focus on analysising how pressure groups successfully utilize and affect news media in terms of enhancing the public attention to their campaigns which accompany with a few negative examples of pressure groups about misues news media. Besides, this essay will critically argue about the relationship between pressure groups and news media; some techniques exerted by pressure groups in media area and how news media reacted to pressure groups. There are several types of pressure groups existing in current society which they possess different values and aims. In details, causes groups may eager to set up certain debates in political agenda and expected to receive effectual political action (Grant, 2000, P126); sectional groups might need to attract public attention to their problems but sometimes they prevent public attention in order to conducted via au fait consultative channels (Grant, 2000, P126); interest groups which easily to understand in its literal meanings used to upgrade their interest in political agenda by utilizing media (Grant, 2000, P127). Therefore, certain pressure groups require higher level of media assistance compared with others. Furthermore, despite of pressure groups relate to political agenda, environmental groups have established long-history relationship with news media that could be identified by large amount of environmental articles in media coverage (Hansen, 1993, P5). In details, mo st well-known environmental groups employed rich experience staff; those workers involved in making environmental news before or providing environmental information to journalists that will guarantee their campaign issues are similar or familiar with favourable news coverage (Hansen, 1993, P5). However, environmental groups are taken significant advantages in news coverage compared with other pressure groups due to the environmental news are more mediagenic and equivalent to news criteria (Hansen, 1993, P5). Despite of the pressure groups require news media at a variety level, different form of news media might present diverse effects depends on its functions and targeted audiences.

Keats’ Fear and Tichborne’s Acceptance: Death Essay -- Poetry Analysis

Death is inevitable. Chidiock Tichborne and John Keats in their poems â€Å"Tichborne’s Elegy† and â€Å"When I have fears that I may cease to be† convey death in opposite ways. Tichborne through his poetic style, shows an acceptance of his death, as a result of reflecting on a life fulfilled, but unrecognized. While Keats, expresses a fear of death, where he contemplates that he will not be able to experience love or fame. Both these poets have lead lives that varied from each other in ways that are most revealed through their use of form, metaphors, repetition, punctuation and rhyme schemes. Moreover, both poets express and explore deep rooted human emotions such as, nostalgia, pain, love and a feeling of insatiability. Although â€Å"Tichborne’s Elegy† and â€Å"When I have fears that I may cease to be† share a common theme because each speaker contemplates the inevitability of his death, their perceptions differ mainly as a result of thei r circumstances. John Keats explores his fear of death in â€Å"When I have fears that I may cease to be† in the form of a Shakespearean Sonnet. The poem contains three quatrains that interlock his primary fears together, leading to a couplet that expresses his remedy and final thoughts. His primary fears are expressed with respect to the abab cdcd efef gg rhyme scheme of the Shakespearean Sonnet, with each fear contained in each rhyming quatrain. His first fear, in the first quatrain is dying without living up to his full potential as a writer, when he states, â€Å"Before my pen has glean’d my teeming brain†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (2). This line indicates that he has not expressed through his pen, all that is on his mind, and leads into the second quatrain with the use of a semicolon which suggests that the next part of the poem is connecte... ...eats as well, when he refers to â€Å"†¦the shore of the wide world†¦Ã¢â‚¬  it symbolizes the world of his experiences, which he ponders on. It is only by deeper inspection of these symbols can a clear idea of what the poets are expressing be understood. By comparing both these poems, it is evident that although death is the focus of both these poems, Tichborne has accepted it, while Keats fears it, but has found a way to resolve his fears. Works Cited " Hatzitsinidou , Evangelia . "Fates(Moirae)-the spinners of the thread of life." Greek-Gods.Info- Greek Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Greece. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Oct. 2010. . Vendler, Helen. "The Poem as Life, The Poems as Arranged Life." Poems, Poets, Poetry: An Introduction and Anthology. Third Edition ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2009. 18,68. Print.

Saatchi

Now the world has changed in terms of media proliferation and, ultimately, choice. The consumer's in charge now. † So what exactly are Lovers? According to the website a Alveolar is a brand that is infused with three ingredients: Mystery, Sensuality and Intimacy. So far, so intangible (and quite confusing). But once Anastasia explains the concept it becomes almost childishly simple. â€Å"Lovers isn't some theoretical science that dazzles with the complexities – it's based on a very simple premise: We are emotional beings. There's a quote by (neurologist Donald]Canine that we sometimes refer to: â€Å"The essential deference between emotion and reason Is that emotion leads to action while reason leads to conclusions. â€Å"† The consumer purchasing the product Is, of course, the action that every manufacturer or service provider wants. So the fundamental questions remain: What is the best way to achieve this? And who are the best examples? â€Å"Globally there are lots! Harley- Davidson, Apple, Struck, Coke are just a few. People change their lifestyles for Harley, they become weekend warriors – it takes them away from themselves.And actually Harley isn't faster or technologically better than the other guys but it taps into deep emotional territory and that's what Lovers are about. They don't talk about ‘we're faster' or ‘our detergents wash brighter' and all those traditional ways of marketing, it's on a much more round Twelve years ago Stating & Stating global chief executive Kevin Roberts drew back the curtain on the latest phase toward successful consumer marketing, opening the world's eyes to a very contemporary phenomenon. He called -?Lovers: The â€Å"Lovers isn't some theoretical science that dazzles with the came. Sixties – it s based on Avery simple premise: We are emotional beings. † personal level. It's an understanding of what's important to people and what they care about. † â€Å"Look at Apple; whether it's piccolos or imams they tap into something that's much more sensual, it's a desire you want to have an Imax – as a creative person it's the currency, if you don't have one there's something wrong. Take ‘Pods, people can argue until they're blue in the face that a competitor is faster, better, cheaper, lasts longer, has more memory – I know all that but it doesn't matter, I still onto give up my pod. â€Å"Struck is into sensuality and intimacy. They've marketed themselves as ‘The Third Place'; there's Home, there's Work and there's Struck, Now, other people might say ‘but look, we have better coffee', but that's not really the point. People don't Just go there for the -? coffee, people go there' _†, for the an ideal example of how tapping into consumers emotionally is paying off. The mark is the market leader by sales and is enjoying double-digit growth year-on-year.Rather than focusing the campaign on the ‘dry' asp ect of the nappy the team shifted attention to how it helps babies to develop, â€Å"It's about understanding what's important to the people who are buying