Free Essays - The Characters of Biff and Happy in Death of a Salesman :: Death Salesman essays

The Characters of Biff and Happy in Death of a Salesman No one has a perfect life; everyone has conflicts that they must face sooner or later. The ways in which people deal with these personal conflicts can differ as much as the people themselves. Some insist on ignoring the problem for as long as possible, while others face up to the problem immediately to get it out of the way. Biff and Happy Loman are good examples of this, although both start from the same point, they end up going in different directions with Happy still living in his world of lies and Biff, being set free by the truth. Happy Loman is Willy's youngest son and is often over shadowed by his older brother Biff and ignored by his parents. As a result of growing up in Biff's shadow, Happy was always striving for Willy's attention, but never really got it. This is shown when the young Happy is always telling his father "I'm losing weight, you notice, Pop?" The need for attention continues as an adult, but Willy and Linda continue to brush Happy off in much the same way they did when he was younger Happy: "I'm gonna get married, Mom. I wanted to tell you." Linda: "Go to sleep, dear." Due to his being over shadowed by his elder brother Happy has grown up to be a stunted version of Willy's vision of the American Dream. Because of this it is difficult to identify with him; throughout the play he is presented as a one-dimensional character. Although Happy grows up to become more financially successful than his older brother, he lacks even a spark of self-knowledge or capacity for self-analysis. He does however share his father's capacity for self-delusion, declaring himself as the assistant buyer at his store, when, in reality, he is only one of the assistants to the assistant buyer. Biff: "You big blow, are you the assistant buyer? You're one of the two assistants to the assistant, aren't you?" Happy: Well I'm practically- Biff: You're practically full of it!" During Willy's funeral, Happy makes an empty vow, declaring that his father's death would not be in vain, as he was going to realise Willy's dream.

International Copyright Essay -- Intellectual Property Rights

The idea that an author of a literary work has certain inalienable rights to his work has been an institution found on a national level in many countries for centuries. These rights have taken on different forms depending on the legal tradition of the country where it is applied. In systems with a common law tradition, based on utilitarian ideals, the rights were referred to as copyright. In systems that relied on a civil law tradition, based on philosophical thought and the basic idea of a moral and natural order, the rights became to be known as author’s rights and later expanded to neighboring rights. Although these rights, and the laws that went along with them, developed in many countries around the same time in history international copyright would take substantially longer to develop. International copyright law is an evolution of thought that has emerged after many years of international political communications between the many states of the world. The Statute of Anne, created 1694 in England, was the world’s first copyright act. It was titled â€Å"An Act for the Encouragement of Learning, by vesting the Copies of Printed Books in the Authors or Purchasers of such Copies, during the Times therein mentioned† (Goldstein, 5). The act gave anyone the ability to gain copyright through the simple registration of their work and gave legal protection for a term of fourteen years from the date of original publication. This term could be renewed for an additional fourteen years if the author was still alive after the initial term of protection was over (Goldstein, 6). This became the foundation on which later copyright legislation would be built on. Author’s rights developed in France, Germany, and several other states... ...ks Cited Agreement on Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). Marrakesh. 15 April 1994. Print. Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works: Paris Act. Paris. 24 July 1971. Print. Convention for the Protection of Producers of Phonograms Against Unauthorized Duplication of Their Phonograms. World Intellectual Property Organization. 29 Oct 1971. Print. Goldstein, Paul. International Copyright: Principles, Law, and Practice. NewYork: Oxford UP, 2001. Print. International Convention for the Protection of Performers, Producers of Phonograms and Broadcasting Organisations. Rome Convention, 1961. Rome. 26 Oct 1961. Print. North American Free Trade Agreement. Part Six, art. 1701-1718.14. 7 Oct 1992. Print. Universal Copyright Convention. United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. 6 Sept 1952. Print.

