A Comparison of Telling in Knight’s Tale and Miller’s Tale of Chaucers

The Importance of  Telling in Knight’s Tale and Miller’s Tale   In the Canterbury Tales, the Knight starts the story telling. In spite of the fact that straws were picked, and the request left to aventure, or cas, Harry Bailey appears to have pushed destiny. The Knight speaks to the most noteworthy station in the social progressive system of the fourteenth century, the individuals who rule, the individuals who supplicate, and the individuals who work. Expecting that the common knight would tell the most engaging and reasonable story (that would abbreviate their journey to St. Thomas Becket), Harry advises the Knight to start. The Knight's story of adoration, dedication, and fight is put in the chivalric sentiment sort. The elegant sentiment concerns the legendary realm of Theseus, well off rulers, and agnostic (legendary) divine beings. All through the story, the Knight and different characters allude to the idea of the wheel of fortune. In the start of the story, sobbing, broken ladies argue to Theseus to assist them with avenging their spouses. Albeit devastated, they disclose to Theseus that they were all at one point well off and of high position. Despite the fact that Theseus is celebrated and ground-breaking now, the goddess will turn the wheel of fortune and he will one day be low. The idea of fate and the wheel of fortune speaks to the Knight's acknowledgment of an endless world. His incorporation of the legendary divine beings, Mars, Venus, Mercury, and Diana advances this thought. Emily, Arcite, and Palamon each go to a diety, requesting help and their unreachable wish. At long last, father Satu rn proclaims Arcite's passing. Hence, dumbfounding human feelings and silly disaster are securely separated; they are ascribed to the desire of the agnostic divine beings. So also the adoration triangle between Arcite, Palamon, and Emily focuses tha... ...night, the Miller's characters are not good or decent; they basically need to satisfy themselves. While the Knight's story closes with a fair demise and a joining between sweethearts, the Miller's story closes with embarrassment: the cuckholded spouse is marked crazy, Absolom endured and trick, and Nicolas an agonizing consume. Thus the Miller taunts the Knight's supplication. He wishes the organization well, yet the substance of his story communicates his chuckling. In a manner he took care of the Knight's story. The Miller advises his story immediately to divert and humiliate (the Reeve and his own appearance), while the Knight recounts to a story solid on sentence or significance. The two distinct thought processes uncover the crucial contrasts between the two men: the honorable Knight can in any case trust in a higher lovely world, while the Miller can't acknowledge it at any point existed.    

Totalitarianism and the individual using the book Under a Cruel Star Essay

Autocracy and the individual utilizing the book Under a Cruel Star and two different readings - Essay Example shocking day to day environments and irritating transportations can be utilized to depict the camp as attempting to set up one’s life and a family was not really conceivable because of starvation and viciousness. Another type of extremist type of administration was in Moscow where cleanse was led as creators were controlled over the substance with which they are to distribute. Those completing the cleanse are depicted as lacking refinement and ineptitude. Under disputable conditions, books were pulled back and model being Lenin’s book since they were recorded under Marx’s â€Å"Communist Manifesto† with Riazanov’s forward, yet in numerous different occurrences this clarification separates. The â€Å"Authoritative† and â€Å"Educated† pack of individuals were shaping cleansing boards and suggesting the evacuation of disputable readings. Under â€Å"philosophy† the Leningrad guidelines recommend that â€Å"idealistic reasoning ou ght to be expelled from course and this would leave just Kant’s and Hegel’s works available for use since their composition and philosophies went in accordance with the overseeing specialists. Questions were raised over the withdrawal of numerous authors particularly the individuals who by the humblest and most broad appraisal are on a more significant level and less malicious than the many junky sorts of beauties lettres that Gosizdat put out even right now. The sort of initiative being experienced was bringing about an extremist structure as the principle directions of Glavpolitprosvet are increasingly controlled and adjusted, TBTW. The proposal was to evacuate all the prerevolutionary writing that was worried about childhood and training, all prerevolutionary arithmetic course books, all compilations of Russian writing, assortments of pieces for recitation, oral open perusing and portrayals from the nearby open libraries to focal and educational libraries (Kova?ly 1 7). Then again, Adolf Hitler being a passionate warmonger, during his standard dismissed majority rules system naming it a chapter 11 and advanced a dictator type of legislative issues dependent on the authority rule. He was of the conviction that war was a pivotal trial of a nation’s power and the destruction of Germany in 1918 was not the consequence of military disappointment yet rather the result of the unhealthy state of the German culture as a rule, (Hitler 513). The debasement and shortcoming that was obvious in the nation was brought about by the insidious ruses of the Jewish individuals, whom Hitler had depicted as a ruffian race occupied with a universal scheme intended to annihilate the national rule restricting the German individuals all together race† and Hitler at that point offered himself as the pioneer of the renewed militantly patriot Germany cleansed of every one of the individuals who might debilitate or decrease the racial immaculateness of the Germ an individuals. Hitler’s musings were focused along an over the top distraction with racial â€Å"hygiene† which as per him was a premise of national quality. As indicated by Hitler (517), the Jewish individuals with all their evident scholarly characteristics are by and by with no culture of their own and the hoax culture which the Jew have today is the property of others and is for the most part ruined in their grasp. He assists the sentiment that the state is an unfortunate obligation, and

5 Steps to Determine Your LinkedIn Profile Focus by guest blogger Jill Schaefer

5 Steps to Determine Your LinkedIn Profile Focus by guest blogger Jill Schaefer You are a multi-faceted human being and yet you only get one LinkedIn profile (or two if one of them is in a second language). Perhaps you are unsure where to focus as a professional and thus how to present yourself in your profile. The question “Who am I?” is an important one for job seekers and professionals, and it’s not always easy to answer. You: The multi-talented All of us are good at MANY things; but the fact is you can’t be everything to everyoneâ€"especially as a job seeker. As Martin Yates, CPC, author of the famed Knock ‘em Dead series, elaborates in Knock ‘em Dead 2012: The Ultimate Job Search Guide, “People get hired based on their credentials not their potential… Decide on the job that will be the easiest sell for you and the easiest buy for an employer.” In the almost two years that I have been writing LinkedIn summaries for The Essay Expert, I have encountered clients who attempt to be all things to all people. They want to highlight their experience in A, B, and C industries and their accomplishments at X, Y, and Z jobs, AND promote their small businessâ€"all within the space of 2,000 characters. Sound familiar? You may think this broad-ranging type of summary says, “I’m dynamic and versatile.” In reality, most readers interpret it as, “This person is confused, random, and indecisive.” 5 Step Plan Here’s how to convey focus and strength in your LinkedIn summary: Step 1: Pick one thing The first step to finding your LinkedIn focus is to zero in on the PRIMARY job that you’re after or the PRIMARY professional pursuit you want to come across loud and clear in your profile. How do you do that? Back to Martin Yates’ words of wisdom. “Based on the skills you possess today, what is your primary job target?” Step 2: Find job descriptions for your target job or profession. Identify keywords. Look up 3-5 job descriptions for your target job category. For example, if I am looking for a marketing or communication manager position, I would go to indeed.com, monster.com, or careerbuilder.com to find posted positions, such as Marketing Communications Officer or Marketing Services Manager, that employers are actively recruiting for. You don’t have to limit yourself to a certain geographic area for this exercise. The point is to learn what job title is most commonly used and what language employers use to describe the job’s requirements. What is the problem a person in that role must solve? What skills would an ideal candidate have? (Note: If your target job requires you to do things that you hate, go back to Step 1.) Copy and paste the contents of the job descriptions into an electronic file or print them out. Highlight mandatory skills from the job descriptions. What keywordsâ€"the words that LinkedIn recruiters and hiring managers would search onâ€"keep popping up? Hint: “team player” is not a keyword phrase, “alliance management” is. Learn more about keywords in Brenda Bernstein’s Baffled by choosing keywords for your LinkedIn Profile HEADLINE post. Make a list of the most common keywords from the job descriptions. You might want to use Wordle.net to help out with this part. Step 3: Identify your accomplishments With your target job position in mind,  create a list of your top five relevant accomplishments. Organize each accomplishment into a Situation/Action/Results format: Briefly DESCRIBE THE SITUATION or problem. List the ACTIONS YOU TOOK to amend the situation. Describe the RESULTS YOU ACHIEVED. Use quantifiable statistics and metrics, if possible. Step 4: Evaluate how you match up Compare and contrast the similarities between the job descriptions and your accomplishments. How do you match up? If you do, great! If not, it’s time to re-evaluate whether you have matching experiences or successes in the areas that are important to an employer. Step 5: Be THAT person Make sure everything you say about yourself on your LinkedIn profile supports your ONE target position or singular professional objective. Don’t muddy the waters by including keywords from everything that you’ve ever done in your working life. Keep it focused. Remember if you decide today that you’re most qualified to be a genie and tomorrow you decide you’d rather be a zookeeper, you can change your LinkedIn profile accordingly. It’s a living document that reflects who you are as a professional right now. Once you’ve updated your LinkedIn profile, start monitoring the “Who’s viewed your profile?” section on the right side of your LinkedIn home page. How many times has your profile appeared in searches over the past few days? If your hits are in the single digits, change a few keywords, reassess, and repeat until your numbers go up. Feeling lost? The Essay Expert is here to help you find your professional self. We have helped many a client with multiple professional personalities benefit from a focused, successful LinkedIn summary. About Jill Schaefer: Jill is a professional copywriter and freelance writer who lives in Madison, Wisconsin. She specializes in environmental communications, connecting with clients, giving LinkedIn profiles a makeover, and producing compelling copy. View winning LinkedIn summaries Jill co-wrote for The Essay Experts clients: Shashi Dosaj | Marissa Keller Outten | Michelle Henry