Pampers. Kids' brains process the day in thriftless, SO a good night is hugely important to a baby's development, So the nappies have been improved for comfort and dryness to allow the baby to get the best night's sleep: When you explain development to a mother and you talk about how important a good night's sleep is for their child, 49 then they get it.When they understand that, there's way Tanat tannery to going to do what's best for their kid. † Such seemingly small step represents a fundamental shift in the way products are presented to the public. It is no longer a matter of what is being offered, but rather how it will directly affect the purchaser's lifestyle. It is a concept that is catching on in boardrooms worldwide, according to Anastasia sees are among the first to see the benefits – it is only in the co mpany marketing departments that it meets resistance: â€Å"Lovers is to the consumer the notion of loyalty beyond reason.If you have that you resented with the sheer amount of choice on offer, whether on satellite television, terrestrial radio or the internet. â€Å"It's easier to market to people than to connect with people,† he explains, â€Å"but in the attraction economy you have to inspire, motivate, connect with – and these are words that you don't normally use as marketers. You need a big idea that people can engage with and they come from deep insights. † Getting to this stage does require some groundwork, Anastasia admits that before brands can become Lovers they have to already benefit from consumers' respect.Some companies can build that up quickly but it normally does take time. â€Å"Take Coke for example, that's a Lovers. If you take a generic brand off the shelves people will Just switch to another, but if you take a Alveolar off the shelves th ey'll revolt! They'll say -?you can't do that, that's MY brand†. When Coke changed their recipe there's was an uproar, they were forced to change it back because the public wouldn't accept their ‘messing about' with ‘their' brand. † Regionally Middle Eastern companies have benefited greatly from the dynamism of global companies arriving on the scene.Homegrown brands such as Emirates and can charge premium prices; pods are a premium, Harley charge a premium. So there's a business case for it; people are prepared to pay if they can make a connection to ten product. Ana tannery nappy to Decease teen see Tanat there's value to it, they'd be worried if it was cheaper. There are whole studies that show that Alveolar brands offer greater returns. † So why aren't all companies' marketing strategies being transferred by this revolution? Well, in order to gauge exactly how different products are received, research methods have to undergo a horrors change.As Anast asia puts it you have to -?go from the zoo to the Jungle. † Rather than convening focus groups into sterile boardrooms to canvas opinions, researchers have to venture into people's homes and work-places. Reliance on the traditional ‘media schedule target group' philosophy fades almost into insignificance when So why aren't all companies' marketing strategies being transformed? Well, in order to gauge exactly how different products are received, research methods have to undergo a thorough change. As Anastasia puts it you have to â€Å"go from the zoo to he Jungle.

Human Resource department of Thorpe Park Essay

Introduction: This report written on the 16th of October 2002 is to give a detailed report about the Human Resource department of a company. For this purpose, Thorpe Park has been selected as the study company. Task 1-Human Resource function: Introduction: ‘Human Resource means using people as an asset to achieve the company’s goals and objectives.’ The main concerns of the human resource department are: > Planning a successful campaign > Equal opportunities to all > The contract terms and conditions > Training and investing in training > Personal records and its protection > Grievance and disciplinary procedures > Management of the employees > Rewards for work > Welfare of the employees Findings: 1.1 The Human Resource department The human resources department at Thorpe Park has three different managers. Their structure and main functions are as follows: 1. Recruitment manager The recruitment manager at Thorpe Park is responsible for recruiting permanent and seasonal staff. The manager has to advertise the jobs on the local press and other appropriate places. The manager at Thorpe Park is also responsible for deciding work experience positions and other recruiting responsibilities. 2. Training manager The training manager at Thorpe Park is responsible for employees and their training. The major activities of the training manager at Thorpe Park are as follows: > Park structure – this is helpful for the staff as it gets them to know each other and their responsibilities. > Health and safety – to make sure that all employees know what to do and how to handle things in an emergency > Rules and regulations – all employees must know the company rules and regulations as it is required by law and helps the business achieve the objectives. > Role-play situation – helps employees to be able to do team work and support their team mates > Fire safety – show fire exits and fire extinguishers and where to meet and who to call if a fire alarm sounds > Emergency procedures – shows the employees what to do in case of emergency 3. Human resource manager H.R. manager at Thorpe Park is responsible for: > Employee relations – involves everything regarding relation and communication between the employees > Disciplinary procedures – if employees do not behave H.R. manager will provide them with a verbal warning and if repeated that will be followed by the written and then the final warning. > Contracts of employment – making sure all the employees are provided with this legal document > Pensions – paying pension to people that are entitle to it > Other sections this manager is responsible for are: administration, cast welfare, benefits incentives. The above stated managers are very essential to the management of Thorpe Park in the following ways: 1. Recruitment Recruitment responsibility at Thorpe Park is important because if there is not enough staff recruited then the business may have to some of its rides and that will lint to unhappy customers and less profit for the business. As we know staffs is the most expensive asset for all businesses, at Thorpe Park the recruitment managers have to make sure that the staff that they employ are well qualified and fit to the requirements that are necessary for the particular job. 2. Training Because of the nature of the business at Thorpe Park, training is a part and parcel of the new employed staff. The business has to make sure that the employees do know as to what they are doing and what are the necessary precautions to be taken while performing that job. Apart from this, they also have to take care of the health and safety of the people who come to enjoy there. The training manager therefore has to make sure that the money spent on the training of the staff is worth it. 3. Human resources Task 2 Introduction: Human resources planning used to be called manpower planning. However recently it has been defined as ‘the activity of management which is aimed at co-ordinating the requirements for the availability of different types of employees’. The reasons for human resource planning are as follows: * To encourage employers to develop clear links between their business plans and their HR plans so that they can integrate the two more effectively, for all concerned. * Organisations can control staff costs and numbers employed far more effectively. * Employers can build up a skill profile for each of their employees. This makes it easier to give them work where they are most value to the organisation. * It creates a profile of staff, which is necessary for the operation of an