Critical and Creative Thinking Essay

INTRODUCTION What is thinking? Basically, thinking is one way for human to practice the act or exercise their intellectual or process of thought. In other way, thinking can also mean as a way of reasoning and judgment. In easier words, thinking is the active process by which human develops by understandings of us, others and our world. The process of thinking enables us to solve problems, interpret information, make sense of our feelings and attitudes, discuss important issues, establish beliefs, and work toward the completion of goals. Thinking is an essential component in our life as a human being. As saying by Bill Beattie goes, â€Å"The aim of education should be to teach us rather how to think, than what to think – rather to improve our minds, so as to enable us to think for ourselves, than to load the memory with thoughts of other men.† Thinking can be derived in two ways, critical thinking and also creative thinking. Critical thinking is active and purposeful thinking about how we arrive at our understandings of everything in this world and selecting those modes of thinking which are most successful in clarifying and enhancing our understanding. Critical thinking is self-guided, self-disciplined thinking which attempts to reason at the highest level of quality in a fair-minded way. People who think critically in a consistent manner attempt to live rationally, reasonably, and empathically. â€Å"The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character – that is the goal of true education.† – Martin Luther King, Jr. Critical thinking is an exceptional mode of thinking about any subject, content, or problem – in which the thinker improves the quality of his or her thinking by skilfully taking charge of the structures inherent in thinking and imposing intellectual standards upon them. Creative thinking is a way of looking at problems or situations from a fresh perspective that suggests unusual solutions which may look unsettling at first but eventually become useful and brilliant. Creative thinking can be inspired both by an unstructured process such as brainstorming, and by a structured process such as lateral thinking (higher order thinking). A simple definition of creativity is the ability to imagine or invent something new. However, creativity is not the ability to create out of nothing, but the ability to generate new ideas by combining, changing, or reapplying existing ideas. Some creative ideas are surprising and brilliant, while others are just simple, good, practical ideas that no one seems to have thought of yet. â€Å"Creative thinking is not a talent; it is a skill that can be learnt. It empowers people by adding strength to their natural abilities which improves teamwork, productivity and where appropriate profits.† — Edward de Bono Creative thinking is the process which we use when we come up with a new idea. It is the merging of ideas which have not been merged before. Brainstorming is one form of creative thinking: it works by merging someone else’s ideas with your own to create a new one. You are using the ideas of others as a stimulus for your own. This creative thinking process can be accidental or deliberate. â€Å"It is the function of creative people to perceive the relations between thoughts, or things or forms of expression that may seem utterly different, and to combine them into some new forms, the power to connect the seemingly in connected.† – William Plomer The importance of critical and creative thinking is undeniable. In order to comply with the National Education Philosophy; which emphasize on the development of a whole-rounded individuals and capable of taking challenges, CCTS is very crucial and important to be nurtured in every students or individual. Part 1 – CURRENT SITUATION OF CCTS IN SCHOOL. I have been working as a contract teacher for 3 years in two different schools. Throughout those 3 years, I have been teaching Mathematics for one year and teaching English Language for about 2 years. As far as I can remember, during my contract as an English teacher, CCTS was not being implemented and in fact, I don’t even know the importance of critical and creative thinking skills that have to be highlighted and implemented to the students. But, I realize that the Literature Component that currently being taught in school is very suitable and able to nurture CCTS in students. This is because, it promotes students to think of the situation, analyse the current situation and interpret what is going to happen in the future. Besides, some of the literature components such as poems make students think something outside of the ordinary and be creative to play with the words and also the meaning of the sentences. I remember from my previous course on Literature Component during my contract teacher is that, the awareness as to the need to cultivate CCTS among students in Malaysia has been an issue of concern to many. Malachi Edwin (1992) stated that literature in English besides developing reading skills will also help develop students’ critical thinking skills. He adds that these skills will in turn provide students opportunities to understand themselves and their fellow human beings better. In line with Malachi Edwin’s view on the potentials of literature and its role in the cultivation of CCTS, the present research is aimed at using literature as the base