Nature of Dreaming

The dreaming is the centre of the Aboriginal culture which everything relates back to, the creation of people, animals, water and land. The Dreaming for Aboriginals is, ‘the past, the present and the future’. 1. Outline the nature of the Dreaming- its stories, symbolism and art. Outline means to sketch in general terms, indicate the main features of. Aboriginal people tell the stories of the land and how it came to be with all its living creatures through expression of song, dance, painting and storytelling. The Aboriginal Dreaming is set into multiple layers from the simplest first layer which anyone can access and understand to the second layer onward where the concepts are more complicated and a person must have a relationship to the Aboriginal people or culture to understand. The last couples of layers are only for initiated Aboriginals and Aboriginal elders and are very sacred and secret from anyone and everyone else. Aboriginal Dreaming stories are depicted in the numerous artworks done using various techniques and coloured natural paints. Behind every painting there is hidden symbolism and every little shape, line and colour relates to some form of the Aboriginal life. The painting Sugarleaf at Ngarlu is an excellent example of hidden symbolism using shapes to create meaning such as camp sites, women dancing, footprints, ceremonial poles and women gathering socially. The stories of the dreaming are important as it is passed from generation to generation by the elders about the different experiences, lessons and Gods and spirits. Painting was the main way of expressing stories from ancestors specifically on rocks, utensils, weapons and as body art. Rock art has given evidence of human presence in Australia for over 30000 years. In the present day and in the past, body paintings have been used to show social position, relationship to their family, ancestors and to a person’s totem. Reference http://www.aboriginalartonline.com/art/art.php

Benjamin Franklin and the Nature of Human Character Essay

Few things say more about the character of a person than his or her religious beliefs. No, it is not because of their religion, nor, perhaps, even because of the importance of religion, but rather because of the importance people give to religion and the important place religion holds in the life of the religious. Benjamin Franklin was no different. Living in the time of a new frontier, America, where the new settlers had arrived in part to escape religious tyranny and have the freedom to practice their religious beliefs as they chose, Benjamin Franklin clearly had a religious upbringing. It also meant that he had to make choices, not just about food, clothes, shelter and the other cares and needs of any given day, but about God, life, existence and, yes, religion. No doubt, religion builds character. Perhaps his struggles with the ideologies and concepts of religion were among the most central in his life. He certainly seems point out how they affected his thinking even from early in his life. People often base the fundamental practices and ideas of their life around their religion and their religious beliefs. To the extent that the individual is open and flexible, their religious beliefs are likewise. For most people, religious beliefs, once established, are set and inflexible. We generally form our religious beliefs when young and begin our religious practices and philosophies as we grow from a very young age. Whatever flexibility there is in an individual personality is perhaps reflected in the way they practice their religion and tolerate others. Often, those in one religion have very little tolerance of other religions. One sign of an open personality is the person’s tolerance for other religions and his or her ability to adopt principles and ideals from other religious philosophies. After being introduced to a particular religious ideology, a child must struggle with those ideas and pick and choose between those he or she will accept and those he or she will not. I did, and it is obvious that Old Ben did as well. Ben is not reticent to acknowledge that religious concepts played a central and crucial role in shaping his thinking and ideas as he grew. He says, â€Å"Before I enter upon my public Appearance in Business, it may well to let you know the then State of my Mind, with regard to my Principles and Morals, that you may see how far those influenc’d the future Events of my Life. My Parents had early given me religious Impressions, and brought me through my Childhood piously in the Dissenting way. But I was scarce 15 when, after doubting by turns of several Points as I found them disputed in the different books I read, I began to doubt of Revelation itself. † (p. 45) His view that aspects of his own character in the present would influence the course of future events is instructive, and foremost among the principles he mentions are those of religion. Perhaps those words betray a hint of willingness or desire to change aspects of his character if required, but they certainly demonstrate his realization that change is sometimes necessary, that change from what we are taught in childhood may be required once we reach adulthood. He only says that his morals and principals at one point in his life â€Å"influenc’d the future Events† of his life. Perhaps that says nothing directly about his character, but to me it reveals his recognition that the morals and principles he held early in life served as a beacon or guide for him later in life.

Research Method Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 2

Research Method - Essay Example This has a posed a greater challenge especially with the fact that the new markets have different cultures. In order to penetrate these markets, some of which have barriers of entry which have been erected by the dominant firms, the companies are forced to use international media which are highly expensive. The costs are derailing the expansion strategy. However, with the entry of social media, more firms are opting to use these channels to reach the target market. This is because it’s cheap and more reliable. Nevertheless, questions have been raised concerning its effectiveness, especially putting into perspective that the users must have some ideas on how to use modern technology. Currently, the market has become very dynamic with new challenges arising each day. With the increasing levels of globalization resulting from liberalization of markets, efficient flow of information, and integration of economies, the level of competition in the local and international markets has increased tremendously. This is as a result of the entry of multinational companies that have a huge financial base to segment the market, attract the loyalty of the customers towards their products, and position their products strategically in the market. This aspect has made it very hard for the small and medium businesses to increase their customer base (Barefoot & Szabo 2010). Therefore, these businesses are using all means possible to minimize the costs of operations. One of the strategies they are using is reducing the costs of advertising which has been taking a huge chunk of the firms’ profits. However, in order to maintain their competitive advantage, the companies are forc ed to look for other alternatives. Social media has become a critical alternative which is cheap, effective, and reliable. With the changes in the technological sector, many people have internet enabled devices

Choose a topic that falls within the time frame of 1945-1964 Essay

Choose a topic that falls within the time frame of 1945-1964 - Essay Example Subsequently, the paper will highlight some of the ways the Jewish population were accepted into American society. Between 1945 and 1960, the United States of America advocated for the survival of the Jews. During this era, world war two had just come to an end and hence an era of human destructiveness was ushered. Only three million Jews were alive in around 1945 out of a total of nine million in 1939. For most of the Jews who were alive during this period, there was no home to go to in Europe1. For the few Jews who attempted to go back to their pre-war homes (Europe), cold hatred, and local ethnic violence awaited them. Between 1945 and 1946, allied forces returned home from war ready to abandon the destructive life they had lived. With this wave came more than half a million Jewish soldiers and marines. The Jews had joined the American forces and fought alongside them during the war. By 1946, they were being referred to as Jewish Americans rather than the more unfriendly term American Jews. The American society commenced accepting the Jewish population in 1945. For example, Miss Myerson was crowned in Atlantic City, New Jersey as Miss America in September 1945. She had Jewish immigrant parents. This gesture implied that the American population was slowly accepting the Jews into their society. 2The era after WWII marked the delineation between what was good and evil. The American nation stood for what was good while fascism, communism and Nazism represented or were considered to be evil. 3The American government commenced on a voyage of destroying anti-Semitic groups between 1946 to 1950. During this exercise, more than 35 anti-Semitic groups in America were banned or shut down. Although some groups remained, they were however pushed to be more receptive to the Jewish population. The stigma associated with being part of the Nazis also helped to reduce

Abstract for an article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Abstract for an - Article Example Musculoskeletal upper limit side effects and dissentions of neck, shoulder and arms are regular in the overall public and around computer clients in numerous streamlined nations. Lately, workstation related office work has heightened in western created nations. In Germany for instance the 2004 registration uncovered that machine related work constituted a substantial a piece of the everyday working normal for give or take 21 million individuals. The etiology of neck, shoulder and forearm/hands grievances in workstation workers is still not totally caught on. A few danger elements identified with diverse physical exposures at work and psychosocial conditions have been distinguished as potential causes for neck, shoulder and forearm/hands protests. These exposures might be physical exposures identified with static neck and arm postures, monotonous assignments, work environment outline and likewise psychosocial variables identified with employment aspects, high quantitative occupation r equests, having little impact on ones work circumstance, and restricted backing from associates or bosses (Hassan et al, n.p). This aims of this paper is to draw on past studies and break down the vicinity of neck, shoulder and forearm/hands grumblings in connection to impacts of both exposures to physical components and to mental variables (employment requests, occupation control, social help and strain). In like manner, this study endeavors to test the accompanying exploration questions: What exactly degree are employment requests, occupation control, social help and occupation strain in the work environment, connected with the event of indications in the neck, shoulder and forearm/hands? Whatever degrees are physical form carriage and the outline of the working environment connected with the event of manifestations in the neck, shoulder and forearm/hands Regress analysis or Logistic relapse was

MGT 511 session long project MODULE 5 Performance Management (walmart) Essay

MGT 511 session long project MODULE 5 Performance Management (walmart) - Essay Example The company ensures that the employees have all the tools, techniques which can assist them in improved overall performance as well as help in better results for the company as well (Aguinis). In terms of the weakness of the performance management systems, it is important to note that the company currently utilises a wide range of technologies and also a number of different innovations to keep the company’s sales and transactions in line and completely accounted for (Bacal). However, with the constant and intensive performance training the company leads to high levels of stress for the employees (Harvard Business School Press). Also, the company has been in the news for the low levels of pay that they provide the employees which in turn impacts the company’s performance and also impacts the company’s performance management system as a whole. In order to improve the systems, the company can focus on improving the work place condition for the employees and ensure t hat employees are given the right remuneration for their jobs and are not overworked (Bacal). Also, it is important that the company focuses on developing performance management systems which are focused more on the continuous training. However the company does not focus on the needs of the employees (Armstrong and Baron).

The differences in competencies between nurses prepared at the Essay

The differences in competencies between nurses prepared at the associate degree level versus the baccalaureate degree level in n - Essay Example Mildred Montag, who published The Education of Nursing Technicians in 1951, proposed that there is a need for a â€Å"nurse technician, whose role would be broader than that of a practical nurse but narrower than that of the professional nurse,† (as cited in Zerwekh & Claborn, 2006, p. 144) and his or her duties includes providing supervised care, assisting in plan of care, and assisting evaluation of patient outcomes in the care received. On the other hand, baccalaureate degree nursing programs usually take four years to accomplish, and students receive a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) upon completing the course. The first two years involve minor subjects in arts and sciences while the remaining years inculcate nursing knowledge, which focuses on critical-thinking enhancement, independent nursing judgment abilities, and research conduction.