equal opportunities policy. The process of human resource planning: * Stocktaking: This could be job analysis or skills audit. That is like a survey of the skills of employees. Performance reviews as if a 6 months review which tells employees about the progress in their work area. * Forecasting supply: This is as if estimating how many employees to have in the future. Many organizations use a technique called labour turnover. There are three ways to calculate this 1. Annual labour turnover index, 2. Stability index 3. Bowey’s stability index. * Forecasting the demand for labour: This is usually determined by predicating factors like, demand for products, product diversification and capital investment plans. * Implementation and review: This is as if accessing the situation e.g. they have the new recruitment plan been successful. Findings: 2.1.1. Employment Trends: Employment trends depend on the supply and demand of labour. The supply of labour depends on statistics like the population of the country. The total population of the UK depends on factors such as birth and death rates and the ease of migration. In addition, the size of the working population affects employment trends. The size of the working population is contributed by the birth and death rates and the age structure. The supply of labour also depends on the working populations preferences for leisure. As people become wealthy, they prefer leisure for work. The demand for labour levels can change with differences in demand for goods and services. An example of this is the leisure and cleaning industry has gone up but the service and manufacturing demand has gone down. Here is an example of this in the economic market. In a boom we spend more on goods and services, although our interest is a lot lower and therefore demand increases and unemployment is low, but in an economic slump interest rates rise therefore people have less income to spend and wages go down. In addition, the cost of borrowing is higher this all contributes to demand falling and high unemployment. Total wage bills rise in a boom and fall in a slump. Another factor that affects employment trends is women’s participation rate in employment. The rise of the tertiary sector has meant a change in employment and employment patterns. The tertiary sector is now more important than the secondary sector which traditionally employed man in say manufacturing. These industries are now being replaced and their place has been taken by the service industries, for example banking, insurance and retailing. The service industries are now major employers of women. What are the employment trends at Thorpe Park? Most employees are recruited from the local area but also from colleges and universities around the country these are student placements and some seasonal; cast come from aboard. What have been the trends in the local area of Thorpe Park over the last 5 years in terms of employment trends? There has been low unemployment Thorpe Park has tackled this by increasing hourly rates. What factors will affect Thorpe Park in the future? Most probably, national trends an example of this there might be a recession and unemployment might increase. Statistics on employment trends external To Thorpe Park Length of service of employees: * Since 1986 the length of service of people at a particular place for 2 years – 20 years was 62%. This figure kept decreasing and in the year 2001 it reached to 56%. * On the other hand people working in a particular place for more than 20 years in 1986 was 9%. Surprisingly this figure increased to 11% in the year 2001. On observing the above stated figure it shows that the latest unemployment numbers for November 2002 to January 2003 continue to suggest that, having been rising for around a year, unemployment is now falling. The unemployment rate at 5.0 per cent is down 0.2 percentage points on the quarter. The latest figure for the level of unemployment is down 73,000 on the quarter to stand at 1.459 million Similarly, on observing the above figure it can be seen that the employment rate continues on an upward trend. Having been rising marginally over the past year, there are low signs that unemployment may be falling, though the decline in the numbers claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance appears to be levelling off. The rate of earnings growth remains subdued. Generally, data are consistent with the output growth shown in gross domestic product (GDP) data in 2002. Overall, the labour market remains largely flat. The rate of GDP growth picked up in the second quarter of 2002 after a weak first quarter, and this stronger growth appears to have continued into the third. The fourth quarter experienced slower growth but was still healthy. The number of people in employment continued to grow steadily throughout the period. Nevertheless, while employment continued to grow, through most of last year the rate of increase was no more than in line with population growth, leaving the trend in employment largely flat from May-July 2001 until recent months. However, the stronger GDP growth seen in the second and third quarters does now appear to be showing up in the employment data. Underlying this is the fact that the labour market tends to lag output: output slows or accelerates first; employment levels adjust later. The latest employment figures for November to January show the working-age employment rate up 0.1-percentage point on the quarter at 74.6 per cent. The 16 and over employment level is up 57 ,000 on the quarter (compared with a 271,000 increase on the year). As a result, the latest trend in the employment rate appears to be upward. 2.1.2 Skills shortages Skills shortage at Thorpe Park: * It seems to be that the entire United Kingdom has a shortage of specialist engineers. * This type of shortage has hit Thorpe Park very hard. * Electrical and mechanical engineers are in short supply and Thorpe Park is looking out by various means to find some. * Thorpe Park reckons that this problem could be resolved because large companies like the airlines make their employees redundant quickly. * Thorpe Park always keeps an eye on the national statistics at a monthly basis to see the latest local labour trends. * They cannot afford to miss out ant potential engineers because engineers are the heart and soul of the company. As they are the ones who form the rides and maintain them for our safety. * But they do find it difficult to recruit staff and at times they have to recruit unsuitable staff and train them. * The company gets highly affected by this, as it has to face many cost implications such as advertising and re-advertising of vacancies. * They then have to train them or send them on apprenticeships to become better and much efficient engineers. * At times they even have to increase their pays to attract them and retain them. 2.1.3 Statistics on Competition for employees external To Thorpe Park Unemployment rates for males and females in the UK Here are some statistics on the unemployment rate for females and males in the UK from the period of 1992 to 2001 A higher proportion of young people than older people are unemployed, and a higher proportion of men are employed than women. 16-17 year olds men who were economically active were 13% unemployed. If you look at a male and female unemployment graph, you can see that 16 – 17 year old males are more out of work than the males. Education has a big factor in this because most people of that age are in colleges. The unemployment rate is again lower for females in the 18-24-age bracket. Still the unemployment rate is lower for females than men in the 25-44-age bracket. Overall the graph shows a lower unemployment rate for females. This is probably due to most females still stay at home. So what would be the level of competition for various types of employment within Thorpe Park? Thorpe Park fined it easiest to fill rides, attractions and shop vacancies then they do catering. 