through which CCTS can be promoted effectively. Literature in English has been chosen from the many subjects offered in the Malaysian curriculum for two reasons. Firstly, literature in English can be seen to cut across the various subjects in the curriculum as the contents of literary texts are so diverse that they incorporate social, political, scientific, technological, medical and all other areas of life. Secondly it is an undeniable fact that literature plays an important role in our present curriculum since it is now being taught to students from Form 1 to Form 5 as a component of the English Language syllabus. There is no doubt that the very nature of the subject which requires analysis, solving problems and interpretation can encourages critical and creative thinking. In English Language, other syllabus that are currently being taught such as grammar, reading comprehension and others would not make student to fully use their thinking process. As the knowledge is something that you can remember and it is basically a skill that u can achieve. It is strongly believe that learners can only become proficient language users if they, besides using the language and knowing the meaning, could display creative and critical thinking through the language (Kamarul Kabilan, 2000). This suggests that the learners must be creative in their production of ideas, and critically support them with logical and rational explanation, details and particulars and also examples. For me, as a teacher, it is essential for us to recognise the subject in our curriculum before we can understand and trying to teach students or cultivating CCTS in studying literature. The role of literature in English in the Malaysian curriculum has gone through tremendous changes. Before this, literature components that have been taught in school are just simple to know about the story and how to answer the examination. Most of the students or even teacher do not know that the literature components is actually a powerful tool that can be used to instil critical and creative thinking in students. The English language syllabus for Form Four states clearly a number of objectives of the curriculum but the objective which is of relevance to the present study is Objective Number Three as quoted below: ‘listen to, view, read and respond to different texts, and express ideas, opinions, thoughts and feelings imaginatively and creatively in spoken and written form’. (Huraian Sukatan Pelajaran, Ting IV. KPM, 2003) Part 2 – CHALLENGES FACED IN IMPLEMENTING CCTS IN SCHOOL. There are basically three reasons why CCTS is quite difficult to be implemented in school. They are: 1) Teachers themselves, 2) Students background, and 3) School Authority. First, during my contract with the school, I have never been exposed to CCTS. I don’t even know the existence of CCTS in school. The first time I heard about CCTS is when all English teacher was sent to short courses on Literature Component in 2009. Besides that, I have never know about the training in CCTS and the school never emphasize and put interest in getting the teacher trained in CCTS. Even though the teachers has been sent to the courses on the implementation of CCTS in Literature Component, we have no idea on how to implement the CCTS and still lacking in the idea to teach CCTS in class. We basically have the basic idea of CCTS but the problem is, we do not know how to implement the skills in teaching the language. Besides that, teachers have a lot of responsible rather than teaching students. There is lots of clerical work that should be done. This is somehow can interrupt teachers focus in giving all out in class. Teachers were given work out of their scope. There is too much administrative work and teaching subjects they were not trained for. In Malaysian education context, teachers play huge role in teaching and learning. They determine and direct the content, activities and processes of teaching and learning in classrooms. It is the teachers who decide on the aims, goals, and strategies of teaching to be implemented in classrooms. Unfortunately, not all teachers have the same idea about teaching. It is not only the students who need to think and act creatively and critically but the teacher should also do the same. When I was thinking about the Set Induction for my lesson, I had been challenged to think of a set induction that I had never use or seen before. In making the students interested to what the lesson are going to be for that day, I have been using songs, drama or even quotes from famous celebrities for my induction set. Secondly, the education system should teach students to be great thinkers, not followers. Unfortunately, it did not work out that well. This might be happening because of the student’s background. Sometimes, the family is not very helpful in ensuring the successfulness of one student. Parents also play an important role in providing encouragement for children to learn. Encouragement and incentives such as praise and prizes should be given to kids if they get good results. The education of the child is the collective responsibility of the family members. The education of the children in a family is the collective responsibility of all family members. The student will become a good thinker and they should be able to master critical and creative thinking. As such, they should be trained with activities