Business and management studies Thesis Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Business and management studies - Thesis Example Performance appraisal should be one of the most effective means of the psychologically charged activities in business life. In addition, performance appraisal is one of the generally broadly studied areas in industrial/organizational psychology. However, the conventional study program has done very little to advance the value of performance appraisal as a managerial tool (Bratton & Gold, 2007). An amount of studies has related the human Resource practices to different Organizational outcomes such as output, value, proceeds, market value and general profits. Organizations bearing long terms objectives of constant aggressive advantage and high productivity should improve their human capital by putting in place structure and practices to accomplish and retain their goal (Hoque, K. (1999). Current study has stirred away from studies of rater correctness and psychometric measures to subject of employee response towards performance appraisal as indicators of organization satisfaction and efficiency. The reason is because employee sensitivity of fairness of performance appraisal has a great impact on organization efficiency (Bratton & Gold, 2007). Perceptions of justice are seen as an important issue in employee approval of and fulfillment with performance appraisal. This has forced the managers to have both a principled and legal compulsion to conduct appraisals in a fair, honest and unbiased manner (Bratton & Gold, 2007). The government of Saudi Arabia has in recent times adopted a negligent tactic to human resource management in both public and private sectors. The private sector in Saudi Arabia has in recent times received more attention (Bratton & Gold, 2007). Since the early 2000s, the government has initiated a broad legal structure to control the management of people in the private sector, because the government is investing heavily in the private sector in order to make it more attractive for international companies

Unschooling Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Unschooling - Essay Example They study at home and learn from their own life experience. Unschooling is rather controversial: from one point of view it can give young people more opportunities to learn from the natural experience, from the other point of view, it can prevent children from receiving normal education. Here I would like to emphasize that home schooling is possible and good but everything depends on parents and their efforts. In the article the author presents the case of the 6-year-old boy who is unschooled. He does not go to school but plays games and goes shopping instead. His mother does not care if he reads textbooks or learn vocabulary. He learned to read from Pokemon cards and to count in the supermarket when choosing what is cheaper and what to buy. The opponents of unschooling are sure that such children may miss important points given in school. But boy’s mother does not think so. She says that her son will get standard education but with the help of soft and unobtrusive approach. For example, when she wants her son to read a textbook, she does not order him to do that. She just leaves the book in the room and one day he starts reading it himself. I consider unschooling to be a very interesting new approach. However much depends on parents. They should assess their efforts and opportunities before making a serious decision to let their child remain

Tthe advantages of not being global and having a local approach Essay

Tthe advantages of not being global and having a local approach - Essay Example This paper illustrates that in order to understand the potential disadvantages of global strategy, compared to local strategies, it would be necessary to refer to the characteristics of global strategy, as identified in the key strategic decisions of firms operating in the global market. It seems that global strategy is highly differentiated from local strategies, not only in regard to its role but also in regard to its requirements and effects. In accordance with Tallman the global strategy can be characterized as the strategy, which needs to be established in case that a firm is interested in operating in the global market. It is explained that such strategy helps the organization to align its operational rules and culture with those of the targeted market. Reference is made for example to the case of Haier, a major competitor in the Chinese manufacturing industry. The firm has tried to be established in the USA market using a low-price policy. However, it was soon revealed that th is policy, alone, would not help the organization to develop its presence in the particular market; instead, a brand should be used for attracting the interest of local consumers. In accordance with the above, an effective global strategy offers the basis for the successful development of a firm’s presence in the global market. Thus, a global strategy should be related to specific policies, which are likely to be different compared to those included in local strategies (Lasserre 2007). This fact is made clear if the strategies used by two different firms for entering the global market are reviewed: reference is made in particular to ‘Philips Group of Holland and Japan’s Panasonic’ (Segal-Horn and Faulkner 2010, p.133). Before 1980s, Philips Group tried to develop its presence in the global market by focusing on the needs and the trends of each country; however, up to then, global strategy was characterized by the production of similar products for all coun tries which were promoted in markets globally using similar marketing strategies (Segal-Horn and Faulkner 2010) and only minor changes were made for aligning these strategies with local trends. As a result, Philips Group had to face significant difficulties and delays when trying to expand its operations globally. Panasonic, which aligned its policies with the requirements of