2.1.4 availability of labour (internal and external to the business) What is the availability of labour externally to Thorpe Park? There are restrictions of skills and abilities. If there is a particular skill required for an occupation then the worker will be rewarded with high wages as, for example an engineer. Qualifications and training is required some occupations require people to have specific academic qualifications which can only be achieved over along period of time. The strength of trade unions to negotiate wage levels will depend upon their ability to recruit members. Some occupations are difficult to organize as, for instance, the catering industry. In this industry trade unions have little influence compared with those unions operating in the energy supply industry. Mobility of labour if the labour is immobile it means that in those occupations where there is a skill shortage workers are able to command high wages because the supply of labour is limited. Dirty or dangerous jobs – the supply of labour in some jobs is restricted because of the nature of the job; it might be dirty or dangerous such as coal mining. On the other hand some jobs have very good working conditions and attract labour which keep down wages. What is the availability of labour within the local area and also internally within Thorpe Park for various types of employment? The local area has a 0.6% unemployment level. The workforce is flexible – permanent and seasonal. The labour force by gender and age: Females: * There was a considerable rise in the number of women in the labour force over the last 30 years from 10 million in 1971 to 13.2 million in 2001 i.e. by nearly 24.2%. * Women in the age group of 16years to 24 years started concentrating more on education because of which females in this age group had a low labour force particularly between 1991 and 2001. * On the other hand, females in the age group of 25-44 years had a remarkable increased labour force between 1971 and 2001. However, later the figures remained more or less constant. * Females in the age group of 45-54 years had an increase in labour force between 1991 and 2001. * The females 55 years and over had the figures more or less constant throughout. Males: * The number of men in the labour force has increased much slowly from 16.0 million in 1971 to 16.3 million in 2001. * Men aged over 55 years formed only 13% of the male labour force in 2001 compared to 21% in 1971. * However, the labour force of males between the age group of 25-44 years has increased drastically. * Males in the age group of 45-54 years have increased their force in the labour market between 1991 and 2001. 2.2 Collect internal staffing information about Thorpe Park 2.2.1 Labour turnover The labour turnover is not available the end of November 2001 because the termination of seasonal contracts will be complete at this time. 2.2.2 Labour Turnover (wastage Rate) Dismissals 26/1000 correct at 31.08.01. 2.2.3 Sickness Rates For 2000 2394 seasonal sickness absence Months over 100 April, May, September, October Months over 150 June, July, August Days over 100 Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday Days over 150 Sunday, Saturday 2.2.4 Accidents Rates Unfortunately Thorpe Park would not give us any statistics on accidents rates. 2.2.5 Age demographics The general age rates for various jobs are 89% are 16-24 years of age. 2.2.6 Skills acquired and skills needed The skills and training that are required are: Training: Induction training for all staff and departmental training. Skills: First Aiders only need specific skills. 2.2.7 Training undertaken and training required What is the rate of progression within Thorpe Park? From seasonal cast 14 have been made permanent. 2.2.8 Succession What does Thorpe Park hope to accomplish in the future?. They want to increase their sales through good guest care; this will need high-level training of staff to achieve this. Thorpe Park wants to change their profile of Park from thrill to family bias and they want a high level of guest satisfaction. 2.3 If you look at the length of service of the employees in the UK in 1986,91,96 and 2001 and you look at the dismissals, which Thorpe Park have, you will see that 26/1000 dismals in a year is 2.6% which is lower than the statistics of the length of service of people in employment. For the year 2001 the UK length of service in a year is 13%, which is a lot higher than Thorpe Parks 2.6% of people who leave after one year. The number of people in employment in Thorpe Park is 1000 ad for the year 2000 there were 2394 absences. In the UK the number of employment at about the end was little under 27500. So as you can see there is a very high number of absences at Thorpe Park. They need to improve on these figures I accept most of these absences are from people who are not really ill. It is probably young people from the age group 16 – 24 who have been out the night before and don’t want to come in. In this case Thorpe Park need to be harder on their disciplinary rules to cut ab sences figures. Thorpe Park does not have enough engineers. This is national problem; They could deal with this situation by having more apprenticeships in engineering. The local area around Thorpe Park, which is Staines, has a 0.6% unemployment level. This is good because nationally the unemployment rate for 16-24 year olds is very high. The 16 – 24 age group is the main age group for seasonal staff so nationally the unemployment rate for females aged 16-17 is 16.8% in 2000 and 18-24 is 8.2%. The male’s 16-17 year olds is 20% and the 18-24 year group is 11.8%. So you can see that the area of Staines has very low unemployment compared to the rest of the UK. By having low unemployment it is harder to recruit more staff. The staff they do recruit might not be the sort person they want but because of the low competition of applicants, they might have to train a person up to the necessary standard. 89% of Thorpe Parks employees are 16 – 24 year olds. Due to the rising interest of this age group going to school, college and university I think this has contributed to a decline in the number of people in employment at that age. Thorpe Park do seem to have a good number of employees at this age though . In 2000 nationally in the UK male 16 – 24 year olds there was only 2.7 million of them in employment with a decrease and the same with females with only 2.3 million in employment. So Thorpe Park is doing well to have 89% of 16 – 24 year olds working for them. 2.4 I recommend that Thorpe Park: * Have harder disciplinary rules to stop so much sickness through absences, the rule should be people who are sick can stay at home, but the people who are sick through hangovers must be told to come in or face harsh circumstances. * There should be more apprenticeships for electrical engineers this will help train people and eventually there will be more qualified electrical engineers working at the Park. * They need to increase their customer service training so customers can feel a good degree of guest care. * Finally if Thorpe Park want their Theme Park more family based, then I suggest a new ride for the family 2.5 2.5.1 Engineers electrical and mechanical engineers are in very short supply. Nationally this is the case. What needs to happen is more apprenticeships and training so we can breed more engineers. Also because of the external influence of terrorism on the airlines a lot of engineers are being made redundant or will be made redundant. This won’t help airlines but other companies will then be able to recruit more engineers. Competition for employees is very tight. The labour market remained robust in 2001 with ongoing employment growth. Traditionally the UK has always had high employment. Low unemployment is meaning that employees are increasing wages by over 4%. Currently unemployment is very low about 4.5% nationally that is about 4 people out of 100 is unemployed and the local unemployment is 0.4% which is 4 people out of 1000. Employment is at an all time of 73% and this is an all time high for women. So this makes it more difficult to recruit staff and employers will find it more expensive because of the amount of advertising and training. The Availability of labour can often cause problems; there are usually restrictions of skills and abilities. There might be a particular skill required for an occupation like an engineer. Qualifications and training is required for some jobs and some time gaining the qualification can take a long time to do. Trade unions need a high level of labour to negotiate wages with its members. Mobility of labour if the labour force is immobile then the labour force that is there can try and demand higher wages because the supply of labour is limited. Dirty or dangerous jobs can sometimes alter the supply of labour because of then nature of the job. On the other hand some jobs have very good working conditions and attract labour which keep down wages. 