that have been focused and aimed to produce a high intellect thinker. Unfortunately, not all students are interested because they fail to see the importance of thinking skills or even learning English. In short they do not know why they need to learn English. One way to solve this problem is, we as a teachers have to give a reason and rational in learning English. I have to do this, because students nowadays always want to know or have rewards when they do things, including studying. Thirdly, the school authority can also become a problem for teacher to implement the CCTS. The task given to teachers by the school authority sometimes can take teachers time and energy. Besides that, the teachers need to comply with the syllabus that they had to finish in the given time. This is sometimes can become a challenge for teacher to spend time in conducting critical and creative thinking in class. Even when I was a teacher, I have some difficulties in finishing the syllabus on time, especially Literature Component. When teaching Literature Component, I need to take some extra time to let the students think about the story or poems. Some students do not know how to interpret the information from the poem. This is actually quite hard for teacher to teach the students the thinking skills when there is no enough time. Thinking skills is not something that the teacher can teach over night, but it takes some time to do it. Part 3 – POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS AND RECOMMENDATION Every problem must have a cure. In order for CCTS to be fully implemented and useful in school system, all the teachers need to be exposed to any new invention in general and ‘thinking skills’ specifically as well as how to incorporate them in the lessons, such as through videos, workshops, talks, and others. Besides that, continuous development must be carried out from time to time as ‘refresher’ course for the teachers. This is because, teacher are just like another human being that always forgets and tend to be careless. Apart from that, teachers need to be aware of the importance of thinking skills so that it will be carried out in the classroom more and can be fully utilised on classroom. Furthermore, the questions asked in the classrooms will determine the ‘thinking’ that the pupils are doing, so teachers need to be exposed and nurtured to have and apply questions and questioning technique that will elicit thinking. Teachers should also know the activity that will be done in classroom. The activity should be able to get students to observe the texts particularly literature components carefully and critically, to draw upon their vocabulary and to think creatively and critically about the material given. Besides training and preparing teacher to be critical and creative, problem-based learning (PBL) can also be one of the methods that can be used to challenge students to learn how to think. Students will work cooperatively in groups to find solutions to real world problems and more importantly, to develop skills to become self-directed learners. Here, the goal of problem-based learning is viewed as learning for capability rather than learning for the sake of acquiring knowledge. Students develop critical thinking abilities by constantly relating what ideas they generate and to what they want to do with the information (Gallagher, 1997). In an activity like problem solving, both kinds of thinking are significant to us. First, we must examine and study the problem; then we must create potential solutions; next we must pick and implement the best solution; and finally, we must assess the efficiency of the solution. As you can see, this process reveals an alternation between the two kinds of thinking, critical and creative. In practice, both kinds of thinking operate together much of the time and are not really independent of each other. Furthermore, for me, as a teacher we have to think aloud in front of our students. Let them hear what are we thinking and puzzling our way slowly through problems in the subject. I have tried to think aloud in class in front of my students, and they show a good response. Especially, when they say that they never think the way that I thought and surprise to hear my thought. But, when doing this, the teacher should voice our thinking slowly and clearly, so the students able to hear them and response to them. In Critical and Creative Thinking Skills class, I have learned about Socratic questioning. Now I know that as a teacher, we have to regularly question our students Socratically. Such as, investigating various dimensions of their thinking: their purpose, their evidence, reasons, data, their claims, beliefs, interpretations, deductions, conclusions, the implications and consequences of their thought, their response to alternative thinking from contrasting points of view, and others. CONCLUSION Creative and critical thinking skills should not be taught separately as an isolated entity, but embedded in the subject matter and woven into the curriculum. Due to this, the present educational system in Malaysia no longer put emphasis on the 3Rs but rather stressed critical thinking skills, scientific skills as well as technological skills in the schools’ curriculum. It is in fact possible to do creative and critical thinking activity often, in any English language class. However, being stuck in the curriculum