Music Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 21

Music - Essay Example It renders new understanding of beauty associated with Impressionism. The Rite of Spring by Igor Stravinsky was composed under the influence of avant-garde art movement in the beginning of 20th century in France which was a center of cultural experiments. At the same time, this piece focuses on Slavic culture and its specific musical elements. This piece is an interpretation of Russian folk music in an avant-garde key; complicated rhythmic structure, dissonance, disorganized melody and unconventional approach to ornamentation make this piece exceptional. It is not background music; it requires attention and understanding to be appreciated by people. It seems to be too difficult to understand at some points, but it is very engaging and beautiful music. The first half of the 20th century was the time when music changed significantly in the USA under the influence of African American culture. Swing became very popular with American population due to its lively rhythm, cheerful mood and ability to dance. Cotton Tail by Duke Ellington is a great example of swing music. It is performed by the swing orchestra; its cheerful rhythm and dancing vibes cannot make people listen patiently. Swing music gives beginning to jazz in the USA; it is simpler in its rhythmic structure but it already has syncope and harmonies typical for jazz. It is music for people who belong to the lost generation born between two wars; it is carefree, joyful and entertaining. Indeterminancy by John Cage shows a new understanding of music born in the second half of 20th century. It becomes an example of how music can be performed in other ways. Indeterminancy presents a cycle of short stories accompanied by specific sounds of various objects that are not music instruments in their primary function. This piece challenges the traditional definition of music because it is not perceived as music. However, sound effects enhance perception of the text and

Olympic games and Chinese economy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Olympic games and Chinese economy - Essay Example Next year, that distinction belongs to Beijing, an ancient city north of China, which is in the forefront of China's surging economy and the center of its political power. In the history of the Olympic movement, China is only the third Asian country - after Tokyo in 1964 and Seoul in 1986 - to host the prestigious Games. The International Olympic Committee chose Beijing over several other aspirants that included Toronto, Paris, Istanbul, and Osaka. The cities of Bangkok, Cairo, Havana, Kuala Lumpur, and Seville also submitted bids to host the Games, but failed to make the shortlist in 2000. Beijing is the fourth city - after Berlin (1936), Mexico City (1968), and Moscow (1980) -- under authoritarian rule to host the games. Its officials welcome the selection as an opportunity to showcase its newfound economic prosperity and to project a more positive image to the rest of the world. While economists believe Beijing is certain to achieve its grand objective of showcasing its vibrant ec onomy and projecting a more positive image in the eyes of the world, they are in disagreement over the Games' immediate impact on its economy. Soon after the announcement was made on the choice of Beijing as the next Olympic site, (Beijing Olympics 2008) the Chinese government announced that it will earmark $20 billion to modernize the city's infrastructure and facilities to improve its woefully polluted environment in time for the Games. That announcement alone is enough assurance that the Olympic Games is bound to spell a dramatic transformation for Beijing, although this figure has already doubled as of the latest count. It is commonly assumed that the scale of an Olympic event and the scale of the preparations for it will create large and lasting economic benefits to the host city. Economic impact studies confirm these expectations by forecasting economic benefits in the billions of dollars. Goldman Sachs Asia has made one of the more aggressive forecasts, predicting that the Games will increase China's GDP growth by 0.3 per cent annually between 2002 and 2008, citing service sectors such as tourism, transportation, information technology services and logistics as the areas for the greatest growth. On the other hand, JP Morgan said the event would increase GDP by no more than 0.05 per cent per year, a figure that hardly makes a difference in China's impressive double digit annual economic GDP growth. "The divergent views are due to different assumptions," said Huang Yiping, an analyst at Salomon Smith Barney. Those who are unmoved by the Games' economic drawing power claim no evidence of positive economic impacts from mega-sporting events even remotely approaching the estimates in economic impact studies. In a study of the impact of Super Bowls on local economies, (Robert A. Baade and Victor Matheson, 1999) found "no measurable impact on spending associated with the event." Their explanation is that capacity constraints in the hotel industry cause room prices to increase with no change in occupancy rates. Higher rates contribute to the crowding out of regular traffic and net spending in areas other than hotel rooms changes little, if at all. The same report claims that longer term sports programs, usually involving stadium subsidies to attract or keep professional teams, have also failed to deliver on projected economic benefits. Even for cities that usually are considered success stories for sports development strategy, such as Baltimore and

Plantation Management in the Old South Essay Example for Free

Plantation Management in the Old South Essay William Scarborough’s, The Overseer, examines the importance and the daily duties of the plantation overseer and how they influenced and contributed to the production and efficiency of slaves in the â€Å"Old South†. This position was unarguably, the most important position in the southern plantation system as they determined the success or failure of a plantation. In some small plantations, but mostly larger ones, the overseer was in charge of the supervision of enslaved Africans, care of the land, planting, farm tools, and harvesting. The overseer has been especially known in history as the handler of harsh disciplinary actions against slaves for breaking heavy or mild rules. The emergence of job advertising stormed through the south with higher number of individuals owning slaves. Over time leading up to the Civil War, the position of overseer has been professionalized with some planters even requiring letters of recommendations from their applicants. The goal of the author is to gather facts and accurate evidence that demonstrate how overseers effectively completed their task set forth by plantation owners and were less concerned about the torture and harsh beating of the enslaved Africans. The writer focuses more on the profession itself as opposed to examining the individual’s social class or morals in society. He also attempts to provide a valuable interpretation of one of many groups that made up the white middle class of the Old South. The book is divided into three sections with the first concerning the history and role of the overseer in the plantation establishment. It also gives key details on contract negotiations between the overseer and the plantation owner. Lastly, this section shows the view of the overseer by the general public. The second section examines the managerial duties and responsibilities and some of the disagreements between the plantation master and the overseer. The final section shows the occupation and the importance of the plantation supervisor during the Civil War and how the loss or reduction in available overseers affected the surviving plantations after the war ended. The overseer system was first introduced in the United States by the Virginia Company of England with the primary job function of upholding gained territory. When Africans were shipped to the Louisiana Territory as slaves, this very system was implemented. The vast majority of overseers during the colonial period were indentured servants whose terms of service had expired. One major reason for the increase in overseers in the antebellum south, during the 18th century were the cultural change that demanded plantation owners to indulge in the arts and other cultural pursuits. The profile of many of the men that went into this profession were most likely either the son of a planter, white lower class men, and men who actually saw the economic benefits of being an overseer. One distinctive feature of the overseer system during the colonial period was the practice of leasing developed plantations with slaves as stock. With this agreement the overseer was in charge for maintenance of the s lave force, and in return received one-third of the net proceeds from the selling of the crops. This profession would soon become highly profitable when cotton became the forefront of agriculture in the United States although to some had a negative view of the position. Although most of the overseers were originally poor and uneducated, they still gained enough respect by their employers to be acknowledged as a semi-elite professional with a very profitable position. Whatever may have been the view of the planter class regarding the step on the â€Å"social ladder† occupied by slave managers, the overseer himself had no feeling of class inferiority and showed little resentment toward the proprietary group. One of the major duties of the overseer was the welfare and discipline of the slaves, the care of livestock and other agriculture implements, and the production of staple and subsistence crops. The overseer assigned certain task to specific slave groups and supervised the labor of slaves in the field. The overseer was expected to have basic medical understanding to be able to examine the slaves and make note of any who actually needed professional treatment to treat certain physical hinders. The slave manager was obliged to make periodic inspections of slave cabins and was responsible for the distribution of clothing for the slaves. Lastly, and most importantly, the overseer was expected to ensure the security of the whites against uprisings of slaves, which was to some, inevitable. Depending of the plantation, there were also a second set of rules that were handed down from the planter to the overseer to instruct to the slaves. Some plantations had very harsh working conditions and required long hours, regardless of age or gender, while other were pretty mild with less work demanded from pregnant women and children under the age of seven. Some planters stated that â€Å"a happy slave is a productive slave† and the overseer had to abide by the wishes of the planter although they may have had different views on the use and managing of the slaves. The relationship between the overseer and the planter became pivotal leading up to the Civil War in 1861. As the Civil War began to run its course, the production of agriculture (with slave labor) was extremely important in the surviving and continuity of the south. The role of the overseer became even greater than ever with the departure of healthy white men leaving to join the Confederate Army. In many areas in the south, the only remaining security against insurgencies from the slaves was the overseers. It was no surprise that the drafting of plantation managers to the Confederate Army, angered many planters knowing that there would not be enough qualified managers to keep the slaves productive and fearful. There were even laws put into place in states such as Georgia, South Carolina, Mississippi, Alabama, and Louisiana that limited the number of overseers that could be drafted into the army. The south also made a rule stating that any wounded soldier who is able must return and oversee a plantation in order to contribute to the production of goods in the south. With this reduction in overseers, many slaves were able to escape and a number of large plantations fell due to the absence of the â€Å"slave Manager†. Scarborough’s The Overseer, examines the life and impact of the plantation overseer and how it shaped the working system of slavery and production in the United States. The author’s uses key facts to back his thesis on the importance and professionalism of the overseer. Scarborough did extensive research by exploring primary sources such as the memoirs of planters, public records, legal documents, and advertising posters. He incorporates a number of different employment contracts between planters and overseers and compared them based on the size of the plantation, state and region, and number of slaves. The author seemed to look at this job description from a professional standpoint as opposed to the ills and negative view that society and some historians have placed on the managers of plantations. He mentions that some overseers who were uneducated or inexperienced greatly affected the outlook for this profession and shadowed the somewhat complex job of managing an entire plantation.