2.5.2 Thorpe Park has apprenticeships and external courses to train engineers. By doing this they will increase the number of engineers, which at the moment is in short, supply. Due to the low unemployment in the UK Thorpe Park have started to recruit people from abroad to increases their amount of staff, which they will need to do due the Park expanding in size. Thorpe Park is situated in Staines, which is the South East of England, which has the lowest unemployment in the UK. So Thorpe Park are finding tit hard to recruit in the local area that’s why they are expanding recruit aboard. Also I think that Thorpe Park are maybe hoping to bring a different culture to Thorpe Park like Disney World have in America there have kept there Theme Park American but adding some different cultures to the mix. Thorpe Park has offered training schemes through NVQ’S and apprenticeships and other external training courses. Due to the immobile labour of engineers, engineers at Thorpe Park can demand higher wages due to they are in demand and they are very important to the business. Also fixing Theme Park rides does have the possibility of being quite dangerous like possible the loss of a finger etc. On the other hand labour might be attracted to Thorpe Park due to the their good working conditions. They must have good working conditions due to their nature of the business and because the health and safety act states it should, so it is a legal requirement any way. 2.5.3 Over the past 50 years the UK has seen migration rocket. Thorpe Park is also trying to develop this by encouraging people to migrate and work at Thorpe Park. As people become wealthier they want more leisure time this relates to when youngsters go out the night before and then don’t come to work in the morning because perhaps they are too tired or probably got a hangover one of the two. Labour market trends show that most 16 -21 year olds that studied at school, college or university often get a weekend job or an evening job and student placements from say universities. This is who a lot of the seasonal Thorpe Park staff are usually. Due to the low unemployment Thorpe Park has increased its hourly wage. If you analysis national figures on the length of service of employees in the UK you will see that in 2001 people who have been in work for over a year 13% of them leave, compare this Thorpe Parks 2.6% dismals record and you will see that employees at Thorpe Park do tend to stay on for much longer. If you look at the number of people in the employment graph you will see that there is 27500 and Thorpe Park only have 1000 so I suggest that due to Thorpe Parks ambitions to expand the Park in size they will need to expand their employment figures in size. If you look at the unemployment rates nationally you will see that for females aged 16-17 is 16.8% in 2000 and 18-24 is 8.2%. The male’s 16-17 year olds is 20% and the 18-24 year group is 11.8%. All those percentages are lot a higher than the Staines local area unemployment rate which is 0.6%. This proves that there are less people to employ in Staines than the national average. In 2000 nationally in the UK male 16 – 24 ye ar olds there was only 2.7 million of them in employment with a decrease and the same with females with only 2.3 million in employment. So Thorpe Park is doing well to have 89% of 16 – 24 year olds working at Thorpe Park. Task 2- Conclusion I think Thorpe Park do have a successfully human resource plan in relation to the format given in my textbook. Why because the staffs is properly qualified to do the job allotted to them. Also Thorpe Park does use the process of human resources very effectively. Then do this by carry our the 4 main stages which are: Stock taking an example of this is job analysis Forecasting the supply of labour an example of this is annual labour turnover index Forecasting demand for employees Implementation and review Task 3: Recruitment and selection. One of the most important jobs for the human resources manager is recruiting and selecting new employees. Without the right employees, the organisation will be unable to operate efficiently, serve its customers properly, or make any profits. With the proper recruitment and selection techniques, organisations can make as sure as possible that they can achieve these objectives. In the recruitment and selection procedure generally the following procedures: > Giving a job description > Preparing an advertisement for the job > Application forms > Short listing candidates > Person specification > Psychometric/diagnostic tests > Interviews and cross checking the candidates > Offer and rejection of the candidates > Contract of employment > Staff handbook 3.1 > Person specification: A person specification sets out the qualities of an ideal candidate whereas a job description defines the duties and responsibilities of the job. The best-known method of drawing up person specifications is the ‘SEVEN POINT PLAN’ originally devised by Alec Rodger. Following is an example of the seven-point plan: Essentials Desirables How identified Physical (this includes grooming looks, voice tone etc) Attainments (this includes the educational qualifications and experience) General intelligence (the results from the IQ tests) Special aptitude (the special skills of the person) Interests (their hobbies and their social life) Disposition (the stability of the person) Circumstances (the personal life of the person) Rodger’s seven-point plan usually requires managers to distinguish between essential and desirable qualities under each of the seven headings. > Job description: Before an organisation goes in the recruitment process, it needs to examine the job description for the post. A job description lists the main tasks required in a job. In drawing up a job, description the personnel department has a number of alternatives. These are: 1. The line manager can draw up a description of what the job entails. 2. The existing jobholder can do it. 3. The human resource manager can interview the jobholder and the line manager to find out what the job involves. The aim of the exercise is to itemise all the tasks involved in a job and to try to allocate a proportion of the working week to each task. This is important for several reasons: 1. In carrying out appraisals of the employees. 2. When analysing the job for training needs the manager must be able to see what tasks a job involves so that they can determine what training may be required. 3. For pay determination. 