system as in Malaysia, with the exam-oriented teaching and learning in school, I tend to predict that CCTS will be quite hard to be fully implemented in school. However, with the fresh English curriculum introduced by the Ministry of Education starting from year 2010, I really expect that students will be further exposed with new ways of teaching and learning in English. It was stated that the change of the curriculum involves the language art and grammar components with focus on fun learning as well as the ability converse in Standard English, with emphasis on pronunciation and phonics (Ministry of Education, 2009). If the changes are actually applied and assessments are made on the result, I am certain that we can do better in enlightening the teaching and learning of English in Malaysia and at the same time produce students who are able to think critically and creatively in any situations. REFERENCES Beyer, B. (1987). â€Å"Practical Strategies for the Teaching of Thinking.† Boston: Ally and Bacon Inc. Kamarul Kabilan ( 2000) .Creative and Critical Thinking in language Classroom.The internet TESL Journal, Vol. VI, No. 6, June 2000 retrieved 16th April 2010 from http://iteslj.org/Techniques/Kabilan-CriticalThinking.html Moore,K.D. (2005). Effective instructional strategies: from theory to practice. California: Sage Publications Inc Nurliza Othman (2002) Thinking Skills; A motivational Factor in ELT. Jurnal Pendidikan IPBA (2) 5 2002 ; 101-109 White, R.V. (1995) .New Ways in Teaching Writing. USA : Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages ,Inc

Strategy Non Market Environments

Strategic Management in Non-market Environments 05/11 – 06/11. Cheetah / Hyena video ? Analogues to business world o Make kill, but can you hold when scavengers come o Eat fast if you’re a cheetah ? Value Creation o Economic Activity ? Value Capture o Power, Leverage Companies you create (value you create) must be cognizant of game to come (value capture) Boeing ? Site distribution throughout US, most Congressional districts o Helps when applying / bidding for contracts o Decision making process in Congress ? If only worried about â€Å"capturing an antelope† (market environment), wouldn’t design locations for supply chain this way ?Recognizing hyenas (non-market environment effects) o How to ensure capture value o Spread out across country (multiple congressional districts) o Helps with getting funding (congressionally directed contracts) ? GM locations are more concentrated o Operationally makes more sense, politics weren’t controlling decision ma king o However, when GM needs something from Government, may be in worse position than Boeing Wal-Mart ? Not in bigger cities o Local players (protected), politics can block entry o How negotiate, work around? Market vs.Nonmarket Environment ? Market transactions are typically consensual and bilateral o Voluntary, fundamental 1:1 (bilateral negotiations between parties) ? Nonmarket transactions are rarely consensual and are almost always multilateral ? Market environment focuses on economics ? Nonmarket environment combines political science, psychology and ethics. Integrated, Managerial Strategy ? Goal as a Manager is to integrate Market and Non-market strategy Four I’s (way to analyze situation) ? Issues ? Interests ? Institutions ? Information Diebold Case ?Risks (reputational, new technology) o Can we create Ballot Security service arm, to help solve problem and also create profitability for firm? ? Quality issues ? Communication / marketing plan ? Reach out to political parties, special interest groups ? Diebold should have known Bev Harris, taken her call ? Diebold files suit under DMCA (may not have been best idea in non-market environment) o Protecting access to information becomes worldwide cause ? Politics is unstable o Have to be farsighted o Can not be myopic, take short term view ? Pays to set the genda (want to be the one who makes theproposal) o Proposal helps define the winners and losers o Want to be the agenda setter Observations on Nonmarket Strategy & Analysis ? Issues generate nonmarket competition ? Market rivals can be nonmarket allies; coalitions can be effective ? Your choice of objectives determines who is aligned with and against you ? Alignments of interests are often issue-specific ? Business can represent those who would otherwise be unrepresented ? Institutional features matter; e. g. , Federal versus State jurisdiction ?When attempting to stop an issue, proposing better alternatives is often effective o Bring other intere sts into play ? If there is a problem for you at the company level (e. g. , appearance of corruption), then form coalitions and work on behalf of coalition o J&J – partner with other pharmaceutical, healthcare orgs, activist groups (help assure people are not acting in corrupt fashion, but for greater public good) o Can expand to not just specific industry, but all businesses in area (e. g. , chamber of commerce), etc. ? When thinking about coalitions ask: who benefits from my success on this issue?Goal of Course ? Don’t accept that rules are fixed (â€Å"rules are not fixed†) o But think about is there a way that we can change the rules to benefit the company o Don’t miss opportunity to change b/c have not considered ? Politics is about public good, but also fundamentally about â€Å"redistribution† o How can set strategy to affect positively for our organization ? Complication of Politics o People are motivated to go to voting booth on moral conc erns along with economic o Sometimes issues that can be large motivators may not have as large an impact as other concernsLuxury Tax Case ? 