Report On Human Behaviour And Hrm Business Essay - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 15 Words: 4638 Downloads: 8 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Business Essay Type Research paper Did you like this example? In this report students have to describe 4 chosen theory of Human Behavior and Human Resources management topic. To support the theory students needs to analyze how its work in practice and describe in details the application of selected topic in the company where student did their work experience. In this report I will describe the following behavior theories: F.W Taylor management theory, Adams Equity Theory, McClelland acquired needs theory, Vroom Expectancy Theory. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Report On Human Behaviour And Hrm Business Essay" essay for you Create order My chose HR topic is Planning, Recruitment and Selection and how this is applied in practice I will describe using my work placement experience in company called ADVANZ Hydrotherapy located in Tallaght Business Park, Dublin 24. Terms of References On January 2013 the Business Management teacher Karen Abberton requested a 4000-50000 word business management report on the Human Behaviour Theory and HRM. Students have to describe 4 motivation theories about human behaviour and analyse how these theories apply/work in the organisation where students do/did their work experience. This report was to be submitted by 13th March 2013 in partial completion of the FETAC, Level 6 (Business Management) module. Recommendations were requested. Method of Procedure Completing this report my first source of information was an actual work placement and theory covered in class. The information I got in the class I discussed with company manager, what helped me to analyze the theory and that use in real life. It is clear that theory is not fully used at work, but some of it ideas will be always placed in management work and strategy. My second source of information was internet, which I used to read more about the theories and how were these introduced to the world, why they took place in management history and what are the main points. Findings Description of HR topic Success of leading companies depends on the creation of efficient methods of human resources management at the organizational level. The main role of it is the formation of strategic approach to the use and development of labor potential. Any company needs to have a strategy and it is natural to choose employees to their respective strategies. I believe that the company business depends not only from the strategy but also from the management style and how managing department respect other people in the company. It is necessary that employees will be treated as assets of the company, as the human potential that needs to motivate and develop in order to achieve the strategic goals of the organization. Here in this part of assignment I will describe a very important part of human resource management job such as planning, recruiting and selection. Every successful manager or company must have a plan and there is no doubt about it. Plan is not only or ganizing a person or company to work properly and stable- it helps in many reasons such as achievements of better results and creating a better market shares, analyzing the job and set of new goals and made the job in the company more constant in the business its works. Plan is actual set of companys goals and that should be created absolutely in every department of the organization in order to achieve the better results. Having a plan will help to reduce a company cost on several aspects like overstaffed or overspending on materials if this is a factory or overstock in any retailers, but also will help to create a right picture of companys position in the market for every certain moment, will help to create a proper timetable for staff development and motivation, improves company whole business and finally plan this is what save company time and money. Also a well made plan helps managers to create a future picture about company development, like opening a new branch or set a ne w project or even hiring another staff member. There are different aspects of planning and this is depends on department where plan was set on. Human Resources planning consist of 3 terms: short term within a year- this is a plan for maternity leave or for temporary replacement, medium term gap (1 to 5 years) needs more care when taking this type of planning as this plan lasting for longer period and as example there might be a company project. The last one is long term gap which is more than 5 years plan, what could be a temporary career break. The main part of the job for Human resources department is to look after the company staff members, such as recruitment and selection, training and development, resolving staff problems and issues that arise and motivation. And all of these actions need a good, well thought plan. In my opinion the most difficult plan for Human Resources department is to settle down a proper employment contract or organize a disciplinary handbook. Be cause these actions are legal issues and needs to be created following the employment law legislation. Before starting recruitment process Human Resources department must go through a selection process. Preparing for recruitment process HR Department have to go through 3 stages: preparing job description-clearly mark job title and duties involved in it, qualification and skills requirements, terms and conditions of employment such as salary, bonuses, holiday days, clarify location of work. Then the HR department must to spread away job offer advertising. At the beginning company will let their staff members to know about job offer. This type of advertising called internal. Before placing an advertising externally HR Department have to think maybe there is a person who wants to be promoted or somebody wants to step back (internal demotion). May be here is somebody who wants to try new role and that called internal transfer, if employee would like to change a department temporar y or may be some of the staff members might recommend a right person for a role that been advertised. That shows respect to the staff members as a company wants their staff knows first about the offer made and this is mean that management does care about them plus that save a lot of time. If there is no right person within the company then advertising will be placed in internet or employment agencies- external advertising. Afterwards when company will receive a thousands of CV and application letters HR department have to settle down another plan or rule -how to choose interviewee. For sure, department will not spend their time going trough all CVs. If CV is not suits Company requirements or CV is not made according the standards (layout and grammar), such a CV will go to the bin. Preparing a CV a person has to make sure there are at least no grammar mistakes and layout looks professionally including a name, phone, address, education history, employment history, interest and hobb ies. Before completing the list of interviewees department has to create a picture of ideal candidate: defining the right education and qualifications, skills, experience. Aviations companies might even ask candidates send a picture as they have standards of how stewardess has to look like. Also HR will pay attention on personal qualities such as interest, ability to work with other, what motivates the person, did person completed an extra study, and how person works under stress and overall how the person cope with life. Analyzing a CV employer might pay attention on record of employment or gaps of employment and what was happened during these gaps. This is not really a good sign if employee was changing a job too often (as example every year) or if an employee worked too long with one company (more then 7 years). To understand these entire qualities interviewer will made a short list of questions for them and get ready for interview. There are different set of questions: dir ect-when there is only two answers like Yes or No. Topic-changing question- transfers an interviewee from one topic to another. This question is good in case if candidate went too long answering one question. And also creates a better flow and control during the interview. Probing questions allow interviewee to expand on their answers, but answering on such a questions candidate needs to attached evidence and experience, because that what employer are looking fro asking such a question. Opened-ended questions allows candidate to relax, because it is allows talk more and this is really suits shy candidate. Reflecting questions expecting an answer Yes or No. These are very straight questions. The last one is a specific question like: Tell me about time when, what level of achievement, how good are you on working with the team, what will you doing ifÃÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ¦ There are many types and procedures organizing the interview and this are really depend on company str ategy. Sometimes there might just one to one interview- individual. The advantage of that interview is that interview is cheaper for the company and less stress for the interviewee, but because there is only one person doing the interview there is higher chance of personal attitude from the side of interviewer for an example racial discrimination, personal dislike, religion dislike. Interviewing panel-when is 2-3 interviewers attending the interview. This type of interview will be more expensive and much harder for candidate. But this is reducing level of bias. Selection board is when there are 3-5 interviewers and all of them involved into the interview. They will ask all different questions what create more challenging atmosphere for interviewee. This type of interview will suit for very confident persons and probably used when company hiring a person to cover a highest position in the company such as department manager. There is another type of interview called group sel ection. Candidates performing under the task given and employer will observe people while completing the task. This task is usually based on problem solving and this will help employer to see how candidates work in group, who is a leader and who is a follower. So the main function of interview is to check candidate for quality and credibility, because a lot of people are laying on their CVs. Employer will check candidates asking a probing questions as well. Usually if the candidate passes the first interview it will bring the person to second phase-assessment or second interview. During the assessment phase employer likes to use group interview or singly tested doing some exercises. Candidates will be more tested. During the interview candidates will get more information about the company, work place and job process and might get feedback on the results. The last phase of interview is negotiating part. This is time when employer will check all the references and go through last questions to clarify that offer is clear and accepted. Candidate discusses about terms and condition such as salary, bonuses, holidays days. If two parts of interview are happy enough candidates gets a position. Behavioral Theory Over the past years and decades, many successful organizations are increasingly paying attention to the quality use of a management system. Management of the companies are trying to establish an effective management system and one of the most important condition for the successful implementation is the involvement of staff in efforts to develop and improve the system. There are many different theories about staff motivation and effectiveness of management process, developed by experts and scholars such as F.W. Taylor, Maslow, Alderfer, McClelland, Hertzberg, McGregor and Vroom. Reading Scientific Management Theory written by F.W Taylor I had different opinion and feeling on it. I used to work in a company where I had an assistant manager position, so I do have some management skills. I absolutely agree with a theory in a sense that any senior person should have a clear plan of work and give clear instructions to workers and sometimes even give a time limit to complete the task. But in the same time company management have to realize that this type of management is not suitable for every organization. Companies where people have to work on their own initiative, like a designers, marketing departments, staff in crà ¨ches will not be able to follow the whole system as their work mostly requires a creative approach. Or some of logistic companies will not be able to follow this theory in all aspects, as their job depends on many factors like weather circumstances, or cars condition and other. But as Taylor I do not like people who are working just because they have to work. I am a person who likes and prefer to work while at work and work hard. I do understand that Taylor theory is totally suit people with workaholi c attitude. I pure agree that people who trying avoid the tasks or do work slowly in a purpose should not be treated as other hard working people or should be dismissed. There are main points of Taylors Theory: Management has find the best and quickest way of completing the task observing the tasks complication by staff members Define the best ways of completing the task based on the most rational way of doing the tasks and define the performance requirement for the results. Educate workers Selection of most suitable workers. According to Taylors theory the best works are people with high money motivation, who will work extremely hard if they know that they will receives some amount of money afterwards. Improvement of tools for work-make work completion as easiest as possible using the right materials or facilities and equipments Creating a best atmosphere for work Clear and understandable chain between the results and the amount of labor. The calculated s ystem of the work performed. Providing people with clear information about what they have to do and about their results Establishing good relationship between administration and workers. Reading trough his theory I did not find any evidence showing that factories where his theory was in use creates a good atmosphere at work and have good staff motivation. In my opinion this is not good work atmosphere where is a placement role like guards. Their part of job is to control other workers speed and not allowed them to work slowly or even slow down. This feels like people work in a sweatshop factory or they are like slaves. Concluding his theory I might say that this theory is good for the company, orientated on profit, results and good place in the market with high performance and leadership, but will not suit for many workers. As from the motivation aspects there is only money aspect that will push people to work, but how many people have such an attitude? I do not think th at just money might be a greatest motivator for people. https://www.hr-portal.ru/article/teorii-motivatsii-nauchnoe-upravlenie-f-teilora Another theory which I like and very agreed with that is McClelland acquired needs theory. This theory is based on the fact that there are people who have an increased need for achievements and such a people usually work much harder and do better. But unique part of this theory is that people who have low level of such a need can develop it through training. This theory is totally apply to me as my experience shows if I do not received appreciate training or I do not get enough challenges I likely to became bored. A believe this is a good theory for staff motivation and developing. Using such a theory company management might create for themselves (organization) a good and professional group of staff members and avoiding staff flow and waste of time. Talking about Adams Equity Theory I might say that this is seems to me like ideal theor y for the employees. This theory based on fact that employees compare their job and efforts they put into it to the benefit, and rewards they getting back from it. And at the same time they compare themselves with somebody else at the same work and how other perform, how much effort they put and what they got. Because only comparing with somebody else might give an honest, fair balance. If an employee sees injustice, he is losing the motivation to inputs of effort at work and then there is an insult to the management. If wages are lower labor performed, the employee is making less effort such as starts late for work, leaving early, late on breaks and refuses taking an extra task or responsibility. If the employee knows that his wages are higher than labor performed than he/she feels guilty in sense of others and keeps work hard. Here is an equity comes. Saying that we cannot expect all people will follow this way for sure. Some people are happy to have a lot of money for doing no thing. Justice is equal to the ratio of labor costs to the reward. There is simple way of explaining Adams theory using such a diagram: Here in this diagram I tried to illustrate balance between outputs and inputs. Surely people would like to be treated properly and appropriate way, but how to know what is the right way. The more people there are the more different opinions. Different people respond differently on the sense of injustice. Understanding of the equity theory helps managers understand that improving the environment for a single person, you can change the perception of other people and upset the balance of weights and therefore, it will create more problems. That why in the beginning I sad that this theory is seems to be ideal for employee but very hard to manage for employer. https://www.allmotivators.ru/theory/process/teoriya-dzh-adamsa/ Vroom Expectancy Theory Vroom Theory based on the fact that employees have different expectations as to what they do. Management needs to understand what resources, training and checks will suit to the right person. Vroom understands that performance of the employee is based on individual factors such as personality, skills, knowledge, experience and ability. The expectations theory states that people can be motivated if they have certain goals and expectations for the completed goals. Vroom Expectancy theory is based on 3 factors: Expectancy-management has to understand what kinds of resources are suitable for an employee. Instrumentality- management has to control that all employee expectation and promises were achieved. Valance-management has to realize what employee value and appreciate. These three beliefs interact psychologically and so are the motivators. Based on everything above Vroom has a formula where: motivation= Valance ÃÆ'Æ’- Expectancy. https://www.hr-portal.ru/ varticle/expectancy-theory-teoriya-ozhidaniy-vroom Behavioral Theory and HRM Before to start my work experience I set up a few goals which I liked to learn during the process. These were to learn about professional management and ethic while running a personal business and which necessary points I have to know employing people. There is no particular HR department in the company. Advanz Hydrotherapy HR department is an actual manager/director of the company. Communicating and discussing such a question with the manager I have to come back to the time when manager start his career in the Advanz. He creates a plan for personal development and skills achievements, as bathroom industry was completely new industry for him. He learned from the company founders, from the suppliers and competitors. Research reports about industry also fulfill his knowledge. Only when he brings himself to the certain level he took a managing position in the company. Summarizing this information I wa nt to say that from the personal development he understands what type of people he wants to see in the company and which skills are required for work. Because of the company size manager do not waste a lot of money or time during employment period. This is not a tall hierarchy level company, where needs to hire employees for different departments. Company needs only few people for the factory and few office people. He takes it simple and actually people who have been employed once still working in the company. There is no staff flow in the company, what actually mean that staff members are happy with everything. From another point it might be because of recession where people afraid to lose their job. Anyway if manager will need an extra person firstly he will use internal advertising. There are some evidences about it: when professional factory staff member left the company he brought his friend to cover his role. Manager does like taking people which are recommended from som ebody else, rather than wasting time and money for new staff members. But anyway if he is not able to find a right person within the company he will place external advertising using employment agencies. At the moment company employ only part-time employee, so company advertising letter will definitely state this factor, but they never state salary rate. Company never uses internet for employment. If company will need another factory floor worker the necessary skills will be: previous experience on working in the factory, plumbing experience, English language knowledge is essential, team work and good communication manners, good customer service. People with bathroom industry experience will have a better chance to get a work. Even if a possible employee has a good knowledge of work he will be provided by training anyway. Usually fixed-term employee will spend their time on training. So it means company uses sit beside training system. Essential skills for administration positi on: fluent English, good phone manners and excellent customer service, flexibility, managing skills, experience of administrative job or job in the office, good time management, strong bookkeeping knowledge. Relevant experience of industry is not essential but can be an advantage. Manager will not spend a lot of time checking CVs. If person suits require needs manager will arrange interview with that person. The interview flow the simplest way. Manager and assistant will invite the interviewee to the company office and will go through person CV. Mainly manager will pay his attention on skills and experience. He tries to create relax atmosphere during the interview. Usually the manger asks to tell more about previous experience, about the company where interviewee worked, his/her actual duties and actual works carried out. Having a wide experience in that industry manager will easily spot if person is lying and do not have any previous experience. The simple technical questions will let him to understand it. If manager will satisfy his needs and interviewee happy with company rules, salary and other benefits, the person is likely to get a work. During a time when students were looking for a work experience I attended few interviews and it was much structural and formal rather than here in this company. I just have a phone conversation with the manager about my chosen course and my previous experience. Manager of the company likes give a chance to people as well. If they prove themselves as a strong, interested at work and hardworking employee, they will stay in the company even if they do not have enough skills- such an action might motivate people for great performance during probation period and achieving the goals. There is 6 month probation period in the company. As in every company Advanz Hydrotherapy is experiencing some problems with management system which affect company performance as well. In my opinion there is no ideal manager, as staff is always unhappy with something. Manager role is the hardest and the dirtiest role ever, so why this company has the same problem as everywhere. Because of personal business manager might be too stressful sometimes and that fact might affect staff members, what actually de motivate and upset them. Company does not have a proper marketing department employee, whose daily duties involve: web page updating, text messaging, e mailing, promotions and news update in the Facebook page and twitter desk. The person who looks after this part of job is like a contracted employee and works on distance. Office administration is not the right person for such a role as this is not what she likes to do and not what she was trained/studied for. Such a situation is demotivating; create a stress and challenging her. She also do not have a lot of pleasure completing such a task, but also she has no a time and so on this affect company performance as promoting and informal tools do not look strong, competitive enough. Whats more this is not done on daily basis and that affect task quality and consistency. Doing text messaging I realize that phone list is not up to date. Company received a reply from some customers asking to stop messaging. Customer list was not up to date and that annoyed some costumers. So this factor shows company unprofessional side. Being placed in the marketing department I did not have a strong leader beside me and could not became inspired to become interested in such a work. Because of that I do realize I dont want to have any future work connected with marketing. Researching a lot of competitor web pages I find out that a lot of companies are working hard on e-marketing tools and strongly push products in the internet. Advanz Hydrotherapy did not come close to sell products online, but actually it is very common at the moment. I do understand company does not have a budget for such a person at the moment. But anyway such a factor should not destroy wo rk system of office administrator. There are good points about selecting staff in the company as well, as factory staff is work a lot in their initiative, they are ambitious, creative and they most important is they do care about their work. When there was a busy time for the company guys were always stayed overtime and there were not just money matters as saying again they trying their best to provide an excellent customer service. Manager sees their work and always appreciates it, whats more he is always delighted when guys are coming with new ideas. Manager always asking advices about technical part of work what makes them fill part of the team, being important and valuable, and for sure this is affect quality of their work. I have never heard any customer complain about the baths during my work experience. Summarizing the information above I might say that well-chosen, properly motivated and valued on time employee brings mighty harvest for employer: self-discipline, quality of work, the time of execution and the consequence of all this is usually constant clients and their respect, trust to the company. From another way a dissatisfied workforce may result in low productivity, strikes which will in turn have an adverse affect on the wealth of the owner. Conclusion Concluding the report information I have to say that planning the interview and selecting the rights candidates might seems like as easiest part of Human Resources tasks. But actually it is involve a lot of painstaking subtasks like creating advertising, selecting the CVs, organizing the interviews. The main question what HR management has to answer is -who is the company ideal employee is and how they can describe him, what is an essential skills and education required. Advanz Hydrotherapy manager uses like a lazy style of planning the interview and selecting the rights candidates. Such a style might be related to small company business. There is no departmentalization separation in the company as manager carries a lot of duties himself including Human Resources. Recommendation Observing company HRM system there was some recommendation made: To hire professional marketing person who will strongly orientated on pushing company products. During the bad days manager have to control his patience, as it is very easy to lose staff respect and that will affect company performance Manager has to keep appreciate staff initiative when undertaking some tasks, as this is really motivate staff members Manager has to keep communicate as much as possible with staff members as this will keep team work spirit and inspire staff members for better performance.