4. In planning the size of the work force for the future, it will be necessary to know exactly what tasks each job involves in case the re-allocation of tasks between jobs is requires. Clearly, none of this is possible without good quality and detailed job descriptions. The main features of a job description are: a) The job title b) The location of the job c) A brief outline of what the organisation does d) The main purpose of the job e) A detailed list of the main tasks required in the job f) The standards that the job holder will be required to achieve g) Pay and other benefits h) Promotion prospects i) The person to whom the job holder reports j) The person who reports the job holder > Application form: This is a far more commonly used mode of selection. Consultants devote hours to designing new and better forms that will extract even more accurate information from people. A typical form will require details on addresses, next of kin, education, training, qualifications, work experience, non-work interests (hobbies and social life) and the name of referees from whom the organisation can collect personal recommendations. The personal staff will have identified specific requirements from the job and person specification. They can compare these with the information on the forms. They only need to shortlist the applicants who have met those requirements. The forms can act as a framework for the interviewer to use should the applicant be short-listed. The organisation can keep all the forms for the short listed candidates for the vacancy and draw on them again if another vacancy arises. The form from the successful applicant will become a very useful part of their initial personal records. > Prepared advertisement: Unless an organisation pays a recruitment consultancy or an executive search consultant to find potential recruits, it will have to design its own advertisements to attract people. Specialist consultancies have sophisticated advertising departments that place large and expensive adverts in quality press. Most businesses, however, will not have such facilities and they will have to draw up their own advertisements. Before writing the advertisement, the employer must determine exactly what is wanted from the job being advertised. When drafting the advertisement the key points to consider are: i. Describe the job that is being advertised ii. Describe the type of person that is required for the job but have to be careful because it is illegal to state the sex, ethnic origin of the person required. iii. The pay and the terms and conditions iv. Place of work v. Procedure as to how the candidate can apply for the job vi. Be honest about the job being advertised, it is no use to give an over attractive picture. vii. Find the right place to advertise the job. > Psychometric/diagnostic tests: Now days it is common for employers to expect job applicants to carry out tests to give a fuller picture of their ability to do the job applied for. These are usually referred to as aptitude tests. They are appropriate for manual work where there is some skill involved and in office work where applicants be required to take a short typing or word processing test. For professional posts, these tests are less usual because it is felt that the candidate’s qualifications, references and experience are sufficient evidence. Psychometric tests assess the intelligence and personality of applicants. They are much more sophisticated than aptitude tests and the employer must have properly trained staff to analyse the test results properly. Such tests are particularly valuable when assessing intelligence, interest in the job applied for, motivation and personality. The producers of such tests argue that they are completely unbiased and extremely accurate. They are supposed to be particula rly good at assessment of personality. > Interview format/techniques: This is the final stage of the recruitment and selection and is increasingly common these days. Interviews are arranged for almost every kind of job. The process of shifting through forms or letters and examination of references is now over and that only a few of the applicants for the job will be interviewed. This is because interviews take up the time of senior managers who have to carry them out and this will be costly for them. Interviewing is sometimes done in a poorly thought out and badly structured manner that gives the organisation a bad image. To avoid this situation only requires the observation of a few simple rules: 1. Plan the interview properly. 2. Decide if there is a need for any tests for the applicant. 3. As a rule, the ‘talking split’ in the job interview should be around 20% for the interviewer and 80% for the interviewee. 4. The interview should always begin with friendly questions to put the candidate at ease. 5. Finally, there should be a question asking the candidates if they have any questions. > Offer and rejection letters: These are the crucial moments in the life of a job applicant. His fate for the particular is decided in these letters. It is very easy for the interviewer to say yes but in order to send a rejection letter they have to be polite and gentle as it should not let down the applicants desire for another job. Usually it is common to wish good luck to a candidate for his future jobs in a rejection letter. > Contract of employment: Terms and conditions of employment which apply generally or to groups of employees need to be defined in the contract of employment as described below: 1. Individual contracts of employment must satisfy the provisions of contracts of employment legislation. They include a statement of capacity in which the person is employed and the name or job title of the individual to whom he or she is responsible. They also include details of pay, allowances, hours, holidays, leave and pension arrangements and refer to relevant company policies, procedures and rules. Increasing use is being made of fixed-term contracts. 2. The basic information that should be included in a written contract of employment varies according to the level of job, but the following checklist sets out the typical headings: * Job title * Duties to be performed * The date when the employment starts * Hours of break including lunch break and overtime and shift arrangements * Holiday arrangements * Sickness leave * Length of notice due to and from employee * Grievance procedure * Disciplinary procedures * Work rules * Arrangements for terminating contract 3.2 As mentioned before Thorpe Park has seasonal staffs and permanent staffs. Therefore, for different staffs different procedures and documents are crucial. Lets have a look at these in detail: 1. Seasonal staffs: Thorpe Park has a seasonal staff of over 1000. Such a large number of seasonal staff is very difficult to select and handle. Therefore, in order to make the right decision in selecting the desired seasonal staff they would need to have a proper and well-prepared advertisement. After the advertisement, they would need to have an application form that is very essential because it helps to have a general/detailed outlook of the applicant. As Thorpe park has a large number of seasonal staff they need to have an interview checklist so that they can grade/rate the candidates on the basis of the same questions asked to everyone and that there is no kind of discrimination made during the interview. After all this a contract of employment is very essential for everyone who is employed as it proves that the person is legally employed and that he/she is aware of their duties etc. 2. Permanent staffs: As stated before Thorpe Park has permanent staff of nearly 350 members strong. Permanent staffs do have more authorities and responsibilities than the seasonal staffs. Therefore, the recruitment manager has to be even more careful in advertising and hiring these staffs. Therefore in the initial part a job description; person specification, prepared advertisement and an application form are very crucial and essential because they help in attracting the required candidate. After this, the interview and the psychometric/ diagnostic tests are essential because they help the recruitment manager