1990; Tax was introduced on luxury items o Huge political fight, tiny revenue generator (not important in context of trying to balance the federal budget) ? Why was the tax introduced if will not have large impact? ? May have just been for the perception; create impression that care about fairness in way that doesn’t create large new taxes for parties ? Core constituents feel that they â€Å"care about values they run on† ? May have been to help â€Å"reelection problem† ?Opposed to tax: consumers of luxury goods, manufacturers of luxury items, retailers of foreign luxury items ? Supporters of Luxury Tax: foreign manufacturers of boats, people who don’t buy luxury items, domestic manufacturers of luxury cars, manufacturers of substitutes for luxury items, some NGOs (anti-fur, anti-diamong) o Not an accident that bill does not apply to GM (b/c GM was on committee working on bill) ? When make predictions in the political arena, are going to ask: o Who are important interest groups, who will have power on the issue ?Large number of voters ? Wealth / contributions / participation of group ? Do you have connections with key members of Congress? ? Distribution of voters ? Ability to get media attention (celebrities, experts) ? Is the group organized? o Who has power, who has incentives? ? Can go a long way to making predictions once have the details of the situation ? What determines the incentives for action? o Magnitude of benefits will receive ? As a group ? As individuals (per capita) ? Substitutes and Opportunity cost ? How does this compare to other issues ?Expected Return on Effort ? (how much work will take / what is expected impact) ? Potential reputational costs ? Luxury Tax Coalition ? Yachts – Not as many manufacturers, not as well distributed (concentrated in states like Rhode Isla nd, smaller state) ? Foreign manufacturers are not voters – poor position when entering country ? Cross of manufacturers (Horizontal across Rent Chains) – Airplanes, Boats o Distributed Politics Spreadsheet, Cemex case ? ? ? See spreadsheet for Distributed Politics notes Modified Lowi Matrix Cemex case notes on handouts

Simple Harmonic Motion Dominic Stone Lab Partner

Experiment 1: Simple Harmonic Motion Dominic Stone Lab Partner: Andrew Lugliani January 9, 2012 Physics 132 Lab Section 13 Theory For this experiment we investigated and learned about simple harmonic motion. To do this we hung and measured different masses on a spring-mass system to calculate the force constant k. Simple harmonic motion is a special type of periodic motion. It is best described as an oscillation motion that causes an object to move back-and-forth in response to a restoring force given by Hooke’s Law: 1) F=-kx Where k is the force constant.Then using two different procedures, we calculate the value of the force constant k of a spring in our oscillating system. We observed the period of oscillation and use this formula: 2) T=2(m/k) Then we reduced the equation to solve for the value of k by: 3) k=4^2/slope â€Å"Slope† represents the slope of the graph in procedure B. k is then the measure of the stiffness of the spring. We can then compare k to that of a vertically stretched spring with various masses M. By using the following equation: 4) Mg=kx Where x is the distance of the stretch in the spring.To find the value of the constant k we take the data from procedure A and graph it. Using this graph, we use equation: 5) k=g/slope We can compare the two values of the constant k. Both values should be exact since we used the same spring in both procedures. Here simple harmonic motion is used to calculate the restoring force of the spring-mass system. Procedure Part A: First, we set up the experiment by suspending the spring from the support mount and measured the distance from the lower end of the spring to the floor.After, we hung 100 grams from the spring and measured the new distance created from the stretch of the spring. We then repeated this step for masses 200 to 1000 grams, by increasing the weight by 200 grams each time. Then we took this data and plotted them on a graph with suspended weight Mg versus elongation x. After plott ing this data we were then able to evaluate the force constant k from the slope of the graph. Part B: First, we suspend 100 grams from the spring and let it lay at rest.When the spring was naturally set in its equilibrium position, we slightly pulled down the weight and recorded the time it took for the weight to complete 10 oscillations and calculated the average period of each oscillation. We then repeated this process for masses 100 to 1000 grams by increasing the weight by 100 grams each time. After we completed this process we plotted a graph of T^2 verses suspended mass m with the data. When then found the intercept at T^2=0 to see how it would compare with the value of negative one-third the mass of the spring.We then also determined the spring constant k by calculating the slope of the graph and compared it with the spring constant k in part B. Data Part A: Mg(Kg/s^2)| X(m)| 1. 96| 0. 39| 3. 92| 0. 63| 5. 88| 0. 86| 7. 84| 1. 11| 9. 8| 1. 36| Part B: M(Kg)| T (s)| T(s)| T^2( s^2)| 0. 1| 8. 24| 0. 824| 0. 679| 0. 2| 9. 87| 0. 987| 0. 974| 0. 3| 12. 74| 1. 274| 1. 623| 0. 4| 14. 57| 1. 457| 2. 123| 0. 5| 16. 23| 1. 623| 2. 634| 0. 6| 17. 49| 1. 749| 3. 059| 0. 7| 19. 21| 1. 921| 3. 69| 0. 8| 20. 26| 2. 026| 4. 105| 0. 9| 21. 69| 2. 169| 4. 705| 1| 22. 89| 2. 289| 5. 24| Data Analysis