Kill A Mockingbird By Harper Lee - 1679 Words

In Harper Lee`s astounding novel To Kill a Mockingbird, Atticus Finch is the glue that holds the County of Maycomb together. Atticus Finch is a lawyer, widower, father and the pure definition of a fair, patient, and courageous human being, who is willing to step out into the dark, unfair world of racism, discrimination, and prejudice, to lend a hand to any victim in need. No matter what race, gender, culture, or religion you have been blessed with, you can count on the Atticus Finch of Maycomb County to be there. Atticus was revealed by his own words, what the people in this story say about him, and his actions. He is shown as the spark of justice, the sign of patience, and the ray of courage in this blind world that is flooded by the†¦show more content†¦Instead he shows her the utter most kindness in his heart. â€Å"It was times like these when I thought my father, who hated guns and had never been to any wars, was the bravest man who ever lived.† (Lee,134) This qu ote shows how you don’t have to be super tough and rude to have courage, being wise, and kind will do the trick. Another sign of courage is the way Atticus handles the case and stands up for Tom Robinson. He knows that everyone will most likely stand against him and that he will most likely lose the case but he firmly stands his ground and continues moving forward because he knows no matter what the outcome, its the right thing to do. â€Å"I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting an idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. Its when you know you’re licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what, you rarely win, but sometimes you do.† (Lee, 149). Atticus is willing to put his name, career, and even his own life on the line for someone he had never laid eyes on before, just because he knows its the right thing to do. He doesn’t care that everyone else around him strongly disagrees with his o pinion, he doesn’t care despite all the threats made to him and his family, he doesn’t care that he was saving the life of a negro, he just didn’t care no matter what the people of Maycomb threw at him, and if that does not show any sign of courage, then that word should not exist.