Reformation of Chinas Pension Scheme

Reformation of Chinas Pension Scheme During the time of writing my dissertation, I have has many help from people both intellectually and emotionally. I would like to take this space to thank first of all, my supervisor, Mr. Robert Plumb, for offering me the support and guidance all the way through. I am grateful to my friends in the BSc Actuarial Science class for the great time I had during the three-year study at Cass Business School. I would like to thank all the lectures for making our lives at school so convenient and pleasant. Last but not least, many thanks to my family and other friends who have always given me encouragement and support during this process. Abstract The rapid ageing population in China has slowed down economic progress. Certain steps should be taken in relation to the pension system in order to cope with such a situation. There are several models of pension reform in the world, the most important one is perhaps the multi-pillar pension system advocated by World Bank. China actually reformed the current pension scheme based on this multi-pillar model. With a responsible attitude, the experience gained in Chinese pension reform will lead to a stronger and deeper national system that can eventually provide social welfare for the entire Chinese population. In Chapter 1, I will introduce the main types of pension schemes and the historical background of China pension system and illustrate how it developed. The current situation of Chinaà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s pension system is displayed by the Melbourne Mercer Global Pension Index in Chapter 2. The four main problems of Chinaà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s pension system and the urgency of reform is explained fully in Chapter 3. The different types of reform are followed by, along with what China chose to do in Chapter 4. In Chapter 5, the performance of reform is evaluated. Chapter 6 is mainly about the problem pointed out in the recent China Two Conference and the future trend of Chinaà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s pension reform. Table of Contents Acknowledgements2 Abstracts-3 Chapter 1 Introduction-5 Chapter 2 Current situation of China pension system8 Chapter 3 Problems of Chinaà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s pension system and reasons for pension reform10 Chapter 4 Different types of pension reform and what China chose to do15 Chapter 5 Evaluation of pension reforming-20 Chapter 6 Conclusion-23 Reference25 Chapter 1 Introduction Chinaà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s population has been ageing rapidly, and financial support for the pension system is facing a number of resultant problems. The system itself is also divided unevenly across regions and sectors. Furthermore, globalization makes the transaction between countries and sectors more difficult. Therefore, reforming Chinaà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s pension scheme has become an urgent issue. This report will begin with a brief overview of the historical background of the Chinese pension system. It will move onto the pension crisis and relevant problems at present, followed by the different types of pension reform and the way China has chosen to reform. Finally it will conclude with the evaluation of Chinaà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s pension reform. The main goal of pension reform is to ensure the elderly live a peaceful life in retirement. In order to achieve this goal, China still has to solve a lot of economic and social problems. The Chinese government started its national pension system reformation in the 1990s by setting up a three-pillar state pension system in urban areas, which is a remarkable step in pension reform. Recently, Melbourne Mercer Global Pension Index revealed that the Chinese pension system is facing a large challenge. There are five main problems occur in Chinese pension system: Financial problem; Ageing population; Institutional problem and problems occur in transaction. Several types of pension reform can be chosen and after considering the situation in China, the multi-pillar system stands out to become a wise solution. Compare to those developed countries, Chinaà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s pension reform still has a long way to go. With positive attitude, we believe that the system will become mature in the fu ture. The main types of pension scheme as follows: A pension scheme can be classified as a defined benefit scheme or a defined contribution scheme according to the determination of benefits. A defined contribution (DC) scheme is dependent on the amount of money contributed and the performance of the investment. A traditional defined benefit (DB) scheme is a plan in which the benefit on retirement is determined by a set formula, rather than depending on investment returns. Another definition of a defined benefit scheme is that it is an arrangement where the benefits payable to the members are determined by the schemeà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s rules. Value of Pension Fund Assets DB Value of Financial Assets DC Value of Pension Fund Assets Value of Financial Assets Basically, the pension scheme in China is a defined benefit, PAYGO system for older employees and retirees, multi-pillar system combining social pooling and individual accounts for younger employees. This system includes (a) a mandatory defined benefit paid out of social pooling account, (b) a monthly annuity paid out of the defined contribution, employee individual account, and (c) a voluntary supplementary individual account. After briefly explaining the main types of pension scheme, the historical background of China pension system will be illustrate as follows: In 1949 the Chinese government adopted a provisional constitution of the common Programà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬?, which mentioned that the labour insurance system should be introduced progressively in companies; this provided a legal basis for the establishment of a unified, national labour insurance system. On February 25, 1951, the Central Peoples Government promulgated The Peoples Republic of China Labour Insurance Regulations, which required companies to implement pensions, medical insurance and industrial injury insurance for their employees. This was Chinas first social security law; it clearly defined insurance coverage, insurance premium collection, insurance items and standards, as well as the implementation and supervision of the insurance industry as a whole. During the next three decades the government gradually improved the pension system. Then, in 1984 China overhauled the entire pension system. The change was started in some rural areas first. The system was based on being paid mainly by individuals, supplemented by the communities, supported by government policies and resulted in the accumulation of funds in personal accounts. In 1991, thanks to economic development, the government established a combined system with a state pension, company pension and private pension. Basis of calculating accrual of pension insurance during that time: Range of income Rate of pension insurance 60% 60%-300% of average income actual income >300% of average income 300% In 1997 the Chinese government formulated a new policy, which started to establish a unified nationwide pension system for every enterprise employeeà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s insurance. Chinas basic pension system is a combined model of state and individual accounts. The basic pension covers workers in urban enterprises; all urban enterprises and their employees must fulfill the obligation to pay the basic pension. At present, employers contribute about 20%, and employees 8%, of the total income. The rates paid by employers are partly used in the state pension and the rest goes into the personal accounts; the rates paid by employees are used in private accounts. In 1997, the policy became clearer. It can now be seen that the main purpose of the basic pension in the future is to protect the basic livelihood of retirees in their twilight years. After several years of reform, the people involved in pension scheme increased from 86.71 million (at end of 1997) to 108.02 million (at the end of 2001); the number of people receiving the basic pensions raised from 25.33 million to 33.81 million. The average monthly basic pension increased from 430 RMB to 556 RMB. In order to ensure the timely and full payment of the basic pension in recent years, the Chinese government have made efforts to improve the pooling level and constantly increased the financial input into the basic pension fund. From 1998 to 2001 the central government expenditures for pension fund subsidies amounted to 86.1 billion RMB. Chapter 2 Current situation of China pension system Recently, Melbourne Mercer Global Pension Index revealed that the Chinese pension system is facing a large challenge. They measured the ranking according to the adequacy, sustainability and comprehensiveness of the system in each state. From the comparison of the private and public pension systems index in five continents, across eleven countries, Chinas system achieved relatively low ratings. This shows that Chinas growing pension system needs to be further developed and reformed in order to cope with continued pressure from the ageing population, and in order to remain competitive in the world. According to the pension index (total 100) estimates, the Netherlands ranks first, with an index of 76.1, followed by Australia (74.0), Sweden (73.5) and Canada (73.2). The UK ranked fifth with 63.9, while the lowest-ranked pension systems are those of Japan (41.5), China (48.0) and Germany (48.2).    Melbourne Mercer Global Pension Index Country Overall index value Sub-index values Adequacy Weighting 40% Sustainability Weighting 35% Integrity Weighting 25% Netherlands 76.1 80.5 62.5 88.2 Australia 74.0 68.1 71.0 87.8 Sweden 73.5 68.5 75.2 79.1 Canada 73.2 76.2 64.2 80.9 UK 63.9 56.6 56.4 86.3 USA 59.8 49.2 69.4 63.4 Chile 59.6 48.9 54.1 84.5 Singapore 57.0 51.7 68.9 49.1 Germany 48.2 60.8 44.3 33.7 China 48.0 64.7 38.5 34.7 Japan 41.5 39.2 34.4 55.2 Average 61.4 60.4 58.1 67.5 Source: Melbourne Mercer Global Pension Index Among these countries there was no one pension system which achieved A-Level (an index of more than 80). Mercer said that this shows that even the worlds most advanced pension system needs to be adjusted in order to ensure that the support is sufficient for a rapidly aging population. Although the lowest-ranked countries are not yet falling into the lowest level, the category E (an index of less than 35). However if the major defects are not resolved, the effectiveness and sustainability of all these systems will face challenges. Chapter 3 Problems of China pension system and reasons of pension reforming Chinas pension system is actually still in personal accounts, which are kind of on a à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"PAYGOà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ system, combined with some public administration. The system is presently in a transition period. Of the results, the following problems stand out: 3.1 Financial Problems Firstly there are the financing problems. The actual payment rate is low and it keeps decreasing. Since the payment of the transition cost is still a problem, the pension accounts in many places have fallen into financial bankruptcy. According to the statistics from the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, the state-owned enterprises owe 38 billion RMB to the state in unpaid pensions all over the country. That is why the money raised in personal accounts is being used to pay current retirees. Even so, the funding is still not enough and when there is a deficit in financing, the local tax revenue is used to bridge the gap. In fact, the local and central government is working to save a lot of places where the pension co-ordination is already in bankruptcy. If the situation does not improve, it could threaten the sustainability of the central government. Another financial problem is that the personal account is actually just a name, which means it guarantees nothing. Since the Govern ment has not clearly informed us how they will pay for the transition costs over the past few years, all the money that has been raised in these accounts for funds has been used to pay the current pensions of retired employees, which turns personal accounts into empty accounts. One of the biggest progresses in Chinese pension reform is the introduction of a defined contribution scheme. It is compulsory for the workers to join the savings plan, therefore the welfare responsibilities are transferred from the government and enterprises to individuals. However, an important question makes people pause for thought: will the funding of this defined contribution plan really indicate the fulfilling of the fund, or it is just a fanciful à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"PAYGOà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ plan with no actual fund that plays the same role as the pillar I scheme. This issue has already led to misbehaviour in some local authorities. Some of the contributions to personal accounts have been used to pay current retirees, which leads to empty accounts and all the time the transition costs remain unclear. Implicit pension debt from the restructuring costs arose in the process of the old PAYGO pension system through the accumulation scheme. After we established the partly-accumulated system with social pooling combing individual accounts, the pension included two parts: a basic pension and an individual account pension. However, people who retired before the pension reformations did not have sufficient accumulation in individual accounts, while those who started to work before reform but retiring after reform only have limited personal accounts accumulated, and the basic pension can only provide a limited level of protection. Although there are no or only limited personal accounts pension accumulation for these two kinds of retirees, the commitments made under their old pension scheme still have to fulfilled, therefore this formed a pensions debt. Under the current PAYGO system, because the right of pensions is implied, the debt is called a hidden debt. However, when the pension system transferred to a whole or partly accumulation based one, the implicit debt became obvious. In order to ensure the continuity and fairness of the pension system, the new system must assume the responsibility for the debt. The Government has to fulfil the pension rights of those retirees. In our country, apart from these two parts of pensions, the additional pension to the retirees caused by inflation or wage increasing also belongs to the scope of implicit debt of the pension, generally speaking, Chinaà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s implicit pension debt includes payments to retired employees, transitional pension contribution to those who started work before the reform, as well as the adjustment fee applied to inflation and wage growth. Another important cause of the financing problems is that there are no specific responsibilities for historical debt between different levels of government. Our government did not specify the individual responsibilities between companies and governments with regard to the debt caused in transition period. The greatest problem of dealing with implicit debts is a lack of motivation and unclear responsibility allocation. Not only in the experimental areas, but also in other cities. Every party attempts to avoid its responsibilities. Both parties rely on each otherà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s financial input and lack of motivation in terms of the pension supervision. Therefore an increasing deficit became inevitable. 3.2 Ageing Population Secondly, the ageing of the population has now become a huge issue for many countries in the world. The problem is however, much more serious in China. Since China has a large population base, plus nearly 30 years of reform and opening up, peoples living standards have increased greatly. Health and medical conditions have been markedly improved. People expect to live longer and the elderly population increases every year; it is now more than 160 million. China has become the worlds largest elderly populous country, accounting for 1/5 of the total elderly population of the world, and 1/2 of Asia. Currently about 12% of the total population in China is aged over 60, although it is expected that this number will increase to 26% by 2050 because of the à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"one-childà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ policy and the improvement in life expectancy. Now, the ratio of the working-age population to the retirement-age population is 8:1 and it will decrease to 2:5 by 2050. The average age in China is now 31 and it will reach 40 in 2050. The distribution of population in China Source: World Bank Institute (Dr. Wang Yan) This scenario showed that with a gradual decline in future population growth, Chinas labour force in 2020 to 2025 will stop growing, and decline thereafter. However, the population aged 65 and over will continue to grow. Therefore, the elderly dependency ratio will rise from 11% to 25% by 2030 and 36% by 2050. The system dependency ratio will not be less than the current 30%, which means that three workers support one retiree; by 2030 the ratio will rapidly reach 69% and 79% by 2050. The PAYGO system in 2000 has a 60 billion surplus, but the gap in pension income and expenditure will be significantly expanded. Over the next few years, the accumulation of pension reserves will become negative, and in 2050 it will reach 102,730 billion RMB. It is clear that the growing pension deficit will pose a threat to financial stability, and has already brought instability to Chinas future economic development. It has significantly increased the financial pressure on the system and makes the need for further reforms even more urgent. Nowadays, there are only 170 million employees are members of a pension scheme; that is less than 15% of the population. As the population grows older, if the current pension provision remains the same, the pension funds in China will have a deficit in next five years; furthermore, this can lead to a deficit in trillions by 2040. The national pension funds could be short 2.5 trillion RMB (which is around US$ 368 billion) over the next 20 years if nothing is done to remedy this now. 3.3 Institutional Problem Thirdly, the system itself is not well developed. The pension system is divided at all administrative levels. In 1999, 27 provinces were supposed to achieve co-ordination of the provincial funds according to documentation, but in fact only 5 (Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Chongqing and Hainan) out of 27 provinces fully realized this co-ordination. In the other 22 provinces, only 1%-2% of the money from different cities was gathered in order to establish public funds. Due to the lack of co-ordination there are five provinces that have yet to establish such a fund, which means the policy was not really working out. Furthermore, the current co-ordination is not perfect in many ways. The collection and expenditure of pensions were not administered separately by different organizations. Also because of the payment strategy, which is that companies pay the à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"netà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ value (pension income minus the money paid to retired employee) into funds, the contribution rates b etween provinces and cities, in some cases even between companies, have great differences. Moreover, the coverage of pension systems is narrow and they have regional imbalances. Until the end of 1998, the basic pension provision covered only 78.4% of employees of state-owned enterprises, 16.2% of group companies and 5.4% of other urban enterprises. There were no pension plans for self-employed and individual entrepreneurs in cities. For rural areas, there are some creative plans by local officers, but again coverage is very limited. The coverage of pension scheme in China is restricted based on employment in the work unit, rather than on citizenship, which means the reform only targets a small number of the population. This is in contrast to developed countries, where the pension system is relatively mature and covers nearly all of the workforce. In these countries, what they need to do is to avoid large future deficits and unsustainable ageing populations. However in China, there is far more to consider. More than half of Chinaà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s population lives in rural areas. As a bequest of past economic and pension policies, there is great inequality in both economic development and pension coverage between the urban and rural areas (urban areas are mainly the eastern coastal areas and rural areas are mainly the western part of China); the urban population is generally better covered than rural and migrant populations. The special household registration system, which was used to control the movement of people between urban and rural areas, helped split the population into urban and rural. The productive workers from the rural areas migrated to cities for more attractive working opportunities and higher incomes. However they will not be able to benefit from the urban social security since they were not under the registration of the special system. The lack of regulation is another issue. Since there is no social insurance law in China, the local social insurance agencies are weak enforcers of power. This makes collecting payments even more difficult. Also since there is no such law, it is hard to apply penalties. From the international point of view, the states basic pension systems are mostly being legislated by state first, then organised by the Central Government. However, Chinas pension system formed gradually under the basis of summing up experiences of local reform. It is only written in the Constitution of the nationals that citizens have the right to receive substance. Other pension systems were implemented in accordance with regulations promulgated by the State Council. The Social Insurance Law, as it has already been called for many years, is still in the process of taking advice, which means that pension rights are infringed due to lack of legal protection. This further led to a large number of arrears and made mana gement of the pension system even harder, without any strong legal grounds. 3.4 Problems occurring in transaction Finally, another challenge will be the transfer between pension accounts. The disadvantage of migrant workers is that their accumulated benefits in their pension accounts from their previous employers cannot be moved. It is therefore a risk for them to give up their accumulated benefits in one work place and take another new position in a different city or province. It is difficult for the government to transfer the pension accounts from one city or province to another, especially when such workers tend to move frequently for immediate job opportunities. Therefore, the migrant workers cannot receive their pension benefits from past employment and finally lose out financially when they return to their homeland at the end. At present, in a large number of cities, pension consulting business is processed by computers. In more developed cities, pension consulting networks have been established. But as a whole, Chinaà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s pension-collection policy still has a lot to improve; information system coverage is still below average. It specifically shows in the following ways. Firstly, information authorities and management systems are not adapting to the overall development trend. Also, the lack of a complete and versatile information operating system of social security results in slow delivery of information and finance data, as well as slow construction of the reconciliation system among departments. Chapter 4 Different types of pension reform and what China chose to do Since the last century, many countries worldwide started to reform their pension systems. The following graph shows that most countries made parameter adjustment without changing the basic framework of the pension system, including the change to the fee structure, revenue structure and method of management reforms. In addition, about 21% of the countries made a fundamental structural change to the national public pension system. Proportions of different types of pension reform Source: Schwarz Demirguc-Kunt (1999) Different countries chose various forms of pension reform according to their countryà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s basic economic and social conditions. However, to sum up, there are five main types of pension reform, which are as follows: Parametric Reform Parametric reform is the adjustment of parameters of the existing public pension system, including adjustments of payment, remuneration, and benefit eligibility. The main purpose of such a system is to reduce the public pension expenditure Privatization Reform In order to alleviate the pressure on the public pension system, in recent years a major trend has been to expand the market for private pension funds. A number of countries have taken many measures to encourage voluntary private pension systems, such as giving preferential tax policies, reducing the size of the public pension system and other steps. Notional Account Reform The state transferred the PAYGO, defined benefit public pension system to a notional accounts system. Under such a pension system, employees are just like those in a private pension system, as its contribution is credited to individual accounts, and receives interest. Workers receive a pension upon retirement, depending on the amount of money in their personal accounts. However, there is no actual accumulation of funds in the employees personal account, as the money paid by active employees is used to pay retireesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ pensions. That is, the notional accounts system benefit has a defined contribution, but its means of financing is still PAYGO; therefore it is called a Notional Defined Contribution system. From Defined Benefit to Defined Contribution Although the transformation from the current PAYGO defined benefit system to a fully funded defined contribution system is one of the main trends of reform, a small number of African and Asian countries have chosen to do it the other way round. They have changed from a fully funded defined contribution system to a PAYGO defined benefit system. This is because these countries have accumulated a fund, which is managed by the Government provident fund system. Due to a lack of regulations and governments often abuse their powers, and such pension funds not only failed to obtain a reasonable rate of return, but in some countries also suffered serious diversion and erosion. In order to limit the rights of the government, these countries decided to change the pension system to a non-funded PAYGO system. Since under such a scheme there is no accumulation of funds, therefore the Government tends to be unlikely to abuse the funds. Multi-Pillar System After 100 years of development, the pension system has shown a wide variety of forms. Different forms of pension system have their own advantages in achieving their goals, but some shortcomings are inevitable. Therefore, the World Bank has been advocating the establishment of a multi-pillar pension system, allowing complementary advantages and risk diversification. In 1994, the World Bank proposed in à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"Averting Old Age Crisisà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ the establishment of a three-pillar pension system: (a) the first pillar is a public, PAYGO, usually defined benefit and redistributive pension system; (b) the second pillar is a private, funded, almost always defined contribution pension system; (c) the third pillar is a private, funded, voluntary, supplementary, preferably defined contribution pension system. In 2005, the World Bank extended the establishment of the three-pillar system to a five-pillar system in the report of à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"21st Century Elderly Income Securityà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢. Among them, the zero pillar is to provide a minimum protection, non-contributory national pension system, the fourth pillar is the informal supporting system within the family to the elderly, or formal social welfare system. The five pillars have their own characteristics and different functions; and can be able to cope with different types of risk. Zero pillar is helping to eliminate poverty for the poor segment of society, as well as secure those groups working in informal sectors with low incomes. It is regarded as a part of the social safety net. The aim of the first pillar is to respond to a short-sighted individual risk, low-income risks, uncertainty in life expectancy and investment risks in financial markets, but it is vulnerable to demographic changes and political fluctuations. The second pillar through a mandatory savings system can prevent the short-sighted individual risk, while the privately managed pension system would avoid influence from political risks. However, the second pillar pension system is vulnerable to the impact of financial market risks, and transaction costs are relatively high. The third pillar can compensate for the rigidity in the design of the other pillars, but privatel y managed pension funds may have financial risk and agency risk. The fourth pillar has the main function of family protection, and through the social welfare system to provide medical care and housing protection to the elderly. Compared to a single pension system, the greatest strength of a multi-pillar pension system is its ability to withstand risks, which is significantly enhanced. This is because the factors affecting each pillar are not entirely relevant to each other. In many cases, the relevance is very small, even negative. For example, if the first pillar is a PAYGO, defined benefit pension system, the main factor affecting this pillar is the growth rate of wages. While the second and third pillar may be a completely accumulation based, defined contribution pension system, and the main factors influencing it will be the investment rate of return. As the correlation between the rate of wage growth and return on investment is very small, it is efficient to distribute the pension assets in these three pillars. In addition, there is also a complementary relationship among the different pillars. For example, in the individual defined contribution pension system, workers need to take an amount of savings in their personal accounts and convert it into an annuity. At this time, employees have to bear the risk of changes in interest rates, as well as the risk of death. However, defined benefit pension systems can spread the risk of death. Again, the third pillar à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" a voluntary occupational pension system is vulnerable to income fluctuations and job changing, but the first and second pillar pension system can offset these effects. Many countries adopted the multi-pillar pension system because the World Bank recommended the concept of such a model. However, the specific choice of a mix of pillars depends on the national situation, including the status of the existing pension system, reform objectives, administrative capacity, the level of development of financial markets, the level of restructuring costs and other factors. In low-income countries, the goal of a pensions system should be defined as the eradicati