Business and management studies Thesis Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Business and management studies - Thesis Example Performance appraisal should be one of the most effective means of the psychologically charged activities in business life. In addition, performance appraisal is one of the generally broadly studied areas in industrial/organizational psychology. However, the conventional study program has done very little to advance the value of performance appraisal as a managerial tool (Bratton & Gold, 2007). An amount of studies has related the human Resource practices to different Organizational outcomes such as output, value, proceeds, market value and general profits. Organizations bearing long terms objectives of constant aggressive advantage and high productivity should improve their human capital by putting in place structure and practices to accomplish and retain their goal (Hoque, K. (1999). Current study has stirred away from studies of rater correctness and psychometric measures to subject of employee response towards performance appraisal as indicators of organization satisfaction and efficiency. The reason is because employee sensitivity of fairness of performance appraisal has a great impact on organization efficiency (Bratton & Gold, 2007). Perceptions of justice are seen as an important issue in employee approval of and fulfillment with performance appraisal. This has forced the managers to have both a principled and legal compulsion to conduct appraisals in a fair, honest and unbiased manner (Bratton & Gold, 2007). The government of Saudi Arabia has in recent times adopted a negligent tactic to human resource management in both public and private sectors. The private sector in Saudi Arabia has in recent times received more attention (Bratton & Gold, 2007). Since the early 2000s, the government has initiated a broad legal structure to control the management of people in the private sector, because the government is investing heavily in the private sector in order to make it more attractive for international companies

Tthe advantages of not being global and having a local approach Essay

Tthe advantages of not being global and having a local approach - Essay Example This paper illustrates that in order to understand the potential disadvantages of global strategy, compared to local strategies, it would be necessary to refer to the characteristics of global strategy, as identified in the key strategic decisions of firms operating in the global market. It seems that global strategy is highly differentiated from local strategies, not only in regard to its role but also in regard to its requirements and effects. In accordance with Tallman the global strategy can be characterized as the strategy, which needs to be established in case that a firm is interested in operating in the global market. It is explained that such strategy helps the organization to align its operational rules and culture with those of the targeted market. Reference is made for example to the case of Haier, a major competitor in the Chinese manufacturing industry. The firm has tried to be established in the USA market using a low-price policy. However, it was soon revealed that th is policy, alone, would not help the organization to develop its presence in the particular market; instead, a brand should be used for attracting the interest of local consumers. In accordance with the above, an effective global strategy offers the basis for the successful development of a firm’s presence in the global market. Thus, a global strategy should be related to specific policies, which are likely to be different compared to those included in local strategies (Lasserre 2007). This fact is made clear if the strategies used by two different firms for entering the global market are reviewed: reference is made in particular to ‘Philips Group of Holland and Japan’s Panasonic’ (Segal-Horn and Faulkner 2010, p.133). Before 1980s, Philips Group tried to develop its presence in the global market by focusing on the needs and the trends of each country; however, up to then, global strategy was characterized by the production of similar products for all coun tries which were promoted in markets globally using similar marketing strategies (Segal-Horn and Faulkner 2010) and only minor changes were made for aligning these strategies with local trends. As a result, Philips Group had to face significant difficulties and delays when trying to expand its operations globally. Panasonic, which aligned its policies with the requirements of