Importance of Employee Retention During a Recession

Importance of Employee Retention During a Recession Introduction During a recession companies have to constantly protect and plan for financial attacks from increased expenses, decreased sales as well as customer and especially employee retention. Management must realize that their employees are suffering just as their businesses are with increased expenses and costs for everyday items. All parties must work cohesively to transition through a down economy. Employers must be aware that their employees will be looking for other employment if the company is not providing the tools time and training in order for them to perform their jobs well.This is especially important during recessionary times when the focus needs to be on customer and employee retention. Numerous studies have found and experts agree that â€Å"company culture† is the leading factor in employee satisfaction and retention. Companies must embrace the importance of employee retention through the implementation of various retention practices so that they will be better prepared to continue to grow and be successful even through recessionary times.Companies that grasp that concept and incorporate an environment where employees feel empowered, motivated and engaged will result in greater productivity and teamwork and therefore greater customer loyalty. Company Culture Company culture and in several instances lack of a positive company culture appears to be the leading factor in the retention ratio of employees remaining versus voluntarily leaving a company. The culture of a company is defined by many different aspects. Organizations that focus on employee retention and management programs have found some surprising indications.Employee retention has been a challenge for all companies big and small and across industry lines. Many have researched and studied the reasons why some companies have better retention rates than others similar. Many experts agree that a basic foundation of proven retent ion and management skills being implemented and used effectively will result in a higher retention rate. The consensus of decades of research has found that â€Å"high retention has little to do with formal programs and everything to do with culture† (Duggan, 2010).Companies that aim to make sure theirs is a company that values its most valuable asset, its employees. Years of analysis on employee retention and human resource directives have shown that an environment where employees are valued assets and treated as such as well as one where talent has been developed with the proper tools, time and training show higher retention levels over time in any economic environment. â€Å"Among those who strongly agreed that they work for a manager who cares about their well-being, 94 percent said they intend to stay with their current employer.Of those who strongly disagreed that their manager cared about their well-being, just 43 percent planned to stick around† (Ryan, 2010). A well known gem known among informed and effective management is that employees do not leave companies they leave bad managers. With this knowledge companies should be able to make sure their focus and goal should be to ensure that their company and its management is effective, dependable and respected leaders. This focus in the long run will ensure there is a positive company culture that will allow them to maintain their most valued asset.Importance of Solid Human Resource Practices The human resource department should take the lead when implementing policies, disciplining employees and layoffs or terminations within a company and especially during a down economy. The human resource department can ensure that policies are implemented smoothly and within legal guidelines. They are there to ensure that company policies and procedures are communicated effectively. â€Å"HR must take the lead in workforce management, including, when necessary, conducting layoffs or terminations of em ployees in a systematic, ogical and effective manner â€Å"(Lieber, Spring 2009). Companies are finding that by developing their current pool of employees they will be better able to weather any market trends whether up or down. Employers should focus on making sure that employees receive regular feedback from their managers. Informal weekly meetings are a great start to fostering positive relationships between managers and their staff. Studies have found that consistent communication helps to ensure that employees are comfortable with positive and not so positive criticism.Communications and how effective companies are at communicating new policies and procedures help to foster a level of trust and openness within the entire company. An environment where employees are encouraged to voice their concerns and receive proper feedback ensures that employees are engaged in their positions and in the success of the company. Any positive, proactive measure implemented by human resources, as long as done with honesty, will help to engage employees and contribute to a positive company culture. Misconceptions