Tom Comes Home in The Mill on the Floss :: The Mill on the Floss George Eliot Essays

Tom Comes Home in The Mill on the Floss TOM was to arrive early in the afternoon, and there was another fluttering heart besides Maggie's when it was late enough for the sound of the gig wheels to be expected; for if Mrs Tulliver had a strong feeling, it was fondness for her boy. At last the sound came - that quick light bowling of the gig wheels - and in spite of the wind which was blowing the clouds about, and was not likely to respect Mrs Tulliver's curls and cap-strings, she came outside the door, and even held her hand on Maggie's offending head, forgetting all the griefs of the morning. 'There he is, my sweet lad! But, Lord ha' mercy, he's got never a collar on; it's been lost on the road, I'll be bound, and spoilt the set.' Mrs Tulliver stood with her arms open; Maggie jumped first on one leg and then on the other; while Tom descended from the gig and said, with masculine reticence as to the tender emotions, 'Hallo! Yap, what, are you there?' Nevertheless, he submitted to be kissed willingly enough, though Maggie hung on his neck in rather a strangling fashion, while his blue-grey eyes wandered towards the croft and the lambs and the river where he promised himself that he would begin to fish the first thing to-morrow morning. He was one of those lads that grow everywhere in England, and, at twelve or thirteen years of age, look as much alike as goslings: - a lad with light brown hair, cheeks of cream and roses, full lips, indeterminate nose and eye-brows - a physiognomy in which it seems impossible to discern anything but the generic character of boyhood; as different as possible from poor Maggie's phiz, which Nature seemed to have moulded and coloured with the most decided intention. But that same Nature has the deep cunning which hides itself under the appearance of openness, so that simple people think they can see through her quite well, and all the while she is secretly preparing a refutation of their confident prop hecies. Under these average boyish physiognomies that she seems to turn off by the gross, she conceals some of her most rigid inflexible purposes, some of her most unmodifiable characters, and the dark-eyed, demonstrative, rebellious girl may after all turn out to be a passive being compared with this pink and white bit of masculinity with the indeterminate features.