My Company Is an Equal Opportunity Employer Essay - 581 Words

According to the employee handbook, my employer company has the policy of ensuring there is an equal opportunity of employment to all people without any form of discrimination. This includes discrimination based on disability. The company, therefore, makes sure that it observes the federal laws, which prohibits discrimination of applicant employees based on the disabilities regardless of their qualification. This law is known as the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). In fact, the company has a policy that ensures there is no discrimination against the qualified individuals, who have disabilities concerning the application procedures, advancement, hiring, compensation, discharge, training, and other terms, conditions as well as†¦show more content†¦Moreover, there will be no need of the accommodation in case the threats cannot be eliminated using reasonable accommodation, or if such accommodation will create a hardship to the company. Anyone seeking accommodation has to c ontact the Human Resource department in order to place his or her requests and ask any question relating to the company’s accommodation. According to the employee handbook of my employer, the company provides benefits as well as services to all the employees, which are injured while on the job. These are in line with the OSHA rule. The benefits given always aim at helping these employees return to their work quickly. The company covers all the costs of the medical aid, which is required because of the workplace injuries or illness. These may include the hospital care, medication, medical, and surgery. The benefits in such cases will include allowances for home maintenance and self-care, medical examination, hospital expenses, clothing, among other health related benefits. In case the accident is fatal, the company covers part of the expenses incurred during burial, cremation, as well as the memorial services. In addition, eligible dependants of the deceased employee will be compensated. There exists a procedure, which must be followed in case one has to benefit from this company policy. The initial stage involves repo rting the injury, then following all the subsequentShow MoreRelatedBenefits Of Equal Employment Opportunity1660 Words   |  7 PagesIntroduction Equal Employment Opportunity happens to be a well-known topic, due to the fact that it effects every single working person in the United States. Equal Employment Opportunity has no specific historical date but events like the Executive Order 8802, 9981, and 10925 which were proposed by former presidents, were the jump start to a historical movement (â€Å"The Law.† n.d.). Quickly following the Executive Orders was the Equal Pay Act of 1963. This act makes it â€Å"illegal to discriminate againstRead MoreThe Equal Employment Opportunity Laws Essay1060 Words   |  5 Pagesunderstanding of the Equal Employment Opportunity laws are initially overwhelming, due to the amount of information dedicated to the subject. However, it is vitally important to comprehend and apply these laws to any organization, in order to avoid claims or litigation. Companies need to educate management to â€Å"take reasonable care to prevent and promptly correct discrimination and establish anti- discrimination policies† (SHRM, 2014). The EEOC is not out to get employers, but was â€Å"establishedRead MoreA Human Resource Manager Essay1189 Words   |  5 Pagesthe understanding of the Equal Employment Opportunity laws are initially overwhelming, due to the amount of information dedicated to the subject. However, it is vitally important to comprehend and apply these laws to any organization, in order to avoid claims or litigation. Companies need to educate management to â€Å"take reasonable care to prevent and promptly correct discrimination and establish anti-discrimination policies† (SHRM, 2014). The EEOC is not out to get employers, but was â€Å"establishedRead MorePreventing Sexual Harassment At The Workplace978 Words   |  4 PagesPreventing Sexual Harassment in the Workplace An anti-harassment policy should be set and published to every company by the employer; moreover, this policy should state and allow the employees to complain if the harassment and discrimination occur. However, employers are likely to be negligent about the important of investigating complaints of sexual harassment and appropriate solutions. (Tremblay, 2008) The most effective weapon against sexual harassment is prevention. It is impossibleRead MoreThe Perspective Of A Human Resource Manager964 Words   |  4 Pagesdistributed by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), fiscal year 2014 â€Å"had 88,778 charges of workplace discrimination† (EEOC, 2015). In contrast, the comparatively low number of cases publicized is a testament to the efficiency of the EEOC’s processes. The EEOC is not out to get employers, but was â€Å"Established to administer and enforce the Civil Rights Act at work† (Dessler, 2015, p. 28). The EEOC’s proces ses are well defined, fair and offer various options and opportunities that can leadRead MoreHuman Resources Laws Regulations1263 Words   |  6 Pagesthere is a broad area that governs how employers interact with their employees, former employees and applicants for employment. These laws and regulations are not meant to be described in a short paper. They are detailed laws that require application to an employee’s specific situation and should be discussed at length to ensure the correct interpretation of the regulation. As an office manager that was put in charge of the Human Resources department of my organization, I was thrust into a worldRead MoreImproving A Different Department If Job Progression Arises1391 Words   |  6 Pagesopportunities to move/transfer to a different department if job progression arises. It is important that clear lines of communication/training opportunities are set up within the organisation to facilitate effective opportunities for caree r pathways to develop. The training I have received within the department at Havering have included on the job training and learning from senior members of the team by shadowing them in their daily work. 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And here we are fifty years later and it is still happening today. To be black and middle class is not the same as to being say white and middle class and not for obvious reasons. The white hasRead MoreEqual Opportunities in the Workplace1721 Words   |  7 Pagesto focus my paper on EEO, being that I am an African- American and have experienced some of the negative aspects of it. I will discuss equal opportunities in the workplace, and its affect on human resource management. Equal opportunities are very important in the modern workplace. Providing equal opportunities involves providing the same opportunities to all the employees and prospective employees regardless of their sex, age, disabilities, ethnic origins, sexual orientations etc. Equal opportunities

The Impact of Humor in Radio Advertising free essay sample

The objective of this study is to find out if the use of humor in radio advertising aids the listener in comprehension and recall. The paper analyzes whether humor in radio advertising aids the listener in comprehension and recall. The author discusses past experimental studies that look at the effect of humor in advertising upon source credibility, comprehension, and audience preference, and compares them to the authors own method of experimentation. From the Paper: The use of humor in radio advertising is not a new concept. Every year millions of dollars are spent in the development and execution of humorous advertising in the United States. It is a tool that advertisers and radio stations have been using for years to grab the attention of their listeners. They use humor to help them place a product image in the listeners mind, but does this technique really work? Advertisers use humor appeals in radio advertising in order to differentiate a product whose advertising faces a heavy amount of corporate noise. We will write a custom essay sample on The Impact of Humor in Radio Advertising or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page The use of humor, some advertisers feel, can help listener recall, and attitude toward the brand. Humor, however, is hard to conceptualize or put into operation.?