to know the candidates more carefully. Finally the staff handbook and the contract of employment are helpful to the selected candidate in knowing something more about his job, benefits etc. 3.3 For seasonal staffs: > The advertisement for seasonal staffs is very good and impressive. It can really work towards attracting applicants. However, apart from stating the pay rate if they could also state the words â€Å"plus extra benefits† that could make the advertisement even more exciting. > The application form could also be improved. For instance, on page 2 the applicant is asked about the previous employment history. In this section is a question on the position of the applicant’s job but there is no question about the duties performed by the applicant in the previous job. > The questions asked in the interview checklist are good and can really make the candidate think before they can answer. However, as the number of applicants is going to be very large there would not be sufficient time to ask all the questions to all candidates. Therefore, it is recommended that there should be less questions but straight to the point. > The contract of employment does not state as to how the payments are going to be made – by cash, by cheque or it is going to be deposited into the respective account. For permanent staffs: > The advertisement for the permanent staff is very good and impressive as well. It can really work towards attracting applicants. Again, apart from stating the pay rate if they could also state the words â€Å"plus extra benefits† that could make the advertisement even more exciting. > On the application, form where it is asked to state the employment history there is very little or rather no place to state the responsibilities that the applicant had carried. This could be very crucial information for the company is selecting the desired candidate. 3.4 Analysis of the documents: > Job role: The job role prepared by the company is fantastic and much organised. They have the desired pre planned in their minds and are just waiting for its arrival. The desired qualification of the person is deeply planned and thought through. > Advertisement: The advertisement is good but not up to the mark. After having a look at the job role a person would expect an even impressive advertisement. Though the desired details are placed in the advert there are still a few things missing that make it more attractive as if the payroll could also include extra benefits and more facilities etc. > Application form: Again it is well organised and planned but the place for the crucial information is not provided for e.g. the employment history does not have any place for responsibilities held etc. Task 4 – Training and Development: Introduction: A general definition of training is: ‘the acquisition of a body of knowledge and skills which can be applied to a particular job’. Traditionally, young people left school and found a job that provided them with sufficient initial training to enable them to continue to do the same job indefinitely. Today there are very few ‘traditional’ apprenticeships and people can no longer assume that any job will be a job for life. Even people who do keep the same job for a long time are required to update their skills regularly, or face redundancy because their old skills are rapidly made useless by the advance of new technology. The significance of this is that training is much more central to peoples lives as an ongoing process rather than just something they do at the start of their careers. > Induction training: Induction is the process of introducing new employees to the organisation and its way of life and culture. A successful job applicant should be provided with induction training of some kind. As might be expected the larger, well-resourced organisations do this more thoroughly than poorly resourced, smaller organisations. Most of the induction programme will include: * A tour of the buildings to show the newcomer all the important areas – the sick room, the canteen, the pay office, toilets etc * An introduction to their new workplace – the specific office or factory areas or shop department – where they will be working * Some background details about the organisation – the easiest and best way to do this is to show them a video. > Mentoring: This a type of training where an experienced senior manager is allocated to a young employee in order to help them to structure their career development within the organisation. The mentor passes on the benefits of their experience, insight and wisdom. They will advice the young employee how to deal with a wide variety of managerial problems but they are not there to help them to improve specific skills. > Coaching: This is rather similar to mentoring but the key difference is that coaching involves helping the young employee to acquire high quality skills in a number of specific management areas. Such skills include communication with staff, budgeting, how to appraise staff and how to carry out disciplinary procedures. > Apprenticeships: The main principles of apprenticeships are: 1. Qualifications are workplace based, reflecting real workplace needs. 2. Workplace requirements are now a far bigger influence on what is taught in further education colleges. 3. The single European market means that these new qualifications will eventually become part of a common system of the Euro-qualifications. Apprenticeships usually include NVQ’s, GNVQ’s, Vocational A levels etc. Usually the company pays for such type of education for its budding employees. > In-house training: This is where the employers run courses inside their own organisation. Courses might be held in an ordinary office room or in a smart training centre owned by the organisation itself. The main benefits of using in-house courses are: 1. They are cheap – there is usually no need to employ outside trainers and lecturers. 2. Course content is tailor made for your organisation. 3. References and examples to highlight points can be related to your own organisation. 4. Everybody knows one another, so there is no time wasted in having to get to know other people. > External training: Sometimes it is necessary to send staff to do courses elsewhere. This may be with another employer, at a specialist-training centre, or at a factory of an equipment supplier. The benefits of using external courses are: 1. They bring together specialist trainers/tutors who would never be available to an ‘in-house’ course chiefly because of the high cost. 2. Course members get together from several organisations, and this enables them to learn more about each other and how their respective organisations operate. 3. Trainers place great value on the benefits of being away from the workplace – the course members are in a comfortable and peaceful environment away from any distractions. Findings: At Thorpe Park, there is a separate training sub-department within the Human Resource department. In fact, they also have a special training manager for this purpose. To begin with, let us have a look at the induction programme which is also known as ‘ice-breaker’. > Thorpe Park has two days of induction programme. The day one covers the introduction to the Tussads group, the park structure – the who’s who and where’s where, the parks health and safety issues, the uniforms and appearance of the staff, explanations of the rules and regulations, the role play situations, fire safety, emergency procedures and other general information about the park. > The day two covers the department specific training. This means that the staffs is taken to their respective departments and are given the general overall outlook of their duties and the department. After the induction, there is the personal development programme. This is not actually a training programme but is a process where the applicants are given an opportunity towards their plans in