Redistibution of Wealth Essay -- essays research papers

Redistribution Of Wealth   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  October 1929 the United States of America went into a state of great depression. Millions of Americans lost their jobs, their homes and went deeply in debt. The reasons for the great depression were the over production of goods, higher tariffs, over speculation of the stock market, unregulated banking and the misdistribution of wealth. The president of the time Franklin Delano Roosevelt enacted a solution called The New Deal. This plan included emergency measures for industrial recovery, agricultural recovery and short-term emergency relief of the jobless. Huey Long a senator from Louisiana was the biggest opposition to Roosevelt. Long proposed taxing the rich to give to the poor. The government should not use its taxing power to redistribute the wealth in America.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Huey Long’s plan of reform bordered on socialism. He proposed that every family have the reasonable comforts of life up to 5,000,000 dollars. All family fortunes should be between 1,500,000 and 5,000,000. The yearly income should be no less then 2,000. Long wanted to regulate working hours, and provide pensions for people over 60. Huey planned on paying the veterans of wars and provide equal and free education. Finally Huey Long wanted to raise the revenue and tax on the top inheritance. â€Å"Share Our Wealth by soaking in the rich, he would make every man a king.†   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The first reason that the governm...

Piano by D. H. Lawrence Essay -- Piano D. H. Lawrence Essays

â€Å"Piano† by D. H. Lawrence   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The poem Piano, by D. H. Lawrence describes his memories of childhood. Hearing a woman singing takes him to the time when his mother played piano on Sunday evenings. In the present, this woman is singing and playing the piano with great passion. However, the passionate music is not affecting him, because he can only think about his childhood rather than the beauty of the music that exists in his actual space.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬Å"A woman is singing† softly to the speaker â€Å"in the dusk.† The speaker is describing the place he is at in the present moment. It’s partially dark, and a woman is singing to him. As he listens to the woman’s soft voice, he remembers the time when he was little. He says that it is taking him â€Å"back down the vista of years,† till he sees â€Å"a child sitting under the piano.† This child is the speaker.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The child is â€Å"sitting under the piano, in the boom of the tingling strings,† and he is â€Å"pressing the small, poised feet of a mother who smiles as she sings.† When the speaker was a child, he used to be under the piano where the strings were tingling since his mother was playing the piano. He used to press his mother’s feet, which were in balance. His mother was singing with a smile on her face.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The speaker sees this scenery in his mind. As a reader, I can even imagine him standing in a dark room looking at a woman singing and imagining his old days with his mother. Using the picturesque words such as â€Å"softly,† â€Å"dusk...

“Simplicity” by William Zinsser

William Zinsser in his essay, â€Å"Simplicity,† describes the tendency people have to inflate their own words. A majority of us think that something is missing if a word or sentence is too simple causing us to add unnecessary information only to confuse our readers. Zinsser shows us examples of this in everyday life such as a simple letter, or a brochure by an insurance company, where the corporation uses a statement that overuses vocabulary to express something so simple. Zinsser observes that, â€Å"Clear thinking becomes clear writing; one can’t exist without another†,(Zinsser 175) His opinion on the key towards becoming an excellent writer is to take every sentence and to shorten it so that each word has its set function. As a writer, he believes the more clearheaded one is while constructing a piece of work, the better result they will receive. Writing is not as easy as it may seem. It can take several trials of perfecting one’s work and more importantly revisions of one’s thoughts like Zinsser’s writing. The more conscious you become to your writing allows the writer to easily express their words and in society, good writing seems to be what lacks the most. Zinsser believes that a clear mind can positively impact your writing like a clear mind can affect your performance in everyday life. Sometimes, the more homework I have and the more hours I work, seem to build to my stress and negatively affect me in school. My weekly schedule is one that at times is pretty hectic. With school, work and friends, sometimes the juggling of the three seem to reach a boiling point. I currently work at a waitressing job in which the night shifts are usually the ones that benefit me the most. I attend school at Hunter College 4 days a week. Mondays and Thursdays from 8 am to 4 pm, while Tuesdays and Fridays are from 11 am to 1 pm. My work schedule is for the most part from Tuesday, Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays (mid day to late nights). Going to school four days a week and working 5 days a week is such a hassle in my life. I try to fit my social life in as well yet, sometimes it seems impossible. That’s when I realize by not going out I might be jeopardizing my friendships. Working almost five days a week doesn’t give me enough time for myself or the ability to focus more on school. I come home so late that I usually stay up studying till 2 or 3 in the morning but have to wake up by 6 am. I run on 3 or 4 hours of sleep which doesn’t give me enough energy to function at my highest capability. About two weeks ago I reached a point in my life in which I was beginning to feel like a robot. On a Friday night, I came home from a long day at school, immediately headed to work knowing that I had two tests to study for Monday. Now I was scheduled to work the whole weekend on night shifts that I was struggling to figure out how I could possibly fit in time to study. I tried my hardest to study in between work breaks, but the environment around me was pretty hectic, that I accomplished nothing. On Saturday and Sunday, I woke up a little earlier to study, but time was passing by so fast that on both days I only accomplished an hour or two to memorize some material. I would rush each day to start getting ready for work and to call my cab to get there on time. That Sunday from work I got home at 2 am and studied an hour for history, until I fell asleep on my books. I instantly woke up, almost late for school, just in time to make it to my English class. I was so tired that I was straining to make my eyes remain open. I had a few school breaks in between my classes, but I knew that I couldn’t memorize all these material for two different subjects the day of the test. Taking both of those tests, made me realize that not only did I fail, but I needed to make some changes in my life. My first priority is attending and excelling at school and juggling too many days at work with school is almost impossible to do. I knew I had to change my work schedule so that I have enough days to study and nights to rest in the future. In the end I knew it would work out even if I cut back on days to earn money, because my body and mind need to properly rest. We don’t seem to realize but sometimes there are many unnecessary things we do that can easily be adjusted. Either working too much or spending time doing other activities can take up a lot of our energy. As Zinsser illustrates simplifying one’s life or one’s writing is possible and necessary at times, and if we all learned to do so life would be much easier.

Why Is Autumn the Best Season?

Autumn, the only season where you can watch the multicolored leaves fall and the unique chirping of birds in the fall. Fall is the best season because you don’t have wear thick jackets as the weather is not too hot or cold, sports could be a main exercise for you outside, and it’s a chance to spend with your family during special holidays. One of the advantages of the autumn weather is that you won’t get chilly or get overheated like the other seasons.You won’t have to stay in all the time because the weather is perfect unlike summer when it’s too hot or too cold like in winter. There is something different about the feeling of wind when you open the door to go outside that begins the feeling of autumn. Sometimes it rains during the fall but that strengthens the feeling of this season. Also during the summer it’s soccer, baseball, football, and rugby season. Fall is a great time to watch and play these sports. You can go outside with your fri ends and family to go sporting outside in the autumn breeze.Fall can make getting tackled by a huge jock a lot more fun. I’m not a huge fan of watching sports but I heard it’s what brings families and friends together in the fall. I wish I watched sports but I rather watch the thanksgiving parade. Holidays are one of the best ways to get together with your family and friends. Autumn holidays include Thanksgiving Day and Halloween. The Thanksgiving holiday is a four-day holiday over the weekend. Families and friends usually eat a special meal together (usually with a turkey as the main dish).This meal also usually includes mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie, several casseroles, and stuffing. Halloween is also a special holiday in the fall. Halloween is a holiday in many countries that is celebrated on the night of October 31st. Children wear costumes and they go to peoples' homes saying â€Å"Trick or treat! † to ask for candy and then people give it t o them. This practice originally involved a threat. In this case the threat could be explained as: â€Å"Give me a treat or I will play a trick on you. † Children today usually do not play tricks if they do not get treats.However, some children still get up to mischief (pranks or things to make fun of people; like putting toilet paper in trees; writing on windows with soap or throwing eggs at peoples' houses). For me autumn is when it all comes together The weather is usually the best of the year. The shadows lengthen. The grass green up and loves the cool nights and occasional moisture. The leaves turn gorgeous colors. There’s a crisp scent in the air. Pomegranates are in season. And sports, ah, yes, sports. It’s the best season for sports. That’s why Autumn is the best season.

Theory

Very much like the author of a book is given credit as its sole creator, auteur theory gives the film director credit for authoring the film, â€Å"imprinting it with his personal vision†(goodnight, 2011,sec. 7. 3,Para. 1). While auteur theory is a good starting point for film analysis, it places almost total responsibility for a film's artistic success or failure on the director. The problem is that not all film critics agree on the same definition of what is considered art. According to Andrew Saris, to be considered an auteur, a film director must qualify in three key areas: 1.Technical competence 2. Distinguishable personality and 3. Interior meaning A positive aspect about auteur theory is that directors can really make a name for themselves and become even more famous than their â€Å"Star actors†. While each of a director's films are unique in their own way, there still remains a common and recognizable thread that runs through them collectively that says â€Å" this is a Spielberg film, or â€Å"This is a James Cameron film†. On the other side, some say that the auteur theory is too full of holes and is not a good way to determine whether a film is true art.Some directors intentionally step outside the set parameters of what is generally considered technical competence. Others insist that because film is a collaborative effort, it is not fair to esteem directors more highly than screenwriters and actors who play equally important roles in the production of a film. I would consider Clint Eastward an auteur. He began his career very young as an actor in esters movies. After 16 years of acting and learning he began directing films. Eastward became famous first as an actor in films such as â€Å"Dirty Harry'.Later on in his career, though he played significant roles in each of his films, he was more known for his directorship of films like â€Å"Grand Torsion† and â€Å"Million Dollar Baby'. According to Prep Hemmer, in these f ilms, â€Å"Eastward shows himself as an auteur through his constant use of Juxtaposing relationships between a younger and older generation, is consistency of a tragic event occurring, bringing his films to end in a violent or tragic manner, and his choice of acting in the majority of his films as he challenges the declining role of American men†(Hemmer,n. . ).