A Guide To Building Workplace Integrity Essays

A Guide To Building Workplace Integrity Essays A Guide To Building Workplace Integrity Essay A Guide To Building Workplace Integrity Essay A guide to building workplace integrity Indicators and practice The Prevention and Education Unit of the Office of Police Integrity has It involves ethical leadership, active management and supervision, the right people, effective processes and confident professional reporting. In essence, building workplace integrity is about creating a workplace that fosters the development of high professional standards, and demonstrates the values of the organization. An ethical and professional workplace is the best safeguard against risks to integrity, including improper conduct, misconduct and corruption. With this in mind, this guide has been developed to help Victoria Police strengthen its workplace integrity. It will assist Victoria Police to: assess the management of workplaces identify particular strengths and weaknesses in current practice implement practical strategies to build and sustain workplace integrity. We would like to acknowledge the assistance of Victoria Police members of the police Reform Advisory Group in developing this guide, which is based on public sector resource produced by the Western Australian Corruption and Crime Commission. A guide to building workplace integrity Indicators and practice 4 How to use this guide Managers and staff are responsible for the integrity of their workplaces. However, managers and supervisors play an important role in shaping the ethical health of a workplace, and setting the right tone for staff. They work closely with staff and manage their performance and development. Managers are best placed to identify any current or potential integrity concerns and to proactively manage these in the workplace. This guide has been designed specifically for managers or members of the police service area management team (Inspectors, Senior Sergeants, Sergeants and leading Senior Constables who may be acting or performing management duties). It aims to help managers consider the ethical and professional standards of their workplace and to strengthen workplace integrity. As a manager, you can use this toolkit to assess and monitor workplace integrity. For example, you may want to assess the capacity of your station or unit to identify and manage misconduct risks, and then monitor this capacity by conducting regular assessments over time. Integrity monitoring may occur as part of the business planning of your team or unit (ii annual monitoring) or in response to changes to the workplace or team such as changes in staffing or work demands. This toolkit is structured around the assessment of five key areas considered fundamental to building ethical health: Ethical leadership: the extent to which managers lead by example and create a professional working environment for staff. Active management and supervision: the extent to which managers take responsibility for the team, and actively manage work performance. The right people: the extent to who ICC staff carry out their duties in accordance with the organ conations expectations of them. Effective processes: the extent to which risk management processes exist in the workplace, and are complied with by staff. Confident professional reporting: the extent to which internal reporting facilitates early detection and contributes to the continuous improvement of the organization. These five key areas are interrelated. When a workplace performs well in each, it indicates strong capacity to identify and manage integrity related issues. The Workplace Integrity Indicator consists of 25 statements divided into the five key areas. This section asks you to think about your workplace -? in particular, the way you manage staff and their performance and development, and the way your staff undertake their duties. 5 To assess the integrity of your workplace, indicate your level of agreement with each of the 25 statements on the five-point scale from (1 ) strongly disagree to (5) strongly agree. Once completed, you will have a useful indication of your current workplace strengths. You will be able to identify aerospace areas that need attention. In the Workplace Integrity Practice section, you are provided with some practical suggestions for achieving good practice within your workplace. It is important to note that the strategies recommended are not an exhaustive list. You may have some other ideas for improving workplace integrity or be guided by the material referred to in the Workplace Integrity Resources section. 6 Workplace integrity indicator Please indicate the extent to which you agree with the following statements. The next section of this guide provides some practical suggestions for threatening workplace integrity in each of these core areas. Strongly disagree agree Comments Ethical leadership My values are consistent with the organizational values of integrity, leadership, flexibility, respect, support and professionalism. Am a positive role model who acts with integrity and professionalism. Communicate the importance of professional and ethical conduct to my staff. Have the confidence and trust of my staff. My influence contributes to a professional working environment. 2 3 Active management and supervision take responsibility for the performance Of my team. SE the people management resources available to me to manage staff. Now my staff, what they do, and how they do it. Actively manage work performance issues as they arise. Support the continuous improvement of my staff. The right people My staff demonstrate the organizational values of integrity, leadership, flexibility, respect, support and professionalism. My staff are committed to achieving team and organizational goals in a professional way. My staff know what co nstitutes proper and improper conduct as a member of the organization. My staff act to prevent misconduct and improper behavior. My staff understand shared responsibility in the workplace: they feel valued and supported by Victoria Police, and in turn, value and support the organization. 7 Effective processes My workplace has effective systems and processes in place to identify and manage ethical risks. Communicate to staff the ethical risks within my workplace. Specific processes exist for those areas within my workplace that are associated with a high risk of misconduct and corruption. Monitor staff compliance to workplace policies and processes. Integrity and ethics are part of all education, training and practice in my workplace.

English Writing Dictations for Beginning Learners

English Writing Dictations for Beginning Learners English dictation provides writing practice for English-language learners. Listen to the phrases via the links in this article, then take a piece of paper, or use a writing program on your computer. Write or type what you hear. Listen as many times as necessary. Dictation helps your spelling, listening and understanding skills. Each of the following dictations focuses on a specific learning point. The dictations are for beginning-level learners and include five sentences in each dictation. Each sentence is read twice, giving you time to write what you hear. At a Hotel This  dictation link  will give you a chance to hear- and write- comon phrases used at hotels, such as: Can I make a reservation please? and Id like a double room with a shower. and Do you have any rooms available? Remember that you can hit the pause button to give yourself more time to write your answer. Introductions This section includes  simple sentences  like, Hello, my name is John. Im from New York. and English is a difficult language. As you know from your studies, this is certainly a very accurate statement. At a Government Agency These  dictation sentences  cover phrases youll find useful at a government agency- such as at a motor vehicles or Social Security office. The sentences cover topics such as filling out forms and standing in the correct line. Knowing the sentences on this topic can save you hours of potential aggravation. At the Restaurant These  dictation sentences  cover common phrases used in a restaurant, such as What would you like to have? and Id like a hamburger and a cup of coffee. If youre up for more practice on eatery terms, youll find them in these extra  practice phrases. Present, Past and Comparisons In English, the present and past tense can take many grammatical forms, involving an array of confusing terms. You can memorize the grammatical forms, but its often easier to listen to a native speaker dictate phrases and sentences involving present and past tense events. Making comparisons can also be a difficult concept. Use the following links to practice such sentences as: I started work in October last year and Peter is playing the piano at the moment. Now- sentences that describe things happening at the momentPast events- sentences with the simple past tense to describe things that happened in the pastComparisons- sentences comparing two things or people Other Topics The more practice you can get listening to and  writing  American-English phrases the better. Buying or choosing  clothing, describing habits, giving directions, and even buying souvenirs can be difficult unless you know a few basic phrases that cover these issues. To help you, these practice dictation sentences cover topics including: Clothing- common phrases related to shopping for clothesHabits- sentences that express daily habits and routinesMy town- phrases regarding your communityWork- sentences about daily routines at workDirections- common phrases used when asking for and giving directionsQuestions- a variety of simple questions in different tensesSouvenirs- common phrases used when shopping for souvenirs

Management - Compensation Methods Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Management - Compensation Methods - Essay Example In this paper, we will discuss some major compensation methods/employee benefit programs, which a company can use to improve employee performance. Types of Compensation According to Menguc and Barker (2003), use of compensation plans influences all dimensions of organizational performance. Companies use different types of compensations to increase employee motivation. Some major types of compensation include bonuses, free meals, housing allowance, health insurance, company car, travel allowance, free patrol, promotion based on performance base pay, overtime pay, and commissions. In some companies, the compensations like bonuses and commissions are associated with the job responsibilities of the employees. Some jobs are of very difficult nature, so the companies put some rewards for the people associated with those jobs in form of bonuses in order to encourage them and make them dedicated to their jobs. Companies categorize different types of compensations into short-term and long-ter m programs. Mazin and Smith (2004) asserts, â€Å"Short-term programs are usually based on cash payments, while long-term incentives typically involve stock† (p.113). Short-term rewards include cash and stock bonuses, which a company gives to the employees when they achieve short-term goals, such as, increase in the company’s revenue. ... The basic purpose of short-term compensation programs is to increase employees’ performance and productivity over a specific time. Long-term rewards, on the other hand, are such rewards that a company gives to its employees when they increase the company stock’s value in the market. The stock value increases when a company maintains its product standard and quality for a long time. Good quality of products generates higher levels of productivity and revenues, which result in increasing the stock value of the company. Companies reserve long-term rewards usually for the employees who are at managerial posts. Calvin (2001, p.119) asserts, â€Å"In established firms, long-term incentives, such as stock options, are reserved for senior salespeople, national account managers, and sales managers†. Commissions and bonuses are two of the most useful types of compensations because they attract a large number of employees towards the companies, which offers such compensatio ns to the employees. Commission is a form of compensation that a company gives to its employees on achieving some targets. Commissions and bonuses play a key role in retaining talented and skilled employees for a company. Increase in salaries is also one of the most effective ways to retain key employees of a company. Employees do not want to leave the job when their companies reward them in terms of increase in their salaries. Compensation programs not only make employees work hard to achieve the incentives but also make the company achieve higher levels of profitability and productivity. Apart from increase in salaries, some other types of rewards also play a good role in increasing employee motivation. These rewards include foreign trip of

Performance Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 6

Performance Management - Essay Example sue that affects employee performance is the use of electronic communications especially in an era where social media has found its use in the workplaces. As such, companies us performance appraisals to evaluate their employees to reward the top performers and punish the non-performers. Therefore, the essay discusses the implications of random drug tests for current employees, establishes if it is justifiable to monitor the use of electronic communications and the importance of performance appraisals. Currently, companies are in a bid to implement policies that will allow them to random carry out drug tests on their employees. However, the random drug testing especially on the current employees is a subject to human privacy violation implying that organizations should consider the applicable regulations as well as statutes that protect the employee rights (Wall, 2011). On the other hand, random drug testing should take course under insurance and employment contract requirements to address the drug problem at the workplace. Random drug testing may be justifiable because organizations, through the executive management, have the responsibility to provide safe and healthy work environment. Employees who are on drugs may be a threat to others because they may be prone to mistakes that may result in serious injuries at the workplace. Therefore, random drug testing for the current employees is only justifiable if the employees sign the drug testing policy upon their employment to an org anization because this way, there will be a balance between privacy and safe workplace. In Canada, firing an employee can be quite a nightmare even if the employer believes that the employee is incompetent in the assigned task. The implication is that if the termination of the employee takes place in a wrong manner, the court may compel the organization to pay for damages. However, there are steps that organizations can take to reduce the chances of facing legal suit from the employee.