of Employee RetentionEmployee retention is one of the most important factors in any companies’ success. Along with its importance come several misconceptions as well as adverse effects as a result of them. The majority of employers believe that employees would never consider leaving their jobs during a recession. In fact, a survey conducted by Salary. com showed that 65% of employees admit to passively or actively looking for a new job already (Throckmorton, n. d. ). Experts are in agreement that many times companies focus on retaining their high level executives during difficult times.An article in the Mckinsey Quarterly emphasizes that companies should instead turn their focus on retaining the â€Å"key employees† (Cosack, Guthridge, Lawson, 2010). Key employees are defined as ones that are normal performers and are critical to the company’s success overall. Key employees are not necessarily the high level executives; they are normal performing employees that are critical to the overall success of the company (Cosack, Guthridge, Lawson, 2010). Collectively the departments support the entire company and share in the company’s success.Employers tend to believe that employees are also less engaged in their positions during a down economy because they believe that employees have fewer employment options. This is another misconception. In a study conducted by the Center for Creative Leadership and Booz Allen Hamilton found that employees are more engaged in their positions during a recession. Conclusion As one can conclude maintaining a high and effective retention rate is a challenge for most companies no matter the condition of the economy.Companies that are serious about their success will always value their most important asset, their employees. Successful companies will have embraced the challenges and will enga ge their employees. Companies with effective and ethical leaders will be laying the foundation for long-term success of the company in a any economic environment.References Duggan,  M. (2010,  August). Best practices: Retention. Drug Topics,  154(8),  21. Retrieved October 31, 2010, from ABI/INFORM Global. (Document ID:  2137959661). Lieber, L. (2009). How to manage terminations and layoffs in a recession. Employment Relations Today (Wiley), 36(1), 95-102. Retrieved from Business Source Complete database. Cosack, S. , Guthridge, M. , & Lawson, E. (2010). Retaining key employees in times of change. McKinsey Quarterly, (3), 135-139. Retrieved from Business Source Complete database. Throckman, R. (n. d. ). Are You Worrying about Retention During the Recession? You Better Be! Retrieved from http://www. strategichrinc. com/articles/rentention-recession. htm. Ryan, J. (2010). Keeping Employees Happy in a Post-Recession World. BusinessWeek. com, 5. Retrieved from Business Source Complete database.

Visualize Your Best Self

Type this in 12 point font, non bold, double spaced, paragraphs Indented, one Inch margins. Type your name at the top left hand corner. Write three or four paragraphs addressing the following questions: 1 . What type of learning style do I exalt the most? How did I develop this learning style? (Ponder†¦ Was your mom or dad the same kind of learner? Did your grade school teacher emphasize this learning style, or were you Just born this way? I feel I exalt a mixture of learning style.My most exalt learning style Is me being active while I'm learning. I like to have fun when I'm learning because that's the only way I feel I can retain Information. When things I'm learning seems boring, I tend to not focus and become uninterested no matter what It may be. My mom was the type who could learn thing no matter how they were presented. My dad learn things when it active for him to do so and hands on. I have to be literally doing something with what I am learning, otherwise it will take m e a while to grasp it.From what I was told by my parents, I was born active. I always watched something be done first, then I'm doing it minutes later. 2. When you thought about entering your program of study at ITT Tech, did your dominant learning style have anything to do with your choice? How do you think your dominant interests and dominant learning styles are connected? I was always into computers and technology, so it was easy to decide on what program I wanted to take at ITT Tech. I chose NSA because I felt like it fit into what I wanted to do for my career.NSA is not just a ‘sit at your desk† type career, it's a lot of moving around and hands on self that comes with it. With me having an active learning style, I felt NSA would be perfect for me. I enjoy training and teaching others to utilize computers and other technology. I also so felt that being in the NSA field, you have to not only be active, but have an active mind as well. By dowelling Directions: Type th is in 12 point font, non bold, double spaced, paragraphs indented, one inch margins.Type your name at the top left hand corner. Write three or four 1 . What type of learning style do I exhibit the most? How did I develop this learning exhibit a mixture of learning style. My most exhibit learning style is me being active feel I can retain information. When things I'm learning seems boring, I tend to not focus and become uninterested no matter what it may be. My mom was the type NSA is not Just a ‘sit at your desk† type career, it's a lot of moving around and hands