Finance stock valuation Essay

Ragan, Inc., was founded nine years ago by brother and sister Carrington and Genevieve Ragan. The company manufactures and installs commercial heating, ventilation, and cooling (HVAC) units. Ragan, Inc., has experienced rapid growth because of a proprietary technology that increases the energy efficiency of its units. The company is equally owned by Carrington and Genevieve. The original partnership agreement between the siblings gave each 50,000 shares of stock. In the event either wished to sell stock, the shares first had to be offered to the other at a discounted price. Although neither sibling wants to sell, they have decided they should value their holdings in the company. To get started, they have gathered the following information about their main competitors: Expert HVAC Corporation’s negative earnings per share were the result of an accounting write-off last year. Without the write-off, earnings per share for the company would have been $0.54. Last year, Ragan, Inc., had an EPS of $4.85 and paid a dividend to Carrington and Genevieve of $75,000 each. The company also had a return on equity of 17 percent. The siblings believe that 14 percent is an appropriate required return for the company. Ragan, Inc. – Competitors CompanyEPSDiv.Stock PriceROER Arctic Cooling0.840.3917.8316.00%10.00% National Heating1.340.6519.2314.00%13.00% Expert HVAC-0.550.4318.1415.00%12.00% Industry Average0.540.4918.4015.00%11.67% Questions 1. Assuming the company continues its current growth rate, what is the value per share of the company’s stock? SOLUTION: Total dividend= (75000Ãâ€"2) = $150000 Total earning= (50000Ãâ€"4.85) = $242500 Payout ratio= 150000/242500= .62 Retention ratio= (1-.62) = .38 g= ROExb= .17x.38= .065 or 6.5% D0= 75000/50000=1.5 P0= D1/(Ke-g)= (1.5Ãâ€"1.14)/(.14-.065)= $22.8 2. To verify their calculations, Carrington and Genevieve have haired Josh Schlessman as a consultant. Josh was previously an equity analyst and covered the HVAC industry. Josh had examined the company’s financial statements, as well as those of its competitors. Although Ragan, Inc., currently has a technological advantage, his research indicates that other companies are investigating methods to improve efficiency. Given this, Josh believes that the company’s technological advantage will last only for the next five years. After that period, the company’s growth will likely slow to the industry growth average. Additionally, Josh believes that the required return used by the company is too high. He believes the industry average required return is more appropriate. Under this growth rate assumption, what is your estimate of the stock price? SOLUTION: Industry EPS= (.84+1.43+.54)/3= .91 Industry Payout ratio= .49/.91= .54 Industry retention ratio= 1-.54= .46 g= 15x.46= 6.9% D6= 1.5Ãâ€"1.14^6= 3.2925 Stock price in year 5 with the Industry rate of return = 3.2925/ (.1167-.069) = $69.02

Management (McDonald's) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Management (McDonald's) - Essay Example This was however not ethically rosy. The local business community was concerned that the aggression of the McDonald's franchise was anticompetitive and was also not auguring well with other workers in Brazil. There quick integration was considered unethical by preemption of competitors. This was formulated from their high rents that McDonald was levying from the local restaurants. Thus McDonald ended up in court for double rate rental fees factor on sales as compared to the US mother country scenario which is only 8.5%. Jordan (2000, p. A23); Korten, (2001, p. 419 -449). On the side of the unsatisfied employees, there was gripe about their reduced hours of work and shifts to evade paying overtime. The Ministry of Labor in Sao Paulo was mandated to investigate these claims that the employees claimed prevented them from working longer to earn more overtime. The global practice of McDonald is however shift based during peak hours and to achieve efficiency, this strategy was deployed to minimized work hours to up to 8 hours a week. Due to lack of strong laws, McDonald got away with these allegations and is continuing with the practice up 30 years to date. McDonald senior management claims that this is what has helped them to survive the high inflation in the Brazilian fast food market and justify by the peril of other fast food companies in the past. Jordan (2000, p. A23); Burt (1983, p. 419-420); Korten, (2001, p. 419 -449). McDonalds's Stakeholders' map by use of Sethi's Dimensions on Corporate Social Performance Sethi (1975, p. 58 -64) McDonald has a network of stakeholder as shown in the diagram above. They have owners and investors who earn share after every financial period. They have banks that have lent them money to carry out their aggressive financial expansions. They belong to various trade associations that are based in the respective regions of investment. The media companies help them in the advertisements everywhere as well as in their publicity campaigns. The transport companies that they partner with help them in the JIT deliveries. They have a range of supplies in the cereals, poultry, meat, vegetable, ice cream ingredients and other food and drink soft products. They have recycling companies that help them on the collected packaging and wraps to avoid pollution. They have customers from children, youth, men and women. There is pressure group such as the case in Brazil that felt the Macdonald was preempting the potential competitors. Naylor (2004, PPT. 5.3); Sethi, (1975, p. 58-64). McDonald also has got trade unions who sued them like in the case at Brazil for 'under employment.' They have millions of employees World wide. The European Union has also been stepping up regulations to the McDonald in relation to some trendy health concerns about some of their foods. The governments are related to them in the provision of business environment and tax collection. The local governments have been allowing them to set specific number of store while regulating competition. The business community is mainly composed of potential fast food restaurants who would like to see a level playing field of investment. The legal system is there to ensure that McDonald adheres to the standing law and order. Naylor (2004, PPT.

Tourism, leisure, culture, society, polities Essay

Tourism, leisure, culture, society, polities - Essay Example However, it should be noted that tourism bears hazardous effect on the environment and cultural authenticity due to a mass flow of people irrespective of the local traditions and rites to be taken care of. First and foremost, tourism is a result of consumerism. It deals with a set of services people have at their disposal for a particular amount of money. There is a pitfall for everyone thinking of solely positive effect of tourism worldwide. Hence, capitalist preferences drive many tourists to consume more than ever before compared to their own locations. In its turn, the financial issue is one of the most significant drives in choices made by tourists (Haan, 2008). That is to say, tourism and consumerism are close in their practical meaning with landscape as the main medium of attraction for tourists (Aitchison, MacLeod, & Shaw, 2001). Hence, it is indicative of many people to be troublemakers instead of normal tourists, as they intrude into the milieu of the cultural and ethnical diversity taken care of by locals with no excuse at all. As long as they are driven by the idea of their right for letting loose in accordance with money they spent for such a pleasure, they feel like they have already covered all expenses. Besides, there is a clear distinction between tourism and travelling. Andrews (2011) admits in his study that tourism does more harm to the environment than travelling, as the former touches upon invasion, pollution, and narrow-mindedness while the latter is characterized by discovery, understanding, intelligence, adventures, and broad-mindedness. By and large, tourism is a mark of a person’s identity looking at the places one visits and the services one prefers most of all with an idea of possible cultural merge in mind (Weiermair & Mathies, 2004). It is all about the financial substantiality of individuals. Thus, as long as a tourist pays for a tour along with providing a definite

Assumptions and Contribution of the Strategic Choice Theory Essay

Assumptions and Contribution of the Strategic Choice Theory - Essay Example The researcher states that the use of the strategic choice analysis also contributes to helping the organization and its management in optimally utilizing the existing resource base to gain needed a competitive advantage. The organization would thus become ready to potentially adapt to the external changes in the technological, social and politico-economic environment. Further, the aspect of strategic choice also highlighted the need for generating an effective interrelationship between the organization and the managerial framework. It aims to effectively integrate the organizations and its individuals in that the same contributes to a generation of the right strategic choice to exploit the existing resource base in a generation of needed competitive potential. It thus endeavors to reduce the aspect of tension both relating to the internal and external organizational framework which in turn enhances its efficiency to counter changes in the external environment. Strategic Choice Theor y relates to the actions or roles played by organizational leaders in making concerned choices to enhance the competitive advantage of the business organization against external political, demographic, social, economic and technological changes. Further, the strategic choice theory is also observed to generate tension relating to agency and structural elements. The relation of an agency to structure and further to the external environment makes the theory of strategic choice more dynamic and applicable to different settings. This reflects that the strategic choice theory not only serves the competing needs of the organization but also tend to depict an evolutionary approach based on external needs and changes. Strategic Choice Theory also reflects on the manner in which the business organizations gradually adapt to the changing needs to help gain needed a competitive advantage. The concept of ‘Strategic Choice’ relates to the process through which the authoritative bodi es in an organization tend to incorporate to help in taking of strategic actions.

Islamic Fundamentalists Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Islamic Fundamentalists - Essay Example From a NATO perspective, the Cold War has given way to the War on Terror (Baylis & Smith 2005). Today, developed countries fear terrorist attacks from Islamic fundamentalists, while many in the Middle East fear amoral, mindless consumerism and even bellicose, forcible takeovers spawned from developed countries. A phenomenon emerged from Afghanistan appeared on the world stage in the mid 1990s introducing yet another new term (like fatwa a few decades back) to world journalism: Taliban (Brenda and James 2004, pg. 1). The word itself comes from talib, or student in Arabic, but in the West it took on the connotation of an extremist, fundamentalist, violent transnational terrorist group of young Muslim fanatics. They were initially a response against the local criminals in Afghanistan after the extraction of Soviet troops and the conquest of American-and-Pakistani-supported mujahedeens over the Soviet-supported Afghani administration in Kabul in 1992 (Ahmad 2006). It was formed by a small number of Islamic priests who belonged to Pakhtuns, the dominant ethnic group both of Southern Afghanistan and Northern Pakistan. Based in Kandahar in South-Western Afghanistan, the Taliban increased critical support from Pakistan's influential intelligences, whose incentive was in part to stabilize the trucking routes to Central Asia. With that assistance, the Taliban transformed some early Robin Hood-like actions in opposition to the warlords into a messianic goal to transform all Afghanistan in line with a particularly fundamentalist Islamic vision. The Taliban were a major force in Afghan politics. There were neither tribal chiefs nor members of the royal families who once held sway. Mostly belonging to one ethnic group, male and young, narrowly minded trained in Pakistan's religious seminaries and burning with a desire to impose southern towns of Afghanistan before capturing Kabul in the late 1990s and established a harsh and uneasy control over most of the countries (Brenda and James 2004). As they were predominantly Pukhtun in their ethnic background and they tended to target non-Pukhtuns the latter remained rebellious especially in Northern areas. The official orders of the Taliban against women - they should be covered in public, immediately return to their homes and leave their jobs - and the total banning of television convinced the world that here was a primitive form of Islamic fundamentalism which the Iranian variety appear benign (Brenda and James 2004, pg. 134). It sent shivers down the spine of the rich elite in neighbouring Pakistan in case the Taliban germs spread south (pg. 135). By the late 1990s although the killings continued Afghanistan had an uneasy truce punctuated by acts of violence and anarchy. But a civil society and government structure were still far from forming. Relations with outsiders remained prickly. There was a constant friction with United Nations agencies as the Taliban, with little idea of modern statehood, interfered with their running until many packed up and left Kabul in exasperation (pg. 138). The moment that the Twin Towers in New York fell, Islam and terrorism became inextricably linked. As an example, there was the sensationalized reporting of the aid worker John McClintock, a convert to Islam, as the 'Tartan