Project On Library Management

Project On Library Management St. Joseph College Of Engineering and Technology (SJCET) located in eastern highlands of Tanzania, in the town of Dar es Salaam. The College operates in Brigitta Campus situated at about 23 km from Dar es Salaam-Morogoro Road at Mbezi-Luguruni Area. Built on a sprawling 30-acre hilly land, the college provides a conducive atmosphere for the pursuit of education. The focus of the college is on bringing out IT professionals, thus provides fine ambience for its training minds. The College runs two programmes, Degree and Diploma in Computer Applications that started in the year 2004, and in 2005 they opened another campus in town of Songea, southern of Tanzania. Currently, The College has been using a manual processing of library system. It has a well-stocked library providing a strong support to the Teaching-Learning process. The stack room has a total of about 32, 000 Books covering all the programmes offered. Adequate numbers of technology journals and magazines are subscribed in all the branches of study. With ample seating capacity the reading hall of the library caters to the scheduled use of the library by every class for one hour every week and to the leisure-time patronage by all the staff and students. The library working hours are between 8 am and 6pm on all working days and between 8am and 1pm on Saturday and Sunday. As time goes by, the population of students continues to increase. The librarians are not able to update the book files and student files, are unable to keep tracks of items, organize and maintain files as the result of an increased number of redundant and inaccurate information and no security measures taken. The college administration has now decided to automate manual Library System into a new Library Management System that will integrate among all of its campuses in order to eliminate redundancy and inconsistency of data. Librarians will be able to add/edit or delete details from and to the database plus maintaining security of Library System. Aim The aim of the project is to design and implement database for library management system that deals with Member registration, Item Management, Borrowing and Search for item(s) or for member(s), as well as avoiding redundancy errors and inconsistency of data by setting security measures. All records about books information and members information and other materials etc will be kept in the database. First, the library management system will allow members to register; registration includes storing basic information of members such as Member ID, Name, Address, Email, phone number, title, and registration date. then only the registered members will be allowed to borrow an item from the system and do searching for items based on author name, book title etc. Item Management is about managing all items available in library including Books, Journals and Reference materials with following properties: item number, name, author, number of copy etc. Placing reservation allows member to book an item if it is not immediately available. The item might be in another campus or a member may already have it out on loan. When the title is available, the librarian will activate the reservation and keep it aside for a member who has booked. Borrowing activity includes the following: allowing a member to borrow a book from library and be able to return a book to the library according to specific return date. When members borrow the book, database will store the book Id and member Id and this Ids will be used to search all items that have been borrowed by specific member and know total numbers of borrowed books and returned books. Objectives The main objectives of the project are: To do research on Library Systems and to establish distinct features that can be applied in developing a Library Management System. Activities: do research on manual and online Library System; get some ideas from books and journals for relevant articles. Deliverables: research report. To create a WBS for Library Management System. Activities: identify main Tasks (Activities) for the project and produce Work Breakdown Structure. Deliverables: Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) To understand technologies to be used in designing Library Management System Activities: briefly explanation of software(s) to be used, hardware(s), languages and server(s). Deliverables: requirements Analysis. To design and implement a database that will hold information for Library Management System. Activities: Analyse information collected and draw up a requirements specification for Member registration, Item Management and setting security. Deliverables: conceptual data model, relational schema, codes for database. To develop a web based application for Library Management System. Activities: the following is the platform showing how the web based application will be implemented: PHP, CSS, XHTML, Apache and MySQL are languages to be used for developing web pages, virtual platforms and server side for validation on retrieving and accessing information from database through web based application. Deliverables: web based application, screen dumps, and codes for web based application. Resources During the course of this project the resources expected to be used are: Research: Academic Articles, Text books such Database Design and Implementation, e-Commerce; these textbooks will be used to bring up different concepts that will assist in designing a Database and Web pages for a new Library Management System then linking Web pages with the database designed. Internet access: should be reliable because many materials are available online on different websites/blogs that talk about Library Management System. Software: any database web design software will be used in designing Library Management System and languages to used are: mySQL codes, PHP, etc. Application programs: mySQL server, Ms Project, Dreamweaver, etc Initial References St. Joseph College Of Engineering and Technology (SJCET) PROSPECTUS 2006-2007. Proposal: Guidelines and Samples, available at: http://sampleproposal.net/category/system-proposal/ Database Design and Implementation Coursework, Comp 1302, Due: 07-04-2010. Library Management System, available at: http://www.dotnetspider.com/projects/7-Library-Management-System.aspx New York State Library, available at: http://www.nysl.nysed.gov/libdev/pos/ PROJECT MANAGEMENT Project management is the discipline of planning, organizing and managing resources to bring about the successful completion of specific project goals and objectives. It is sometimes conflated with program management. The primary challenge of project management is to achieve all of the project goals and objectives while honouring the preconceived project constraints. [Wikipedia.org (date: 23rd Aug 2010)] Typical constraints are scope, time and budget; used to represent the concept that the various factors affecting project outcome are coupled such that a decrease along one dimension necessarily results in an increase in at least one of the dimensions. Scope includes all factors associated with the project deliverables, including quality. Budget includes all things that cost money, including resources and equipment. Time is about knowing the project schedule; how much time taken to complete the project. [Wikipedia.org (date: 23rd Aug 2010)] Processes The major processes include: initiation, planning, execution, monitoring and controlling and closing. Initiation The initiation processes determine the nature and scope of the project. If this stage is not performed well, it is unlikely that the project will be successful in meeting the business needs. The key project controls needed here are an understanding of the business environment and making sure that all necessary controls are incorporated into the project. Any deficiencies should be reported and a recommendation should be made to fix them. The initiation stage should include a plan that encompasses the following areas: Analyzing the business needs/requirements in measurable goals Reviewing of the current operations Financial analysis of the costs and benefits including a budget Stakeholder analysis, including users, and support personnel for the project Project charter including costs, tasks, deliverables, and schedule [Wikipedia.org (date: 23rd Aug 2010)] Planning and design After the initiation stage, the project is planned to an appropriate level of the detail. The main purpose is to plan time, cost and resources adequately to estimate the work needed and to effectively manage risk during project execution. As with the initiation process group, a failure to adequately plan greatly reduces the projects chances of successfully accomplishing its goals. Project planning generally consists of Determine how to plan (e.g. by level of detail or rolling wave); Developing the scope statement; Selecting the planning team; Identifying deliverables and creating the work breakdown structure; Identifying the activities needed to complete those deliverables and networking the activities in their logical sequence; Estimating the resource requirements for the activities; Estimating time and cost for activities; Developing the schedule; Developing the budget; Risk planning; Gaining formal approval to begin work; [Wikipedia.org (date: 23rd Aug 2010)] Executing Execution process involves coordinating people and resources as well as integrating and performing the activities of the project in accordance with the project management plan. The deliverables are produced as outputs from the processes performed as defined in the project management plan. [Wikipedia.org (date: 23rd Aug 2010)] Monitoring and Controlling Monitoring and controlling consists of those processes performed to observe project execution so that potential problems can be identified in a timely manner and corrective action can be taken, when necessary to control the execution of the project. The key benefit is that project performance is observed and measured regularly to identify variances from the project management plan. Monitoring and controlling includes: Measuring the ongoing project activities (where we are); Monitoring the project variable (cost, effort, scope etc) against the project management plan and the project performance baseline (where we should be) Identify corrective actions to address issues and risks properly (how can we get on track again) Influencing the factors that could circumvent integrates changes controls so only approved changes are implemented In multi-phase projects, the monitoring and controlling process also provides feedback between project phases, in order to implement corrective or preventive actions to bring the project into compliance with the project management plan. Project Maintenance is an ongoing process, and it includes: Continuing support of end users Correction of errors Updates of the software overtime [Wikipedia.org (date: 23rd Aug 2010)] Closing Closing includes the formal acceptance of the project and the ending thereof. Administrative activities include the archiving of the files and documenting lessons learned. This phase consists of: Project close: finalize all activities across all of the process groups to formally close the project or a project phase Contract closure: complete and settle each contract (including the resolution of any open items) and close each contract applicable to the project or project phase [Wikipedia.org (date: 23rd Aug 2010)] Work Breakdown Structure Work breakdown structure (WBS) is a deliverable-oriented grouping of the work involved in a project that defines the total scope of the project. Because most projects involve many people and many different deliverables, it is important to organize and divide the work into logical parts based on how the work will be performed. The WBS is a foundation document in project management because it provides the basis for planning and managing project schedules, costs, resources and changes. Gantt chart Gantt chart is a standard format of displaying project schedule information by listing project activities and their corresponding start and finish dates in a calendar format. [Schwalbe, K (2007); page 25] Gantt chart for SJCET Library Management System

Use of Monetary Policy and Fiscal Policy During The Great Recession Ess

How can monetary policy and fiscal policy greatly influence the US economy? Keynesian economics says, â€Å"A depressed economy is the result of inadequate spending .† According to Keynesian the government intervention can help a depressed economy through monetary policy and fiscal .The idea established by Keynes was that managing the economy is a government responsibility . Monetary policy uses changes in the quantity of money to alter interest rates, which in turn affect the level of overall spending . â€Å"The object of monetary policy is to influence the nation’s economic performance, as measured by inflation†, the employment rate and the gross domestic product, an aggregate measure of economic output. Monetary policy is controlled by the Central Bank and influences money supply . Fiscal policy uses changes in taxes and government spending to affect overall spending and stabilize the economy. When lowering taxes the people have more to spend then the government decreases spending and the economy slows down therefore the economy stabilizes. The objective of fiscal policy is the governments’ typical use fiscal policy to promote strong and sustainable growth and reduce poverty. During periods of recession congress has the option to decrease taxes to give households more disposable income so they can buy more products. Therefore, lowering tax rates increases GDP. The steady growth of inflation in 2007 and 2008 suggest that the Federal Reserve applied discretionary powers to avoid tightening. Tightening is inflation growing too fast. In 2009 the feds needed to be concerned about the deflation because the average inflation rate dropped to -.4%. Inflation tends to follow movements and they are closely related to the business cyc... ... Okun, A. 1962. â€Å"Potential Output: Its Measurement and Significance.† in Proceedings of the Business and Economic Statistics Section, American Statistical Society. Washington, DC: American Statistical Association. Phelps, E. 1994. â€Å"The Origins and Further Development of the Natural Rate of Unemployment,† in R. Cross (ed.), The Natural Rate Twenty-Five Years On. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Romer, C. and J. Bernstein. 2009, â€Å"The Job Impact of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan.† January 10. Available at: http://otrans.3cdn.net/45593e8ecbd339d074_l3m6bt1te.pdf Skidelsky, R. 2001. John Maynard Keynes, Volume Three: Fighting for Britain 1937–1946. London: Macmillan. Tcherneva, P. 2011. â€Å"Permanent on-the-spot job creation—the missing Keynes Plan for full employment and economic transformation.† Review of Social Economics, forthcoming.