education and with the company. In this programme, the members of staff complete a PDP form, which will enable them to access their areas for improvement/development and look at ways to move forward. Other methods of training in Thorpe Park like the mentoring help the members of staff towards personal development. Besides these, Thorpe Park also offers apprenticeships like the NVQ’s for the members of staff. Across the park, they have people studying for NVQ’s in business administration, landscaping and engineering. Most of the trainings are provided to the permanent staff only. The external courses are used for legislation and development training only. Thorpe Park is known as investors in people. They have got this recognition not by spending money on the entertainment of people but by spending money on improving the quality of their staff by training them, sending them for apprenticeships and by helping them in their personal development. Training is important for the company to improve the competence of the cast and ensure the delivery of a high quality service. Recommendations: > Training is a very important part for a new candidate. Besides providing training to the permanent staff, if the company provides training to the seasonal staff as well then this may help to make the seasonal staff into permanent staff. Hence, the company will be able to save its money on advertising for the permanent staff. > If training sessions are provided to the seasonal staff, this may motivate them and the effect will show on the profit charts. Task 6 – Performance Management Introduction: Frederick W. Taylor: Frederick W. Taylor wanted to find out how people could work best, who was suited to what and to show them how to work more productively with less effort and danger. After all, he was working in a steel plant. Taylor set out four principles of scientific management. They were as follows: > Development of science to replace thumb methods > Scientific selection and progressive development of workmen > Bringing together of science and scientifically selected workmen through the inspiration of an individual > The dividing off of management away from the workers There are many managers today who would find nothing exceptional about Taylor’s words that also include a reference to leadership, something he sees as beyond scientific management. His results were incredible. Abraham Maslow: Until Abraham Maslow’s work, researches looked for what motivated people. Maslow’s answer is that it depends upon the situation of the individual. He therefore prepared a table of hierarchy. This hierarchy theory can be of help also in understanding cultural issues in motivation. Multi-nationals need to learn that what motivates someone in Bangkok may well be different from what motivates people in San Francisco. Douglas McGregor: According to McGregor, there are two alternative views of the nature of man: Theory X – Used to illustrate what he considered being the â€Å"traditional view of direction and control† 1. The average human being has an inherent dislike of work and will avoid it if he can 2. Because of the human characteristic of dislike of work, most people are coerced, controlled, directed, threatened with punishment to get them to put forth adequate effort towards the achievement of organisational objectives. 3. The average human being prefers to be directed, wishes to avoid responsibility, has relatively little ambition, and wants security above all. He also felt that these assumptions were used in most industrial organisations, but that they were in adequate for the full utilisation of each worker’s potential. McGregor’s other view of the nature of man i.e. Theory Y contains assumptions, which he believes could lead to greater motivation and increased fulfilment of both individual needs and organisational goals. 1. The expenditure of physical and mental effort in work is as natural as play or rest. 2. External control and the threat of punishment are not the only means for bringing about effort toward organisational objectives. 3. Commitment to objectives is a function of the rewards associated with their achievement. 4. The average human being learns under proper conditions, not only to accept but also to seek responsibility. 5. The capacity to exercise a relatively high degree of imagination, ingenuity and creativity in the solution of organisational problems is widely, not narrowly distributed in the population. 6. Under the conditions of modern industrial lie, the intellectual potentialities of the average human being are only partially utilised. Frederick Herzberg: Frederick Herzberg distinguishes between hygiene factors – those that will not increase motivation as such but will certainly decrease it if standards are not right and motivating factors. Hygiene factors include working conditions, salary, job security and company policies. Get these wrong and motivation will decline but add to them over a certain standard and there will be no more effect on motivation. Herzberg says that motivation derives from people having a sense of achievement, recognition, responsibility and opportunities for personal growth. He criticises management for ignoring the motivational factors and trying to motivate through things like money and benefits – expensive and not successful. He is also famous for his acronym â€Å"KITA†, which has been potentially translated as a kick in the pants. He says that KITA does not produce motivation but only movement. Findings: 6.1.1 Performance reviews including appraisals: Thorpe Park carries out regular appraisals with its company staff. The company to usually carries this out so that the management can evaluate as to how effective the staff are in fulfilling the objectives of the company. 6.1.2 Self evaluation: Besides the appraisal system the staff, members also have the opportunity to see and say as to how they think they are progressing and what places they need improvement. They can also recommend the areas where they would need some training or extra guidance. 6.1.3 Peer evaluation: Peer evaluation is not a formal method of performance evaluation but it can really help in the improvement of the staff if their work mates tell them what is required and when. 6.2 The management at Thorpe Park believe that it is very essential to motivate its staff so that they have a high morale and that they completely enjoy the work that they do for the company. They recommend the staff the areas where they think they could improve and send them for training. They do so only for the deserving staff members so that they can make them feel that they are important for the company. This is a very effective way of motivating the staff. Besides these, they have other methods of motivating staff like bonus schemes and other incentive schemes. Throughout the year, the company runs competitions like â€Å"magic moments† and â€Å"magic minds† that help the staff for not only performing good in their work but also motivate them to use their brains to help the company improve and progress ahead. There are grand prises for people who give good ideas to the company to improve their outlook. Besides the financial incentives, the company also has many non financial methods of motivating the staff for e.g. giving the staff member a public acknowledgement, sending them for further education, praising them for the job well done etc. all these do play an important role in motivating the staff. The human resource department does all this because they believe that the staff are the backbone of the business and hence want to use them as an asset to obtain their goals and objectives. 6.3 On taking a closer look at the way the management at Thorpe Park functions it can be stated that they use a little of every motivational theory in trying to motivate their staff. The reason behind this could be that different things motivate different people.