Outer Banks, North Carolina Essay Example for Free

Outer Banks, North Carolina Essay Outer Banks is located in North Carolina. It is a narrow chain of barrier stretching 175 miles long. The area is frequented by high winds and storms. It is basically made up of sand dunes. Sand dunes are formed due to the prevailing winds. The winds come from opposite direction, northeast and southwest. Because of the natural occurrence, sand dunes were formed. The tallest active sand dune in Outer Banks is Jockeys Ridge. Some interesting features about the Outer Banks is that it housed the talled lighthouse. It also has the tallest san dune, Jockeys Ridge. Duck Beach is named one of the top beaches in America. Animals especially birds and horses are actively seen the area. Outer Banks 3 Outer Banks, North Carolina Outer Banks in North Carolina is a narrow chain of barrier islands. It is one mile wide or 1. 6 km. It stretches more than 175 miles along the coast. Main islands are Bodie, Roanoke, Hatteras, Ocracoke, Portsmounth and Core Banks. The area is prone to severe storms and high winds (Outer Banks, 2007). Outer Banks natural processes evolved from a predetermined conditions. Outer Banks can be well describe by its sand dunes. Migration of sand dunes is an important process on the Outer Banks. It is basically formed by two prevailing winds, northeast and southwest. Due to the different directions of the wind, volume of sand build up. With its sand dunes, Nags Head Woods were developed. It was inherited from what used to be sand dune and swale or a depression found between dunes and beach ridges more than 100,000 years ago. In some areas, the swales were internally drained and now contain freshwater ponds (Frankenberg Tormey, 2000). The Jockey Ridge is the most tallest active sand dune in Outer Banks. The sand is mostly quartz rock which comes from the mountains million of years ago (Ecology, 2006). Some very interesting features can be provided by the Outer Banks (Interesting Facts about the Outer Banks, 2006) ? Wild Ponies, descendants of Spanish Mustangs, still travel the coast. As per record, they run wild North Carolina since 1523 until present time. Tallest lighthouse in America, Cape Hatteras Lighthouse is located in Outer Banks. It Outer Banks 4 is 198 feet tall. It has 257 steps. Beacon light can be seen as far as 20 miles out the to sea. ? Duck Beach is one of the Top Beaches in America. This was named because of the number of waterfowls that flocked during migration. ? Jockeys Ridge is the largest active sand dune in East Coast. Outer Banks 4 References Frankenberg, Dirk Tormey, Blair. (2000). The Northern Outer Banks. Carolina Environmental Diversity Explorations pp. 3. Retrieved January 22, 2008 from http://www. learnnc. org/lp/editions/cede_nobx/3 Infoplease. (2005). Outer Banks. Retrieved January 22, 2008, from http://www. infoplease. com/ce6/us/A0921656. html Jockeys Ridge Sate Park. (2006). Ecology. Retrieved January 22, 2008 from http://www. jockeysridgestatepark. com/ecology. html Outer Banks Vacation Guide. (2006). Interesting Facts About the Outer Banks. Retrieved January 22, 2008 from http://www. visitob. com/outer_banks/trip/facts. htm