Retail Sector in Uk

THE UK RETAIL SECTOR Retailing is one of the major economic sectors of United Kingdom, with retail sales of ? 221 billion, employing around 3 million people and operating over 300,000 shops. Within the sector there is a scale polarisation at both the business and the store level. The leading retailers are huge, multinational businesses which dominate the sector. They operate a range of stores from major hypermarkets and supercentres through to small convenience stores. Retailing is also significant it its social dimension as well.Whilst economically retailing bridges production and consumption, in social terms it effects most of the population every day. It is the rare person who does not go shopping, or indeed has not worked in retailing or been involved in it in some way. For some, retailers offer their major social intercourse of the day or week and act as a social network, setting or centre. The quality of UK retailing and its locations thus has both an economic and a social bear ing on the perceptions of the country.COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS 1. 1 Political Structure and Trends The activities of retailers and thus shoppers are affected by the political structure and trends in a number of ways. It would be wrong, however, to see this as a direct relationship derived through a body of legislation specifically targeted at retailing or shopping. Instead, trends in retailing and shopping are more dependent on a number of national debates and initiatives that have been developed recently by various levels in the political process.The main direct effect that politicians have on retailing and shopping is through their exercise of power over location through the levers of the land-use planning system. Whilst land-use planning is a local authority activity, national government can intervene to provide directions and guidance on the assessment of development opportunities and proposals. Whilst land-use planning towards retailing in the 1980s allowed decentralised activity, since the early 1990s there has been a growing consensus on the tightening of restrictions on off-centre and green field evelopment. Thus it has become much harder to obtain planning permission for developments away from existing town centres and newer forms of retailing such as factory outlet centres and regional shopping centres have become harder to accommodate. This consensus has emerged through a general concern with the health of town centres and a desire to see town centres as vital and viable parts of the urban structure, fulfilling traditional nodal activities, including providing a focus for shopping.Whilst land-use planning affects the location of retailing, other instruments of government can affect the operations of the business, although as we note there is no overall retail trading legislation. Instead, shoppers are affected by a battery of public policy which attempts variously to regulate competition, safeguard consumer interests and to regulate trading conditions. Recent changes in this arena have seen an easing of restrictions on trading hours for example but a strengthening of powers over retail selling and employment practices. Concerns over public health have led to tighter regulation on food stores.In essence the approach could be summed up as ensuring that retailers do their jobs properly and that there is as much a level playing field as possible. Again there is no reason to suspect that this will change, though the scale of the legislation will change as globalisation continues in this market. Big retailers will be created on a pan-European level and will be subjected to standard operating conditions across for example Europe, which safeguard consumer interests. The European dimension obviously has another political aspect as well, most notably in terms of the Euro.Whilst decisions about the Euro are beyond this report, retailers as a key service sector, will have to deal with its introduction (or not). For some this is already antici pated through their acceptance of Euros in the UK, their Irish and continental European experiences and in their forward planning of technological (eg POS) investment. Smaller retailers in particular however may be less prepared for any positive decision. Overall there will be costs in implementation, as well as potential trading disruption depending on timing of introduction. 1. 2 Economic Structures and TrendsTo a considerable extent, the economic structures and trends driver for change operates at such a macro-level of the economy that it is very hard to consider it in any detail. The general economic position of the country will condition to a great extent the outcomes retailers experience from the shopping activity. Thus the volume and value of retail sales is of importance in this arena, but it is hard to be certain of magnitudes looking forward. Political policy can have an impact by its promotion of certain sectors and locations in the economy, in pursuit for example of grea ter social inclusion and a fairer distribution of wealth.However alternative policies could equally be considered. The economic structure also has an affect on the retail landscape through the encouragement or otherwise of the construction of landscapes for consumption. Businesses have to be willing to invest in the built environment and to feel comfortable that such investments will make a return. Probably the only safe assumption to be made is that the broad economic structures will remain in place and that in the future Britain will be economically approximately ranked similarly to where it is now in the world.Taking this assumption, then it would seem that we can expect many of the trends we have seen in recent years to continue. Thus, there would seem to be scope for further growth in retail sales, if we take a broad definition of retailing. There will be developers wishing to invest in the UK in commercial property, but much of this development may take the form of redevelopme nt or enhancement of existing locations. The exceptions to this might be purpose built new facilities in areas of identified deprivation, though the exact form of these facilities will be open to question.The economic structure has an impact on retailers and retail structure. British retailing is dominated by large corporate chains, many of which are head-quartered outside the country. Whilst there is in a sense a requirement to improve local knowledge to meet consumer needs, large retailers have demonstrated that computing power can be used to understand markets. Knowledge management becomes a key element in the future economy. There does not seem therefore to be any particular reason why current trends towards bigger and foreign retailers (eg.Wal-Mart) dominating more of the market should not continue, although they will probably structure some of their activities on a national (ie. local) basis. There will be opportunities for local and new retailers, but overall the market struc ture is likely to remain dominated by such big and increasingly global players. The interaction of the political will and the economic situation of the country and locations and individuals within the country will be important in determining the affluence of otherwise of the population, and thus the attractiveness of sites for retailers.This personal disposable income is critical to the future of locations, though it is tempered by the aspirations and lifestyle choices, and the costs of these eg. monthly rental of satellite television reduces out-of-home shopping. Most recently there has been announced major investment in the country’s infrastructure, funded in part by increased tax and NI revenues. This could affect perceptions of affluence and personal disposable income for years to come. More worryingly perhaps is the possible pensions timebomb which is currently being exposed through the switch out of final-salary schemes.Continuing concerns over mortgage payments based u pon endowment policies and the high level of credit in the economy reinforce these worries. Socio-Cultural and Lifestyle Aspirations Changing socio-cultural and lifestyle considerations have fuelled much of the change in shopping and retailing in recent years. Attitudes and beliefs as well as wants and needs have been transformed. They continue to develop and further change can be expected. In particular, attitudes to work and leisure are worth identifying separately as they are potentially so important.Modern consumers are a mass of contradictions, many of which are inexplicable on any rational basis. Some travel miles by car, damaging the environment, to refill a plastic bottle which costs virtually nothing, or to place bottles in a bottlebank located on a superstore car park. Branded products with a conspicuous logo are purchased in preference to identical generic products selling at a vastly reduced price. People pay 50% more for a 30% smaller microwaveable pot of baked beans ra ther than have to open a tin and heat the product ‘normally’.Ready-washed salads or chopped vegetables in their millions are purchased to ‘save time’ or to cover up for lost culinary ‘skills’. Understanding and predicting change in this arena is therefore a little difficult. What can be said is that there is a tension in this aspect of shopping. On the one hand consumers have ever broader experiences and expectations that have been increased by their exposure to new events, horizons, ways of doing things etc. So holiday experiences are brought back and combined with UK products and behaviours. Things that are seen in TV programmes become available in local stores.On the other hand, the very nature of the global experience, particularly through leisure products such as TV and cinema, tends to reduce things to the lowest common denominator – Pringles, Coke, Gap, Nike – and it is no coincidence that the majority of exemplars are Amer ican. This differentiation/similarity paradox will also emerge in other ways, and in particular in terms of the attitudes and belief statements of individuals and the way they translate these into shopping actions. Single-issue causes are fundamentally important now and look set to remain a force.Attitudes to corporate or government activities may lead to both small-scale individual behaviour changes but possibly to more aggregate corporate behaviour changing movements. The ‘battle’ over GM foods and the rapid development of organic food sales are examples of the start of this rather than the end. Consumers and businesses will spend a lot of time in the future working out their positions on issues and changing behaviours appropriately. However, the number of individual positions by their very nature will outnumber choices available.This points to a continuing fragmentation of much of consumer demand, but overlain by certain common themes. For retailers, identifying thes e themes early will be critically important and reacting quickly will be vital. The issue of mobility is complicated. It is clear that people’s understanding of mobility has been transformed in a number of directions. The overall perception of mobility has extended significantly. This extension is both in terms of the mental view of locations and travel and a dramatic extension of what may be possible and also a willingness and ability to actually travel.The location of holidays and the influence this has on price perception and product purchase is one example of this. The willingness to travel longer distances to shop on a regular or an irregular (shopping centres) basis is another. It is also the case that as we are spending more time ‘on the move’, our needs in consumption terms have changed. We need to be able to consume as we go (food, music, information etc) and retailers have changed locations, products and shop formats to adjust to this. 1. 4 Demographic Structures and TrendsShopping and retailing are obviously heavily dependent on people, both as an industry, but also as the basic consuming unit. Changes in the population structure and the location of this population, as well as the make-up of the households in which people live, are fundamentally important to retailers and to understanding the shopping future. For example, population growth in specific locations or of age-groups of people encourage or discourage retailers to construct the retail environment differently.The ‘baby-boomers’ or ‘Generation X’ concepts have their reality in the shopping behaviour each group carries out and the demand for experiences and products they exhibit. Similarly, the growth of children as consumers and acknowledgement of the spending power of the â€Å"tweenies† represent new foci for retailers and service providers. Similarly, the breakdown of the nuclear family and the rise of single person households changed t he consumption landscape, both in non-food because of the absolute number of households, but also in food due to pack size issues and so on.More but smaller households will have an effect on the type of products and services purchased and the shopping trips undertaken. In short, understanding likely future demographic structures and trends provides a good base from which to examine future shopping, and because of the nature of population dynamics provides us with a solid foundation of understanding. New births notwithstanding, we have good estimates of population demography for the next twenty years.Population estimates for the UK suggest that there will be in the next twenty years an extra 4 million people in the country on the current base of 58 million. It is forecast that current trends will continue leading to a substantially older composition of the population than at present. There will be significant growth in the 45+ age groups, many of whom will be young in body and mind a nd will be able to finance their consumption (a group of time rich/cash rich). There is within this also an increase in the 75+ age group which will present significant issues for the delivery of shopping opportunities.The ageing of the population will present an opportunity to target older consumers, but it would seem to be likely that the differences within this group will be as great as differences between the 45+ age group and other groups. The ageing of the population has another dimension of interest to retailing. Retailing is a traditional user of young people and the workforce in retailing has been seen as being more youthful and transient than many other sectors. With a decline in the youth cohort and a large increase in older consumers, retailers are going to have to question their hiring policies.Some retailers have been aware of this for some time, but it is going to become a wider phenomenon. Older consumers are going to want to be served by older well-informed staff an d retailers are going to have to draw on this older workforce in order to keep their stores staffed in the first place. Willingness to work and the expectations of work for these groups may be much changed in the future. 