Critical Chain Project Management Based Heuristics Algorithm Essay

Critical Chain Project Management Based Heuristics Algorithm - Essay Example Dr. Goldratt utilized TOC in project management in 1997. The project schedule was organized and managed by few resources and tackled the unattractive behavior. The project’s execution was supervised by the centralized management of the project buffer extent. Critical chain technology considers both the issues of cognitive and psychological resources-restrained, and the effect in the duties of the next and the former firm relation restriction (Hong and Ji-hai 331). The steps include work breakdown structure establishment; activity definition; network chart drawing; constraints-critical chain identification; the employment of restraint, which include the project time estimate activities, feeding buffer and project buffer, and resource buffer; minor non-critical path chain identification; plot the project schedule plan of critical chain (Hong and Ji-hai 331). Currently, the buffer size is regularly calculated using three forms of method. One, Goldratt method where input buffer and project buffer match half of the magnitude of the critical chain to attain 50% probability the task duration and approximated. Two, Cut-and-paste method where buffer size matches half of the difference between 90% of the probability of completion of the task duration approximated and 50% of the probability of completion task duration approximated. Third is the standard deviation method which is formed on the independent assumption of the task of the project. Nonetheless, these methods did not take into consideration the different task chain distribution duration, different uncertainty levels in different positions, and different preference risks of stakeholders (Hong and Ji-hai 331). The buffer management mechanism is perceived to be the critical chain’s tool for controlling projects. Project buffer attempts to lessen the project buffer duration and incorporates it into the critical chain. Feeding buffer asserts that the inserting task be finished in time. Finally,

Body Fat and Eating Disorders Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Body Fat and Eating Disorders Paper - Essay Example t disease, high blood pressure, stroke, high cholesterol, diabetes, back pain, respiratory problems, kidney disorders, gallbladder problems, osteoarthritis, excess fatigue, sleep apnea, metabolic syndromes and urinary incontinence. There are various factors that could lead to obesity or an accumulation of body fat which occurs due to an imbalance in the calories consumed and burnt by the body. Other contributing factors include a lack of physical activity, increased consumption of fat, sugar, alcohol intake, overeating, chronic use of corticosteroids, hormonal imbalances and other related metabolic problems (Body composition and Health, 2002). Eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa and binge eating have serious effects on the physical and mental health of individuals and in extreme cases can also lead to life-threatening problems. This is mainly because such disorders do not exist for a particular period of time; rather they have the potential to become lifelong disorders in cases where they are not treated. In such cases they could affect the mental, emotional and physical well-being of individuals and also put tremendous strain on their relationships with other people. In the case of anorexia nervosa, in which individuals starve themselves the body becomes severely depleted of vital nutrients and hence there is a slowdown of metabolic process in order to conserve energy. As a result a number of medical problems arise some of which warrant immediate medical attention. The health consequences of anorexia nervosa includes an abnormal decrease in heart rate and blood pressure which increases the risk of heart failure, bone density reduction, loss and weakening of muscles, severe body dehydration increasing the risk of kidney failure, increased fatigue and general body weakness, dryness of skin and hair with hair loss and growth of lanugo all the body in an effort to maintain body temperature (Health Consequences of Eating Disorders, n.d; Eating

The recruitment, selection and training methods of LVMH Essay

The recruitment, selection and training methods of LVMH - Essay Example 1.1. BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY Importance of human resource management is gaining increased acceptance with every passing day. Main factors working behind this increased importance is acceptance of the cost associated with human resource while the most important being the level of competence of human resource that drives business across road of success. Human resource management function is a continuous process and can be divided into two broad domains of pre-employment and post employment functions. Former category can be declared to addressing the factors that are concerned with candidate and employee dealing before one assumes job responsibilities in full whereas the latter one constitutes with employee management in stage next to assuming the job. However, training remains part of both categories. Recruitment, selection and training are among the most important part of the human resource function. These functions are endorsed with additional responsibility as they incur costs for g reater pool and benefit is to be reaped for organization from selected ones only. Hence, the procedures employed are required to be most efficient and effective in order to attain cost minimization as well as benefit maximization for the organizations. LVMH, acronym for Moet Hennessy - Louis Vuitton, has 100,000 employees worldwide and approximately 70% of mentioned number is outside the land of origin (France) (LVMH, n.d.); hence, diverse employee base characterizes the LVMS. In order to take entire diverse employees on shared platform of commitment to shared values of LVMH, LVMH has to undertake into consideration the large number of factors in recruitment, selection as well as in training process. Moreover, despite the slow growth of world economy that has affected the consumption trends showing shift in the overall buying behavior with increased price sensitivity; LVMH has managed to increase the revenues by 19% with 9% organic growth (LVMH, 2012) and each business group is movi ng in positive direction with net revenue for the 2012 increased by approximately 12% (LVMH, 2012) as compared to 2011. These factors also refer the success of HRM function centrally that provided business with employees competent enough to successful employ the strategic vision of the LVMH. Hence, these distinguishing factors form the basis for exploration of the recruitment, selection and training factors in context of LVMH. 1.2. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM The project entitled â€Å"The recruitment, Selection and Training for LVMH† as the name implies is intended to explore the mentioned HR functions of the LVMH. Project will develop assessment of the programs and procedures pertaining to recruitment, selection and training of employees at LVMH. The going over of procedures that result in the proficient employee base for the LVMS will offer much insight to organization. 1.3. STATEMENT OF PURPOSE The purpose of the underlying study is examination of the mentioned functions of the human resource at LVMH. This study will fulfill the purpose of highlighting the procedures adopted at large conglomerates such as LVMH for developing employee base paving way for the success and growth of organization. Hence, the project has rationale of the study to explore the best practices that can serve other organization striving to develop the capital (employee)