New British Library And Bps Andrew Field Development Construction Essay

New British Library And Bps Andrew Field Development Construction Essay The construction industry is one of the best industry in the world for delivering excellence in result. In United Kingdom we have a fantastic heritage of excellence in construction going back to Victorian times with the remarkable achievements of great engineers. But there has long been a recognition that there is considerable scope for improvement in the way construction projects are delivered. Back in the 1980s clients complained about performance of the industry, the industry complained about clients and a strong belief that we the public were not getting value for money! The industry was characterised by poorly performing projects, dissatisfied clients, poor quality end product, adversarial relationships between buyers and suppliers, low profit margins and a claims culture, lack of investment in people and a poor health and safety record. Public sector project in particular were inevitably delivered late, costing far in excess of what was originally estimated, and often did not meet peoples expectations in terms of performance, aesthetics or lifecycle. To drive culture change we must move beyond construction to a broader vision of the built environment , leveraging performance in other parts of the economy to deliver better quality of life in housing, transport, health, educationà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦..etc. Recognising that the relatively small up front construction cost has a big impact on overall business costs and ultimate value to the user. the social and environmental outcomes. Focus on the environment we must be a sustainability leader and adopt carbon efficiency. A green recovery from the current recession is required. Such that young people who want a better world can fulfil their aims by joining the industry to deliver a low carbon economy Find a cohesive voice for the industry. Institutions must collaborate to represent the industry to government and other stakeholders. Focus on how we can help reduce government costs Adopt new business models find ways to incentives long term value creation Develop new leaders who can communicate their vision and drive culture change Integrate education and training to promote a wider understanding of the built environment. Procure for value rather than lowest price procurement process needs to be more professionally managed Suppliers take the lead in demonstrating how they can create additional value New British Library Aim of British Library The aim of British Library is to serve scholarship, research and enterprise. Their purpose to promote the advancement in knowledge through the communication of information and ideas. In order to achieve this they identify and respond to users needs for a national library services; build, catalogue and conserve the collection; provide entry to the worlds knowledge base; provide leadership and initiate co-operative programmes for the national and international research library community; and exploit their collections in enterprising ways to raise support for their activities. Source: The British Library Corporate Plan 1995 Development of British Library The concept of British Library was established in 1982, the construction of first phase was started at St Pancras. At the early stage their was no budget for complete project and the cost approved phase by phase. This was not an efficient practice for management. In 1988 Minister was agreed for  £300 millions as a cash target for phase 1A and also  £150 millions for completion phase. In 1991, the former Committee of public Accounts were critical of the serious lapses in the management control and accountability of the project and elected the management arrangements to be monitored closely. The government accepted the main findings of committee and confirmed that the expected completion of new building will held on 1996 with in the cash limit of  £450 millions but in November minister increased cash limit to  £496 millions. It was expected that the whole building should be completed in 1996 but the completion and handover dates of phase 1A changed three times since July 1991, in 1993 phase 1A was planned for operational in the middle of the year but the phase was completed in November 1995 but no part of the building is now expected to open until October 1997.the completion target date of phase 1A was slipped because of identify and resolve technical problems with the book shelving, in order to find out how to deal with cabling damages during installation, how to deal with short comings in the fire protection systems, and to implement remedial works. BPs North Sea Andrew Field Development Proposed Idea Development In 1974 Andrew was discovered in 1974 in 230 km NE of Aberdeen in 115 m water depth, a relatively small complex reservoir, with estimated 112million barrels of oil and 3.8 billion cu m of gas. It was proposed for development a number of times between 1981 and 1988 but always commercially unattractive. By 1991 collaborative team work had solved the gas management plan incorporating gas export and re-injection into the reservoir. BP themselves were not sure of the steps needed to reach their goal and had to hold fast to their vision. They wanted the facilities contractors on board at the pre-sanction stage for them to establish an early sense of ownership and to work on reducing the unacceptably high cost estimate of  £450m. BP moved away from a traditional tendering process and developed a set of 10 new criteria the Minimum Conditions of Satisfaction (MCOS) against which they would judge prospective candidates. The tender document at only 50 pages was the slimmest ever produced for a major new Offshore development. Brown Root recognised that BP was serious and came up with its own response to BPs Minimum Conditions Of Satisfaction that would change behaviour and reduce cost foremost of these was an end to man to man marking on the project limiting the client team to 20 and truly integrating them was part of the delivery of the project. Contractors were cautious especially with the MCOS requiring that the development cost be limited to  £270m. Temporary grillage steelwork to support the structure during fabrication and load out was reduced from 1100T to 300T saving  £260k. An example of further cooperation between design and fabrication was that the design team produced drawings for fabrication. Usually 300 primary drawings would be produced. Instead only 30 were needed with all fabrication drawings directly produced from the CAD model saving 12000 man-hours. At sanction the estimated man hours for jacket fabrication were 580,000 which was reduced to 500,000 by reduction in work scope. However, by smarter working motivated by the cooperative atmosphere and culture of the Alliance, Andrews Jacket was built for less than 440,000 man hours. Sanction estimates, based on other typical projects, was 78 man hours/tonne The final outcome for Andrew was 66 man hours/tonne. As different contractors would be working under different payment methods reimbursed costs with fixed overhead and profit and fixed lump sum prices there was concern that although joint commitment was required under the risk and reward gain share system, one party might not have influence over another in achieving the target cost. Target cost finalised in Nov 93 at  £373m which included  £39m contingency approx 20% reduction in price had been achieved. And first oil 3 months early, by Sep 96 Way the Both Projects Delivered In the contrast of both the projects like ;New British Library and BPs North Sea Andrew Field Development s project both started almost on same time and having same magnitude of cost. In the case of British Library, time and cost of project both over runs. the performance and specification of complex systems need to be settle down early during design, the library believed that they were justified in revisiting basic features of the design when construction was well advanced. In their project they did not arranged quality people like architects and other professionals because they provide the financial incentive to complete projects on time and with in budget. there was unclear definition of responsibilities for inspections between Laing, the design team, and the clerks of works. Their had been insufficient planning, resulting in sufficient time being allowed for inspections. Guidance on handover procedures had been confused, their were poor identification and recording of items to be rectified or still outstanding. As a result, there had been uncertainty over the amount of work still to be done before an area could be handed over also uncertainty over what bookshelving contractors were contracted to provide: records of technical discussions and agreement were not readily accessible. As far as BPs North Sea Andrew Field Development s project was concern a totally integrated team approach was done with a gain share mechanism to share risk and reward. The idea of behavioural change as an essential ingredient for success had taken hold following feedback from another BP project which suggested that the much discussed benefits of alliancing could bear fruit if managed correctly. They defined their roles, strategies and principles. They concentrated on their performance and specification during the project. They delivered their project on time because they monitored the technical issues, accidental issues and weather issues that is why the project finish on time and with in the targeted cost as well Recommendations Bibliography Refrences Constructing the Team (The Latham Report) (July 1994) Rethinking Construction (The Egan Report) (Dec 1998) NAO Report HC362: Progress in Completing the New British Library (15 May 1996) Lecture notes for EPM 934 Lecture 5 (available on City Space)