1. 5 Product and Process Innovation Of all the drivers of change, the one that is most obviously in the news with respect to shopping and retailing is that of product, or more particularly, process innovation.The rapid development of the digital revolution, linked on occasions to the development of electronic commerce has caught the imagination of many, but perhaps blinded them to some of the pitfalls. Despite the fall from grace of the B2C Internet, most large retailers have a web site and are seriously exploring the opportunities or dangers of this new channel. The implications of this wave of experimentation for home delivery and for the very nature of retail organisations needs to be considered.In short, is the Internet the new way of shopping and retailing, whi ch will eventually conquer all, or is it a small additional channel of limited impact? Whilst it is crucial to consider the possible implication in this area, it is important to emphasise (unlike perhaps the UK Foresight process) that retail futures are not all technologically based or driven. Product innovation is almost impossible to predict due to the rapid development and innovation of technology and other components. There are some possible ‘straws in the wind’ associated with developments in miniaturisation, communications and digitisation.Books, videos, films and music may all be transformed by product changes associated with new mechanisms for making, storing and communicating such material. Beyond that however it is almost impossible to predict what new products will be around and futile to attempt to predict in any detail what we will be buying. Process innovation is however another matter. The process of shopping has for well over a century been composed of m ultiple channels, but process innovation in the form of e-retailing is challenging the balance amongst these channels, chiefly because the nature of the medium has changed.In addition, the current implementation of e-retailing has the scope to change the nature and cost structures of retail activities. The â€Å"traditional† model – in which the customer via self service undertakes most of the shopping tasks (and bears the costs) -changes with many tasks and the associated costs transferred to the retailer. The retail business economics of e-retailing differ from those of store based retailing. Predicting the extent of Internet or e-retailing take-off is foolhardy given the breadth of experimentation and the pace of change. It is however worth reflecting on the use to which the new format is being put.It would appear that e-retailing is being used in three different ways at least for shopping. First, there are sites and opportunities that are essentially price driven. The focus is on getting the cheapest price for the product. Secondly however some sites are being used to provide a form of service delivery. In this case, products are sought because they are special, unique, different or distinctive or because they are hard to find and thus a broad data source is needed. In short, the Internet can allow the breadth of retailing to be consulted more quickly than might otherwise be the case.It is possible to identify a third type of use, namely the time-saver, when basic components of shopping (provisioning? ) are routinised into some form of home delivery service. These three illustrations are themselves further (and this time ‘virtual’) examples of the categorisation of shopping behaviour outlined earlier. With the exception of downloadable digitised products such as video and music, most products purchased remotely will require some form of home delivery system. Shopping in the real world, with the exception of mail order places the onus for this aspect primarily on the consumer.However, Internet retailing separates these activities and thus reinforces the distinction between purchasing and obtaining. In order to obtain virtual purchased goods, home delivery points will probably be needed and solutions will need to be found to the problems of delivery timings, people absent deliveries and the like (though other solutions are possible focusing on local stores/distribution points). It is also the case that one of the conventionally perceived benefits of Internet retailing, namely the removal of many car journeys, might be obviated by the expansion of local home (or workplace) delivery services.In terms of process, the emergence of the Internet has also had effects ‘behind the scenes’. 1. 6 Environmental Changes and Trends The UK is a congested set of islands, although this can be overstated by those living in the South East of England. As such the environmental aspects of shopping and retailing are p articularly important given that the sector is a large user of land and the consumers are travellers to and from locations. Retailing of course is not only about consumers moving products, as shops are the commercial end of an entire supply chain.The way in which land is used for retailing and the retail supply chain have not remained static and there is good reason to presume that this will continue. Similarly the design and architecture of retail locations is not static and plays a considerable role in both the construction of the ‘feel’ of the retail location and experience and also, in environmental terms, its efficiency and effectiveness. Retailing uses land and locations for its physical activities. Consumers tend to travel to the store or shop components of this system.Space use by retailers has changed dramatically with broad trends towards the polarisation of shop size. In the main this has not led to any particular problems over space although many retailers h ave sought the prime locations. However some problems have been felt in secondary locations as concentration and competition effects have washed through the system. All the pressures being identified thus far suggest that there is not going to be a dramatic increase in space needs but rather that it is the quality of the space that will be most important. Current estimates of retail space, from CB Hillier Parker, suggests a stock of over 1. billion square feet of gross shop floorspace, which translates into 524 million square feet of net floorspace. Of the total gross floorspace 17. 7% is in â€Å"managed† retail environments (town and out-of-town shopping centres and retail warehouses), compared to 13. 5% in 1990 and 8% in 1980. Longer term however, it might be that existing space may be more problematical leading to either wholesale transformation or re-use as something else. Retail Sector Structure Size and Scope of Retail Sectors As has already been indicated, the definit ion of retailing has become more problematic.The horizontal and vertical blurring of activities and boundaries means that putting precise dimensions on the sector as a whole, and any component sub-sectors, is more difficult than before. Many examples of the issues abound, but we could for example contrast the coffee shop in the local Tesco, to the purchase of take-away sandwiches at Pret-a-Manager and the purchase of sushi for lunch at Sainsbury. Are they all retailing? Similarly Tesco sell pre-packaged insurance at the store but the same ‘product’ is available via the telephone and from banks and brokers. Where do we draw the line for retail sales?Even Delia Smith’s cookery programmes on the BBC could conceivably be seen as a retail activity, given the direct correlation between transmission and product purchase. The boundaries of retailing are highly blurred and volatile and government conceptualisations and statistics focused on product are not necessarily the most appropriate or helpful. There has been growth in product purchase, though of course in most cases the products themselves have not been static. New products have been introduced and dramatically changed categories, as computers replace typewriters and sunglasses, watches and fashion jewellery are sold by clothing chains.In non-food we can point to new products such as CDs and mobile phones, and in food ready meals would be a simple example. Furthermore in most product categories the range and choice available has expanded Organisational Structure and Competition As major retailers have grown in scale, so they have expanded their activities into new domains. With emerging scale has come a greater degree of knowledge and power in the channel. The pace of growth of retailers has been greater than for many manufacturers. Allied to operational changes such as the development of retailer brands and the better knowledge of consumer atterns and trends, retailers have reconstructed the traditional supply chain. In essence a dominant retail organisational type has emerged, characterised by strong vertical power which has been used to control, administer and command supply chains. Major retailers have also been involved in the use of horizontal power through their construction and reconstruction of the retail landscape. Where retailing locates and the form it takes has been transformed by the activities of major retailers and developers. Decentralisation is a key theme in this, and ‘waves’ of off-centre or out-of-town development have been identified.In most cases, these developments represent retail formats (eg. the food superstore and non-food retail warehouse) that can not readily be accommodated in existing centres. Such new locations tap into consumer needs, but have an impact on existing retailers and customers not able to travel to them. Moreover, they are in virtually all cases operated by major retailers and thus reinforce the competitive imba lance amongst organisational types. International Opportunities and Threats British retailers have had a chequered history in terms of international operations.At the same time, Britain is an open market and retailers who wish to enter the market can in most cases do exactly as they wish. The exceptions to this are those formats eg. Supercentres, which are constrained by land-use planning on the grounds of space use and various dimensions of impact. Essentially though the UK is a retail supermarket with the best bits of many retailing cultures. This open market is illustrated by the growing presence of many non-indigenous retailers in British retailing. This presence has been generated both by organic growth and by takeover.It encompasses most, if not all, retail sectors and formats. An increasing proportion of UK retail sales is therefore being captured by non-UK businesses operating here. This inward investment is a threat to the main ‘British’ retailers in competitiv e terms. Whilst international activity is risky, the retailers coming here are entering in many places a cosmopolitan market and one used to purchasing non-local products or travelling abroad. As such it seems not to matter to consumers where a retailer is from or who owns whom. If however competitive action combined with technological change eans that more imports are then generated and managerial head office positions, including research and development, are located outside the country, then these should be issues of concern for the country. For retailers entering this market, they have to adapt to a different (generally higher) cost structure and this can create difficulties for their positioning and performance. It is not likely that the pressure from overseas retailers will subside. Britain is a large market with a relatively small number of major cities and centres.For retailers looking for organic growth and being town or shopping centre-located, entry is relatively easy. Mor e problematic is the entry for free-standing or off-centre stores, where sites may not be as available. More likely however is entry via take-over. Given most major UK retailers are publicly quoted, such an entry is available at any time at the ‘right’ price. Whilst it is true to note that British retailers have not been overwhelmingly successful when they have internationalised, there is emerging evidence that some leading UK retailers are now seeing success.In a number of sectors, leading retailers have expanded across the globe, but particularly into Europe and Asia. Some of this expansion is due to opportunities to buy companies at reduced prices, and some is due to knowledge gained as international sourcing has expanded. Retailers such as Kingfisher, Tesco, and WH Smith are well known international retailers and have imported some of their experiences abroad back into their UK formats. Other smaller chains have also internationalised capitalising on niche strengths (eg Signet, Courts, Body Shop, Lush, Carphone Warehouse, Game, Thomas Pink).