Effects of Technology on the Hr Function Essay Example for Free

Effects of Technology on the Hr Function Essay Critically analyse the ways in which the increasing application of technology at work have an effect upon the HR function. The use of technology within HRM has grown considerably within recent years with the majority of large organisations now using technology of some form within their HR function (CIPD, 2005). As HR becomes increasingly reliant on technology it is important to assess its effect upon the HR function. Firstly, consideration will be given to definition of terms along with a description of the uses of technology within the HR function. Next the change in the structure of the HR profession that has developed alongside the emerging and growing use of technology will be addressed. The goals of the use of technology which have been afforded a significant amount of attention within the literature will then be outlined along with consideration of the realisation of these goals. In addition, the effect of shared service centres, which make significant use of technology, upon the role of HR practitioners will be addressed in conjunction with the views of HR practitioners themselves. Whilst little attention has been given to the situating of the use of technology in HR within a wider sociological perspective in the academic literature, an attempt will be made to consider the effect of technology upon HR within such a debate. Finally, conclusions will be drawn as to the impact of the use of technology upon the HR function. It is firstly important to consider what is meant by the use of technology within the HR function. The term e-HRM is frequently used to refer to the use of technology within the HR function. The use of e-HRM varies enormously within organisations and may be used for different purposes (Parry et al. 2007). The term Human Resource Information System (HRIS) is also used to refer to any system that helps an organisation to â€Å"acquire, store, manipulate, analyse, retrieve and distribute information about an organisation’s human resources† (Tannenbaum, 1990, p.28). However, the use of technology within HR is broader than the use of HRIS and may encompass manager and employee self-service, the use of staff intranets and e-enabled processes such and recruitment and performance management amongst others (Reilly, 2012). It is acknowledged that some current research focuses on the more recent developments in web-based technology, collectively referred to as social media technologies or Web 2.0 (see Reddington, 2012). However, the use of Web 2.0 is outwith the focus of this discussion. HRIS was originally used for standardising the gathering of information about and for employees (Kovach et al. 2002). However, the use of HRIS has subsequently developed and is now used more broadly for purposes such as recruitment and selection, learning and development, administration of flexible benefits and performance appraisal (Grensing-Pophal, 2001) or to manage HR and employee information across the whole employment cycle (Parry et al. 2007). Technology has also been increasingly associated with supporting integrated call centres, shared service centres and the use of manager and employee self-service (CIPD, 2007). There is a great emphasis in the literature about the potential goals of e-HRM (Marler, 2009; Ruel, Bondarouk and Looise, 2004). However, there has been less emphasis on whether these goals have been realised in reality (Parry and Tyson, 2011; Strohmeier, 2007). Alongside the development and increasing use of technology is the development and changing role of the HR function itself. Traditionally the HR function has been seen as being a largely administrative function, focussed on administrative processes such as the maintenance of employee and payroll records (CIPD, 2007). It would appear that in its search for identity and the resulting proposed need for transformation of the function (Ulrich, 1997), HR has made use of technology to attempt to facilitate this transformation (Shirvastava and Shaw, 2003). Ulrich (1997) has argued that HRM should become a strategic business partner, in addition to performing roles as administrative expert, change agent and employee champion. It has been suggested that the use of technology within the HR function may create the opportunity for HR to become more strategic by freeing up time through the automation of many administrative tasks (Parry et al. 2007). The provision of accurate and detailed information available through the use of HRIS could also enable HR practitioners to engage in a more strategic role as such data could be used to inform managerial decisions. The move to new service delivery models of HR and the development of technology can be seen as interdependent as without increasingly sophisticated technology the various elements of HR service delivery may not be as effective (Reddington, 2012). Drivers for introduction of technology can be described as being operational, relational or transformational (Kettley and O’ Reilly, 2003; Snell, Stueber and Lepak, 2002) Operational goals can be described as having a focus on reducing the administrative burden of HR and cost effectiveness, whilst enhancing the accuracy of data; relational goals relate to improving services for internal customers due to reported low levels of satisfaction with the HR function (Kyprianou, 2008) and transformational goals address the strategic aims of the business (Lepak and Snell, 1998; Martin et al. 2008). These drivers of e-HRM can be seen as addressing either transactional or transformational goals (Martin et al. 2008). Transactional goals relate to operational efficiencies or improved service delivery. There is talk of liberating HR through technology (Shirvastava and Shaw 2003) although this strong statement is qualified by the requirement that it informates as opposed to automates HR proc esses. The distinction between automating and informating is made by Zuboff (1988) whereby automating relates to increasing efficiency through computerising work processes and procedures with decreasing dependence on human skills. In contrast, informating refers to increasing effectiveness through acquiring information by using information technology and using that information to create new knowledge. Automating could be seen as relating to addressing operational goals whereas informating could potentially address the relational and transformational goals through provision of information to inform decisions and strategy. Despite the attention to the promise of technology in transforming the HR function, much less attention has been given to the impact of technology on the HR function and whether or not the highly prized strategic orientation of HR has been achieved (Lepak and Snell, 1998, Shrivastava and Shaw, 2003). Studies that relate to whether e-HRM is achieving its operational goals provide some mixed results (Strohmeier, 2007). In practice it would appear that HRIS is having a slightly better (but not statistically significant) impact in areas of information processing, for example improving the speed that information is available and the quality of the information available than in economic terms, such as reducing headcount, lowering operational costs and improving productivity and profitability (CIPD, 2005). However, within this survey, in a third of cases the reduction in administrative burden was less than was to be expected. Stronger support for the operational impact of e-HRM comes from analysis of 10 case studies by Parry et al. (2007) which showed that technology can lead to faster and more efficient processes, greater accuracy and consistency as well as a reduction in costs. A number of other studies also provide some evidence of the impact of technology on operational efficiency ( Marler, 2009; Ruel, Bondarouk and Looise, 2004; Ruta, 2005). However, it may be that some caution needs to be exercised in drawing conclusions on the impact of e-HRM in this area as it may be that the efficiencies achieved within the HR function are simply moved elsewhere within the organisation as the responsibility for some tasks is moved from HR to line managers or employees (Ruel, Bondarouk and Looise, 2004). There is some positive evidence for the relational impact of e-HRM, notably improvements in HR service delivery achieved through the increased accuracy of data or by simplification of processes (Gardener, Lepak and Bartol, 2003). However, the relational impact of e-HRM appears to have been granted little attention in the literature (Strohmeir, 2007). Whether technology has led to a transformational impact on the HR function appears even less clear than the impact it has had on transactional processes. Despite the identification by many organisations of transformational drivers being important in the adoption of e-HR (Watson Wyatt, 2002; Yeung and Brockbank, 1995) it would seem that the issue of whether e-HRM supports a transformation of the HR function into a strategic business partner is only â€Å"parenthetically addressed† (Strohmeir, 2007, p.28). Indeed, Bondarouk and Ruel (2009, p.508) state â€Å"organisations are definitely silent about whether their HR departments become more strategic with e-HRM†. Where evidence is presented it is contradictory in nature. It would seem that in some cases technology has not led to a more strategic orientation of the HR function and has been used mainly for automating operational processes (Burbach and Dundon, 2005; Dery, Grant and Wiblen, 2009; Kinnie and Arthurs, 1993; Tansley et al. 2001). Indeed, Broderick and Boudreau (1992) found that most organisations have only used technology to support a narrow range of administrativ e decisions, resulting in efficiencies in managing information but that the potential competitive advantage of technology has not been exploited. In contrast, other studies have offered some evidence that e-HRM has supported the strategic integration of HR with business strategy (Olivas-Lujan, Ramirez and Zapata-Cantu, 2007; Ruel, Bondarouk and Looise, 2004; Teo, Soon and Fedric, 2001) More recent research has provided some anecdotal evidence for a move towards a more strategic role (Parry and Tyson, 2011) although the evidence supporting the transformational impact compared with the operational and relational appeared to be the weakest. It would appear that there is far greater attention in the literature to the potential for e-HRM to have an impact in the three areas outlined above than there is accorded to the actual outcomes (Shrivastava and Shaw, 2003; Strohmeir, 2007). The reorganisation of the HR function and the introduction of shared service centres appears to have had an impact on numbers of on-site HR staff and a reduction in the number of HR staff to employees (Francis and Keegan, 2006). The operation of such shared service centres relies on technology that is characterised by formalisation, routinisation and centralisation resulting in an impact on staffing of such centres, which require specialised but generally low level HR administrators (Martin and Reddington, 2009). Research that addresses the issue of how HR practitioners have viewed the increasing use of technology appears to be limited to date. There is evidence that some practitioners may view the use of technology and an associated increase in the use of shared service centres cautiously because it has resulted in a reduction of face-to-face relationships, which is often the reason individuals cite for choosing a career in HR (Francis and Keegan, 2006). Martin and Reddington (2009) suggest that the significant role of technology within shared service centres will lead to a lowering of the status of those employed in such environments especially when compared to the status of HR business partners. It is arg ued that there is a risk of deskilling within the administrative function of HR and that staff may be confined to more routine tasks where they had previously had a wider role (Reilly, 2000). It is also suggested that within shared service centres different skills may be required and staff may be employed who have customer service skills but who do not necessarily have a background in HR as technical knowledge can be learned whereas the right attitudes may be harder to learn (Parry et al. 2007; Reilly, 2000). In addition to this, there is evidence that suggests that there a perception amongst HR practitioners of an increasing distance between those at the top and bottom of the career ladder and that people from outwith the HR function are â€Å"parachuting† into the top jobs (Francis and Keegan, 2006). This effect could possibly be explained by the requirement of new areas of expertise, such as technical, consultancy and project management skills (Parry and Tyson, 2011), which may require developing within HR practitioners and could possibly result in recruiting from outside the profession. Indeed a number of reports emphasise the skills of HR staff as a significant barrier to transformation of the HR function (see Reilly, 2012). The debate on the use of technology within HRM can also be situated within a wider sociological perspective. Whilst the sociological literature appears to focus mainly on the use of technology within manufacturing environments or of computerisation in general as opposed to within the HR function an attempt to situate the effect of technology upon HR could be made in terms of attempting to assess the effect upon the organisation of the function and the impact on the level of skills required. The attempts to understand the impact of technology upon the organisation of work have resulted in divergent views. The debate focuses mainly on two opposing views. The managerialist and essentially optimistic perspective associated with writers such as Blauner (1964) argues that the application of technology will render obsolete routine and more manual jobs and create more skilled and complex opportunities resulting in an overall effect of â€Å"upskilling†, along with organisations characterised by decentralised structures, reduction in hierarchy, increased worker autonomy and a prevalence of knowledge workers (for example, Attewell, 1992; Piore and Sabel, 1984) Such analysis suggests that in the earlier phases of industrialisation advances in technology tended to reduce skills and devalue work but that more recent technological developments have had the opposite effect. Examination of the increasing use of technology and its impact on skills levels has provided some evidence for a raising of skills levels (Daniel, 1987, Gaillie, 1991) In contrast, labour process theorists have argued that technological changes have a degrading effect on work and result in â€Å"deskilling† of the labour process and reduced worker autonomy, with a centralised, neo-Taylorist form of organisation, with separation of conception from execution (for example, Braverman, 1974; Zimbalist, 1979). The issues of the expansion of non-manual work and the apparent rising skills levels as suggested by formal skills gradings are not inconsistent with the labour process perspective (Gaillie, 1991) who argues that non-manual work has undergone a major transformation, r esulting in work that is increasingly routinized and mechanised (supported by the increase in office automation). From such a perspective non-manual workers are no longer accorded their relatively privileged position and are now accorded a similar level of skills as manual workers. Support for the process of deskilling can be found in many analyses of the effects of computerised technology (Meiksins, 1994) Analysis of the experience of employees within the call centre environment emphasises the process of deskilling (Desai, 2010) which is described by Taylor and Bain (1999, p.109) as a situation of â€Å"an assembly-line in the head†. The impacts of such call centre roles are often high turnover rates and high levels of absence (Ackroyd, Gordon-Dseagu and Fairhurst, 2006) and the effect on employees is outlined by Rose and Wright (2005, pp.156-157): â€Å"low skilled call centre jobs allied with high levels of technological and management controls do not contribute towards employee well-being and satisfaction† This account of the impact of technology resonates with the description above of shared service centres whose result has been the deskilling of the administrative function of HR and the recruitment of those who do not have a background in HR (Martin and Reddington, 2009; Reilly, 2000). However, whilst it could be argued that a labour process perspective accounts for the effects of technology on some aspects of the HR function, it does not address the effect on the function as a whole as it does not appear to account for the strategic end of the spectrum, where it seems that business partner roles are accorded status and prestige along with substantially increased salaries (Francis and Reddington, 2006). The role of business partners cannot easily be reconciled with the notion of deskilling. There has been a tendency to view the classification of either upskilling or deskilling as too simplistic and some writers have moved away from this conceptualisation of work by postulating that instead there is an increasing polarisation of the workforce in terms of skill level with at one end, highly skilled workers with high levels of autonomy and at the other end a lower skilled sector characterised by an intensification of work through deskilling and management control (Edw ards, 1979), who can be dispensed if surplus to requirements (Berger and Piore, 1981). This polarisation of the workplace appears to be a better reflection of the changing HR function with the autonomous business partner role, with the accompanying perception of a high level of skill and status at one end of the spectrum and at the opposite end, the shared service centre roles characterised by routine and deskilling. In relation to professional work, there is some argument that professionals have not been adversely affected by computerisation and continue to be accorded high status and prestige (Friedson, 1984, 1986). In contrast, it is argued that technology may have differing effects on professionals, depending on the relative status of the profession and on the status of individuals within the profession (Burris, 1998). It is argued that alongside polarisation of the workplace, there tends to be poorer career prospects for non-expert workers (Baran, 1987; Hodson, 1988) with higher level posts being filled from outwith the organisation (Hodson, 1988; Burris 1983,a,b) This issue within HR is highlighted by Reilly (2000) who suggests that there may be less opportunity for career development if lower level staff do not build the experience that they would gain in more generalist roles in traditional HR functions. As stated earlier, there also appears to be a perception that the higher status business partner roles are at least sometimes being filled not just from outwith the organisation but from outwith the HR profession (Francis and Reddington, 2006). Whilst the issue of the impact of technology upon the HR function appears to have been given little attention within research (Lepak and Snell, 1998; Shrivastava and Shaw, 2003) it would seem that what discussion there has been relates mainly to the promise of technology in transforming the HR function and facilitating a more strategic orientation. The reality of the impact of technology in achieving an impact in operational, relational and transformational areas is much less clear although evidence would suggest that the greatest impact is in achieving operational efficiencies. Alongside the development of the use of technology has been the reorganisation of the HR function. Although there has been little attempt to consider the impact of technology from a sociological perspective, it can be argued that the increasing use of technology, which has been used to support the shared service centre model may be resulting in a deskilling of an element of the HR profession and reducing career development paths for some practitioners. In addition, there appears to be a change in skills viewed as necessary within this function, with a focus on customer service skills as opposed to specialist HR knowledge. In contrast, although the evidence for a transformational impact of technology upon HR is weaker and more contradictory, there would appear to be a perception of a higher status role in the business partner, with accordingly higher remuneration, thus demonstrating a polarisation of the HR function in terms of both skills and status. However, this reorganisation of the HR function and the development of a more strategic orientation, which it is argued can be facilitated by the increasing use of technology, although being seen as having an upskilling effect on those in a more strategic role could be argued as achieving the opposite effect if the result is recruiting from outwith the profession. This could leave HR professionals in a precarious position in terms of career and skill development, which could at least in part be attributed to the effect of technology as without increasingly sophisticated technology the new models of service delivery may not be possible or at least may not be as effective. Whilst, a lack of academic attention to the actual impact of technology on the HR function requires that caution is exercised in drawing conclusions, the tendency to focus on the potential impact of technology could be followed in suggesting that the potential of technology in facilitating the move to a transformation of the HR function may be to tend towards a degradation of the HR profession, with low skilled staff employed in shared service centres and more highly skilled and valued business partners being recruited from outwith the HR profession. However, without significant further research in the area, in particular on the impact of technology and the accompanying change in service delivery models upon the career paths and development opportunities for HR practitioners, this conclusion remains just a potential. References Ackroyd, K., Gordon-Dseagu, V. and Fairhurst, P. (2006) â€Å"Well-being and call centres†, Institute of Employment Studies, Brighton [online]. 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